There’s no Honor Among Thieves

        Annoying proverbs are repeated with such frequency that

many of us visibly wince whenever we hear them. Part of this, perhaps, is that most of them have an "I told you so" quality about them, sort of a pointless triteness. 

        “You never get a second chance to make a first impression.”

        “All's fair in love and war.”

        “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.”

        “There is no honor among thieves.”

        Bla, Bla, Fricking Bla!

        Saying that these are ‘slightly’ annoying is like saying that the Kardashians ‘Like’ Publicity. For me, they are as obviously stupid as fishing for a shark in a toilet.

        I don’t know who actually coined these phrases and I have exhausted many resources trying to find out. Mostly that involves using my google search degree that most of us use when we want to sound like we have done actual research. (But that’s a rant for a later time.) I do believe, however, that the person that did coin this phrase must have been a hypnotist.

        Like so many of you, I am tired of rants that people must get out of their system. Well, here comes another one. Sorry Bout' it!

        I have come to realize that I have chosen to surround myself with “Thieves!” Although, most of them fancy themselves as the Robin Hood type — their entire thievery is believed to be rewarded with the love and admiration of others who receive the spoils of said thievery.

        They rob from the rich and give to the poor, at least in their minds. It’s more like rob from the talented and hard-working and pretend they did all the work – you know, like how I used my google search degree.

        ...But that’s totally different. Right?

        As a lot of you know, I have been performing professionally for almost 20 years. My not so professional career started as a child in plays at school and being the class clown; which didn’t always go over as well as I had planned in my head.

        I wasn’t dismayed; I pursued this adventure into my adulthood, by entertaining at parties and gatherings by just being me. I know this is not specific to me, there are many of you reading this that have been told time after time, “you are the life of the party” or “how funny you are.” And you understand how important it is for your self-esteem to be seen in that way.

        Kardashian – Smardashian! — Don’t judge, it’s how I cope.

        I started a career in standup comedy, worked hard, and actually climbed up the comedy ladder. I performed at many large and well-known comedy clubs across the country, and with many famous comedians such as Louis CK, Sinbad, Louie Anderson, and more.

        After a few years, I had the breakthrough opportunity of my life. I worked with a hypnotist. Watching his show I was mesmerized and entertained like never before. I just knew that this was what I was meant to do with my life. It hit me like a freight train; it was that visceral knowing that you cannot explain, you just know that it is meant to be.

        I enrolled in a class, learned the basics and received a certificate to hypnotize. My new life and career took off.  For the past 19+ years, it has been a rollercoaster of great and amazing things. 

        I have performed in Las Vegas in front of 3000 people, and for major corporations like Microsoft, A.O.L., Time Warner, Fox Broadcasting, and many more. From this I have built and developed several different shows, and, what’s called in the business, “Bits”. That’s how we in the business refer to it — “In the Business”

        In the world of comedy, there are Joke Tellers—Steven Wright, Story Tellers—Ron White, Prop Comics—Carrot Top, and a plethora of in-betweens. However, there is one group that doesn’t get any recognition or even identification as being in the same business, and that group is the Stage Hypnotists. 

        After almost 20 years of making a life “in the business,” I don’t believe we, (present company excluded, of course) deserve to be associated with other comics and comedians. This is a harsh and bold statement coming from someone who had dedicated the last 19+ years of his life striving to make himself a great comedic-hypnotist. 

        I was trained as a comedian working the comedy circuit and paying my dues. I learned from some of the best and I tried very hard to make it in that business. I, however, came to a realization that there were literally millions of comics trying to “Make It” and I fell in love with hypnosis.

        I felt it was my way to succeed. There were a lot fewer hypnotists than there were comedians in the country and I seemed to have a unique ability to make it work. It was as if it was just part of me.

        At the third show I had ever performed in my career, I was approached by a talent agent that was booking shows for a large comedy club. She had been in Las Vegas and California looking at hypnotists to hire for their club and she had not seen anything as good as my show.

        

        This is not an attempt to brag and say how good I am — or maybe it is — Kardashian who?

        I spent months creating and developing a show that I thought would stand out and be better than other hypnotists prior to even stepping foot on stage. And this showed in the performance. Now, when I hear the term comedic-hypnotist, I almost cringe. The largest percentages of all comedic-hypnotists have never had any experience in comedy at all.

        In fact, the only real comedy in their show is the things that their subjects inadvertently do. However, if they get introverted or unwilling participants on stage there is no comedy! Uh-Oh Indie!

        They claim to have the most hilarious show in the country or even the world. I don’t know how many “World’s Funniest Hypnotists” there are.

        Really? The world? Why not the universe? I’m sure you’re a better hypnotist than the ones on Uranus.

        The reason that I can so honestly and powerfully say that I do not believe that we deserve to be in the same rankings as a comedian, isn't because of the fact most don’t have comedy training. It’s actually simpler. Comedians do not steal other comedians’ bits. If they do they are ostracized and shunned by their comedic peers.

        There is a code of ethics among comedians and if you break this code you are deemed a “Hack” (this is the equivalent of a writer that plagiarizes other writers). The majority of Hypnotists that are working today are just that – “Thieves!” I cannot count the number of times I have had a competitor hypnotist come to my show just to steal my bits for their use.  I have even had them tell me this as if it is what we all do. All hypnotists just use anyone’s bits as long as they are funny. 

        Comedians see this and assume we all follow this unwritten rule. For example, I have a friend that is a standup comic. He was at a club with another of my friends watching a hypnosis show, which once again, was hailed as the greatest show ever, when the hypnotist on stage did one of the bits that I have developed for my show.

        This particular bit I spent months on developing, and trying it until it worked, something I do regularly. This hypnotist played it off as his own! He didn’t spend the time working it over and over until it was a smooth, flowing and entertaining bit. He also didn’t have a problem performing it as if he had; stating, “I have to think this stuff up.”

        The second of my friends was shocked because she knew how much effort and time that I had put into this bit and she spoke up, “Isn’t that Shawn’s Bit?” my other friend (the comic) stated, “It’s just hypnosis, they all do that.” It was blown off as a standard among hypnotists.

        This irritates me beyond belief! However, once again “There is no honor among thieves.”  Here is, once again, the greatest comedic-hypnotist in the world – Right? Uranus! and has never had a comedy lesson in his life, yet he calls himself a comedic-hypnotist. 

        That being said I will concede that there are several bits that I would classify as what we call “STOCK”. What this means is that most hypnotists do this particular bit. However, most hypnotists will put their own spin or flair onto it, to try and personalize it and make it just a little different than other hypnotists.

        I am guilty of this, but they eventually get replaced by new and more personal bits. Most comedic-hypnotists rely heavily on these stock bits and they will use it knowing that it is already funny and they do not need to put any effort into it.

        Who needs to go to college, we have Google, right?

        At least I can take pride in knowing that I have studied and worked at making a show that is both entertaining and mesmerizing. I have built and developed new bits and have made a successful career from those, but alas so have the many other hypnotists that have seen my show. 

SP