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So we actually planned to show up yesterday at No Pants 2006, in which a group of wacky kids were to ride the 6 train pantsless in a bravura bit of street theater. We weren't going to depants, of course, but we thought maybe we'd "happen" to be on the same train so that we could watch things as they happened. (It's rare that our voyeuristic and reportorial instincts so nicely overlap.) But then we suspected that a few people we knew might be among the depantsers, and we didn't want to be recognized. Plus the folks called and offered to buy us a late brunch. So we didn't go.

Which was a mistake.

In what we're sure will go down in history as the ironic Brooklyn dorky equivalent of Chicago '68, the NYPD got wind of Improv Everywhere's plans and halted the train at its 59th Street stop, where everyone was forced off the train and — Gestapo tactics in the streets of New York! — a handful of depantsers were detained.

We kind of don't understand why anyone is surprised by this result — all the details of the event were publicly available, and the whole gimmick is only funny because it's exactly the sort of thing the powers that be would likely frown upon. But, still, it seems generally sucky for all involved: For the detained kids, and for the cops who had to deal with it.

Most of all, though, it must have really sucked for the other riders of that Lex local. How fucking pissed off would you be if your train was taken out of service because some smartass 20-somethings decided to be "clever"?

[Photo by Chad Nicholson.]

Breaking: Arrests at No Pants 2006 [Gothamist]
No Pants 2k6 [Improv Everywhere]