BAIRN 41
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BAIRN FUSSY EATER Jll've got a confession to make. I'm one of the people that not many others like, I'm the kind of guy who everyone looks to at the dinner table, the moment the menu is placed in my hand. Yes ladies and gentlemen, I'm a fussy eater. Always have been, but I'm getting better. But I'm a sensible fussy eater. You see, I come prepared:' You gesture with the brown paper bag you are holding. "I always pack a small lunch before I leave to go anYWhere, just in case I can't find anything I'd like. Thankfully this place is amazing, and the food is fantastic so my sandwich is going to go stale. Madam, I mentioned I have a sandwich in here, there are only a few sandwiches I actually like, I said I was fussy right? I want you to work out which one I've brought with me tonight. Is it, Ham and Cheese, Chicken Caesar Salad, Chicken and Coleslaw, Bacon Lettuce and Tomato or Cheese and Pickle? I'll say them again, Ham and Cheese, Chicken Caesar Salad. Chicken and Coleslaw, Bacon Lettuce and Tomato or Cheese and Pickle?" She thinks for a moment before calling out "Bacon Lettuce and Tomato'; where upon you ask her to confirm and otherwise bully her with your witty repartee before inviting her to join you "on stage, taking this round of applause to whet your appetite': On stage you hand her the sandwich, which is in one of those plastic packets. "These days they print the ingredients of the sandwich on the packet, please would you read out which sandwich this really is?" Of course it matches.
.' 'M . ' ' .. .' ',. BA1RN You thank her and ask her to return to her seat. As she is about to sit, you say, "sandwiches can be a little dry on their own, I've brought a drink with me 'just in case; I'll give you a clue - it's either Coke, Diet Coke or 7-up. Which do you think?" Again she pauses to think, looking dreamy eyed as if thinking about a long lost lover, before spewing out the words "Diet Coke': You look disgusted, "what are you trying to say?"The audience laughs, mainly because your stomach is bursting out of the front of your shirt - all of those balloons and razor blades you've been eating have certainly taken their toll. Then from the paper bag you take out a bottle of Diet Coke, before scrunching the bag up - proving there were no more sandwiches and no more bottles hidden inside. THE TRUTH It's interesting how the strangest things will get your gears going with a new idea . In this instance I was looking for a piece I could perform as part of an evening's entertainment where I'd be sharing the bill with other acts. One of the first considerations that came to mind was that I should not have any setting up to do. This way there are no difficult changes, I can just wander out in front of any old chaos and perform. As an aside, I think being easy to work with like this is something that pays dividends with bookers and clients. So my mind got to thinking through an old idea I had around 18 months ago concerning the 'packed lunch: This is what came out of this thinking, and even though I never used this as part of the performance I intended to, it has played very nicely as a light-hearted relief during my act. The concept for this, and the entire first part is pretty much from something I read in Lee Earle's Syzygy quite a long time ago now. I have to admit that I've never considered it an 'idea for development' until I came up with the bottles idea. On its own the bottles idea doesn't really have enough of a punch, however as a kicker to the sandwich routine from Syzygy it really hits an audience very hard. I won't go into too much detail about the sandwich, only to say that the story around 50
BAIRN a fussy eater, whilst true is also a perfect excuse for giving people a limited only thing I will say is that the outside label of the sandwich box has a series of tick on it, that you nail write a simple tick or cross through as the person makes their up to the stage. I really want to focus on is this really clever idea (I think) for the drinks. Again the of the fussy eater fits in perfectly, as no-one need question why you are giving limited choice of drinks. a step back and look at how the person will remember it. They named any drink that's what was in the bag. But if you ask them to name any drink, you have to be able to cover a wide range of possibilities. The same would be said if we were to ask someone forTHEIR favourite drink. However by making a simple presentational shift into it being a small set of the 'only drinks you like' because you're a 'fussy eater'the restriction makes perfect sense and doesn't even raise a question, never mind have to deal with it. The method is simple. In the bag are the three bottles, however they are not your normal bottle. These are three of the rubber Neilson Vanishing Bottles. These three are standing inside of the bag, left to right Coke, Diet Coke, 7-Up. Which ever one is named is the one you pullout. Now since they are all made of flexible rubber, when you pick up the bag containing the other 2, you are able to ball it up just like in a vanishing bottle magic effect. The purpose of the sandwich is to give a reason for having such a large bag. If the bag were to only contain a bottle, then why not have a smaller bag? To begin the effect, I have the 3 bottles in the bag, and the sandwich behind the bag. So when the audience believe the sandwich to be coming from inside of the bag, it is not, instead its coming from behind it. But no one is looking for anything suspect at this pOint. My clever editor pointed out that you could stick a diet coke label over the top of the Coca Cola label. If Coca Cola is named, it would be very simple to knock the label off before removing it from the bag. This would make the crumpled ball smaller. 5'\
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BAIRN STEP UP 10pm and the whirring of the roulette table is overshadowed by the hustle bustle of the patrons on the casino floor. audience assembles in the show room, the room is small but it is packed at seventy your whimsical introductory routines you approach a man seated in the second and ask him to think of something simple he could draw if he was given just a few he has something in mind, he's asked to join you on the stage and is handed a pboard on which to bring his imagination to life. ree more people are asked to stand in a row alongside 'Gary' and are each handed their own pen and a clipboard with the same instructions. Once all of the drawings are completed they are handed along to the lady on the end ofthe row closest to you, Gill. Gill is a lawyer from the city and is very well dressed. She mixes the clipboards into a new order before placing them on to the table that is by her left side. Standing in front of the table, you say, "As humans we have a real sense of ownership. We even see it in children when they fight over 'my toys: Tonight we are gOing to play with that affinity we have to our own things ... For the purpose of this game you Gary will be Person Number 1, Heath you will be Person Number 2, Angela you're Person Number 3 and Gill you are Person Number 4:' You pick up the top-most of the pile of face-down clipboards. Showing it to the audience, and not the row of volunteers. It is a detailed line drawing of a simple wooden chair. "This belongs to one of these four people. You four cannot see the drawing, you can't see through these wooden clipboards and so have no idea whether this is your handy work, or not. I am going to try and communicate both using verbal and non-verbal language as to who's image I believe this to be.
