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00:00 [Music]
00:14 This man steals.
00:21 He takes things from people's pockets, from their bags, and from their jackets, without them knowing.
00:28 Wallets, phones, money, and watches. He steals them all.
00:33 Luckily, he gives back all he takes.
00:38 Now, you're about to learn this unique form of entertainment, with a comprehensive guide that will show you how to steal from every pocket you may come across.
00:47 How to steal ties, braces, and even glasses. Plus, how to remove every type of wristwatch.
00:56 Welcome to Stealing the Show, the ultimate pickpocket guide.
01:00 So, let's go now to the world famous Magic Circle to see all of this in action.
01:08 [Silence]
01:26 Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the man of steal, Mr. James Freedman.
01:33 [Applause]
01:40 Well, thank you very much. It's so nice to be here.
01:42 And as you heard from John, I am a pickpocket.
01:44 But don't panic, I'm one of the good guys. I may steal a few things, but I give it all back.
01:49 Now, I can't stand here and pick my own pockets, otherwise I might be the only one to enjoy it.
01:52 So, earlier on, while you were enjoying yourselves downstairs on the way into the theatre, I actually walked amongst you and I bumped into one or two people and I borrowed one or two things.
02:01 Now, the first thing I borrowed was this, and it's actually a glasses box.
02:05 And it's got a name in here, Mr. Bill Dan. Is Mr. Dan here?
02:10 You are? So, would you stand up?
02:12 Can you just make sure it came from your jacket pocket? Can you just make sure it's gone?
02:16 And you didn't notice me bump into you?
02:18 Perhaps you'd join me on stage, they'll give you a lovely round of applause. Thank you, Bill.
02:21 [Applause]
02:24 It's very nice to meet you, Bill. You stand just here.
02:27 And put it back into your pocket.
02:28 Now, the second thing I stole was this, and it's some keys.
02:32 And I asked the gentleman his name, and he said it was Fitz. Is that right, Mr. Fitz?
02:37 Mr. Fitz, would you stand up? And it's gone? These are your keys?
02:40 Please come on stage, they'll give you a lovely round of applause.
02:43 [Applause]
02:44 It's very nice to meet you.
02:45 Hi, I'm James Freedman, and that was me a week ago on stage at the world-famous Magic Circle, performing my pickpocket act.
02:51 Well, the act's taken me a few years to develop, as I've combined existing techniques with some new thoughts and ideas of my own.
02:58 This is your chance to take the fast track to learn all those methods of this unusual and fascinating skill,
03:04 as I teach you how to steal wallets, belts, ties, glasses, and pretty much every kind of wristwatch.
03:10 We've made it easy for you by compiling all the information you need right here.
03:14 So watch the explanations, get out and practice, and pretty soon it'll be you who's stealing the show.
03:20 [Music]
03:26 Let me start by saying that if you're a magician, then you already have a head start in becoming a pickpocket,
03:31 because you already have an understanding of the basic rules of misdirection.
03:35 But the question I get asked most often by magicians is, "How do I get started, and how do I practice?"
03:40 Well, there are four ways to practice.
03:43 The first is to take a jacket and hang it on a coat hanger, and then suspend all that from a doorframe or from the ceiling.
03:49 This will simulate the sway and movement of a jacket that someone's wearing when they're standing,
03:54 and is a great way to practice for that situation.
03:56 The second way to practice is to take a jacket and hang it over the back of a chair,
04:00 and then put that chair on a platform about 12 inches high.
04:03 That means that the shoulders of the jacket will be at about the height of your average guy or girl when they're sitting down.
04:09 It's a good way to practice for that situation.
04:12 The third way, and the way that I favour, is to get yourself a shop mannequin or a dummy.
04:17 This is Fred, and Fred's been with me for a few years as I've learnt these skills.
04:21 The fourth way to practice, which is perhaps the best, is to practice on a real person.
04:26 But I warn you now, they will get bored.
04:29 And as a magician, you have another advantage,
04:31 because when you're out there showing people close-up magic, you're getting close to strangers all the time,
04:36 and you can actually practice your pickpocket skills while you show them your magic.
04:41 [Music]
04:46 Although you can pickpockets anywhere, you should obviously use your common sense
04:50 to decide whether the circumstances are appropriate.
04:53 The four places I pickpockets most often are on stage, obviously, in a reception situation,
04:59 and in that sort of situation I'll always be giving the objects I take straight back to their owner.
05:04 The third place might be where I'm engaged to be a close-up performer,
05:08 and I'm using pickpocket skills just to enhance the magic.
05:12 And the fourth thing, which I do quite often, is to wear a disguise,
05:15 perhaps as a security guard or a member of the front of house staff,
05:18 and steal a few things before a stage show.
05:21 This gives me two advantages.
05:23 I can ascertain without them knowing what's in their pockets,
05:26 and I can see the audience close-hand and decide who will be best on stage.
05:31 [Music]
05:38 [Applause]
05:39 Now, the reason I was able to steal from you, Bill, and pass it to Nick,
05:43 is that we knew where the things were.
05:45 After all, we all saw them, put them into their pockets,
05:48 but a street thief would have to do it slightly differently.
05:51 So let's do it a different way.
05:52 In the clip you've just seen, you saw me passing a wallet from my left hand to my right hand side
05:57 before I put it into a toppit.
05:59 Actually, my stage suit is specially constructed with two large double toppits, one each side,
06:04 and that's so I don't get confused.
06:06 Everything I steal from the person on my left goes on to the left-hand side of my body,
06:10 and everything I steal from the person on my right, on to the other side.
06:14 And I suggest you use the same technique.
06:16 You don't have to use toppits for that.
06:18 You could obviously take things from the spectators and put them into your pockets.
06:22 But you need to remember, if you're working with more than one spectator,
06:25 what goes where and which object belongs to who.
06:28 Actually, while you were helping me, I was helping myself.
06:32 You see, I have your wallet.
06:34 So perhaps you'd just put that back into your pocket.
06:37 And I have your keys. I'm sorry about that, but I took your keys.
06:41 And, oh, I think that's yours, isn't it?
06:45 So I get confused. Sometimes I just get--these are bad for you, you know.
06:48 Sometimes I just get confused.
06:50 The third place you can put the objects you steal is into the hands of another spectator.
06:55 I'll use a pass-around-the-body technique to steal from one person
06:58 and pass their belongings to someone else,
07:01 probably their partner or someone who knows them.
07:04 In a walk-around situation, everyone can see that you're stealing from someone
07:08 and passing to someone else, and you'll get a very good reaction.
07:11 We'll be looking at all the different types of steals later on,
07:20 but broadly they fall into just two categories--
07:23 direct steals, where you take something out of someone's pocket,
07:26 and a thing I call the fake return,
07:28 where you apparently return something to someone's pocket,
07:31 but you palm it away as you do so.
07:33 Now, in the case of direct steals, you can split them into two types--
07:37 those where you steal something and the audience is immediately aware of the steal,
07:41 and those where you secretly steal something and reveal it later on
07:45 to get an element of surprise.
07:47 Have a look at this clip.
07:49 I'd like you to take these ten cards in your left hand
07:51 and put them here inside your jacket pocket, right inside, down inside your pocket.
