Brandon Queen - Lacuna
Category
🦄
CreativityTranscript
00:00 [MUSIC]
00:10 Think of the one ex that you could do without.
00:16 If you wouldn't care if your friendship was completely gone.
00:20 Can you think of that person?
00:21 Yeah.
00:22 Okay.
00:23 This is what I want you to do.
00:25 I want you to write that person's name down right here.
00:27 Just the first name.
00:28 Okay.
00:29 And when you're done, just turn the card face down so I can't see it.
00:31 Okay.
00:32 And of course, it's extra thick so there's no way I can see.
00:34 Okay.
00:35 So go ahead and do that.
00:36 And when you do that, just face it this way or go in the corner so that --
00:38 I'll just hold it.
00:39 Yeah, so that I can't see.
00:40 [MUSIC]
00:48 You got it?
00:49 Yeah.
00:52 Is it face down?
00:53 Yes.
00:54 Okay, face me.
00:55 Now write your initials on the back of it.
00:57 Perfect.
01:02 So now you know there's absolutely no way that I could even switch it if I
01:06 wanted, right?
01:07 And there's no way I can see it because it's extra thick, right?
01:09 Okay, so let me ask you one question.
01:11 Do you know this person's birthday?
01:13 You don't.
01:14 Okay.
01:15 You don't?
01:16 No.
01:17 I want you to take the card.
01:18 I'm not going to look.
01:19 I'm just going to fold it up.
01:20 You can see that's your initials, right?
01:21 Yes.
01:22 Hold on to that.
01:23 You can put it in your pocket or wherever you want.
01:24 Sure.
01:25 And think of what this person looks like.
01:27 Okay.
01:30 Okay.
01:35 Um.
01:40 I'm getting darker hair, is that right?
01:45 Yeah.
01:46 Yeah.
01:47 Is this person taller than you?
01:48 Yeah.
01:49 Yeah.
01:50 Okay.
01:55 But they have lighter colored eyes, is that right?
01:57 Yeah.
01:58 Yeah.
02:00 Do you have like a nickname you call this person?
02:02 Yes.
02:03 Yeah, you do, yeah.
02:04 Are you thinking of the nickname or the full name?
02:06 The full name.
02:07 The full name, okay.
02:10 Let's see if I'm getting this.
02:11 Okay.
02:22 I'm going to show them the name first.
02:23 Okay.
02:24 Don't look.
02:25 I don't know his name.
02:26 Don't say it out loud.
02:27 Don't say it out loud.
02:28 Shut up.
02:29 Don't say it out loud.
02:30 Okay, come over here for a second.
02:31 Now, if I got the name right, I want you to give me a kiss on the cheek.
02:35 Okay.
02:36 If I got it wrong, I want you to slap me in the face.
02:37 Okay.
02:38 Okay?
02:39 Yes.
02:40 Okay.
02:41 That's it?
02:42 Yes.
02:43 Cool, high five.
02:44 What the [inaudible]
02:45 It gets better.
02:46 Now, you said you wouldn't mind kind of forgetting about this person, right?
02:49 Yeah.
02:50 Go ahead and put your hand out like this.
02:51 We'll use this hand.
02:52 Just look at one spot on your hand.
02:54 Okay.
02:55 As your hand moves close to your face, your eyes are going to start to change focus.
02:57 Okay.
02:58 As they change focus, just allow your eyes--just notice how your eyes change focus, is that right?
03:02 Allow your eyes to close.
03:03 That's right.
03:04 And just sleep.
03:05 Just relax.
03:06 Sleep and stand.
03:07 Okay.
03:08 That's right.
03:09 Now, you're going to open your eyes.
03:10 You're going to open your eyes.
03:11 You're going to open your eyes.
03:12 You're going to open your eyes.
03:13 You're going to open your eyes.
03:14 You're going to open your eyes.
03:15 You're going to open your eyes.
03:16 You're going to open your eyes.
03:17 You're going to open your eyes.
03:18 You're going to open your eyes.
03:19 You're going to open your eyes.
