Mentalism, mind reading and the art of getting inside your head | Derren Brown | TED

[@12parkourdude12]

Saw this guy's show in Nottingham a few years back, absolutely incredible. He performed one stunt where he walked through different sections of the crowd, he then performed this stunt with the envelopes about 30 minutes later and when he got to one he basically said it was too easy and proceeded to point to the person whose envelope it was, he read the initials and the guy said it was him, noticing all of our impressed / confused faces and murmurings, he proceeded to tell us that he could smell the same cologne on the envelope that the man was wearing and remembered the smell from when he walked through the crowd 30 minutes ago!! If you ever get the chance, go to one of his shows!

[@tombstoneharrystudios584]

What a great story!

[@Lindasuperstar]

I saw the show in Nottingham too! He is beyond incredible. I'm still mind blown

[@grizzlednerd4521]

Hi videos and book "Tricks of the Mind" are also awesome.

[@Sleve-McDichael]

He did that at a show in Liverpool too.

[@bobafete8274]

So, when exactly is Ted gonna show up, haven't seen him in a single video yet.

[@L1b3rta]

He did a movie. Was a bear in it. Innit?

[@robertidonotsharemyfullnam496]

lets play a game: Have you met Ted ? Barney Stinson invented it.

[@NuanceSociety]

@@robertidonotsharemyfullnam496 best game EVER !!!! 😂💕

[@Zoza15]

Ted is a coward.

[@peacelovingmusicwarrior5823]

Someone else show insTED

[@DeadlyV1RU5]

Derren is amazing, he’s a national treasure here in the UK. Great to see him on TED finally.

[@sayhello2pedro]

Derren’s work is gold and second to none.He has revealed so much in how we misperceive and how some of us mislead others. I wish he would come to Melbourne

[@chris230230]

@Wake Up That's a very strange jump to make. We also like beer battered fish and have a penchant for dry comedy.

[@mehmetcemunal]

How does he do it???

[@chris230230]

@@mehmetcemunal It's really not one quick answer like "it's done with mirrors". It's a a set of skills he's been developing for decades. Watch some of his other stuff though and he slowly talks more about it. Especially in his old TV shows.

[@zacdeane2694]

@Wake Up They didnt vote Jimmy Saville to be lead the fucking country now, did they

[@leecromer3289]

I ended up on stage with him. He asked me to ring my dad on my mobile, a Mike was attached to my phone so the audience could hear the conversation, Darren had a white board and wrote down a series of numbers and asked me to tell my father I was on stage and I was instructed to ask my dad a series of questions written on cards, and if the numerical answers from my dad matched the numbers Darren had previously written on the whiteboard, Darren had pulled it off. Before he started he gave me a folded ten pound note and told me that if the answers he’d written down didn’t correspond to my dads answers I could keep the money. As my dad answered the questions, one of which was his old army number, Darren wrote the answers down alongside the answers he’d already written down. At the end, none of the answers my father gave to the questions corresponded with what Darren had originally written down on the white board. He told me that he’d failed and I could keep the ten pounds and asked the audience to applaud me but just as I was walking off stage he asked me back and asked me to open the ten pound note. When I did he’d written, “I’ll get him to say these numbers” and an arrow pointed to the notes serial number, the numerical answers my father gave in order, including his old army number, where the notes serial number…

[@vidushimishra9905]

dude this is an underrated comment

[@McKMagic]

It's spelt Derren mate

[@sapthadas2594]

Who's Mike ? Did they tie him to the phone? Just kidding 😂😂😂

[@adrianh332]

@@McKMagic Auto correct, probably.

[@McKMagic]

@@adrianh332 more than likely lol

[@nat1XP]

While this is a fantastic magic trick he deserves this place on ted talks because of his brilliant point that all we do is continually make patterns and stories for things to make sense. Being less defensive with people by reminding ourselves we are all scared or dealing with stories we've grown up with. He talks about kindness being so important to everything we do. He's a brilliant beautiful soul tbh

[@SuperRomanHoliday]

Nice of you to give him your approval to have a ted talk.

[@tarunsaha096]

This is no magic tricks this is peak psychology application

[@malcolmstockbridge2569]

@@tarunsaha096 The line between magic and psychology is a very fine line.

[@MrFlameRad]

​@@tarunsaha096 my logical guess is that it's a mixture of both but truthfully I have no fucking clue how he's deceiving us and I haven't seen any good theories on it either

[@Vugen18]

he isnt tricking anyone.. its awareness. Listen, he even tells us how he does it.

[@tommytalks77]

This people had no idea what was about to hit them. Derren Brown is simply unbelievable. The best of the best of the best in what he does

[@mmmk1616]

While I found this very entertaining, I was hoping for some explanation on how he does it.

[@YR2050]

Hire an actor and have them say yes to all your questions.

[@mmmk1616]

@@YR2050 Well, yes, I suppose that is one way to do it of course. But what's the fun in that? :)

[@joestockton7016]

Half of what he does is because he's a savant genius, the other half is because he's a shyster penis.

[@jonshellmusic]

Yes, I thought that would be coming as well. Disappointing.

[@MRCroosingTootH]

The honest explenation is that he stalks these 3 persons...

[@Glackdd]

Even still, bet he couldn't figure out what my girlfriend wants to eat.

[@arilopez1102]

😁😁😅😅😅😅😅😅😅

[@Quantris]

Do *not* let Derren Brown talk to your girlfriend.

[@Glackdd]

Quantris it's cool, she left me now

[@vicredshaw1155]

@@Glackdd she wants to eat pizza

[@champ8605]

She'll be eating Derren.

