-We are joined right now by a
very talented man. He is a psychological
illusionist. His new show "Derren Brown:
Secret" is currently playing on Broadway
at the Court Theater. Please welcome Derren Brown! āŖāŖ [ Cheers and applause ]
-No, no, don't -- -No, I would know --
I'm not touching you. I don't want to touch your hand.
I don't want to do anything. 'Cause I know the way this
works. Don't touch him. -I think you have to.
-No, 'cause he -- he slaps me on the back,
next thing you know I've got a card sticking
to my back. -This is true.
-And I've seen this happen. I don't have it, right?
-No. Not yet. No, no. -I don't have anything.
I'm not messing with you, man. I've never -- I didn't even meet
you before the show. -No. We haven't spoken.
We haven't set anything up. That's important.
Thank you for having me on. -I'm so happy you're here.
-Oh, this is amazing. Thank you. The show secret -- I read minds
and influence people. This is what I do. I don't believe in any kind of
psychic ability. So I thought I would explain to
you how I do it. Alright. Using these,
I have here a bunch of guests. These are guests from your show.
Great guests over the years. And some of my favorite moments. I want you each to take one out. Take out one of these pictures
and keep hold of it. Remember who it is,
but don't let each other see who you've picked.
Alright? -Okay.
-But remember who you've got. Remember what they look like in
the picture, as well as their name,
obviously. -Yep.
-But don't let each other see. Alright, make sense?
-Yeah. Can we show it to the audience?
Or just hold it to ourselves? -Just keep them to yourself
for moment. I'll look away while you take
one each. Take one each. We're going to play
a version of "Guess Who?" -You do -- you go first.
-Remember "Guess Who?" You have this game here, right?
-Yeah. [ Cheers and applause ]
-Good, good. So flip and find face game. Normally you think of one of
24 androgynous cartoon faces. Someone has to guess which one
your thinking of by asking yes or no questions.
Right? So have you done it? Have you taken one each?
-Yes. -Okay, thank you.
You didn't go for the one that I showed you at the
beginning? -No.
-because that would be too easy. Alright, okay.
-No, I wouldn't -- -So remember the face, remember
who it is. Yeah, you got one? -Yes.
-Okay, doesn't matter as much. Okay, lovely,
put it back in for me somewhere. -Yeah.
-Remember who it is. Remember the face.
-Yes. -And remember the name.
-Yes. -I want you to do the same for
me. In there somewhere. Any way you like. Good, good.
So tell me -- -These are all a-listers.
Big famous people. -Yeah, yeah, I'll show you.
Come around here for me. There's a -- can I put you here,
Quest, and you there, Jimmy. -Yeah, thank you.
-So look. These are great guests from the
show. We've got Brad Pitt. -Yes.
-We have Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson.
-Yes. -There's Tom, there's Will.
Harrison Ford with his glasses. These are all, hopefully,
guests that you'll have a strong emotional memory
of from the shows, right? -Yes, remember all these.
-I hope so. [ Laughter ]
I hope so. Otherwise I'm stuck. Alright, good. Okay, good.
So let's start with you, Quest. Put your hand
on my shoulder there. [ Laughter ]
-There you go. Yep. -And think of the person,
whoever it is. Could you take that hand
out of your pocket? Make sure you're facing
the front. Just -- I'll ask you a series of
questions about the person
you're thinking of. Answers are just in your head.
Just still -- relax your elbow a little.
And just think yes or no. [ Laughter ]
But say nothing out loud. Alright? So it's just
thinking in your head, yes or no, say nothing
out loud. Alright. And do you remember which person
you're thinking of? Which one it was?
Don't nod your head either. That will also give it away. Just keep an absolute
poker face. [ Laughter ]
I think that we'll have a game of poker later on
you'll be good. Alright. I shall let go for a second.
Can you see me alright without your glasses on?
-Sure. -Could you take them off
for a second? Perhaps ask yourself why you're
wearing them? Thank you. I'm just going to put those
there for a minute. [ Laughter ] Waste of time and money,
I think. Alright. [ Laughter ]
Alright, just -- just loosen your elbow up. And roll up to the shoulder.
That's great, thanks. Very nice to meet you,
by the way. I didn't say hello properly.
Nice to meet you. Look at me now and sleep.
I've got you. [ Laughter ] Just drift down into that state,
my boy. Just there on the center of your
head floating around you. That's good.
All I want to do is just make you
a little easier to read. [ Laughter ] I'm just going to open up your
natural signals a little. And the way to do it is just to
imagine a rippling that starts right in the very
center of you. And, Quest, that rippling
expands out from your core, out of the center,
amplifying all of your natural signals making you a
little easier to read. That's perfect. You are doing this perfectly as
it reaches your skin. [ Laughter ]
It continues out through your skin
into the air around you. Just amplifying and extending
these signals making you easier to read.
Now take a moment. And then take all the time
that you need to slowly come back to us.
Don't fall over. You can stand up straight. And
slowly wake up. Take a second. It's quite nice, isn't it?
-Sure. -Yeah.
[ Light laughter ] Glasses back on.
We'll try that again. Put your hand on my shoulder. That's better. That's much
better. Thank you. Alright. Okay. Take half a step in.
