RICHARD FAVERTY/BECKETT STUDIOS

February 2008 MUM 47

“Ladies and gentleman,” the CEOannounced, building momentum for the per-former at his side, “You have seen him onCNN Live and the Today Show. You have readabout him in Psychology Today and even in theNational Enquirer. He has performed allaround the world to standing ovations, pleasewelcome, the Mind of Steven… err, what wasyour last name again?”

This nightmare introduction was not just abad dream for Steve Shaw. It happened againand again during the first decade of his per-forming career. After it happened at three con-secutive corporate performances, he had hadenough. His birth name of “Steven Shaw” wassimply too common, too forgettable. He need-ed a name that would be hardto forget, possibly one with abuilt in mnemonic, preferablysomething unusual and myste-rious. He knew that he wanteda name with at least two hardconsonants and as many ormore syllables. Dunninger,Annemann, Corinda… some-thing like that.

Steve had been a fan ofBanacek, the early ’70s televi-sion show starring GeorgePeppard as the title character, awitty, urban insurance investi-gator. Though critically acclaimed, the showhad run only two seasons, just 16 episodes,and had been off the air more than twodecades; long enough not to be topical, yet stillhave the ring of familiarity. If a CEO didn’trecognize the name Banacek, he would likelyhave to ask how to pronounce it, forcing himto focus on it and remember it. As an aid topronunciation, Steve changed the spelling to“Banachek.” The change worked and stuck.He has been Banachek ever since.

Banachek was born Steven Robert Shaw onNovember 30, 1960, in Middlesex, England toan English mother and an American electricalengineer then stationed with the U.S. Air Forcein England. His parents divorced before hisfirst birthday and he stayed in England with his

mother, who remarried a Scotsman namedThomas Martin. Steve Shaw became “SteveMartin.”

During this period he recalled being goad-ed by older boys to steal a Playboy magazinefrom a local vendor and being caught by thevendor after a chase through the woods. Hewas released after telling the vendor where theolder boys had hidden the many other maga-zines they had stolen, but he lived in fear for atime of being arrested and hauled away byScotland Yard. When he was nine the family,which now included two much younger half-brothers, moved to South Africa where hisstepfather worked for Firestone TireCompany.

His mother abandoned the family not longafter the move and his stepfather, an alcoholic,became emotionally detached, leavingBanachek to nurture his younger half-siblingsas best he could. Though he recalls SouthAfrica as the most beautiful country he hasever known, his time there was a period ofboth emotional and financial privation. Duringone school year, he had only a single outfit forthe entire year. Apartheid was still the rule oflaw and because Steve did not speak Afrikaanshe was held back in school for a year, eventhough many of his classmates also spoke noAfrikaans. Rebelling against having been heldback, he refused to learn Afrikaans, somethinghe now regrets.

He recalls saving pennies to attend a school

performance by a magician who did a silk-to-egg routine and divined what students hadwritten on a blackboard. Although intrigued,he was not smitten. He did experiment withdisguises during this period, donning wigs,make-up, and clothes his mother had leftbehind, attempting to convince a local shop-keeper that he was an elderly lady.

In the summer of 1974, Uri Geller, theIsraeli psychic superstar, visited South Africa,creating his usual sensations in the press withhis apparently paranormal demonstrations.Though the 14-year old Banachek did not seeGeller, he heard him on the radio and believedthat his claimed powers were real — that waswhat all the adults around him believed.

Banachek took a nail andstroked it, attempting to makeit bend by concentratedthought alone. He thought hedetected a slight bend thatmight not have been therebefore, but he couldn’t be sure,and subsequent attempts didnot produce any further bends.Disappointed, he abandonedfurther experimentation.

Banachek’s Americangrandparents had kept intouch via correspondence andencouraged him to join his

birth father, then stationed in Australia. Withhis stepfather’s approval in 1975, he traveledalone on his “Steve Martin” British passport toWoomera, South Australia, to meet theAmerican father he had never known, and thethree half-sisters and a half-brother his fatherand his American stepmother were raising.Woomera was then a restricted military areafor the development of long-range missilesduring the Cold War. Arriving in the desolateAustralian desert, Banachek found himself inthe midst of new family traumas, as hisfather’s second marriage was also beginning tounravel. Returning to South Africa was not anoption, and after a few months in Australia, hemoved with his American family to Aurora,Colorado, this time as “Steven R. Shaw” on a

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new American passport, and enrolled inGateway High School.

In Colorado, Banachek encountered thebook that literally changed the course of his life.It was The Magic of Uri Geller by James “TheAmazing” Randi that convinced Banachek thatGeller cheated, producing his phenomena bytrickery, rather than paranormal powers.Inspired by the hints in the book, Banachekdeveloped several original methods for visiblybending nails and cutlery. He soon added meth-ods for changing the time on watches and see-ing while blindfolded tohis growing arsenal ofapparently psychic feats,all of which were based onmethods he developedlargely on his own.

His American familycontinued to implode emo-tionally and after just sevenmonths in Colorado theymoved to Marianna, Penn-sylvania, a coal-miningcommunity where hisAmerican grandparents andmany aunts, uncles andcousins lived. Today,Banachek jokingly refersto them as “hillbillies,” butthey accepted him as fami-ly despite his unusualaccent and strange abili-ties. In nearby Washington,Pennsylvania, Banachekpicked up a copy of HenryHay’s classic AmateurMagician’s Handbook andadded additional tools tohis repertoire, as well aslearning of the work ofAnnemann and other pred-ecessors in his chosen fieldof interest, mentalism.

