How can you make a stranger smile? What is a positive prank? The answer to both of these is the Annual No Pants Subway Ride – an annual celebration of silliness! It is an event that mobilises people in many cities to do something silly, feel a sense of kinship with unknown people and make other strangers laugh. So what is the Annual No Pants Subway Ride? Here is all you wanted to know and some more positive pranks besides:
The first edition of this public prank took place in January 2002. One man in bright yellow boxers – and no pants – entered a subway train in the middle of a cold New York winter. He was followed by others with no pants – apparently, they had all forgotten to properly clothe their nether regions! Fun, fun, fun!
The No Pants Subway Ride really caught on and came to be ‘celebrated’ each year. This is what happened during the latest edition - No Pants Subway Ride of 2018.
The 2013 edition saw the public prank in 60 cities across the world! Moscow, Mexico City, Munich, Amsterdam, Berlin, Zurich and many more! Some social commentators observed, however, that the prank collective that causes scenes of chaos and joy in public places seems to prove that people need an underwear upgrade in general!
Participants decided to freeze in place at the same time at New York’s iconic Grand Central train station. People were really, really amazed – it was all very, very amusing! The mannequin mob event, where everyone entered a Gap store and pretended to be a mannequin was similar.
The Best Buy uniform prank involved 80 people - they entered a Manhattan Best Buy store; with each person wearing roughly the same blue polo shirt and khaki pants. There was some chaos but a whole lot of fun as well!
…Much to the surprise of all the visiting tourists as well as locals not in the know! They walked backward, entered doorways in reverse, ate in reverse and did everything else backward!
These participants did everything really, really slow – walking, lifting things, putting them down! Maybe this was all beneficial at some subconscious level? Perhaps this signals to all of us that we need to slow down in life! Who can tell?
This was not that different from a flash mob, really. But these guys are rather graceful – they are dancing to Swan Lake and getting others to do the same! So yes, more fun, more positive pranks to make random people smile!
Here is a collection of nice things that people did; pranks that people played to make others smile – to make their day just that little bit brighter!
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