Oz the Mentalist Breaks Hasan’s Brain

(soft piano music) - Lemonade. - Thanks for listening to Hussam Minhaj Doesn't Know. Listen to and follow Hussam Minhaj Doesn't Know add free on Amazon Music or just ask Alexa. Alexa, play the podcast Hussam Minhaj Doesn't Know on Amazon Music. Also with Amazon Music Unlimited, you can now listen to your favorite music, podcasts and audio books, all in the Amazon Music app. Listen to Hussam Minhaj Doesn't Know on Amazon Music. - I'm open and down. - For everything. - What the (beep) is long, is it is not involving anything that is satanic? That's a witch. That is wicked, cultish or ghosts. I respect ghosts, but I do not (beep) with the undead. - I'm fine with that. - Okay, got it. - You know, I watch the hard-hitting questions you ask. Like, Alex Honnell, when he takes dumps, and I need that same level of question for me. - Okay, good. - Where do I take dumps during mentalism shows? I'm not allowed to tell you. - Mentalist Ose Pearlman has been blowing minds across the country for years, and by the end of this interview, I was convinced I was talking to a wizard. I have no idea. None! How he got in my head and learned what he did. - How are you doing this emotional pap smear on me? - Now, if you haven't heard of Ose yet, you will soon, because he's about to tackle his toughest challenge yet. He is getting inside the clenched fist of fire ants that is the brain of Donald Trump. Ose is hosting this year's White House Correspondence Dinner, which Trump is attending for the first time since Seth Meyers publicly humiliated him in 2011, and possibly set off a chain of events that end civilization. So as a former White House Correspondence Dinner host, I gave Ose some tips on how to handle the gig. - You're dealing with C-SPAN camera operators. - Oh. - So these people are geriatric. - I know. - I tried to get him to tell me the secret behind David Copperfield's greatest trick. - He's not actually flying. - Fine, he's floating. - And yes, he read my mind. - What the (beep) Oh my God! But you know what? - I have a little trick of my own. I could disappear. (upbeat music) ♪ Hurry right away ♪ ♪ Don't they say something ♪ ♪ Make your daddy pass ♪ ♪ I pass on your face ♪ - Ladies and gentlemen, it's Ose Proman. - Thank you. - Big fan, I'm a big fan. - We met you that. - We had our meet cute. We met at the S-piece. - We did backstage. - Yeah, years ago. - I talked to you down and I saw you. And I'm like, I know, I've watched all his specials. - That was really cool of you. - Dude, I am a comedy aficionado. Look, truly, I am just somebody who couldn't hack it as a comedian and I found this other lane. - Did you do stand up? - I never did stand up. But there's a lot of stand up in my act. - Totally. - You'd be shocked that I'm probably more funny than I am amazing in my show. That's what people say to me and it's the biggest compliment ever. - You have been grinding it out, doing this for a very long time. - Yeah. - One of my favorite top highlighted comments in your 60 minutes interview is, I went to high school with those. - Yeah. - And he's been doing these types of magic tricks since we were in high school. So glad to see he's doing well. - Yeah, that's true. - I wonder who that was. - I should know. - You should know. - I think I thought you would know. - I probably do know. - Okay. - You started out teaching magic and releasing DVDs that taught people. - You shout out to Tyler. - Shout out to Tyler. - We have a fan in the house here, who's like, I bought your videos. So I have a very weird form of fame that was called Magic Fame. I was famous amongst other magicians. It's not a real fame, it's not clout. It's like clout with teenage guys, not what you're looking for. But I started, how much of a story do you want? I can give a TLDR. I went to University of Michigan. - Do the whole thing. - Go Blue. And I was always working magic tricks on the side. I worked at a restaurant on campus. Everybody knew me. I was like the magician in Ann Arbor, Michigan. They opened a magic store and this is dating myself in the early 2000s. There was no streaming video yet. Netflix sent you DVDs and red envelopes. I got it for the Gen Zs. I got to set the tone here. This is dial-up modems. This is how you and I lived. So these two guys, a jar and max, well, body's a mine. They started this company in an apartment on campus. And I went to their place 'cause somebody told me there's a magic store and I'm like, there's no way there's a magic store in this town that I don't know about. That's impossible. - Yeah. - It's like my territory. So I went there, they're making videos that are really short to watch and show you perform a trick. Because the way you would buy magic tricks, magicians don't sell their soul to the undead or devils. They pay money, it's economy, baby. They buy tricks and you go to a store, usually brick and mortar and you watch the trick perform. You go, oh my God, how much that cost? 50 bucks, 50 bucks. Guy takes another room, teaches you where no one sees how to do the trick. Then you go home and practice a bunch. That's the way it's been handed down. Books and videos as well. I'm breaking the fourth wall here. - Sure. - So these guys changed the game because internet was getting faster if they could put videos up online. So they saw me do my stuff and like, dude, this guy is good. And I started doing their demo videos. Their growth was a hockey stick. Just every month was double, double, double. So it's like insane growth. They moved to Vegas. I started going out to Vegas for like two day trips and all you do is just go on the strip and do magic tricks till three, four, five in the morning, like all nighters with drunk people, you can still see these videos. So what Tyler saw was these videos that I would do demo videos. And then I put out a video called born to perform card magic. Born to perform card magic is the equivalent of Britney Spears's first album for magicians. If you meet anyone age, we get time stamp it, but like 30 to 48. - Yes. - Who is a magician who did card tricks? 