07:55 Can you do that for me?
07:57 Yep, that's great.
07:58 And I'd like you to count ten cards there, they'll count with you.
08:00 So you can see that while the spectator was busy on his inside jacket pocket,
08:04 I was stealing from his outside jacket pocket,
08:07 using the side of the jacket as cover so that the audience weren't aware of the steal,
08:11 although they were aware a minute or two later.
08:14 The other kind of direct steal is when the audience are immediately aware,
08:18 and you wave the object around outside the field of vision of the spectator.
08:22 Here's an example of that.
08:24 One, two, three, and have a look over there.
08:27 Yeah, and over here. Did they change places?
08:29 No.
08:30 How long did it take me to do that?
08:32 I've got a present for you, Claire.
08:34 This is for you as a souvenir for being so good when you were watching.
08:38 It's really kind of you, I appreciate it.
08:39 So that was the direct steal, but as I mentioned, another technique is the fake return,
08:43 apparently putting something back, palming it away to reveal later on.
08:47 Paul Potassi, one of the great magician pickpockets,
08:50 used just that technique to get a reputation as an expert pickpocket.
08:55 Here's a clip of me using the fake return.
08:58 That's strange. Check this pocket over here.
09:03 What have you got in there?
09:04 I've got a wallet in there.
09:05 Take that, just have a look behind.
09:06 No.
09:07 What about in your outside pocket down here?
09:11 Anything here?
09:12 No.
09:13 No. Your keys, anything here?
09:17 No.
09:18 No?
09:19 It's not there.
09:20 You've confused me, Nick.
09:21 Oh, it's a phone.
09:23 You've confused me. Are you sure it's not on the outside?
09:25 It's not there.
09:26 Another pickpocket skill you can certainly use to add impact to a lot of your close-up magic
09:30 is to secretly load something into the spectator's pocket.
09:34 In this next clip, while the spectator's busy looking at his inside jacket pocket,
09:38 I'm secretly loading a selected playing card into his outside breast pocket.
09:43 Right hand and put them into your inside jacket pocket just here.
09:47 Yep, right inside, push them down.
09:51 Okay?
09:52 That's perfect. I think you get the idea now.
09:54 So that-- oh, you can see better now.
09:56 He just doesn't trust me.
09:57 Because I mentioned it, you may have spotted it, but the spectator didn't because they were misdirected.
10:02 And misdirection is a key skill you have to master to be a successful stage pickpocket.
10:07 One method which is common to the pickpocket and the magician is to ask a question.
10:12 In this clip, you'll see me asking him a question about which pocket should I pick
10:16 as I start to steal his tie.
10:18 And before that, you'll see me asking him a question about a pocket on his left
10:22 as I steal from his right, and then about a pocket on his right as I steal from his left,
10:26 and continuing that sequence until all his belongings have been passed behind him to another spectator.
10:32 Put it back into your pocket, and then he'd know which pocket it was in.
10:35 He could signal to his accomplice, and his accomplice could come along and steal it later on.
10:38 Let's see what else you've got.
10:39 Let me just move you over a little bit so everyone can see.
10:42 Oh, we've got your phone there. It's one of those posh ones.
10:44 And down here we've got some paper. I won't take that.
10:47 And this side, nothing there. Oh, something here.
10:49 Oh, the glasses that I started with. I won't take them again.
10:52 So, I'm going to try and take one or two.
10:55 You've got a pen there as well, and I don't want to leave you with your pen on this side.
10:58 So, I'm going to try and take a few things from--
11:00 You're just coming slightly adrift here.
11:02 Let me sort that out for you because it's coming slightly apart.
11:06 Would you like me to take the glasses first, the wallet on this side, the pen, or perhaps the phone?
11:10 The glasses, the wallet, the pen, or the phone. Which would you prefer?
11:13 The pen.
11:14 The pen. Has it gone?
11:16 So, I've talked about the general methods, but you're probably asking, "How do I actually pick pockets?"
11:21 Well, now's the time we're going to find out.
11:24 Well, this is Fred, and he's offered to help me show you the real deal on how to steal.
11:33 In fact, standing here with my hand on Fred's shoulder reminds me to mention a really important subject, and that is touching.
11:39 If you're going to pick the pockets of someone, then you have to touch them and get close to do that, obviously.
11:44 And that means that your personal appearance and grooming are very, very important.
11:48 Another thing that touching allows me to find out is which pockets have something in them.
11:53 I can obviously see the handkerchief here, but I can feel with a light pressure there's something on the inside jacket pocket.
11:58 I don't think there's anything that side.
12:00 And just with a light touch, I can tell you there's something in the outside pockets on both sides.
12:05 So, let's have a look and find out how to steal.
12:09 [Music]
12:14 One of the easiest pockets to steal from is the breast pocket.
12:18 And one of the reasons it's so easy to steal from is because it's on the outside, you can see what's inside it without even touching the spectator.
12:25 Now, on Fred here, you can see he's got a handkerchief in his outside breast pocket.
12:29 And the way I'll typically grip that to steal it is between my index and middle fingers, clipping it like this,
12:35 and then bringing it up over his shoulder as I put my hand on his shoulder.
12:39 The reason to put my hand on the spectator's shoulder is to give him in his mind a reason why my hand came close to him in the first place.
12:46 To him, it should feel like I simply rested my hand here.
12:49 But actually, the audience know I've clipped the handkerchief and stolen it, and he doesn't know it.
12:54 Now, two other objects you'll find commonly in the breast pocket are pens and glasses.
13:00 Let me show you with a pen exactly how I'd steal that.
13:04 There are two ways. One is with a thumb grip like this.
13:07 Now, this is a handling advocated by Pierre Jacques in his excellent book, The Complete Course in Pickpocketing.
13:13 But a grip I prefer, which means I don't have to twist my wrist quite as far, is to hold it between my index finger and thumb like this.
13:21 From there, I can go up his shoulder and over like that.
13:25 Again, my hand rests on his shoulder, so the spectator has a reason in his mind why my hand came near him in the first place.
13:32 The third type of object you'll find commonly here that I mentioned before is glasses or spectacles.
13:37 Sometimes in a case and sometimes not, the handling I'll use is my middle and ring finger go into the pocket.
13:45 And then with a firm grip, because glasses are expensive and you don't want to drop them, I'll lift them up.
13:50 I can then transfer them to my thumb and index finger, which is a safer grip, as I rest my hand on his shoulder, and the audience can see the glasses.
13:57 And he can't.
13:58 So there are three ways to steal from a pocket where you simply remove an object under cover of resting your hand there.
14:05 But another way you can provide cover is to steal an object like these glasses from this pocket under cover of another object.
14:12 So, excuse me, Fred, but let's imagine I've already stolen Fred's wallet.
14:16 And as I return it to him, I can cover his pocket, use exactly the same grip, middle and ring finger, to slide the glasses up.
14:25 Now I want to pinch them against the wallet so that I don't drop them.
14:28 I can now return the wallet to him and keep the glasses away behind my back.
14:33 When you pick a trouser pocket, you've got much more chance the spectator will notice,
14:42 and that's because the trouser pockets are closer to the body and they're more likely to feel it.
