Christopher Carter

If you’ve ever watched mentalism drag under too much procedure, Christopher Carter brings a refreshing counterpoint: move fast, stay direct and make the audience feel the mind reading before they think about the method. We talk about why attention spans are shrinking across the board, how that shift changed the college show market and what still holds up when you’re working corporate events, theatres and even cruise ships. 

Christopher walks us through the core pieces of his working act, from a high-speed playing card memory demonstration to a tossed out deck that pulls the entire room onto the stage. We get into his three-billet routine built to erase explanations phase by phase, plus his take on Pegasus Page where staging and pseudo-hypnotic framing create a surprisingly intimate moment in a large venue. Then we go deep on the blindfold question and answer act, why Q and A is the “major effect” audiences expect and how structure is what makes improvisation feel confident instead of risky. 

We also hit the practical tools that keep a pro show dependable: utility devices like Real Die, wallet strategies that delay the dirty work until no one is watching and “pack small, play big” thinking with Scrabble Memories and Bruce Bernstein’s Eat at Joe’s as a customisable, corporate-ready finale. Finally, Christopher explains why he’d literally bury magic apps on the island, drawing a bright ethical line around phone scraping and audience trust and he shares why a voice recorder is his most powerful non-magic weapon for capturing ideas and sharpening scripts. Subscribe, share this with a performer friend, and leave a review with your biggest takeaway.

Christopher Carter’s Desert Island Tricks 

Welcome package: Playing Card Memory 

1. Tossed Out Deck 
2. Three Billet Routine 
3. Pegasus Page 
4. Blindfold Q&A Act
5. Real Die 
6. Stealth Assassin Wallet 
7. Scrabble Memories 
8. Eat at Joe’s

Banishment. Magic Apps

Book. Unreal 

Item. Voice Recorder 

Find out more about the creators of this Podcast at www.alakazam.co.uk

Transcript

Direct Mentalism And Changing Audiences

SPEAKER_03 0:00

Well you do. You know, uh a lot of jokes are made about the decreasing attention attention span of younger people. It's not really a myth. I mean, it's not just younger people. Everybody's attention span is is decreasing. College campus performances used to make up essentially 100% of what I do. Now I I only do a handful. I do almost exclusively corporate events. Uh that was a result of me getting old enough that I don't think I really connected as much as I should with the college students. And also that market is degraded considerably. It's no longer anything like what it once was. So I aged out of it at a pretty good time. But I love the energy that uh college students bring to a show. And so I appreciate that demand for, you know, having something that's fast-paced, something that's direct. I hate excessive procedure and mentalism. It drives me crazy. So the more direct you can make something, by all means, the better it's going to be a little bit.

SPEAKER_01 1:40

We have had many, many a conversation about today's guest's work. His many penguin lectures, which so far have had over a hundred five-star reviews. If you have not seen this man's penguin lectures, my goodness, you are missing out terribly. Just go and get them, do not think about it, thank us after. They are absolutely phenomenal. He is the winner of the Dunninger Award. He's been featured on the cover of American Corporate Entertainment Magazine. He's performed all over the world from Finland, Mexico, Qatar, and his best-selling book in the spotlight uh won the Penguin Magic's Book of the Year Award 2026, and it deserved it. I read it from cover to cover one afternoon. I thought it was absolutely brilliant. It highlights some of the things in his Penguin Lectures, but a lot of it isn't in there. A lot of it is very, very, very clever, workable effects, and that's why myself and Andy have had so many conversations about his work. Uh, I know that this is going to be a phenomenal, phenomenal list. Of course, it's our first mentalist for a while as well. So American and a mentalist. Very exciting. Today's guest, of course, is the wonderful Christopher Carter. Hello, Christopher.

SPEAKER_03 2:55

Hello, Jamie, and thanks so much for having me on. I I am seriously looking forward to spending some time on the beach in my desert island here. So I've got myself prepped. I'm ready.

SPEAKER_01 3:04

Well, I uh by the looks of just the way your life is and how busy you are, it's gonna be nice for you just to have a break, I think.

SPEAKER_03 3:11

At this point, it has been actually incredibly busy. Um, you know, I I'm in uh I always say that every performer is going to go through a couple of reinventions, and I've finally kind of completed the last reinvention. At least I hope it's the last. We'll see. We'll see. Well, you never know what's coming down the line.

SPEAKER_01 3:28

Well, I think what's really interesting when I walk you is um you just feel like you've got the years behind you, you've got the experience behind you, you know the ins and outs of the industry, you know the ins and outs of the material that you perform, and I think that's why you resonate so well with people because you're just slick if I'm allowed to use that and you you just you come across so confidently, like you've just been there and done it all.

SPEAKER_03 3:57

Well, uh first of all, thank you very much. Uh Slick has an interesting connotation. I know if I I I I I'll take polished. How about polished? But uh um, you know, you you mentioned with respect to the material. I I think it's crucial that every performer know their material so well that uh they are no longer thinking about it, they're just embodied in the moment on stage, and I think when that happens It's also that there are some people who are very good at taking classic methods and newer methods and kind of merging them together to create something more than the sum of their parts.

SPEAKER_01 4:36

And I think you're one of these people. When I see like Liam Montier, for example, I always say he's so brilliant at taking different methods, older methods that maybe we've not seen for a long time, and turning them into this great new thing. When I watch your stuff, I see some of the older billet techniques, but you make them look new, you make them relevant with the subject matter that you're doing. The way that you routine some of those moves are so, so clever. Again, I would put you in there with Mark Paul. You very much Mark Paul uh suaveness.

SPEAKER_03 5:12

Well, that first of all, that's incredibly flattering. Uh I am uh probably the ultimate Mark Paul fanboy. Uh you know, uh I have been in awe over the years of his uh mastery of technique, but also mastery of of performance. And so that I do aspire to something like that, yes.

SPEAKER_01 5:33

So when it comes to your material, and uh when I mentioned that you use some of the older techniques and stuff like that, how do you go about creating a new relevant piece of magic? Because even in in one of your uh penguin routine uh penguin things, you've got a routine with a large, is it a broom or a or a mop chip on the stage?

SPEAKER_03 5:57

It's it's an unusual routine uh in which I uh balance a broom, which would be provided by the venue, on a an inverted soft drink cup, and then I I make it rotate psychokinetically so that it mimics the hands of of a watch. How did I come up with that? Um like I come up with anything, uh experimentation. I I think that rehearsal is a crucial. I rehearse all the time, and uh I think that rehearsal needs to have play. And so that's what I do. I I'll get up, take something that's old or something I've been thinking about, and just start to improvise around it. And you know, nine times out of ten, it goes nowhere, but that one time out of ten, you get something really good, and that's what you keep.

SPEAKER_01 6:44

Yeah, and well, it's very evident with your work. And like I say, if people haven't seen your book and your penguin lectures, just go and do it. They're they're full of absolutely brilliant stuff. Your tossed out deck approach as well, absolutely superb. It's so, so clever. Your work on the QA inside your book as well is phenomenal as well. So I'm very excited to see where you go with your list.

