Don Lane and James Randi - Video

[Richard]

Here it is.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULUHbO60mOY

I saw this live at the time. I was just 14 years old.

[asmodean]

Here it is.

I saw this live at the time. I was just 14 years old.

Hilarious. That one's a keeper. =)

[TobiasTheViking]

can't view it. oh well :D

[gfunkusarelius]

wow, talk about a meltdown. people get angry when you steal their delusions

[TobiasTheViking]

Got it to work, damn i hate flash.

* TobiasTheViking kills youtube

Use god damn video.google.com

Even though i doubt you upped the video, i just want to bitch :D

[tkingdoll]

I found this rather upsetting. The audience were very much against Randi, and he didn't get a proper chance to defend himself.

[gfunkusarelius]

yeah, but the host made a fool of himself, he looked like a baby. but i understand what you mean, wouldve been nice if the guy let him get a word or two in.

[headscratcher4]

WHo is this bufoon (not Randi ;) ) What is this show? Where? Is he still on? And what ever happened to the women psychic he's defending? Never heard of her...what did she ever do?

[MichelQC]

Being from Canada, I am not familiar with this Don Lane character. Is he still on the air? This idiot sure made a fool out of himself! I would have liked to see the interview in it's entirety. What did Mr. Randi ever said to make this man reacts like this? Could someone fill in the blanks?

[Skiltch]

Who is Don Lane?

[tkingdoll]

WHo is this bufoon (not Randi ;) ) What is this show? Where? Is he still on? And what ever happened to the women psychic he's defending? Never heard of her...what did she ever do?

Doris Stokes? She's just about the most famous psychic in history, next to Uri.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doris_Stokes

[TobiasTheViking]

Doris Stokes? She's just about the most famous psychic in history, next to Uri.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doris_Stokes
considering how many people don't know Uri, i don't feel bad about not knowing her.

[headscratcher4]

considering how many people don't know Uri, i don't feel bad about not knowing her.

Well, the only reason I might feel badly is her prowess. I mean, she must have been an incredible pychis to merit a seven volume bio.

Which leads me to wonder why these psychics don't try to reach other psychics from the other-side once they pass on. I mean, you'd think that she'd try to talk to Edwards, Van P. or ohters of that ilk.

[I'll_buy_that]

no wonder no one knows who Don is. he basically was a child throwing his toys when he didn't get what he wanted. why the heck did he have anyone on his show if he wouldn't let them talk? or better, why would any station give him his own show?

[Gr8wight]

no wonder no one knows who Don is. he basically was a child throwing his toys when he didn't get what he wanted. why the heck did he have anyone on his show if he wouldn't let them talk? or better, why would any station give him his own show?

I ask the same question about Howard Stern, but no one has any answers.

[blutoski]

no wonder no one knows who Don is. he basically was a child throwing his toys when he didn't get what he wanted. why the heck did he have anyone on his show if he wouldn't let them talk? or better, why would any station give him his own show?

Well, there's enough viewers who want to see this, I guess. I remember a show hosted by Morton Downey Jr that was basically him yelling at guests. It was popular enough to be renewed for a few seasons.

One of the lessons that comes from this is: research your host before agreeing to go on a show so you don't get sandbaged.

I have long argued that Skepticism needs to engage media expertise, and this is one example of the risk.

Contrary to industry claims, there is such a thing as bad publicity. Skepticism is a philosophy, not show biz, and negative exposure impacts our bottom line. We should be selective about who we engage. This also relates to the NAS' policy on not debating creation science or intelligent design advocates.

[Alkatran]

Contrary to industry claims, there is such a thing as bad publicity. Skepticism is a philosophy, not show biz, and negative exposure impacts our bottom line. We should be selective about who we engage. This also relates to the NAS' policy on not debating creation science or intelligent design advocates.

er... what bottom line?

The guy was definitely a bit angry though, wow! But, I don't really doubt that Randi called Uri a fake. I'm sure I've heard him say it in the commentary and in audio clips. Maybe not from before that show, though.

