The shared experience of absurdity | Charlie Todd

Prevoditelj: Katarina Smetko Recezent: Marija Marčetić

Pokrenuo sam Improv Everywhere prije desetak godina

I started Improv Everywhere about 10 years ago

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

kad sam se preselio u New York i zanimala me gluma i komedija.

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

Budući da sam bio nov u gradu, nisam imao pristup pozornici

so I decided to create my own in public places.

pa sam odlučio sam stvoriti svoju na javnim mjestima.

Prvi projekt koji ćemo pogledati

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

prva je Vožnja bez hlača u podzemnoj željeznici.

is the very first No Pants Subway Ride.

Ovo je bilo u siječnju 2002. godine.

Now, this took place in January of 2002.

Ova žena je zvijezda ove snimke.

And this woman is the star of the video.

Ne zna da je snimamo.

She doesn't know she's being filmed.

Snimamo je skrivenom kamerom.

She's being filmed with a hidden camera.

Ovo je u vlaku br. 6 u New Yorku.

This is on the 6 train in New York City.

Ovo je prva stanica na toj liniji.

And this is the first stop along the line.

Ovo su dva Danca

These are two Danish guys

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

koja su došla i sjela pokraj skrivene kamere.

Ovo sam ja, u smeđem kaputu.

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

Vani je temperatura oko nule.

It's about 30 degrees outside.

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

Ja nosim kapu i šal.

Djevojka će me upravo sada primijetiti.

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

(Smijeh)

(Laughter)

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

Kao što ćete sada vidjeti, ne nosim hlače.

(Laughter)

(Smijeh)

U ovom trenutku --

At this point --

u ovom me trenutku primijetila,

at this point she's noticed me,

ali u New Yorku ima čudaka u svakome vlaku.

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

Jedna osoba i nije toliko neuobičajena.

One person's not that unusual.

Dalje nastavlja čitati knjigu, koja se nažalost zove "Silovanje".

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

(Smijeh)

(Laughter)

Dakle, primijetila je nešto neobično,

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

ali vratila se svojem uobičajenom životu.

Now, in the meantime, I have six friends

U međuvremenu, šest mojih prijatelja

who are waiting at the next six consecutive stops

također u donjem rublju čeka na sljedećih šest stanica.

in their underwear as well.

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

Ulazit će u ovaj vagon jedan po jedan.

Ponašat ćemo se kao da se ne poznajemo.

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,

Ponašat ćemo se kao da smo slučajno napravili istu pogrešku,

forgetting our pants on this cold January day.

zaboravili obući hlače tog hladnog siječanjskog dana.

(Laughter)

(Smijeh)

(Laughter continues)

U ovom trenutku,

So at this point,

she decides to put the rape book away.

odlučuje odložiti knjigu o silovanju.

(Smijeh)

(Laughter)

Odlučuje bolje promotriti svoju okolinu.

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,

U međuvremenu dvojica Danaca s lijeve strane kamere

pucaju od smijeha.

they're cracking up.

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

Misle da je to nešto najsmješnije što su ikad vidjeli.

Pogledajte kako upravo sada uspostavlja kontakt očima s njima.

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

(Laughter)

(Smijeh)

Obožavam taj trenutak u ovoj snimci

And I love that moment in this video,

jer, prije nego što je to postalo zajedničko iskustvo,

because before it became a shared experience,

it was something that was maybe a little bit scary,

bilo je to nešto što je možda pomalo strašno

or something that was at least confusing to her.

ili nešto što ju je barem zbunjivalo.

No, kad je to postalo zajedničko iskustvo,

And then, once it became a shared experience,

bilo je smiješno i nešto čemu se mogla smijati.

it was funny and something that she could laugh at.

Vlak sada ulazi u

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

treću stanicu na liniji broj 6.

(Laughter)

(Smijeh)

Snimka neće prikazati sve.

So the video won't show everything.

Tako to ide još četiri stanice.

This goes on for another four stops.

Ukupno sedam dečkiju anonimno je ušlo u donjem rublju.

A total of seven guys enter anonymously in their underwear.

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

Na osmoj stanici ušla je djevojka s velikom torbom

i rekla da prodaje hlače po dolar,

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

like you might sell batteries or candy on the train.

kao što se prodaju baterije ili slatkiši u vlaku.

Svi smo ozbiljno kupili hlače, obukli ih

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

i rekli: "Hvala. Točno sam to trebao danas."

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

and then exited without revealing what had happened

i zatim smo izišli, a da nismo otkrili što se dogodilo

i razišli se u različitim smjerovima.

and went in all different directions.

(Applause)

(Pljesak)

Hvala.

Thank you.

So that's a still from the video there.

