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CreativityTranscript
00:00 [Music]
00:07 Let's bring him on back one more time, Mr. Simon Lovell!
00:12 [Applause]
00:17 You guys are easily pleased, aren't you?
00:20 Especially that lot at the other end of the bar, off camera, and knocking them back like ferrets.
00:26 Margaret, sorry to disturb your gaze and give that man a bit of a side-kick there, but...
00:31 You and Joan have been joining in a lot. I'm guessing you guys are good friends, right?
00:35 You're best friends?
00:37 Let's do a little trick to decide if you're best friends or not.
00:40 It's a little spooky, but don't panic. I'll help you along.
00:43 We'll take out the two red twos.
00:46 These guys are going to come in real handy any second now.
00:49 Now, the rest of the deck is no longer a deck of cards.
00:53 It's the rest of the population of the world.
00:56 Decimated down to 50 people, but who knows? Maybe there was a war, a big bomb.
01:01 It's a fantasy. Play along with me here, Joan, okay?
01:04 Margaret, you take a card to represent you.
01:07 Oh, I can see.
01:09 Well, yeah, I don't want you to take a king and be horribly embarrassed.
01:12 Hey, wait till we see how she walks out the bar. I don't know.
01:15 It is, after all, New York.
01:19 And you take anyone to represent you.
01:23 Old man, picky, picky.
01:25 Not off my feet.
01:28 Be aware that they give away a lot about your psychology.
01:32 Margaret, sign your name on the card, putting your personality across the whole face of the thing.
01:38 Margaret, moving with the speed of a wounded hamster.
01:43 Margaret, no!
01:46 You know, when they buy a one-hour tape, Margaret, they don't want 58 minutes of you signing it.
01:53 And if you hand your card to Joan, meanwhile, while...
01:58 My pacemaker, my pacemaker!
02:01 Be still, my beating heart!
02:06 We'll mix you back in with the rest of the population of the world.
02:10 Where shall we put you? Amsterdam? A little dangerous.
02:14 Dubai.
02:17 Dubai, yeah, you have to wear a mask of smoke and you're not allowed to speak, smoke, drink or sweat.
02:22 Don't worry, we won't leave you there long. She'll probably only survive about eight seconds.
02:27 Joan, we'll mix you somewhere in the world as well.
02:29 Now, both wonderfully attractive women, better put you somewhere safe too.
02:32 We'll put you in Idaho.
02:36 Idaho?
02:37 You can eat a lot of potatoes in Idaho.
02:41 Here's what the two twos are for.
02:43 Two hearts is going to represent that first flush of emotion when you saw each other.
02:47 Across a crowded room, perhaps.
02:53 I should be writing soap operas, shouldn't I?
02:56 The two of diamonds represents how rich your friendship has grown over the years.
03:02 Is your heart soft and beating like mine, too?
03:07 There's a tear. No, that's just from the other drink, I know, it's a lemon.
03:11 Normally those emotions aren't so open, though.
03:13 You don't see them.
03:15 Weird, because we can't see them now.
03:17 A little magic moment, you skip there, Joan, laughing, but I like that in a woman.
03:22 The only way I can get a woman to do anything is to make them skip the moment where they realize anything is happening.
03:30 Well, that was enough.
03:31 Those emotions always search through life.
03:35 And you know they're always looking for a perfect pair.
03:38 Perfect pair, good.
03:41 In there.
03:42 Between flush, yeah, well let's just hope they're you two, otherwise we're in big trouble.
03:46 You two guys are ever tempted to argue or kind of split apart or throw things at each other, remember two things, my friends.
03:53 The first flush that brought you together and how rich it's grown.
03:58 [audience cheers]
04:01 So cute.
04:06 All righty, let's do something a little tough now.
04:08 Joan, I'm going to ask you to sort out your favorite suits from this deck of cards, an entire suit of cards.
04:13 I'm going to show you something my grandfather taught me called the amazing 14 card control.
04:21 My grandfather was a gambler, Margaret.
04:23 You can just stick them up here on the bar, it doesn't matter if I see them or not.
04:27 Have you got them all?
04:28 Oh, no, we've actually got three so far.
04:33 Oh, this could take some time.
04:36 Let's put two hearts back, we'll add a diamond.
04:38 Do you want me to do this for you?
04:43 Let me just make, I just want to make a spoilers for a service announcement to the public here.
04:48 Drugs are a terrible thing.
04:52 They ruin lives.
04:53 You can still have nice hair.
04:57 Margaret, what's your favorite suit, Joan?
04:59 Hearts.
05:01 You run them through and you look for the ones that look like hearts and you pull them out.
05:04 It's a very surrealistic thing to do, I know, but if you're going to sort out a suit, let's just sort out the suit.
05:11 So the 14 card control was invented by my grandfather, Lucky Rabbit's Foot, Sid.
05:17 So called because he carried a Lucky Rabbit's Foot in his right hand trouser pocket, still attached to the Lucky Rabbit.
05:25 Making it a very Lucky Rabbit's Foot indeed.
05:27 I'm just going to put these into suit order to make sure we have them.
05:30 And every time he gambled at cards, you know, he'd sit down at the table, they'd deal him a good hand.
05:36 And the psychic rabbit, did I mention it was a psychic rabbit?
05:40 The psychic rabbit's psychic foot would twitch violently, causing the front of his trousers to splay outwards and wobble from side to side gently.
