Robert Channing, a mentalist who has appeared on America’s Got Talent and the Steve Harvey Show, delivered a hypnotizing performance at Tang Theater last Saturday with tricks and sensory-defying feats. Students in the audience gasped as he read minds and described unseen objects without his sight. He boiled down his performance to two things: extrasensory perception and just a little bit of luck.
One of Channing’s tricks involved knowing exactly what word out of a book students were looking at. A student located a random page out of a book and with just the page number, Channing accurately guessed the exact word the student chose. Konnor Fortini ’28, who was one of the student volunteers, shared his reaction to the trick.
“I had the opportunity to go on stage and help out with one of his tricks. He had this book, a regular book, and he asked us to read any word on the page. And somehow, just by telling him what page we had the word on, he was able to guess exactly what that word was. I don’t know if he memorized the whole book or something, but I just thought that it was kind of crazy,” said Fortini.
In one segment of the show, Channing had everyone write down several pieces of information on a notecard, which he later collected. Blindfolded with countless pieces of duct tape, he reached into a bowl from which he somehow read out our responses, and went even far beyond. Cyrus Law ’27 found this trick to be his favorite, as he watched his friends’ minds get read.
“I thought all the tricks were pretty cool. But my favorite part of the event was when the mentalist started guessing the things that we wrote on our note cards. He revealed some pretty personal things. I think one of my friends wrote down their nickname and the hypnotist knew exactly who he was. And of course, he was able to read the nickname too, despite being blindfolded,” said Law.
While some students were drawn to the event by a genuine interest in magic and illusion, others attended simply to fill the void of a weekend devoid of other activities. This was the case for Quentin Cynn ’28, who, despite not being a particular fan of magic, decided to attend the show as a way to pass the time and experience something new.
“There wasn’t [anything] to do on Saturday or Sunday and it seemed interesting. The crowd was hype and it was really fun to watch,” Cynn recalls.
For Fortini, this event was everything he wanted out of a weekend event. One of his favorite parts of this event was Channing’s involvement with the audience, which excited everyone for what came next. The unpredictability and interaction created an engaging evening.
“He did a really good job interacting with the audience and wouldn’t keep to himself. The audience was really excited as a result. I think these events are sometimes a bit overhyped, but I think this one was really well put together. Everyone left having a really good time and without regretting the decision to come. I think it’ll be great if the school puts together more events like this in the future,” said Fortini.
