theory11 — Magic Tricks & the World's Finest Playing Cards

Derren Brown Trick of the Mind Stooges?

Geekmumblings

Geekmumblings

Aug 2, 2009
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Shrewsbury, UK
So i was watching Trick of the Mind, series 1 & 2, and noticed the same guy twice in two different guises? Not that theres anything wrong with using stooges, but for someone who makes such a big fuss about not using them, it seems kind of hypocritical. For those who don't believe me in series 1 he is on of the people having their mind read, and in series 2 he is one of the people generating random numbers... maybe they just look the same, but his reactions seem a bit off as well.
 
Geekmumblings said:
So i was watching Trick of the Mind, series 1 & 2, and noticed the same guy twice in two different guises? Not that theres anything wrong with using stooges, but for someone who makes such a big fuss about not using them, it seems kind of hypocritical. For those who don't believe me in series 1 he is on of the people having their mind read, and in series 2 he is one of the people generating random numbers... maybe they just look the same, but his reactions seem a bit off as well.
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Which episodes? Which exact ones I want to see this on 4oD. Post links if you can. This seems extremely unlikely and I want to see it with my own eyes.
 
Derren claims he doesnt use stooges, but he also claims some tricks are psychological when they're just plain old magic tricks dressed up as such.

He's a magician at heart, so he has permission to lie to his spectators and his audience. There's a particular chap who was on one of his episodes, Derren does a staring competition with him and he reacts in a very odd manner.

You can find him on Youtube explaining he was paid to be a stooge. There's a lot of debate about it, people saying he just wants attention, but its all food for thought.
 
In Trick of the Mind Series 1 its episode 4 where the woman is reading his mind and the password is songbird, and in series 2 its episode 3 when they are adding up numbers.
 
Grimshaw said:
Derren claims he doesnt use stooges, but he also claims some tricks are psychological when they're just plain old magic tricks dressed up as such.

He's a magician at heart, so he has permission to lie to his spectators and his audience. There's a particular chap who was on one of his episodes, Derren does a staring competition with him and he reacts in a very odd manner.

You can find him on Youtube explaining he was paid to be a stooge. There's a lot of debate about it, people saying he just wants attention, but its all food for thought.
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Some of them are magic tricks, but they are enhanced by psychology. Derren explains how to make a simple coint vanish into something that will really amaze them for years with some psychology in his Audiobook.

J.
 
Just a thought but alot of it may have been filmed all at the same time and when it came to editing maybe it was broken up and some of it was put in the first series and some of it was left out which they then decided to use in the second series....
 
I don't think Derren would risk using stooges. If one person came forward with a contract or other definite proof that they were paid to "play along" then his reputation would be ruined, and the general public would assume that everything he does is stooged. Also, broadcasting regulations are quite strict in the UK, and Channel 4 could be fined for broadcasting the disclaimer "At no point are actors or stooges used in this show", if it wasn't true.

It's quite likely you'll see a couple of the same faces turn up every now and then in British magic shows, especially those made by Objective, because when they're looking for volunteers, they'll advertise in the same places, and if someone's interested in magic, they'll probably volunteer for several things. For example, the undertaker who Derren performs Out of This World with the "dead" and "alive" pictures (hopefully you know what I mean), also features on one of Barry and Stuart's shows. This doesn't mean he's a stooge, though, he's just an undertaker interested in magic.
 
wat u need to undertstand is that he say he uses magic in the intro. the bit where he says he will use a mix of blah blah blah.

he sees him self as a showman. he puts on a show. he is not there to prove he has any of these skill. that intro bit of the programe tells u he will lie to u in the show. the intro says he is not a mind reader then he does a mind reading effect for the price of 1p.

thats the thing i like about him. he tells u he is lying but no one cares because he does it so well
 
I found the clip of the guy, its here;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pEId-hdjerw

watching it again he comes over as a slightly odd fellow. He also doesnt confess to being a stooge as such but his words are it was all ' stage managed '. I think you can draw your own conclusions from that.
He's probably not allowed to say any more than that.

Derren's effects are only enhanced by the psychology of magic, as opposed to any real psychology. Im a psychology student right now, and his little tricks and games have no real bearing on actual psychology. Indeed, a lot of the techniques he uses were known to magicians back in the Vaudeville era, and he simply dresses it up as some kind of cutting edge method.

Take the undertaker TeeDee talks of. It was dressed up as a huge psychological experiment that worked perfectly. In reality it was Paul Curry's Out Of This World using photographs. He even confessed as much at the conclusion of the effect. That right there is a perfect example of how Derren and Andy Nyman work. A trick changed to suit Derren's persona and presented to a new generation.

Im not knocking him at all, i admire his thinking and approach and enjoy hearing people speak of his remarkable psychological feats. It means he's fooled them on many more levels than a ' normal ' magician would. A learned friend of mine who went to see his recent stage show said that everything he did on the stage could be found in 13 Steps to Mentalism. Thats hardly a textbook on psychology is it?
 
Don't get me wrong, theres nothing wrong with using stooges, just why would you make such a big deal about not using them, there are plenty of magicians out there, and just because they don't say that they don't use actors or stooges doesn't mean that we automatically assume something we can't work out is attributed to stooges.
 
Geekmumblings said:
Don't get me wrong, theres nothing wrong with using stooges, just why would you make such a big deal about not using them, there are plenty of magicians out there, and just because they don't say that they don't use actors or stooges doesn't mean that we automatically assume something we can't work out is attributed to stooges.
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We don't, but we're magicians, and are therefore interested in method. When it comes to mentalism, a stooge is the easiest explanation for laypeople.
 
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