You guys see Conan?

[cheech151337]

There was this guy calling himself the mentalist named Keith Barry on Conan a few nights ago. He pulled a stunt on the show that was fairly unimpressive, but I'm not quite sure how he did it. It seems like I've seen Brian do similar things with cards..

Anyway, I ripped the segment and uploaded it to my site (don't tell NBC), see if you can figure out whats going on: http://nonyaz.com/tf/flash/Keith%20Barry.html (HD 720p, 247.9 kB/s+ to stream)

[danhauk]

I'm not sure how he got them to think of page 91, as he said, though it might just be strong, subtle suggestion.

Brian did the same type of effect in episode 56 - The Vanishing Card Trick. Could it possibly just be a straight illusion as seen in that episode instead of the mind control techniques?

[patrickd]

If you compare the thickness of the pages where Conan and Mike look at the book with the thickness later where he shows the ripped out page 91, they're clearly not in the same section of the book. He's much closer to the end of the book when he's first showing the intact page "91". When it's ripped out, he's in the middle of the book.

I noticed that on my first viewing, but went back after to verify.

So obviously some other page was (and probably many other pages were) labeled "91" and there was already a page 91 ripped out and in the pillow ahead of time.

[murphy1d]

If you compare the thickness of the pages where Conan and Mike look at the book with the thickness later where he shows the ripped out page 91, they're clearly not in the same section of the book. He's much closer to the end of the book when he's first showing the intact page "91". When it's ripped out, he's in the middle of the book.

I noticed that on my first viewing, but went back after to verify.

So obviously some other page was (and probably many other pages were) labeled "91" and there was already a page 91 ripped out and in the pillow ahead of time.

Just thought of a great way to stop at the exact page...place a tiny piece of clear "3M page labels" on the page you want to stop at. Then flip pages until they say stop and then let go of all the pages but the tab/ page label. If you do it fast enough it looks like you stopped when they say stop. Then, you can cover the label with the finger pointing to the page number, and finally remove it easily when you close the book (just peel off while closing).

May have been his method too, but I thought of it while he was performing it.

[slappknutts]

patrickd nailed it on the head, and its actually rather oblivious.

What I thought was even worse, he didn't "sell" the trick at all! It seemed so boring
Maybe he was just nervous sitting next to Mike Tyson

[masterevilace]

If you compare the thickness of the pages where Conan and Mike look at the book with the thickness later where he shows the ripped out page 91, they're clearly not in the same section of the book. He's much closer to the end of the book when he's first showing the intact page "91". When it's ripped out, he's in the middle of the book.

I noticed that on my first viewing, but went back after to verify.

So obviously some other page was (and probably many other pages were) labeled "91" and there was already a page 91 ripped out and in the pillow ahead of time.
How sure are we on this? Obviously you can't just label multiple pages as "91".. because Conan was able to flip through the book to find his page. This trick would fail BIG TIME if Conan saw any of the other page 91's in the book while trying to find his page.

I'm sure the trick is obviously simple (in the fact that it's not at all random).. but a piece still needs to be uncovered

[patrickd]

This trick would fail BIG TIME if Conan saw any of the other page 91's in the book while trying to find his page.
If you flip through a book and ask someone to watch, I bet everyone would be trying to look at the middle of the pages, not the page number in the corner.

[masterevilace]

If you flip through a book and ask someone to watch, I bet everyone would be trying to look at the middle of the pages, not the page number in the corner.
Yes, and that is the easiest way for making sure the pages are different.

However, this is talking about later on...
The guy told Conan to flip through the book and find page 91. Conan touched the book himself and (obviously) had to look at the page numbers to find the right page. The only way conan would "never" find it is if the page WE saw was closer to the back of the book, out of order. Conan would flip forward, then flip back to find the correct page 91, which is torn out (and flipped by the first time).

The book cannot contain multiple page 91's.... period.
Either way I think it's a dumb trick considering the guy always had the upper hand so to speak. If I felt Conan had the upper hand, and there was no way Conan could "lose" so to speak, then I would have felt surprised

[patrickd]

The guy told Conan to flip through the book and find page 91. Conan touched the book himself and (obviously) had to look at the page numbers to find the right page. The only way conan would "never" find it is if the page WE saw was closer to the back of the book, out of order. Conan would flip forward, then flip back to find the correct page 91, which is torn out (and flipped by the first time).
Aah, good point. I hadn't considered that.

Perhaps just the last quarter of the book is labeled "91", but the first part is in proper order (except for the missing page, of course). Then he just has to make sure he stops somewhere near the end...and hope that Conan starts flipping to find page 91 from near the beginning. (I suspect most people would start near the beginning and not work backwards.)

[thizzlebot]

There was this guy calling himself the mentalist named Keith Barry on Conan a few nights ago. He pulled a stunt on the show that was fairly unimpressive, but I'm not quite sure how he did it. It seems like I've seen Brian do similar things with cards..

Anyway, I ripped the segment and uploaded it to my site (don't tell NBC), see if you can figure out whats going on: http://nonyaz.com/tf/flash/Keith%20Barry.html (HD 720p, 247.9 kB/s+ to stream)

damn thats high quality video lol. But we all know magic and such isnt real i would bet on the bag being see through

[silentwindodoom]

Ha! I think I've got it, and I just created an account to post it.

We know that the 91 that Conan identified was much farther towards the back of the book than the real 91. There were a few ways to do this, but looking closer, it seems that there really is two 91's. He at times stops typing his finger and points at the number without covering it up, so it's likely actually printed on there and not a trick.

Therein lies the dilemma. How do you have more than one 91 without Conan coming across the fake one? I think I've figured this out.

First of all, I think that the tapping and his way of holding the book: holding both ends, was used to hide where in the book he was, that was Conan couldn't tell the difference like we could. Besides that, they have nothing to do with the trick.

Finally, how would he make sure that Conan skipped the other 91? By appealing to average human behavior. When opening a book and turning to a certain page, people usually begin in different places depending on where in the book it is, or flipping without looking until they get to the ballpark. Therefore, Conan could be influenced by telling him where in the book the page was.

He did this, by offhandedly mentioning that it's a 200 page book. Therefore, Conan would know not to look in the second half of the book and either start at the beginning or end, or quickly flip through the latter portions of the book without looking. The fake 91 appears to be in the last quarter of the book.

Boosh! There it goes. I believe that's the solution.