General News

Comedy hypnosis in Coe Hill

August 7, 2018

August 7, 2018

By Jim Eadie

Robert Maxwell, the legendary comedy hypnotist had his audience in stitches on Sunday afternoon Aug. 5 at the Coe Hill pavilion, bringing his show to the local audience.
“This is the show where your friends are the stars,” he said, having no trouble finding audience members to undergo hypnosis for some good clean fun. “I believe in doing a fun, high energy, super clean show.”
Maxwell explained that hypnosis is where the subconscious comes forward, much like when we daydream, zone out, or become connected to a passage of music. “Anyone who wants to be, can be hypnotized,” he said. “There is a higher probability if the subject is of average intelligence, and can focus or concentrate well.”
He noted that there are two reasons why a person cannot be hypnotized; if you don’t want to be, or if you have had too much to drink. Understandably, Maxwell has had a lot of experience in hypnosis to make this statement! Maybe his work could inspire people to take up Hypnosis Training Courses and learn the art of hypnotism!
However, Maxwell did assure the audience of playing fair. “We will not do anything embarrassing. There will be no secrets and no swearing. Use the word smurf in place of swear words.”
Maxwell soon had his volunteers involved in chair sliding races, losing or finding things, hollering for a nurse, or believing they had lost their clothes.
“When I was a little kid, I always dreamed of being on stage,” Maxwell told Bancroft This Week. “I was backstage in my patent leather shoes, and my fancy suit when suddenly the announcer says … Here he is … Robert Maxwell! I always woke up then right then.”
In fact, Maxwell has been performing for 25 years now.
“Hundreds of shows, and millions of laughs,” as he puts it.
There is another side to his hypnosis career. He attended the Toronto School of Hypnosis as well as intensive courses in the United States, and is recognized as a “5 Master Hypnotherapist” specializing in working with clients trying to quit smoking, or clients dealing with fears and phobias.
“It is a lot of hard work,” he said. As a professional stage hypnotist, I will do around 75 shows a year. I love to get on the stage. I want … need to be there. It fulfills something in me to make people laugh.”
Maxwell was very happy to be back in Coe Hill. As a young boy he would visit Milton and Violet Cox in the Coe Hill area, who were his grandmother Leona Maxwell’s sister and her husband.
The free event was organized by the Wollaston Township recreation committee.