Arts

Mentalist Robert Channing Brings Interactive and Comedic Mind-Reading to Andover

“The Mentalist” Robert Channing (right) correctly predicted the serial number of a dollar bill chosen at random in the audiences.

Upon being chosen, two audience members ran to the stage excitedly, securing a blindfold and two quarters in front of mentalist Robert Channing’s eyes with eight pieces of duct tape. They then watched with bated breath as Channing, despite his obscured vision, accurately pronounced the serial number of a one dollar bill randomly selected from the audience.

Last Friday evening, Channing, also known as “The Mentalist,” performed his comedic mind-reading show to a packed crowd in Susie’s. Channing has performed across the globe, including in performances for President Barack Obama and on “America’s Got Talent.”

“I do a comedy hypnosis show, and I just did my mind reading,” said Channing, “I [have been] an entertainer since I was five years old. I just love it.”

The students cheered and screamed throughout the show as Channing successfully read the students’ minds. In one of his acts, Channing had all of the students in the room write down their names, the funniest moment in their lives, an important number, and a question for him to answer. Without fail, Channing accurately guessed the information written on card after card, down to the students’ names and the meanings of their numbers.

“I liked when everyone wrote on the notecards and he was able to say what people wrote on them, even though he didn’t know anything about them. I honestly didn’t know if he would get them right because it is such a low chance of that, but he got them pretty much all right,” said audience member Rachel Neyman ’22.

For his final act, Channing asked students to choose an ideal vacation place. He then asked the students in the crowd who chose Hawaii to stand up. Selecting three students, he asked each of them one question about their dream vacation respectively: who they would go with, when would they go, and how much money they would spend. Alana Yang ’21 answered J.K. Rowling, Aidan Burt ’21 answered July 1, and Karoline Conte ’21 said that they would spend 25,000.03 dollars. Channing then asked Christopher Capano, the Student Activities director, for a letter he had mailed to Andover three weeks prior. When opened, the letter revealed that their dream vacation would be in Hawaii, on June 31st, and cost 25,000.03 dollars .

“It was very exciting, and I was interested in seeing what he had to say… I was really really shocked when he got it right,” said Yang.

Another audience member, Amelia Meyer ’21, was also called up to the stage at the end of his act. She was tasked with holding the cup containing the predictions, and enjoyed her experience.

“It was really fun. I love being on the stage, just doing anything, but it was really exciting to get in front of my peers with such an extraordinary talent. I was very nervous, but it was so cool. I had no idea what it was going to be like, and it turned out to be everything that I didn’t know that I hoped for, and I loved it,” Meyer said.

Aside from the students, Channing himself also enjoyed the performance, describing how positive audience reactions invigorated him throughout the acts.

“The audience reactions—when they laugh and scream and yell and just when they’re stunned, it’s really fun. I think the show, on a scale of one to ten, was ten and a half . It went off the charts… I loved it.” said Channing.