How to get into a club by pretending you're a DJ
These Australian guys conducted an experiment and videotaped it: Can you beat the lines at a club and get in by wearing a record bag and pretending to be a DJ?
Guy 1: Alright AJ, it's been a long night but we've proven some truths about the record bag. What are they?
Guy 2: I've proven I can get into any club I like, skip any queue, pay no cover charges, go up to the DJ and pretty much take over their job.How to Get Into Any Club (via Schneier)
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This was awesome, the fact they added the unusual places made this perfect!
I love this!!! Especially the fact that this is a Sprite commercial.
If a guy like that came up to me and tried to get me to go home with him using all that it would totally work!
Well THAT trick is ruined now!
I call Shenanigans. I can guarantee that BS would not fly here in Chicago sprite ad or not.
Coo! Seems that the homeland security paranoia has not affected club culture...
Back in the days was a techno DJ during the rave boom in Europe we could barely get in the party we were supposed to play (especially in Italy)...
This is so awesome. I think it would only work at bigger venues though...at least in Portland, OR.
Watch homeland security put an embargo on record bags in 5, 4, 3, 2....
Which is why, as I've said all along, we need a national DJ ID card.
I've always maintained that you can walk away with anything in the world if you've got a hand truck and a clipboard. (Coveralls and a white van help, too.)
Cellphone,clipboard,khakis,handtruck.....and also helps if you are white.
All I can say is that this really worked back in the 90's till early '00 in New York, Philly, Baltimore and DC. It really worked if you were a real local DJ. These days though people and security are kind of keen on this scam. Another one that worked was the "I'm the driver, had to park the car, drop him off, we were late and he went in cause his set time started and I had to carry these records for the DJ. Yeah, I know who really needs 2 crates a records"
I agree with the hand truck comment. Plus, park your truck on the sidewalk and for God's sake strike in broad daylight. No one calls the cops at 11am.
this is hilarious! i love how they get into the Parliment House!
@sayeth, would these cards be issued by the Department of DJ Security?
In smaller towns, this works with a microphone stand and a coiled up microphone cable (total cost ~$15)
I taped live bands at local bars for a while, rarely got a second glance from the bouncer.
What still works pretty well is just to load yourself up with a couple random heavy audio cables, and say that they need this right now, and if questioned just say that the DJ called you to pick something up. Even works at smaller places. Can work shockingly well if you know their first name.
Actually variants of the trick are effective just about anywhere (yeah Stan, forgot this flash drive). It does get remembered though.
FYI, A.J. and Nikos are part of a Sydney-based comedy group called The Nice Guys. They're frequent collaborators with animator Dave Carter, whose "Psychotown" shorts were featured in the latest Animation Show theatrical program. Here are The Nice Guys on MySpace: http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=89982879
that BS would not fly here in Chicago
That is true. There's always this plethora of up and coming DJs in Chicago hanging out at clubs/raves/what have you. Nobody pays any attention to anyone they don't know or at least recognize as a remotely successful recording artist or DJ. Most of the time their record bags are full of their own promo records, or nearly empty so they can collect for free as many of YOUR latest promo as they can find, regardless of whether or not they know what the hell is on it. Noobs.
As for "No one calls the cops at 11am"
Why would anyone go to a club at 11AM? You've got at least 13-14 hours wait til anything happens.
...NOTE: This does *NOT* work in strip clubs. Most DJs in strip clubs will turn a very cold shoulder to anyone coming across like they want to come in and "try out" to enforce their own job security. I've done it myself on previous gigs, especially when it's obvious the kid is a punk who's not in it to spin disks and make money, but to get wasted and pick up strippers, and not necessarily in that order, either.
As a DJ I'm both laughing my ass off and packing up a record bag to take with me tonight. The best part is that no one looked in the bag.
Too bad it's a Sprite commercial too.
Oh, I loved this, especially as it's in my favourite city, Sydney.
Chances are it'll only get rumbled if anyone watches the ad, or when 500 "DJ's" turn up to an event that's only hosting 10 of them.
For those of you who aren't familiar with all things Australian, more gags like this are pulled by the team "Chasers War on Eveything" - an obvious pun on the much touted War on Terror/Drugs/Free Thought.
They recently got through several layers of security at APEC in Sydney last year, with obviously fake documentation and photo ID (with Osama BL face on it, just to prove a point).
Given that most Sydney people were banned from using parts of their own city during this time (thanks heaps, G.W.B), this particular stunt provided a much needed poke at the self-righteous attitude of police and the government.
You can see it here: http://www.abc.net.au/tv/chaser/war/video/default.htm?program=chaser&pres=20070912_2100
or read about them here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chaser's_War_on_Everything
It's only because they're so well known, and Australians love poking fun at authority that they escaped gaol.
We need more of this type of thing in our society, not less.
