Andrew Gerard
The Colour of Money Chair Routine for The Stage Mentalist This is a LIMITED release manuscript PLEASE do not COPY or share. There are many versions of chair routines. I hope you enjoy mine, which is now yours. One thing that some of the best share is the use of a Nail Writer, boon writer, or thumb writer and this chair test is no different, BUT it is very different in presentation and boldness, and as you will see, it’s also not that hard to do, considering the payoff … I prefer a Vernet Thumb writer. I suggest you use what you are most comfortable with. I created the concept of what I wanted from a chair routine in a day, then it took a month to combine the methods involved and dozens of performances to perfect. I have used this for countless shows, and it has been extremely well received, and, on occasion has gotten a standing ovation at the beginning of the show. The props are very visible but the method is invisible. It involves the entire audience immediately. The ending is really a kicker and the whole routine comes off very believable…I felt that the believability of other tests were just too impossible, turning it into a puzzle instead of a display of amazing influential ability. EFFECT The Performer takes the stage and holds up three 8 x 10 inch coloured squares of paper (yellow, blue and green). “I want everyone to think of the first colour that attracts you. Do that now”. After a brief pause and looking over the audience, the performer states, “the colour that you thought of tells a great deal about your personality.” The performer gives a brief reading about each colour and asks the audience, “if my description applied to you, clap your hands.” The audience breaks into applause. “Great! Now that I feel I know each and every one of you intimately, lets play a game” The performer places one coloured paper on each of the 3 chairs. And brings forth 4 manila envelopes. THE GAME “I have numbered these envelopes 1 through 4 before the show and they are in no particular order. I will hand out 3 to members of the audience… that’s you…. And you shall decide which one I am to keep for myself. This will be a completely free choice so…I will ask this lovely young lady in the front row which one shall I keep 1,2,3 or 4?” She replies, “# 1”.
“Good, 1 it is. I will hand it to you to hold until I ask for it back.” The performer hands the envelope marked #1 to the lady in the front row. “Now let’s have 3 people pick one of these 3 shall we… You sir, please name one for yourself 2, 3, or 4?” “ 4,” the man says and he is handed # 4. “Please, another one. You miss.” “#2,” and she is given the number 2 envelope. The performer is left with one envelope #3. “Last but not least…. You sir… ahhh how about 3? GREAT.” He is handed #3. The performer stands behind the chairs and states, “I would like you 3 to come up here and sit in a chair, each one has a colour on it so again, please pick the colour that you felt most attracted to earlier.” The 3 people come take the stage and all sit in the 3 chairs. Now the fireworks begin. The performer explains “OH.. I almost forgot to tell you…. there is a check for TEN THOUSAND DOLLARS in one of the envelopes!” He states that whoever has it in their envelope will get to keep it… “This is so exiting I don’t want to miss a thing” The performer takes a small bag of popcorn and sits in the front row beside the lady who holds his envelope asking her, “Who do you think has the check? If that mental guy has it, its all your fault, you picked HIS envelope!” The crowd laughs… “Ok, the suspense is killing me. Open my envelope,” says the performer. She does. “What’s inside?”, The performer asks She says “A check for $10,000 made out to smarty-pants mental guy.” “OH! THAT’S ME !!!! THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!” The crowd claps… the performer takes the stage. “But wait! Influencing this lovely young lady was easy. Sorry” “Remember I said you will decide which…. ONE I WILL KEEP FOR MYSELF. The command of ONE I WILL KEEP was heard by your subconscious mind. Give her a round of applause.” The audience claps. The performer stands behind the 3 people sitting in the chairs and states, “ BUT to know what you 3 were going to pick AND know where you would sit…. open your envelopes and hold up the contents.” The 3 people open their envelopes and each find a coloured piece of paper that matches the chair they sat in. Once again the crowd goes nuts. And your show has officially begun.
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Andrew Gerard – The Colour of Money
EXPLANATION The cards; The 8 x 10 inch cards are just that. You can get these from a craft store for under a dollar. The colours are Yellow, Blue, and Green. You will need 3 matching coloured cards the size of a business card and 4 manila envelopes slightly bigger. These are available at any Office Depot, Staples, etc. You will remember the following: One=yellow sun Two= blue shoe Three=green tree The readings of the colours are much more than just a cold reading; in fact this is half the effect that will tell you where they will sit. After you ask everyone to think of a colour that attracts him or her you will give a brief reading for each colour by saying, “ The colour that you just thought of tells a great deal about your personality, for instance, hold your hand up if you thought of YELLOW. ” Hold up the Yellow Card.