100% they had this video. So every magician in the world knew who I was at that time. - Okay. - I got paid the princely sum of $1,000 for that video. I'm not hating, it blew me up. It's like the record deals, you get early days. The way the Backstreet Boys got screwed by Lou Perlman, not the same Perlman. But that blew me up so I traveled the world teaching magic. - What is it about mentalism magic in teenage boys? That is such apt fodder and territory. Why does it mean so much to hormonal teenage men? - So one, I'm a nerdy loser at age 13. - Don't say that. - I was. You gotta see pictures. - You gotta see pictures. - Let's say that. - Two, how do I appeal to girls? Ooh, wow, do I go up there with strong game? Not really at that point in my life. - Okay. - But do I go up there, have her pick a card, card jumps to the top, card changes color, card appears in my shoe. Oh my God, you're amazing. Ding, ding, ding, dope, amine. There's definitely something there with teenagers and why dudes are not getting into magic in their 20s. I think that's true. The second is, you wanna get Freudian with it. For a lot of the magicians I know, the same as comedians, they use it to fill pain. So my folks got divorced right around that age and it was a really bad divorce. It was not like amicable at all. Hated each other. Kids were really bad. So I think this allowed me to get lost. This was my way of one, cheering up my family. Oh, look at me and like constantly avoiding talking about stuff that was heavy. You know, that avoidance, just what else are you gonna do? And second, I have an obsessive personality. Like, very obsessive. Where if I do something, I don't get into 80 or 90%. It's all I do, all I think about all the time. It became your life. It was my life. Okay. Tyler taught me a trick. And I'm going to do it on you. And I want everyone watching this and here in this studio to participate. Os? Yes. I want you to think of a number between one and ten. I have it. Okay. Double it. Done. At eight. Done. Divided by two. Done. Subtract the original number that I asked you to pick at the beginning. This is your number. Heavy, it's a four. Bring it in. We need to bring you to the next level on that trick. So Ty told me how that works. Yes. It's basically a math trick. It's a math trick. Okay. Trick like that needs time, misdirection. So what you want to do is you want to distance the method from the reveal. So if you had done that trick and said, remember that number, we're going to come back to it later. Then I would have had less time to remember the methodology. And later on you said, remember that you had a number and you could muddy the waters of how the number was selected. Remember earlier you thought of a number. You did all this addition subtraction. You made it. Anything you wanted you chose where you would go. Look at me. Think of that number. Now, see, memory is malleable. Yes. The same way that a good comedy, when you do a great special, the beginning and the ending are more important in the middle. The structure. It has to be. You will remember the most, how you leave. Let's say you kill it, kill it, kill it. And your last joke sucks, special sucked. Totally, yeah. So the mentalism is the same thing. It's a structured act where people remember what I want them to remember. My job is crafting memories. And I don't, people think I mean that in a very wishy way, like new age way. I'm being 100% serious. I have spent years learning how to get inside your mind and know where to make the edit points. I edit the video that's the story you tell about my show later. That's my skill. That's what differentiates me from the other people that do what I do more effectively, knowing how to get inside your head in that way and know what you will say to the next person about me. That's not by chance. What? Why are you doing this? Why are you giving away the magic? Because I think that that is something you can do in your whole life. It's a skill. Even if I quit mentalism today, if I quit mentalism, that same skill would apply to everything I do. Is this a level of confidence that you have where you're basically telling your haters and losers, quite frankly, to be like, you can watch me right now, you won't be able to do what I'm doing. Yeah, that's 100%. True. But I'm not. Some people will. I'm not opposed to it. But out of this point, I think that most people haven't viewed it the same way as I have. It's the Mr. Miyagi version. Right now, you're just seeing the wax on wax off. That's the work. that went into thinking bigger, right? Like the comedians that have changed the game, in my opinion, are ones who specials tackle tough topics and they create something funny around it. Anyone could just do a hacky TSA joke, right? Sure. But how do you do a joke about, I mean, I don't want to, like Andrew Schultz recently life. That was an incredible special. Yeah, it was great. And you've experienced that, like IVF, like things that are really awful situations for most people. Yes. How do you take something horrible and make it funny? That's your gift. Right. You do a new way to look at it. A new way to look at it. But a way to look at it through the lens of funny, because funny takes the edge off of things in life. There's nothing that can't be written a joke about. I don't care what it is. That's, that is it. Oxymoron people. So you can't joke about that. Yeah, you can. You can joke about anything. Sure. It's just a matter of what's funny. You're essentially pulling off like a mental bank heist. Yep. Everybody can't get away with the bank heist. The key is how do you get away with it? How do you, how do you get in and out of the premise, oceans 11 style? And there are some people that are tactical assassins that can complete the sad mission. And then yeah, everybody can't do it. Some novices are going to get, you know, smoked out, made way through the premise, or they're not going to be able to pull off the heist. But that's the, that's the joy of it. What story they tell matters far more than what I actually do. So what is the difference between magic and mentalism? You get paid more. Oh. That's a joke, but that's actually true. So mentalism is magic of the mind. So it's a form of magic. If you are a plastic surgeon, you had to first be a doctor. Okay. There's very, very few mentalists who didn't start out as magicians. It's pre-med. Before you go to medical school, before you become a plastic surgeon. Oh, please don't remind me. I did it and I didn't pass. Don't, don't, don't. Let's not do this. This is like how I described me as the plastic surgeon, my profession, when I quit my job to my Jewish mother. Like you're leaving Wall Street, oh, it's, yeah. To go be what? A magician. Yeah, yeah. Doctors is possible. So mentalist is not supernatural or psychic. I