Does Darren Brown cheat ;-)

silverharp

I'm thinking about routines where audience members called up on stage have to write numbers etc on paper where he is not supposed to see it. does he have helpers off stage feeding him information back?
I was googling one of his routines and a thread seemed to suggest that he used these types of "tricks". I was a little dissapointed as he plays on the fact that either uses psychology or goes to extraordinary lenghts to cover all the options.

fergal23

Doubt it. Most of his tricks are bigger than just guessing a number. He maintains that he uses psychological suggestion and misdirection.


It's Derren btw

zuroph

misdirection is the key to your phrasing there. a lot of what he does isnt psychological at all, thats the misdirection. he uses traditional magic methods in his performance. its not "cheating"

silverharp

zuroph wrote: »

misdirection is the key to your phrasing there. a lot of what he does isnt psychological at all, thats the misdirection. he uses traditional magic methods in his performance. its not "cheating"

I'm sure and thats cool. The routine I was thinking off was called 20 questions. From memory one of the objects he guessed was UFO. In Derren's case, if the trick was a helper watching the person write the word down would take away from the performance imo. I did see comments also that said thats not what he did so I'll keep the faith

zuroph

it usually wouldnt be just someone else watching what they drew, as that can be unreliable and depending on circumstances, could be missed..

pfurey101

Does it matter once its entertaining?

deepeedublin

here here pfurey. gotta love derren!

sezz

lol

dil999

just reading his book "Derren Brown, Tricks of the mind" it a great insight into him and the methods he uses to perform his tricks. Or is it???

pedrao15

Hehey, its Derren Brown!
I mean, not the spelling mistake but, it is HIM!

At the beginning of his "Trick of the Mind" series he says in the beginning
that in any case he used stooges and that's not just his word, is a commitment,
like a contract. Nevertheless, he doesn't say that he doesn't do previous hypnosis (in wich he could put a time bomb so he can make one pick a number in the future).
I really not into hypnosis but I like Derren Brown and I have a friend that knows everything about him.

I hope my post was helpful!
Abraços from Brazil!
Pedro A.

7Sins

Yes

zuroph

Care to elaborate 7sins?

7Sins

zuroph wrote: »

Care to elaborate 7sins?

I thought you'd never ask
Well it's either he cheats or he can mind read, so.....he cheats

zuroph

7Sins wrote: »

I thought you'd never ask
Well it's either he cheats or he can mind read, so.....he cheats

Depends how you clarify cheating. its misdirection, but Derren never claims an ability to read minds.

pedrao15

Some people consider Magic cheating.
Of course he can't read minds, but at the same time he don't use actors! Thats Chriss Angel's job!

7Sins

zuroph wrote: »

Depends how you clarify cheating. its misdirection, but Derren never claims an ability to read minds.

Misdirection is more apt, I used "cheat" because the OP did although saying cheat feels like one would have been taken in by the "magic" of it all only to feel "cheated" upon realising theres no such thing as magic

zuroph

Pre-showing can play a huge part in the effects you can achieve, that is correct Pedrao.

zuroph

7Sins wrote: »

Misdirection is more apt, I used "cheat" because the OP did although saying cheat feels like one would have been taken in by the "magic" of it all only to feel "cheated" upon realising theres no such thing as magic

OP was referring to Derrens claims of using psychology. So, not quite magic, but similar. I see where you're coming from though

pedrao15

7Sins wrote: »

...theres no such thing as magic

I dunno if whether I undertood you or not, but if you're a magician, how come you don't believe in magic?

zuroph

pedrao15 wrote: »

I dunno if whether I undertood you or not, but if you're a magician, how come you don't believe in magic?

"magic" doesnt exist. It's illusion.

pedrao15

zuroph wrote: »

"magic" doesnt exist. It's illusion.

I don't know why, but that offends me.

zuroph

pedrao15 wrote: »

I don't know why, but that offends me.

lol. I'm not sure why. magic is the name we give to our art, its trickery, not spells and incantations, but its still a beautiful art, which brings a lot of joy to people when done well.

liah

How much of what he writes in his books is what he actually uses on stage?

(the grammar in that sentence seems really, really wrong to me..)

zuroph

liah wrote: »

How much of what he writes in his books is what he actually uses on stage?

(the grammar in that sentence seems really, really wrong to me..)

depends on the book

A lot of the "psychology" is a smokescreen. its the modern equivalent of blaming psychic powers.

liah

zuroph wrote: »

depends on the book

A lot of the "psychology" is a smokescreen. its the modern equivalent of blaming psychic powers.

I have all of his books at the moment. Not sure where to start if I actually want to learn something though as I don't know what to take seriously.

zuroph

the older you go, generally the more honest I believe
If you have any specific effects you're curious about, PM and we can try break them down.

pedrao15

Don't think too much!
Go out and start stopping people on the streets and trying to stuck their feet on the ground!

pH

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLbesxxKzcM

Here's the classic 'messiah', the remote viewing trick starts at about 5:30.

Now obviously Derren 'cheats' as in it's a magic trick, and illusion we all know that.

But at about 8:05 - 8:10 we hear the infamous "Sail through your mind", "Don't go overboard" lines - is this cheating?

And NO I'm not asking if using NLP is cheating, what you see/hear here has nothing to do with bogus claims of NLP.

Another example of similar in Derren's work would be the reveal in the famous Ad-men taxi ride.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UpUcgPP-YY

pedrao15

What is cheating for you guys? Is it like lying!?
It's like saying that when one bluffs in a game of poker they're cheating or lying!

Looks like magic, sounds like magic, tastes like magic!

mrrobboi

well he does a lot of modern mentalism which incorporates body language nlp hypnosis etc,but he also uses old techniques in effects that he used in shows such "EVENING OF WONDERS" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQKHap8DAbM&oref=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fresults%3Fsearch_query%3Dderren%

maximoose

New tour coming to Dublin in March, I cannot wait.