05:49 I remember sitting on his lap one Sunday afternoon.
05:55 What a psychic little rabbit you have there, Grindr.
06:00 Enough of my personal problems, my friends.
06:04 The 14 card control.
06:06 Now I know we only have 13 cards here, Jones, but we're going to add one in just a second.
06:10 I'm going to add your lucky card.
06:12 Do you have a special horoscope sign?
06:14 Your horoscope sign, your symbol?
06:16 Gemini.
06:17 It links the duality of your existence.
06:20 I've no idea what that means.
06:22 I read it somewhere in a woman's weekly.
06:24 Having sorted the hearts out, we're going to mix them back throughout the deck and leave it messy.
06:30 So that's 13 cards mixed throughout the deck.
06:33 The skill level you're about to see here, Margaret, is that of a god.
06:40 Just letting you know.
06:44 Gemini, yeah?
06:46 Gemini.
06:47 Your lucky card is the seven of clubs.
06:49 That means you'll live long, you'll be surrounded by gorgeous men,
06:52 you'll have a mansion and yachts by the lake.
06:55 But then you'll die just like the rest of us.
06:59 Seven of clubs, your lucky card.
07:00 Here's the challenge.
07:01 We'll mix the seven of clubs in, the hearts are all mixed in, out of order throughout the deck.
07:04 The challenge is to find them.
07:07 Well, duh.
07:10 But for you, Jan, I'm going to try and find them in suit order,
07:13 which I think would be pretty flash.
07:14 That's dealing from 14 different places in the deck simultaneously.
07:20 Can he do it?
07:22 I think not.
07:23 Go, we'll try.
07:24 There's the ace.
07:26 There's the two.
07:27 There's the three.
07:28 There's the four.
07:29 There's the five.
07:30 Whoo!
07:31 Doing pretty good so far.
07:32 There's the six.
07:33 I put the seventh one face down.
07:35 Hey, guess the end of the trick.
07:38 There's the eight.
07:39 There's the nine.
07:40 There's the ten.
07:41 There's the jack.
07:42 There's the queen.
07:43 There's the king.
07:44 Do you want to check out that seventh card there, gentleman?
07:46 It's your card in correct suit order.
07:48 I keep the other one in my pocket.
07:50 Complete.
07:52 You've won 14 cards.
07:57 Margaret, I'm going to scatter my finger down the deck.
07:59 You just say stop whenever you like.
08:03 Okay, I'm going to ask you to take the card, Margaret.
08:06 How does it look to you?
08:07 Easy to remember?
08:08 Yes.
08:09 Cool.
08:10 Margaret, what I'm going to do, I'm going to do -- oh, look at that.
08:11 A cow with diarrhea.
08:15 I'm going to take the cow up, revisit from the vet.
08:18 If in doubt and you've got a cow with diarrhea, get a vet, not a magician.
08:22 It's just advice.
08:25 I think we're getting a little too surreal for Joan here now.
08:27 She's lost it completely.
08:29 She's thinking, I am channeling Janice Joplin.
08:34 Summertime and the living is easy.
08:37 All righty.
08:38 I'm going to turn my head away.
08:39 When I do this, just push your card back in wherever you like.
08:42 On the count of three, just push back.
08:44 I did it already.
08:47 Oh, you bastard.
08:48 [Laughter]
08:51 Nice, nice open.
08:53 I'm sorry.
08:54 It was the emotion in me getting flailed.
08:57 I'm going to put the rice on a Chinese bowl.
09:00 Okay, different trick.
09:01 Check this out.
09:09 I'm going to reach into my pocket and pull out a little wallet.
09:12 Inside the wallet is one playing card, just a single playing card.
09:14 Margaret, what was your card?
09:16 Jack of clubs.
09:17 [Laughter]
09:19 That's not enough for a woman of danger like yourself.
09:26 You're thinking to yourself, can he give me a choice of where it goes?
09:29 Indeed I can, Margaret.
09:30 You can have my pocket, my shoe, my nose, my mouth, or the wallet.
09:36 [Laughter]
09:40 The wallet.
09:41 The wallet.
09:42 It's a little thing I like to call equivocation, not an in joke, just for me.
09:45 Check this out, Margaret.
09:46 You're a little late.
09:47 You see, I just have your card.
09:50 You know what's really cool?
09:52 Inside the wallet--
09:53 [Laughter]
09:55 [Applause]
10:01 One more thing to show you guys, if you can handle one more.
10:03 It's a little challenge thing I like to do.
10:06 It was invented by blackjack dealers.
10:09 Now, blackjack dealers, when they're dealing cards, they don't learn to deal cards quick, just by going naturally.
10:14 They have to practice.
10:16 They have to deal and deal and deal and deal.
10:18 Now, many years ago, a couple of blackjack dealers started trying to make up stories about the cards as they dealt them.
10:23 You know, they'd think, see, two aces together would be two lovers, or two twos together would be two twos.
10:28 [Laughter]
10:31 But eventually, they got better at it.
10:33 And they used to have contests at the blackjack dealers' dinners that, from a mixed-up deck of cards, could you make up a story?
10:43 Now, I'm just spreading these out here so you can see.
10:45 Now, that's a mixed-up deck of cards, right?
10:48 I'm pretty sure you wouldn't want to make up a story from that deck, would you?
