ParaLabs - Do Not Disturb - Excerpt 6957 PDF

‘D O N OT D ISTURB ’ T HOUGHTS ON H ECKLING
Do Not Disturb
PARALABS CREATIVE CONSULTING -1- R. Mees, Th. Heine – 2006/2013

Thoughts, experiences, insights and advice

on managing heckling and disturbances
in Mentalism and Magic Performances
Rainer Mees / Thomas Heine

- ParaLabs Creative Consulting -
Berlin, Germany 2013

DO NOT DISTURB!
Thoughts, experiences, insights and
advice on managing heckling and disturbances
in Mentalism and Magic Performances
© 2013
by ParaLabs Creative Consulting
info@paralabs.org
All illustrations © 2013

by ParaLabs Creative Consulting
Translations
German to English, English to German
Alfons Brand, Ingo Brehm, Christoph Kuch,
Andreas Meuser, Lars Ruth, Thomas Heine
Copy editing and proofreading

Les P Cross
http://writingsupportservices.com
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced

or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical,
including photocopy, recording or any information storage and retrieval
system now known or to be invented, without permission in writing
from the publisher with respect to the authors.

Our most profound thanks go to
Jon Allen,
Banachek,
David Berglas,
Dr. Bill,
Bob Cassidy,
Paul Daniels,
Jan Forster,
Nicolai Friedrich,
Paul Harris,
Whit Haydn,
Axel Hecklau,
Christian Knudsen,
Dr. Todd Landman,
Simon Lovell,
Max Maven,
Richard Osterlind,
Neal Scryer,
Florian Severin,
Jim Sisti,
David Thiel,
Paul Vigil,
Michael Vincent
and
Richard Webster
for their support and encouragement and their kind permission to

add their anecdotes, experiences, thoughts and advice to this book.

Rainer Mees
Engineer, technical consultant, creator, writer, mentalist, hypnotist

and hypnotherapist. He has created not only solutions for seemingly
intractable problems for several major corporate projects but has also
designed and made the tools to enable the solution to be realized.
This led him to focus on developing special tools for unique engineering
problems. In addition he also uses all of the phenomenal possibilities
of mentalism during his business lectures and training in order to get
his message over. He loves using the combination of psychological
forces, hypnotic possibilities and metaphors in his ‘day job’ in addition
to his stage and informal performances.
In working with literally thousands of people all over the world he has
been able to hone his techniques of suggestion applying them to almost
anyone in any culture. He now devotes most of his time to training,
which allows him to use his knowledge of advanced psychology to
deliberately control personal interactions on a personal and professional
level. And it is the fruit of some of those experiences which he presents
in this book.
His collaboration with Thomas allows both of them to complement

each other’s various strengths – an alloy of talent which is stronger
than either singly.
Thomas Heine
Director of Studies, lectures at both a High School and at the University

(Berlin, Germany). His principle subjects are neuro-biology, psychology
and philosophy. He is a mentalist, creator, writer, consultant, hypnotist
and hypnotherapist.
In addition to his academic roles he was engaged in social work for a

government-funded family and child welfare office for more than a
decade. Because a significant part of his current job involves supervision,
mediation and coaching in addition to guidance and counseling, he has
developed a uniquely individual and intimate approach to participants
in his performances. This approach enables him to develop highly
empathic relationships which, in turn, facilitate deep psychological
communication.
In addition to performing, creating and writing about mentalism and

hypnosis he also works with Rainer Mees as a consultant for mentalists
with regard to effect development, communication, presentation and
stage-setting. Together they also train corporations in advanced
communication strategies. In 2006 they created the ParaLabs Institute
(www.paralabs.org) as a presentational background for parts of their
work in mentalism.