03:20 You're going to open your eyes.
03:21 You're going to open your eyes.
03:22 You're going to open your eyes.
03:23 You're going to open your eyes.
03:24 You're going to open your eyes.
03:25 You're going to open your eyes.
03:26 You're going to open your eyes.
03:27 You're going to open your eyes.
03:28 You're going to open your eyes.
03:29 You're going to open your eyes.
03:30 You're going to open your eyes.
03:51 You're going to open your eyes.
04:15 You're going to open your eyes.
04:22 You're going to open your eyes.
04:31 You're going to open your eyes.
04:37 You're going to open your eyes.
04:43 You're going to open your eyes.
04:49 You're going to open your eyes.
04:55 You're going to open your eyes.
05:01 You're going to open your eyes.
05:07 You're going to open your eyes.
05:13 You're going to open your eyes.
05:19 You're going to open your eyes.
05:25 You're going to open your eyes.
05:31 You're going to open your eyes.
05:37 You're going to open your eyes.
05:43 You're going to open your eyes.
05:49 You're going to open your eyes.
05:55 So, there's a few steps to this routine and there's two main phases to the routine.
06:01 I'm going to go through the first phase, mind reading section.
06:05 So, for the first part, I'm having someone write down the name they're thinking of.
06:12 They sign the back of the card and then they take the card and fold it up and put it in their pocket.
06:17 And of course, I need to know what that name is.
06:21 So, what I'm actually doing is, it's a little deceptive.
06:24 I'm using, this is a double and they're stuck together.
06:29 And the person handling the cards the whole time is actually handling the double so that I don't have, you know,
06:35 I'm not doing a double lift. They're doing it unknowingly.
06:40 And the way I'm putting this double together, it's actually just, I'm using chapstick.
06:47 And preferably, Burt's Bees is what I'm using.
06:51 The waxiness of the Burt's Bees works best for me.
06:55 Plus, it's a clear coat. It's not colored like red or whatever, cherry flavored.
06:59 So, it goes on clear. You can't see it. The smell's not too strong. It's just menthol.
07:06 It's on my mouth anyway, most of the time.
07:08 So, if anyone smells it, I'm sure they would just think it's around my face.
07:13 So, I have someone write the name down, turn it face down, write their initials.
07:20 And I'm just using their hand the whole time.
07:22 At that point, after they do that, I take the Sharpie back or the pen back.
07:26 And then I take the stack back.
07:28 And at this point, I give them some misdirection. I ask them a question.
07:33 And the question I ask them is, "Do you know this person's birthday?"
07:38 And I'll get to that in a minute because that is also an important part.
07:42 But when I ask them that question, that's when I secretly peel off the top.
07:48 I peel it off real easily depending on how far in advance you prep this.
07:53 If it's on there for a while, I think it comes off a little bit easier.
07:58 If it's on there, if it's fresh, it's a little goopy. It's sticky.
08:03 But yeah, so I just kind of peel it off.
08:06 It doesn't make a noise because it's waxy. It's not like a sticky tape.
08:11 So, it peels off. And then I just kind of keep a pinky break right here.
08:17 When I'm ready, I explain to them that I'm going to hand them the card.
08:20 And when I do this, I turn away, make sure I'm not looking, and I take the card off the top.
08:25 And I just give it a fold. And I fold it twice like this.
08:29 And then again. And then I hand them the card.
08:33 And I make sure that they can see their initials on the back
08:36 and tell them to hold onto it or put it in their pocket.
08:39 Once they do that, I'm now holding onto the actual card that they wrote the name on.
08:43 Let's just say they thought of...
08:47 I don't know. Bob.
08:51 So let's say they thought of Bob, right?
08:54 And the name I'm forcing, when I hand them, when they take the other card,
09:00 I'm actually switching the cards so they're getting a different name,
09:03 which is the force name that I'm giving them.
09:05 I happen to use the name Chris because it's a very common name.
09:09 And the chances of the person knowing a Chris in their lifetime is pretty high.
