Constant Changes in the Monologue

Every night when I step on stage, I have an opening monologue that I go through. This monologue touches base on a few key points. Mainly, I focus on guiding the audience through a suggestibility test, the volunteer restrictions, and what to expect and not expect in the show. Over the last few weeks, I have been adding some slight modifications to the patter, changing the order of a few things, and varying my pace. It is interesting that over the last 15 years, and several thousand shows, that my monolgue continues to change. I find that the type of audience, age of audience, and the energy of the audience really dictates my approach. For the aspiring hypnotist learning the craft, here is what I want you to take from this blog...

Do not be afraid to change your opening speech/monologue. Learning something to a script is not always the best thing. Have your monologue somewhat rehearsed so that you are not rambling, but yet do not be afraid to modify it slightly to fit the feel, energy, and dyanmics of your group. Your show should be constantly evolving. I do not mean only in routines, I mean in your monologue, your induction, your routines, your transitions, your product pitch, your finale, and your awakening sequence. Do not be afraid to make improvements.

Lastly, drop the ego. If someone gives you a suggestion about the show, listen to it. Sometimes and extra set of eyes and ears is exactly what you need. I constantly ask Jacky and Ty, as well as many other theater staff members about their opinions. Remember that they see the show from different perspectives. Listen to their ideas, you do not always have to take them, but it is worth hearing if your show would improve. That's the goal, right?

Marc

The Groom was Hypnotized!

Today is my night off. Whew. Been a crazy week. Flew to Alaska, did some events, came back to Vegas, performed every night since, and now Friday night is here. My dark night. For those of you not familiar with Las Vegas show lingo, when your show is "dark" it means that you are off that night and not performing. So, every Friday is Mesmerized's dark night.

We had some great shows this week. Myself, Jacky and Ty went out for a celebratory drink after the show last night. It was really the first time that we took a breath since the show opened.

Upon reflecting on the week, we had a few interesting shows. One in particular really stood out. We had a party of 9 show up. They were a bride and groom and their close friends. I later found out that my favorite brokers, Tix4Tonight are the ones that sold them tickets. Tix4Tonight is amazing, they know how to pick the right people for the right show. This group was looking to celebrate and get crazy and do something memorable for their trip to Vegas. So, they told me that David from Tix4Tonight recommended that the best show for a large group to have fun at would be Mesmerized. Well, he was right. The Groom volunteered for the show, and was the star of the night. Oh my gosh, he was friggin' hilarious!

This one part in the show where I do a classic Hot/Cold routine. Upon awakening from being cold, this girl was cuddling up with the groom and so, he pushes her away disgustedly, and points to his brand new wedding ring. His face totally said, "get off me bitch, I'm married!" So funny! But it doesn't end there.

Later in the show, I brought a guy up from the audience to put on a wig and the guys on stage would fall in love with this "so-called girl". I told them that she would be the most beautiful girl they had ever seen. Upon awakening, the groom, Clayton, lays eyes on this "girl" and his jaw drops to the floor. She is SOOOO hott! Then the brand new groom of a few hours, slips off his wedding ring and stuffs it in his pocket! He was SOOOO married 20 minutes earlier, but was willing to throw it all away for this burley dude in a wig! The audience was rolling on the floor in laughter. Priceless. Too funny!

Clayton, I hope we made your night a memorable one, and thanks for volunteering. David, from Tix4Tonight, thanks for sending me a great group. You were dead on to think that they would have a blast at Mesmerized!

Final thought. It is weird to wrap my head around the fact that I pretty much hypnotize someone on each and every day of my life. But today, Marc Savard, shall not hypnotize. I will sit my ass down on the couch, and watch a movie. I am tired, I will easily fall asleep, and once I close my eyes, my night will be dark. Of course, that is so perfectly fitting, for my dark night. :-)

Marc

Visiting Brokers

So I am back from Alaska and getting back into the groove of Vegas.

Most Vegas shows are sold by ticket brokers and various ticket locations throughout town. Occasionally I will go and meet the ticket brokers and say hi, drop by their locations, talk to them, their customers, take pictures, sign autographs, and just hang out. It is great public relations, and of course I enjoy meeting new people, especially perople who sell tickets to my show.

Today, Jacky Pagone and I went around to 6 different broker locations and met some great people. We recognized a few things. First off, the strip is huge. We knew this, but walking up and down when you are working it, is different from when you are on vacation. Secondly, there should be a Cold Stone Ice Cream shop on the strip. Self explanatory. Thirdly, City Center, the new property by MGM Mirage, will be amazing once completed.

Tix4Tonight has been a great supported of mine and they do some excellent business for me. I saw Kris Kidd, a Tix4Tonight employee who has seen Mesmerized more than once, or twice, or three times, and he kindly introduced me to some customers, and the other employees. We had a few laughs, and took some pictures with some customers, and a great time was had by all.

Here is a picture of Kris and I in front of the Tix4Tonight store! He is my number one seller and beats every single indvidual broker in town by a long shot. You rock Kidd!

Marc

One down, one to go.

Last night's show went pretty good. We had quite a few volunteers, and the one's who got hypnotized were great. We are expecting a bigger crowd tonight and the show should be even better. :-)

Upon reflecting on last night's performance, there really are quite a few differences to my Vegas style performance from my regular corporate style. Other than the obvious differences, there are others.

