In addition to being a two-time Las Vegas Review-Journal Best of Las Vegas Readers’ Choice Award recipient for Best Hypnotist, Lepine is a five-time Certificate of Excellence recipient from TripAdvisor and a member of the TripAdvisor Hall of Fame. Photo by Shane O’Neal of SON Studios.
A True Las Vegas Superstar
COMEDY HYPNOTIST KEVIN LEPINE SHARES THE SPOTLIGHT DURING ‘HYPNOSIS UNLEASHED’
BY HEATEHR TURK
For the past 12 years, Kevin Lepine has done what very few headliners have in the Entertainment Capital of the World—he’s transformed ordinary people into Las Vegas superstars.
Now performing at Four Queens Resort and Casino in downtown Las Vegas, Lepine’s hit hypnosis show, “Hypnosis Unleashed,” gives audience members the opportunity to star in the production by volunteering to have the award-winning hypnotist use his certification in clinical hypnotherapy “for mischief instead of good.” While hilarity naturally ensues, “Hypnosis Unleashed” has become the hypnosis show to see in Las Vegas for one very good reason: Lepine never humiliates his trusting volunteers.
“My goal, once someone walks up onstage, is I want to make them a superstar,” Lepine told Chic Compass. “I’m not going to embarrass anyone because if I embarrass them, everybody feels embarrassed for them. The entire audience knows one fact about my volunteers. They all know, ‘Oh my God, that could have been me!’ The way I treat my volunteers, my audience knows that’s how I would have treated them. So, the better I can treat people onstage and the more fun I can make them have, the more fun everybody else has.”
“Hypnosis Unleashed,” that rare Las Vegas show that’s different each night because of audience participation, could have easily kept the same material it had over a decade ago when Lepine first began hosting the show with two other hypnotists at the now-defunct Harmon Theater on the Strip. However, the production has continued to evolve over the years thanks to the hard work Lepine constantly puts into it, and its newest incarnation inside The Canyon Club at Four Queens—which opened last July—is undoubtedly its strongest version to date.
Lepine recently started hypnotizing some volunteers into thinking they’re bodybuilders during his show. Photo courtesy of Kevin Lepine
“The production level is so much more fun,” Lepine said, who currently hosts the show alongside his wife, Emily. “We have so many great new toys. The lights, the video, the lasers—we can do so much more, and I’m so happy about that. Also, one of the great things now is that the Mike Hammer show is before me at 7 PM. Mike’s a fantastic comedy magician, a great comedy writer, and has a great eye for direction. He and I sit around backstage and talk about jokes, and that’s made the material a lot better. As a comedian, you have to change things because things change. Things that were funny five years ago aren’t funny today, so you have to keep modifying and growing.”
Throughout “Hypnosis Unleashed,” Lepine makes sure that his volunteers don’t do anything onstage that they’ll feel bad about or make the people they came with feel uncomfortable. Photo courtesy of Kevin Lepine
Even though Lepine prefers to have five to seven people hypnotized onstage so that “everybody gets the chance to have some kind of a solo moment,” he recently created several new group scenarios for when more volunteers successfully go under hypnosis. Sometimes he’ll make all of his volunteers think they’re traveling in a spaceship, while other times, he’ll have one of his male volunteers believe that he’s pregnant and have everyone else onstage think they’re his delivery nurse. Although the scenarios change nightly based on who is hypnotized, Lepine does have one signature routine that he always tries to work into the production.
Lepine’s spacious new showroom afforded him the opportunity to make some enhancements to “Hypnosis Unleashed,” including adding live violin music on select nights. Photo courtesy of Kevin Lepine
“My favorite bit is I’ll have someone onstage, and I’ll bring their spouse up from the audience and have them pick their favorite color,” Lepine explained. “Whenever the spouse from the audience says their favorite color, that makes the hypnotized spouse give them the biggest honeymoon-style kiss ever. We have people who have been married 20, 30 years, and to see them kissing and embracing is just inspiring. It’s funny, but it’s also beautiful to watch. It’s one of those moments where everyone goes, ‘I wish that was me.’”
Not only does Lepine make sure his volunteers shine during the show (doing whatever he can to accentuate each one’s personality the best), but he also leaves his stars with a positive suggestion at the end of the night as a thank you for coming up onstage. Lepine even strives to make a difference offstage by donating part of the proceeds he makes on the merchandise sold after each performance—which includes flash drives with 10 guided meditations on them that people can do at home to help with things like losing weight—twice a year to the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
“The reason we donate twice a year is that we wait until some major corporation is matching or double matching donations so that we get the maximum bang out of it,” Lepine said. “It’s such a great organization. When I was 19, I got called about fulfilling a couple of wishes at different children’s hospitals. For those who don’t know, the point of the Make-A-Wish Foundation isn’t to grant extravagant wishes—it’s to give the entire family one day where they can just be happy and feel as normal as possible. I think that’s absolutely beautiful. If you’ve ever been a part of a wish, it’s an experience that will change you forever.”
Further proving he’s not just a hilarious hypnotist but one with heart, Lepine currently has a special offer on his website offering active first responders one complimentary ticket to his show as a thank you for all of their tireless work.
“Hypnosis Unleashed” runs Tuesday through Saturday at 9 PM. It’s recommended guests be at least 18 years of age to attend the production.
Visit the show’s website at: vegashypnosisshow.com
Lepine promises that ticket holders will have more fun onstage during “Hypnosis Unleashed” than in the audience. Photo courtesy of Kevin Lepine