History Main / BungledHypnotism

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/caricature_le_mesmerisme_confondu_wellcome_l0000475_5.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Hypnotized people stumble about in confusion after a mesmerism session. ]]

* ''ComicStrip/USAcres'': [[http://garfield.com/usacres/1986/10/19 In several early strips]], Orson uses hypnotism on Wade in order to make him not fear anything. It works, and Wade goes from being a LovableCoward to shortly being a fearless and ''reckless'' {{Jerkass}} who fears absolutely [[TooDumbToLive nothing]].

* ''WesternAnimation/HulkAndTheAgentsOfSMASH'': In "The Skaar Whisperer", Doc Samson is hired to teach Skaar a lesson in civility. After many failed attempts, he resorts to hypnotizing him, making Skaar be civil until he hears a certain phrase. However, Samson is interrupted, changing the code phrase to "please" instead of the intended phrase.

* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'': In "[=SpongeBob=]'s Bad Habit", [=SpongeBob=] somehow develops a nonstop habit of RapidFireNailBiting, and can't find out why. To solve the issue, he goes to Hans, who is working as a hypnotherapist, who hypnotizes him and reveals he got the habit from Squidward. Hans' order is, "Your desire to bite your nails will poof! Disappear." Due to a result of [[ExactWords exact wording]], [=SpongeBob=] no longer has a habit to bite ''his'' nails, he now has a habit to bite ''other people's'' nails instead, as shown when he bites Hans' nails once the lights come on.

* ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooLegendOfThePhantosaur'' has Mr. Hubley, whose hypnotism equipment works so well he ends up hypnotizing ''himself'', causing him to forget the key phrase that causes Shaggy to switch between his normal personality and his new fearless personality. [[spoiler:When he tries to undo the hypnotism at the end, he ends up accidentally hypnotizing everyone in the gang into thinking they are ''Shaggy''.]]

* In one episode of ''Anime/RanmaOneHalf'', Shampoo tries to hypnotize Ranma into focusing only on her as a fiancée by sneaking some mind-control herbs into his food, but Akane interferes in the part of the procedure that would have brainwashed Ranma, so not only Ranma doesn't becomes infatuated with Shampoo but he instead gets the order to [[TheGlomp glomp any woman that sneezes]], even if he really doesn't wants to (he does it out of reflex while screaming that it's NotWhatItLooksLike for the rest of the episode). And to make things worse, [[{{Tsundere}} Akane]] happens to have a cold at the time.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheGarfieldShow'': In one episode, Jon suffers from lack of sleep and seeks out a hypnotist for help. The latter hypnotizes him into falling asleep or waking up through snapping fingers, but Odie barks at the same time. Now Jon will only either fall asleep or wake up from Odie's bark instead of a finger snap.

* ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'': A Downplayed example occurs in an episode where Señor Senior Senior and Señor Senior Junior. Junior is supposed to be the one in charge, stealing things for a mysterious project. What's the project? A nightclub that will [[PokeThePoodle charge extra for soft drinks]]. Senior, frustrated by his son's lack of vision, goes behind his back to make a [[MindControlDevice disco ball that hypnotizes people]]. Senior uses the disco ball to incapacitate Kim, Ron, and the various [=VIPs=] that come to the club, holding the latter hostage. Junior, angry that his father is micromanaging his project, angrily declares that everyone in his club must dance. No points for guessing what the hypnotized captives do. This is really only a minor annoyance, but it serves to highlight Senior's controlling nature, as he becomes frustrated at how his hostages are dancing.

** "Boulder Wham!" from 1965. This time, Wile E. and Road Runner are separated by a gorge (where a bridge has collapsed). One of Wile E.'s tricks is to use hyptontism, which ''almost'' works (Road Runner appears to be succumbing to its effects) ... but then after the Road Runner fails to respond to Wile E. pointing downward in trying to beckon him to walk, Wile E. makes the mistake of turning the watch on himself! Once Wile E. accidentally hypnotizes himself ... well, it's a very painful, multiple-injury-type landing.

* An episode of ''Series/ElChapulinColorado'' involves a guy who poses as the Raja of Kalambur to steal a crystal ball from a rich married couple. He tries to hypnotize the husband but fails, instead hypnotizing El Chapulín and causing him to act like a monkey and revert to normal when he hears a finger snap.

