Okay, this is coming three years later but this kind of thing really bugs me.

JoshuaD - I'm not trying to be rude, but I really do get the feeling (at the time you posted this anyway) that you do not know much about mentalism or magic. I'm by no means an expert, and some of the techniques used in the performances you mention are a bit more advanced or less well known. However, none of them requires a stooge. You might feel you are 95% certain that he is using stooges, but I can tell you that with 100% certainty that it isn't necessary. When James Randi gives us examples of how to recreate the mystical "powers" of psychics and other frauds, he will often say that this doesn't prove with 100% certainty that these people aren't really psychic, but if they are doing it through psychic powers they are doing it the hard way. Likewise, maybe Derren Brown uses stooges in his effects just to give himself the giggles in private since everyone thinks he actually working as a mentalist and magician. But that just isn't necessary.

Perhaps you have already discovered this in the 3 years since you posted this, but I can tell you with absolute 100% certainty that the effects can be accomplished without stooges. How do I know this? Because the secrets to these effects can be found among the vast library of literature on magic and mentalism. One thing I have learned through experience is that searching through this literature and reading through 1,000s of effects that you may or may not like is a crucial part of the learning process. Once you finally run across how the effects are done, sometimes by pure accident, it is all the more satisfying and makes you treat the effects with the professionalism they deserve.

One of my biggest pet peeves is when people brush off beautiful performances as being "fake" simply because they cannot conceive how it is done. More often than not it is simply a hole in your knowledge. And more often than not it seems that the secret is so deceptively simple that people will rarely figure it out on their own.

Welcome to the forums Curt. An interesting one to bring up. As I was reading this I was preparing a response in my head but you seemed to cover it all. I think a lot of people start out with 13 steps, which is a very "mechanical" approach to mentalism. Those who start out with Practical Mental Magic are probably exposed to more of the procedural effects but Anneman didn't exactly lead folks down the garden path to achieving some of them. So people get through one or both of those guides and think, "Okay...I'm a mentalist," when in reality they are both just scratching the surface. There are a ton of great ideas in Syzergy and other resources. There is also a great value in having some working knowledge of hypnosis. In more recent times we have the resources of Kenton Knepper, Luke Jermay, and just within the last few years Peter Turner. Once you get through all that then you go back and watch Derren work you lose a bit of appreciation about what he is doing and gain appreciation for how he does it. They always say that being a great performer is the most important part of a successful mentalist and Derren is a perfect example of that.

http://www.penguinmagic.com/p/1948

This is somewhat similar but not identical.

-Ari

esotresh - I haven't read any of Peter Turner's work yet, but have been looking into it, anything in particular of his you would recommend?

JoshuaD,

Derren originally released the method for the effect performed in the video of The Derren Brown Lecture, but removed it from further publications of the same book later on.
There are no stooges in the effect. It is another concept entirely, and one that is known well among mentalists.

For my part, I believe that anything that Derren performs on television is not entirely an accurate representation of a live performance, simply because live performances cannot be as effective on television as they are in person. I think that use of editing it entirely respectable in the way that Derren allows it to be done. On the other hand, editing in the style of Criss Angel, I believe, is the exact opposite of respectable.
So it is a careful balance in my opinion, and I believe that performing truly novel and impenetrable magic or mentalism on television absolutely requires the use of advantages that come with television performances. Derren has used these advantages on numerous occasions, and this is something that he has confirmed. Even so, none of his subjects are classic confederates; that is to say, none of them are simply paid to react positively. Anything that comes close to a method involving a confederate is accomplished much more creatively, without the accused "stooge" of ever knowing s/he may have acted such a part.