14:47 I talked earlier about touching to establish what's inside a pocket.
14:50 Obviously, that's not appropriate on a trouser pocket necessarily.
14:54 So what I'll do is ask the spectator, "What do you have in your pocket?"
14:58 Let's imagine that he's told me, and I can actually feel here that there's some keys or coins and something else heavy down there,
15:04 and also a handkerchief I can feel.
15:06 Well, the method I use to steal that handkerchief is exactly the same, albeit with the other hand,
15:11 as I used on the breast pocket handkerchief earlier on.
15:14 I reach inside with two fingers. You have to go deep to get hold of the handkerchief,
15:18 and then you pull it out and around onto the spectator's back.
15:22 Remember, people can see it, and he can't.
15:25 Another way to steal from this pocket is under cover of another object.
15:29 So let's imagine that I'd stolen the spectator's wallet, and I was going to return it to him.
15:35 I might say, "Here's your wallet. Don't put it down here in your trouser pocket, but put it into your jacket pocket over here."
15:41 And in that action behind my back, I've stolen his handkerchief,
15:45 and I'm showing it to the audience before he puts his wallet back into his pocket.
15:49 This is what it looks like on stage.
15:51 You see, a lot of people carry their wallet down here in their front trouser pocket.
15:54 I like to carry mine around the back in my back pocket.
15:56 Would you put this into your back trouser pocket?
15:59 It's warm in here, isn't it?
16:01 Now, there's some other things in Fred's pocket here, some coins there, coins and a lighter.
16:08 Let me show you two ways to steal from here.
16:10 You can't reach into a trouser pocket because your fingers simply won't get low enough into the bag,
16:15 and you can't put your whole hand into the pocket without being detected.
16:18 So there are two methods I use.
16:20 One is to reach inside the pocket as low down as I can and to walk the lining of the pocket up inside.
16:27 So inside, what I'm doing is this.
16:29 Holding the cloth on the outside with my thumb, I'm walking the lining bag up inside, and it looks like this.
16:35 So the movement can't be seen from the outside, but as soon as those objects are close enough, I can steal, in this case, a lighter.
16:42 Now, we've got some coins left, and let me show you one last steal from the trouser pocket that is a little bit chancy,
16:48 but you can give yourself two or three chances in the routine.
16:52 I might say, "Sir, what do you have in this pocket?"
16:54 And as I do, I put these two fingers into the pocket, not like this, but one in front of the other, like that.
17:01 The idea is that I can grip coins between the fingers like that.
17:05 So my fingers go in, and then I hit the coins and say, "What do you have here? Some coins?"
17:10 I missed that time. Let me try again.
17:13 And I catch a coin.
17:15 What happens is you hit the bottom of the pocket bag so the coins jump up, and then you catch them between your fingers.
17:21 Now, you may not catch a coin, or you might catch two, or if you're lucky, three,
17:25 but you can give yourself a few chances by saying, "It doesn't sound like you've got very much money there,"
17:29 flicking the coins up into your hand as you do so.
17:32 So that's three ways to steal from the front trouser pocket.
17:35 [music]
17:40 Now I'm going to show you how to steal from the back trouser pocket.
17:43 So here's a wallet, and it goes into Fred's back right-hand trouser pocket.
17:49 The cover I normally use for the back pocket is simply that I and the spectator are both facing the audience.
17:54 So in this position, I can lift up the jacket, or I can reach through in this case because it's got side vents, to the pocket.
18:01 Again, two fingers go into the pocket and steal the wallet behind me,
18:05 or again, up onto the shoulder where I can show it to the audience outside his peripheral vision.
18:11 Now, it's going to be much easier to explain what I was doing in there
18:14 and show you three more steals on the back trouser pocket if Fred takes off his jacket.
18:19 Thanks, Fred.
18:24 Well, as you know, the wallet was in Fred's back trouser pocket just here.
18:29 So under the jacket, what happened was my index finger and middle finger went into the pocket,
18:34 then my middle finger pulls the pocket away from Fred, so it makes a slight gap between the wallet and his back.
18:40 I put my index finger into that gap so I can pinch the wallet between my fingers and scissor it out like that.
18:46 In other words, my index finger goes between the wallet and Fred,
18:51 and my middle finger anchors that wallet so that I can lift it out of the pocket.
18:56 Now, there are easier ways to take this wallet from that back pocket,
19:00 and they all rely on making sure the wallet is sticking out of the pocket before I steal it.
19:05 How do I get the wallet into that position?
19:07 Well, on the street, the way it's done is to use the pickpocket's knee to lift the wallet before you steal it like that.
19:15 But on stage, I can't hit someone with my knee.
19:17 Another way it's done on the street is with a briefcase, but I can't do that on stage either.
19:21 So a technique I've invented is to actually push the wallet up out of the pocket from the outside.
19:27 I grip the pocket on the outside, pinching the cloth between my index finger and thumb.
19:32 Now, Fred can't feel this because the wallet is between my hand and the spectator.
19:37 I then use my other fingers to push the wallet proud of the pocket before I steal it away like this.
19:44 Now, another way to make sure the object is sticking out of the pocket
19:47 is to use an object that's too big to fit in the pocket in the first place.
19:50 So if in the middle of a routine I'd stolen a full-size jacket wallet from someone,
19:56 I could say, "Let me put that back into your back trouser pocket where it will be safe,"
20:01 and then ask him to check that it's there through his jacket.
20:04 That's obviously an easy steal because whatever he does, it's going to stay sticking out of the pocket,
20:09 and I can reach under the jacket and steal it very easily later on.
20:14 But the best way to steal a billfold wallet, that's an American-style small wallet from a back pocket,
20:19 is detailed in Jim Revell's book, Theatrical Pickpocketing.
20:22 It's called the Million Dollar Wallet Steal,
20:24 and it works after you've taken out a wallet and you're returning it to their pocket.
20:29 So can I put this back in your pocket where you can feel it, and would you check it's still there?
20:34 Now, under the jacket, what I've done is hang the wallet over the back of his pocket like this.
20:40 But with the jacket hanging down on the outside, he can feel that,
20:44 and it will feel exactly like it's in his back pocket.
20:47 So stealing this wallet is a piece of cake,
20:50 because I only have to put one finger inside the wallet, and I can lift it up like that.
20:54 So that's three ways to steal from the back trouser pocket.
20:58 Stealing from the inside jacket pocket sounds like it might be much more difficult,
21:08 but actually learning these steals is just as easy.
21:11 Let's have a look at Fred. He's got a pen here in the inside pocket,
21:14 and you'll notice by folding his jacket back in this way,
21:17 I've actually positioned the pen in almost exactly the same position as his outside breast pocket.
21:22 I can steal it in a way that you've already learned, up and over his shoulder.
21:26 And you can use this steal, folding the jacket back on itself, to dip into any of these pockets.
21:31 There's a comb here, or down here there's a small ticket wallet.
21:36 Another way to steal from the jacket on this side, the same side I'm standing,
21:41 is to open the jacket, spot the pocket, and then close the jacket as I remove the object with my other hand.
21:47 Essentially, I'm looking where the object is, holding onto it,
21:51 as I close the jacket for cover to remove the object with my other hand.
