Ken Dyne - Primal Prediction

Ken Dyne’s

Primal Prediction

Ken Dyneʼs Primal Prediction

I love envelopes. Probably a whole lot more than I should. They fit in to a drawer. Theyʼre reliable. Theyʼre always there when you need them. And oh so under appreciated. Ode to the envelope. Go stroke an envelope today. Seriously though, Iʼve been using this routine for a while and didnʼt intend on releasing it. Ever So what follows are a bunch of blank pages where the secrets could have been. The serious(ish) stuff starts on the next page.

Ken Dyneʼs Primal Prediction

A Little Dedication

Nothing soppy or deep. Just a sincere thank you for buying this and continuing to support me and others in this art.

Ken Dyneʼs Primal Prediction

The Primal Prediction Three envelopes. One red, one blue and one green. Someone freely chooses any one and you have predicted which one. That was the basic effect as it started out. In fact truth be known I came up with this method by fate alone. No skill was involved. I was fiddling around with some envelopes trying to see what I could do with a double envelope. The problem I had was that using a double envelope, with some kind of secret compartment inside, it would make it very difficult to have the volunteer remove the piece of paper from within. Theatrically this made little sense. I couldn’t get my little mind around why you’d have someone choose an envelope, hand it to them, open up the other two envelopes and then have them hand their envelope back for you to open. Eventually, after making up around 20 or 30 double envelopes I came up with this method. And guess what?

***There is NO Double Envelope*** In fact there is no cutting, sticking or any kind of preparation needed with this routine. So not only is it startling, it’s extremely simple and quick to set up. You could present this as a simple gambit effect, where two envelopes contain fabulous prizes, and one contains a comedy prize such as ‘a round of applause’. The truth be known, I came up with this method (by accident) in September 2008 but didn’t have a presentation for it. I didn’t like the anti-climax of the ‘you lose’ in the hands of our volunteer, plus my ego took over and thought that the method I’d devised deserved a MUCH stronger routine and reaction than any 1/3 effect could ever give it. I’ve now been performing this for over 14 months, and in fact it features in my show-reel that I’ve been sending to clients for around 11 months now too. On the next page we’ll dive in to the presentation of this piece and I hope you can see why it has become one of my favourite pieces of mentalism to perform, and one that people grill me about afterwards.

Ken Dyneʼs Primal Prediction

And The Presentation (the one I’m using at the moment quite honestly) "Isn't it interesting how we are constantly communicating things about ourselves? For example, you chose to wear a gray dress, a silver necklace and matching belt. These colours reflect a sophisticated person. Here are three more colours." From your pocket you remove 3 different coloured envelopes. "This first envelope is red. Red is the colour of love. The colour of passion and lust." The audience giggles. "Red is a lucky colour in China. However red may also represent blood, pain and suffering. This next envelope is blue. Blue is the colour of the oceans, of peace and tranquility. It is the colour of deep thinking. However it is also the colour of desolation and loneliness" You introduce the third and final envelope. "Green. Green is the colour of mother nature. Of the natural world and harmony. However it is also the colour of money, the green-eyed monster, of greed and envy. Whichever colour you choose will communicate very specific things about your personality to everyone here. For example, I might choose the colour green. I might LOVE the colour green, decorate my whole house in green But I know if my mother came round she’d say ‘Kennedy, what have you done with the place?’ because she hates the colour green. So go ahead, choose a colour for me" The volunteer chooses ‘Red’ for example. You look worried. “Really? Errm, it’s just that most people choose blue. Would you like to change to blue?” The volunteer declines, and states they want to stick with red. “Fair enough. I wanted to make this as fair as possible. Take the red envelope, but don’t open it just yet.” You then open up the blue envelope you’re still holding. From inside you remove a single piece of paper. Unfolding it, the piece of paper reads ‘Do NOT Choose’ and a large red cross through. You open up the green envelope, and again from inside a piece of paper is unfolded to show ‘Do NOT Choose’ and a large red cross through it. “I didn’t want you to choose these two envelopes. But please open the red envelope you’re holding.” Ken Dyneʼs Primal Prediction

The volunteers does so and removes the piece of paper from inside. “Please read out, in a clear voice what I wrote” She begins to read, “Please DO choose. Especially if you’re a lady with blonde hair, wearing a blue dress with matching shoes and a white belt. You’re a strong, passionate woman and that is why you chose RED” The description matches her perfectly!

