Over the last few decades, Messmer has been honing the power to mesmerize people with his gaze, and fascinating them by plunging them deep into the depths of their subconscious. The Fascinator gives his subjects extraordinary experiences, on stage or during one of his popular television programs aired in Canada and Europe, using energy transfer, hypnosis, magnetism and a few other techniques of his own.

To date, more than 500,000 people have seen Messmer’s shows, Fascinateur (2007 to 2012) and Intemporel (2012 to present), in Canada and in French-speaking Europe. Throughout the course of his career, he has hypnotized more than 100,000 people during his shows. The man does not possess a gift, but a perfect mastery of this science. He has conquered the mass media and the public, and he meets with success everywhere he goes.

He has numerous television programs to his name with ratings in the millions. Since 2009, Messmer has taken Canadian television by storm. After his program Fascinateur was aired, unveiling his universe to the world, the Fascinator appeared in the series Messmer : Drôlement mystérieux, with large-scale spectacles, all on the popular network TVA. In Europe, he was first introduced on-screen in 2011 when the program Messmer : Plus qu’un hypnotiseur was aired on channel M6. In July 2014, he starred in the first episode in the series Stars sous hypnose, which he co-hosted with popular television presenter Arthur on TF1. The program received impressive ratings, surpassing the 5.1 million mark. In the ensuing months, he continued to fascinate television viewers in the follow-up to this series in Europe, a spinoff of this same program shown in Canada, Messmer fascine les stars (TVA), as well as with his completely new series of a new genre, Les Hyp-Gags de Messmer.

BACKSTORY

From his earliest days, Messmer was naturally bewildered by the art of fascination. He started taking an interest in it when he was 7 years old, when his grandfather gave him a book on hypnosis. He avidly studied the various techniques for hypnosis, magnetism and energy transfer explained in his book of spells.

He hypnotized a person for the first time when he was 9 years old. At the age of 15, he started performing his first shows, in a basic format, at private parties.

In the 1990s, while doing his stage performances, Messmer was simultaneously developing therapeutic hypnosis practices in his clinical work. Due to his growing number of engagements, and his desire to convince as many people as possible as to the sound science of hypnotism and magnetism, Messmer ceased clinical practice in 2000 in order to dedicate himself solely to his performance career.

After studying the phenomenon for several years in order to expand its powers, today, the artist uses his knowledge to awe and entertain people. He adopted the name Messmer, in honour of one of the pioneers of magnetism, the illustrious 19th century Austrian doctor, Franz-Anton Mesmer, adding the second ‘s’ as a personal touch. In May 2007, Messmer joined Groupe Entourage, a Canadian television and show production company, and with his production team, adopted the term Fascinator to define his title in relation to his own applications.

In 2007, Messmer launched his first show, Fascinateur, in Canada. From its first year, the show received nominations for the renowned Gala les Olivier awards, celebrating excellence in Canadian comedy.

In January 2009, his first television special was broadcasted on the Canadian network TVA. This program served as Messmer’s introduction to television, and as a laboratory for his series Messmer : Drôlement mystérieux, which aired in 2010.

In January 2010, Messmer took the Bell Centre Theatre in Montreal—a hub for international shows—by storm, putting on a fantastic show for 6,000 spectators. Following this event, Messmer also participated in the Canadian version of the celebrated program Tout le monde en parle and fascinated popular Canadian actor Claude Legault, as well as former professional hockey player Georges Laraque. The name Messmer was on everyone’s lips in Quebec.

The spring of 2010 saw the birth and filming of the concept show Messmer : Drôlement mystérieux, starring Messmer, who hypnotizes and fascinates known personalities, guiding them through extraordinary adventures in which dream and reality are transcended. The first two episodes, having the Just for Laughs Festival in Montreal as a backdrop, were broadcasted on September 8, 2010, and January 5, 2011, on the largest Canadian network, TVA. They attracted 1.4 million and 1.3 million television viewers respectively. A star is born!

