Mind blown: Estero illusionist Wayne Hoffman discusses magical life

Driving successfully while blindfolded and breaking free from a straitjacket as a live scorpion crawls inside may seem crazy, but for Wayne Hoffman, it's just a typical day on the job. 

Since age 9, the Estero illusionist and mentalist has performed magic tricks everywhere from his hometown of Reading, Pennsylvania, to the stage of a reality TV show in Los Angeles. 

Now 36, Hoffman has mastered the art of magic, spending decades studying the mind and how to deceive it. He tours the world with his stage show “Mind Candy” and his motivational speech, “The Power and Potential of The Human Mind,” which is also the title of his book. You've probably seen him on TV shows like "America’s Got Talent" and NBC’s “Phenomenon," the latter was hosted by mentalist Uri Geller and illusionist Criss Angel as they searched for the next professional mentalist. 

"(Being an illusionist and mentalist) doesn't mean having a sixth sense, but highly training the five senses to appear as though you do," Hoffman said. 

He lives in Estero with his family, and when he's not performing, runs his own entertainment agency, Hoffman Entertainment. He's also in talks to do his own TV show.

Prior to a Saturday performance at Venue Naples, Hoffman spoke about his decades-long career, the most dangerous stunt he's pulled so far and how he learned to read people. 

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Q: Tell me about your journey to become a world-renowned mentalist and illusionist? 

I grew up in Pennsylvania and there happened to be a magic shop in my hometown. I would go there as a young man riding my bicycle and there would always be all sorts of people like musicians and mind-readers. I started practicing magic around 9 or 10, and got paid when I was 18. I went to study psychology at a university and started becoming interested in the science of the mind. So I focused my magic on psychological mind reading, and anything involving the mind and how I could use it for entertainment. Turning my hobby into a career was an uphill battle. Everyone was telling me I was a lunatic. I fought through that. I love doing this stuff so much, and I think doing what I loved helped me jump through some hurdles.

Q: What can audiences expect from your "Mind Candy" show?

I interact with the audience a lot throughout the show. In one part, I tell everyone to think of a personal thing no one else in the audience would know and then point out what they're thinking. The audience becomes the show. It's a highly interactive program, where I bring people onstage and do psychological games.

Q: How did you develop a skill for magic?

It's a learned ability. What I do is seemingly psychic. I don't claim to have supernatural powers. Everything I do I learned how to do. I asked a mentalist when I first started how he became a mentalist. His response was that you can't be a mentalist until you've been a mentalist for a long time. I didn't understand it at the moment, but I do now. The more you do it and the more you perform and try to figure out what people are thinking, the more you learn. I can predict what people will say before they say it. I think the hardest part is being patient to acquire this skill. 

Q: What job catapulted your career? 

My first big break was in 2008. I got a phone call from NBC and they said you're a weirdo and we want to put you on TV. I did a show for five to six weeks called "Phenomenon." That just really opened a lot of doors for me.

Q: What's the most dangerous stunt you've pulled onstage? 

I'd probably say putting explosives in my mouth. I performed that stunt on four different shows. I've done pretty crazy stuff. When I was practicing escapology (the practice of escaping from restraints), I had a live scorpion in a straight jacket and had to escape, I've been blindfolded while driving a car for 16 miles, and hung upside down by my ankles 100 feet up in the air by a crane.

Tickets almost sold out

When: 7 p.m., June 23

Where: Venue Naples, 13240 Tamiami Trail N., Suite 205

Cost: $150 per person

Buy tickets: Call 239-292-1529 or visit venuenaples.com/tickets to see if tickets are still available