09:14 So I use a name that I think most people have met
09:19 or at least would assume that their friend has known before.
09:23 So once this is in their hand or in their pocket,
09:26 I then have their actual name here.
09:29 What I do at this point is I put my hands down by my side or against my chest,
09:34 and I just flip the card with one hand. Very simple.
09:37 There's not really a move. There's no move about it.
09:39 It's just flipping the card.
09:42 When I do that, I can now just look down and glimpse the name.
09:46 If they're looking at my eyes,
09:48 then I know they're most likely going to be following my eyes,
09:51 so if I look down, they're going to look down,
09:53 and then they're going to know that I'm looking at something.
09:56 Often, if they're looking at their friends
09:58 or they're being distracted by something else
10:00 or they're looking at my hands,
10:02 which there would not be much of a reason to do that,
10:05 at that point, then I would just look down at my hands and peek the name.
10:11 There's a name for this. It's called the triadic eye gaze.
10:15 What that is is the triadic meaning three.
10:19 There's your eyes, their eyes, and then the object.
10:24 The principle is that their eyes are going to follow wherever your eyes look.
10:30 If they're just looking at my eyes to justify the look,
10:35 I'll act like I'm making a note of something.
10:37 Once I get information, I'll be like, "Is this a mail?"
10:40 They'll say yes, and I'll act like I'm writing something,
10:43 or I'll write something over it. It doesn't matter. I'll just scribble.
10:48 Then, once I get the name, I turn it back over face down
10:53 so that I can, again, hold the cards in a mechanic's grip casually
10:59 without concealing anything.
11:03 At some point while I'm revealing information about this person,
11:09 I just flip the cards over, and it's very casual.
11:13 It's not a move. I don't make a move out of it.
11:16 I literally just turn it over face down.
11:18 I act like I'm dribbling the cards or whatever it is.
11:22 At this point, I now have my force name on the bottom,
11:26 which I've pre-written before.
11:29 Again, the stack is very bottom, face up is the force name,
11:36 just written out like normal.
11:38 This is what I'm going to be showing the audience.
11:41 That goes on the bottom.
11:43 Very top is just an X with a line.
11:46 This is where the spectator is going to be writing.
11:49 Then I have the force name written as if they wrote this down.
11:56 This gets chapsticked on together like this,
12:01 so it becomes one card, and that goes on top.
12:05 Again, the spectator has the force name Chris.
12:08 This is supposedly their handwriting.
12:11 They're holding onto this.
12:13 This is on the top, face down.
12:17 On the opposite side is my handwriting of the force name.
12:22 What I'm going to do at this point,
12:24 once I've done my cold reading and revealed information
12:28 about the person they're thinking of,
12:30 I then get a pinky break below the two cards.
12:33 Remember, this is on top, and the next one is just a blank card.
12:37 I turn it face up.
12:40 Again, it's going to be blank on that side.
12:43 I write down the real name they're thinking of.
12:46 In this case, they're thinking of Bob.
12:48 I'm just going to write down Bob.
12:50 I don't show this to anybody. This is secret to me.
12:53 Make sure it's dry.
12:55 Once I do this, I just turn the double over secretly facing me.
13:00 I just turn it face down and then pick up the card.
13:03 Now I'm holding the Chris name.
13:06 At this point, I tell the entire audience,
13:09 the group or wherever you're doing this,
13:12 I tell them I'm going to show them the name,
13:15 and I want the spectator to look away.
13:17 At this point, the spectator turns away,
13:20 and I show the entire group or audience
13:23 the name that I think the spectator is thinking of,
13:26 which is Chris.
13:28 Then I put the card back down, and as I'm doing this,
13:32 I simultaneously draw attention back to the spectator
13:35 and say, "You can turn around now."
13:38 At this point, everyone kind of looks at the spectator,
13:41 and at this point, it gives you enough misdirection to do a top change.
13:44 My top change is not very good,
13:47 but I've never been caught doing it because of that misdirection.
13:50 I'm just simply taking the card down and just doing my top change,
13:55 and now holding the real name.
