Derren Brown

[Whits]

Anyone watching tonights show?

[Simon Pieman]

Yeah I am. It's keeping me amused but it has to be fake or what they'll do at the end will be. Why are the plane engines on already?

[Freddies Ferret]

weird as fuck....that guy is one shit actor

[LucienSanchez]

Hmmmm... i always watch these, and every time it seems massively fake and gets on my tits.

[Freddies Ferret]

i just cant see how its real

[Freddies Ferret]

nice bird he's got there

[Simon Pieman]

I think people who try and decide if it's real or not miss the point.

[Freddies Ferret]

surely that is the whole point though? deciding if it's real or not

[Samdy Gray]

His shows have always been about sub-consciously influencing the audience to somehow change or better their lives. Like Si said, it's never really supposed to be about whether it's real or fake, it's all about the (not so) hidden message.

[@MacPhlea]

His shows have always been about sub-consciously influencing the audience to somehow change or better their lives. Like Si said, it's never really supposed to be about whether it's real or fake, it's all about the (not so) hidden message.

What he said...

The 'aircraft' was landed a Gatwick, a cat 1 airport where you can 'land' hands free in a pea souper - a manitee could have landed that plane but it's the fact he got off his arse and was prepared to do it even though he was shit scared of flying...

[Simon Pieman]

With Derren's shows there are large elements of things not being real or maybe even the whole concept itself.

Like the show when the old biddy becomes good at poker in a week. Did she play in a real tournament? Did she have more than one week's practice? Was she an experienced poker player acting the part of a clueless old biddy? Indeed, the tricks could even be the same as the treats and it doesn't matter what they 'randomly' select. It's just like watching magic tricks and coming up with theories as to how it's done, entertaining at the same time.

I think the recent shows are so far fetched they aren't meant to make you think how it's done but just emphasise a point. Like the lottery show, got you caught up in the buzz that he was going to predict the lottery numbers then basically pissed on that theory. He's telling you that you can't have a system for random lotteries or Deal or No Deal.

[Spy]

I think he is an extremely clever bloke with a great understanding of psychology and that was best shown in his older stuff like when he made the bloke believe that he could rob the suitcase of money from the securicor van.

[Iffy's Onion Bhaji]

I must admit i've always preferred his series as opposed to the one off "specials" that he does. Mostly the earlier series as well although Trick or Treat was alright too.

[flammableBen]

I'm not a fan who's watched all his stuff religiously, and missed tonights because I was watching whatever Shane Meadows film it was which was on.

From what I have seen though I think his best stuff is when he does something not to out there but impressive, then offers an explanation, and then 5 mins later you think "well that would have been a clever way of doing it, but you probably did it in an easier more staged way".

I think stuff like the lottery last year was a step too far on that, as his explanation on how he could have rigged the lottery was nonsense, as was all the filler gap bits about the power of the people finding patterns in the numbers.

Vague memory of him stopping everybody standing up or something? That works quite well because they'll be enough nutters out their claiming they couldn't. Can't really remember how the show went though because I think I was drunk when I watched it.

Didn't he do something when he made some bird win 7 horse race bets in a row or something? Then he claimed out he'd got 30,000 people to try the same thing (or whatever the odds worked out as, was she betting favourites?). Then you think that he can't have filmed them all so he probably just faked horse race video streams in a few bookies in a deal with ladbrookes or something. Can't remember that one too well so might have got it a bit wrong.

I dunno, I'll watch it if there's nothing else on but I think the bigger the stunt, then the more the rational explanation suffers. Even if the rational explanation bit is fake, it's a big part of the enjoyment, and just as much a part of the whole illusion.

[flammableBen]

Jesus, I haven't written hundreds of words of bollocks on something I know very little about for fucking ages. I need more TEF time.