-We are joined right now by a very talented man.
He is a psychological illusionist.
His new show "Derren Brown: Secret" is currently playing
on Broadway at the Court Theater.
Please welcome Derren Brown!
♪♪
[ Cheers and applause ] -No, no, don't --
-No, I would know -- I'm not touching you.
I don't want to touch your hand. I don't want to do anything.
'Cause I know the way this works. Don't touch him.
-I think you have to. -No, 'cause he --
he slaps me on the back, next thing you know
I've got a card sticking to my back.
-This is true. -And I've seen this happen.
I don't have it, right? -No. Not yet. No, no.
-I don't have anything. I'm not messing with you, man.
I've never -- I didn't even meet you before the show.
-No. We haven't spoken. We haven't set anything up.
That's important. Thank you for having me on.
-I'm so happy you're here. -Oh, this is amazing. Thank you.
The show secret -- I read minds and influence people.
This is what I do.
I don't believe in any kind of psychic ability.
So I thought I would explain to you how I do it.
Alright. Using these, I have here a bunch of guests.
These are guests from your show. Great guests over the years.
And some of my favorite moments.
I want you each to take one out.
Take out one of these pictures and keep hold of it.
Remember who it is, but don't let each other
see who you've picked. Alright?
-Okay. -But remember who you've got.
Remember what they look like in the picture,
as well as their name, obviously.
-Yep. -But don't let each other see.
Alright, make sense? -Yeah.
Can we show it to the audience? Or just hold it to ourselves?
-Just keep them to yourself for moment.
I'll look away while you take one each. Take one each.
We're going to play a version of "Guess Who?"
-You do -- you go first. -Remember "Guess Who?"
You have this game here, right? -Yeah.
[ Cheers and applause ] -Good, good.
So flip and find face game.
Normally you think of one of 24 androgynous cartoon faces.
Someone has to guess which one your thinking of
by asking yes or no questions. Right? So have you done it?
Have you taken one each? -Yes.
-Okay, thank you. You didn't go for the one
that I showed you at the beginning?
-No. -because that would be too easy.
Alright, okay. -No, I wouldn't --
-So remember the face, remember who it is. Yeah, you got one?
-Yes. -Okay, doesn't matter as much.
Okay, lovely, put it back in for me somewhere.
-Yeah. -Remember who it is.
Remember the face. -Yes.
-And remember the name. -Yes.
-I want you to do the same for me. In there somewhere.
Any way you like. Good, good. So tell me --
-These are all a-listers. Big famous people.
-Yeah, yeah, I'll show you. Come around here for me.
There's a -- can I put you here, Quest, and you there, Jimmy.
-Yeah, thank you. -So look.
These are great guests from the show. We've got Brad Pitt.
-Yes. -We have
Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. -Yes.
-There's Tom, there's Will. Harrison Ford with his glasses.
These are all, hopefully, guests that you'll have
a strong emotional memory of from the shows, right?
-Yes, remember all these. -I hope so.
[ Laughter ] I hope so. Otherwise I'm stuck.
Alright, good. Okay, good. So let's start with you, Quest.
Put your hand on my shoulder there.
[ Laughter ] -There you go. Yep.
-And think of the person, whoever it is.
Could you take that hand out of your pocket?
Make sure you're facing the front. Just --
I'll ask you a series of questions
about the person you're thinking of.
Answers are just in your head. Just still --
relax your elbow a little. And just think yes or no.
[ Laughter ] But say nothing out loud.
Alright? So it's just thinking in your head,
yes or no, say nothing out loud. Alright.
And do you remember which person you're thinking of?
Which one it was? Don't nod your head either.
That will also give it away.
Just keep an absolute poker face.
[ Laughter ] I think that we'll have a game
of poker later on you'll be good. Alright.
I shall let go for a second. Can you see me alright
without your glasses on? -Sure.
-Could you take them off for a second?
Perhaps ask yourself why you're wearing them? Thank you.
I'm just going to put those there for a minute.
[ Laughter ]
Waste of time and money, I think. Alright.
[ Laughter ] Alright, just --
just loosen your elbow up.
And roll up to the shoulder. That's great, thanks.
Very nice to meet you, by the way.
I didn't say hello properly. Nice to meet you.
Look at me now and sleep. I've got you.
[ Laughter ]
Just drift down into that state, my boy.
Just there on the center of your head floating around you.
That's good. All I want to do
is just make you a little easier to read.
[ Laughter ]
I'm just going to open up your natural signals a little.
And the way to do it is just to imagine a rippling
that starts right in the very center of you.
And, Quest, that rippling expands out from your core,
out of the center, amplifying all of your
natural signals making you a little easier to read.
That's perfect.
You are doing this perfectly as it reaches your skin.
[ Laughter ] It continues out
through your skin into the air around you.
