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Hello everyone.

I'm trying to build a 10 - 15 minute card routine on the topic of lying.

I don't want it to be a serious talk about lying, i want it to be rather jokey and fun.

i was having a few drinks with some friends the other night and i started doing an ambitious card effect and i kept telling them that i was lying. so when i revealed the card was back on top i would say "its all a lie"

i have a bit of a reputation with my friends for lying because i enjoy trying to convince people of things that arent true (the other day i convinced someone that my name is spelt salmuel, with a silent L) its probably a character flaw... but my friends don't seem to mind and we usually have a laugh about it.
i want to try and get this sort of feeling into my performing.
openly admit that i am lying throughout the routine

the ambitious card i did the other night was probably only successful because of the "few drinks" my friends and i had consumed, in a serious performance to admit to lying will draw attention to the fact that the card is still on top.

taking the example of the ambitious card, it is only effective if the spectators believe that the card is on the bottom or in the middle. if i tell them its in the middle and then say "its all a lie" and reveal on top, they are going to think its on top next time, of course if the card was then in my pocket or elsewhere i can continue with the lying (staying one step ahead of them)

I'm wondering if anyone can offer me any advise on how to present a routine of this type.
and also if anyone has any suggestions of any card effects you think would be particularly suited to this presentation?


my plan is for it to be light hearted, something to do closeup and in casual performances. i intend to close the routine with 1 serious effect which i will present as "an honest trick"


I'm pretty certain i must say this:
"If there is one thing you should believe it's that this sentence is a lie..."
it fits my geeky personality perfectly


i'd really appreciate any help, ideas or references.

thank you,

Sam

I really like the tag "It's all lies". You could easily turn it into a catchphrase and dine out on it. "Everything you are about to see is a lie". Do a few amazing routines, and end with: "And remember, ladies and gentlemen, it's all lies.". Honest, fun and subversive.

There's a Paul Gordon card trick in "Card Marvels" called The Queen of Diamonds Trick" (I think), that could easily be done this way.
Also - pretty much any monte.
Or...Cups and Balls, (which is not a card trick at all, but I thought I'd say it anyway...).
I also love the way you are preesenting the concept of "lying", nice.
Bruce

Also see Liar's Poker (Scams & Fantasies, Darwin Ortiz).

Penn and Teller did a seance in which they stated, "Everything we say and do after this point is a lie to make you believe in the supernatural. A magic trick. Fake. But before we get into that, here's some real ESP..." or something along those lines.

Not cards but my favourite routine for the three shell game is Phil Cass'. It is centered around him lying/telling the truth to win back his money. Its both magical and very entertaining. There used to be a full performance clip on you tube but it seems to have been replaced by a clip which is edited.

The idea of lying as a basis for magic effects is a good one. I present 'my' Colour Changing deck routine as an illusion with cards, like they see things because they expect to see them (the actual routine is based on strangers gallery). Not lying per say, but it does have similarities

jim

A great routine about lying is the suggested one in Decisions from Alakazam, in which you ask the spectator to tell a truth or a lie. That's pretty cool.

My feelings are it would be a better, more theatrical route, if instead of basing the routine around " Its all lies" you demonstrate how it's possible to read somebody else, and work out wether they are lying or not.
A hell of a lot of derrens early stuff revoloved around this premmise. And it opens up other avenues .

I like this idea.
I guess this is the power of the double bluff taken to an extreme.
I was thinking that maybe you could try using statistics in the routine because we know how much numbers can confuse people for example you could say, " Like Family fortunes, I offered this trick to 100 people (place card into pack) 80% of them believed the card was in the middle, but thats a lie" (reveal card). Repeat effect "20% of people were sure i'd lied and the card was not within the pack (pull card from pocket) it was all a lie". Repeat effect, "Repeating the trick to those 100 people revealed only 10% now believed the card was in the pack, I even told them it was on the top (pull card from spectators sock after prising the shoe from their foot) but it was a lie" Repeat effect with new stats true and false to get the mind racing then pull the entire pack from the left ear of a passing pigeon that has begun to snack on a nearby bagel dropped nonchalantly by a striding Stephen Fry (or other posh bloke) etc etc!

Just a thought, bamboozle the mind!

Andy

Yes, just to add to the above the Decisions effect is very Derren Brown and whilst it is clearly not the same effect it is the same premise as where Yes / No cards were shown to Stephen Merchant in that the effect is based on being able to tell when the spectator is lying. So less about lies, and more about the spectator. Even though some could argue it then becomes a "challenge" situation, there's ways around this.