10:51 I'm prepared to take on the challenge, but I've got to warn you.
10:54 If I get halfway through the deck, it's worthy of a huge ramp of clubs.
10:59 If I get all the way through the deck, it's worthy of a sitting ovate, just like an ovation without a standing.
11:06 If I manage to include the card case itself in the story, something which has never been done before,
11:13 then it's worthy of you throwing underclothing at me, rushing to the bar, grabbing me,
11:19 and for those that aren't quite sure, just doing berserk.
11:23 All right, let's see if we can pull this off.
11:25 Obviously, I'm allowed to look ahead. Now, if that's a male pair of undershorts, I'm not going to get the effect.
11:30 There'll be so many limping home tonight.
11:35 Let's see how we do here.
11:38 All right, here we go.
11:40 I'm allowed to look ahead. I'm not psychic.
11:43 Are you ready for this, Margaret? It's the hardest thing I do.
11:46 This is the tale of one of France's greatest detectives.
11:50 His name was Jacques.
11:52 We're one card in. How do you think it's going?
11:55 Perhaps his most famous case was to search for the missing society heiress, Lily Longlegs.
12:02 Which is really odd, because she's got no legs.
12:04 She's got two heads, but no legs.
12:06 But you know, saying Lily the two-headed mutant, has just not got quite the same romance to it.
12:13 I said, "I mean, who would look for that?"
12:17 No, he's waving at the back there.
12:20 "We're looking at you. That's as good as you're going to get, my friend."
12:23 Knowing her party times, he started by doing a tour of the clubs.
12:29 I'm making this up as I go along.
12:32 Little did he know as he approached the Pear Tree Club.
12:35 Hey! Pear. Tree. Pear.
12:39 You try this at home.
12:41 The Pear Tree Club.
12:42 How close he was to winning his gold.
12:45 The Pear Tree Club was at 67 King Street.
12:47 Hey, you know, you've just got to get rid of some of them as fast as you can.
12:50 You've got to keep that improv going.
12:52 You've got to keep that improv going.
12:53 You've got to keep that improv going.
12:54 You've got to keep that improv going.
12:55 You'll be going, "But I did the card case!"
12:58 And you'll go, "Oh, whoopee, bloody hoo, alright."
13:01 At the door to the club, the German doorman was shouting, "Nein! Nein!"
13:07 German, no.
13:14 This is so cool. Check this out.
13:16 You see, the house was full.
13:18 Full house. It's a full house.
13:21 Oh, thank you, God.
13:25 Jack flashed his private detective's entry card, if such a thing exists,
13:31 and was shown to his table by a leggy waitress called Lolita
13:34 with long back hair all down her back.
13:36 Not on her head, just all down her back.
13:39 It's an old joke, but it was an old club.
13:43 She liked him, saw his table was dirty, and cleaned it with Ajax.
13:47 Now that's a good one!
13:49 Ajax.
13:52 Here we go. Good, they're all stoned in the corner.
13:55 Jack didn't feel like eating, but he felt obligated, so he ordered a stew.
14:02 Control yourself, Simon.
14:08 You know, there are some jokes you do just for yourself.
14:12 I've got a bit of a feeling this is an entire routine I'm just doing for myself.
14:16 Oh, and he had a seven up to drink.
14:19 Something completely different to Snow White.
14:22 The food looked awful, but it was actually delicious,
14:25 and soon he was forking huge spoonfuls into his mouth.
14:28 Now, I could have used that combination to devastating effects later on,
14:32 so let's be glad we're past it now.
14:34 Satan satisfied, he turned his attention to the cabaret stage,
14:39 went on and wondered.
14:41 Lovely little... there's always four queens, you always have to have four ladies in the story.
14:45 One of this beautiful dark-haired lady, singing to Jack.
14:49 She appeared to be wearing only a ballerina's tutu to his eyes.
14:53 Actually, she had a bit of an Oprah-sized ass and was wearing a four-four.
14:57 But still, it did display her fine pair to advantage.
15:05 Oh man, I've never got this far before.
15:08 I feel like a Jehovah's Witness sitting in somebody's living room now.
15:11 She seemed to be singing only to Jack.
15:15 She seemed to be singing, "I only have fives for you."
15:19 Okay, that's appalling.
15:21 But it was all I could think of to do with them,
15:23 apart from she was 55 with four children, so I just went with the one I had.
15:28 Wrong choice, but hell, it's another three cards out of the deck.
15:32 Jack, despite the appalling pun, was in love with her.
15:36 His whole heart was aching for her.
15:38 Ah, it's a moment of romance.
15:41 Forgetting his quest, he rushed backstage to dressing room number two.
15:46 Would have been number one, but I think all the aces are gone, so what the hell.
15:50 He heard tears and screams coming from outside the dressing room.
15:54 He rushed in, the dark-haired lady was removing her black wig.
15:57 She had red hair, and she was wearing a black wig.
16:00 She had red hair. It was none other than...
16:03 That's easy for me to say.
16:05 I'll just translate that from the original Swahili for you.
16:09 It was none other than...
16:11 Dun-dun-dun! Musical effects, no extra cost.
16:14 Lily Longleg's mother.
16:16 He asked her her name, and she said, "Teresa."
16:19 "Mother Teresa, little religious fun for you there."
16:26 Now swiftly we drift from cabaret to religion, but where will we go next?
