In the Spotlight by Christopher Carter

I have been waiting for this book for a long time. I’ve been a huge fan of Christopher Carter since his first Penguin lecture. He is clearly a working pro and shared some really amazing routines in that lecture. His second Penguin lecture was just as good as his first (which is rare.) I’ve since watched several videos of his online, and what is clear is that he is a true worker with his real world routines that he has been using for decades. Any time a real working pro is willing to share their repertoire, you should leap at the opportunity to learn from them.

I’ve got a lot to discuss, so let’s jump right in. During the review, I’ll indicate if the routine has been taught before by writing “PL1” to indicate that it was taught in his first Penguin lecture and “PL2” to indicate it was taught in his second Penguin lecture.

Section One - Playing the Part

A Kiss On The Hand - Five women sit on stage. All the men in the audience are asked to think of the first person they kissed. One man is chosen to be the transmitter. He comes on stage and is given a piece of paper and a pen and asked to write the name of the person he’s thinking of and crumble the paper into a ball. While he’s doing this, the performer gets four other names from men in the audience which are written on similar papers, crumbled into a ball, and dropped in a bag. The guy on stage also drops his paper in the bag with the others and they are mixed up. The women each reach their hand in the bag, grab one ball, and hold it in their outstretched hand. The “transmitter” man is given a white board and is asked to stand behind the women. He writes the name he is thinking of on the board and doesn’t show anyone. He imagines lifting the lady’s hand to his hand to kiss. As he does, one lady’s hand on stage begins to rise. Eventually she reads off the name on her paper and it is exactly the name the man has been thinking of. 

This is a really clever combination of principles. The routine is visually striking (rare for mentalism) and it’s easy to do from a technical standpoint. It takes some work as a showman to ensure a lady’s hand rises because it is suggestion-based, but with the social pressure and confidence of the performer, I’m certain you’ll get a hand rising. Christopher describes the routine exactly as he used to perform it, but he does mention that for modern audiences, you’d want to tweak it a little to not assume sexual orientation.

Thinking About Reveals - This is an essay on thinking about how the reveals make your character feel and what it feels like to read minds. This is the difference between presenting a skill for the audience to clap at and connecting with the audience on an emotional level so that they can’t help but react. 

Scrabble Memories (PL2) - The mentalist asks five people each to remove a Scrabble tile from a bag filled with them. He asks them to concentrate on the first word that pops into their mind that begins with that letter. Then he asks them to use that word to free-associate a memory from their past, something detailed and personal to them. Once each is concentrating on a memory, the mentalist begins to describe the memories in detail. 

This is a great routine and it’s actually slightly different than what was taught in his Penguin lecture. I don’t know which version is the newest, but I prefer the version from the book. The Penguin lecture features a first phase that involves revealing a free associate an audience member makes, but this book doesn’t mention that phase. I’m glad because I thought that was a weak point in the routine. You will have to buy a few things to do the trick, but what you end up with is a really lovely routine that feels like pure mind reading with nothing written down.

Tossed Out Deck (PL1) - A spectator is given a deck of cards to shuffle before the show. They join the performer on stage and think of a card. The performer shows how he is able to read their tells. The deck is wrapped in rubber bands and tossed to three different people in the audience who each think of a card in the deck. The performer then reveals details about each of their cards and ends by naming all four cards correctly to thunderous applause. 

This is a really great take on the Tossed Out Deck. The method is a “basic” method, but his subtleties and staging make it play much better and cancel out the method in really great ways. If you’re doing the TOD, you’d be crazy to not at least consider adding these points to your routine. Christopher used this to open his shows for years, and you can feel that in the details. I’ve never loved the TOD routine, but I love this one. I was a little annoyed reading the method because there were several errors. It seems like it was written up with one bank of force card and later changed so every now and then the wrong cards are referenced and at one point it seems a sentence got duplicated so it doesn't make sense, but I’m willing to overlook those things since the routine is so good.

Ten Card Mental Selection - A spectator is given a deck of cards to shuffle before the show. They join the performer on stage and think of a card. The performer shows how he is able to read their tells and eventually names their card. Nine more people join the performer on the stage and each is given a small packet of cards from the deck. They each think of a card in their packet and the cards are collected and put away by the volunteers. The performer then rattles off tells as each of the volunteers give them. He accurately reveals about half of their cards one at a time and ends by revealing the remaining half all at once. 

This is like the tossed out deck on steroids. It involves ten people and fills the stage with just a deck of cards. Again, the multiple methods used cancel each other out and make it seem totally legit. It also builds nicely and feels like a play in three acts with each one getting more impossible. It will take some practice to get it down, but Christopher has tried to make it as easy as possible so that it’s not so much memorization as it is using logic. I want to learn this and use it. 