21:55 Now if I want to steal from the other side, I can use a similar technique,
22:00 opening the jacket like this to reach in and straight up over the shoulder.
22:04 But more on that in a moment.
22:06 I'm going to cover two other ways first to steal from an inside jacket pocket on the far side of the spectator.
22:12 The first way, and a way that was shown to me by Pat Page,
22:15 is to steal from this pocket under cover of discovering another object that you have palmed.
22:20 Let's imagine this is the spectator's selected card, and I'm going to discover it inside their pocket.
22:25 So with it palmed, I reach inside, across to where the pocket is.
22:29 My right arm is now obscuring his view of my left hand.
22:33 So as the card comes out, my left hand has all the time in the world to steal this object.
22:38 It's a great steal because the audience are very aware of the moment you steal, and he can't see it.
22:44 Another steal you can use to steal from that pocket is something that was used by the world's greatest pickpocket,
22:50 in my opinion, the great Borah.
22:53 He would take a grip on the wallet and then ask the spectator to sit down,
22:57 and as they sat down, the object was drawn clear of the pocket bag,
23:00 and he'd pass it under their chin and across their chest to display it on the opposite shoulder.
23:05 As an aside, Borah would actually, having sat the spectator down,
23:09 pass this wallet onto his back and then stand up straight to catch it behind his back,
23:14 which made for a fantastic piece of theatre.
23:18 I did want to mention this final steal, where you open the jacket and lift the wallet straight up onto the shoulder.
23:25 This is detailed in Paul Revelle's book, 'Theatrical Pickpocketing from Magic Words'.
23:31 Actually, if you just do the steal as I've described it, then the audience will see it as you steal it,
23:37 and there's a possibility, particularly at this angle, that the spectator will see it too.
23:41 So I'll cover it by moving across the spectator like this.
23:46 I'll open the jacket and prepare for the steal, but I won't actually make the steal
23:49 until I walk in front of the spectator, between him and the audience.
23:53 This means they see the wallet a beat after I've stolen it,
23:56 and the action's covered for him by me walking in front.
23:59 And perhaps you'd pass those over to our friend here.
24:07 And I'd like you to take these ten cards in your left hand and put them here inside your jacket pocket,
24:11 right inside, down inside your pocket. Can you do that for me?
24:14 Yep, that's great.
24:16 Obviously, you need to be able to steal from your spectator's side jacket pockets.
24:20 Now, in the live performance, you saw me stealing from the side jacket pocket,
24:23 using the jacket itself as cover.
24:25 So as I open the spectator's jacket, drawing attention to something on the inside,
24:29 I'm stealing on the outside.
24:32 Let me show you how I did that.
24:34 I opened the jacket to draw his attention to the inside pocket,
24:38 and I'm holding his jacket with my left hand, as it's the left-hand side of his jacket.
24:43 On the other side, everything's reversed.
24:45 My right hand is now free with lots of cover from the jacket
24:48 to reach into his pocket and remove whatever I find there.
24:52 I can show it to the audience over his shoulder,
24:54 or simply hold it behind my body to reveal later.
24:58 Now, an important point about how I reach into pockets is perhaps worth covering now.
25:03 It's a simple rule I have that I put as little of my hand as possible into the pocket.
25:07 So rather than reach right into the pocket bag,
25:10 as I might if it was removing something from my own pocket,
25:13 I'll use just two fingers, maybe three, to reach inside
25:16 and clip whatever the object is.
25:19 Now, obviously, it depends what you're stealing and from which pocket,
25:21 but as a general rule, you want to put as little of your hand as possible inside the pockets.
25:27 Another way to steal from the outside jacket pocket
25:30 is to use your body as cover rather than their jacket.
25:34 So if we imagine that I'm saying to this gentleman,
25:37 "What do you have in your right-hand jacket pocket?"
25:40 My body can lean in and steal from this pocket,
25:42 as I just did to take away the notebook again.
25:45 I'll show you that again.
25:47 My body leans in and says, "What do you have here?"
25:50 At the same time, two fingers of my right hand are reaching into his pocket
25:53 and stealing the object, which I can show to the audience again
25:58 or slide around my body to reveal later on.
26:03 Let me put this back and I'll show you a third way that I can steal from the side pockets.
26:07 This is a method I normally reserve for a close-up mingling situation,
26:11 or on stage I'll use it where the spectator is positioned front on to me.
26:15 So let me turn him around now.
26:17 I open up his jacket and ask him what he has in his pockets.
26:20 Now on a double-breasted jacket like this,
26:22 you may want to walk down the jacket a little bit until your fingers are closer to the pockets.
26:27 You can then reach in with two fingers and take out whatever you find.
26:31 In this case, it's some papers,
26:33 and at the same time, I can be removing the notebook on the other side.
26:37 They both go behind and I've stolen two things in one go
26:40 from the spectators looking inside their jacket.
26:43 As I mentioned earlier, when you're picking pockets close up,
26:50 you can get a lot of reaction out of a small object,
26:53 whereas on stage some of those small objects can't be seen.
26:56 Well, close up, one object that'll get you a lot of reaction are cufflinks,
27:00 and the reason is that a lot of people have trouble putting cufflinks on in the first place
27:03 because they're fiddly.
27:05 Taking them off instantly is therefore quite impressive.
27:08 I'll show you a technique now.
27:10 This is a T-bar cufflink.
27:13 That means that there's a T-bar on the other side which pushes through.
27:18 So they're actually very easy to undo.
27:20 As I'm holding his wrist, all I need to do is brace the front of the cufflink with my thumb,
27:25 and then with my middle finger behind,
27:28 straighten that T-bar and push it, and the cufflink will drop off into my hand.
27:32 You might find that as you're stealing someone's watch on the left-hand side,
27:36 you can't think at the same time, but in a close-up situation,
27:39 an easy steal you can have a lot of fun with.
27:41 So we've looked at direct steals, taking things out of the spectator's pockets,
27:51 and we've looked at the mechanics of those steals,
27:53 but there are two things you need to add if you're going to be a successful pickpocket.
27:57 The first is a light touch.
27:59 That's something Gentleman Jack would talk about.
28:01 A light touch.
28:02 You want to put as little of your hand as possible into the spectator's pocket.
28:06 So if I'm stealing from this outer jacket pocket,
28:08 maybe just two fingers in here to steal this notepad.
28:12 Something else that I hope is now obvious is that you should practice all these steals
28:16 with your right hand and your left hand,
28:18 so that it doesn't matter which side the spectator is to you,
28:22 or which side they carry their wallet or wear their watch.
28:25 And something else that may be obvious now is that you can combine these steals.
28:29 You don't have to steal just from inner pockets together,
28:32 or just from outer pockets at the same time.
28:34 You can steal two things at once from an inside and an outside pocket.
28:38 And putting my hands like this on Fred reminds me to reiterate the importance
28:42 of the spectator's limited field of vision.
28:44 If my hands are here, he cannot see what I'm holding in them.
28:48 And misdirection is so important as you make the steals.
28:51 The misdirection I use most often, and you've seen it in the live clips,
28:55 is to ask them, "What do you have in this pocket?
28:57 Do you have something in that pocket?"
