HARK!
I hear … a jagger …
A “jagger” (aka “jagoff”) is what back in my Pittsburgh days we used to call people who would mess with you -- usually but not always with humorous intentions.
Fiip Orley is a professional jagger; it’s really not fair, as he is armed with a stupendous arsenal.
Though COVID was a huge detour in his career path, he’s been a standup comic for going on 30 years, which might sound thrilling to some (“making people laugh for a living? Sign me up!”), tiresome to others (“telling the same jokes for three decades? Rather paint houses, at least they change!”).
But here’s the trick: Flip Orley’s act is always different, because he relies on audience members to participate.
And, though they are professionals, they are without fail unusual and hilarious.
Not that they’re doing it on purpose.
Flip makes them do stupid things: act like your face is made of rubber, pretend you know sign language, or better yet imagine YOU are the world’s best hypnotist ….
As they will be doing at the Tempe Improv this weekend (THU, SEP 2, 2021 8:00 PM; SAT, SEP 4, 2021 7:00 PM and 9:30 PM; SUN, SEP 5, 2021 7:00 PM), the audience members act EXACTLY as Flip Orley tells them to do.
*Full disclosure: I hate “improv.” That whole, “OK, give me a situation where I’m….”--no thank you! (Insert image here of Michael from “The Office” doing horrible improv.)
The genius of “Flip’s gang” is they’re not trying to be funny: they truly believe whatever he has told them.
Flip’s a hypnotist. Or, perhaps more accurately, a hpyno-comic.
He starts out by putting volunteers in a state of near sleep (as seen in the photo above), then tells them things like on the count of 3, they will talk about alien visitations they've had.
That parts kind of funny, giggly-amusing.
The hilarious part comes when he "wakes them up," and the volunteers act out whatever Orley has suggested.
Two options, here: 1) he’s legit; or 2) this is a scam that makes ENRON look like a fifth grade play, with Flip scheming with a dozen or so audience members, every night….
I’m going with option 1, though it’s time for another full disclosure: I’m probably the most hypnotizable person on the planet. A few years ago, my mother was having sleep problems. So I take her to see Dr. George Pappas, a guy who worked with some top athletes. (My story on him here https://archive.triblive.com/lifestyles/more-lifestyles/here-we-go-hypnosis-here-we-go/
In his small office aht near Greenfield (n at), he had my mom settle into a comfy chair and sat across the room.
I sat between them.
...next thing I knew, he was wrapping things up. I had been sound asleep, snoring away.
When I did a Zoom-to-Facebook Live interview with Orley, the day before his Tempe run, I begged him not to hypnotize me: “My mother-in-law is in the next room -- please don’t make me strip naked and act like a chicken or something!”
He laughed and said he promised not to put me under.
But could he have?
“I’m not sure if I can hypnotize someone over Zoom -- I’ve never tried it,” he said.
The topic actually came up, when his fans asked him to put on a virtual show, as other comedians and singers did last year, when the pandemic shut down live shows around the country.
Flip decided that route just wasn’t for him.
“I didn’t work for 16 months,” he told me.
He did use the time to write a book (see https://www.facebook.com/fliporleyFO)...but it was a devastating time for a performer who worked hard to earn praise around the country. The Los Angeles Times ( “...the beauty of Orley’s show is that most of the humor comes from the volunteers, and no two performances are alike”) and Dallas Morning News (“It’s difficult to remain skeptical after seeing Flip transform a panel of well-behaved audience members into a family of trailer-park dwellers from Arkansas, southern accent and all!”) have praised him, and Orley has had national spots on “Entertainment Tonight,” “The Martin Short Show,” “Comic Strip Live,” “The Ricki Lake Show,” “Maury Povich” and “Space Ghost Coast to Coast.” (The latter is surely the best talk show ever!!!)
As he told me, one thing he thinks separates him from other hypno-comedians is he never has people do anything truly humiliating.
But, damn, it’s funny!
My favorite bit I’ve seen is him telling a group of volunteers they’ve had alien experiences, then singling out one to tell her she is an expert in sign language and has to translate everything people are saying ...which FREAKS OUT the lady next to her!
Raised in HARK Valley (aka Phoenix), Flip studied psychology at the University of Arizona with the intention of becoming a clinical hypnotist. He started doing standup comedy and, as he told me, tried incorporating hypnotism to shut up a friend who kept asking him to do it.
“I thought it would be a total failure, and no one would volunteer,” he recalled with a chuckle.
Instead, when he asked if anyone wanted to try it, 25 people rushed up on stage.
The fun hasn’t stopped since…
Pretty Flippin’ funny, in my book.