Friday, Jan. 23, 2004 | 8:46 a.m.
Granted, one sold-out performance at Lance Burton's 1,000-seat theater in the Monte Carlo has more fans in attendance than almost all of the hypnotists combined on a given night.
The venues of the hypnotists are relatively small such as the 150-seat Le Bistro Theatre at the Riviera and the 100-seat theater at Bourbon Street.
But who knows? If the current interest in hypnotists continues to grow, there could be larger showrooms in their future.
"Basically, it's cyclical," Robert Allen, a hypnotist, magician and producer, said. "You look back as far as magicians go and as interest in them starts to wane, there is a resurgence in hypnotists and mentalists.
"When I came here in the '70s, nobody wanted to look at magic but for birthday parties. Only Siegfried & Roy and a couple of magicians in production shows were making it. Then all of a sudden, magic was big."
Allen and Scott Lewis, a chiropractor who moonlights as a comic hypnotist, are the biggest producers of hypnotic shows in Vegas.
Their productions include, at the Riviera, "Dr. Scott Lewis: Outrageous Comedy Hypnotist" and "The Hypnosis Zone," which features four hypnotists on different nights. They also produce "Shock!," which features hypnotist Victoria Wayne, at Bourbon Street.
Among hypnotists now putting people into a trance at various venues are Allen, Lewis, Wayne and Mark Yuzuik, all of whom are part of the nightly "Hypnosis Zone," which features a different hypnotist for each performance.
Justin Tranz (at O'Sheas), at five years, has one of the longest-running hypnosis shows in town.
Dr. Naughty recently moved from the Greek Isles to Club Seven on the Strip. The Exotic Hypnotics, Genie and Richard, have a late show at the Le Bistro Theatre but are not affiliated with Allen and Lewis.
And one of the coolest hypnotists in town is Anthony Cools, who has an adult-oriented show at the Stardust.
Hypnotic numbers
In terms of numbers, there now are almost as many hypnotists with showrooms in Vegas as magicians.
Their competition among magicians includes (on the Strip) Burton, Rick Thomas (Tropicana), Steve Wyrick (Aladdin) and eight magicians who are in the ensemble cast of "The World's Greatest Magic Show" at the Sahara.
Also, David Saxe's "V -- The Ultimate Variety Show" at The Venetian features magician Nathan Burton, and Saxe's "Ovation" at the Aladdin features Jason Byrne.
Off-Strip magicians include Penn & Teller (Rio), Steve Dacri (Sazio's restaurant at The Orleans), Dirk Arthur (Plaza) and Dixie Dooley (Magic Star) and "Showgirls of Magic" (Hotel San Remo), another Saxe production.
Allen, who has been hypnotizing subjects since 1964, has seen trends come and go during his lengthy career, which included a stint as a comedian with "Splash" at the Riviera.
"There have been periods when I sold the heck out of my hypnotist act," Allen said. "And there have been periods when I couldn't give it away.
"It was a very hard sell here until a year or so ago. Now, all of a sudden everyone is asking -- 'Do you do hypnotism?' "
Much of Allen's work as a hypnotist is at corporate functions.
"I've had triple the requests for conventions in recent months," he said.
Interest in hypnotism isn't restricted to Vegas.
"Its a nationwide phenomenon," Allen said. "We're getting e-mails from hypnotists all over the country. Everybody's flipping out over it."
But he knows it won't last forever. He remembers the popularity of comedy clubs in the '80s.
"That finally died off," Allen said. "People get bored when they are overexposed to too much stuff. Right now there is a glut of hypnotists, and the hypnotists hate it. They would like to see only a couple of us in town."
But for now, he says, hypnotism is good for Vegas.
"All of the shows seem to be doing good business," Allen said. "But how long that will last is anybody's guess."
Sex didn't sell
One hypnosis show that bombed last year was one that producers attempted at Sapphire, a gentleman's club on Industrial Road.
There's a 400-seat showroom inside the 74,000-square-foot venue, where, in September, hypnotist Robert Kennzington starred briefly in "Sex Strikes Back!"
But "Sex Strikes Back!" was relatively tame, especially when considering the adults-only venue that surrounded it. Most of the hypnotists in town have clean shows, suitable for young audiences.
Cools, on the other hand, seems to be doing well with his adults-only show. A native of Calgary, Alberta, Cools says his shows "are as dirty as the imagination will allow them to be."
Cools says a couple of mottos are appropriate for his performances.
"Mine is, 'For those easily offended, stay home,' " he said. "And the Stardust says, 'Good, clean, dirty fun.' "
Many hypnotists try to reach as broad an audience as possible and therefore shy away from the kind of material Cools embraces.
Cools knows his audience appeal is limited.
"But there is definitely a market for hipper audiences," he said. "There must be. I'm setting new records here at the Stardust.
"This whole idea of Las Vegas turning back into an adult playground is helping my niche. I've done well since Day One."
Before becoming a hypnotic entertainer 10 years ago, Cools managed nightclubs and was a disc jockey. He was inspired to become a hypnotist by one of Canada's most well-known performers -- Peter Reveen.
Reveen, in addition to being a hypnotist and magician, is Lance Burton's manager. And Reveen inspired Scott Lewis to become a hypnotist.
"Peter is like David Copperfield to me," Lewis said. "He was my first inspiration.
"He would sell out theaters of 2,200 people for two weeks straight. He'd ask for volunteers, and 500 people would rush onstage. He was very theatrical, and he always said to keep it clean. Peter is the ultimate hypnotist."
Lewis is partially responsible for the current glut on the hypnotist market.
He's an ambitious performer who envisions cultivating the "Hypnosis Zone" in Vegas and then spreading it around the country, much like comedy clubs.
"We want to develop the hypno-comedy club idea, a place where you can go anytime and see a great show starring a wide variety of hypnotists," Lewis said.
One of the beauties of hypnotic shows is that they are inexpensive to produce.
"You just need some chairs, music and people," Lewis said. "People are the stars of the show."
Lewis attributes the current interest in hypnotism to the popularity of reality TV shows.
"People want to see ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances," he said.
Plus, people are looking for something different.
"Hypnosis combines the mystery of magic, and the entertainment of the comedy club," Lewis said.
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