In short, I felt his show started strong. After the first three tricks (the first two I liked a lot), it turned into one of the most boring shows I've ever seen.

Sprinkled throughout are several jokes taken from Derren Brown's stage show.

When Derren said the joke, "...that's also the order in which you're gonna die.. if that's of any interest." That was funny.

When Timothy repeated Derren's joke, I cringed. Not funny.

It worked for Derren because it was said at the exact right moment, in the right context.

It's funny when Derren says it because people in London believe Derren is a god. Derren was making fun of that notion.

Also it was funny because Derren had 8 or 9 people lined up in a line ON STAGE. DERREN HAD ARRANGED them in a line, in a certain order.

Timothy just had 4 people in the audience stand up, left them in that order, said, "You'll be 1, you'll be 2, you'll be 3..." and then said the joke."

Of course it was much less funny to me since I knew it was a joke taken from Derren's act.

I'm not strictly opposed stealing jokes, but I'm puzzled why Timothy Krass would take jokes from the most popular act in his own city.

The patrons of his theater show are the same type of people who would've seen Derren's show.

He goes further and tells the person, “You're going to die on a Monday.”
Personally, I think this could be funny. However, something about the way Krass delivers it wasn't funny (IMO).

Furthermore, in the lecture part, he tells a story of a woman he ran into YEARS LATER who told him that she had been living in fear every week because Monday was coming up.

He also mentions a comment he received from a dad whose children were with him. He told the dad that the dad was gonna die on a Monday. The dad wrote to him because after seeing Timothy Krass's show, his children now believed their dad was going to die on a Monday.

I think as performers, this sort of feedback is gold, and we should assume that if one person makes such a comment, a hundred more have thought it but didn't say it out loud.

I'm not an overly sensitive person, and I like dark humor. But I think he should not be telling people they're gonna die on a Monday.

Did Timothy modify his act accordingly based on this feedback? No.
Krass thinks it's funny, so it stays in his act.

I liked the first two effects (though the first effect depends on p__show, which some are opposed to). There is also some instant st______ used starting in the 5th trick, which some performers have misgivings about.

HIS OPENER

The very first effect, his opener, depends on p__show; but it's p__show that is concealed in a clever way of an apparently random selection of the p__showed participant (even though logically, the p__showed participant selected herself).

Virtues of his opener:

-The entire audience is involved in the opener

-It is apparent direct mindreading ("Think of something. You're thinking of XYZ")

-The way Timothy does it, it would NOT be a good closing effect or grand finale. The performer guesses correctly, but it's not astounding. This is intentional so that the act progresses. However, if you do not subscribe to Chuck Hickcock's idea that a mentalism show should start with something believable and end with the unbelievable, then you could easily change the "Think of a number between one and thirty" to something more hard hitting.

I'm still not sure how much this audience selection procedure (which does not look procedural) conceals the p__show, but it might be valuable. It might be the perfect opener (though of course you could say that about most things that use p__show).

HIS SECOND TRICK - The Psychic Pickpocket

I loved this trick. It's not really a mentalism trick (in that the audience does not believe you're reading the on-stage participant's mind), but it's most suitable for a mentalist to perform it.

It's common knowledge that mentalism shows tend to be boring. This really spices up a show with something different. And though it presents a different skillset, it's not really very different (and the script itself highlights the similarities between a mindreader and a pickpocket).

It's also situation comedy, which I think is the funniest comedy.

Krass said he got the idea from Nico Heinrick's book. After seeing this lecture, I spent $12 on The Psychic Pickpocket, and was disappointed that it was not there. Maybe a sentence or two that Krass used, but not the basic idea.

THIRD TRICK

This one was good, nothing groundbreaking. Basically something we've all done when performing close-up. Krass does it on stage.
I personally thought his peek was blatantly obvious, but apparently it flies by. Plus he does it very quickly.

But I think he should have a short line that justifies his gaze. Anything that would give him reason to look down at the billet (which he does).

His comments on audience management and comments are valuable.

4TH - TOSSED OUT DIE

For this trick you'll need a gimmick that costs $1000+.
I have this gimmick, but for a few reasons I won't be doing this effect. I use the gimmick in walk-around performances. It makes sense to have someone "roll the die" until she's happy with the number and cover the die with a napkin.

In Timothy's trick, there are a few problems:

1. Since there's no table, it's not reliable (in my experience). If a participant doesn't hold the die steady, but instead rolls the die around and then merely glances at the number in an instant and then joggles the die around in his/her hand some more, then you don't know which signal is correct.

2. There is absolutely no justification or motivation to use a die. When I do it, I have them roll the die (reason, it's not a loaded die). Then stop when they're happy.

In Timothy's version, after guessing a 2 digit number someone is thinking of (his opener), then guessing a PIN code without a die, he then introduces a die and hands it to people in the audience and tells them to turn the die so that one number is face up.