Contents 10
Foreword by Eugene Burger 14
Introduction 17
PART I
Heckling in principle
Problems certainly, solutions possibly 26
Defining the problem 28
Starting the search for answers 31
Fundamental causes 36
Competence 36
Organization 36
Language and communication 37
Moods, attitudes and social issues 37
A new premise 38
Specific causes 41
Problems related to the performer 41
Problems related to the audience 43
Problems related to the performance setting 44
Preparing the ground 45

Being a nice person 45
Being in charge of the tone 45
Acting quickly and appropriately 46
PARALABS CREATIVE CONSULTING - 10 - R. Mees, Th. Heine – 2006/2013

Don’t lecture 46
Give clear directions 46
Controlling with your eyes 47
Speaking volumes 47
Change the focus 47
Initial reaction to disturbance 48
Levels of measures 51
Level 1 – Ignore 54
Level 2 – Non-verbal and indirect signals 55
Level 3 – Integration 59
Level 4 – Non-specific verbalization 61
Level 5 – Speaking to the heckler 65
Level 6 – Producing peer pressure 67
Level 7 – Removal of the heckler 70
Level 8 – Termination of the show 72
Getting the right balance 74
Checklist: Prevention, reaction, reflection 77

Preparation for the performance 77
Reaction during performance 78
Reflection after the performance 79
Specific actions 82
The eyes in the back of our head 83
The audience focus 85
Special missions 86
Good prospects 88

Psychology in theory and action (Essays) 93

Thoughts on a word 94
A brief plea to relax 101
The psychology of cooperation 106
A question of mind-sets 110
Identifying a mind-set 118
PART II
Collected wisdom
Ex Ante 134
Jon Allen 138
Banachek 142
David Berglas 148
Dr. Bill 158
Christoph Borer 166
Bob Cassidy 170
Paul Daniels 177
Jan Forster 178
Nicolai Friedrich 182
Whit Haydn 190
Axel Hecklau 194
Christian Knudsen 200
Dr. Todd Landman 206

Simon Lovell 214
Max Maven 218
Richard Osterlind 226
Neal Scryer 232
Florian Severin 236
Jim Sisti 242
David Thiel 254
Paul Vigil 260
Michael Vincent 264
Richard Webster 269
Bottom line 270
BONUS
Paul Harris – Whack your pack (Reflex) 274
Selected reading 282

You hold in your hands a

really wonderful book. More
than that: it is, I think, an
important book that will be
helpful not only for amateurs
but also for many professional
performers.
First of all, this is a book about an extremely important subject. Hecklers

– or, as I prefer to think of them, interrupters – is a topic that receives
far less attention than it deserves in the magic literature.
Yet who has not had to deal with interruptions during a performance?
Perhaps audiences are changing and, as my friend Max Maven has
said, many people do not seem to know how to be part of an audience
anymore. They must be taught. This is a book that will help you to
teach your audiences the rules or behavior limits that you put on your
performance.
Second, this is an important book because the authors, Rainer Mees

and Thomas Heine, have approached disturbances during a performance
with intelligence and clear thinking.
I especially enjoyed their eight steps for dealing with an interruption.

They impart a great deal of wisdom between the first step, ignoring
the disturbance, and the final step, terminating the show.

I also appreciated their emphasis on preventing interruptions before

they happen.
Third, this is an important book because the authors have engaged

twenty-three well-known performers to share their experiences being
heckled and also how they have chosen to deal with the problem. Here
you will learn many different paths that you might take. And the stories
are excellent addition to this book.
In the last analysis, as the authors insist, the decision of what to do

during a disturbance is ours alone to make. Yet, reading this book – and
reflecting upon its ideas – will be a great help to anyone as they face
interruptions during their show.
Be prepared for an exciting journey!
Eugene Burger
August 2013


