BAIRN MIN URN "The secret that your traditional magician won't tell you is that he's not playing fair. He's usually got the deck set up to do his trick, so here: take the cards and give them a good shuffle, mix them up so there in an unrecognisable order:' The volunteer takes the card and since you're holding a Colt Magnum to her head, does what you've said. (Magnum not necessary but if you want to hold an ice cream to her temple you're welcome). "The second thing they'll make you believe is that they're only using one pack of cards. That's a lie too:' You jiggle a second deck of identical cards at them, and grin a toothy grin. "Now you'd take a card and the magician would find it. Well, instead I'm going to take a card, in secret and turn it around in my packet so it's facing the wrong way:' You take the cards below the table and you turn a card over, sight unseen by the audience. "Notice I do it below the table, where all of the secret stuff always goes on. Tell me, have you ever wondered what it would be like to stand in someone else's shoes just for a day, an hour or even a minute? It's something a lot of us humans do. And right now you're going to get a chance to do just that. Keep hold of your cards and I'll keep hold of mine, please let's switch seats:' You both walk around the table and swap chairs. "Now you're sitting where I sat just a moment ago, imagine you are me. Think of a card, then take the cards under the table and remove that card. Now turn that card around in the pack so that it faces the wrong way. Now put the cards back ... oh actually at this point I actually gave the cards another mix so you'd better do that too. And now you can place them back in their box:'
BA\RN Your instructions are carried out and you offer guidance along the way should it be required. "Okay, so let's see how we did, let's swap packets so neither of us can cheat:' You take her packet and she takes yours. "Please tell everyone which card you reversed in this deck ... ?" You again jiggle the cards you are holding, her deck. "The nine of diamonds:' "Really? Let's make sure you didn't misremember .. :' You say as you go through her deck, fanning until one face down card comes into view, it is the nine of diamonds. "This is crazy, please open up my deck and go through it:' She goes through your deck herself until one card is seen face down. "Please don't look at it just yet, just pop it on the table right in front of you. Now if you'd got the colour correct that would be a pretty good hit. If you got the suit right, that .' would be amazing. And of course if you get the number right, without the colour that would be extremely improbable and to be honest I'd be impressed. Let's look at how close you got?" They turn the card over and it is the EXACT same card, the nine of diamonds. THE TRUTH You will notice that this routine uses a persuasive confusion pattern by totally changing tack part way through. One moment it's about magicians and how they cheat and then we are on a journey about sitting in someone else's place, seeing the world from their point of view. Readers with a psychological background will understand the multitudes of reasons 148
BAIRN to do this and why it's so effective. We'll not go into these here, but if you want to use it in performance this is an example of how I do it. The method came about from a billet routine I've been performing in my show that was inspired by Annemann. I really like the idea of having someone read one person's selection as if it were your prediction. For this routine you will be using a special deck and a totally regular deck. You will be using an Invisible Deck (as they're called these days), but in a very different way. To begin, hand the regular deck to the volunteer and have the cards mixed. This mixing and shuffling early on really sets the stage for the entire effect and allows them to remember handling the cards and nothing being awkward about them. This is the point that the magicians all harped on about and found to be a major stumbling block for reconstructing any method. Now introduce the identically packaged invisible deck. Take the invisible deck below the table and pantomime removing a card and turning it around. Place the deck back in it's box and hold the box in your left hand while you gesture with your right (if you're left handed do the opposite). Now go along with the theatrics of exchanging seating positions. As well as looking nice and adding a more kinetic aesthetic element to the routine, also provides another tripping point for would-be back-trackers. Have your guest think of a card, the one she thinks you've reversed in your deck (again point at your deck still in your hand), and then mimic your actions of taking them under the table and reversing it. It's imperative at this point you have them shuffle their cards again in order to eradicate any discrepancies later. Once done, they are to place their deck back into its case. It's now the only'move'ifyou want to call it that, takes place. You are going to swap decks with your participant, but in doing do you will perform the Extra Sensory Switch, a creation of Bob Cassidy's that means that you end up handing them back their same deck whilst it looks as if you handed them your deck. It's basically a move where you un-switch a switch Now the situation is one where you are still holding the Invisible Deck, and they are again holding the deck they had to being with. Only they believe you've swapped packs of cards.
BA\RN Now when you have the volunteer name the card out loud, pop open your invisible deck in the correct orientation and make it so that card is the reversed one - remember that this is NOT the revelation, it is merely confirmation of what they said. Be sure to practice averting your 'tada' voice or as I call it 'your revelation face' because yOU are apparently holding the deck which they reversed the thought of card in. There is no mystery there. Now you build up the chances in your favourite way, and then have them open up the . deck they are holding and of course that same card is reversed. THIS is the-moment to do your big rising voice bit. Since you had the volunteer shuffle the cards after they've reversed it, the position of the reversed card doesn't come into play in it's position in the invisible deck, nor the miraculous fact that you apparently placed it in the same position in your deck. Having her shuffle her deck under the table before boxing it up eliminates both of these loose ends. BONUS, 150 You can see performance clips, receive updates on this and the other routines plus additional, previously unreleased material by visiting: www.mentalunderground.com/bairnbook
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BAIRN THE ONE SHORT WAY TO PLAY FAIR You're sat with friends in the departure lounge of the airport, it's Sam and you each have a beer in your hand. It IS beer o'clock somewhere after all, right? Taking out a deck of cards you ask someone how well versed they are in intuition and 'sensing: They look at you like you've had too many of those beers already so you proceed to explain. "Like for example, if someone was to say from this deck of cards, how far down is the ... 1 dunno, nine of clubs would you know?" Your friend acknowledges that no, they probably wouldn't. You shuffle the cards and then blurt out "Twelve:' Dealing a card at a time, you turn over the twelfth card and voila, it is actually the nine of clubs. "Now it's your turn. If someone said ... Three of diamonds, would you know?" You cut the deck in half and riffle shuffle the two halves together. "Go on, have a guess:' "Twenty-two" "Go ahead, count them down:' They count the cards down one at a time, turning over the twenty-second card themselves it IS the three of diamonds. The only problem is, you were so engrossed that you all missed your flight. So you decide to all leave and go to a naked hot tub party instead. Every cloud has a silver lining.
