I see what you mean, and I agree that everyone starts copying at first. What I’m wondering is how can he set himself apart from other mentalists? In other words, how can you be unique? All the well known mentalists usually are unique in someway, so how can you differentiate yourself from that trend?
The following rant is given under the assumption that you and your friend primarily perform for laypeople, and not just other magicians.
Uniqueness is not something that you work on, as it is bestowed upon you by others through comparison.
Take two coin magicians. One only performs sleight of hand magic original to him. The other uses every dealer-available trick coin on the market. Both are capable and can execute their magic flawlessly. Given only this information, who is more unique
to the audience?
The obvious answer is neither. The audience doesn't care about the methods you use.
Now suppose these same two magicians perform a coins across routine. The first's patter is average, about coins jumping from one hand to another. But the other performs the effect as if the coins are themselves doing the tricks, and he is the ringmaster of a little money circus, patter to match.
Now, given all of the available information, who is more unique
to the audience? Well, the audience will probably remember the second performer's work better, but that isn't uniqueness.
Yet again, the answer to who is
more unique is neither, since the audience would need at least a third party to compare the other two against, in order to establish a sample size of context. And, since a very small percentage of people see THREE different magicians perform magic in their lives (or accurately recall doing so with the ability to compare their performing styles), the entire point I'm making is, in fact, irrelevant.
The takeaway of the audience from any magical entertainment has more to do with the performer's individual personality than with the mental magic or methods that they employ or claim to employ. The audience will walk away remembering a performance that connected with them, from a performer who was either funny or mysterious or intense or sarcastic or... any other human trait that the performer amplifies in performance!
If you want to be unique in magic, be yourself- everyone else is trying their hardest to be a magician.
Scott.