Derren Brown's screaming stooges

NeilC said:
As I remember it, nothing in it required stooges but just suggestible punters - i.e. the general public. Just look at how people on those awful haunted house type shows react to being in a dark room for 10 minutes! They're screaming at every creaky floorboard.
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Look at how some people act at regular "haunted house" performances on Halloween. They may realize it's all make-believe and they're really in no danger, but they still play up the fantasy when the guy in the rubber werewolf mask chases them around. They do it just because it's fun. In addition, the TV studio participants no doubt realize they're doing this for a TV show, and may have even been coached in how they're expected to act.

As for the people in Derren Brown's "hypnosis" shows, it certainly appears to me that they're acting the part. By this point, there's no need to tell any audience participant in a Derren Brown TV show that they're expected to act hypnotized and do whatever Derren tells them. For anyone familiar with Derren Brown (or stage hypnosis in general) it's pretty much a "given."

Likewise, anyone familiar with "show business" who's ever attended or worked on a TV show taping will recognize the kind of enthusiastic "playing along" behavior of random people who respond to casting calls as "extras" or "live participants." I'm talking about the type of people commonly referred to as "theater people," "thespians," "showbiz types," and "hams." With people of that personality type, all you need to do is give them the opportunity, up in front of a crowd or some cameras, to act out. Their personal inclination to put on a show will provide the rest.

Whether or not that constitutes "stooges" is up for debate, I guess. A bunch of us argued that issue round and round for 33 pages in another thread. To me it makes no difference. I'm inclined to call them stooges, but I'm not a magician. I'm sure someone who actually works in magic would argue a different perspective, that "stooges" must be paid, let in on the secrets of the tricks, or somesuch. The details of stage magic lingo don't interest me all that much, to be honest.


silver birch said:
because it is obvious Ben in the casino stunt is a stooge.
do you believe Ben is genuine?
do you believe in santa clause, or the tooth fairy?
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I basically agree. It certainly appears that way if you really look at the way the thing is shot, the way it plays out, etc. and if you keep in mind the fact that cameras need to be on site to capture every shot, not to even mention how fakey the "casino" set appears.

But good luck actually proving it. Derren Brown has even been caught employing a professional actress for such a stunt, and that doesn't even faze some people's opinion.
 
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John Albert said:
Look at how some people act at regular "haunted house" performances on Halloween. They may realize it's all make-believe and they're really in no danger, but they still play up the fantasy when the guy in the rubber werewolf mask chases them around. They do it just because it's fun. In addition, the TV studio participants no doubt realize they're doing this for a TV show, and may have even been coached in how they're expected to act.

As for the people in Derren Brown's "hypnosis" shows, it certainly appears to me that they're acting the part. By this point, there's no need to tell any audience participant in a Derren Brown TV show that they're expected to act hypnotized and do whatever Derren tells them. For anyone familiar with Derren Brown (or stage hypnosis in general) it's pretty much a "given."

Likewise, anyone familiar with "show business" who's ever attended or worked on a TV show taping will recognize the kind of enthusiastic "playing along" behavior of random people who respond to casting calls as "extras" or "live participants." I'm talking about the type of people commonly referred to as "theater people," "thespians," "showbiz types," and "hams." With people of that personality type, all you need to do is give them the opportunity, up in front of a crowd or some cameras, to act out. Their personal inclination to put on a show will provide the rest.

Whether or not that constitutes "stooges" is up for debate, I guess. A bunch of us argued that issue round and round for 33 pages in another thread. To me it makes no difference. I'm inclined to call them stooges, but I'm not a magician. I'm sure someone who actually works in magic would argue a different perspective, that "stooges" must be paid, let in on the secrets of the tricks, or somesuch. The details of stage magic lingo don't interest me all that much, to be honest.
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I agree that people really do play along. I would call them stooges until they have deliberately agreed to deceive the rest of the audience. This can be an "instant stooge" but I don't call playing along the same thing. I've used instant stooges in effects I've done myself so it's not uncommon.

Whether he uses full-on, pre-prepared stooges is something I cannot answer. I hear many people making the accusation on effects that I happen to know how they are done and know they do not require a stooge. but that doesn't rule out other effects using them. If I had to guess I'd say he does probably.

