talkmagic.co.uk

Just got home from seeing Derren's "something Wicked this way Comes" show. Good stuff as expected.
I never realised that Derren had a tick. through the show he had this kind of head bob/jerk move that grew worse as the show progressed. Wonder if this is part of the show or a genuine tick? Never seen him do it on telly but assume he has the benefit of editing on telly.

Yes, he has the tick. After watching the tv shows he made so many times, I also bob my head 2-3 times like saying "yes" to people.
But I think that helps him giving orders to people.

I've heard from somewhere that it is a confidence anchor. He does it a lot even in conversation, which seems odd if it were just part of his persuasion.
The fact it is more prominant in live shows is therefore unsurprising, and the fact it gets worse is perhaps even more telling!

It might just be a nervous habit that gets worse under pressure. They're common in OCD sufferers.

I'd assumed it was some kind of convincer...

he does it on his tv shows too, and there's a mention to the tick at the end of the titles of Devil's Picturebook...

It's a genuine nervous thing I think, as he has it present even in the Devils' Picturebook when talking generally.

Yes, the tick is evident in The Devils Picturebook, as well as his '12 year old' spontaneous high voice.

ouch-kabibble wrote:Yes, the tick is evident in The Devils Picturebook, as well as his '12 year old' spontaneous high voice.

That has me chuckling every time he does it.

Tomo wrote:It might just be a nervous habit that gets worse under pressure. They're common in OCD sufferers.

To some extent, but I know people who have or have had ticks that don't to my knowledge anyway have OCD. Does Derren actually suffer from OCD? I know there was a jocular reference to it in his last stage show, with the chairs or something, but I never knew he was an actual sufferer.

But what an anchor! Surely if you were going to anchor something you'd choose something a bit more subtle, something that wouldn't necessarily become a habitual action.

Still, maybe it's a sider effect of genius?

I also saw his live show recently & the nervous nod was very apparent. I had also read an articled where the interviewer commented on it also.

I seems odd to me that someone into hypnotism & mind control can't eliminate it himself ???

he doesnt do it on the behind the scenes extra on the curent dvd.( which is by the way, behind the scenes of the Robbie peircing form the last aired series)

Zack wrote:On a complete sidenote, I'm sure it's spelt 'tic' rather than 'tick.' Even if I'm wrong, it's quite amusing if you re-read the whole of this thread taking the word 'tick' as a type of small parasitic creature... made me laugh, anyway!

Yes, you're right

what is OCD but ive seen him do it loads when I went to see him

The Warwick Uni student paper has a nice interview with Derren where he comments on his tick (and much more!). Check it out...

http://www.warwickboar.co.uk/core/arts/interview_1_5_2006/