Opening With Memory And Pace

SPEAKER_01 7:08

Now, if it's your first time listening, of course, we're about to maroon Christopher on his very own desert island. When he's there, he's allowed to take eight tricks, one book, one non-magic item that he uses for magic, maybe a broom. Oh, who knows? He's allowed to banish one item, but of course, it's season three, so he has a welcome package, a deck of cards. Now, I know that Christopher is a mentalist, so it's gonna be really interesting to see what he chooses with his welcome item. So, Christopher, what would you take with you in your welcome?

SPEAKER_03 7:39

Oh, I see, I see what you're saying. Uh absolutely well, I would perform uh playing card memory a la Bob Cassidy, in which uh the audience shuffles up a pack of cards and you very quickly run through and memorize half of it. And then the the excitement, if there is any for this audience, is uh verifying that you've memorized the order of that pack of cards in such an incredibly rapid way that their minds get blown. Uh it is a brilliant effect. It wasn't not original to Bob Cassidy, but his he popularized it and did some lovely subtleties. And I would essentially do it the more or less the same way that Bob Cassidy did it. Um it it he's he simplified it to the point where you can set this up in virtually no time. And what's really great about it, it plays for a giant crowd. Um and uh, you know, I'm on the island, so I I guess my crowd would be seabirds and crabs, but they're gonna get into this. They absolutely will.

SPEAKER_01 8:42

Well, I think that's a great choice. Uh memorized deck routines are such an amazing thing because it it kind of goes into the magic square thing where it's it's it's it's a a mental feat, so to speak, something that you do. And I know again, we referenced Mark Paul earlier. He mentions a lot that at the beginning of his shows he likes to present these mental effects, so it almost gives credibility to what he does. So for you, where does this kind of routine sit in your show?

SPEAKER_03 9:17

Well, exactly as you described, and Mark is right. Uh, it doesn't almost give credibility, it absolutely gives credibility. I think the early part of a mentalism show, you know, if you step out and you come on too strong too fast, you will lose that credibility. It it simply will be dismissed as tricks. So a lot of the art of mentalism is lulling people into the you know, the narrative that you really are using your mind power. So things like memor giant memory stunts, they they they they get people involved because they're sitting there watching them thinking, aha, if I practiced, I could do this. And of course, it's true for a lot of the memory stunts, but we we uh sometimes we we tweak it out a little bit and give ourselves a an unfair advantage, which is what I would do with this particular effect. But yeah, that's exactly its point. Um now, interestingly, Bob Cassidy did it as a a finale. It was uh it was the end of the show, and it was essentially a way of explaining how everything else happened in the show. Uh and I think that uh that's where I would like it to put because its pace and its energy are so great. And I think that's a lot of things a lot a lot of performers get wrong with memorized deck routines. I think a lot of them just do them too darn slow. They've got to be done uh uh as if you're just railroading through super fast. You're getting this card, this card, this card, this card, this card. And uh uh you know, it hypes the audience up. They love it.

SPEAKER_01 10:48

Aaron Powell Well, I know that in uh in America you have college shows and your website speaks a lot about your college shows and a lot of those performances. Now we don't have those in the UK so much. But I'm guessing those environments, you have to be like that. You have to impress those younger people super quickly.

SPEAKER_03 11:06

Well, you do. Uh you know, uh a lot of jokes are made about the decreasing attention span of younger people. It's not really a myth. I mean, it's not just younger people, everybody's attention span is is decreasing. College campus performances used to make up essentially 100% of what I do. Now I I only do a handful, I do almost exclusively corporate events. Uh that was a result of me getting old enough that I don't think I really connected as much as I should with the college students. And also that market is degraded considerably. It's no longer anything like what it once was. So I aged out of it at a pretty good time. But I love the energy that uh college students bring to a show. And so I appreciate that demand for you know, having something that's fast-paced, something that's direct. I hate excessive procedure and mentalism. It drives me crazy. So the more direct you can make something, it's going to be.

SPEAKER_01 12:01

Amazing. Well, I think that's a great one in your welcome package. Let's get to your main list then, Christopher.

Tossed Out Deck That Hooks Crowds

SPEAKER_01 12:07

So what would you take in your first position?

SPEAKER_03 12:10

My first position is going to be tossed out deck, which has been my first position for almost my entire performing career. Uh tossed out deck for our listeners is uh ultimately the brainchild of a man named David Hoy, who published it in a book called The Bold and Subtle Miracles of Dr. Faust. And it is one of the most incredibly direct mind reading routines that you can do with a pack of cards. Uh toss that deck through the audience, every you know, handful of people take a peek, and you immediately are able to identify what the cards are. So that's one of the things that's appealing about it, is extremely direct. Now, I'm I mucked it up a little bit. Uh I made it a little less direct in that I do a one-person card divination to begin with, and then begin to take it out into the audience. And I and I do that so that I can start to draw the whole audience in. They see me working with one individual, a lot of business with them, and then I spread it out to the whole audience. And that's why I love it. Um, because it's it it does for me what like the an opening pitch of a street performer might do for the street performer.

SPEAKER_01 13:20

It's it's designed to draw the audience in and so I know that Luc Jamay has this same approach where for his tossed out deck he he has a couple of cards looked at before he then casts it into the audience. And I think that's a really interesting way of doing it because I guess at that point maybe the audience are questioning what you're doing with that deck. So then when you just band it up and throw it out into the deck, it makes it feel even more impossible.

SPEAKER_03 13:55

Yeah, and and it makes it plausible. Why are we sending this out into the audience? Well, you know, it's okay, I've I'm working with you, but I think those people want to get involved as well. And so it's a it's a natural transition from working in the small area of the stage to then making the entire audience your stage.

SPEAKER_01 14:13

And your subtleties with the tossed up deck are phenomenal. Now, for anyone who who hasn't seen your subtleties, first off, like I said, go go to the Penguin lectures. They're brilliant. But how did you develop those subtleties? Was that literally through years and years of just performing it and thinking, oh, it'd be great if I could do that and add that and add that?

SPEAKER_03 14:37

That's exactly it. It wa it's just a constant additive sort of process. Like I said, I love I love rehearsal and I am an obsessive note taker about performances. So, you know, what clicked, what didn't, and it's like, well, I took a little guess here. What if and it got this incredible reaction because I guessed right. What if it doesn't have to be a guess? And then I go back and I tweak the method to see that I can, you know, do that same thing pretty much every time. So everything that I do is part of an evolutionary process. There's no trick that's done completely. And in fact, I think the idea that any effect or routine is done is um is a travesty. No trick should ever be done. Every single performance is in addition to I I have this uh thing about books about magic theory, and that in a way I love them, but I also hate them because usually they're presented in a way that's detached from your actual practice. So the reason I wrote my book was to embody magic theory into the effects that I do, because that's the only way to express them. Is you know, whatever theories I have about performance, uh need I can't really relate to them unless I show you, here's what I do and here's the results of them. And and frankly, I'm I guess I'm uh egocentric enough to think the results are pretty good. So a big, a big crucial component of that is this iterative process. Um I am, if anything, an exceptional editor. I don't, I'm not particularly a great improviser, but I I rehearse and improvise enough that I have some idea of where things are going to go. And in the performance, I record it all, and uh I go back and I collect it so that the next time around, when that thing that was unexpected of the last performance happens, you know, I'm ready for it.

