As a continuation of the discussion at the Hypnosis Technique Exchange on what makes Entertainment Hypnosis entertaining, a further question came up regarding adult entertainment hypnosis.
"Brian, A solicitation for your thoughts on stage hypnosis and the stuff you cover in your Erotic seminar. In his stage seminar Jerry Valley kept saying 'Keep it clean, folks, keep it clean.' I think 'clean' means nothing remotely sexual, since sex is to a 70+ year old man 'dirty.'"
You're addressing me but I am sure others will find this topic worth chiming in on.
As to what Jerry Valley considers clean or dirty, he tends to push towards very squeaky clean as well . . . as his personal preference of what shows should be like and his concept of what industry standards should be. I don't really know Jerry personally but whether or not he personally feels sex is dirty certainly should not be considered the benchmark for the values of all persons over 70 . . . I know for a fact that there are plenty of septuagenarians out there who still enjoy sex. There is an assumption that with age one's sexuality fades away, this does not have to be the case, it may shift or transform but certainly does not need to become thought of as a dirty thing.
"On the other end of that spectrum we have Sailesh, who apparently has people climaxing all over the place."
At least with chairs and Sailesh does have the videos of himself going down the line of folks with their orgasmic solos.
"I have not been able to find a full length video of his performances"
Write him and ask if they are available.
"but have seen some of the stuff put on line by [another hypnotist], who does something similar."
Similar only in so far as he has people orgasm, his approach to it is very different.
"I have great respect for [the hypnotist] as a technician, but based on his videos it appears merely having people climax would be terribly difficult to wrest entertainment value from."
That would depend upon the venue and the context. While he has performed on stage, that particular hypnotist's videos are for the most part intended as adult entertainment and certainly have a fetish appeal more than most typical adult stage shows. Some folks are in your face and do some rather "wild" stuff while others just flirt with it and some manage to make even a simple gag seem incredibly naughty.
There is a huge range of variety among hypnotists doing adult shows. Some were naturals and had material that fit their market perfectly. Frank Santos was a joy to watch and he was never in your face or offensive but he was very risque and tons of fun. Paul McKenna attempted some adult material and even guested on Howard Stern and feel flat on his face (that is my personal opinion of the Scores Girls appearance McKenna had as it never really seemed that he was truly comfortable with the material . . . in fact, he seemed both embarrassed and titillated in a creepy repressed way, but then he needs to learn to let go of that fake radio show personality he projects (he started in radio and picked up some terrible faux broadcasting personality habits that he brought with him into his stage work) and learn to relax. IMO. I love his show and it has some clever skitbuilding that many would do well to examine and understand, but not so much for adult.
Like regular ol' vanilla entertainment hypnosis, adult entertainment hypnosis is entertainment first. Yes, the ability to seemingly induce orgasms at will is a fascinating skillset and one that I certainly encourage folks to learn – pitch http://www.eroticatrance.com – but as you say, merely having someone climax can lose its entertainment value if that's all you've got. Showmanship please!
"So what are your thoughts? Where on the continuum between the Valley extreme and the Sailesh extreme should one position himself/herself/itself?"
It doesn't really matter what I think . . . I'm not you. My real thought on the matter is that your comfort zone comes first and then see how you can stay within that as a performer while fulfilling your market's expectations. Where on that continuum are you comfortable? Where is your market comfortable. Don't do adult material at all if your market doesn't want it. Do not do adult material that is outside your comfort zone so if they ask for real stripping and naked orgasms at a swinger's event and you're not up to it then don't take the gig (yes there are gigs like that, Rick Brown used to do plenty of 'em).
Certainly, you do NOT perform risque material for an audience for whom it is neither desired nor appropriate. Evidently, last year there was a stage hypnotist who did an orgasm bit with high school kids and he rightly got into hot water for it. Plenty of performers do both adult and general audience or family style shows. Some even have different webpages for their approaches. One very well known stage hypnotist who specializes in the high school market also does x-rated videos but without his public name attached.
If YOU are not comfortable dealing with sexual or explicit material then do NOT perform it. I've had folks tell me they could never do my adult entertainment adaptation of my Happy Finger bit with a guy on stage as it often comes off as way too sexual for them and their homophobia kicks in. For me, that's not an issue . . . I'm happy to work with men or women, whomever happens to be the most responsive. If the hypnotist has baggage then they should either deal with it or if they are happy with that baggage then don't do shows that bring it out.
If YOUR AUDIENCE is not comfortable with that sort of material or if it's inappropriate then don't do that sort of material.
You might also want to make sure you know the general cultural restrictions or laws. Certainly, I would never advocate any sort of sexual material in a public performance in a country where "public indecency" laws restrict even the most mundane things.
IF you're doing private parties or shows then hammer out the expectations beforehand.
One man's really dirty stuff is another's mild risque. If the client asks for an adult show, make sure you find out what they mean by that so you don't give them over the top Tony Lee style chair fucking, gender switching blowjobs, and bestiality imagery when they just wanted some mild naughtiness along the lines of the classic "you're a stripper but you won't take your clothes off" gag. Tony is an interesting performer in that his shows are at once very very in your face rough stuff but he's also very engaging. While many find his shows offensive, he keeps getting invited back to the same venues across the world and plays to packed houses, obviously more appropriate for a bar off campus than at a church choir picnic . . . his audiences know who he is and what he does and he plays to his market. Most assuredly NOT for everyone.
