The shared experience of absurdity | Charlie Todd

Translator: Marta Ruiz Limas Reviewer: Guillem Belmar

Vaig crear Improv Everywhere ara farà un 10 anys

I started Improv Everywhere about 10 years ago

when I moved to New York City with an interest in acting and comedy.

quan em vaig instal·lar a Nova York principalment pel teatre i la comèdia.

Because I was new to the city, I didn't have access to a stage,

Com era nou a la ciutat, no tenia accés als escenaris,

so I decided to create my own in public places.

per això vaig decidir actuar en llocs públics.

El primer projecte que veurem ara

So the first project we're going to take a look at

és el primer "Passeig Sense Pantalons al Metro"

is the very first No Pants Subway Ride.

Això és durant el gener de 2002.

Now, this took place in January of 2002.

I aquesta dona és l'estrella del video.

And this woman is the star of the video.

No sap que està sent filmada

She doesn't know she's being filmed.

amb càmera oculta.

She's being filmed with a hidden camera.

Estem al metro 6 a Nova York.

This is on the 6 train in New York City.

És la primera parada de la línia.

And this is the first stop along the line.

Aquests són dos nois danesos

These are two Danish guys

who come in and sit down next to the hidden camera.

que entren i s'asseuen al costat de la càmera oculta.

I aquell sóc jo amb una jaqueta marró.

And that's me right there in a brown coat.

A fora estem a sota 0º.

It's about 30 degrees outside.

I'm wearing a hat. I'm wearing a scarf.

Porto un barret. Porto una bufanda.

I la noia acaba de notar la meva presència.

And the girl's going to notice me right here.

(Riures)

(Laughter)

And as you'll see now, I'm not wearing pants.

Com podeu veure, no porto pantalons.

(Laughter)

(Riures)

Arribats a aquest punt,

At this point --

ella se n'ha adonat,

at this point she's noticed me,

però a Nova York hi ha gent estranya a qualsevol vagó.

but in New York there's weirdos on any given train car.

Si només n'hi ha un, no és tan estrany.

One person's not that unusual.

I torna a llegir el llibre, que desafortunadament es titula "Violació".

She goes back to reading her book, which is unfortunately titled "Rape."

(Riures)

(Laughter)

Ha notat una cosa estranya,

So she's noticed the unusual thing, but she's gone back to her normal life.

però torna a fer vida normal.

Now, in the meantime, I have six friends

Mentrestant, jo tinc sis amics

who are waiting at the next six consecutive stops

esperant a les sis parades consecutives següents amb roba interior, clar.

in their underwear as well.

They're going to be entering this car one by one.

Aniran entrant un per un.

Actuarem com si no ens coneixessim.

We'll act as though we don't know each other.

And we'll act as if it's just an unfortunate mistake we've made,

I farem com si haver-nos descuidat els pantalons

forgetting our pants on this cold January day.

fos un error desafortunat en aquest dia gèlid de gener.

(Laughter)

(Riures)

(Laughter continues)

Arribats a aquest punt,

So at this point,

she decides to put the rape book away.

decideix apartar el llibre de la violació a un costat.

(Riures)

(Laughter)

I decideix estar una mica més atenta al seu voltant.

And she decides to be a little bit more aware of her surroundings.

In the meantime, the two Danish guys to the left of the camera,

Mentrestant, els dos danesos, a l'esquerra de la càmera,

s'estan partint la caixa.

they're cracking up.

They think this is the funniest thing they've ever seen before.

Pensen que és la cosa més divertida que han vist mai.

Ara mireu com se'ls mira ella.

And watch her make eye contact with them right about now.

(Laughter)

(Riures)

M'encanta aquest moment en el video,

And I love that moment in this video,

perque abans de que sigués una experiència compartida,

because before it became a shared experience,

it was something that was maybe a little bit scary,

era una cosa que potser feia una mica de por,

or something that was at least confusing to her.

o com a mínim era confús.

Però s'ha convertit en una experiència compartida,

And then, once it became a shared experience,

divertida i de la qual podrà riure's.

it was funny and something that she could laugh at.