do not claim to have supernatural or psychic powers. It's very important. I say that all the time because people believe that no matter what I say, and it's not meant to be unethical or disingenuous. Everything I'm doing is a learnable, repeatable skill rooted in science. There's an explanation. Very important. Psychics can't do repeatable. Tell me my, you can't, they can't just do stuff in a mood and they can't teach you how to be a psychic. I could teach you to be a mentalist and do the trick ten times. It would work every time, within boundaries. But what I'm telling you and what I'm presenting is an illusion. So if the way that you interpret the way I did it is based on body language or based on tells or based on the fact that I moved you in a certain direction, I don't necessarily tell you how I'm doing the trick. I lead you in directions that I want to lead you. Some of which are true, some of which are false, but they're almost always rooted in honesty. I think I'm doing is almost always actually the way I'm doing it, but different levels. Like it might be 20% body language here, 30% influence, 40% I influenced your choice through a different way. Some of them will be 80% one and 20% the other, but you in your mind will think a different way because I'm guiding you. I'm trying to like kind of like cheese with the mouse. I'm that cheese at the end of the puzzle and I'm moving you around in that way. So you always deflecting from the real method. You've called it "reverse engineering of the mind." That's 100% the truth. So I went to school for engineering and I think my engineering training has been absolutely pivotal in what I do because I attack a problem from the end backwards. So I decide what do I want people to remember and talk about at the end of this trick? What's going to be the thing everyone says at the end? What's the memory? And then I go back to the beginning, create the premise and then fill in the blanks in between. I have tools that I just have this tool, this tool, this tool to know how to do the trick. So is it basically mind control? It's a form of mind control because I am the dominant person in every relationship. As soon as our power dynamic starts that I'm performing, I take charge. If I don't take charge and I'm not in charge, then inherently my job becomes difficult or I become very submissive, allow you to think you're in charge. Which is just the same way a heckler gets diffused is you give them their moment. Hecklers just want attention, almost always, give them the attention, guide them in that direction and then overwhelm. But at a certain point, I'll feel like you're in on it, certain people that I've worked with, they're skeptical, they're alpha, they're some of the wealthiest, most successful people in the world. Sure. They're not used to being told what to do. They tell others what to do. So I have to create a premise where they feel like they're in charge, but all of the things they're asking me to do are within the box of what I wanted. What's the premise that you use with sociopaths like that? So I stroke there you go, right? I tell them how they're so great. I let them see behind the curtain. I go, I know you're smart. You know how the trick works. This one works, and then they know, but I only showed them step A, BC and D are still in the back pocket. Right? Right. The big guns are waiting. Right. So they feel like they've been let in that we're now buds. Right? And so that's what you do. So you have a desired outcome, a desired emotion where you're like, I need to turn this know into a yes, or I want this to be the final outcome. Got it. Is that true? Yes. You have this incredible talent. You can turn those into yeses. Let me just, I'll just say it right now, oh, so why are you wasting this incredible talent on nubes like me? Why aren't you sitting down with the most powerful people on planet earth like the UN Security Council or diplomats or world leaders in going like, let me? We're about to, my friend. You and I are joining the same club. You are already esteemed. Oh. White House course. I jump like six things ahead. You jump six things ahead. But I have some WCD advice for you. I have some WCD advice for you. And so speaking of world leaders, President Donald Trump, I don't know if you heard of that guy. He's going to be there for the first time his presidency. Yes. Big deal. Big deal. I am ready. Is there an outcome that you want? Yeah, always. Always you want to share. So, I have like escalating levels of goals. One of the goals is for the room to have incredible experience. Sure. That's actually, in my opinion, far and away the easiest. That's what I do. That's my core competency. I do corporate events. Rooms that seem cold. I warm them up. Yeah. Hilton ballroom. That's Madison Square Garden for you. Not fair, me against you is not a fair match, like not a fair fight. Like if you do a set and I do a set, we're not even on the same level. Like I am just, you're not engaging in the audience. It's not, you're fighting, it's cheating. It's like as if I gave you a candy. What you do is cheating. This way. It blows you out of the water. Right. Like if a comedian and I go out and open before you, it's rough for you. I tell you that from experience, because I'm with the audience. I go out in the audience and I use them in the show. It's so much more interactive. Yes. That it's almost akin to some comedians I've seen. Like Big J. Oakerson. When I've seen him at the seller, he just does the crowd and then somebody comes up who does long form. You're dead in the water compared to some act like that. Like it's just, it's not fair, right? So I don't worry about it because you've got to capture people with comedy. Comedy is very subjective. You could be the best comedian in the world. There's at least 25 of the audience that doesn't necessarily like your comedy, right? That's a fact. Like music. Totally. Everyone. Everyone likes this feeling. Oh. Everyone likes that. I don't care if you say you hate magic. People say I hate magic, but I like what you do because what I do appeals to smarter people because it doesn't feel like magic. There's no trick. Like where's the box? Where's the fake deck of cards? There isn't one. How are you doing this? Yeah. So even if you hate me, which is a great, I love that emotion, you are very caught up in it. The haters tend to be the best ones. The haters tend to be the ones who become mentalists