13:58 So just Chris, top change, to Bob.
14:02 At this point, I ask the spectator who's thinking of Bob
14:05 to come stand next to me
14:07 so that they're now facing the audience, the group.
14:11 This is important because the audience cannot see that I've switched the name.
14:16 They can't see that the name is now different
14:19 because there's a dual reality here.
14:21 I'm now showing the spectator a different name,
14:23 which is the real name they're thinking of.
14:26 To reveal this, you can just simply go,
14:29 "If I got this right, say yes," or whatever.
14:32 But I've found that if you make it more verbal,
14:35 they're more likely to say, "Oh my gosh, it is--
14:38 "I know Bob," or whatever the name is.
14:40 They're going to verbally say the name, and then they're going to spoil it
14:44 because they're thinking of Chris.
14:48 So the way I handle this is I make it more fun, and I say,
14:52 "If I got the name correct, I want you to give me a kiss on the cheek,
14:55 "and if I got it wrong, I want you to slap me in the face."
14:58 This kind of creates this neat moment of tension
15:01 where I'm standing there with my eyes closed,
15:03 not knowing what I'm going to get,
15:05 and my audience doesn't know if I'm going to get it right or not.
15:08 When I show the girl the name, she gives me a kiss on the cheek,
15:12 and then that confirms that I did get the name correct.
15:16 When doing a top change, I'm going to admit
15:19 I'm not the greatest at doing this at all.
15:23 This really does prove you don't have to do a really good top change
15:29 in this context for this effect
15:31 in order for it to be effective whatsoever.
15:35 But basically what I'm doing is I'm taking the card--
15:40 I show the audience the one card,
15:43 and in misdirection, I tell the person--
15:47 the spectator who's turning away--
15:49 I tell them that they can now turn back and face me,
15:52 and as they do that, that gives me enough misdirection to do the move.
15:57 What I'm basically doing is I'm holding the pack in mechanics grip,
16:02 and I'm pushing the top card,
16:06 slightly jogging it to my right with my thumb.
16:11 As I do this, that gives it kind of a little lip that I can grab,
16:18 like when you deal off a card normally.
16:21 As I do that, I bring this over and make them flush as best as I can,
16:30 and then just peel off the bottom as I pull this back simultaneously.
16:36 So it's coming this way, pushing it forward,
16:41 lining them up, pulling this back, and taking this card.
16:46 When doing it fast--
16:48 and plus, since the backs are all white,
16:51 there's no borders to where you can see it.
16:54 It all looks kind of one big white blob, blurry,
16:57 especially in a darker environment,
16:59 if you're performing in a club or outside or wherever it is.
17:03 Most people perform evening anyway.
17:06 Taking the card back, pushing forward, pulling back.
17:10 As you can see, mine's very sloppy.
17:12 It's not very deceptive, but it gets the job done.
17:15 You can even turn your hand up a little bit if you wanted.
17:21 Keeping the card down this way but your hand up,
17:24 that kind of keeps people from seeing what you're doing.
17:30 I do this on the offbeat. It's all about the timing,
17:33 and of course using that misdirection of having the spectator turn around,
17:36 because when you have the spectator turn around,
17:38 everybody's looking at that person because they want to see their reaction.
17:42 They want to know what's going to happen next.
17:45 Simply taking the card, doing the switch,
17:47 and now you're holding the other name.
17:49 You just hold it in this position until they come next to you,
17:52 and then that's when you can show them the switch name out
17:55 of the name they're actually thinking of.
18:02 Let me go to the cold reading part before I get into the second phase.
18:07 The cold reading part is I ask them,
18:09 "Do you know this person's birthday?"
18:11 This was originally inspired by something that O.S. Perlman came up with,
18:17 and his Abyss DVD is where I heard it from.
18:20 After learning this from O.S. Perlman through his DVD,
18:25 he didn't really explain too much about it other than you can get information from it.
18:29 After doing this for a long time,
18:31 I've accumulated some really good information that I can obtain from that simple question.
