January 13, 2008
No Pants Subway Ride 2008
Yesterday was No Pants Day 2008, the 7th Annual Improv Everywhere event that includes hundreds of people riding the subway with no pants on. According to IE's initial report, yesterday's event drew 900 participants, requiring that the group split up onto three different lines--the 6, the R, and the 2 trains, which they rode from downtown Manhattan to Union Square.
Or as someone noted on Gothamist Contribute, "Those retarded pantless freaks boarded a downtown subway at 96th and Lexington around 5:00 PM Saturday. There were so many some of them couldn't get on the train. About a dozen got left behind."
One out-of-towner, spying the scene, had asked the Daily News what was going on, just as the conductor made a "see something, say something" announcement: "If you see a suspicious package? I think I just did."
Did you participate in the event? If you have any pictures from this year's No Pants Day event, tag your Flickr photos "gothamist" to share them. And this year, the Improv Everywhere group was encouraging regional events in any city that has some type of mass transit. Even Adelaide, Australia got in on the act!
All photographs by Steph Goralnick (used with permission); you can see her entire amazing set here
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I thought the consensus in the last post about this is that it was stupid and juvenile but maybe this time around people will think it's only just completely obnoxious.
retarded pantless freaks is giving them more credit than these sheep deserve.
So dumb and obnoxious it hurts.
If I knew anybody who did this I would refuse to be friends with them anymore.
attention whores. saw a girls not wearing pants yesterday who should not be out in public with an ass that looks like they've been sitting in a gravel driveway.
hey, look at us. we're not wearing pants. we're crazy! and indie! and ironic!
Talk about attention whores. Some of those chicks have some pretty grotesque legs. God only knows what they have under their panties....
This is not really something I can fap to.
Man, most of these photos suck. It's only funny if you wear boxers, and look like you otherwise know how to dress. (Thus, the guy with the jacket and tie but no pants is genuinely funny.) Everybody else looks totally stupid, like they got lost on the way to a Rocky Horror revival.
Oh, come on - people come in all different shapes and sizes. The event's point is to create a slightly chaotic and fun disruption to people's day. It's like SantaCon, sans the beards, Santa outfits - especially the pants.
And that last photo above is my favorite - when's the last time you've seen a guy in a suit without his pants?
distinctly unsexy, and boring
these girls are actually better than the ones in previous years. Maybe in ten years they'll actually get decent ones. I know it's just a human element to feel like you belong in an elitist group but at least pick an elitist group that's elite.
I heard about this pants-less subway business Friday night and said "if I know about something that is supposed to be uber-hip I am pretty sure that it is not cool anymore." And apparently, I was correct.
This news tidbit brought to you by the cottage cheese industry...
Dance off with your pants off.
What a bunch of whiny prudes you all are!
It's good to see ourselves as we really are from time to time, with all our "imperfections" and all. Too all the people that criticize the "fatties"... have you seen yourselves in the mirror? And if you do are "perfect", what does it matter?
lol@pretending to think that people who think this is really really obnoxious don't "get it"
if you need attention so badly that you feel the need to go out in public wearing no pants, then a bit of flab or cellulite is really the least of your worries.
Most people that are commenting aren't harping about the fact that it's 0bnoxious, even though it is. It's more the fact that unattractive people are doing it.
When's the last time you did anything unusual or interesting? Oh, wait that's right you just sit around all day taking shallow potshots in the Gothamist comments.
Not I this time. I like em.
it's nice that none of them hit the fake bake.
I really didn't need to see all that cellulite on the girl going through the turnstile in the first photo. Hey, I noticed in the rules that all you have to do to participate is take off your pants. It says nothing about not being allowed to wear something else instead of pants. How about the Man-Skirt Subway Ride of 2009? A kilt will do. Any guy can walk around without pants. But it takes a man with real cojones to wear a skirt in public in the United States.
unusual? interesting? not wearing pants is not unusual, it's a daily occurrence and it's definitely not interesting.
geez, these guys are just having a little fun! ok, so for many of you it does not qualify as your idea of fun. so what? they are not imposing anything on anyone, especially you, so just leave it be. oh, so you do not like looking at the so-called flab. trust me, there is a whole lot worse to see on the subway and elsewhere these days. just turn away and focus on something else like the floor, a book, a newspaper, a subway ad - anything. you haters really are a bunch of losers, or for you some of you males, are you just afraid you cannot control your boners?
full disclosure, i myself do not find this particularly interesting or daring, but, hey, it does not hurt anyone.
it's about fun. as they say for santa con - remember "fun" and what it means?