because they're like, I want to learn to do it. Yeah. And you also have, you win in both outcomes. Someone like me who's just like, I love magic. Yep. Great. You got me. And then if you're someone who despises os, I can't stand this guy. It's weird how there are some. You have the ultimate punch line, which is like, well, how do I do that? Right. I don't really care which gets you, but it's at least intriguing and stays with you. Intriguing. Yeah. Because my job is not to fool people. That's a side effect. Okay. So you've laid out the baseline on a base level. I want to rock the room and I don't care. I want to rock the room. Yeah. Probably my lowest priority. Okay. Prairie number two, more eyeballs. The TV. Like, who's watching on TV is probably slightly more important, but they go hand in hand. But as you know, production is critical. And in a show that's interactive of the audience, if a camera misses a reaction, ever in the room feels it. It might be on iMac. But everyone at home watching on CNN and Fox News go, well, it's very difficult because we have to block things out effectively. Yes. And my show is frenetic and random. People throwing around frisies, people hitting beach balls because if you don't do that, well, you might have set it up with Wolf Blitzer, the Wolf man might be on the payroll, baby. I'm not, I'll pay people. I have no moral compass. So we need to know that anyone out there and how do we know it's not fake because it's done at random and their reactions are genuine. It's so hard to fake a genuine authentic reaction. Yeah. I mean, I mean, oh, I just wanted, I don't want to get ahead of you and trust me. This is coming from someone who's very bold and interrupts his guests and you're coming in with a lot of energy. I just want to stop you real quick. You're dealing with C-SPAN camera operators. So these people are geriatric. I know. They're going to say like, hey, it was whatever you wanted to do. I can keep up with you. They're not going to be able to. I'm just letting you know. Slow down the flow. 100%. We're going to try to block it out. Okay. I have some thoughts on this. We're going to do a longer rehearsal than normal. But I assume 90% of it will be messed up and I'll just sit there and just try not to stew. Hey, you setting that as your expectation, brother, you've already won. And in last, but not least, the number one thing by far is my interaction with President DJT. That's going to be the, that's, that's where everyone's coming for. That's, that's the fight. That's the main, the undercard is everything else. That is the question. The man that I don't think anyone can fully read in the world. Yes. Can I get inside his hat? Do you have this vision where you're like, look, we're all in the right place. - No peace, humility, dignity, honor, chill out. - No. - It's stop tweeting. If you plant those five, I'm telling you. - Okay, the world would be a significantly better place. - That would be, I guess maybe I should go deeper. I've got one mission at hand that I'm focused on at the beginning. - It's a rare opportunity. - It is. - I'm in addition to like, whoa, wall, world peace is a tough one at the moment, but yeah, that would be good. - Even just as a general, everyone chill out. - Yeah. - We don't have to tweet. You don't have to put that on truth social. - Huge. - Yeah. - Huge. I'm just, I'm pitching to this to you as a performer, both I'm a comedic performer, but just, just something to think about. - I don't know if he can be influenced. - Really? - No. - But that's your whole, but my influence is much more subtle. You're like doing the movie Inception where you put a thought all the way in, you look deeper, deeper, deeper, like four dreams deep. - Yeah. - Dream one. - For real, right now if the water starts coming in, Leonardo DiCaprio pops out and he's back in the real world. You need three or four dreams deep to start getting that level. - Oh God, and you're talking about what, my goal is to get at the substrate and core of what it means to be human. - Yes. - Or, or not. - You're trying to change major characteristic traits. - Yes. - I'm trying to instill one thought. - Okay. Your book, read your mind, gives people practical advice to use mind reading to help them succeed. - Not really mind reading, I wouldn't say that. 'Cause it's the book, the first line of the book is I can't really read minds, I read people. So mind reading is not real. I'm not really reading people's minds. - You're reading body language. - That's some of it. That's not all of it by any means. There's a lot more evolved. I'll take you through some scenarios. You tell me, 'cause I need help with this. - Okay. - How do I get my kids to do what I want? - That's a very good question. And one that I'm struggling with as well is a father of five, and I think at different ages there's different things. I can tell you one thing to do is, in a power struggle, you will always lose against a toddler. Because the moment that they realize they have power over you and that they can say no and that they're in charge of you, that is a better drug than anything. So the same way that a magician misdirects your attention. They make you look at the wrong place at the right time. So you look at this hand while this hand is doing something sneaky. So with your children, if your job, your core mission, let's say in this moment, is to get them to eat vegetables. - Right. - They have to eat vegetables. They don't like eating vegetables. So what do we do in that case? First, we have to make it more fun. The cheerful fun silly is better. The same way that giggly silly. The next up is creating choices. So now they're in charge, not you are. You go, you get to pick which one you eat first, and you lay out four things. You go, I want this one. Don't you dare eat this one. Reverse psychology works exceedingly well with kids up to a certain age. My two and a half year old, if I say to her, don't you eat it, don't you eat it. I'm gonna eat it, she'll eat it right away. So that works really well, giving people a bunch of choices that they get to choose within. So they feel like they had agency when they didn't, when at the end you were fine with them eating any of the four things. What are some tips and tricks for, say, job interviews? I cheated in interviews because on my resume, and this is everyone should do this, my resume said professional magician for nine years. - Right. - Do you have any