[@sayhello2pedro]

Derren’s work is gold and second to none.He has revealed so much in how we misperceive and how some of us mislead others. I wish he would come to Melbourne

[@jnIcksbkallday]

We saw Mr. Brown live and I was part of the last act, brought up on stage and it was truly amazing and definitely an unforgettable moment in my life. People kept approaching me after the show to ask if i was part of the act. Truly a wonder evening ,Thank you sir!

[@nikkimae813]

I've seen Derren live about 4 times in my tiny town theatre. He's such a legend, love how clever he is.

[@Showmetheevidence-]

He’s really good at what he does. And I love the fact he debunks the “psychic” BS before he starts (& other shows).

[@maknavickas]

That could be part of it to put at ease an educated crown like at TED, just saying.

[@RandomIndyWrestling]

@@maknavickas it's not. He always does that

[@timotheusnobel9795]

He is psychic. How else could he possibly know that stuff?? He just likes to cause a stir and have people worship him in bewilderment, because let's face it, he's a narcissist.

[@ykshay]

@@timotheusnobel9795 🤔🥱

[@ronnieherd9247]

@@timotheusnobel9795 He isn`t psychic, he`s said that 100+ times. Worship is a bit strong, get a grip.

[@HighPokerChessPL]

"IT'S NOT THEIR PAIN YOU FEAR.. IT'S YOUR OWN"... That was a GOOD One!

[@DavidRobertsBuffalodavid]

Done so well. When you watch it again, look for the best part, where he says he's going to do one thing and then does another. I won't reveal the basic trick, but he does one of the oldest tricks in the book. But as in all magic, banter is everything.

[@jameskhumalo-nh7hv]

😂😂😂😂😂sure you know the trick my good sir 😂

[@user-by6yc8yl7v]

This is incredible. He has the members of the audience giving him the answers to his questions and noone can see it. The level of understanding human behaviour and what makes us tick is incredible.

[@wolfgangpuck2863]

Cap 🧢

[@jameskhumalo-nh7hv]

​@@wolfgangpuck2863😂😂😂cap 🧢 for sure fam Which audience member shouted the answers

[@count7340]

'A.H. Is there an A.H?' *The fuhrer has entered the chat*

[@ethosgaming5619]

Count underrated comment

[@15-gurdjieff88]

Count why are your letters big ?

[@timediverx]

Well played

[@MrJayehawk]

I literally LOL'd...thanks for that.

[@lawrencemiller3081]

Ask yourself how do the participants get the microphone so quickly?

[@stevenbridges]

Derren Brown is the greatest mind reader of our time.

[@pablogomes2380]

Are you quitting youtube? :(

[@stevenbridges]

Pablo Gomes no, I’ll be back don’t worry :)

[@HENRYFOLEY]

No such thing as a mind reader

[@lucasmano8187]

@@HENRYFOLEY nobody here believes in magic, don't worry

[@HENRYFOLEY]

@@lucasmano8187 A lot of people do Lucas, that's the problem.

[@JohnKooz]

Truly magnificent. Have followed Derren's work since 2009 (13 years) and it was marvelous that he did imho one of his most stunning and electrifying mindreading displays at Ted! He truly is a British national treasure and indubitably one of the (if not The) greatest mentalists of all time.

[@kierrafield9168]

Yes Derren! So happy to start seeing him getting the recognition he so deserves in America! 😍

[@joeker50]

Derren is and allways will be the best.. Love him entertain. 10 years of watching him, still fastinates me

[@thehangingparsiple5692]

I saw Derren in Eastbourne, and we had to bring a personal possession which he would read and attach to the owner. I was so disappointed that I failed to jump high enough to catch the hoop he threw out to select participants - I stupidly wore a fairly short dress, and was terrified of flashing! But the show (dedicated to his father) was beautiful and so spiritually uplifting; me and my friends (who came with me) both messaged each other at the same time afterwards, all saying how calm and peaceful we felt inside. Love Derren 💕⭐

[@Xanthous1]

Derren Brown is scary good at combining techniques. I love the stories he tells in his work and the empowerment he offers people through that work. NLP done well.

[@brookewestonctc]

There's no NLP. That's all selling the trick. This is a straight up magic trick. He's a brilliant performer, but there is no psychology, it's all tricks.

[@Rainbowcookie03]

Doesn’t he state to never use nlp and that the only thing he did with it was write in his book about it? (Or it’s misdirection to make us believe he doesn’t,who knows)

[@pdrg]

Remember - mentalism is magic dressed up as psychology/psychic power

[@tracy9610]

I can't get enough of Derren Brown. The Broadway show is something to look forward to!

[@MrFirepoi]

I went to see his stage show once, 10 years ago. As a psychology undergrad at the time I thought I might have the slightest idea of what he was doing. I didn’t. He did an amazing recap at the end, highlighting the little subtle tricks along the way that we’d all missed.... It was mind blowing!

[@15-gurdjieff88]

MrFirepoi what was one of things he highlated?

[@MrFirepoi]

15-Gurdjieff it’s hard to draw on specific examples as it was so long ago, but at the end of the show someone from the audience had to pick a newspaper from a selection, then a page, paragraph, sentence and then a word from that sentence, all seemingly free choice. Earlier in the show he talked about gender bias and the daily figure of females to daily MALE in a feedback survey. The person at the end of the show started off by picking a copy of the Daily MAIL Newspaper... this explanation isn’t doing it justice at all! 😂 it was brilliant.

