OVER-PROVING

Just like over-proving bread dough, over-proving during a mentalism routine leads to the same end, namely a product that looks OK but is hard to swallow.

What do I mean by over-proving?

 Well let me offer an example, in an attempt to clarify my thought process.

Scenario One:
During a seemingly impromptu performance, the miracle worker asks an audience member to remove all the loose change from his pocket and hold it in his dominant hand palm up with his non-dominant had alongside it, again palm up.

He reaches over, lifts one coin from the pile and drops it into the volunteer’s empty hand as he instructs him to close the hand into a fist and turn it palm down.
After suitable patter the volunteer opens his hand and discovers the coin is bent.

Scenario Two:
During a seemingly impromptu performance, the miracle worker asks an audience member to remove all the loose change from his pocket and choose one copper and one silver coin. He then asks the volunteer to nominate one of the coins, he says silver.

The performer hands him a pen and instructs him to put his initials on the silver coin. He then takes the silver (nominated coin) and while demonstrating that it is impossible to bend a coin using your hands, asks the volunteer to try it with the copper coin.

Once the volunteer agrees it is impossible, both coins are dropped into his hand and he is instructed to hold them in his fist, then, after suitable patter, the volunteer opens his hand and discovers that of the two, the silver nominated and signed coin is bent.

Both excellent routines, but to my mind (and again this is my opinion) one falls into the realm of metaphysical mentalism, while the other is a mental magic trick.

I guess you are aware that I feel scenario number two is the mental magic trick so let me expand on that statement.

In the case of this type of routine, when you ask someone to sign the coin there is only one reason for doing so. That reason, whether you mention it verbally or not is to prove that you cannot switch the coin for one of your own.

Now if you present the routine as a magician performing a magic trick, then I suppose you could say signing the coin may strengthen the effect. But if you are trying to create an air of believability by presenting the routine as a genuine example of metaphysical psychic phenomena (theatrically speaking), then signing the coin actually has the opposite effect.
​
As soon as you sow the seed that if the coin isn’t signed you could switch it, whether you do that verbally or not, you also psychologically imply that you could be using trickery to bend the coin, rather than a mysterious psychic ability.

Another example of over-proving would be pulling a folded prediction billet from a next of boxes, purses or envelopes, sorry guys it doesn't strengthen the effect, it's just over-proving.

So what, you may be thinking, well once you sow that seed any further mentalism routines will be observed with the same mind set and the problem is that effective mentalism requires that your audience buys into the possibility that what you are doing may just be real, even if that suspension of disbelief exists only for the duration of your performance.

Until next time.

---