He held down as manyas three jobs after school tosupport himself, and wasalso performing his psy-chic feats frequently dur-ing school. During hissophomore year, Banachekwrote a letter of introduc-tion to Randi in NewJersey, telling him he felthe could successfully poseas a genuine psychic and fool scientists shouldsuch an opportunity arise. Randi respondedwith encouragement and thus the seed for whatbecame the infamous “Alpha Project” wasplanted.

The student newspaper in the fall of 1977quoted Banachek as saying that he didn’t usehis psychic abilities for “cheating on tests or

homework, because that would be an unfairadvantage.” Escalating family tensions forcedBanachek to move out of his home during hissenior year at Trinity High School.

In 1979, James S. McDonnell, Chairman ofthe Board of McDonnell Douglas Corporation,approved a $500,000 grant to fund theMcDonnell Laboratory for Psychic Researchat Washington University in St. Louis.Washington University physicist Dr. Peter R.Phillips was chosen to head the lab, whichannounced to the press that it was seeking

youngsters with psychokinetic metal bending(PKMB) abilities to test. Banachek saw one ofthe press reports and wrote to the Lab describ-ing his abilities, offering to be tested. Theyresponded favorably. Just as they did, Randicontacted Banachek to tell him about theMcDonnell Lab program, only to learn that notonly did he know about it, he had already been

accepted as a test subject! Randi also heard about another teenage

magician, a college freshman named MikeEdwards from Iowa, who had volunteered tobe tested by McDonnell Labs. Edwards calledRandi, telling him that he only knew how tobend keys and asked for his advice. Randiencouraged him to apply. According to Randi,of the more than 300 applicants for testing whoresponded to McDonnell Lab’s press release,only his two, Edwards and Banachek, wereaccepted for testing.

Randi set definite“ground rules” for his twoco-conspirators. One ofthese was that if they wereever directly confronted bythe laboratory staff withthe question, “Are youcheating or have youcheated on any tests?” theywere to reply honestly andreveal the deception andtheir association withRandi. Meanwhile, Randiwrote the Lab advisingthem in detail on experi-mental protocols theyshould follow in order toprevent fraud on the part ofany test subjects.

Thanks to the ingenu-ity of the two test subjectsand the gullibility of thetesting personnel, bothBanachek and Edwardswere repeatedly validatedas gifted psychics with awide variety of abilities,not limited to PKMB. Asword of the Wunderkinderspread through the psy-chic community, otherresearchers became inter-ested in testing them.Berthold E. Scharz, M.D.,a psychiatrist, testedBanachek and in 1982produced a rhapsodic 51-page supplement to TheJournal of the AmericanSociety of PsychosomaticDentistry and Medicineentitled “Taming thePoltergeist: Clinical

Observations on Steve Shaw’s Telekinesis.”The monograph includes more than two-dozenphotos purporting to document Banachek’spsychokinetic and telepathic abilities. Some ofthem show Banachek’s ability to psychicallyalter film, showing images that Schwarz inter-preted as resembling “a woman’s torso, breast,nipple, and thigh” and another of “what

Steve Shaw [Banachek], Mike Edwards, and James Randi in 1984,at the peak of Project Alpha.

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appeared to be the crowning of a baby’s headduring birth,” though Banachek had taken nosuch photos during the testing. Banachek’sexplanation today of why the photos he tookturned out that way: “I spat on the lens!”

Schwarz reported that “Although segmentsof his psychic talents, like his metal bending,can be studied as has been done, it is evidentthat he has a full spectrum of interrelated psy-chic abilities… In addition to work done byphysicists, the application of Steve’s abilitiesto biological and medical experimentation invitro and in vivo… should proceed.”

In July of 1981 Randi attended the I.B.M.convention in Pittsburgh and dropped broadhints about “Project Alpha,” hoping thesereports would reach St. Louis. Just 11 dayslater they had, as Banachek and Edwardswere told that rumors were circulating thatthe two of them were magicians sent byRandi to dupe the experimenters. The twobraced themselves for the question they hadagreed to answer honestly, prematurely end-ing the Alpha Project. But instead, the labstaff burst out laughing at the absurdity of thenotion. The relieved test subjects simplyjoined in the laughter.

Banachek and Edwards were featured ascelebrity panelists with Japanese metal benderMasuaki Kiyota at a New Frontiers CenterConference in Madison, Wisconsin in August1982. The three of them demonstrated and dis-cussed their abilities. Matsuaki’s claim to psy-chic fame was his ability to produce corkscrewtwists in cutlery. At close range, Banachek sawhim surreptitiously insert a spoon in a secretslot in the sole of his shoe, obtaining the nec-essary leverage to produce the twist.

Uri Geller was also featured at the event,and it was Banachek’s first chance not only tomeet Geller, but to see him perform firsthand. His initial reaction was one of disap-pointment, because Banachek’s own workhad focused on developing visible methods ofbending. All of Geller’s demonstrations atthis event involved hidden bending, wherethe results were revealed but not apparentlyseen occurring in real time. Geller’s blatantcheating was disappointing to the person hehad unknowingly inspired.

