By Alexis Sohrakoff
The Daily Pennsylvanian
What if you thought you had no bottom? That you were related to an apple? That you were drinking from a cow's teat?
Now what if all your friends could see you?
In what has become an annual tradition, the hypnotist called on Penn students to let go of their inhibitions and make fools of themselves in front of 900 of their peers.
One gag had participants imagining themselves milking a cow. As they milked, DeLuca suggested that they were intolerably thirsty.
While most slurped from their imaginary pails of milk, Wharton freshman Eli Robinson went straight to the source, sucking from an imaginary teat.
Later, DeLuca instructed Robinson to respond to questioning only with pick-up lines.
"Are you from Tennessee? Because you're the only 10 I see," Robinson told DeLuca, and later offered to give a "private booty dance."
When DeLuca was asked what he thought of being the target of the pick-up lines, he replied that it was "pretty creepy," although he praised Robinson's ability to yield to hypnosis.
Another student believed an apple was a family member and rescued it from DeLuca's open jaws.
"I don't go around eating your family! How does Mrs. DeLuca taste?" he said angrily.
DeLuca, who said he began learning hypnosis during graduate school, noted that while 75 percent of his routine is changeable, he does have some favorite instructions.
"Some I do all the time," DeLuca explained. "It exposes part of [the volunteers'] imagination and is really fun to watch."
College freshman Kyle Johnson, who had just busted dance moves on stage and slid off his chair because he thought his bottom was missing, said he could only remember "fuzzy light."
"I feel like I was sleeping in a sauna," Johnson said after the show.
Before the show, the crowd jumped, shouted and flailed as students vied for DeLuca's attention as he was selecting volunteers.
Students said they came into the event curious and expecting to be amused.
"We better see some quacking ducks," College sophomore Sean Garrett said before the show.
The event has been sponsored by the sophomore class board since 1997.
"We hope the tradition continues," sophomore class Vice President Anthony Maggio said. "It's the sophomore class' contribution."
Audience members praised the show afterward.
"I found it enthralling," College freshman Ryan Taras said.
Wharton freshman Steve Marcinuk, who said he has been practicing magic for eight years, was impressed by the show.
"That was the real deal," he said.