When Opportunity Strikes - A small wrinkle to add to the invisible deck that allows you to predict the thought of card AND the card they decided to change it from. 

This doesn’t work 100% of the time, but if you set your invisible deck up in this way, you can be ready “when opportunity strikes.” Christopher says it works way more than you’d expect. Almost 50% of the time. You might as well set it up to use in this way. You have nothing to lose. 

Section Two - Sweet Nothings

Emotion in Motion - Two spectators think of emotions from stacks of index cards. An audience member reads out the emotions and the performer stops them on one. It is the one that one of the onstage spectators is thinking of. The person in the audience continues flipping through the emotions on the index cards, this time without calling them out. The performer stops them on one emotion. It matches the emotion of the remaining onstage helper. 

This is a routine you can do if you are in a situation where none of your props make it to a venue. It just uses 20 index cards (or business cards) and something to write with. It takes a classic card routine and turns it on its head so that it feels like real mind reading. I know I would have been fooled by this if I saw it even though I’m familiar with the basic method. He also has a really clever way to do the dirty work in a way that is completely invisible and logical. Christopher is a pro with his staging; again, this simple trick plays really big. 

Crime Solver - Under the pretense of solving a fictional crime, four people are brought onto the stage. A dollar is borrowed from the audience and crumbled into a ball. The ball is mixed amongst the four people on stage without the performer looking. The one with the ball is the liar. They all put their hands behind their back and the performer questions each one. He eventually finds the liar and the other three are sent back to their seats. Now the mentalist asks 10 people to stand in the audience and numbers them 0-9. The onstage spectator opens the crumbled bill, looks at the first number of the serial number, and memorizes the person associated with that number. The mentalist now eliminates those standing “guess who” style until only remains. It is the one the spectator was thinking of. For the finale, a digital voice recorder is removed from the audience and the voice recording describes the person on stage and the person in the audience in great detail. 

What a unique routine. Once again, it packs small (you only bring a voice recorder) and plays massively. I didn’t mention much of the “crime” plot above, but that plot ties all of these things together in a nice and neat way that gives it some coherence. At its heart, it’s a way to force two people, but it feels much bigger than that. It’s basically self-working which means your full focus can be on performing. 

Free-Association Serial-Number Divination - Eight people are brought on stage. A bill is borrowed from the audience and the eight people on stage each memorize one digit of the serial number. After doing some free association with random numbers, the mentalist goes down the row and names each thought of number correctly. 

This is another masterclass in how a traditionally small effect can play big with some thought. This is a classic serial number divination, but now it fills the stage. It’s proof that mentalism can indeed play to large crowds with no need for large props. 

GeoPsycho (PL2) - The mentalist shows a small stack of business cards, each of which has a different geometric shape drawn upon it. He asks his participant to concentrate on two of those shapes and then to use their imagination to combine those images in their mind so that they form a picture of something that would exist in the real world. Then he asks them to concentrate on that picture but add detail to it so that it's as vivid as possible in their mind. The mentalist is able to duplicate that picture psychically, including the details, without the helper ever drawing it.

This is a simple idea to force an image on someone. Christopher teaches the main method and two variations on it. He describes it as a one-on-one performance with a 99% success rate and then explains how he uses it on stage to guarantee a hit 100% of the time. He claims with over a thousand performances in this way, he’s never missed. I think the idea is solid, I just personally wish the image would be more unique. The final reveal is of a house, and I think most people would assume that’s what everyone draws. I understand that the force should eliminate that thought, but I still just think it’s a bit of a boring drawing to reveal. Maybe I’m just jaded.

Section Three - Threat of Danger

Watch Monte - On your table you have four lunch-size paper bags, each folded shut at the top. You invite a helper up from the audience, hand her your watch, and ask her to step behind the table. While your back is turned, you have the spectator open any of those bags, remember which number is on their bag, remove the lightbulb, and place the watch into the bag where the bulb used to be. Next, they close the bag and shuffle them all around. Finally, they place the bags on the stage floor in numerical order, with the numbers facing toward the audience. While turned away, you ask your helper questions such as “is it in bag #1” and they  are instructed to always say “no.” Just by listening to the sound of their voice, you instruct them to crush three specific bags. The one that is spared does indeed contain your watch.

This is a clever take on Russian roulette that feels “real.” No one is put in danger; instead, the performer’s nice watch is on the line. The method is solid and fooling and is totally hands off. As a bonus, it cleans up itself as the spectator steps on the bags to smash what’s inside. 

