Video Instructions for the 2015 ‘No Pants Subway Ride’
This weekend, James Cobalt will try to get people to take their pants off as fast as possible.
The Boston SOS member, who has been organizing the annual “No Pants Subway Ride” for more than half a decade, posted a video to YouTube on Friday to inform people planning to participate in this year’s event, on January 11, about the rules for the nearly nude extravaganza on public transit.
Instead of posting on-site instructions, and trying to assemble the large crowds that typically turn up for the annual gag, as they have in year’s past, Boston SOS created the quick tutorial.
The group said the point of the event isn’t to offend people by pulling off the pantsless ride; it’s to make the public laugh. “This is supposed to be funny, not offensive. So let’s have good clean fun,” Cobalt said.
So, what does Boston SOS suggest for 2015? “Full winter garb,” Cobalt says in the video. “Warm socks, a jacket, scarves, gloves, a hat and earmuffs, and pants—briefly.”
Oh, and three pairs of underwear, for the sake of “modesty.”
Cobalt also suggests bringing along some type of bag so participants can lug around their abandoned pants carelessly, as they ride the T bearing their legs.
The “No Pants Subway Ride” got its start in New York City in 2002, when members of Improv Everywhere took off their bottoms while riding a train through seven stops in the city. By 2008, the “prank” went viral, and started cropping up in other major cities across the country, including Boston.
“Today, the ‘No Pants Subway Ride’ is performed in over 50 cities around the world,” Cobalt says in the video tutorial.
So far, 2,000 people have been invited via a Facebook to take part in the “No Pants” ride, and more than 700 confirmed they would attend.
The group will meet at Pemberton Square, near Government Center, as referenced on the map in the video, before they are assigned a train line, train car, and stop to begin their adventure. The event will be followed by a “Sans-Pants” after party.