Hello everyone thank you for your replies, I'm going to reply to you all at once, i hope you don't mind.



Tomo, i like the idea of using a catchphrase. i definitely want to make a big thing about the fact that i am lying. i just need to be careful that the spectators stop believing the initial condition of the effect, ie in a triumph routine if they think im lying when i say the cards have been shuffles face up into face down then there won't be any effect at all on the audience.

BrucUK I'll check out the queen of diamonds trick when i get the chance, monte could work the presentation could in fact work particularly well in many gambling routines, for example "a strange story" by alex elmsley (a beautiful effect when performed by elmsley http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-kwlnOpt-Y also check out the colour changing faro shuffle because its just fun to watch ) but i've more than slightly embellished a story from my own life which fits the effect perfectly, and I'm thinking this could be a nice opener no one knows that i am lying until the end of the effect at which point i'll explain the premise of the performance.


Sparejoker:liars poker is a stunning effect (i love most of Darwin's work, regardless of whether i could ever imagine wanting to perform it, it's just clear the amount of thought he has put into it) i can easily imagine performing it as a demonstration of me detecting their lies, but how to present it as me lying I'm not sure how i'd do that...
unless i acted very serious on the reveals and then pronounce "it's all lies" either at the end of the final reveal or after each one. i believe that the effect itself would play stronger if just played seriously

sleightlycrazy: the idea of saying that everything from now is a lie but first here is some real... hadn't occurred to me, however i had though that for my last effect i could present something as "and finally i would like to show you something honest..." and then once again at the end of the effect pronounce that its all lies.

Jim: the presentation of lying/ telling the truth could easily be placed onto a three card monte. So i'll try and find that clip to see what i think.
Your colour changing deck comment reminded me of Ortiz's Phantom Card from Cardshark,
where the spectator signs a card which is placed into the performers wallet, the spectator picks another card which just happens to be the signed card, the card disappears and is removed from the wallet. the premise is that it was all a hypnotic illusion and that the card was in the wallet the whole time.

Rufio: I'd not come across decisions before but i'll certainly look into it

Dale: I've got my heart set on a routine about me lying, i've played around with effects about me reading the spectator before and i don't feel they suit me, i don't really want it to be about psychology, or not necessarily too serious either, just something fun and light hearted where i constantly and openly admit to lying and still present an incredible effect.

Pandywooo: was your aim to bamboozle my mind? that was a very entertaining post, the last sentence reminds me of the line "beautiful as the chance meeting on a dissecting table of a sewing machine and an umbrella" - Isidore-Lucien Ducasse, which is a description of surrealism
i do see where you are going with the statistics, and i think maybe some false statistics could be used to convince the spectators that certain points are true.





i think if they know you are lying they are going to make their own assumptions, and manipulating this or taking advantage of this would be key. so for example if you tell them the card is going on the bottom, and you know they will think it is still on the top, can you take advantage of this by having it appear from another impossible location, in my wallet, or under their glass etc.
so knowing what assumptions they are going to make, how can you alter the effect to make it seem more impossible.
if a card is on the bottom and rises to the top then they might think it was always on the top. if the card goes to the bottom and they already think it's on the top i imagine they will be taken of guard when the card actually appears from somewhere completely surprising.



My favourite effect is definitely out of this world, i just enjoy performing it so much. i was thinking about the possibility of ending with it, and presenting it either as a final honest effect, as i mentioned above, or as teaching the spectators how to lie effectively, in which case i would tell lie as they place each card down but to try and convince their spectators that they are telling the truth and they actually know what they are talking about...


i worry that a routine about ME lying could be a bit to much about ME and i need to ensure that i get lots of audience participation, so effects where cards go under hands, and really involve the audience in some way all appeal.
New hitchcock aces by Ortiz appeals for that reason.



i think there are probably lots of good quotes about lying, in films books etc. i did a quick search but wasn't looking in any detail but i found this which amused me:

A boy can learn a lot from a dog: obedience, loyalty, and the importance of turning around three times before lying down.
Robert Benchley





i hope everything i've said makes sense.

thank you,

Sam

I have quite a few "lie detector" tricks in print that'd fit the bill. But, I can't give you references otherwise the "advert police" will moan... (PM me if interested.)

Cheers, Paul Gordon

(PM me if interested.)

Excellent idea and suggestion - thank you Paul!