Magic Tricks

This was my favorite Penguin lecture thus far. Marc is one of Great Britain's top working mentalists and performers - and has been for some time. His repertoire is time tested and honed to perfection.

Marc spent the initial hour with his initial mind blowing effect - and was a powerhouse of knowledge shared. Marc went into the most detail I have yet heard regarding PRE-SHOW work - the psychology, pitfalls, set-up, and proper execution. As good as the effect was (and it really was superb) I personally gained 100x more because Marc explained all those little nuances.

There are many great routines here, but the heart of the 4 hour+ lecture are the gems, diamonds and golden ideas that Marc explains so eloquently. Any aspiring mentalist or Magician will learn a great deal - and the couch session at the end offered some fantastic advice for strolling performers in terms of breaking the ice at corporate events.

I learned a LOT from that man - and I especially liked the sage advice about the at times delicate task of approaching people at corporate gigs - who in many cases are not focused at all on being entertained, but rather networking or interacting with the boss. I can attest like many of you I think to approaching some at corporate venues and one can tell that the spectator's are not always mentally focused on being entertained.

Some of the celebrity stories at the end wrap up on the couch were also fascinating - my favorite being the one involving Peter Stringfellow and his slightly drunken "pal" that made Marc a tad nervous. Stringfellow as I recall was one of the original partners of the Hard Rock in London and also owner of the coolest dance palaces I had ever been to... The Hippodrome.

There were at least 3-4 solid and not too difficult routines that I could see doing - and methods and ideas Marc provided that will be very useful.

The first routine as I said was really a powerhouse. He said that he would never use it as a first routine because of the length, but it was also a fascinating lesson in using PS work and a nice dabble of DR in just the right measures.

Everything taught was well within what I could absorb and use - and the Out Of This World routine (as mentioned by me before and reiterated by moderator Dan Harlan) was quite possibly the best and nearly perfect OOTW yet seen - especially because it is so fair and hands off

Marc said he only lectures maybe 3-4 times a years and mostly to the Magic Circle... so in this lecture he really (as I anticipated and hoped) let loose and elaborated on a wide array of ideas and pet routines.

I also loved hearing about meeting with the great Larry Becker and even an encounter with Jack Nicholson!

The envelope & money effect (PVP - persistent visual persuasion) is 100% going into my stage act - what a powerhouse, so easy, so fun - just perfect.

All in all, this lecture was worth far more than the admission price - and on par with Looch and some of the other great lectures thus far.