Hyprov Improv Show – Universal Preservation Hall – Interview

Hyprov Improv Show – Universal Preservation Hall – Interview – by Niki Kaos.

An evening of unpredictable hilarity awaits you as Universal Preservation Hall welcomes a new style of comedy show – “Hyprov!” Audience members are invited to participate in hypnosis on stage and then perform improv routines with one of the greatest spontaneous comedic talents of our time!

Sounds good? Well that’s what you can expect from Hyprov – a concept dreamed up by Asad Mecci – professional hypnotist and developed in collaboration with Colin Mochrie – legendary comedian from the hit improv comedy show “Who’s Line Is It Anyway”.

I’m just fascinated by this whole concept of hypnosis and improv, and lucky for me Asad and Colin were kind enough to chat with me and let me know how it all works!

RRX: What was the inspiration to combine these two things and create the show?

AM: So I’m the master hypnotist on the show. I was taking improv classes at the Second City to improve my craft. Oftentimes the improv instructors would say, Get out of your head. You’re too much in your head, meaning stop consciously constructing the comedy. They wanted a knee jerk reaction. They wanted unconscious comedy.

So I thought to myself, hmm, I know what they’re doing here. They’re trying to bypass the conscious mind and get an unconscious reaction. And that’s really what hypnosis is all about. It’s really moving the conscious mind to the side and working directly with the unconscious mind.

And then I thought to myself, wait a second. Could I take somebody who has no improv experience, hypnotise them and turn them into a great improviser? And then could I up the bar even further and bring in the world’s greatest improviser to improvise with them on stage?

That’s how the show started. I reached out to Colin through his website, and we’ve now been touring 200 cities across North America. We’ve performed off Broadway in Las Vegas, and now we’re coming to Saratoga.

RRX: That sounds so cool! And Colin, what was your reaction when this idea was brought to you?

CM: Well, of course, as any sane person would think, I thought it was insane. But, that said, you know, I’ve been improvising since the last century. So I was in like my 40th year of improvising, and I was always worried that you get a little too comfortable, which is the death of good improv.

And I thought, well, I don’t think I can get comfortable with this, working with people that I don’t know who are in a hypnotic trance. I thought it would be very exciting. So, I said yes. The Second City in Toronto was kind enough to let us sort of try out the show after their mainstay show. It seemed to work and then we just went from there.

RRX: I love that you were willing to take a risk and try something so out of the box! Without dating myself, I remember watching you on Whose Line Is It Anyway as a teenager, so we can both pretend whatever that means as far as how long ago that was.

So Asad, after you were inspired by your improv classes through Second City was it difficult to get Colin’s attention to get him on board?

AM: I sent a cold email through Collin’s website, and Jeff Andrews, his longtime manager, picked up the email. In the email, I outlined the concept of combining hypnosis and improv on stage, and he said, you know, I think this is a really interesting concept. Let’s meet. And then before you know it, we’re on the Second City main stage testing it out, and the rest is history. It’s really been nonstop with regards to touring.

We just performed at the National Art Centre in Canada and sold it out with 2000 seats. It’s just been a great ride. We’re gonna be performing in our largest venue to date, in Falls Street Casino, and that’s 5000 seats. We’re gonna be performing two nights there, January 2nd and 3rd. So it’s really exciting to see how the show’s really taken off and it’s been amazing to watch it take on a life of its own.

RRX: That leads me into my curiosity about what it’s like to experience this unique combination of hypnosis and comedy, and then different venues. Like a bigger venue vs. a smaller one, for example, at UPH it might be a more intimate experience. How do you find the volunteers? How do you pick the people out of the audience?

CM: It’s on a volunteer basis. Asad says if you wanna be hypnotised, come on stage, and then it’s just like a mass… it’s like lemmings heading towards the end of a cliff.

RRX: On really?

CM: Yeah. Still to this day I go, how? Why? Why do people do this? But they’re very into it.

AM: Let’s be honest, it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity. How often do you get a chance to set foot on a professional stage in front of 1000 people and then improvise with the great Colin mockery from “Whose Line Is It Anyway?” It is something to talk about for years.

RRX: I would be a lemming. I would be right there at the edge of the stage. It IS a once in a lifetime opportunity.

So what happens next? I get up there, and somehow I get on stage? When you’re hypnotising me, what happens? I think people maybe have an apprehension about losing control and doing something embarrassing. Which, I don’t have that problem, but other people might.

AM: Yeah, so the whole idea here is that we’re unlocking their creative comedic genius. That’s really what the whole premise of the show is about because the part of the brain that deals with self-reflection becomes disconnected when somebody’s hypnotised. So they no longer reflect on their behaviour, they just carry out my suggestions without hesitation, without question, which makes for really good improvising.

