Is This Really Happening? Yes, If Improv Everywhere Is Involved
When Charlie Todd ’01 left UNC, he faced an obstacle not
uncommon to new graduates. The
dramatic art major moved directly
to New York but didn’t have any
prospects. So Todd decided to use
his passions, theater and comedy,
to start an enterprise of his own.
CHAD NICHOLSON
Improv Everywhere perpetrates
seemingly spontaneous public
events, using participants prepped
for performances sprung upon
unsuspecting bystanders.
“I wanted to create my own
opportunities,” Todd says. “The first
thing that happened was tricking a
whole bar into thinking I was Ben
Folds. It just kind of
snowballed from there.”
The people who work for Improv
Everywhere sometimes also work with
companies as creative consultants
helping to develop campaigns and as
video producers creating content for a
brand. They also have staged events
at meetings for clients.
Todd has a number
of “agents” who are on
staff all the time, but the
group invites anyone to
participate. He says that
his biggest events have
gotten up to 2,000 people in New York involved.
The activities Todd put on the MP3 were all
things that had been done before in New York
and seemed to work well. Todd put the collection of the “greatest hits of New York” together,
with a bit of tailoring to the UNC
audience. And just
like his events in
New York, Todd
was in the midst of all the action.
“The crowd was a little younger
than I am used to, since about 95 percent of this crowd was college students,” Todd says. “But it was great to
be back in North Carolina, and I was
super excited to do this for UNC.”
SARAH MCCARTY ARNESON ’96
Charlie Todd ’01 brought
Improv Everywhere to
Carolina last fall after
many sucessful events
sprung on an unsuspecting
public in New York. One
famous stunt was “Frozen
Grand Central,” in which
200 participants froze in
place at the same time.
Todd was approached by UNC’s
Office of the Executive Director for the
Arts on campus, which sought him out
because of the nature of the events he
stages and then later realized that he
was an alumnus.
One of his most
recent antics had a
group of agents sponta-
neously performing “I
Todd brought an event to UNC last fall, cre-
ating what was called an “MP3 experiment”
Love Lunch! The Musi-
cal” in the crowded Trump Tower in New York.
One of his most well-known events, which
sparked a similar one in the Pit at Carolina,
was “Frozen Grand Central,” where 200 agents
froze in place, no matter what they were doing,
at exactly the same time.
— Brecken Branstrator
profile
“We wanted to find a way to create
an event that met students in their
own place and had no barriers for par-
ticipation,” says Kara Larson, director of mar-
keting and public relations for the arts office.
“His events seemed like the perfect way to get
students who usually aren’t involved in the arts
interested.”
Place. The students didn’t listen to the audio
ahead of time, and when noon rolled around on
Oct. 15, everyone hit play at the same time.
Todd’s experiment might have included
events that were done by many people before,
but the students saw to it that it was given an
exclusive UNC trademark.
“I love that everyone sang the alma mater
together,” Todd says. “I wasn’t expecting that,
but it was the perfect way to end it.”
96 January/February 2010
Olympics, is an assistant coach at Virginia Common-
wealth University. u Dr. William Dickson Summerville
(’ 99 AB, ’03 DDS) of Charlotte traveled to Kenya on
an exploratory mission trip with other members of
Covenant Presbyterian Church. Climbing Mount
Kenya, the group discovered that members included
three more UNC grads: Kimberly Barlow Barnhardt
(’ 81 BSN), Rebecca Daughtridge Nesbitt (’00
BSPSY, ’02 MS) and Cathy Harper Watts (’ 88 BSBA).
u Kristi Kessler Walters (’ 99 JD) of Charlotte has
received a 2009 Citizen Lawyer Award from the N.C.
Bar Association and the Citizen Lawyer Task Force.
Walters is special counsel and director of profes-
sional development and diversity at Parker Poe
Adams & Bernstein LLP. u Leslie J. Wilkinson (’ 99
ABJM) of Chapel Hill has returned to UNC as an MBA
student at UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School after
working as assistant design director at The Los
Angeles Times.
; family additions
Kelly Jean Brown (’ 99 BSBA) and Louis Charles
Schacht (’01 BSBA) of Vero Beach, Fla.; a daughter,
Hannah Brown Schacht, on July 16, 2009. u Sarah
Brown Meacham (’ 99 AB, ’03 BSN) and Brian Duncan
Meacham (’00 BSBA, ’03 JD) of Raleigh; a daughter,
Claire Elizabeth Meacham, on July 5, 2009. u Beth
Henderson Perry (’ 99 AB) and Timothy Brian Perry
(’96 BSCH) of Chapel Hill; a son, Ian Robert Perry, on
Aug. 2, 2009. u Dawn Bussey Rollins (’ 99 AB, ’06
BSN) and Geoffrey Rollins of Asheville; a daughter,
Gabrielle Marie Rollins, on May 6, 2009.
’00 Krista Michelle Bremer (’00 MA) of Carrboro has received a 2009 Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers Award. The
awards of $25,000 each go to six women writers
who have demonstrated excellence early in their
careers, providing them the opportunity to devote
more time to their writing. u Lindsey Moley Carter
(’00 AB) of Charleston, S.C., has launched a new
fashion line called Troubadour. Carter’s collection
was featured in The Charlotte Observer blog, “If The
Shoe Fits,” during Charleston Fashion Week last
March. Carter also was featured in Women’s Wear
Daily on Sept. 10 as a “designer to watch.” u
Stephanie Elizabeth Maxwell (’00 ABJM) of
Flowood, Miss., has joined WAPT-TV as main
evening anchor. The station is the ABC affiliate in
Jackson, Miss. Previously, she was morning anchor
at FOX Carolina. u Charlotte Anne Mitchell (’00 AB,
’05 JD) of Raleigh has earned accreditation as a
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design pro-
fessional from the U.S. Green Building Council.
Mitchell is a lawyer with K&L Gates. u Rebecca
Daughtridge Nesbitt (’00 BSPSY, ’02 MS) of Char-
lotte traveled to Kenya on an exploratory mission
trip with other members of Covenant Presbyterian
Church. Climbing Mount Kenya, the group discovered
that members included three more UNC grads:
Kimberly Barlow Barnhardt (’ 81 BSN), Dr. William
Dickson Summerville (’ 99 AB, ’03 DDS) and Cathy
Harper Watts (’ 88 BSBA).
; family additions
Jacqueline Moll Bardill (’00 BSBA) and Matthew
Scott Bardill (’00 AB) of Alexandria, Va.; a daughter,
Katherine Claire Bardill, on July 17, 2009. u Ryan
William Keefer (’00 ABJM) and Amanda Baker Keefer
of Durham; a son, Tyler Andrew Keefer, on Sept. 17,
2009. u Summer Williams Kerley (’00 PD) and
Colby William Kerley (’05 AB) of Newton; a daughter,
Karsyn Alexandria Kerley, on July 20, 2009. u Dr.
Leigh Jessica Marcus (’00 BSBIO) and John Arthur
Karasek of Potomac, Md.; a daughter, Talia Marie