· .' ~ , .,~ BAlRN THE TRUTH This is probably my favourite card mentalism routine in this book. Yay cards! My only wish is that you got to see this before you read it. But here you go anyway. What I want to share with you here is not a routine or original effect, but rather a convincer I've used to throw intelligent people off the track with a standard method. However if I just come out and say it I'm unsure if the power of this simple ruse will be properly understood. So indulge me in a description of a routine, and trust me that at the end there is something new going on here. You will need a one-way forcing deck, in the example above it is of the three of diamonds. You'll also need three other cards. One of these cards is placed on the bottom of the deck - as usual. The next one is placed twelfth from the top for you to predict later. You still have another indifferent card and this is what I'm getting to. Take one of your force cards - three of diamonds and cut it short. Then place it into the middle of the deck. Right above it, place the other indifferent card. The routine now goes like this: You false overhand shuffle the deck (or do a false Zarrow type thing, or whatever) so when you say nine of clubs, you know you can count down to the twelfth position and it will be there. You placed it there, that's fine. The bottom card of the deck is allowed to be flashed to imply that all of the cards are NOT the three of diamonds. The fact you do this bit with the nine of clubs helps sell this fact immensely too. However there is one more sell, and that's what I want to share with you. When you come to shuffle the deck the second time, just before the volunteer names the position they believe the force card (3 of diamonds) is at - you cut the cards above the short card. Now once you have table riffle shuffled them together you are able to pick them up just before you push the two halves together and apparently display the interlacing of the cards, in fact subtly flashing the bottoms of both halves, which because you cut above the short force card, will both show indifferent ones, the illusion is sold all the more. 154
BAIRN Like I said to begin with, it's a small piece of business but it will keep the smarty-pants off your back a little longer. BONUS! You can see performance clips, receive updates on this and the other routines plus additional, previously unreleased material by visiting: www.mentalunderground.com/bairnbook
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BAIRN KNOWLEDGE You're in the back of a London taxi, the Cabbie has never heard of you but laughs anyway, you insist that you're a big deal. You desperately plead to perform a card trick. If Britain's Got Talent taught you anything, it's that pleading really works. A deck of cards is introduced. The performer holds them up with the face card of the pack facing a lady. As he riffles down the right edge of the pack she calls stop freely at any time. The performer, with his head turned away prises open the deck at the point she called for him to stop flicking through the cards, to allow her to note the card stopped on. If I'm correct here, you've just had a momentary blip as you read that last paragraph, you thought the taxi driver was a man, didn't you? You bloody sexist mentalist! This is where the effect would normally end. Well, almost. Usually the mentalist would look into her eyes and divine the card. But instead he talks about 'instinct: Cabbies love instinct. Don't we all, its only natural after all. The lady is handed the cards and asked to deal them into two piles. Meanwhile the performer either holds her gaze, or looks away. In either case, he is not looking at the deck. The cards are now in two face down piles on the table. The performer pushes one half of the cards to one side, in so doing he says, "It's not here". She is now directed to dot he same thing again. Picking up the pile that remains, she deals them into two piles. "Why the two piles, you may ask?" "Instinct is a spiritual thing. And although I'm not usually a spiritual being, I am not an idiot. I can see that life is split into two halves. Day, night. Life, death. And every decision that we make, yes or no. So throughout life, to get where we want to be we have to forsake one path to pursue another."