Ovo je isječak iz te snimke.

And I love that girl's reaction so much.

Odlična mi je reakcija te djevojke.

And watching that videotape later that day

Kad sam kasnije gledao tu snimku,

inspired me to keep doing what I do.

to me nadahnulo da se nastavim baviti time.

Jedna od poanti grupe Improv Everywhere

And really one of the points of Improv Everywhere

is to cause a scene in a public place

jest da napravimo scenu na javnom mjestu,

that is a positive experience for other people.

a da to bude pozitivno iskustvo za druge.

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

To je šala, ali takva koju će ljudi moći prepričavati.

Njezina me reakcija inspirirala

And her reaction inspired me

to do a second annual No Pants Subway Ride.

da organiziram drugu godišnju Vožnju bez hlača u podzemnoj željeznici.

And we've continued to do it every year.

Nastavili smo to raditi svake godine.

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

Ovog smo siječnja imali desetu Vožnju bez hlača u podzemnoj željeznici,

pri čemu se raznolika grupa od 3500 ljudi

where a diverse group of 3,500 people

rode the train in their underwear in New York --

vozila New Yorkom u donjem rublju

gotovo na svim linijama vlaka u gradu.

almost every single train line in the city.

U 50 drugih gradova u cijelom svijetu

And also in 50 other cities around the world,

ljudi su također sudjelovali.

people participated.

(Laughter)

(Smijeh)

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

Kad sam krenuo na satove iz improvizacije u kazalištu Upright Citizens Brigade

i počeo upoznavati kreativne ljude i druge izvođače i komičare,

and meeting other creative people and other performers and comedians,

počeo sam sastavljati popis mailova

I started amassing a mailing list of people

ljudi koji su željeli raditi na takvim projektima.

who wanted to do these types of projects.

Tako sam mogao organizirati veće projekte.

So I could do more large-scale projects.

Jednog sam dana prolazio Union Squareom

Well, one day I was walking through Union Square,

i vidio sam ovu zgradu,

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

izgrađenu 2005. godine.

U jednom od izloga stajala je jedna djevojka i plesala.

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

Bilo je to vrlo neobično

It was very peculiar, because it was dark out,

jer vani je bio mrak, a ona je bila obasjana fluorescentnim svjetlom

but she was backlit with florescent lighting.

i bila je kao na pozornici,

She was very much onstage

a ja nisam mogao zaključiti zašto to čini.

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

Nakon 15-ak sekundi pojavila se njezina prijateljica --

After about 15 seconds, her friend appeared --

skrivala se iza paravana --

she had been hiding behind a display.

i nasmijale su se, zagrlile i otrčale.

They laughed, hugged each other and ran away.

Mislim da se možda radilo o okladi.

Maybe she had been dared to do this.

To me inspiriralo.

So I got inspired by that.

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

Na cijeloj fasadi ima ukupno 70 prozora --

znao sam što mi je činiti.

and I knew what I had to do.

(Smijeh)

(Laughter)

So this project is called Look Up More.

Ovaj projekt zove se Više dižite pogled. Imali smo 10 glumaca odjevenih u crno.

We had 70 actors dress in black.

Nismo imali nikakvo odobrenje za ovo.

This was completely unauthorized.

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

Nismo obavijestili trgovine da dolazimo.

And I stood in the park giving signals.

Ja sam stajao u parku i davao signale.

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

Prvi signal bio je da svi podignu metar velika slova

i njima ispišu "Više dižite pogled" (Look Up More),

that spelled out "Look Up More,"

odnosno ime projekta.

the name of the project.

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

Drugi signal bio je da svi počnu skakati zajedno.

Sad ćete vidjeti kako to počinje.

You'll see that start right here.

(Laughter)

(Smijeh)

And then we had dancing. We had everyone dance.

Zatim smo imali plesanje. Svi su plesali.

Zatim smo imali plesne solo točke, gdje bi samo jedna osoba plesala

And then we had dance solos

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

i svi bi pokazivali prema njoj.

(Smijeh)

(Laughter)

Zatim sam dao novi signal rukom,

So then I gave a new hand signal,

koji je bio za idućeg solista u trgovini ispod

which signaled the next soloist down below in Forever 21,

i on je zaplesao.

and he danced.

Bilo je i nekoliko drugih aktivnosti.

There were several other activities.

Ljudi su skakali gore-dolje,

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

padali na pod.

And I was standing just anonymously in a sweatshirt,

A ja sam anonimno stajao u trenirci

i stavljao ruku na kantu za otpad i micao je s nje

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

kako bih signalizirao promjenu.

