Hypnosis, often the subject of skepticism and cinema tropes, is viewed as pseudo-science due to it’s almost comical portrayal of influencing people to do ridiculous things. But what if being comical was the point?
Rich Guzzi, a comedy hypnotist, convinced an audience at the SUB Monday night that, while funny, hypnosis is very real.
The man can tell a joke, that much is certain. Honestly, Guzzi himself would’ve been able to carry the show on his own, but if he had done that the show wouldn’t have been as memorable. If each performer needs a shtick, Guzzi has one that takes the audience by surprise.
I didn’t have the highest of expectations coming into the show, but what could I expect from a free comedy show at the SUB? The audience was small, and didn’t look very enthused. I feared it was going to be a repeat of a dismal improv group that came to campus a few years ago.
If books have taught me anything it’s that many things shouldn’t be taken at face value — Guzzi’s show was one of these things.
Guzzi took 12 participants on stage — six women and six men — for his performance. Usually hypnotism is done in an intimate environment with only a couple subjects, but Guzzi had success hypnotizing a group of people in the SUB ballrooms, which was impressive on its own. Even a few people in the audience fell under his spell.
At first it appeared that the volunteers were acting on their own volition, fully conscious that is. But as soon at Guzzi began narrating their beach vacation, it was clear that the volunteers were completely under the influence of Guzzi’s words and their own imaginations.
Guzzi took the volunteers from being participants in a vulgar spelling bee to being convinced they were legendary rockstars. At one point he made each of the participants believe that the person next to them let out heinous flatulence. I don’t remember the last time I laughed that hard at a fart joke.
While hilarious, the performance was also fascinating. Guzzi was able to convince the majority of volunteers to actively antagonize the audience by acting as “the laughter police.” The audience loved this part of the act, but I was perturbed. If the audience could be influenced this much and remain consciously unaware of their actions, could they rob a bank?
All speculation of course, but then Guzzi convinced a participant that he was Michael Jackson, which won back my laugh.
Toward the end of the show Guzzi interviewed the participants about their experience under hypnosis. Apparently each person had no idea of the ridiculous things Guzzi had them perform. None of the acts were dangerous — only slightly embarrassing — but I’d say the power of Guzzi’s hypnotic technique would put him into the category of a master.
While the show nearly had me falling out of my chair with laughter, perhaps the real point of the show was to prove that hypnosis is very real and can be used for helping people, not just for a good laugh. Guzzi made the point to even hypnotize the entire audience to adopt positive thinking into their subconscious, and then proceeded to advertise his own self-help programs to lose weight and to stop smoking.
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Guzzi put on a riotous show that had the audience nearly passing out from laughter at certain points, putting on full display a talent that can turn skeptics into believers.
Fin Martinez is the culture editor for the Daily Lobo. He can be reached at culture@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @FinMartinez.