BA\RN By the time the performer has finished talking about these decisions the cards are now in two new piles. ''I'm saying yes to this one, and therefore no to that one': The 'no' pile is added to the previously discarded pile. This continues until one card remains. The participant announces her card out loud and then turns the card over herself, where she is left staring face to face with that same card. THE TRUTH This is all about your ability to know much more about a situation that you appear to, and specifically gleaning the maximum amount of information from just one'moment: The moment we're talking about is a single peek of a playing card. But what is much more interesting, at least to me, is where this peeked information takes us. I'm getting ahead of myself. Let me tell you a story. I came up with this on 2nd of February while sitting about in my dressing room back stage. There was something like thirty minutes until show time, and I was toying with a deck of cards, and in particular wondering about a good way of revealing a card that had been peeked. My mind turned to wonder how much we could know about a card and its position just by having peeked it. . While you read the description of the effect below, please bear in mind that we are not employing the use of a memorised deck, the cards are not marked in any way and there is no equivocation. You just have the knowledge. The Method for this does read somewhat complicated. However if you follow along you will see that it is extremely logical and you can literally work this out as you go along. There are three parts of this. 158
THE STACK THE PEEK THE DEALING BAIRN Adding a stack to a peek allows us to know more about the card than merely its identity. I particularly love that we are adding in a method that would otherwise seem totally illogical. After all, why would anyone need to stack a deck if they were going to just peek that card? This is probably why the location of the card has thrown so many very smart people for a loop. The stack is a full deck stack and it is as follows: The suits rotate in spades, hearts, clubs, diamonds order. (Easy to remember of course because spades as one point at the top, heart has two humps on the top, clubs is a three hump symbol and diamonds have four points). The deck is stacked so that the top four cards of the face down deck are the four kings in SHeD suit order, followed by the four queens, then the four jacks, four tens, etc in descending order, so that you end up with the ace of diamonds on the face of the deck. This simple stack may not be spread, however the routine really does not call for such a display. The first thing to do is have a card noted by a participant and then for you to peek that card. You can use any method you particularly like, I use the one described by Richard Busch in Peek Performances. I will assume we are now at the point where you know the card they have looked at. We are now going to use this crude stack to divine its location. Hand the cards to the participant, I do this the moment I have done my sneaky work to peek their card. I want the cards out of my hands as quickly as possible. You now have her deal the cards into two piles, starting to her left (your right if you're
, ..... , ....... BA\RN sitting opposite each other). If she is sitting next to me, I'll have her start dealing to the right - that way I don't need to change my thinking on the fly, and there's less chance of me getting confused. I will address the remainder of this from your point of view. The first card was dealt to YOUR right. You have two piles in front of you now. The left pile is all of the red cards. The pile on your right is all of the black cards. You know which card she thought of, so you simply discard the opposite pile. The second time, so long as she deals to your right first, the orientation will be that the Hearts/Clubs will be on the left and the Diamonds/Spades will be on your right. The third time the even cards are on your left and the off cards are all in the pile on your right. At this point you'll have a pile of cards that you know are of the same suit and are all either odd or even, the same as the thought-of card. The pile is now down to five or six cards (Five cards if theirs was an odd value and six of it was an even value.) All you need to do now is remember that the pile is now stacked with the lowest card on top and the highest value on the bottom. So as you deal the two new piles you can simply keep track of exactly where there card is . This is the only point at which you actually need to think, but it's very simple to just ..... " think through the names of the cards as you deal the two piles and then eliminate all of the cards but one. The thought-of card. ,' .... , Here is a table to outline the piles again, for reference: Deal right first, then left. ·,;."'l LEFTPILE RIGHT PILE Red Black ...... ' .. Hearts Diamond Clubs Spades Even Odd .. ; ,.' ., 160
BAIRN If you are nervous about not 'knowing' your progress as you proceed through eliminating one of the piles, you can subtly mark the cards. I have done this when performing for fellow mentalists and magicians, only because I know that if something is going to go wrong, then it's sod's law that it'll happen while trying to impress my peers. The marking system I use is just to colour the centre of the red cards in with red pen (on a red Bicycle deck) and then to colour in the corner of the floral pattern of all the odd cards (making them 'odd'). This has given me more confidence in performing this, for sure. But it is totally unnecessary. You could also simply use a marked deck such as the Ted Lesley Marked Deck or the wonderful Boris Wild Ultimate Marked Deck. Both are great, and will work wonderfully to indicate you are headed along the correct path. The important thing though is that you are not looking at the cards as they are dealt, so even if they are marked, you didn't see the back of every card so could not know where their particular card lies. BONUS! You can see performance clips, receive updates on this and the other routines plus additional, previously unreleased material by visiting: www.mentalunderground.com/bairnbook
BAIRN SLAPPER The girl standing at the cocktail table with you might have a low-cut top and a skirt shorter than Hitler's temper, but that doesn't mean she's easy. Every time the music from the band gets loud and she mouths the words 'I want to screw you' -THAT's what means she's easy. But, as you want to impress her and you left your personality to be used as a bookmark somewhere near the start of chapter three of 13 Steps - you promptly take out a deck of cards. After slipping the cards free of their case you casually shuffle them, over-hand style. She's really checking you out now. Now to really spice things up you place the cards on the table, not face down but ... face up. A brilliant demonstration of higher value if ever there was one. "Ahahculllahhjjjuutaaacaaa ... "you say before you interrupts with, "WHAT?? I CAN'T HEAR YOU, THE MUSIC IS LOUD:' You speak louder, saying, "As I cut cards in small packets, please just think of any card that you see': She nods. She's keen. You take a small packet of cards from the face of the face up deck and place it on the table, face up, then another which you place face up on top of the previous pile. You continue until who-knows-how-many small piles of cards have been slapped on to the table, and the deck is exhausted*. "Have you thought of one?" She comments that she has. Now you look at her. * Being slapped about like this is tiring for even the healthiest of decks.
