Imagination, creativity and intelligence are the three characteristics of the perfect subject for a hypnotist’s show. Fortunately, Tech is not lacking in any of these categories, which definitely contributed to the outstanding performance by Spidey the Hypnotist on Nov. 5 in the Student Center Ballroom. At the end of his performance, the Canada’s Got Talent finalist made sure to draw attention to the fact that, without having great subjects to direct his hypnotism towards, his show would have been quite dull and ultimately forgettable.
As it was, Spidey performed with a zeal that reflected his seasoned stage presence and seemed to enjoy the performance as much as the audience. Before the show, however, the self-proclaimed hypnotist, magician and mentalist managed to get in a few words with audience members who arrived early.
Like anyone else who finds themselves speaking to a group of college students, the hypnotist found himself asking the default questions like what each person’s major was, how long they had left until they graduated and what they wanted to do with such a degree once they got out into the real world.
Choosing questions like these, however, was a bit of a mistake on Spidey’s part because he was instantly greeted by a host of passionate engineers, which he admitted was a bit intimidating. He even asked at one point if Tech offered a “normal” degree for which you did not need to be an absolute genius; this question was answered by a couple of awkwardly nervous laughs. Furthermore, the fact that the performer’s introduction video did not load properly and sputtered out half way through its run did not lessen the awkwardness.
Despite this rocky start, Spidey gave one stellar performance; once he got to the actual hypnosis part of his show, it was smooth sailing into a night of audience interaction and hilarity.
Like any performing hypnotist, he started with a visualization test to see which audience members would make for an entertaining show once hypnotized. This test resulted in plenty of volunteers from the spirited crowd; so many, in fact, that Spidey had to choose only a handful of the willing subjects to participate in his mental games.
Once the volunteers were chosen, the main event of the night began. After hypnotizing his volunteers, which took only a few minutes, Spidey scoured the remaining audience for those who got unexpectedly hypnotized as well, even though they were not on stage, and asked them to join their mesmerized brethren on the platform.
Throughout the performance, Spidey displayed creativity and ingenuity in the form of his unique exercises for those hypnotized. For example, near the beginning of the show, he chose two volunteers at random and told them that every time they heard a certain song, they were to stop whatever they were doing, bow to the audience and give a “high impact and loud” demonstration of their considerable martial arts skill.
Later, this music would play at the most inopportune and hilarious times for the two wannabe martial arts masters, causing their desire to demonstrate their talent to essentially override any current hypnosis-induced preoccupation, such as laughing hysterically because they just drank a glass of water.
The night took an interesting turn when, at another point, Spidey decided that those on stage did not need to see him in order for him to keep them hypnotized; so, naturally, he told them he was invisible.
This led to some rather strange reactions when he picked up a chair. The people on stage must have thought that the harmless piece of furniture simply did not like the thought of gravity anymore and consequently decided to levitate a foot or two off of the ground.
Upon witnessing such a supernatural phenomenon, most of those on stage panicked and tried to hide. However, before turning invisible, Spidey had told his volunteers not to leave the stage, making the hiding place situation rather limited.
One person decided that the best place to hide from a floating chair was underneath another chair, which was sadly comical, as he did not fit underneath it quite as well as he seemed to think.
While there were many other noteworthy imaginings onstage throughout Spidey’s performance, to enumerate them would take up too much space.
Quite honestly, it is simply better to advise anyone interested, which should by all rights be everyone, to go see a hypnotist next time there is an opportunity.
However, it must be stated that Spidey is no regular hypnotist. All things considered, he is a phenomenal entertainer in addition to being a talented and inventive mentalist.
Anyone who passed up the opportunity to see him missed a grand, not to mention unique, performance.