The Art of the Prank blog congratulates Charlie Todd, one of our contributors, on the release of his new book Causing a Scene: Extraordinary Pranks in Ordinary Places with Improv Everywhere
Also, Improv Everywhere’s Mp3 Experiment Six is taking place this Saturday at 4PM on Roosevelt Island in New York City. Full instructions and the mp3 download are available at improveverywhere.com.
Charlie Todd, Comedian
Interview by Billy Parker
Gothamist
May 19, 2009
The last time we talked to Charlie Todd in 2005, he wasn’t sure if Ben Folds had ever heard of his prank website Improv Everywhere. A year later, he would find himself invited on stage by Folds in a setup where Charlie would pretend to be Ben in front of a sold out crowd. Improv Everywhere now boasts a YouTube channel with over 100,000 subscribers, its most popular Freeze Mission (originating in Grand Central Station) has been replicated in over 150 cities around the world and this year’s No Pants Subway Ride had 1,200 participants in New York alone.
Today marks the release of the first Improv Everwhere book titled “Causing a Scene” (you can browse a free sample of it here). He’ll be reading from it tomorrow night in Bryant Park, on The Today Show next week promoting it while also debuting a new mission and this weekend marks the sixth MP3 Experiment taking place this year on Roosevelt Island. Charlie talked with us about how the book came together as well as just how an April Fool’s Day joke somehow became a mainstream news story and why he doesn’t really consider himself an artist per se.
Read the whole interview here.