http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtR_Xk6g8yw

This is the video of the first episode of Mindfreak, Criss's famous levitation of a spectaor on Fremont Street in Las Vegas.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3HoTKXwXDHw

This is a video of one of his TV specials years earlier, perhaps Supernatural.


In the Mindfreak video, Criss asks a boy to borrow his girlfriend. The boyfriend's name is Bob.

In the Supernatural video, the boyfriends name is also Bob. And it's the same guy. AND the same girl.

Criss asks the girl on Mindfreak to verify that they ahve never met before. WRONG!

Hmmmmmmmmm.......

This is very old news. I saw that the first time that mind freak was on.

If you thought that that girl wasnt an "assistant", then you have no reason to be in magic. If you would notice, she is also the same girl from metamorphasis, only she is wearing makeup in metamorphasis.

I had no idea about that



Would I really have no reason in magic if I thought it was a random person? Because it doesn't really effect how I perform. But Criss is doing something wrong, and that's making people believe that these things are real.

I had just watched the dvd a day or two before mindfreak, I saw her, and it clicked. "STOOGE" really an assistant.

Wrong? He was stupid to use the same girl, I guess he thinks most people are stupid and wont see that... Thats the only wrong thing hes done.

so its old to me, i dont know if its been posted here. I try not to post on them.

Ok first of all that girl is an assistant, not a stooge.

A stooge is an unneeded enhancement of an effect, a person placed somewhere to where they know what is going on in the effect, but they pretend they don't know what is going on to enhance the effect.

Example: Angel's levitation (the one he sells)
He surrounded himself with stooges to make the levitation appear angle proof. The stooges were not needed, they were only there to make the effect look better.

An assistant is a needed part of an effect, a person that has to be in on the effect in order for it to work. It would be very difficult to levitate someone that was not in on the secret, so its no surprise that this person is an assistant. Most magicians understand that, but if you don't know how an effect is done I suppose its understandable that you might have got the impression that it really was a random person. But there is nothing wrong with trying to pass off an assistant as a random person because that is usually part of the trick, you are trying to float a "random" person. That is not stooging.

Example: Angel's spectator levitation (the one at the end of the 1st levitation episode)

This trick required an assistant because there is no way to do the necessary things to someone without them knowing whats going on, unless maybe you knock them out lol. So the assistant is part of the trick. There is nothing wrong with that, and its not using a stooge because the person is an assistant.

As for Angel trying to pass off his stuff as real, he pushes that to the line, and in his seance episode past the line I think, but in general he usually does say its only illusion. I don't think he ever claims that he can actually do the stuff for real. However, in that seance ghost episode he pretty much did make it out to be real, so as far as that episode in my opinion he made it out to be real. But for any other episodes, I would have to disagree because he does say its only illusion, and he doesn't claim it to be real.

Thats an assistant, not a stooge.


Stooge: an unneeded person put somewhere to enhance the effect even though they know whats going on.

Assistant: a needed person that is part of the trick because the trick cannot be done without someone knowing whats going on, so the person has to be in on the effect in order for the effect to be done.


Notice the difference, an assistant makes some tricks work, like floating a person or sawing a person in half. A stooge is not needed to make it work, but is only there to enhance it.


As for Angel claiming his stuff to be real, I don't think he has actually like claimed it to be real, and he does say its illusions. But one episode, the ghost one for halloween, he did cross the line because it was made out to be real, and thats how (in my opinion) people perceived it as. And since its fake of course, I think its very wrong to make it out to be real. Everything else though I think he is ok cause he doesn't claim it to be real, and he says its illusions. And I think as long as you aren't lying to your audience and helping them to believe you are more than someone just like them then you are ok.

just so you no that was mindfreak special look under criss angel at penguin

i dont like the way he uses the "assistant", becuase she acts as if she is just a random person. So to me that's a stooge. Plus the meaning of stooge is

Main Entry: 1stooge
Pronunciation: 'stüj
Function: noun
Etymology: origin unknown
1 a : one who plays a subordinate or compliant role to a principal

Im sorry Kraynik I didnt mean anything by that, just messing.


Tony, the idea that she is an assistant is to make the illusion seem stronger. It would not have been so incredible to the people there watching had they known it was an assistant and not just some random lady. Hope that clears things up.

where have you been? BIG EFFIN DEAL HE USES A STOOGE...ur on a magic forum you cant honestly believe he did it for real...you cant even do this with a spectator..so why the heck* would you waste your time AND ours by posting it? one day your going to do something that uses a "stooge" (i.e. assistant) and your going to realize you need it for some things...a lot of what Criss does is stage effects modified to be done in the street, so why all of a sudden would it not require an assistant? that means you wouldnt need one on the stage either...which would make some awsome stage effects because then people can acually go home saying "HE MADE ME LEVITATE IT WAS INSANE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" but no, that doesnt happen

Very good Eric. I wasn't sure they where the same person, but had my suspicions.

Why are you bashing on me for making an observation? I haven't seen any proof that he uses stooges other than this. All of the others were just highly possible theories. And lot's of people are upset that Criss presents this magic in an impromptu manner because it gives magicians the image that they can do anything, which they can't, and when laymen find out that we are not gods, they have heckle material. I could go into more detail and explain, but i don't want to get further bashed.

His use of stooges has been proven several times.

Watch his signed CTW on the bus. You'll notice a camera stop (he'll repeat himself for no reason). Check the window before and after the stop.

I always thought that was fishy.

I got no knowledge of CTW effects, but that just seemed impossible.