talkmagic.co.uk

So what do you do when you're performing magic and your spec happens to be a DB fan and says something like, "Oh I love Derren brown! What I like best about him is the way he explains how the trick works afterwards!"

Do you:

a) Smile, nod, and say "Yes, I know."

or

b) Attempt to explain that Derren Brown's explanations are just part of the trick itself and aren't actually true.

18 months ago I would have been a b). These days I find it far easier to just go along with a).

I administer upon them the worst possible punishment. I go out with them for several months.

is there a (c).. in that the spectator asking for an explanation in the style of db eg body language, vibes, whatever?
I think thats what I would go for.

I go out with them for several months.

That is just cruel

Had one on Sunday night while working at a restaurant. He says "Before you start, I'm a big fan of Derren Brown and I'll be watching very closely to see if I can catch you out."

Anyway I managed to impress him sufficiently and afterwards he said the immortal lines "What I like about Derren is how he explains what he's done afterwards."

"Yes," I say, "he's very good."

"There's one amazing thing that he said once," continued the spec, "if you think of a card hard enough and for long enough you begin to give clues away with your body language!"

"Yes," I say, "it's amazing isn't it?"

I have the patience of Job.

Give 'em enough rope....

I think its excellent the way people assume Derren Brown works, i used a simple sw**i gimmick trick and when i revealed the letter he was thinking of (L) he thought for a moment and went 'ahh of course you said 'I hope the letter I wrote was Legible.'

I, of course said, 'Yes I did, didn't I?' (well I didn't want to lie)

I have used this to my advantage a couple of times, by saying ah you like mind magic do you or mentalism as we like to call it, let me show you something, it just give me a reason to move on to a bit of mentalism that i was most likely going to show them anyway.

It's fantastic. I do a poker-face test, and people are utterly convinced that it's a genuine display of subconscious 'tells'.

In fact, practically every mentalism routine I do is met with dissection from armchair psychologists, discussing NLP and reverse psychology. It steers them a million miles away from the actual method, and makes them feel clever at the same time.

Thank you Derren!

Anything for an easy life, i'd go for a).

With b) you're potentially getting into an argument.

I've displayed Derren style skills simply by using a force. I think pre-Derren people would have just thought you'd glimpsed the card or something, but in these post-Derren ( or present-Derren ) days, they believe any old rhubarb you feed them.

Have you ever seen a psychic on TV, called in to investigate a supposedly haunted house, ever challenge the householder's belief? However wacky the story is, they always confirm it.

I used to go with b), but now if I'm faced with a fanboy, I ask about what they've seen him do and say, "I haven't seen that one,. What did he do?" to get them off the wild speculation and back onto what they actually experienced.

There's a wonderful game that you can play. Firstly, go and see a Derren Brown show then when it's over, simply head to the nearest student pub and listen in to peoples conversations. I did this after "An Evening Of Wonders" and it was fascinating on so many different levels! I found it really interesting to firstly hear some of the wild and complicated theories being banded about (most not being in the same country, never mind the ballpark) but also to experience a lesson in what people believe to be possible and how this can be utilized from a performance perspective.

In the bar at the intervals of his last two shows in Birmingham was a source of great amusement - loads of wild theories, many from guys standing there expertly shuffling and flourishing decks of cards and not having an inkling about billet switches, change bags, peek devices etc. Most reassuring!

many from guys standing there expertly shuffling and flourishing decks of cards

Those types make me sick, who the hell comes to a show and then in the break starts performing...Its like me going to the Opera and singin in the interval!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That Pavarotti's a good singer but he doesn't like it when you join in, does he?!

Can't actually remember who said that, probably Del Boy...