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

Budući da je to bilo na Union Squareu, odmah pored stanice podzemne željeznice,

na kraju su stotine ljudi

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

stale i podigle pogled

and watched what we were doing.

i gledale što radimo.

There's a better photo of it.

Evo bolje fotografije.

So that particular event was inspired by a moment

Za taj konkretan događaj

inspirirao me trenutak

that I happened to stumble upon.

na koji sam slučajno naletio.

The next project I want to show

Sljedeći projekt koji vam želim pokazati

was given to me in an email from a stranger.

nepoznata mi je osoba predložila mailom.

A high school kid in Texas wrote me in 2006

Srednjoškolac iz Teksasa 2006. mi je godine

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

napisao: "Trebaš skupiti što više ljudi

to put on blue polo shirts and khaki pants

koji će obući plavu polo majicu i kaki hlače,

and go into a Best Buy and stand around."

otići u trgovinu Best Buy i stajati uokolo."

(Laughter)

(Smijeh)

(Applause)

(Pljesak)

So I wrote this high school kid back immediately

Odmah sam odgovorio tom klincu

i rekao: "Da, u pravu si.

and I said, "Yes, you are correct.

Mislim da ćemo to pokušati ovaj vikend. Hvala ti."

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

Evo snimke.

So here's the video.

Ovo je 2005. godina.

So again, this is 2005.

Ovo je trgovina Best Buy u New Yorku.

This is the Best Buy in New York City.

We had about 80 people show up to participate,

Oko 80 judi došlo je kako bi sudjelovalo

i ulazili su jedan po jedan.

entering one by one.

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

Bila je jedna djevojčica od osam godina i jedna od deset.

Čak je i jedan 65-godišnjak

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

sudjelovao.

So a very diverse group of people.

Dakle, vrlo raznolika grupa ljudi.

(Laughter)

Rekao sam ljudima: "Nemojte raditi. Nemojte ništa raditi.

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

Ali nemojte ni kupovati.

But also, don't shop.

Just stand around and don't face products."

Samo stojte uokolo i nemojte gledati proizvode."

Now you can see the regular employees

Prave zaposlenike možete razlikovati

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

po tome što imaju žute pločice s imenom na majicama.

Svi drugi su naši glumci.

Everybody else is one of our actors.

(Laughter)

(Smijeh)

The lower-level employees thought it was very funny.

Zaposlenicima na nižim razinama to je bilo vrlo smiješno.

Nekoliko ih je čak otišlo po svoje fotoaparate u sobu za odmor

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

i fotografirali su se s nama.

and took photos with us.

Mnogi su se šalili kako će nas odvesti u skladište

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

da kupcima nosimo teške televizore.

to get heavy television sets for customers.

Upraviteljima i zaštitarima, s druge strane,

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

to nije bilo naročito smiješno.

did not find it particularly funny.

Sad ih vidite na snimci.

You can see them in this footage.

Nose ili žutu ili crnu majicu.

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

And we were there probably 10 minutes

Bili smo ondje desetak minuta

before the managers decided to dial 911.

prije nego su upravitelji odlučili nazvati 911.

(Smijeh)

(Laughter)

So they started running around

Počeli su trčati uokolo

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

i svima govoriti da dolazi policija i da paze, jer dolazi policija.

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

Policajce vidite ovdje na snimci.

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

Ovo je policajac u crnom, snimili smo ga skrivenom kamerom.

Na kraju je policija morala obavijestiti upravu Best Buya

Ultimately, the police had to inform Best Buy management

da, zapravo, nije protuzakonito

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

nositi plavu polo majicu i kaki hlače.

(Smijeh)

(Laughter)

(Pljesak)

(Applause)

Hvala.

Thank you.

(Applause)

(Pljesak)

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

Bili smo ondje 20 minuta i rado smo izišli iz trgovine.

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

Jedna od stvari koje su upravitelji pokušali učiniti

jest otkriti naše kamere.

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

Uhvatili su nekoliko mojih koji su imali skrivene kamere u torbama.

No, jedini snimatelj kojega nisu uspjeli uhvatiti

But the one camera guy they never caught

bio je onaj koji je ušao s praznom videovrpcom

was the guy that went in just with a blank tape

i otišao u njihov odjel s kamerama,

and went over to the Best Buy camera department

stavio vrpcu u jednu od njihovih kamera

and just put his tape in one of their cameras

i pravio se da kupuje.

and pretended to shop.

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

Sviđa mi se ideja da koristimo njihovu vlastitu tehnologiju protiv njih.

(Laughter)

(Smijeh)

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

Mislim da su naši najbolji projekti oni koji su vezani za lokaciju

i s razlogom se događaju na nekom mjestu.

and happen at a particular place for a reason.

