Colin Mcleod - No SH - T - C
Colin Mcleod - No SH - T - C
Colin Mcleod - No SH - T - C
lntroduction 1
Memories ... 9
Billet Ballet 22
Matter of Timing 30
LOttery 40
Thank ou
ouss
1 wantto express a massive thank you to both Marc Paul and Kevin McMahon, two very
good friends of mine who kindly proof read this manuscript at the drop of a hat, to make
sure it was ready in time for MindVenti
MindVent ion. lm V!"# grateful for their help, as 1 can assure
you there were a mountain of errors in here before they 1ook the time to study it$ %ot only
are they two of the greatest performers in their respective fields, their knowledge of the
!nglish language is also far superior to mine.
mine . &'nd thanks to %ic for helping me proof read
the (hank Vous)
(his year has uite simply been phenomenal$ 2rom becoming an owner of the Motivational
3peaking company l l ve been working for, for the past four years, to being invited back to
lecture at (abula Mentis in March &which turned out to mean 1 was the first person to
lecture there twice , as well as being the youngest$). (hen on top of this, 1 was lucky
enough to be invited to perform a t the first ever !dinburgh lnternational Magic 2estival in
4uly,, which led to some incredible five star reviews and to being one of the closing acts in
4uly
the final night gala show in the fabulous 56- seat 7yceum theatre ... it was truly awesome$
8n 'ugust this year 1 flew down to 7ondon to film my first +V+ pro9ect with 'laka:am,
performing and explaining some of my pri:ed routines. lt was a wonderful experience and
lm truly grateful to Peter %ard i and "uss 3tevens &and *hris and Mark$) .. . 'nd now now,, on
top of all this, lm now 9ust two weeks away &at this time of writing) from getting on a
plane to fly out to the most prestigious Mentalism convention in the world.
My first time
time in Vega
Vegas,
s, my first time at MindV
MindVention
ention and first time meeting some of the
people lve considered to be my idols since 1 was 9ust a wee boy. lt
lt s surreal and exciting
all at once$
lm sure we all have certain experiences in our mentalism careers that stand out as being
things which have influenced the sort of performer we become, or at the very least, the
direction on which we focus. 2or me there are tour .
tour . 2our moments which stand out and
when you read what they are, lm sure youll understand why being invited to (;83
MindVention is such a privilege forme.
(he first was watching <ob *assidy on his +V+, or video at the time, Mental Miracles
performing his %ame and Place routine . lt was the moment he was able to reveal that
second piece of information, at that specific moment. lt was totally inexplicable and 1 knew
1 had to learn exactly what was going on.
(he next was reading <anacheks Psychological 3ubtleties ... enough said$
1 then had the pleasure of spending the --= !dinburgh 2estival with 7uke 4ermay>
watching him astound the audiences day after day. 1 was 16 at the time and he proved to
me, there and then, that regardless of your age you can absolutely astonish people with
Mentalism. 1 still remember everything he performed in his shows in great detail and even
back then, he was a master of our art. ;e went totally against the grain proving you didnt
have to be older to convince people you were able to do these sorts of things, as well as
performing some totally uniue effects. 1 suppose thats what really gave me the
confidence to start going out and performing shows packed full of my own material in my
own performance style .
(he final moment was watching ?oce ;ilford perform. ;is commanding and confident
performing style really taught me how to be engaging and, 1 hope, interesting performer.
;e has the ability to take something which is uite simple and turn it into an astonishing
performance piece purely using his personality.
personality .
(o now be performing and lecturing with these individuals ... its a true honour.
l m aware my friend Paul 3tockman is also lecturing and 1 do feel a bit bad not referring to
him, but maybe if hed gotten his finger out and released his +V+ a little earlier, 1 would
have mentioned him here too$
too$ 'lthough
'lthough technically lve 9ust done that ... crafty >0) .
3o to be ending -1+ on sueh a massive high with my Mentalism career, lve got to start
asking myself ... will -11 be anywhere near as good@ ...
