25. The Mirror

class: opener OR closer | impressiveness: 4/5 | factors: silly, fun | requires: willing volunteer, relaxed fun | watch full episode

Audio Commentary:

(00:01:05)

The Work: For this effect I’ve dressed up a straight-up old school bar scam with a newfangled presentation. Here’s my simple presentation for the classic “you do as I do.”

The Setup: Bet your friend that he can’t copy everything you do. In other words, he needs to act as a mirror image of you, copying every move in as close to real-time as possible. Don’t worry: you’re not going to make any crazy-fast moves to try to trip him up. You’re going to move slowly and simply at all times… in theory, he should have no trouble following along.

The Steps: You’ll come up with your own presentation for this, and add your own bits of business, but the main beats are:

  1. Both of you take a drink.

  2. Hold your drink forward in a toast. He does the same.

  3. You take a drink. So does he.

  4. You toast again. He does, too.

  5. Finally, you spit a mouthful of your drink back into your glass. He can’t… because he’s already swallowed.

Now, remember: the more you dress up the presentation with red herrings, the greater chance they’ll miss your mouthful of drink. That’s why I frame this as a “mirror image” game… I fuss over the glasses, the napkins, the drink positions, setting everything at the table up to make a perfect mirror image. Then I explain they must copy me in as close to real-time as possible. Once we start, I add an important subtlety: after the first drink, I have them repeat whatever I say. That reinforces the point that we’ve both swallowed our drinks. Because of that reinforcement, the second time you start the ritual, your sucker will think he’s about to say something, guaranteeing he swallows first (and ends up owing you a drink).

Advanced Follow-up: Since this bar scam’s been around for so long, you may run into someone who has heard of it before. As insurance, whenever you spit your drink back into the glass, always retain about half of the liquid in your mouth… that way, if some wise-ass spits his mouthful back into the glass, you can wipe that smug grin off his face by spitting another mouthful into your beer.