Brown also uses "unfair" editing to make stunts appear amazing by leaving out critical parts - like the bit where the person wrote the word on a piece of paper. I remember seeing and hearing this myself. He did a trick on some chat show where he divined some word the person had "merely thought of" (might have been Richard Madeley) and right at the end of the section I just heard the guy say "that's amazing, it's exactly what I wrote down"). The microphones were not supposed to pick that up but the trick we saw involved no writing down and strongly inferred the word had just been thought of.

You got a link to the professional actress stooge thing? I'm interested in seeing that.
 
Azrael 5 said:
Fixed it for you unless you can prove employment/coersion(sp?)
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"Employment/coersion" (sic) is irrelevant.

She was obviously not a "featured" actress, because neither her name nor the fact that she's an actress were ever mentioned in the bit.
 
John Albert said:
"Employment/coersion" (sic) is irrelevant.

She was obviously not a "featured" actress, because neither her name nor the fact that she's an actress were ever mentioned in the bit.
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Her job is irrelevant as has been explained. If you cannot prove she was employed as an actress then your point is irrelevant. Im not going over old ground, you invented a conspiracy without much in the way of proof.Nothing has changed.
 
Azrael 5 said:
An obvious conspiracy. They saw this thread and knew the game was up so blocked it.
Or..
They block all his shows in UK on YouTube actually.
Im firmly in the no stooges camp ,my reasons are in the other linked thread,certainly cannot be bothered again.

ETA: How many "Derren Brown is fake " threads have you started now? I see you are a CT truther too. Figures.
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I can start a derren brown is fake thread as often as I like on this forum. and the reason I have claimed this so far is because, knowing hypnotism is real, having been hypnotized for real myself, it sickens me to watch the con-artist making money by conning gullible people by using stooges faking it.
by calling me a CT truther, I suppose you are referring to the 9/11 truth movement, in which case it should be discussed on a 9/11 thread, as it has no relevence to this one.
channel 4 have not blocked all his shows on you tube in the UK as you can see by the link I have posted for the seance on this thread.
 
www.youtube.com/watch?v=XoFQgXmT3T4&feature=showob

by setting my you tube filter to worldwide I have been able to download the casino stunt.
so DB meets a stranger on the street, who he instantly puts into a somnambulistic trance, tells him to withdraw £5,000 from his bank and he does not find out until DB phones him and tells him later.
you can see the whole nonsensical program.
 
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silver birch said:
p.s.
I was going to post a link for the whole program, but channel 4 have blocked it.
I wonder why they have blocked that one but not other programs?
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silver birch said:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=XoFQgXmT3T4&feature=showob

by setting my you tube filter to worldwide I have been able to download the casino stunt.
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So they havent blocked it then just a filter thing? So no conspiracy? Seems I was wrong about the blocks,maybe they block shows uploaded by YouTubers only.
so DB meets a stranger on the street, who he instantly puts into a somnambulistic trance, tells him to withdraw £5,000 from his bank and he does not find out until DB phones him and tells him later.
you can see the whole nonsensical program.
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He is a magician,try grasp that point and all will be well.
 
to be honest, I have never assumed that Derren Brown can do what he claims to be doing. It's a show.
 
Can someone explain why Magda Rodriguez being an actress is a smoking gun when he used NLP to convince Simon Pegg that he really wanted a bicycle?

Perhaps some cultural barrier is in the way of my understanding the issue, but as a non-UK resident, I've been under the impression that Derren Brown's shows are presented as entertainment and not hard scientific research.
 
Hitch he didnt use NLP thats just misdirection.Not that he states he uses it anyway. :)
 
Azrael 5 said:
Hitch he didnt use NLP thats just misdirection.Not that he states he uses it anyway. :)
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Yeah, you're still beating that same dead horse that was already killed in the other thread. He pretends to use NLP "without calling it as such" (his own words).
 
If I may quote Seanbaby, the people who pop up from time to time to wail about Derren Brown using tricks on his shows are "like someone jumping up at the Special Olympics and shouting, 'Stop the race! There's something wrong with all these children! Something medically wrong!'" They're probably still amazed by their father's ability to pull his thumb off and reattach it.
 
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