2
Bookless Test Addition
(his routine is one of the first things 1 ever created when 1 was 1= years old.
old . 3ince then 1
have given this routine an incredible amount of thought to make it a real world worker
worker.. lt
has long been one of the opening routines 1 use in my my shows,
shows, simpl
simply
y becau
because se of how
direct and simple it actually is. 2or me it brings together many of the elements 1 love in
Mentalism.. lt was also
Mentalism also one of my earli
earliest
est routine
routines
s deali
dealing
ng with the concept
concept of ?ual
"eality.
1 honestly believe ?ual "eality to be one of the most devious ploys available in
mentalism. e are only 9ust scratching the surface of what is capable with this concept
and lm truly excited to see what, not only 1 come up with, but also what everyone else
creates with this techniue .
(his following routine was taught by me in my lectures for many years now as well as
appearing on my debut set of ?V?s through 'laka:am where 1 perform and teach the
workings of the routine.
?uring the period of filming the ?V?s ld started working on a newer presentation for this
effect. 't the time of filming this presentation wasnt perfect enough to be discussed,
although a few variations were. ;owever now, three months after filming the ?V?s and
after countless performances, 1 believe 1 have cracked the perfect presentation and
staging for this routine.
lf anything, since creating this variation of the routine, it has made me want to perform it
even more. lt now falls into the area of Macro effect, and as the opener to my show it
ticks every box 1 can think reuired to be fulfilled by an opening routine.
(he method isnt really different from the original routine, however
ho wever the structure
str ucture of the
reveals is, as well as an additional phase which is where the extra strength is added to the
routine.
if anything, 1 have taken the strongest elements of both versions discussed on the ?V?
and turned
turned it into a truly astonishing routine ... even if 1 do say so myself$
1
!ffect"
'n audience member is chosen at random by throwing out a ball of paper. (hey 9oin you
on stage and are asked to imagine they are opening a book and thinking of any word they
can see. (hey remember the word they are thinking of, they are allowed to change their
mind if they so desire, then clase the book and imagine putting it back on the shelf.
"You're now thinking of a word. #'m not going toread your mind. 1 want to see how many
people here can! Al 1 want you todo is te them how many letters are in the word you
are thinking off ... o can eeryone now think of any tour lettered word pease!
#efare 1 ask what word he is thinking of, 1 want to show al of you the word 1 was trying to
make him think of... "
1 now open a coloured envelope which has been on display the entire time and show a
large piece of paper with a printed word inside. (he word is 7ave. hen 1 show this to the
audience , they begin gasping as this is the word they were thinking of.
't this point, 1 am still holding the prediction straight out in front of myself and 1 now
reuest that the person tells everyone what word they are thinking of.
lts at this point the audience discovers that the word in the envelope was the exact word
the chosen person is thinking of.
$et %&"
's you will see, the method and structure of the routine are similar to the original , however
as you have hopefully already noticed, the strength of this routine comes from the fact that
not only the person on stage was thinking of the word sealed in the envelope ... so did
most of the audience$
2or this routine, you will reuire the exact same props as the original. ' 3anada Aimmick
which has a piece of card stuck to the back of it with the words *at, 7ave and ;ouse
written on it.
#ou will also need three multiple outs. (he three 1 use are &i) to have the word *at printed
on the inside of the ball of paper . &ii) (he word 7ave is printed and sealed inside the
envelope which is on display from the very beginning of the show and finally &iii) the word
;ouse has been printed and folded into a pocket handkerchief shape and is kept sticking
out of the breast 9acket pocket.
'll three outs are now all incredibly accessible as well as being logically impressive to the
clBmax of the routine.
's they are multiple outs, there is no one out which is stronger than the rest. (he
audience will only ever see one version of this routine and to them , that should feel like
the only possible outcome . (his means that regardless of the word you are eventually
reuired to use, you should appear confident and pleased with this choice.
Method"
<egin by having all of your outs suitably placed about the stage and Cor your person.
1 keep the 3anada gimmick in my left trouser pocket allowing me to load it into my left
hand in a finger palmed position when reuired .
1 throw out a ball of paper, which has the word *at written on it. 3omeone in the audience
catches it at random and this person 9oins you on stage. (he ball is taken from them and
placed on the table beside the envelope, which has the word 7ave written inside it.
(hey are positioned on my right facing the back of the room as 1 ask them to...
