It takes quite a spectacle to grab the attention of jaded New Yorkers.
And yet, 16 years after seven men first rode the 6 train on a cold January day wearing no pants, the No Pants Subway Ride is still turning heads.
The event, organized by the the New York City-based prank collective Improv Everywhere and scheduled for Jan. 8 this year, has earned plenty of media coverage and YouTube views for its less-than-completely-covered shenanigans over the years, but it continues to amuse the uninitiated.
The city is "a big place, and not everybody is on YouTube all the time, so we still manage to surprise quite a few people every year," said Improv Everywhere founder Charlie Todd.
And the event continues to draw new faces, and legs; Todd estimates that at least half of every year's riders are first-time participants.
If you aren't keen on surprises, here are seven things you should know in advance of 3 p.m. this Sunday:
1. The event started in 2002 with seven participants, all of whom were male.
Six months after Improv Everywhere started causing scenes in public spaces, Todd decided he wanted to try a gag involving staggered entrances on a subway car.
"I thought it was just such a great setup, to make it seem like people who were getting on at separate stops didn’t know each other, but secretly they were all working together to create some bit of comedy," he said.
What was the most bizarre thing one might witness on the subway? he asked himself.
"At the time, it was winter, so I thought showing up in a winter coat, hat, scarf, gloves, and no pants would probably be the most striking thing to see on a cold January day," Todd said.
The original premise of the No Pants Subway Ride was this:
"One guy gets on the train in his underwear — he looks weird because it’s 30 degrees outside, but New Yorkers are able to go back to the book they’re reading or nowadays go back to their iPhones ... But then when the train pulls into the next station, and a different person gets on in his underwear, it becomes something worthy of a New Yorker’s attention,” Todd said.
You can watch footage of the inaugural ride, captured by a hidden camera, here.
2. But it isn't just a New York City tradition these days.
In 2014, pants-less subway rides caught commuters' attentions in more than 60 cities in more than 25 countries around the world, Improv Everywhere's website reports. (The event in New York City still remains the largest of its kind, but other cities started following suit in 2008.)
“We did a silly hidden camera thing in 2002 that somehow in 2015 has turned into this international holiday where you have people in countries all around the world ... who come together and do this ridiculous event," Todd said. "I think that’s hilarious, and I also think it’s a little bit uplifting that the whole world comes together to do something so dumb."
3. This Sunday, you can expect about 5,000 pants-less men and women to take to the subways.
Participants this year will convene at seven meeting points across Manhattan, Queens and Brooklyn to take trains that ultimately lead to Union Square. Long-time members of Improv Everywhere acting as team leaders will divide the straphangers into groups and assign them a specific train car in which to de-pants themselves and from which to exit at their assigned stops. When the bare-legged riders board the same car of the next train, their prescribed excuse for pantlessness will be forgetfulness.
"We try to stay true to the original absurdity of the first year and try to keep it as subtle as it can be, at least at first," Todd said. "Obviously, by the end of it you have subway cars full of pant-less people, and it’s a little bit over the top, but we try to make it a weird New York moment at the start."
4. There's a "no thongs" rule (but no one will call you out for wearing two pairs of underwear).
"Our aim is not to potentially offend someone, but just to make folks laugh," Todd explained.
Skimpy posterior coverage doesn't offend him personally, he said, but he wants to make sure the public knows the ride is "not an event for exhibitionists — it’s an event for people who want to do something silly and have a nice time."
Todd himself wears two pairs of underwear: a pair of briefs and a pair of boxers. (Ladies can wear boxers as a second layer, too, he told DNAinfo.) With that kind of insulation, he isn't squeamish about taking a seat.
"I'm wearing two pairs of underwear — it’s not that different from wearing shorts on the subway ... Personally, I’m perfectly comfortable sitting on a subway seat wearing my underwear. I’d probably rather do that than hold on to one of the poles."
5. Silly underwear and obvious costumes are also discouraged.
"You can wear fun underwear if you like, but nothing that screams out, 'I wore this because I’m doing a silly stunt,'" says the page conveying instructions for this year's ride.
Todd may endorse the layering of underwear pairs, but he champions singularity when it comes to jokes:
"Every now and then somebody might show up [to the ride] wearing some kind of Batman costume — that I don’t like, because it’s I think adding a joke on a joke."
But the Improv Everywhere founder has appreciated the more prosaic above-the-waist outfits he's seen.
"One guy dressed as a UPS worker one year...He had the brown outfit, the hat, the scanner... Those kinds of details ... make me laugh."
6. There will be babies.
Todd and his wife, who live in Hell's Kitchen, took their then six-month-old son on the ride in 2015.
”He didn’t know what was going on then," Todd recalled last year. "Now that he’s 18 months, I’m hoping he’s going to think it’s funny. We’ll see. He walks around without pants all day every day, so it might not be that interesting.”
The trend of participants bringing their kids along seems to have picked up steam in 2012.
7. If the forecast for Sunday holds, the pants-less will be freezing their bottoms off.
Temperatures on Sunday are supposed to rise to a high of 26 degrees Fahrenheit and sink to a low of 11, and winds may hit speeds of 18 m.p.h.
"I actually really like it when it’s bitter cold," Todd said, "because then the only people who show up are the truly dedicated."
Stoic participants can warm their lower halves at an after-party at Bar 13 in Union Square.
The dress code? No pants, obviously.
Admission for the event with drink specials, dancing, and performance is $13. You can RSVP here.
