Talk:Improv Everywhere

Psychological warfare aspects of Improv Everywhere
I'm a little annoyed that I'm being punished for being honest about my ties to the source posted here. I could just as easily have used another IP address and another username to post a link to my "Army of Losers" article, and then I would not have been chided for including a link to "my" blog.

If you want to delete a reference for another reason, that's fine, but citing my personal ties to the reference makes no sense and encourages dishonesty. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Jeremystalked (talk • contribs) 07:36, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

NPR has no respect
There was a rather insulting profile of the troupe on This American Life which presented them as just another HA-HA-WE-GOTCHA group of sadistic pranksters along the lines of Ali G or Punk'd. Perhaps the broadcast (and its notable lack of objectivity) should be mentioned in the article. 206.114.20.121 21:24, 22 November 2005 (UTC)


 * Oh, splattering elephant diarrhea. *Sigh* But as the group's nature is clear from the text and TAL doesn't seem to be that famous, I think that a mention on the page would be unwarranted - this one here, on the other hand, might do fine. --Kizor 00:46, 23 November 2005 (UTC)

Best Funeral Ever
Why is there no mention of this? This prank started as a simple april fool's joke, where IE was supposedly going to intercept a funeral with their normal shenanigans. Only, as it was an april fool's joke, all of the "real people" were actors. One TV news station found their video, didn't realize it was a joke, and did a news story on it, where they simply played a few clips from IE's video. IE then posted the news station's video on youtube, but it was taken down for copyright infringement... because they posted a video of their own stuff. Yeah. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.52.93.66 (talk) 05:25, 7 May 2009 (UTC)
 * Got any thrid party sources? -- The Red Pen of Doom  11:34, 7 May 2009 (UTC)

Well, there is still a copy of the CW News report video in youtube. The outakes video at the Improv Everywhere account still have a tag that reads "We also fooled the local CW news into thinking the funeral was real. Click here to watch their coverage" with the now broken link to the news report.

In the Improv Everywhere webpage it's also little report about it:

''But the hands-down funniest thing about all of this is that tonight’s evening news on CW 11 covered this mission as if it actually happened. They think the prank is on the family (our actors) when actually the prank is on them(...)So basically the extent of their reporting is watching a video on YouTube and then describing it as fact on air. They didn’t bother to email Improv Everywhere for comment, call the cemetery to verify, or try to get a quote from the “family.” They just watched the video and threw it on TV. Great journalism!''

That report comes also with a link to a screenshot of the CW 11 webpage from before they took the video down, it's an article written by Stephanie Barish.

Here is also their report on Youtube taking down the video for copyright infrigement: CW 11 Files Copyright Claim. It comes with a screenshot of the petition and another copy of the video report, and even a download option so people can download the CW video to they leisure. Hope that helps. 201.127.205.153 (talk) 20:20, 3 February 2010 (UTC)

Need mission list
I think the article is good, but needs a list of missions and a brief synopsis of each. Their past missions are listed on their website, but each has very long logs of each event. Brief synopsis of each (and why some were notable or infamous (e.g. "The Best Gig")) would also be helpful. Just my $.02... &mdash; Frecklefoot | Talk 15:25, 25 August 2006 (UTC)
 * I've started a synopsis list; as of now, it's only up to the end of 2001. I hope it's not too wordy. Azure Haights 00:48, 30 October 2006 (UTC)
 * No, the synopsis list is fine. I can't wait until you get to "The Best Gig" and "Ted's Birthday", since I want to know why these two are so (in)famous. -- Jalabi99 08:36, 2 December 2006 (UTC)

TheRedPenOfDoom deleted the entire list, saying there was no proof of such missions ever happening. IE posted a confused complaint on their Facebook profile. We need to get that list back and keep it there. dogman15 (talk) 23:12, 27 July 2009 (UTC)
 * You are not quite correct. I deleted it because there were no third party sources indicating that the items in the list were anything other than non-encyclpedic WP:TRIVIA. -- The Red Pen of Doom  23:37, 27 July 2009 (UTC)
 * I just happened upon this page, and while I appreciate The Red Pen of Doom 's interest in keeping information verified, if there is a lack of sources then the proper thing to do is to request or tag a request on the specific portions, NOT to remove everything.  Interestingly, this is what is stated at the guideline you provided which is the correct one WP:TRIVIA.  I'd be in favour of adding all missions, and enabling them in an episodic format.  This is not trivia as it is a specific set of information with specific guidelines to include it.  --Cpt ricard (talk) 15:59, 30 September 2009 (UTC)
 * I've looked at the removed material, and I can see what The Red Pen of Doom  was getting at: naming the missions "notable" requires some verifiability.  I think that what needs to be done is to have a holistic list of all missions done, perhaps on a secondary list page, and that way we avoid the cluttering that can happen.  In short, we need another page with a table for all missions, I think.  Anybody?--Cpt ricard (talk) 16:12, 30 September 2009 (UTC)

Notable sources
Stop deleting article details with reputable news sources and extensive television coverage, they are not only "fan" updates. Although the main Improv Everywhere website lists mission details, there are various other news and discussion sources.

