Author: Charlie Todd

Charlie Todd is a New York based actor, comedian, and prankster. He is the founder of Improv Everywhere, a New York prank collective that has been profiled by The New York Times, SPIN Magazine, and Rolling Stone (where his work was named "Hot Comedy" in the Hot List Issue 2005). Charlie has given interviews about his pranks to news outlets around the world including The Guardian in London, German Public Radio, and NHK TV in Japan. He brought Improv Everywhere to Aspen, Colorado in 2006 as part of HBO's US Comedy Arts Festival. Charlie is a teacher at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre, where he has written, performed, and directed comedy for the past five years. He has created many shows at the UCBT including PAID PROGRAMMING, FOUND ON CRAIGSLIST, and THE MP3 EXPERIMENT (all of which were Time Out New York critic's picks). He currently performs at the theatre every Saturday with the house team Reuben Williams and every Thursday with the UCBW, a ridiculous wrestling league he created. Charlie has made appearances on LATE NIGHT WITH CONAN O'BRIEN, BEST WEEK EVER and VH1's 40 GREATEST PRANKS. He has worked on pilots for ABC and TBS, and he will soon appear in the THIS AMERICAN LIFE pilot on Showtime. Charlie was named one of the "10 Funniest People You've Never Heard Of" by New York Magazine.
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Announcing: New Urban Prankster Blog

Submitted by Charlie Todd of Improv Everywhere:

urbanpranksterbanner-425.jpg

Today we’re proud to announce the launch of a new blog, Urban Prankster. Urban Prankster will feature pranks, hacks, participatory art, flash mobs, and other creative endeavors that take place in public places in cities across the world. If someone does something awesome in the public space, we plan to cover it.

Over the last six months we’ve seen a massive spread of urban creativity in cities across the world. We’ve been covering the global trend on Improv Everywhere, focusing on groups that formed on our Improv Everywhere Global network. It’s been awesome to see groups recreating our past missions and coming up with new ideas of their own. With missions happening in other cities on an almost weekly basis, we decided it was time to create a new site to celebrate this work. Continue reading “Announcing: New Urban Prankster Blog”

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Best Game Ever

Posted by Charlie Todd of Improv Everywhere:

For our latest mission, we turned a little league baseball game in Hermosa Beach, California into a major league event.

Jim Gray and Charlie Todd do color commentary for the Best Game EverWe collaborated with NBC Sports on this mission, and they took care of renting the jumbotron and hiring legendary sportscaster Jim Gray to call the game. Jim ran the play-by-play and I served as his color man. The two of us sat in a booth at the back of the stands, and we were able to make announcements on the field”s PA system. It was tons of fun watching the players react as the jumbotron rose in the outfield. The game had to momentarily stop as everyone settled down.

In order to pull this mission off we worked with the commissioner of the Hermosa Beach Little League. The commissioner provided us with the names, numbers, and batting order of all of the players for both teams. He told us the 2 PM game between the Mudcats and the Lugnuts would be ideal for our mission, and allowed us to arrive early to set up all of our equipment. He was the only person involved with the league who knew what was going to happen. The players, coaches, and parents were kept completely in the dark.

Featuring: Agents Todd, Appel, Blumenthal, Newell, Sessler, Minton, Fair, Mercer, Cicci, Dippold, Park, DBlumenthal, Thorn, + more.
Digital Video: Agent Carbone
Background music: Kevin MacLeod

Check out our report for videos, photos, and a behind-the-scenes account.

Recent Improv Everywhere pranks:

  • Food Court Musical
  • Frozen Grand Central
  • No Pants 2k8, January 12, 2008

    • Related posts:

    1. The Honest Coca-Cola Obesity Commercial
    2. Improv Everywhere: No Pants Subway Ride 2013
    3. Joey Skaggs as Santa Takes His Missile Tow to the United Nations
    4. Calling All Billboard Liberators!
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    Improv Everywhere: Food Court Musical

    From Charlie Todd of Improv Everywhere:

    For our latest mission, 16 agents staged a spontaneous musical in the food court of a Los Angeles shopping mall.

    Song by Scott Brown and Anthony King. Featuring: Agents Campbell, Cowan, Brister, Caldwell, Sutton, Ahn, Park, Nwaeze, Jervier, Thorn, Fair, Costelo, Grimm, Perube, LaBarr, Appel, Todd. Digital Video: Agent Carbone. Choreography: Agent Tallaksen

    On other fronts:

  • Check out our website for updates on the global “freeze” phenomenon. Our Grand Central video has inspired folks in 33 other cities (in 18 different countries) to freeze in place. If you live outside of NYC, get involved locally at IE Global
  • Finally, a shameless plug for the comedy wrestling league that many Improv Everywhere agents are involved in. If you live in NYC or plan to be here on Saturday, March 22 — come check out the hilarious show, WrestleSlamMania

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    1. MTA “Specialists” Offer Service With a Smile
    2. Spheres for Free Spirits
    3. Shoe Tossers Take to the Streets in Canada
    4. Holiday Street Art
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    Penny Ante Protest

    From Charlie Todd:

    Kids get detention for a harmless cafeteria prank involving paying with pennies!

    Punished After Buying Lunch With Pennies
    29 N.J. Eighth-Graders Get 2 Days Detention After Forking Over Nearly 6,000 Coins
    by Christine Sloan
    wcbstv.com
    March 1, 2008

    pennies-01_www-200.jpgReadington Township, N.J. “• Got pennies! It’s plastered on their shirts and these eighth graders wear it proudly because on Thursday they pulled a prank at the Readington Middle School, paying for their lunches entirely in pennies.

    “At first it started out as a joke, then everyone else started saying we’re protesting against like how short our lunch is,” student Alyssa Concannon said.

    Several lunch ladies who had to do the counting didn’t think it was funny, even though some of the students put the coins in rolls. They’re not authorized to put in their two cents but school officials say they felt disrespected and other students didn’t get to eat lunch.

    “There are ways to express yourself that are not disruptive to other kids and disrespectful to staff,” said Readington Superintendent of Schools Dr. Jorden Schiff.

    Eighth grader Jenny Hunt said in hindsight, the prank may have been a bad idea.

    “Maybe we should have thought before we did it,” Hunt said. Continue reading “Penny Ante Protest”

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