Huw: The title of this post says it all (What is your best mentalism effect?) - what, in your experience, is the one mental effect that is guaranteed to make the biggest impression?

Tom Cutts: Wow, Huw. The strongest effect is that of getting inside someone's head and telling them what they think. Mind reading has the greatest impact when it is done well. Now the way to get there can vary from audience to audience based on what you are going to get them follow you in or accept. That part of the equation varies but the first part is, for me, always the same. I believe people have a need to believe in mind reading, that the mind is capable of things that seem totally impossible, and it is. We can conceive impossible things and eventually make them possible. Cheers, Tom

Sean: I asked the opposite of this question to Tora the last time. Do you think coming from America has helped your career prosper? Do you believe if you had been living in a country of lesser economic magnitude and less accessibility to magic etc, that you wouldn't be as good a magician as you are?

Tom Cutts: Wow! great question, Sean. I may have to come back and update my answer as I ponder this but... I truly have been blessed with unbelievable access to the literature and magicians that are here today. While those opportunities are born of the fortune of prosperity, the realization of those opportunities and the opportunities that follow in suit, are born of the character of the person. You get the chance to meet someone through circumstance, you talk in depth with them and become friends or even just remembered acquaintances because of your personal character, not chance. So, I have made the best of some great opportunities that have come my way quite simply because of where I live. I would like to think that I would make the best the opportunities that came to me regardless of where I lived. That said, we all have the same chance to make the best of what we have. I think magic is more than the tricks. It is about expressing something and I think in every culture there is a form of excellence in expression. And likewise each culture expresses different things with their magic. It is a fantastically rich tapestry. I love to see magicians from other cultures who use other devices to deceive. Devices of timing, misdirection, or mechanics. Seeing the difference breathes life into the creative fires. There is, I believe, what makes one a "better" magician; creativity and expression. That is available to everyone.

Mike: Tom, this will be a difficult series of questions, I have no doubt, but I'd like to get your insights on this. In your opinion (yourself excluded from this), who are the top three mentalists in the United States? Also, who are the top three internationally? Why do you feel that these men are deserving of your high opinion of them?

Tom Cutts: OK Michael, That is a tough question. Generally speaking I don't like lists of top or best this or that. I'm gonna stumble through it and come back later if it solidifies in my brain but here is a rambling. I rate Richard Osterland as one of the top mentalists in the US on his artistic merit. The guy has some really strong presentations...really!  Max Maven I would have to say tops both US and International for the breadth of his performing. He can run a gamut of emotions through an audience. I'd put Banachek in the top three. But now I have this feeling like I am overlooking someone and I don't like that feeling. If that person reads this I apologize. Email me immediately. I know there are some very strong corporate guys but I don't know them in the least. Faulkenstien and Willard had the second strongest effect on me so they would have be in there somewhere. Then you have guys who made a single contribution that changed the way mentalism is done. Guys like Lee Earl and Larry Becker. Doc Hilford does some very strong mentalism pieces but then jumps into psychic stuff as well, does that count? Some of his stuff is really strong. Internationally I am more at a loss. Ted Leslie certainly tops the charts as does Gary Kurtz. Keep in mind I am much less traveled in mentalist circles than magic so I'm really at a loss for International guys. I'll keep thinking maybe something will click.

Magic Chief Thomas: Hi Tom, who was it that inspired your interest in magic?

Tom Cutts: Wow again, Inspired can be on so many levels. I'm going to have to ask for some clarification here, or at least have you run the order on level at a time. Inspired my first interest? Inspired my strongest or deepest interest? Inspired my presentations? I guess my first real interest came from trying to fool my friend Tim, and he fool me, as kids buying books from the mall bookstore. After that there was Copperfield, I didn't relate to Henning. Very soon after that there was Paul Harris, then all heck broke loose. My presentations however are inspired by life. They are either little stories of life or they are experiments into the potential of we humans. Ok, now it's getting weird, I better stop there. Cheers, Tom

Damien: Hi Tom, What are you thoughts on learning material?? Many up and coming magicians use videos, books, DVDs to enhance their magic skills. I am definitely one of these people and I think that learning material is great.  Do you think this makes magic too 'open'?  Now it is obvious that just knowing the secrets will not make you a top class magician, but do you think the high increase in learning material has helped magic or not?