[@15-gurdjieff88]

MrFirepoi thanks

[@15-gurdjieff88]

bad1dobby thanks

[@VperVendetta1992]

@@MrFirepoi I've seen that trick on KZbin. The explanation is most likely that he changed the pieces of papers at the end with some that he had in his pocket. In fact you can see that the pieces the girl handed to him were bigger than the first few he laid down on the table. After that it's a matter of forcing the chosen word from the pile of papers by using many possible tricks used by illusionists with cards. His explanations about NLP and putting thoughts inside one's head are mostly bollocks, because they don't work all the time, so a stage magician can't rely on them in such an extent.

[@Jealod24]

This is a clear demonstration of having the information ahead of time. He uses distraction to confuse people and make things look more impressive… consider that the blindfold was pointless since he is the one who picked out the guy. It’s not like a random audience member stood up. His team likely has everyone’s names and they do research. He chose which envelopes to pick. I love that he shows how easy it is to fake this stupid stuff.

[@FanUtd535]

its not even that complicated. @ 4:28 you see the manipulation of the envelopes begin, ending when he turns around to sit down on the chair. he can now read inside the envelopes and the real 'trick' begins, memorising the contents of the cards. youre right he rest is showmanship/misdirection.

[@mikelopez9071]

The women from Virginia seems incredibly sweet, like a genuinely kind soul.

[@sweiland75]

She must have spent a while in Canada. LOL

[@BrandonBeckelheimer]

Did she sell her farm tho

[@juliant.5586]

definitely a good acting performance

[@MortySmith01]

This is a story you're telling yourself

[@simonthorpe5079]

rate dat x

[@happyhoney2000]

I love derren so much. I always thought his psychological stuff was the best kind of magic, especially when he would show is how he did it too!

[@danecobain]

Amazing! I saw Derren Brown a few years ago and unfortunately his Jedi mind tricks didn't work on me, but I have a lot of respect for what he does

[@MaleneMarkussenMusic]

Derren Brown is one of the coolest, smartest and just wow entertainers I know of.

[@Brooker0013]

Derren is amazing. The amount of time he must put into what he does blows my mind. Just the amount of reading he must of done, let alone the practice is hard for me to get my head around. 👍🏼✌🏼

[@mamothogre136]

Derren*

[@Brooker0013]

@@mamothogre136 must of been auto correct

[@freddylowe4900]

“We would worry a lot less about what other people think of us if we realised how seldom they do.” ~ Derren Brown That made me guffaw, and it is absolutely true. Wiser than most self-help books out there!

[@jaspberg]

It's a David Foster Wallace quote

[@TestAccount-fw6nk]

@@jaspberg And a Dr. Phil quote.

[@bruce_c_in_nz]

Regardless of the identity of the first person to speak the idea, who might well have done so before any of Derren or the other people mentioned, the idea itself struck me very forcefully and also elicited (what I would describe as) a chuckle. It ranks along with another of my favourite quotes, "For peace of mind, we need to resign as General Manager of the Universe."

[@gregwilliamsono9360]

We are very predictable..if we put the time and energy into studying people..along with a good memory..some of us could also do exactly what he's doing. That's why I love Derren..he actually tells you what he's doing.

[@serbiapranks6539]

where did he tell us what he is doing ;) ... let me tell you something tho, he is doing AT LEAST 10 things at once, plus the great knowledge and memory about almost anything. But he rarely say to you what he is doing. Even when he is nervous, he is just acting... even when he is relaxed, you dont know if he is relaxed. Thats why he is best. Those two states are hardest to act, especially the legs and the hands... :) all the best but idk where did he explain anything TRULY? ?????'

[@gregwilliamsono9360]

@@serbiapranks6539 ..you haven't seen all his shows..He often explains how he does things

[@facepalmjesus1608]

this man inspired me to get into the magical realm of mentalism....ty Derren!!!

[@AD-pq7ph]

Although people are bitching"how does he reads minds...explain that"... but infact what he says in 1:53 in most powerful insight into our minds to be at peace! Thanks Darren!

[@jimkennedy8912]

Went to see Derren Las night at The Lowery Theatre the third time I manage to see him. His show The Showman was spectacular and the most emotional show that I have ever seen. Thank you

[@karenpinson759]

Derren Brown is always amazing. Of course, he isn't going to tell how he does it. Mentalism is a form of magic. The magician never tells how it is done. Derren always says in his shows that he may use misdirection, suggestion, slight of hand, and showmanship.

[@micomator]

Hardly any of his tricks are true mentalism, most are just sleight of hand and lies. People in these shows request a ticket to write on (they aren't handed out to everyone). So when a sheet comes back, they know exactly who wrote the question. They read the question, and find the persons name based on their seat number. They research as much as they can, and feed the info to Derren via his earpiece. The skill comes from him pretending like this information is being deduced on the fly.

[@adogspocket]

@@micomator All mentalism is “lies and sleight of hand”. It’s a subgenre of magic. You are wrong about how he does this routine, however. It’s far less convoluted than that.

[@micomator]

@@adogspocket " It’s far less convoluted than that" Go ooooonnnn

[@adogspocket]

@@micomator Exposure is frowned upon, but if you read the classics like Anneman's Practical Mental Magic and Corinda's 13 Steps to Mentalism, you should be able to piece together what he's doing here (his presentation is the best I've seen, though). It would also help to compare this video to videos of him performing the same routine on other occasions (it's in his Enigma live show, I think). Things he does which seem incidental are often hiding part of the method.

[@marcomotroni]

12:04 amazing subtlety. The degree to which he pulls this off to make it convincing gives me chills, especially after seeing it live.