"$magine you are walking into a bookshop and you can see two rows of books, a row
on your eft and a row on your right. You wak up to either side and you take any book
off of any shelf."
(his script is important as during it you are using this time to casually flash your hands as
being apparently empty a few times as you mime opening the doors to the book shop,
pointing at the two rows of books and walking up to the book shelf and lifting out one book.
1
!veryone in the audience will now know there is nothing written on your hands. +uring this
entire process , the 3anada gimmick has been in place in the left hand and will have been
completely invisible .
#ou now begin to condition the spectator to stare at your hands as they apparently make
up pieces of information .
DC want you to look here and imagine you can see the title of the
book, what is the book called% "
(he title of the book is created purely by them and their imagination. (he fact the audience
sees them having to think about this to create it begins to condition the audience at large
to believe that every time they look at my hands and think of a piece of information, they
are making it up themselves.
(he process is repeated by having them look down and imagine a page number . #ou
mime turning the pages a number of times to suggest again they have a free choice of
where to stop and to show again that your hands are still empty. #ou will notice the
position of my hands is such that the 3anada gimmick is hidden underneath the right hand
on the first two occasions .
(his third person who receives the billets is then asked to put them both behind their back
and mix them up so they have absolutely no idea which one is which. 1 then explain that in
a moment they will be handing one to me and the one which they hand me, we will tear up
and put it out of the game.
(hey hand me one and 1 perform (he Perfected *entre (ear allowing me to peek the
name which is on that billet. 't this point 1 only know the name, not who was thinking of it,
or which billet it was on, only the name.
(wo points regarding the centre tear. 1 only ever look at the billet to peek the information
when looking down instructing the person to Dcup your hand out in front.D 1 am seemingly
looking down to see when to drop the pieces of the billet, in fact 1 am using this natural
opportunity to look at the desired information. 1 immediately look away again and drop all
the pieces of the billet into their hand.
(he other subtlety 1 use is to ask them to Dkeep tearing up the pieces.D (his allows me to
later say that it was (;!M who tare up the card. (his helps the full process to be
misremembered.
1 now move my attention back to the person in the front holding on to the test billet. 1 now
ask them if they have any idea which one they are still holding, obviously they are going to
say DnoD but it allows me to draw their attention to the front of the piece of card which will
either state the word DMaleD or D2emaleD on it. 's it is them who is calling it out, it seems
very open and fair as lve still gane nowhere near it.
(his is the reason that both billets have been misnamed. (his wonderful convincer
ensures that everyone is apparently on track with the entire process. 8n reality, you are
using this to further the deception. +bviously if they say DMaleD then you have 9ust peeked
the name the man is thinking of. lf they say D2emaleD then you have 9ust peeked the name
the woman is thinking of.
7ets imagine that they have said they are holding the piece of card with Ma4e written on
it. 1 will now ask the manto stand and 111 make it clear he was picked at random. 1 will now
go on and explain the emotions and scene he is thinking of.
(his is done uite simply because 1 told everyone at the start to think of a happy and
relaxing memory, so 1 can now tell him this is something happy and relaxing ... easy$ 1 will
also take shots regarding the memory. lf 1 get two DnosD 1 will then move on to revealing
the exact name he is thinking of. hen 1 know the first name and the surname 1 will tend to
reveal the first name verbally and then write the second name down on the pad.
+therwise , with 9ust the first name written, this is what will be written on the pad.
+nce 1 have written this name on the pad, 1 keep it tace down and hand it to the person
holding the billet, an exchange , so they know 1 cant swap what lve written, but also so 1
can see what exactly they were thinking of$
7ets imagine the name 1 peeked while doing the centre tear was D(im ;arrison.D 1 would
have used the name (im during the reveal and written ;arrison on the pad.
hen 1 take the billet from the person in the front row 1 will open the billet and now miscall
the name which is actually written there and say D(im ;arrison.D
1 now need to have a few moments to memorise the new name and the facts of the
memory. (he way of doing this is uite simple, but you must make sure you properly
remember the name. lts the crucial part. 'nything else is a bonus$
(o give myself time to memorise the information 1 simply ask them, the person whose
thought has 9ust been written on the pad, to Dtell everyone what this memory is aboutD .
