Asad Mecci had a theory that everyone was funny and creative — they just needed someone to unlock their mind.
The famous master hypnotist decided to test this idea after taking several improv classes at Toronto’s Second City.
“The instructors would always say, ‘get out of your head’ or ‘you’re too much in your head.’ What I meant that to mean was ‘stop consciously constructing the comedy,’ ” Mecci said.
So he decided to test his theory, with the help of famous improv comedian Colin Mochrie. The Canadian writer, actor and improviser is most known for his lengthy tenure on the television series “Whose Line Is It Anyway?” Together, the duo launched “Hyprov,” a show based on improv comedy using hypnotized audience volunteers.
“They paid more than the ventriloquist,” Mochrie joked when asked why he decided to try hynosis improv. “I said yes because it was so different from anything I had done and I was feeling at that point, you know, when you do something for a long time, you worry about getting stale. … I thought, ‘Well, there’s no way I can do that with people I don’t know who are hypnotized.’ ”
They tested the show out in Toronto and found it to be a smashing success. Since 2016, they’ve brought “Hyprov” to more than 200 cities, including an off-Broadway run in New York City and a six residency in Las Vegas. The pair will bring the show to the Carnegie Library Music Hall of Homestead on Nov. 9. And they’ll need volunteers.
About 20 volunteers, to be exact.
“I call for volunteers, they storm the stage — quite literally,” Mecci said. “I have to beat them back with a broomstick. People rush the stage because they want to get hypnotized.”
After Mecci hypnotizes the volunteers, he whittles the group down to the most receptive subjects. Then, they embark on a journey of improv comedy with Mochrie guiding. The show includes some regular segments and plenty of improvised comedy music as well.
“I will tell you, the show is fast-paced, it’s high-energy, it’s action-packed. But above all else, it’s hilarious,” Mecci said.
Mecci became a hypnotist after years of martial arts and meditation training. He also has traveled the world and even put out an album of hypnosis-based music with Canadian musician Rufus Wainwright last year.
Not only are the volunteers untested, “Hyprov” also utilizes another heat-of-the-moment improv comedy staple: audience suggestions. So Mochrie has his hands full adapting throughout the 90-minute show.
One such memorable moment really had Mochrie on his toes.
“We do a 1940s radio play, so I’m a detective and one of our ‘hyprovisers,’ they play every character that I meet in the solving of the crime. So we get to the end, I’ve exposed the murderer, and I go, ‘You’re the murderer!’ And they go, ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about, Colin, you’ve been in an insane asylum this whole time.’ ”
They find genius improv gems everywhere they go, but Mochrie said that the people of Canada’s Newfoundland have left a special impression in his mind.
“They’re basically all characters to begin with, so that was fun,” he said.
“But the people we end up with, they seem to be funny no matter where they’re from,” he added.
Mochrie has been acting, writing and performing for decades, but he considers “Whose Line Is It Anyway?” to be the biggest hallmark of his career.
“Through that, I got to work with Sid Caesar, who was an inspiration of mine. He did the show. And then I was able to be part of what I think was one of the funniest things that was ever on television, and that was the scene with Richard Simmons.”
He enjoys the challenge of “Hyprov,” and he’s always impressed with how well the concept actually works. “They just have this moment in time. They’re not looking to the future, they’re just reacting to everything immediately without any structure, really. So it makes it interesting for me.”
“Hyprov” will bring the “Yes, It’s Real” Tour to the Carnegie Library Music Hall of Homestead on Nov. 9. For tickets and more information, visit librarymusichall.com.
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