.... , ... .... ,. ; • ,J '. ~ .",,' ....... ...... BAlRN It's a Red card ... A Heart ... . .. Or A Diamond It's odd in value . It's the three of diamonds. She is amazed. THE TRUTH All that is required is something you always carry with you on a date. A fishing rod. Because this, of course, uses fishing. This is not new. However, what I have accidentally stumbled upon is something that I feel disarms the fishing. First of all, decide upon your fishing sequence for 5 cards. This is pretty simple. I use: A picture card: (Jack of hearts) Two other red cards of opposite suits: (Three of diamonds and nine of hearts) Two black cards of opposite suits: (Four of clubs nine of spades) You can do whatever else you prefer, this is just what I am using. We are not, however discussing fishing methods here. There are many around, some clumsier than others . Instead, what we have here is a presentation that puts the idea of you fishing to the back of the participant's mind. That is the fact they believe that the cards are being randomly cut to . And if they are randomly cut to, and they are seeing random cards then you could not possibly be fishing. What's more, you could (although I don't) do this while looking away. When playing with fishing and the camouflage of such naughtiness, I tried disguising 164
BAIRN it using clever verbiage like anyone else would. Then I started to think about how to remove the idea of fishing even more, using good old presentation. If you deal five cards to the table and have someone think of anyone of them, only to go on to fish for which one, they will sense something ... shall we say 'fishy'? Why is this? I propose it's because the cards look contrived. They look specially selected so that you are able to do whatever it is you need to do. So what if this was not the case? This presentation for having a card thought of looks like the cards are totally random. Further more, because they only get to see one card at a time, the wiser ones will have more trouble in remembering that only one card is a picture card, only one was low value and a red ... etc. TO CONSTRUCT You'll require some glue for this. Take the deck and diVide it into six piles. On the face of each pile is one of your fishing cards. Now you're going to glue these little piles of cards together, so you end up with six piles of cards. On the face of the sixth pile, stick an indifferent card (mine is a picture card, just to add variety). I place a two inch straight line of glue right down the centre of the card. Hold the card portrait, and starting half an inch from the top of the card. This means you will have cards glued together that have some realistic movement and flexibility along the edges. With them glued, stack these little glued packets together into one deck. You will find you can causally overhand shuffle these piles face down as you chat. Now turn them face up, hold them in left hand dealing grip, or place them on the table (I do both, and have no preference). Now all you need to do is grab the top card of the pile, which will bring the rest of its pile along too, and slap it to the table. There is a slight strangeness to the handling as you are picking up and gripping the top card, yet other cards come with it, so to overcome this, place all attention on the
BA\RN cards as they are placed on the pile on the table, rather than at the pile you are dealing from. Repeat this until all six piles have been dropped on the table, then pick them up and place them in their case. You've apparently just randomly cut through the face up deck and had the onlookers commit one of the cards to memory. In reality you have cut exactly to the cards you desire for your pumping or fishing sequence. Now all that needs to be done is to have them focus on a card, and then use your fishing sequence to determine that card. BONUS, 166 You can see performance clips, receive updates on this and the other routines plus additional, previously unreleased material by visiting: www.mentalunderground.com/bairnbook
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BAIRN STRAIGHT FROM THE NOTEBOOK This section is made up of a few things that didn't really fit with the others. Including routines that I used to do a long time ago and had almost forgotten about, as well as subtleties, stories and other pieces that are straight from my note book. The idea is that the ideas in this section stimulate your own ideas, rather than being complete ideas themselves.
BAIRN THELADYWHO ALMOST MADE ME FAINT, WHO THEN BOUGHT MEA DRINK The hair on my arms is standing on end, matching my hair, as I type this. I'm performing an intimate parlour show at a large old English hall called Otterburn Hall. It's summer and, for a change it's hot. I've opened my show, I've got the audience in the palm of my hand and we are having a great time. It's time for my book test routine. At the time I was breaking in a new piece using the 'Mother Of All Book tests' from Ted Karmilovich. I hand out the book. I made some passing comment to cover the time it takes her to handle the book. I ask her to think of a page number, and turn to that page in the book. Now to think of a long interesting word that she can visualise. She squints and confirms that she has one in mind. I stare at her a while before gabbing my pad and pen. I scribble something on the pad and ask her to announce the word she is thinking of. "Bartender" comes the reply.
BA\RN I turn the pad round to show her that I wrote the word Bartender. The audience applauds. However as I look at the woman she seems deeply worried. She sits. And even though seated, she continues to have a look of concern on her face throughout the remainder of the show. The show finishes, a brass band plays and a trapeze artist flips overhead. I leave the stage and make for the bar. At the bar the lady from the book test approaches me with her husband. She's late thirties. "I have to tell you, you were amazing:' comes the compliment, "I was so worried that I'd messed it up for you:' Tilting my head, I'm curious as to what she'll say next. "You see, I don't have my spectacles and so I couldn't read the words on the page. So I didn't think of a word from the page, I just thought of any word in my head. And you still got it:' My legs went weak beneath me. My throat went desert-dry, and I tried to maintain my composure. After a moment of staring, I managed to blurt out, "Yes, well so long as you're focused I can usually get what I need to receive the word:' ... 1 think that's what I said anyway. I can hardly remember. So here I am brushing it off to be Business As Usual after a miracle has just happened. And I couldn't tell her just HOW impressive it was. I've not been able to share this amazing event with anyone yet, because they wouldn't appreciate how amazing it was, hence I wanted to share it with you. HOW CRAZY IS THATrn What I did learn that day, is that experience there is how it should really look and feel to others. Since them I'm chasing that response in all of my pieces. 172.
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FOCUSED OPENER BAIRN You're booked to perform after dinner for around 350 people in the corporate function room of a hotel. Snazzy. You'll be putting on your best fitting suit for this one. The typical set up is that there are 35 large circular tables, with 10 people seated around each. On the stage are a drum-kit, some mic stands, a couple of guitars and some fold-back monitor speakers. So you're working the dance floor. Grim. Listening to the legends of mentalism, the opening of the show should involve as many people as possible. So we open by having everyone stand up and think of some statistically likely thoughts such as a tree, a square and a lion. Then comes the problem. "If you managed to receive anyone of these thoughts, please sit down" The majority start to sit. But that's not all they do. They're so amazed and excited (and sometimes surprised) that so many of their friends got it too, that the chatter starts to erupt. This is the problem that passed me by for so long. You've lost focus. And suddenly you're transformed from the all knowing master mentalist, into a shooshing school mistress. You've successfully taken the focused attention that the Me worked so hard to get for you, and stuck a fork in it. Ouch!
