Gerard's Blog - Musings, Thoughts and Commentary

Beyond the Binary: How the ‘Involvement Gradient’ Saves Corporate Events from the Veto

The Corporate Planning Challenge

You’re looking for something fun and engaging for a company event. You want everyone involved. But the moment you propose a “new” idea, someone vetoes it because they personally don’t want to do that. Or sometimes the veto is simply because the idea is so different that they have no way of understanding how well it might work. Their risk aversion kicks in with: “I’d rather not try something unpredictable in front of my colleagues.”

Updated: 26 Feb 2024

You’re thinking about learning to do comedy hypnosis stage shows and you’re looking for resources and guidance about how to do that.

While you’ll find plenty of material online and many people offering to train you for various sums of money, if you have come here it is hopefully because you’re not certain if any of that material is useful and you want to better understand the journey you must make to be successful on stage.

I can still remember the days when google was useful. When their mission was to provide you the best and most accurate response to your search query.

Back when it was free.

Wait a minute. Isn’t google still free now? You might well ask.

In practical terms, no it is not free, and perhaps it never was, but now the costs, always well hidden, have skyrocketed; and that is damaging corporate entertainment in ways that really do affect you even though they are harder to see.

Simply put: a “hucks” party is a mixed gender event combining hens and bucks nights into a more inclusive occasion for a more diverse group of friends.

They have become mroe popular both as a reaction to the sleazy traditional events of the past, and to accomodate single sex and gender diverse groups.

The best ones, in my opinion, feature a hypnotist, but I might be biased.

What is the difference between a “hypnotist”, a “stage hypnotist”, a “comedy hypnotist” and a “hypnotherapist”?

Let’s start with the easy bit.

A hypnotist is one who performs “hypnosis”.

All of these other terms are variations on kinds of hypnotist, and all of them can and do hypnotise people under different circumstances. The varying circumstances give rise to the different “types” of hypnotist.

A hypnotherapist uses hypnosis to help people with health and performance issues such as dealing with anxiety, changing behaviours or being better at golf. For the most part, there is little overlap between hypnotherapy and doing a stage performance of any kind, though as usual there are some exceptions and edge cases.

A Secret Santa gift exchange is a fun, festive tradition where group members anonymously give gifts to one another. This practice adds an element of surprise and excitement to any holiday gathering. Here’s a step-by-step guide to organizing your Secret Santa:

1. Gather Participants

First, decide who will participate. This can be family, friends, or coworkers. Aim for at least 4-5 people to make the exchange interesting.

2. Set a Budget

Determine a reasonable spending limit for the gifts to ensure everyone gets something of similar value. Popular limits range from $10 to $50.

Watch any international swimming competition and you’ll see toned, sleek men and women with great physiques. It is common for people who have watched the olympics, for example, to flock to their local swimming pool, determined to achieve that same result for themselves.

After all, if swimming makes a person look like that, then surely if I swim I will look like that too. It’ll be amazing.

Even as a comedy stage hypnotist people ask me to help them maintain that motivation through psychology even at a show.

I have started to see the word “hipnosis” more and more of late and have done some research to find out why. It turns out to have several legitimate meanings and is not simply a mispelling of “hypnosis”.

Hipnosis - Meaning “Hypnosis” but in another language

Hipnosis is used in Spanish and means “hypnosis”. It is also used in Tagalog, a language spoken in the Phillipines.

Hipnosis - The Band

It turns out that there are several bands called Hipnosis around the world. Wikipedia refers to a few bands and / or albums: Hipnosis Wikipedia . But they leave out the most obvious band (in my opinion), these folks from Sydney Australia. Hipnosis Band

Stage Hypnotists, Magicians, and Mentalists

The world of entertainment is vast and varied, with performers specializing in a range of disciplines. Among these are stage hypnotists, magicians, and mentalists. While they may seem similar at first glance, each of these performers brings a unique set of skills and techniques to their craft. Let’s have a look into the differences between them.

