Straight from their Las Vegas Residency at the legendary Showroom at Harrah’s, comedian Colin Mochrie and hypnotist Asad Mecci will perform their uniquely blended show of humour and hypnosis to Vancouver Island this week.
According to a release for the show, as an international success story, ‘Hyprov: Improv Under Hypnosis’ continues to make waves after its sold-out Canadian tour earlier this ear and off-Broadway run last year. The live 90-minute show, which has been described as a “celebration of the human imagination,” blends the art forms of hypnosis and improv for a “one-of-a-kind comedy experience.”
The show was created in 2016 at Toronto’s Second City, and after working it out on stage, was taken on the road to Just for Laughs London, Just for Laughs Montreal, and the Edinburgh Fringe where it was received with rave reviews. The duo set out on a 60-city tour from 2019-22, which continues across North America in 2023-24.
The performance starts when Mecci invites 20 volunteers on stage to be hypnotized and the most receptive then join Mochrie to improvise the rest of the show, all while still hypnotized.
In the hands of two experts–and solely crafted from the volunteers’ uninhibited, unconscious minds–each show is an entirely original and completely unforgettable theatrical experience, noted the release.
During a podcast with Black Press Media, Mochrie said wherever they go, people want to be a part of the show.
“When Assad says ‘we’re looking for 20 people,’ it’s just a stampede,” the comedian said. “No matter in Canada, in the States, small towns or bigger towns … They come up with just the best stuff that real improvisers would never come up with, just to keep me on my toes.”
During the podcast Mecci said the volunteers are turned into an improv troupe in an instant.
“We don’t embarrass them, we don’t make them cluck like a chicken or bark like a dog,” the hypnotist said.
‘Hyprov: Improv Under Hypnosis’ will be performed in Nanaimo at the Port Theatre on Nov. 8 at 7:30 p.m. The show will continue on the Island in Campbell River at the Tidesmark Theatre on Nov. 9, and in Sidney at the Sidney Winspear Centre, Nov. 10-12.
READ MORE: PODCAST: Colin Mochrie of ‘Whose Line’ brings HYPROV to B.C.