Just amplifying and extending these signals
making you easier to read. Now take a moment.
And then take all the time that you need
to slowly come back to us. Don't fall over.
You can stand up straight. And slowly wake up. Take a second.
It's quite nice, isn't it? -Sure.
-Yeah. [ Light laughter ]
Glasses back on. We'll try that again.
Put your hand on my shoulder.
That's better. That's much better. Thank you. Alright.
Okay. Take half a step in. First question.
Remember, just think the answers, nothing out loud.
The person you were thinking of, is it a man? Were you -- yes.
So that's another yes, all right. So that's a yes.
So I can turn over the women, right?
So we know it's not a woman.
Is it somebody with fair hair? Somebody with fair-colored hair?
Alright. What about do they look --
do they look vegan, if you were just guessing?
Off the top of your head? Oh, no, Justin, Justin Timberlake?
-Oh, no, yeah. -Yes.
-It was, yeah. -It was.
Amazing, great, fantastic. [Cheers and applause ]
♪♪
You terrified me for moment. I think you forgot.
Okay, come here for me. -Yeah.
-Come here. [ Laughter ]
We'll do it a little bit differently. This time --
-Yeah. -I want you to also remember
what side of the table? No, we're doing it differently.
-No, we're doing it differently, yeah.
-Alright, so have a look. But also remember,
what side of the table they're on as well, okay?
-Okay, sure, yeah. -Alright, so I'm not looking.
-Yeah. -So the first question I'll ask
you is what side they're on. -Yeah.
-And then come and stand here for me.
-Okay, good. Do I tell you -- Alright.
-No, no, don't say anything for the moment. Just face me.
Have a little bounce, loosen up. [ Laughter ]
Get rid of any unwanted nervous energy. Great, okay.
If that's at all possible. And close your eyes.
And just think of the person. -Okay.
-Just think of the person. -Yeah, yeah.
-Alright, Quest, I'm going to be asking you to turn them over
as we go along here, alright? -Okay.
-Okay. [ Laughter ]
First person, first question. Was the face --
and the answers are just in your head, nothing out loud.
You've just got to think the answer.
Alright, you think the answer, nothing out loud.
[ Laughter ] Try not to give anything away.
[ Laughter ]
Oh, God. Alright.
Was the face on the right hand side of the table?
Was it on the right hand side of the table?
Okay, just going to give that a second to set in.
Now, Quest, you can see his breathing has shifted up here,
right? There's tension around the jaw.
Any sign of tension is going to be a yes answer.
Alright, 'cause when it's a no, we kind of --
we think we're off the hook, so we tend to relax.
So that tells me yes, it's somebody on
the right hand side of the table.
And the smirk is confirming it for me.
[ Laughter ] So could you turn over
all the ones on the left?
Turn over all the ones on the left for me.
Alright. Next question.
Imagine this person just as they are
in the picture walks up to you, says hello, you say hello.
They take off their glasses. And you -- thank you.
Turn over Harrison Ford.
I think he's the only one on that side wearing glasses.
Turn over Harrison Ford for me. [ Laughter ]
Next question.
When they were on the show, did you just lose it?
Did you laugh so much that you -- I can't even --
just had to stop the show?
Did you laugh so much you had to stop the show?
Okay. Bradley Cooper you can turn over
and Kristen Wiig as well.
Which leaves three, I think.
I'll get it in one more. Final question.
Be honest. Be honest.
You have a massive, massive crush on this person.
[ Laughter ]
[ Light applause ]
[ Laughter ] Oh, God.
It's one of two and I don't know. I'll ask you again.
Do you have a massive crush on them?
Just think your answer. Turn over Nicole Kidman.
-Whoa. [ Laughter ]
-And Justin Timberlake. [ Laughter ]
Come on, don't open your eyes. Pick up the last one.
Hold it against your chest. Don't let anybody see for now.
Okay. Open your eyes for me, Jimmy.
-Yeah. -Open your eyes.
Keep that hidden. Can I -- pen and paper? Thank you.
Can you write down the name of the person?
Great big clear letters. -Yes.
Are you listening to the squeaks?
-No, no, I'm done, I'm done. I'm committed. I'm really --
-I'm going to add extra squeaks just so you can hear it.
[ Laughter ] -Oh, yeah, no, good, good.
Write your squeaks. -Squeaks.
-I genuinely -- this person -- I have no idea
if I got this right or not now.
But I'm hoping it's the last person.
-There you go. -Excellent squeaking.
-Thank you. -Alright, one person left.
Turn it round. Show it to everybody. And see who it was.
Turn it around. Yep. Barack Obama.
Who are you -- turning around. [ Cheers and applause ]
♪♪
-I'll hug you now. I'll hug you now.
-Wow. -Derren Brown, everybody!
[ Cheers and applause ]
For tickets to his show, check out derrenbrownsecret.com.