[@trietphan3196]

Derren Brown is and has been the best entertainer in the world.

[@MidnightZX7]

wow i feel bad for you son

[@ruthrobinson2232]

Can’t wait to see him next year! Loved him ever since I stumbled across his first show on tv. He is just amazing

[@curiouslyt2123]

I love him D.B. He’s really good. I will say this though. This ted talk seemed more like just another performance than it did a talk about the ability of how mentalism works or how it’s done successfully I can gather from watching that he’s guiding, directing the person. He tells you think about something, then mentions passwords. The man easily could have been thinking about his sick dog but since Derran spoke of passwords, it makes the man think of, gee, I do have a password to something so now his focus is on that instead of the few things or 1 thing that already came to mind. Everyone has a password so it’s an easy one to get a person to focus on instead of so now your both on the same page. The other questions thrown in I’m thinking are distractions to make you or subject forget what the 1st thought was and to go along with yes no questions and stick to what he’s asking you to focus on which is back to a password. How he gets to the rest is the real trick, getting the precise password right just by only guessing there was an I in it and he changed to I from a b. The only LOGICAL explanation for someone to guess a strangers password would be beforehand or prior knowledge and SPECIFIC, PRE picked individuals to show case your predictive ability by using pre hand knowledge of their life. It’s how Benny Hinn the televangelist can guess someone in his audience has a very very not so common specific illness he wants to pray for. He gets that info by sending out his people amongst the visitors and have them over hear conversations and those people are picked because they were the most vocal about why they were there, what they want to happen and had the best story to exploit in his program that would get others to believe and donate even more money hoping they will be the next to be called onstage or healed. But even those ppl are pre picked while the most I’ll are purposefully pushed as far back away from the stage as possible and overwhelmed with possible fake choices placed ahead of them so they can’t get to the stage, ask for a random healing and embarrass the televangelist on live broadcasts. Anyway, That’s the only logical way I can explain how he guesses certain things is because the person has mentioned it before and before the start of the show. If there is another tactic, I would not know what that would be and was hoping he would go into his act more and how he dose it which would explain the thumbs down for this ted talk. I didn’t thumbs down because I actually like him and watched most of his shows but thought this ted talk would go to detail how he dose it or how others if not him have done it but instead turned out to be just a performance or promotion for his next project which is find! Still love his work. Very talented he is!

[@SHRGP]

youre more or less correct but the pre hand knowledge is usually achieved in much more clever ways than sending people out to overhear things. nobody will be openly speaking about what their password is in a conversation. i wouldnt feel good outright exposing certain techniques and even if i did derren could be doing something a little (or a lot) different. but there are ways, and youre not as far off as most people are. oh and about the people overhearing conversations, heres a funny thing to do if you ever find yourself at some sort of event or a show with a psychic involved - if anyone you dont know ever makes conversation with you, lie. and if youre ever specifically picked, youll have a fun time hearing all those lies said back to you. you dont have to ruin the show or anything, you can go along and agree with them but youll know to yourself. and thats quite fun, i think. oh and also please DO ruin the show if they happen to be one of those psychics who tell people their spouse is cheating or that their aunt Mary is speaking to them from beyond the grave. those people are disgusting. other than that have fun and take care :)

[@SpaceZombie]

@@SHRGP Also a fan of Derren Brown's work, I used to watch a lot of his stuff. I do think many people overestimate the amount of 'psychology' he actually uses, with any magic trick, often things are much simpler than they seem. They are simply packaged to appear more complex. Someone else mentioned it as well, but the performance is actually what really sells something. Of course he explains very real phenomena in psychology, but he also uses it as a tool to misguide the audience on what's going on on stage (I feel). The audience will create their own elaborate stories around how he does things. Very interesting stuff though!

[@violette91]

@@SHRGP

[@chrischarlescook]

I've seen Derren live 5 times, met him twice at the stage door after shows. The only attribute more amazing than his talents is his kind character. Just a total legend.

[@olivierprevost1]

Been following Derren for years. Still amazed as the first time i saw him when he performs.

[@LitpalLitpal]

In the German language Derren Brown might be called ein Wunderkind - a wonder child. He can do everything! He's just amazing!

[@kwanarchive]

Well, he can certainly make you believe he can do everything...

[@LitpalLitpal]

@@kwanarchive, the difference between him and say a politician, is that he is not lying. He is a performer. What he is doing is art. While what politicians, globalists and main stream propaganda are doing - is pathological lying. Pathological lying is a symptom of Cluster B personality disorder. I hope the public can see the difference 🤔

[@pandabear6546]

Always blown away by how captivating Darren is when public speaking.

[@DarkDelusions]

This TED talk is great because it is a show, don't tell performance by Derren Brown. He tells us himself that we love stories and narratives and we disregard evidence to keep that narrative alive. Simultaneously, he paints an amazing narrative about how he can read minds and even passwords (!) using just social cues and small physical tics, when a simpler explanation of it being completely staged exists. He himself tells us not to trust him, but we fall ever so easily into his act anyway. Brilliant

[@Snotlingfondler]

Good to see Derren getting some appreciation across the Atlantic at last.

[@skincarehub]

His presentation is one of the best I have ever seen.

[@TomShanahan888]

For everyone saying he didn't explain his techniques, actually he did, but you have to read between the lines. He wasn't guessing what people wrote at all as that would be impossible. Instead he was gauging by hand writing which people are open to (hypnotic) suggestion, and on the stage right there and then, he was using using conversational hypnosis to make them give the answers that he planted in their mind. In the stories he tells people on stage (which are by design long-winded) there is another story that the conscious mind doesn't detect but the unconscious one does (a story within the story), this then primes the mind to give particular response. Very impressive.

