Improv Gone Wild

Due to a particular confluence of events, I began taking improv classes in 1998.  I loved it from my very first day.  Since then, I have taken a healthy portion of classes, participated in private groups, done some instruction, and performed for 1000 kids at a time, using improv as part of a science presentation.  I've had a few moments of brilliance, some of utter failure, and many others that were just sort of in-between.

Good improv is absolutely sublime, and bad improv reminds us all that while performing without a net doesn't work 100% of the time, it's okay to try.  Even the experts make fools of themselves some of the time.

But I'm not here to talk about bad improv.  I am here to illustrate some amazing improv.  There's an organization in NYC called Improv Everywhere.  They don't do off off off Broadway community theater.  No, they amass large groups of people and do some large-scale weirding out.  

Porter alerted me to an amazing YouTube clip of Improv Everywhere, as they set about  freezing time in Grand Central Station.

After watching the video, I thought of a similar stunt I'd heard on an episode of This American Life - yep, it was the same group.  This time, they'd stormed a nightclub performance of a tiny local rock band that nobody had ever heard of, making it look like they had a million rabid fans.  As with all TAL episodes, poignant observations relating to the nature of human interaction ensued.

Improv *and* Ira Glass?  I am one happy camper!