Improv Everywhere, The New York based improv/prank troupe gets into the Christmas Spirit by surprising a Salvation Army worker with a 13 member handbell choir to play Joy To The World next to him, no doubt a Christmas Season highlight for someone who has a pretty thankless job. Improv Everywhere has been accused of being mean-spirited in the past, most notably on an episode of the television version of "This American Life", where the troupe surprised a completely unknown MySpace band by having 30 or so "Agents" show up at their performance pretending to be huge fans. Improve Everywhere says they merely wanted to give the two-person band "The Best Night Of Their Life", but the musicians were disappointed and embarrassed when they found out they'd unknowingly been victim of a stunt.

Judging from the video above, the Salvation Army worker was thrilled by the Christmas surprise, which I think is in its own way a touching tribute to a ubiquitous part of Christmas in the city.