18:38 What I've noticed is if the person--
18:41 I base it on whether they say yes or no and how fast they respond
18:46 or how they respond to the question.
18:49 If I ask them, if I say, "Do you know this person's birthday?"
18:51 and they say--and they think about it,
18:56 "Yeah, yeah, I know the birthday."
18:59 That usually means that--if they say yes regardless,
19:03 it means they're either really close with them,
19:05 they're a family member, or they're a friend or something that they've known for a really long time.
19:10 If they say no, then it's probably an acquaintance or someone much older than them
19:15 that could be their family member.
19:18 If they respond quickly, if they say yes, but it's a quick response like,
19:21 "Yes, yeah, I know their birthday,"
19:23 that means it's someone that's--A, it's close with them,
19:26 and they're still really--they're very active in their life currently.
19:32 It could be like a husband or wife or a sibling or someone in their immediate family
19:38 or even someone in their current relationship like boyfriend or girlfriend.
19:43 If they hesitate with a yes, then that means--usually it means that
19:49 it's someone they've known for a long time, but they don't--
19:51 they're not necessarily maybe active in their current life
19:56 or they haven't seen them in a long time,
19:59 or it could mean that they're older or much younger.
20:03 If they say no, but they seem like they should know the name,
20:08 like, "Uh," and they kind of think about it, and they go, "I don't know,"
20:14 and they almost feel like--not embarrassed, but like they think they should know the name,
20:19 that usually means it's a really good friend or most likely a family member,
20:23 like a parent or a--most likely a grandparent,
20:27 and they--for some reason they don't know the birthday.
20:29 They know the person really well, but for some reason they just don't know the birthday,
20:33 and I think that's very common with a lot of people.
20:35 They just--they don't know their grandparents' birth dates.
20:39 So usually when they hesitate, they say no with a hesitation,
20:43 then I know--then I usually guess it's a grandparent.
20:46 If they say flat-out no, like, "I don't know this person's birthday,"
20:49 it's usually an acquaintance or someone new in their life that they haven't met--known for a long time.
20:54 So with all that information, I'm able to, you know, give them a really good cold reading
21:00 on how they know this person, whether they're older or younger, family member, friend,
21:05 what kind of family member they are, if they're, you know, sibling or whatnot.
21:10 Once I have that information, I'll say--I'll kind of ask them to imagine what they look like,
21:15 and I'll describe them, and what I usually say is I'll look at the person,
21:19 and if it's a family member, if I deduce that it's a family member,
21:23 I describe what they look like, but the opposite sex.
21:27 So if I'm doing this for a female, and they're thinking of a male,
21:32 and based off of how they answered that question, if I've deduced that it's a family member,
21:37 then I'll just describe a male version of them--you know, dark eyes, brown hair, whatever it is,
21:42 or blue eyes, blonde hair.
21:44 If it's--if I've deduced that it's a friend, I typically--I kind of--I just kind of look at them
21:51 and think, "What kind of person do I think they would date?"
21:54 You know, would they date someone tall? Would they date someone blonde?
21:58 And I just describe what I'm guessing that they would date, you know.
22:04 So with a female who's blonde with blue eyes, I usually say they have lighter-colored hair.
22:11 I usually kind of just describe them, but a, you know, a male version.
22:15 And of course, most men are taller than women--not all, but most--
22:19 so I'll usually say they're taller, and of course that gets a hit.
22:22 I'll say they're male, obviously, that's a hit. That's two.
22:26 And then I'll kind of describe what they look like at that point.
22:30 If I say to someone, "They have darker hair, don't they?" and they say no,
22:36 then I just say, "Well, it's darker than your hair."
22:39 Because when I say darker, I'm kind of--I'm not--what am I comparing it to? Darker than what?
22:44 They're assuming black or something.
22:47 But when I say darker, I just--I kind of bring context into what I'm saying
22:52 and say, "Well, it's darker than your hair. It's not blonde. It's darker.
22:56 It's like a brown, like a light brown, but it's darker than yours."
23:00 And they'll usually--they'll say yes.