@ptwnbkr
ny has already had its fair share of joyless pricks. the gothamist comment boards should be no different.
good grief, people, get a life. it's funny. geez.
I like this. And frankly, the fact that it annoys so many people is what makes it all worthwhile. Thanks, guys, for showing just how uptight and sterile my beloved hometown has become.
And Kilt Day... sounds like fun... I'd do it...
"And frankly, the fact that it annoys so many people is what makes it all worthwhile"
I guess that logic can be used to defend the comments here that YOU seem to find annoying, which point out how uninspired and phony stunts like these are.
I've never been one to wax nostalgic for the pre-gentrification days of NYC but frankly, these kinds of stupid cutesy stunts are a sign that the disneyfication of the city has gone too far. Thanks for making our city look stupid.
I'm trying to understand, was New York the place where people got beat up/killed for doing stupid stuff, and where the idea of going bottomless on the subway had the same allure as going naked in a Poconos motel hot tub? Or is it the place where high school pranks are conceived and executed by adults?
Anyway, I think the whole thing is pretty funny, but I'm having trouble squaring it up with the concept of a more prurient NY of yore.
No Elderta, it's not.
Personally I have no problem with the no-pants look on that guy. It's the woolly legs with dress socks that I take issue with.
Wow, they are sooo counter culture. Good god people. I never thought I would miss the days when only the old pervy guys had no pants on the train. Grow tha F up.
How very very tired and lame.
And seriously, you want bare skin next to anything on the subway? Only if sex is involved, please.
They should try and go farther uptown next time.
I guess what I'm saying is that given the scrubbed-down and soulless way our city has evolved, this is about what passes for edgy these days. And as such, I'll take what I can get.
It's not free street theater in Alphabet City, but then again, what is?
Unless of course Spirit of 76 can pull off Kilt Day (just tell me when and where, my friend!).
If the whole point of this is to get me titillated (which I think it is), then it is not working.
I'm bored and not excited--and I'm pantless at home.
No Pants Day and Critical Mass need merge for some real synergy. They can call it No Pants No Mas.
Oh, why couldn't all of these publicitywhores get mugged like that twerp from New York Magazine?
remember the pole dancing subway strippers? that worked cause they were talented and pretty.
From the Civil Rights March to No Pants, how young people have progressed all these years. Can't wait for the Idiotarod! I am also very sorry to see that no one was arrested nor violated with a police baton. I miss the days of Rudy.
And I agree having fat ugly people (especially fat chicks) participate make it oh so much worse..
They should call themselves The Cellulite Riders.
Meanwhile, HOW BOUT DEM COWBOYS!!!!
Pale cottage cheese thighs should be outlawed in public!
Let me know when a large number of leggy models are confirmed for the next No Pants event. Only one or two of the pictures from this year's event got my attention, the others had a mostly "negative" effect.
Just for fun, guys, lighten up.
Sad that the Boston version made CNN but the NYC version did not.
Dadoc
@Babyhitler, not only are you a racist (see http://gothamist.com/2008/01/11/no_pants_in_08.php), you are also quite shallow. Apparently, it's not the event itself that you have a problem with, you're really only concerned with whether or not you think the girls are pretty.
You are uglier than any of these people and you are a fucking loser.
put on some pants and go find a life.
This is what happens when you take the crime out of NYC.
same thing happened in Boston this weekend and it was just as lame and just as unoriginal as this.
I think all the "no fat chicks" comments are pretty funny, considering typical male standards. Who are you kidding, fellas? Given the chance you'd fuck anything with a hole. Stop bitching about imperfection.
i'd like to know what the people who call this lame do that is so damn kewl & edgy? tell us.
this isn't about people being attention whores but about giving unsuspecting passengers a "wtf moment" & some of the photos of those passengers is what makes it funny.
the guys complaining about "fatties" are just angry that they don't know where to find free porn to fap to.
I propose changing the USA motto "In God We Trust" to "No Fat Chicks". I am sure the atheists would agree.
#45, it's impossible to find the holes in fat chicks underneath all those layers of fat.