Comic/Hypnotist Flip Orley

Flip Orley is a comic hypnotist whose one-man show has set comedy club attendance records across North America. He studied psychology at the University of Arizona with the intention of becoming a clinical hypnotist, discovered stand-up comedy along the way, and eventually merged the two disciplines into a two-hour show that blends stand-up with live audience hypnosis. The Los Angeles Times noted that "the beauty of Orley's show is that most of the humor comes from the volunteers, and no two performances are alike."

Orley's volunteers experience scenarios ranging from forgetting their own names, to being regressed to age 5, to pledging undying love to strangers in an original version of "The Newlywed Game." He is deliberate about not embarrassing his subjects: "I want the audience to laugh with them, not at them. This is the purest form of improvisational entertainment you will ever see — the show rewrites itself every night, and the volunteers are my partners, not my victims."

Beyond the stage show, Orley has appeared on "Entertainment Tonight," "The Today Show," "The Martin Short Show," "Comic Strip Live," "The Ricki Lake Show," "Maury Povich," and "Space Ghost Coast To Coast." He has also developed seminars, workshops, and self-help recordings addressing stress management, weight control, smoking cessation, and sleep disorders, and has been called upon by medical professionals for patients who are allergic to anesthesia.