talkmagic.co.uk

The Red Carpet
The latest release from Jason Palter http://www.paltergeist.com

The advertising speil
The Red Carpet is simple to learn, and is easy to perform. It is a hysterical and astounding commercial mentalism effect that is perfect for all professionals and hobbyists and the routine has been honed through countless live performances. This is a fresh and brand new approach to mentalism, and the eye-popping routine will play to audiences of all sizes.

The Red Carpet comes complete with everything you need to perform the full routine, including all props, gimmicks, the detailed 8 minute audience-tested comedy script, a performance DVD, and live and broadcast performance rights.

Each trick is hand signed, numbered and comes in an authentic metal film-reel canister from the movies!

The Effect
An audience member is brought on stage and allowed to randomly select one of the images from the book. The spectator mentally focuses on their chosen icon. Then, while you are blindfolded by the "Red Carpet" (actually a red fabric bag that covers your head to prohibit any peeking!), you actually fail to find the name. After what appears to be a botched attempt at entertaining and mystifying the crowd with an experiment in telepathy, you whip off the hood to reveal you have now transformed into the exact likeness of the chosen celebrity. A hilarious smash climax that will bring the audience to their feet!

Cost
$210 - US & Canada
$230 - UK

Difficulty
(1=easy to do, 2=No sleights, but not so easy, 3=Some sleights used,
4=Advanced sleights used, 5=Suitable for experienced magicians only)

1 - very easy, the only slightly tricky bit takes about 10 minutes to practice

Review
Firstly - from order to delivery in 4 days, from Canada, impressive!

It arrived yesterday morning, I spent most of the day dodging having to do real work and playing with it, and most of last night really having some fun with it.

The trick itself if very simple - I am sure most people who watch the demo on Jason's site will work out the method, however, as with most tricks / routines, it is not the method but the presentation that really sells this. I bought The Red Carpet because of the comedy value that it would add.

So what do you get? Well, you get a bag of numbered chips, a clear plastic bag to put them in, a red crush velvet looking bag to put over your head, a book of drawings, instructions, dvd and a certain something else.

Ok, the above list may not sound too impressive, but all you have to do is take a look at the sketch book, the central part of the routine, and you can see why this has a fairly high price tag attached.

The sketch book is a high quality, heavy duty, spiral bound artists pad with very thick pages, which will last a very long time. Inside the sketch book there are 39 high quality pencil drawings of famous people. I read in a comment in another thread that all the famous people mentioned on the demo video on the website well known in America but not really in the UK - well that was a fair comment, but of all the pictures in the book there were only 2 I didn't recognise straight away, and they were 2 that were in the video. I won't list all 39 pictures, but some of the characters in the book include Queen Elizabeth, Elton John, Clint Eastwood and Sylvester Stallone - all pretty famous and should be instantly recongisable by the majority of your audience.

To accompany all this you get a full length performance on DVD, the full script and a certificate with the performance rights. In addition to the script you get guidance notes and little extra that will help you with the performance.

Overall
A very nice piece of work with a good kicker ending that can be performed virtually straight out of the box. I wouldn't class this as a powerful effect like Divine Time or Third Degree Burn - it certainly isn't going to freak people out - but it will make them laugh - guaranteed. It starts of serious but ends up funny - all you need to do is ham it up a bit!

It is expensive but your main prop is of the highest quality, apparently an artist was commissioned to do the drawings, and it plays very big. If you are looking for a routine that will guarantee a laugh, this is it!

I will give this 9/10 purely because of the price tag. I don't in any way feel robbed, as said above, everything supplied is top quality, but 10/10 in my eyes is a "must have", this isn't a "must have", it's a "very nice to have"

Good review - im tempted to do some research but the price tag is off putting. Can't stretch at the mo with my electric touch coming in the post!

I have no problem with paying money for a good routine or a quality prop.

But this has too many steps involved. There are simpler ways to force a photograph. If I was going to pick a page from a book, I wouldn't need a bag full of bingo numbers. It doesen't feel natural.

The effect needs to be structured so that is removed all unnecessary steps. For a bit of money, you could purchase a bunch of professional celeb photos from a collector shop. Then you can just classic-force the one you want. (or use a safer method)

Better yet print off a bunch of celeb mugshots from the smoking gun.

BTW.... I just saw Divine Time.

That makes a LOT more sense. Here, there's actually a reason for the change bag.

Hello all:

It has recently come to my attention that I might be losing sales to magicians outside of North America who are potentially thinking of purchasing "The Red Carpet". This is because these customers may possibly be under the impression that the celebrities/characters in the supplied sketchbook book (and the revealed character) are only recognizable in North America. On the one hand, I can't really can't blame anyone for possibly thinking this, because the images that are shown by the spectator in the demo video are only a few celebrities from the USA (of course that's just how the routine happened to go on that day at the event where the video was shot).