SPEAKER_01 16:34

Yeah. Well, I think that's a great one in number one. Toss that deck. And if I'm entirely honest, if we were all playing Christopher Carter Bingo, I think we all would have hoped it was gonna be in there. So I'm glad it's in there. Let's go to number two then. What's in your second position?

Billets Made Big On Stage

SPEAKER_03 16:50

Three billet routine. Um the three billet routine uh is something that I mean, it's it's essentially a classic effect. Um, it's related to a number of effects that have existed. Uh in particular, structurally, it's probably closest to Max Maven's desire. Um three items of information are written down uh on cards. You look at one card uh and determine who wrote that piece of information. I'm giving the very bare bones here, because in practice it's much cooler than this. Uh and then you do that a second time, and the third time you mentally divine it. My take uh probably owes most to a friend of mine, a man named Marcus Beldig, a brilliant German mentalist who uh is kind of under the radar for most people, and he came up with this uh theatrical construction where the billets are mixed up in the pocket and the last billet is removed from your jacket pocket. And I just loved that theatrically. There's this intimate connection with the person who's taking it out. Um and what's I think is really great about it is it feels as if that last billet is truly genuinely isolated. There's no way you could possibly have gotten to it. Um and then I restructured it and really changed the the methods around so that each piece of the effect cancels out the previous piece, so that if the audience has uh an explanation, it's going to be destroyed by the next phase, which will then be destroyed by the final phase. And the other reason that I routined it the way I did is because I wanted to make it not about the billets, which is the biggest problem with billet routines, is that a lot of performers make them feel small by not making them about the audience and how you're reading their thoughts or discovering the information from them. And I wanted it to become a routine that I could play in a very, very big uh space, and I do all the time. Um so it's incredibly practical. I mean, all you need are three business cards and uh and something to write on, uh write with, and you're golden.

SPEAKER_01 19:02

Yeah, for me this was one of the standout pieces. Um I remember watching it for the first time, and like you say, I've read the work of Bob Cassidy and I've seen Mark Paul's got some phenomenal billet routines as well. He's got some great Alexander Marsh has got some great billet work. Incredible stuff, yes. When I saw yours, there was just something, and I cannot put my finger on it, that was just incredibly, incredibly satisfying. When you when you find out how it's been structured, it's just so clever. You're so far ahead. But exactly what you just said, I think the fact that everything feels invisible, everything's so hands-off, everything just feels so much fairer.

SPEAKER_03 19:44

Well, mentalists are always trying to how do you play something big? And they're always looking for how do you make mentalism visible. And and I think that there's some value in that. Don't get me wrong. I I in fact, uh I have a couple of techniques that I use uh that are will, you know, make a revelation really big. But I think the best way to make it visible is to make the revelation happen on the faces of the spectators whose minds you read. And that's the real art of mentalism is drawing out those emotional reactions. One person reacting with shock and amazement will read to the largest audience much better than your, you know, your biggest writing tablet or even putting it up on video. So that was the primary goal. You know, honestly, uh that routine came out as kind of a bet. I was at a convention and a friend of mine said, you know, the problem with billets, Chris, is that they're too small. And I began to think about it. Well, the billets shouldn't even exist except as records of something in the minds of the audience. Uh everything else is as big as you need to make it. But but I I realized he had a point in that a lot of people really make it, you know, make a billet routine about the slip of paper that it's written on rather than the emotional responses. So it was my way of saying to him, ha, see, I tell you I can play this as big as I want. And um and that's how it developed. I just thought the number one thing I want to do is dispense of writing anything down and then turning around a tablet to reveal it. That's the the most important thing I want to do. So if I'm going to do that, how can I structure these reveals in a way that you you get the audience coming along with you and you make it big emotionals to see?

SPEAKER_01 21:39

And I think it it kind of lends itself to the whole QA. A lot of QA the uh a lot of QA routines begin with the billets and then suddenly the billets aren't part of it, and you're just pointing at someone and telling them the most incredible information about themselves. And without skipping the the list, because people at home. Home, you may not know this, but I genuinely never know the guests list. So QA may well be on there. So I don't want to go too far forward. Um, but that's what it feels like. Your your routine feels like a mini QA.

SPEAKER_03 22:14

Well, and and you hit on something really important about any type of revelation where somebody writes something down. The the writing down is necessary, but uh how do you render it invisible? And I think one of the ways you do that is by implying that you're going to get a lot more, that that's just the first step in a process. Um and I do that with the Q ⁇ A. Uh it's interesting that you mentioned you say that about the three billet routine because I had never really thought about it in those terms. But it I think it's also really important if you're going to do a billet routine to clearly define how, theatrically speaking or dramatically speaking, you're receiving the information. And uh I do that in a in a couple of ways. The first two parts are sort of people reading body language, lie detection type of things, but the last one is telepathically, and I spell it out really clearly for that audience member how they are to do it. I say, you're going to look toward me, I'm going to close my eyes. When I say go, I need you to say this person's name in your mind. Not out loud, but really important. You need to hear your inner voice say it. And now, I mean, that's a theatrical conceit. That is not actually how it happens, but that's a big part of what takes this little trick and makes it big to the audience because they're eager to get involved in that. They want to have that kind of dramatic structure. Uh, and so give it to them and the papers disappear.

SPEAKER_01 23:50

Well, I'm so glad that's in there as well. And like I said, I know I'm gonna be saying this all the way through this podcast, so I apologize. Just go check it out. Just go get the Penguin lecture, check it out, it's phenomenal. Let's go to number three, then, Christopher. What's in position number

Pegasus Page And Audience Focus

SPEAKER_01 24:05

three?

SPEAKER_03 24:05

Pegasus page. Uh let's be more specific. My take on Pegasus page, which I call horsefly. And um I love this routine because it allows uh I want to say this moment of intimacy in a show that I get. So let me just describe it for uh everybody who's listening to this. Uh essentially, uh get a woman on stage and I and I claim that I'm going to project an image into her mind of something that doesn't exist. And uh I have her sit on an envelope. I'll explain to her what that's about later, but early in the routine it stays a mystery. And then I have her uh stop on a page as I thump through a book, a regular book, uh by the way, not tricked up in any way. And I have her look at the page number, say it to the audience, and then look at a word and remember it. And when she reveals what the page number and word are, it matches a prediction that I've given her. The prediction says you're going to choose page 259. That just happens to be uh the page in the book that I'm currently using, and you are going to be thinking of the word dismal. And you know, that's modestly impressive. But the next phase is uh I sit down with her and I ask her quite plainly, do you really believe you saw that page number? And of course she insists that yes, she does. Do you really believe you saw that word? And yes, she insists she does. And then I ask, what uh what if I told you you didn't see them, that they don't exist? And now when she goes back into the book, she discovers that the page doesn't exist, uh, that page has actually been ripped out, and the ultimate payoff is she discovers that she's been sitting on that page before she ever even looked in the book. But it's that moment when I can sit down with her and begin that interview that I know I've got her hooked, and that when we get to that discovery that that page isn't there, that I'm gonna get this huge outsized emotional reaction from her. So that's why I love that routine so much. It you know, it's that sitting down on stage with a person. So I like to play with staging. Um I don't like it all be the same. That goes back to my theatrical background and I study theatrical movement. And I think it's important to think about where you stage certain pieces of the effect and how you use the whole stage space.