.' . BAIRN To me this is a timid person who puts on a good show of confidence. A person who is very analytical with keen attention to detail. To me this means Person Number 3. Would this person, Person Number 3 please step forward and tell everyone what you drew? A chair? Perfect!" You turn the drawing around to show Angela, the aUdience applauds and she returns to her seat. You pick up the next clipboard, "This time only non-verbal communication. If this is you, please step forward for the audience to see:' Gary, the first person in the line steps forward. "Gary, you are Person Number 1, what did you draw?" Sheepishly, Gary confesses, "A really bad dog" The audience applauds wildly. "Two of you remain. I'm going to place these two images, still face down, side by side. Heath, come stand by my right side and just pick up either of them on instinct. Tell everyone what you drew ... A yacht? Turn around the clipboard you freely chose ... " It is of course his yacht! With your hand to your temple you 'sense; "This one belongs to you Gill!': The aUdience " . '- laughs at your bad joke. .' . "But you placed these face down on this table yourself and so I could not possibly know what you drew, correct?" Gill agrees. You pick up one ofthe used clipboards, tear off the top (used) sheet and begin to sense what she drew. Once you have finished, you have her pick up her clipboard from the table and show everyone her drawing. Upon turning yours around it is clear you correctly received her image of a candy cane! The jackpot! 54
, BAIRN THE TRUTH the way this reads looks like a variation on Larry Backer's infamous 'Sneak the starting point was entirely different. effect started off as a discussion with Banachek. effect came to me in a dream. Four people standing in a row. They draw pictures. of those pictures is chosen at random. One of the four drawers is asked to step rd.ltturns out that the person who stepped forward was the artist of the selected played with all kinds of methods. Some that involved instant stooging and even ",h,,'clr;'lIvforcing one of the people to stand up or step forward. I?rr,nclti"r"n electric shock chairs. Invisible threads. PK touches. lIy, after a lengthy conversation with Banachek we thrashed out this routine, he has given me his blessing to share with you here now for the first time. Each phase uses a different 'method' so this may appear lengthy and involved as there is a lot going on but I promise you the effect it has had for me is wonderful. For the record, I have only ever performed this around fifteen-twenty or so times during a tour of small UK casinos. Hence the story. To begin with the clipboards are marked so you know which one belonged to which The first revelation is very standard and simple, however it acts as a training and conditioning to allow success in the second phase. The important point of the whole set up is something that the audience, and I'd imagine as a reader here, you'd forget. You must label them 'Person Number 1; 'Person Number 2' etc. And while you do so you hold up the relevant number of fingers while looking right at the person. So as you look at the first person in your row you look him right in the eye and say'You are Person Number One' and hold up a single finger. Repeat this with each of them with the relevant number of fingers.
. ' . . ' . . ' . BA\RN Now when you come to the first revelation you hold the clipboard so the audience can see it, you hold it right above your head. While you say who it belongs to, you always address them by number and not name, For example if the first picture happens to belong to Person 2, you will say, "To me this means Person Number 3. Would this person, Person Number 3 people step forward and tell everyone what you drew? At the same time, what the audience at large does not see is that you hold up a single finger directly behind the board. The row of volunteers can see the finger being held up - but the audience can not. Banachek's idea, very much worth your consideration was to hold the fingers up behind your back. I found it easier and bolder to do it behind the natural barrier that is the clipboard. Plus all attention is already on the clipboard so the row of participants is much more likely to be looking at it, than at your hands behind your back. We agreed anyway. :) So the first drawing is matched to its owner. The owner is dismissed. Now you will use the training you have just given your row of people. Pick up the next drawing, let's assume it belongs to Person Number4. Hold it up and you say, "This time only non-verbal communication. If this is you, please step forward for the audience to see" - you now hold up the correct number of fingers, in this example four fingers. Due to the conditioning of the previous phase, Person Number 4 will step forward. Voila! I have had it happen once that the person was too drunk and wasn't paying attention. Ah casino gigs eh? Its a simple matter of waiting an extra beat for someone else in the line to nudge them, which happened once. Or, what did occur another time is you can just wait a moment and then proceed as in the previous step. The next step is pure Banachek brilliance. In fact it sets up the next two phases so you'll be way ahead. You walk behind the table and pick up the two face down clipboards. You are going to peek what is drawn on both of them in a really cool way . In the pot you have used for the pens you have placed a convex mirror - I picked mine up from a motor vehicle supplies shop in the UK called Halfords . 56
BAIRN is the perfect size to fit snugly in the pot I have, and it will swing on a pivot you to put pens into the pot. ng handed out the pens from the pot to the volunteers you use your finger to the mirror in the pot around so that it is like a mirror lid. when you pick up the two clipboards you can use this as a shiner to see exactly is on both of these clipboards. is done during the action of placing the two clipboards side by side. you read the marking on the back of the clipboard to your left. Ask whichever it belongs to to come stand by your left side. Gesturing casually, you ask him Under these conditions I've never failed to have them pick up the left-most clipboard. As soon as he picks it up, you ask him what he drew. He tells you and you have him turn clipboard around. The final clipboard that is face down, you already peeked the drawing using the pencil pot peek mirror, so you can easily proceed to duplicate this drawing. The reason I peek both of the images on the final two clipboards is just in case the second last person did happen to pick up the wrong one. If that were ever to happen, and it has not yet, as soon as they touched the clipboard, rather than asking what they draw, I'd turn my head over to the person who's drawing it was and ask what they drew, they'd announce it and I'd have them turn around the selected drawing. Then I'd duplicate the second last person's drawing instead. Thank you to Banachek for the time and inspiration to thrash this out, and of course for the really powerful psychology in the penultimate phase to get someone to pick their own drawing. 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 S1
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BAIRN ERRRM ... 1 CAN'T REMEMBER Drifting in the sea of theatre-goers exiting that evening's performance of Les Miserables you drop by The Hippodrome Casino for 'just one drink~ barely get the drink in your hand when you notice a school-friend of yours sitting a nearby table. After the introductions between your friends and his you're cajoled into accepting an invitation to join them in their complimentary seats for the Midnight Cabaret in the show starts with what can only be described as a drag-act without the jokes and After the ordeal is over, the group start to discuss whether there is a fathomable method for un-seeing everything they'd endured over that previous sixty minutes. Can someone make us forget? Surely you can mind reader guy? Having people forget information is a popular fancy of the mentalist. The independent works of my two friends Luke Jermay and Patrick Redford have been among the most prevalent. In both cases I got excited about the routines and performed them with great impact. Even though the effect was extremely strong, it was not the one I wanted. In the case of almost every'cause someone to forget' effect, with the exception of those that use real psychology and hypnosis, the effect is seldom one of actually forgetting, but usually one of mis-remembering. Around 2008 I set about creating a routine that was 100% physical method based (Le. not hypnosis or suggestion based) that caused people to forget. The way I defined
