On Saturday, September 12, as I walked into the Dedmon Center, I was
unprepared for the show I was about to see. Tom Deluca, voted National
Campus Entertainer, by the National Association for Campus Activities,
was about to perform. Although he had previously entertained Radford
with his hilarious hypnotism, I had never experienced it first-hand.
Tom Deluca received his Master's degree in Psychology from the
University of Illinois-Chicago. He began performing at colleges in 1979.
Deluca has appeared on television shows such as MTV and Live with Regis
and Kathie Lee.
Having never attended a performance such as this, I did not know what
to expect. Deluca started by amazing us with his psychic powers as he
read minds and foresaw the future. One of the most impressive tricks
involved the Tartan being torn into tiny pieces. Deluca claimed that the
word left would be one of three he had previously written down and taped
to the table. To the disappointment of the audience, the word left in
his hand was not one of these, but instead, 'amazing'. As the audience
looked on, Deluca turned the paper on the table over. Written on the
other side was the word 'amazing'.
After a few more tricks of this nature, he proceeded to the main act
of the show. Deluca randomly chose about 20 people from the audience,
and began hypnotizing them. When it appeared the majority were indeed
"out for the evening," the real fun began.
Deluca started the volunteers out on a "nice, blue vacation." He talked
in a very soothing voice that was relaxing and reassuring. Many people
began to slide out of their chairs because they became so relaxed. Next,
and one of his well-known acts, was having everyone driving in the car of
their choice. Deluca took them over a speed bump, and past a police
officer, to end at an ice cream shop with only thirty seconds to eat all
the ice cream they possibly could.
As if this were not funny enough, Deluca decided to give some people
on stage complexes, by making them think their zippers were down, or lose
all control of their tongue when asked their name. Two girls were lucky
enough to be chosen to think they were the extra members of the Spice
Girls.
One of my personal favorites was the fight that started over
shoes when Deluca made everyone think their shoes were on the wrong
feet. It almost looked like an episode of "Jerry Springer."
As the evening came to a close, Deluca held a dance party on stage,
made people talk like aliens, and either love or hate his show.
Overall,
I was very impressed with Tom Deluca's ability to enable people to lose
all inhibitions and to trust him completely. I would definitely
recommend this show to anyone who has not seen it. It was outrageous, yet
creative in a tasteful way.
What do you think? Leave your feedback below.
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Major: RU Staff Comments:
I did not get to see the show, but I would have liked to have him hypnotize my husband. He had a concussion as a result of an accident (this is why I didn't make the performance) and does not remember what happened. Would have been interesting to see if he could have hypnotized him and found out what happened?
Name:Whim Comments:
Tom did it again...the 3rd year in a row for me...this guy never ceases to amaze me. (Funny, he could have searched for the word "amazing" by clicking "find" on the Tartan Online!!!)