[@steelc0re593]

I think this is it

[@pdrg]

It's more a story within a story than even that...

[@deer105]

Your explanation is more unrealistic than simply admitting he's clairvoyant. Nobody can be covertly hypnotized or enter into an altered state of consciousness without being aware of it. A large group can't be hypnotized at all. Take out the magical "altered state of consciousness" and you're just left with suggestion occurring without an obvious mechanism. If it doesn't have an obvious mechanism then it is by definition occult.

[@orth82]

I love Derren Brown and admire his work in debunking BS. One of the best TED talks ever :)

[@PiglipsMaximus]

It's clever how he has done this opening before in Infamous, only he's changed it slightly and it's still comforting to watch love Derren. Listen to this man, and also buy his book!

[@dodger1x]

Anytime I see a mentalist on Got Talent, I always think they are crap if you compare them to Derren Brown 😅 He is the master of this and his delivery is exelent .

[@ogbondmatiowanemi719]

They are mentalists... derren is Psychic, Pisces, 27th February....

[@chensangwiset6679]

imagine this guy plays among us

[@Sean-uu9rg]

He would be killed first every game lol

[@Aaqrus]

I've just discovered him, and waouw... i know a french mentalist who's very strong at mentalisism but him... i swear i could spend my entire life to learn all the knowlendge about mentalisism to practice it on every person that i don't know, it's a real satisfaction to see him doing it !

[@pipinflier7050]

What french mentalist are you talking about? Fabien Olicard?

[@Aaqrus]

@@pipinflier7050 exactly, if you're french (i guess you are) je pense que fabien olicard est vraiment bon aussi dans ce domaine c'est fou

[@anthonysmith9920]

Seen this guy 5 times, and he has never failed to amaze me......GENIUS!

[@bswift1991]

This will always be the most impressive stage trick I've ever seen. Seen him do it in person, seen it on recording before. I'm sure the explanation is so tedious but man is it entertaining.

[@calebwhales]

Perhaps it's tedious but he explains how he does the trick right at the beginning. That he's not going in blind. It's showmanship for effect. He got ticket names off sales, knew their seat number, and scoured social media ahead of time. I'm not downplaying the effect or the trick or that it's that easy so we can dismiss it. But yeah, that's the trick.

[@bswift1991]

@@calebwhales Even just holding all that information together in your mind is impressive to me. Remembering personal details about specific people and where that person is sitting in the audience. He only does it with one or two people in this TED talk but in the stage version he tours he does it to about 15-20 people. Even if he just got the information fed to him before hand that's still nuts to remember the right info for the right people in the right seat. The man is a genius.

[@becksundgras]

@@bswift1991 In his book he describes alot of memory techniques.

[@jlassonful]

@@becksundgras that does not explain what someone's password would be. those things are not public. my passwords are not things that people would guess.

[@JohnBurtonTheFirst]

@@jlassonful it wasn't your password he was guessing... My guess is that dude has a boat called Ariboy in his FB profile photo ;-)

[@rahulsreekumar2562]

Man! This is so hard to believe, yet I want it to be real and learn it.

[@DerNesor]

easy , get an audience and on the screen where it usually says "clap now" you write: answer every question with yes. and boom !

[@rahulsreekumar2562]

@@DerNesor yeah, lol Maybe the whole point of the video was getting inside our heads

[@zawsrdtygbhjimokpl6998]

looked at her hands- from them understood she had a farm. Seems legit to me

[@DerNesor]

@@zawsrdtygbhjimokpl6998 my question is how he knew there was an allan with a big nameplate in the first row in front of him?

[@rahulsreekumar2562]

@@zawsrdtygbhjimokpl6998 I bet it was the remains of dirt between her finger nails🤣

[@rokker101]

I have seen Derren twice live and I can confirm that the shows are 100% mind blowing .. if you get the chance to see him please do as he is the master of manipulation you will leave the theatre absolutely gobsmacked and still not believing what you have just witnessed is real .

[@mutexin]

Because it' not real. Ironically people participating in TED shows pretend to be smart and educated, yet they are too dumb to understand trickery.

[@sumandevkota5131]

@@mutexin even the smartest people know they are dumb at some point in there life. its not about being dumb its about trying to co-ops with some very discomfortable acts we're all human an animal we all have those trades if you think you're diff actually you're acting like that little princess of a father who knows nothing about world and its rules :P

[@topdog5252]

That’s the best kind of magic. Unbelievable but the magician is still completely honest that it’s not supernatural.

[@hawk_202]

@@topdog5252 thats where i dont think he is being honest. if you had expeirenced any psychic ability for yourself and you look at what he does you start to wonder........ I really dont think you can do what he does without stooges or real mind reading, unless you believe body lanuage can give away a password or tone of voice.......

[@Cordelia-again]

I've also been to two of his shows one in London and one in Hull. Fantastically entertaining - he's a true showman.

[@magicorthodoxy]

Derren Bown is the greatest - I've reviewed a lot of his effects and books on my channel . A living legend !!!

[@Rhewin]

Hey, I found you in the wild!

[@NickzAndMikz]

Always plug

[@lizhang3302]

I went to a Las Vegas mind reading magic show and stayed after the show to meet the magician. I thought of a name in my mind. The magician read it immediately. Its juat unbelievable!!!!

[@deer105]

The only reason why he calls himself a Magician is that it makes other people think he's "clever" and "sophisticated". That's not a trick, and isn't an illusion. How could it be? No, there isn't some secret logical formula out there to explain it away.

