Grant saunders talks funny bits, stage hypnosis and travel with Comedy hypnotist Dave Rawson. http://www.stagehypnotist.co.uk
Dave Rawson
good evening welcome to another episode of grant talks funny bits um this week we are testing once again the 1080 hd option um so we tried this before we had some sound issues so if you’re out there and you can hear me please let me know in the comment section and then i know everything is going good um tonight’s guests um we’ve had hypnosis from all over the world on this show tonight we’ve got a hypnotist that has been all over the world and his hometown is just down the road for me here which is amazing this guy not only is a hypnotist of over 20 years you can see him in panto, music videos, television shows, this man gets everywhere he is mr entertainment as well as that he’s also got a book on stage hypnosis which is a real nuts and bolts and tells you about the real life of a working stage hypnotist so without further ado i’m going to play my little bit of graphic and then we’ll bring our guest on
so please make some noise bang your keyboard get in that comment section and welcome to grunt talks funny bits the man the myth the legend that is awesome ross and dave Rawson
hi thank you for uh allowing me the chance to chat with you oh thank you thank you for for coming on i mean i think you’re the same as me we’re not we’ve not got too many gigs in the book at the moment so it’s nice to have a bit of spare time uh but it’s good to have you in the uk at this moment in time you’re probably one of the most well-traveled hypnotists out there i know you do love you traveling um but yeah i mean where did that start from i know you were in the navy originally uh what took you from the navy to the stage well when i was i was in the navy 22 years and seven years prior to before i left um i was always a magician from the age of 20 but about 33 i took up stage hypnosis after reading the alma mcgill book yeah and then that enthralled me and then i just started doing shows when i wasn’t at sea and then i thought this is what i want to do seven years later when i leave the navy i want to go live in the sun yeah and i’m performing the sun and that was my dream and then seven years later the navy kicks you out and uh so that’s why i just turned professional and went straight to spain and that was in it was my life for 20 years i was going to say yeah i mean you were you you resident in ibiza um hong kong it was it was a hard rock cafe in hong kong you did yeah you know yeah yeah you’ve definitely been around the world do you think uh your your navy or military experience has helped you with your stage presence and i was speaking to richard barca who’s ex-military uh cal smith ex-military quite a lot of um good professional hypnotists have got some kind of police or military or entertainment background yeah absolutely because in the military they teach you various things and then you do a bit of teaching or instructing i was an instructor in for three years um at institute of naval medicine so i was teaching a lot of students for three years before i left the navy so there’s all that that helps as well i used to talk to people you know being in classroom and so many so yeah that helped a big deal as well yeah yeah i mean it’s it’s one of those things that um as a performing hypnotist um you very much like me in the sense of we’ve not been we’ve not really pushed the training side of things when it comes to stage hypnosis because we’re out there doing stage hypnosis and there’s a lot of people not you know not not to slag off anybody in the industry there’s a lot of people that train stage hypnosis that don’t do stage hypnosis and those that do it don’t want to train people because it’s you know it’s taking money out of our pockets really so absolutely agree with you i i i only used to teach one person a year if they’d come out to be through i’d teach them and that was it i won’t teach anymore because again it was my livelihood and i didn’t want them to come to ibiza and you know take my job as some younger guy coming in and ditching some older guys so that’s that was just my personal choice you know so i just did that i only taught a handful but yeah it’s something i enjoyed doing and that they’re out working and one of them has now sadly passed away unfortunately but yeah but i enjoyed it yeah speaking speaking of teaching we’ve got brian glenn who runs uh innovisions hypnotherapy school who’s in sunny spain himself now he’s he’s here to say hi so hi brian hi brian hi where abouts in spain is here um brian whereabouts in spain are you i think it’s uh i don’t know but brian will let us know in the comments we’ll bring it up i believe he lives in a cave though which which sounds weird um but he’s got this beautiful uh property out there which is is like a nice house that then moves into a cave as well which is is really cool but yeah he he’s an ex-stage hypnotist that runs uh probably one of the biggest hypnotherapy trading schools so yeah he’s a great guy nice guy um so yeah um obviously um we’re both grounded at the moment as i think every stage atmosphere is in the world and it’s it’s one of those things because of what we do it’s difficult to see where the end is in sight for that when we can