The shared experience of absurdity | Charlie Todd

Translator: Erika Vojtkova Reviewer: Martin Francis Gilbert Máik

Improv Everywhere som odštartoval asi pred 10 rokmi,

I started Improv Everywhere about 10 years ago

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

keď som sa presťahoval do New Yorku so záujmom o hranie a komédiu.

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

Pretože som bol v meste nový, nemal som prístup k pódiu,

so I decided to create my own in public places.

takže som sa rozhodol vytvoriť si vlastné na verejných miestach.

Takže prvý projekt, na ktorý sa pozrieme,

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

je úplne prvá "Jazda metrom bez nohavíc."

is the very first No Pants Subway Ride.

Odohráva sa to v januári v roku 2002.

Now, this took place in January of 2002.

A táto žena je hlavnou hviezdou videa.

And this woman is the star of the video.

Nevie o tom, že je natáčaná.

She doesn't know she's being filmed.

Natáča ju skrytá kamera.

She's being filmed with a hidden camera.

Je to vo vlaku 6 v New Yorku.

This is on the 6 train in New York City.

A toto je prvá zastávka na trati.

And this is the first stop along the line.

Toto sú dvaja Dáni,

These are two Danish guys

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

ktorí sa posadili vedľa skrytej kamery.

A ten v tom hnedom kabáte napravo som ja.

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

Vonku je teplota pod nulou.

It's about 30 degrees outside.

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

Mám na sebe čiapku. Mám šál.

A to dievča si ma hneď všimne.

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

(Smiech)

(Laughter)

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

Ako uvidíte, nemám na sebe nohavice.

(Laughter)

(Smiech)

Takže v tomto okamihu -

At this point --

v tomto okamihu si ma všimla,

at this point she's noticed me,

ale v New Yorku je v každom vozni nejaký exot.

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

Jedna osoba nie je taká neobvyklá.

One person's not that unusual.

Vráti sa späť k čítaniu knihy, ktorá má nešťastný názov "Znásilnenie."

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

(Smiech)

(Laughter)

Takže si všimla neobvyklú vec,

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

ale vrátila sa k svojmu normálnemu životu.

Now, in the meantime, I have six friends

Medzitým šesť mojich kamarátov,

who are waiting at the next six consecutive stops

taktiež v spodkoch, čaká na ďalších šiestich za sebou nasledujúcich zastávkach.

in their underwear as well.

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

Budú do tohto vlaku nastupovať jeden za druhým.

Všetci sa budeme tváriť, že sa navzájom nepoznáme.

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,

A budeme predstierať, že je to nešťastná náhoda,

forgetting our pants on this cold January day.

že sme si v takýto chladný januárový deň zabudli nohavice.

(Laughter)

(Smiech)

(Laughter continues)

Takže, v tomto momente

So at this point,

she decides to put the rape book away.

sa rozhodne odložiť knihu o znásilnení.

(Smiech)

(Laughter)

A rozhodne sa začať viac vnímať svoje okolie.

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,

Medzitým tých dvoch Dánov naľavo od kamery

ide roztrhať od smiechu.

they're cracking up.

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

Je to pre nich tá najsmiešnejšia vec, akú kedy videli.

A sledujte jej očný kontakt s nimi, hneď teraz.

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

(Laughter)

(Smiech)

Tento moment vo videu milujem,

And I love that moment in this video,

pretože predtým, ako sa to stalo zdieľaným zážitkom,

because before it became a shared experience,

it was something that was maybe a little bit scary,

bolo to niečo, čo bolo možno trochu desivé,

or something that was at least confusing to her.

alebo niečo, čo bolo pre ňu trochu mätúce.

A keď sa to stalo zdieľaným zážitkom,

And then, once it became a shared experience,

bolo to niečo smiešne, a niečo, na čom sa mohla zasmiať.

it was funny and something that she could laugh at.

Vlak teraz vchádza do svojej

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

tretej zastávky na trase linky 6.