28:59 Keeping their mind occupied while you execute the steal
29:02 to make sure that they don't see it.
29:04 Now I'm going to teach you a reputation-making technique.
29:13 I call it the fake return.
29:15 It's when you take an object openly, and then you return it to the spectator,
29:19 apparently, but you palm it away to reveal later on.
29:23 Let me show you how that works.
29:24 I'll start by putting this pen genuinely into Fred's breast pocket.
29:27 And you can see as it goes into his pocket, well, he might feel that.
29:31 And then as the clip hits the top of the pocket,
29:33 he'll feel a slight tug as the pen's left in the pocket.
29:37 Well, I'm going to simulate that with a fake return.
29:40 That means that the pen's returned in the same way,
29:43 but it goes outside the pocket, down the outside of the jacket.
29:47 Again, he might feel that, so slight pressure there.
29:49 And then my finger tugs on the top of the pocket
29:52 to simulate the tug of the clip on that pocket.
29:55 And at that point, he'll feel a slight tug on the jacket
29:58 and relax that the pen has been returned.
30:00 Now you have to add to this technique a little bit of misdirection,
30:04 moving his mind ahead in a sequence to something else.
30:07 So as I put that back, I might ask what he has down here.
30:10 But I've stolen the pen away like this.
30:13 I can also use this move on an inside pocket.
30:16 So as I slide the pen down, my finger again hooks the pocket,
30:20 pulls slightly, he feels the tug as I flick the pen away
30:24 and palm it to reveal later on.
30:26 Now you're not limited to things that are long and thin like a pen.
30:29 You can do it really with any object.
30:31 Here's Fred's wallet, and I can put it into his pocket the same way.
30:35 It goes down the outside, simulating a return.
30:38 I pull on the pocket as I palm the wallet away to reveal.
30:41 Again, the fake return isn't limited either to inside or breast pockets.
30:46 You can also use it for outside jacket pockets.
30:48 As you return the object, your thumb contacts the pocket
30:52 and gives that slight tug, which makes them relax that the object's been returned.
30:58 Here's another sequence using the fake return.
31:01 As you watch this sequence, pay particular attention to the misdirection I'm using.
31:06 As I fake return each object to his jacket, I'm actually misdirecting him,
31:11 encouraging him to look ahead at another pocket in the sequence.
31:14 Nothing on the outside? No? Anything in your trouser pockets?
31:17 No change. No change.
31:18 Okay, well I'm going to try for something smaller, maybe heavier.
31:20 Your phone. Put that in here, okay?
31:23 So one at a time, we'll go for them.
31:24 Oh, ah, you've got something here you're holding out on me. What's that?
31:27 I don't know.
31:28 Did you know you had your car key in your kit?
31:30 Oh, yeah.
31:31 People sometimes-- oh, they're sewn up.
31:33 I'm a useless-- I'm a useless--
31:34 Okay. The phone, the cigarettes, or the wallet.
31:36 What would you like me to go for?
31:38 Phone.
31:39 Well, I've been distracting you, and while I have,
31:41 the world's greatest pickpocket has been standing behind you.
31:43 She's going to give it all back.
31:44 We've got your phone here.
31:46 Your wallet.
31:47 And we've got your cigarettes.
31:49 They're bad for you, you know.
31:50 Anything else?
31:51 I think she's holding out on you here.
31:52 We've got your car keys and your house keys as well.
31:55 We'll be--
31:56 [applause]
31:57 [music]
32:02 As you go out and work as a pickpocket,
32:04 sooner or later you'll come across these, braces,
32:07 or as our American friends call them, suspenders.
32:09 And there are two main types.
32:11 This leather kind, with a buttonhole that goes over a braces button on the trouser,
32:15 or this metal kind that Fred is now wearing,
32:18 a metal clip which attaches over the trouser itself.
32:22 And the technique is exactly the same whichever you use.
32:25 Obviously, in this case, you're undoing buttons.
32:27 In this case, you're undoing a clip.
32:29 But the order that you undo them in, I would suggest, is the same.
32:32 And let me show you that now.
32:34 To undo this metal kind, I hold onto the elastic between my finger and my thumb,
32:38 and then use my middle finger to lift up the front of the clip so that it comes free.
32:43 If I don't hold the elastic and the braces are under tension,
32:47 then there's a possibility this will flick up and he'll feel it.
32:50 So I release it and then let go.
32:53 On the other side, I'll do it in exactly the same way,
32:57 probably using my other hand and doing it under cover of the jacket like that,
33:01 so it's now free.
33:04 Now to undo the back of the braces, I reach inside,
33:07 and again, holding the elastic with my finger and thumb
33:10 and using my middle finger to release the clips like this,
33:13 I can pull down and pull the braces clear of thread immediately.
33:18 So that's how to steal braces.
33:20 [music]
33:25 Now let's have a look at belts,
33:27 and more interestingly, how to steal them from the spectators while they're wearing them.
33:32 There are two types, this traditional buckle type,
33:35 and this kind, which you see more and more of nowadays with a logo.
33:38 It undoes by pulling this hook away from the hole, and then the belt is free.
33:43 There's an important difference between these two types.
33:46 With the traditional buckle, the tail of the belt is on the outside.
33:50 You can see that there.
33:52 But with this, as I call it, logo type, the tail of the belt is on the inside,
33:56 and that means you're not entirely sure which way round the belt is being worn,
34:01 although most gentlemen wear their belt with the tail passed round to their left
34:06 and round to the right, so this way round, or in this case, this way round.
34:12 Now, to undo this logo type, you simply pull the hook, as I've mentioned.
34:17 The buckle is slightly more difficult, and I'll show you how to do it now.
34:21 To undo this buckle type, what you have to do is free the tail from the buckle.
34:32 You do that by putting your middle finger and your thumb, the maximum reach you can,
34:37 across the buckle and the tail of the belt.
34:40 Now, if you can't reach, don't worry.
34:42 You just want to be with your thumb on the tail of the belt
34:45 and your finger as far as it can reach.
34:47 And then you squeeze that tail of the belt, and I'll give you an exposed view,
34:52 and it will bend up and towards your hand
34:55 until there's enough of the belt folded here that you can hold it,
34:59 pull it back, and flick the pin of the belt out of the way, like that.
35:04 Now, the belt is now free and will sit in the belt loops of their trousers
35:07 until you take it off.
35:09 And here's how you do that.
35:10 I'll show you using Fred.
35:12 Fred is wearing a belt, and I'll put his jacket like this so that you can see how I do it.
35:18 Fred is wearing a logo belt, so to undo it, all I have to do is pull this pin
35:23 and kick the tail free of the buckle.
35:26 But with belt steels, I don't want the audience to know I'm taking it
35:29 until, really, it's been stolen.
35:32 So what I'll do is turn the spectator away from the audience,
35:35 and while I'm still facing the audience,
35:37 using the misdirection of his back pocket as I address them,
35:41 I'll undo his belt and then hold onto the buckle.
35:45 I can feel it's on this side, as they normally are,
35:48 and I want to create an S-curve of that belt around his body and mine.
35:54 So holding the buckle, I turn this way into the belt,
35:58 which withdraws it from his trousers.