idea what a cheat code that is? That's up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, in contra or ABA, C-A-B-B. There's nobody ever that reads that resume and doesn't look up at you like this and go professional magician. - Yeah, can you do a trick? And I would always say, you know what, let's keep talking. And at the end of the interview, if we have time, I'd love to show you one thing. - Ooh, if we have time there, you change the power dynamic of me being your dancing monkey who dances on command to more of I'm in charge now, if we have time I'll do something. So now I've kept you on the hook, where the whole time we're in four play mode, this whole interview's waiting for the good stuff, right? And so at the end, I'm not doing one thing, I'm doing one, two, three, just bangers, greatest hits, boom. I'm journey, don't stop believing at the end. - Yeah, yeah. - We go at most of my interviews, anywhere from five to 12 minutes over, the next person's interview was sure. - When we walk out, I already have the job. - You all got a goal, man. - Full of smoke after me. - Well, thank you, good night. - Fully. - I was like just doing like a dab handshake with Mera Lynch as I got the internship as I walked out the door. - Yes. - They're like, I don't care what this guy could do. He could do magic tricks all day in the office. - Okay. - Why would we not hire him? The next step is everybody should learn three magic tricks. Like you're four trick done. That one's not the best, because it was a little too long, but you can buy gimmicks, penguinmagic.com. You can buy a beginner magic trick that's in prompt two, that you could have with you at a moment's notice everywhere, everywhere. Anywhere you go, you're ready to go with a piece of paper or a box of matches. That is like Superman. Just being able to Clark Kent rips off the cape and he's ready to go. Everybody should have two or three magic tricks in life. I've told this to everyone. - Is it sad or awesome that as a 40-year-old man, that's a professional comedian that I'm like, "Yeah, let me do that." - You should do that. I mean, I wouldn't say have a fake ear like in the 40-year-old virgin, where they're like, "You want to bring a fake ear?" You want to avoid bringing a fake ear, but you want to seem like it's in prompt two. And you want to seem because it's an instant way to connect with other people. So that's one thing I would tell you. Now, let's say you don't have any of those ready. - Muhammad Ali could do magic, right? He would be like, "You always give it away." In 60 minutes, he showed you. I'm not gonna say what it is, even if you watch over. But he immediately showed you how the trick was done, which magicians were fuming about. - Why? - Because we don't really like for you to tell us how the tricks are done. - But wasn't that endearing though? 'Cause he's the champ and then he comes. - He's kind of endearing. You can't really do anything about it 'cause he'll knock you out. But in job interview, the one I've seen is that you're drawn to somebody who's very interested in the role. Now, they can BS you a certain level, but your energy and matching energy is such a big thing. Now, I'm not talking like a reiki energy. I mean the tone of your voice, the way your body language conveys, the fact that you're sitting forward you're very, very interested in what's going on. People can detect nervous energy. If you walk into a room, you sit there awkwardly with a drink waiting for your time to go talk to someone. That lack of confidence eats away at you. If you walk in immediately, walk to the person you want to talk to and immediately approach them, that confidence is contagious. It's like, man, do you see that guy? So when you read my energy, do you think I have high self-esteem or low self-esteem? I mean, I think a lot of performers have a mix where we're insecure, but we have very high self-esteem. - That's right, that's both. - You have very high self-esteem. - No, no, no, no, that's very- - You're insecure at a certain point because you have to perform to generate the esteem, but you have very high self-esteem. - You really think so? - I believe that at your core, you know you're damn good at what you do. - I'll be honest with you, that's the first thing you've gotten wrong today. You genuinely don't think you're good at what you do. - You know, you can be humble, but you know. - No, no, no, this, what I suffer with is basically a coffee con leche, which is a 50/50, which is, yes, I have high self-esteem and then also- - You're insecure at the same time. - Zero self-worth. - Right. And those two things are constantly having a tug of war. - But people that are great at what they do always have that. So I've seen people that are in my industry who will tell me I killed it. This show is unbelievable, it's 10 out of 10, you know, even higher. And they'll say that about every show. And to me, I'm jealous of that in a certain way. - No, I want to just disagree. Elon Musk has all cafe, there's no leche. - Right. - He is fully believing every tool. - There's no part of him that says I made a mistake ever. Behind closed doors, when you're by yourself, there's no imposter syndrome. There's just like, I'm the fucking man, pardon my French. - Maybe you're right. Maybe after the fact, things do hurt his feelings. But I think he operates very much from a like, this one's going in. - Yeah. - Whether it's going to or not. Meaning like, I'm gonna revolutionize. - He's not a performer. So he's not drawing his self-worth from others that can give it to him. You and I, if audiences think we suck, we suck. - It's bad. - No, but no, no, we suck. - We do suck, yeah. - You could say you're the best person ever. If the audience disagrees, they're right, you're wrong. - Correct. It's literally the proof is in the pudding. - Right, in live performance. - Especially in live performance, yeah. - Well, live performance on Netflix numbers, like everything is a measure of quantifiable data as to how good you are at what you do. - Yes. - In chapter 11, you talk about how reading people is about reading body language. I'm going to give you a series of kind of body language and you tell me what I'm showcasing you. - Okay. - Body language saying, okay. What's this, say? - I would call that man spreading. - Yep. - But what am I saying? - That saying, I don't give a crap about anybody around me. - Yeah, that's right. - So that's asshole. - On the