SPEAKER_01 26:36

Well, a lot of your routines rely on the audience being in the audience still and you being the performer. I think that was another really interesting point of view is a lot of the time in stage performances, it's lots of audience members coming up, coming up. And what was great about watching you work is that you're so good at finding interesting, fun ways to get the audience involved without them having to constantly come up on stage.

SPEAKER_03 27:10

I think it's a big challenge with mentalism because routines can be so long. If you're always bringing people up on stage, you have a real traffic flow problem. And it just feels like I don't know, it feels like the trains, people getting in, getting off, getting in, getting off. Uh that's not exciting. I I think focusing on the traffic flow in your performances uh it will go a long way toward helping people speed a performance up. You know, anything that you can consolidate a number of routines, for example, that just have one person with you on stage for a while is going to get away from that constant coming and going dynamic. Um I think I one of the reasons that I I I really enjoy the Pegasus page routine is because I've staged it for this is that one time when it's not the only time, but it is a time when I get a person on stage and we just narrow it down to their experience. And so that's why I sit down with them, because I I want it to be, even if we don't do anything with the lighting, like the spotlight got very, very narrow.

SPEAKER_01 28:09

And what I also love about the way that you've gone with the Pegasus page is you've almost made it pseudo-hypnotic because I know that you're also a hypnotist and you have that aspect. So have you ever had times where people have genuinely questioned how they saw the page?

SPEAKER_03 28:28

Oh, absolutely. And you're right. I I it is a piece of pseudo hypnosis. I actually uh pretty much always precede it with some genuine in the audience hypnotic test. That's how I I select the person who's going to participate. And often I will do a speed induction on them on stage. If I I'm pretty confident I'm gonna I'm gonna be able to succeed with it. If I'm not, I'll skip it. But if I'm even 90% confident, I'll do I'll try a speed induction and do a few hypnotic stunts with them before getting into it. Because I I really want it to be believable that I have somehow subliminally planted this idea in their head.

SPEAKER_01 29:06

Amazing. Well, I'm a huge fan of Pegasus Page, so I'm very glad that's in there as well. Let's go to number four, then. What's in your fourth

Blindfold Q And A As Centerpiece

SPEAKER_01 29:13

spot?

SPEAKER_03 29:13

The Blindfold Question and Answer Act. Uh by the way, I'm going to mention that uh, you know, you didn't give a a like a sense that these had to be in any particular order, but these first four are literally the order of my A set. So um if I'm going to be doing a 45-minute show, this is the order of the 45-minute show. Um I fell in love with the Blindfold Question Answer Act when I was probably 18 years old. And I had gone to a magic convention to compete with my manipulation act, and I saw a mentalist perform on one of the evening shows by the name of Glenn Falkenstein. Uh Glenn was uh known for his Blindfold Question Answer Act, and it blew me away, much more so than anything else I had seen at that convention, and I saw some incredible things at that convention. But uh I had no clue whatsoever how this was happening. And then in the middle of it, he made a joke that I guess was tossed out as kind of an inside joke, assuming that everybody in the audience knew how he was doing what he was doing. Well, that was a faulty assumption. Uh that joke revealed to me exactly how he was doing it. I hadn't known before, and probably revealed to some of the other people in the audience, but I actually think it went over the head of a lot of people. In any case, the joke uh opened it up for me. I went, oh my gosh, you're telling me that you can get this kind of response from something that is technically so simple. I've got to learn how to do this. Well, turns out it's actually a lot harder than it looked. Um so here I am, a precocious 18-year-old, uh essentially duplicating Glenn Falkenstein's blindfold act, uh, because I had gotten a uh here's how old I am, a VHS uh from television, uh watching him do it. And I just got the materials and uh recreated. It involved uh duct tape, coins, and a supreme slate uh uh um supreme steel mask blindfold. And uh so a little secret for anybody who wants to learn how to do blindfold work is just do what somebody else does, you'll figure it out.

SPEAKER_01 31:39

Well, I think what's really interesting with QA is this is where the structure of a trick is vital. Like the method is obviously very important, but it's the structure of the routine which allow the methods to kind of work. And I think that's where QA is really clever. I think it's one of the cleverest mentalism routines because there's some phenomenal work out there, of course, yours included from your book. And the way that these routines are structured and put together are absolutely phenomenal.

SPEAKER_03 32:13

Well, you're absolutely right. Structure is everything, and um that's really what the chapter in my book was about. I I didn't want to teach the technique uh uh of mine, although it's actually embedded in in my book in different spots. I actually broke up the technique and hid it in different sections around. But uh partly because QA is something you have to live with. It's less uh an effect than it is I I I maybe I'm being a little pretentious if I say it's kind of a way of life, but you you have to make it a centerpiece and do it over and over and over to truly understand that well ultimately what QA is uh is a beautiful improvisational routine with uh with structure behind it. And the structure is honestly what allows you to improvise effectively. And a big part of that is setting it up. Why are we having people write it down and then creating this idea that that's just the beginning of a process? So um it if you can establish the premise properly, you can ultimately get to the point where you give the impression of being able to pluck every little thought out of somebody's head and just bounce from one person to another in the audience. And I I I I did that fairly recently. Uh I really I had a whole family in the audience and I just began to tell them about each other. And so at that point, you have uh this this rhythm going where, you know, I'm talking to a guy, I think his name was Paul, and Paul, is your wife here? Yeah, he is. Well, let's introduce me to her. Not out loud in your mind. Oh, hi Elizabeth, good to meet you. Uh you know, Elizabeth has been thinking about what you're going to get her for your anniversary, and I'm so I'm just telling them all about each other. The audience has no idea what information these people might or might not have actually revealed to me. And so I, you know, through improvisations like that, you're able to create this idea that there's this kind of random element where suddenly you're just tuned into somebody and receiving uh a ton of information, almost like radio waves being beamed into your head.

SPEAKER_01 34:24

Well, it it kind of, you know, i it is a psychic uh demonstration. That's what it comes across at. When you see a quote unquote medium psychic is exactly what what they are doing. They are quite literally just pointing at someone and revealing something, and then every now and again they'll look away because something's interfering with it just feels so real.

SPEAKER_03 34:48

Well, and I think that's it. I th I make a joke that some people take too seriously, but I I say that Bob Cassidy described QA as a major effect in mentalism. And Bob Cassidy distinguished between major and minor effects this way. A minor effect is something you do with one individual. A major effect is something that you could do with anybody in the audience, and the whole audience feels like they could be part of it. Um and he gave it this terminology, major effect, and it creates this idea that uh that major means it's better. Um, and that's not necessarily the case. Uh he really wasn't going for that, but for me it it does mean that. So my joke is that not uh uh the QA is not only a major effect. In my opinion, it's essentially the only effect in mentalism. And again, I don't mean that as literally as some people try to say, but it is what the audience expects or imagines a mind reader to be able to do. When they meet you and you say that you're a mentalist, they're going to say, tell me what I'm thinking. And you that that point you're going to have to break into some routine that steps back a little bit and justifies a procedure. But that's not what QA looks like. QA looks like the exact fulfillment of that expectation. Tell me what I'm thinking. Okay, you're thinking this, you're thinking this. Uh, you were thinking this, but tried to hide it from me. You know, you can uh come up with stuff like that. So I frankly I don't understand uh mentalists who don't want to do QA. Well, I do a little bit. Tell you why, because it's risky. You don't know what the audience is going to give you. And so you have to be able to curate on the fly, and you have to be able to build connections between people's information and structure this all while trying to look like you know what the heck you're doing on stage. And that is that's not an easy feat. And that's why I say that QA needs to be a lifestyle. You have to spend a long time on this before you're able to do that with real confidence and authority. But once you can, you can tackle anything.

