Whacked: A Book Test For The Working Performer by Mark Elsdon

Designed for the serious working performer, 'Whacked!' is a 10 minute mind-reading routine which revolves around Dave Gorman's best-selling comedy book Googlewhack Adventure. If you've no idea what that is, you can bring yourself up to speed by heading over to www.davegorman.com

This second edition manuscript gives full details of Mark's script and psychological approach - which is one of the things that lifts Whacked head and shoulders above so many other book-tests. The presentation has been honed over many, many performances for a wide variety of audiences, which ensures that the routine plays as well for a group of top professionals at a business luncheon as it does for a crowd of hip college students at a birthday party. The presentation is funny, sophisticated and guaranteed to deliver a great audience reaction every time it is performed.

The technical demands on the performer are minimal: no pre-show, no forces, no anagrams to remember and the book used, Dave Gorman's Googlewhack Adventure is absolutely normal and may be given away at the end of each performance (in fact we encourage you to do so!) The 'method' is entirely self-contained and will withstand the closest scrutiny. There literally is nothing for any spectator or participant to 'see'. Also, there are no extraneous props - everything used to perform Whacked is entirely natural to the proceedings, with no justifications required for any aspect of the handling. This leaves the mentalist free to concentrate on just one thing: entertaining his audience.

Finally, you'll be pleased to know that the principles and techniques used to accomplish Whacked are not dependent on the use of Dave Gorman's book and that ANY book may be used in ANY language. This booklet contains full instructions on how to alter the method for use with other books. Whilst not impromptu, the preparation is minimal and does not need to be repeated for subsequent performances. The method makes use of modern technology, but there is nothing to break, run out or let you down during a performance.

Whacked is not another book-test to add to your collection. It is a fully developed, real-world performance piece designed to be used by a professional performer at paid shows.

1st edition 2012, 20 pages.