man on the side. - I hate everybody here and I'm literally going to impose on everyone else's space. - Okay, here we go. What's this one? - This has two meanings. - This can sometimes be a conveyor of extreme confidence where the person is that open that they don't mind just letting it all hang out. Other times, I think that this is a situation where they really don't care about what we're saying whatsoever. - Two things, but I was signaling here. I want you to compliment my triceps. - Okay. - But you're wearing a very thick sweater. - The other one, this is what my son does. When we start reading Diary of a Wimpy Kid and he's really into it. - Nice. - We'll be reading it in bed and he'll kick back. He'll give me the full kick back factor and I'm like, "Oh, he's locked into fiction." - So that's what I was saying. It's actually not disinterest. - I've seen him-- - I was seeing him adult. - Oh, got it. For an adult, you got to qualify it. - For kids at different-- - Okay, all right. - Kids have a different barometer. What's this one? - Skeptical. Skeptical non-guard. Closed off body language. - Yes, so for this one, when I'm a comedian performing this means next comic. - Yeah. This is bad. Yeah, it's bad for me how about this one I'm pretending I like you, but I actually hate you So I'm a psychopath Or it's pretty dead on or I'm a real estate agent. You've written that seeing your palms makes people trust you I trust you already So you're telling me if I walk up I Just go I think having your hands in your pockets is Hard-wired indoor brains that you can't really see what somebody's doing so if you're walking over I do think it's very useful to use your hands in emoting you mean like may I have your daughter's hand in marriage you could do that I Wouldn't keep your hands there while they're looking May I have your daughters Hand in there. Did you do this exact thing before you got married? I did smile, but did you put your hands out? Emotional I did yes, but you did the psychopath smile at the same time. No, I did I mean almost okay And it worked and for what it's worth it is this is my natural smile You're two kids deep it worked it did work I want to reach out to all the aspiring magicians out there This is why the show's so important and serious in doing the necessary work that really matters in society There's a lot of magicians that are inspired by you Tyler is one right who's inspired by you and there's countless other young Young men with some women and some women are getting into it and I'm all about that and I love that But we all have some wound inside of us that we're filling with Penguin magic or stand-up comedy Now I want to make a delineation here because okay, you keep dunking on magic and you keep dunking on mentalism And I don't think you should I just don't get in a bad way dunking in a bad way. How come well? You keep saying I wasn't you're not able to get dates and it's not let me just say this I didn't mean it's like a loseery thing I just I would say that at the beginning I loved it for the love of the game Yes, but if you said to me were there other benefits from it in terms of it it lets you shine Yeah, and I got I got attention. Yeah, and that's one of those drugs. That's very very addictive Do you believe you got your big break on America's got talent? That was one of the first big breaks that you got biggest break Brakes like it's the single biggest moment of my career that then everything else stacked on top But if you just look at it like which thing did the first big bump and the other bumps go from there But that was the biggest because it changed my trajectory. Let me just say this and I have a beef with AGT And look how we mandel if you want to fire shots at me fine. Wow. I'm right here. Wow. I have a huge beef with AGT Because here's the problem. It's America's got talent now. Here's the thing with talent. Okay. There are talent shows And there are freak shows os me and you mentalist slash magician comedian clowns. We are part of the freak show But for you to do your particular freak thing on a talent show that's for singers Okay, you have to follow a singer you have to follow Kelly Clarkson you have to follow Jennifer Hudson they already have by the way talent shows right that's American idol that's the voice they have talent So I think there needs to be two different types of shows the talent show the freak show and you my brother would win the freak show Yeah, I don't mind It's just a rant. I don't mind. Yeah, so my pitch and you can you can see the car is just America's got freaks That's my pitch America's got freaks AGF. You could do it. They've tried You mind ruining a magic trick for me. Okay, okay, so I Previously had Alex Honnold on the show. I showed him this magic trick. Yeah, so let's and I know you're not supposed to do this But just real quick. I showed him this David Copperfield trick in Alex said this isn't magic, but here's my thing. We have this on a wide Now watch they're gonna go to a medium real quick Bam, okay. I mean, he is flying over the Grand Canyon here now watch when they do this You see the wind through his hair Alex told me this isn't magic. What do you mean isn't magic? I mean, I don't know what to believe she that's a witch that is wicking that is what we talked about She I don't know I brought I don't know what the fuck she's doing. Is there a sound with this? I've never seen there is sound but we don't want to play because otherwise the video get demonetized. Yeah, but Alex said he's not flying Well, yeah, I don't what is he doing? I mean the term is a levitation But how he did that there's to me. There's only a few ways, right? There's not there's it's you can work backwards How could he do that? He's not actually flying so fine? He's floating Floating flying over you to call it but gravity still exists so gravity would pull him down unless something was holding him up Or I don't know if that's a camera trick I don't know if it is or isn't I don't again. I can't speak to that what I do is very different because that has a wonder to it But has nothing to do with me mine is guessing things mine is what like let's do this. Yeah, right? I walked in here. Yes We talked a little bit about families. We talked about how we had met before so there is history everyone that watching this right now I need to set the tone. I need to give the disclaimers sure we met at the SP's a couple years ago. Yes Imagine you at a time machine. Okay, the time machine. Yes, okay close your eyes. Yes And you rewind back in your life and you see pivotal moments maybe The day one of your children is born the day you got married The day you held your palms out to your father-in-law very weirdly with a smile and said please kind of take your Daughter's hand and he looked at you because you look crazy and almost said no and you keep going back And at some point I ask you to freeze you go back in time and you look into the face directly of somebody that you have not thought of The for today in years you don't know why what reason or why but you're seeing this person In your mind at this very moment open your eyes If I were to pull everybody on your team. Yes, and say who do you think has the thought of? Do you think any of them will get it right? 