BA\RN how I knew I'd be successful in this little challenge was if I could get the unprepared participant to strain and say, "Agh I just can't remember!': I shared my approach with Luke Jermay and was pleased to hear his excitement for "The exact opposite of what everyone else is doing". So let us back up a bit and go through what we see when witnessing this: "How is your memory?" "It's okay, I think:' Talking to the audience you say, "On these pieces of card are various thoughts to focus on, names, places, colours, shapes, objects, animals, minerals, f1owers ... all kinds of things:' On each card is a different word. "I'm going to ask you to remember what you see on one of these cards in a few moment's time. As we've all seen each card is unique and there are lots of words for us to play with. So go ahead and take one of the cards" The participant takes one of the cards from the pile. "In a moment you are going to turn that over and I want you to stare at every element of that card because you'll only have 45 seconds and then no matter how hard you try, I'm going to make you forget what is written on there. GO!" The clock starts and then you very abruptly stop him and take the card from him. "Let me look at what you had here. Okay, there's a colour. I did say I was going to have you forget, so I want you to try and remember the colour that was spelled out on the card. Go:' Now step back and watch as he searches through his mind, trying to remember. He cannot. And eventually you can ask him, if he doesn't offer it up by himself, "Can you remember it?" and he will, defeated, reply with "No:: THE TRUTH The method goes back to Kenton Knepper's 'Wonder Words'. The stack of cards is made 60
BAIRN two sets. The first set has a single thought printed on each of them. The second has the same thing on each, that is a list of 14-20 different things, none of which is The second set is also cut short on al14 sides i.e. it is slightly smaller. is an image of a card from my second set: Steven Camel Banana Canada Strawberry Sentimental Junction Lego Statue Paris Rose Bush Crest Take the two sets and stack them alternating each so you have a set 1 card followed by a set 2 card, then a set 1 card and another set 2 card all the way through. I have 10 of each so you'll end up with a pile of 20 cards. Now you pretty much have a pile of index Svengali cards. To show them all as having single words on each card hold the face of the pack toward to audience and let them fall one at a time. Due to the Svengali (long and short) nature of the cards, only the cards with single words on them will show. For this routine to be effective, it's important that our participant should be seated upstage of the performer. The performer is standing in front of the volunteer. The reason I have them seated is because by doing so, you significantly reduce (if not eliminate) the chance of them getting up and walking around to see what the audience is seeing. Which would blow this particular effect out of the water. The audience can see each of the cards and understands that there is a single word on each card. However because of what you say, when you later show something different to your participant, everything will still make sense for him, even though the card he sees has many different words on it. You say, "On these pieces of card are various thoughts to focus on; names, places, colours, shapes, objects, animals, minerals, flowers ... all kinds of things:' The audience, who can see the cards at this point, see that there is one of each of these things on each of the cards. Now take the cards face down and have the participant cut the cards to select a random one. When he does, due to the fact the force cards are slightly smaller, the face down card he cuts to will be one of the force cards which is filled with numerous &'\
.' ' .. ~ ." .... . " .... " .... . ' .... BA\RN Before he can turn it over, you say some more ambiguous, yet specific sounding things to him: "In a moment you are going to turn that over and I want you to stare at every element of that card because you'll only have 45 seconds and then no matter how hard you try, I'm going to make you forget what is written on there. GO!" First of all you have justified why he is to spend so much time looking at this, but yoU also put him into a blind paniC, because you start off by saying "in a moment" and then without any count down or other clue, you say "GO!" When the volunteer looks at that card he will try hard to remember as much as possible. Of course he will not remember the colour, because you haven't written one on there. When his time is up, just ask him to name the colour as per the script and watch him try hard to recall it. Which he won't. The effect essentially works on the fact you'll be overloading his brain with far too much to remember. Although I explained this with the 'colour' being the thing they forget, I only used the colour as the forgotten item one time. Since then I've found it a lot more practical to use the'name of a battle' as the item which they forget as it would be easier overlooked by them, if it had been on the card in the first place. One concern I fought with for a while was how the person appears to be reading a lot of information on the card, while the audience believe it ought to be just the one word. I have a couple of subtle things I do to overcome this. The first is that I place the person as far up stage as possible, that is they are as far away from the audience as I can justify in whatever environment I am performing. The second is I try and stand directly in front of the person so that I obscure as many audience member's view of the person as possible. I rarely perform this effect, the reason being that I don't think it has a 'wow' moment, or a climax. It's more of a process-type routine that then leads into another effect. BONUS! 61 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
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SENSIBLE INFLUENCE BAIRN randomly chosen (if you like) folks stand in a row across the stage. They from ugly to mildly attractive. your table is one of those table-standing flip charts, four of the pages are folded out of view. one of the tables near the front you pick up the water pitcher and fill your glass. all tend to think that we have five senses, right? Well there are some scientists who we actually have ... four. Be honest, how many of you thought I was going to see, if you've ever had a cold, you'll remember that with a blocked nose, your sense of taste is significantly reduced, and for some people, totally vanishes. Scientists have provided us with a lot of conjecture that the reason this does not happen 100% time is in fact nothing to do with smell OR taste, but with memory. Those who they do still taste 'something' may be recalling a taste from their subconscious, rather than tasting it here and now. We are going to put this to the test, and to do that we need four impartial people. You four look very impartial to me:' like all four of you to close your eyes now and keep them closed. With your eyes closed I'd like you to take a sniff, a good deep whiff of what I place under your nose. But only when I tell you:' Whilst saying this, the first of the folded back pages of the flip chart is flipped back down, on it is the word 'Coca Cola: The glass is then placed under the nose of the first person. take a sniff of this and tell everyone which drink you'd expect to taste if you
. " ' .. '- . " .. ," . ," . ," .. BA\RN were to take a sip:' The volunteer inhales through his nostrils and calls out 'Coca Cola: "Interesting. Thank you. Keep your eyes closed just for the moment." Addressing the second person in the line, "John, please do not be influenced by What Chris here has said, take a nose-full ofTHIS drink and tell everyone what you'd expect to taste .. :' During which you flip the second page of the flip chart over to show the word 'Dr Pepper: Then place the same glass under his nose. Of course he calls out'Dr Pepper: "Please, Chris and John, would you confirm that this is absolutely what you smelled and then tasted?"They agree. This is repeated with the remaining two volunteers who, even though they all sniff from the same glass, which is in sight the entire time in the performer's hand, call out 'Orange Juice' and 'Beer'. THE TRUTH This little piece was developed on the coach journey from our hotel to Barcelona airport after a three day drinkathon of a stag do (bachelor party). There is absolutely NO dual reality here. Not even a little bit. The four folks on stage are totally unprepared, they genuinely call out what they smell in the glass that's being held under their noses, they smell the things that you have display even before they sniff the glass, the glass contains water that is poured from a borrowed pitcher from any of the tables and neither the glass nor pitcher are ever switched . The secret is in the glass. Take any regular glass, although I'd recommend as wide a mouth on the glass as possible . Now go to a local store where they sell lip balms, in the UK and USA there is one called Claire's, and dig out four flavoured lip balms. One each with the flavour Cola, Aniseed, Orange and Beer. If you cant find them in stores, have a search online. Google is your friend. The flavours here are specifically chosen because they don't have a direct connection 66