23:03 With the eyes, once I get the color of the hair, if it's blonde hair or lighter-colored hair,
23:09 then I go with, like, green eyes or blue eyes.
23:11 If it's a darker--if they say yes, it's definitely darker hair, then I'll guess brown eyes.
23:17 That usually hits because most people with darker hair have brown eyes and so forth.
23:22 The other thing that I like to do--and this always gets a hit--I say,
23:28 "I'm sensing that there's a distance between you and this person."
23:32 And I'm not sure if it's a physical distance or an emotional distance,
23:35 but I do sense that there's a wall between you and this person.
23:38 When I say that, people always react to this because the physical distance could be, you know,
23:46 they live far away and they're not in touch anymore.
23:48 The emotional distance can mean--I mean, obviously it's their ex, so of course, you know,
23:54 very few--not very few, but, you know, not everyone stays in contact with their exes.
23:59 You know, a lot of people kind of sever those relationships.
24:02 And so saying that there's an emotional distance with this person usually is a hit.
24:08 And it's kind of obvious, but for some reason it doesn't seem too obvious to the people when I'm doing this.
24:14 Even if you have them think of someone that's not an ex or just--if you do this effect
24:19 and you have them think of anybody, this still really works really well
24:25 because even if they're close to them in physical distance,
24:30 emotionally, I mean, they could--I mean, everyone who's really close has disagreements
24:35 or fights at some point in their relationships, and you can kind of bank on that aspect itself.
24:42 You know, like, you know, I sense you're not as close lately, or--and if they still say no,
24:47 like, "No, we're close," you can say, "Well, I'm sensing that maybe, you know, a month ago or a week ago
24:51 you had a disagreement about something, and it wasn't really a big fight,
24:55 but you guys just had a disagreement."
24:57 And you're basically really pumping and fishing for them to say, you know, to find--to connect to this distance,
25:04 this emotional distance, and you're kind of putting context into that statement.
25:09 The other thing I like to say as a cold reading sort of thing is
25:15 I feel that there's a secret that you've always wanted to tell this person,
25:20 but you've never had the chance or opportunity to tell them.
25:23 And based off their facial expression, if they seem kind of confused by it,
25:28 I--then I make it more clear.
25:31 I say, "Well, it's not necessarily a secret, but it's just something that you haven't told them enough."
25:38 And I'm kind of alluding to someone saying--just simply saying, "I love you," or that they care about them.
25:45 Because sometimes, you know, people that we care about and stuff, we don't say that often enough verbally to them.
25:51 And I kind of get to the point of that, you know, I don't straight-up say that,
25:56 but I allude to that in my statement when I refine it, when they seem confused or they disagree with that statement.
26:05 But other times when they do and they seem to like, "Yeah, there is something I've never told this person,"
26:10 then it seems more like it's like a dark--not dark, but like it's a secret, secret, secret,
26:15 like something they don't want--they really don't want them to know,
26:18 and they just haven't had the opportunity to tell them.
26:20 At that point, I make it seem like I know what that secret is, but I'm going to keep it, too.
26:26 Like I say, you know, "Don't worry. We'll keep it between you and me."
26:30 Sometimes I tell them that they should tell them the secret when they get the opportunity to.
26:35 It's kind of fun to do.
26:38 That's basically it. I just--I like to describe what they look like, how they know them,
26:42 how long they've known them, and how close they are with this person.
26:48 Once I do that, that's the entire first phase of the routine.
26:53 And really, you could just end there if you wanted, but the problem is with close-up
26:58 is people are going to talk and they're going to say, "Well, how did you know--you thought of Chris?"
27:04 And then the spectator will, of course, reveal, "I wasn't thinking of Chris. I was thinking of Bob."
27:09 So in order to cover that part up, I've come up with this second phase.
27:14 [music]
27:20 The second phase is actually sort of a cleanup to the first phase because there's a dual reality.
27:27 If you walk away just with that part, with a small group, they're going to talk to each other
27:32 and they're going to know that they saw one name and then the spectator saw another.