El tren està a punt de parar

So the train is now pulling into the third stop along the 6 line.

a la tercera parada de la linia 6.

(Laughter)

(Riures)

El video no ho mostra tot.

So the video won't show everything.

Això es repeteix en quatre parades més.

This goes on for another four stops.

Un total de set nois entren anònimament amb roba interior.

A total of seven guys enter anonymously in their underwear.

At the eighth stop, a girl came in with a giant duffel bag

A la vuitena parada, una noia ve amb una bossa gegant

anunciant que té pantalons rebaixats a un dòlar

and announced she had pants for sale for a dollar --

like you might sell batteries or candy on the train.

- com si venguessis encenedors o xuxeries -

I amb tota la naturalitat del món comprem uns pantalons, ens els posem

We all very matter-of-factly bought a pair of pants, put them on

i diem: "Gràcies. És exactament el que necessitava avui".

and said, "Thank you. That's exactly what I needed today,"

and then exited without revealing what had happened

I sense donar-hi molta importància,

marxem en direccions diferents.

and went in all different directions.

(Applause)

(Aplaudiments)

Gràcies.

Thank you.

So that's a still from the video there.

Això és un fotograma del video.

And I love that girl's reaction so much.

M'encanta la reacció de la noia.

And watching that videotape later that day

Mirant la gravació més tard aquell dia

inspired me to keep doing what I do.

em va inspirar per continuar fent el que estic fent.

Realment, un dels objectius d'Improv Everywhere

And really one of the points of Improv Everywhere

is to cause a scene in a public place

és crear una escena en un lloc públic,

that is a positive experience for other people.

una experiència positiva per altra gent.

It's a prank, but it's a prank that gives somebody a great story to tell.

És una broma, però, que dòna a algú una bona història per explicar.

I la seva reacció em va inspirar

And her reaction inspired me

to do a second annual No Pants Subway Ride.

a fer el segon "Passeig Sense Pantalons al Metro".

And we've continued to do it every year.

I vam continuar fent-ho cada any.

This January, we did the 10th annual No Pants Subway Ride

Aquest gener, vam fer el desè "Passeig Sense Pantalons al Metro" anual

on un grup divers de 3.500 persones

where a diverse group of 3,500 people

rode the train in their underwear in New York --

passejaven pel metro amb roba interior a Nova York

pràcticament a cada línia de la ciutat.

almost every single train line in the city.

I també 50 ciutats més d'arreu del món

And also in 50 other cities around the world,

van participar-hi.

people participated.

(Laughter)

(Riures)

As I started taking improv class at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater

Quan vaig començar a fer classes d'improvització al Teatre Upright Citizens Brigade,

i vaig conèixer d'altra gent creative, artistes i comediants,

and meeting other creative people and other performers and comedians,

vaig acumular una llista de correus

I started amassing a mailing list of people

de gent que volia participar en aquests projectes.

who wanted to do these types of projects.

Així que podia fer projectes a més gran escala.

So I could do more large-scale projects.

Bé, un dia mentre caminava per Union Square,

Well, one day I was walking through Union Square,

vaig veure aquest edifici,

and I saw this building, which had just been built in 2005.

construit al 2005.

Hi havia una noia a la finestra i estava ballant.

There was a girl in one of the windows and she was dancing.

Va ser molt peculiar,

It was very peculiar, because it was dark out,

perque era fosc, però ella tenia la llum engegada,

but she was backlit with florescent lighting.

estava molt posada en la representació,

She was very much onstage

i no vaig poder advertir per què estava fent allò.

and I couldn't figure out why she was doing it.

Després de 15 segons la seva amiga va aparèixer,

After about 15 seconds, her friend appeared --

- havia estat amagada darrere una pantalla -

she had been hiding behind a display.

van riure, van abraçar-se i van marxar.

They laughed, hugged each other and ran away.

Semblava com si l'haguessin desafiat a fer-ho.

Maybe she had been dared to do this.

Això em va inspirar.

So I got inspired by that.

Looking at the entire facade -- there were 70 total windows --

Mirant tota la façana - on hi havia un total de 70 finestres -

vaig saber el que havia de fer.

and I knew what I had to do.

