talkmagic.co.uk

Ahh, the blissfull ignorance of the sceptical layman....

How many times have you been performing close-up, and wandered into a card based mentalism piece (a force followed by a psudeo body-language reading etc)....and low and behold, some smart ars* pipes up and comes out with that classic line.....

"Go on then, im thinking of a card, read my mind!"

....no matter how many times I hear it, I can't help but crack a sly smile. First of all, it either means your doing your job properly, and they really believe in your skills to the point of having to "test" you.

OR

They're "testing" you in order to de-bunk your attempts to happily entertain them for free (ungratefull gits!) Anyway, my question is this:

I was doing table hoping last night, and as inevitable as the tides, I got "tested" again. So ,which effects do you use (whenever needed) to put the Heckler's in their place, or even what kind of witty patter do you employ to answer their statement of "Go on then, read my mind"

I have two methods for this depending on how I'm feeling. Usually I have my ID on me and I can really f*** with their heads when I reveal I've predicted what they thought of. Otherwise, I'll look them in the eye and say "Ok.. Oh my god.. you've had sex with your brother.." or something along those lines..

Four of Clubs. It's always the Four of Clubs.

(Apart from when it's not )

Just smile and say 'I'd really rather not, thanks all the same'

TylerMason wrote:"Go on then, im thinking of a card, read my mind!"

You don't really want me to tell everyone about the appointment card you got from the STD clinic, do you?

I use a Banchek one. I make it clear that I can't read minds, what I read are thoughts. If a husband and wife are sitting on a park bench and the husband looks at a pretty young jogger as she goes past and then the wife slaps him across the face we know what both of them were thinking but we didn't read their mind.

TheStoner wrote:Four of Clubs. It's always the Four of Clubs.

(Apart from when it's not )

Isnt it just !!!!! grrr..

F x

TylerMason wrote:"Go on then, im thinking of a card, read my mind!"

"No thanks, I don't know where it's been!"

or...

"No thank you - I know where it's been!"

or....

Sorry I need my glasses you read something that tiny - then give a little smile.

If this ever happens to me I use an I.D or K.E.N.T. Both are very effective of shutting them up

Edit: Kolossal Killer would be good too.

TylerMason wrote:So ,which effects do you use (whenever needed) to put the Heckler's in their place, or even what kind of witty patter do you employ to answer their statement of "Go on then, read my mind"

I see a great void...

The ID idea is a nice one. Only trouble is that the kind of layman (and it usuall y is a "he") who will offer this challenge is often the kind of guy who will then scream "Lemme see your cards! Lemme see 'em! Show 'em to me!"

What I normally do is say that although I obviously could name the card he is thinking of, it is very difficult because the human mind never ever thinks of just one thing. So inside the mind of the spec, along with the card name, is all sorts of other thoughts buzzing in and out - "Oh I feel a bit warm", "Ooh she's nice!", "Fancy another beer in a bit", "Everyone's looking at me," "I like blue. Blue's nice," "What's that funny smell?" etc etc etc. Therefore, I point out, we really need the spec to physically choose a card from the deck and keep it concealed on his person. That way there is an actual physical object both for me as the mind-reader to concentrate on and the spec to focus his thoughts on. It also means the spec can't cheat and change his mind!

And of course once he accepts your challenge and physically chooses a card it's all over. You have him.

Or you could have him write the name of the card down on a piece of paper using the same excuse as above with the same outcome.

I like CutToTheAce's suggestion for a reply to "What am I thinking NOW??" (I hope he doesn't mind me sharing it)
"Left, right, left, right..."

though, by taking the p*ss out of the customer, you risk worse heckling...

bite yer tongue....the ID is more than fine....

however you could just say "no, i'd rather we did something else with you..." and then use him and someone else for OOTW or something similar...selfworking that cant go wrong with the correct management...

and he's the star...so he'll shut up, or help out for the time after...

Yeah, to be honest I think the "witty" put down is a bit of a throw back to the sparkly waistcoats and card-design ties of yesteryear. We can do better than just taking the p***, can't we?