SPEAKER_01 37:09

Yeah, and uh something that you mentioned earlier on, you mentioned about the improvisation of it all. And I think that's exactly what it is. I think uh as soon as you acquire the information, you need to know what to do with that information, and that's where that improvisation comes from. And the quicker and the slicker um that you are at performing, I think that's where the real art with QA lies. It's not in the method, it's being able to respond really quickly and casually to whichever thing they've written down.

SPEAKER_03 37:40

So I started out uh as a more traditional magician. I thought I was going to become a close-up card magician, and I ended up going into mentalism. But I'll tell you one of the reasons I did is because I discovered the the thrill of improvising and winging it. Now, let me be clear. When I say winging it, I can always go back to the set technique. It's always in place. The structure in the script is always there. But the ability to go off script and just capitalize on a moment is one of the beautiful gifts that mentalists have handed to them that you know the too many don't take advantage of. I had a friend who worked at a uh magic pub, I guess you would call it, or uh uh a a place called Schulians in Chicago. It was one of the great little bits of Chicago bar magic. And uh he did a a trick in which he would have somebody name a card and then he would have them cut it and turn over the card in the anticipation is that's going to be the one they named. But it was totally random. It never was. And so most of the, you know, fifty-one out of fifty-two times he's gonna get it wrong, and then the joke is, ah, but that would have been a pretty great trick, huh? And people laugh. Well, he did this for Max Maven, who was sitting at the bar, and it turned out to be exactly right. And Max in his very Max Maven-y way said, Can you do that again? And uh and he went, No, it just comes out that way. Well, that's how a magician would do it. But a good mentalist would say something like, No, I'm not willing to try this again because you'll understand the techniques I'm using. Or, you know, the point is if you have something serendipitous happen to you, uh as a mentalist, you better not act surprised. You better act like it you you it was supposed to be that way. And QA is one of the best to do that.

SPEAKER_01 39:36

Amazing. Well, I'm glad it's in there. Let's go to number five then. So what would you put in your fifth

Utility Gear Real Die And Wallets

SPEAKER_01 39:42

spot?

SPEAKER_03 39:42

Aaron Powell The number five is for me a utility item, real die. And um uh what do I say? Real die is uh a great I feel like if I describe this too much, I'm gonna give it away. The point is that real die, you can tell what number somebody has turned up on a die. And uh what I love about it is not telling them the number that they can turn up on a die, but using that knowledge for other purposes. And so I use it to select a person in the audience. I have somebody roll a die and not reveal what number it is, and then I'm going to have people stand up in the audience, and their target will be whoever corresponds to their particular number. So for example, I point to somebody and say, you're number one, stand up, and I say to the person who rolled the die, so if your number is number one, this person is your target. And then we have two, three, four, five, and six stand up. He then concentrates on whoever that target is, and I find that person in the audience and ultimately have predicted something about them. That's the kind of thing you can do with real die. If you use it just to figure out what the numbers are, you're definitely not exploring its possibilities. It's an incredible utility device and uh one of the handful of devices of its kind that is really reliable. Um I mean that just that thing line you. Right, and some very good versions.

SPEAKER_01 41:13

But I still would agree. I have also used the uh other items from ProMystic, and they're always just so phenomenal. They're they're the brands when someone's working on TV or in a TV studio, they always go for ProMystic over others, and I think that's a testament to how good they are because you want them to be reliable. And someone like yourself who's in so many different environments, and you know, some of the places you you could be anywhere in the world at any point, it has to be 100% reliable.

SPEAKER_03 41:50

Exactly. I uh and that for that genre of effect, um there are many that to my mind are just not reliable enough for me. Uh but yeah, uh what's so great about that is that uh as far as I'm concerned, it's bulletproof.

SPEAKER_01 42:07

Yeah, 100%. And what I really love about what you've done with the real die is like you mentioned, the selection process. I think that there are so many different ways that we're trying to find interesting and unique wedding rare. Obviously, a lot of people use the coin toss approach to get someone up where you very much love. Um Ken Dyne performed on his penguin lecture, which I absolutely thought was brilliant. But I really love the randomness and the secretiveness of this, and what I also love is that you can begin the second part of the process before the first part has seemingly finished. So as they're selecting that number behind you, you're already getting people up, so you're way ahead of the rest of the audience.

SPEAKER_03 43:00

Yeah, it it's a marvelous device and gives so much opportunity for creative use.

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SPEAKER_00 43:24

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SPEAKER_03 44:04

That is that's my number five.

SPEAKER_01 44:06

Well, I think it's great. It's one so far, so I think that's great. Let's move on to number six then. So what's in your sixth spot?

SPEAKER_03 44:13

Well, number six, I'm I'm I'm cheating a little bit. And I I had uh it's also a utility device, but um I uh I had an original version that I use and then the version that I now use. They're different brand names, but they do the same thing. So the original version was the Sight Unseen Case, which is a brilliant wallet uh put out by Mark Strivings and um just wonderful. Uh that's not the version I currently use. I use one that you'll be familiar with, the Stealth Assassin wallet. And um and I use it because it's a little bit bigger and more robust and allows me to accomplish the chicanery I I want to accomplish with it. Um I have this in my book, it's in one of my Penguin lectures, but a a way of using it that's a little outside the box. Um I'm not the first person to have thought of it, but I exploit it much more than anybody. So, you know, the it the purpose of the wallet is to let you know what somebody wrote down. Um but the when you find that out is really crucial. And I use it in a way that allows me to delay that knowledge till I'm absolutely certain that the audience isn't looking. And um and uh th both of those wallets allow me to do it, but I I these days I'm kind of a f more more I I use the Stealth Assassin wallet primarily in the shows because I think, you know, I've also owned a Stealth Assassin since I was, I don't know, maybe 18, maybe even a bit younger.

SPEAKER_01 45:47

And I remember the SUC section of the wallet, and I always remember it being f I I would say it was an overlooked part of the functionality.

SPEAKER_03 45:59

It is. I can't even think of how many routines I have for stage that use that as I mean, obviously I don't do them all in the in the same show, but I have um kind of a mini QA that uses that. And um I have a a two-part design duplication routine that uses that. I uh I have a routine that I used prior to the three-billet routine that's essentially the same structure that uses that. So enormous fan of either of them. They're both very, very good.

SPEAKER_01 46:42

Well, Pete will be very happy to hear that. He doesn't listen to these before, so I know he'll be in the shower listening to this right now, uh, and his his ears would have pricked up. He'll be very excited about that. Um, I absolutely agree. I think that the idea that you've got so much with it, I think is really interesting as well. Now, I know that you're a stage performer, and I'm not sure how much people talk to you about your close-up work and stuff like that. Is this something that you would do in a close-up environment? Do you have a set of tricks that you go to when you need to do something quick in a close-up environment?

