Causing a Scene

Causing a Scene: Extraordinary Pranks in Ordinary Places with Improv Everywhere is an extremely fun book that tells the story of some of Improv Everywhere's pranks. If you've never heard of Improv Everywhere, you should go search for them on YouTube. One you start watching, you won't be able to stop. Some of the pranks are simple and silly while others will make you wonder at the effort and organization that had to have gone into them.

Perhaps one of the best known pranks, and the one I first saw, is the Grand Central Freeze. In it, over 200 of the "agents" froze in various positions in the middle of Grand Central Station and stayed there for 5 minutes. Its amazing to see the dedication of the agents because I know that I would never be able to freeze with all those people walking around and looking at me. The end is always great because everyone simply unfreezes and goes about their business as if nothing strange happened. This is how all of the pranks work; no one ever acknowledges that something out of the ordinary has just occured.

I won't explain the other pranks because it would take forever, but the No Pants Subway ride is a popular one that has spread to numerous other cities. The mp3 experiment is one of my personal favorites and one that I would love to participate in. Having watched the videos first, it was great to read how the missions came together, but it would be just as enjoyable to read about them first and then get to see how everything turned out.

3.5/5 Stars