On March 23, hypnotist Rich Guzzi came to Greenwood to hypnotize AP students. Guzzi has been doing his comedic-hypnosis shows for years after originally starting off as a normal comedian.

At one of his comedy shows, a friend challenged him to learn hypnosis by the next day and hypnotize his audience into doing stupid things. He ended up reading, researching, and practicing hypnosis after he really enjoyed doing it for comedy.

“Anyone can learn hypnosis,” Guzzi said when answering questions. He went on to describe that like anything, anyone can get good at hypnosis with practice.

He also claimed, “Anyone can be hypnotized. No one is immune.” He says that as long as you have some form of imagination and open-mindedness, you can fall under the helm.

The show was quite an experience. Admittedly, I never thought hypnosis was legit. I thought the people being hypnotized were actors. But now I believe otherwise, and the other 170 students and I there had a good laugh while doing so.

Almost immediately after he introduced himself, Guzzi asked for 15 volunteers. There were 15 chairs in the front of the room and students ran over each other to try and reserve a spot.

The 15 students then ensured an hour of mind tricks. They engaged in comedic acts such as rapping in Chinese and being on the show “Cops.”

One of the students hypnotized, Myron Salvador, appeared to be in the third dimension.

“I don’t know what happened,” he said immediately afterward. He appeared fatigued and claimed to remember nothing.

Perhaps the most intriguing part of the show was the “trick” that Guzzi performed. This “trick” put his targeted victim into a deep sleep at the snap of his fingers. The victim is unable to wake up until Guzzi snaps them out of it. You do not have to be hypnotized or have an open mind for the trick to work.

Guzzi claims he is one of only five people in the world with this ability. The best part of the show was easily a hesitant Mrs. Gupton being knocked out unconscious.

At the end of the show, everyone, including the audience, was asked to fall into hypnosis. Guzzi then inflicted positive words into everyone’s minds, and told us that we will come out being a better person than ever.

Overall, the show was unique and fun. The link to Guzzi’s website can be found here.