[sat556]

I think I heard Randi talking about this on the radio show. If I recall correctly he said that he was told he wouldn't have to do anything 'psychic' and then just before he was due to go on, the crew bought some keys in and asked if they would be ok for him. Lane was trying to catch him out probably. So of course he bent them and Lane wasn't too chuffed.

[Starthinker]

The commentator (the woman) made it look like Randi was trying to pull one over on Don when he was just showing how it was done. The clip is too edited to see but from what I heard he was asked to bend a key, did it, then told him how he did it. And that's when that Don guy lost it. Is that correct? The commentator made it look like Don got mad because he caught Randi cheating, without explaining the sequence of what happened. I'd like to see the clip unedited, from the beginning.

[blutoski]

er... what bottom line?

The credibility of skepticism.



The guy was definitely a bit angry though, wow! But, I don't really doubt that Randi called Uri a fake. I'm sure I've heard him say it in the commentary and in audio clips. Maybe not from before that show, though.

Impossible to tell what the guy really thinks, though. Everything about show biz is about acting.

[rustytunes]

I also recorded this last night - it was on TV show 20 to 1 famous dummy spits here in Australia. It made number 4.

It was several years ago, the Don Lane show is a thing of the past now, but he still crops up from time to time. He was actually inducted into the TV Week Logies hall of fame in 2003:boggled: He is an American working and living in Oz.

I can't stand Don Lane. He completely fell for the Doris Stokes and Uri garbage, and was always going to give Randi a hard time. To be honest, I don't think Randi did a great job of bending the key on this occasion, the camera certainly caught it. Randi was not Mr Popular here at the time (thanks to Don).

Well done for posting this!

[anor277]

WHo is this bufoon (not Randi ;) ) What is this show? Where? Is he still on? And what ever happened to the women psychic he's defending? Never heard of her...what did she ever do?

In answer to the question "WTF is Don Lane"? He was an American who worked in the Australian televsion industry in the 80's and 90's. As I recall he got his job because he had an American accent. I remember him being quoted on his (highly improbable) rise to success in Australian TV, "In America, I had to work for a living".

Doris Stokes was a local psychic.

[Polaris]

Who is Don Lane?

Exactly.

[thaiboxerken]

If you don't believe, you are a jerk. That's pretty much Don Lane's position.

[Richard]

Here is Randi's side of the story, from a radio interview from 1988.

http://www.users.on.net/~skeptic/skeptic/2UE_Randi_1988.mp3

[hellaeon]

Don Lane is a complete waste of space.

[a_unique_person]

In answer to the question "WTF is Don Lane"? He was an American who worked in the Australian televsion industry in the 80's and 90's. As I recall he got his job because he had an American accent. I remember him being quoted on his (highly improbable) rise to success in Australian TV, "In America, I had to work for a living".

Doris Stokes was a local psychic.

Yes, our infamous cultural cringe, whereby anything American was good, anything Australian was inferior. He was a talentless no hoper who could not interview, sing or tell a joke, but did it with an American accent. I hope we have matured a little by now. The audience lapped it up, so I don't blame him at all. That was what we wanted back then, for some reason.

[anor277]

Yes, our infamous cultural cringe, whereby anything American was good, anything Australian was inferior. He was a talentless no hoper who could not interview, sing or tell a joke, but did it with an American accent. I hope we have matured a little by now. The audience lapped it up, so I don't blame him at all. That was what we wanted back then, for some reason.

That was on commercial TV. By the same token, on non-commercial TV anyone with an English accent could end up director general of broadcasting. Re: Don Lane, a long time afterwards a pair of radio comedians (very talented) launched an appeal "To send Don Lane into Space"; I pledged a fiver.

ETA:missing word

[rustytunes]

Yes, our infamous cultural cringe, whereby anything American was good, anything Australian was inferior. He was a talentless no hoper who could not interview, sing or tell a joke, but did it with an American accent. I hope we have matured a little by now. The audience lapped it up, so I don't blame him at all. That was what we wanted back then, for some reason.

But we still do it! The TV Week Logies awards still has the token American presenter every year. This year it was Joan Rivers!

[rustytunes]

Doris Stokes was a local psychic.

British, actually.

