I'm off to see John Edward tonight...

[Chris H]

I booked this several months ago, with the intention of going along just to see what he was like. However it's become all the more personal for me this week as my grandmother passed away last weekend and I'm now in exactly the same position that the majority of people who will be going are in. I'm vulnerable, and I'm grieving.

What should I expect? Has anyone seen him before? What's the "show" like?

[sonofgloin]

I booked this several months ago, with the intention of going along just to see what he was like. However it's become all the more personal for me this week as my grandmother passed away last weekend and I'm now in exactly the same position that the majority of people who will be going are in. I'm vulnerable, and I'm grieving.

What should I expect? Has anyone seen him before? What's the "show" like?

Chris I would suspect that we are all waiting to hear your appraisal of his performance, consider it as a field trip. I have not seen him but have been told he is a cold reader, lots of questions , real quick, have a great night and give us your thoughts afterwards.

[Patricio Elicer]

I booked this several months ago, with the intention of going along just to see what he was like. However it's become all the more personal for me this week as my grandmother passed away last weekend and I'm now in exactly the same position that the majority of people who will be going are in. I'm vulnerable, and I'm grieving.

What should I expect? Has anyone seen him before? What's the "show" like?


First of all, sorry about your loss.

But you can test him.

Ask him to ask your grandmother about something that was very important in her life, something that she couldn't possible forget. For example, where and in what circumstances she met her husband.

Or maybe something more practical, about which a correct answer could be easily established as such. For example, what's the exact address of her son's house.

And be prepared for tons of words per second with just evasives and vagueness.

[rjh01]

If he does start talking rapidly, slow down and point out how bad he is. Keep a public score. Watch him drop you like a hot potato.

[GreyICE]

If you want to make it interesting, and someone strikes up a conversation before the show with you, make sure to give them several false details about her life.

Edwards does hot reading too, I believe.

[alfaniner]

If you are not familiar with his techniques, you may come away thinking he is far more impressive than he is. Many of us who have been following his schtick for quite some time are fully aware of how he works his audience, even bullying them when he gets an obviously wrong answer.

As a beginner (I assume) in this area, to start off with, just note the number of questions he asks rather than providing any specific information. Stuff like "Who had the motorcycle?" is not specific when directed at an individual, much less to a larger audience.

You will be among other audience members that have a high emotional stake in what he says (along with yourself). With your proper analysis, he should do nothing but make you angry that he takes money to mess with peoples' memories of their loved ones.

[davefoc]

I'm a little less enthusiastic about this than some of the other people that have posted.

First, I suspect that they are fairly adept at figuring out who the people are that want to believe. I noticed this effect when I went to a hypnotist's show. Basically, they told you right up front they wanted people that were going to cooperate. And so from the perspective of an audience member I couldn't figure out what was going on at all. The people selected were clearly enjoying their moment of fame in the spotlight. Were they hypnotized or were they just acting goofy because they wanted to please the hypnotist or they wanted to put on a good show? You certainly couldn't tell from my seat.

So if you want a chance to be part of the show you will probably need to feign strong belief. Then if you should become part of the show you will need to cooperate at least for awhile. And Edward certainly has a lot more experience in dealing with fake believers than you do in dealing with con men so it isn't going to be easy. And do you really want to act like he is succeeding in connecting with your dead grandmother when you know it is all nonsense?

My prediction is that you will go to the show and you will discover something about the nature of the people in the audience and how much people want to believe and how much they want to perform in front of a large audience. Edward will put on a show that is obviously completely bogus to anybody with a skeptical bent so there is no need to attempt to trip him up, he trips himself up every time he puts on a show if facts and reason matter. But a big chunk of his audience will just go along, either because facts and reason aren't as important to them as believing something they want to believe or because they don't feel like being disruptive and possibly offending the true believers in the audience.

[rjh01]

The alternative to try to out him is to record his show. I know it would be illegal to do so, but it would be hard to stop you from taping the show with hidden equipment. Then put something on iTunes or something later. Could even give it to a skeptical show on iTunes.

If that is the way you want to go then get their advice beforehand.

[pakeha]

First of all, my deepest sympathies for the family's loss.

Second of all, I'm impressed by the good advise you've been given here.
This one in particular caught my eye:

If you want to make it interesting, and someone strikes up a conversation before the show with you, make sure to give them several false details about her life.

Edwards does hot reading too, I believe.

Recording, if possible, would be the best way to keep track of what's actually happening during the show.
If not, as others have said, observe the audiences' reaction to the man and be sure to let us know how it was.

[Chris H]

Much thanks to everyone for their condolences. It means a lot. My concern was never the possibility of being read, as the odds are fairly slim in a venue that seats over two and a half thousand people. But having such an enormous loss so close to the show gave me a minor insight into what the other people in the audience who had lost someone close were feeling. I'm 26 years old, and up until last weekend had never experienced the death of a close family member. Whilst I'm sure I could have made plenty of the information given tonight "fit", I made a conscious decision not to try, and to just watch the performance as an outsider.

I do plan on writing a full report of the show, but I'm particularly busy over the next week as it is the final week of Uni for me, and it's not the highest priority on my list. However there were a couple of interesting comments posted here, and I would like to address those and give a (very) brief rundown of my experience.

Overall, I was unimpressed. But it wasn't until after the show that I realised how unimpressed I was. There were several very good hits early on. But at the same time, there were some moments that really dragged where John just kept hammering away at a piece of information that didn't fit, several times concluding with the classic "look it up when you get home".


