A hypnotherapist and award-winning comedy magician, Bryan McDaniel has been astounding and amusing audiences for more than 20 years. Not content to merely entertain, McDaniel has turned his unique blend of talents into an effective safety presentation that delivers a powerful anti-drinking and driving message to military personnel around the world.
As both a registered and certified hypnotherapist, and award-winning comedy magician, Bryan McDaniel has been astounding and amusing audiences for more than 20 years. Not content to merely entertain, McDaniel has turned his unique blend of talents into an effective safety presentation that delivers a powerful anti-drinking and driving message to military and department of defense personnel around the world.
McDaniel's interest in magic began as a teenager. He admits to checking out and reading every magic book from his high school and local library in Kent, Ohio. After joining the Marine Corps in 1980, he found that the long hours in the field were the perfect venue for both practicing his craft and entertaining his peers. He quickly earned the nickname “Magic Man,” which followed him from unit to unit. When he met his first “real magician,” a sergeant who became his best friend and mentor, McDaniel was introduced to magic shops and membership organizations such as the International Brotherhood of Magicians and the Society of American Magicians. He began performing magic shows for children's parties and unit functions. Within a few years, he was an accomplished professional magician, performing close-up magic at restaurants and private events.
McDaniel credits his successful Marine recruiting tour to his ability to attract applicants at high school information booths by performing magic. He was recognized as “Rookie Recruiter of the Year” and subsequently “Recruiter of the Year” for continuously exceeding his mission requirements.
By 1996, McDaniel developed and taught adult continuing education classes entitled “Magic for Fun” at the local community college. About this same time, he began studying hypnosis through the Dakota School of Hypnosis and the American Board of Hypnotherapy, where he became a registered and certified hypnotherapist.
While stationed in Okinawa, Japan, in 1998, he performed his comedy hypnosis shows for the Base and Air Station clubs, and later on the military's cable network show Okinawa PM, where he eventually became regular host of the show. While in Japan, he was tasked by the unit commander to present a class on the dangers of drinking and driving. Having sat through 18 years of safety presentations, he asked if he could shake things up by using magic and hypnosis in his presentation. The commander's response was simply, "Don’t get me in trouble." With a crowd of about 300 Marines in attendance, his unique DUI safety presentation was born.
News of his success in reaching Marines followed him when he returned to Sand Diego and soon requests came pouring in from units around the country. After a presentation in Quantico, VA, the Marine Corps Safety Director asked if he would be willing to support the Commandant’s Safety Division by performing the presentations as a primary responsibility. From 1999 until his retirement from the Marine Corps in 2003, McDaniel brought his powerful safety message to all of the major Marine Corps bases and Air Stations.
McDaniel currently owns and operates an auction company in the Washington D.C. area. He has since expanded his presentations to the Army and Navy in addition to his beloved Corps. To date he has performed over 500 safety presentations at convention centers and military installations around the world.