The Best Buy Improv Everwhere Event.

[yendi]

An account of what happens when dozens of people dress up in blue shirts and khaki pants and go hang out at Best Buy.

Comments

[tattermuffin.livejournal.com]

Another came up to me and said, "Let me guess, you're waiting on your friend? Good answer." I guess at that point he had heard that answer more than a few times.


Hee!

[muse0fire.livejournal.com]

Guerrilla Theatre :-) Thanks for posting - very amusing!

[mere-bystander.livejournal.com]

OMG! That must have been hilarious! (Makes me wish I lived in NYC so I could participate...)

[slipjig.livejournal.com]

The Improv Everywhere folks do welcome groups outside NYC who wish to carry out pranks in their name. Check out their message boards for more info.

[kaine-maxwell.livejournal.com]

Been to that BB. Love the reactions.

[dindin.livejournal.com]

"You're instigating our shirts!"

[yendi]

And we all know how painful that can be.

[sarahwilder.livejournal.com]

My favorite lines from one of those videos:

"You have to leave."
"Why? Did I do something wrong?"
"There's just too many of you guys here."
"What- Asians?"

[jeff-morris.livejournal.com]

The comments are even funnier. Obviously anarchy has no place in humor, which is serious business.

JSM

[ldy.livejournal.com]

This is brilliant. I am in lurve!

My dream is to get a group of people to break into a big flashy song and dance routine in the middle of a busy supermarket.

Someday, it will happen.

[rollick.livejournal.com]

Man, that's just mesmerizing. Wish I'd actually been there to see it.

[emilytheslayer.livejournal.com]

Ok, I have a problem with this. I'd read the account a while back, and I honestly don't think it's funny. Mostly, it left me feeling like they were all wasting their time. Also, ok, yeah, the management said some funny, stupid things. But think about this: It's New York fuckin' city. There are a ton of people in a Best Buy, ie a very public, well-populated place, they are dressed alike and obviously working in concert, and management has no idea what's going on. Again, NYC, um, you know, where terrorist attacks happen sometimes? I think management had every right to freak out; they had no idea what these people were doing, and yeah, it was just a joke, but it could have been something much more sinister. And then these kids laugh about how freaked out and scared they made everyone after. Yup, that's funny. The only funny thing to me is how many customers mistook the group for actual employees, although again, they botched it by wearing the right color of shirts. To me it would have been a much funnier statement on how innatentive people can be if theyd gone into a Target with the blue shirts. As it is, they deliberately worked to confuse and deceive, and then laughed when it worked. That's not comedy, that's malicious.

[yendi]

I do see where you're coming from on this, and when I first saw the article, I thought I'd have a similar reaction. Had they mislead via out-and-out lies (i.e., pretended to be employed there), or attempted to cause harm to Best Buy's business (offer inaccurate help, etc), I'd be appalled. Had they fucked with the employees and tried to prevent them from doing their jobs, I'd also be upset.

But they just went for a passive amusement, essentially deceiving folks without telling an actual lie. And since they didn't converge en masse on the store, I don't really see that same sense of threat. *shrug*

That said, I don't disagree that going for the Target color scheme in a Best Buy (or vice versa) would have been something really interesting to watch or read about.

[allroads.livejournal.com]

I seem to give off an "I work here" vibe. So it doesn't matter that the color is, or if it's Best Buy, Target or Borders. As long as I'm wearing slacks and a dress shirt (mostly polos) I will get asked for help.

I do not think I am alone in this and think that even if they walked in to a Target wearing opposite colors such as sage green and grey slacks (which is what I wore today and got approached) they would be asked for help.

[maneaterlad.livejournal.com]

Personally, I don't get the joke. This doesn't seem funny to me. But then, I didn't get the whole flashmob thing either when that was going on. *shrug*

[ebon-hawk.livejournal.com]

what was the point of doing this?? *is confused*