Gotta Share May 9, 2011 10:49 AM   Subscribe

Improv Everywhere sprang a spontaneous musical onto unsuspecting attendees of the GEL Conference in New York. Not exactly newsworthy but mathowie was there and chimed in on the comments section.

Feel free to use this thread to talk about Matt, discuss the GEL Conference, or complain about what IE has become these days, I guess.

And here's last year's MeTa thread about Matt at GEL.
posted by The Winsome Parker Lewis to MetaFilter-Related at 10:49 AM (36 comments total) 3 users marked this as a favorite

posted by The Winsome Parker Lewis to MetaFilter-Related OMG MATT DID SOMETHING!!!one!!!
posted by special-k at 10:59 AM on May 9, 2011


FAIR AND BALANCED REPORTING
posted by The Winsome Parker Lewis at 11:00 AM on May 9, 2011


BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU MATT, FROM HIS MOM'S BASEMENT.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 11:02 AM on May 9, 2011 [1 favorite]


Metafilter: I rolled my eyes and said “ugh” when I saw the name Twirlr come up as it seemed really believable.
posted by boo_radley at 11:12 AM on May 9, 2011


I didn't want to sound harsh in the comments section, but the difference between experiencing one of these firsthand was like nothing in the video. The video feels rushed and staged and looks a lot like a good music production but honestly, the fake pitch beginning was so believable people around me were grumbling about not only not tweeting but being told we had to turn off our devices, and then a guy in the audience stands up to heckle/sing and the pitch guy was perfectly confused.

I know from the video this looks pretty obvious, but when it happens and it is all completely unexpected, it's like being in the Cirque du Solei audience and they always pick some random guy and he acts embarrassed and then like 10 minutes later he's doing triple flips off a high wire and you only realize then that it was a plant all the while. The first minute of this thing was mostly confusion and WTF is going on, oh I guess it's one of those musicals you see break out in a college class from those improv groups and then when it was over (the closing line of "I'm sorry, but I'm all out of time" was pitch perfect because the organizer/MC of the event is a stickler about time) we heard it was Improv Everywhere and it didn't all make sense until I heard that.

Anyway, I hope the video looks fun to people that weren't there, because it feels completely different to me, oddly.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 11:14 AM on May 9, 2011 [5 favorites]


I think the real story here is why Matt was in NYC and didn't call a meetup or anything. You'd almost think he has better things to do. Harrumph. HARRUMPH I SAY!!

Also, I vow to keep this IMG in mind whenever I'm on MeTa.
posted by Eideteker at 11:18 AM on May 9, 2011 [1 favorite]


lazyweb, I'm lazy. Someone shop the words on the screen in that pic so it looks like Matt is professing his unfalsifiable love for prodigious posteriors. Make it happen!
posted by Eideteker at 11:21 AM on May 9, 2011 [1 favorite]


Also, I vow to keep this IMG in mind whenever I'm on MeTa.

Caption contest!
posted by special-k at 11:21 AM on May 9, 2011


Eideteker: "I think the real story here is why Matt was in NYC and didn't call a meetup or anything. "

*turns on spotlight*

MATT, WHERE WERE YOU ON THE NIGHT OF THE... oh look, there's video.
posted by zarq at 11:21 AM on May 9, 2011


Or maybe he's explaining how to hug a robot.
posted by Eideteker at 11:22 AM on May 9, 2011


No, I was regaling everyone with tales and benefits of thick asses.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 11:25 AM on May 9, 2011 [1 favorite]


So... Matt's hairstyle is so important that he attends a conference every year about product?

