Take a Moment to Smile

Imagine 450 people simultaneously silently dancing to music on their headphones on a subway train in Toronto- or seeing a Dinosaur Rights Protest outside of the Royal Ontario Museum. For Improv in Toronto, an urban prank group, these are “missions” the group creates to have fun while positively affecting others who experience the event.
Improv in Toronto is a collective effort run by a team of volunteers. It was started in January 2008 through the inspiration of Improv Everywhere, an improv group based in New York that creates pre-planned out-of-the-ordinary scenes in the public.
Improv in Toronto runs the same way. Each member contributes ideas and helps plan the events (called “missions” by the group), which are organized through the internet. The members of Improv in Toronto are then notified of the event and how to participate by email, Facebook, or the Improv in Toronto website. After the mission, pictures or videos are posted on the Improv in Toronto website to document the comedy that was created.
“Our missions are a fun source of entertainment for those who participate, those who happen to see the event in action, and those who read our website. We get satisfaction from coming up with an awesome idea and making it come to life.”, says Cole Banning, the leader of the group.
This past summer, Improv in Toronto fabricated a red carpet on Bloor Street, creating a spectacle with pseudo celebrities and their fake fans, while holding up traffic in the process.
“We teamed up with another organization that helped finance the event. We were able to get a real red carpet, security guards, models, and more, to create an amazingly realistic (yet fake) red carpet. Having the extra funds for a mission, isn’t something we often have the pleasure of.” , says Banning.
Other past events have included a giant Where’s Waldo hunt in the Eaton Centre, the annual Subway Dance Party and No Pants Subway Rides.
Most of the missions have been successful, but due to their highly-unstable nature where anything can happen, some missions have been stopped half-way.
“Every mission we head into, we fully understand the high chance of failure. So far, we have been very lucky though, with nothing going too badly. Our worst issue so far, would probably be when we were kicked off of the subway during our subway dance party. We were told that the train was shaking, and were causing a danger. Luckily we were only kicked off near the very end, so the mission was not cut too short.”, says Banning.
Despite the commotions and mischief this group publicly creates, there are many positive aspects towards the different projects.
“[Improv in Toronto] does something really weird that does not happen in society today. It finds people from all over the Greater Toronto Area through the internet and convinces them to step out of their normal life and join something bigger than any one person. Along the way, you get to meet tons of really cool people who you normally would not have even had the chance to meet.”, says Banning.
The collaborative efforts and the shared experiences through the missions pull people together and provide a way to make new friends.
Banning adds, “After almost every mission, a large group of us who were previously strangers, head out for something to eat and talk about our post mission thoughts.”
In a day and age where many people feel disconnected and isolated from others, Improv in Toronto is the perfect medium to brightening lives and connecting people. The group aims to bring a smile to strangers’ faces through the strange circumstances they create by taking the seriousness out of their lives during those moments.
Banning states, “Often times people get into a grind in life, of sleeping, eating, working, studying, et cetera, but do not realise the situation they are in. Take a look at your own life, and try to have some fun, do something weird, and smile.”
For information on how to participate in Improv in Toronto and their up-coming events, please visit: www.ImprovinToronto.com