Image created by DALL-E3

Stage Hypnotists

A stage hypnotist is a performer who uses hypnosis as a means of entertainment. They perform in front of large or smaller audiences, often on big stages¹. The most famous kind of hypnosis for entertainment is stage hypnosis. And those who make it funny fron start to finish are called “Comedy Hypnotists”

I’m often asked by companies if my show is suitable for their conference, awards night or gala dinner.

If you have a group of people, and a timeslot of 45 - 75 minutes (usually after dinner) where some entertainment would be welcome then yes, my show is perfect for that.

We simply go on stage, make people laugh, ask for volunteers, hypnotize them, and then do some silly (but clean) gags. That’s it.

Hiring professional entertainment for corporate events can have several benefits, such as:

Increased Engagement:

Professional entertainers know how to capture and hold the attention of an audience. By providing engaging and interactive performances, they increase attendee participation and create a much more memorable experience for everyone.

Positive Atmosphere:

Having quality entertainment creates a positive and enjoyable atmosphere at your corporate event. This can help to create a sense of camaraderie and promote networking among attendees, staff, suppliers and customers; and increased sales too.

Way back when I first went professional I rang around a few entertainment agencies asking if they would list me on their roster of performers.

One conversation has stuck in my mind ever since. I was speaking to this guy called Alex and told him who I was, and asked if they would list me. He replied “no, we already have a hypnotist”. I nearly replied with “do you already have a band?”.

People find me online in all sorts of different ways. Word of mouth, general searches, looking for corporate entertainment ideas and fun things to do.

The one that makes me chuckle is when people search for “hypnotizers near me”? Are they looking for therapists or entertainers? Or perhaps they are seeking Arnie “The Hypnotizer”?

[Another word that has started to come up a lot more recently is “hipnosis” ]

How can you make your event fun? The short answer is that you need to do something a bit different.

Don’t Play it Too Safe

The easiest things to do for corporate events are what you did last time and what everyone else does.

If you play it safe the event will almost certainly be unremarkable. Just the same old thing.

So do something different - take a small risk. Different means unfamiliar and that means you wont know exactly how it will go.

What is my show really called? Is it a Comedy Hypnotist Show? That is: a show performed by a comedy hypnotist? (That I am). Or is it a Comedy Hypnosis Show, a show where hypnosis is performed in a funny way?

On balance I prefer Comedy Hypnotist Show because although I am funny and do funny things, I take the hypnosis part seriously (even though the audience will be laugh-crying while I do it).

You’ll not have to search for long before you find someone advertising themselves as a corporate entertainer or offering corporate entertainment.

But how is that different from any other entertainment. Is a corporate comedian somehow different from a regular comedian? What about a corporate hypnotist or juggler? What defines a corporate magician or mentalist?

There’s nothing to prevent an artist from billing themselves as a corporate anything, and some do who probably shouldn’t. To be a corporate entertainer implies that you also meet the following requirements:

I visited my friend Rich Guzzi recently. He is arguably the most successul comedy hypnotist in the USA (he gets nearly all the comedy club bookings) and he is certainly one of the busiest and best.

We got to talking about our shows and why we choose to do things the way we do. Rich pointed out that his choices are all guided by the underlying principle that he wants to audience to know that it is real hypnosis. Not faked, staged or set up.

I was a bit apprehensive about going to an adults only magic show at the Adelaide Fringe. Generally I avoid such things and do family friendly shows myself. The show was entirely not what I expected, funny, and not sleazy. Sam and Justin did an awesome job.

I can see why it had to be billed as “adulkts only” but despite that name it wasn’t at all sleazy or even “sexy”. Just utterly hilarious and the two magicians worked so well together that made an great team.

Is Stage Hypnosis Real? What is real hypnosis?

Summary (TL;DR)

1. Hypnosis is real: Wikipedia
2. Stage hypnotists are good at selecting the most easily hypnotised subjects
3. It is easy to get good volunteer subjects so fakes are not needed
4. The Hypnotist will quickly dismiss unresponsive or troublesome people
5. By carefully choosing suggestions the hypnotist can make the subjects more and more compliant
6. Even though a few claim they weren’t “under” its obvious to the audience that they were doing things they wouldn’t normally do.

