Is This The Future of Fun?
The Laughing News
The Laughologist is part of a remarkable new project that attempts to replace alcohol and drugs, with laughter, relaxation and hypnosis. “Although it seems like it,” said Laughologist Albert Nerenberg. “We’re not joking.” Nerenberg, who is a also a Stage Hypnotist, has done several public demonstrations where he puts volunteers into a variety of altere
d states.
On Saturday August 8th, Nerenberg hosts The Hypnotic Bar: HypnoTranceBar II, a live event in Toronto, Canada where volunteers experience a series of dramatic altered states including experiencing the effects of alcohol, cocaine, ecstasy and even invented drugs. The event is being sponsored by Consciousness Hacking Toronto and Temple 23.
“I have to say I didn’t truly believe it until I saw it,” said Drashko Saban, founder of Consciousness Hacking Toronto. “But the first time we did, it was stunning. I saw people experience every form of drug. And as far as I could tell the effects were real. Afterwards people had no side effects.”
Saban says after a small demonstration in July, he decided to create a larger event where skeptics will be invited.
“It has obvious potential,” he said. “If we can essentially replace drugs and alcohol with something far more unlimited, that has no negative side effects, you’re looking at something explosive.”
Nerenberg says that making people drunk under hypnosis is an old parlour trick that hypnotists have been doing for years. For some reason no one has thought of elaborating. "People go to the ends of the Earth to try and relax or to get high," he said. "They suffer horribly through hang overs and terrible side effects and even overdose. If you could just go to a place and be put into a natural altered state and then be awoken couple hours later without side effects. The hypnotic state is naturally calm, unhibited and fun."
Nerenberg says he got the idea after coming across a statistic saying more people are dying now of drug and alcohol overdoses than at any other time in human history. “I’ve personally lost a number of friends senselessly to overdoses,” said Nerenberg.
Saban says he interviewed the participants from the first Hypnotic Bar Experiment and said the effects were convincing. “We’re not talking about people just remembering a drug experience,” said Saban. “Several people reporting feeling the full gamut of sensations. They experienced cocaine, ecstasy alcohol and it seemed to be quite physical and real.” The Hypnotic Bar features a lot of laughter. In the Hypnotic Bar a group of people are taken through a series of states typical of a night in a bar.
“Why do people drink?” said Nerenberg. “To relax. To laugh. To get out of your head. All of that can be accomplished quite dramatically with hypnosis."
During the first experiment a woman claimed she laughed so hard she almost vomited.
Is there a catch?
“The catch is that we’re not yet able to make this happen for everyone yet,” said Nerenberg. “It’s possible with people who are hypnotizable which is generally about 20 per cent of the population. Most people are hypnotizable given enough time.”
Nerenberg demonstrated the principles behind The Hypnotic Bar at Canada’s TED, IdeaCIty in last year. The Hypnotic Bar has already received invites from venues in Montreal and Kingston with further plans to tour the idea.
The ad for the Hypnotic Bar, which causes a mild hallucination in most people, has gone viral.
The Hypnotic Bar takes place Saturday, August 8th at Toronto’s Temple 23. Tickets are available in advance.