Twice as Nice Dangerous Chairs - A 50/50 Russian roulette style game done twice by sitting on paper bags. First the performer takes the risk, then the spectator. However, you won’t find any spikes or knives here and the spectator is never in harm’s way. 

This is a great way to build a 50/50 selection into a showpiece. The objects used are unique and memorable, and the method is interesting. I’ve never seen this used quite like this. Some may find it a little bold, but I could see how well it would work in the right space. I find the idea of sitting on the object more intriguing than the traditional hand slap. His reasoning for why he doesn’t really like the classic Russian roulette trick makes perfect sense, and I agree with his logic. Essentially, he thinks it’s a little silly to assume a performer is putting their life on the line every single night–clearly there’s a trick. But if it’s actually a believable consequence, it seems a little more legitimate. 

Staple Gun Roulette (PL1) - A person in the audience freely distributes four staple guns to four people on stage. Three are loaded with staples and the fourth is empty. The audience member then freely distributes four index cards with instructions to each of the four people on stage. The index cards tell them to either staple their paper into a foam board or into the performer’s hand. Luckily, the one gun pressed into the performer's hand is unloaded. 

Clearly it’s another Russian roulette routine. This one uses a little bit of dual reality, but I think the method will still fool everyone involved. By using dual reality, you gain freedom of choice. The spectator in the audience really does have a genuinely free choice of where each staple gun goes and where each index card goes. Christopher uses staple guns because it feels like a real risk he would actually be willing to take IE: it would hurt like hell, but it wouldn’t kill you if you failed. 

Section Four - Further Undue Influence

Horse Fly (PL1) - A spectator sits on an envelope. As the mentalist flips through a book, the spectator calls stop and remembers the page number and a word on that page. A prediction is revealed which predicts the page number and selected word. But the real kicker is when they open to the selected page, it is missing from the book having been clearly torn out. They look in the envelope they are sitting on and discover the missing page.

This was one of the standout routines in his first Penguin lecture. I loved everything about it then, and I still love it. The description above may just read like a normal Pegasus Page, but Christopher’s presentation makes it very different. He has a VIP get involved before the show to buy the book, choose a page and word, and tear the page from the book. Their job is to transmit the thought to the onstage participant. You can only imagine the type of reaction this gets. Take whatever a normal Pegasus page gets and at least double it. It’s so clever and seems utterly impossible. Importantly, it doesn’t feel like a magic trick. It feels like some kind of hypnosis or an incredible ability to make someone hallucinate.

Three Monkeys - Three audience members are recruited and seated in chairs. They are asked to close their eyes. Once their eyes are closed, the mentalist places a sign on each of three easels standing behind the seated helpers. The first sign reads "See No Evil" The second sign reads "Speak No Evil." And the third sign reads "Hear No Evil." The mentalist next taps each helper on the head and assigns them the numbers one, two, and three, respectively. To number one he says, "When I say 'go,' cover your eyes with your hands." To number two he says, “When I say 'go,' cover your mouth with your hands." And to number three, he says, "When I say 'go,' cover your ears with your hands." Each of these instructions matches the signage behind the spectators, making it easy for the audience to see and remember the actions the helpers are to perform, but the helpers themselves are facing away from the signs and have their eyes closed. The mentalist next mixes up the signs on the easels behind the volunteers. Each sign ends up in a fresh location, and more importantly, since the volunteers' eyes are closed, there is no way they could know the new locations of the signs. Incredibly, when the mentalist says "go," each volunteer performs the action appropriate for the new sign behind him.

This took a bit of space to describe, but that’s because the effect is a little muddy to me. I understand the effect, but I’m not totally sure what it’s supposed to demonstrate. It’s a clever take on an older method, but I don’t love the routine as a whole. I think it’s one of the weakest in the book. 

Digital Prediction (PL2) - This is a technique that allows you to reveal an audio prediction of something from your show even though the organizer has held onto the voice recorder hours, days, or weeks in advance. 

It does exactly what it’s supposed to. The best part is that you don’t need any special gadgets or gizmos to do it, but it does require a certain clothing restriction because you just wear a suit jacket to get the most out of it. But if that’s part of your look, this is a great way to secretly ring in a voice recorder that has apparently been held in advance. 

Guitar Hero - Five spectators are brought on stage and a stack of index cards is introduced. On each index card is a popular song. A spectator reads out all of the titles to confirm they are all different. The index cards are mixed and distributed amongst the five volunteers, and each thinks of a song from one of their index cards. Each person then “plays” their song on an imaginary instrument, and the mentalist successfully names each song. 