So I wanted to make sure that everyone knew that the 39 royalty-free images in the sketchbook were specifically chosen for the trick, so that they would be recognized by almost anyone from around the world. Here is just a sampling of just SOME of the celebrities that you will find in the book: Albert Einstein, Queen Elizabeth, Elton John, Mick Jagger, Arnold Schwarchenegger, Superman, Mickey Mouse, Darth Vader, Bruce Lee, John Lennon, Nelson Mandela, Madonna, Princess Diana, Elvis Presley, Marilyn Monroe, Tom Cruise and Gandhi. In addition, you can be rest assured that an audience of any age will have no doubt in their mind not only who the revealed icon is, but also that you look exactly like them when the red fabric bag is removed. The description of the trick on my site (and on the sites of dealers who carry the trick) has been updated to reflect this information.

Of course, the the 3 additional characters that are revealed in "The Bonus Feature" for "The Red Carpet" are also very easily recognizable around the globe as well.

As I said, I just wanted to ensure that I cleared up any possible confusion. If anyone has any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me. Thank you for your time.

Best regards,

Jason Palter
Paltergeist Unlimited
(416) 410-5766

It is worth mentioning that many of us could "deconstruct" any given effect and rebuild it to suit our own style but let's not not detract from the core of the effect. As has been mentioned, you are paying for royalty free images, the rights to perform the routine, a routine that someone has had the imagination to come up with and has taken the time to put together into a nice bundle.

Paying for the idea? I should think so!! Alter it if you like but take care you are not encouraging others to simply reproduce an effect and images (neither of which) they have no performance or display rights for...PLUS the man deserves his fair price for his work.

tdugas wrote:... this has too many steps involved. There are simpler ways to force a photograph. If I was going to pick a page from a book, I wouldn't need a bag full of bingo numbers. It doesen't feel natural.
The effect needs to be structured so that is removed all unnecessary steps.

Rather amazingly I independanty came up with the exact same effect back in the 80's. (I'm told the original marketed version had a different payoff to the one being sold now which incredibly has a pay off that's remarkably close to my original) I had the pictures (not of celebrities but well known 'characters') made into a book that was also able to force a picture. I'd show the pics in the book and have one chosen from it. I personally think this is a much cleaner direct approach.

I'm sure though that the product works fine as it is and as there are not many effects that one buys that don't get altered or tweaked slightly to better suit ones style I'd recommend buying it and then playing around with it. There may be loads of bits of business written into the pic selection that might make you want to use the method provided. Otherwise...just change it.

I stopped performing my version of this years ago (although I revived it just recently for a one off at the local magic club) and wish Jason Palter, who I've already exchanged emails with, well with it.

Cheers Neal.

Here is my two cents worth....I get there eventually!


The Red Carpet & The Red Carpet: The Bonus Feature

Available from: http://www.paltergeist.com/theredcarpet.php & http://www.paltergeist.com/theredcarpet ... eature.php

Price: The Red Carpet $210 - The Red Carpet: The Bonus Feature $110

Category: Parlor /stage Mentalism / Mental magic

Difficulty (1-5): 1

They say:
...You display a large sketch book of celebrity and character illustrations drawn by your friend. No, your friend is not a stalker—just an admirer of the rich and famous! The book contains 40 different images of famous people and personalities.

An audience member is brought on stage and allowed to randomly select one of the images from the book. The spectator mentally focuses on their chosen icon. Then, while you are blindfolded by the “Red Carpet” (actually a red fabric bag that covers your head to prohibit any peeking!), you actually fail to find the name. After what appears to be a botched attempt at entertaining and mystifying the crowd with an experiment in telepathy, you whip off the hood to reveal you have now transformed into the exact likeness of the chosen celebrity. A hilarious smash climax that will bring the audience to their feet!

***Please note that the 39 royalty-free images in the book were chosen so that they would be recognized by almost anyone from around the world. Here is just a sampling of SOME of the celebrities that you will find in the book: Albert Einstein, Queen Elizabeth, Elton John, Mick Jagger, Arnold Schwarchenegger, Superman, Mickey Mouse, Darth Vader, Bruce Lee, John Lennon, Nelson Mandela, Madonna, Princess Diana, Elvis Presley, Marilyn Monroe, Tom Cruise and Gandhi. In addition, you can be rest assured that an audience of any age will have no doubt in their mind not only who the revealed icon is, but also that you look exactly like them when the red fabric bag is removed.

The Red Carpet comes complete with everything you need to perform the full routine, including all props, gimmicks, the detailed 8 minute audience-tested comedy script, a performance DVD, and live and broadcast performance rights.

Each trick is hand signed, numbered and comes in an authentic metal film-reel canister from the movies!

AND…

After many requests we have finally released THE BONUS FEATURE kit for use with your “The Red Carpet”. With this kit, you will be able to force an additional 3 characters from your sketchbook!