[tkingdoll]

British, actually.

That's local if you're Irish.

[Yeah_Right]

I recall seeing this, but couldn't exactly recall how it went. I do recall being appalled by Don Lane's immature behaviour.

[rustytunes]

Is it to late to nominate Don Lane for the Bent Spoon (http://www.skeptics.com.au/spoon/index.html)award?

[Patricio Elicer]

Randi briefly explained the incident here (http://www.randi.org/jr/2006-04/041406schwartz.html#i10) a few weeks ago.

Now, there's something I don't get on the video: was Randi caught by Lane bending the key on the chair, or was he actually explaining how the trick is done?

[rustytunes]

I think that Randi was actually doing the trick - not explaining how it was done.

[Patricio Elicer]

I think that Randi was actually doing the trick - not explaining how it was done.Then, it looks like he was caught on it by Lane, and possibly triggered his anger?

[Operaider]

thats kinda how i was taking it too, though its impossible to be sure due to the editing of the video.

Wouldn't be realy surprised if he was caught. Since he has exposed how the trick can be done, Don Lane was probably just siting there and waiting for him to do it so he could jump on him

[rustytunes]

I'm sure it was a setup from the start.

[ond_magiker]

Well, the only reason I might feel badly is her prowess. I mean, she must have been an incredible pychis to merit a seven volume bio.

Which leads me to wonder why these psychics don't try to reach other psychics from the other-side once they pass on. I mean, you'd think that she'd try to talk to Edwards, Van P. or ohters of that ilk.

Wouldn't it make more sense for her to contact someone like Randi? She could even go for the million dollar challenge.

[Diamond]

I thought it was just plain rude and offensive to Randi for Don Lane to behave like that. It looks as though Randi replicated exactly how Geller did the trick, and Lane exploded, because he couldn't see how the trick was done but he knew it was a trick.

The thing is now everybody knows that Geller either prepares his forks beforehand or uses misdirection to bend things like keys either on inanimate objects or even just by gripping them in one hand.

Everybody knows who James Randi is. Randi is famous all over the world. Who was Don Lane?

[headscratcher4]

Wouldn't it make more sense for her to contact someone like Randi? She could even go for the million dollar challenge.


yes, maybe she and the Fox sisters could get together with Sir Arthur Connan Doyle and pester Randi during his recovery in order to convert him to the cause ... Randi could than award himself the prize!

[Moochie]

I think there are two distinct episodes of the Lane show being discussed. One featured Geller, the other Doris Stokes, who I think was an English psychic/clairvoyant of some renown.

The episode I was refering to a few months ago was the Stokes episode, where Lane spat the dummy and told Mr Randi to "piss off".

The clip's been shown numerous times as part of regular nostalgia programs.

Lane was a small-time entertainer from the US, hired to relieve some of the burden on TV's then reigning golden boy, Graham Kennedy, who was 100% Australian, and very much loved by audiences.

The two hosted two late-evening variety/talk shows -- Lane in Sydney and Kennedy in Melbourne, and often played on the interstate rivalry that still exists today. Often the network would show both hosts onscreen simultaneously, as though they were in the same city, using the then high-tech coaxial cable between the cities.

To give Lane his due, he grew into the role of hosting what became a very popular show in Australia, and performed very professionally, except on a few unfortunate occasions.

During their time on Australian TV, together and apart, both Kennedy and Lane were as big in Australia as Johnny Carson was in the US.

Graham Kennedy died last year.

M.

[Zep]

I saw this one live too. It was great! I fell about laughing, I can tell you, even though I was hardly aware then of Randi or skeptics or that stuff.

Don was seriously into Doris Stokes, who was described above, and the whole dead-talkers lark. However she is now long "passed over" herself, although we don't seem to be hearing from her "on the other side" via any of the current crop of charlat...um, psychic mediums.

Don was also seriously into the whole Uri Geller schtick - psychic powers! Woo-woo in the extreme! I mean really DEEPLY into it - fundie-religiously.

