The Kevin Hurley Show

Minds were completely blown away last Wednesday as hypnotist and comedian Kevin Hurley performed at Washburn University. Hurley hypnotized 15 different Washburn students making them dance, fly an airplane, drive a car and other hilarious things.
Washburn student Ryan Caldwell was one of the fifteen students hypnotized and said that it was unlike anything he had experienced before.
"All I remember is waking up and I was lying down on the floor," said Caldwell. "It felt like I had just slept for 10 hours."
Caldwell said that he would do it again as long as he did not do anything weird during the hypnosis.
"I do some meditations here and there and I thought it would be like that but I was wrong," said Caldwell
Hypnotist Kevin Hurley said that most folks think that it was an interest in psychology that started his involvement in hypnotism but in fact it was his love of standup comedy and magic and growing up as an instigator.
"I was always the guy that could get my cousin to do crazy stuff and get into trouble so I thought what better way to bring this to everybody," said Hurley
Hurley had formal training through Ormond McGill, "The Dean of American Hypnotism," who traveled the world and was about 90 when Hurley caught up with him and had published over 70 books on the topic of hypnosis.
Hurley said that he has been performing across the United States for eight solid years and that he does about 150 to 200 shows a year, 100 of which are performed at colleges and universities.
"Colleges and universities have the best audience because students are willing to try anything," said Hurley
The first time Hurley hypnotized someone was at the age of 21 at a sports banquet.
"I was reading off the cue cards making sure I got the recipe right," said Hurley
Mary Bannwarth, the varieties and entertainment director of Campus Activities Board said that CAB first saw Hurley in October at the National Association for Campus Activities Convention that brings a variety of entertainers to one location.
"He was one of the entertainers at the conference and we thought it would be a great idea to bring someone like him to Washburn," said Bannwarth
Bannwarth said that about 150 to 200 students came to the event making it a big success and that CAB has already started looking at performers for the upcoming semester.
"We just want to bring a variety of different entertainers to Washburn's campus," said Bannwarth. "We are trying to satisfy all Washburn students' needs and entertainment. We have two shows lined up for the fall and we want to make sure all Washburn students can get the full potential out of the Campus Activities Board."
Hurley said that the reason he thinks hypnosis is important is because anytime a person can learn mastery, whether it be physical or mental conditioning, it can be beneficial.
"My CD is a hypnotherapy thing and has techniques that I hope people will remember, said Hurley. "I'm 6 ft' 4 and always get crappy airplane tickets in the back so I do some of the exercises in my head to help me relax."
Hurley said the power of hypnosis can help a person take a leap to make a change in their life like losing weight or stopping smoking. If a person first changes their way of thinking through hypnosis, Hurley said it can change their circumstances.
"It's all perception and if a person can alter that perception and hypnosis can help a little bit and that person can get the results they want and become a better person than I think that is cool," said Hurley
Hurley said that he would love to come back and visit Washburn again and that he has a secret love for the great taste of barbeque.
"As soon as I landed in Kansas City, I asked where a barbeque place was at the ready, so I had lunch at Boss Hawgs, so I am a local and I am coming back," said Hurley. - Wasburn Review News

Laughter echoed through the Student Union Building ballroom as a crowd of about 60 people watched their fellow Vandals stumble around on the stage in a hypnotic trance Tuesday.
Kevin Hurley, hypnotist and comedian, visited the University of Idaho campus and provided a relaxing break for audience members and approximately 15 participants who volunteered from the audience. Hurley opened the show with some light jokes, commenting on a notable purple hat he saw before the show started. He then loosened the audience up with some hand and a card trick that required a skeptic to volunteer.


Jake Barber/Argonaut
Magician/hypnotist/comedian Kevin Hurley has volunteers under hypnosis dance and pretend they are flying planes on stage in the Student Union Building Ballroom Tuesday evening.