(hey will be telling everyone about the memory as lm apparently reading it on the billet.
hat lm reading is the other persons memory. (his looks exactly as it should though.
+nce lm happy lve got at the information 1 simply tear up the billet and hand the pieces to
the same person who is holding the original pieces from the first torn billet. (his way, if
they try to put it back together later, they will find everything is as it should be$
1 now ask them to clearly call out the surname, again to make sure everyone knows
exactly what it is and how it is spelt. 1 ask the person holding the pad to 9oin me on stage
and 1 allow them to look at it first. (his obviously means they are going to react first which
sets the audience up to also become ready to react. (he pad is now turned around and
everyone can see 1 got the name spot on.
'''be honest, 1 aways feel realy bad eaing one person out, so 5refer to temae7 Cm
not going toread your mind ... they are! 5referring to the third party who is now on
stage7..."
(here are a number of ways to make the spectator appear to be the mind reader however
one of the most straightforward ways is as follows.
15
1 know the name being thought of at this point as well as the rest of the memory. 1 take the
pad back and 1 write a list of five names on the pad. (he name being thought of is written
in position number two .
1 now hand the pad back to the spectator and ask them to Dlook over the list of different
names lve written there.D 1 ask them to Dimagine they are numbered from 1, , =,E,6 ... all
the way from the top to the bottom.D (his implies that there are more than five names on
there, however they understand 1 am telling them exactly what todo .
1 now use !uivoue to force the name at position number two. lts really easy todo, even
while standing at the other side of the stage as 1 know exactly where on the pad the
number two name is positioned ... it makes for some very easy pen reading 1 positioning
reading .
(he easiest !uivoue 1 can offer here is to tell them "*e need to eliminate down until
there is only one name left on there, so be honest do you prefer the odds or eens %"
lf they say evens 1 sayF " You prefer the eens% &hen seore out A88 the 33"
lf they say odds 1 sayF "You prefer to eliminate the odds% &hen seore out A88 the 33"
#ou are now only left with the name at position two and the name at position four. 3o
continue by saying ...
lf they put the pen at position twoF "iree that name and seore out eery other name on
there."
lf they put the pen at position tourF "Now ehange your mind and moe (t, puta eiree on
the name you're on now and seore out eery other name on there."
(he reason 1 like this is that later it seems like they circled a name at random and they
scored out 7+(3 of others. lf they put the pen beside number four and 1 said Dscore out
that name too and circle the one thats leftD, this is telling the audience that there werent
many names there . 3o by having them change their mind, only they will ever know there
were only two names left at that point and to them you cant know what they are thinking of
as youre standing at the other side of the stage apparently looking away. 8n reality, you
only need to turn around to see which name they put the pen beside.
+nce were left with the number two name, the force name, 1 ask them to remember it, tear
off that page without letting anyone see which one theyre left with and to write the name
they are thinking of much bigger on the next page in the pad .
1
lt's Time...
1 mentioned in my book *ontributions 1 have a passion for (ime Machine watches. 1 also
mentioned that as well as the routine 1 taught in there, 1 have a few others 1 use. hat lm
about to reveal is by far my absolute favourite routine 1 subtlety for use with the watch.
lve called this lts (ime ... because it is the climax to the routine, as you will see, as well
as me feeling its the right time to release this presentation.
1 love the (ime Machine watch. (he concept is total genius . (he challenge with it is
it could potentially be seen as playing uite small$ hat 1 wanted todo was make it play
toa stage audience of any si:e as well as having a more unexpected conclusion to the
routine.
(he routine and method won t take long to explain, however you will need to take the time
to decide how you want to use 1 perform this routine.
!ffect"
(he performer shows a chart of numbers which woman, men and children tend to think of.
(o then put this to the test, the performer removes his watch and sets it to a time. ;e then
holds the watch by the strap at the fingertips and a man and woman are chosen at random
to select a random hour and number of minutes.
"emarkable in itself, but the climax comes at the end of the routine when those numbers
from the chart at the beginning are shown to reveal so much more$
$et %&"
(he reuirements are nothing more than a (ime Machine watch and the chart with the
following numbers. 'nyone with the ability to flip this book 1- degrees will already be
beginning to see where lm going with this ...
