To Claim or Not to Claim
Every now and then I have a conversation with someone who has seen a couple of my shows, but hasn’t read my books or writings, and believes I claim to do all sorts of things that I really don’t. As I had such a discussion last night, and as I’ve been talking about the importance of testing psychic claims that could be fraudulent, I thought I would clarify a few points regarding my own work for anyone in any doubt.
Firstly, regarding the โtricksโ as performed in the older shows:
1. I have never used stooges. People generally imagine I must do if they can find no other explanation. But I don’t: it would be artistically repugnant, totally unnecessary, impractical, and would spell career suicide.
2. My techniques are rooted in conjuring magic and hypnosis. All else is most likely misdirection and should be taken with a hefty pinch of salt.
3. I have never claimed to use NLP to achieve my โtricksโ. On the contrary, I have written very critically about it in โTricks of the Mindโ. I reserve the same scepticism for subliminal messaging, as well as a lot of body-language reading and the like.
Now, I have largely moved on from performing those sorts of tricks. So, as regards the specials, such as โThe Experimentsโ and others:
1. Again, the people used are never stooges or set up in any way. They generally apply through an open audition process, whereby we meet or interview them and look at various qualities they possess which would be useful (for example their jobs, beliefs, or how suggestible they are).
2. The contributors are always psychologically screened if they are going to go through a โtoughโ experience. Without giving away what the show is, or giving them any clue that they will be used in it, we arrange for our preferred participants to have interviews with an independent psychologist who ensures that they will be โrobustโ enough for the show. This is an important part of our duty of care, which we take very seriously throughout the entire process of making the programmes. And the โheroesโ of these specials always emerge exhilarated and delighted to have been part of it.
3. If I make a statement on these shows, it will be true. Nowadays, the Channel 4 lawyers check every word to make sure there is no misleading of the viewer: this is a huge issue in the TV industry at the moment. The joke in the office is that a magician can’t even say โthis is a normal deck of cardsโ on TV nowadays if it isn’t, and I don’t think that’s an exaggeration.
I know that fans will know all this already, but it’s always worth repeating. Have lovely days and enjoy tonight’s show if you’re watching.
Dx
Good post ๐
Don’t worry D, most of us are on the same page ๐
Ready for experiment number three, roll on 9pm ๐
It’s strange to think after being a fan for so many years that people still think you’re using stooges, even after almost every show you tell them that you don’t
Chances are though those people won’t be reading your blog before making their mind up about you “faking it” either ๐
Looking forward to tonights show very much.
Feel free to sponsor my mo if you have a moment and some spare cash (link attached)
Big up the D! The secret ruler of the universe. ๐
Very true, it worth repeating.
Sorry Derren no offence, the only doubt I personally have regarding stooges is National Lotto prediction because that is the only show which is completely distinctive from all others.
Great post and keep up the great work. I willbe watching tonight. I’m a huge fan.
When you next in Newcastle? I’m always tool late in getting tickets and really want to see a live show.
My favourite was the greyhounds betting. Tried it but didn’t work for me lol
Msg from Abeo: Newcastle is 7th May: http://derrenbrown.co.uk/tour-dates/svengali/
Hi Derren, I have watched most if not all shows aired in Australia. Your show hasn’t been on for a year or so and I’ve just read you’re not performing the ‘old tricks’ anymore. Why not? Most were amazing. I didn’t like the kitten one though so can understand people being upset (if they were).
Look forward to your next show. I’m coming to UK in Feb so maybe I’ll see more recent ones then.
Regards, Debbie
Thanks for the clarification, is very interesting; reminds me I must get Tricks of the Mind though, luckily it’s Christmas soon…
Can’t wait for tonight’s show, should be good. ๐
So…..the rabbit was in the hat the whole time?
As a loyal fan I applause you and thank you for your transparency! Enjoying The Experiments!
Except you can’t win. I have a friend who believes is real magic, psychics, mediums etc , and she loves you and has read your Tricks of the Mind book. However, she still believes in those magical powers and additionally, that YOU possess them too. When I point her to fact that you categorically deny that you do, her response is “Oh, he just says that for the act. Of course he’s a physic and can do real magic”. I’ve given up…
I would say you’re preaching to the converted, but that’s probably the wrong expression. Just ignore the doubters and avoid the bonfires.
Best wishes,
Ryan. X
“3. I have never claimed to use NLP to achieve my รขโฌหtricksรขโฌโข. On the contrary, I have written very critically about it in Tricks of the Mind. I reserve the same scepticism for subliminal messaging, as well as a lot of body-language reading and the like.”
