Hypnotist mesmerizes a packed Plachta Auditorium
Using only the power of his mind and manipulation, former America’s Got Talent contestant Chris Jones hypnotized audiences on Thursday night in the Plachta Auditorium.
Program Board President Kaylee Bloom and comedy chair Derek Thornton choose to bring comedy hypnotist Jones to Central Michigan University.
“He’s an up and coming comedian who relates to college students really well,” Bloom said.
Jones has been performing magic since he was young and learned hypnosis when he was in grad school. Jones has his masters degree in recreational therapy from Southern Illinois Carbon Dale.
But while, grad school may have been hard, Jones said being America's Got Talent was even harder.
“It’s a little like what I imagine war is like,” he said. “It’s waiting and waiting and then you battle.”
Jones started the show by trying to hypnotize the crowd of college students and having the ones who were actually hypnotized stand up. He pulled the hypnotized students on stage for the rest of the show.
“It was a slow start because I tried something new,” Jones said. “Hallucinating in hypnosis is one of the hardness things to do and I tried to be invisible to anyone in a hypnotic state.”
Jones chooses not to script his shows so that each one is a unique experience. Audience members agreed that different approaches to each new show kept his routine fresh.
“I liked his different approach and that he used comedy,” said Illinois freshman Brady Morell. “I didn’t really have an opinion about hypnosis before, but I believe it now because everyone who was hypnotized did it plus it was our peers so that made it more convincing.”
Jones hypnotized the handful of students on stage to believe they were at a Drake concert. "Started from the Bottom" played on the stereo as hypnotized students ran up to the stage. After a couple songs Jones dropped the mic and walked out of the auditorium to conclude the show.
"People always tell me I look like Drake," Jones said after the show.
One student hypnotized, Kyky Blake, doesn’t remember much from the show.
“I thought he was a wonderful and beautiful person,” Blake said. “The show was really entertaining.”