(Laughter)

(Smiech)

Na videu nie je vidno všetko.

So the video won't show everything.

Toto sa deje ďalšie štyri zastávky.

This goes on for another four stops.

Celkovo nastúpi anonymne sedem chlapov v spodkoch.

A total of seven guys enter anonymously in their underwear.

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

Na ôsmej zastávke nastúpilo dievča s obrovskou športovou taškou

a zahlásilo, že má na predaj nohavice za dolár -

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

like you might sell batteries or candy on the train.

ako keď sa vo vlaku predávajú baterky alebo sladkosti.

Všetci sme si veľmi vecne kúpili nohavice, obliekli

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

a povedali, "Ďakujem. Presne to som dnes potreboval,"

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

and then exited without revealing what had happened

a potom odišli bez toho, aby sme vysvetlili, čo sa stalo

a rozišli sa na rôzne strany.

and went in all different directions.

(Applause)

(Potlesk)

Ďakujem.

Thank you.

So that's a still from the video there.

Takže toto je fotka z toho videa.

And I love that girl's reaction so much.

Strašne sa mi páči reakcia toho dievčaťa.

And watching that videotape later that day

Keď som tú videopásku sledoval neskôr v ten deň,

inspired me to keep doing what I do.

inšpirovalo ma to pokračovať v takýchto veciach.

A jedným z hlavných zmyslov Improv Everywhere

And really one of the points of Improv Everywhere

is to cause a scene in a public place

je usporiadať vystúpenie na verejnom mieste,

that is a positive experience for other people.

ktoré by bolo pozitívnym zážitkom pre ostatných ľudí.

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

Je to žart, ale taký, vďaka ktorému získa niekto skvelý príbeh, ktorý môže rozprávať.

A jej reakcia ma inšpirovala k tomu

And her reaction inspired me

to do a second annual No Pants Subway Ride.

urobiť druhú Jazdu metrom bez nohavíc.

And we've continued to do it every year.

A pokračujeme v tom každý rok.

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

Tento január sme uskutočnili 10. Jazdu metrom bez nohavíc,

pri ktorej jazdila vlakom v New Yorku v spodkoch

where a diverse group of 3,500 people

rode the train in their underwear in New York --

rôznorodá skupina 3500 ľudí -

takmer na každej jednej trase vlaku v meste.

almost every single train line in the city.

A pridali sa aj ľudia v 50 ďalších

And also in 50 other cities around the world,

mestách vo svete.

people participated.

(Laughter)

(Smiech)

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

Keď som začal chodiť na hodiny improvizácie v Upright Citizens Brigade Theater

a stretol ďalších kreatívnych ľudí a ďalších interpretov a komediantov,

and meeting other creative people and other performers and comedians,

začal som zhromažďovať zoznam s e-mailovými adresami

I started amassing a mailing list of people

ľudí, ktorí chceli robiť takýto druh projektov.

who wanted to do these types of projects.

Aby som mohol robiť projekty väčšieho rozsahu.

So I could do more large-scale projects.

Nuž, a jedného dňa som sa prechádzal po Union Square

Well, one day I was walking through Union Square,

a zbadal som túto budovu,

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

ktorá bola postavená len nedávno, v roku 2005.

A v jednom z okien bolo dievča a tancovalo.

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

Bolo to veľmi zvláštne,

It was very peculiar, because it was dark out,

pretože vonku bola tma, ale na ňu dopadalo žiarivkové osvetlenie

but she was backlit with florescent lighting.

a bola v podstate na scéne

She was very much onstage

a nevedel som prísť na to, prečo to robí.

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

Po asi 15 sekundách sa objavila jej kamarátka -

After about 15 seconds, her friend appeared --

skrývala sa vedľa -

she had been hiding behind a display.

a smiali sa a objali a potom utiekli preč.

They laughed, hugged each other and ran away.

Takže to vyzeralo, ako keby to možno bola stávka.