(Riures)

(Laughter)

So this project is called Look Up More.

Aquest projecte s'anomena "Segueix buscant". Havia 70 actors vestits de negre.

We had 70 actors dress in black.

No estàvem autoritzats a fer-ho.

This was completely unauthorized.

We didn't let the stores know we were coming.

No vam dir a les botigues que aniríem.

And I stood in the park giving signals.

Jo vaig quedar-me al parc fent senyals.

The first signal was for everybody to hold up these four-foot tall letters

La primera senyal era per sostenir aquestes lletres gegants

que deien "Look Up More" ("Segueix buscant"),

that spelled out "Look Up More,"

el nom del projecte.

the name of the project.

The second signal was for everybody to do jumping jacks together.

La segona senyal era per que saltessin tots alhora.

Ara veureu com comencen.

You'll see that start right here.

(Laughter)

(Riures)

And then we had dancing. We had everyone dance.

Després ballem. Ballem tots.

Després fem solos, on només una persona balla,

And then we had dance solos

where only one person would dance and everybody would point to them.

i tothom assenyala aquella persona.

(Riures)

(Laughter)

Més tard vaig donar una nova senyal,

So then I gave a new hand signal,

que senyalava el pròxim solista avall al costat de Forever 21,

which signaled the next soloist down below in Forever 21,

i es va posar a ballar.

and he danced.

Va haver-hi més activitats.

There were several other activities.

Vam tenir gent saltant amunt i avall,

We had people jumping up and down, people dropping to the ground.

gent tirant-se al terra.

And I was standing just anonymously in a sweatshirt,

I jo estava allà dret, un personatge anònim amb sudadera,

posant la mà dintre i fora d'un contenidor de basura

putting my hand on and off of a trashcan to signal the advancement.

per dirigir l'espectacle.

And because it was in Union Square Park, right by a subway station,

I com es va fer a Union Square Park, just al costat del metro,

hi havia centenars de persones al final

there were hundreds of people by the end who stopped and looked up

que es paraven i alçaven el cap

and watched what we were doing.

per veure què estàvem fent.

There's a better photo of it.

Aquí hi ha una foto més bona.

So that particular event was inspired by a moment

Aquest esdeveniment particular

Va sorgir d'un moment

that I happened to stumble upon.

que vaig passar per casualitat.

The next project I want to show

El següent projecte

was given to me in an email from a stranger.

arriba d'un correu elecrònic d'un desconegut.

A high school kid in Texas wrote me in 2006

Em va escriure un noi de secundària de Texas al 2006

and said, "You should get as many people as possible

i em va dir: "Hauries de reunir tanta gent com sigui possible

to put on blue polo shirts and khaki pants

amb polo blau i pantalons caqui

and go into a Best Buy and stand around."

i donar voltes per Best Buy".

(Laughter)

(Riures)

(Applause)

(Aplaudiments)

So I wrote this high school kid back immediately

Vaig respondre al noi al moment

dient-li: "Sí, tens tota la raó.

and I said, "Yes, you are correct.

Crec que ho faré aquest cap de setmana. Gràcies".

I think I'll try to do that this weekend. Thank you."

Aquest és el video.

So here's the video.

De nou, això és al 2005.

So again, this is 2005.

Aquest és el Best Buy de Nova York.

This is the Best Buy in New York City.

We had about 80 people show up to participate,

Van participar unes 80 persones

van entrar una per una.

entering one by one.

There was an eight-year-old girl, a 10-year-old girl.

Hi havia una nena de 8 anys, una de 10.

Va participar-hi també un home gran

There was also a 65-year-old man who participated.

de 65 anys.

So a very diverse group of people.

Un grup molt divers de gent.

(Laughter)

Els vaig dir: "No treballeu. No penqueu.

And I told people, "Don't work. Don't actually do work.

Però tampoc compreu.

But also, don't shop.

Just stand around and don't face products."

Simplement camineu i no mireu els productes".

Now you can see the regular employees

Podeu distingir als treballadors

by the ones that have the yellow tags on their shirt.

perquè tenen etiquetes grogues a les camises.

