twin time travel prank

Time Travel Subway Car

For our latest mission , we staged an elaborate time travel prank on a New York City subway car with four sets of identical twins. A man enters a subway car and announces he is raising money to complete his time machine. At the next stop, his future self enters to try to talk him out of it. More and more time travelers convene on the subway car as the train rolls along, surprising the random commuters caught up in the middle.

Enjoy the video first and then go behind the scenes with our mission report and photos.

This project is our third with identical twins. In 2008 we put 15 pairs of identical twins on a subway car sitting across from each other, dressed identically. In 2013 we used two pairs of twins for a Back to the Future-themed prank . This project was a bit of a mix of the two.

Unlike our Human Mirror project, we didn’t have the twins dress identically. Instead, we had them dress in a similar style and gave them each one specific identical props. Dave wore a brand new Mets cap while Jeff wore the same cap, which was made to look older and dirtier. Jeff also happened to have longer hair and a beard, and we told him to keep the look, as it also implies time passing.

Mission Accomplished

OTHER RESOURCES:

Production photos from photographer Arin Sang-urai : Mission Photos

The twins involved with this project were all recruited via our email list. Join our list to be a part of future Improv Everywhere projects.

Our previous twin projects:

Username or Email Address

Remember Me

Forgot password?

Enter your account data and we will send you a link to reset your password.

Your password reset link appears to be invalid or expired.

Privacy policy, add to collection.

Public collection title

Private collection title

No Collections

Here you'll find all collections you've created before.

Join Our Email List

Other Inquiries

[gravityform id=”5″ title=”false” description=”false” ajax=”true” field_values=”source=General”]

Licensing Contact

[gravityform id=”5″ title=”false” description=”false” ajax=”true” field_values=”source=Licensing”]

Events Contact

[gravityform id=”5″ title=”false” description=”false” ajax=”true” field_values=”source=Events”]

Branded Video Contact

[gravityform id=”5″ title=”false” description=”false” ajax=”true” field_values=”source=Branded Video”]

These Twins Pulled The Ultimate Time Travel Prank

If you’re a fan of the film Looper , pranks, or general awesomeness, you will enjoy this time travel subway prank from Improv Everywhere. Honestly, I don’t want to spoil how this prank goes down, so I recommend that you skip down to the bottom of this post, watch the video, and then come back up here to get the deets. I’ll wait.

OK! This video starts with a man on a subway train, asking for money to fund his time machine. Before long, an identical man appears, telling onlookers that they should definitely not fund his time machine. “I am from the future,” he says. “And I can tell you, it is bleak.” Before long, three other “future versions” of subway passengers appear, all declaring that funding this guy’s time travel machine is a very bad idea indeed. Tragically, this situation is not, in fact, the result of time travel technology. But the key is (almost) as cool: Identical twins!

Creator and director Charlie Todd recruited four pairs of twins to make this sci-fi-esque prank, dressing them similarly to suggest that they are different versions of the same person. In a blog post about the prank , he explains that the group rehearsed the scene the day of the prank in a “mock subway car,” before acting it out five different times on the N train in New York. “We took a break in between each staging so the crowd on the car would turn over,” he writes, adding,

The audience for this [video] was particularly small. Unlike other subway pranks that might get an entire car involved, this one was hyper-focused on the people who happened to be sitting and standing around our playing space. In most performances, it felt like a surprise for just ten people. I love creating something so ridiculously elaborate (four pairs of twins, perfectly timed staggered entrances on the train) for the benefit of so few people.

This isn’t the first time that Improv Everywhere has used identical twins to create uncanny situations. Previous twin-outings include a reenactment of Back To the Future and a “Human Mirror” prank that involved eight sets of twins perfectly mirroring each other on the subway.

Watch the video below — you’ll find yourself wishing you had an identical twin of your own, if only for the endless prank possibilities.