In May, 2011, Messmer filmed new episodes in Quebec for his series Messmer : Drôlement mystérieux. In June, he flew to Paris to participate in the Festival l’Humour en Capitales; he gave some remarkable performances on the Jamel Comedy Club show; he made an appearance at the renowned Rex, for the comedy show Carte blanche à Jamel Debouzze; he filmed a special for channel M6 that was dedicated to him, and he made an appearance on Grand Journal of Canal +. The sequence in which he fascinates the young weather girl, Miss Charlotte Le Bon, made waves for several days on the French episodes of Zapping, featuring the best TV moments on various channels throughout the country.

In the fall of 2011, Messmer received two nominations at the gala des prix Gémeaux, an awards ceremony recognizing Canadian television, for his series of episodes Messmer : Drôlement Mystérieux in the categories Meilleur spécial humoristique and Prix Gémeaux du public. The Canadian network TVA then aired four new episodes of the series Messmer : Drôlement Mystérieux, two in the fall and two in January, 2012. Again, the series received record ratings in Quebec.

On December 28, 2011, the program Messmer : Plus qu’un hypnotiseur was aired on the French channel M6, introducing Messmer to French audiences.

On January 20, 2012, Messmer gave the final performance of his show Fascinateur in Montreal at the renowned Bell Centre, before a crowd of more than 6,000 spectators. Here, he managed the feat of performing the largest mass hypnosis ever seen across the world. Messmer, using forty hypnotists who were present to do the count, achieved a world record by simultaneously fascinating 422 people in less than 5 minutes.

In May, 2012, Messmer won an Olivier at the 14th Gala les Olivier in the Spectacle le plus populaire category, honouring the show that sold the most tickets in its first year in the province of Quebec. On May 26, Messmer gave the final performance of his Fascinateur show in Canada, thus concluding his first Canadian tour with 467 performances and 260,000 tickets sold.

Since August, 2012, Messmer has returned to the stage with his new show, Intemporel. This time, Messmer invites spectators to enter into his time laboratory to experience adventures more dazzling and entertaining than ever. In a futuristic universe, Messmer, using technological aids, confounds the past, present and future in order to allow his subjects to travel across time, space, and land. The first Intemporel shows were performed over the summer in Canada. Messmer then flew to France again in the fall to present his new spectacle. There, he would perform 62 shows, from October 19, to January 16, at Bobino in Paris, a 900-seat room. He was a huge success there, playing to a sold-out crowd for the last 25 shows and selling 40,000 tickets in just three months. Messmer also took the opportunity to make numerous television appearances on important programs such as Les enfants de la télé, Le Téléjournal of France 2, N’oubliez pas les paroles, Le Grand 8, etc.

Messmer presented the media premiere of his show in Quebec in March 2013, and commenced his cross-province tour.

From November 2013 to March 2014, Messmer returned to Europe to present his new show Intemporel in France, Belgium and Switzerland. He also made another trip to Paris to do extra shows, this time at the celebrated Olympia, for a series of nine performances from December 25, to January 4. This has never before been done by a Canadian artist! He also took the opportunity to shoot new episodes of Stars sous hypnose, for the French channel TF1.

Having been back in Canada since March 2014, Messmer is continuing his Intemporel tour and is currently filming two new projects. For the Canadian network TVA, he’s recording the program Messmer fascine les stars, a 2.0 version of his series Messmer : Drôlement mystérieux, which will air in the fall. After that, he’ll start shooting his entirely new series, Les Hyp-Gags de Messmer.

On July 11, 2014, the first episode of Stars sous hypnose was aired on the French network TF1 and received ratings surpassing 5.1 million in television viewers. Co-hosted by French star Arthur (Vendredi tout est permis, Les enfants de la télé) and Messmer, the program topped audience ratings for the night, garnering 27% of the market.

As of October 31, 2014, Messmer will be back in Paris to perform a run of 76 shows at the Bobino Theatre. He’ll then continue his tour across Canada and throughout Europe.