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Publicity Doesn't Stop Pants-Free Prank
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The point of the event, if a point must be assigned, was to cause a scene of "chaos" and/or "joy," two concepts not as familiar to Washington as "structured" and "in agreement." Could a starched city such as Washington execute and enjoy such an event en masse? Yes, but not without sucking some of the spontaneity out of it.
"D.C. is the only city where the news media called and alerted the Metro system and police" ahead of time, said Charlie Todd, 29, founder of Improv Everywhere. "When I saw that, I was kind of like, 'That's a jerky thing to do.' "
The advance media coverage was earnest: DCist saw the No Pants Facebook group and ran a blog post Monday. Express ran an item Tuesday. This paper's Reliable Source ran an item Friday. "No reason has been given for the stunt" is how the Associated Press concluded its report. (You mean they're taking off their pants just because?)
Comments on Washington's online blathersphere were dismissive:
"Ugly city + pantsless event = NO."
"They have no idea how staph is transferred."
"This is lame, and a huge waste of time and energy."
Sniff.
So Washington's first no-pants Metro ride was blogged, criticized and hyped before it even happened. One father called Metro last week to say he was appalled -- appalled!-- that he and his daughter might encounter underwear. There is no dress code to ride the Metro, spokeswoman Lisa Farbstein repeated last week to various media. Yes, there will be pants-less people in the system and, no, we don't know why they're doing it.
"For fun," said Northeast artist Ayodamola Okunseinde, 33, as he boarded the Blue Line at Metro Center. "And I'm taping it for a TV show I produce." A companion followed him with a camera.
What are you wearing?
"My purples," he said, smoothing his suit jacket to reveal his lilac-colored boxer briefs. "Are you taping?" he asked his camera operator.
Consider the 2008 No Pants Metro Ride thoroughly documented. It was fun, and surprising for some, and maybe a bit embarrassing, but it had people smiling. Farbstein looks at it this way: "Apparently it's taking people's minds off the fare increases."