Let’s start with the bad news: If you, gentle reader, are a young or
inexperienced performer, or both, you should be aware that reading
this book will not solve all your problems with regard to heckling and
disturbances during performance. Sorry about that. The fact is that
the lessons can only be learned through practice.
But we don’t want to suggest that this book won’t be of any value to
you. On the contrary. This book should help you build a very sound
basis which will enable you to avoid some of the worst pitfalls associated
with heckling and interruptions. But to really master the skills you
will need to actually perform in as many different conditions and venues
as possible and with a variety of audiences.
If you are an experienced performer then studying this book will

expand and deepen your existing skills and insights in dealing with
hecklers and related problems of live performance. There is also some
good news: It’s highly probable that you already know all you need to
know!
Now, it may be that you don’t know it all consciously, or perhaps you
haven’t yet structured, adapted and applied your experiences into the
specific actions to be taken when dealing with hecklers, but still, that
knowledge is probably somewhere in your head and heart.
Even the best book can’t be a substitute for real-world experience. You
simply can’t substitute 10, 20 or 30 years of performance experience
just by reading a book.

Any second-hand experiences we offer can never be a proper substitute

for lessons learned by your own personal (and sometimes painful)
real-world performance experience.
But we can, and will, make it as easy for you to gain this knowledge as
we can. We will give you advice that will open your eyes before you fall
flat on your face. And even if you stumble in a performance we’ll help
you to get an idea of the possible reasons behind it in order to stop it
from happening again. Purposeful self-reflection will be an important
step in learning from failures – and that’s one of the things we aim to
help you to achieve within the pages of this book.
We – that is Rainer Mees and Thomas Heine – have been thinking

about the structure of this book for quite a long time. It started as a
part of a concept for a lecture that we began to develop in 2006. And
those thoughts in turn were based on many years of practical experiences
before. We have experience of working in front of literally thousands
of audiences. We’ve seen audiences of different ages, intellect, social and
cultural backgrounds; worked in different venues and environments;
performed with homogeneous as well as heterogeneous mixtures of
people. Name a criterion and we’ve probably encountered it!
Sometimes we learned our lessons the hard way. And to be honest,

this was more often than we would have preferred. We sometimes made
decisions on how to deal with hecklers intuitively and sometimes we
did it intentionally. Sometimes our decisions were right, sometimes
they were wrong. It is generally the case that the longer and more
experienced you are at giving performances the less you’ll have to deal
with heckling or other disturbances – whether you’ve consciously worked
at it or not.

So it’s highly probable that you, dear reader, will find your own ways
of avoiding trouble in the years to come by yourself. But we are going
to ease the way for you and help you to bypass the worst of the problems,
at least.
Based on our experiences we have spent years of intensive and in-depth

study, reflecting upon and finally structuring our experiences into lists
of proven and effective measures to deal with disturbances during
performance. We will present you with methods of preparation and
systematic avoidance strategies, based on academic research and key
techniques from certified training programs in guidance, counseling,
coaching and mediation.
We have also incorporated psychological and sociological insights based

on our experiences with hypnotherapy and our NLP qualifications.
(Irrespective of your personal view of NLP in general, we believe that
if you pick the right tools and approaches and disregard those that you
feel are questionable, you will find valuable topics on which to reflect.)
Taken together, all this has enabled us to produce a systematic approach
that we have used in private coaching, consulting and counseling as
well as in group lectures for magicians and mentalists for many years
now.
What you are going to read in part 1 of this book are the condensed
and structured experiences together with our personal insights and
conclusions. In studying this please keep in mind that these deliberations
are our conclusions, that is, they are a subjective result of our subjective
experiences. We do not to pretend to have found the final and only
truths.

While we have structured and condensed our personal experiences you

might not agree with all of our conclusions. You might have different
knowledge and experiences and therefore have come to different
conclusions. Nevertheless we would like to believe that our deliberations
might provide you with some further food for thought, at least.
During our work on the manuscript we talked with several highly

experienced colleagues from all over the world and we realized that all
of them had brilliant stories and anecdotes from their own careers.
There were stories that made us cry laughing and anecdotes that made
us think – but all of them comprised lessons learned and wisdom of
priceless value. We realized that their experiences would make invaluable
additions to our work, so we asked them. And, truly generous
professionals that they are, they have graciously agreed to let us share
them with you.
The second half of the book therefore contains some wonderful stories,
tips, anecdotes and brilliantly thoughtful essays from some of the most
experienced performers in the world, each offering a rich seam of
ideas for you.
As you will see, the contributors vary widely in many ways: In their
characters, performance styles and approaches. There are contributions
from magicians and mentalists. There are those who work in close-
up settings and others who are mainly stage performers. There are
restaurant and bar workers and those who perform on the street. Some
have a distinctly straightforward, feisty or even ‘in-your-face’ approach
and there are those who have a rather more restrained, calm and
charming style.