BA\RN THE TRUTH Since my first performance back in 2002 I've opened my shows the same way. Even though I've always had a lot of success in my performances, as we grow things that once held little importance, become strikingly obvious. Let me describe a typical scenario and see if you've shared in any of this before (and then we'll get into how I've changed this and made a massive improvement to my opener, which of course effects the entire performance.) So with this frustration having eaten away at me for ten years I set to work on how it could be overcome, yet still have such great appeal. Having been introduced you bound on stage emanating radiant energy that swells right to the farthest seat. "We're going to choose some people at random for our first game tonight. Whoever catches this paper ball on the third throw, it's going to be you': The paper ball is tossed into the audience (I use a ball made from a sheet of flip chart paper as it makes it a much larger, less feeble looking thing than one made from standard A4) and thrown about three times, per your instructions. During this time you have picked up your pad and hold it under your arm. I'm using a spiral bound A3 artist's pad. This is not essential, however your pad should be identical on both sides so that the audience will be unaware whether you're opening the front of the pad or the back. (One of my favourite principals ever right there by the way!). When the ball is caught by the third person, have them stand and ask them their name. It has nothing to do with the effect, but it's polite. Smile :) I next ask them a question, and the way I do this is important as I've found it increases accuracy and creates urgency without looking like you're rushing the volunteer; "Carol, it's lovely to meet you. I have something for you up here:' You tap the pad that's under your arm. "Please would you call out the name of a simple ... colour?" You burst the word 'colour' out quite sharply but this long 'thinking pause' allows you to take your time with the preceding instructions. 176
BAIRN Whatever her response reply, "absolutely perfect! Please join me up here, a round of peer pressure for Carol please!" The audience applauds - which is great to have so early on in your presentation, not only for the guests to enjoy the applause but for the booker to hear. Once on stage with you, ask 'Carol' if she had a free choice of any colour at all, which she will of course agree to. Should 'Carol' have said 'Blue' you flip open your pad and show your amazing skills of influence. Should she have said 'Red; have her open up the paper ball that she is still holding to show the words 'RED' written big and bold. You take the ball of paper off'Carol' and pop it in your case, or some convenient place. Now give her some instructions for your next routine. But it's not over yet. You need a second person. Here comes the fun part. You toss out the ball of paper again ... this time you want the closest man (this is just for visual variety so ifthe person who is on stage with you now is a man however, you might like to ask for the closest woman, just for visual variety). The person who catches the ball on the third throw again is asked to stand. You, still with your pad under your arm tap your pad as you say, "We have a different game we are going to play with you when you get up here. "But to make sure you're right for this, imagine if you would that you look out of the window, name something you see .. :' Again congratulate him and ask him to join you on stage. He might have said either Car or Tree. There are a few different ways you can take this which depend on both what he said (Car or Tree), and what the previous lady said (Red or Blue). Here are the permutations: Red /Car Red /Tree Blue/Car Tonight is all about perception. You might be thinking I threw out the same paper ball as I did for Carol, that's not true. I misdirected your minds so that you'd think of Car, please open up the ball of paper in your hand sir. Carol named Red (you hold up the paper ball before placing it in your case), and I said we had something for you here (tap your pad again) and we do. You open your pad to the second side, to show the word "Tree" Carol named Blue, but you sir are the one holding the paper ball, please unfold it and show everyone what is printed on it! When he does, it has the word Car printed boldly.
BA\RN Blue I Tree Carol named Blue, and just like there are two sides to every story, there are two sides to this pad. You saw anything outside anything at all, and named a TREE! (open the pad to the back) , This is a multiple outs routine constructed so that the audience is only ever aware of those things that they should be made aware of. I've made it really simple for me to remember where each out is too, the three letter words (car and red) are on the paper balls, and the four letter words (tree and blue) are in the pad. Let's tie up some loose ends. If any of the people involved miss the words~ altogether, i.e. they don't go for red, blue, car or tree you dismiss the response as far less important and continue with the next effect. What about the fact you've now drawn attention to the pad twice, but if Red and Car are named you've not used it at all? Well, that's where act structure comes into play, and I use the pad to reveal thoughts in the next routine. So everything makes sense. What we now have is a great use of extremely direct mentalism, an all encompassing opener that involves the audience in feeling involved through the tossing of the paper balls, and a selection process that is not idol, but an effect itself. Oh and you don't lose the attention of the audience with their chatter, like I did in the good old days. BONUSI 178 You can see performance clips, receive updates on this and the other routines plus additional, previously unreleased material by visiting: www.mentalunderground.com/bairnbook
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BAIRN SEANCEFROM THE PAST Although they're big and strong, the two rugby-players seated around the table are about to have the scare of their life. They have no idea, but you're armed and ready for a night of spectacular spiritualism. Everyone has gathered at Jo's dorm for the freak (that's you by the way, that's what they call you behind your back) to do his 'thing: "The spirits;' and with those opening words, the girls take their eyes off the muscles bulging around the table and are pinned to you, "can communicate with us in our world through the medium of the Ouija:: One of the guys tries to correct your pronunciation, you throw goat's blood in his face and he melts into a pUlp. No one else messes with you for the rest of the night. After some more build up, talk and ritual stuff around the spirit world, you show a pile of blank cards (I was using plain white business card stock that I could get at the stationary shop where I lived), on one side of which you have written the letters of the alphabet, you spread through them causally as you talk about these being prepared by people for centuries, for hosting seances "like this one': The girls' eyes dart around the room at each other. Then at the door. The door is closed. It's bolted. Turning the pile of cards down, you deal them into a circle on the polished wooden table, avoiding the stains of a semester-long addiction Chicken Tikka Masala. Ritualistically, and with your best serious face, you place an upturned wine glass in the middle. Have the folks around the table place their fingers on the glass. Somehow the mood goes from 'bullshit' to a little bit scared. All you can hear is breathing and then suddenly the glass begins to move. Around and '&'
