2008 Woodie Awards
Robert Channing: Blows students' minds
Luanne Linares
Issue date: 2/8/07 Section: Life!
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His act was varied in the different ways he presented his talents--from guessing objects to people's innermost secrets. He tried to involve the entire audience by asking for volunteers throughout his act. Amazed by his talents, students jumped at the chance to help him, many wanting to participate more than once.
Out of his entire act, one would have to say that the best and most eerie part of his act was when he was blindfolded with seven pieces of duct tape holding down a real blindfold and quarters in his eye sockets. He wanted to make sure that he could not see and that the students knew he was not trying to trick them in any manner.
Without his sight, he said his ESP was strongest. Thus, he could sense objects in the room and correctly guess what they were. He asked all the students to write things down on paper for him--a meaningful number, questions they may have wanted answered, their nickname and the funniest moment of their lives.
Once all the papers were collected, he chose one at random from a large bowl and proceeded to rub it on his head. He never actually told the students what this action did, but it seemed to amplify his power because he would then call out initials, a nickname, a full name or a funny moment. Then the student he identified would stand up and say hello to him.
From this one-on-one contact, as he was still blindfolded, he could sense more about the person who he was identifying: he drew out more images from his or her mind. His responses from the student ranged from shock to slight fear to utter amazement at some of the images he manged to see, such as pieces of funny moments or personal pictures. Basically, if the student was thinking it, Robert Channing could sense it.
For some, he asked about the "meaningful" numbers the students wrote down on the paper. Most were anniversaries, birthdays and lucky numbers. He also gave a few students predictions for their futures--telling one girl she would marry into wealth, another that she would have eight children and another was apparently going to marry her current boyfriend and have twins.
While the predictions were a fun addition to the show, the main reason students were impressed was the fact that he was truly using clairvoyance to read these papers. None of the students had ever met him before and there was no way he could have previously discussed with them what to write or say.