Scantily-Clad Riders Generate Giggles but Little Surprise in Well-Broadcast Caper
By Dan Zak
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Denim and corduroy dropped to the carpet of dozens of Metro trains on the Red Line just after 4 p.m. yesterday, exposing a fleshy forest of goose-pimpled, sun-starved shanks. About 100 riders put their pants into their bags and commuted wearing nonchalance and not much else.
In cotton panties and colorful boxers, pants-free people of all ages and waist sizes mixed with perplexed residents, amused tourists and a horde of Georgetown basketball fans on their way from Verizon Center.
Before participants even organized in Dupont Circle for the 2008 No Pants Metro Ride, plenty of people were already tipped off to this local response to Improv Everywhere, the scene-causing prankster coalition that at the same moment was doing the same thing in New York. Dozens of curious oglers and news outlets showed up in the circle about 3:30.
"Why?" reporters asked.
Most participants said they just wanted to have some fun on a Saturday afternoon.
But if everyone knows it's coming, is it still a prank?
"There might be more media than people," observed Mount Pleasant resident Matt Boote, 23, who helped split the participants into groups.
About 4:15, half went north on the Red Line, and the other half went south. "Your undie-pants better be pretty!" yelled a Metro employee outside the south exit. "Keep it cute and clean!"
On the trains, the pants came off. Cameras flashed. Riders giggled. A seated, fur coat-wearing woman got a face full of derriere during the disrobing. "Spandex," she uttered gravely and turned her head.
"If you see something suspicious on a Metro train, say something to an employee," came the message over the public-address system. Ashley Miller and Patrick Coble, tourists from Raleigh, N.C., were delighted when they were swept up in a flock of skivvies at Metro Center.
"I'll definitely move here if people just take their pants off," said Miller, 24.
"Do they do a topless ride?" asked Coble, 43.
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."
View all comments that have been posted about this article.