I predict: I will be wrong.

For those of you not following the news, a magician has been very highly covered recently in the media. You didn't read it? Or you didn't realize he was a magician? Harold Camping the Rapture Preacher is just a bad magician. Or more accurately he is a bad mentalist.

A quick note for those not in the know: A mentalist is a magician/performer who does tricks that seem to involve mind reading, esp, predicting the future, finding lost items, divining thoughts of others, etc. A mentalist however does not solve crimes or look like Simon Baker (well not many of them).

Those of you have seen my show (You haven't seen my show? Why not? What's up with that?) know that I do a few mental magic tricks. I divine a thought of word. I miraculousness create a math equation who's sum is the spectator's thought of number. I generally do not predict the end of the world or some other giant, easy to prove event (see my post on Lying). This is one of the ways Harold Camping went wrong. The other?

When it all goes wrong:

Occasionally I have missed the math equation in my show. Once or twice I've filled in the 16 squares with numbers that should all add to the thought of number with gusto and then when I preceded to solve it, I was wrong. It happens. Magic is an art not a science. Math, of course, is a science but I'm not up there doing math. I using math to entertain. (Never thought I would say that...)

Anyway, what Camping did wrong when his prediction fizzled was, he didn't move on to the next thing. He disappeared for three days. If you get your prediction wrong you have to keep moving. Here watch Sylvia Browne renowned "psychic" and finger nail enthusiast dance around her wrong predictions here:

Man for an older lady she can move! I disagree with Roger Miller, I think you can roller skate in a Buffalo Herd.

Did that video make you a bit sad? I hope so. Harold Camping makes me said. But as a showman, a bit of a huckster, and a lover of the ridiculous, I don't want to see him go into hiding. I want him, Charlie Sheen, and Donald Trump to be on Celebrity Survivor together. Ooo the laughs they give me. I want to see Harold Camping host a new version of You Bet Your Life.

Seriously though, it is a great tradition among magicians to debunk pseudo- sciences. We know most of the methods they are using. In Camping and Sylvia Browne's cases I think the method is called wild guess. The practice of debunking was popularized by Houdini and is currently being carried on by the Amazing Randi, Penn Jillette, and others. I love to fool people. I love to make a bit of money from doing it but I hate when charlatans use magic tricks to bilk people. Several Camping followers gave away all of their money and possessions. Some gave all their money to him! And well as Creed said:

So what's the point of all this? Harold Camping makes me laugh and also makes me sad. I guess he is a really good clown.

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Edd Fairman is a Chicago magician who specializes in comedy for corporate and college audiences.

Don't I know that guy?

A few weeks ago I was working a First Communion party at the Saddle and Cycle club. For those of you who don't know this is a big event in the Catholic community. When a child finished their CCD classes (Confraternity of Christian Doctrine) and take part in the Eucharistic for the first time they are considered a full member of the Church.

Usually they have a rather large party after Church with a meal and entertainment. So, I was getting ready at Club and in walks a man who looks like Mayor Daley. But I can't be sure if it is him because I've never seen him in person and he looked thinner than I remember him. So, I jokingly say to a guest near by, "Boy that guy looks familiar. I think I know him." She says, "That's Maggie's Grandpa."

Now I'm thinking it must not be the Mayor or she would have said so. Eventually I meet the little girl who's party it is. At a first communion it's easy to spot the celebrate because they are usually wearing all white. I know what you are thinking at this point, "You didn't know who you were there to perform for?" Well, on these large events there can be two or three layers of agents, party planners, and coordinators. By the time the information gets to the entertainers it is often wrong or incomplete. Anyway. I say to Maggie, "Boy your Grandpa looks like the Mayor." She says, "That's because he is!"

Of course I made it seem like I was just kidding around and had a laugh.

This actually reminds me of a game a friend of mine plays called, "What's wrong on this talent sheet?" Often times it's small things. Sometimes it's big things like the address of the venue, the venue's phone number. One time I was working a gig with this entertainer and our "agent." The agent introduces us to the contact saying, "This is Jen." The contact person says, "It's Jill." For the rest of the event the "agent" kept referring to the contact as Jen. It was hilarious.

I once had an agent send me to a country club a week before an event and another send me to a wrong club with a similar name. Once when arriving at a club where I was scheduled to do walk around close-up magic I see a sign that says, "Magic Show 2:00PM." I asked the contact who was doing the magic show. Well, I was surprised to find out it was me! I somehow pulled 20 minutes of material out of the small close-up case I had with me.

Like the Boy Scouts say, "Be Prepared." But it's impossible to be prepared for every conceivable scenario. So, I figure when I am not fully prepared to cover an agent's, party planner's, or coordinator's mistake, I just get creative.

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Edd Fairman is a Chicago Magician who specializes in Comedy Magic.