Sadly, though that does sound very interesting, McGill was not of this world by the time I was getting into this stuff. I would have liked to see him work, though.

Hey Christopher,

I'm hardly ever on the Café anymore but was just reading a review of something, had a little gander at sleepy and saw your thread. I do a show that use hypnosis in interesting ways that doesn't involve comedy and uses a strong dramatic narrative. It's possible to entertain using hypnosis without comedy skits or routines and I'm sure you are on the right track! Happy to talk via pm. Anthony Jacquin has been doing some very interesting work lately involving stage hypnosis that has some glorious theatricality to it.

Best wishes,
Anansi.

Mcgill apparently was a lovely guy but his work was very dated.

It wasn't dated when he was doing it.

No but we can't go back in a time machine. Nothing is dated until its dated. It's a chronological phenomenom. I would love to see him perform too on video if it was available. I love old stuff including movies etc.

The techniques are not dated, just how they are applied in routines.
Which in an interesting way sort of brings us full circle to the point being made by the op.

I think the problem with the vast majority of shows I have seen is that there is no heart in them. Few add anything that is them. You don't discover much about the performer.

And these insufferable seminars and courses and dvds just keep making the problem worse.

The sad simple truth is any fool can induce trance on stage. But what happens then? Is it comedy (good comedy.) or as the op wants drama? Sadly people learn the words and nothing more. The don't learn how to perform and how to communicate and connect with an audience.

It is all just artificial stupid stuff like how fast an induction is or how many volunteers they keep. NONE of which matters to an audience. Then they go to seminars to learn how to do exactly what others are doing.

Then the worst is they come here and yell at those is us who point out the truth. In the name of being "supportive". All the while leading to the very problem the op is mentioning.

It has sadly become the hypnosis equivalent of how many times can one do the classic pass in a minute.

I agree with you 100% above. I was thought it as a given that anyone can induce trance etc. What is dated about Mcgill is his presentation and content. I have friends who trained with him a few years before he died. He performed in the evening. They all loved him but didn't take his show seriously as it from another era. And that was way back in the 90s.

I can't help but wonder if an act based on old, I mean really old performances might be seen today as "new." I'm not well versed enough to truly be specific about that statement, but I'm envisioning something along the lines of a 19th or early 20th century freak show. Something from the age of traveling circuses and gypsy caravans. What sort of hypno-entertainment was being done in the age of vaudeville? I imagine that the supernatural was part of the pitch and prevailing views today are not what they were a hundred years ago, but that doesn't mean that there is [i]nothing[i] from that era that stands up today. And if someone has the sand to pull the supernatural act off, more power to them. I'd buy a ticket and watch that.

What was a hypnotist in that era doing? Was it comedy, or was it mystery, or something completely different?

You ever watch old black and white movies? Lovely to watch the classics. But they are dated. You couldn't get away with making movies that way today. I think hypnosis shows are best when they have a mystical element to them. It still works today. But needs to be more updated.

Dominque Webb was a very popular magician and hypnotist in France. He had an over the top flamboyant style that framed what he was doing very well and it was filled with pattern disruptions that lead to very quick inductions. Though we might find some of what he did comical, he was not a comedy hypnotist. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ODw6fcdIj4

Interesting. Thanks for the link, Todd.

Just came across something relevant to my earlier post in this conversation about vaudeville stage performance. Ormand McGill wrote an autobiography. (How that had eluded me is anyone's guess.) He was performing stage hypnosis back in the days of vaudeville and on for decades after that. Now, I haven't read it (ordered but not yet in hand) so I can't be sure but I hope to get a glimpse into what was done at that time.

Wichdochris is right that the presentation would be anachronistic, but I can't help but think that the basic themes would be valid. It's often said among magicians that you get more "WOW" by adopting an old principle than by chasing the "new, hot" trend. The cultural references and accepted notions have changed. Much of what was seen as entertaining in the 20s through the 50s is offensive today. Still, people are people are people as they always have been. The basic principles of the performance would still stand without dressing up as a stereotype.

Anyway, I'm hoping to get some inspiration from McGill. If I only get a cool read, that's ok too.

There is no "new hot" trend in hypnosis. Nothing new it has all been adopted from old principles.

I just did a non comedy hypnosis show the other night. Not on purpose mind you, but it DEFINITELY was not funny!

10 very deep, very unresponsive subjects. Say sleep they practically fall out of the chairs, get them awake and it reminded me or the woman walking backwards into a fan. Nearly disaster! (Dissassedher)

Doesn't happen often, but when it does it is no fun.

Happens to the best of us if you perform enough... How was your tap dancing?

I heard something that brought this thread to mind.

Listened to a podcast interview with an author who wrote a really speculative book. To condense the thesis while tap dancing around things that may offend some, he was theorizing who the historical individual the bible knows as Moses may have been. He attributed a lot of things that people of faith feel strongly about to illusion and trickery. He made a statement that in ancient Egypt there were "sleep temples" (known to be true) where they practiced what we now call hypnosis (not quite as peer reviewed, settled science a statement.)

The part that jumped out to me was to the effect of "all the amazing things done in hypnosis therapy and performance are based on about 200 years of hypnosis. Imagine what three thousand years of practice made possible!"

My thought was, "there is a show there somewhere." Not sure how that gets turned into a show, but there it is. What were the Egyptian sleep temples? What did they do there? No knowing, but if you want to spin a tale around it the ancients probably won't mind.

I don’t see the entertainment value in it personally. It seems rather boring.

I wouldn’t imagine anyone who would book the show.

Egyptian Sleep Temples were dark corridors filled with incense, low lamp light, and likely some kind of drumming/repetitive music. The idea being that the trance state brought on by the environment would cause healing.

While I can imagine the audience that would pay for that, I wouldn't classify it as a show, let's alone a hypnosis show.

A warm hello to all the Hypnotists,
I really like the topic of an Non-Comedy Hypnosis show.
This is my take on it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tTbmKAxhgE

The reaction during the show is pure silence and awe. But what I really like is the reaction after the show where a lot of audience members talking about life changing moments. One of the main inspirations was the idea of the sleep temple.
All the best from Berlin Germany

W