member in an airplane, the type used for skydiving.

Follow the elimination

procedure outlined by Bill, and every time the cards are eliminated, they are
thrown out of the plane. Another. Drop the eliminated cards down a well.
Another, throw the eliminated cards into a lake or the ocean. You get the idea.
Engage the audience's mind around the concept that not only does the
audience helper get to choose, he or she truly eliminates the cards from
"existence." lt really doesn't make the force any different, but it seems to make
it "bigger."

Another way to expand the impossibility is to increase the magnitude of the

choices. l've chosen this path in my handling Mírabile Dictu which follows this
discussion. After you read that you might consider how you might expand on
the impossibility of the force.

Changing the Revelation

This is really tied to the premise you choose, but let's consider sorne options
just to get thinking about this. Let's start with that television performer. The
performer and audience member (probably a celebrity) are in the skydiving
plane. During the elimination sequence (throwing the cards out of the plane),
there is another plane off in the distance. This plane is a skywriting plane, and
is writing the name of the force card. The timing of this should be that about
half of the card name is already wr itten by the time of the final selection. At
that point, the performer points out the skywriting and both he and the
audience member (as well as the television audience) watch the rest of the
wr iting completed. The card is turned over by the audience member and the
visual trame shows the person's hand holding the card against the sky with the
skywriting in the background. Strong. [The skydiving plane could be a
helicopter or a hot air balloon; the skywriter could be sorne image on the
ground such as a person wr iting in the sand on the beach using their foot; if 1
were doing this on television, 1 would have the airborne vehicle over water so
that none of the eliminated cards would ever be found-as James Mason said
in North by Northwest, "This is best done at a great height, over water."]

Other less involved options to changing the revelation might be to have a

sealed prediction, ink that forms the name of the card, another person writing
blindfolded on a pad (see TA Waters), an ad in the paper, and so forth. lt all
depends on the premise, which leads us to...

Developing a Different Premise(s)

One of Bill's original premises was that somehow the audience member senses
the card she is sitting on (hence "smart ass"), and that somehow influences her
choices. Very clever, very funny and entertaining and very amazing. Leads the
audience down the garden path of either believing the premise ("1 don't know
how 1 did that"), or believing that somehow the performer "influenced my
choices." There are other premises.
One is synchronicity -in magic land, "You Do as 1 Do." That Special Moment is
my handling of this premise. The idea is that all the choices are being made in
real time to end up with a common result.

Another premise is that you are teaching an audience member to be the world's
greatest mind reader. Here you coac h an audience member to revea!another's
"freely" selected card. See, The Amazing Wizo! following.

Other options are just plain straight ahead, serious, mind-blowing mentalism.
Could be a prediction, but be careful with that premise as it might lead the
audience to conclude that it must be a force no matter how impossibly clean
the selection. l've chosen the premise that as a mentalist 1 can influence your
thoughts and actions in Mirabile Dictu.

These are just a few ideas, and l'm sure you will be delighted to read the others
in this booklet, and we are all looking forward to your ideas for premises.

by Allen Zingg
2009
lntroduction by Allen Zingg
Contents 1

Smart Bits
Smart Stop by Bill Abbott
Got Your SA Govered by Bill Abbott (& Sonny Fontana)
Bag lt Up Glose by Bill Abbott inspired by David Klass
Smart Bar by Doug Brewer
Smart Stickler by Jeff Bloom
True Love by Dave Wood
Self -Esteem Success by Andy Kean
Smart Ass Unes by Gris Johnson
lmpromptu SA by Max Muto

Smart Scripts
Half-Assed by Ken Dum
MTV True Princess by Floyd Gollins
Using Your Head by Floyd Gollins
Smart Waltz by Bruce Trigg
That Special Moment by Allen Zingg
The Amazing Wizo! by Allen Zingg
Mirabile Dictu by Allen Zingg
lntuition by Bill Abbott
Princess & The Pea by Bill Abbott
Buyers Remorse by Bill Abbott
Thinking On Your Feet by Anthony Lindan
In Search Of A Smart Ass by Gody Fisher & Anon .
Smart Stop
by Bill Abbott
1 have used this routine as an opener to great response. When you arrive at the
performance venue secretly tape a jumbo card (duplicate to your forcing card
of course) to the bottom of an audience member's chair in the front row. Resist
the urge to put the ju mbo card in an envelope, as this greatly slows the
moment of revelation losing precious momentum at the conclusion. Just stick
it face upwards onto the bottom of the chair with a single piece of masking
tape. Take your Smart Ass deck, shuff le them and then slowly begin dealing
the cards one at a time into a pile on a table, onto the floor or into a container/
bag. You instruct someone in the front row of the audience to tell you to stop
while you deal through the cards. They will do so and when they do ask them if
they want the card still in your hand, or the one on top of the deck. lf they say
the one in your hand, place that card back on top of the deck. lf they choose
the card on top of the deck simply drop the one in your hand to the table,
container or floor. As you execute the 'separation move' ask the spectator if
they felt a sudden psychic urge to stop you at exactly that point, or do they
believe it was completely random on their part. As they answer separate the
pair of cards and lift the top card (force card) up and high into the air with the
back to the audience. Confidently state that the spectator must have been
reading your mind as s/he has stopped at the exact card that you were thinking
of ...the (insert name of force card here). There will be a mumur of disbelief at
this point. You then exclaim that you knew that there would be unbelievers in
the audience, which is why you taped something to the bottom of your
participants chair. Ask your volunteer to stand up and rem.ove what is stuck to
the bottom of his/her chair and to hold it high in the air so everyone can see.
This is big surprise and is great lead in into a more involved effect. Perhaps an
effect where you need an assistant as you can have the participant return the
jumbo card to you and use his/her assistance for the next effect.

