• Quick note - the problem with Youtube videos not embedding on the forum appears to have been fixed, thanks to ZiprHead. If you do still see problems let me know.

Saw Derren Brown live last night!

Victor Meldrew

Thinker
Victor Meldrew
Joined
Sep 18, 2006
Messages
199
Saw Derren Brown live last night - a very good show.

The first part (I think) was mainly magic - not that I could explain how he did many of his tricks, but I have seen magicians perform such stuff, so there must be an answer there....

The second half was intriguing. At the end of the first half of the show he told us he was going to perform the Oracle, an old music hall show where 'psychics' read peoples minds. He asked people to go in the interval and get a card and a thick black envelope from one of the tables around the theatre. And to write their initials only on the envelope, and their row number, and to write an obscure question on the piece of card inside. They then had to put the card personally into a bowl on the stage, and give the bowl a stir so nobody could work out which card belonged to whom.

When the second half started he started talking about psychics and mediums and how they fooled people. He then got people up on the stage and did a bit of table moving and table lifting. Then he got to the cards in the bowl. (Whilst doing the table stunts he had placed the glass bowl on the front of the stage).

After explaining (again) that he was not psychic, he then started pulling cards out of the bowl - guessing peoples first names from their initials (not that difficult to do, but he got it right every time but one, and this is a live stage show, remember) and then gave them the answer to the questions on the card in the black envelope, without opening the envelope.

The questions ranged from - new careers to losing a finger in an accident (and having it successfully sown back on again) to someones sister being a priest, to what colour knickers a woman had got on!

He got them all right.

Now I know that this is just a trick. But it was extremely impressive. He could not have been reading body language as most people in the audience were too far away for him to see (and for part of it, he even bandaged his eyes and ears).

How on earth does he do it? your suggestions (even just hints!) would be most welcome! I don't believe he uses stooges, if he does he must use about 30 per show - someone, by now, would have blabbed.

Anyway, if you get a chance to go and see him live, do go. He puts on a much better psychic performance as a professed non-psychic than all the other psychics put together!
 
Victor Meldrew said:
After explaining (again) that he was not psychic, he then started pulling cards out of the bowl - guessing peoples first names from their initials (not that difficult to do, but he got it right every time but one, and this is a live stage show, remember) and then gave them the answer to the questions on the card in the black envelope, without opening the envelope.

The questions ranged from - new careers to losing a finger in an accident (and having it successfully sown back on again) to someones sister being a priest, to what colour knickers a woman had got on!

He got them all right.

Now I know that this is just a trick. But it was extremely impressive. He could not have been reading body language as most people in the audience were too far away for him to see (and for part of it, he even bandaged his eyes and ears).

How on earth does he do it? your suggestions (even just hints!) would be most welcome! I don't believe he uses stooges, if he does he must use about 30 per show - someone, by now, would have blabbed.
Click to expand...

Randi explained this trick in one of his columns, because many psychics use it, so it isn't as though I'm exposing anything by telling you.

You have one plant in the audience. You pick up an envelope from the bowl, 'read out' the question you had prepared in advance for your plant, who nods and agreed that that is what they wrote. Then open the envelope which isn't theirs, pretending it is the one you've just read out loud. Remember the question/answer on that envelope. Pick up another envelope. Repeat the question and answer from the one you opened previously, and so on and so forth.
 
But he wasn't opening the envelopes, he was picking them up, holding them tightly in the palm of his hand, screwing them up and then throwing them on the floor. And the envelopes contained only the questions, not the answers.

Still can't work it out!
 
I sadly couldn't get tickets for this tour and so am incredibly jealous. I'll try not to let that cloud my guess work.

I'd go with Nick on the "one ahead" routine, but throw in a further cheat.

Perhaps an impression device (such as on a table in the foyer)?

Perhaps he took two envelopes out of the bowl and "peeked" at the one closest to him?

Perhaps the envelopes weren't completely "trustworthy"?

Never trust a blindfold.

Just a couple of ideas and probably completely wrong anyway! :)
 
JonWhite said:
I sadly couldn't get tickets for this tour and so am incredibly jealous. I'll try not to let that cloud my guess work.