Tots els altres són actors nostres.

Everybody else is one of our actors.

(Laughter)

(Riures)

The lower-level employees thought it was very funny.

Als treballadors els va semblar molt divertit.

De fet, alguns van anar a buscar les seves càmeres i van tornar

Several of them went to go get their camera from the break room

per fer-se fotos amb nosaltres.

and took photos with us.

Molts feien bromes convidant-nos a carregar

A lot of them made jokes about trying to get us to go to the back

televisors pesats per als clients.

to get heavy television sets for customers.

Als gerents i guardies de seguretat, per altra banda,

The managers and the security guards, on the other hand,

no els va fer gens de gràcia.

did not find it particularly funny.

Mireu-los aquí.

You can see them in this footage.

Porten camises grogues o negres.

They're wearing either a yellow shirt or a black shirt.

And we were there probably 10 minutes

I feia uns 10 minuts que érem allà

before the managers decided to dial 911.

quan els gerents van trucar al 911.

(Riures)

(Laughter)

So they started running around

Van començar a afanyar-se

telling everybody the cops were coming, "Watch out, the cops are coming."

dient-nos a tots que venia la policia. "Atenció, que ve la policia".

And you can see the cops in this footage right here.

Aquí podeu veure els polis.

That's a cop wearing black right there, being filmed with a hidden camera.

Aquest n'és un vestit de negre, filmat per una càmera oculta.

Finalment, la policia va informar a la gerencia de Best Buy

Ultimately, the police had to inform Best Buy management

que, de fet, no era il·legal

that it was not, in fact, illegal to wear a blue polo shirt and khaki pants.

vestir polo blau i pantalons caqui.

(Riures)

(Laughter)

(Aplaudiments)

(Applause)

Gràcies.

Thank you.

(Applause)

(Aplaudiments)

So we had been there for 20 minutes; we were happy to exit the store.

Vam estar allà 20 minuts; ens va alegrar sortir de la botiga.

One thing the managers were trying to do was to track down our cameras.

Els gerents van estar intentant

localitzar les nostres càmeres

And they caught a couple of my guys who had hidden cameras in duffel bags.

i van atrapar un parell de nois que tenien càmeres ocultes dintre unes bosses.

Pero no van atrapar al càmera

But the one camera guy they never caught

que va anar amb una cinta en blanc

was the guy that went in just with a blank tape

a la secció de càmeres de Best Buy

and went over to the Best Buy camera department

i va posar la seva cinta a una de les càmeres

and just put his tape in one of their cameras

i va fer veure que la volia comprar.

and pretended to shop.

So I like that concept of using their own technology against them.

M'agrada la idea d'utilitzar la seva pròpia tecnologia en contra seva.

(Laughter)

(Riures)

I think our best projects are ones that are site-specific

Crec que els millors projectes se situen

en un lloc en particular per alguna raó.

and happen at a particular place for a reason.

Un matí estava agafant el metro.

And one morning, I was riding the subway.

Havia de fer transbord a la parada del carrer 53

I had to make a transfer at the 53rd St. stop

on hi ha aquestes dues escales gegants.

where there are these two giant escalators.

Al matí és un lloc molt depriment, molt ple de gent.

And it's a very depressing place to be in the morning, it's very crowded.

Per això vaig decidir fer-hi alguna cosa

So I decided to try and stage something

que el transformés en un lloc feliç per un matí.

that could make it as happy as possible for one morning.

Estem a l'hivern de 2009

So this was in the winter of 2009 -- 8:30 in the morning.

a les 8.30 del matí.

Hora punta del matí.

It's morning rush hour.

It's very cold outside.

A fora fa molt fred.

People are coming in from Queens,

Les persones venen de Queens

transferring from the E train to the 6 train.

i passen del tren E al 6.

And they're going up these giant escalators

Van cap a les escales gegants

de camí a la feina.

on their way to their jobs.

[Rob wants]

[to give you]

(Riures)

(Laughter)

[a high five!]

(Laughter)

[Get ready!]

(Laughter)

(Riures)

(Applause)

(Aplaudiments)

Gràcies.