All of these characters were chosen as they are recognized by most everyone from around the world. The kit includes everything you need for the 3 extra reveals, including instructions, a presentation idea, and the additional 3 sets of 40 custom-embossed yellow numbered discs that exactly match the ones in the original trick (120 extra discs total).


I say:
What a package! The whole thing is beautifully presented and every need is catered to. I’m surprised that you don’t actually get Jason Palter in the film can dutifully wrapped in protective tissue to take you through the whole thing! All you need to do is read the instructions, watch the DVD, empty some chips into a bag and you are set.

The effect plays out very logically and offers a genuinely surprising and comic sucker punch to what could have been a pretty pedestrian mentalism routine, those differences really do kick this effect into another category altogether. Off-the-shelf quality… a rare beast indeed.

The effort that has gone into this product is clear; The Red Carpet is quality all the way through. The chips are well made and of a decent size. The colouring of them is equally logical and well considered. The bag that the chips go into is very slick indeed (the best I’ve seen) and the red cloth sack you fit over your head is very sexy…ok, maybe that’s an exaggeration but it is nice. The effect is as easy as it gets to perform and you really can concentrate on having fun with building up to a thoroughly entertaining climax.

The Red Carpet: The Bonus Feature is equally well appointed. You get a bunch of the bits you need to offer some variations for the basic routine and what’s more, you get a nice comic climax variation and props as well…blimey! I know I haven’t said much about the “bonus Feature” but it is simply a good deal and gives you loads of options in terms of performances.

In conclusion:
If you want to perform mentalism or mental magic in a classic, formal setting (although this could be done for small informal groups without too much concern) and you like a broad and punchy ending then this could well be a seriously good investment for you.

The celebrities in the lushly illustrated “portfolio” you present to the spectator are pretty international. Some of them are more “North American” than others but for those of us in the “uncivilized world” this is easily overcome without any hardship and it will have NO bearing on the final effect or audience reaction and that’s what this is about…reaction. This isn’t a magician fooler…thank goodness… I mean honestly, who cares? No, this one is for the audience and I think they will be very well entertained indeed and YOU, as a performer, will actually enjoy performing it.


Rating 1-10: A super-solid and commercial 9.5 out of 10

Totally Mental said: "astounding commercial mentalism effect that is perfect for all professionals and hobbyists"

Nice review, but I suspect that only professionals can justify the $200+ price tag. I watched the promo clip and even that short video hints at how this can be hammed up--but I suspect that the larger the crowd the easier it will be for for the performer to milk the routine.

I'm afraid that this amateur is going to have to pass.

were as jason's stuff is always of high qaulity and audience tested and priced according to the pre work that has gone on, can i sugest for the childrens entertainers and thoughs on a tight buget.
"whats my job," dress it up how you wish.

Hello all:

WOW! Tom, that was such a nice review; thank you so much for those wonderful comments! I'm glad that you are really enjoying my trick, and despite what you wrote, I still think you're civilized! lol

Please let me know if you have any questions or thoughts, Tom (and everyone else for that matter). Thank you for your time.

Best regards,

Jason Palter
Paltergeist Unlimited/Tenyo Elite
(416) 410-5766

I have seen very positive reviews in many forums... Most feel that it is worth the money.

If you work it, it is totally worth it. As far as I'm concerned it is as good as that. I know of some VERY well respected professional mentalism performers who genuinely rate The Red Carpet.

This Routine is great,

I have seen it a few times and it always gets the reaction and the laughs.

I also rate "Red Carpet" very highly. Though I wouldn't use it for adult-only audiences, there are many mentalism routines I'd choose over this for that demographic. But for a family audience, this is a sure-fire winner. I've performed RC about 100 times now, it's farlry foolproof, and the props are very robust and well-made. A lot of nice business can be had before the routine proper starts. I question my audience about the various celebrities. This is great, as kids will be familiar with Spiderman and Darth Vader, and will know a lot more than the adults......and the adults will be familiar with many of the actors, etc.
I always have a bit of fun with Albert Einstein - I ask "who can tell me what Einstein's famous formula is?" Whatever the response, I go on to ask "Can anyone tell me what E=MC2 means?" Of course, no one is generally able to answer this....so I say: "it simply means that the energy released when matter is converted into pure energy, "E", is equal to the speed of light, "C" squared". As most of my act is buffoonery, folks are somewhat taken aback by this comment, and it gets a hearty chuckle from the adults, while the kids look at me as if I've just pulled a ferret out of my mouth.
The denoument is perfect for all ages, and makes this the perfect interlude for family entertainers. I know of several adult performers who use it too, so it clearly works for them.
The only slight issue is if you're using a head microphone - as the bag on the head bit may interfere with the mic. I've found though, that my head is small enough to leave the mic in place when I put the bag over, and it only takes a minor adjustment at the end of the routine.
One final thing - although I spend a bit of time engaging the audience at the start, once I get into it, and introduce the casino chips, I keep the routine moving at a brisk pace from then on.
Doug