[@macbitz]

Incredible what the human mind can do in the right hands...

[@sahilrajpal5604]

Its like dream came true to see derren on ted talks 😍😍😍

[@sarastewart4379]

I would have much preferred an actual talk than just another episode of his act.

[@leslawrenson]

Good old Derren. Always one ahead.

[@ashleygibson2342]

People who don’t get it. Lol! He’s messing with your personal narrative, skewing your internal monologue. Your thoughts are the explanation! Great job Ted talk.

[@WeskerXM96E1]

I think the old videos of his channel 4 shows will be on YT. The stuff he has gotten people to do is mind blowing. Been watching him for 20 years in the UK.

[@claudianielsen36]

I have just watched his show in the West of London and came away blown away! He is a genius in so many ways, a hypnotist, philosopher as well as a magician. He put a ring around the stem of a wine glass without breaking it in the full view of the camera. But more interestingly (to me), he got into people's minds as he did in this TED talk and told them amazing things about themselves and their lives. What I find surprising is that he debunks psychism. If he is not faking it, he is obviously psychic .... and a very good one at that!! What is wrong with being psychic? It is an intuitive gift which based on my long life experience I see as an ability we all have, except that some are very good at and develop it, and most of us less so!

[@NoName-ik2du]

God dang it, I clicked this for an explanation of how he does it, not just to see the trick.

[@Swingman2012]

I know his focus was on the stories we tell our selves and the performance was intended to illustrate that, and it was brilliantly done. But I was really disappointed that he didn't talk about how his mentalism is done. Please have him back!

[@Vugen18]

he did tell us..

[@theodorul4085]

literally can't believe what i just read in the notification I so like this guy

[@tedlemoine5587]

He has hundreds of videos on KZbin that blow your mind . Well worth watching

[@seanmcmeown1992]

Check out his tv specials

[@Millennial_Mike]

I saw his show in Newcastle a few years ago. Was superb! This demonstration was actually in the show.

[@geoffjoffy]

Most of the things he does are just so amazing, I can't believe they're just tricks. I think Derren is from another planet and really has those powers.

[@theartofbeingqueer]

LOVE Derren Brown, always so interesting to watch!

[@therantingboy]

I think Derren sees the cards first and is using a memory technique to memorize a select number of people's cards. Derren controlled the selection process from a limited pool. He could be using the loci/memory palace technique to commit 10 stories to memory. If the card was a form that asked other personal information, then that might explain how he got the man's password too. Or possibly this combined with online research. So I think the impressive aspect of the trick is using an advanced memory technique to hold information they provided through the cards or found online.

[@RambergKruse]

But wasn't the last guy one of the people who had not written a question?

[@stevenlusik6044]

This is a great TED talk. In typical Derren fashion, he tells you that he has no special powers and then proceeds to take a very old act and turn it into an engaging performance. While the method is so simple a 10 year old could perform this, it takes a seasoned professional to pull this off in front of a skeptical TED audience.

[@jeff_blank]

What's the method? Research on certain people in the audience? He would only have to memorize the lives of 3 people.

[@landofthesilverpath5823]

Ted? A skeptical audience? Ted talks are for 5 year olds. It's nothing but liberal clap trap garbage.

[@landofthesilverpath5823]

@@jeff_blank there are a few different methods. But suffice to say it is very easy and has been done since the early 20th century. It's nothing original.

[@jeff_blank]

@@landofthesilverpath5823 could you expand on that or give me a hint? I’m very curious.

[@landofthesilverpath5823]

@@jeff_blank There are a couple systems. Osterlinds thoughtscan is one. Erle Lee has a few. Both these are clipboards which record pencil impressions written on them. I don't know if they used this method here. But there are others. And the fact he knew specific details of Allan. Not sure how. But when it comes to magic and mentalism. It's always a benign explanations which makes one go. "Oh man, I knew I should have considered that! It's so simple, yet devious!" Make no mistake, these tricks are old they used carbon paper hidden in special clipboards in the old days.

[@Flipperzeeer0]

I Love Derren! He's brilliant! Rewatching this in 2022.

[@cquinnable]

I've seen this man live. I have watched almost everything by him and I still have abso-fucking-lutely no idea how he does this.

[@curtisalex456]

oh boy, i remembered when He used to have hair. That was a while ago. Lol

[@Flipperzeeer0]

Thank you, Derren for all that you do!

[@somebody3]

Since TED is about educating, here is the explanation of this trick: the performer reads the content of any envelope and throws it away pretending that it's a silly question, while remembering what was written and then pretending to guess what's in the next envelope, while in actuality it was the content of the earlier envelope he's thrown away. Once he "guesses" the content of the envelope, he opens it and actually reads the content of the next envelope that he will be pretending to read. All this is accompanied by some guessing and info obtained from mingling with audience prior to the show. While in the past they've used an assistant who pretended that the first questions/answer was his/hers, while in fact the performer would open someone else's envelope and pretend that it is the content of the next one. Though there are many variants of this act, and Darren seems to be incorporating his own elements.

[@rethanwilliams]

That is a lovely explanation, and Annemann, Corinda, Robert Nelson, Bob Cassidy, Banachek, and even Jermay to an extent (along with dozens others) have performed and even published effects using this method, I am certain that Derren does more than that. Imagine performing and revealing what he does using only the method you described. I don't think you could. In addition, I know there is a much more elegant way of doing it that doesn't require him to ever get on stage and open-or even read the contents of- a single envelope. The one ahead principle you described can work well, but I think if you watch this again- or better yet, watch him perform it on his 'Svengali' TV special- you will see there is so much more to it, in the very best way.

