How to turn a classic into a little piece of bizarre

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNI_46cOsM8

That was an amazing presentation.
Dang.
Gwyd

WOW, that was a good one. I love Derren but that guy freaks me out!

I think that illustrates clearly the différence between "bizarre" and classic magic as it has been discussed on the other topic by Mr Bill Palmer.

I give it 5 out of 10.

The plastic bag was irrelevent to the routine, as was the discussion about addiction, so the storyline was confused with themes that diluted it significantly.

He didn't show consistancy between his talk (control of blood flow) and his actions (picking the glass out of his feet). We could've SEEN the connection, had the volunteer examined his feet again, or the camera done a close-up shot. So the basic premise was a bit off.

Hearing the glass crack is good.

There were a couple of physical things he could've done, that would have kicked it up about 4 notches.

Harley -- I hate to disagree with someone as experienced and knowledgeable as you, but I thought that the plastic bag was very relevant to his explanation of how/why he did the stunt. I thought that it was also fairly effective in building audience tension, as people have been told since children never, ever, to place a bag over their head.

I agree that with you that there is more that he could have done, but overall, I thought it was a very strong and cohesive presentation.

I'm not after an explanation, because I would never do anything like this, but when I see such "freak-geek" stuff, I always wonder : is this real or a trick ? Am I naive ?

It's real in a very tricky way!

Totally unhelpful, but witty... Dunno why, but I like that

On a scale of one to ten....Most of the Sideshow stuff is as real as you get...A Ten!

That was good!

When we were on holiday last year 2006 the hotel manager performed the glass trick with guests standing on his body and head? Why did Derren do it? It just shows that he is a run of the mill performer. He should stick to his 'paranormal' magic presentations as anyone watching will realise his complete show is just a series of stunts and not done my 'mind power or his nero whatever'

Nice performance which is norm with Derren.

What I hate is the EXPOSURE on the comments on You Tube.

"Hey I know how he did it, just ask me" Nice to be impressive over the internet.

"Simple, I do it all the time, all he did was *******."

I went to see the same show in 2005. Although I was impressed with the walking on glass trick I didn't really think it fitted in with the rest of the show. the same when he done the nail trick. Just didn't fit in.

jamesgordon

The plastic bag is useful for character exposition, too. There's a dash of kinkiness to Derren's onstage persona. (In one of his earlier TV series, he had an attractive, blonde celebrity slapping him hard to activate that weird OCD S&M ability he has to count objects at a glance: the routine carried more than a little weird and intimate charge.)

He performs the object counting routine in Something Wicked This Way Comes as well - no attractive blonde celebrity, but if you watch the DVD of the show, the lady gives him a pretty good slap.

I think he does an superb job of putting himself (or his persona, at least) into his presentations.

This was a great act, presented very well!

A masterpiece again... well done Mr. Brown