Alice has the power to (or has acquired
a device that can) hypnotize a person, and she wants to try it out on Bob. Bob merely scoffs at this, saying that he cannot be hypnotized. However, Alice tries anyway, and ends up successfully hypnotizing Bob.
If the character snaps out of hypnosis, expect him or her to say something along the lines of, "See? I told you I can't be hypnotized!"
Distantly related to
Tempting Fate. See also
Unpaused. A form of
Irony.
Examples:
Fan Fiction
Live-Action TV
- In the season 1 finale of Eureka, Beverly hypnotizes Fargo so she can interrogate him.
Beverly: When I snap my fingers, you will wake feeling refreshed and remember nothing about what we discussed here today. One... two... three. (snaps fingers)
Fargo: (smugly) ...which is why it's not even possible for me to be hypnotized.
Beverly: Well, Fargo, we'll just have to keep working on it.
- In the first season of Smallville, Chloe and Clark go to see this man affected by meteor rock who claims he can hypnotize people. Chloe disbelieves him, he promptly does it to her, and he makes her kiss Clark. Afterward...
Chloe: (even smugger than Fargo) See? Not even possible. *pause* Why do I taste mint?
- The hypnotist episode of Murder, She Wrote has somebody do this to Jessica.
- Star Trek original episode, "Dagger of the Mind," had Kirk try out the Neural Neutralizer, complete with him not realizing he blanked out for a second when it was turned on.
- In Happy Days, the cowardly Ralph Malph is terrified by an approaching tornado, so a doctor hypnotizes him despite that he says he's too strong-willed; the doctor then makes him completely fearless, leading to his almost getting killed— not only by the tornado, but also the Fonz.
- From 30 Rock:
Lemon: Pete, no. I listened to you when you wanted to take the staff to that R-rated hypnotist, and that sucked.
Pete: It was pretty bad. Nutmeg.
[Lemon stands up like a zombie and starts to pull up her shirt.]
Pete: Aaaah!! Rodeo rodeo rodeo!
[Lemon stops stripping and looks around in confusion.]
- Urkel on Family Matters stated to a therapist that he cannot be hypnotized, until the therapist started swaying his pocketwatch back and forth, enthralling Urkel immediately.
- In one episode of The Odd Couple, Felix confidently declares that he's immune because "persons of superior intellect cannot be hypnotized". After he goes under and Oscar asks what happened, the hypnotist jokes, "Since his intellect is too strong for hypnosis... he must be dead!"
- Subverted in an episode of Perfect Strangers, where Larry claims he can't be hypnotized and — after briefly faking out the hypnotist — turns out to be right. Of course, poor Balki standing next to him was a little more susceptible.
- This was recycled from an episode of The Dick Van Dyke Show, where the genuinely un-hypnotizable Buddy briefly fakes being hypnotized while Rob, in the other room, accidentally goes under for real.
Western Animation