It feels too much like a dice trick, and not like a mind reading trick. Yes, laypeople DO often come up with the correct explanation. I've heard it several times (before I started having them roll the die). Not sure if they really believe in the explanation, but they often make the comment.

Once I changed from
"Think of a number, then place the die so the number is face up" to
"Roll the die and stop when you're happy," I stopped hearing laypeople correctly guess the real method.

Long story short, the way Krass does this fools only some laypeople.

5TH TRICK - HYPNOSIS

Now that the audience has seen 3 "guess a number" tricks, it's time to do something exciting.

Without a doubt this was the most boring hypnosis presentation I've ever seen, and possibly the most boring mentalism performance I've ever seen.

6TH TRICK - DREAM

Instead of guessing a number, the performer correctly guesses a "dream" (in one word).

The moment he pulled out the Para__d I recognized it.
This point is negligible since laypeople won't recognize it. But I'd still suggest changing the not-quite-ordinary appearance of the pad to something people have clearly seen before.

In the Live Act, you can see Timothy struggle. This is not a bad thing since it can be valuable to see a performer handle a terrified participant.

----

I got a lot out of this, though there were big chunks of it that I felt were a waste of time (especially the hypnosis part...if I were going to see a show, I'd be unhappy with that part--it's neither good mentalism nor good hypnosis).

My favorite thing was the pickpocket effect and my second favorite was the opener.

When I first viewed some of these routines before purchasing the lecture, I assumed that a well-known “controversial” method was used.
When I saw that these routines were being presented in a lecture, I assumed that I was wrong about the method since Penguin doesn’t normally feature acts that rely heavily on this method (I can only think of one or two examples, which used this method less heavily).
It turns out, the “controversial” method was the correct one.

I feel cheated because the advertisement, in my opinion, made it seem like this method wasn’t being used at all or at least very sparingly. If they had been more upfront about this, I very likely wouldn’t have purchased the lecture.

To be clear, I have nothing against the method itself. I use it when I feel it is appropriate. I just wish Penguin would’ve been more upfront about what was being offered, as they basically sold me a couple of routines that were already in my repertoire.

If the advertisement would’ve been honest, I’d likely be giving this 5 stars for the quality of instruction and information being presented. But instead, I find myself very disappointed.

I'm sure many will rag on him for using some high end products, but he does make a point about using them creatively. As he mentioned, I always wonder when someone pays hundreds to even a thousand or more and then uses that product to get the name of a card or a two digit number. It boggles my mind.

Anyway, he is a fun and lively performer with some good combination of ideas.

This is just great!

Timothy provides a complete masterclass in performance and shares the core concepts and routines from the first half of his touring show and boy does it have impact.

I've had the pleasure of seeing parts of this act live on several occasions and it plays incredibly well so to hear all of the methods, concepts, subtleties and other performance aspects of this act is just great.

Not only are the routines interesting but they are solid and really powerful pieces of great mentalism.

If you're considering this act, it's more than worth the price so you'll be doing yourself a favour!

I just finished watching both the act and explanation. I can already see myself returning to this act very often. I was blown away with the attention to detail Timothy put into this act. As he explains, this is material comes from his actual show. The act is built in a way that is both lighthearted and entertaining. Beyond that, this material is fantastic and worthy of all attention I'm sure it will get.

I highly suggest picking this up and just watching how he interacts with the participants. You can tell they are having fun and are engaged- something you don't always see in mind reading shows. Beyond that, you will learn some great ideas for your own work. This is already one of my favorite acts and my favorite purchase in a very long time.

Mentalism lectures can get tediously boring when it’s a string of effects and explanations without the WHY. Timothy’s lecture is a breath of fresh air. There is much more to this Live act than the tricks. His approach is original and a reminder that mentalism isn’t all about a series of unrelated tricks. He elevates effects to a level of performance art, which I appreciate.

There’s a lot to be learned here not just from the performance, but the interview as well. And some really good tips about peeks too.

Everyone interested in mentalism as well as hypnosis should have a look at this lecture.It suits for both beginners and advanced people.He also explains the hypnosis suggestibility tests and the psychology behind it.So far the updated lecture for both mentalism and hypnosis.Learn from the best European mentalism.Dnt miss this chance

Can't say enough about this fantastic lecture. Timothy was incredibly generous with his material and knowledge. You can tell, this is a guy who's performed this act countless times. Everything he does is so well thought out and beautifully constructed. I enjoyed the effects, but beyond that, I enjoyed hearing his thoughts, his experiences, and his passion for presenting memorable, impactful and meaningful mentalism. I learned so much - thank you "Timothy"!

I enjoyed this alot, Timone gave alot of information and the effects were very strong and engaging. The speed of his P**KS are insane, that was worth the price alone. I really enjoyed seeing he work on p** S*** and how he handled it. This demonstrated the ability to get 'hits' for free and very little work on your behalf, well done whatever I'm meant to refer to you as!!

Nice intelligent and entertaining presentation
Great flow and interesting background prep details that everyone should consider
Very enjoyable and a lot of ideas to incorporate into my routines