SPEAKER_03 47:18

I do. I do have a set of tricks that I do, and yes, I absolutely would use the either of these wallets in the in the way that I'm describing with this delay. No doubt about it. Primarily, though, when I'm I'm doing close-up, uh I do billet routines exclusively. Um, no, not exclusively, but almost to the point where it overbalances anything else I do. So I don't really know that I have a set exactly, but a handful of go-tos. And my my primary go-to would be uh the obsidian oblique billet move. Um the uh the the whole billet move. For people who want to look it up, I'm I'm I'm probably going to butcher the name, but Elaine Bellon or Bayonne, I don't know how it's pronounced, uh put these out decades ago in a very limited edition. Uh the whole billet move allows you access to the entire field of information, and yet the billet can be handed back to them completely in its pristine original condition. It is incredible.

SPEAKER_01 48:23

Wow. Now you've just started a hunt for for that now. Everyone's gonna be out there. What I really love though is this goes out in a few weeks' time, so it gives me the head start. So I'm gonna be uh looking that up. That's great. Thank you for that. Uh let's go to the tail end of your eight, though. We've got two more, so let's go to number

Scrabble Memories And Pack Small

SPEAKER_01 48:41

seven.

SPEAKER_03 48:41

Number seven, I call it Scrabble Memories. And uh this is a routine that I've been doing for quite a long time, in which you have a bag of Scrabble tiles, uh, and the audience gets handfuls of them so they can verify that you know they're all different. And then you have anywhere from five to eight, depending on what I do, people in the audience select the tiles, each one selecting a different tile. And you start out by asking them to just think of the letter and then to make a word from that letter, whatever word they can think of that begins with it. And finally, from there to think of a memory that that would be triggered by that word. So to give an example, uh, let's say that I selected the letter D and my word would be dog. I would probably think about the my favorite dog that I ever owned, who was a border collie named Duncan. And then if you said really elaborate on that memory, I would would remember what it was like picking him up at the breeders and taking him home. And if I really elaborated, I would remember him taking a pee in the car. So that's the kind of detail you ask the audience members to think of. And then without them ever writing anything down, you figure out a few of the letters, a few of the words, and then you begin to just describe the memories that people have, whether it be uh, you know, that remembering going to a dance and their dates dress and in when they were in high school, or maybe their first ski trip and hitting their head on the ski lift, detailed memories, and you get all of this stuff without it.

SPEAKER_01 50:17

That sounds phenomenal. And again, this kind of goes back to when we were talking about the QA. It it's it's literally it feels once again like a mini QA, but you're just finding another hook or another thing to to get the audience engaged. So the Scrabble tires are merely a an avenue to get to the information.

SPEAKER_03 50:39

Right, exactly. And I came up with that routine because I needed a bridge between uh the opening part of my show, which would involve billet routines and uh body language reading stunts and the QA. I needed something that would take us out into just telling the audience, look, I'm going to now try to pick up any little detail about you. And so I created this as a as a bridge, basically saying, we we've done these things as warmups. Now let's really try to dig into your thoughts.

SPEAKER_01 51:11

Yeah, I think that's amazing. And I think the the idea of having those scrabble tires, something that's again so little, so innocent, so universal, and being able to just build these scenes and these bigger ideas from such a small thing, I think it really highlights the the way that your performance and your ideas and your thoughts uh are written down in your books and in your your penguin lectures again. That's what it always feels like. It's like you're taking this small thing and you're just extrapolating everything you can from it.

SPEAKER_03 51:48

Yeah. Well, the the the uh the ethos of packing small play big. Um I I I don't you know conceptually I don't like the idea. Things should be as big as they need to be. But practically, uh I like the idea because I I you know I I travel a lot, and I the last thing I want to do is be worried about my luggage getting there. So, you know, if I can I I uh I just got off of a a week's performance on uh cruise ship and my entire show is in my laptop bag. And I should I should say both shows uh are in my laptop bag and in uh a compartment of my carry-on luggage. And that plays as big as if you had brought your giant illusions onto the stage. Because I need it to, and if you need it to bad enough, you know, where there's a will, there's a way.

SPEAKER_01 52:44

Wow. Well, that's the the interesting thing about that phrase, pack small plays big, is we're always assuming that means props. But with mentalism, I think that we can actually use that phrase in terms of performance. So pack small plays big isn't necessarily the props. It's literally how you are taking a small idea and turning it into a big presentation piece. You're you're pack small and playing big in presentation, not just props.

SPEAKER_03 53:14

Well, and and it's an idea though that I think you can expand and give over to the world of magic as well. I mean, uh there have been quite a lot of very successful comedy magicians who were able to do the same thing. And if you take a look at how they do it, they do it by making the concept of the trick compelling enough that everybody in the audience understands. Um, you know, and and creating uh a play that happens in the mind as well as is in the hands. Um I mean I can think of any number of brilliant comedy magicians. Uh right now, Nick Defat is freaking amazing. I don't know if you people in UK are familiar, but the funniest person I know. Um and he's just absolutely brilliant at taking these small effects and playing them huge.

SPEAKER_01 54:03

Yeah, his book off uh I think it was off beat is phenomenal. Um, and I really like his quirky presentations. He's very good at making you think one thing's gonna happen, and then something entirely different happens as well. Um, but I think that's a great choice in at number seven. Let's go to number eight then. We've got our final selection. What's in number eight?

Eat At Joe's Finale Design

SPEAKER_03 54:24

Final selection is a trick called Eat at Joe's, which is uh the creation of a uh somebody that I I live in awe of and I'm lucky to be pretty good friends with, a man named Bruce Bernstein, who is probably to my mind the greatest mentalism creator alive. And uh we'll be talking about him a little bit later when we get to books. But um Edith Joe's I'll tell you why I love this. It is the ultimate themeable effect. So essentially you have large envelopes. Um I think they they would probably be I don't know what they would be in in Great Britain, A4, but big size envelopes. Um and uh in in my case, they have letters on the front. So I use eight, and they're labeled A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H. And uh, the audience will describe how they get mixed. So you can either deal them or you can switch them and set them down. And so you ask an audience member to guide you through this. Do I deal or do I switch? And you get to the point where they are thoroughly mixed. Um in my routine, uh there are eight. And this is the reason I put this in in position of braid is because this is the finish of my my number one show. So this is my grand finale. I bring eight people out of the audience, I I show the envelopes, they get mixed by somebody in the audience, not by them doing it by hand, but um by them guiding you through it. The envelopes are then distributed to the people on stage, and I and I've claimed that I'm going to make the person say deal when I want them to deal, switch when I want them to switch, and nothing else. So now the letters that they spell out should be something meaningless, meaningful. But you look at them and step back and they're they're gibberish. They they literally spell the word gefahabdica, so just nothing. And I asked the man, so do you think that the choices you made were based on fate or free will? And he pretty much always says free will. And I say, you're right. But the better question is whose free will, yours or mine? And the moment you can you can hear that hook into the minds of the audience, I have the people on stage rotate so that the back of the envelopes are now facing it. And the backs also have letters on them and they spell out free will, F-R-E-E-W-I-L-L. And then I say to the audience, I I show you this because I get asked all the time, do you read people or do you manipulate them? And the answer is yes. And I've been doing both since the very beginning. Let me show you what I mean. Now, earlier in the audience, two people had thought of celebrities, or they've thought of Sylvester Stallone and Tom Hanks. So this becomes a callback. I now have the people reach into the envelopes and they pull out cards and the cards spell Tom Hanks, and then they rotate the cards around and they spell Sylvester Stallone. So the reason I'm describing the whole routine exactly as I do it is because I I want to let people know that this effect allows you to create these incredible big multiple revelations out of a set of props that will easily slide into the back panel of your laptop bag. And it plays huge, I mean absolutely gigantic. You've got eight people on stage holding envelopes, they spell stuff out, and uh I get these three big lifts one after the other: free will, and then the first name, and then the second name. Um now the original version of Eda Joe's was designed to have some kind of motivational content come out of the envelopes. So essentially you um you had them mixed up, and then perhaps the name of the company you're working on, working for comes out of the envelopes. But uh you can do anything with it. It's a great, great trick.