Tom Cutts: Ah, Damien! The age old question, "How much knowledge is too much knowledge?" I get to unleash my first rant here and you get the first crack at my stance on this. Some would say get rid of all but a few sources and learn just from those. I say they are coming from a deficient perspective. If someone tells you they can't decide where to start, or stick with anything, because they have too much to choose from, then they are deficient in the decision making process. And that isn't the fault of the information sources. Try this one on. You are hungry. You walk into a restaurant. They offer over 200 dishes. Can you decide on something to eat? If you really are hungry you can. And so it is in magic. For decades magicians have bought the latest and greatest in hopes of finding their instant reputation maker. Well, they get a reputation alright. No, if too much access to information keeps one from taking action, it is the fault of the person and his decision making process. Conversely, the person with a deep library is equipped to research fully a routine, or move, or???? So all those DVDs, and videos, and books are great!!!!!! Hey, if your library is keeping any of you from taking action, send what you don't want to me. I'd be glad to help.  Now, on the great debate of quality, yes I think video has given birth to less and less introspection of the expository process of teaching magic. Far too much of the "just go like this" approach and not enough of the "actually the tip of the pinky acts as a lever to move the...". Yet done well, there are things on video that would be very difficult to glean from books. I do worry that video is enabling the learning of mimicry instead of study but that is another case of the viewer's fault not the medium's. Last but not least, does all this info make magic too "open" a little. I think information should be shared to foster growth, but I truly believe that every performer should have one secret that will never be revealed. You can speculate, you can imitate, but you will never know all the true finesse. Such things, like "52 Faces North" are the legends of an art. Once exposed they wither and die. Wha'da'ya think of that?

Mike: I think that's the most well thought, interesting and comprehensive answer I've ever seen to that question. Thank you for those very valuable insights.

Magic Chief Thomas: Do you think Derren Brown is good at what he does with the mind?

Tom Cutts: I have seen his first two specials. I think he is quite good at what he does. I'm not convinced that it will work for an American audience, but then I'm rather certain he has consultants that can help adapt his style to the American creature.

Cathal: Hi Tom and thanks for being our guest here at Bunny for the week, anyway, I'm going to ask you a question I asked TORA too cos you can never have enough different professional opinions!  How would I go about getting more performing experience with magic? Any help would be appreciated.

Tom Cutts: It is really hard sometimes to scrounge up free shows just to get experience. I'm sure you have heard about all the sources for that. What was most beneficial to me was finding others of my skill level and getting together to share ideas and then put our heads together to put on a show for a paying, even if only five or ten bucks, lay audience. I found that at first at the Oakland Magic Circle and then later at Club 53 in Pleasant Hill. There is energy in numbers, use that energy to create bigger things than any one could on their own.

Cathal:  How often do you practice and what would you do in your average practice session?

Tom Cutts: Practice. I'll tell you if you promise not to follow my lead. Practice is something I learned about on a guitar. I'd practice this scale, that riff, these chords, on and on. It was real work, not a lot of fun, but could be quite rewarding. But when I started writing my own songs, I started practicing less. It was great because I could cover more material in a shorter time. I thought it had to do with me "getting it" about guitar. Now, I think there was an entirely different reason. When you create something it is a part of you, and, hence, you can recall it accurately and easily. When I started to create my own presentations in magic, I found exactly the same. The routines that were born from me come as easily as breathing. The ones where I am doing an awkward handling or someone else's presentation are the ones that require constant practice to keep. I feel very fortunate to only practice my routines once or twice a week. Now, if I am working on something new, it can consume me. I don't consider that practice so much as pursuit of the art. But once that consuming work is done and the routine has become me, the need to rehearse it four or five days a week just isn't there. It is an insight I just snuck up on. When I was in High School I would practice moves and such five or six days a week. I'm not saying I remember all those moves but I have trained myself to learn moves rather quickly. I wish that were the case with fencing.

