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Hypnotist Learns Talk Show Ins And Outs
Local Entertainer Uses Suggestive Approach To Showbiz
Success Hypnotist:
Wand Tries To Find His Way To Vegas
MIDWEST HYPNOTIST LEARNS TALK SHOW INS AND OUTS
Article taken from a local newspaper
EAST DUBUQUE - Jim Wand has been working as a hypnotic entertainer
for almost fifteen years. This year, he began pursuing the talk
show circuit when he appeared on the "Sally Show" in New York City. "This adventure was very educational to say the very least," Wand
says. "I learned how the talk shows go about booking guests, who
to contact and what a typical appearance is like." On March 5, a "Sally Show" producer, who once saw Wand perform
at a college, contacted Wand to appear on the show. Within a day,
he was able to rearrange his scheduled performances and fly to New
York City with his sound technician. On March 7, taping for the show began. After meeting with a producer
to go over details, Wand hypnotized five out of eight volunteer
audience members. This session took place in a separate room from
the general audience and lasted an hour. Wand understood that he would then speak with talk-show host Sally
Jessy Raphael. While that morning's tape was shown to the audience,
he expected to explain what happened during the earlier hypnosis
session. Producers told him it would be a five-to-eight minute segment. "THEN SHE LAID THE BOMB ON ME" After makeup and preparation, Wand took his cue and went out into
the audience. Raphael introduced him and the five subjects who were
hypnotized earlier in the day. "Then she laid the bomb on me; I was asked to re-hypnotize the
volunteers and do a demonstration," Wand explains. "For the next
thirty-five minutes, I had the audience in stitches." After the show, Raphael asked if Wand would hypnotize her in an
individual session. According to Wand, he did not have enough time
before his flight left New York. Although the show was taped in March, it took three months for
it to appear on television. "On several occasions we contacted the producer about when the
show would be aired, " Wand says. "Each time, I was told that someone
would contact us at least five days prior to the segment being aired." On July 5, Wand learned that the show had been aired on July 4;
but this appearance may not be the end of Wand's talk show experiences. WORKING THE CIRCUIT During the interim between taping and television, Wand hired a
producer of the "Sally Show" as an independent consultant. This
producer has been trying to get Wand booked on other talk shows. Wand says that once a person has been on one talk show, it is easier
to appear on several. Currently, he is being considered for eight
shows, including "Live with Regis and Kathie Lee", "The Maury Show",
"The Jenny Jones Show", "The Ricki Lake Show" and the "Rosie O'Donnell
Show." Wand, who is originally from Elizabeth, does over two hundred fifty
performances throughout the United States each year. To date, he
has hypnotized over a million people. Back to top
LOCAL ENTERTAINER USES SUGGESTIVE APPROACH
TO SHOWBIZ SUCCESS
HYPNOTIST: WAND TRIES TO FIND HIS WAY TO VEGAS
By Becky Sisco, TH staff writer
 |
EAST DUBUQUE, Il. - If you have missed Jim Wand's show in one of the local nightclubs, perhaps you saw it on "The Sally Show." If you missed it on the "The Sally Show," maybe you can catch it on another national talk show. Or in Las Vegas. Wand, of East Dubuque, appeared on "The Sally Show" (hosted by Sally Jessy Raphael) July 4, and he believes he has created a strategy that will get him on other talk shows and eventually lead him to a gig in Las Vegas. |
Most people know Wand - a psychologist turned motivational speaker-entertainer - as the hypnotists who sometimes performs in local nightclubs. During his shows, Wand usually hypnotizes a few volunteers from the audience and then, through the power of suggestion, leads them through amusing situations.
That is what he did on the "I Won't Believe My Eyes" segment of "The Sally Show." He suggested to one female audience member that she was from Mars and asked her to speak what she thought was Martian. He asked another to be her "interpreter."
The audience cackled as the "interpreter" asked, in "Martian," what part of Mars the other woman is from and the "Martian" answered, in gibberish, "the northern hemisphere."
Wand said the segment that was aired on TV was quite different from what he thought it would be. He expected that it would feature him hypnotizing the audience members before the show, then talking with Raphael about the hypnotic process and then convincing one of the subjects that she is Raphael's long-lost sister.
He said taping the show took much longer than watching the finished product on TV. "People were running all over the place, " he said.
"Everyone should have the experience of at least being an audience member," he said.
Getting on "The Sally Show" will open the door to appearances on other shows, Wand said. So will having a consultant with a good gimmick.
Based on advice from his consultant, who formerly was a producer for "The Sally Show," Wand is sending gift baskets with a demo tape to eight additional talk shows, including "Live with Regis and Kathie Lee," "Jenny Jones" and "Rosie O'Donnell Show."
Wand will not be paid for appearing on any of those shows, just as his appearance on "The Sally Show" was unpaid. But he wants the exposure, he said. It could lead to "four walling" in Las Vegas.
"Four walling" is an arrangement with a hotel whereby the hotel pays for advertising, and splits the ticket receipts with the entertainer.
By "getting a room" in Las Vegas, Wand said, he could cut down on his travel and spend more time writing and working with clients. He said he has trained six other hypnotists to do what he does.
Wand, an Elizabeth, IL native, began entertaining 20 years ago.
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