[@ZhengPerry]

Great explanation

[@joaoramos32]

Thank you, sir

[@TheDeconstructivist]

But that suggests that they're trick envelopes or something... since the first envelope he throws away he never opens. He just stares at it.

[@JamieVegas]

@@rethanwilliams No, he never opens the first one. He can also be seen holding the cards to his lapel to apply a pull and then allowing one card, three different times, to pop into his jacket. I have no idea WHY they are going into his jacket, but it might have something to do with that chair and assistants backstage.

[@VernePhilleas]

After watching Derren doing incredible performance feats of mentalism like this with Brits, it's interesting seeing him doing it with Americans. The reactions are pretty congruent across the board!

[@jandancer33]

I always figured this guy was a big fake, pure entertainment, but now I think hes tapping the source, whether he knows it or not, I think that's how he does his stuff. Great show anyway! Making us laugh and smile is just as important as healing negative imprints etc.

[@lisavo587]

This is the same act from his evening of wonders show but this is accurate much more impressive than the portion from his show

[@dt089]

For everyone saying this is staged, I encourage you to go see him live. His stage shows are intense and will leave you questioning everything. I saw him 2 years ago and I still question how he did what he did that night. It was sensational

[@xis7296]

Feels like I just watched part of the backstory of a Batman villain. He even had his own mask/helmet thingie.

[@Mei-st5bq]

I was thinking the Dark Arts professor with that wrap from Harry Potter

[@TheeRebel]

His book "Happy" helped me alot! Great job Derren.

[@alvianmahardika7812]

What is about? 🙏

[@spencerd9325]

I've seen him many times and Derren takes over Americaaaa!!!

[@damonm3]

Finally!!! I wish Derren would get a new show. He put on the best stuff ❤️❤️.. and now that I’ve watched this he’s just unreal. A true master of his craft. How? Nailed everything

[@damonm3]

Ellis Scott I wish he’d get a new tv show. They are so good! Love seeing his creativity! Need more than 1 hour a year.

[@reggiecorrea]

I absolutely LOVE you Derren and I can't wait to see you again. You are amazing!!!

[@j.e.8286]

I loved the Broadway show - it definitely makes the audience think and question some of their beliefs :) Some illusionists talk down to their audience a little, but Derren has a great connection with the audience - he really makes everyone laugh and have a wonderful experience :)

[@alicedoors4826]

Stupid question: Is it still on and is it in NY?

[@Lady-Seashell-Bikini]

I wish I could have seen his Broadway show. I had wanted to see Derren for years, but being American, I had accepted that wasn't going to happen. Then he got a Broadway show, but I didn't have the funds to travel to NYC just for one show.

[@TommyLikeTom]

4 weeks? it took 4 weeks for youtube to recommend this? "if you don't know me by now..."

[@weill6872]

thank you for remind me that beautiful song

[@EpicBunty]

youtube, you fickle fickle mistress, serve me!!!

[@raedgaj3878]

2021, just got a Derren Brown TED Talk?

[@healgrowlovecommunity8397]

Derren is a national treasure/genius/lovely guy! ❤️

[@sarobensaroyan649]

For me Darren does the most fascinating things in the world done by a human. I don't care if some of his tricks can be revealed or such.. he fascinates me every time and make me smile and go " hate you si much Darren.. how the f do you do that?!!" ... just amazing .. and I like to be amazed 😁

[@mamothogre136]

Derren*

[@mysticmarkthemagician5852]

Brilliant demonstration of Mentalism at its best no stooges are not used....there are various methods that can be employed to perform this type if routine .... I am sure all the Mentalist out there like myself know how to perform a routine like this ....as per normal fantastic showmanship by Derren ...well done old bean.

[@johnsmith.5783]

Mystic Mark The Magician well it's certainly not reading their mind 😂

[@harvinderrishiraj888]

@@johnsmith.5783 Only one thing in life is a certainty.

[@AnuragSingh-kk3dx]

So he had an earfone all the time with him and then switched it to a wireless one which is inside of the blindfold ( you can see he uses 2 of them, the first one has it ), the person speaking to him is on a computer and scrolling through their social accounts. Still a good show

[@benjaminbrady2385]

Always amazing to see Derren Brown!

[@AlanVickers1992]

Only right, to plug your new upcoming shows, this king warming and just shows that we should be kinder to one another and more empathetic.. it's great entertainment

[@Artemisss1]

This is still so great. I also love that watching this again after three years, I start to think about it more. When he gets the name Allan spot on, first I thought it was just an educated guess that feels impressive, where he just says a name suitable for the age group that he has in front of him. But then I noticed all these people have cards with their name on it. He probably just read the name Allan of the card before he blindfolded himself and took a good look at the guy too. Doesn't explain everything he does next, but I'm sure that's part of it...

[@clipboarder_official]

Ockham's razor. He could not have deduced the password on the fly. It must have been pre-researched.

[@CuriousGoose]

Having watched most of Derrens shows I can tell you it's quite possible that he researched the entire audience and memorised their lives. That's not how he's done this, I'm just saying it's possible.

[@ghostdog7575]

He didn't research the entire audience, he researched just 3 (and possibly other 2 or 3 b-plans) and then he made everyone believe what they want to believe as announced.