be back on stages again um but yeah you’ve had some um you’ve had some challenges in your career recently with your your health which is i i i was explaining something this afternoon they went oh who’s who’s this dave also went oh it’s awesome we’re awesome and i don’t watch she’s going why is he awesome i went because he just you just can’t kill him you know you’re indestructible so yeah so yeah at the moment yeah also yeah brian says he’s 30 minutes from benidorm oh yeah i know benny dome yeah yeah yeah uh yeah jeff’s here as well uh just great to see another episode so the good thing is we’ve got we’ve got sound this week i’ve been testing this this out uh uh the software and a couple of weeks ago i had richard barker on um it was it was hd like it is tonight but we have no sound whatsoever so we’d go all the way through the show before i saw the comments and it’s like oh never mind so luckily we’ve got it going tonight but again that’s that’s one of the things about being on stage you know we’ve got to learn to kind of juggle chainsaws because anything can happen at any moment and uh you know you’ve got to you’ve got to evolve it what’s that and you’re supposed to get asked this all the time what’s the strangest thing that’s happened to you on stage dave oh god the strangest all all the god the strangest thing is when nobody comes on stage and you have to go home yes this thing and that’s happened to me quite a few times when nobody and i’ve been in a venue and nobody’s come on stage and you can’t shift them on stage full of normally and so i would just go home it used to really upset me in the beginning and now i just okay i’m off i’m gonna go home yeah but you know but it happens to us all i’m sure yeah it’s i always say that there used to be uh i’ll not mention names um but i can get carried away as a bit of a gossip sometimes um there used to be a very busy stage hypnotist in the uk that doesn’t work anywhere now who always said that he shows he always knocked out the park he never had a bad show never had no no shows none of that and i kind of thought you’re either lying yeah or you’re not doing enough shows yeah you know you know i always say uh out of 10 shows you’ve got two where you smack out the park and you you can walk on water you know you’ve got loads of shows in the middle that are you know mediocre still still good what what we would call mediocre and then every now and then you get one of those that just when you think you’re brilliant you get that show that teaches you a lesson or two yeah oh yeah do that though because otherwise you’d be up there all the time wouldn’t you and you think you were this and that and you’re not you’re just a normal person doing a job so when he hits you in the in the face you’re like wow so you know oh yeah yeah yeah and i think that’s that’s the right mindset um it’s it is it’s a job it’s it’s what we do it kind of you know normally day in day out it becomes a job i know sometimes and i speak to uh ian d about this um sometimes the mental health of performers is is at risk because you’ll go to a show you know you’ve got the the highs of the show the lows of the show and then the long journey home and that could that can take its toll on you sometimes so obviously you love the sunshine um what what do you feel is the main difference between between a uk audience and like like hong kong thailand or an asian audience versus ibiza resort audiences which is your favorite crowd to work to cruise ships yeah because to them that you’ve got a ready-made audience and they just yeah come on stage you’ve been on them and they come on stage and it’s it’s the easiest show i’ve ever done in the world easy in thailand hong kong was good because i had a translator and that was very strange because you’re saying it in english and you get some of the people who do speak english from the chinese and then some who don’t speak any english at all and then you’re having to wait for us to translate it before you’re waiting for the action and it’s surreal to say the least yeah i could imagine the question i’ve not you know not up until this moment i’ve not worked with a translator yet the one of the very first cruise ships i ever did most of the audience were retired germans that couldn’t speak very good english i wish i had a translator on that one that was a that was a challenge oh yeah yeah yeah so that’s so that’s the the only difference the beta audiences um it many years ago when i said the 1830s that they were great they were so easy and then about 10 years on the line i saw the as the kids daryl said growing up and coming through it was they were changing yeah and it was it was terrible you you’re getting abused you get it was awful and in the end i just stopped doing the 1830s because of the abuse i was getting which i didn’t need didn’t ask for i was just out there to do a show you know in the beginning they were great and then the other shows um that i used to beat are just all family shows because it is all family-oriented hotels that you’re working and yeah that’s it so yeah all family shows i think i think stage hypnosis has moved along those lines i think it did used to be you know you had to be the most outrageous the most shocking the most whatever um but i do think it