16:31 I don't know, I haven't looked at the rest of these bloody cards.
16:34 She explained to him.
16:36 She'd had a dream that the tenth horse in the tenth race of the tenth day of the tenth month,
16:42 a horse called Mr. Tenny Ten-ten, whose tail consisted of just ten straggly little hairs,
16:48 ridden by a jockey called Tenichi, would win.
16:54 Yes, my friends, the tenth horse in the tenth race of the tenth day of the tenth month.
16:59 Could Mr. Tenny Ten-ten, with ten little straggly hairs coming from his ass,
17:02 could Mr. Tenichi, being ridden by Tenichi, call Mr. Tenny...
17:05 Well, whatever, you get the idea.
17:08 Now she'd aided her daughter.
17:12 Aided?
17:14 Stolen her... Thank you.
17:17 Stolen her diamonds, allowing her to put...
17:21 Oh, this is going to work out perfectly.
17:23 Allowing her to put ten million dollars on the tenth horse in the tenth race, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, Tenichi.
17:30 Tragically, the horse came in tenth.
17:35 Man, I love that joke. Nobody else does, but I do, so what the hell.
17:40 You know, the whole thing, doing it just for yourself.
17:43 Jacques and his new love kidnapped the small bonsai tree that gave the pear tree club its name,
17:50 a priceless artifact.
17:52 They sold it to the police and for seven million dollars an escape to live happily ever after with the money.
17:57 The police chief said afterwards,
17:59 "It was the worst case of tree jacking."
18:02 "B-b-b-but, because he was such a famous detective and they loved him,
18:11 the facts were hidden away.
18:14 The case was closed, and only now can the true story unfold."
18:21 "Method acting!"
18:23 "I am out of here!"
18:28 "Mr. Simon Lovell!"
18:31 Well, we're back from another set at the bar there.
18:45 Hope you enjoyed it.
18:47 We tried to put some different stuff in here, some different kind of emotional beats.
18:51 Especially the opening effect, a little thing called Lovey Dovey Sandwich.
18:55 Now, this is no big wham bam in your face magic thing,
18:59 but it's a very compelling effect because the cards are being treated as human beings.
19:04 First thing you sort out are the two of diamonds and the two of hearts,
19:07 and you say, "These are going to be important later on."
19:09 Make sure the two of hearts is on top.
19:12 We then ask two people to choose cards to represent themselves.
19:17 So let's say they choose these two.
19:19 I then ask them to sign the cards.
19:22 I will have Kurt Vonnegut, Randy's favourite guy.
19:28 And I'll have Albert Battersby.
19:32 Oh, Cynthia Althea Bounds Battersby.
19:34 Probably a little better.
19:35 This trick at the bar, I did it on two ladies to prove if they were best friends.
19:39 When it's a man and a woman together, I do it on them to see if they were truly meant to be together.
19:44 So we have Cynthia Albert Battersby and Kurt Vonnegut.
19:48 Two cards pop back into the deck.
19:50 Simple Mahatma control.
19:52 Shuffling away saying where you're leaving them, as you see from the patch on the tape.
19:56 The next one's added on top.
19:58 Again, the simple overhand shuffle control.
20:02 They're lost, wandering in the world.
20:04 As you pick up the two twos, you take a break under the top two cards of the deck.
20:08 The two chosen cards.
20:10 Don't try and put the twos on top and then take a break under four.
20:14 Put the twos on top of the deck and lift all four cards.
20:17 Very simple action, but quite nice.
20:20 The two of hearts represents the first flush you felt together.
20:24 You've got the chosen cards here.
20:25 Two of diamonds represents how rich it's grown.
20:28 As the hands come together, I just wait for an offbeat and I do a very simple pass.
20:33 I'll just show you that a little more openly.
20:36 It's no [inaudible]
20:38 Stick my fingers in.
20:40 Move to the side a little here.
20:42 Lift and riffle.
20:45 So the cards are on top and we're just on the offbeat go.
20:48 But, of course, they're not openly seen.
20:51 They're normally scurrying through the world in search of a perfect pair.
20:55 Get the deck out of the way.
20:57 You want all focus here.
20:59 Put the two twos aside and hold them here.
21:02 This is high hands applause position.
21:04 It's an old vaudeville trick, as you say.
21:06 That's you.
21:08 That's you.
21:09 Very strong effect.
21:11 Often I'll finish the effect, by the way, with popping them back on top of the deck,
21:15 doing a little extra shuffling, saying, "I know what you're thinking.
21:18 What if it hadn't been us there?"
21:20 I say, "It's no problem.
21:21 I keep a perfect pair right here in my wallet to get out of these situations.
21:26 And, you know, this perfect pair has never let me down yet."
21:29 And I'll bring their two selections straight out of the wallet again.
21:32 It's a killer.
21:33 I'll use the wallet all the time.
21:34 Killer piece.
21:35 So that's Lovey Dovey Sandwich.
21:38 Elmsley Cut Elmsley is the trick I did next.
21:48 It's probably the most technically demanding of the effects we did on all of the three tapes,
21:53 but it's worth it for the effect, I believe.
21:55 I asked a spectator to sort out a suit.
21:57 As it happened last night, I had to sort the suit out for the spectator.
22:01 I'm not saying those lethal-looking cocktails had anything to do with it.