Ken Dyneʼs Primal Prediction

Behind the Curtain What we’re about to walk through is the method that I accidentally came up with that allows performers to have a volunteer choose any one of three envelopes and predict which one. However, as we discussed earlier, I felt that the method deserved a better climax than just two ‘do not choose’ Let me first walk through how the envelope section works, and then we’ll see how we get the description of the correct person inside of that envelope. As someone who has now performed mentalism as a profession for over a little over 6 years now and between 2 and 4 events each week at corporate banquets my views on mentalism changed. A lot. One of the big things I need is material that I can perform easily and that re-sets or can be constructed without the need for long laborious manufacture prior to each show. Trains get delayed, flights get cancelled, traffic turns against us. So the last thing we want to be worrying about is ‘I need to get there in time to make up one of my special envelopes’. Thankfully no such worry need exist with this. To make this explanation simple to follow (and to write) let’s assume that the presentation we’re going to use is simply this: 3 envelopes. One is chosen freely. The other two are opened by performer to say ‘Do NOT Choose’ and the chosen one is opened by the volunteer to say, ‘You Will Choose the (colour) Envelope, THANK YOU!’ Okay let us walk through the set up. You’ll need: - 3 coloured envelopes (red, blue and green) - 4 sheets of paper - a marker pen Take the first piece of paper and write YOU WILL CHOOSE THE RED ENVELOPE boldly on it. Fold it and place it inside of the red envelope. Now, take the first piece of paper and write YOU WILL CHOOSE THE BLUE ENVELOPE boldly on it. Fold it and place it inside of the blue envelope. Tuck the flaps of the envelopes inside. Now comes the secret bit. On the next piece of paper, write DO NOT CHOOSE, fold it and place it inside of the green envelope. Tuck in the flap.

Ken Dyneʼs Primal Prediction

Next, take the final piece of paper and write DO NOT CHOOSE on it too. Again fold it. This time you’re going to insert this piece of paper into the green envelope, but on top of the folded in flap. Now the state of play is this: Red envelope contains a folded piece of paper, bearing the words ‘YOU WILL CHOOSE THE RED ENVELOPE’, the blue envelope contains a folded piece of paper with the words ‘YOU WILL CHOOSE THE BLUE ENVELOPE’, the green envelope contains a piece of paper with ‘DO NOT CHOOSE’ written on it, the flap of the envelope folded in and then a second piece of paper stating ‘DO NOT CHOOSE’ inserted in the envelope, on top of the flap (as the per the image to the right). That is all that is needed to set up this routine. Extremely simple. Now let’s go in to how we get moving with this and perform the three envelope routine (then we’ll get in to the description routine from my show).

Ken Dyneʼs Primal Prediction

And To Perform The envelopes are fanned toward the audience in the order (from front to back) green, red, blue. The reason for this order is that by carefully arranging the position of the blue envelope behind the green one, you can completely cover the exposed white paper, thus freely walk around as you address the audience and introduce the routine. You can show (albeit subtly) that there is nothing being held behind the envelopes and all appears fair. Now the truth is that the volunteer has an absolute free choice of any of two of the envelopes. She can choose red or blue. The green one however, we need to deal with a little differently. We’ll come on to what we do if they choose red or blue, in just a moment. However let us get the troublesome green envelope out of the way first. Initially I was going to write in the description of this routine that no equivoke was used, because I personally believe that to be true. However I resisted putting that in the description because some might have found that misleading as dealing with the green envelope is something of the older cousin of equivoke. In fact so related that I’m going to call is Exposed Equivoke. Why? Because if you have to use it (when they choose green) you actually tell your audience that you’re using it. Anyway, we’re getting ahead of ourselves. The first thing I do is try and using some reallife psychology to guide the volunteer away from the green one. I do this a couple of times in the short presentation. Here is what I say: "Isn't it interesting how we are constantly communicating things about ourselves? For example, you chose to wear a gray dress, a silver necklace and matching belt. These colours reflect a sophisticated person.” This tells the person that the choice of colour they make WILL communicate something about themselves to everyone in this room. When in front of a group of people, be it strangers or colleagues, we want to look our best. So when I then follow up with the descriptions of what these colours symbolise, we simply need to make green most unappealing. How do we do that? Here’s the scripting again: "Red is a lucky colour in China. However red may also represent blood, pain and suffering. This next envelope is blue. Blue is the colour of the oceans, of peace and tranquility. It is the colour of deep thinking. However it is also the colour of desolation and loneliness Green. Green is the colour of mother nature. Of the natural world and harmony. However it is also the colour of money, the green-eyed monster, of greed and envy.” Ken Dyneʼs Primal Prediction

