We regret to ruin the surprise yet again, but it is our journalistic duty to inform you that you may encounter several mirth-filled adults in their underwear—yes, truly, their underwear!!!!—on the subway this weekend. The annual No Pants Subway Ride will take place this Sunday, January 8th, filling the subway with hundreds and hundreds of unsolicited bare legs.
Improv Everywhere's 16th Annual No Pants Subway Ride will kick off at 3 p.m. sharp on Sunday—there are seven different meeting points (Hoyt Playground in Astoria, Central Park, Hudson Yards, Old Stone House in Park Slope, Unisphere in Queens, Maria Hernandez Park in Brooklyn, Foley Square). You'll be divided up into groups and assigned a specific train car, for maximum prankage. Then the after party festivities will be happening at Bar 13.
As ever, the main rules for the event are one's willingness to take their pants off on the subway and risk however many communicable diseases, and the ability to keep a straight face about it (which has been pretty hit-and-miss based on previous experiences). Our own unwritten rules would include: don't take your underwear off, don't try to annoy or engage with people who aren't participating/are clearly not into it, and, most importantly, don't use this as a license to be a perv.
You can check out footage from last year's ride below.
And recount the story of the first No Pants ride below.
Will there be another Extra Pants Subway Ride counter-event? Will the Second Avenue Subway get christened by semi-bare bums? Do people still find delight in the benign quirkiness of planned events? We'll find out Sunday.