has now in the uk market it has moved to a more family-friendly show you know holiday parks now do a lot of hypnosis shows and it is you know if you’re doing that material that’s going to offend people holiday parks aren’t going to like it but yeah it’s it i mean you know i’m biased and i’m sure you are too i think comedy stage hypnosis is one of the best types of shows you can put out there because you’ve got everything you’ve got comedy music laughter drama it’s all there it doesn’t have to be let’s get someone you know doing something ridiculous and i think it can undermine it a little bit sometimes yeah absolutely yeah and the human the comedy comes from them not from you you’re the vehicle they’re they’re the the ones who are making the show yeah yeah absolutely so we’ve got a clip here from your show which is a great clip as well um i’m going to play this now and then afterwards we’ll have a bit of a chat about it but you know it’s there’s multiple levels of stuff in here for hypnosis that are watching that are interested in stage or performance side of hypnosis like for hypnotherapists that want to do public talks these these are great examples of this of working with a a loud you know quite boisterous audience but your control is there throughout and it’s yeah your stage presence is really great in this so i’m gonna bring this clip in now and i shall see you on the other side
uh have you ever met me before tonight’s show no okay and uh we’re gonna have a competition right i am gonna try and read your mind you can give me three questions about yourself if i don’t get them then you can have a drink of me every question i get wrong is that okay so there’s an example you can say right dave what number house do i live with what’s my favorite number what car do i drive any any crystal dollar i’ll try and reach a man to get the answer is okay right so i’ve never met churchill before
you wonder how it’s done tonight i’m going to show you how it’s done she just asked me what cloud does she drive i’m not going to read the mind and tell her here we go sleep hold your balance jojo what can you drive
good when you wake up you ask that question you cannot remember what you told me
you can ask me three questions anything to talk about yourself if you don’t get it you have a drink every question i get wrong it’s okay would you like to ask me question
what’s your cat’s name okay good sleep what’s your cat’s name you might gotta remember these now i’m telling you here we go tell me here we go
glad she said do not yeah
um i’m not sure uh coming through one two you’ve not got two three you’ve got four catches all right yeah i’m not sure of the names of them that’s the audience evil guess yeah sure okay so the first one the first one was yeah right second one are you not saying that my mom
turned one quick twitch yeah fourth one coco
absolutely brilliant yeah really funny really funny so yeah do you think being a stage hypnotist has helped you with your pantomime stuff um yes and no i was always an idiot when i even when i was in the navy i was an idiot i was always messing about um i used to write a weekly magazine at sea so i’d get all the comments of people and make it so i’ve always been totally mad and so it just helped you know and then yeah it’s just a natural progression yeah too until should we say for no better words yeah yeah but it wasn’t yeah i learning imagine because you’ve done uh or you normally do which is it is it the doncaster sheffield which one is it castleford that’s it i have news there in the middle yeah so but yeah i saw that last year and that looked that looked like it was an amazing experience as well um and yeah you got to you got to incorporate hypnosis within the pantomime as well didn’t you well yeah it was a spoof of it yeah yeah yeah yeah now yeah yeah it was a good spoof yeah yeah yeah brilliant brilliant so what’s what’s what’s next for you i mean you know what’s your plans after after all this is done with you know by christmas or by by whenever what’s your next plans you’ve you’ve already got a book out um which is the is it the guide for successful hypnosis yeah yeah yeah there’s a successful stage hypnosis guide which is a great book on amazon yeah and available on kindle so i will put a link to that in the uh comment section as well um and again it’s it’s a great book from a working hypnotist it’s not a textbook but there’s there’s a few books out there for stage images that are called textbook stage hypnosis books you go through it and it’s the same stuff that’s been regurgitated from the book before and the book before it and you can tell when that person isn’t necessarily in the trenches out there performing um and and your book you is is a good book for anyone that’s interested in actually being successful in stage hypnosis that’s the plug done with thank you what would you say uh um apart from your book if you were to recommend another book for anyone else that’s either been an inspiration to you on a business or a hypnosis level what would that be well when i first got into hypnosis um i was reading um william hewitt he was only a uh hypnotherapy and he was about seven pound and he was a very good starter because he was telling you abcd what how to say it you know reading the the