Jednog sam se jutra vozio podzemnom željeznicom.

And one morning, I was riding the subway.

Morao sam promijeniti vlak na stanici kod 53. ulice,

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

gdje postoje dvoje ogromne pokretne stepenice.

where there are these two giant escalators.

To je vrlo depresivno mjesto ujutro, velika je gužva.

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

Odlučio sam pokušati izvesti nešto

So I decided to try and stage something

što bi jedno jutro razvedrilo koliko god je moguće.

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

Ovo je bilo u zimu 2009. godine,

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

u 8:30 ujutro.

Jutarnja je gužva.

It's morning rush hour.

It's very cold outside.

Vani je vrlo hladno.

People are coming in from Queens,

Ljudi ulaze iz Queensa,

transferring from the E train to the 6 train.

presjedaju s vlaka E na vlak 6.

And they're going up these giant escalators

Voze se tim ogromnim pokretnim stepenicama

na putu na posao.

on their way to their jobs.

[Rob wants]

[to give you]

(Smijeh)

(Laughter)

[a high five!]

(Laughter)

[Get ready!]

(Laughter)

(Smijeh)

(Applause)

(Pljesak)

Hvala.

Thank you.

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

Evo fotografije koja to malo bolje ilustrira.

He gave 2,000 high fives that day,

Tog je dana 2000 puta ljudima dao 5

i oprao je ruke prije i poslije

and he washed his hands before and afterward

i nije se razbolio.

and did not get sick.

I to je učinjeno bez dopuštenja,

And that was done also without permission,

ali čini se da za to nikoga nije bilo briga.

although no one seemed to care.

Rekao bih da je svih ovih godina

So I'd say over the years,

one of the most common criticisms I see of Improv Everywhere

jedna od najčešćih kritika koje Improv Everywhere

left anonymously on YouTube comments

anonimno dobiva u komentarima na You Tubeu:

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

"Ovi ljudi imaju previše slobodnog vremena."

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

Znate, neće se svima svidjeti sve što činite.

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

Ja već imam debelu kožu od svih komentara na internetu,

ali taj me uvijek smetao

but that one's always bothered me,

jer mi nemamo previše slobodnog vremena.

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

Sudionici na događajima Improv Everywhere

The participants in Improv Everywhere events

imaju jednako mnogo slobodnog vremena kao i ostali Njujorčani,

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

samo ga ponekad odluče

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

provesti na neobičan način.

You know, every Saturday and Sunday,

Znate, svake subote i nedjelje

hundreds of thousands of people each fall

stotine tisuća ljudi svake se jeseni

gather in football stadiums to watch games.

okuplja na stadionima kako bi gledali utakmice.

Nikad nisam vidio da je netko gledao utakmicu i komentirao:

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

"Svi ti ljudi na tribinama imaju previše slobodnog vremena."

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

Naravno da nemaju.

And of course they don't.

To je potpuno prekrasan način za provesti popodne preko vikenda,

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

gledajući utakmicu na stadionu.

watching a football game in a stadium.

Ali mislim da je i potpuno prihvatljiv način

But I think it's also a perfectly valid way

za provesti popodne odjednom zastati, s 200 drugih ljudi,

to spend an afternoon freezing in place with 200 people

na terminalu kolodvora Grand Central

in the Grand Central terminal

ili obući se kao istjerivač duhova

or dressing up like a ghostbuster

and running through the New York Public Library.

i protrčati njujorškom gradskom knjižnicom.

(Laughter)

(Smijeh)

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

Ili slušati isti MP3 kao i 3000 drugih ljudi

i tiho plesati u parku,

and dancing silently in a park,

or bursting into song in a grocery store

ili odjednom početi pjevati u trgovini,

as part of a spontaneous musical,

kao dio spontanog mjuzikla,

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

ili zaroniti u ocean kod Coney Islanda u formalnoj odjeći.

Znate, dok smo djeca, uče nas da se igramo.

(Laughter)

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

Nikad nam ne kažu razlog zašto da se igramo.

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

Samo je prihvaćeno da je igranje dobro.

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

Mislim da je to poanta grupe 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.

A to je da poante nema, a ne mora je ni biti.

Ne treba nam razlog.

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

Dokle god je zabavno

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

i čini se da će biti smiješna ideja

and it seems like the people who witness it

i čini se da će i ljudima koji gledaju također biti zabavno,

will also have a fun time,

nama je to dovoljno.

then that's enough for us.

And I think, as adults, we need to learn

Mislim da mi, kao odrasli, trebamo naučiti

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

da ne postoji pravi ili krivi način za igru.

Hvala vam puno.

Thank you very much.

(Applause)

(Pljesak)