22:05 It's sorted out into suit order, ostentatiously to say--
22:10 let's check we've got them all here.
22:12 So we've got Ace, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, Ten, Jack, Queen, King of Spades.
22:18 I'm going to switch these cards out using a multiple top change.
22:23 Let me show you the top change with just a couple of cards first.
22:26 We'll use four.
22:29 That's perfect. Four red, four black.
22:32 I have a break under the top four cards of the deck, or the cards I'm going to switch in.
22:40 I loosely hold the other cards and square them with the left fingers.
22:46 As I do this, I let the left little finger just creep out a little bit.
22:52 You see what that does?
22:54 That moves the whole block over for you.
22:57 It just skips it across.
23:00 So as these are being squared, that left little finger has straightened.
23:04 The packet goes down onto the deck, and the thumb grips here.
23:09 Now with a swing to the left, I'm now going to move the whole deck forwards,
23:15 clamping those cards on top to spread the cards on the table.
23:20 I'll just do that very quickly with the packet face up for you so you can see it at a working speed.
23:25 So these cards are squared, the deck is spread, and the cards are switched.
23:30 It's a very powerful utility switch.
23:33 Now we're going to do the same thing with 13 cards, but don't worry.
23:36 You don't have to take a break on 13 cards.
23:38 They're not going to see them for that long.
23:40 Just get between, like, 10 and 15.
23:44 So you've got the spades. You gather them up.
23:46 You square them up as you swing to the left.
23:48 You spread out the deck.
23:50 You've apparently just spread out the deck, but you've switched out the spades.
23:54 Now you're apparently going to mix the spades all the way through the deck.
23:57 Here's a slight problem for you.
24:00 You don't want to be going into the spades, which are now up here, but it's a wide part of the spread.
24:04 So what I do is I come up and apparently leave the card here, but just don't leave anything behind.
24:08 It's almost like a rubber-dub vanish, if you will, but without having to do any of the work.
24:13 So put one there, one there, one there, one there, one there, one there.
24:18 And then just put the deck and leave it messy.
24:21 Those spades now--it looks as though there's no way you could possibly be controlling anything.
24:27 Then ask them their star sign, and the reason for this is that you want to get a card, a 6, 7, or 8, of the opposing color to the suit.
24:35 It just makes the end picture much prettier.
24:37 So in this case, I'd pull out, say, the 7 of diamonds.
24:40 You can also do a quick check to make sure you didn't accidentally leave any behind in the spades.
24:46 Grab their card, pop it in, and do some real messy cuts.
24:50 You really want to emphasize here that you're not in control of the deck at all.
24:55 It looks as though you've practically shuffled the deck into a mess.
24:58 You can do this.
25:00 I'm actually not doing anything, but it looks pretty cool.
25:03 Now we square up the cards, and you claim you're going to try and find all 14 cards.
25:06 You're already 14 cards ahead of them, a very good place to be.
25:11 Now you can use push-off second deals.
25:14 Well, let's look at the push-off second deal first, shall we?
25:18 Turn the top card face up.
25:20 The deck's spread a little bit here.
25:23 I'm not going to go into huge depth on this.
25:25 I mean, for people interested, you can pick it all up in the book Second to None, don't worry.
25:30 The fat part of the thumb is right on the edges of the cards here.
25:34 See how that fat part's resting right on that top edge?
25:37 As the thumb starts to push, the fat part will automatically start to push the second card with it.
25:44 The fingers here are stopping any more cards going across.
25:48 Now, you push all the way.
25:54 The thumb's going to stroke across the deck a little bit here as the pullback happens.
25:59 So if you put it together, it looks like that.
26:03 In this case, we're going to do a stud deal.
26:05 So same pushing action, it's just you're going to take and turn.
26:10 One more time.
26:11 Push, take, and turn.
26:14 It's not as hard to do as it looks.
26:17 You're going to have to put considerable time into it to make it smooth, but what's nice here is it doesn't really matter if they notice the top card wasn't the one dealt.
26:25 For after all, you're claiming to be dealing from 14 different places in the deck.
26:29 So you have the chosen card on top followed by the 13 spades.
26:33 So you second deal ace, second deal two, three, four, five, six.
26:39 You then put the seventh one face down.
26:42 Hey, guess the end of the trick?
26:44 It's their card from the top of the deck.
26:46 Let's turn that card face up now so you can see the seconds in action better.
26:51 You've got the seven on top, so now you're going to have to second deal up to the king.
26:54 So it's eight, nine, ten, jack, queen, king.
26:58 This is a very powerful, magical moment for them.
27:01 You've just discovered cards that shouldn't be findable.
27:04 You ask them to turn over the seventh card in the pile, and exactly the moment they do that, you palm the seventh spade from the top of the deck.
27:13 They turn this one to find their card in correct position and in an artistically nice position.
27:18 As you reach in, don't even bother to reach into your pocket.
27:21 Don't load it into a wallet.
27:23 Just pull out the card and say, "I keep the other one there," to complete the 14-card control.
27:29 You want a reputation as a whiz kid?
27:31 This is the routine for you.
27:33 Tragically, however, you have to be a bit of a whiz kid to do it.
27:36 That's Elmsley Cut Elmsley.
27:38 OK, then the next routine we did, one of my favorite routines, in fact, for all sorts of reasons, packed wallet.
27:51 Packed wallet uses two wallets.
27:54 I know what you're thinking. It's the Raven.