And this throws up an interesting point: You will see that while
some authors validate each other’s approach perfectly, at other times
there are very distinct differences between them – but each approach
works for the particular performer. This alone is a brilliant insight!
Given that all the approaches – developed by each performer over

many years of practical experience – work perfectly well for them,
then any seemingly contradictory advice between them is likely to be
based on their unique character and personality in their individual
performances. A different performer with a different mind-set who
works under different conditions will succeed, even though they have
a very different approach!
So as you study the insights and the advice in this book, please keep
in mind that you are a different character from everyone mentioned in
here. You cannot and should not alter your basic character.
The methods and techniques you eventually develop may be more or

less subtle applications and variations of the material we present in
this book. It just goes to show that there is no such a thing as a ‘final
truth’ or patent remedy.
Obviously there are some general things to be borne which can help
any and every performer to act more professionally. Nevertheless you
should see the advice in this book as a tool box: Pick the tools that
match your personality and your particular needs with regard to your
performance – and at least think about the advice that initially might
not seem to suit your character.

Perhaps you will be surprised when insights that you first thought did
not initially seem relevant suddenly become eye-opening and appropriate
to your problems at second glance. Give those ideas that don’t seem
to match your personality a chance stew and percolate in your mind,
at least. Maybe you will be surprised …
Now as we have indicated, there are two main parts to this book:
Our own experiences – the results of our studies and the methods we
tested – and the invaluable insights that our friends have shared with
us. We hope you’ll find our deliberations useful and entertaining in
equal measure.
And if you would like to share your own experiences with us, we’d
love to hear from you.
Let’s go …


Intentio vero nostra est manifestare

ea quae sunt sicut sunt
It is our purpose to manifest those things which are,
however, just as they are.
FREDERICK II, Holy Roman Emperor, Stupor Mundi (1245):
De arte venandi cum avibus (The Art of Falconry)


‘Solutions Possibly’? That doesn’t sound very auspicious, does it?

Well, the fact of the matter is that problems will always occur, that’s
just nature. And bear in mind, too, that your perception of problems
is purely subjective. Even if you discounted any massive disruptions
which felt like boycotts or other forms of civil disobedience, there would
still be lots of smaller situations you might interpret as a disturbance.
A different performer, on the other hand might think the situation as
one barely worthy of consideration.
What you see as a problem is as varied as the situations in which the

problem may occur. The potential difficulties during a stage show can be
totally different from those encountered during a close-up performance
and these are different again from a parlor-magic demonstration. And
each problem requires different reactions, remedies and counter-measures.
And just to reiterate, there are no patent remedies, no unfailingly

functional methods and no universal cures. You must find the
approach that works for you.
In any given situation you could always look at the advice and then ask:
“And if this does not help, well what then?”
And if you ask this question often enough, you could eventually get
stuck with the answer:
“Live with it – or leave it!”

And even though it may sound obvious, here is probably the best
piece of advice in the whole book: Make sure that the problems don’t
occur in the first place! Prevention is much better than cure, so the
best thing you can do is to prevent difficulties and then be prepared to
deal with anything else.
Generally you need to influence the process, where possible through:
l Anticipation
l A thorough preparation
l By internalizing the relevant instructions and
l By managing the situation in a confident and flexible way
While much of this preparation is your responsibility before the

performance you will also find that choosing the right participant and
dealing with them in the right way during the performance will
contribute greatly towards the smooth running of the show.
If you treat your participants well and as team-mates then a large

proportion of any potential problems will be eliminated before they
can occur.
Let’s start then with the following simple question: What is meant
by ‘disturbance’ and how does it differ from ‘heckling’?