Maybe she had been dared to do this.

A to ma inšpirovalo.

So I got inspired by that.

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

Keď som sa pozrel na celú fasádu - bolo tam dokopy 70 okien -

vedel som, čo musím urobiť.

and I knew what I had to do.

(Smiech)

(Laughter)

So this project is called Look Up More.

Takže tento projekt sa volá "Look up More." Mali sme tam 70 hercov oblečených v čiernom.

We had 70 actors dress in black.

Nemali sme to vôbec povolené.

This was completely unauthorized.

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

Obchodom sme o tom, že prídeme, nedali vedieť.

And I stood in the park giving signals.

A ja som stál v parku a dával signály.

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

Prvý signál bol k tomu, aby všetci zdvihli tieto viac ako metrové písmená,

na ktorých bolo "Look up More,"

that spelled out "Look Up More,"

názov projektu.

the name of the project.

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

Druhý signál bol k tomu, aby všetci spolu skákali a tlieskali.

Hneď uvidíte, ako to začne.

You'll see that start right here.

(Laughter)

(Smiech)

And then we had dancing. We had everyone dance.

A potom sa tancovalo. Každý tancoval.

A potom sme mali tanečné sóla, kedy tancovala len jedna osoba

And then we had dance solos

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

a všetci na ňu ukazovali.

(Smiech)

(Laughter)

Potom som im dal ďalší signál rukou,

So then I gave a new hand signal,

ktorý znamenal ďalší sólista dole vo Forever 21,

which signaled the next soloist down below in Forever 21,

a ten tancoval.

and he danced.

Diali sa tam ďalšie veci.

There were several other activities.

Ľudia skákali hore a dole,

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

ľudia padali na zem.

And I was standing just anonymously in a sweatshirt,

A ja som si tam anonymne stál v mikine,

dával ruku na a dolu z odpadkového koša,

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

čím som signalizoval ďalší postup.

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

A pretože sa to konalo v Union Square Park, hneď pri zastávke metra,

ku koncu tam boli stovky ľudí,

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

ktorí sa pristavili a pozerali hore

and watched what we were doing.

a sledovali, čo sa deje.

There's a better photo of it.

Tu je z toho lepšia fotka.

So that particular event was inspired by a moment

Takže táto konkrétna akcia

bola inšpirovaná momentom,

that I happened to stumble upon.

ktorý bol úplne náhodný.

The next project I want to show

Ďalší projekt, ktorý vám chcem ukázať,

was given to me in an email from a stranger.

mi poslal cudzí človek e-mailom.

A high school kid in Texas wrote me in 2006

Stredoškolák z Texasu mi v roku 2006 napísal

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

"Mal by si zohnať čo najviac ľudí,

to put on blue polo shirts and khaki pants

ktorí by si obliekli modrú polokošeľu a kaki nohavice

and go into a Best Buy and stand around."

a šli do obchodu Best Buy a len tam tak stáli."

(Laughter)

(Smiech)

(Applause)

(Potlesk)

So I wrote this high school kid back immediately

Takže som tomuto stredoškolákovi okamžite odpísal

"Áno, máš pravdu.

and I said, "Yes, you are correct.

Asi sa to pokúsim urobiť tento víkend. Ďakujem."

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

Takže tu je video.

So here's the video.

Takže znova, toto sa stalo v roku 2005.

So again, this is 2005.

Toto je Best Buy v New Yorku.

This is the Best Buy in New York City.

We had about 80 people show up to participate,

Zapojilo sa okolo 80 ľudí,

ktorí vstupovali jeden po druhom.

entering one by one.

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

Bolo tam 8-ročné dievčatko, 10-ročné dievčatko.

Bol tam taktiež 65-ročný muž,

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

ktorý sa rozhodol zapojiť.

So a very diverse group of people.

Takže veľmi rôznorodá skupina ľudí.

(Laughter)

A povedal som im, "Nepracujte. Nesnažte sa naozaj pracovať.

