Magicians

billyhead

Does anyone else feel its all staged and that the likes of hypnotizing etc is being done with actors. I saw Keith barry on the tv last weekend doing a trick where he knew from a road atlas what street his guests picked and it seemed to me anyway its a set up

kneemos

billyhead wrote: »

Does anyone else feel its all staged and that the likes of hypnotizing etc is being done with actors. I saw Keith barry on the tv last weekend doing a trick where he knew from a road atlas what street his guests picked and it seemed to me anyway its a set up

Keith Barry uses body language. Hypnotism is definitely a thing. No time for any of it myself,though those videos explaining how they saw the girl in half etc are entertaining.

me_irl

Hang on... SANTA DOESN'T EXIST?!?!

Snotty

OK, but magic trees in cars are actually magic, aren't they????

Sky King

I heard these so called 'magic tricks' are not really magic at all.

evolving_doors

Keith Barry... poor man's Derren Brown

me_irl

evolving_doors wrote: »

Keith Barry... poor man's Derren Brown

Derren Brown... poor man's Paul Daniels. :pac:

Badly Drunk Boy

evolving_doors wrote: »

Keith Barry... poor man's Derren Brown

Yeah, but has Derren Brown been on CSI:Miami? :pac:

PandaPoo

I went out with a magician once. He was really good at it, used to do all sorts of tricks in bed. Was very exciting

SEPT 23 1989

You need to be highly suggestible to be hypnotised

Ipso

The Transported Man is a great trick.

Roger Hassenforder

PandaPoo wrote: »

I went out with a magician once. He was really good at it, used to do all sorts of tricks in bed. Was very exciting

until he disappeared!

billyhead

billyhead wrote: »

Does anyone else feel its all staged and that the likes of hypnotizing etc is being done with actors.

I have watched Barry and Brown and I know how a lot of their tricks are done. And quite often their tricks are just cheap props from a magic shop that they have built a bit of charisma and showmanship around. The one where Barry drives a car blind folded or where Brown has a ring in three boxes and no matter what people do they can not pick which of the three boxes the rings are in - they are all cheap props tricks. I even have the props myself for those ones. They were less than 10 dollars each. The postage cost more than the prop.

When it comes to the more "mind games" tricks there is a lot going on. There are NLP tricks that work. Especially when combined with a cheap prop or some deft slight of hand. Some NLP and mind hacking techniques I have practiced and worked on myself. I even have a "patter" where around 6-7 times out of 10 I can trigger a shop attendant to give me change of a 50 despite me only handing over a 10. (I have tested this - but have always given the money back after before anyone asks).

But these tricks are not always successful. One of the advantages of working in television though is they can try it on 10 or 100 people - and then simply broadcast the one(s) that worked and I suspect both - especially Brown like the scenes where he paid for some things with entirely blank paper that the cashiers take as actual money - rely on this very heavily indeed. It is similar to my 50euro trick - and if I filmed the situations where it worked and deleted the ones where it failed - I would look like I had mad mind powers too.

Brown even made a show that basically admitted this fact indirectly. It was about horse betting where he claimed to have a system that would predict the results of a certain number of horse races in a row. His big reveal at the end of the show was he worked out every possible combination of wins possible and sent them all out to that many different people. In the end due to basic maths he only had to video 8 people to make the show - and he only broadcast the one where it worked.

I think a lot of their tricks are cheap and nasty - but they are both good showmen and turn them into something quite watchable. I love watching them at work - but often not because of the magic which I often see right through and how it is done - but because of how they work themselves while doing even the simplest card push. Especially Brown who builds everything into a wonderful narrative at times.

But as cheap and nasty as they get - I genuinely suspect they do not stoop to the use of stooges or actors. They do outright lie or mislead at times though - like the Russian Roulette act that gave Brown his first jump in fame - it was later revealed the bullets were all blanks and no live rounds were ever important into the area where he was working.

I love Brown more for how smooth and deft his moves are. There is a great scene - on you tube if you want it - where he is demonstrating pick pocketing. He picks everything from some people - even removing their tie. Then he starts giving it all back to them. But as they are replacing it he is still picking it back. He gives one guy his mobile phone back two or three times. Was like ballet to watch. Very practiced and very smooth. Way out of my skill range.

McMurphy

Worst magician i ever seen couldnt pull a rabbit out of his hat, so he pulled a hair out of his hole.

evolving_doors

SEPT 23 1989 wrote: »

You need to be highly suggestible to be hypnotised

Yes , I need to be highly suggestible, and i must be hypnotized.

SEPT 23 1989

SEPT 23 1989 wrote: »

You need to be highly suggestible to be hypnotised

No, you don't.

It's really funny the misconceptions people have about hypnotism. Perhaps have a session or two and figure out what it's about firsthand?

(I used to have hypnosis sessions for my Essential Tremor. Worked far better than the beta blockers the specialists all suggested)

thee glitz

evolving_doors wrote: »

Keith Barry... poor man's Derren Brown

I've seen both live - DB's Enigma show (it's on youtube) and whatever Barry was doing 3 years ago.

Enigma was amazing - I left feeling quite puzzled and concerned (but very entertained) about just how magnificent Brown is at manipulating / reading people.

KB's performance wasn't quite as polished, unsurprisingly, but he's still quite the show-man and has considerable head-fcukery skills - will go again sometime. Better than expected I'm ashamed to say.

No doubt either'd lie to you all day long, but the results are fantastic, and beyond using plants, I'm convinced.

Capt'n Midnight

Last time I was in town I saw a magician walking down O'Connell Street.


He turned into Henry Street :eek:

B.A._Baracus

billyhead wrote: »

Does anyone else feel its all staged and that the likes of hypnotizing etc is being done with actors. I saw Keith barry on the tv last weekend doing a trick where he knew from a road atlas what street his guests picked and it seemed to me anyway its a set up

Probably going back about 10 years ago now but my friend went to a hypnotist to try and stop smoking.
Hypnotist starts telling him about what is involved such as you still need willpower etc and then how much the likes of Paul McKenna are fake (obviously) You can't turn a person in to thinking they are a chicken.

In the end it didn't help my friend to stop smoking either :pac: All fake. From those on tv to those who offer it as a service.

justfillmein

havn't the slightest interest in any of that carry on..

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