Parlor mentalism show in Los AngelesOne moment where the whole room watches the same impossible thing.
Add this to a strolling set and your party gets a centerpiece. Once I’ve made the rounds, everyone gathers at one end of the room for twenty minutes they’ll all have seen together, which makes it the perfect lead-in to a toast. It’s the bit people describe to whoever couldn’t make it.
What it is
“Parlor” is the old word for it and I still think it’s the right one. Before magic moved onto big stages, it was performed at one end of somebody’s drawing room for an audience close enough to see the performer’s hands. The Magic Castle is basically a building full of rooms like that. Mentalism does well in them, since everyone can see I’m not hiding anything.
Several people from the room end up in it. Thoughts get read, choices get predicted, and by the end the whole room has seen the same impossible thing at the same time, which is a different feeling from hearing about it secondhand.
I ask for volunteers, I never pull anyone up, and the people who help come out of it looking good. That matters to me. I’ve seen too many acts get their laughs off whoever was unlucky enough to sit in front.
When people add it
At a dinner party, between the main course and dessert. At a milestone birthday, right before the toast, which hands whoever’s giving the toast a warmed-up room. At team offsites and client dinners in a private dining room. And at rehearsal dinners, where the two families could use something to laugh about together.
What the room needs
- Audience
- About 15 to 80 people, sitting or standing close.
- Length
- Around twenty minutes.
- Space
- A clear spot at one end of the room, maybe six feet wide.
- Sound
- Nothing for a small room. One microphone if there are more than 50 of you or the venue is noisy.
- Light
- Normal room light. People need to see my face and hands.
- Timing
- After people have eaten, before the dancing or the serious drinking.
Questions about the parlor show
How long is it?
Around twenty minutes. That’s about how long a room that’s had a couple of drinks will stay completely with you, and I’d rather stop while they want more.
How many people can watch?
It’s built for somewhere between fifteen and eighty people in one room. Everybody needs to be able to see my hands and hear me without a PA. Past fifty or so, or in a loud restaurant, one microphone helps.
Can we book just the parlor show?
Sure, for a dinner party or a small gathering. For most events I think the combination is better. I work the room while people arrive, and then we do the show once everyone’s settled and has met me already.
Do you do a full stage show?
No, and I’d rather tell you that now. I’m a close-up and parlor performer. If you need forty-five minutes on a stage for four hundred seated people, I’m the wrong guy, and I can point you to a couple of people who are very good at that.
Tell me about your party and I’ll call you.
I’d rather talk for ten minutes than trade six emails. I’ll ask about the crowd and the timing, tell you what I’d do, and give you a price before we hang up. You don’t have to decide on the call.
Sets start at $700.