This article was modified on Monday, Oct. 19 to correct the title of Kara Larson.
The MP3 Experiment took over UNC’s Polk Place on Thursday afternoon, causing much surprise and hilarity for those walking by.
And even those involved did not know what would be asked of them. Only Charlie Todd, founder of Improv Everywhere and a UNC alumnus, knew what the MP3 held, as he was asked to create it.
But the MP3 event wasn’t the only situation he has created to ask people to behave strangely in public.
How the event came about:
Kara Larson, director of marketing and public relations for the Office of the Executive
Director for the Arts, said they have trouble reaching a large group of students with some of their traditional performances.
“Not everyone can buy tickets,” Larson said. “We wanted to engage and involve more students.”
The event was officially sponsored and commissioned by UNC’s Office of the Executive Director for the Arts, who have included videos of the experiment on their Web site.
How MP3 events started
The first MP3 event took place in 2004 after Todd noticed that most subway riders were listening to their iPods.
“I thought it would be cool if everyone could listen to the same song at the same time,” Todd said. “Like, if everyone started listening to ‘Hey Jude’ and people started singing out loud gradually. Eventually I thought it would be cool to make an original MP3 with instructions.”
At his first event, people played on an empty stage while listening to their MP3. He then started moving the events into more public areas such as Central Park in New York City.
“In general, there is no noise at all,” Todd said. “I like creating that eerie effect for bystanders.”
Why the MP3 event?
“It gives people a story to tell,” Todd said. “I want the participants to have a great time and I want people walking by to say ‘I wish I heard of this!’”
Todd said he wants students to remember that it’s OK to do something silly every now and then and to let down their guard occasionally.
“I want students to interact with their environment in a different way,” Todd said. “A public space can be for comedy and art.”
Improv Everywhere’s start
Todd said that one night he went out with a former UNC friend who told him that he looked like Ben Folds. As a joke, Todd sat and drank beer alone for a little while until his friend came up to him and said, “Oh, my God! It’s Ben Folds!”
“Girls talked to me for three hours. I got free drinks, and I took photos with people,” Todd said.
Improv Everywhere started as a way to give everyone a story to tell. At first, his Web site was dedicated to weird performances for friends and family, but it eventually reached a wider audience.
Pantsless subway rides
The pantsless subway event first occurred when six of Todd’s friends got on a subway in just their underwear. One person would join at every stop. At later events, as many as 1,200 people rode the subway in their underwear.
Larson, who is from New York, provided insight into the reactions of the confused New Yorkers.
“People in New York pride themselves in not reacting to absolutely ridiculous things,” Larson said. “They take in what’s going on and they go right back to what they were doing.”
Pranks on UNC
In 2002, Todd got a table in Polk Place with a sign that said “Free Mixed Drinks” and covered it with cups of water made to look like alcohol.
Todd said no one even seemed to notice there was no alcohol in the drinks, but some people did comment that the drinks weren’t strong enough. An administrator also walked by and expressed disapproval to Todd.
Eager participants
“At first I had to beg my friends to participate,” Todd said.
But he eventually had the problem of too many people participating. For one event, about 2,000 people showed up.
He brought 600 inflatable baseball bats and hammers to his last MP3 event, but more than 600 people showed up, meaning some had to do without the props.
Now he has people bring their own materials.
Getting in trouble
Todd described one of the rare times that he got in trouble: he hosted a fake U2 concert on the roof of his apartment building.
A real U2 concert was occurring that night at Madison Square Garden. Todd dressed up five of his friends, who were also musicians, as the famous band and got them to play on the rooftop.
He said people walking to the concert got really excited and some thought the band was actually on the roof.
The concert was too loud, however, and the police stopped the performance.
Contact the Arts Editor at artsdesk@unc.edu.
