“Naughty” Hypnotists to Play Westside Comedy Theater

By Jason Islas
Lookout Staff

July 6, 2011 – Santa Monica's Westside Comedy Theater, normally a venue for improv and stand up, will host a different kind of show Saturday.

Richard Anthony and Mistress Mo will perform their “Naughty Comedy Hypnosis Show” at the theater just off the Third Street Promenade.

“It's about 86 per cent improvised,” Anthony said, because most of the show involves audience participation. He added that though the pair stick to some tried and true bits on stage, each performance is a new show since you can never tell what the audience will bring to the stage.

With a dynamic evocative of Ralph and Alice Kramden, the two playfully bickered about who's really in charge on stage. Madame Mo's forceful and sultry personality demanded attention immediately, while Anthony knew to let her finish with the patience and timing of a seasoned showman.

“He's the comic relief,” Mo said with a wink.

“Hey!” he protested, but quickly conceded after some banter.

But when Anthony left to talk to the theater manager, once he was out of earshot, Mistress Mo whispered about how fortunate she feels to be working with someone as talented as Anthony.

The two have only been working together for a year, but they are as comfortable with one another as any of the classic comedy duos.

Anthony is a real veteran of the comedy stage. He first started performing in Cambridge after a chance encounter with the late comedian, George Carlin.

Anthony was working as a doorman at a comedy club while going to school.

“I was studying electronics,” Anthony said. “[Carlin] asked me if I enjoyed it. I said, 'Not really,' and he said 'Why the [expletive] are you doing it then?'”

As long as he's been performing, Anthony has been doing hypnosis.

When he was growing up, the girl next door had a psychologist father and on her 16th birthday, he performed some hypnosis for the crowd. Anthony was immediately fascinated and asked his neighbor to teach him the secrets of hypnosis.

He still holds the values he learned from the psychologist – namely that hypnosis is a serious tool and should not be abused – values he has passed on to his partner.

“We want humor and it's not funny to make people uncomfortable,” said Mo. The two described the show as taking it to the edge and peering over, but coming back before going too far.

They drew a distinction between “naughty” and obscene.

The two have performed all around the country, at clubs on the east coast, in Florida and even back in Cambridge where Anthony got his start. He's done his show in some of Vegas' iconic hotels that have since been demolished, like the Sands.

Mistress Mo confessed that The Westside Comedy Theater was the smallest venue they had played but the two were excited about the club's intimate dynamic.

The theater, between 4th and 5th Streets just north of Santa Monica Boulevard, seats around 90 people. Tickets to the Saturday show can be purchased online at www.westsidecomedy.com.