“There’s always a hater in the crowd,” Hurley said.
Hurley, holding an oversized card, asked the skeptic, Shawn, to say the first card that came to his mind. Hurley claimed the card in his hand would be the participant’s chosen card. Sure enough when he turned it over the card had the ace of spades — it also had every other miniature version of the each card from the deck on it. The tricks light humor began the crowd’s laughter which lasted the duration of the show.
After trying to turn the “haters” into believers, Hurley asked for about 15 volunteers from the audience to join him on stage. Once on stage, Hurley prepped his volunteers for hypnosis. The group endured two rounds of hypnosis before it began to take effect on them , and then three members were released from the stage because it did not work.
“Sometimes I have to use a different technique, like a 2x4,” Hurley said.
The remaining volunteers held strong through the show and were the subjects of many laughs, enduring a wide range of requests. Hurley began with fairly simple persuasions asking the hypnotized volunteers to experience the hottest temperatures and then the coldest. However, he threw a curveball in asking them to find a buddy because “body heat” would help warm them up. The audience laughed hysterically as the volunteers hugged and held one another.
At another point he asked the group to imagine an expensive gift he had bought for each of them — their favorite animal that could speak English and talk to them. The imagined animals were fairly diverse, including a zebra, an ostrich from Tanzania, a guinea pig, hamster and squirrel, along with a duck-billed platypus and an egg that hatched into a red panda. The group as a whole also became pilots, danced around on the stage and battled each other for $100 bills.
Hurley also had individual people do certain tasks. The main attraction was a volunteer named Matt. Hurley had hypnotized Matt so that every time he touched him with his finger, Matt would ask for a Band-Aid. Hurley would give him one, and then Matt would put it on the spot where he was touched. By the end of the show his face was covered in the knee-sized Band-Aids.
The show’s final individual hypnosis ended climatically with a volunteer named Kenny believing he was nine months pregnant and having a baby right then. His labor pains were painfully realistic as well as hysterical. The audience laughed throughout the entire birthing process up until Kenny announced he had a baby girl named Sophie with blue eyes — the audience’s tone then changed from laughter to “aws” of sentiment.
Overall the show was a great way to relax and have some fun during the hectic chaos of dead week. Hurley provided an entertaining performance through his personality and his skill with the volunteers. His comments were humorous and fun which simply added to the comedic relief at the expense of his volunteers.
- The Argonaut News Paper

Laughter echoed through the Student Union Building ballroom as a crowd of about 60 people watched their fellow Vandals stumble around on the stage in a hypnotic trance Tuesday.
Kevin Hurley, hypnotist and comedian, visited the University of Idaho campus and provided a relaxing break for audience members and approximately 15 participants who volunteered from the audience. Hurley opened the show with some light jokes, commenting on a notable purple hat he saw before the show started. He then loosened the audience up with some hand and a card trick that required a skeptic to volunteer.


Jake Barber/Argonaut
Magician/hypnotist/comedian Kevin Hurley has volunteers under hypnosis dance and pretend they are flying planes on stage in the Student Union Building Ballroom Tuesday evening.