BA\RN around and then it touches one of the cards. You collect the card that was 'touched by the spirits' in your left hand. After a number of the cards have been selected by the'glass'you hand them to one of the guests, requesting they turn them over. The letters spell out the name of one of your guests. The girls become your slaves and the one surviving jock turns into an Dverweight female singer and is doomed to record James Bond theme songs for all eternity. THE TRUTH What a strange title. The reason for the title is that I had totally forgotten about this seance piece that I used to perform. That was until I was watching a John Denver tribute act this evening, and it popped back into my head (John Denver = Seance, please forward your psycho-analysis to me at the usual address). In case you don't know my story, when I was sixteen I learned to hypnotise people, and because I was a twisted little shit, I was less interested in making people pretend to be Elvis Presley, and found more fun in scaring the living hell out of people. So coupled this new-found skill in hypnotism, with my long-running interest in spiritualism (I'd been reading the tarot since I was fourteen, and been interested in the weird for as long as I could remember even then). Particularly, in seances. Of course there is a switch ofthe letters, but it's a little more secret and subtle than that. The main reason being that back then I didn't have the confidence or the experience to employ a more 'sleighty' method. However, if you don't want to get caught, this is a cracking modus operandi for just that. To begin, you have a pile of cards, there are actually 51 cards in your hand, only half of them are dealt into the circle. It all starts with the choice of the name. The important thing is a short name with no repeat letters - or else the circle becomes too big. Often it's possible to do it with the name of someone present, but when it's not the effect is still strong - the fact that the random cards perfectly spell a name is quite startling. 182.
BAIRN Let's say we are going to work with the name Chloe. An interesting name that is not too simple, with no repeating letters. Make 26 cards, each bearing a letter of the alphabet. Take out the letters of your force name (Chloe) and place them on top of the pile of alphabet cards. So now from the top of your pile down, you have C, H, L, 0, E, followed by the remaining letters of the alphabet, mixed into a random order. Take the remaining 25 cards and write the first letter of the name, (C) on all of them. Place this pile of C cards on top of CHLOE. So your final set up is 26 C cards, the letters H,L,O,E, and ten the rest of the alphabet in a random shuffled order. Now you're ready to do it. Flip the pile face up. Casually fan through the letter cards as you explain what they are. You are showing all different, randomly mixed letters ofthe alphabet. Flip the pile face down and deal 26 face-down cards into a circle. These will be 26 facedown C cards (or whichever is the first letter of the force name). Hold the rest of the cards in Biddle grip in your right hand. Do the usual stuff to get the ideomotor response of the group working to move the glass. When a card is landed on, have it placed on your left hand in dealing position (for Christ's sake don't refer to it as that though!). Once enough cards have been chosen to leave just one more letter remaining you will execute the switch. This is what is key to this effect. The switch happens before the final choice (I'm even more pleased with this now I think than I was then!). So in this case, when four cards have been placed face down in my left hand I am going to do the switch. Some mentalist's ignorance here, I have no idea if this is an official switch, its very bold and simple and it goes like this. Throughout the effect I've held a break with my thumb under the top 4 cards of the right hand packet (the H,L,O,E cards}. I bring my left hand under the right hand's packet and take its cards, adding them on to the face of the right hand's pile, and in a smooth, constant movement move my right hand away picking up the four cards at the break, leaving the random alphabet cards behind in my left hand. The situation is now that my left hand are the random alphabet cards with the 4 selected C cards on the face. In my right hand, still in Biddle grip are the H,L,O and E cards that were previously on
BA\RN the top of the packet. I place the H,L,O and E cards on to the table. During all of this, which in real-time take a moment, everyone's attention and focus is on the glass moving around the table. Whichever card the glass lands on you leave the glass on and scoop up the rest of the face down circle of cards. Now have someone else pick up the glass and turn over the card. It's a C. Have them turn the top card of the pile of switched in (they believe selected) cards, to show an H. One of the (many) things I can't be sure of on trying to recollect this, is whether the name is spelt forwards like I've described, with the first letter being under the glass at the end, or if it was in fact backwards, leaving that letter under the glass until the very end. In my mind this latter idea is stronger as it means the 'spirit' would have spelt the name forwards, rather than backwards and also allows the dramatic tension of that letter being turned over last - not to mention the time misdirection from you having scooped up all the other letters. If I was to do it again now, I'd do it in reverse with the fore cards being the last letter, rather than the first. Something that has struck me now too is that if you wanted to turn this into more of a prediction-style routine, something I've not seen done before that would be very nice for this particular routine would be to place a small ball of paper under the upturned glass, on which you could predict the name. This is more of an effect than a seance piece but its strength is very much in the fact that the prediction is very much out of your control, is absolutely the centre of attention at all times, and yet no funnybusiness is done with it - again misdirecting away from the letter packet-switch. The one thing that strikes me as so very strong with this effect is the final letter. This final letter really sells the fact that there could not have been a switch. This is something I've not thought about for years, never mind used for a long time, and it really doesn't fit my style right now but I hope that it is of use to someone reading this. I'm sure you can appreciate the startling effect it has. BONUS! 184 You can see performance clips, receive updates on this and the other routines plus additional, previously unreleased material by visiting: www.mentalunderground.com/bairnbook
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DINOSAUR SUBTLETY BAIRN I love a good pterodactyl of a morning. Lightly salted with brioche. But the crowd don't care. They're busy wondering how you managed to predict which one of them will get divorced first, and now await your next miracle. You hand out a book. It's amazing. It's page after bound page of words collected in numerical order, the words weave a wonderful story about a bartender who works in a drugstore, and his addiction to watching videocassettes of jackhammer documentaries. It's a real tear-jerker. Handkerchief included. You hand the book to a man nearby, his name is Riggs. Me: Riggs: Me: Please tell everyone how many pages are in the book? 422 Great, 422 you say. Look right at me. I know it's painful but I was born this way - saying that I always feel like Lady Gaga. I stretch my right hand out in front of himself, toward the volunteer. Me: Anyway ... in your mind please think of any number between 1 and 422. Riggs: Me: Riggs: Me: Riggs: Now. Do you have one? Yes. And you feel like you could have thought of anyone? Errr ... yes. You could have even thought of number 1, or 25, 99 ... but you didn't. Let's not say which number it is you thought of and spoil it, but you thought of a 3-digit number didn't you? (Smiling) Yes!