1
*oman &end to 3aO ..
L2C22232
- -' -
t1en &end to ay..
.
r-r-r-
L2L2 t
?hildren &ena' to ay ... or
r- -
Ll or -
MethodF
's 1 mentioned in the introduction to this routine, there really isnt a lot which needs to be
saBd about the workBngs as they are incredibly straight forward. hat 1 would like to offer
though are many subtleties which lve found help to fully enhance the routine.
's far as being able to work the (ime Machine watch, that is something which you will
have to master yourself as every design of watch is slightly different.
(o begin the routine, show the chart explaining which numbers people tend to think of. (he
bigger you draw or print this, the bigger this will obviously play. hat you will notice is that
when turned upside down, the prediction will clearly read 1+ too high. (his is going to
become the big finish to the entire piece. 3o befare we go any further, lets take the routine
right back to the start.
1 begin the routine by explaining that in a recent study, it has been found that most woman
think of the number E/1E, men think of --K and kids think of either + or 1. ith this in
mind, you offer to demonstrate this principie in action.
"emove your watch and apparently set it to the desired time. 8n reality you are simply
getting the watch Bnto the ready position to change the time.
1
#ou now have aman Dname any hour from 1 to 1.D +nce he has named the hour, 1 allow
the watch to begin spinning to near to the chosen hour. #ou will get plenty of time to do
this as you re about to turn to the female and ask her to think of the minutes.
DC want you to think of the number of minutes you think 'e set this to. 1'11 be honest and te
you that it ' s sitting on an e+act number, so (t could e(ther be <, 1@, 1<, @, <, ;@, ;<, B<,
<< or een on the hour ... wh(ch do you th(nk (t (s %"
(here are two reasons for this. 2irst of all, as previously mentioned it will give you ample
time to allow the hour hand to get to the right position. (he other reason is that it makes
the final climax seem more accurate rather than having to get into a debate about how
accurate the minute hand was .
's you will know by now, the final prediction reads 1 O (oo ;igh which allows you to set
the minutes hand to the multiple of 6 which is 1 O less than the actual number of minutes
named by the female spectator. (his again aids with the matter of killing time, you dont
need to wait as long to allow the watch to get the named number as youll be setting it ten
minutes earlier.
+nce youve got the time set, which as we now know is set ten minutes earlier, you want to
reveal the time. (he strongest way lve found of doing this is to choose one person in the
audience to confirm the time. (hey dont come up on stage. #ou go to them, in the
audience and you hold the watch in front of their tace while they are still seated.
hy@ ... (hey are reading out the time clearly enough for everyone to hear and while they
are doing that, everyone else around them &normally the people at either side of them and
the three people directly behind them) are also checking to see what time the watch is set
at. (his means that while the audience at large are hearing the time youve set your watch
to, this is confirmed by the reaction of all the people around them.
(he reaction will be fairly strong as it really isnt too far off$ 1 look a little disappointed and
mildly pleased all at once.
's lm saying this, 1 am putting my watch back on and moving over to the prediction. 1 pick
it up and look at the audience as 1 slowly revolve the prediction upside down showing that
it clearly reads... D1 O (oo ;igh.D
1
hile the effect itself is incredibly simple , 1 want you to understand all the subtleties to
ensure you achieve maximum impact with it and fully understand all the outs.
#ou begin by removing a lottery ticke t from your wallet and you give this to someone in the
front row and ask they hold it up high so everyone can see it for a few moments, 9ust to
ensure everyone knows you don t change it, after all, you dont need to$
#ou now ask six people to stand , three men and three women . (he men will be torced
the odd numbers and the woman will be torced the even numbers.
1 begin by stating
...
" &his is my lottery ticket , the same numbers 1 play eery week . You're each going to think
of a number and the number you choose wi1 be the numbers written on that ticket."
"8adies, 1 want you each to think of a two digit number between 1 and <@. Now to make
sure none of you think of the same number as the men , can you make sure that with the
number you choose, both digits are CDCN and not the same een digit. o E and 4
woud work , but BB woudn ' t."
(he reason 1 say these numbers is very specific. 1 have now eliminated them from the
process. 'lso what this does though is that it means that most people will move away from
choosing a number in the twenties as l ve mentioned a few of them, but then brought their
attention to the forties by mentioning EE.