In this particular interview (it was on Lane's evening light entertainment show, similar to Saturday Night Live), it was clear that he had promised Randi beforehand that there would be no "spoon bending" mentioned. But he went back on his word and trotted out this set of cutlery, etc, in an obvious effort to upstage him by surprise. It was an ambush-in-interview of the worst kind.

Obviously Randi was not prepared, and had to work instantly with what was put in front of him, and in the location in which he was seated. However he was able to show the audience and the camera, but not Lane, how the trick was done. In fact, he had exposed that simple illusion many times before, and Lane was an easy mark - a free kick really.

Lane was clearly beaten twice over - Randi still managed to do the trick even though he had been ambushed, and he exposed it to the camera and the audience and Lane. It was when this all dawned on Lane that not only had he been royally upstaged on national TV, he had also had his cherished notions shattered, that he lost it. Although it took a little while to explode, it was clear that he was absolutely rattled, and it took just a tiny spark for him to spit the dummy, as we say.

No-one likes having their religion comprehensively rubbished, especially in public. But in this case, I thought Randi was both brilliant and cool. Whereas Lane was neither. He was always a fifth-rate entertainer, and this earned him a promotion in my book...to boring no-talent non-entity.

[TobiasTheViking]

Any chance of getting the original episode? I mean, i would love to see the entire interview, unedited.

[Archangel]

Any chance of getting the original episode? I mean, i would love to see the entire interview, unedited.

Same here.

I've only seen the clip (as shown on channel 9 and you tube), which made it look like Lane caught Randi out and then exploded.

[rustytunes]

Which leads me to wonder why these psychics don't try to reach other psychics from the other-side once they pass on. I mean, you'd think that she'd try to talk to Edwards, Van P. or ohters of that ilk.

I put this question to "psychics" on another forum, referencing Doris Stokes. Here are two responses:

Maybe some go on to be guides, or maybe they need to rest and recover after a lifetime of helping people. Maybe Doris Stokes does contact people that she knew, and we just haven't heard about it!

The only time I heard something like that was when I read one of Betty Shine's books and she said she'd received help from Doris Stokes. Betty was a big believer and fan of Doris Stokes and I think she actually called on her for help, but that's from memory so don't quote me on that!

Betty is an amazing Medium and healer herself, and unfortunately she passed away a few years ago now. I would love to know if she'd come and visit me!

Phew!
_________________

[Patricio Elicer]

In this particular interview (it was on Lane's evening light entertainment show, similar to Saturday Night Live), it was clear that he had promised Randi beforehand that there would be no "spoon bending" mentioned. But he went back on his word and trotted out this set of cutlery, etc, in an obvious effort to upstage him by surprise. It was an ambush-in-interview of the worst kind..I think I read somewhere Randi's full account about the incident, but I can't find the source (it was a book I think). If memory serves, Randi was adviced by someone to "be prepared" for the interview, despite the fact that it was previously agreed with Lane that there would be no spoon or key bending stunt. So what really triggered Lane's anger is that, despite the ambush, Randi was able to fool him. Though judging by the video, it looks like Randi was caught by Lane bending the key :rolleyes:

I'd also love to see the unedited and unnarrated segment.

[a_unique_person]

Any chance of getting the original episode? I mean, i would love to see the entire interview, unedited.

Believe me, you don't want to see the original episode, just the interview will do.

[Zep]

In the original interview, Lane was hectoring, badgering, and being a right pillock.

[Starthinker]

I put this question to "psychics" on another forum, referencing Doris Stokes. Here are two responses:


Maybe some go on to be guides, or maybe they need to rest and recover after a lifetime of helping people. Maybe Doris Stokes does contact people that she knew, and we just haven't heard about it!



The only time I heard something like that was when I read one of Betty Shine's books and she said she'd received help from Doris Stokes. Betty was a big believer and fan of Doris Stokes and I think she actually called on her for help, but that's from memory so don't quote me on that!

Betty is an amazing Medium and healer herself, and unfortunately she passed away a few years ago now. I would love to know if she'd come and visit me!



Phew!
_________________

So, what I'm hearing is, if I say I'm channeling Doris Stokes (or some other dead psychic) then I may have more credibility in psychic circles. Hmmmm...