Paula J. McGarvey for The Montana Standard
Be prepared to laugh out loud.
Comedic hypnotist Alan Sands performs at this year’s Silver Bow County Fair at the Butte Civic Center, and audiences love his unique blend of hypnosis and hilarity.
Entertaining races in the Sands family: his father and grandfather were both magicians. Sands said he started by continuing the family business.
“I was doing magic for a living,” he said.
But in 1993, Sands decided to focus on hypnosis after seeing a larger audience gathering for such acts.
During her show, Sands brings volunteers from the audience onto the stage and begins the process of getting them under hypnosis. Before going too far, Sands checks the responsiveness of his subjects to his suggestions. When someone fails to fall — as Colene Reedy, 34, of Butte did during her opening show on Thursday — Sands asks them to leave the stage.
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Reedy said that while she was on stage, she had fun watching the other people play Sands’ post-hypnotic suggestions.
“I was trying not to laugh,” she said.
The Sands show is for all ages and suitable for both children and the elderly. Those who remained on stage and were hypnotized continued to entertain the audience by following Sands’ post-hypnotic suggestions. They displayed behaviors ranging from making faces to dancing like ballerinas. At one point, Sands instructed his subjects to remove their shoes and floss between their toes with their socks. Later they hunkered down like chickens straining to lay eggs. With each outrageous behavior, the crowd laughed harder.
Comedy aside, Sands doesn’t take hypnosis lightly.
“I have a clinical background and took psychology courses,” he said.
According to its website, www.alansands.com, he has completed 200 hours of clinical training at the Hypnotherapy Training Institute. He also completed 100 hours of Gestalt training with the Gestalt Institute in Phoenix and trained with stage hypnosis masters Shelly Stockwell, Ormond McGill and Jerry Valley.
Sands said the training helps her put on a show safely and taught her to avoid “trigger” words like “danger,” which can mean different things to different people and create undue stress for some attendees.
When asked what makes a good subject, he replied, “It’s an ability to concentrate.”
He says there are certain things to look for in the participants of his scene to indicate that they are not hypnotized, such as fidgeting and fiddling with their hands. Once he is sure his subjects are under hypnosis, he does a standard routine, choosing suggestions people are familiar with.
He said the composition of the crowd affects the quality of the show.
“Every audience is different,” he said.
Thursday’s opening had no shortage of sensitive topics or belly laughs.
“I’m really happy that my first exhibition of the fair went so well,” he said.
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