You’ve been out with friends, but right now you aren’t really thinking about them. Instead, you are listening to the tall, good-looking guy whose been talking to you for the past few minutes. As you stare into his deep blue-gray eyes, you soon realize that you would be willing to do just about anything he asks you to do. No, you aren’t hooking up at the bar, you’re rapidly slipping into a state of deep relaxation courtesy of hypnotist Trevor Knight.
“I’ve been doing magic and illusion shows since I was a little boy – I was doing kids birthday parties when I was nine or ten. When I was sixteen I developed my magic show into more of a Vegas style illusion show – ducks, doves, rabbits, cutting girls in half all that fun stuff,” Knight told GayCalgary.com. As he grew older he began to take an interest away from magic and into the world of Hypnosis.
“I have been hypnotized many times myself and love the experience so much I wanted to share it with people. I had a festival in Fort McMurray that I was going to be doing an illusion show and they offered me additional space in another theatre for a different show. At that time I had a friend who had taken hypnotherapy courses and taught me. I debated bringing her with me and doing a dual hypnosis show so I booked the venue, asked her about doing the show… and she said no. It forced me to put together my own hypnosis show. I had about four months to put together my show; I had the knowledge to do it but had never actually done it. We went to Fort McMurray, invited the audience members onstage and worked towards taking them towards a state of hypnosis. The entire time I was going ‘Please let someone go under.’ We had 15 people go up and five went under, including two who were my friends.”
While Knight’s first show had its bugs, it was that night that he began his true training into being an entertainer and hypnotist.
“That night I met a man named Robert whose knowledge was unbelievable. After my show he sat me down and said ‘This is what you did wrong’ and listed three things that were so simple I had overlooked them. The next day I changed those few things and all twenty people that came on stage went under. I spent the next year learning from him because his knowledge far exceeds all the hypnotists I have met put together - he took my assistant Jolene, who had never been put under and that I had been trying to get under for three months, and put her under in two seconds flat. He had devoted his life to the art and knowledge of hypnosis but unfortunately he had a brain tumor. Although he is still around today he hasn’t retained as much of the talent.”
Knight will be recognizable for those who attended his two shows in 2005 at the Twisted Element. This summer, Knight takes his show on the road with The Coming Out Tour, which will feature Knight, local talent from each city as well as Calgary’s own Nina Tron and former Canadian Idol contestant and Juno Award winner Dave Moffat of The Moffats.
“I’ve been performing hypnosis shows for five years but never as a gay performer, hence the name The Coming Out Tour. Performing at Pride events has such huge potential that it shouldn’t just be The Trevor Knight Show but an event of its own with the hypnosis show being a portion of the full event. It will be a variety show type of performance, which as far as we know there has never been a touring event of its kind in the gay community, which is exciting. As time goes on we are looking to make The Coming Out Tour grow more into a highly anticipated festival in all of the gay communities – an annual event during pride week.”
The show will debut in the prairies for Pride celebrations in June.
“We start June 9th in Winnipeg and visit Saskatoon before coming to the Currie Army Barracks in Calgary June 16th. We wrap up the first leg of the tour at the Shaw Conference Centre in Edmonton,” Knight said, adding that dates were in the works for Pride celebrations in Toronto and Vancouver. “Calgary will be the largest show in the tour as the show is being produced out of Calgary. We really want to include the gay community and let them use this tour as a chance to showcase their talent. The majority of the talent that the gay community has seen is female impersonators, which by all means is great entertainment. But we are really excited to add something new and showcase things that people have never seen before.”
People have many misconceptions about hypnosis, such as the belief that being able to go under means you have no free will, or that a hypnotist can make you do anything they want. Not true, says Knight.
”It’s correct in that you cannot force someone do something they would not do, but it is in the power of suggestion. All hypnosis is is a state of relaxation where your subconscious is in control of your mind and body. When it is in control you are prone to suggestion, you lose all your inhibitions, it is like getting pissed drunk without actually getting drinks or the nasty hangover. As a hypnotist one of your jobs is to develop a rapport with each subject on stage and determine how far you can take a person before they go out of their comfort zone. I do not want someone who is so embarrassed that they don’t want to come on my stage again, I want them to come back and run to come on stage again because it is fun. You really have to judge it and determine who will do what.”
Not surprisingly, Knight has received unusual requests from people when they find out he is a hypnotist, but states that he only uses his powers for entertainment and good.
“I’ve been asked many times if when I date people I hypnotize them. I have never hypnotized someone I have been with. When some people find out you are a hypnotist their first reaction is ‘Oh my god, hypnotize me, I’ll do anything you want.’ Anybody that I have an interest in personally, I won’t allow myself to hypnotize them because I wouldn’t want any subliminal messages to be part of the reason why my relationship is with that person. The thought crosses your mind sometimes performing in straight clubs, there are sometimes guys where you might be tempted to put in a message that ‘You’ll come to room 204 twenty minutes after the show’ but I wouldn’t actually do it.”
While only 24, Knight has been performing for years and as with any kind of improvised work, has many funny stories to tell. People have run from the stage chasing their penis, bruised their knees from orgasming, and one participant in a wheelchair started racing towards the end of the stage towards what he thought was an alien. Despite Knight putting him under, his chair kept going and Knight and his assistant had to dive to catch him.
”I have really dropped my microphone numerous times in laughter, or had to walk off stage to catch my composure. The show for me is as enjoyable as it is for the audience, and you can’t help but burst out in laughter. For example, I had as girl with very large breasts who had to go to the bathroom, and told her that when she came out of the bathroom her breasts would be flat. She came out of the bathroom she looked like her puppy dog had died. I asked what was wrong and she said ‘They’re gone. They’re gone, and they were bought and paid for.’ The last show we did at Twisted Element (bar owner) Cliff told me not to hypnotize his bartenders. I told him I wouldn’t, not knowing that some of his bartenders were already on stage hypnotized. I told everyone on stage that when they heard a piece of music they would drop everything and run to the stage. Sure enough, three of the bartenders were working after the show, the music played and they dropped their drinks they were serving, left the tills open and went running to the stage. Poor RJ and Cliff both had to be behind the bar bartending.”
It’s been a fun journey for Knight, who is looking forward to continuing his work this summer with both his own show and The Coming Out Tour.
”I started young but I am glad because I learned so much. With hypnosis a huge part of it is the belief factor, your audience has to believe you have the knowledge to hypnotize people. Hypnosis is called a power but it is just knowledge, the same knowledge anyone could go to the library and learn. Within half an hour I can give someone the knowledge on how to hypnotize someone. People come up to me and say ‘Were you born with the ability to do this?’ No, I read some fricken books and went to school. The magic is where being an entertainer comes in, to make people see it as magic.
