Feeling a little sleepy?

Hypnotist has new show at the Sahara

SW/ALL View--Justin Tranz holds a watch in a dressing room at the Sahara, Friday, Jan. 28, 2005.--View Photo Christine H. Wetzel SW/ALL View--justin Tranz, a hypnotist stares into the camera before his show at the Sahara, Friday, Jan. 28, 2005.--View Photo Christine H. Wetzel

Justin Tranz hypnotizes in his new show at the Sahara, but the southwest Las Vegas resident finds solace flying airplanes and comfort in his voice.

Tranz, 38, grew up in Philadelphia, where at age 7, he saw a hypnotist in action and decided to use what he saw on his parents that night. He thought he could talk them into a later bedtime and more treats.

"I was so fascinated with what the man did on stage," he said. "This was the road I was on from the very beginning."

He read books on hypnotherapy and attended seminars. A severe stutterer, Tranz had to concentrate first on his voice. He formerly use his grandfather's pocket watch and chain, but these days, Tranz doesn't need a prop, he said.

"My props are people. I don't believe in props," Tranz added. "I just talk to people. I don't use the watch anymore. I call it 'rapid induction.' "

Tranz was a self-proclaimed "struggling artist" who owned a janitorial business and tried his luck at acting in Los Angeles before he landed his "Hip-nosis" comedy show.

He came east to Las Vegas the first time in 1992 and opened the Lance Burton Magic Shop at the Hacienda, where Mandalay Bay stands today.

Through 1995, he owned five magic shops under different names inside the Riviera, Harrah's and a strip mall where Paris Las Vegas is now located, as well as one in Reno.

Tranz returned to Las Vegas in 1997. Then-Riviera entertainment director Steve Schirripa, now an actor on "The Sopranos," gave him his first break at the resort's comedy club, Tranz said.

"I couldn't live with the rotation of playing his room once or twice a year," he said. "So, I started knocking on doors."

Tranz worked O'Shea's until last May, when "Extreme Truth II," a Saturday-night television show on the Playboy channel, offered him a deal. His exit came just in time, because the hypnotist was simultaneously handed his walking papers. New episodes began airing this month.

For five years, he played six shows a week, at times doing two shows per night. He spent one of those years also at the Flamingo Hilton.

A year and a half ago, Tranz landed manager Magestik, associate to the stars. He opened his 10 p.m. show at the Sahara on Jan. 18.

Three dancers were added to the performance, but the energy still depends on Tranz.

"You (can) have an audience with a collective energy that's just dead. Negative energy can kill a whole night," he said. "Every audience is different. You're always going to get something different. A hypnotist with skills can take a small crowd and still make the show work."

There's no routine, he said. The audience controls the ebb and flow of the show, and he has to be able to helm the wheel.

"You can't rehearse or practice this," Tranz said. "You've got to make every word count, and you have to be able to read people. I can read them. I can understand what they're feeling and thinking. I have a connection with them.

"If you're open to it, it's just there. You know. You can feel it."

Although he misses the ocean, Tranz enjoys living in Las Vegas. But his favorite place is the North Las Vegas Airport. He has had his pilot's license for about eight years.

"I just hop in my airplane and go to Mexico," he said.