[@Aquillyne]

So here’s how he does the whole trick. Accomplices elsewhere in the hall are watching selected question-writers. Could be a person behind them, or somewhere else entirely, with a zoom lens. One way or another, they clock the person’s name (badge, seat, seating plan, may all help) and their question/info. This is relayed into Derren’s in-ear earpiece (the large yellow microphone thing is a dummy). Derren rifles through the envelopes until he finds the one with the initials/position that he already knows info about. Derren proceeds to hot-read. His accomplices supply additional information about the person from their public Facebook and LinkedIn posts as he progresses. The password trick is possibly more interesting. He makes it seem like he’s opening up the floor to anyone, but zones in on the individual (Alan) who has long since been preselected, making it look like he’s doing it at random. (This is emphasised with all the pointless blindfolding and waving of hands.) It isn’t confirmed that the man has _just_ decided to think about a password, because he hasn’t. We don’t know the context but this “Ariboy” password has been fed to him by one of Derren’s accomplices sometime in the last 30 minutes, during pre-show chit-chat, or even until just moments before. We don’t know what interesting story this involved but this unusually simple password has certainly been suggested to the man in a way that makes him remember it. Derren forces this back to the man’s attention by saying “You’ve got a password, right?” Of course, being 6 letters long, when Derren asks him to pick a letter from the middle, it will certainly be B or I. In short, as Derren says (and thankfully he is open about it now), he isn’t using a single ounce of psychology or psychic ability. The whole thing is a simple illusion - like basically all of Derren’s tricks! They entertain; but they are not about psychology.

[@randysager3660]

Nice try but no. The Q&A envelopes. Is much simpler than that. It could be done in the way you describe. But Derren is more devious than that and went even simpler classic method for that. No. The password was not stooged.

[@Aquillyne]

Randy Sager Care to explain the simpler method?

[@randysager3660]

@@Aquillyne No but if you really want to know start with the book PRACTICAL MENTAL MAGIC written by Ted Annemann.

[@randysager3660]

@@Aquillyne Also notice that he took the mic/earphone off after asking for regular mic? He did that not only to put on the blindfold but also to show that it wasn't an earpiece that was being used. Again if you really want to know start with PRACTICAL MENTAL MAGIC by Ted Annemann.

[@lucasmano8187]

Hi, I know how this is done, you're right about the info on the cards being obtained by Derren's Team but it's actually in a much simpler and clean manner than the one you suggested, a simple trick really no need for lens or spying around, he's a magician after all. I think what amazes people in this act isn't mainly the fact that he knows the questions they wrote but the fact that he can apparently answer questions like "what's wrong with my foot?" or "what's my computer password?" and I think that's the most clever part about the whole thing but I might have spoken too much. Also, no earpiece, just well-developed mnemonics.

[@stevemoreira-jones2108]

METHOD: Derren has done something like this in his stage show. DB is an amazing entertainer and I don't intend to discredit him here I'm just helping to explain a non-psychic method for achieving this exact affect. My belief is it works in principle as follows though I don't claim to know his exact handling. 1). A small number of the audience are targetted. DB's team know where they sit. Maybe during the reservation/ticketting process. Or the seats themselves are targetted with a special marked envelope or lack of envelope so the audience member needs to ask for an envelope. 2). The team now have a small population of say 8 people who they know the full name of and their seat location. 3).Now the team need to obtain the question text. This is likely done by simply opening the envelop that was marked/tagged for each of the targets. The non-target questions can be ignored. 4). The team use the targets' names to research them on social media, etc. If done in advance even more in depth research can be done before the show. In this performance the info was almost certainly purely social media; apart from the password. 5). Additional info may be obtained in the queues to enter or in the bar during an interval by DB team casually chatting with the targets. 6). The info is relayed to DB during the act probably by ear-piece. He improvises stuff about accents, handwriting, posture, etc. to explain some of the researched info (though I do believe he is capable of some lesser forms of these feats via his knowledge of human behaviour). 7. The Password. I am certain this wasn't mind reading; DB confirmed so in his talk. It also is too specific to be cold-reading. My assumption is his team obtained it by casual chatting with the guy during the break, or someone else (like a family member) revealed it to the team.

[@bosoerjadi2838]

Alternative for ear-piece: info written on the outside of the envelopes. Second alternative: he did just three persons. He could have been briefed pre-show and memorized the necessary information.

[@suckaducka6407]

Or they just hacked his password

[@suckaducka6407]

During/after probing his online person

[@ThehakkeMadman]

I believe he had some clone-babies, raising them up only to be part of his magic. Sitting there in every show, forgetting everything after each trick, implemented with a new character each time. That's very sad :(

[@duxoroxor]

They might require participants to register an account when buying a ticket and store the password un-encrypted.

[@movingsocks579]

Derren is way more important than a Ted Talk

[@firstnamelastname5612]

I've seen this man so many times over my life and it just pisses me off how brilliant some of his observations are. I want them to be fake, I mean they may and truly could be. I think he geniuosly spreads out his appearances on telly and public to keep up his facade. I think he genuinely does pay off people in the audience

[@rethanwilliams]

He doesn't use stooges in the audience. That is absolutely for sure. There are so much more elegant ways to achieve the effects he does without using stooges in the audience. Truly. I say this only because I feel like thinking he pays people off in the audience weakens so much of what he does-and he is an expert in his craft, developing so many things uniquely and fine tuning them incredibly and beautifully that to say he uses plants in the audience weakens what he does to the point of triviality. He spent months coming up with a way to do that without stooges for his "Svengali" tour a few years back, and it is done the same way here. So let it continue to pray you of how brilliant he is. Please. Because it passes me off too.

[@landofthesilverpath5823]

This particular trick has been done for a long time. It's nothing new or original. Or even difficult. You can learn how it's done after searching on Google for 10 minutes .