First time improvisers, they’ll often play to the crowd, they’ll look nervous, they’ll use filler words, they’ll hesitate. When these people are hypnotised, they just jump into the scenes and they’re fully immersed. And this happens every single time we perform. There’s always one superstar, a person that battles wits with Colin on stage is the top subject who gets hypnotised on stage. We call them hypnovisors, and it’s amazing to watch an ordinary person do an extraordinary thing on stage and command the stage with such an incredibly seasoned improviser like Colin.

CM: And I think a lot of people are apprehensive about being hypnotised because they have a lot of misconceptions about what hypnosis is. The people we have on stage, they’re aware of everything, the entire show. It’s just, I was talking to one person afterwards, he said, I heard everything that was going on. I knew. It’s just everything you and Assad said sounded like a good idea, so I did it. And that’s what it is.

RRX: Well, that’s an interesting observation because that is the misconception when you’re hypnotised. Like you’re out of it and you don’t know what happened. But people are aware and it’s just the unlocking of freedom or maybe even free association that they can keep them in the moment?

And then Colin, with your expertise of doing improv, you’re able to just play off that and draw them into the whole scene or whatever your scenario is, right? Which is the ultimate in creativity, being able to get people to be in the moment and let that creativity flow. It sounds like that’s what you’re doing.

AM: That’s exactly it. It’s a flow state where the person is uninhibited and is able to get out of their head and stop being self-conscious and really go with the flow and immerse themselves fully in the scene.

The best way to describe hypnosis would be getting so caught up in a movie that you’re moved to a physiological response. So you watch a horror movie, you jump in your chair, your palms get sweaty. Logically, you know what you’re watching on the big screen is not real, but for that moment in time, it feels really real. That’s a hypnotic trans state.

So these people are immersing themselves in the scenes and we’re getting some incredible reactions from them on stage. Another example of hypnosis would be watching a tearjerker and crying. Logically, you know what you’re watching on the big screen is not real, but for that moment in time it feels really real. So these people are having honest, real reactions on stage, and it makes for fantastic improv.

A fun fact for you. Hypnos was the Greek god of sleep. Originally, they thought that people who were hypnotised were asleep. They realised now that they are not asleep. Observably, they look asleep, meaning from a physiological perspective, they look like they’re slumped in their chair, they look like they’re asleep, but they’re actually aware of what’s going on. To Collin’s point, they’re aware of what’s going on, they hear the sound of my voice, they’re aware of the audience, they just are in a state where they’re able to really immerse themselves and have fun on stage.

RRX: That’s the best part because everybody’s there to have fun, and it’s comedy, and it’s meant to be a great time. But Asad, I’m gonna dive into a different direction. I read your background is actually helping other kinds of people with hypnosis, like Olympic athletes and corporate leaders for example. Are you still doing that or are you fully into the comedy scene now that you have embraced this new opportunity?

AM: The majority of the time I’m touring and performing with Colin. I do work with select athletes and select corporations in the area of peak performance and stress management. That’s originally where I got my start.

RRX: How did you choose to hypnosis? What set you on that path?

AM: I was in my first year of university. One of my good friends went away to Hawaii over spring break. There he was sunburned very badly. He was travelling with his father and his father’s friend, who was a dentist who used hypnosis in his dental practice, and the dentist hypnotised my friend to take away the pain and the irritation associated with the sunburn. And I was fascinated when I heard that story. And from there, that was the catalyst, that’s what got me very interested in hypnosis.

RRX: That’s super cool. I’m fascinated because I just don’t know much about it. So maybe I’ll be one of the lucky audience members at your show that gets picked to be on stage.

Colin, how about you? In addition to this, you have a pretty extensive career. You’re doing voice work, you do other improv beyond this. What is super exciting about comedy for you right now?

CM: What’s exciting is I think people more than ever really want to laugh. So you can feel the excitement before every show. People just ready to be entertaining, to be entertained, and just to forget about everything in the outside world for a little while. So, there’s a real energy from the audience, which is really important. That makes it more fun that they’re willing to take risks and what they shout out at us.

RRX: That definitely makes sense because part of the process when you’re doing improv is that audience engagement, which you’re pretty used to. So I’m glad to hear that you are having that connection with the audience.

To me, the biggest part of any event is that exchange of energy, which your show is naturally designed for, so I know it’s gonna be amazing. I’m really excited to see the show. I think it’s gonna be a blast. Thanks for bringing something new to our town. We’re really looking forward to it.

For tickets and more information visit Tour Dates — HYPROV – and come check out the show Thursday 9/25 at Universal Preservation Hall in Saratoga!

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