* ''WesternAnimation/GeorgeOfTheJungle'': In one episode of the 2007 series, an elephant trainer is brought in to teach Shep some discipline, using a whistle which hypnotizes him into doing whatever the user commands. Unfortunately, the hypnotism also affects [[IdiotHero George]], due to him sitting through all the training sessions, resulting in him and Shep fighting using whistles to make the other do numerous things until the others get them to stop and try to untrain them.

* Creator/EdgarAllanPoe's short story ''The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar'' is about the {{narrator}}, who's interested in mesmerism (a pseudoscience that later will be evolved into hypnotism), and his friend Ernest Valdemar, a phthisis (tuberculosis) terminal patient that accepted to be part in an experiment of being mesmerized the night of his death. The experiment actually worked, being Valdemar in a hynotic state with thin pulse, pale skin and mildly awake for seven months. In between trance and wakefulness, Valdemar begs the narrator to quickly put him back to sleep or to wake him. As Valdemar shouts "Dead! Dead!" repeatedly, the narrator starts to bring him out of his trance, only for his entire body to immediately decay into a "[[{{Gorn}} nearly liquid mass of loathsome-detestable putrescence.]]"

Usually PlayedForLaughs. Often overlaps with NiceJobBreakingItHero Is not to be confused with BungledSuicide. See also ImmuneToMindControl and PretendToBeBrainwashed.

Usually PlayedForLaughs. Often overlaps with NiceJobBreakingItHero. Is not to be confused with BungledSuicide. See also ImmuneToMindControl and PretendToBeBrainwashed.

** "Boulder Wham!" from 1965. This time, Wile E. and Road Runner are separated by a gorge (where a bridge has collapsed). One of Wile E.'s tricks is to use hyptontism, which ''almost'' works (Road Runner appears to be succumbing to its effects) ... but then Wile E. makes the mistake of looking at the watch while pointing downward in trying to beckon him to walk. Once Wile E. accidentally hypnotizes himself ... well, it's a very painful, multiple-injury-type landing.

* ''Manga/OnePiece'': Jango is a former pirate who has the ability to hypnotize people into doing things he commands. However, he has a bad habit of accidentally hypnotizing himself when he performs his ability causing him to act on the orders as well. He can also hypnotize people into [[ItMakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext becoming stronger than they normally are]]. When he does this to Kuro's crew in an attempt to gain an advantage against Luffy, Zoro, and Nami, Luffy ends up getting hypnotized as well which results in him plowing through Kuro's crew until Jango hypnotizes him again to fall asleep.

** The premise of the series revolves around protagonists George Beard and Harold Hutchins hypnotizing their DeanBitterman principal to be nicer. The whole issue about him believing he's a superhero every time someone snaps their fingers was a very unwanted side-effect.

* ''Series/LastOfTheSummerWine'': In one episode, Foggy tries to prove he can hypnotise a stranger purely with eye contact. He ends up hypnotising himself, and wandering about in a daze.

* In one episode of ''Series/KamenRiderDenO'', Miura tries to hypnotise Ryotaro to draw out the evil spirits he believes are possessing him (he's right, but not in the way he thinks). While it does eventually work on Ryotaro, it works far more quickly and easily on Airi, who was watching from a few feet away.
* ''Series/{{Monk}}'': The episode "Mr. Monk Gets Hypnotized" sees Monk visit a Dr. Lawrence Climan for hypnotherapy to deal with his OCD, having seen it apparently do wonders on Harold Krenshaw. For both of them, it backfires. Monk is reduced to acting like a six year old, hampering his ability to be helpful to the investigation in the disappearance of Sally Larkin, though it curiously doesn't hamper his detective mind, such that he's still able to solve the case. Meanwhile, Harold's newfound euphoria leads to him stripping off his clothes in public and getting arrested for indecent exposure.

* The series of ''WesternAnimation/AllDogsGoToHeaven'' had an episode where Itchy accidentally picks up a post-hypnotic suggestion from a stage show to completely lose his fear whenever he heard the word "chicken".

* In the ''WesternAnimation/BackAtTheBarnyard'' episode "Hypno a Go-Go" Otis accidently hypnotizes himself while watching a wrestling movie, causing him to try and kill the farmer whenever he hears a bell.

* WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes and WesternAnimation/MerrieMelodies: [[WesternAnimation/WileECoyoteAndTheRoadrunner Wile E. Coyote]] tries at least twice to use hypnosis to get his prey, the Road Runner:

** In [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E3LessonZero "Lesson Zero"]], Twilight Sparkle uses a "Want It Need It" spell on a doll to make the CMC fight over it, so she can settle the fight and write to Celestia about the friendship problem she solved. It works [[GoneHorriblyRight a little too well]] and ''anyone'' who sees the toy is brainwashed, leading to a near town-wide battle over the doll that ultimately requires Princess Celestia's intervention.
** Like mentor like student. In [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS0E4StarlightTheHypnotist "Starlight the Hypnotist"]], Starlight Glimmer attempts to use hypnotism to cure Twilight's phobia of ladybugs. (Why either of them thought this was a good idea, [[AesopAmnesia after the previous times Starlight has abused brainwashing,]] is anyone's guess.) Then Pinkie Pie bursts in during the hypnotism session and declares, "Kite flying time, wooo!" So Twilight's phobia is cured... but now the sight of ladybugs fills her with the urge to fly a kite.

---> '''Homer:''' I'M A CHICKEN, MARGE!
---> '''Marge:''' I '''know''', Homer...

This somehow goes wrong and causes Roger Clemens to believe he's a chicken.
** In "Homer the Great", the family underwent hypnotism to ignore Grandpa; according to Homer: "Six years later and I ''still'' think I'm a chicken!"
---> '''Homer:''' I'M A CHICKEN, MARGE!
---> '''Marge:''' I '''know''', Homer...

* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'':
** In [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E3LessonZero "Lesson Zero"]], Twilight Sparkle uses a "Want It Need It" spell on a doll to make the CMC fight over it, so she can settle the fight and write to Celestia about the friendship problem she solved. It works [[GoneHorriblyRight a little too well]] and ''anyone'' who sees the toy is brainwashed, leading to a near town-wide battle over the doll that ultimately requires Princess Celestia's intervention.
** Like mentor like student. In [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS0E4StarlightTheHypnotist "Starlight the Hypnotist"]], Starlight Glimmer attempts to use hypnotism to cure Twilight's phobia of ladybugs. (Why either of them thought this was a good idea, [[AesopAmnesia after the previous times Starlight has abused brainwashing,]] is anyone's guess.) Then Pinkie Pie bursts in during the hypnotism session and declares, "Kite flying time, wooo!" So Twilight's phobia is cured... but now the sight of ladybugs fills her with the urge to fly a kite.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/JimmyTwoShoes'' episode "Beezy 2.0'', Butley is hired by Lucious to turn Beezy into less of an embarrassment, which turns out to be easier said than done. Butley then resorts to hypnotism, commanding Beezy to act just like him and say "How do you do?" Unfortunately this winds up making this phrase the ''only'' thing he ever says, with rather disastrous results.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheCrampTwins'' episode "Cricket Slayer", Lucien blames himself for the death of a rare species of cricket. After getting haunted by the cricket's ghost (actually Wayne in disguise), his friend Mari resorts to hypnosis, in order to make him forget about the guilt. The first time Mari makes Lucien act like a duck, and he starts feeling better after he figures out Wayne's disguise, however a nightmare convinces him that he's not fully healed, so he resorts to hypnosis once again. The second time, due to killing an insect while performing her hypnosis ritual, Mari accidentally hypnotizes Lucien into having a desire to crush everything. Thankfully, the effects wear off after Lucien hears the cricket's sound, discovering it was not dead after all.

** Twilight Sparkle bungles this when she uses a "Want It Need It" spell on a doll to make the CMC fight over it, so she can settle the fight and write to Celestia about the friendship problem she solved. It works [[GoneHorriblyRight a little too well]] and ''anyone'' who sees the toy is brainwashed, leading to a near town-wide battle over the doll that ultimately requires Princess Celestia's intervention.
** Like mentor like student, Starlight Glimmer attempts to make Twilight not scared of ladybugs by hypnotizing her, leading to hi-jinks when Pinkie Pie bursts in at the wrong time and messes it up. You'd think Starlight and Twilight would know better by now than to let Starlight screw around with hypnosis after all the other times she's abused brainwashing, but [[AesopAmnesia you'd be wrong]].