This is a very unique method that takes the concept of the princess card and applies the clever concept of having the participants “play” their instruments. The funny thing is, the way they act out their song truly does let you know what song they are playing. It would take memory work or a crib to use successfully. Christopher says he uses a crib because he’s constantly changing the songs to stay relevant. 

Section Five - Q&A

You Read Minds, Not Papers - An essay on the truth behind the phrase “it doesn’t matter how you get the information; what matters is how you deliver the information.” His take is that audiences absolutely care how you get the information AND they care about how you deliver it. 

The Challenge of the Q&A Act - An essay on how to deliver the information in a Q&A act. 

This is what I’ve been waiting on from Christopher. It is his toolbox of techniques he uses to make the delivery of written information seem like you’re reading minds and not paper. When I saw a video of Christopher’s Q&A act, I was blown away. I thought he HAD to be using preshow. He was revealing things that were unwritten and only thought about. How could he possibly do that? The information here explains exactly how. This is the most important chapter in the book. It is gold. It’s so good that I don’t even want to say more about it so that hopefully people gloss over how valuable this chapter is. It’s the most practical explanation of feeding back information I’ve ever read.

Section Six - Playing Big

Something Out of Nothing - An essay on how to perform as a mentalist with few props in a way that feels big. He likens mentalism to radio. The conditions have to be heard with clarity because in mentalism, the “magic” happens in the minds of the audience. 

Miracle (PL1) - Seven people stand on stage. Three of them mix up a stack of laminated, giant letter cards and then mix them face up and face down. The first seven facedown cards are distributed to the people on stage, and the performer never looks their way. The performer begins to read the minds of those on stage and announces the letters they hold one by one, ultimately spelling the word “miracle” without ever even glancing toward the people on stage. 

This is Christopher’s take on a classic card trick. He has changed the props and premise to bring the trick out of the realm of magic and into the realm of mind reading. Again, it packs small but fills the entire stage. (I’m beginning to see a pattern emerge in his work.)

Ring Tone (PL1) - The audience writes down their phone number on a piece of paper. The papers are collected and one is chosen by a random audience member. That number is entered into their phone so that when asked, they can hit the call button. Everyone who wrote a phone number stands and the performer asks people to sit until only one is standing. The person who has dialed the number is asked to press the call button. Incredibly, one phone starts to ring and it belongs to the one person who is left standing in the audience. As a kicker, a voice recorder is removed and shown to have predicted exactly what that person would be wearing.

This is a lovely take on the classic plot of finding someone in the audience. If you’ve never done one of these routines before, it is electric. The audience standing is in full anticipation and they can’t help but hang off of your every word as you slowly eliminate people until only one remains. It instantly gets the entire crowd involved, and everyone feels like they are part of the show. There are two versions taught. One requires a very light version of preshow (really just handing out a few pieces of paper before you begin) and one is done fully in the moment. The kicker of the recording is one of those weird things that doesn’t make logical sense because if you knew what she was wearing, why go through the charade of whittling people down? But audiences don’t really care about that in the moment; they just react with shock.

The Broom and The Watch (PL1) - A broom is balanced on an overturned paper cup on a table. A watch is borrowed, the time noted, and held by a spectator. The performer begins to move the broom with the power of his mind. Imagining that the broom represents the hand of the watch, the broom moves about twenty-five minutes and eventually it falls off the cup completely. The spectator looks at the watch in their hand, and the time has now moved forward twenty-five minutes.

I have mixed feelings about this one. Clearly it has been a worker for Christopher for a long time. It is a super visual piece that is, as Christopher describes it, like a mentalism stage illusion. However, smart watches are becoming more and more common making it more difficult to perform the psychokinetic watch routine, and this routine requires you to have something on your person, and I can foresee that creating some unexpected “effects” if you’re not really careful. It’s a smart idea, and like I said, clearly a worker for Christopher, but I would never use it for the reasons stated above.

Section Seven - Mentalism Adjacent

Mind Vs Magic - An essay that attempts to answer the question, “Can a performer successfully blend magic and mentalism?”

Endless Chain Prediction - Several rounds of the classic “endless chain” game are played building an imaginary vacation along the way. At the end, a prediction is revealed that describes the exact imaginary vacation.

This is a great example of taking something that is traditionally used as a magic trick or “gotcha” type game and transforming it into a piece of mentalism. The idea of using this game that you saw on your own vacation sets the stage beautifully and ties it all together. The Endless Chain is already a fun hook that audiences really enjoy, so tying a prediction onto that is like icing on the cake. This is one of the rare pieces from the book that is meant to be performed as a closeup piece. He doesn’t actually teach the method to the Endless Chain so you’ll have to do that research on your own.

