Jim Gerrish has a group of inner city kids who call themselves The Wiz Kids. Each of the kids has a performing speciality and (to get to the point) one Kid is the Mentalist of the group. He has to walk out after other Kids have done Dove magic, Clown Magic, Escapes, juggling and so on and take charge of the audience, changing the mood and making them believe that he is someone very special with powers that will awe and entertain them. He usually carries no props and the stage is bare.

The Mentalist Kid walks to front and center, looking very small and frail, and suddenly his voice booms out "Brain power! I am about to take control of your brains with my brain. I want you to clasp your hands together and point at me with your two forefingers, like this! Now point your fingers straight up in the air and pull them as far apart from one another as you can! Brain power! My brain will now control yours. You will be unable to keep your fingers from moving together. Closer and closer they come together, drawn by the power of my brain over yours."

And, of course it is true (try it if you don't believe it... go ahead, I'll take control of your brain over the computer).

Anyway, after this beginning, he does a few other mental exercises of the type being called mental flourishes here, and he is ready to begin his act.

I remember seeing Harry Lorayne perform at a magic convention once. He passed out a dozen or so magazines as he passed through the audience on his way to the stage. He asked those who had received a book or magazine to leaf through to any page and call out the page number, or describe the page by identifying a photo or quotation. The person would barely get the page number or celebrity's name out of his mouth and Lorayne was describing the entire page in great detail. I believe that might be also called a "mental flourish" that established his credibility as a memory "magician."

It would be great if you could float onto the stage ghost style
just a thought

Wouldn't a quick opening mental effect acheive the same effect? I'm not sure I understand the distinction between a "mental flourish" and a mentalism effect. Is it that the flourish is not magical? If so, then I'm not sure why displaying a good non-magical ability is more valuable in creating credibility than a good magical ability. Naturally, the persona and prescence on stage should be credible, and a flourish would not detract from it, but why would I prefer a quick flourish to a quick mental effect?

The point that Mr. Amazing here (and I think it's a good one) is that other types of performers have behaviors that silently emphasize their skills set. For example, an expert card manipulator doesn't just shuffle the cards in an ordinary fashion -- he replaces that habit with intricate shuffling sequences. This isn't an effect in itself, but a nonchalant habit that effectively explains to an audience that this performer has dedicated an amazing amount of his energy toward perfecting his manual skills, and continually underlines the dexterity of all his primary effects. It makes perfect sense that a mentalist would have parallel behaviors.

Best,
Neil

Yes, as Neil and some point out, I would say the idea is to find things that are not quite effects per se but more of impressive, appearent, behaviours. As I see it, an effect is more explicit and is given more emphasis (it usually has some kind of procedure) whereas a mental flourish, as I imagine it, is either a circumstantial side-effect from simply having amazing mind skills or a thing the mentalist happens to enjoy doing but that actually is indifferent for the actual effect or plot at hand.

For instance, a real "mind guy" is implicitly expected to remember the names of all the participants. It is impressive that he does remember... but, for him, it is (appearently) not an issue of "doing something". It's just his normal way of being/behaving.
Or, while e.g waiting for a participant to finish writing (a typical filler phase), the mentalists states some interesting fact about left-handed people - thus having obviously (and impressively?) 1) observed that the participant is left handed and 2) given a glimpse of his extensive arcane knowledge.

Why? What's the point? Well, as I see it, it is a way to further establish that you have a special mind. The original (but later expanded) question was to quickly (and implicitly) communicate that you have an amazing mind, i.e quicker than an effect can do. Before it. The question was expanded once Neil made me realize that it can establish your powers (and character) in a different way than traditional effects probably are able to.

It is about showing off (but not necessarily in an obnoxious way) and it is about making them understand what we are about.



Than you everyone for the on-going discussion. Truly interesting. Also thanks for the kind words and compliments that some have given.

Some "flourishes" to hopefully further stimulate thought and discussion;


(P=Participant)


"PSYCHOLOGY":
Interpretation of human behaviour
- Object given out to one or several Ps. "Knowing you, I know you are curious so, yes, please do take a closer look at it."
Mental influence
- You have just placed an object on the table in front of participant and is standing behind him. You (secretly) notice he is about to reach out for the object and thus youdo a reach out and grab motion in the air (which participant "unknowingly follows"). Possibly some suitable patter added.


"INTELLIGENCE":
Memory (speed)
- The best example was probably given above (ie. memorizing (or, rather, using) their names). But another, not as good example: With your back turned (as part of some effect where you mustn't see) you ask them to concentrate on, say, a color "...but make it vivid, don't think 'yellow', think gold like your tie or black with a touch of ocean blue like your trousers or..."
General knowledge (quantitative)
- "Judging from your beautiful features and ebony eyes I assume you are from the eastern parts of africa. Perhaps Ethiopia-Somalia? Yes. The capital Mogadishu?" (These people are known for their narrow/long beautiful noses among other things.)
Arcane knowledge (quantitative)
- "In ESP research..." (hey, if there is anything we are expected to know about...)
Logic (correct/fast reasoning)
- Deductive reasoning as suggested above and seen in many of the "psychology themed" performances today. Or, how about in an add-a-no type effect, you throw a quick glance on their listed numbers and mumble out the sum before it has been calculated! Rain man galore. (Gotta be careful to not give clues to the method tho).
Reasoning/"street smart"/Lateral thinking
- Perhaps most easily communicated via anecdotes (?). ("So a cop pulls me over to the way on the show and...") BTW, I'm reminded of a riddle suggested by Bob Cassidy. Think it's called 'The farmer and the pebble'. Not a "flourish" but a great make-em-think riddle.