27:37 So what I'm doing here is I'm basically doing a pseudo-hypnosis process to justify what I'm doing.
27:45 Sometimes people do go into hypnosis when I do this, but it really doesn't matter if they do or don't.
27:52 Only because I know how to hypnotize people, people usually--can sometimes actually go into a trance of some kind.
28:00 But I try to make it light and I don't really tell them I'm going to hypnotize them.
28:06 I just tell them--sometimes I'll just tell them to close their eyes or I'll do a simple induction
28:11 without including the pre-setup, building that expectation that they're going to be hypnotized.
28:19 I don't build that into it because I don't necessarily want them to be hypnotized.
28:25 But there are definitely suggestible people out there that may have experienced hypnosis before
28:31 and they kind of go into it because they know the process, they've experienced that process before
28:36 and they kind of go into it.
28:38 It makes it feel more dramatic when they go down and they're closing their eyes.
28:41 But as soon as I tell them to open their eyes, they're back to normal anyway,
28:44 or they appear that way to the rest of the audience.
28:47 So the illusion is creating--or I'm creating the illusion that I'm putting them in a trance
28:52 when I'm actually not.
28:55 And when I'm doing this, I'm telling them that they're not going to remember my force name,
29:01 which is Chris, that they're going to have no recollection of who Chris is
29:06 and that the only name that's going to pop in their mind--
29:10 and I insert the name they are actually thinking of, in this case it would be Bob.
29:15 So I'd say, "In a moment you're going to open your eyes, you're going to have no recollection of who Chris is.
29:20 In fact, the only name that you can think of is Bob.
29:24 Anytime you try to think of Chris, Bob is the only name that comes to your mind.
29:28 Once you understand, open your eyes."
29:30 And then they open their eyes, and at this point they're really confused
29:34 because they don't know who Chris is, and they don't know why I even said the name Chris,
29:38 because at that point they're like, "Wait, you showed me Bob. Who's Chris? Why are you talking about Chris?"
29:44 And then I simply just ask them, "So who's Chris?"
29:47 And of course they're going to say, "I have no idea."
29:50 They don't know who Chris is because they just made it up.
29:53 And at that point the rest of the audience watching, observing, is going to see that,
29:57 "Holy crap, he's just erased their memory."
30:01 And then I say, "Well, who were you thinking of?"
30:03 And I have them confirm, "Oh, I was thinking of Bob. I don't even know Chris."
30:09 And then it's at that point, usually when I do this, I just leave it at that and I walk away.
30:15 I don't usually draw attention to the card that's in their pocket.
30:19 I like them to kind of go away. I like them to prove to me that they wrote down Bob
30:26 and let them pull it out and show that they've written down whatever.
30:32 But at that point it's more fun because they walk away with their friends or whatever it is,
30:36 having a conversation about that, and their friends will say,
30:39 "Well, you wrote down Bob," or "Let's see what you wrote down."
30:42 And then, of course, when they pull out the card they see that the name says Chris,
30:46 which is supposedly what they wrote down.
30:49 Drawing attention to it is also great as well.
30:52 In the moment you can say, "Well, let's see what you wrote down,"
30:55 and then, of course, they pull it out and it says Chris.
30:59 There's the proof right there that that's the actual name they wrote down originally,
31:03 and you did change their mind to think of this new name being Bob
31:09 when in actuality you're making the audience think that they thought of Chris.
31:16 So that's the second half of the routine that kind of cleans up the dual reality
31:22 and brings the whole routine together as a whole
31:26 and makes this effect real fun, forgetting someone's name.
31:29 So the first half is reading someone's mind, and then the second half, erasing their memory with pseudo-hypnosis.
31:36 [music]
31:41 Here is an alternative method for lacuna.
31:48 So if you do not want to use the chapstick,
31:54 because maybe if you're afraid that you're going to find that it's a double,
31:57 or whatever reason it is, or maybe you just don't like the idea of using it,
32:02 we have an alternative method that my friend Brandon came up with.
32:05 Basically, this is going to be the setup.
