Sleep has never been so funny
You’re getting sleepy, very sleepy.
If you’re looking for something interesting and different to do tonight, round up a group of friends and head over to Addison Improv.
You’ll surely flip over comic hypnotist Flip Orley.
Throw all the stereotypes you have about hypnotists out the door.
When you think about being hypnotized you might get the image of someone standing alone on a stage barking like a dog, or telling his or her most embarrassing secrets.
That is not the case with this comedian.
He won’t make you waddle like a duck or act like a chicken. Orley is sincere about not embarrassing his volunteers.
“I want the audience to laugh with them, not at them,” he said. “This is the purest form of improvisational entertainment you will ever see, as the show rewrites itself every night and the volunteers are my partners, not my victims.”
In fact, Orley claims it is his volunteers who truly make the show as funny as it is because people don’t realize how funny they can really be.
He combines the art of hypnotism and comedy to create an act you have to see to believe.
On Saturday night, 250 people crowded in the Addison Improv to see what all the hype was about. In fact, they had to bring two or three more seats in just to accommodate everyone.
When Orley asked the audience if anyone wanted to volunteer, 20 people eagerly made their way on stage. However, there are a few conditions set on these volunteers, such as empty bladders, no alcohol in their system and, most importantly, having an open mind.
“If people come on stage to try to prove to me that they cannot be hypnotized, they’re right. It’s all about keeping an open mind and positive attitude,” Orley said.
In the end, only seven people could be fully hypnotized.
From making the volunteers forget their names to smelling a bad odor coming from the audience, Orley plays off the volunteers’ reactions.
He successfully transformed the well-behaved panel into angry, outrageous and well-known Disney characters who were fired from their jobs at Disney World.
Sammy Hooda, a pre-law sophomore from the University of Texas – Denton, was transformed into Peter Pan, who was supposedly fired from the park because of an unusual incident. While performing one of his high-flying routines, he got mad at the kids and proceeded to urinate on them. As Hooda began describing this experience, the audience went wild. The more the crowd laughed, the angrier Hooda got.
Hooda claimed to have remembered the entire experience.
“I knew exactly what I was doing. I was very relaxed,” Hooda said. “It’s all about concentrating on [Orley’s] voice.”
Hooda’s friend, Mickey Hussain, enjoyed watching his buddy on stage. “When Sammy was on stage that was his personality but it was more animated than he normally is,” Hussain said.
Orley recalls a time when he thought it would be funny to let the volunteers pace around the stage and do what they pleased.
“Once during a show I apparently made this 6-foot-8 guy real mad. He told me he was going to kick my ass, and as he lunged at me, I froze in fear,” Orley said. “The first thing that came to mind was to point at him and shout ‘sleep.’ This guy had stopped dead in his tracks, but all the momentum he had pushed this guy on top of me and made me fall to the ground breaking his fall. I hit my head real hard and literally saw stars.”
Can you imagine what Orley’s biggest fear would be on stage? Most would think that it would be the fear of not being able to hypnotize anyone. The comic actually says his biggest fear is that the volunteers will be shy, uninventive and not have anything to say. Orley says that he can’t get mad or make fun of them. So he works with what he has to make sure the show goes on.
Fellow actor and friend, Bill Wagenhauser, says what makes Orley’s show so unique and fascinating is that he has the ability to read his volunteers and interpret what bits will make for an entertaining show.
Aside from comical hypnotism, Orley continues to recognize the clinical side of hypnotism. He often uses his highly developed techniques in seminars and workshops to help people deal with stress management, weight control and compulsive behavior disorders like smoking or shopping.
Orley will be in town tonight through Sunday.
For more information about Flip Orley or Addison Improv visit www.improvsclubs.com or call 972-404-0323. Don’t forget to bring your college ID each Wednesday and Thursday night for a 2-for-1 discount excluding holidays.
Sleep has never been so funny
