The Tastemakers Society

Maybe you live under a rock, if you don’t then you’ve seen one of Improv Everywhere’s missions, maybe their ”no pants” mission, or their “frozen in grand central” mission, or one of their countless others they’ve pulled off. No matter what they seem to pull off you can be sure that Improv Everywhere will make it something worthwhile and entertaining. I caught up with Charlie Todd the founder of Improv Everywhere and had him run down some things for me, like his favorite missions, how IE got started (drinks and college buddies), and what the future holds. 

Name, age, location

Charlie Todd, 29, Manhattan

Did you always want to be an actor even as a young boy?

I got interested in acting in the 8th grade when I took my first drama class. I got serious about it in college, and then stumbled onto doing public pranks when I moved to New York.

When did that ‘eureka’ moment hit you and you realized that you wanted to start Improv Everywhere?

I had just done my first mission and was really excited and wanted to tell everyone I knew. Creating a website to document the experience made the most sense, and I had nothing but time in front of a computer, as I was working a crappy reception temp job.

What was your first mission?

In August 2001, my first month in NYC, I was out in a West Village bar with some college buddies Brandon Arnold and Jon Karpinos who came out to visit. On a whim we decided to pull a prank where I would pose as musician Ben Folds, 3 hours later ‘Ben Folds’ was drinking on the house surrounded by women and his “two big fans” were thrown out of the bar for “stealing Ben Folds’ wallet”.

How do you come up with your missions?

It’s a mix of sources. Many of them I come up with on my own, but even then I always look to the senior agents of the group for advice on how to make them better. Occasionally we’ll get an awesome idea emailed to us from a fan.

You and your missions have been getting lots of buzz, even a CSI:NY episode I watched re-did your ‘frozen grand central’ mission, and the taco bell project you did recently, are you getting involved in any other projects or have any specific plans on growing Improv Everywhere onto larger scales like TV or Film?

We made a pilot for NBC last year. It didn’t get picked up, but we definitely want to try again one day. We’re currently writing a book about our missions which will come out in 2009.

What’s your top 3 favorite missions?

The Moebius, Look Up Moore, and Even Better Than The Real Thing.

Now that Improv Everywhere has taken off and grown so much are you still as much interested in acting as you once were before or has the focus shifted some to taking improv as high as it can get, and if it started coming down to acting was effecting improv which would be put in the backseat and which would elevate to getting the “more important” stamp put on it?

I’m definitely focusing less and less on trying to have a career as an actor. I do perform in front of live audiences at the UCB Theatre every week. My improv team plays every Saturday night, and I’m usually on stage one or two other times for different projects as well. I’ve become less interested in auditioning for plays, films, and commercials and more focused on creating my own work for Improv Everywhere. IE is definitely the primary focus of my creative life, and unless I somehow got cast in some amazing project I don’t see that changing.

If you could do any mission what would that dream mission be?

Not really. When we get excited about an idea, we do it. We usually have a short-list of possible upcoming ideas, but if something is truly great, we pick a date and make it happen.

What’s your daily routine like?

I teach improv a few nights a week and perform a few nights a week as well. My days are filled with managing my website and planning upcoming events.

A lot of actors have unfinished movie scripts and ideas, do you have one laying around, if so what’s it about?

Nope, I’ve never written a screenplay.

If you could without getting in any trouble would you pull a mission at the white house and how would you?

Sure, I guess I would do something at the White House in a hypothetical world where I wouldn’t get in trouble for doing so. I have no idea what I’d do though–we tend to stay away from politics.

Since this interview is happening during the Olympics games which Olympic event(s) would you compete in if you had a chance?

Ping Pong.

improv everywhere