32:09 You're going to have the card they're going to write on on top,
32:12 or just on the side, it doesn't matter.
32:14 But on the very bottom, you're going to have the force name
32:20 that is supposed to be their handwriting.
32:24 So it's the force name on the very bottom,
32:26 and second to bottom is the duplicate, or the same name, the force name,
32:31 that's just written out, which is going to be what you're going to show the audience.
32:36 So that goes like that, and then the stack is on top.
32:41 The very top of the stack is the card they're going to write on.
32:45 So at this point, what you can do is instead of telling them to take the stack and do all this thing,
32:51 you can just say, "Here, take the card and write the name on it."
32:55 As they do that, you can hand them the pack and then tell them just to place the name face down.
33:02 The one drawback, though, is you cannot have them write their initials on the back of this card
33:07 because obviously it's not a double.
33:11 Once they place it face down, you're going to take the stack back,
33:16 and you're simply just going to turn the pack over during your misdirection,
33:20 and this is, of course, when you ask if they know the person's birthday.
33:25 So once again, this is placed face down.
33:28 You take the stack back, and you simply just turn the entire pack upside down.
33:35 Now this leaves you with the force name on top.
33:38 So at this point, what you can do is--so just place it on top.
33:44 "So do you know this person's birthday?" Blah, blah, blah, blah.
33:48 "Actually, you know what? You take the card."
33:50 So you're just going to hand them this card straight away
33:53 and then have them fold it and put it in their pocket.
33:55 That leaves you with this card on top and their name that they've written on the bottom.
34:03 And this is where you're going to get the peak.
34:06 You're basically going to be dribbling the cards in conversation,
34:10 and you're going to look down at it.
34:12 So when you're going to do the peak, you just simply dribble like this,
34:16 and you can see the name very easily in that glimpse.
34:21 Depending on how fast you can read or how sloppy they've written the name,
34:25 obviously you might--I mean, if you really wanted, you could just tilt it up like this
34:29 and peak it if you wanted and still hold the cards.
34:33 I prefer to kind of do it in just a simple--as I'm talking,
34:38 quickly glance at my hands and just--you can do it a few times
34:41 if you need to read it more than once, just to double-check,
34:44 just kind of act like you're playing with the cards, giving it a dribble.
34:47 And as you can see, you can see that name.
34:49 Let's just put a name down just so you can really see that.
34:52 So let's say you can't see what I'm putting, I will put this name here
34:56 just to see how easy it actually is to read in that moment.
35:02 So not knowing what the name is.
35:09 And in that moment, you can see that the name is clearly Matt.
35:19 Again, you can just hold it like this if you wanted, get a peak.
35:24 I mean, there's so many different ways, but I think this is just the easiest.
35:29 So once you get your peak, you're now set up again with the pre-written name,
35:35 the force name on top, blank card on bottom, obviously.
35:39 This is where you're going to do the double lift,
35:43 and you're going to write the real name right here.
35:46 So let's say the name is Bob.
35:51 So you're going to do your double lift, pretend this is blank.
35:55 You write Bob, turn it face down, and then this is what you show the audience.
36:04 And then, of course, you do your top change,
36:07 and this is what you show your spectator, Bob,
36:10 or whatever name that they thought of.
36:13 Then you put this in your pocket, and that's it.
36:16 The cards are completely out of play, and all that's left is the one card
36:20 that's in their pocket, which is the force name, mine being Chris,
36:24 and then erasing their mind, making them think of the new name,
36:27 which is the name they actually are thinking of.
36:30 In this case, or in our example, is Bob, and that's that.
36:34 All right, guys, well, that's about it for Lacuna.
36:37 Thanks again for purchasing Lacuna, and I really encourage you guys
36:41 to get out there and try this effect.
36:43 As you can see, it gets great reactions, and this is such a perfect effect
36:46 for people who are transitioning or wanting to do hypnosis,
36:51 who can't find the right environment to do hypnosis.
36:54 This is a perfect effect for that.
36:56 Try this effect, and it blows people's minds.
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