Comedy troupe takes on the scourge of "manspreading" — by throwing a pizza party

Will pizza be the force that closes men's legs on public transportation once and for all? To be continued

Published April 15, 2015 4:38PM (EDT)

    (Improv Everywhere)
(Improv Everywhere)

Manspreading -- the act of a man spreading his legs on public transportation with no regard for others' personal space -- has become a full-blown epidemic this year. Or, perhaps, for the first time, we have a name to quickly identify this act when we see it. In any case, the egregious etiquette breach has spawned a Tumblr page, Men Taking Up Too Much Space on the Train, a "Daily Show" takedown with Kristen Schaal and a New York Times op-ed.

And yet, all of the media attention hasn't done much in the way of defeating manspreading. That's where pizza comes in. The well-known comedic art performance group "Improv Everywhere" decided to reward New York City's E-train passengers abiding by proper subway etiquette (not manspreading) with a free slice of pizza. Will pizza be the force that closes men's legs on public transportation once and for all? To be continued.

Watch the clip below:


By Colin Gorenstein

Colin Gorenstein is Salon's assistant editor of internet and viral content. Follow @colingorenstein or email cgorenstein@salon.com.

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Comedy Improv Everywhere Manspreading Pizza The Daily Show Video Viral Video Youtube