If you are not familiar with his techniques, you may come away thinking he is far more impressive than he is. Many of us who have been following his schtick for quite some time are fully aware of how he works his audience, even bullying them when he gets an obviously wrong answer.



I noticed this. There were definately moments where he was downright rude to people, and it kind of shocked me. I've heard that Sylvia Browne does something very similar.


The alternative to try to out him is to record his show. I know it would be illegal to do so, but it would be hard to stop you from taping the show with hidden equipment. Then put something on iTunes or something later. Could even give it to a skeptical show on iTunes.





Recording, if possible, would be the best way to keep track of what's actually happening during the show.



:whistling:

[Denver]

...
There were definately moments where he was downright rude to people, and it kind of shocked me. I've heard that Sylvia Browne does something very similar.

The rudeness is a very good technique for that venue. It sets up an expectation in following volunteers that if they become argumentative, they will be embarrassed in front of a lot people: a devastating thing for many, especially those with weak character, or who are feeling vulnerable (which is probably the majority of the audience).

Taking advantage of those who are vulnerable is how Edwards makes his living, and he has become very good at it (to the untrained eye).

[bookitty]

I booked this several months ago, with the intention of going along just to see what he was like. However it's become all the more personal for me this week as my grandmother passed away last weekend and I'm now in exactly the same position that the majority of people who will be going are in. I'm vulnerable, and I'm grieving.

What should I expect? Has anyone seen him before? What's the "show" like?

I'm very sorry about your grandmother. I lost mine was I was 26, so I have a lot of empathy.

About John Edwards. About 7 years ago he performed here in Los Angeles at the Palladium, a huge venue with an open floor plan. At the time, I was a bartender there, we were all called into work that day.

When I got there I was handed a vest and told that I would be an usher or loose my job. Neat. Chairs had been brought in, and sections had been set up based on the position of the doors. It was my job to look at the ticket and get each person into the correct seat. This was odd because the venue wasn't sold out and this left noticeable blank spots.

Because the seating arrangement was last-minute and not clearly marked, there were lines in front of the inside doors as people waited to be seated. There were two different people "working" these lines, both women. They would talk about how excited they were, ask questions and chit-chat with the audience members. Then they would leave the line on some flimsy excuse. Come back a few minutes later and start over. I could see other people leaving and returning to the lines at the other doors.

The whole set up was totally suspicious and by the time the show started, all of us bartenders-turned-ushers, were waiting to see what would happen.

Apparently his plants weren't very good. He got a few spot-on hits but misses were the norm. Even the audience seemed to be getting frustrated. Some of the responses sounded confrontational.

Later though, one of my co-workers who had noticed the plants and the misses, said "Obviously he is going to fail sometimes because so many people go towards the light after they die. So he can only talk to those who are still on earth. Those people are evil and they will give him the wrong information." *headslap*

[davefoc]

...

Later though, one of my co-workers who had noticed the plants and the misses, said "Obviously he is going to fail sometimes because so many people go towards the light after they die. So he can only talk to those who are still on earth. Those people are evil and they will give him the wrong information." *headslap*

:)

As an aside I think you've got your scumbags confused. John Edwards is the scumbag lawyer and presidential candidate. John Edward is the scumbag con man/fake psychic.

[Hindmost]

It would be great if Chris H was the only person in the stands...

Sorry about your Grandmother.

glenn

[bookitty]

:)

As an aside I think you've got your scumbags confused. John Edwards is the scumbag lawyer and presidential candidate. John Edward is the scumbag con man/fake psychic.

Dang it! I always do that. Stupid "s" *mutter, mutter*

[RSLancastr]

My sympathies, both for your grandmother passing, and for your sitting through Edward's nonsense.

[makaya325]

I booked this several months ago, with the intention of going along just to see what he was like. However it's become all the more personal for me this week as my grandmother passed away last weekend and I'm now in exactly the same position that the majority of people who will be going are in. I'm vulnerable, and I'm grieving.

What should I expect? Has anyone seen him before? What's the "show" like?

I hope you expose his sorry arse, and reveal the real charlatan in him. :D

[Kritikos]

As an aside I think you've got your scumbags confused. John Edwards is the scumbag lawyer and presidential candidate. John Edward is the scumbag con man/fake psychic.
I have a small correction to your correction: As Matt Stone and Trey Parker have pointed out, John Edward is not a scumbag, but a douche -- in fact, the biggest douche in the universe (http://www.southparkstudios.com/clips/103515). (The whole episode can be viewed here (http://www.southparkstudios.com/episodes/103625). The satirical debunking of Edward is among my favorite things in South Park.)

[Chris H]

I've got a skeptical themed website I've been developing for a while, in which Edward will feature rather prominently, and I must say that I was really disappointed that the domain "thebiggestdoucheintheuniverse.com" was already taken. ;)

[Minarvia]

I know; he certainly is a rude charlatan. I really hate his smugness and his rudeness and he prides himself on being a "bulldog" (when he insists he *is* right) and when he claims that when he actually has hits and the readee insists he's wrong that they have "psychic amnesia" and will see that he was right when they go home and check out his statements.

Besides, Mr. "first name synonomous with a toilet" refuses to be tested by a man "with his first name being "an adjective." Even tho he well knows his names is James. :rolleyes: Oh, and that in his book he says "he doesn't even talk to skeptics." Well, gee, I wonder why...

[HeyLeroy]

Do a google search for "Penn+Teller+(rule 10 violation name of their show)+talking+to+dead".