27:57 And also uses two decks of cards.
28:00 Now, these are actually little English checkbook holders, but any wallets can do it.
28:04 In fact, you can use envelopes, if you like.
28:07 Into the first little wallet, envelope or whatever you're going to use, you place a four-card.
28:12 You place these seven of spades.
28:14 Don't put a different card in there, or it's kind of silly.
28:17 And then the rest of the wallet, you place the rest of the deck.
28:22 You put this into your pocket, thinking skinny, skinny, skinny.
28:27 You put this one in, thinking fatty, fatty, fatty.
28:30 On top of your deck, set your force card.
28:33 And this goes to say the cell. It's already on top. Magic moment for me there.
28:38 You can use any force you like here.
28:42 Little world's easiest. Riffle force, the fan force, which is not a tough force to do.
28:49 Cross-couple, any force you like.
28:51 Just make sure they get the force card.
28:53 What is important is that they're convinced, absolutely, that that card is lost in the deck.
28:57 So I do this thing.
28:59 I also do rather a rude word at this point.
29:04 But it's not aimed at the spectator. It's aimed at the deck.
29:07 It's not insulting anybody. It's like, "Oh, you bastard."
29:11 It's a frustration moment for me. It's like the trick.
29:14 It's like I shouldn't let a trick go wrong. I'm a magician.
29:16 But for some unholy reason, it has gone wrong.
29:20 "Oh, my God. Bastard."
29:23 Just make it very solid for them.
29:25 Don't reach directly for the wallet.
29:28 I always do this kind of stuff for them.
29:31 Or this stuff.
29:34 Anything. Just to do something with your hands to give them an edge of time to happen.
29:38 You reach into your pocket, thinking skinny, skinny, skinny.
29:40 Open up the skinny wallet.
29:42 There's their card.
29:44 Yeah, I know I said the card to wallet should always be signed.
29:47 In this case, it really doesn't need it because this isn't the climax.
29:50 The deck is the climax.
29:52 And in fact, you can do it with a signed card if you use two wallets that you can load the card into.
29:57 It doesn't matter.
29:58 Put this back into your pocket, thinking bulimic, bulimic, bulimic.
30:01 And now all you've got to do is vanish the deck.
30:04 It's a very easy vanish based on Don England's vanish from his book, Technical Knockouts.
30:10 You take a tiny break on the top card of about four inches.
30:15 In other words, you hold the deck back in, I guess, what would be almost a gambler's cop position.
30:20 And roll that top card forwards.
30:22 So it's like this.
30:24 Now, under cover of showing their options, you're just going to ditch the deck in your pocket.
30:28 So I'll turn to the left slightly.
30:31 As I go, you can have my pocket, ditch the deck, my shoe, my nose, my mouth, or the wallet.
30:39 And you notice this hand doesn't go anywhere near where they're looking.
30:43 As I'm pointing down, this hand is coming up.
30:45 As I'm coming up, this hand is going down.
30:47 They can't really catch a focus on this card.
30:50 Your hands are held around.
30:52 Don't do this.
30:53 Don't go, "Oh, look, the deck's gone."
30:55 Very apparently, you're just holding a single card.
30:58 However, if you do this, it's like the deck collapses into itself.
31:03 It's a very spooky moment.
31:05 And you've just got their card.
31:07 You reach into your pocket, thinking, "Fatty, fatty, fatty."
31:10 Boom. There's the rest of the deck.
31:12 What's extra special about this is it's such a great trick, nobody notices, if you've used matching decks, that it's a killer deck switch.
31:21 So what did I use it for in the bar set you've just seen?
31:25 Well, my friends, I used it to switch in the story deck.
31:28 Now I don't have to do tons of false shuffles.
31:30 It's perceived as the same deck which has been being shuffled all the way through the set.
31:34 So when I spread them out and say, "Would you like to make a story out of that?"
31:37 Nobody wants to make a story out of that.
31:40 Now, we don't need to say a lot about the story deck.
31:42 It's a stacked deck.
31:43 I'd just like to say a little bit about the motivation for the story deck.
31:47 Don't read it off like a script.
31:48 Don't just go, "Bam, bam, bam, bam, bam."
31:52 Then it just becomes an acting piece.
31:54 If you can make yourself truly believe you're making it up as you go along, they'll believe you too.
31:59 And you do that by scurrying through, looking ahead, thinking a bit.
32:02 Apologize for some of the appalling puns you're going to have to use.
32:05 It was the only way I could use those cards.
32:08 And with Lily, as you saw, it involves putting the case in as well, bringing the case into the story.
32:13 And when you drop that case down, it truly is a strong, strong, strong closing piece.
32:20 Now, of course, you don't have the stack for Lily unless you have a copy of Simon Says.
32:24 So, being in an ultra-kindly mode, just get your pen and paper ready.
32:30 Here's the stack coming up right now.
32:33 [silence]
32:51 A lot of people feel that an opening effect in any routine should be snappy, flashy, quick, with an extremely high level of impossibility.
33:01 Lovey-dovey sandwich doesn't seem to contain all those elements.
33:05 Yet, on this tape, you've used that as an opener.
33:09 What are your thoughts behind that?
33:11 Well, I'm not actually using it technically as an opener because I've already worked with these people.
33:16 So, I'm going back and I'm using it--one of your terms--it's an encore opener.