100% no. Okay, the next question is Scott who's off camera our producer. Yeah, definitely doesn't know. Okay, so the next question is Does this exist anywhere could I have gone on the Facebook or social media found this out? No way. Okay. Is this written on one of your cards here? It is not right. It's not on your phone anywhere. It's not written down here. It's nowhere. There's nowhere right now This is a thought that formulated in your brain and that's the only place it exists in the world. Yes. Okay Think of the first name. Yes, think of the last name. Yeah, and I want you to count how many letters or in his first name But not to yourself and not out loud simply to yourself Yes Felt long I felt like a longer name it felt to me like you counted it My gut says you count it once But with the wavering it feels like you you double just to check More often than not when people do the double count. Yes, it's always a longer name. You don't pick a guy named Bob Or Bill and double count right when the name is longer especially With duplicate letters duplicate letters make our brain. They're very difficult because they combine it's like a mirror image So if you were to think of a girl named a net that's a brutal name because you're like double and double tea It's a killer. It's a killer. So certain names like that Think of any letter in the first name out of those it's seven letters long. Isn't it? That's what I just figured out seven letters, isn't it? Yes And now think of any letter in his first name. Okay You got one of course I think that when you saw the name just like shooting a bone arrow You shot a letter in the middle was it in the middle? Uh-uh. No, it's not a letter in the middle. No Okay, yeah stay with that letter. Okay Is there where are the cameras is there a camera you can't see the camera here? I hold the camera here if I hold the camera here They'll be able to see it is that right? Uh back there. Can you guys see what he's doing? It's gonna be further out There you go Okay Wasn't the first letter you thought of wasn't no it is it is okay So I just see I always don't like when people do the first letter because it feels like it might give away the name once you have seven letters You might think you could do the rest of it and then I thought to myself this is you know what You would never have done an easy name you wouldn't have done it I use this for share now because you said I'm gonna get this guy So a theory that people say when I do this lot time is that I I don't write it right now That I write it after you say it that's that's if you look at the comments people go he didn't really write it He's I don't know what the trick is they're welcome, but this is written. They've seen it. I can't change my mind Yeah, yeah, it's a piece of paper. It's a piece of paper. It's a marker. Yeah. Yeah tell us all You know where you are you're outdoors At times no with him right when you thought about it you were outdoors Yeah, and do you know what your reference earlier Was in your mind this whole time when you said to me something you said Don't dunk on magic swish you made it you and him used to play basketball together didn't you Yes, what's his name pernell Davis pernell what the fuck are you kidding me Bro, this is like the craziest I don't even know anyone on planet earth with the name pernell Bro pernell wherever you are bro This is fucking crazy Hey, it's Julia Louis-Dreyfus from The Weiser The Meat Podcast, among other things, and I've got a little holiday wisdom for you. Hosting during the holidays means lots of cooking, and that means your trash is going to be full of smelly, rotting food yuck. So here's the wisdom. Get a mill food recycler. I did. We've had ours for years, and it has totally transformed our kitchen. It's unbelievable how much cleaner everything is now, plus it's so easy to use. You toss in basically any food you don't eat. Peels, pits, meat, dairy bones. Last year we put in a whole turkey carcass, really. While you sleep, mill automatically dries and grinds all your food waste down to about a fifth of its size. That means at night you can fill it after a big, elaborate dinner, and by morning they'll be room for breakfast. Eating rots, nothing stinks, no fruit flies. And my favorite part, no more of those gross, drippy, mid-dinner garbage runs. If you want a cleaner, calmer kitchen this holiday season, go to mill.com/wiser for an exclusive offer. That's mill.com/wiser. Happy hosting. You have to incept world peace into Donald Trump's mind. Are you crazy? You guessed, pernell, Davis? I didn't get the last name, but yeah, respect international law in the Geneva Convention. You have to, you got fucking pernell. Pernell, bro, I miss you. Comment in the video, pernell, get in here, tell them it's real. We've been playing the long game. I was playing pernell Davis at basketball before you even were. We have time for one more. Should we get one or two people in here? Your brain is fried. I can't do you anymore. You're cooked. Who else should we get in here? How did you do that? Should we get Tyler in here? Get Tyler. Get in here right now. Tyler, get in here. Bro, pernell. What's up, pernell? I missed you, bro. We used to play basketball in high school. Do we see Tyler? How did you? But how did you guess what we? Oh my god. Can we see Tyler? We have a 360 camp here. We have a 360. And we have. He got pernell. Tyler. Yes. If I asked you right this second to think of somebody from your childhood, the same way he did. And I guessed it. Do you know what that would be? It wouldn't be any better. It actually is worse. When you do the same thing twice, the