Randi attended the Madison conference indisguise under the name Adam Jersin (an ana-gram of James Randi) and got a chance towatch not only Geller, but his own two psy-chics in action. This was the first time he sawBanachek’s signature visible fork tine bend.

During one photo shoot for the NationalEnquirer on Banachek’s metal bending ability,the photographer grew impatient with the timerequired to bend the cutlery psychically andtold Banachek simply to bend it the usual wayin the interest of time. The readers would benone the wiser! While doing so, Banachek

accidentally discovered what would becomeone of his other signature methods, an “in thehands” method of duplicating Matsuaki’scorkscrew. He immediately and excitedlycommunicated the method to Randi, whoshared it with others in the magic community,somewhat obscuring its origins today.

Shortly after the conference, both youngmen traveled to England at the invitation of theBBC, which was producing a documentary onparapsychology. The Psychic News predictablygave glowing reports of Banachek andEdwards’ abilities. Finally, in January 1983,The Amazing Randi held a press conference inNew York City with Banachek and Edwards toreveal the ruse. Over the four years of theirinvolvement with the McDonnell Lab, the twoyoung “psychics” were involved in 160 hoursof testing, at an estimated expense of some$10,000 for airfares, meals, and lodging. Otherthan a token per diem, the subjects were notpaid for their testing time, and so, inBanachek’s case, he actually lost income sincehe needed to take leaves of absence from his

then primary job as a hospital maintenanceworker in Washington, Pennsylvania.

An NBC special Magic or Miracle? featur-ing Randi, Banachek, and Edwards aired inFebruary 1983, followed by appearances onthe Today Show, CNN Live, and a whirlwind ofpublicity. Numerous magazines and journalsreported on the “Alpha Project” and debatedits consequences, one of which would becomeclear in August 1985, when the McDonnellLab closed due to a lack of funding.

Banachek decided to leave the security ofhis hospital job in Pennsylvania and entershow business full time. He packed his posses-sions in his car and headed west — destinationCalifornia. But a friend from high schoolwho’d moved to Houston convinced Banachekto take a detour through Texas. The Houstoneconomy was booming because of a spike inoil prices and he was persuaded to stay awhile. Banachek quickly settled into the localnightclub scene, starting as a walk-aroundmentalist at a club called Confetti’s, and itwasn’t long before he was hired as the club’s

At age 20, Steve Shaw [Banachek] bends a key for a skeptical reporter.

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director of entertainment. At one point in hisearly Houston career, he was performing atfour or five restaurants on a weekly basis,always paid by the owners or management,rather than depending on patrons’ tips.

During this same period, Banachek part-nered with stunt man David Paul Lord to pro-duce promotions and publicity events. One oftheir first was a November 1984 three-day bur-ial alive of Banachek, which resulted in head-line stories in the local press. These burialswere not created and promoted as escapes, butas endurance stunts. Banachek would be nailedinto a coffin and lowered into the ground.After 24 hours he would communicate viawalkie-talkie (pre cell phone days), reportingon his condition. After the proscribed period,the coffin would be exhumed, opened, and anexhausted Banachek would emerge and berevived and interviewed.

Magic Island, a nightclub featuring magicand magicians, opened in Houston in 1984. Bylate 1985 Banachek had become the housementalist there, performing multiple sets ofclose-up mentalism in a formal show setting. Itwas at this time that he met Scott Wells, whobecame and remains his business partner inbringing Banachek’s products to the magicmarketplace [see “Marketing Banachek’s

Inspirations,” page 54].He also began performing his formal stand-

up mentalism act as a headliner at comedyclubs, adding and refining a question-and-answer segment to his signature metal bendingand his Russian Roulette with Knives routine.Those who have seen Banachek’s Q&A oftenassume that he has a natural facility for num-bers, since in the course of it he routinely tellsaudience members their phone numbers, serialnumbers on their bills, etc. As a matter of fact,however, he is rather uncomfortable with num-bers, perhaps as a result of his dyslexia, andrelies on mnemonics to deal with them.

Banachek’s familiarity with mnemonicsplayed a key role in his second great debunk-ing adventure with The Amazing Randi. In1986, Randi enlisted the aid of Houston’sskeptic community, of which Banachek wasan active member, to attend and observe anupcoming faith healing event by televangelistPeter Popoff. Randi attended the event in dis-guise, and the participating skeptics were toldto provide Popoff’s assistants with false iden-tities and pseudo ailments when they wentthrough the crowd soliciting prayer cards.Randi suspected that Popoff was usingmnemonics to retain and feed back the infor-mation gathered, under the pretence that hewas receiving revelations via the Holy Spirit,with healings to follow. However, based on hisown experience, Banachek felt that mnemon-ics could not account for the extensive detailedinformation that Popoff was communicatingduring his services.

By coincidence, Banachek succeeded inbeing recruited to serve as a voluntary aid toPopoff’s staff, gathering cash donations inlarge buckets, which allowed him severalopportunities to observe Popoff at close range.Banachek found it curious that such a relative-ly young man with such prodigious healingabilities would need the hearing aid that hedetected. Using this as a clue, Randi and histeam of investigators attended a subsequentPopoff event in San Francisco. Armed with afrequency scanner they were able to hone in onand tape record the broadcasts with all the ail-ment and identity information that Popoff’swife was transmitting to her husband. Thepublic unmasking of Popoff’s fraud on JohnnyCarson’s Tonight Show bankrupted the Popoffministries in 1987.