33:20 So, it's not my opening trick to the group.
33:23 It's my opening trick for my audience to the same group.
33:27 So, it's a great piece if they call you back.
33:29 Let's see a little bit more magic.
33:31 It's a delightfully interactive piece.
33:33 It makes them feel special.
33:35 And it's a pretty strong trick in and of itself, but it's not a primary opening effect.
33:40 Well, the question that follows is, certainly, does it have to be an opener or--
33:45 Absolutely not.
33:46 --is it suited in the middle, second to the end of a set?
33:50 I've used it, actually, at the end of a set.
33:53 It depends on the group.
33:55 If it's a very romantic-y couple, that's actually quite a nice finish.
33:59 And then I'll make a rose for the girl.
34:01 So, yeah, second to close, I've used it an awful lot.
34:05 It's just a piece you can fling in, really, at any notice.
34:09 It's quite a charming piece of magic, which is rare for my kind of performance style.
34:15 So, would you agree, then, that as far as Lovey Dovey Sandwich, the strength of it relies in the emotional hook--
34:22 Absolutely.
34:23 --and the people that are involved, rather than the routine itself?
34:26 Absolutely.
34:27 It's a simple sandwich routine.
34:29 I like sandwich routines, but to just find two chosen cards between two others, it's nothing.
34:36 But the whole bit about it being them and should they be together and the two emotions searching for them, yeah,
34:41 it's the whole hook that makes the effect powerful.
34:45 A lot of your magic appears extemporaneous, off the cuff.
34:50 How much is and how much really isn't?
34:53 I have nothing written on my cuffs.
34:58 Unlike Fred Kapp's.
34:59 Unlike Fred Kapp's, yeah.
35:01 No, well, a lot depends on the performance and what's happening around me.
35:06 I tend to feed off the audience a great deal.
35:08 Now, how much of it is improv?
35:11 By no means as much as you'd think.
35:14 How much of it was improv when I first started doing this stuff?
35:17 An awful lot of it was, but I've got this huge brain bin, if you like, full of things that have happened before,
35:23 full of situations that I've gotten out of.
35:26 So when something extemporous happens, then I often have a line or a moment or something in my brain build to drag out,
35:33 and it looks very quick and very fast and very funny, but not necessarily improv.
35:38 However, on the set you've just seen, there actually was a lot of improv.
35:42 I was messing around a great deal and just having a lot of fun.
35:47 Can you share any tips on how to get that off-the-cuff, off-the-top-of-the-head feeling
35:53 with material that has been well rehearsed and you've long performed?
35:59 Well, it's the old Cynthia Throssell-Waite school of acting and culinary arts creeping out here.
36:05 I think a great deal of it you have to do.
36:08 Each performance you go out to, you have to feel so fresh as if everything is new to you as well.
36:14 There's no way to do it other than to just try and do it.
36:18 To develop improv skills, it's a wise idea every time you walk or every time you're looking at something,
36:24 try and think about what may be funny.
36:26 How many of you at home have had something happen and the next day you've said,
36:30 "Oh, man, if I'd just said that, it would have been so killer."
36:33 Well, you can do that by practicing that.
36:35 The more you set yourself into a position of having to think about the improv line,
36:39 the better you'll get at improv-ing.
36:41 But as for how do you make it sound extemporous every time,
36:44 it's just all about your performance character being fresh and being believable with your acting.
36:53 A lot of magic is about acting.
36:56 So here we are, Simon, the final effect of the final tape of the three-part series.
37:03 You closed with a story deck.
37:06 What is it that appeals to you about a story deck?
37:10 Well, the story deck appeals to me on a number of levels.
37:13 First of all, it's displaying the stuff that I want the audience to remember about me.
37:18 I don't want them to remember, yeah, he could do a Captain Flippy move with a deck of cards.
37:22 He could, "Oh, they're so delightful. How neatly fanned them."
37:26 I want them to remember Simon Lovell, the performer.
37:28 And what the story deck does for you is it totally showcases your apparent ability to create,
37:36 and to create more importantly, to create fun.
37:39 So when they truly believe I'm making this story deck up as I go along, it's not a magic trick, sure.
37:45 No, it's not.
37:46 What it is, though, is they're going, "This guy is so great.
37:50 How can he do this? He just made it up. It was incredible.
37:55 Simon Lovell, my--oh, he's fantastic."
37:59 They forget every single magic trick I did for them.
38:01 As long as they remember it was good and it was fun.
38:04 What I do care about is if they forget me and the magic becomes more important.
38:08 So the story deck, and it's an egotistical thing, I guess,
38:11 allows me to become more important than the magic.
38:18 Regarding story decks, when you perform "Who Killed Lily Longlegs?"
38:24 there's no cutting, there's no flourishes,
38:27 there's no effort to further shuffle the deck that you clearly fanned.
38:34 Why do you add nothing visually magical to the story deck?
38:40 Why would I want to?
38:41 They've seen a shuffled deck of cards.
38:44 The deck is shuffled.
38:45 If I start doing some shuffling moves or some actions,
38:48 to my mind that wouldn't make them think I was trying to get certain cards into order to help me out.
38:53 The strength of it is they see a fully shuffled deck,
38:57 and I make the story up from the deck they perceive to be shuffled.
39:00 There's no need to add any more shuffling yet.
39:04 Well, we've gone along through the ride.