Got Your SA Covered

by Bill Abbott (witfl Sonny Fontana)
Using Sonny Fontana's "Got lt Covered" umbrella could be a nice big revelation
visible in large venues. The umbrella has a very large two of hearts actually
printed on the fabric of the very well constructed golf umbrella. As in the
previous routine you would take a Smart Ass deck, with matching force card
(two of hearts), shuffle the cards and slowly begin dealing the cards into the
previously opened "Got lt Covered" umbrella. Be sure that the printed card is
not visible to the audience. You instruct someone in the front row to tell you to
stop while you deal through the cards. When spectator says stop execute the
'separation move' while you ask the spectator if they felt a sudden psychic urge
to stop you at exactly that point. Lift the force card up and high into the air
with the back to the audience and state that the spectator must have been
reading your mind as s/he has stopped at the exact card that you were thinking
ot the two of hearts. Turn the card around dramatlcally and react to the
audience's lack of boisterous applause. Explain that due to the overwhelming
number of skeptics in your audience you decided before the show t.o have
permanent evidence of your thoughts...right on this umbrella. In a flourish spin
umbrella into a horizontal postion to show the large two of hearts printed on it.

You can find Sonny Fontana's wonderfulprop here: www.kjmagic.com

Need that custom two of hearts Smart Ass Deck? www.billabbottmagic.com

Bag lt Up Close
by Bill Abbott inspired by David Klass
1 received an email from UK performer David Klass who wondered if 1 had ever
performed Smart Ass close-up or table hopping. David had the idea of having
the cards discarded into a clear bag to keep the elimination process contained
and the impossibility of the effect very, shall we say, 'clear'. Anyways. after his
inquiry 1 began playing w ith the Idea and carne up with this interestíng
adaptation. This can play close-up or on stage, surrounded by the audience
with complete confidence and no mess! In addition to your Smart Ass deck
you will need to have a large clear bag that can be sealed shut. In North
America this is known as a Zip-Lock bag. You can begin by shuftling the deck
and casually show ing the faces of the cards. Ask for the assistance of an
audience member, or designate and coerce an agreeable person to help you.
Hand them the deck and hold open the clear bag asking them to drop the
cards into the bag. When they do, seal the bag closed and hand it to them
asking them to shake the bag mixing the cards completely. When they have
done this, and are satisfied the cards are mixed ask them to open the bag, turn
away and grab a handful of cards trom the bag without looking. lnstruct them
to hand you the handful of cards and leave them holding the bag (pun
intended). Adjust the cards so they are all tace down and fan them so the
backs are all showing. Like in the original routine aks the participant to touch
the back of one,cut the touched card to the top of the packet and pertorm the
separation move. Now hand the force card to the spectator to hold in one
hand, show the faces of the cards they didn't select and drop these into the
clear bag with the others. Reveal the prediction to match their 'randomly'
selected card in whatever manner you like.

Smart Bar
by Doug Brewer
'Tm using Smart Ass behind the bar as a closer to sorne of my sets. 1 place an
envelope prediction off to one side,then pretty much do the supplied routine,
except 1 have them dump the cards in a clean and dry ice bucket. We whittle it
down to the last card and 1 reveal my prediction. 1 have glued a "52 on 1"
jumbo card on one side with the matching card on the other. The "52 on 1"
card plays for laughs at first (hey,it's a bar), then clobbers them with the match.
After the revelation has taken effect 1 take the ice bucket back and put lt back
under the bar so everythlng is ''out of sight, out of mind" with the Smart Ass
deck, at the conclusion."