Ironically, Banachek credits watching faithhealers with the development of his perform-ing style. “After seeing the emotion elicited byevangelists,” he says, “I realized I wantedhighs and lows in my show. There are times Iconstantly go all over the stage and move amile a minute, but other times I slow down toadd texture and contrast.”

On October 31, 1987, television viewers inthe United States and Europe had the opportu-

Working nightclubs, corporate shows, and colleges in the ’80s and ’90s,Banachek invited his audiences to be part of “The World’s Largest ESPExperiment.”

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nity to watch In Search of Houdini, asBanachek performed a feat that even the dar-ing Houdini had deemed too dangerous.Banachek was to be chained, shackled, andlocked in a Plexiglas coffin, and then low-ered into a nine-foot deep hole and buried.He would have two hours on live televisionto extricate himself from the restraints andphysically dig his way to the surface.

The escape stunt was staged at a cemetery inLos Angeles, where the weather that Halloweennight was cold and rainy. In fact it had rained for32 hours straight. After a frightening one hourand 47 minutes, Banachek emerged dramatical-ly from the rain-soaked plot. He had succeededwhere his predecessors had failed.

Since the special was broadcast, two peoplehave died trying to duplicate Banachek’sincredible stunt. Banachek vowed never to per-form this difficult feat again. But Japanese tele-vision made him a monetary offer he could notrefuse, and on August 4, 1992 he repeated thefeat on Japanese soil. Once again it rained, onlythis time a small typhoon hit the island. Thehole was full of mud and had to be pumpedclean before Banachek could perform the stunt.Somehow he managed again, earning a newnickname of “Rainman.”

Several years later, Banachek sent a tape ofhis Buried Alive stunt to well-known producerGary Ouellet, for possible use on one of themagic specials he was producing at the time.Ouellet told him he loved the look of it, but didnot know how to bring it to TV in a short peri-od of time. “I told him I had some thoughts onthat and if he was serious we should talk. I didnot hear back, but less than a month later I sawmention that Lance Burton was going to per-form a Buried Alive on TV. At the time I wassuspicious, as the program was being producedby Gary. But I waited just to see. Sure enough,the way Lance was handcuffed was exactly likemine, the Plexiglas case, the bulldozers…everything about the stunt was mine. Well, Icalled Lance and he was truly sorry; in fact, likea true gentleman, he called me back a fewtimes, and we agreed it was not his fault, as theproducer had approached him with my idea.”As a result, Burton and Banachek became wellacquainted and remain friends to this day.

In December of 1987 Banachek metHeidemarie Johnson, who became his wifeand, for a time, his manager as well. Hedecided to leave the security of Magic Islandand transition his career from comedy clubsto the corporate and college markets. Afterseveral years of increasing success, Banachekwas signed by specialized management forthose markets, increasing his bookings andfees substantially. By 1998 and 1999, he wasnamed “Campus Performer of the Year” andin 2000 the “Campus Novelty Act of theYear” by the Association for the Promotion of

Campus Activities.Banachek’s very first public show was at

Washington Mall in Washington, Pennsylvaniaon Saturday, October 28, 1978. In that particu-lar show he performed what is believed to bethe first Russian Roulette routine with knives.Not having experience at structuring a show, healso performed an Acid Monte with real nitricacid. In fact, the mall still has a stain on its mar-ble floor to this day from that demonstration. Inthat same show he performed two differentBook Tests, some of the metal bending forwhich he has since become famous, a blindfoldroutine in which he found a candle with a bal-loon and various other effects. His performanc-es have come a long way since then!

Although he is still performing some ofthose same effects in his current show, it hasform and structure. His style is personal and hasmany signature moments. Whereas most men-talists like to introduce themselves via a conver-sation with the audience, Banachek lets hisaudience know what to expect and who he iswith a quick snappy demonstration.

He usually enters from the back of the roomand starts his first effect as he makes his way tothe stage. Asking the entire audience to think ofany playing card other than the Queen of Heartsor the Ace of Spades, Banachek then reveals thecards of four spectators, apparently using noth-ing other than non-verbal cues. It is shocking,and so to the point that in the first two minuteshe has managed to convince the audience thatthis is not going to be an ordinary show and thatthey have nothing to fear by participating. Atthis point Banachek can slow down. He willusually give the audience instructions on how toparticipate in his Q&A segment, which he calls,“The world’s largest ESP experiment.”

It is easy to see that structure is important inBanachek’s routines. Having revealed numbersand colors and cards in the first demonstration,he now moves to a Book Test where he revealsletters in a word merely thought of and finallywords. From here he uses a unique phone booktest to convince the audience that he can indeedinfluence every choice they make via verbal andnon-verbal communication. The audience feelsthey are being let in on a secret and it is fromthis point on that they believe that they are see-ing influencing in action. It is a whole newworld that is opening for them.

From here Banachek moves on to his blind-fold routine. He reveals a number on a bor-rowed dollar bill, and not only is he blindfoldedwith duct tape, coins, and a sleeping mask, hedoes not look in the direction of the bill. Whilerevealing three objects from the audience, thespectator holding the objects stands behindBanachek and holds the objects over the top ofhis head. The impression is that even if he werenot blindfolded, there is no way he could see theobjects, yet he reveals their details down to

numbers and words printed in small letters onthe underside. Not a moment is lost. ToBanachek it is important that there is no deadtime. For instance, while he is revealing thenumbers on a spectator’s dollar bill, anotherspectator is collecting the objects. While onespectator is removing the tape and coins, theother is returning the three objects. He evenreveals one more hidden object after his blind-fold is completely removed, so that the Q&Aslips can be collected.