audience sees it as you went down. You kind of plateaued. I can't plateau. So you consciously decided to pick pernell. You consciously made a choice. Yes. Tyler's is meant to be spontaneous. Tyler, I like to give a scenario. You walk in the room. You didn't know you'd get called in here. We thought we might do something with some of the staff and I said let's get some people involved. But Tyler, I asked you to imagine. You walked in and you are all of a sudden absolutely embarrassed because your phone in your pocket rings. You ready for this? Play this out. And you feel it. And you're like, oh crap. Oh, crap. My camera. And you grab the phone. You look at it and you silence it. And when you look down, you see the name of someone calling you that is utterly and completely unexpected. The shock on your face registers clear as day. This person is picked completely at random and you go, why are they calling me right now? And you picture not just their name, but do you know in your mind what this person looks like? Yeah. All right. Do you call this person by their first name, their last name or a nickname? First name? I don't think it's a family member. Is it? It didn't feel like a family member because a family member would be slightly more expected. Do you see what I'm saying? Just the phrasing. If his mom called him, he'd be like, well, I expect mom to call it. Tyler looks like a good guy. Well manicured beard. Think of the first name and pick any letter in the first name, pick one to yourself. There it is. You got it? Now you picked the first letter. He saw that. He didn't pick the first letter, did you? No way. No way. Nobody doubles up like that. They're like, get it right this time. You read from left to right. Your eyes go left to right. You did linger on the last letter. But I can't decide if it was the lingering of debating or selection. I don't think you end up with the last letter, did you? R. Are you thinking of letter R? Oh my god. Yes. Are you just playing along? Are you being for real right now? Come on bro. Come on bro. You brought him into the game. I brought him into the game. Definitely female. We know it's a female. And then she comes in. She comes to the room. Think of the last name. Think of an interesting letter in the last name. Just think of an interesting letter. Next letter. G. You just thought of a G, didn't you? I'm on fire right now. I'm on fire. Oh my god. Pernell, I only got the first name, but this one I think I'm going last name to. I don't think you spoke to her while. I think it worked related. But not direct. It was like somebody you worked with through someone else. Come look at who this is. Do you see that? Yeah. Do you know who it is? Do you know who this person is? Do you know her? Tell us all. What's her first and last name? Aaron Hodges. Aaron Hodges. Aaron Hodges. Aaron Hodges. Aaron Hodges. Aaron Hodges. Aaron Hodges. What the fuck? What the fuck? Dude. This is crazy. The. Die. Master Shifu. Oh my god. Who band? Do you want to do one on Annie? What time is it? Because I'm going to get massacred by my children if I don't get it. You got to finish it. I have two minutes. Two minutes. Bring home the day. When's your birthday? July 4th. Oh wow. What a fun one. Yeah. Dual celebration. Yeah. So red, white and blue cake. Right? Red, white and blue cake. Picture this. How many people would you invite to your next birthday? It was a big milestone. Give me a number right now. Say it. Make up a number. How many people are you inviting? And how many attend? All of them are going to attend. Because you're amazing. Trick question. How many people are going to be there? 30. 30? Yeah. 30 is. Maybe Tyler didn't make the cut. Let's be real. So you're with 30 people in the room. It gets out doors because it's 4th of July. So it's really pretty. Maybe you have sparklers as the candles. But you don't want to use 4th of July. I'm getting sidetracked. Candles on the birthday cake. You're saying hi to everybody. I always like to create a story. Right? I could just say thank you to someone. That's not as exciting. Right then. You blow out the candles. Everyone smiles. And I always like to say you look around at the people you care about. The people you love. Those are the moments that count. And right then when you turn to your left. Somebody smiles at you. They wish you happy birthday. Right as you turn to the right. You don't even see them. They tap you on the shoulder. You see who it is. Right as they give you a big hug. You look them right in the eyes. Can you see this person right now in your eyes? Yes. Okay. If they had a birthday, would you be at their birthday? Yes. Have you been to their birthday before? Not a while. Ooh. This is being shot in April. Not in a while. So your birthday should have been invited. Right? So here we are. It could have been April March or February. Maybe not January. We're narrowing it down. Watch this. August September, October, November December. Personally, I was born in September, aren't they? Yes. We're not at 12, but not bad. Do you know their actual birthday? You're not sure. You think you kind of know. I think I know. Okay. Yeah. How sure are you? Nobody knows birthdays anymore. It's like Facebook. It's right. 85%. 85% sure that you think you know the birthday. Yes. September beginning middle end. Think about it a little bit. 85%. I think you actually know it in your right. Normally, when people think they're not right, I'd like they're off by a day or two. I think you got it. I think you got it. Awesome. What? I'm at the casino. Yeah. I'm playing the wind soon. Okay. Imagine I'm at the casino and you know what they do? Bam, bam. They deal two cards at the blackjack table. Sure. And I get naced in a 10. 21. 21's is birthday. Okay. It's got a weird name. Weird name. Weird name, right? It's like, uh, is there any way we've ever met before I got here today? Ever in our lives. No. I don't even get it. It's, uh, starts with an end. No, the ends in the middle. There is an end in the middle. No, no, it's like, uh, my God. Did you, what I said? Did you, what I said earlier? I'm starting a residency in Vegas. Yes. At the wind. Yeah. Her friend's name is Wyndham. I got to go. I got to go. How are you doing this emotional pap smear on me? Like it's you're looking into my soul. This was crazy. Oh, it's pro men, ladies and gentlemen. That was awesome, man. Come on. You did great. Nice. I can't wait to see you. Thank you.