BA\RN Me: Turn to that page and think of the first word on that page. Now it's time for your revenge. The performer pauses for a feeling of the macabre to descend. Me: Please hand this book to someone else. Someone you find mildly attractive Everyone laughs, but eventually, they do so. Me: I'd like you to think of a different number between 1 and 422. Do you have one? Brilliant. Again you could have thought of any page number, however you thought of a 2-digit number didn't you? The person bursts into laughter, nodding their head in agreement. He then proceeds to read one of their minds as to which word they were thinking of. Me: Now how does this work? Well first of all men and women read pages differently so I needed to ensure that you would be of the opposite gender. Which I did by saying "someone you find mildly attractive': Now I have you both thinking of different pages I control you both under pressure because men tend to skim-read in what is known as the 'E' formation ... along the top, a little in the middle and along the bottom, and women read in an 'F' formation, along the top a little in the middle and then down the left side. So using that knowledge and fact you were both under pressure I can make it look like I'm reading you mind. So if all things have worked out, you are thinking of the word, ________ _ The performer reveals the thought-of word. If you present a book or magazine routine here's a lovely little bit of business that really 'proves'the psychological mind-games that are taking place. I'm massively guilty of overlooking the subtle bits and 'minor effects' that create the big effect in the end. Banachek's books 'Psychological Subtleties' are full of these gems and I'm sure all of our performances will be a helluva lot more convincing and strong if we include more of these kinds of things in the processes of our effects. This is one of those psychological 'bits'that has elevated the way I do my book routine from being 'perhaps psychological' into being credible. As you can see there are a few things going on here. This scripting allows you to give 188
BAIRN a very insightful faux explanation of how you achieve your miracles. First of all let me just admit that the 'E' and 'F' formation are based on truth but for the most part totally fictional, especially in this context. It does sound really neat though. This wording about the "mildly attractive" genuinely does almost guarantee they hand itto someone of the opposite sex. Finally, and the big one is the numbers. The first person under the guidance to think of any number between 1 and 422 (or any large 3-digit number) will generally think of a three digit number. However if you expose this fact out loud, the second person will try and go against that and almost always go with a 2-digit number. Both of these minor revelations act as 'proof of your powers: Not a complete routine, I know, but something I hope you can use in what you're already performing. BONUS! You can see performance clips, receive updates on this and the other routines plus additional, previously unreleased material by visiting: www.mentalunderground.com/bairnbook
BAIRN THOUGHTS AND SUBTLETIES ON ADD A NUMBER Lying in a bathtub of vanilla ice cream, you realise you're missing raspberry sauce, so turning to the man next to you, you ask him to think of a four-digit number and scribble it on to a pad of paper, then hand it to two more people to do the same. A fourth person is asked to total the numbers while doing an impression of a saxophone doing the sax solo from Baker Street. He does a good job, and the total he comes to is found predicted in Hundreds and Thousands/Sprinkles on the surface of the bath. I've been closing my show with a large prediction that is based on the Add A Number effect - three people think of numbers, write them on a pad, the total of the numbers matches your prediction. That old chestnut. When I first started out using the add a number I was excited because I knew my big finale finish to the show was going to get great reactions. And it did. Then I took some old wisdom and sat around listening to people de-constructing what they had seen, only to be horrified that they thought the numbers totalled to match my prediction, were not the ones written by the volunteers. Gosh! They were on to me. So what follows is my thought process and some ideas I've created that throw people off the track. This is for you if you're currently performing such a routine, are considering it, or in fact are afraid to for this very reason.
BA\RN The problem with the standard add a number, as is described in so many places, is that there is no what Cassidy would call, 'Logical Disconnect' from the actual method. That is, there is nothing there saying 'I am not switching the numbers; rather, magicians and mentalists have just relied on hoping the audience won't think of that. Unlucky. They do. They have. And they're after our blood. Here are some solutions I've not only created but have performed. I'll explain what I am doing now too, in a bit. It is one (if not a combo) of some of these. IDEA.#1 ADDANEIN (The German reference in the title is just for my giggles). It would look like this if three people were to write numbers: Person 1 writes their number You hand the pad to person 2 Person 2 writes their number You hand the pad to person 3 Person 3 writes their number and immediately totals the numbers. What I've done here is move the switch. Let's imagine we are using a simple pad that we turn over and open at the other side which has our numbers written on that total our desired outcome. Usually the switch occurs after person number 3 writes their numbers, and while you hand the pad to a fourth person to total the numbers. I got to thinking, 'what if the third person adds their number to the total:That would seem a lot more real. After all, why would you have a further (fourth) person in play just to total the numbers? Aren't we saying to person #3, 'You look far too bloody stupid to be trusted with simple addition!'. 192.