Next Banachek starts to reveal the audiencethoughts. For the first person he reveals just hisor her thought. With the second person he divinesnot only the thought, but also his or her zodiacsign, culminating with the revelation of the spec-tator’s birth date. With the last person, after nam-ing the thought he then also intuits his or hersocial security number. Although he has onlyread three thoughts, the impression is that he hasdone five such demonstations. The audience isconvinced via clever wording that Banachek isdivulging information not written down.

All through the show Banachek reminds hisaudience he is not psychic, but using naturalmeans to reveal information. It is at this pointthat he even teaches the audience some of thesepsychological techniques.

Banachek then performs a series of psy-chokinetic effects, from making a pen fall offa table, a version of his PK Touches, variousmetal bending, and a weird and mysteriousvoodoo routine where Banachek stabs anoutline of a hand and a spectator’s hand vis-ibly starts to bleed. (In the college market,his presentations often result in students run-

While blindfolded Banachek with abeard reveals items held over hishead [by wife Heidemarie in thisposed publicity photo].

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I first performed my version of theBullet Catch around 1985. At that time, Iwas working with a partner and wasdeveloping a way to do a 100% safeBullet Catch. The idea came as a brain-storm when I was in a fishing supply store.While looking at some items there I knewI had it. Three factors were important:one, it had to be safe, which was unheardof in previous methods; two, I wanted asheet of glass to break with no gimmicks;and three, it had to fool everyone.

My stage partner and I began to per-form the Catch in various ways.Sometimes a dot was drawn on his mouthand he was set ablaze for a stunt full-body burn. One time we pretended hegot shot and rushed him to the hospital.The news was all over the radio, yet noone could locate the hospital where hewas. So later that afternoon, we called into confess it was a hoax to gain publicityfor that evening’s show, where we wouldbe doing the real thing. That night theclub was packed, standing room only.We soon had the label of “daredevils.”Bookings for my mentalism show throughagents started to go down, and shortlyafter I appeared with my Buried Alive

stunt on the TV special, In Search ofHoudini, my partner and I parted ways.

I then performed my version of theBullet Catch alone, using a preset vice tohold the gun and footprints on the floor.The spectator who marked the casingfired the gun in the vice, and the personwho marked the bullet head stood to myleft. All in all, I performed the BulletCatch about 50 times. I quit performingit shortly after I met my wife,Heidemarie. I think I performed theBullet Catch only one more time.

On April 14, 1994, Penn & Tellershowed up at my house. They arrived ina large limousine. Immediately afterthey were introduced to my wife, sheasked if they wanted to take a shower.My wife did not know what big stars P&Twere and thought they had just come infrom a road trip, and knowing howmuch I travel in cars, merely thoughtthey might want to freshen up. P&T werenot taken aback, but I am sure that for amoment they wondered what JamesRandi, who was the connection betweenP&T and myself, had set them up for.

Penn & Teller were in Houston for atwo-night engagement at Jones Hall and

they had come to visit at the suggestionof Randi. We talked quite a while aboutdifferent concepts. Only in passing, did Italk about the Bullet Catch and the factthat I no longer performed it. I men-tioned that I would be open to sharingmy work and showing them how it couldbe made safe. That night, I spent somemore time with P&T at Magic Island.

I spent the next day with Teller atCharlie Randall’s house. That was whenI discovered what an amazing manTeller is — very clever. As we talked, Irealized what great respect he and Pennhave for each other and how they com-plement each other perfectly.

The next evening, my wife, son, and Iwent to their show. It was the first time Ihad seen them perform live. I wasdelighted. It was one of the best, if notthe best, shows I had ever seen.

On the following day, April 16, Tellercalled. He said they were interested inthe Bullet Catch. Could I bring all myprops to their hotel in the morning? SureI could.

I showed up with my 357-magnum(actually a .38 with a scope), my sheet-of-glass holder, a box of bullets, a magicmarker, and some other bits of business.It took some convincing, but not much,that my method was 100% safe.

P&T asked if they could take theprops with them, gun and all. I wasecstatic and said yes. They asked howmuch I wanted for it. I told them, “You’refriends of Randi, you have helped him attimes, and I respect you both for that.Play with it and we will talk later.”

We talked on the phone a few times.I suggested a laser sight instead of thescope, and they had thought of that. Iwas amazed that P&T were taking gun-training classes. They talked with the FBI.Every day, they were thinking up a newway to improve the effect, eliminating aproblem, adding a new wrinkle to theroutine. Finally, Teller called with an invi-tation. He and Penn wanted to fly me toLas Vegas and have me stay at Bally’s soI could see the Magic Bullet.

On Saturday, June 10, 1995, at 9p.m., I entered Bally’s Celebrity Show-room, where I was seated in section A,table 106, seat 1. The show commenced.Again, I watched the wonders of P&Tthat I had seen and been entertainedwith in the past. I witnessed their haunt-Penn & Teller and the double-barreled Magic Bullet experience at the Rio in Las Vegas.