36:01 Now, I've held it in front of me, but actually in performance,
36:03 I'll hold it behind my back so he can't see it, but the audience can.
36:07 And that's the bare mechanics of stealing a belt,
36:10 but have a look at this clip to see the misdirection and rhythm of the whole technique.
36:13 I'm going to show everyone how it works.
36:15 Lift up your jacket here and show them your wallet.
36:17 Now, that's sticking out. That's going to make it too easy for me,
36:19 but show them where it is.
36:20 Take it out, your wallet.
36:22 Take it out, show them, now put it back in your pocket.
36:27 Pretty difficult from there, right?
36:28 But let me turn you around and show you how this will work.
36:30 You might think with all this turning around I stole something, and I did.
36:33 I managed to steal your belt, so please give him a big, big hand as he goes and sits down.
36:37 Big hand as he goes and sits down. Thank you very much.
36:40 Stealing a tie is one of the most impressive things you can do as a pickpocket.
36:49 Audiences just can't believe you can take a tie off someone while they're wearing it,
36:53 and they don't realize.
36:54 Now, you can take a tie whether someone's jacket is fastened or unfastened,
36:58 but I always unfasten the jacket, because I once went to steal a tie with the jacket fastened,
37:04 and there was a tie pin about here, below the level of the jacket, that I hadn't seen,
37:08 which caused me problems.
37:09 So I always undo the jacket and have a look at the tie before I start.
37:13 Now, I'll fold his jacket back, and you can see how this works.
37:16 Most people think that tie knots look like this, that is, symmetrical.
37:22 But actually, if you have a closer look, most tie knots look like this,
37:27 or occasionally the reverse, like this.
37:31 Now, if you look at Fred's tie, you may be able to see that this side is straighter than this side,
37:37 which is at an angle, which means that the thin end of the tie goes up and to Fred's left.
37:43 And that's important, because I need to know which side that goes,
37:46 in order to know which side to stand, in order to remove his tie.
37:50 But a sure-fire way of finding out is an idea I thought of when I saw Mark Sischer's brilliant gag,
37:56 where he pretends to unravel a spectator's tie, and he's flicking the tie with his finger.
38:02 This gag gave me the excuse to hold the spectator's tie and pull slightly,
38:07 and as I pull, I can look at the knot and see for sure which side this thin end goes,
38:13 and it goes up here to the left, as we thought.
38:16 Now, to undo the tie, it means I'm standing on the correct side,
38:19 I have to hold the tie knot with three points of contact, and I do it like this.
38:24 My middle finger here, my thumb on the other side, and my index finger at the top,
38:31 so the tie knot can't move.
38:33 And then with my other hand, I reach under the collar, close to the knot,
38:37 and I pull back, undoing the tie.
38:40 Now, I may have to repeat this, but it will take no more than two or three of these pulls to free the tie up.
38:47 And in the sequence you're about to see, I'm talking to the spectator,
38:51 asking him which pocket shall I steal from as I undo his tie.
38:55 The tie is now free and undone, it's just hanging down the front and the back.
39:00 And at this stage, it doesn't look too different on the front,
39:03 but I'll often turn the spectator 180 or 360 degrees now,
39:07 so the entire audience can see this and know what I'm up to.
39:11 Well, to remove the tie completely, ideally I'll be standing on the other side,
39:15 and I'll grasp the tie knot like this.
39:18 All I have to do is lift it out of the collar and behind him,
39:22 and I can either pull the tie away or leave it there, hanging on the back of Fred like this.
39:28 So to remove it from there, I can either thank him and pull it away,
39:37 or I can leave it hanging there and take it away later on in the show.
39:41 Now, there's one other thing about ties.
39:44 Occasionally you'll find someone who has a tie you want to steal,
39:47 but they're wearing a collar like mine with buttons, a button-down collar.
39:51 Well, in this situation, you don't have to undo both buttons in order to steal the tie.
39:56 You just have to undo the one button that is on the same side as you will be removing the knot.
40:01 So in Fred's case, I just need to undo this button in order to remove the tie,
40:08 and this one can stay fastened throughout, and it won't affect the steal at all.
40:12 Well, that sounds quite complicated, but when you add some misdirection, it's an amazing effect.
40:17 Have a look at this clip to see the tie steal in action.
40:20 So I'm going to try and take a few things from--you're just coming slightly adrift here.
40:24 Let me sort that out for you because it's coming slightly apart.
40:28 Would you like me to take the glasses first, the wallet on this side, the pen, or perhaps the phone?
40:33 The glasses, the wallet, the pen, or the phone, which would you prefer?
40:35 Oh, the pen.
40:36 The pen. Has it gone?
40:39 Yes.
40:40 You see, I've been distracting you, Bill.
40:41 Big, big hand as he goes and sits down. Big hand as he goes and sits down.
40:44 Thank you very much, Bill.
40:45 Oh, Bill, Bill, I have your tie too.
40:47 Sorry, give him a big hand as he takes his seat.
40:50 You have everything back, I promise, my friend.
40:52 Let's hear it for Bill and Nick.
40:54 This is Ed. He's Fred's half-brother, and he's here to help me show you how to steal glasses.
41:04 Well, I know what you're thinking.
41:05 How on earth can you steal someone's glasses while they're wearing them and they don't realize?
41:09 It sounds impossible, doesn't it?
41:11 But it's not, and I'm here to show you how.
41:13 The first thing you need to check is whether the glasses themselves are strong or weak.
41:18 If they're strong glasses, I wouldn't even attempt this trick,
41:21 because the moment you steal the glasses, he won't be able to see and he'll know, and that will spoil the fun.
41:26 The idea is to leave some gap between the steal and his realization that the glasses have even gone.
41:32 To see if they're strong or not, what I do is look through the side of the lens at the side of the spectator's head,
41:38 and the amount of refraction will tell me if they're strong.
41:41 Well, if they're not, what I'm going to do is induce the blink reflex in the spectator, make him go like that,
41:47 and to do that, I bring my hand or an object up to his face, which will make him blink.
41:52 So let's imagine I've stolen his wallet and I'm returning it.
41:55 I bring the wallet up to his face and he'll blink.
41:58 At the moment I see his eyes close, and I can anticipate that,
42:01 I hold the glasses just here at this joint, and then I lift them up and over his head.
42:07 As I return the wallet to him and ask him to put it back into his pocket,
42:11 I pass the glasses around my body and put them on.
42:14 It will be some time before he notices I'm wearing his glasses.
42:18 Don't believe me? Have a look at this clip and see that move in action.
42:22 It's in your tr... Sorry, it's a bit warm. This is your handkerchief, Nick.
42:26 Put this handkerchief down inside your front trouser pocket. Your front trouser pocket.
42:30 Have you got it there? Now, I have something else from here. Would you check and see what else I have from there?
42:34 Something else over here. Do you have something else? Something else.
42:37 No, maybe check this pocket. Yeah? Or is it in this pocket? No, check...
42:41 No, your wallet you have in your back pocket. You have something else. Something else down here, sir.
42:45 You got something... He can't see, and I see double. You sure you don't have... I have your glasses, sir.
42:49 Here, take them out. Oh, they're here. Sorry. Put them back. Give him a big, big hand.
42:55 Thank you.