Look over the audience and REMEMBER ONE PERSON sitting to YOUR RIGHT *********THIS IS YOUR YELLOW PERSON************** That is holding up their hand. Continue on stating … “Well you people are all free spirited people with a passion for getting your own way, you really always try to see the bright side of life, but are sceptical of your horoscopes”
Next you say, “BLUE, WHO THOUGHT OF BLUE?” REMEMBER ONE PERSON that is holding their hand up and is sitting in the centre of the audience. **************THIS IS YOUR BLUE PERSON*************** “You guys are all very unique…your individual talent makes you stand out in life, but you have not reached your full potential…. yet.”
“Last Green!! How many thought of green… Money grubbers.” A laugh breaks out. REMEMBER ONE PERSON AGAIN that holds their hand up and sits to YOUR LEFT. ************THIS IS YOUR GREEN PERSON****************
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Andrew Gerard – The Colour of Money
Congratulations, you now know where 3 people will sit based on remembering what colour they thought of! Place the coloured cards on the backs of the chairs facing the audience in the order yellow, blue, green. The Envelopes You now bring out 4 envelopes. The top one you will place a check for $10,000 in (Hundred dollar bills are not enough). The second envelope from the top will contain a yellow card, next a blue, and the bottom contains green. DO NOT MIX THESE AFER YOU SET THEM BEFORE YOUR SHOW! In fact, place a rubber band around them. Bend the corner of the top envelope so you know which side is top. Take off the rubber band and place it into the pants or jacket pocket that your writer is in, while you’re in there, put on the writer… you’re going to need it. I tell the audience before the show I have secretly numbered the envelopes 1-4, spread through them and pretend to look at the numbers and state “They are in No particular order.” **This is much better then pretending to write and mix them, the audience has NO CLUE that the envelopes are BLANK at this point! Ask the lady which number you should keep by saying the following statement, “You shall decide which ONE I am TWO keep FOUR myself, this will be a completely THREE choice” (The word three can be mumbled to sound like free) So you see here that this sentence will give you 4 “outs” to explain how you were able to influence her decision, making this seem completely real… At the END of the routine your 1 of 4 statements will be: If she chooses #1 “Remember I said you will decide which…. ONE I WILL KEEP FOR MYSELF. The command of ONE I WILL KEEP was heard by your subconscious mind” If she chooses #2 “Remember I said you would decide which I am TWO KEEP… TWO KEEP was the command that your subconscious mind obeyed perfectly”
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Andrew Gerard – The Colour of Money
If she says #3 “This will be a completely THREE choice. You thought I said FREE choice, but obviously I didn’t.” If she says #4 “You shall decide which one I am to KEEP FOUR …KEEP FOUR was the command and I thank your subconscious mind for being so awake” OK, so now we know where your 3 remembered people are sitting - yellow to your right, blue in the centre and green to your left. See diagram: STAGE
AUDIENCE
GREEN
BLUE
YELLOW
You will notice that their stage chairs are conveniently in perfect line with them when they come up, this avoids them sitting in a different chair so they don’t have to cross the stage or take the first one closest. Some of the audience may think this has to be the reason you chose them, thinking they would just sit in whatever is closest… let them think that.
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Andrew Gerard – The Colour of Money
So when your lady announces which you should keep, ask her, “Did that feel like a fair question?” While she answers, thumb write it on the top envelope and hand it to her, turning it around as you pass it to her. You will now ask the yellow person for their number. Thumb write it on the next envelope and hand it to them. Next is the blue person, again thumb write and pass it to them finally the green person (see effect for presentation). Now you really are done! The check is in your envelope and each person is holding the envelope that matches the colour they thought of with the chair they will sit in. Have Fun and let’s keep this for ourselves. Yours truly, Andrew Gerard Thoughts: • •
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Over the years I have found that slightly bending the corner of the envelope with the check in it gives me peace of mind and confidence…strange but true. If the people for some reason do not sit in the correct chair, which only happened once to me, you have a few options; first I ask if everyone is happy with the colour they chose, the 2 people that are sitting in the wrong chairs will have a look on their faces and say they want to change places… this was the case in my one time mix-up, and it was even more impressive at the end. Second, you could say on the count of three you will ask them all to change chairs and continue until they are correct (I would not do this but thought it worth mentioning) thirdly, you could never bring mention to chairs OR say that you noticed that they sat in these colours BUT what was the colour they were thinking about when you did your reading…what colour were THEY attracted to? They would be shocked to know they were attracted to the envelope that contains their thought of colour. If you feel the need to false shuffle the envelopes between selections that’s your fault, get over it. If you REALLY WERE influencing people they would be in the correct order known to you anyway…. see.
Inspiration from other great chair routines: Kreskin, David Berglas, Max Maven, Gary Kurtz, Alain Nu,Ted Karmilovich, Michael Weber, Banachek , Luke Jermay, Derren Brown, Paolo Cavalli, Patrick Redford and many, many more.
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Andrew Gerard – The Colour of Money