“There’s always a hater in the crowd,” Hurley said.
Hurley, holding an oversized card, asked the skeptic, Shawn, to say the first card that came to his mind. Hurley claimed the card in his hand would be the participant’s chosen card. Sure enough when he turned it over the card had the ace of spades — it also had every other miniature version of the each card from the deck on it. The tricks light humor began the crowd’s laughter which lasted the duration of the show.
After trying to turn the “haters” into believers, Hurley asked for about 15 volunteers from the audience to join him on stage. Once on stage, Hurley prepped his volunteers for hypnosis. The group endured two rounds of hypnosis before it began to take effect on them , and then three members were released from the stage because it did not work.
“Sometimes I have to use a different technique, like a 2x4,” Hurley said.
The remaining volunteers held strong through the show and were the subjects of many laughs, enduring a wide range of requests. Hurley began with fairly simple persuasions asking the hypnotized volunteers to experience the hottest temperatures and then the coldest. However, he threw a curveball in asking them to find a buddy because “body heat” would help warm them up. The audience laughed hysterically as the volunteers hugged and held one another.
At another point he asked the group to imagine an expensive gift he had bought for each of them — their favorite animal that could speak English and talk to them. The imagined animals were fairly diverse, including a zebra, an ostrich from Tanzania, a guinea pig, hamster and squirrel, along with a duck-billed platypus and an egg that hatched into a red panda. The group as a whole also became pilots, danced around on the stage and battled each other for $100 bills.
Hurley also had individual people do certain tasks. The main attraction was a volunteer named Matt. Hurley had hypnotized Matt so that every time he touched him with his finger, Matt would ask for a Band-Aid. Hurley would give him one, and then Matt would put it on the spot where he was touched. By the end of the show his face was covered in the knee-sized Band-Aids.
The show’s final individual hypnosis ended climatically with a volunteer named Kenny believing he was nine months pregnant and having a baby right then. His labor pains were painfully realistic as well as hysterical. The audience laughed throughout the entire birthing process up until Kenny announced he had a baby girl named Sophie with blue eyes — the audience’s tone then changed from laughter to “aws” of sentiment.
Overall the show was a great way to relax and have some fun during the hectic chaos of dead week. Hurley provided an entertaining performance through his personality and his skill with the volunteers. His comments were humorous and fun which simply added to the comedic relief at the expense of his volunteers.
- The Argonaut News Paper

Kevin Hurley spends his days astounding spectators with his magic in the Kevin Hurley Show, where the audience can watch things and people appear and disappear, watch someone float in midair, and see many more seemingly impossible things happen. He has performed the show all around the country at colleges, for corporations and at many other venues. Hurley, of the South Side, also does hypnosis, and sells many self-help CDs that let him hypnotize people in their living rooms to help them lose weight, stop smoking and more. Hurley took a break from his magic tricks, and suddenly, a completed personality test appeared in the Trib.

The star who would play me in the movie version of my life and why:

Tom Cruise. Because he is cool, and I am 6 feet 4 inches.

Childhood hero and why:

Mister Rogers. I used to put on a sweater and change my shoes with him at the beginning and end of his show. I loved how he made the neatest stuff out of nothing. I think that inspired my interest in magic a lot, too.

Pick one:

A. Jack Bauer of "24"

B. Angus MacGyver of "MacGyver"

C. James West of "The Wild Wild West"

D. Sydney Bristow of "Alias"

B. MacGyver. He is the guy that can get out of anything smoothly. I feel like MacGyver most nights performing. There are a lot of high-tech gadgets I am using too, so I can sometimes hear the MacGyver theme song playing in my head when we are setting up the show.

In five years, I'd like to:

Be on the front page of this paper and not taking the personality test.

My favorite thing about Pittsburgh is:

The food, friends and family. I love them all equally. I have been a lot of places lately, and Pittsburgh has the best food.

If the TV is on at 2 a.m., I'm watching:

Ron Popeil, I hope! I love the knife pitch. I cannot change the channel, especially when he brings his cousin on to sell the knives, too.

Three people I'd love to have dinner with:

Houdini, Barack Obama and Evgeni Malkin

After a long day, I like to relax with a (pick one):

A. Martini

B. Cold beer

C. Cabernet

D. Herbal tea

E. Hot chocolate

F. Red Bull

Grey Goose is my favorite right now. I usually grill when I drink it.

My quirkiest inherited trait:

Guilt

My best bar sport:

A. Pool

B. Darts

C. Air hockey

D. Beer pong

E. Other

E. I finally figured out how to beat the shot glass game on the touch-screen computer.

My favorite sandwich, plus fixings:

Hamburger with just ketchup, and maybe a few pickles

One word your mother would use to describe you:

Wild

Celebrity crush:

Chelsea Handler

The oldest thing in my refrigerator is:

A milk carton with the picture of the Lindbergh baby

My required snack in a movie theater is:

Popcorn with a lot of butter

When I was 10, I wanted to be:

A magician or a comedian

Musical instrument I wish I could play:

Guitar. All my friends can, and it really gives them an edge.