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ning from the room.)Banachek slows down and tells a story about

Abraham Lincoln and how he supposedly pre-dicted his own death. He uses this story to framea Confabulation routine where audience deci-sions are shown to be predicted between twostapled index cards in a zippered compartmentin a wallet. This is usually where Banachek’saudience awards him with what is generally thefirst of two standing ovations during his show.

Finally Banachek is ready to close his showwith his signature Russian Roulette. Five knivesare shown, two are real, three are simply han-dles. All are sealed in identical envelopes. Theseare mixed. A prediction is presented. Five peo-ple come up and after some byplay whereBanachek attempts to influence their choices(and demonstrates how he is doing so), thespectators select envelopes. The prediction isopened and the three people with the numbersnamed step forward with their envelopedknives. Two stab Banachek in the stomach as hestretches across a stool. Finally, he takes thethird envelope, holds his hand over it and, onthe count of three, slams his hand down on it.As he takes his bow and receives his secondovation, Banachek dramatically stabs the twodangerously sharp knives into a block of wood.

Banachek admits he’s not a psychic andeverything is accomplished by normal means.He tells his audiences that each effect is theresult of either verbal communication, non-ver-bal communication, magic, psychology, andperceptual manipulation or combinations ofthose factors.

“For years after the Alpha Project I strug-gled with what my claims were.” Banacheksays. “I knew I did not want to claim I wasusing real powers and did not even want togive that impression. However, the very actof performing mentalism left people withbelief in psychic powers, despite my claimsto the contrary.

“I voiced this concern to James Randi andhe sent me a little-seen article by Ned Rutledge,where Ned told how at a university demonstra-tion he talked about how he used his five knownsenses to create the illusion of a sixth. I finallyhad something I could live with: a non-psychic,non-BS framing of mentalism.

“There is a definition given here that to readminds is something psychic (in the supernaturalsense) and that to read thoughts is really a com-bination of techniques used to deduce certaininformation a person may be thinking of, andthat these techniques are more physiologicaland psychological in some form, whether it beverbal, non-verbal, magic or simply psycholog-ical techniques we are using. This is all true.”

To convince an audience that he readsthoughts and not minds, Banachek often tells athe story of a husband and wife who are sittingon a park bench when a pretty girl goes jogging

by. The husband turns his head to look; the wifeslaps the husband in the face. “You know whatthe husband was thinking, and you know whathis wife was thinking,” Banachek says. “Youhave not read their minds, but you have readtheir thoughts. That is what I do.”

British mentalist Ian Rowland, who billshimself as “The Mind Motivator,” understandshow Banachek’s use of psychological sub-tleties causes him to be perceived as a honest-to-goodness mindreader. “If people wonderwhat the man is all about as a performer,”Rowland says, “let me share a story from a fewyears back. I saw Banachek work a conventionin Las Vegas, where he was on stage in front ofhundreds and hundreds of people. But this wasno ordinary audience. This convention wasorganized by the James Randi EducationalFoundation. Every single person in the roomwas a full-fledged skeptic, a flint-hard non-believer in psychic powers and suchlike.Tough crowd if you’re a mindreader.

“Julia Sweeney was in the audience andBanachek gets her onstage and starts reading herthoughts. [Actress and comedian Sweeney creat-ed the gender-confused character of “Pat” onSaturday Night Live in the early 1990s.]Banachek tells Julia what she’s thinking. Andhe’s right. He tells her what word just poppedinto her head. Right again. He invites her to swaparound any letters in that word, and he tells herexactly which letters she just moved, and why.By this point, Julia has had enough of Stevedetailing everything that’s going on inside herown head. She screams — literally screams outloud, ‘How do you do that?’ She’s freaked out,baffled, frustrated, but royally entertained.Everyone is. There’s laughter, uproar, applause.Everyone’s with Julia in the same moment —‘Yeah, how the heck does he do that?’ It’s what Icall the Banachek moment. And it’s a good ques-tion: How does he do it? The rest of us can learnthe tricks, sure. But we can’t be Banachek.”

In 2005, Criss Angel, who had just signed acontract with A&E for his weeklyMINDFREAK series, sought out Banachekbecause he had specific interests in two effectsassociated with him. Angel wanted to do aBullet Catch, and he wanted to do a BuriedAlive. Banachek told him he could not do thePenn & Teller Bullet Catch, but perhaps theycould come up with something different. Sothey talked about doing the Buried Alive. Theydiscussed pre-show work, another of Bana-chek’s areas of expertise, and it was not longbefore Angel determined that he wantedBanachek as a consultant for his show.

However, Banachek had a solid calendarof college bookings to fill. Banachek wasimpressed with the respect with which Crisstreated the people around him, and he agreedto help out on the first season, with theunderstanding that he would be able to

ingly frightening version of the SpiritCabinet. Finally, they got to the MagicBullet. It was great, incredible, but moreimportant it was Penn & Teller. Oh, themethod for the marking and observingthe bullet go into the gun and the break-ing of the glass was mine, but the restwas all P&T. And, you know what? Theyfooled me with part of the routine.

My magic marker may have inspiredthe part of the Magic Bullet that fooledme, but it fooled me badly. It was interest-ing that everyone talked about the glassand the loading of the gun, but what getsme is no one mentioned the fact that nei-ther Penn nor Teller ever put their handsto their mouth. In the first stage version, aspectator got to select how the outcomewould be by flipping a coin, and Pennand Teller never come near each otherduring or after the coin toss.