Geez there's just heaps of them, put the mission listings back on and give people a chance to edit them and add sources before removing them completely.
 * MP3 Experiment: Improv everywhere -- even in downtown Syracuse July 25, 2009
 * Improv Everywhere inspiring spin-off groups
 * Causing a Scene book review
 * Viral Internet video compared to Improv Everywhere - confirming their status as an influencial group in comedy and public stunts.
 * Various acts compared to Improv Everywhere - The genre is compared to the group as they have an influence
 * PR firm rips off Improv Everywhere "freeze" mission
 * Culture jamming for the masses
 * Mission summaries
 * WTOL report on synchronised swimming mission
 * Improv Everywhere's No Pants, Fake Concerts and Suicide Jumpers
 * Australian MP3 Experiment
 * ABC report
 * Starbucks prank
 * Best Buy Takes On Bloggers Over Polo Shirts
 * Improv Everywhere Brings Surprise Entertainment to All
 * Subway Riders See Their First Full Moon
 * Charlie Todd Profile
 * Offers Web Access To Improv Secret Missions
 * Improv Everywhere: Frozen Grand Central
 * Ghosts of Pasha Rock Out for a Bunch of Tricksters
 * No pants on TRAX
 * 8 Nabbed for No Pants Subway Ride in N.Y.
 * Police halt annual ‘No Pants Subway Ride’
 * Who were those high-fivers in Rocky Park?
 * Boxer rebellion, or just thighs of relief?
 * No pants day in New York
 * No Pants Subway Ride Returns to Number 6 Train
 * Pranksters' feats provoke, amuse and inspire
 * Urban pranks celebrate weirdness
 * High-tech hoaxes and media mess-ups
 * Further News sourcesPeter (talk) 00:49, 28 July 2009 (UTC)

TV show pilot?
"Improv Everywhere" is listed as a pilot on Variety.com If this is indeed the same thing, it needs to be added to the article. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.253.204.222 (talk • contribs) 13:13, 2 April 2007 (UTC)
 * It is the same thing, but the pilot was not picked up for NBC's Fall season. has the source. And the last 4 missions have been filmed for NBC. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Chris Burnham (talk • contribs) 06:11, 30 May 2007 (UTC)

Augusto Boal
This seems clearly inspired by Augusto Boal's Invisible theater. Any theater student should know the guy... Maybe something could be mentioned in the article? Love, Parababelico 02:52, 2 October 2007 (UTC)

unbalanced and distorted impression of the group
The article leaves the impression that the group only creates innocent public spectacles, similarly to flashmobs; it overlooks entirely those "missions" that have targeted specific individuals or groups. But I see the page is well-patrolled by fans, so I won't bother with an attempt at a fuller picture. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.229.58.135 (talk) 18:18, 5 December 2009 (UTC)
 * Examples? - Mike Rosoft (talk) 17:12, 13 October 2010 (UTC)

I'm not the original commenter above, but I had a similar reaction. The particular thing that provoked that reaction in my case was the way the This American Life episode, and its focus on the "Best Gig Ever" and "Ted's Birthday" missions, is mentioned in the article's summary, but the mention is so sanitized that the nature of TAL's position (i.e., somewhat critical, in pointing out that those two missions, at least, resulted in the unsuspecting targets of the IE missions feeling victimized) is impossible to infer from the article. To me that conveys a sense of pro-IE editorial bias on the part of this article. I think it would be better from an NPOV standpoint for the article to at least briefly characterize the nature of the TAL episode's criticism. -- John Callender (talk) 20:07, 9 May 2012 (UTC)

Link
Do you think it would be appropriate to add the ImprovEverywhere YouTube channel to the article, or would that be out of line? - Mike Rosoft (talk) 17:12, 13 October 2010 (UTC)


 * I will check and add it now if it has not been done yet. -- Zezen (talk) 09:48, 4 November 2019 (UTC)