Do you see how we’ve angled green toward being the most unfavourable? But we’re not finished there. We then follow up by reminding them that they will be judged by everyone in the room, based on the colour they select: “Whichever colour you choose will communicate very specific things about your personality to everyone here.” And just to drive the point home and once again have the most minimal chance of them choosing the forbidden colour we go on a rant about green: “For example, I might choose the colour green. I might LOVE the colour green, decorate my whole house in green But I know if my mother came round she’d say ‘Kennedy, what have you done with the place?’ because she hates the colour green.” Psychologically, the colour green now seems like it’s too obvious a choice, plus if you were to choose it, you’d be admitting in front of all of these people that you’re greedy and envious. Two traits that no one wants to be associated with. So now we’ve psychologically guided them away from green, what do we do if they STILL choose it? Well the final part of the script takes care of that. This is what I call the Exposed Equivoke. We say to them, “So go ahead, choose a colour for me”. This is the point at which most people will say red or blue. The odds are stacked in your favour. The bare-bone statistics are 2/3, then we’ve added in all of the psychology so the chances of them choosing green are minimal. But, they still could. The moment they say ‘Green’ I smile. “And that felt fair didn’t it? You know it’s my job to subtly persuade you and influence you, yes? Well do you remember when I told you that my favourite colour was green, I’d decorate my whole apartment in green...we all remember that yes? Then, and you WILL remember this. I asked you to choose a colour. But do you remeber what I actually said? Some of you will. I said...’go ahead and choose a colour for me...for ME’. Your subconscious joined hte dots and made the perfect choice. So now, you have the free choice of either the red, or the blue envelope for yourself. No funny word-games, which one do you want for YOU?” I hope I’ve made it suitably clear how you simply use your equivocal language and then expose it as apparent subtle persuasion if the need arises. Now, regardless of their choice, we find ourselves in the same situation. You are still holding two envelopes (the green one and either the blue or the red) and the volunteer holds one. For this example, let’s say they chose BLUE. So your volunteer holds the blue envelope and you the green and the red. Ken Dyneʼs Primal Prediction

The first thing I recommend you doing, the moment they take the envelope from you is to say something to safeguard them opening their chosen envelope prematurely and ruining your climax. I simply say, “Hold on to your envelope and don’t open it just yet”. As I’m giving this instruction I take the red envelope (that I’m still holding) and place it in front of the green envelope. I open the flap of the red envelope, as per the image >>>

Now in a continuous motion use the same fingers that opened the flap, to apparently remove the paper from within the red envelope, when in reality you’re removing the paper that you inserted in to the green envelope, on top of the flap. Here’s a photograph of this moment >>> Now you have the classic misdirection principle at your mercy. The large action of removing and unfolding the bright white paper, will cover the small action of us dumping the red envelope in to our case or down the back of the platform. The paper will, of course read ‘Do NOT Choose’. At this point I like to move forward away from wherever I dumped the red envelope, to create distance between me and it. My excuse for this is in handing the piece of paper I just read, to someone in the audience. You’re now in a position to freely and fairly open the green envelope, remove the paper and read it. What’s great about this moment is, the one envelope they could not choose before, is now clean and can be handed out, along with the paper that came from it. Now you are done, simply have the volunteer open her envelope and have her read out your prophecy. That is the handling of the envelopes, and the main thing I wanted to share with you here. However I know that in order to be complete in this matter, I should expose the way I get the description of the person in to play. It’s fantastically simple, and perhaps unbelievable but believe me I’ve been doing this routine as described for well over a year now and it is one of the major talking points of my show.

