Kennedy + Guns = Publicity for MagicianInside MagicMagic News Updated Daily for the Professional Magician

His name is Kennedy. There is no first or last name, just Kennedy.

But when you’ve got a gun to your noggin, there isn’t really a need to debate the propriety of nomenclature.

The Evening Chronicle covers Kennedy’s efforts to terrify audiences and himself with a Russian Roulette effect.

The man who describes himself as a magician/mentalist stands in front of the reporter:

Kennedy has a gun planted against his temple. “I’m always terrified when I do this, absolutely terrified,” he says.

“I can feel my hands sweating. I just know that if this worked it would blow half my face off.”

Kennedy’s not the only one sweating. I’m not too keen on seeing his head splatter against the wall behind me either.

But all this drama would be much more alarming had I not just
witnessed the same man bend a fork in half with the power of his mind.
Anyone who can twist metal just by looking at it will surely be able to
deflect the course of a bullet.

The 21-year-old
gentleman says he uses a “clever blend of psychology, mental dexterity
and misdirection to read minds and influence decisions.”

He was booked to perform cabaret shows in which he’ll have to select
four of five guns, hold them to his skull, and pull the trigger.

“I
know which one has the bullet beforehand and I number them all in a
sequence. Then I put two coins over my eyes, put a blindfold on and
then I put a steel plate on top of that,” says Kennedy.

“My assistant hands me the guns randomly and I have to read her mind to work out which order she’s put them in.

“Every time I do it, I’m convinced I’m not going to hear that click and it’s just such a massive relief when I do,” he adds.

Kennedy
dismisses comparisons with Derren Brown. He does admit receiving
inspiration from the current star of the UK Magic scene but says he
does not copy his effects.

“But to the educated
magician, the pair are polar opposites. Kennedy brought me up to speed.
He said: “The problem I have got is I’m 21 and I haven’t been in the
public eye so I didn’t do this before Derren.

“This means some people think I’m just trying to do what he does,
but he uses psychology and influences body language. He’s very good at
it but I’m very different.

“He tries to actually step inside other people and influence the way they work. I like to look at the way you are.”

Okey Dokey.

We don’t really see much of a difference but that’s probably because
we haven’t seen both magicians perform. From the
audience-point-of-view, though, it doesn’t really seem to matter how
the magician claims to influence a volunteer’s decision or read the
volunteer’s thoughts. We hope the difference between Mr. Brown and
Kennedy is more than each magician’s claimed method (“stepping inside
other people” versus “reading body language”).

Regardless, good luck to Kennedy.

By the way, wasn’t that the name of a female reporter on MTV?

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