Smart Stickler
by Jeff Bloom
Jeff sent me this idea which 1 thought was very good misdirection at the right
moment and married with a creative presentation could be a fantastic additlon
to any existing Smart Ass routine. Along with your Smart Ass deck you will
need a sheet of repositional stickers and a marker/pen. 1 use Crayola
Repositionable Stickers, which are clear and stick well but leave no residue on
the card(s). You can also use Post-lt notes to good effect. The routine plays as
per the originalbut at the moment when the spectator is supposed to touch the
back of one of the cards in phase three of the routine, you instead hand them a
sheet of the blank repositional stickers and ask them to stick one of the
stlckers to the back of any card. They do this and you cut the 'stickered' card
to top of the packet. Before performing the separation move, with your free
hand reach inside your pocket and remove the marker and hand it to the
spectator asking them to uncap it. As they uncap the marker perform the
separation move and hand them the force card asking them to sign their name
on the sticker furtheting their commitment to that card. Because of the added
visual of the sticker on the back of the force card, there can be no doubt that
the card they chose was not switched for another. There is room for creative
motivation in regards to what is written on the sticker and how the confirmatlon
of their selection is presentad.

True Love
by Dave Wood
This is wonderfu l routine to peform at a wedding from performer Dave Wood. lt
involves the bride and groomin starring roles. You will need to have two Smart
Ass decks with matching force cards'. Place two chairs about 12 teet from
each other facing towards each other. Place a container in front of each chair
and then invite both the bride and groom to tace each other. Hand each of
them the Smart Ass decks and perform the routine like the originalroutine, only
with the two spectators tossing cards at once. Much humour can be derived
from this situation. From the way they toss the cards away to the way they cut
the deck, etc.When they both get down to the last handful of cards each, per-
form the finalphase with the separation move so each are holding one force
card. Reiterate the odds of getting the same colour (50/50) the same suit (1 in
4) the same value (1 in 13) and the exact card would be true love at 52 to 1.
Sure enough it is reveald that they do In fact possess true love!
'Need two matching forcing Smart Ass decks? www.billabbottmagic.com
Self-Esteem Success
by Andy Kean
Andy sent me an email stating that he had recently incorporated Smart Ass into
his childrens self esteem show. He commented that the routlne is basically my
lntuition Routine with a slight scripting change that focuses on how you can
achieve anything if you belleve in yourself. Andy uses a safety net with two
other children holding two sides of it while a third makes the choices with the
cards in hand. AFter the successfulconclusion all three children are invited to
"high five" each other and the performer getting a huge round of applause and
the memory of their impossible achievement.An achievement made possible
because everyone depended each other in order to be successfu l. Reaffirming
words that would tie in well to a team building presentation for kids or adults.

Sit On lt
by Cris Johnson
This was sent to me from performer Gris Johnson who was working a show
recently and it occured to him that he had fallen across a couple tunny lines
that others may want to incorporate into their Smart Ass routines. Gris does a
fair number of presentatlons for teacher groups in schools and over many
performances he's found that people think it's quite funny to ask one of their
own to sit on a card. He's not sure why but they always laugh. Here are Gris'
lines that follow after the person sits on the card

"All right. Mary's sitting on that card and there·s no way 1 can possibly switch
that card...without Mary knowing."

(laughter}

"And that's a GOOD thing."

(laughter}

And during a recent show participating teacher said to Gris in response to the
first line "Not without buying me dinner first." Another llttle gem that could be
an additionaltag line for the right audience.

lmpromptu Smart Ass

by Max Muto
Max Muto is a performer from Germany who shared with me a recent
performance situation where he had to perform Smart Ass impromptu with a
regular deck! Apparently a client brought sorne of his friends to see Max after a
formal show and asked himif he could repeat the trick with the tossed cards.
He then proceed to hand him a deck which Max had given to him as a souvenir
while performing. Naturally this was regular, ungimmicked deck. So Max took
out a pack of Jumbo playing cards which are marked on the back for another
routine and had one of the client's friends choose a card and sit on it. After Max
glimpsed the mark he took the regular deck out of its case, spread them with
the faces towards himself asking if the cards were mixed and quickly culled the
duplicate of the Jumbo prediction to the top. In handing the deck back to the
sitting spectator he palmad off the duplicate and asked him to shuffle as
much as he liked. During this shuffle Max deposited the palmed card into his
trouser pocket. Max then had the spectator go through the elimination process
as in the originalpresentation. While this was going on Max casually put his
hand in the trouser pocket where the card was located (a natural pose while
watching someone else "acting on stage"). When the spectator handed him
the final packet for the third and final eliminatlon phase Max added the palmed
card to the bottom of the packet. Max asked him for a number between one
and twelve and counted of the desired amount of cards -- the counted cards
were thrown to the floor one by one. On the last (desired) card Max executed a
bottom deal and handed him the card. After that he showed the next few
random cards and threw them to the floor as well.

Max said the final revelation absolutely blew their minds, and from that
experience he was rebooked for two more performances. Max expressed that
for his stage performances he will stick to the gimmicked Smart Ass deck but
that he's pleased to have an impromptu version of it up his sleeve. This version
has found a place in Max's permanent impromptu repertoire and he always
places one card from his regular deck in hls pocket for later use.