How Stage Hypnotism Works.

This article breaks the question down into several parts.

Having a comedy hypnotist at your club function or awards night is a popular choice.

But if you’ve never booked an act like that before, you might be wondering how to go about it.

It is not very hard to do.

Make Contact

Make Contact and Request a Price and Availability. The main thing is to contact the act you are interested in and check that they re available and what they would charge.

Why are so many comedians rude, mean or offensive? I’m not talking about touching on mildly uncomfortable topics, but rather the all too common practise of being rude or demeaning to one group or another.

The reason is simple and is has to do with two things, skill and fear.

To write a lot of good clean material that is super funny is hard work. It takes genuine skill and considerable effort. Whereas the cheap shots and offensive words are comparatively easy. Sometimes people cover their discomfort and embarrassmewnt with a laugh.

You’ve got a great fundraiser. People are going to have an absolute blast. But they don’t seem to be buying your tickets.

Here are some of the reasons why that could be.

1. You’re Relying On Social Media

Social media is great. You can sit at home and post stuff online. Done right you can get lots of people to click on, or to like what you post online.

You can really get the idea that you’re going to have a sellout night.

How do those shows work? A hypnotist gets a whole bunch of people on stage, and before you know it they’re doing silly things at the suggestion of the hypnotist. What is going on and how does that happen? Why does stage hypnosis work?

Summary (or TL;DR)

The hypnotist will find within any group those who are most readily hypnotisable on that occasion. Depending on her skill the hypnotist might require a large group to start with to improve their chances.

Are hypnotist shows real? Are they fake? Do stage hypnotists really hypnotise people from the crowd? Is it set up in advance somehow?

I’m often asked these questions. Along with “Can everyone be hypnotised?”.

When you see 16 people on stage all being silly under the “control” of the hypnotist - what is going on?

Either:

1. They’re paid actors,
2. They’re just faking it for the fun of it (unpaid), or
3. They’re really hypnotised.

Let look at these possibilities.

If they’re paid actors, how much do they need to be paid? To do the show and to never talk about it again? $50 perhaps? That’s not much. $200? What would you do it for and never tell? Let’s go with $100 - and 16 people on stage - that’s $1600. Plus all the organising beforehand to get them there (how would you do that?). A lot of money and effort, and show business just doesn’t pay well - you can check.

Techniques that embody what we now call [hypnotism][1] have been around for centuries, appearing in various forms in spiritual and religious rites and alternative medical practice.

While we look back at the activities of these practitioners and judge them as quacks, much of what they did was normal practice for their times, when the practice of medicine was also ad hoc, unscientific and steeped in mythology and strange beliefs.

One of the strangest beliefs that came out of early hypnosis was the concept of animal magnetism. This term still arises today in description of a person who has seemingly super strong innate attractiveness (usually to members of the opposite sex). However originally it was used by practitioners of mesmerism or hypnosis as we now call it.

It turns out that Powerpoint really can kill!

This surprised me because it is so unlikely and in present times seems so dumb. But it is apparently true that only a few hundred years ago some people believed that a species of goose (the Barnacle Goose) grew on trees. Seriously! How anyone could believe that is beyond me.

Moreover the lifecycle was thought to be partly aquatic and, wait for it, the barnacle goose gave its name to barnacles, not the other way around.

If you leave it to the last minute to book your work end-of-year or Christmas entertainment you are likely to miss out. Venues, entertainers and everyone will be busy or already booked, so book early! We do hilarious end-of-year parties, and can supply a full entertainment package. Attractively priced and no-sleaze, guaranteed!

The only people who cannot be hypnotised at all are those with substantial neurological defects or impairment, but some people take a while to learn to go into a trance for the first time. It is always surprising to the volunteers and the audience how easily they find themselves being hypnotised. On the night, most people who volunteer will be hypnotised provided they follow the hypnotist’s instructions.