After the show P&T met with me inTeller’s dressing room, the same oneFrank Sinatra had when he playedBally’s. We talked. I raved. I mentionedone or two small things, aspects they hadalready discussed. (Did I not say P&Tthought out every little detail?) As I left,they both thanked me. Teller nonchalant-ly placed something in my pocket.

Back in my hotel room, as I took offmy jacket I reached into my pocket andfound an envelope. Inside it was acheck. When I saw how much it was forI was shocked. It was more than I wouldhave ever thought of asking for — even ifI had decided to sell the Bullet Catch tosomeone other than P&T. I felt immenseguilt. Penn & Teller had taken my small-time effect and turned it into somethingfirst class. It had so much P&T all over it,and so little Banachek that I barely rec-ognized it. Teller later assured me thatwithout my method they could never dothe effect, and they would not ever havethought of doing it had I not assuredthem that my way was safe.

Why did P&T choose to call theirBullet Catch effect the Magic Bullet?P&T do not claim they catch the bulletthat is fired from the gun. They knowtheir audiences are too smart for that.But they do want the audience tobelieve that there is some magic thatcauses the bullet to get from one side ofthe stage to the other.

I have listened to and read of manyexplanations for their presentation of theeffect. Most are way off, a few havecome close, but no one I’ve talked withhas yet figured out the full method ofPenn & Teller’s Magic Bullet.

February 2008 MUM 53

schedule his MINDFREAK work around hisperforming dates.

Banachek quickly became an indispensablepart of the team, brainstorming plots and meth-ods, and simplifying ideas and making thempractical. As an example, on one of the firstshows, the crew told Banachek that on the nextday’s shoot, Angel would be making two cho-sen cards float out of a deck. Banachek askedthem what the method was, and then told themit would not work and why. He reworked theconcept so that a single thought-of selection,which initially stood up from among the face-down cards spread on the floor, would then floatup into the magician’s hand. The effect becamenot only practical and performable, but a mem-orable piece of magic.

Banachek calls Criss “truly amazing with astrong sense of self.” He credits Angel with sin-gle-handedly changing the demographics ofA&E’s viewership. Angel did perform a BuriedAlive the first season. And a Russian Roulettesegment was filmed, but never aired becauseA&E had concerns about a program showingfirearms in use. Banachek was disappointed,since he felt this was an extremely strong con-cept (and A&E’s concerns seem a bit ironicgiven they air episodes of The Sopranos on the

same nights MINDFREAK airs).After the second season, Angel made

Banachek “Magic Producer” for the third andfourth seasons, and with the additional respon-sibilities and compensation he now enjoys thework even more. Banachek attributes much ofhis satisfaction with this new role to his recog-nition that it is not his job to be the star, it is hisduty to make sure Criss Angel is the star. IfBanachek is invisible and Criss looks good,Banachek has done his job successfully.

A show of this nature burns up an incredibleamount of material, so the initial period ofbrainstorming and planning for the coming sea-son is where Banachek’s legendary creativitygets a workout. Generally four or five effectsare featured each show, and there are currently22 shows each season. In two weeks of pre-show brainstorming, the creative team came upwith 350 possible effects. One of the things thatBanachek has learned from working with Angelon MINDFREAK is not to worry about whatmagicians think. They are not the intended audi-ence the show is trying to reach.

Some in the magic community have assumedthat Banachek’s involvement with the recentNBC Phenomenon show was due to his associa-tion with Criss Angel, who co-critiqued the per-

formers with show creator Uri Geller. But, infact, Banachek’s involvement with Angel andMINDFREAK almost precluded his participa-tion on Phenomenon. Since both shows were inproduction simultaneously, Criss had reserva-tions about Banachek’s talents being spread toothin. He was next to irreplaceable on theMINDFREAK set, and working on Phenomenacould create inconsistency. Fortunately, Angel’smanagement company, The Firm, was able toconvince him that it would be in his best interestto have Banachek working behind the scenes onboth shows.

Since Banachek’s time on Phenomenonwould be limited, he brought in Bob Fitch tocoach the competing mentalists. Banachek andFitch worked with contestants to tighten theirscripts, keep the methods honest with nostooging, and make sure that no unwanted doorswere left open, in pre-show work and othermethods. In theory, with $250,000 at stake, oneof the contestant could have achieved miraclessimply by bribing audience members to reactappropriately on cue.

Given Banachek’s long association withGeller’s arch adversary Randi, some wonderedhow the two would get along. But Banachek toldGeller from the outset that he would be happy to

By Scott Wells

54 MUM February 2008

It all started with a simple question,“Have you ever done any magic on theradio?” In 1989 I was a house magicianand Banachek was the house mentalistat Magic Island in Houston. I was goingto my high school reunion and wantedto get some radio time in my local mar-ket. Banachek had a wealth of experi-ence and proceeded to give me oneidea after another, and he even let melisten to clips of radio broadcasts wherehe was a guest. With his advice, myradio debut went even better thanexpected.

