It's that special time of year again when Charlie Todd and a troupe of others that like to de-pants every January go underground for a nice, brisk ride on the subway. As usual, you're all invited (warning: you may be arrested), but if you show up you must not have pants on! They warn, in all caps, that "THIS IS A PARTICIPATORY EVENT. DO NOT SHOW UP UNLESS YOU PLAN TO TAKE YOUR PANTS......

ART: Secrets of Coney Island Creek opens at the Brooklyn Public Library tonight. The exhibit of photographs by photog/author/Coney Island native Charles Denson goes back to the 1960s "when the waterway was at a low point, surrounded by industry and suffering from neglect and pollution. Since then, portions of the creek have been reclaimed, drawing both wildlife and residents to its shores. The photographs in Secrets of Coney Island Creek document those early decades and......

This past Saturday anyone with a music playing device was invited to The World Financial Center Plaza by the North Cove Yacht Harbor. Potential participants were told to be there by 4pm, to wear a red, blue, yellow, or green t-shirt, to bring a watch with a second hand and a camera if possible, and to download an mp3 from their site. Sound familiar? It was the fourth Mp3 Experiment organized by Improv Everywhere. Ah,......

It's the longest day of the year, so you should be able to fit Shepard Fairey's exhibit and at least one of the following events in. READING: Tommy Trantino was convicted and sentenced to death in 1964 for the murder of two New Jersey police officers. While doing time, he wrote to Leonard Weinglass, the lawyer who defended the Chicago Seven. From the letters came a book deal, and his stories (along with poetry, drawings......

If we didn't read it in the Washington Square News, we would have guessed that either Dennis Crowley or Charlie Todd was behind this. But it looks like NYU RAs were the ones who created a Connect Four board out of Weinstein Hall's windows so students could play from the outside. It was part of an effort to bring the dorm community together (Floor Wars), even if it made some students cranky.“It was definitely not......

-- Good news: a New York judge stayed the possible demolition of St. Brigid's Church in the East Village until after Labor Day. -- It's funny because it's true: "Sometimes I Feel Like I'm The Only One Trying To Gentrify This Neighborhood." -- Charlie Todd organized an astounding 215 people to conduct his latest prank: "Slow-Mo Home Depot." Deliciously pointless! -- In related news, Time Out NY devoted their entire issue this week to......

Charlie Todd and his ImprovEverywhere agents invaded the 23rd Street Best Buy with eighty people dressed in employee uniforms-- blue shirts and khaki pants. Hilarity ensued. Check out a bunch of other clips at Vimeo, or read the full acount at Charlie's site.......

Charlie Todd wrote in to say that the last of the people arrested in January's No Pants 2006 subway ride had her case dismissed yesterday. Apparently "Agent Omega" overslept the court date last month, so it took a little longer for her to get cleared. Charlie scanned in the dismissal order-- it contains some amusing judicial prose: The second question then becomes, what was Respondent wearing? Respondent verbally and physically described the bottom she......

View this clip on Vimeo Here's a silly short that Charlie Todd and Chris Kula put together for Sierra Mist. Appropriately, it ran on Yahoo.com on April Fool's Day-- although the published version didn't contain the final scene. Once you watch it, you'll understand why. Bonus: it looks like Vimeo has switched to full Flash video! For those of you that are technically inclined, that means when you embed their clips on your site, it......

View this clip on Vimeo Oh, Charlie Todd, we love you and your thousands of nameless improv slaves! In this weeks prank, Charlie organized a group of 120 agents, and devised a plan to play a cell-phone symphony in the checked-bag area of the Strand Bookstore. This meant working in teams of two, where one person smuggled in the phone, and one person called (the callers were placed well out of the way in Union......

Last weekend, Charlie Todd and his intrepid band of pantsless improv agents were met with fierce NYPD resistence at the 59th Street 4/5/6 station. The dust has finally begun to settle, and Charlie has posted the video of the event, along with a long wrapup with literally dozens of panty pictures. He also discusses the arrests: Let's be clear about this. It's not illegal to appear in public in your underwear in New York......

Whoa-- busy Sunday night! Yesterday we told you about Charlie Todd's No Pants 2006 Subway Ride-- one of his more famous ImprovEverywhere projects. The plan for today was to ride from Brooklyn Bridge to 125th Street on the 6, and then turn around and come back down. Sadly, the fuzz busted the event up and nabbed six of Charlie's agents at 59th Street! Presta Cottage Industries has the details: Things seemed to be going......

Charlie Todd and his merry band of ImprovEverywhere pranksters are famous around these parts-- we've been fans for a couple of years (check out the interview we did with him back in August.) If you've never participated in one of the ImprovEverywhere events, tomorrow is your big chance-- for the fifth year in a row, dozens of improv fans will be hitting the 6 train-- WITHOUT PANTS: All are invited to participate in the......

New York magazine brings the funny this week with a cover story about Conan O'Brien as well as some other NYC-comedy features. The Conan story delves into his "unsuave" persona and the possibilities of bringing his style to the rest of America when he takes over the Tonight Show (he says, "I’m open to going to L.A. Mostly because it won’t be my choice."). Gothamist highly recommends you read it, but we have pulled out......

Next Monday night, the Upright Citizen's Brigade gets the first installment of Paid Programming, possibly the first comedy show to dedicate each show to an infomercial product. The inaugural product is the Restform Highrise Airbed, "a bed so durable it can be used by both a grizzly bear and a professional wrestler," and the show will be filled with "amazing demonstrations, hilarious clips from the infomercial itself, and real prank calls made to the......

Pretty much anything or anyone can be found on Craigslist. For five years, New Yorkers have been hip to the site for their no-fee apartment needs or to unload post-college Ikea furniture. But when the "Hot Sketch Comedy Submissions" call went out earlier this year to every city of the Craigslist board, aspiring writers everywhere heard it and sent in their best sketches to Chris Kula and Charlie Todd. The pair has turned this material......

There are so many internet and technology conferences in New York City every year, but there's only one that Gothamist has ever really enjoyed: Mark Hurst's Good Experience Live. It's been going on since 2003, and each year showcases an incredibly eclectic bunch of designers, scientists, technologists, artists, and weirdos. This year, Gothamist got to be part of the fun- we led a tour of Penn Station and Grand Central, comparing and constrasting the......