Skepticblog

A wonderful week at The Magic Castle has now passed and it was a great boost for me to get back on the stage where I had worked for so many years. I was “welcomed home” by many of the people I had grown up with in magic. A lot of the old timers who were such great teachers, mentors and friends were now gone. It was sad to note their passing on and to realize that now I'm one of the older guys. Ah well, there are far worse places to watch time pass. As usual, the performing of mentalism brought with it a number of situations that as a performer I always look forward to. Mentalism is different from standard magic in that there is an underlying belief system that can add another level of mystification to the proceedings. Confirmation bias runs rampant when you say you can read minds. When you add in late evening shows, a holiday week and plenty of alcoholic beverages, the chances get even better for what we in the trade call getting a “hit.” One that I quickly worked to my advantage happened like this:

As a sort of throwaway gag, I will sometimes walk up to a woman in the audience and say to them, “…Don't give me a hint or say anything,…your name is Carol right?” I always say Carol. Most of the time, that's wrong and when they reply with their name, say, Susan. I then dissmiss them with a wave my hand, turn away and say, “…Aw Susan, Carol, …close enough! It takes me a while to warm up.”

This comment usually gets a titter of laughter and sets up the more self-effacing comedic side of my act that will hopefully also work as a sort of default disclaimer. If it turns out that their name is indeed Carol (or a name like or close to it, or their mother's name was Carol or a sister, cousin, etc.) they will say so and I get all the credit for a huge psychic hit. If I get it wrong I get the chuckle and after staying on that name for a few more seconds I can also add in true John Edward style:  “Well, …I want you to watch for that name, it's going to come up in your future.” This also gets a laugh by the more savvy audience members.

On one particular night, I threw this line out and the woman replied that her name was Yolanda. I gave out my “…close enough” line and prepared to go on with the rest of my act. But after a few seconds, an Asian man sitting behind her loudly blurted out; “Wow, Carol in Korean is Yolanda, that's amazing! To which the audience applauded. Talk about confirmation bias!

But it gets even better. As the audience was leaving the room, I overheard another man say to his date: “How weird is that? That guy even reads minds in Korean.”

You can't buy moments like this in standard magic. It's rare when this occurs in mentalism, but when it does you learn to go with it, take advantage of it (thanks Uri) and simply nod to its wonderfulness.

Yes, it's a tiny bit of off-hand business, but if you do mentalism, you soon find out that these are the things people remember long after the glow of the evening and the booze has worn off. It gets “telephoned” by other people later in conversation outside the venue and if you are lucky, adds to your reputation as a thought reader.

Theo Annemann (1907-1942)

I won't go into too many other fun things that happened during the week other than to give a shout out to the valiant people who sporadically worked with me to “stooge” the audience a few times and by doing so, elevated what was a minor effect to near miracle status. Magicians in general frown on this practice, assuming that it takes no skill whatsoever to accomplish and as such is a low blow to magic. I disagree and know for a fact that David Copperfield, that shining beacon of prestidigitation, makes use of many of these folks at a time in his shows. It's a rich tradition that goes back to P.T. Barnum. How do you think Wayne Newton manages to get a standing ovation in his Las Vegas showroom night after night, show after show for over fifty years? It's not just by singing “Danke Schoen” that's for sure. Having a few “house plants” on hand is a time honored show business contrivance that works – and that's all that counts as far as I'm concerned. The patron saint of mentalism Ted Annemann held the controversial opinion that if it took twelve people working together in a room of thirteen to fool the thirteenth person, it was worth it. I may not go that far, but you get the idea. I don't think I ruffled to many magi feathers with that bit. When it works for me, it can stun the audience into a group gasp that is priceless.

How does Wayne do it?

One more quickie that wowed the audience: I had a woman on stage that looked like a kind, warm-hearted sort. Taking a leap I told her that she had once considered working in the nursing field. At first she looked a bit puzzled and it seemed like I was going to strike out, then she brightened and looked amazed, admitting that she had indeed thought about doing veterinary work as a teenager. Another stretch, but this “ah ha” moment again proves the point that when people want a psychic (or a thought reader)  to succeed, they will go way out of their way to make the most tenuous connections. I wouldn't have it any other way.