BAIRN To describe my method, let's assume the people are writing four-digit numbers, and our total is a five-digit number. The target is 13,876 - for example. On my switched-in side I'd pre-write the four-digit number 3877 (I'll explain why this number in just a moment, it will change depending on your target total that you'd like to predict). Now with this preparation, the order of events is: You open your pad to the non prepared side - which is a blank page. You ask the first person to focus on a four-digit number and write it down. You ask a second person to do the same thing, think of a four-digit number and write them down directly under the previous person's number. Have them close the pad and hand it back to you. Ask for a third volunteer, before you approach him ask him to think of a four-digit number that is important to him. On your way to the stage you have the sound engineer mute your mic and use the Dunninger Ploy, which is ever so popular among us modern mentalists. That is, under the cover of the audience's applause ask him what four-digit number he is thinking of. You are now in a situation where you, unknown to the audience at large, know this third gentleman's four-digit number. Once at the stage you open up the pad to the 'switched in' side - the side with your already written four-digit number (in our example it is 3877). Turn to the gentleman and ask him not to change his mind as in a second you will ask him to note down his four-digits under these other two and then do something else. During this patter, I boldly write a second four-digit number right above the one I've pre-written. The number I write ... well before I tell you what it is, let's do an example. Let's say that on his way to the stage, our gentleman friend tells me his number is 3817. I open the pad to the switched-in side. As I chat to him about not changing his mind and what he is to do next, I write 6182 above the number I've previously written. Why do I do this? In case you've not noticed yet this number I write is his number (3817) subtracted from 9999.9999-3817=6182 This is easy to do as you just minus 9 off each of the individual digits.
BA\RN The reason I put this number above my previous number is pure paranoia on my part. I want to create as much obscuration of the fact this number and his number total the magic 9999. This is done bold as brass, as if I am just gesturing and describing what it is he is to do. For those of you who know about my magazine test with the star signs*, this thinking grew out of that. So now our person number 3 can write in his number and then immediately total the ." numbers and will reach our predicted total! " .' For clarity's sake I want to just describe how to make this work for any total. Even a 2-digit number (which for reasons I'll describe later I recommend against). If you're using 3 digit numbers, for example all you need do is take 9999 (three digit numbers logically generate a 4-digit total, 5 digit numbers a 6 digit total etc etc) from your desired total, and whatever that outcome is, that will be your pre-written number on the switch-in side of your pad. IDEA #2 FINALE 165 On watching back some DVDs of my friend, comedy magician John Archer it struck me that the old 165 force could also be used in the add a number. In fact, any force of another number could be added in at the final stage to achieve an additional layer of deception. My thinking was that we'd get the total arrived to on the switching pad, and write it on the flip chart (or wherever), and then add more numbers to it publicly, in front of everyone so they can all see the math(s) going on. This would make it appear a lot more fair, and I'd think that later some people might recall it as every number having been added up publicly like this. The example I used was just before the final revelation, as the final routine I had three * see Magazine Test OfThe Stars in this book 194
BAIRN people come join me on stage. I'd hand each of them three number cards. "Each card bears a different digit between one and nine:'We'd then eliminate one of these people and their cards would be discarded and not used in the following game. The other two people are asked to callout their single digits, person A is asked whether he'd like his digits to be the 'tens' or'units' of the numbers we are about to create. He freely chooses. He calls out anyone of his digits and hands the card over to me, for example it's a three. He's decided he wants to be in the units column so under the current total we have written on the flip chart I write his 'three' under the final digit. Now I'd ask the other guy to call out anyone of his digits. He says 'three' "So we have 63:' We repeat it. The first guy calls out '1' and the second one '15: So we get 15. And write this number right below the other two-digit number. They have one card left each. The numbers give us, for example 87. These numbers are factored into the total and this total matches your prediction. This is simplicity as this age-old process guarantees the numbers created will total the number 165. So all we need do is make the numbers in our switched-in side of our pad equal our total less 165. This is just one example of course. I did consider too, that these created numbers could be written down on the switchedin side of the pad by the volunteer before he totals them, rather than on the flip chart. I think both scenarios have merit.
BA\RN IDEA #3 WORDS NOT METHODS I am still closing my shows on Add A Number. Yet I've not done either of the above things. I decided to set myself the challenge of fixing the problem without altering the method at all. To see if I could fix it with subtlety and words alone. And I believe I have. My routine now plays like this: To person 1 I say:"1 want you to please think of a four-digit number. However, I'm going to make this less easy on you. I want this number to mean absolutely nothing to you. In fact when you think of a four-digit number and realise it does mean something to you I want you to change it right away. Do you have one? Please write it down:' She does. I continue with another effect. This is important to me, I use the add a number as a running theme forthe show and (as well as more things that I will come to momentarily) helps each person forget, or at least lose their faith in accurately recalling their number. Aside: one of my fears is that people go back to the office the next week and find each other, ask each other their numbers and do the maths right to find I cheated. I'm doing alii can to help them forget what their numbers were. Back to the action ... The second person comes up,"I'd like you to allow a four-digit number to pop into your mind. However it must be a number you are creating right now on this spot. It must mean nothing to you, and each of the digits must be different:' The reason for the 'different digits' bit of business not only looks like nice process, but also I've had a LOT of people write down numbers like 4404. This is easy for them to remember. Far easier than a random chain of four unique digits that's for sure. 196