BAIRN lip balms. If we'd gone for strawberry and cherry then it'd be an easy thing to back track to those kinds of things. the glass and although it has a round mouth (the mouth is the super technical for the bit you put your mouth on to take a drink from), as it sits in front of you, it has four sides. One closest to you, one opposite that furthest away from you a small, half inch of each of the balms at the locations. For example, furthest from you smear a little bit of Cola. Then 90 degrees clockwise at the 3 o'clock smear a little Aniseed, at 6 o'clock the orange, and at the 9 position the beer. take a Sharpie (or any other permanent marker) and mark the base of the glass the 6 o'clock position. a flip chart, I personally like the ones that are made by Postlt that stand on top of but any will do. On the first page boldly write Beer, on the next write Orange then Dr Pepper and on the fourth write Coca Cola. Flip all of these pages over. there is nothing for you to remember other than to pick up the glass so that the mark on the bottom of the glass is closest to you. INh"">",,r possible try to borrow a pitcher of water from a table, this really sells the that there is nothing untoward with the water. Do take care, however to pour water into the middle of the glass and not let it touch the treated edges. This will flavour the water and you'll be in trouble. Have the four people on stage close their eyes, this is partly for presentation but at also so that they don't see the smears on the rim of the glass, nor do they get their senses confused whilst looking at the clear water. Go to the flip chart and flip the first page back over. Since these are already in order, there is absolutely nothing for you to remember, other than to stand directly opposite the person who will take the sniff. The remainder of the routine is you simply openly flipping each page of the flip chart and subtly turning the glass around 90 degrees before each sniff. This can either be done in your hand as you walk around, or simply by putting the glass on the table so you can use both hands to flip the page over on the flip chart. If at any point you get lost as to the orientation of the glass, that's not a problem (and does happen in the heat of the moment), just pick it up and find the black marker and re-orientate the glass to where you need it to be. This effect is so strong because of the following elements so please do remember &1
BA\RN these points when performing this: There is no dual reality. Everyone is experiencing the same astounding effect. The water is borrowed The flavours are NOT typical boring balm flavours. We're using aniseed, for example, to have one person say Dr Pepper. Finally to clean up, I just keep the water on stage with me and drink from that glass for the remainder of the show. At least the flavour doesn't get boring as you have 4 to choose from throughout. :) For another totally unrelated effect on the subject of taste and smell, check out Morgan Strebler's 'Taste Conditions' It's more magic than mentalism but I'm sure you'll see how it can be re-framed to be a nice follow-up to Sensible Influence. BONUS! 68 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 REPICTAGRAM (AKAE,) I sat in the local coffee shop, I'm sat by the window drinking a CaraChocolate and as I'm about tuck into the slice of my favourite Lemon IAASsc:ak,e, when a young lady asked if she could join me. usually oblige, but she was visibly shaken and concern was clearly eating at her. one's eyebrows apparently means "go on .. :' because she sat herself down at the and told me of everything she experienced the night before. the following seven or eight minutes she described what she'd seen that previous I was transfixed and couldn't care less if my Caramel Hot Chocolate went cold. Mysterious Man on stage asks everyone to think of a word and focus on it in their ,"It can be any word, any word at all with five or more letters in - otherwise it's not going to be such an impressive feat:' The performer wanders around the audience and hands pieces of card, one to each of six different people. "It's important that everyone is chosen at random for this experiment. So I'll turn as you pass those cards around the room. If a card comes to you, remember you can pass it to your left, to your right, then the person in front of your or to a person behind you. You can even stand up and hand it to someone else in a totally different part of the room:' Then when he said stop, everyone who is holding one of the six cards is to secretly write their word on it.
" ',;'," ." ... " ..... '" ' .. " .', ... BAlRN Once written the people were to slide their cards, face down into an envelope that he walked around the room for them to insert their card themselves. The envelope is held above his head and asks another member of the aUdience to join him on stage and to take the envelope with her. In so saying, he has her take the envelope and she makes her way to be seated on the only stool on the stage. The young lady was now asked to open the envelope and remove the cards and look them over. "If any of the words happen to be the same, just discard that one and certainly don't feel like you need to choose that one:' She is then asked to confirm that all the words are different and "we haven't ended up with six people all thinking about the same word?" which she agrees is the case. "It's important that you have a choice, and more important that you make the right choice. You see, there is one word printed very large inside of this envelope. I'm hoping that I was able to influence one of these six people to think of the word I need in the first instance, and now I'm hoping you pick up on that same word and you select it from among the other five. Of course right now you have no conscious clue as to which one it is?" The lady agrees and then the Mystery Man walked over to a large envelope. "It was huge. It was bigger than his head. That kind of big:' She seemed impressed. "Okay, let's get some dramatic hype. Music please:' He called for music and there was some. It was a low rumble, thumping, the rhythm of an increasing pulse. "Now let's reveal your chosen word. One letter at a time. The first letter .. :' The lady looked down at one of the cards, 'M: And to everyone's disbelief, from the envelope he was now holding the oh so Mysterious One removed the letter'M; printed on a card, "big and bold. As bright as day:' The lady was asked to face away so there can be no thoughts of collusion. You look closely and see that he has hold of the next letter already, the top edge and corner of it are already peeking out of the top of the envelope as he asks for, "the next letter': 11
BAIRN card is pulled free of its chamber and the 'A' is seen printed on the card. he picks up the pace and by the end he is removing the letters for us all to see the still-turned-away lady is asked to call it out. r:",,y\lrmf-' is looking around in utter astonishment. The word MARINE is clearly spelled you think you've got it. There's got to be more to that big oversized envelope meets the eye, right? engulfthose thoughts in flames Mr Mystery hands the envelope out to an audience " .... ~"'n"rto"keep as a souvenir, and also check there are no extra pieces of card, letters anything extra at all!" And there were none. I know, because he handed it to me: first thought was it was too good to be true. And to that end I almost dismissed the whole thing as the usual recollections of any audience member, who forgets the important elements and unknowingly embellishes the others to amplify the mystery. But later that night, I wondered what it would be if she had not been mistaken. What would it have been if this account had been the exact, pure truth? Copset Mapine [scot1, Remain
" ..... . .'. " '. " " . ,'. " BAIRN THE TRUTH This whole routine in its fundamental component parts breaks downinto the folloWing steps: Have six random thoughts written. Collect the random thoughts. Switch the random thoughts for the ones you've pre-written (in differing hand writing styles etc of course). Have the person openly look over the thoughts and choose one, anyone at all with absolutely no process. Remove that word from the large envelope. Hand out the envelope as a gift, because it is empty. THE REALISATION OF POSSIBILITIES If you've read any of my other work, you'll know of my obsession with predictions. Depending on the works of mine you are familiar with, you may also be aware of my ongoing search for interesting revelations. (One of the most interesting I've come across is that detailed in my Brainwashed manuscript). This piece is of particular interest to me because it is born out of wanting to make the revelation of a predicted word somewhat more interesting. To illustrate how it came about, let me take you through the process in just the same way that it created itself in my mind. "Someone will think of a word, I'll force it or something probably but we'll deal with that later;'this was my internal monologue, "and as the person reveals their thought-of word "" pull each letter our of a huge envelope, one at a time. "There'll be tension and drama as each letter builds the accuracy of the feat. Rather 74
