Excitement and raised hands filled Edmond Memorial High School’s auditorium on Monday night, with these hands belonging to all those who attended the Swine Week Hypnosis show. Audience Members eagerly waited to be called up to the stage by hypnotist Michael Mayo, a newly retired teacher from Muskogee County Oklahoma who travels around doing comedy hypnotic shows.

This year’s hypnosis show started relatively slow, with technical difficulties, and a long setup; however, once the ball started rolling, there was no stopping it. After briefing the audience about hypnosis as a concept, Mayo dove straight into things, putting all of the members of the crowd, he selected, into a deep sleep. The process of putting them to sleep was moderately long, which while being necessary for the show to work, was slow and subsequently boring to watch. 

Once fully hypnotized, the fun began, as Mayo brought many scenes to life throughout the show, the first of which was a calm, relaxing day at the beach for the participants. This calm, relaxing environment was short-lived as Mayo suggested that the temperature of the beach was rising rapidly and that sand fleas were crawling all over the participants. Watching the participants begin to fan themselves from the heat, then begin to scratch themselves, and even one another, to feel relief from the fake fleas was pure comedy. This scene gave a nice taste of the excitement to come.

The second scene he set up was my favorite, as he told the participants they were musicians being scouted by professionals in the audience. He built up the excitement during this scene masterfully, starting with classical music to which the participants calmly played different “air” instruments along with the rhythm. After the classical, he turned on a rock song, causing the hypnotized to begin to rock their heads around. Finally, he turned on “Ice Ice Baby” by Vanilla Ice and “Turn Down For What” by DJ Snake and Lil Jon and allowed the participants to stand up and dance, and dance they did. How the scene always one-upped itself up to the final beat drop in “Turn Down For What” was hilarious.

The third scene was just as pleasurable as Mayo took the participants to a movie theater. Starting off, Mayo had all the participants think they were watching the best comedy ever. This bit was enjoyable, as all those hypnotized began laughing uncontrollably at seemingly nothing, clapping their hands and slapping their knees in pure bliss. The second bit in the set was much more cruel, as Mayo painted the picture of a boy and his dog being separated after the dog’s death. While a sad concept, watching the contestants scream out in horror and sadness was, in a twisted way, quite hilarious. Finally, to finish the theater scene, Mayo described a horror movie, leading to a humorous scene of the participants screaming and hugging one another for protection.

After these two scenes, there was one more that began with the contestants winning a new car. After the successes of the second and third scene, this section did not feel like it had quite as much flare. It would have been fine on its own, but compared to its forefathers, it was not quite up to par. The problem this scene had was most of the actions were relatively normal things that were not particularly interesting, such as using a steering wheel and waving at friends. The last bit of the scene was the best part, as he told them they were being pulled over. The looks on their faces and the subsequent terrified babblings to Mayo, whom they saw as the cop, were amazing. 

The audience did not fill up the auditorium all that well, but I hope that changes next year, as this was a genuinely fun event. Even for returning viewers, the experience is often different as hypnotism can be taken in so many distinctive creative directions due to the crowd’s inclusion. Even when you are not picked, watching your friends and peers do absurd actions on a stage will always be enjoyable. Hypnosis shows were never something I had considered attending, but I am glad I did, as it was an amusing experience. I look forward to seeing the next night’s events, the Swine Stock and the Techno Dance.

Contact Lathan Pearce at [email protected]