I'd go with Nick on the "one ahead" routine, but throw in a further cheat.

Perhaps an impression device (such as on a table in the foyer)?

Perhaps he took two envelopes out of the bowl and "peeked" at the one closest to him?

Perhaps the envelopes weren't completely "trustworthy"?

Never trust a blindfold.

Just a couple of ideas and probably completely wrong anyway! :)
Click to expand...

It wasn't just the questions he knew, but also the answers, which were not written down. As far as anyone knew, he was going to open the envelopes read out the question, and then 'psychically' answer it. But he didn't open the envelopes at all. (I had considered some sort of impression devise, in his hand, and watched him closely to see if he looked at his hand at all after discarding an envelope : he didn't. of course, that still doesn't explain how he knew the answers.....

The questions were written by the people themselves, in all areas such as the foyer (on many different tables) some in their seats etc. He had 150 envelopes and cards available. He did not chose who was going to ask him a question, he just told people where they could get the cards.

Do watch out for him coming around again, you must go and see him, it is a fascinating show.
 
Victor, 'reading body language' is the last thing he'd have been doing, however close to him the people were!
 
Absolutely.

I saw him doing "Seance" in London a few years ago and had a great time. It was partly by being re-inspired by the show that I've got back into magic.

:)
 
Seeing as we didn't see ALL of it we are unlikely to be able to answer it. It's likely that you missed the key information or the trick wouldn't have impressed you so much.

Did you fill in a card and envelope?

The row numbers is a bit odd don't you think? Maybe allowed him to check up some of them against ticket sales to get the names?
 
Splossy said:
Seeing as we didn't see ALL of it we are unlikely to be able to answer it. It's likely that you missed the key information or the trick wouldn't have impressed you so much.

Did you fill in a card and envelope?

The row numbers is a bit odd don't you think? Maybe allowed him to check up some of them against ticket sales to get the names?
Click to expand...

yes, I am sure you are right, I must have missed some pertinent information, or just dismissed it as being not relevant.

I didn't fill in a card myself, wish I had have done now, but it was too full to push and shove to get one!

I thought the row numbers were odd too, but then it wouldn't necessarily have provided him with the info he needed. i bought 2 tickets for myself and my partner, I paid with my credit card so there was only my name given...if my partner had filled in a card, Derren wouldn't have known the name.
 
Getting the questions is indeed the easy part, there are several different ways of doing it. For all we know the messages he had on stage weren't the ones you filled in. He could have easily swapped the bowl and have someone backstage reading the questions to him.

Now answering the questions correctly is a different matter. some form of hot reading, perhaps. Could he have had a few assistants in the audience idly chatting with other members or listening to their conversations and picking up anything that could help his trick?
 
As a magicain(of sorts) I will look out for this effect when I see him on tour.
Then I will come on here and boast how I know how it is done but won't tell any of you because Im a bas***d! ;)
This is exposure and far as I know is against the rules.
 
Azrael 5 said:
As a magicain(of sorts) I will look out for this effect when I see him on tour.
Then I will come on here and boast how I know how it is done but won't tell any of you because Im a bas***d! ;)
This is exposure and far as I know is against the rules.
Click to expand...

I wasn't really expecting one of you to come on and tell me exactly how its done...just to give me a shove in the right direction I s'pose...to give me some idea of how to THINK about how it could possibly be done.

Part of me really wants to know (the nosey part) and part of me doesn't - but the nosey part always wins!:D
 
Azrael, just like you managed to expose his buttons and newpaper effects from the last stage show?


:goodwitch
 
"He picked out apparently random cards, sometimes using them, sometimes discarding them"

Hmmm, curious.


(Now I'm REALLY miffed that I'm not gonna catch the show)
 
Azrael 5 said:
As a magicain(of sorts) I will look out for this effect when I see him on tour.
Then I will come on here and boast how I know how it is done but won't tell any of you because Im a bas***d! ;)
This is exposure and far as I know is against the rules.
Click to expand...


Interesting point. When does vaguely half-eductated guesswork constitute exposure? :confused:
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top Bottom