Images: YouTube (3)

Steals & Deals: Up to 72% off Omaha Steak bundles, wireless speakers, stationery sets, more

• Black Friday
• Share this —

• Watch Full Episodes
• Read With Jenna
• Inspirational
• Relationships
• TODAY Table
• Newsletters
• Start TODAY
• Shop TODAY Awards
• Citi Concert Series
• Listen All Day

Follow today

More Brands

• On The Show
• TODAY Plaza

4 sets of twins bewilder strangers with time travel prank by Improv Everywhere

A panhandler on a subway train asking for money to build a time machine is not something you see every day — even in New York City.

The sight drew a few raised eyebrows recently until a similar-looking man boarded at the next stop asking passengers not to give the panhandler any money, explaining he had come from the future to stop his past self from building the time machine.

RELATED: Mom gives birth to 3 sets of twins in 5-year period

Then three more sets of twins boarded the train in succession, confusing passengers, who probably figured Marty McFly was about to get on at the next stop.

RELATED: Confused baby can't figure out which twin is his dad in viral video

It was all part of a time travel prank by the troupe Improv Everywhere, which has pulled more than 100 pranks around New York City over the past 10 years. By the time a bystander questioning whether this is some kind of "twin thing" is then greeted by his twin "from the future,'' the passengers don't know what to think.

RELATED: Watch 'Harry Potter' wander Penn Station in adorable prank

Improv Everywhere's latest prank follows a slew of other stunts, including creating a huge holiday light switch, assembling an epic Christmas caroling mission , and sending a young Harry Potter into New York's Penn Station.

As Gizmodo noted , the time travel prank is reminiscent of an X-Files episode called "Synchrony," where a scientist goes back in time to stop his younger self from creating a substance that will enable time travel.

Follow TODAY.com writer Scott Stump on Twitter.

'Creativity at its finest': Mom shares funny photo of babysitter and daughter

175 funny Halloween puns that are a total scream

What are ‘hear me out’ cakes? How people are confessing their most embarrassing crushes on TikTok

Boise City Hall employee reveals herself in the ‘scariest costume’ she could imagine: a fatberg

Pop culture.

The Nutter Butter TikTok account is going viral for being absolutely unhinged

Man bakes his first pie and accidentally creates ‘a portal into the underworld’

Parents’ clever plan to introduce toddler to baby brother backfires

275 best dad jokes to tickle everyone's funny bone

Man uses cumin instead of cinnamon in his oatmeal, others share hilarious spice mix-ups

A mom caught her teen daughter stealing vodka. Turns out, she wasn’t drinking it

Recommended

Subway riders love this ‘time traveling’ prank.

This panhandling act took straphangers back to the future!

Improv Everywhere, a comedy sketch group, earlier this month staged an “elaborate time travel prank” on a Queens-bound N train with four sets of identical twins.

The three-minute time warp, which has already racked up more than 1.1 million views on YouTube, starts with a red-haired man named David apologizing to riders for interrupting their commute.

“I’ve invented a time machine and I just need the funding to help complete it,” he said. “So if you have $5, $10 or $20, it would really go a long way towards funding my time machine.”

Only one man shells out some cash before the train opens its doors and the beggar’s bearded twin brother gets on.

“Ladies and gentlemen, please do not give this man any money,” he told straphangers, who begin chuckling. “I am from the future and I can tell you it is bleak.”

He implored David not to build the time machine, grabbing him by the coat and shaking him.

“Bad things will happen to us! Bad things will happen to the lovely people on this subway!” he said.

Then two more people who claim to be from the future get on the subway, searching for their twins with the same message: “Don’t give this man your money.”

Moments later, another man bursts through the doors and runs up to the straphanger who doled out some cash to David earlier.

“Matthew, do not give this man any money. I’m from the future!” his twin insists.

All the commotion finally gets David to ditch his plans to build a Delorean.

The time-travel stunt is just one of many public gags Improv Everywhere has done, including its annual No Pants Subway rides, which is now in its 15th year.