Thank you.

So there's a photograph that illustrates it a little bit better.

Hi ha una foto que ho il·lustra millor.

He gave 2,000 high fives that day,

Va xocar la mà uns 2.000 cops aquell dia.

i es va rentar les mans abans i després

and he washed his hands before and afterward

i no va caure malalt.

and did not get sick.

Això també vam fer-ho sense permís

And that was done also without permission,

i a ningú li va importar.

although no one seemed to care.

Diria que en els últims anys

So I'd say over the years,

one of the most common criticisms I see of Improv Everywhere

la principal crítica que veig contra a Improv Everywhere

left anonymously on YouTube comments

ve de forma anònima en comentaris de YouTube:

is: "These people have too much time on their hands."

"Aquesta gent té massa temps lliure".

And you know, not everybody's going to like everything you do,

És lògic pensar que la nostra feina no agradarà a tothom,

and I've certainly developed a thick skin thanks to Internet comments,

i gràcies a Internet m'he fet una cuirassa

però això del temps sempre m'ha molestat,

but that one's always bothered me,

perque no tenim massa temps lliure.

because we don't have too much time on our hands.

Qui participa en events d'Improv Everywhere

The participants in Improv Everywhere events

té el mateix temps lliure que qualsevol altre persona

have just as much leisure time as any other New Yorkers,

només que a vegades escullen

they just occasionally choose to spend it in an unusual way.

passar-lo de manera diferent.

You know, every Saturday and Sunday,

Ja sabeu, cada dissabte i diumenge

hundreds of thousands of people each fall

centenars de milers de persones cada tardor

gather in football stadiums to watch games.

es reuneixen en estadis de futbol per veure partits.

I no he vist a ningú dir, veient un partit,

And I've never seen anybody comment, looking at a football game,

"Tota aquesta gent de les grades té massa temps lliure".

"All those people in the stands, they have too much time on their hands."

Per suposat que no és així.

And of course they don't.

És una manera perfecte de passar la tarda del cap de setmana

It's a perfectly wonderful way to spent a weekend afternoon,

mirar un partit de futbol en un estadi.

watching a football game in a stadium.

Però crec que també és perfectament vàlid

But I think it's also a perfectly valid way

passar la tarda gelant-se en un lloc amb 200 persones

to spend an afternoon freezing in place with 200 people

a la terminal Grand Central

in the Grand Central terminal

o disfrassar-se de 'caça-fantasmes'

or dressing up like a ghostbuster

and running through the New York Public Library.

i córrer per la Biblioteca Pública de Nova York.

(Laughter)

(Riures)

Or listening to the same MP3 as 3,000 other people

O escoltar la mateixa cançó que altres 3.000 persones

i ballar en silenci en un parc,

and dancing silently in a park,

or bursting into song in a grocery store

o fer sonar una cançó en un supermercat

as part of a spontaneous musical,

com a part d'un musical espontani,

or diving into the ocean in Coney Island wearing formal attire.

o ficar-se al mar de Coney Island amb roba formal.

Sabeu, de petits ens ensenyen a jugar

(Laughter)

You know, as kids, we're taught to play.

i mai ens han donat una raó per la qual hauríem de jugar.

And we're never given a reason why we should play.

Simplement acceptem que jugar és bo.

It's just acceptable that play is a good thing.

I crec que aquesta és la idea d'Improv Everywhere.

And I think that's sort of the point of Improv Everywhere.

It's that there is no point and that there doesn't have to be a point.

Que no té sentit; no n'ha de tenir, de sentit.

No cal cap raó.

We don't need a reason. As long as it's fun

Mentre sigui divertit.

and it seems like it's going to be a funny idea

I sembla que la idea sigui divertida,

and it seems like the people who witness it

i que la gent que ho veurà es divertirà,

will also have a fun time,

és suficient per nosaltres.

then that's enough for us.

And I think, as adults, we need to learn

Crec que com adults hem d'aprendre

that there's no right or wrong way to play.

que no hi ha maneres correctes o incorrectes de jugar.

Moltes gràcies.

Thank you very much.

(Applause)

(Aplaudiments)