Most people have an understanding of the meaning of the word

disturbance. It is an interruption or a breaking of a settled condition or
of the proper functioning; agitation (physical or social); interference
with the continuance of any action or process. You can immediately
see that we can consider disturbance as almost anything from unhelpful
changes in our performing environment to very specific instances of
verbal interruption from some part of the audience or participants.
The literature in the specialized field of research into communication

and conflict contains a many definitions of terms relevant to our
discussion. For example:
l ‘Conflicts’ are defined as inappropriate verbal statements towards

the performer or towards effects (in part or whole) which include
everything up to and including disagreements.
l ‘Heckling’ is defined as interrupting a public speaker with aggressive

questions or abuse (especially with a view to undermining their
position).
So what now? Are these definitions of any value to you? Well, not
really as they immediately raise more questions such as …
l What is inappropriate and for whom?
l When does the behavior start affecting me?
l When does the disturbance start affecting my performance?
l When does the behavior start affecting my audience?

Given that the answers to these questions are largely subjective gives us a
helpful insight: It is only through the perceptions and interpretation of the
persons concerned that any given comment or behavior from a member
of the audience or a participant can be defined as a disruption or conflict.
So it is not only your perception and interpretation but also that of the
other people present, especially those directly concerned – the participants.
Now some events are obviously beyond anyone’s direct control – a

genuine fire in the building; a car alarm going off by accident near to
the performance; a police-car siren close by, etc. But there are also a
lot of minor events which, while they may affect you would not affect
someone else. For example:
l a general restlessness in some part of the audience

l when instructions are not clearly followed
l if the participant seems a little indifferent to the proceedings
l the size of the audience in relation to the room size (subjectively
regarded as too large or too small)
In fact, it is irrelevant what others think about the situation. If you

don’t like something and find it a distraction then somehow you have
got to deal with it. You either learn to live with it, or you have to find
a way to avoid it. It’s that simple.
You may recall that this is an idea from ancient Greek philosophy.
Amongst other ideas, Plato’s ‘Socratic Dialogues’ established the premise
that being able to ask the right question means that we know the correct
answer already exists! Based on this idea, we shall encourage and support
you in doing exactly this. So, first we must ask the right questions.
And this is what we intend to do.


“Psssh”, Delp waves his hand contemptuously. “Need I remind

you, that the human animal is infinitely various, and that
what will dispatch one quite neatly may not necessarily,
inexorably and in all cases do the trick for another. A Fiji
Islander might not last more than five minutes in the waters
off Greenland, but what of an Eskimo? Or better yet – take
your average greengrocer. He’d go up like a wad of paper if
you sent him through a bed of hot coals, and yet the Indies are
swarming with fakirs who do it three or four times a day – for
a lark. Use your sense, man.”
T.C. BOYLE (1982), Water Music


At this point we would like to share with you some thoughts on a specific
aspect of presentations. Specifically we want to present a fundamental
idea about how a show is perceived directly or indirectly. The connection
between the perception of a show and heckling will hopefully become
clear shortly.
There are certain key differences in presentations of magic and those of

mentalism. Principal among these we believe is the assumed or perceived
‘connection to reality’ of the effect.
Within the field of magic we usually see a performance which takes

place beyond the boundaries of reality – of what is really possible. This
is because if the effect was something normal and explainable by logic it
would not be magic! Magic, by definition, simulates the supernatural
with vanishes, levitations, bringing in inanimate to life, and so forth.
Now everyone in the audience knows this in advance, and if everything

goes well the audience will respond to this illusion and enjoy it. So in
a way the audience joins in the game.
In the best possible case the audience will accept or even forget the fact
that they are being deceived within the context of the magic show.
Nevertheless, they still know that all the effects are illusions. And in
order to enjoy the artistic aspect, they are to blank out this knowledge
for a few minutes and to suspend their disbelief.