I find that my pacing is a lot slower. I also find that my personality comes out a lot more too. I think that the unwritten rule of a Vegas show having to be 1hr and 20min makes me jam routines together and spend less time developing the volunteers personalities on stage. I also feel that my choice of routines are very different. I tend to rely on routines that also allow more talking from the volunteers where my Vegas show demands actions. Because of the international audiences in Vegas, I try to keep the show more visual, and less talking. For example, last night I threw in an old routine that I do into the show. The routine requires the volunteers to think an animal that they will call during the animal calling championships. Obviously, it is very funny but works extremely well when the audience all know each other. When you know the person onstage, seeing them talk and individually act out situations proves to be extra funny.

Tonight, I will be pulling out some more material that I have not done in a while. Should be fun. One show down, one to go. Then... back to Vegas on Sunday.

Marc

Brrrr. Alaska is different than Vegas

So, yesterday I shut my show down on the strip for 4 days to fly up with my assistant Kamela Brewer to Alaska. A month ago, Kamela put this deal together for me to perform up in the tundra! :-)

I performed Wednesday night in Vegas, and then was in bed by 1:30am. Only to be at the airport at 5:30am the next morning, or THAT morning to be exact. I was exhausted. Ugh. So we flew from Las Vegas to Seattle, then connected to Anchorage. From Anchorage we had to take this plane that was patched together with duct tape, to Kenai, AK. Kamela grew up in this area. Interesting little town, and I kinda feel at home here. It is very similar to Northern Alberta Canada, which is where I am from.

I met Kamela's parents, and they are really nice. VERY nice people! Kamela's mom owns a restaurant, and the food is fantastic. We went to 3 radio stations this morning to do interviews about the shows I will be doing. The radio jockeys were very pleasant and were accomodating.

I am just checking emails and doing some business right now and communicating with personnel in Las Vegas because I am back doing my show on Monday night. No rest for the wicked.

So, I am heading back to the venue to prepare for the show. I hope all of you are well back home in Vegas. I know it is warmer there, but I am kinda enjoying the cool air and the fresh air coming in off the ocean.

I also wanted to shout out to Barry Brewer, who apparently reads my blog regularily. You better volunteer to be hypnotized this weekend.

Marc

Finding our groove

4 shows under our belt. Things are beginning to come together. Opening night was a huge success. We made the transition back to the V Theater without a hitch. The show was hilarious, the audience was energetic and were excited to have us back as much as we were excited to be back.

Sunday night's show was good too. We don't have any major kinks to work out, other than just getting the groove going on with making the routines become seamless together as well as Jacky, my assistant, is also finding her comfort in the new theater. I have performed last year at the V Theater for almost 200 shows, and so it has been real easy for me to adjust, and not surprisingly, Jacky being the professional that she is, has shortened the learning curve considerably and his already treating it like home.

Ty, my main guy, who does pretty much everything for me as well as video, was with me all of last year too. So, he needed no more than 5 minutes to feel at home there. It has been feeling really nice to be back at the V Theater. The show plays well there, so please, if you have seen my show in the past in another venue, you'll love the show here.

See you soon,

Marc

Mesmerized to Re-Open at V Theater

First off, I apologize. I know many of you have emailed in wondering why I stopped blogging. Things have been crazy in my life lately. I took some time off of work to enjoy some personal time. My wife and I had a baby in early September, and things have been great with that. :-)

About Mesmerized, here's how it came about. For the majority of last year I performed in my own show that ran in producer David Saxe's V Theater at Miracle Mile in Planet Hollywoood Resort and Casino. We had a very successful run and in October last year, I decided to leave the show to pursue other projects. I opened my own hypnosis school with my original instructor John Zulli. John and I also designed a program called Pathway to Power and once those projects were launched, my time commitment to them lessened. I was ready to come back to the Las Vegas strip.

I performed in my own show at the LA Comedy Club in Planet Hollywood. I performed there for 2 months to showcase my abilities and invite other producers and hotels to see what I had to offer. I had some interest from some other properties and had the opportunity to put together a few deals. I was close to signing at another major property, and at the last minute something unique happened.

David Saxe called me last monday night. Due to unforseen circumstances, the show that was in the 10pm time slot immediately closed. Saxe calls me, and says, "Hey. How soon can you open your show?" In reality, I could open in one night. The technical aspect of the show is ready. All the lighting cues were still saved as Saxe's V Theater is where Mesmerized was last year. The sound techs still know the show. The spotlight operators are the same as last year. The stagehands are the same people. So, it really is a turn key operation at this point.

The only issue was ticket brokers and advertising. There is a 3 week turn around for any print work here in Las Vegas. LVM magazine, What's On magazine, Vegas2Go magazine, etc. So, the question was, I can open immediately, but if no one can sell tickets cause we need a few days for the brokers to input the inventory of show dates, and if the advertising does not come out for weeks, then what do we do?

David did not have any concerns about the advertising not coming out because the brokers all remember the show and can easily sell it describe it to consumers. So... after a 3 hour meeting with Saxe, we decided to go for it. I open tomorrow night. Saturday October 11, 2008. Yikes !

This might be the record for the shortest time to open a show. I did it in 9 days for the LA Comedy Club, but we are doing this one in 5! Wow!

Mesmerized is back! We hope to see you there soon!

Marc