The way to make your show go from great to brilliant is simply, attention to detail. It’s the little things that you do that make a huge difference. What do I mean about this? Knowing your material (patter) so well that while you are talking on stage, you can listen to how you sound. Pausing, raising and lowering your voice. Being permissive at times and then authoritarian at others. Paying attention not to block the view of the audience and camera, if you are recording. Being sure that the people in the very last row can hear you clearly. Putting the microphone in front of the person’s mouth that is speaking. Getting so excited on stage that your committee members will do just about anything you suggest.

There is a huge amount of little things that, when addressed, these little things will make your show brilliant. You see, a lot of hyp shows are good and only a few are great. This is where your show can be different than the others. 

Going back to the drawing board, we always stress that impressionability is an important
factor in your show. Here’s a routine that Jerry Valley and I use often and really have fun with it. We call it the Waking Hypnosis routine. You begin by selecting a committee member that is responding very well. Before you awaken them, you tell them that in a moment, when I ask you, how did you enjoy the hypnosis, you will reply saying that it did not work for you, you are not hypnotized, nothing happened. You simply deny being hypnotized no matter how many times I ask you. In fact, you might get a little irritated with me asking so often. Now, even though you think you are not hypnotized, you follow my suggestions and act upon them accordingly. One more thing. When I ask you to return to your seat, you will sit and the moment, the instant that you are seated, your eyelids close, your body collapses like a dish rag and you go into deep hypnosis. You will not fall out of the chair, but you will actually collapse on the person sitting to your right.

Now you awaken the person and or your entire committee. Then ask the person to stand next to you. Here comes the fun. You feel pretty good? Nice. So be honest, tell the audience how it feels to be hypnotized. The response usually is, Oh, I am not hypnotized, it didn’t work. So you’re not hypnotized? No. (Here’s the waking hypnosis). Wow, it didn’t work for you, ok. Hey, you know what? You are standing here on stage naked! You’re naked on stage. No, that’s not true, you have clothes on. So, are you hypnotized? I said, NO! The committee member gets irritated now. You’re not in hypnosis? NO! Ok, well, now I am naked! Ok, I have clothes on. So I guess now you are hypnotized? NO! So you can continue with amnesia if you want by saying……Tell me, what’s your name you forgot? Or, what town do you live in you forgot? After doing the waking hypnosis, send the person back to their seat and watch as they going into hypnosis instantly and collapse. Then, say to the audience, I guess the hypnosis isn’t working.

Folks, this experiment is very, very impressive. Just do it with confidence. Memorize the patter (suggestions) and have a ball with it. Let me know if you add a twist.

-Tommy Vee