42:57 Now the thing that you've all been waiting for, how to steal watches.
43:06 Well, stealing a wristwatch is impressive because they're quite fiddly to put on for some people,
43:10 but also they're expensive. In fact, when you say, "I'm a magician," I bet you've had people say,
43:16 "Oh, mind my watch." Watches come in different types. There's this leather strap with a buckle, traditional kind,
43:22 or there's this rubber strap with a buckle. There's an important difference between the two in the buckle,
43:27 which I'll come to later. There are these metal ones which fasten around the wrist.
43:34 There are these metal ones which go over the hand before they're fastened around the wrist,
43:38 or these expandable type, or even more recent, this kind, the Velcro kind.
43:44 And if you're going to practice to steal watches, what you should do is what I did,
43:48 and get yourself a large collection of different types, different shapes, different styles,
43:53 and different sizes of watch so that you can practice every type and be ready.
43:57 I'm going to teach you the best of these, the worst of these, and the ones to watch out for.
44:05 There are a number of ways that you can practice the mechanics of wristwatch steal.
44:09 The first way is to practice on your own wrist. Now, I've put my watch on upside down,
44:14 and for a leather strap like this, with the watch upside down, I can practice the wristwatch steal on myself.
44:20 The second way I can practice is on the padded arm of a dining chair.
44:24 The third way I can practice is on something like this, a false hand from a joke shop.
44:29 I can put watches on and practice that way, but the best way to practice is on a real person.
44:35 So let's get Ted, and he'll help me show you how to steal a watch.
44:39 So first we'll look at the easiest kind of watch to steal, the leather strap.
44:45 And Ted, if we could use your hand. Thanks very much.
44:48 Now, as you hold your hand out, you'll see that Ted's sleeve rides up,
44:52 and that gives me a chance to say, "Hold your hands out," if I want to know what sort of watch they've got.
44:57 In a close-up magic situation, putting anything into this hand,
45:00 I get a long time to look at the watch and decide whether I'm going to go for the steal.
45:04 But a leather strap, I'd always go for.
45:07 And the method is this. I brace the face of the watch with my thumb, so it can't rotate around his wrist.
45:14 And then using my middle finger, or the longest finger, I put it down onto the tail,
45:19 just as I did undoing the leather belt earlier on.
45:22 As I push, you can see that the leather strap comes out of the two retaining loops,
45:28 until it's folded on itself like that.
45:32 Now I grip the strap between the tip of my finger and the base of my finger here, like this.
45:39 And pulling back, the pin will come clear, and I can push it out of the way.
45:44 Now, if I just remove the watch now, there is a chance that that pin will go back into one of these holes.
45:51 And an excellent tip from Chappy Brazil was that if you put the tail of the watch at an angle,
45:57 as you now release it from their wrist, there's no chance of the pin going back into a hole.
46:02 And you can palm the watch off like that. And that's called the side steal.
46:07 Well, that's called the side steal because I stand to the side of the spectator while I steal the watch.
46:12 Another method you can use involves face onto the spectator and removing the watch with your thumb.
46:17 Let me show you that now.
46:20 So this time with my palm on the face of the watch, I use my thumb to reach around and push the tail of the strap up.
46:28 Then gripping it between my finger and thumb, I use my thumb to clear the pin and push this down,
46:33 again at an angle, and palm the watch off this way.
46:37 This is best used when I'm holding the spectator's two wrists and either asking them a question
46:43 or moving them around the stage or the floor in some way.
46:47 Now let's talk about this kind. It's very common.
46:50 It goes over the wrist and then tightens like this and locks tight like that.
46:55 Ted's wearing a similar watch, and I'll show you the technique I use for this kind of watch now.
47:00 Usually, if the person's wearing the watch on their left hand,
47:03 then I will know that the way to undo it is to reach around here, and that's the case now.
47:07 And with my middle finger, here's an exposed view, I pull down the catch.
47:12 The watch is now undone, but I'm still holding it on Ted's wrist so that he doesn't know.
47:16 And to take it off his wrist, all I need to do is slide it along and off his hand like that.
47:21 So that's how to take off the over-the-wrist, tighten and lock type of watch.
47:27 Now I'd like to talk about these. This is a rubber strap with a buckle,
47:32 and it differs from a leather strap with a buckle at the buckle end.
47:36 Let me show you. Most leather straps have one piece like this and a pin,
47:42 whereas most rubber straps have a double buckle like that and a pin in the middle.
47:48 This means when the rubber strap is done up,
47:55 it actually has to be undone from the retaining loops, same as a leather one,
47:59 and then from the buckle on this side, before you can even consider taking it off the pin on this side.
48:09 Because it's rubber, it has a greater tendency to flick back and re-engage the pin on the way out.
48:14 I was lucky that time. So let's put this on Ted, and I'll show you how to take it off.
48:19 So Ted, if you show everyone the watch you're now wearing, a rubber strap, remember a double-sided buckle.
48:25 The technique is the same as the leather strap, but you have to make sure as you push this up,
48:30 that you then push it again here inside the buckle.
48:34 I hope you can see that in close-up.
48:36 Now the technique is exactly the same, but because the rubber strap means there's a tendency for the pin to go back into a hole,
48:43 when this flicks, I don't let go. I just feed it through like that until I can palm the watch off.
48:50 And that's how to remove a rubber strap.
48:53 Now we're going to look at expandable, that's elasticated wristwatches.
49:00 And there are two ways to remove them, and a third way where actually the spectator removes them themselves,
49:05 unknowingly. Ted, if I could have your hand.
49:09 The first way is to get under the strap using my thumb.
49:12 Now typically I'll go in here, just at the join between the face and the strap,
49:17 and then put my other thumb in the gap.
49:19 My fingers go this side, underneath my thumb, so they don't feel it,
49:23 and I open the whole strap up into a large square.
49:26 I can then come off their hand like this.
49:29 That's one way. Let me put this back on Ted and show you a second way.
49:34 Where I go in at the same point, but instead of going in here with my thumb, I go in with my finger.
49:40 I can then get a second finger inside, work another finger round, and a fourth, and come off this way.
49:46 If the strap is particularly tight, then putting your fingers in at this angle,
49:51 rather than your fingers and thumbs like this, will allow you more leeway and it will come off more easily.
49:56 Now the third way I mentioned, where the spectator takes off their watch unknowingly,
50:01 works a similar way, and I'll show you now.
50:05 Essentially I give a small object to the spectator to hold onto.
50:08 Imagine you're holding a coin there, Ted, for me now.
50:11 And I ask them to put it into their jacket pocket.
50:14 Now holding that in their jacket pocket, I open the watch at the mouth of the pocket,
50:18 and say, "Is it possible I could take away that coin?"
50:21 They say, "No," and I ask them to show the audience the coin.
50:25 When they reach their hand out of their pocket to show the coin, I've got the watch.
50:30 And you can drop the watch into their pocket, which is like a ready-made savant, and reveal it later on.
50:36 That's three ways to take off the expandable watch strap.
50:40 As a pickpocket magician, you should be looking for tricks that get you close to people
50:50 so you can pick their pockets or steal their watches.
50:53 In close-up situations, you might use a sponge ball routine or a trick with a coin.