In the field of mentalism, however, the rules are somewhat different.

A mental effect should never be too obviously beyond the boundaries
of the really possible. If it was, the audience would think of it as a
mere conjuring trick.
So while a mentalist might even produce illusions use similar means

to that of the magician the illusions have to remain within the area of
the conceivable and possible, for all that they may appear improbable.
These illusions need to walk the narrow path between the reality of
the explicable and the impossible. A mental effect should cause the
audience to feel unsure about whether or not the events shown are
really possible or not.
The artistry and ways of creating that ‘believability potential’ are what
make mentalism impressive. Nobody would pay to come and see a
show if what was offered was an ordinary and natural phenomenon.
And even more, there is a subtle difference between something seeming

impressive and something obviously not possible. The aim of the
mentalist is present what is ‘impressive yet improbable’ but not quite
unthinkable.
Let us use a psychokinesis (PK) effect as an example. If you were use

your ‘aura’ and your focused concentration to slightly move or bend a
small object, then a believable performance will cause some members
of your audience to consider that they had witnessed a real PK effect.
If, however, you were to get a person or a car levitate then few would
seriously think of that this was a ‘genuine’ PK demonstration. It
would be just too far into the realms of the impossible.

The difference in dosage alone turns a possible mental effect into a

magic trick because in the latter example the performer definitely goes
beyond the boundaries of reality – that is, the really possible.
So, why all this philosophizing about the magical arts and mentalism
within the context of this book? Well, this is mainly about a word
relevant to both mentalism and magic – the word ‘trick’.
We believe that using the word ‘trick’ in connection with magic is

awkward in many if not most cases. This is because mentioning even
the possibility of ‘trick’ not only trivializes the wonderfully romantic
illusion of magic, it can even destroy it! By using the word we yank the
audience out of their pleasant dreams and confront them with the cold
reality of trickery. The actual magic – or better, the illusion of magic
– as an integral part of the art of conjuring is destroyed by making a
mockery of the idea of illusion, which is the reason for the show.
Imagine if actors in an exciting scene in a movie repeatedly pointed

out that their dialogue or action sequence is part of a story and not
real … (Don’t worry, he’s not really dead – and that helicopter crash was
just a special effect!). What would happen to the illusion of the story?
Could you enjoy it? Would you even bother watching it for any
length of time?
So, if that happens in movies surely the same applies to other

performances. If our choice of words include the word ‘trick’ it alerts
the audience to the fact that they are not able, allowed, or meant to
indulge in the wonderful illusion of magic! Their focus will not be on
the illusion as such but rather on the trick.

We have told them that we are going to (try and) trick them and it
doesn’t take a lot of imagination work out what their mind-set is
therefore likely to be towards the performance.
We believe that this not only destroys the magic of the moment but it
also produces the uncomfortable situation of a competition between
the performer and the audience. Generally this will result in only one
winner – the performer. However, the feeling of ‘losing’ usually leads
to less rather than more wellbeing; it leads to frustration and certain
defensive reactions – such as heckling.
If a magician aims at proving that he is faster, better, more skillful or

smarter than his audience, then he may hope for some esteem and
respect from the people in front of him, and maybe he will get it. But it
is much more likely that the inherent provocation in this performance
will provoke the reverse and adverse reactions.
The question then becomes one of how to expect and gain the
cooperation of an audience if they already know that we are going to
turn them into the losers of a competition. Why would they willingly
walk like lambs to the slaughter without at least some resistance?
Of course there are some exceptions to this loser rule: ‘Con games’
like the Three Card Monte, the Endless Chain, variations of the Three
Shell Game or something similar. But these are not set up as magic
effects in the usual sense. The premise of such demonstrations of
cheating is normally based on finger dexterity, skill and ‘conning’ as a
form of presentation.