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

Ale ani nenakupujte.

But also, don't shop.

Just stand around and don't face products."

Proste tam len tak postávajte a nebuďte otočení smerom k produktom."

Now you can see the regular employees

Normálnych zamestnancov spoznáte

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

podľa toho, že majú na tričkách žlté menovky.

Všetci ostatní sú naši herci.

Everybody else is one of our actors.

(Laughter)

(Smiech)

The lower-level employees thought it was very funny.

Zamestnancom na nižších pozíciách to prišlo veľmi zábavné.

A dokonca niekoľko z nich šlo do skladu po foťák

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

a fotili sa s nami.

and took photos with us.

Mnohí z nich si robili srandu a snažili sa nás presvedčiť, aby sme šli do skladu

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

a vzali pre zákazníkov obrovské televízory.

to get heavy television sets for customers.

Na druhej strane, manažérom a ochranke

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

to neprišlo až také vtipné.

did not find it particularly funny.

Vidíte ich na videu.

You can see them in this footage.

Majú na sebe buď žlté alebo čierne tričko.

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

And we were there probably 10 minutes

A boli sme tam asi 10 minút,

before the managers decided to dial 911.

kým sa manažéri rozhodli zavolať políciu.

(Smiech)

(Laughter)

So they started running around

Takže tam začali pobehovať

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

a všetkým hovoriť, že policajti sú na ceste, bacha, policajti sú na ceste.

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

A policajtov vidíte vo videu priamo teraz.

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

Tento tu v čiernom je policajt, kameruje ho skrytá kamera.

Nakoniec polícia musela informovať manažment Best Buy,

Ultimately, the police had to inform Best Buy management

že, v skutočnosti, nie je nelegálne

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

mať oblečenú modrú polokošeľu a kaki nohavice.

(Smiech)

(Laughter)

(Potlesk)

(Applause)

Ďakujem.

Thank you.

(Applause)

(Potlesk)

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

Takže sme tam boli 20 minút; radi sme opustili obchod.

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

Manažéri sa ešte snažili

vystopovať naše kamery.

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

A pár mojich ľudí, ktorí mali vo vaku skryté kamery, chytili.

Ale jeden kameraman, ktorého nikdy nechytili,

But the one camera guy they never caught

bol chalan, ktorý tam prišiel s prázdnou páskou

was the guy that went in just with a blank tape

a vošiel do oddelenia Best Buy s kamerami

and went over to the Best Buy camera department

a proste vložil pásku do jednej z kamier

and just put his tape in one of their cameras

a predstieral, že nakupuje.

and pretended to shop.

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

Páčila sa mi tá myšlienka využitia ich vlastnej technológie proti nim.

(Laughter)

(Smiech)

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

Myslím, že naše najlepšie projekty sú špecifické polohou

a dejú sa na konkrétnom mieste z nejakého dôvodu.

and happen at a particular place for a reason.

Raz ráno som šiel metrom.

And one morning, I was riding the subway.

Musel som prestupovať na zastávke 53. ulice,

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

kde sú také dva obrovské eskalátory.

where there are these two giant escalators.

A ráno je to veľmi depresívne miesto, veľmi preľudnené.

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

Takže som sa rozhodol vyskúšať a zinscenovať niečo,

So I decided to try and stage something

čo by z toho ráno urobilo čo najveselšie miesto.

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

Toto sa stalo v zime v roku 2009 -

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

ráno o 8:30.

Je ranná špička.

It's morning rush hour.

It's very cold outside.

Vonku je strašná zima.

People are coming in from Queens,

Ľudia prichádzajú z Queensu,

transferring from the E train to the 6 train.

prestupujú z vlaku E na vlak 6.

And they're going up these giant escalators

A idú hore týmito obrovskými eskalátormi

na ceste za prácou.

on their way to their jobs.

[Rob wants]

[to give you]

(Smiech)

(Laughter)

[a high five!]

