“The deeper you go, the better you feel. The deeper you go, the better you feel.”
Last month, an hour before midnight in Chelsea’s Improv Asylum Underground Theater, a hypnotist popped into a comedy show and grunted, repeating the phrase over and over to cast a spell on 20 strangers. .
Asad Mech, a charming broad-shouldered man in black jeans, stared unblinkingly at the two rows of seated volunteers. He then snapped his fingers and his limp subject stood upright, looked around, peered under the chair, and searched. The audience burst into laughter. Then Metsch, 47, asked one frantic man what he was doing. The man was surprised and said, It killed.
In the public consciousness, hypnosis is that of vampires, sideshows and clock-shaking therapists. But could it become a component of the new comedic art?
That is the creator’s ambition “Hyprof” A fusion of improvisational comedy and hypnosis took place in a workshop this summer before its New York premiere at the Darryl Ross Theater on August 12th. At his producer’s Times Square office the day after the show I attended. Sitting next to him was his co-star and co-creator Colin Mochrie.anyway whose line? is a television show that introduced many to improvisational comedy.
“In both of our careers, we’ve been told, ‘Those people are plants,'” said Mochrie, 64, explaining the skepticism faced by these performers. “No one wants to believe that what we do, what we spend our lives training for, is what we actually do.”
Mochley admitted he was skeptical of hypnosis at first, but after taking “Hyprof” on tour with London and Edinburgh Fringe to more than 50 cities in North America, he is now enthusiastic like a proselyte. is speaking with He pointed to an impromptu sketch from the previous night’s show, created from audience suggestions. tears. One woman didn’t stop before taking a morally outraged post when Mochrie stated that this animal she was the product of two different animals. “Unnatural!” she cried.
Mochrie wondered how a professional cartoonist could have made such a strong choice. Not only the quality of the line but also the speed and strength of the delivery are important. “Improvisers don’t always have emotional content, but when she said ‘unnatural,’ it felt like something that went against the core of her being,” he says. He said that while new improvisers take some time to figure out what to do, hypnotized performers have “the part of their brain that deals with self-criticism wiped out.” So I added that I was just reacting.
It’s true that the shows I’ve seen have featured performers as dedicated as the improv comics I’ve seen. But there was certainly something even a little creepy about these performers, who were a bit sluggish and droopy-eyed.
If this sounds like a zombified futuristic comedy, Mecci was quick to point out that the biggest misconception about hypnosis is that people have lost control. “You can make them do things on stage that they wouldn’t normally do, but you can’t make them do things they don’t want to do.” No one regretted joining his show, he said. .
Asked what was going on in the heads of people looking for navels, Metch later said some said it was a hallucination, while others were just forced to watch. One woman I interviewed after said that while being hypnotized, she heard everything and knew what she was doing.
There is disagreement among hypnotists as to whether the subject is hypnotized or whether the subject is acting as a result of suggestion. A member of the National Guild of Hypnotists, a professional organization that studies stage hypnosis and certifies hypnotists, Metsch is careful not to choose one or the other. But his tendency is to liken hypnosis to simpler moments of intense concentration, like watching a horror movie or daydreaming.
When he stares at you, it can be disorienting. Mecci speaks at a steady pace and with dignity, but if you listen to him carefully while he’s working, you might find that he likes completely disjointed remarks. “You learn a lot by thinking about what you’re wondering about, right?”
“A vague, obscure word triggers a hypnotic trance,” he said. This is a point that might help explain some political slogans and mission statements.
The origins of “Hyprov” can be traced back to a class Mecci took in 2015 to help out with a stage act at Toronto’s Second City. He was doing hypnosis shows on cruise ships, working with people to reduce stress, weight loss and other treatments. (Rufus Wainwright composed the music for “Hyprov” after Metsch helped her husband quit smoking with her hypnosis, Metsch said.)
“Many of their exercises are mind-boggling and confusing,” he said at the Second City introductory course. “They get to the point where improvisers don’t have a chance to think and become automatic unconscious.” A common note was “Get out of your head,” but Metsch can achieve similar results through hypnosis. I thought.
So he turned to Mochrie for help. Mochrie was eager for the challenge, even though he worried that making the audience crow like chickens would create laughter. And although the crowd might laugh at the hypnotized improvisers at first, he admitted, they soon became immersed in the scene and laughed along with them.
“This art form is about acceptance,” Mochrie said of comedy, which is famous for using the concept of “yes and” to construct scenes. ‘No, I have a better idea.’ Here’s the beauty of hypnosis: Now we have pure improvisers.”
The hypnosis process takes a few minutes after Mecci first brings 20 people up on stage, performs the exercises, and then selects the five most thought-provoking people. He looks for “physiological signs” and a blank face. As his voice shifts from a light baritone to that of a movie trailer narrator, he tells the volunteers to breathe, relax, and close their eyes.
While touring for the show, Mecci and Mochrie discovered that hypnosis did not work well for more complex scenes. The best moments come from simple, direct goals that can be concisely communicated. And they make a point of reassuring the audience that they won’t do anything they don’t want to do.
Mecci has ambitions to create a franchise like Blue Man Group, but also says hypnosis could unlock other creative pursuits, such as stand-up and theater. When he asked Mecci if hypnosis would help him finish this article, Mochrie whispered in his ear. Do it! “
Mecci made direct eye contact and calmly explained how hypnosis can help you imagine writing the perfect piece on time and on time. His voice was steady, his gaze fixed. I asked, if he hypnotized me, could he influence the story I was about to write? The deeper I dived, the more awkward I felt.
“I’m not sure,” he said, but one look turned me away for a moment.
