» Guerilla Humour

OK, this happened almost two years ago, but I only just found it, and it’s hilarious!

I’m talking about “Improv Everywhere“’s visit to Best Buy in NYC.  Around 80 people were all alerted to participate in the mission, with simple instructions:

In order to participate you must arrive adhering to a very specific dress code:

1) Blue Polo Shirt. Short sleeved. Any brand. Preferably with no logo. As Close to Royal Blue as possible. As close to this exact shirt as possible.

2) Khaki Pants. Any shade of khaki is fine. No shorts.

3) Belt. Any belt is fine.

Other Instructions:

-If possible, please wear black shoes. This is not required, but please wear them if you have them.

For those of you who live on a different planet, this happens to be the same “uniform” worn by the salesdrones at Best Buy.

For some obscure reason, this cracks me up on so many levels.  The first, of course, is thinking about the head scratching the staff (especially management) must have been going through, for what was at the end of the day a bunch of people just standing around not posing any threat.

But it also makes me smile that a bunch of people in a city that has arguably been one of the hardest hit psychologically in recent years (9/11 anyone) came up with such a simple and harmless way to actually find something so simple to laugh about.

If the darkest moments in recent history have accomplished anything, it’s the reaction of so many to try to find something to laugh about so readily - especially something this harmless.

We live in a world that spends all its time wringing its hands in vicarious glee at the misfortunes of celebrities like Paris Hilton or Britney Spears, where it feels that only in seeing someone else in misery (or worse, helping the process along, a’la ‘Dr’ Phil)  can people feel better about themselves.  This sort of thing goes some way to reminding us all that there’s fun to be had out there that doesn’t involve putting someone else down.

Some killjoys on the IE site posted comments after the event criticizing the participants.  I hope that the participants read those comments and blew huge loud messy raspberries at the commenters.

Charlie Todd (Founder of Improv Everywhere), if you’re reading this: Nice job

Tags: best buy, charlie todd, guerilla humour, improv everywhere, new york city, nyc