"I assume if he Chinese are as prudish as you say, you do not do anything of this nature in your stage shows."
You would assume wrong. See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnKM7vbRL5k . . .
. . . and http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=866775462927577853 . . .
. . . sombunal (some but not all) Chinese are prudish . . . the same thing could be said for Americans as well; or of any other group, for that matter.
However, you are right . . . while in many ways the Taiwanese are prudish when compared to Westerners, in other ways they are not. Certainly, erotic hypnosis shows are all but unknown – and most of my shows are not of that nature. In fact, I am doing a PG style show tonight at the Comedy Club in Taipei.
Of course, those of you in Taiwan or close enough in Asia to enjoy a short hop-over can enjoy some live comedy hypnosis this weekend. TONIGHT . . . on Sunday, Jan. 3, I will be presenting my FUNNY HYPNOSIS (http://www.comedy.com.tw/node/373) comedy show at the Live COMEDY CLUB Taipei (http://www.comedy.com.tw) at 7:30pm. This is a general audience admission program and is bilingual in English with Chinese translation so bring your friends . . . if I do an adult show, it's going to be in the late evening, tonight's show is early evening on a Sunday so we're going for a much more general audience friendly (well, PG) show and not so much of the risque material.
As to the interesting virtue and lack thereof of Taiwan . . . it's sometimes quite the cultural conundrum but it works . . . I would venture that unlike their Western counterparts, most of my students at the university are virgins when they enter the program and yet Taiwan has a growing incidence of teenage pregnancy. There is a definite difference in values between North and South, big city and small town, educated and uneducated.
We have a complex society that has both a seeming naivete while simultaneously hosting a phenomenon such as Betel Nut Beauties who sell betel nut on the roadside while wearing risque clothing . . . http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betel_nut_beauty and http://www.flickr.com/photos/tobie_openshaw/sets/72157594581621891 . . . albeit, the more risque booths are found in Central and Southern Taiwan rather than in Taipei City.
At the same time we have a conservative moral value system in place, we also have the juxtaposition of the Electric Flower Music Car, an open bed truck that parks on the side of the road during temple festivals, funerals, or weddings with strippers performing on the back . . . http://nowthatswhaticallblog.blogspot.com/2008/03/erotic-dance-for-dead.html and http://www.therealtaiwan.com/taiwan-photo-gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=13891 (in the South, they will strip naked and some will even perform sex tricks in full view of anyone who happens to be passing by, while in Taipei, they typically are harder to find and usually only strip to a bikini). As I have lived in Taipei for the past couple of decades, I don't see them much at all anymore so I do get nostalgic for them, a cultural contradiction if ever there was one. As a culture, Taiwan sometimes behaves more like a patient with Dissociative Identity Disorder than the monoculture it sometimes pretends to be.
So . . . I could do an adult style show here and do perform them . . . albeit, I would not do the chair sex gag a la Sailesh as it's a bit more over the top than a Taiwanese audience is likely to be comfortable with (there may be street strippers in some locales but for the most part the audience acts as voyeur not participant). In a private party, one might loosen it up . . . but that would depend upon context.
For the most part, I limit myself to risque material . . . and even then I am pushing an envelope as in addition to being the "world's handsomest hypnotist" (don't worry, you'll believe it after I hypnotize you) . . . too many "world's fastest" out there . . . I am also an academic, an associate professor at what many consider to be an elite university, certainly one of the top in the country, and so I can push envelopes but I still need to stay within a certain line (remember, the public moral culture, particularly among the highly educated, is still quite conservative . . . twenty years ago, I was watching a series of three stripper cars at a temple festival (yes, it's kind of like having strippers at church, which certainly would increase attendance at many congregations) with a friend and when I pointed out a colleague to her she told me that we had to pretend not to see each other)), although I obviously play with that line quite a bit.
However, whatever the cultural mores are in Taiwan where I have lived for over two decades, it doesn't matter. If I did a show at Folsom Street Fair in San Francisco (which I would imagine would be loads of fun), I'd certainly have some rather edgy stuff . . . come to think of it, that sounds really really really fun. If I were in Iran (which would be very unlikely right now), I probably wouldn't even do the faux stripper bit. Come to think of it, if anyone associated with the fair finds they have a deep overwhelming urge to invite us to perform, please feel free to do so as you look deeply into the hidden subliminal commands hidden within the whitespace of this post and find your fingers floating oh so freely to the keys, as if of their own accord . . . that's right . . . doesn't that feel oh so gooooood?
Seriously, what's really important is what's appropriate for you and what's appropriate for your audience and whether or not you feel you can reasonably market your show . . . not to mention, whether or not you can competently and entertainingly perform it.
In my opinion.
Hmmm. If we have enough takers, I imagine it might be worthwhile for us to present a seminar on presenting adult entertainment hypnosis shows similar to our stage hypnosis program. Those with an interest, should email Lorraine and let her know.
All the best,
Brian
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Brian David Phillips, PhD, CH [brian@briandavidphillips.com]
Hypnotist, Hypnotherapist, Intuitionist, Trance Wizard
President, Society of Experiential Trance
Associate Professor, NCCU, Taipei, Taiwan