1 find that in this situation , most people will be thinking of E, E5 or E . (he reason 1 have
changed the numbers slightly from my original ticket &which you will see later) is that 1
believe by saying D5 and will be fineD 1 am getting them thinking of numbers which end
in a 5 and , therefore , more likely to think of the E5 or E. #ou ll notice lve used this play
with the odd numbers later too .
(he only other number they can really think of is E , but it doesnt come up very often,
however 1 will explain how we can cover this later.
" *ith you guys, slightly different , 1 want you each to think of a number, make both
digits odd , but not the same odd digit . 8ike 1< and 1: would work , but ;; wouldn 't."
1
'gain lve eliminated these numbers too > however , 1 find most men will think of 1/ , =6 or
=K. ith the men, there are slightly more numbers which could be thought of0 1= , =1, =/,
however they are rare$
hat this now means is that statistically , most if not all six people will be thinking of one of
the psychological force numbers printed upon the ticket ...
19 24 35 37 46 48
1 ask the person holding the ticket to now stand and tace everyone . 1 tell the six people
that six numbers are about to be named , but there is one person 1 am not sure about so 1
ask them to keep a straight tace and give nothing away when they are read out. (his
obviously means that as the numbers are read , no one reacts to any one specific number.
(his is the class ic (ossed +ut ?eck thinking ... thank you Mr. ;oy$
hat 1 have also done here is said there is a person 1 wasn t sure about. (his means if
one person doesn t sit dow n later , 1 will have an out where 1 can name their number, if
everyone sits down , no one will remember me saying it.
'fter all the numbers have been called out , 1 use ayne ?obsons 8%*"!?8<7!
techniue to make it seem like everyone was thinking of a different number. lnstead of
asking everyone to sit down at the same time , you sing le everyone out and ask
individually " lf 1 got yo ur thought ... sit down N* "
1
hen they sit down , it will look like youve named their exact number. %o one, including
you, will ever know exactly what number they were thinking of, however by breaking the
reveals up by asking each person individually, you first of all improve the impressiveness
of the routine but also you make it appear to the audience that each person was thinking
of a different one of the six numbers each.
't this point in /6 of shows, everyone will be sitting down, however if anyone is still
standing, thats okay , you have options
.
1- 'ccept you missed on their number and ask what it was. (hen, either do nothing,
adding a sense of realism to what you ve 9ust done , or have E multiple outs which all
state something like D(he person 1 wasnt sure about will be thinking of the number ....D #ou
only need four of these for the numbers 1= , =1 , =/ and E .
2- lf its a female still standing , you know they are thinking of E, so you can 9ust name it
confidently after having them concent r ate on it. lf it s a man, you can pump for the number
stating ...
" &hink of the two digits i n your number ... is that a ; and a 1 %" lf they react and say DV!3$D
then its =1.
lf they say %+, then you know its =/ and you can recover by saying " lt ' s nota 1, it's a
F,
you ' re thinking of
;F."
lf , when you ask , " ls that a ; and a 1 " they hesitate and say Dyes ,D then you know its
1= they are thinking of. 3 imply say you are seeing the numbers the wrong way
around, " You're thinking of 1; aren ' t you! "
+ne other idea 1 have added to the routine is that as the numbers are being read out by
the person who has been holding the ticket , 1 write them all bigger on to a note pad. 7ater
when 1 am using ayne ?obsons play, 1 score off the number s one at a time as each
person sits down .
1
2
(his is done to further the illusion that 1 am correctly naming each persons number one at
a time to the audience at large. 's - score it off , - also say " that ' s me got one r(ght! ", this
means that to the other people still standing thinking of the numbers , they believe am 9ust -
scoring them off randomly to keep count of how many lve got right.
2or completeness, - feel the need to mention that - first created and started performing this
routine back in -- and stopped for a while after ?erren <rown performed his 7ottery
routine on (V in the IK. - feel that enough time has passed now to be able to confidently
perform this routine again without the audience feeling there is any crossover. #oull notice
below that my numbers have changed slightly over time> however - do believe the
numbers - use now are more accurate.