As I polish my glasses with the hem of my skirt, you give a grand speech to the audience. Posturing, grandstanding - what you're doing is a sort of lampshading: promise more than you can deliver, thus subconsciously lowering expectation and increasing suspension of disbelief. Result: an easy crowd. A tactic as smart as it is simple to foil.

Adjusting my glasses back on, I scoff. "Excuse me," I call. "I was under the impression that I volunteered to be 'hypnotized' instead of... This."