The New Pranksters

Imagine this: you’re milling around at the busy beehive of New York’s Grand Central Station, running to catch a train. All of a sudden, just about everyone stops dead in their tracks, leaving other tavellers, tourists, and a transit worker crossing the station on a motor-cart bewildered.

Passers-by didn’t know that 207 so-called “agents” were gathered by Improv Everywhere, a group of pranksters and ephemeral actions that made flash mobs and raves the subject of interest a few years ago.

Now these so-called urban alchemists have a new audience online. The Grand Central freeze and other YouTube-ready acts of absurdity were once regarded as subversive - small collective acts designed to jolt strangers out of their workaday routines and monotony.

But corporate America is catching on, and in some cases, appropriating urban pranks as marketing tools. Companies like Taco Bell and Yahoo are joining (and some would argue, killing) the party. Ellen Gamerman wrote about the new pranksters for The Wall Street Journal and she joins us with more.

Watch a video of Improv Everywhere's Grand Central freeze:

(Photo by Natalie Villalobos)