Article by Abigail Crawford. Photos Courtesy of David Hall.
On November 18th, 2025, a hypnotist by the name of David Hall paid a visit to Saint Cloud State, taking stage in the Ritsche Auditorium in Stewart Hall.
David Hall is a professional, tried and true “comedy hypnotist”, as he describes himself, based out of Boston, Massachusetts. Mr. Hall has been amazing audiences since 2009, often appearing at high schools and colleges. Although, he has also performed for high-status clients such as Mick Jagger and has worked with huge brands like Google. He has trained in multiple arts, such as stage hypnosis from the Stage Hypnosis Center in Las Vegas, as well as Improvisational Comedy from Improv Asylum in Boston.
Mr. Hall began his show at 6:30pm, to a roar of applause from the audience. Although the auditorium wasn’t quite full, a good chunk of students came out to see the show. Before beginning any goofiness, Mr. Hall gave the audience a crash course on hypnosis, how it works, and what could be expected. He explained that hypnosis is a natural state of trance. He also spent some time dispelling myths about hypnosis, noting that unwilling subjects cannot be hypnotized, and how hypnosis requires relaxation of the subject.
Several students volunteered to come on stage to be the stars of the show, before beginning the hypnotic induction. For this, he required absolute silence from the audience. Using his words, he encouraged the participants to relax, both physically and mentally, before telling them to follow his words to a tee.
As his first trick, he altered the perceptions of the participants, telling them that they were at the Bahamas, but that their eyes must stay shut in order to protect them from the sun.
Next, he let the audience decide the upcoming trick. Would he create an invisible dart to induce his subjects back to relaxation? Or a sleeping dust? The audience decided on the invisible dart, which bounced off objects in the auditorium, only to strike the participants, sending them back to their sedated state.
At this time, Mr. Hall noted the phenomenon of catalepsy; the twitching, especially of the eyes, that occurs during an altered state of consciousness, such as sleep, or in this case, hypnosis. A few of the students were dismissed due to coming out of hypnosis, or never going fully under.
One student was urged to pick up his shoe like a phone, and spent the next few minutes “calling” his girlfriend. “I just want to hold my shoe,” the student noted after being released from this thought, but forgetting how to put it back on. Another was told to begin dancing as if they had a hula hoop every time he heard the song “I Like to Move It”.
For the next card, the audience chose to have one of the students believe they had become Beyoncé, and her backup dancers. Single Ladies began playing, to which the students danced as if perfectly choreographed. Meanwhile, “Beyoncé” still had his shoe off after the phone call.
(Below: Beyoncé and his backup dancers. Picture courtesy of David Hall)
Having become the star of the show entirely, “Beyoncé” was also convinced that he had seen a baby elephant in the crowd, and was given a “peanut” to feed her. The elephant, of course, was a young woman in the audience. Upon making this realization, “Beyoncé” frantically apologized to the young lady, but still wondered where the elephant had gone.
Shortly after the elephant incident, Mr. Hall wrapped up the performance, releasing all of the participants from their trance.
Mr. Hall was also kind enough to answer some interview questions for the Chronicle about how he had begun getting into comedy hypnotism. “When I was younger, I saw a comedy hypnosis show and thought it was the funniest thing I’d ever seen,” he said after the show. “I’ve always loved performing, comedy, and improv, so hypnosis felt like the perfect blend of everything I was passionate about.”
Cards Against Hypnosis never failed for a moment to amaze and entertain the audience here at SCSU, and Mr. Hall would be welcomed back to campus if he ever decided to put on another show at SCSU. He provided a fun, free, memorable event for everyone who had the joy to attend.
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