My friend had always wanted me to see how well a professional hypnotist worked on his audience. I laughed at him last summer and sarcastically told him that yeah, sure, I’d see it in a million years. Talk about the fastest million years I’ve ever experienced.
Ten minutes before 8 pm, the McNeil Room was filled with chatting students and contemporary music. There was anticipation hanging in the air, yes, but other than that, the place seemed ready for a small concert.
I managed to find my way to a seat on the left before more people filed in and took the empty seats. The sound system was set up behind, and the stage was prepared with a lone microphone and 15 red chairs.
Two small signs were placed on each chair: one mentioning a world breaking electric slide event, and the other—the more relevant one—held the words “Be Hypnotized.” Yep, I was attending a hypnosis show organized by UPAC comedy and the class of 2008. I must admit, my initial thoughts about hypnosis were anything but agreeable. Until, of course, Twilight Zone music started to play and Ronny Romm entered the stage.
Romm is a professional performer and was said to have “turned skeptics to believers” with his ESP and hypnosis specialization. In my head, I thought to myself, “Try me.”
Romm’s first feat was ESP, or extra-sensory perception, for those who are curious (the hypnotism was the main act, of course). He consecutively guessed the amount of change in one person’s hand and planned a spontaneous dream vacation created by four different people—and this was all done with a pen, a notepad, and a sealed envelope inside his pocket. Don’t believe he’s a professional yet? You would have by the end of the show.
After that little ESP warm-up, the main event of the show began. Fifteen volunteers (or victims) climbed up onto the stage, eager to have the promised six hours of sleep during their hypnosis experience.
Romm started out with a little mind game, where he told the victims to concentrate on their clenching hands. Now, in my experience, if you concentrate on something you want hard enough, you might achieve it. So when Ronny Romm said anything about hypnotism, it became more probable.
In any case, the hands did stick, and the volunteers were then told to close their eyes and listen to the hypnotist’s voice. With Romm’s voice and the snap of his fingers, he successfully placed his victims in a relaxed sleep. According to Romm, only by clearing their minds of all thought and concentrating on Romm’s voice, would he be capable of hypnosis. Hypnosis can’t work without the acceptance of the body, and the body must be fully relaxed and responsive for it to work.
The volunteers were then asked to imagine themselves in a warm and sunny beach. With vivid description, Romm created a very believable scenario, something even the rest of the audience could feel (I swear I could taste the salty air myself). My favorite aspect of that was that the audience had the pleasure of watching volunteers in a humorous stupor. A number of heads drooped considerably low—even to the point where they drooped on their neighbors’ shoulders.
In fact, Romm put his victims into such a heavy state of relaxation that even the audience’s loud cheers did not disturb them (well, except one, but Romm put him back to sleep).
When the volunteers were “ready”—in their sleeping state—the hypnotist gave them a number of commands. The warm beach that the volunteers were drooling over became much too warm, and the audience laughed at the hilarity as a number of the males pulled off their shirts. Once Romm suggested that the temperature became colder and below 0 degrees (Celsius, I believe), another burst of laughter came from the audience as the volunteers started hugging their neighbors for warmth.
More suggestions ensued ranging from a fishing trip to a horse race to an ice cream licking contest. The volunteers complained about a nonexistent smell, acted like third graders, continually asked for their bellybuttons back, and experienced a decrease or increase in size of certain parts of their bodies.
There was no stop to the laughter when we all witnessed the first man to give birth to a child on the stage nor when Tarzan found Jane. And we certainly didn’t cease when two of the gentlemen did pirouettes on the stage to The Nutcracker. It was certainly amusing to see a volunteer become a drill sergeant and then a flirtatious dancer attracted to brooms.
To finish it off, Romm had the volunteers perform as singers and dancers for the MTV Movie Awards. Michael Jackson, Madonna, Sean Paul, and Britney Spears were being impersonated (and rather well, I might say). There was an appearance of the “Spice Boys”—a combination of the Spice Girls and the Backstreet Boys, perhaps?—and a special comeback of the munchkins from The Wizard of Oz.
No pause for breath could be experienced afterward. It was just too funny! Once Romm had finished with his fun in asking people to do what he told them to, the volunteers snapped out of their stupor. They were back—or so they thought.
The next thing they knew, they were hurriedly stepping off the stage and doing the disco. Even at the end, people were still buzzing over how silly their friends were on stage. And, the fun part? The victims don’t even remember half of what they did.
