Columnist Jerry Fink: Tranz embraces brand X

Friday, Sept. 30, 2005 | 8:38 a.m.

Jerry Fink's lounge column appears on Fridays. Reach him at jerry@lasvegassun.com at (702) 259-4058.

Chances are, you aren't going to see local hypnotist Justin Tranz in his reality TV show, "Extreme Truth."

It airs at 4 p.m., 7 p.m. and 11 p.m. on Sundays on the Playboy Channel.

The channel is not, shall we say, mainstream entertainment.

"X-rated," Tranz said. "Yes. It's X-rated."

The show's premise is for Tranz to hypnotize a couple who are in a committed relationship (married or dating) and to get them to tell secrets, reveal fantasies or actual desires.

"Playboy re-creates the fantasies with naked actors," Tranz said. "But the couples I work with are real. Nothing is set up. What you see is what you get."

Sometimes you see couples breaking up.

"The main thing you'll hear is that people are actually cheating," Tranz said. "They admit to it. That's the real thing that comes out a lot, that someone is cheating or planning to cheat or someone wants to have a threesome -- oh, yes. We get breakups, and sometimes, after hearing the truth, it brings them closer together. They begin to talk."

Tranz is beginning his second season as host of "Extreme Truth."

He tapes the entire season of 13 episodes in seven weeks at Playboy's studio in Los Angeles. The rest of the time, he performs his live show in Vegas. But he says he doesn't think he is taken seriously here.

"The only way I'm ever going to be taken seriously is through TV," he said. "If I have a hit series, then Vegas will take me seriously."

Tranz has headlined here for seven years, five at O'Sheas.

Earlier this year he made a brief stop of two months at the Sahara.

"All I will say about the Sahara is they chose to go a different way," Tranz said. "They gave me a shot, I did it and I was getting the numbers, but for some reason it didn't work for them and they chose to go a different way."

He took six months off to write material for a couple of more hypnosis-based television series that are being negotiated, but now he is back performing onstage in what he says could be considered "an R-rated show."

He can be seen at 10:30 p.m. Thursdays through Tuesdays at the Lady Luck's Ovation Theatre.

"It's a little more difficult getting people downtown," Tranz said. "I'm glad to be here, but somehow we've got to market this thing better. I'm used to being on the Strip -- even at O'Sheas I could pack them in. But it's a little harder downtown. There's a negative connotation. But tourists will go anywhere you push them."

Regardless of where he performs, Tranz says Vegas is tough for hypnotists.

"It's the hardest place in the world to do a hypnotist show," he said. "People who come to Vegas are very skeptical. They're cynical -- 'Show me. Prove it to me.'

"Whereas, if you go to a normal city, everyone goes to a comedy club to have fun on a Friday or Saturday night and they are not as cynical about hypnotists."

Tranz says his job is made even tougher by fake hypnotists who only add to the cynicism of fans.

"Some hypnotists use plants, stooges, friends, so people tend to think hypnosis is fake. It has gotten a bad air, but there really are hypnotists out there who do it for real.

"I actually walked away from a very lucrative contract with a major network because they wanted me to use stooges."

Magic rocks

Greg Thompson attempted to combine a rock concert with a topless show in the production "Erocktica" at the Rio.

Now Curtis Adams is trying a similar tact, combining a rock concert atmosphere with a magic show in "Adrenaline: Magic that Rocks."

"Erocktica" recently closed for a couple of months for some serious tweaking.

Here's hoping Adams has better luck.

The 22-year-old magician begins a six-month engagement at 7 p.m. Saturday at the Plaza aimed at the younger fans.

Adams, a native of Long Beach, Calif., began performing professionally for birthday parties at the age of 10. At 11 he began performing at restaurants, and by the time he was 13 he had created his own production company, M.O.C.A. Productions.

At 17 he teamed with creative director Don Wayne, who has created material for David Copperfield's TV specials as well as his live tours -- including such tricks as Copperfield's disappearance of the Statue of Liberty, walking through the Great Wall of China, as well as flying and vanishing the Orient Express.

Comedy fest

HBO and AEG Live have announced the creation of the Comedy Festival, a three-day event that will debut at Caesars Palace and the Flamingo Nov. 17-19.

Organizers hope to make the festival an annual event.

Among the more than 50 performers will be Dave Chappelle, Larry David, George Lopez, Bill Maher, Dennis Miller, Chris Rock, Ray Romano, Garry Shandling and Jon Stewart. Jerry Seinfeld will receive The Comedian award during the festival.

"The extraordinary breadth of talent that is performing at the festival is a comedy fan's dream," Bob Crestani, chief executive of the Comedy Festival, said in a prepared statement.

Festival ticket packages and individual tickets go on sale today.

For information call 877-823-3378.

In Vogue

The Vogues, a group popular in the '60s for its rock 'n' roll and country music, will perform in the Grand Ballroom at The Rampart at 8 p.m. on Oct. 15.

Among their top-selling recordings were "You're the One," "Five O'Clock World" and "Turn Around, Look at Me."

Tickets are $20."