BAIRN the revelation of a word all happening at once, and getting just one round of use we could get five from a five-letter word, or heck even twelve from a twelve word. Although that might be pushing it:' was my first thought. Simply a way to reveal something in my show. Slightly but nothing worth getting excited about just yet. only a moment before I stumbled across the opportunity that doing such a affords us. I was excited! Before we go into the details, take a look at the words below. are the six words I switch the audience's cards for (the method for making the will follow later in this book): consider that the cards are never laid out in front of anyone like this, and are in a that they leaf through one at a time. This disguises any sense of the words being . Which they are. Very. The idea I came up with was to have a set of words that could all be spelled out using Yes, we are venturing into the world of Anagrams. I was reading a lot of Steward James at the time so it was on easy connection for me. I then spent a LOT of time researching the exact words I would use to see if I could find some words with quite a number of letters that spelled ordinary sounding words. The next element was to remove the idea that anagrams were in use (cover every base), and to do that we use both sides of the large cards in the prediction envelopes. So these words are actually two sets of words. A 'Front' set and a 'Back' set. The 'Front' Set Escort Corset Sector All use the same letters. Then on the backs of these cards: Airmen Marine Remain However there is one more very important feature of these words, that actually resulted in me going back to the drawing board - well the internet - to find a new set of words. Corset, Sector, Escort, Airmen, Marine and Remain are the final set. This additional feature I researched over a couple of days was that they should:
." .. .' . .. ' ... BA\RN 1. All be real, ordinary words that normal people might write down. 2. Be made of as many letters as possible to make Anagrams look less likely. 3. Be split into two sets. 4. The two sets should use some interesting and significantly appearing letters. Many of the trial sets used too many similar letters. Then to make things even more complicated, but to ease the performance ... S. Each one of the words should start with a different letter. I will explain the importance of this when we come to the routine and revelation section 'The Performance Of El: Believe me, trying to do it without this is a LOT tougher. Together, these are the principals that make "El ': You will also notice that there are no additional letters. However one thing I have considered (but not performed) that you might like is using longer and shorter words, by having punctuation on the backs of some of the letters. The lengths could vary from dropping just one letter by adding an exclamation mark, you could drop two letters by adding quotation marks at either end, and combine quotes with an exclamation to dispose of three letters. I've not used this method at all so cannot detail its operation here, but it has been part of my considerations and so wanted to share it with you in case you take a fancy to playing with it. THE SET UP Let's walk step-by step through the set-up process to get yourself ready to perform this routine. THE CARDS Either print the cards yourself or, like me, have them printed by a local printing company who can do so on some thicker card. I have mine on 3S0gsm board. This is a nice sturdy card, and is also thick enough to block light and shadows coming through. 76
BAIRN mine printed inverted, that is the background is solid black and the text is reason for this is that this configuration shows up better on stage for larger Something I learned from Richard Osterlind as he talked about using chalk to make revelations rather than the dry-erase board. that, but never applied it. Until now. Thanks Richard. cards should be printed double sided in the following pagination: NR RIO I/C NIS EIE It's important (I say this from my own foolish experience) that you have all of the letters printed in UPPER CASE. The 'Key' words are Marine and Escort. It is from those two words you will create the others. They will be placed into the envelope so that the M is facing out closest to the front of the envelope, and thus if you turn the envelope over, the letter E will be frontmost facing the audience. I wanted to briefly explain the orientation of the printing to help you understand it for now, but we will go into much more detail on this later. Once you've excitedly collected your printing take your sticky tape and use it to create a tab on each of the cards at a different point along the top edge. Once attached use the marker pen to write the letter that is showing but on the opposite site. The reason for doing it this way is because you will be looking at these 'tabs' from the back. Now stack the cards so that M is face up on the top of the packet, spelling Marine, with the E facing up on the bottom of the pile.
THE ENVELOPE The only preparation I make to the envelope is to draw a question-mark on to the address side. Well in truth my ability to draw question-marks is so impairedl that I have had them printed on to transparent adhesive and I stick a big "7" to the address side of my large envelope. So take your pile of cards and insert them into your envelope with the question-mark facing you have the M for Marine facing you too. DISPLAYING THE PREDICTION This is something I have played with and tinkered with most of all - well almost as much as finding the six words that would work. My current solution is to have the prediction hanging in the middle of a washing line that runs the width of the stage or performing area, using a miniature Bulldog Clip. For close up placing it on the table is perfect too. This washing line will also have five additional miniature Bulldog Clips on the line, as you will use all six of these to clip each of the letters in your prediction. We will get into the detail of this in the next section. SWITCHING IN YOUR CARDS The effect relies on the audience believing that your volunteer is choosing one word from among six that are all created by the people in the audience. This further dissipates any notion that the words being chosen from are special in any way, nevermind being anagrams of two sets that each start with a different letter. Switching things is very much a thing of personal taste, and so most will use their own preferred method but I do want to share my preferred methods for various circumstances. I'd always envisioned El as a stage piece, however when I first set it up as a DIY piece using my home-office printer I wanted to test it out on some friends. I printed it smaller so as not to look like I was doing a stage routine at dinner. After performing it close up like this I realised that it's fantastic routine close up too. To the SWitch. To work most deceptively, you should be performing to a group of eight 18
BAIRN Of course if the group happens to be smaller, just reduce the number words formula for calculating the number of cards to switch in is; Group Size - 2 (with a m result of six) should be two more people in the group than there are cards written on for two to call on what Jack KentTiller calls The Assumption Swindle, that is that each of people will assume that their card is the only one that did not get chosen for use experiment, should they accidentally catch a glance at the cards once they are set is a second card short because we don't want the person who does the ng to have chosen a word. Primarily to cover the fact all of the written words be switched out, and secondly to lay any thoughts of collusion aside. I.e. he will not his own word over any of the others. the people around the table (and the nearby tables too if that suits) take a card write down a random word. "Please keep it clean, and it doesn't have to be an ,nr,,,,,"mrlfl word. But do make it of a good length, less than five letters is probably not "It can be an object, a job, an animal, a piece of clothing, but it does not have to be a noun or a 'thing; it could just as well be something like 'enroute' or 'withhold' or something like that:' You turn your attention to the person seated closest to you and ask that they don't write a word as they will have a different, yet very important role to play. Once the cards are written out, ask a person sitting on the opposite side of the table to collect them all in. Everyone is to pass their card, carefully face down without any risk of letting anyone, particularly you, see. Now you walk around to the other side of the table and have him slip the collected cards into an envelope. Here I simply use myoid favourite, the Shaxon Flap to have the envelope containing the written on cards, switched for an envelope containing your pre-written cards. If you're not familiar with the Shaxon Flap an alternative is to take one envelope and cut the flap off it. Now place your pre-written cards into the top envelope of the rest of the pile, now add your 'Flapless' envelope on top.