The Story of Jack Spade, New Age Detective (PL2) - Christopher’s story deck.

If you know Jack the Bellhop or the other various story decks that have come out in the past, this is Christopher’s take on that with the premise of finding a selected card by finding all the cards that are NOT the selected card. It is the only trick in the book that is purely a magic trick with no mentalism flair. Like most story decks, it’s a stacked deck and some false cuts. It’s not my cup of tea, but I know many magicians out there use story decks and find them really entertaining.

Section Eight - Billets

Some Thoughts on Paper About Thoughts on Paper - An essay on the relevance of billets. Christopher’s view is that they have LITERALLY been used to start religions, so why do so many performers shy away from them?

The Expectation of Gaze - An essay on how important when you get your peek is. Audiences expect your gaze to be in a certain place, and if your gaze doesn’t match their expectation, they will be suspicious. For this reason, he doesn’t like “real time” billet peeks that happen as you tear the billet.

A Variation on Richardson’s Business Card Center Tear - Christopher takes Barrie Richardson’s real time billet tear and adjusts it slightly to be used as a “read later” peek which Christopher prefers. 

Christopher makes a strong argument for peeking later instead of during the tearing action. This small adjustment to the tear makes that possible. The tear is easy to do, looks completely natural, and most importantly, can be done without ever looking at your hands. I really like this.

The "Sight Unseen Case" Steal (PL2) - Applying a similar logic as above, Christopher teaches his handling of the SUC peek which transforms it into a “read later” peek instead of having to read the peek as you put the wallet away. He discusses two different times you could get the peek.

It’s a nice, simple approach that makes me feel “why didn’t I think of that?”

Pet Names - A “sneak thief” style routine with four women and their pet names utilizing the SUC Steal.

Putting the SUC Steal into the context of the sneak thief/Desire trick makes it just about perfect. It certainly adds to the traditional approach because it allows the final card to be put away at the very beginning so there is seemingly no opportunity for a peek. Honestly, I think I’ll start using this method for sneak thief going forward.

Double Designs - A spectator makes a drawing on a business card and it gets left in a wallet. A stack of business cards is shown to contain multiple geometric shapes and another audience member chooses two shapes and creates an image in their mind. The performer is able to duplicate both drawings.

This combines the SUC Steal with GeoPsycho for a strong two phase drawing duplication. I know earlier I said I wasn’t a big fan of GeoPsycho, but in this context, I think it’s great. My biggest complaint was that it forces a house which is such a common image. Well in this routine, you reveal that common image first, and then you can reveal a more unique image that the other spectator drew. It works well as the first phase to set up for the second.

Three Billet Routine (PL1) - Three women write down the name of their first crush on a billet. The three billets get dropped in the performer’s pocket and mixed by an audience member. The performer removes a billet and is able to determine whose crush it is by assessing their body language. Another billet is removed. This time it is handed to an audience member who unfolds it and calls out the name; the performer just uses audio clues to determine whose crush it is. The last woman removes the last billet from the performer’s pocket and holds onto it. The performer eventually correctly determines the name of that woman’s crush.

This is another routine that absolutely killed me during his penguin lecture. It’s so simple, but it is really deceptive, and I couldn’t help but be impressed by the way the routine comes together. Christopher set himself a challenge to come up with a billet routine that could be done in even the largest of venues, and this fits the bill. I think it’s a perfect routine. I cannot fault it.

Section Nine - Bonus Routine

Eyeless In Chicago - As the book describes it, “The mentalist is blindfolded by two volunteers, then proceeds to read the minds of multiple audience members.”

This is Christopher’s blindfold method and a few tried and true techniques he uses in his blindfold act to ensure that a peek isn’t even considered. What a freaking treat it is that he is sharing it with us because I think it’s fantastic. I’m glad this chapter was presented as a bonus and has no fanfare about it. I think many readers could miss just how much gold is shared in these last 20 pages.

Overall, I give this book my highest recommendation. I have very few books that I consider the best of the best that I will never part with. This is one of those books. The routines are ALL workable and practical. It’s cliche to say, but you can literally create a working repertoire just out of the material in this book, and you’d have a great show. There isn’t a single routine that is a pipe dream or filler. It’s clear these have been road-tested and tweaked from thousands of performances. I am so thankful we have pros like Christopher who are willing to share their work.

Available for $80 at the link below:

https://www.penguinmagic.com/p/21728