Then what was this? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=befugtgikMg
Msg from Abeo: DB doesn’t mention NLP here at all, which is his point. He’s talking about specific claims being made. Those have to be distinguished from the story of a trick, which will rarely make any claims as to technique and which he’s saying you should always take with a pinch of salt. What he does say is ‘The shows combine magic, suggestion, psychology, misdirection and showmanship. No actors or stooges are used’ at the start of each episode. That is being specific, and is true. Furthermore, he has said on numerous occasions – in an unusually open way for a magician who is under no obligation to reveal how his tricks are done – ‘They’re a mixture of magic tricks and psychological techniques and the fun hopefully lies in working out where one ends and the other starts’.
Derren, your work is phenomenal! Keep doing what you do, as I am sure you will! ๐
thanks Derren, you always cheer x
Couldnt agree anymore .. makes me mad when people just dismiss you lightly .. great work !!
Derren, what is the girl in “The Seance” who writes her own X on the paper and then proceeds to (pretend to) channel the (not) dead girl, if not a stooge? If you’re going to claim to have hypnotised her to do all of this, isn’t that a bit sneaky and misleading that it’s not even shown? You could claim that of anyone and anything, given that hypnotism is essentially just role-playing anyway. What’s the difference?
Jon – ah, you’re making too many assumptions, which was kind of what I was getting at in the article. Because you don’t know how it was done, you presume she must be a stooge. Failing that, you think she must have been set-up through hypnosis. Neither is true. There are cleverer, subtler ways of making it all happen there and then. And even if she had been set up through hypnotic instructions – which I promise she wasn’t – you’d criticise a magician doing a fake seance for being sneaky and misleading? You should see what those mediums got up to! You also make the presumption that hypnosis is just role-playing: again far too much of a leap. Did you watch the tests set up by the academics in The Assassin? – Derren x
I love you!
Nice bit of PR for tonight’s show ๐
Some people are just negative if u don’t like it don’t watch it and stop pissing others off claiming you know how things are done so irritating ! Thanks derren x
Nice clarifications, some newcomers might need them. I am definitely watching tonight. Keep it up Derren and suprise us every time! Greetings from troubled Greece. Kalimera!
the thing that people like about you is you let everyone know that its all tricks and the people used are not stooges you say it at the begining of every program lol anybody who doubts it must doubt must doubt the overall success of the law your truly tantalising
Let them think what they want to think, I think Derren Brown is a national genius. Looking forward to experiment number 3, keep up the good work Derren.
All the best
Richard
I gave my 14you son Tricks of The Mind when I brought him to see you aged 12. He has dipped into it and developed a healthy scepticism and lack of fairy-talery unusual in people his age. It now sits next to his GCSE Psychology textbook for research prurposes – it should definitely be Recommende Reading on the curriculum, if that isn’t too establishment!
@DB Yup, I’ve got friends who believe in god too ๐
Well said Mr. Brown. I am still somewhat surprised at the results of The Assassin. From what I saw, you seemed surprised as well.
I have to thank Derren for his show hero at 30,000 feet, that show helped me turn my life around. Last year I tried to kill myself 2 times. Through that show I found myself questioning exactly what was stopping me achieving my goals. My own fears and anxieties were destroying me and that fear of failure was enough to grind me into the ground. The show inspired me to the point I started going out of my way to help people, made me feel human again. My goal was always to be a musician to be onstage and now I’m chasing that dream with utter tenacity. And telling my story to people seems to inspire them. I ask them ‘what do you want to do in life’ I await their answer and the response I give them is ‘what’s stopping you’, the funny thing is nobody has an answer for this. Thank you Derren
Your pushing the frontiers, dont be angry at sceptics just keep pushing forward and they will have no choice but to understand if you know what im saying ๐ x
I don’t see how you (or anybody) can reliably screen someone to see if they are ‘robust’ enough for tough experiences. And surely people who come to see you know what you do so I find it difficult to understand how many of them seem to be easily manipulated. I wouldn’t believe a word you said given that you are using misdirection etc. Regarding the S Fry assassination show (given you say you do not use stooges or set ups etc.) & your statements about tricky legal stuff. I thought the crowd did not behave as I would have imagined they would have done if they really thought Fry had been shot. A gun shot is very loud & shocking when you are not expecting it and they just sat there meekly no one seemed to look towards the shooter no one panicked or tried to leave. I suspect they were primed?
Derren – The psych screening we carry out for the specials is very reliable, and is reflected in the fact that the participants have always been very happy. And we use an independent psychologist, I obviously don’t do it myself, which would be pointless.
As for ‘they know what you do so I find it difficult to understand how many of them seem to be easily manipulated’: this make no difference if they don’t know they’re taking part in my show. Generally though it helps or sometimes make no difference at all. It would be pointless to design something where it would get in the way of it working.