My favorite comfort food:

Pizza. I have favorite pizza spots all over the United States.

Exercise I hate most:

Ab stuff and crunches

Vegetable I won't eat:

Cauliflower

I'm deathly afraid of:

Snakes. I have been chased by water moccasins twice!

If I were auditioning for "American Idol," my song would be:

Bruce Springsteen's "Meet Me Tonight in Atlantic City"

The first band I saw in concert (when and where):

The Vogues. I was at a rib cookoff with my parents, and it was a free show.

TV marathon you could watch all day and why:

Joel Osteen. I am not sure if that is considered a TV marathon, but he should be on all day.

Favorite Pittsburgh-area landmark:

The Pittsburgh skyline. When you are driving home all night long, it is awesome to see home base come out of the dark.

Saturday mornings you'll find me:

Anywhere and everywhere

Best new gadget I've tried recently:

iPhone. Mine works, and it does amazing things. It will even do magic ... for real magic tricks!

The person I'm most often mistaken for:

Ray Liotta — Henry in "GoodFellas." I get asked if I am him at least 10 times every time I am in L.A.

Pick one:

A. Perry Mason

B. Denny Crane

C. Arnie Becker

D. Ally McBeal

D. Ally McBeal. I thought she was hot, and some parts of that show made me LOL.

The worst advice I ever received:

To "watch my mouth." Several people have commented on this over the years.

In high school, I was:

A pretty OK student and kept to myself. I loved work way more than going to school.

The most famous person I ever became friends with:

Jack Smith: a poet, world traveler and movie star.

Pick one:

A. "Survivor"

B. "Top Chef"

C. "The Amazing Race"

D. "Deal or No Deal"

B. "Top Chef." I am obsessed with the Food Network; 49 is my go-to channel automatically when I turn on the TV.

The movie that always makes me cry:

"Forrest Gump." There are three or four scenes in that movie that kill me, especially when he is ta - The Tribune Review

Kevin Hurley spends his days astounding spectators with his magic in the Kevin Hurley Show, where the audience can watch things and people appear and disappear, watch someone float in midair, and see many more seemingly impossible things happen. He has performed the show all around the country at colleges, for corporations and at many other venues. Hurley, of the South Side, also does hypnosis, and sells many self-help CDs that let him hypnotize people in their living rooms to help them lose weight, stop smoking and more. Hurley took a break from his magic tricks, and suddenly, a completed personality test appeared in the Trib.

The star who would play me in the movie version of my life and why:

Tom Cruise. Because he is cool, and I am 6 feet 4 inches.

Childhood hero and why:

Mister Rogers. I used to put on a sweater and change my shoes with him at the beginning and end of his show. I loved how he made the neatest stuff out of nothing. I think that inspired my interest in magic a lot, too.

Pick one:

A. Jack Bauer of "24"

B. Angus MacGyver of "MacGyver"

C. James West of "The Wild Wild West"

D. Sydney Bristow of "Alias"

B. MacGyver. He is the guy that can get out of anything smoothly. I feel like MacGyver most nights performing. There are a lot of high-tech gadgets I am using too, so I can sometimes hear the MacGyver theme song playing in my head when we are setting up the show.

In five years, I'd like to:

Be on the front page of this paper and not taking the personality test.

My favorite thing about Pittsburgh is:

The food, friends and family. I love them all equally. I have been a lot of places lately, and Pittsburgh has the best food.

If the TV is on at 2 a.m., I'm watching:

Ron Popeil, I hope! I love the knife pitch. I cannot change the channel, especially when he brings his cousin on to sell the knives, too.

