Let's Squish Our Fruit Together!

Ah, we love them so, we can't get enough of them!

The folks at Improv Everywhere have done it again — this time taking their antics to a Best Yet grocery store in Astoria, Queens, where six undercover actors burst into song and performed a (not-so-improvised) musical number in the fruit section as unsuspecting shoppers looked on in disbelief. 

With eight years and 85 undercover performances under their belts, the folks at Improv Everywhere are getting increasingly sophisticated. Their Grocery Store Musical was filmed with hidden cameras ranging from tiny lipstick cams to robotic cameras controlled remotely via joystick from a "control room" at the back of the store. How cool is that?

According to the group's Web site, the musical was sponsored by Trident Layers, which required no product placement and even allowed the group complete creative control. The musical was intended as a follow up to the wildly popular Food Court Musical performed in a Los Angeles mall, back in March of '08, and which has been viewed more than 4.3 million times on YouTube. 

Improv Everywhere founder, Charlie Todd (scroll down for our exclusive profile), says on his blog that he used the same songwriting team, Scott Brown & Anthony King, who wrote the Food Court Musical and penned the Off-Broadway musical, Gutenberg! The Musical!

The group of actors, who all hail from the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre, were able to nail their parts with a late-night rehearsal just before the store closed. But of course, there was no predicting how shoppers would react and where they would be positioned once the real show got underway. The result: some pretty hilarious reactions, one from an elderly woman caught on camera laughing at the actors, performing right in front of her grocery cart.

And that refrain! "Let's squish our fruits together!" The levity of the whole event is just so welcome to this Tonic writer, especially given winter's imminence.

Of course, judging by the comments posted on the group's Web site, there are purists who say Improv Everywhere is getting a little too big for its britches. One commenter says: "I am starting to wonder if the complexity of IE’s missions is taking this out of the realm of simple impromptu fun and into more of a organization’s actions." Another agrees, adding: "I think the musicals are a little over the top because they make the public think they are watching something that the food store or the food court organized."

I say, bah-humbug!

As of this writing, the Grocery Store Musical on YouTube has only snagged aslmot 73,000 views. I propose an East-West musical war. Come on East Coast couch potatoes — let's crank that up to 5 million views, shall we? Let's show those LA snots that we have more click power than their wussy asses.

Did I really just write that?

To watch the edited video of the Grocery Store Musical, click below — and for some awesome behind-the-scenes photos and backstory about how it all came together, click here.

Photos by Katie Sokoler.