As for ‘I wouldnรขโฌโขt believe a word you said given that you are using misdirection etc’, you’re welcome to believe as you like, but I’m always honest when I make these sorts of statements. The ‘misdirection’ is reserved for the patter/narrative/shtick of the sorts of tricks I used to perform. All statements about no stooges/set-ups and ‘tricky legal stuff’ are absolutely true.
The audience didn’t react quite as we imagined they might, but such perhaps is the nature of a British audience in real life versus an audience in a movie. There was plenty of concern but no panic. We had, however, a number of controls in place – crowd control experts, psychiatrists and security – to deal with any panic if it did happen. And the audience got an extended briefing when I came out and explained what was going on. There were a few hundred people in the audience, so if they’d been secretly primed to expect anything along the lines of what happened (can’t imagine what that would achieve) I’m sure we’d be hearing about it. And again, I couldn’t (from a legal standpoint) say in the show that they would have no idea what was going to happen if that wasn’t true. By all means contact C4 about it if you desire.
Has it gotten to the point where people cannot just be entertained anymore?
You will always have negative people in this world, doubters, people who say you use stooges.
On the upside you will always have the supporters and fans of your work.
The show must go on as we love to be entertained and amazed ๐
Hi Derren, I love all our work. I have to say that you are very much in a league of your own, when I see adverts for Dynamo, David Blaine, Penn and Teller and others, all I can think is “…They’re not exactly Derren Brown!.”
He’s got a twin brother!
That’s how he does it!
I think, or maybe it’s a robot……
It is the displays of your hypnotic ability and mind coercion that I find most astounding and interesting. I’ve always hated the traditional ‘saw the assistant in half’ kind of magic that is full of gadgets and gizmos that make the trick doable. I love how you show us what our own mind is capable of and in such a dramatic way! Before I ‘discovered’ you I was open minded towards all things paranormal and spooky but leaning more towards believer. I’m proud to say I’m now a complete sceptic in this respect and that’s thanks to you.!
Can’t wait for the new episode tonight! XX
Derren,
Long time fan here, and I appreciate what you are trying to say here and you are of course unfortunately preaching to the converted.
In reference to the ‘tricks’ you speak of in the early shows – I attended Svengali this year and it was constructed pretty much entirely of tricks as far as I could see (minus the excellent hypnotism routine).
You say you have moved away from these ‘tricks’, so will this make for very different live shows in future?
Bozley
What a shame that people feel the need to question Derren’s work. Tut tut, shame on them. I think his recent programmes have helped people to question the nature of so called ‘healers’ and ‘mediums’. These practices have almost become a tradition in modern society and generally accepted on faith. Derren’s approach is a refreshing and healthy change to the usual documentary style programming on these subjects. Great work Derren, keep up the good work.
Zozie: To be fair, Derren isn’t exactly Penn & Teller, either. I love both Derren and P&T (in a strictly nonsexual fannish sort of way, mind :P), but they perform very different kinds of magic. They’re not really comparable.
And yeah, I’ve had a laugh before at people telling me this or that trick in Derren’s stage show MUST be done with stooges, when either myself or one of my friends has been the participating audience member in that very trick. Yes, the quick induction hypnosis is real, he did that with me in EoW (and played a brilliant trick on me to boot). Yes, the spirit cabinet in Enigma is… well, not real, but not faked with stooges. My friend was in it. Yes, the engraved coin in Enigma is really engraved. My other friend got that one. Etcetera. Tricks? Yes. Stooges? Nope.
Love watching your shows, have done for many years.
But one thing i can’t quite fathom ….. Why when Steven Fry was gunned down in front of a live audience, why did no one scream, panic or run from the building ????
Great post Derren!
It’s annoying that people are so closed-minded that the only explanation to the things you do are that you use stooges, and don’t consider the time and effort that goes in to make it all so impressive!
Some people hate to admit that they can’t explain how something is done. I remember once speaking about how amazing the Svengali show was to somebody, and how I was lucky enough to be picked out for a part of it, and couldn’t explain how any of it was done. The person replied “It’s all done by using stooges!” How on earth they could justify that when I (definitely not a stooge!!) was chosen randomly out of the audience is beyond me!!
Loving The Experiments so far! ๐
Greetings from Thailand!
I’ve followed your show from youtube from quite a long time yet never had a chance to read any of your books so I’m sorry I thought you used NLP all along. Any way I’m hoping you would promote yourself to Thailand soon because they rarely know you. I REALLY adore your work and your cuteness (I’m homosexual haha).