Three people I'd love to have dinner with:

Houdini, Barack Obama and Evgeni Malkin

After a long day, I like to relax with a (pick one):

A. Martini

B. Cold beer

C. Cabernet

D. Herbal tea

E. Hot chocolate

F. Red Bull

Grey Goose is my favorite right now. I usually grill when I drink it.

My quirkiest inherited trait:

Guilt

My best bar sport:

A. Pool

B. Darts

C. Air hockey

D. Beer pong

E. Other

E. I finally figured out how to beat the shot glass game on the touch-screen computer.

My favorite sandwich, plus fixings:

Hamburger with just ketchup, and maybe a few pickles

One word your mother would use to describe you:

Wild

Celebrity crush:

Chelsea Handler

The oldest thing in my refrigerator is:

A milk carton with the picture of the Lindbergh baby

My required snack in a movie theater is:

Popcorn with a lot of butter

When I was 10, I wanted to be:

A magician or a comedian

Musical instrument I wish I could play:

Guitar. All my friends can, and it really gives them an edge.

My favorite comfort food:

Pizza. I have favorite pizza spots all over the United States.

Exercise I hate most:

Ab stuff and crunches

Vegetable I won't eat:

Cauliflower

I'm deathly afraid of:

Snakes. I have been chased by water moccasins twice!

If I were auditioning for "American Idol," my song would be:

Bruce Springsteen's "Meet Me Tonight in Atlantic City"

The first band I saw in concert (when and where):

The Vogues. I was at a rib cookoff with my parents, and it was a free show.

TV marathon you could watch all day and why:

Joel Osteen. I am not sure if that is considered a TV marathon, but he should be on all day.

Favorite Pittsburgh-area landmark:

The Pittsburgh skyline. When you are driving home all night long, it is awesome to see home base come out of the dark.

Saturday mornings you'll find me:

Anywhere and everywhere

Best new gadget I've tried recently:

iPhone. Mine works, and it does amazing things. It will even do magic ... for real magic tricks!

The person I'm most often mistaken for:

Ray Liotta — Henry in "GoodFellas." I get asked if I am him at least 10 times every time I am in L.A.

Pick one:

A. Perry Mason

B. Denny Crane

C. Arnie Becker

D. Ally McBeal

D. Ally McBeal. I thought she was hot, and some parts of that show made me LOL.

The worst advice I ever received:

To "watch my mouth." Several people have commented on this over the years.

In high school, I was:

A pretty OK student and kept to myself. I loved work way more than going to school.

The most famous person I ever became friends with:

Jack Smith: a poet, world traveler and movie star.

Pick one:

A. "Survivor"

B. "Top Chef"

C. "The Amazing Race"

D. "Deal or No Deal"

B. "Top Chef." I am obsessed with the Food Network; 49 is my go-to channel automatically when I turn on the TV.

The movie that always makes me cry:

"Forrest Gump." There are three or four scenes in that movie that kill me, especially when he is ta - The Tribune Review

May 24, 2010
To Whom It May Concern:
St. Andrews Presbyterian College has worked with Kevin Hurley on numerous occasions over
the past four years and has had great success at every event! The student body loves the show,
the student leaders enjoy working with Kevin and as an advisor I find Kevin friendly and easy to
work with. Kevin is always willing to work within our budget as well as facility capabilities. I
would highly recommend Kevin to any school wanting a great show for their student body and a
great experience for their student leaders!
Sincerely,
Jennifer A. Bruner
Assistant Dean of Students - Jennifer Bruner

May 24, 2010
To Whom It May Concern:
St. Andrews Presbyterian College has worked with Kevin Hurley on numerous occasions over
the past four years and has had great success at every event! The student body loves the show,
the student leaders enjoy working with Kevin and as an advisor I find Kevin friendly and easy to
work with. Kevin is always willing to work within our budget as well as facility capabilities. I
would highly recommend Kevin to any school wanting a great show for their student body and a
great experience for their student leaders!
Sincerely,
Jennifer A. Bruner
Assistant Dean of Students - Jennifer Bruner