Interview: Colin Mochrie And Asad Mecci of HYPROV at Van Wezel

What happens when two leaders in their respective fields of Improvisational Comedy and Hypnosis come together through Second City? There is a joke in there somewhere, but I am no comedian! However, when I interviewed Colin Mochrie (“Whose Line is it Anyway?” and who some consider the “World’s leading improv-otier”) and Asad Mecci (World Renowned Hypnotist and Peak Performance Coach), I was laughing the entire time.

According to Asad, the genesis of the show happened when he was going through training at Second City in Toronto. Often time instructors would say, “get out of your head”! Coming from the scientific mind of a hypnotist, Improv is a natural marriage with hypnosis- moving the conscious mind aside! Thoughts started to swell like, “Can we take people under hypnosis and make them great improvisors?”, and “Can we pair them with one of the world’s leading improvisors and make them perform?” With this in mind Asad reached out to Colin (who also studied at Second City Toronto) and they tried it out.

The show sold out immediately and went on to tour 50 cities in North America. Like the rest of us, Hyprov was sidelined by COVID, but once everything opened again the show started Off-Broadway and was getting the same ratings as Wicked and Lion King! They then performed in another 50 cities and were offered a headline show in Las Vegas at Harrah’s. It has been nothing but up since then. The show has widely expanded and is moving to the model of multiple troupe’s touring at the same time with other hypnotists and improv-masters. As the show keeps scaling up, the interest and reviews become even higher and better.

Touted as the “most interactive comedy show that exists”, the show starts with 20 volunteers from the audience being brought on stage. Those that can be hypnotized (apparently not everyone can be) are and remain a part of the show. Having had their self-reflection turned off, participants can fully commit to the scene. “It’s about making ordinary people do extraordinary things” Asad says. Colin then comes out and the Improv begins.  Every night Colin is excited about the newness and has to be on his toes. Every performance he is wondering “how it is going to happen? How is it going to work?”

Seeing people they know and recognize on the stage draws the audience in. Those who are laughing the hardest are the ones that are connected to those under hypnosis. It takes some imagining to think of your family members, friends orcompanions going to a theater and becoming part of an Improv troupe in the moment, but that is what Hyprov is doing every night! “I have done this for 40 years and cannot tell where these people are going to go with their humor” Colin says. Each night he comes out he is handed a new Improv Company! With no set dialogue and gathering suggestions from the audience, the fabric of the show is created on a nightly basis. This show is never the same!

Hyprov will be at the VanWezel Theater on Sunday, January 21st. I am looking forward to a night of laughter and terrific fun with this duo and their Sarasota Cast. Maybe I will find the punchline to my joke, or maybe not, but it promises to be a show unlike any other we have seen before!

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