P.S. I wanna know a secret of your MISDIRECTION trick! That thing always blow my mind whenever I watch the show LOL
Having been the vinegar drinking girl in Enigma, i can confirm, no stooges are used lol. one minute im sat in the audience listening to derrens lovely voice…the next im on stage in a smock with 2000 pairs of eyeballs staring at me….very bizarre, yet amazing experience!
Thanks for those comments. A measure of your success is the high level of debate / discussion that there is among everyone. The fact that Hypnotists such as myself continue to speculate as to “how did he do that?” , was it REALLY ice ? Was he hypnotised? etc etc: shows the success of your work.
It is a fascinating world in which we live, full of amazing natural phenomena and artefacts of previous civilisations – with many of the beliefs held by the latter due to their inability to fully explain their observations of the former in a consistent and rigorous way. The sad thing is that even here in the 21st century, where technology enables seamless communication across the globe and cheap mass transportation brings people, goods and services intercontinentally to us; where the scientific method continually falsifies and improves upon the ideas and advances made by the previous generation – that we have people who claim to speak to the dead, claim communion with spirits and to possess powers that cannot be repeatedly tested in order to advance man’s understanding of the universe.
Derren I think you must be a highly intelligent person, it must have taken you years of psychological assessments
‘people watching’ & body language to name just a few qualities you must have to be able to entertain in the way you do & it really is so very entertaining. I look forward as always to tonight’s ‘performance’.
Great post Derren! Hopefully you won’t be put off doing these kinds of shows by the minority of people who can’t enjoy anything or believe that anyone doesn’t have an agenda or is it out to get them. Loved your work for years, and it keeps getting better!
Yup – we knew. Loved the books, love your take on hypnotism (very insightful!), and also love how honest you are whilst also being very crafty – it encourages critical thought and a good kind of skepticism, without extinguishing the wonder.
I also love the way that in the TV shows we are given information we need to work out where the trick might be, rather than being encouraged to think it’s really magic – upfront clarity gives the illusion that you aren’t up to any funny business at all so we trust you and are caught off guard by the misdirection!
…One of my favourite examples of this is the “person” vs “person with cheerleading troupe” coin-flipping contest, I think it was in the lottery show. You said what each one had to get – 3 heads in a row, or heads then two tails, say – and it wouldn’t have been enough to leave it there because if they each flipped 3 coins in turn then stopped it would still be 50:50, e.g.:
HTT (yay team 1!) HHT (aww) HTH (aww) TTT (aww) HHH (yay team 2!)
Instead you showed us the blackboard and the fact that they were flipping their coins over and over and then stopping once the sequence they were after came up, e.g.:
HTT (yay team 1!) HHTHTT (yay team 1!) THHH (yay team 2!)
Awesome. Also I am a massive geek so stats magic makes me very happy ๐
Oh yeah and the best example – TRICK or TREAT! ๐ Although you told people that one in the end but I like that it was there under our noses for a while ๐
OK must stop spamming Derren and get back to work :-S
Hi Derren,
I have to admit that for the first time I have doubts about your ‘no stooges’ claim after watching the last episode. The unfortunate fellow at the centre of the audience’s whims, his ‘friends, and particularly his ‘work mate’ all stank of stage school acting and didn’t react remotely naturally to the situations presented to them. At no point did the main protagonist seem at all phased by encountering a series of increasingly outrageous events that wouldn’t happen to most people in the course of a lifetime let alone an hour.
I’d hazard a guess that most people would be swearing and holding their heads in disbelief at least once after each of those events but he took it all very calmly indeed and showed an admirable restraint regarding Channel 4’s restrictions on language.
I was at Svengali in Oxford, and my friend Frank was brought up on stage to take part in the main part of the Svengali trick. It was utterly fantastic to see what Derren managed to do with him, especially knowing that Frank couldn’t be further away from being a stooge – like me he’s skeptical and always tries to work out how the acts are done. We’ve talked endlessly about this one and still can’t figure it all out… although we think we have a few ideas. But most of it, we just can’t explain.
Dave Payne – I would guess it was due to the bystander effect. If one person had screamed, panicked and run from the building, others would have followed. http://psychology.about.com/od/socialpsychology/a/bystandereffect.htm
Hi Derren, Your work is pure genius. Saw your show Svengali in Plymouth and managed to get a piccy of you….made my year…Lou.
A very nice post. Derren. As someone who has had small parts in some of your stage shows. I know you don’t use stooges (even though some people I know still struggle to believe that….blimey, you are just too good, Derren! ;-))
Most clever people know there’s usually always a rational explanation for everything you do, I just think some would rather take the ‘easy’ way out and call you psychic, etc……
I shall keep this post to hand from now on and and thrust it forward to anyone who believes too literally some of things you do….
LC x