BA\RN Now when you collect the cards in, you slide them all into the top envelope (the 'Flapless' one). Then as you walk back around to Tim take hold of the flap from the second envelope and pull it free of the stack. This is the envelope that contains your pre-written cards, the f1apless one that with the ones they wrote is still on top of the pile. Job done. An alternative idea I had, which I've not tried at all so may not be as great in real life as it is in my mind is this: Set up the pile of envelopes with a different force word (from the special set of 6) in each of the six envelopes. Then place this pile of six on to a further three or four empty envelopes. Then place your 'Flapless' envelope on top of it all. The procedure is very similar, take a card from a volunteer and insert it into the'Flapless' envelope. Now grab the top flap (actually from the second envelope down in the pile) and put it free of the pile. Hand this envelope to Tim. Now go to the next person and do the same, insert the card into the same 'Flapless' envelope and pull the top flap free of the pile. At the end of this sequence the audience will believe you have placed each of the cards into separate envelopes and handed each of them to Tim . . ' ...... In reality you've got a 'Flapless' envelope containing six pieces of card, and Tim is holding six envelopes, each one containing a since card, with a different force word .' '..... on it. . ' ... The simplest way of all that I can think of achieving this is to fill one envelope with your force words and place it face down on the bottom of the face up pile of envelopes . Collect the cards from the group in the top envelope of the pile and as your make your .' ...... back way to Tim it's a simple case of turning the pile of envelopes over in your hand. . " ... , ~. ',,'.' .'. " ,', .. " . . '. " " . This moment is easily covered as you ask Tim to verify the fairness and begin giving him his instructions . On stage I used the envelopes for the longest time, but recently veered toward using something my friend Banachek has released called the Psychic Pad Folio. This simple but brilliantly subtle device allows you to have people place their cards on to a clipboard so that you never touch them, and yet switch in your pre-written cards. This is my preferred way to perform this on stage at this moment. 80
BAIRN A final consideration is to use Ted Lesley's Teleport Envelope. This will allow the volunteers to place their cards into the envelope, and the last one to seal the envelope. This person is then able to pass the envelope to Tim, who then opens it himself and the cards have been switched. It's totally hands off, which is the gorgeous thing about it. AND TO PERFORM You now have almost everything you could need in terms of the 'Elements'. However there are some performance subtleties and shortcuts that you might find useful. In this section we'll walk through the performance step by step so you can see the way that I do this, and can then make it work for yourself. Before walking on you have the prediction envelope hung in the centre of your horizontally suspended washing line. In your pocket is a stack of envelopes. The top one is 'Flapless; the second contains 6 pieces of card, each bearing one of the six El specific words, each in a different hand writing style. To begin I like to ask everyone in the group to think of a word. This creates a very much inclusive atmosphere. Once they've been given just a moment to consider their choice of word I walk among them and hand out six pieces of card. I talk about how important the randomness of the words are, and so to further remove any control I might personally have, we are going to pass the cards around, and keep passing them until I call stop. The energy level raises as six cards each make their way forwards, backwards, left and right among the guests. During which I make a big deal of not looking. Call stop and have the people who are holding the cards write their word, "big and bold across the card. Once you're done keep the pen and place your card face down on your lap (or on the table in front of you or whatever suits):' Now heading into the audience collect the cards in the envelope (really they go into the 'Flapless' one on top of the pile. Still standing in the audience pull the flap of the second envelope (easy, as the first one doesn't have a flap) to bring the second envelope free of the pile, continue in an upward motion to bring the envelope above your head to keep it in sight at all times. It's at this point you call to someone sitting near the front and ask him / her to stand. Ask their name and hand the envelope to them and ask for a round of applause as they &'
. "" .. ~ '" BA\RN join you on stage. This sequence is choreographed to feel as fair as possible in the moment of action and, most importantly, on recollection. It's a small piece of business, but the notion of having the volunteer carry the envelope to the stage, rather than you really crushes thoughts of the performer doing anything 'sneaky'. On stage I have the participant take a seat. This is to make him comfortable as I want to reduce the risk of error due to his nervousness. Being seated goes some way toward this. I do however keep a little distance from him, standing next to the large prediction envelope I say, "I'm hoping that I've been able to influence at least one of these people to think of the word that I've printed inside of here. In fact, truthfully, I'm kind of hoping I've influenced all six of them, but if not then my next job is to subtly influence you to pick that word:' He is now asked to dump out all of the cards, keep them in a pile and go through them all one at a time. I say, "The first time through, just wonder which one you think might be in the envelope and then ask yourself 'is that too obvious' and move on. Then once you've been through them all, decide on one and take it out but don't let anyone see the one you have chosen, or in fact the ones you discard:' Then to the audience I say, "If Tim discards your card, it doesn't mean anything personally about you. So don't worry:: Now walk away from him and to your prediction. You back is to Tim and you ask him to stand in front of his chair once he has made his decision. Remove the envelope from the washing line and move to the furthest stage right side of the washing line (that is the left as the audience look at it). Do NOT open the envelope yet. Hold it openly and fairly for all to see . Now you ask Tim to reveal the word, but to make it dramatic to do so one letter at a "",,',' time. "So please, let's see if we managed to get the first letter right...?!" He announces the first letter. Now if the first letter is a M, A or an R (the first three letters of the key word Marine) you continue to hold the envelope with the question-mark . '.,',' facing out over. If the letter is E, 5 orC (the first three letters of the keyword Escort) you very deliberately &1
BAIRN turn the envelope round to display yourself opening the flap at finger-tips. Do this with a slight sense of the melodrama and you'll be well covered. At this point it is natural to look down into the envelope, and you do. In so doing you can easily observe the little tape tabs you created. And since you wrote the tabs so that the M for Marine is on the BACK of the T for Escort, you don't need to peer over the top but to casually observe from the back as you grab that particular card and pull it out. Now REMEMBER. I say this more to myself than to you - This is a revelation. So cue applause. The letter is right. While the applause dies down, it's fine to step upstage of the washing line (literally by stepping backwards) and hang the letter on the line. This means there is no risk of flashing the back side of the card, and there is no need for awkward movements to cover that fact. You're already in position. The second letter is much the same, apart from you now knowing that if the first letter was an A, the next letter will be an I as the word can only be Airmen, due to the fact that each of the force words starts with it's own unique letter of the alphabet. So in the case of the second letter you can have it already between your fingers before it is announced, which means the slickness between them announcing the letter and you removing it are much better. Again you clip it to the washing line as before. Forthe third letter I reach into the envelope and pull the card up to that the black of the card is clearly showing out of the top of the envelope before the letter is announced. This shows a commitment and that no changing can be done. The remaining letters I pick up considerable speed, the final two letters I actually remove from the envelope totally before they are announced. This works well because the on stage helper is down stage of you and is facing away. Removing the letters and having pieces of the card showing before the letter is announced is a vitally important element in this deception as it eliminates the idea that different letters could be brought out in a different order to form other words. The commitment to the letter before it is announced can be made as soon as the first letter is known, and this is something that I feel should be taken advantage of. There is one final piece of business to share on this, and it is a subtle throw-away line that is just another little subtlety in throwing off any suspicions of the truth. As the final applause dies down I say to the on stage participant, "It's a good job you