I'm so confused.
posted by hippybear at 11:25 AM on May 9, 2011


Matt's hair is part of the Official Secrets Act and cannot be discussed in detail.
posted by The Whelk at 11:29 AM on May 9, 2011 [1 favorite]


This slips over the fine line of "metafilter related" territory and proudly walks into the land of "strange stalker behavior."
posted by crunchland at 11:31 AM on May 9, 2011


Don't look at me, I saw this posted over on Reddit.
posted by The Winsome Parker Lewis at 11:32 AM on May 9, 2011


Wait... those two aren't synonymous? Hrm. Maybe I'm doing it wrong.
posted by hippybear at 11:33 AM on May 9, 2011


I'm still confused. Where can I sign up for Twirlr?
posted by Sailormom at 11:39 AM on May 9, 2011 [1 favorite]


Audience members laughing
(yes that’s the Internet’s Matt Haughey and Anil Dash)


No love for the internet's Paul Bausch?
posted by Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug at 11:39 AM on May 9, 2011 [2 favorites]


How to Hug a Robot is going to be the title of my next piece of robosexual fiction.
posted by Mister_A at 11:46 AM on May 9, 2011


Timmy has two Child Care Units.
posted by The Whelk at 11:48 AM on May 9, 2011 [2 favorites]


Hi pb. you have to change your pic in onfocus.
posted by bru at 11:54 AM on May 9, 2011


I did an interview with Improv Everywhere's Charlie Todd a while back, mostly because I'm sick of American theater institutions and want to see them destroyed, and his group seems to offer an example of a mechanism in which any space can be used as a theatrical space. I also like that audiences have no idea they are about to be audiences. You're just going about your day, huh? Well ... now you're watching a show, suckers!
posted by Astro Zombie at 12:04 PM on May 9, 2011 [3 favorites]


A MUSICAL show! The gayest kind of show!
posted by Mister_A at 12:06 PM on May 9, 2011


I take it you've never seen Cop Rock.
posted by Astro Zombie at 12:31 PM on May 9, 2011


I take it you've never seen Cop Rock.

If we'd never had Cop Rock, we never would have had Viva Blackpool. And without Viva Blackpool, we never would have had Glee. So you'd best love Cop Rock as best you can if you're a Glee fan.
posted by hippybear at 1:18 PM on May 9, 2011


(And maybe if Cop Rock had been a bit more gay it would have been better and lasted longer than 8.5 episodes.)
posted by hippybear at 1:18 PM on May 9, 2011


HOT COPS MICHEAL.
posted by The Whelk at 1:24 PM on May 9, 2011 [3 favorites]


If we'd never had Cop Rock, we never would have had Viva Blackpool.

I... don't think this is true. Cop Rock involved original compositions performed by a musical cast. Viva Blackpool involved actors singing along to existing songs. In execution, it has far more in common with Dennis Potter's Pennies from Heaven and the Singing Detective.

Bochco was inspired by The Singing Detective, but sadly not inspired enough.
posted by running order squabble fest at 1:39 PM on May 9, 2011 [1 favorite]


(The ellipsis because I am really surprised to be offering an opinion about Cop Rock, and very tentative about doing so.)
posted by running order squabble fest at 1:40 PM on May 9, 2011


I have to say I was captivated by Cop Rock when it first aired. I've found it nearly impossible to revisit since then, although across the not-quite 8 hours of programming it has several really captivating moments.

I totally grok what Bochco was trying to do. It just... was difficult.

My point about Cop Rock laying the ground for Viva Blackpool is that it was a weekly series of scripted television. But yeah, the Venn diagrams overlap but aren't congruent.
posted by hippybear at 1:52 PM on May 9, 2011


Gotta Share

I sincerely hope I wasn't the only person expecting something like this.
posted by ArmyOfKittens at 2:07 PM on May 9, 2011 [1 favorite]


ArmyOfKittens: "Gotta Share

I sincerely hope I wasn't the only person expecting something like this
"

I think that pretty much any surprise musical would be improved by an adorable little dragon wearing a bowler hat and playing piano.
posted by ShawnStruck at 2:30 PM on May 9, 2011


Did someone say Cop Rock?
posted by mrzarquon at 7:54 PM on May 9, 2011


I predict the producers of Glee are part of a conspiracy to make Cop Rock The Movie happen.
posted by rhizome at 12:32 AM on May 10, 2011


Is there a more robust discussion somewhere about the hair? It's fantastic. New, no?
posted by thinkpiece at 1:44 PM on May 10, 2011


Metafilter was one of three websites listed on Treme, but doesn't make the cut in the IE song? And with mathowie in the audience. For shame!
posted by chndrcks at 10:04 AM on May 11, 2011


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