Dominick DeCarlo, a UA alumnus, has hypnotized his way to success. He is set to perform at the Desert Diamond Casino this Saturday.

DeCarlo is the self-proclaimed creator of a new form of entertainment called HYPNOVIDEO, which uses hypnotized people to entertain an audience. The experiences of those entranced are portrayed on backdrops, with lighting, music and other special effects.

DeCarlo selects 21 random audience members to come on stage, and on average, about 14 become hypnotized. The rest are allowed to return to their seats.

If audience members become hypnotized, DeCarlo invites them onstage.

“”I take them to Antarctica and make them think they are freezing cold. I paint a picture of Antarctica on the stage, the whole stage goes blue, there’s a huge projection with snow-capped mountains and icebergs and penguins running around. There’s smoke to symbolize the steam coming off the icebergs of Antarctica and then I have Foreigner’s ‘Cold As Ice’ remix version playing as the music,”” DeCarlo said.  

He graduated from the UA with a bachelor’s degree in media arts in 1992, with a chemistry and physics minor. DeCarlo said he completed the pre-med requirements and was on track for medical school.  

He was visiting family in Tucson when he got his first taste of hypnotism. He was asked to host a New Year’s show at a local bar.

After the show, the hypnotist approached DeCarlo and asked him if he’d ever considered becoming a hypnotist. DeCarlo said he hadn’t. 

The hypnotist said he had great stage presence and gave him his card.

Instead, DeCarlo studied with a female hypnotist for nine months.

His first stop was Cancún, Mexico.

“”I was there for about three, four weeks, saw about 14 shows, started to learn the patterns and pacing … When we were leaving, the other hypnotist didn’t show up.””

DeCarlo went onstage that night in front of 3,000 people and performed hypnosis.

After only four months, he was drawing in record crowds.

“”(They said) ‘We have never seen a show draw as many people as yours,'”” DeCarlo said.

DeCarlo does hypnosis mostly for entertainment, but has used it to heal people of certain afflictions. In certain cases he said he’s helped people stop smoking and overcome their fear of driving.