Call it the Funny (broken) Bone.
An Omaha man is suing the Omaha comedy club after he says he broke a leg while under hypnosis during a show put on by comedian-hypnotist Doug Thompson.
William M. Bendorf, 38, filed a lawsuit this month over the March 21, 2014, accident at the Funny Bone Comedy Club, 168th Street and West Dodge Road.
The Funny Bone has 30 days to formally respond to the lawsuit. Funny Bone General Manager Colleen Quinn didn’t return a phone call seeking comment.
According to the lawsuit and Bendorf’s attorney, Richard Shicker of Omaha:
In March 2014, Bendorf attended the DougT Hypnosis Show — a show that involves audience members volunteering to be hypnotized onstage.
Various YouTube videos show Thompson — a national touring act — hypnotizing audience members, who alternately dance or appear to be in a trance as Thompson gives out verbal or musical cues. In one video he apparently has convinced those on stage that a belt is a venomous snake. Many of the hypnotized scatter, some climb on chairs and others attempt to run offstage until Thompson commands them to sit.
Bendorf’s injury came toward the end of Thompson’s show at the Funny Bone.
Shicker said the hypnotist was done with Bendorf and believed he had snapped Bendorf out of his trance.
Thompson told Bendorf and others who were hypnotized to exit the stage via stairs on the side.
Still in a trance, according to the lawsuit, Bendorf spotted his empty seat, walked straight toward it and fell off the stage.
He snapped out of his trance when his lower leg snapped near the knee — an injury that required surgery.
Bendorf “was still under,” Shicker said. “When he said ‘Go back to your seats,’ (Bendorf) looks out in the audience, sees an empty chair and walks toward it. He walks right off the stage.”
Attempts to reach Thompson, who is not named as a defendant in the lawsuit, were unsuccessful. On his website, Thompson says he is committed to audience members’ safety.
“I treat the volunteers on stage the way I would want my wife and daughters treated, with respect and dignity!” Thompson says on his website.
Shicker said he’s never encountered this kind of lawsuit in his 41 years as an attorney.
He said Bendorf still feels the effects of the fall.
“It was very painful — and it continues to be painful for him,” Shicker said. “He was in that zone — that sort-of unconscious state. He didn’t snap out of it until he crashed to the ground.
“It was definitely a rude awakening.”
http://www.omaha.com/news/metro/man...cle_2249fedf-f3ec-5029-b6b5-784744644ed6.html
An Omaha man is suing the Omaha comedy club after he says he broke a leg while under hypnosis during a show put on by comedian-hypnotist Doug Thompson.
William M. Bendorf, 38, filed a lawsuit this month over the March 21, 2014, accident at the Funny Bone Comedy Club, 168th Street and West Dodge Road.
The Funny Bone has 30 days to formally respond to the lawsuit. Funny Bone General Manager Colleen Quinn didn’t return a phone call seeking comment.
According to the lawsuit and Bendorf’s attorney, Richard Shicker of Omaha:
In March 2014, Bendorf attended the DougT Hypnosis Show — a show that involves audience members volunteering to be hypnotized onstage.
Various YouTube videos show Thompson — a national touring act — hypnotizing audience members, who alternately dance or appear to be in a trance as Thompson gives out verbal or musical cues. In one video he apparently has convinced those on stage that a belt is a venomous snake. Many of the hypnotized scatter, some climb on chairs and others attempt to run offstage until Thompson commands them to sit.
Bendorf’s injury came toward the end of Thompson’s show at the Funny Bone.
Shicker said the hypnotist was done with Bendorf and believed he had snapped Bendorf out of his trance.
Thompson told Bendorf and others who were hypnotized to exit the stage via stairs on the side.
Still in a trance, according to the lawsuit, Bendorf spotted his empty seat, walked straight toward it and fell off the stage.
He snapped out of his trance when his lower leg snapped near the knee — an injury that required surgery.
Bendorf “was still under,” Shicker said. “When he said ‘Go back to your seats,’ (Bendorf) looks out in the audience, sees an empty chair and walks toward it. He walks right off the stage.”
Attempts to reach Thompson, who is not named as a defendant in the lawsuit, were unsuccessful. On his website, Thompson says he is committed to audience members’ safety.
“I treat the volunteers on stage the way I would want my wife and daughters treated, with respect and dignity!” Thompson says on his website.
Shicker said he’s never encountered this kind of lawsuit in his 41 years as an attorney.
He said Bendorf still feels the effects of the fall.
“It was very painful — and it continues to be painful for him,” Shicker said. “He was in that zone — that sort-of unconscious state. He didn’t snap out of it until he crashed to the ground.
“It was definitely a rude awakening.”
http://www.omaha.com/news/metro/man...cle_2249fedf-f3ec-5029-b6b5-784744644ed6.html