reading it out for and then incorporating lose weight well this is what you say for this and no smoking then you put this paragraph in so that was a good book for doing the hypnotherapy side but the alma mcgill the classic one was what i initially bought but when i bought it i bought the original one the the orange the red book years ago and um the trouble no not trouble with it you will i was learning in 1993 stage hypnosis from 1901 yeah not from 1993 so i’m a hundred years later still learning this slow you know hypnosis to put them in trance whereas yeah so that was was when i started i must admit you know i’ve seen your show and you you put them in trance fast you know i know a lot of hypnotists kind of leave that bit out of any dvds that they sell if you get chance to see dave go and see him because it is an education in rapid kind of inductions for the stage as well so yeah an absolute must so yeah um again being a resort hypnotist in in a beef and everywhere else you do a lot of back of room sales i know in the uk it’s not as big as what it is kind of in in america or in spain or ibiza um you know what’s what’s your secret to that do you have any keys or tips for people that wanted to up their back of room game as such um not really i found it more difficult as the years went on in the beginning it was fantastic you could sell you know call to newcastle it was easy yeah but as the years went by it would be coming real struggle to sell my video all my shows for two reasons want to sell it and one for uh to keep in case of any any problems from any future you know any of anybody wants a new year etc so i keep a copy of every show um so um no it’s it’s just the people have changed that they’ve got their own phone so they’re just happy to get that little bit of them their friends on it and you know and then it’s like you you you want to sell the stop smoking cds blah blah and i always would invite people to come and see me after the show and ask me any question and say that somebody would come up from let’s say newcastle and so um i don’t know i’d like to stop smoking and i said well there’s two things you can either uh obtain a cd of me or you don’t have to buy one of me you can get one off the internet off anybody you anybody from the internet your choice or you can i’d refer them to i wouldn’t know any hypnotherapies in newcastle but i say why don’t you you know look on google i’ll look at hypnotherapists in your area and they’ll go well how do you know them i go no and they’ll say well i don’t know they’re any good and i’m loud you know i’m any good in the gut cause i’ve just seen your show and i said but you know that everybody’s doing you know that they’d be able to help you and i’d always refer to a hypnotherapy always yeah and that’s there was there was a fair few years where the hypnotherapy community and the stage hypnosis community didn’t didn’t necessarily see eye to eye a lot of hypnotherapists saw stage hypnosis as um kind of belittling the craft of hypnosis or hypnotherapy whereas the reality is you know the principles that we use on stage one help the hypnotherapist in their practice room and two we’re the best advert for hypnosis for change because if you can make uncle tom do something ridiculous and out of character on stage then surely you can help someone stop smoking or lose weight so yeah it’s yeah i think sometimes it’s easy for a hypnotherapist that hasn’t experienced stage hypnosis to maybe go that this this gives an unrealistic expectation and it’s kind of like well if that’s what they expect then give it to them you know when they come in your your therapy room give them some razzle dazzle you know have a swinging watch do meet their expectations and their beliefs yeah there you go jeff has said it exactly there i use my shows to fill my practice what better advert for hypnosis than doing hypnosis and i think i think it’s a confidence thing yeah brian exactly says the same with through no stage hypnotist hypnotherapy would be dead exactly that there’s a lot of people and you’ll get it on from stages as well i’ve had people come to me afterwards and go i didn’t think i could be hypnotized because i went to go see a hypnotherapist once and i felt relaxed but i don’t know if it worked or not and it’s kind of like you want to give them a profound experience it’s not for your ego in that therapy room if something weird happened and profound they’ll go oh if that’s happened then i have been hypnotized so there’s definitely there’s a middle ground where we all meet that kind of helps everybody out so yeah i always try and i know you do the same we do what we do to push hypnosis out there in a positive way absolutely i’ve done tons of hypnotherapy as well and i’ve had some amazing results and and it’s some of them have blown my mind you know it’s unbelievable what the mind can achieve so yeah absolutely yeah please i mean it’s one of the things and though as a performer you’re the same it’s you know we get our we get our fix from being on stage and from helping people and entertaining people and there’s a lot of there’s a lot of emphasis that should be put on when you’re on stage entertaining people that you should be an entertainer absolutely entertaining and doing hypnosis not the other absolutely