Captured in a straitjacket from shoulders to waist, comedy hypnotist Matt Grisham decided his best bet to escape was dancing to Michael Jackson’s greatest hits. He successfully broke free Saturday for an audience of SIU students.

Next, one audience member is called to the stage to shoot a paint ball gun at Grisham, who then catches it with his teeth.

“I like to throw a little danger amidst the humor,” he said.

In his hometown of Evansville, Ind., Grisham was inspired by a female magician with a couple tricks up her sleeve, when she performed at his sixth birthday party.

In the snap of a finger, his mother, Teresa Grisham, and father, Glenn Grisham, bought him a magic kit, which consisted of basic card tricks such as “guessing the bottom card” and “pick a card, any card.” Grisham said he began doing tricks like making a coin disappear and rolling a coin on his knuckle.

He used magic to become more outgoing.

While he attended Daniel Wertz Elementary School, Grisham was a shy child. He started his career performing for about 20 people at local birthday parties, and now more than 6,000 attend his average show.

“I was extremely shy, not a good public speaker and it was a hindrance talking people into believing something I’m doing,” said Grisham, who adapted to his weaknesses by focusing on his strengths, which include the mechanisms and techniques of magic.

Grisham said his great-grandfather, a then-police officer, inspired him to help people in need, which for him was by entertaining.

“I thought it was cool that he was a cop for a long time, helping people in his 70s and I wanted to do the same thing,” he said.

Grisham said his marketing degree from the University of Southern Indiana has helped promote himself as a magician.

“I use it a lot now to advertise myself and other different groups, like bands, jugglers, novelties and directors,” Grisham said. “Instead of staring at a wall in an office, writing 100-page market research papers in business marketing, I wanted to do magic to help people forget about their lives for a minute.”

Grisham frequently performs at colleges like SIU, where he performed Saturday at the Student Center. He commonly puts on shows during the first several weeks of a semester.

“My team helps a lot with the bookings and keeping me organized and know[ing] where to go because I’m solely responsible for transportation,” Grisham said.

Now he travels across the country to colleges, comedy clubs and corporate events performing for large crowds. Grisham has performed in places such as Boston, Mass. and Texas with more than 100 shows a year.

Clarissa Cowley can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @Claire_DE.