Updated 03/02/2017

Laughternoon, starring Adam London

By Chuck Rounds

"Spy Escape & Evasion the Show" is playing at the showroom inside the Statosphere Hotel & Casino. This 75-minute spy craft stage show hosted by Ex-CIA Officer Jason Hanson is designed to teach, inform and entertain individuals and their families. After almost a decade in the CIA, Hanson brings real-world spy safety experience and techniques direct to audiences, teaching critical skills and valuable information that 99 percent of Americans will never know or have access to learn, until now...well, that's what the show promo says... It is a lecture demo that is moderately entertaining, but more than that, it is a long sales pitch to get you to purchase everything that you see in the show.

The promo is also a bit misleading, "critical skills and valuable information that 99 percent of Americans will never know or have access to learn"...every technique can be looked up on the internet, and you can watch all the videos (and some of the videos are more entertaining than the show.) Just look at the list of things that this show has to offer, and do a search...it's all there.

The Stratosphere really missed the boat with this "show." Now granted, Hanson is not a performer. He is missing the dynamics and presence that we all take for granted in hosts for productions. The duct tape demonstration is interesting, but after that it quickly goes downhill. Having volunteers stab an empty vest with a tactical pen or whacking that vest with a monkey fist is neither satisfying nor entertaining. We see videos of what these objects can do, but the videos are boring...why can't we see those things done live? There is a big problem in presentation. The stun gun flashlight, for example...we hear the noise it makes, but let's see what it can do...perhaps run an electrical charge through a bank of lights or something. The show desperately needs better presentation elements.

And, of course, everything you see in the show is for sale...and, of course, everything you see in the show can be purchased for a fraction of the cost on the internet. Especially do your own research on the RFID blocking cards...why you need them, and why you really don't need them.

Then there is the website that he wants you to visit...it feels like a rip off sales site. It seems that every offer has five other offers attached to it, and if you sign up for anything, you're really signing up for a subscription. It's shameful. I'm not writing the site down in this review, because I just can't be a part of giving it any traffic.

Actually, Jason Hanson seems like a really interesting guy. Even with the time in the CIA aside, he has written a couple of books, runs spy schools, and genuinely seems to be a good and decent person...and it's those things that I'd like to hear about...those stories, those events, but instead we get the pitch man. Jason, please, share your life and stories, and stop selling stuff.