yeah and oh yeah there’s a lot of uh i’ve i’ve seen it um sometimes sometimes i think the transition from hypnotherapy to stage hypnotist can be a challenge because it’s a it’s a different mindset but like say ex-military stand-up comedian if you’ve got an entertainment background that helps there’s always exceptions to that but you know it’s you’ve got to be an entertainer first that uses hypnosis because when you do have a bad show and you can’t get the volunteers doing what you want them to do you know as rare as they are you’ve still got to be entertaining that audience has still got to feel like they’ve got something from it giving some value totally yeah yeah yeah so yeah um where could well say i’ll get your website here which is a great domain name by the way um stage hypnosis dot co dot uk uh there’s some stuff on there that people can buy from you your hypnotherapy stuff’s on there as well and i’ll also put up a link in the descriptions later on for your amazon book which i would highly recommend and also um if you get a chance to see dave in panto definitely do that as well and uh yeah background work i mean i do i’ve done a little bit of combination street and some little bit of background work but you’ve done some some rap videos you’ve worked with some really cool people as well is that is that is acting an angle where you’re going to go into now because who is the comedy magician you did you did a a sketch show as a comedy magician can’t you put me on the spot now oh do you mean me taking the mickey me yes oh dyramore yeah that’s it gyromole that was that was that was great was that yeah yeah well i’ve i’m now going into um writing comedy so i’ve written two tv comedies i wrote one last year and i was going to pray on a theater and then i obviously had the heart attacks and i couldn’t do it and that and that one was um um called terry and jackie’s english band it’s basically about um a comedy of people who go to spain every year and this they go to the same place the same bar they say the same seat they sing the same karaoke songs you have the same drinks that don’t nothing’s changed for 25 years i wrote a comedy about that and then quite then this year in lockdown i get a bit bored and so i run another comedy and um my partner is a lionel richie fan and she’s um a member of lionel richie’s fan club and so i decided to just write all this comedy about um lion richie fan club and what they get up to and it’s had probably amazing reviews and the scripts being well good so that’s what i’m doing at the moment writing well yeah it’s the best that when we started lockdown i said i was going to write a book um but i’ve not done it and it’s too late now so maybe that’s for the next global pandemic i’ll write a book then never too late you could be not doing the show for another two years and you oh i know i know i i mean i try and stay positive but literally ev every now and then the phone will ring it’ll be an agent and i’m like well maybe they want a date and they’re like can we just cancel this date and i’m like oh cheers yeah not a problem just go with the flow exactly do you know what it is it’s i had some dark moments at the beginning of this as everybody did but i’m now at the point where it’s taught me a lot about my life and the negative habits and spending habits that i had you know you kind of you build up a certain level of success and it’s all none of it means anything right and this is it’s a great leveler you know it’s a great thing that makes you go none of that’s important none of that’s important and just just go like you said go with the flow you know absolutely so yeah so yeah i must mention your partner as well i think you two are actually one of the cutest couples on facebook to be fair you’re always when you’re together you’re always so happy and beaming which is a great thing to have um and i think doing what we do it’s good to have that support network at home as well someone that you can after a bad show kind of offload a little bit as well yeah yeah so where’s where do you plan on going next where’s your next dream holiday destination because you’ve been everywhere my ass
i’ve no idea we have i genuinely no idea i like to go far afield i love thailand i love asia it’s amazing so i don’t know yet wherever they’re gonna let us in i’ll go in the sun as long as it’s sunny i’ll go yeah you know yeah yeah and i must admit consider considering the uh the weather we’ve had in this august like it’s august and it’s gray and rainy outside i’m i’m disappointed i’m gonna stop paying my council tax until we get some sunshine i think dave it’s been an absolute pleasure to sum up if you were to give any budding hypnotherapist that wants to be on stage uh or anyone that’s watching that wants to get into comedy or anything like that if you to give them one nugget one piece of advice that you wish someone would have given you all those years ago what would it be follow your dream oh i love it i love it guys thank you very much for being with us dave thank you for taking the time out to spend this with us um i wish you well and uh hopefully i’ll see you on stage again very soon yeah thanks so much thanks for allowing me to be interviewed by you thanks so much all right cheers thank you bye now bye