First, Surya, good on you for taking the plunge to make these amazing skills entertaining for audiences!
The purpose of entertainment is, at base, to hold an audience’s attention. Whether it be poetry reading, a play, a magic show, or in this case memory stunts–the entertainer must command the audience’s attention. This means that you have to control every moment. Any words that come out of your mouth should be designed with one of these three goals in mind:
- Holding rapt attention
- Creating moments of amazement
- Giving concise instruction
Number 1 is the base of any entertainment. Number 2 is there because memory work is uniquely impressive (like magic or acrobatics). Number 3 is a vestige. Unfortunately, some of what you do will require instructions to be dealt (e.g., name a word) which aren’t inherently entertaining, but are necessary. So the times when instructions are necessary, they will need to be clear and be brief so that you can immediately return to goals 1 and 2.
If you find during rehearsal (and you should definitely rehearse, with video) that anything you say does not advance one of those three goals, eliminate it. Superfluous phrases come out just habitually from everyone. Phrases like “bear with me”, “stuff like that”, “so yeah”, “basically”, or “so here’s what we’re going to do” are common filler among performers and do not move entertainment forward. It takes deliberate practice to remove superfluous phrases and make sure the audience is mentally with you every step of the way.
As for memory “routines”, because controlling every moment is so vital you’ll want to minimize the time it takes to construct lists. Josh recommended names/faces. This is a great idea as long as you learn the names before your show. Harry Lorayne made a living touring the US by learning names of audiences before shows and then identifying 200 people by name during the program. But it is vital that you learn names before you actually start the performance so you can maintain momentum during the show. Here’s a clip of Harry Lorayne doing this on the Tonight Show.
Josh also recommended doing pi on a grid. This is a great idea too because it requires no set up time. People are familiar with pi, so it’s impressive going in order. But then identifying specific digits out of order blows them away.
Here are a few other ideas I can suggest.
The Knight’s Tour. Move a knight across a chessboard so that it touches every square once, using only legal moves. This can be done on the spot, but it’s also possible to simply memorize a sequence that will work every time allowing you to perform the feat blindfolded. A blindfolded knight’s tour has the benefit of being visually striking for your audience. You have an assistant move the knight to the square you designate, while you face the audience blindfolded. For added drama, you can even cover your eyes in coins and duct tape to prove that there is no way for you to see.
Don’t Like Playing Cards? Use other things. You could memorize a shuffled stack of postcards of the 50 US states. You could memorize the order of cards with elements from the periodic table. In essence, playing cards are only convenient because they’re a simple way to randomize a string of difficult to memorize items. These items, however, are not limited to playing cards. Memorize a shuffled stack of Oscar-award winning movies (maybe even put them back in the right order). Use your imagination to think of what you could use instead of playing cards and you have a very original and entertaining stunt on your hands.
Day For Any Date. An oldie, but a goodie. You mentioned rapid math in your post, so the DFAD stunt should be right up your alley. Apart from being an impressive piece of mental math/memory, it has the added bonus of being deeply personal for audience members. You can identify what day of the week they were born on, married on, when they graduated, or had their first kiss. Dates are significant to people. Using sentimental dates can have a powerful impact.
Magic Square. First rule of magic squares, as in fight club, is don’t talk about magic squares. With us on the forums, it’s fine. But you never want to call it a “magic square” with an audience. They are two seconds away from a Google search that will completely evaporate the mystery of a magic square.
That said–here’s how to KILL with a magic square memory demonstration.
Have a 4x4 grid prepared, each box is numbered from 1-16 in the upper left-hand corner. Have members of the audience call out items to create a list. You write down 16 items in order, one item per box, memorizing them as you go. Once complete, you go through all 16 items in order (or backwards if you like). Applause break #1.
THEN, have an assistant come up to hold your pen. They name a two-digit number (could be their age, their birth year, last digits of a phone number, etc.). Have audience members call out numbers 1-16 or call out items on the list. You can tell them what item went with that number. Every time you identify one, you tell your assistant to write down a random number in that specific box (don’t tell anyone why, just have the assistant do it). By the end you’ll have surreptitiously constructed a magic square. The audience is impressed because you’ve now identified every item out of order. Applause break #2.
Now you go for the jugular. Have audience members break out their phones and open the calculator app. “This section of the audience, add up this column of numbers. This section here, add up this column of numbers…” You can see where this is going. They collectively reveal your impressive magic square. Every column adds up to the two-digit number named by your assistant. Massive applause break #3.
Bow humbly. With all audience members holding their phones, kindly remind them to silence their devices. Start your show secure in the knowledge that phones are off, attention is on you, and the audience is eager.