,'~ ..... . ' ... " , ~. • t BA\RN didn't choose the word Mississippi isn't iU"To which they smile and agree. Look at what is happening here: The audience are now lead to (falsely) believe that the words on the cards were perhaps of varying lengths and maybe are distinct in the way that Mississippi is unmistakable. Whereas, at the same time, by hearing those same words, the volunteer is saying "Yes" it wouldn't have been successful if one of the words had been Mississippi. THE WASHING LINE The washing line will not suit everyone, both in style and performing conditions. More often than not I do work it this way, however when I get to use my own stage set we have a magnetic strip built into it and have the cards shimmed so they adhere. Don't add magnets to the cards, as they stick together in the envelope. If neither of these work for you, I have on just a couple of occasions used the little plinth along the bottom of a Flip Chart easel, and even rested them against my case (for smaller groups where the cards didn't need to be so big). Another recent idea from my friend Nique Tan from Singapore was to stand 2 music stand next to each other and use them to display the letters. A brilliant idea that I am now using. BONUS! 84 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
, " ,~ , " . , " ,<, ==1=---==== 86
BAIRN WHO'$ GOT {HE MON~Y1 The booker talked the big talk. It's their annual dinner. It's in a top class place. But there is still vomit on your shoe. Two people are fighting. Cursing, one man is on the floor taking a beating. There is blood everywhere. "Please get off him!" The fight continues. "Don't hit him with that chair!" You can't see the guy's face for the blood. "Please stop beating him right now, Madam!" Cripes! The two of them join you on stage. "Watch your feet on the sick:'They step over the lumpy carroty bits and stand side by side next to you. "First of all, we're going to play with £5. I know what you are thinking, what can you get for £57" You look at the women, "Probably about half an hour:' One of them takes the money, and while your back is turned they decide which one of them will keep hold of the money. On turning back you point out which of them you believe is holding your cash. And you're right. You repeat this razzing demonstration with, wait for it ... £1 O. &1
BA\RN You're about to do it a third time, mainly because Tarbell said something about 'the power of 3's' with a £20 but remember you spent your last twenty on a cheese scone, you borrow one from an audience member. You play the game, and this time you lose. Whoops. Later in the show you're performing an add a number and it turns out that the total to the randomly called out numbers matches the serial number on the borrowed £20 that's been in the pocket of the lady from the beginning. Coincidence? Pickpocketing? Whatever it is, it doesn't matter. The audience are checking out the saxophonist with the low cut top who's now playing with the band. She's more attractive than you, and had the whole 'lips' thing going on. THE TRUTH The effect is one that allows a pretty good rationale and method for another. The first was my opener, a routine where I'd guess which of two people are holding my money, and the second was my closer where I'd be able to predict the serial number of a borrowed bill/bank note. I stopped performing this once the 'Who's got the money' plot became uber popular. However, my method, although psychological, is completely different to the ones I have read. "People say to me, your skills are amazing, but do you ever put your money where your mouth is?" At this point I resist the overwhelming urge to produce cash-coloured streamers from my mouth. That would be naughty. "So tonight I'm going to do just that. Who'd like to play me for my money?" This sets up the interest among the audience members. At this pOint hands shoot up. This bit is important. You want to look for a young lady, preferably in her teens or early twenties whose hand is NOT raised. The perfect person will usually be dressed in an understated way, and will look really sweet. Almost the kind of person who'd hate to be on stage. II
BAIRN This is the perfect person to use for this routine. You approach her, take her by the hand and lead her to the stage. If you've chosen the right person for this you will feel trepidation in her as you lead toward the stage, she'll be a little resistant and be looking back at her friends. The second person needs to be a man of good manners. Someone who is a little bit of a gentleman. Even though not on the surface, there is always someone there who is perhaps politely raising their hand. Certainly you want someone who has been attentive as this shows they have been raised to have respect. So you now have a man and a young lady on stage. It's advantageous sometimes to make sure the man is older than the woman. This really helps with the dynamic. NoW you take out five pounds from your wallet. OWe are going to playa game where you two can win my money. I am going to guess which of you is holding the money, and if I am wrong, whoever is holding it gets to This again pushes the 'gentleman' button in the head of the guy. The young lady feels nervous still. This next part is very much about character and I would say you should look within your own character to find something that has the same result, but without being so offensive. I get away with it, almost no one else would (you've been warned): UFirst of all, we're going to play with £5. I know what you are thinking, what can you get for £5:' I look at the woman, "Probably about half an hour:' Everyone is outraged and woman looks more uneasy than ever. The purpose of the line is to get the woman to look more weak and the man's protective gentleman response to be heightened. They are both standing to my right. The woman is closest to me, and the man stands to her right. I take the £5 and crumple it into a ball then hand the money to the young lady and turn my back, whilst saying: "Now either John (the man) will take the money, or Jane will keep hold of it. Let me know when I can turn back around"
BAlRN At this point, due to the psychological framing and choice of the people, the young lady will still be holding the money. You pretend to read their body language and reveal that to be the case. Take back the £5 and then play with £ 10. Again hand the £10 to the young lady and turn your back. Under these circumstances most people think that it is too obvious for the man to then take the money. They think that is what everyone would do. So, again the young lady will have the money. Here is the final stage, and this is what my buddy Jeff was most excited about. You suddenly look all super confident, even a little arrogant. "Okay, come on then, lets play with a twenty:' You go to your wallet. You don't have a twenty, but you do have two, tens. "I don't have a £20 note, does anyone have one I can buy off you for two tens?" Hands will shoot up to help out the 'performer in turmoil: You hand them the tens and take their twenty. In the time it takes you to move from the exchange of £20 and your tens, to getting to the stage, you switch the £20 you borrowed for a £20 you know the serial number of. The way I do this is; Hold your own £20 in your left hand, all crumpled up in a little ball, take the one you 'buy'in your right hand, crumple it up and simply switch them on the way to the stage. Now because the £5 and £10 were crumpled into balls, this makes sense. And as a result, the condition of the original £20 and the one you switched in are identical. There is no way of seeing any discrepancy in age or quality. You get back to the stage, crumpled £20 in view (the audience believe it is the one you just bought, but in reality you just switched it in). You play the game one more time. This time just guess who has the money. You want to aim to be wrong. Wrong? Yes. If you are wrong, tell the person that you will try and win it back later. They are to re90
