Hypnotist mesmerizes crowd

Hundreds packed Irvine for a "Christmas in April" fundraiser. For several students in Irvine Auditorium last night, it was 107 degrees one second and 20 degrees the next. That is the effect world-renowned hypnotist Tom DeLuca has on his subjects. The radical temperatures did not bother the students on stage, who were fishing for piranhas swimming in the seats below. DeLuca put on a two-hour presentation of hypnotisms before a crowd of more than 600 curious students. The show was intended as a benefit for the national charity "Christmas in April." DeLuca showed the University why People magazine has deemed him the "Top College Entertainer" for three straight years. He has been a popular attraction at several schools across the nation, including the University of Virginia. The audience roared in laughter while unknowing students spoke in alien tongues, oiled themselves in preparation for a virtual bodybuilding contest and danced the Macarena in front of their peers. "It wasn't very easy [hypnotizing them]," DeLuca said. "This was a very intelligent and conscious crowd." When DeLuca first asked for volunteers, the crowd split between those who wanted desperately to "go under" and those who would rather see their friends make fools of themselves. Wharton freshman Shaw-Fong Huang frantically waved a dazzling "Pick Me" sign to alert the hypnotist. "I won't be embarrassed," Huang said excitedly before going on stage. After the show -- during which the volunteer stole men's shoes and wore them backwards -- the glassy-eyed Huang muttered, "I don't remember a thing, but I feel very relaxed." Heather Nelson, a second-year Social Work graduate student, was not as excited to fall under DeLuca's spell. "I was waving my arms, trying to get my friend on stage," Nelson admitted. "But he picked me." Two hours later, Nelson's friends were convincing her that she had been warning the audience of a fire in the auditorium while she was hypnotized. College freshman Tom Hughes summed up the experience by saying, "It was definitely worth the $8." All proceeds from the show will go to buy materials for Christmas in April, which sponsored the event along with the Graduate and Professional Student Association. "Christmas in April is devoted to the repair and rehabilitation of low income, elderly or disabled community members' homes," said Wharton graduate student Heather Smith, who is a spokesperson for the charity.