While some Boston University students may have trouble remembering parts of their weekend for various reasons, participants at the R-Rated hypnotist show Saturday could not recall many of their actions thanks to hypnotist Frank Santos.
The event, sponsored by the Student Activities Office as part of the Fall Welcome program, drew about 1,500 students to the George Sherman Union Ballroom for the annual show, in which volunteers are hypnotized and then persuaded to engage in “R-Rated” acts.
“When I touch my head, your [testicles] get very itchy,” Frank Santos told one of the male contestants in the show.
The contestant responded exactly to the directions he was given.
The audience laughed as the contestant tried to avoid scratching himself every time Santos touched his head.
This snippet was one of the many from the show, which Frank Santos also runs six days a week at the Comedy Connection. He additionally performs at various functions in Las Vegas and at a variety of comedy clubs in other states.
Carolyn Norris, SAO director, said she believed students enjoyed the show’s concept, as well as the mature humor involved.
“People have a fun time,” she said. “The idea of getting hypnotized appeals to people.”
Jenna Knorwitz, a College of General Studies freshman, said she was surprised at the nature of the show, but enjoyed the experience.
“I’m in shock because everything was so weird, [but] I loved it,” Knorwitz said.
Knorwitz said she believes in hypnotism and the show re-affirmed her certainty in it.
One sketch involved Amanda Wybolt, a CGS freshman, who was instructed to react to the sight of, “aliens having wild sex”.
“There’s so many of them,” she screamed on stage.
After the show, Wybolt said she couldn’t recall anything she did.
“I remember him prompting different ideas and being able to do them,” she said.
When asked about her experience with hypnotism, Wybolt said this was a first-time experience for her and that she would do it again.
Justin Beck, a junior in the College of Communication who had never seen Santos before, said he enjoyed the hypnotized students’ reactions to the alien part the most.
“It was completely obscure,” Beck said. “And the fact that they believed what they were saying made it that much better.”
The show ended with a striptease and in the last act, the male participants were led to believe that they were Chippendale’s dancers. They were told to give their best performance without taking off clothes below their waists.
Walking around the aisles showing off their bodies, the crowd cheered and applauded louder than before as the seven men paraded around.
Santos said his favorite part of the show is its ability to captivate an audience with the seven males and seven females involved in the act.
“I want everyone to have a good time … to make everyone laugh and forget about their problems,” said Santos, who has been coming to BU for more than 10 years. “I’m one of the few people who love what they do and get paid for it.”