-We're here with illusionist
Derren Brown, everybody,
whose show,
"Derren Brown: Secret"
is on Broadway through January
4th, at the Cort Theatre.
And I'm so happy to be here.
What an honor.
-This is so exciting.
Thank you for having me on
Ignore this --
-Okay.
-By the way, ignore that.
-Okay.
-Pay that no attention.
-Alright.
-So, in my show "Secret," I read
minds and influence people
-Okay.
-The show is really about
the stories
that we tell ourselves,
the narratives that we live by
how we judge
and divide the world
into good and bad, I suppose
So to demonstrate
this point to you,
I'm going to ask you in a second
to choose one
of these two colors.
-Gotcha.
-Green or yellow.
Now, they both have --
I mean, you're going to choose
the one ultimately
you feel good about.
But they both have pleasan
and unpleasant association
with them, I guess.
But I can be pretty certai
which one you're going
to choose,
even to the extent
that I can invite you
to try and outthink the proces
and maybe go for the one
that you don't think
that I want you to go for.
And all of that's fine,
because this is ultimately going
to be an unconscious compulsion,
which should win out over an
conscious deliberations.
I also find it works bette
if there's an incentive.
So 50 bucks says I know whic
one you're going to choose
-Okay.
-If I get it wrong,
you may keep the 50 bucks.
-Great.
-Make sense? Okay.
-Yeah.
-So, take your time.
It's your choice.
-Okay.
-It's one or the other.
Entirely up to you.
Take your time, think about it
-I'm ready.
-And then tell me
when you've decided.
-I've decided.
-Which one? Which one?
-The yellow.
-The yellow?
-Yeah.
-You sure?
-Yeah.
-Well, then I'm afraid
I keep the $50, 'cause I rathe
thought you would pick this one.
-Okay.
-And not this one.
-Alright.
[ Cheers and applause ]
-So, this gets --
I think this gets
more interesting
when we do it with people.
-Okay.
-Which of course
we kind of do every day.
So, I have here
a bunch of photographs
of members of the public.
-Okay.
-And I want you to divide them
into two piles --
a pile of people
you feel good about...
-Okay.
-And a pile you feel bad about
-Okay.
-People you like,
people you dislike.
-Okay.
-I am going to mix them,
although they are a little bit
difficult to do this with.
Forgive me.
And then, look --
[ Laughter ]
-Okay.
-I'm mixing them up.
-Alright.
-A couple of things I would say.
First of all, some of them
are kind of smiling,
and some of them
are more neutral.
But don't let that
dictate your choices.
-Of course not.
-And also, I'm going to
orientate them so they're sort
of 'round the wrong way for yo
so that you can't
get too hung up
on faces you find attractive
and less attractive,
'cause it's just hard to see
from where you are.
-Okay.
-So divide them into two piles
So, listen, it's gonna be --
Let's say the pile
you like here,
dislike here. Good, bad.
-Okay.
-And vaguely, like,
even them out.
So you can't decide
you like all of them.
-Okay.
-So that's dislike.
This is like.
-Okay.
Alright. Okay.
Okay. Alright.
-You're doing this rather
comfortably, actually.
People often find it
uncomfortable.
-No. No, I'm fine.
-No judgment.
-If you want to --
If you want to, like,
take them from the middle
or anywhere else,
they don't have
to come off the top.
-Judging is what I do
for a living.
-Mm-hmm. Okay.
[ Laughter ]
You're working kind of
intuitively, by the look of it
Yeah.
Done. Okay, good.
Well, that was easy.
So, look, the question is,
I suppose,
what is it that made you,
for example,
like that woman
as opposed to --
-Uh-huh.
-That's an awkward question --
but dislike, say, that woman
What was it?
Like, can you remember
what it was at the time?
-Well, you know, it's alread
a little bit harder.
'Cause now they're looking at me
the right way up. You know
There was -- She just seemed
very sweet to me.
-Mm-hmm.
-And maybe it was a little
more intense here.
-Okay. Maybe that --
Maybe that sort of put you off
at some level?
-Maybe, yeah. I don't know
-I tell you why I ask.
This is --
Okay, so this is actually
quite interesting.
These are people off Twitter
-Okay.
-These are Twitter users
that I found.
-Yeah.
-So, this girl here that you put
on kind of the dislike pile --
Just, it's kind of
an interesting point.
-Yeah.
-She follows Paul Manafort
-Oh, wow, okay. Alright.
-She follows Paul Manafort -
you know, prominent right-wing
political figure.
This guy here follows
Sarah Sanders.
-Okay.
-This guy, Sean Hannity.
This guy follows Steven Miller
Trump. She follows Mike Pence.
This guy follows Giuliani,
which is kind of interesting
-Yeah.
-Interesting, right?
-Uh-huh.
-This gal here
that you put on the good pile,
that you instinctively liked
she follows that guy.
[ Cheers and applause ]
And this guy here,
look, he follows...
Seth Meyers.
Seth Meyers. Seth Meyers.
Seth Meyers.
Seth Meyers.
Seth Meyers. Seth Meyers.
Actually, this one,
I have to say,
this guy follows Boris Johnson
So he kind of could be
on that side.
That one's --
That one's kind of wrong.
And Seth Meyers.
So with the exception of one
you have perfectly divided the
into their separate groups
[ Cheers and applause ]
So first of all, well done
But I should just --
just to add one thing,
I will just say,
'cause it is interesting
you got this guy wrong.
So, this guy follows
Boris Johnson,
our vaguely Trumpy, right-wing
Prime Minister, right?
It's interesting you put him o
the nice pile, on the good pile,
because -- I mean,
he follows Boris Johnson.
But he's actually a nice guy
I do know this guy.
-Okay.
-I know him. He's actually -
You know, he's a nice guy.
I'm quite close to him.
In fact,
you're quite close to him.
[ Audience murmurs ]
[ Laughter ]
[ Laughter ]
[ Cheers and applause ]
-Thank you. Thank you.
Oh, my God.
I don't like any of this!
[ Laughter ]
That was amazing! Bravo!
Derren Brown, everybody!