Ken Dyneʼs Primal Prediction

Describing A Stranger I am sure that you have already guessed this but, I simply look around the audience before the show and spot someone near the front who is wearing something significant, interesting or easy to describe. I do this either by peeking through the curtains, or more often than not, just during all of that time when everyone is having dinner. There is ample opportunity to spot someone. As soon as you know who youʼre going to use, pop back to your dressing room. Or as in the many cases I work when there isnʼt one provided (I slum it and work the poorer end of the market) take a trip to the bathroom, pop in to a cubical and lock the door. In your secluded, out of the way environment, write the description of the person you spotted and place it in to the red envelope. And then duplicate what you wrote and put it inside of the blue envelope. Now youʼre ready to go. In fact I pre-write a lot of the prediction even bore I arrive, if possible. Just to save some time. Hereʼs what the paper looks like before I arrive at the venue:

Ken Dyneʼs Primal Prediction

So the wording, for clarity is: Do choose, especially if you’re a young lady with

You’re wearing

You’re strong and passionate, that is why you chose BLUE This means that when I visit the toilet or whichever secret place Iʼve designated, I donʼt need to spend too much time there.

Ken Dyneʼs Primal Prediction

In fact, you can see how little additional information you actually need to write here:

Now we have spotted this person and secretly written a description of them. We are not set with the challenge of choosing this person in a manor that appears completely random. Here is exactly how Iʼve been doing it: To open the show I talk about how the easiest way to do any of this would be to set it up with people and just use friends. So to make sure I donʼt do that weʼll select everyone at random using a frisbee (a paper ball or whatever your like). What Iʼm about to share with you is as bold as it comes, and Iʼve surprised myself that Iʼm going to actually tip it. It;s just so simple that those people who donʼt ʻgetʼ mentalism will simply think it wonʼt work. I hope you ʻget itʼ. Hereʼs what I say:

Ken Dyneʼs Primal Prediction

“Iʼm going to throw this in to the audience and whoever catches it is who will use. Actually, if I throw this and it spills red wine down someoneʼs nice dress I could get in to a lot of trouble. So errm...youʼre going to do it” I then toss the frisbee to the person I spotted earlier, the person who is described in the red and blue envelopes. “So if you end up injured, itʼs not me getting sued. Itʼs you darling” I say this with a smile and it gets a little laugh. You now ask her to toss the frisbee. Wherever it lands, have the person stand. You then have 2 options. Both of which I use, depending on the length of the set Iʼm doing. Just as an aside, I use this routine in EVERY show I do. If I only have 10 minutes Iʼll do Primal Prediction and one other effect. I love it THAT much. The best way to proceed from here is use the person who has now been randomly selected, for another routine and then come back to Primal upon itʼs conclusion. The second option is to ask a few questions of the random person and say ʻyouʼll be perfect for this next thing..but first of all...ʼ Regardless, what youʼre going to do now is act dumb. A little bit of acting IS needed here. Basically, even though you blatantly handed the frisbee to her, you look at the audience confused and say ʻnow who was the first person to catch the frisbee?ʼ After a short pause people will start pointing to the person you handed it to, and she will raise her hand. Now for the most important part of this. You are going to re-frame everything with the following words: “Can we just confirm, you and I have never met before? And you were chosen completely at random, nothing has been set up in fact you have no idea what it about to happen, have you?” She will agree. Because as far as everyone is concerned you havenʼt met before, she agrees because she hasnʼt met you before and has no idea that you spied her earlier. Now you welcome her to the stage and compliment her on her dress sense before proceeding with the routine. You will have to trust me that, when delivered with 100% conviction and confidence, everyone remembers you randomly choosing someone from the audience by tossing a frisbee around. There you have it. The whole thing. A true performance piece that you will see in my act anytime you get to see me.

Ken Dyneʼs Primal Prediction

Some Closing Remarks Just some final notes for clarity. The envelopes I use are standard DL size. These are perfect for use on stages of all sizes. Iʼve personally used this routine for a small group of 6 people and audiences of around 1,200 and it played fantastically well under all of those conditions. In terms of angles, I initially thought they might be a problem. I was wrong. If you have people watching you from behind, at the moment you remove the first ʻDo NOT Chooseʼ simply bring the two envelopes youʼre holding closer to your chest. Remember that there is absolutely NO HEAT on your two envelopes anyway. All of the heat is on the envelope your volunteer is holding. And they can watch that one as much as they like because we never go anywhere near it.

Thanks and Credits: Ian Rowland for his input and excitement over this routine. Colin McLeod for the idea of drawing a big X on the ʻdo not chooseʼ papers to make it more visual. Max Maven, whoʼs routine with three envelopes inspired me to tinker with envelopes and then accidentally come up with this method.

Ken Dyneʼs Primal Prediction