Furthermore the competition between the presenting con-artist and

the ‘to be cheated’ audience (aka ‘punter’) is the governing principle
here. The reactions are normally planned beforehand the routines
offer ways not to just play against the audience (turning them into
losers) but with them. However, we digress …
Within the framework of mentalism the problem of the word ‘trick’ is

even more pronounced. Please note that we don’t advocate claiming
that what is done is real and genuine! Rather we suggest that we don’t
destroy the audience’s ‘inner cinema’ incapacitating their imagination
by giving them answers they could or should find them on their own
(just like the example with movies earlier). So seen from this perspective,
the credibility of the performer and the demonstration should never
be questioned by openly calling a mental effect a ‘trick’.
Of course there are occasional exceptions to this rule. If for example

the premise of a routine clearly comprises suggestion and manipulation,
then of course you may still call it a ‘trick’. However, in this case the
‘trick’ is exactly this apparent mental manipulation! But if we do a
mind reading routine and we indicate that this includes a ‘trick’, or if
the routine itself is clearly recognizable as a ‘trick’, then we are not
mentalists in the audience’s perception but tricksters.
In our view, even if we trick our audiences with some seemingly mental
means while keeping up the premise of mentalism, it tends to leave a
stale aftertaste. A single routine of that is carried out with a friendly
wink, may induce a participant to laugh along. But it is very different
result if this approach becomes the basis of the whole show.

So the whole idea of tricking the audience and the conflict is can set up
can easily provoke them to try and turn the tables with some retaliatory
action – and hence the heckling. In contrast, the audience that feels
good and that likes you will be much more likely to be cooperative.
You may think that we’ve now made our point about the word ‘trick’
but there is another aspect to consider. It’s not just the word use that is
the problem. The real problem comes if the performer has internalized
it as an attitude of mind and the audience comes to regard it as the
main principle of the show.
Language mirrors our way of thinking – and it also creates realities. The
more you see what you do as a trick, the more you will unconsciously
convey that. And the more it is conveyed, the more the audience will
pick up on your attitude … and then heckle.
And that is a very unfortunate and unwelcome way to demonstrate the

power of your mind!


I had three chairs in my house;

one for solitude,
two for friendship,
three for society.
HENRY DAVID THOREAU (1854): Walden


In the following you are going to read some wonderful contributions

on the topic of heckling and unwanted disturbances from some of the
most experienced performers in the world of magic and mentalism.
You will see, if you haven’t already noticed, that we are more interested
in mentalism than in magic and that we have more contacts, friends
and consequently contributions from amongst the mentalist community.
Nevertheless you will find experiences, insights and anecdotes from
several brilliant magicians in this second part of the book. We hope
that whatever your style of performance you will find something to
meet your needs and interests.
Obviously there are many more colleagues who could have shared
their brilliant advice on the subject of heckling – more than we could
reasonably fit into a single volume in fact. But you will find more
than enough experiences and insights in what we have collected to give
you some excellent practical tips and food for thought. And, of course,
you should continue your own studies by taking every opportunity you
can to talk to any performers you come across in your travels. It’s
always good to share experiences and to learn from whoever you can.
Just to re-emphasize a point from earlier, there is a great diversity of

approaches in the following contributions. There are magicians,
mentalists and mental magicians; there are close-up, street, restaurant,
bar and stage-performers and there is a huge variety in their characters,
approaches and performance styles. Obviously different approaches
and performance styles are the result of different characters.

We mention all this because the worst thing you could do would be to try
to become a clone of someone else. Copying someone else’s personality is
always a bad idea. Your audiences will quickly notice whether or not
you are authentic – whether or not you are yourself. They will notice
and they will react!
So never try to ape someone else. Be yourself! Even if you feel an

affinity between a particular performer’s approach and your own look
to your individual distinctiveness. Learn the lessons from them of
course, but adjust and adapt the advice to your own performance and
character and make it truly your own.
The advice you’ll find here will range from the straightforward to the
funny. It will venture through the feisty and have a brief stop-off at
the offensive before heading back again to the restrained, calm and
placating – in short, there’s something for everyone. Whichever
approach our individual contributors use, it works. That is, it works
for them and their character.
These approaches have been honed over many, many performances

often on the whetstone of personal failures. You’ll discover what they
did and why they did it and see how you can learn from their mistakes
and eventual success. It is testament to their greatness and magnanimity
that they have agreed to share it with us all.
As you read through the various performance situations described you

may find it instructive to pause part-way through each story and to
reflect on what you might have done in that situation before reading
how the author dealt with it.