I thought others might like to benefitfrom Banachek’s knowledge and cre-ativity, too, so I talked with him aboutputting together an audiotape. Theresulting interview went on for nearlyfour hours and included his clips andmine along with suggestions on gettingbooked on the radio, working with theannouncer and callers, as well as tricksto do on the radio. I rewrote the ques-tions and we re-taped the interview, andthen I edited it all on a small boom box.With that, Banachek and I formed our

partnership called “Magic Inspirations”that same year — he being the creativeforce and me handling the business.

To complement a lecture on radiomagic, Banachek gave me a copy of acomplete mentalism routine entitled Pre-Thoughts. I published that in a spiral-bound booklet that was quickly fol-lowed by another spiral-bound publica-tion of a technique called PsychokineticTouches. Not to have been consideredas a full routine, but rather a method,sales for Psychokinetic Touches startedvery slow. We next published a softcover, stapled booklet calledPsychokinetic Time, which was animpromptu method of altering the timeon a borrowed watch. Sales for this titlewere slow at first, with only a few pro-fessionals realizing its value. Bana-chek’s reason for wanting this and otherroutines out there was not just so theywould be associated with him, but sothese effects would be correctly per-formed. We next came out with thePsychokinetic Pen, followed by a fewproducts for the mentalist.

During this time Banachek had beencompiling his thoughts for a real bookwith the dream of it becoming a series.

That came to reality in 1998 with thepublication of our first hardcover book,Psychological Subtleties (PS1). Wequickly followed with a second hard-back, Psychophysiological ThoughtReading, a book on muscle reading.The saying, “A rising tide lifts all ships,”was never truer, because as sales forPS1 increased, interest in Banachek’sother products began to soar. Thatbuoyed our confidence and belief thatthere was a market for his mentalismproducts. PS1 broke all our expectationswith sales to date of over 5,000 copies.Since late 2006, there are nearly 3,000copies of Psychological Subtleties 2(PS2) in circulation. PS2 earned theMagic Woods “Book of the Year” for2007. Our major project for 2008 is topublish Psychological Subtleties 3 andthen to reformat and republish PS1,which has been out of print for nearlytwo years.

Banachek continues to be a formida-ble creative force in the world of mental-ism and magic. His ideas have become astaple of almost all amateur and profes-sional mentalists and his legacy is secure.I expect our friendship and partnershipto continue for the rest of our lives.

help him on the show as long as herefrained from “making any claims.”Under those conditions, they couldhave a “conversation.”

“Well,” Uri claimed, “I did findoil you know…”

“Uri, don’t go there,” Banachektold him, and apparently Gellerrefrained from pressing the pointfurther.

One evening after working on theshow, Uri, his longtime associate ShipiStrang, Heidemarie, Banachek, and tel-evision actor/magician Steve Valentinewent out to dine at Yamashiro’s, on thehill above the Magic Castle. At onepoint, Shipi started handing Uri colormarking pens, as he began drawing onone of the restaurant plates, presentingthe result as a gift to Banachek and Heidemarie.But the plate belonged to the restaurant, soBanachek had to sneak it out, bringing backunwelcome childhood fears of Scotland Yard!“Apparently Uri was not content impairing arestaurant’s silverware,” Banachek said with alaugh. “Now he has his sights set on ruining therest of their table setting!”

Banachek was content to be a coach, ratherthan a contestant on the Phenomenon show, feel-ing that at this point in his career he would havelittle to gain from performing under the competi-tion conditions. The producers constantly pres-sured the acts to performer “bigger” feats, eventhough Banachek argued that bigger was not nec-

essarily better. To make his point, he rolled up apiece of tinfoil and placed it on the conferencetable, then backed off from the table to a distanceat which it was abundantly clear he could haveno physical influence on the ball. “Watch theball,” he commanded. “I will make it move.” Theproducers sat in rapt silence, intensely watchingthe tiny ball, as Banachek focused his concentra-tion on it as well. When the tension reach a peak,he relaxed and smiled, confessing that it was notgoing to move. But if it had, they had to agreethat the small miracle would have been muchmore impressive than any of the big effects forwhich they had been pushing.

In addition to pushing the contestants to come

up with new and untested material, theproducers often changed their expecta-tions at the last minute. As an example, thelone female contestant, Angela Funovits,was once given a script at 4 a.m. with theexpectation that she would have it mas-tered in time for the live broadcast at 5 thatafternoon. Fortunately, thanks to her pen-chant for hard work, and no doubt withsome serious coaching from Bob Fitchand Banachek, she hit her verbal andphysical marks on cue.

As a result of his work onMINDFREAK, Banachek has beensigned as a client by The Firm, the man-agement agency that handles CrissAngel, as well as Cameron Diaz, SnoopDog, Lincoln Park, Leonardo DiCaprio,and other noted entertainers. As Angel’s

production company wraps its fourth season ofMINDFREAK, it will begin production of twopilot episodes for a new Banachek series onA&E. Shooting is slated for April, and althoughthe cable network has only bought two shows,Banachek reminds himself that MINDFREAKstarted with only six shows sold before A&Emade its commitment for 16 and then 20 pro-grams in the first season.

Banachek is confident his TV show will suc-ceed on its merits and is not terribly concerned,secure in the knowledge that his many talentswill find interesting challenges no matter whathappens. “At the very least,” he smiles, “they’llremember the name… Banachek!” �

Banachek shoots the first two episodes of his possible A&E series this April.

February 2008 MUM 55

Criss Angel and Banachek on MINDFREAK set.