Darren: Hi Tom, Welcome to magic bunny and thanks for taking the time and effort to share your thoughts. As a professional you must perform to differing types of audiences, public and corporate, sober and drunk ! During your career, at conventions and in competitions you would also have encountered an audience full of magicians. In my opinion a magician dominated audience is a tough crowd, they sometimes lack response, fail to laugh at tried and tested gags and have to be encouraged to clap. Recently I had the pleasure of watching a four hour video recording of a close-up competition held in London a few years ago performed in front of a room full of magicians. Certain effects wowed the crowd, others that would bring down a house of lay-people failed to register at all. So when performing in front of magicians, which effect do you do to whip the crowd into a frenzy ? Also, when watching other magicians yourself, do you still experience a sense of wonder for certain performers or effects ? Or is it a case of admiring the skill and watching ahead of time for those special moves ? For me it is a combination of both... watching a card expert manipulate the deck, seeing each special move performed without the knowledge of the audience is skillful and enjoyable... seeing David Copperfield fly whilst sitting in the front row of the theatre is magical (even though I know how it is done... or at least think I do!) Would welcome your thoughts...

Tom Cutts: Hi Darren, thanks to you and everyone for the gracious welcome you have extended to me. True story: My first competition ever, a little local thing, I was closing with Vernon's “Symphony of the Rings.”  It was met with stunned silence...well, at least I know there was silence. Half way through, I decided this audience doesn't deserve this performance. I put the rings down, silently bowed and walked off. Pretty bad conduct but not totally off base. Over the years I have learned a few things. One is to never enter a competition with the only goal being winning. There really are things you will have no control over that will decide the placing. I'm talking personal style preferences of judges and accidental biases. Stuff like that. It's just gonna happen. Magician audiences are notorious for not reacting with anything that would resemble a lay audience. If you structure an act knowing that, you can actually sculpt an act that will get magicians involved. It might sail over the heads of a lay audience but magicians will eat it up. That is, now, the type of stuff I perform around magicians. Stuff that is geared to take full advantage of the situation. At FISM there was a table of guys mostly from Spain doing some very nice and elaborate card stuff. I did a simple card reverse but hammed it up by flipping on my back and making a big scene about turning the card over with my mind. The lone layperson howled when she saw that card. The card guys just scowled at such craziness. Oh yeah, they also hid my shoes. That was funny! Now, if your audience is magicians, you really shouldn't be using tried and tested (i.e. obvious) material. That isn't going to get any reaction other than knowing stares. Figure out what you can do to hit them where they think. ;) I like to mix a few things that will fry them in with several things that are just wild journeys of fun...alla David Regal type stuff. When I'm watching I typically am watching the presentation technique. The trick part really is of little use to me, tricks I have plenty of. Seeing what is going on to present a routine can be applied to any "trick". I try to let myself enjoy as much of the performance as possible but, you know, if I am drifting ahead in the method it means something is missing in the presentation. But that doesn't just hold for magic. I do this at movies, plays, live comedy, and all sorts of stuff. Now a guy like Reed McClintock I could watch doing his coin work for hours. Martin Nash is a marvel to behold with a deck of cards. These things are really beautiful to one who knows the technical aspects of what is going on. But mostly it is the guys who have worked out every angle of the presentation to really overpower a lay audience that I watch. And if it is a close up session I'm likely to Jazz off the others and improvise on the spot. I guess I will leave you with my rule of three for lecture attending. One rarely gets anything great from a lecture until the third viewing. In the first, just enjoy the material, the structure, the presentation. In the second, look closely for those thing you would like to add to your repertoire. In the third lecture you should now be ready with some in depth questions for the performer. Questions gleaned from your making yourself familiar with a routine or three. Hmmm....Did I get to your question?

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