No Pants Subway Ride returns to NYC this Sunday

January 8, 2013 Mary Frost Brooklyn Daily Eagle
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If you ride the New York City subway this Sunday, get ready to see a lot more than you may want to.

Thousands of riders are expected to take their pants off as they ride the rails at 3 p.m. on Sunday, January 13, in what has become an annual, if idiotic, event.

The No Pants Subway Ride is staged by the group Improv Everywhere every January, usually on a freezing cold day. This will be the event’s 12th year — which some say is 11 too many.

The mission started as a small prank with seven guys and “has grown into an international celebration of silliness,” Improv Everywhere says.  

In general, the scheme goes like this: Random passengers board a subway car at separate stops without pants. The participants do not behave as if they know each other, and they all wear winter coats, hats, scarves, and gloves. The only unusual thing is their lack of pants.

There are six meeting points this year, with two in Brooklyn: one by the Old Stone House and one at  Maria Hernandez Park in Williamsburg.

Instructions for participants include: “As soon as the doors shut at the stop before yours, stand up and take your pants off and put them in your backpack. If you’d like to use a briefcase, purse, grocery bag, or whatever instead of a backpack that’s fine too.

“If questioned, tell folks that you ‘forgot to wear pants’ and yes you are ‘a little cold.’ Insist that it is a coincidence that others also forgot their pants.” All train routes will converge on Union Square. An afterparty follows.

Improv Everywhere gives one final piece of advice: “Be aware that by participating, you recognize that Improv Everywhere is not liable in the event you are injured, arrested, or worse. By choosing to participate you are still responsible for your actions.”

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