The above "areas" were not identified with this application in mind. They are just a small and very simplifed fraction from my own research and with the additional limits to keep it to "displays that the audience can understand/identify with" (as suggested above, i.e "normal but difficult" as opposed to e.g "supernatural"). So please do correct/complete this primitive attempt - both at coming up with new areas but more interestingly with particular mental flourishes.

Right away we see that they miss out on e.g artistic abilites (such as playing the violin). Maybe "intuition" is another area. My mention of Rain man reminds me of the match counting bit he very nonchalantly did in the film. For him it was "just his way of being", but they reacted strongly! (Ah... if I only were autistic. )

Matias, you have given me an idea:

If you notice there is a left-handed in the audience, you could ask him to write down something and BEFORE he write, you could predict it: "Think in a word and... It appears to me that you are left-handed, it isn't? Good, write the word here, please.".

Ciao!

There was a team here in Florida called Pure Insanity. One guy could have an audience member call out ANY beer and he would rattle off a funny word making a sentence with each letter in the beer word. He did about 20 different beers, even Guiness Stout.

John

Solve a Rubik's cube in less than a minute. But this can appear a effect more than a flourish. There are algorithms to solve it.

What a fantastic thread!!What about if you need to borrow an item from an audience member lets say for example you ask him to empty their pockets of any loose change and place them in your out stretched hand.As they are doing so you are looking away and talking to another audience member...you then did turn round and say in an off hand manner "what where going to do with this 3 Euro (slight pause) and 10 cent kindly donated by Barry who by the way would have 4 euro 89 cent more if only he quit smoking..something his girlfriend keeps asking but something I'm guessing (smile) he just cannot do.........." and move on to whatever your going to do.Once again Matias fantastic thread!

HMM... If a flourish such as a Charlier cut or one-handed fan is a more casual side demonstration of skill and not a full-attention effect, one wonders where to draw the line. As mentioned above, Lorayne's memory demonstration is certainly an effect but the prowess to remember an entire audiences name thanks to pre-show mingling could certainly leave a valuable impression.
I think of Banachek's Psychological Subtleties-- instructs a few things that smack more of a flourish than effect.
In MMT#6 Richard Osterlind dimmed a flame from a lighter with PK for a moment before doing a spirit card effect, which also had the feel of a flourish.

This is a fresh thread and good fodder!

I agree that part of buiding our persona is to create suggestions that we have all sorts of freakish abilities - mathematical, colour senditivity, observation, memory, logical thinking, etc.

Some spontaneous ideas...

Do a 'timed (limited time)' memory demo in a challenge style format.

When writing something down write it backwards or upsidedown (as Neil and others have mentioned).

The old mathematical thing where you have 3 long numbers listed and a blank space for the fourth one. The audience calls out a total as a goal. You then instantly calculate the missing fourth number needed to get to the total randomly given by the audience. Many versions of this are out there in print. With familiarity this could be done as a short, succinct presentation and the calculation would appear instantaneous.

With a bit of thought, many phone book 'prediction' routines could also be presented as a memory feat.

Reaching for an object and it flies into your hand Jedi style. Draw no attention to this little happening and it could be quite powerful!

This next one is so simple and could actually give you a lot of credibility as being 'a true genius' ... use a 2 person Q'ing system to perform incredible sponteaneous calculations apparently in your head.

Importantly with all this is your ability to also ACT a little freakish in your performance character. Behave slightly autistically, dare to scare people a bit with your strange mannerisms, etc.


AND some references for those interested...

See Garret Thomas 3 DVD set for an awesome rubick's cube 'bit 'o business'.

Barry Richardson says the alphabet backwards in the opening rountine in his excellent book 'Theatre of the Mind'.

Gaeton Bloom has the most ingenious device for presenting a memory stunt with cards on his 'Tales from Planet Bloom' series. This guy is one of the most under-rated creative thinkers in our art.

Luke Jermay builds many many suggestions around having strange abilities and is un-nerving in the area of creating unexplainable, completely bizzare routines that feel more like 'freak ability demos' than mentalism or magic. I remember first watching 'Skullduggery' and thinking 'WOW! This guy has come closer than anyone else I've seen to truly building the belief that he posseses a frighteningly powerful range of abilities'. See 'Skullduggery' DVD and 'Building Blocks' book. Lots of good material here although we may now be crossing the flourish line into actual bizzare style effects.

What a great topic!
Cheers,
Al