50:58 As they're holding it, you can be holding their wrist, helping them, but stealing their watch at the same time.
51:03 On stage, you might do something like cards across,
51:06 or 20th-century silts, where you tuck the silts into their top pocket.
51:10 Any excuse to put your hands into their pockets so you can execute the steal.
51:14 Whether you're working close-up or on stage, if you're booked to be a pickpocket,
51:21 you need to make sure that all members of the management team know.
51:25 You can't be a big surprise. Just in case you steal something and you're caught,
51:30 you need to be able to explain yourself.
51:32 Loading unusual objects into people's pockets to discover them later can be very funny,
51:38 and is really a pickpocket skill in reverse.
51:41 Something I'll often load into a spectator's top pocket in the right situation is a mouth coil.
51:46 And with a little bit of double-sided tape on the mouth coil,
51:49 I can stick it to the inside of their pocket and then produce it, as if by magic.
51:55 Giovanni was one of the great pickpocket entertainers,
51:58 and he had a great idea using purses, which I've adapted, and I use pens.
52:03 What I do is return a pen to a spectator, and two minutes later, I return it again,
52:08 and two minutes later, I return it again,
52:10 and the audience have no idea how I keep stealing the pen from the spectator.
52:14 In fact, I'm giving the spectator one of my pens every time.
52:18 He goes home with five pens, and I go home with a reputation.
52:23 You can pick anyone's pocket, but out of personal choice, I never pick the pockets of ladies.
52:28 It just doesn't suit my style.
52:30 But what I will do is steal from their bags,
52:32 providing I can see what's in the bag, and I know what I'm going to take before I take it.
52:37 An excellent thing you can use with a handbag, particularly if you're playing the part of a security guard,
52:42 is the fake return that we covered elsewhere.
52:44 Here's another one I learnt the hard way.
52:47 If you're going to steal something and take it away from the spectator to return it later on,
52:52 there are certain things you shouldn't steal.
52:54 A mobile or cellular telephone.
52:56 Don't take that. They may be expecting an important call,
52:59 or they may panic when they realise they don't have their phone,
53:01 and they're expecting a call from the babysitter.
53:03 Don't take pages or anything else to do with communication.
53:06 Other things you shouldn't steal is when you put your hand into a pocket,
53:10 and you realise that what's inside is an asthma inhaler,
53:14 or anything to do with a medical condition.
53:16 Leave them in the pocket.
53:18 You really don't want to embarrass anyone.
53:20 After all, the people that assist you should be the stars of the show.
53:23 As a pickpocket, just like a magician who borrows objects from the spectators,
53:29 you're going to be touching belongings that don't belong to you.
53:32 However careful you are, if you plan to pick the pockets of strangers,
53:36 make sure you have entertainer's insurance.
53:39 Like a good close-up magician, a good pickpocket is observant.
53:45 You should look for opportunities, because you never know what people are going to carry in their pockets.
53:50 If you see that someone's wearing a cufflink and it's not quite fastened,
53:54 don't tell them. Steal it.
53:56 If you notice that someone has something in their top pocket, take it.
53:59 If you're in a mingling situation picking pockets,
54:03 be prepared for the situation when the spectators pick your pocket.
54:08 Don't carry anything in your outside jacket pockets,
54:11 or any valuables in your jacket, where it would be easy pickings for them.
54:15 After all, now you know it's not that difficult.
54:17 Finally, here's a top tip you can use to get a reputation as a master pickpocket,
54:24 and you won't have to steal a thing.
54:26 And it's this. Just carry a spare watch in your pocket next time you're out as a close-up magician.
54:32 When someone comes up to you when you're entertaining a group and says,
54:35 "Hey, that was great magic," shake them by the hand and send them on their way.
54:39 As they leave the group, you turn to the others and say,
54:42 "I'd better just go and give this back."
54:44 This is a hook and catch.
54:54 In other words, you undo the catch like that, and then there's a hook on this piece,
54:58 which goes into the bar on the other side.
55:01 A hook and catch. Here's how we undo those.
55:04 Ted's wearing a similar watch.
55:06 Again, I put my palm against the watch so that my fingers are close to the buckle,
55:10 but not actually touching it.
55:12 And then with my middle finger again of my left hand, I reach round and pull down,
55:16 which essentially undoes the watch. Here's an exposed view.
55:20 Now, to get that clear of the loop, what I have to do is press with my finger
55:25 while I hold the buckle between my thumb and middle finger.
55:29 I'll re-fasten just that stage so you can see this again.
55:34 Holding like that, pushing with my finger until it's clear,
55:37 the watch is now off the wrist, and all I have to do is palm it away
55:41 under some suitable misdirection.
55:43 How to remove? The hook and clasp.
55:47 Now, here's the sort of wristwatch strap that you really don't want to see.
55:53 They're difficult to take because they're fastened with Velcro, and listen.
55:57 They make a terrible noise when you open them up.
56:00 However, I'll show you the mechanics of stealing it,
56:02 because I have been working in noisy environments, clubs or at a dinner,
56:06 where actually the noise of it being unfastened isn't heard by the spectators.
56:10 So I'll ask Ted to put this one on and show you the technique.
56:13 Thanks, Ted. If we can show them now you're wearing this Velcro watch.
56:16 The technique for undoing this is like this.
56:19 In a noisy environment, what I do is brace the face of the watch
56:23 against the pad at the base of my index finger, and then I grip the Velcro,
56:28 but rather than pull it off, which they may feel, I turn their hand,
56:31 and the movement of their hand turning means that they don't feel the Velcro being undone,
56:37 and no one else will hear it if it's noisy enough.
56:39 Now, the watch isn't yet undone.
56:41 In order to completely remove it, I have to use my thumb to flick the top half
56:47 with this eyelet away from the strap like that, and then palm it away.
56:52 And that's how to remove a Velcro strap watch.
56:55 [music]
57:24 [music]
57:30 I'd like to mention a few books and booklets that you can find
57:33 in order to make yourself a better pickpocket.
57:35 When I started learning this unusual skill, the only thing I had was this,
57:39 How to Pick Pockets by Eddie Joseph, a little booklet that's still in print to this day.
57:43 Soon after, I found this, Pickpocket Stunts for Magicians,
57:47 not exactly the techniques of picking pockets, but a few ideas to add to your magic.
57:51 It's published by UF Grant. Out of print, but you may find a copy.
57:55 This was brought out by Tannens and translated from the French.
57:59 It's The Complete Course in Pickpocketing by Pierre Jacques.
58:02 And a book that I really recommend to you is this one, Jim Ravel's Theatrical Pickpocketing.
58:08 This is a magical publication and is available from Mike Caveney in California.
58:12 This list wouldn't actually be complete without mentioning
58:15 The Pickpocket Secrets of Mark Raffles, a weighty tome that covers everything
58:19 Mark Raffles considers to be important that you need to know about picking pockets.
58:23 And finally, this small booklet, The Art of Stealing Watches,
58:27 I commend to you because it includes Apollo Robbins' coin-on-shoulder routine.
58:32 Apollo's a great friend and a great pickpocket who works in Las Vegas.
58:36 So a few books so you can go a little bit further learning this art.
58:40 [ Silence ]