(Laughter)

[Get ready!]

(Laughter)

(Smiech)

(Applause)

(Potlesk)

Ďakujem.

Thank you.

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

Je tu fotka, ktorá to ilustruje trochu lepšie.

He gave 2,000 high fives that day,

V ten deň si 2000-krát plácol

a ruky si umyl predtým aj potom

and he washed his hands before and afterward

a neochorel.

and did not get sick.

A to sa udialo taktiež bez povolenia,

And that was done also without permission,

hoci sa zdalo, že to je všetkým jedno.

although no one seemed to care.

Tak povedal by som, že po rokoch

So I'd say over the years,

one of the most common criticisms I see of Improv Everywhere

jedna z najväčších kritík Improv Everywhere, na ktorú narážam,

left anonymously on YouTube comments

v anonymných komentároch na YouTube,

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

je: "Títo ľudia majú príliš veľa voľného času."

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

A viete, nie každému sa bude páčiť všetko, čo robíte,

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

a rozhodne som si vďaka internetovým komentárom vyvinul hrošiu kožu,

ale tento komentár mi vždy vadil,

but that one's always bothered me,

pretože my nemáme príliš veľa voľného času.

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

Účastníci akcií Improv Everywhere

The participants in Improv Everywhere events

majú toľko isto voľného času ako hociktorí iní Newyorčania,

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

len sa príležitostne rozhodnú

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

stráviť ho neobvyklým spôsobom.

You know, every Saturday and Sunday,

Viete, na jeseň sa každú sobotu a nedeľu

hundreds of thousands of people each fall

zídu stovky tisícok ľudí

gather in football stadiums to watch games.

na futbalových štadiónoch, aby sledovali zápasy.

A nikdy som nezažil, aby niekto komentoval sledovanie hry

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

slovami, "Všetci títo ľudia majú príliš veľa voľného času."

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

A pravdaže nemajú.

And of course they don't.

Je to skvelý spôsob, ako stráviť víkendové popoludnie,

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

sledovaním futbalového zápasu na štadióne.

watching a football game in a stadium.

Ale taktiež si myslím, že úplne v pohode spôsob

But I think it's also a perfectly valid way

ako stráviť popoludnie je mrznúť spolu s 200 ľuďmi

to spend an afternoon freezing in place with 200 people

na konečnej stanici Grand Central

in the Grand Central terminal

alebo obliecť sa ako krotiteľ duchov

or dressing up like a ghostbuster

and running through the New York Public Library.

a pobehovať po Newyorskej verejnej knižnici.

(Laughter)

(Smiech)

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

Alebo počúvať tú istú MP3 ako 3000 ďalších ľudí

a v tichosti tancovať v parku,

and dancing silently in a park,

or bursting into song in a grocery store

alebo sa v potravinách pustiť do spievania piesne

as part of a spontaneous musical,

v rámci spontánneho muzikálu,

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

alebo sa ponoriť do oceánu na Coney Island a mať na sebe formálny odev.

Viete, ako deti nás učia, aby sme sa hrali.

(Laughter)

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

A nikdy nám nedajú dôvod, prečo by sme sa mali hrať.

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

Len sa to tak berie, že hranie je dobrá vec.

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

A myslím, že to je nejaká taká myšlienka 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.

To, že to nemá žiaden dôvod a že to žiaden dôvod nemusí mať.

Nepotrebujeme dôvod.

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

Kým je to sranda

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

a vyzerá to ako zábavný nápad

and it seems like the people who witness it

a zdá sa, že sa pri tom zabavia aj ľudia, ktorí to uvidia,

will also have a fun time,

potom nám to stačí.

then that's enough for us.

And I think, as adults, we need to learn

A myslím, že ako dospelí sa potrebujeme naučiť,

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

že nie je správny alebo nesprávny spôsob, ako sa hrať.

Ďakujem vám veľmi pekne.

Thank you very much.

(Applause)

(Potlesk)