5 Magician Secrets to Getting on TV From Celebrity Hypnotist Chris Jones

[Hypnotist Chris Jones Has been featured on the Today show, Chicago’s Windy City Live, and his performance hypnotizing Judge Howie Mandel on America’s Got Talent has over 30 Million views on Youtube. In 2018 Chris was offered a show concept, hypnotizing people to make their favorite celebrities unrecognizable. The show was produced by John Cena, even featured Cena Himself, Pamela Andeson, Gabriel Iglesias, and Steve-O (to name a few). So the question is “How”?. How does a magician go from table hopping in college to performing for Rapper Eminem, on AGT and getting their own show? Chris reveals his top 5 tips to get on TV]

“Do it, edit it and share it with the world. Film everything, that’s honestly how they found me. Standing in line for 7 or 8 hours is a romantic idea, but you have to see it from the point of view of the producers. They are there working all day and they have seen thousands of people that day. They’re tired and in reality they don't want to be there all day either, so if they find you...it's even better. But I had a 5 year hypnosis career pre-AGT, so it didn’t make my career. But since then I’ve been able to meet some incredible magicians. But recording yourself helps your find your voice and your brand, which is important.

I was asked to try to fool Penn and Teller, so I flew out to vegas. I tried to hypnotize Teller into talking, he wouldn't fake that, so it would show that it's real. I didn’t end up hypnotizing Teller, but I tried...He told me that he was a huge skeptic so he wasn’t expecting it to work. Maybe if we were alone, it would have worked. They said something like, “We don’t know exactly what that was, but you didn’t fool us...but we still don’t know what that was.” Even if I didn’t fool them there was a ton of mutual respect being shown, and it was a cool experience. [Another thing that was important to Chris is making sure people believe the Hypnosis, because on TV anything can look like acting]. When AGT  asked “How will we know if it’s real?” I said, “Because I’m going to get Howie to shake my hand”. I approach every performance with a different strategy, because there's always a possibility something wont work. [The point of fool us is to fool penn and teller. So how could you think you could trick them with hypnosis?] Well one way could be tricking Teller into thinking he is Hypnotized, but that’s just one way...

The great thing is that there’s credits. On every show there is a list of the producers. They are real people you can look up and contact. That’s the beauty of T.V.. When you figure out your idea it will be a lot easier. I literally had my friends who were actors pretend to be Mel B. and Howie on a video that I sent the producers. I actually did that, and that what was what convinced them to have me on. 

[You’re a super humble guy, you don't seem like the type to care about publicity or being famous...you just seem to love performing.] The thing is a hypnotist once tod me (When I was starting out) was ‘if you are a magician and you don't like to advertise yourself, you're in the wrong business.’ You have to advertise so TV and media are important.

GET A TV AGENT! I have an agent and he only gets paid if I get booked. It is so important to get a (good) agent. I can definitely say that was the biggest influence on my TV career. Agents work for you and do the things you might not have the time or expertise to do yourself. Find a good agent!

[Is there 1 last thing you can tell me that can help someone who feels like they are close to their big break?]

Record ALL of your shows, even if only audio. It’s an old comedy trick. That way you can see what hits, what misses and what you can do better. It is important to listen to yourself so you can get better, make a stronger act and cut unnecessary words. I even listen to them on the plane or the airport in my freetime. I’d also suggest getting 13 Steps to Mentalism. Get a copy and them get another copy, in case someone steals it.

See Chris perform for 1 Night only at the Houdini Museum & Fantasma Magic located at 213 W. 35th St. (4th floor) at 7:30pm. Tickets are available HERE . This is a limited 40 seat Hypnosis show, get tickets now!

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