I tried to decide which forum to post in, because I could write it to fit in any of them, but given that there have been enough hypnosis threads already I thought I would just share the fun here.
Saturday BakingWithElectricity and I went to the D.C. Improv for a show by Flip Orley, a comic hypnotist. I had never seen stage hypnosis and had a certain skepticism about it all, but I had a great time.
He started his show with a stand-up routine, and he’s a pretty decent stand-up comedian. Then he talked about his approach to hynosis. Unlike some others, he is emminently ethical, will do nothing to humiliate people (“I won’t tell you to take your clothes off. I won’t tell you your dick is missing. There’s nothing funny about seeing grown men cry.”). He said you should not come up if you are determined the prove that you cannot be hypnotized, because if that’s your attitude, then you can’t. No drunks either. And no dickheads. “Even if you don’t think you’re a dickhead, if your friends say you’re a dickhead, don’t come up.”
“Don’t fake it. If you’re faking it, or if you just change your mind an don’t want to be up here, then just quietly and safely return to your seat.”
Then asked for volunteers from the audience, which filled all of the chairs on stage, maybe 15 or so. One guy started barking like a dog. “Somebody wasn’t listening!”
He went through the induction, then told them that he would ask a question and the should eagerly raise their hand right away because they wanted to be the first to answer, but as soon as he called on them they would forget the answer, and in fact would even forget the question. Then the lights came back up, and he said, “What is your first name?” Several people responded with their first name. Then he came to Dave.
“What’s your first name?” Dave just had a deer-in-the-headlights look, the audience laughed, and Flip said, “That’s the look we’re going for! Dave, what’s your first name?” Nothing.
“I’ll give you a hint. It rhymes with ‘Dave’.”
“Cave?”
Then he moved to Hillary, and a few others who also couldn’t come up with their first names. Susan tried but could get just out, “Sssss. . .Sssss. . .” Then he excused everyone who easily said their first names and continued with the show. The lights went back down and he launched into a series of scenes. In one he told people that they would hear voices of little people inside their wristwatches who wanted to get out. One woman was so annoyed by it that she took her watch off and gave it to him. He told people that they had a bad experience working as a character in Disney World, and each told their story. Dave was Mickey Mouse.
He told them that suddenly the back of his clothes would fall off and they would see him naked from behind. They acted shockded and then laughed and pointed, especially when he bent over to pick up his bottle of water. Then he told him he would be *entirely * naked, and had a 3-foot penis. Susan said, “Doesn’t that get in the way when you drive?!?”
He told Dave that when asked his name, he would give his name but it wouldn’t be Dave, it would be something else, but different and longer each time he asked. Near the end of the show he was Hip-hop-opotamus.
This was a thoroughly enjoyable show. Even if you think hypnosis is bunk, it was hilarious.