All in one hour, Wharton sophomore Brandon Harris drove a Ferrari, got chased by a predator at a drive-in movie, went fishing and competed in a Mr. Body Beautiful contest.
Hypnotist Tom DeLuca performed for two hours in Irvine Auditorium in a nearly sold-out event on Friday as part of "No Place Like Penn" weekend.
"The show was hilarious, and people did things they would never have done otherwise on stage," College sophomore Julie Lee said.
DeLuca randomly picked 20 of the approximately 1,000 attendees to be hypnotized and led the group in a series of out-of-the-ordinary activities.
"Hypnosis shows are exciting, because our classmates are the stars," said Andrew Kaplan, a Wharton sophomore and president of the sophomore class, which sponsored the event.
Harris, who missed DeLuca's performance last year, heard it was the "No. 1" campus show.
He said he sat in the front row in the hopes of getting picked, and his effort paid off. DeLuca chose him almost immediately and then urged a hypnotized Harris to make friends with an apple. After naming his new friend Johnny, Harris told the audience, "Fruit have feelings, too."
After the show, Harris said he felt like he had just taken a short nap. As far as what he remembers, he said, "A couple things ... [driving] the car and the apple. The middle is a little blurry."
According to DeLuca, College junior Desirae Gaspero's performance was his favorite. "She was just such an athlete," he said.
DeLuca used his power of persuasion to get Gaspero to be the chief of the Fun Police and Britney Spears.
As the audience roared with laughter, a hypnotized Gaspero grabbed hold of DeLuca's microphone to scold anyone who was having fun.
"I'm the chief of the Fun Police! I'm your worst nightmare," she screamed. After yelling, "I'm infuriated right now," Gaspero proceeded to "punish" giggling members of the audience.
"I'm going to have to make an example," Gaspero said as she stole the hat off of an audience member and threw it in another direction, because he was supposedly having too much fun.
Twenty minutes later, Gaspero turned into Britney Spears. Although Gaspero said she only slightly remembers dancing, her rendition of Spears' Oops! I Did it Again got her a standing ovation.
"The energy in the room was absolutely incredible," Kaplan said.
Engineering senior Sanzar Kakar, who had a friend onstage, said he believed the hypnotism to be "completely real." Kakar had seen the show two years ago, but said Friday's crowd and participants made this year's much better.
Lee, who did see DeLuca's performance last year, said, "This year's show was identical to last year's, but it was fun all around."
DeLuca also routinely holds similar shows for corporations such as Microsoft, Marriott, BMW and Citigroup.
"No Place Like Penn" is an annual series of events organized by the Social Planning and Events Committee, which welcomes students back to campus each fall. This year's theme was the '80s. Other activities included themed parties that featured karaoke.