SPEAKER_01 58:17

I'm fairly sure, and forgive me whoever said it, I'm sure that we've had this on the podcast once before, um, because it it definitely comes to mind. And I remember thinking at the time, I need to go and and and find you do you need to go find this. It it sounds phenomenal. And it almost has like a chair test fill when you're gonna be able to do it.

SPEAKER_03 58:38

Yeah, exactly. But you don't need the chairs, which is very convenient. Um that's a big problem with chair tests, is that sometimes you have a stage that you just can't accumulate that many chairs on. It's even worse. Uh a lot of cruise ships now you can't bring people on stage. So uh they have to be standing on the floor in front of the stage.

SPEAKER_01 59:00

Do you know why that is?

SPEAKER_03 59:02

Uh they um it's litigiousness. Um they are afraid of being sued under uh Disabilities Act regulations. Um and honestly, uh my my guess is that the you know the the bosses of the cruise ship world are just a bunch of corporate bureaucrats who are afraid of their shadows. And uh so they just went, nah, can't do it.

SPEAKER_01 59:30

Yeah. Well, I think that the fact that people can't go back up on stage is gonna be really difficult. And I think it's it's actually gonna be a really interesting thing anymore.

SPEAKER_03 59:41

So yeah, you can uh go to them, you know, which means you have a camera trailing around. Uh it it's being it's being it's varied. Uh there's two cruise lines that I know of that are doing this, and one allows you to bring them up to the front of the stage, that the other doesn't. And I've thought to myself, what am I going to do if I ever get a request from that one that doesn't? It's like, I'm I'm just not going to take it. You know, there just gets comes to a point where it's not worth my while anymore.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:06

Well, back to Joe's before we move on. Um, what I also think is really interesting is you mentioned at the head of the podcast that you do a lot of corporate work. I'm guessing this is one of those routines where it's actually really easy to customize it for different companies and events.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:20

That is what's so great about it. It is so easy to customize this. You can put anything in that reveal. Um I I you can in in in Bruce's version, you can use as many envelopes as you like, but I I have discovered that it does get unwieldy after about 10. I've seen somebody do like about 15 or 20 for the really long i I that's just hard. So uh I'll I'll keep the revelation to something ten letters or under. But yeah, it's it's just incredible. It is uh I have a routine uh in my lectures and book called Miracle that allows you to do something similar. Um and I like it very much, but Ida Joe's is infinitely more practical.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:04

Well, I think it's a great way to round out your list, one that everyone's gonna be searching for as well. Uh so let's quickly go back over your list. For your welcome package, you had playing card memory, you had tossed out deck, two, you had three billet routine, then you had Pegasus page, you had your blindfold QA act, real dice, stealth assassin wallet, scrabble memories, and eat at Joe's. I think there's many, many ideas and thoughts there that lots of people are gonna be going to so Yeah, I I I think you Yeah, absolutely. So let's go on to your

Banning Apps Ethics And Trust

SPEAKER_01 1:01:39

final item. So we gave you eight tricks, but you're only allowed one each of these. So I want you to imagine that you're about to dig a big sandy hole and we're gonna throw something inside never to be seen again, vanish.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:53

I'm gonna take my cell phone and throw it in and cover it up. I'm gonna take a coke and I you know it having said that, I can think of a number of apps that are worthwhile, but um there is a trend toward using phone technology that's gone way over the top. Some of it, I think, even uh b borders on the unethical, if not goes right over it. Um but uh No. I I am, as you mentioned earlier, interested in the classics. I'm also only interested in doing something that contains a spark of my real creativity. Uh and then you add to that that I don't like things that are unreliable. And uh, you know, if I don't have exactly the right kind of Wi-Fi, some of these apps are not going to work for me. So uh you give me give me a billet any day. Uh but my my old curmudgeon's attitude is that an awful lot of these apps make performers very, very lazy.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:54

Yeah, I think that's uh it's one of those arguments as well. People have said it for quite a few years about electronics as well, and the idea that, you know, the majority of electrics are just doing it for you to to an extent. You don't really have to do much to it, and that's not necessarily a problem because I use electronics and I use apps as well, but I think something that you just said there is really interesting. I do think that electronics and apps kind of curb originality because you kind of only have that one thing with that that effects or that prop. And I think that's why I really like what you did with Real Die as well. We've got one bit of a special techness in your set, but the way that you've used that is so original and so different to what you would think of using it for.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:46

And I you know, I toss out things like that, um throw it, crush it, etc. Uh because I'm I'm old enough to be a curmudgeon. I I can can do this kind of thing. Uh I hope people understand it really is a little bit hyperbolic, but I I do think that uh some of the newer app uh I think they put they spell the potential death of mentalism. Uh there are things that involve essentially scrubbing somebody's phone for personal information. Um I think that's the end of us all. I do not like it. Uh and uh I I don't find it satisfying, even conceptually. I don't want to do anything on stage that's not satisfying to me. I don't understand why anybody would. Uh and maybe you when you see the kind of reactions you get from these, that's what's satisfying. But if if I can't bring something of myself to it, it's not worth my time and I don't want any part of it.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:47

Well, I think you mentioned about the the ethicalness of it, and I think you're 100% right. I think that's where the real fear is. I have also seen, you know, posts online of some of the things that people are doing, and uh what we have to remember is we are a community of performers, and if we lose trust with the general public, or one of us loses trust, that means that we've all lost trust with the general public, and we should be safeguarding us as performers and as a bunch of people. We need that trust in the audience, and as soon as the general public understand what's going on with those apps, that's it. We they're not gonna trust us anymore.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:32

I actually put a a section in my show now in which I talk about the electronic explanations. And um and I I do it because I I hate hearing people's explanations as to this, you know. Well, it's just electronics, it's like Google Glasses or whatever. Uh partly because I spent my whole bloody life working on this stuff. And uh so I I I say, you know, there are people in every audience who think that they have explanations. For all of this, even though they don't really have a clue. I call these people husbands. And here is or here are some of the things they say. And then I describe that they, you know, and I describe some of the possible things they say, but one of them is that he has somebody offstage communicating with him, relaying all this information. So I want to make this absolutely clear. Every single thing that you're about to see is a result of 35 years of my life. This is part of my own sense of personal integrity. I want to share with you things that I spent my life working on, and I promise you that no assistance from outside is involved at all. And I don't always phrase it exactly like that, but I do say that, and I do find it has an impact on the audience. I think when they actually know that you're sharing something with them and they believe that you're sharing something with them that you spent a lot of time to work and develop, I think they appreciate it.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:52

Yeah, I think that's 100% correct. And, you know, I use Magic App, so this is gonna hurt me more than anyone, but we've banished them. That's it. They've all gone. They are now.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:04

I get to choose, right? So therefore I do that.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:06

That's it. They're all gone. That is your island, and we appreciate that. So let's go

Books Voice Recorder And Where To Follow

SPEAKER_01 1:07:11

to your book then. You kind of teased it a little bit earlier. Uh, what are you gonna put in your book position?