BAIRN ke their seat and keep tight hold of the money, because it will be your job to try and that off them when they are not looking. verbiage results in them keeping it in sight at all times, but more importantly, them from spending it at the bar! are correct with your guess, simply say, "I feel a little bit bad that you kept losing, how about you keep hold of that and I try one more time to win it at the end of the show?"To which they will agree. So I continue on with the show, doing all the usual things. Then at the very end I bring out a prediction and hand it to someone. I ask members of the audience to shout out three digit numbers and have another total them on a The total is recorded on the flip chart then the envelope is opened. I nside the envelope it says "Bought Money" as the prediction. Everyone looks confused. Then I ask the person holding the £20 that I bought of someone else, to read out the serial number. It matches the total! For this last phase I simply use a gaffed calculator to force the total that matches the serial number of the £20 that I switch in right at the start of the show. I really enjoy this because they think the effect is over and right at the start of the show you are setting them up for something they could have absolutely no idea about. 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 AFRAID OF DOGS I spent a very long time trying to come up with an opener I really liked. This is the best opener I've used and am proud to say that I am still using it. It does take a little bit of construction, but it should be a one-time thing. That is unless you fly a lot and airlines decide to give you a little extra prep work before some of your gigs. Thank you Air France. The effect is nice, simple, direct, involves the whole audience and has a nice surprise to boot. Plus it really demonstrates you, your personality, and your skills right from the top. As a quick aside, my only requisites for any routine to fit into my show are 'does it allow me to display personality?' and 'is it impossible: Displaying your personality is something that is particularly important in the opening of your show. There are two envelopes on stage bearing question-marks. "One of these envelopes contains something big, and the other contains something small. Although the biggest, it is the smallest in value - a studio photograph of me. The smaller object is a cheque for $5,000 (I perform this mainly for American audiences). I'd like you all to carefully decide where you think I've put the cheque. If you get it right, you get to keep the money between you. There are around a thousand of you so that's five bucks each ... which will get you a drink at the bar. If you think the cheque is in this envelope to your left please applaud now:' Some people applaud. "And if you believe it to be in this envelope on your right please clap now:' More people applaud. Walking over to the 'right' envelope, that which the audience applauded most wildly for he turns it upside down and a large photo of the mentalist drops out. "Which means the cheque was over here the entire time:'
BAlRN Turning it upside down too, a cheque falls out. "I have to admit that the easiest thing to manipulate is the opinion of the crowd. Men are easy too, but women you are much more difficult. So for the women only this time let me mix up these two envelopes now decide where you believe the money to be: Just before you do, in case you are the analytical type, let's just keep track of YOur guesses ... "you say as you write the word Right on to the flip chart. Once again, applause is asked for and a choice is made. Again the envelopes are tipped upside down to show the mentalist managed to outsmart the women. "To be honest the women always gets the money anyway no matter how hard we try and keep it, so you all win in the long run!" The mentalist makes a note of the women's choice on the flip chart directly under the previous one. One final time the game is played, this time with an individual. "So far the choice has been 'right' and then 'right' again. You can continue the pattern or change, don't let yourself be predictable:' The man, for example, chooses to stick with 'right'. "Interesting, not many people would have done that, but then again you are not many people. But I did know that..:' The right envelope is tipped up to show it contains the photo of the mentalist. "In fact you can keep this as a souvenir of the show, well done!" "Leaving me with my cheque safely for another night!" he says tipping it out of the other envelope. "Oh there is one more thing, could you go back to the microphone and read out what has been written on the back of the picture?" The volunteer goes to the mic and reads out, "The audience will choose the 'right' envelope, then the women will stick with 'right' and finally the gentleman will try and go against the grain by sticking with 'right' too. RIGHT RIGHT RIGHT" He turns it around to show boldly written on the back the words RIGHT RIGHT RIGHT. Everyone applauds. 94
BAIRN THE TRUTH I absolutely adore this. I came up with an envelope which allows the whole thing to happen without any funny fiddling around inside of the envelope when removing the picture orthe cheque. In fact, you don't even go into the envelope to remove it, you tip it up and either one will fall out, whichever one you choose. What's more is this can be done surrounded, the back of the envelope can be shown, there is nothing to see. Of course you'd want to be careful about exposing the back of the photograph, so as not to spoil the surprise ending, but as far as method goesyou're safe. Finally, contrary to what some friends have suggested, the final prediction is not switched in. The final prediction is written on the back of the same photo that falls out of the envelope. Oh, and the method is guaranteed and non-psychological at all. Inside of both of the envelopes are 5 mini bulldog clips. They are positioned around the edges of the envelope. One along the bottom and then two down either side. Both envelopes are set up almost identically, apart from the messages on the backs of the photos, which we will deal with later. The grey boxes in this illustration represent the bulldog clips. I've numbered them for reference. This is the view from your side of the envelope (the back). D EJ El m a Remember the clips are inside the envelope and you squeeze the correct one to release whichever item you would like to, right through the envelope. Securing these clips was a long process of trial and error. I tried gluing them in, sewing them in, taping them in. None of which worked. What works best for me now is to take a thin piece of hardboard wood (which is flexible), and glue the bulldog clips to it, and then insert it into the envelope. I use a large padded envelope, and the photos of me are A4 size and almost fill the envelope. This is important to give a reason for such a large envelope, when the
BA\RN cheque is regular cheque size. On that, it has been suggested to me to get a jumbo cheque. The reason I don't do that is because the discrepancy in size between the cheque and the photo is another visual confirmation to the audience at large of the difference between these two items. Back to the set up. This goes for both envelopes. Clip the photos of you (or whatever you will use as the Booby Prize) to clips 2,3,4 and 5. Clip the cheque into clip #1. Throughout the first two stages of the routine you will release the picture in clip #5 when needed. The reason for this is that it is the easiest of the clips to replace the photo in. You always replace the cheque into clip #1. The other three clips are only used in the final phase. Now for the messages. In the envelope that will be on the audience's right - we will refer to this as the right envelope from now on. On the back of the photo placed in clip #3 you will write a prediction to reflect the choices being Left, Right, Left. In clip #2 Right, Left Left. In #4 Left, Left, Left. And in #5 Right, Right, Left. So here is an overview: RIGHT ENVELOPE #1: Cheque #2: RIGHT, RIGHT, LEFT #3: RIGHT, LEFT, LEFT #4: LEFT, LEFT, LEFT #5: LEFT, LEFT, LEFT You will notice that the last choice of everyone of these is left - that's because this is the right envelope and we must predict the opposite as the audience is guessing where the cheque is, not the photo with the prediction on the back. The opposite is true of the LEFT envelope which is set up like this: 96