First question. Remember, just think the
answers, nothing out loud. The person you were thinking of,
is it a man? Were you -- yes. So that's another yes, all
right. So that's a yes. So I can turn over the women,
right? So we know it's not a woman. Is it somebody with fair hair?
Somebody with fair-colored hair? Alright. What about
do they look -- do they look vegan,
if you were just guessing? Off the top of your head? Oh,
no, Justin, Justin Timberlake? -Oh, no, yeah.
-Yes. -It was, yeah.
-It was. Amazing, great, fantastic.
[Cheers and applause ] āŖāŖ You terrified me for moment.
I think you forgot. Okay, come here for me.
-Yeah. -Come here.
[ Laughter ] We'll do it a little bit
differently. This time -- -Yeah.
-I want you to also remember what side of the table?
No, we're doing it differently. -No, we're doing it differently,
yeah. -Alright, so have a look.
But also remember, what side of the table they're
on as well, okay? -Okay, sure, yeah.
-Alright, so I'm not looking. -Yeah.
-So the first question I'll ask you is what side they're on.
-Yeah. -And then come and stand here
for me. -Okay, good. Do I tell you --
Alright. -No, no, don't say anything for
the moment. Just face me. Have a little bounce, loosen up.
[ Laughter ] Get rid of any unwanted nervous
energy. Great, okay. If that's at all possible.
And close your eyes. And just think of the person.
-Okay. -Just think of the person.
-Yeah, yeah. -Alright, Quest, I'm going to be
asking you to turn them over as we go along here, alright?
-Okay. -Okay.
[ Laughter ] First person, first question.
Was the face -- and the answers are just in your
head, nothing out loud. You've just got to
think the answer. Alright, you think the answer,
nothing out loud. [ Laughter ]
Try not to give anything away. [ Laughter ] Oh, God. Alright. Was the face on the right hand
side of the table? Was it on the right hand side of
the table? Okay, just going to give that a
second to set in. Now, Quest, you can see his
breathing has shifted up here, right?
There's tension around the jaw. Any sign of tension is going to
be a yes answer. Alright, 'cause when it's a no,
we kind of -- we think we're off the hook,
so we tend to relax. So that tells me yes,
it's somebody on the right hand
side of the table. And the smirk
is confirming it for me. [ Laughter ]
So could you turn over all the ones on the left? Turn over all the ones on the
left for me. Alright.
Next question. Imagine this person
just as they are in the picture walks up to you,
says hello, you say hello. They take off their glasses.
And you -- thank you. Turn over Harrison Ford. I think he's the only one on
that side wearing glasses. Turn over Harrison Ford for me.
[ Laughter ] Next question. When they were on the show,
did you just lose it? Did you laugh so much
that you -- I can't even -- just had to stop the show? Did you laugh so much you had
to stop the show? Okay. Bradley Cooper
you can turn over and Kristen Wiig as well. Which leaves three, I think. I'll get it in one more.
Final question. Be honest. Be honest. You have a massive, massive
crush on this person. [ Laughter ] [ Light applause ] [ Laughter ]
Oh, God. It's one of two and I don't
know. I'll ask you again. Do you have a massive crush on
them? Just think your answer.
Turn over Nicole Kidman. -Whoa.
[ Laughter ] -And Justin Timberlake.
[ Laughter ] Come on, don't open your eyes.
Pick up the last one. Hold it against your chest.
Don't let anybody see for now. Okay.
Open your eyes for me, Jimmy. -Yeah.
-Open your eyes. Keep that hidden. Can I --
pen and paper? Thank you. Can you write down the name of
the person? Great big clear letters.
-Yes. Are you listening to the
squeaks? -No, no, I'm done, I'm done.
I'm committed. I'm really -- -I'm going to add extra squeaks
just so you can hear it. [ Laughter ]
-Oh, yeah, no, good, good. Write your squeaks.
-Squeaks. -I genuinely -- this person --
I have no idea if I got this right or not now. But I'm hoping it's the last
person. -There you go.
-Excellent squeaking. -Thank you.
-Alright, one person left. Turn it round. Show it to
everybody. And see who it was. Turn it around. Yep.
Barack Obama. Who are you -- turning around.
[ Cheers and applause ] āŖāŖ -I'll hug you now.
I'll hug you now. -Wow.
-Derren Brown, everybody! [ Cheers and applause ] For tickets to his show, check
out derrenbrownsecret.com.
Iām going to his show on Wednesday!
I love this because if he did it the way I think he did it, the trick was finished before he even started the trick.
I love derren brown, but I think this performance could have gone much better to show off his skills. Still very much want to see his show in NYC.
I feel this would be so much better without cards as cards sort of shatter the illusion of a 'psychological' trick being performed due to the association of cards with ordinary sleight of hand and card manipulation tricks.
This is super cool DB has always been fun to watch :)
"Can you see me without your glasses on?"
"Uh, sure"
"Ok, can you take them off for a second, and perhaps ask yourself why you're wearing them?"
Great moment. I actually like this routine more than a lot of other people do (from what it sounds like anyway) but I do agree that it fell a little flat in this clip. That does seem to be a risk of these types of tv appearances, oftentimes they seem a little bit awkward or something.
This was somewhat underwhelming. Derren can do much better.