SPEAKER_03 1:07:16

I'm gonna put Unreal by Bruce Bernstein, uh, with an honorable mention of 13 steps to mentalism. And I tell you what, I labored over the order of these two. Um here's why. Thirteen Steps is listed as probably one of the must-haves. And I think it is. I think it absolutely is. Almost everything in that book is as current as the day it was written. It doesn't read that way because uh we've lost our ability to see what actually works, and we're just too too driven by the language, which is is dated. But um there's no doubt that you could go through 13 steps and easily call uh an act that you could play anywhere, anytime. And and and and not only that, get many of them. So, you know, the an enormous portion of my professional repertoire is somehow related to something that you can find in 13 steps. But Bruce Bernstein's book, Unreal, just tickles me. Uh Bruce is the the single most clever mentalism creator I have ever met. And uh and what I love about his work is that it feels right. I mean, it just has this feel of somebody who understands what mind reading or mentalism ought to look like. And you know, if you were to sit down with Bruce and have him demonstrate this, he would be laughing because he was going to be fooling you so often over and over again. And all of that is is in the books. So um and it's just full of brilliant ideas that you can take and build into great performance pieces.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:01

This is one that we're getting a few times now, and I think that's great because I think it had a a reprint fairly recently, maybe within the past couple of weeks. Well, did it?

SPEAKER_03 1:09:11

That's wonderful because it had been out of print for quite a while.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:14

Yeah, I believe it has. Um uh I c I can't remember who's who's reprinted it. I do apologize, but I do distinctly remember the black cover um and it's got red uh design on the front. I've actually got a copy of it. I have not read it yet, um, which is blasphemous, and I don't know.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:31

Well, I'm sure that you have so many to to read, but um as a piece of you know, if you were to list top five mentalism books, uh I've just listed two of them for sure.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:41

Well, I think it's a great one. And you know, Eat at Joe's is in there, so if you have the opportunity to get the book, then obviously check that routine out as well. And it's also prompted me to read it, so I will be getting that out tonight. So thank you for that. Uh let's go to your item then. So you're allowed to take one item that's not magic related inherently, but you use for magic. So what would you take?

SPEAKER_03 1:10:05

No, I will have thrown my phone away, so I have to use some other kind of pocket digital voice recorder. Um the voice recorder is the single most powerful m non-magic tool for magic that you will ever have. Uh I I carry mine in the car right by me. Every time I have some brain idea that comes up, I record it. Um and then I feed it directly into AI and transcribe it. Uh in fact, now I use an AI transcribing recorder automatically. But uh I record everything with it, every show. And uh you know, I uh was doing uh the week before last, uh a couple of shows in which I just improvised a set of lines, had no idea. I just spat these out and they got these great responses. And uh I'm so glad that I went back and recorded them because now I can understand the context in which it came up.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:03

And someone might be able to use them as a kind of prediction in an effect.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:11

Aaron Ross Powell I do all the time. Um yeah, I I'm a huge fan of voice recorders for predictions. Again, pack small play really, really big. Uh I am particularly a fan of what uh Bruce Bernstein calls the crosset effect, which is describing how a randomly selected audience member is going to be dressed. And I I've used that as a finale in in several different routines. I also have a really great way of having that voice recorder seemingly being given to somebody ahead of the show. Um it's called digital prediction, and it's in the book, and it is so simple that uh everybody I show it to, they just laugh and they just can't believe you could be cheeky enough to pull it away. But imagine you know, sending in a FedEx package or any other kind of overnight package, a package that contains this recorder. The person who sponsors your show brings it, and you don't touch it, and then it comes up to you on stage and it contains the prediction that describes how the randomly selected audience member is going to be dressed, or any number of things. Um so yes, I I absolutely a voice recorder.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:25

Amazing. Well, we're gonna give that to you, and I tell you what, we're gonna give you the AI one, all right? So we'll we'll we can keep up to date, but I think that's a great way to close out your list. So we have playing card memory, tossed out deck, three billet routine, pegasus page, blindfold QA Act, real dice stuff, assassin wallet, scrabble memories, eat at Joe's, your banishment was magic apps, your book is unreal, and your item is a voice recorder. That is everything. So thank you for coming along. Now, if people want to find out more about you, about your lectures, about your book, about your shows, all of the stuff, where can they go to?

SPEAKER_03 1:13:01

Well, the best way to find out about uh the the lectures uh is to um follow me on Facebook, Christopher Carter on Facebook. Um and I have uh a thing called Christopher Carter fan page. So that's where everything magic and mentalism related for me is on. And every other social media forum is strictly uh for my professional life and my corporate work. So please feel free to visit my website, ChristopherCarter.com, but you're not gonna get the good magic y stuff there. You're gonna get that from me on Facebook.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:32

And I hope one day we have a follow-up to your book. Uh just a personal request. Uh I think it would be great to have another one. But thank you so much for your time, Christopher. It's been an absolute joy talking to you.

SPEAKER_03 1:13:45

It's same with you, Damien. Absolutely wonderful.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:48

And of course, thank you all for listening. Now, I know that I've mentioned it 15,000 times. Please go and check out Christopher's Penguin Lectures. Get both of them. They are both phenomenal. You will absolutely love them. And if you like them, check out his book, which is full of even more incredible routines and ideas. A lot of the stuff that he's actually spoken about in this list is all in those books and those uh lectures. So please go and check them out. Of course, we'll be back again next week with another episode. But for now, have a great week. Goodbye.

Closing Announcement The 1914

SPEAKER_04 1:14:25

The news is out. The 1914 has found a new home. We are proud to announce that Alakazam Magic are now the proud custodians of the 1914. What does this mean for you? Simply put, everything you love stays exactly where it belongs: the aesthetic, the quality, the philosophy. The website remains unchanged. Your instructional content is safe. The classics that defined the 1914 will be restocked and made available once again. And with our industry-leading infrastructure and customer service behind the scenes, the future is stronger than ever. But this isn't just about preservation. Work has already begun on a series of new 1914 releases. Projects that have been quietly evolving for years and are finally ready to see the light of day. This is the next chapter. Built on respect for the past, driven by belief in the future. Thank you for your continued support. Thank you for coming along with us on this journey. We are the new 1914.