All of the sneaking in was about par for the course at most clubs I've played at (this isn't a complaint, just an observation), but just because the door staff doesn't know who's playing on a given night doesn't mean the actual DJs don't. I'm highly skeptical of their "go up to the DJ and pretty much take over their job" claim.
Cute, but the flavour is made bitter by the commercial sting at the end.
Urban Hunters on Youtube go much further (think free Sony 52" TV, tickets to West End Shows) and are completely independent.
Considering that this is a sprite commercial, and the chaser crew has been pulling similar social pranking to great popularity for the last couple of years in Australia, and Sydney especially....
(for example... all the non-club venues they used in that clip had chaser precedent in a "could you get in wearing/could you get away with it using" sketches.... not to mention a "how badly do you have to dress to get refused entry into club even though you have two pretty women on your arm" sketch)
I can't help roll my eyes at the whole thing, cos it's such a painfully weak new media rip off of chaser shtick, aiming for the same young male age group with which the chaser is extremely popular with.... thus intentionally riding off chaser popularity.
Perhaps it's just a case of emotional attachment a la blendtec to the chaser crew that makes me feel dubious and overly harsh about other comedians trying to re-create similar social pranking experiments... Still, would be interesting to know firm has the advertising account for Coca-Cola is Australia....
Why yes, I have been watching too much Gruen Transfer.
I was mistaken for the DJ once, and I wasn't even trying. I was in the queue to be searched by the bouncer, but they waved me through... I was confused, and the bouncer said "aren't you the DJ?". I didn't have a record bag or headphones, I was just carrying two CDs!
I just carry an SM58 microphone with a short cable. I just tell security/gate/ticket takers... "Soundcheck!"
Works everytime; even museums.
Part I of getting into clubs was funny enough.
Surrealistic Part II of getting into ATMs,
toll booths, and buses made me question my sanity.
So, sanity, what did you think of this video?
Sanity: It was brilliant!
Cheers, big ears.
Have the viral marketing guerrillas, at the highly paid advertising agencies, really gotten this good?
Come on ... this was posted on YouTube seven months ago! [http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=SpriteTruthHunters]
The Nice Guys MySpace page itself says ...
"... written and presented a viral campaign for Sprite ("Truth Hunters") aka became corporate whores ..."
Why is a corporation that sells something as evil as soft drink getting a free run on BoingBoing (the e-mail as well)?
The ad agency involved must be stoked ...
I just do not understand ...
P.
A friend of mine used to get into ANY big concert by wearing a big set of keys, carrying a flashlight and a lanyard with a few (whatever) laminates on it.
Simply looked like he was a crewmember and walked right in backstage.
Worked for Metallica a few times. Even the Rolling Stones.
Pretty much whenever he wanted to go for free.
Swaggin.
It's on BB because Mark thought that it's entertaining, a premise which seems to be supported by other readers.
@26 wtf evil as a soft drink?
Yes, please save us all from sugary flavored water.
Bottom line: I like ads that make me laugh. It doesn't twist my arm behind my back and make me buy Sprite.
I get in because my stepdad's a Deejay.
TENN,
Do you work as a telephone service rep? Apparently everybody else on this site does....
File this under "no shit sherlock"
and mental note to delay the snark until I watch the end of the video. thought this was "serious" for a minute
Haha reminds me of John Safran getting 9 guys dressed up as Slipknot into an exclusive Melbourne nightclub. Pity the clips not on Youtube.
Nope, afraid not! I hostess (in the American terminology) at a restaurant. Lots of service there, though.
Ho Tenn, how goes your education?
takuan! manners! you shouldn't call that young lady 'ho'. i don't care about your 'street cred'. pimp.
Ho Eustace,
He's using Battle School slang, but in the wrong thread, ne?
Ho Screwfly! The salutation precedes challenge or acknowledgment.
then Ho! back atcha, sailor.
and hostessing IS Battle School.
is she like the restaurant's pizzimp? or is hostessing mo like the tightrope walka? girlfriend be a BB souljah! knowhutahmeens? PEACE!
As an ACTUAL DJ, I can attest to this, even in NYC, at some of the biggest clubs in the world. Also works for free drinks once you're in the club and access to VIP areas. Of course, it needn't stop at clubs, for the most part, as long as you LOOK like you know what you're doing you can walk in pretty much anywhere. I've DJed at casinos and had no problem walking in through loading docks and wandering around with no one questioning me, and for various jobs I've also walked in to Mental Hospitals, County Jails, Airports, etc. (as a video security tech). It usually doesn't go on for TOO long before someone says something (at which point I have the ID and technical knowledge to back up my reasons for being there), but if someone had ulterior motives and the necessary confidence, they could probably get in and out without anyone being the wiser.
Ho, boys!
Hostessing mo' like bouncin', yo. I has hos gettin all up in my grill demanding booths when there ain't none, and that just don't jive, cracker. It just don't -jive- with me, I tell you.
And them ladies with the walkers? Sho' nuff. Shee-iit.
I've been working full time. Once school starts, I'll be on more often.