39:06 We've seen three different performance close-up sets.
39:10 You've explained them all.
39:12 You've discussed some of your thinking behind that.
39:16 What, to you, is the most important thing that we can walk away from this videotape series with?
39:22 The most important points that you follow developing your magic and also performing your magic.
39:30 Number one, develop your own personality before you try and get tricks
39:34 and get the magic that fits that personality.
39:37 The most important thing I'd like everybody to walk away from,
39:40 or perhaps crawl away from these videos with,
39:42 is please care more about your audience than you do about yourself,
39:47 and your magic will improve one billion percent.
39:51 [howling]
39:57 Margaret, it's your last chance in the evening to shine,
40:01 so let's have those glittery teeth wandering forth from thy face,
40:04 the eyes are glazing, and let's go for it.
40:07 Take any one you like, Margaret.
40:08 I'm going to show you a trick right now that may well make your kneecaps tremble,
40:13 with thorough excitement as opposed to disgust.
40:16 Sign your name big and bold on the card, Margaret,
40:18 but sign it very importantly, right from the index corner to the index corner,
40:22 right from number to number, right the way across.
40:25 Use up the entire card.
40:27 Pretend you're Saddam Hussein invading somewhere or something.
40:31 I've no idea what that meant.
40:34 You got it?
40:35 Yeah, but you're demented.
40:37 [laughter]
40:39 You mix your card back in with all the others, just for the hell of it,
40:42 just because we can do it.
40:44 Mixy, mixy, mixy.
40:45 Now, first of all, I have to find your card,
40:48 then I'm going to do something with it so weird,
40:50 your very kneecaps will tremble.
40:56 I'm going to find your card in an unusual way as well.
40:58 I'm going to find it behind my back, a bit like skiing uphill.
41:01 Your hands are the wrong way around.
41:03 Actually, it's nothing like skiing uphill.
41:04 I just thought I'd say that.
41:06 Not your card, because that's not your signature.
41:08 It's one from somebody else.
41:09 That's not your card.
41:10 We know it's in the middle of the deck.
41:12 Not only will I find it behind my back,
41:14 I'll find it behind my back while singing
41:16 Eugenio Pavarotti's telephone answer message.
41:19 Looch and I, L, whose close friends are like this,
41:22 that's me over here.
41:24 Check this out.
41:25 You go ring, ring.
41:27 I'll put the cards behind my back, do the answer phone message.
41:30 I'll have that card out here faster than you can say my trousers are on fire.
41:34 Here we go. Away you go. Ring, ring.
41:37 Click.
41:38 I am sorry I'm not at home.
41:43 So here's my answer phone.
41:46 If you'd like me to phone, please pick up another tone.
41:49 Beep.
41:50 Now it's the beep that spoils the whole operatic simplicity.
41:53 If I need to go "meow," then it comes.
41:55 So you know what to say.
41:56 Toss a jack of hearts?
41:58 Yes.
41:59 We'll rip it up.
42:01 And I'll give you a little feast of heaven to hold,
42:03 love and progress to find.
42:05 Now, do you have any magic dust on you?
42:08 I have some. Don't panic.
42:10 Thank you.
42:11 Okay, you want a sniff?
42:13 Now it's uncuffed.
42:16 Do you know what the magic dust, Marker,
42:18 do you know what the magic dust does to the other three bits of your card?
42:21 Oh, you're so close.
42:23 What actually happens is, pookie, my little magic poof runs along the bar,
42:28 pulls the three bits of your card out invisibly,
42:31 stitches them together with invisible thread,
42:33 irons it out with his invisible iron.
42:36 Do you spot the invisibility theme here?
42:38 Then once the card is all pristinely flat again, he has a problem.
42:43 You see, he thinks, "Should I put the card back into his hand?
42:45 Ah, his hand is too small.
42:48 Should I make his hand bigger?
42:50 Oh, too obvious, too mundane, too tacky."
42:53 So instead he turns your card face up and shoves it back into the deck.
42:58 You're not buying this for a minute, are you?
43:00 Well, you know, Einstein, I believe it was, said,
43:02 "Remarkable claims require extraordinary proof."
43:05 Extraordinary proof number one would be, of course, if--
43:08 well, if the bits of your card advance.
43:11 That was pretty smooth.
43:13 Extraordinary proof number two would be if there was a jack of hearts
43:16 in the middle of that deck face up.
43:18 And extraordinary proof number three would be
43:20 if that's the rest of your signature that fits.
43:22 Now, that's a miracle.
43:24 [applause]
43:29 [laughter]
43:31 Truly, I am the man of danger.
43:34 [laughter]
43:36 Now, if you learn the stuff on this deck,
43:38 you've still got no chance of getting it.
43:40 It's all me.
43:42 [laughter]
43:44 Keep recording, Randy. How much longer have we got?
43:47 46 minutes, I think.
43:49 46 minutes?
43:51 46 minutes, nothing else for you guys?
43:53 Can you handle that?
43:55 All right.
43:56 Let's just do one more of this.
43:58 [laughter]
44:01 All right.
44:03 I got you.
44:05 [music]
44:08 [music]
44:12 [music]
44:16 [music]
44:20 [music]
44:24 [music]
44:27 [music]
44:30 [music]
44:33 [music]
44:36 [music]
44:39 [music]
44:42 [BLANK_AUDIO]