That will not only point out differences in performing style and persona,
but will also allow you to compare and contrast different approaches
in dealing with hecklers. You will only get one chance to do this for
the first time, so we would encourage you to make the most of this
chance.
We are immensely grateful that so many brilliant minds have shared

their experiences and insights so generously and openly. Please use
the knowledge well. It’s been hard won!
So, to all our friends we say thank you very much!


“Your task is not

to foresee the future,
but to enable it.”
ANTOINE DE SAINT-EXUPERY (1948):
The Wisdom of the Sands (Citadelle)


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‘D O N OT D ISTURB ’ T HOUGHTS ON H ECKLING

PARALABS CREATIVE CONSULTING -1- R. Mees, Th. Heine – 2006/2013

Thoughts, experiences, insights and advice

Rainer Mees / Thomas Heine

Berlin, Germany 2013

PARALABS CREATIVE CONSULTING -5- R. Mees, Th. Heine – 2006/2013

All illustrations © 2013

Copy editing and proofreading

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced

PARALABS CREATIVE CONSULTING -6- R. Mees, Th. Heine – 2006/2013

Our most profound thanks go to

for their support and encouragement and their kind permission to

PARALABS CREATIVE CONSULTING -7- R. Mees, Th. Heine – 2006/2013

Engineer, technical consultant, creator, writer, mentalist, hypnotist

His collaboration with Thomas allows both of them to complement

Director of Studies, lectures at both a High School and at the University

In addition to his academic roles he was engaged in social work for a

In addition to performing, creating and writing about mentalism and

PARALABS CREATIVE CONSULTING -9- R. Mees, Th. Heine – 2006/2013

Foreword by Eugene Burger 14

Defining the problem 28

Starting the search for answers 31

Preparing the ground 45

PARALABS CREATIVE CONSULTING - 10 - R. Mees, Th. Heine – 2006/2013

Initial reaction to disturbance 48

Checklist: Prevention, reaction, reflection 77

PARALABS CREATIVE CONSULTING - 11 - R. Mees, Th. Heine – 2006/2013

Psychology in theory and action (Essays) 93

Jon Allen 138

David Berglas 148

Dr. Bill 158

Christoph Borer 166

Bob Cassidy 170

Paul Daniels 177

Jan Forster 178

Nicolai Friedrich 182

Whit Haydn 190

Axel Hecklau 194

Christian Knudsen 200

Dr. Todd Landman 206

Simon Lovell 214

Max Maven 218

Richard Osterlind 226

Neal Scryer 232

Florian Severin 236

Jim Sisti 242

David Thiel 254

Paul Vigil 260

Michael Vincent 264

Richard Webster 269

Bottom line 270

Selected reading 282

PARALABS CREATIVE CONSULTING - 13 - R. Mees, Th. Heine – 2006/2013

You hold in your hands a

First of all, this is a book about an extremely important subject. Hecklers

Second, this is an important book because the authors, Rainer Mees

I especially enjoyed their eight steps for dealing with an interruption.

PARALABS CREATIVE CONSULTING - 14 - R. Mees, Th. Heine – 2006/2013

I also appreciated their emphasis on preventing interruptions before

Third, this is an important book because the authors have engaged

In the last analysis, as the authors insist, the decision of what to do

Be prepared for an exciting journey!

PARALABS CREATIVE CONSULTING - 15 - R. Mees, Th. Heine – 2006/2013