Art & Life

Kirkwood’s virtual audience blown away by mentalist and comedian Sean Bott

As I prepared to be an acutely aware audience member of Sean Bott’s mind-reading and comedy show, I found myself partaking in a one-on-one pre-show interview over Zoom with Sean Bott to get consent for my mind to be hypnotized. I did consent, but I didn’t feel like anything personal was revealed. I imagined that every audience member was asked for consent, as the show started about ten minutes late and there were more viewers than participants during the show. I was prepared for the entertainment, but even I was left questioning how it was executed afterwards.  

From the beginning throughout, Bott was great at captivating the audience’s attention, despite the obstacle of a virtual experience. Even harder to do was read the minds of others, which is what Bott seemed to do with ease as he entertained the crowd during the remarkable and enthralling performance. 

Bott started off with some crowd-easing jokes, displaying his comedic side, but did not take long to begin showing off the skills he was invited to boast. With a wide-ranging crowd and only a set number of envelopes to open, Bott gave no clue as to who he would ask to pick the next envelope. Nevertheless, the participants, most of them who said they felt uninfluenced regarding their choice, chose from the envelopes after being asked what seemed to be inconclusive questions.  

Questions like, “Who here in the audience wears a plaid shirt?” lead to two plaid-wearing participants to speak out. One was asked where she would travel if she could go anywhere. The other was asked to choose a food he would eat if he had any choice. These random questions that didn’t appear to point anywhere would result in Bott asking the two plaid shirt participants to pick from the remaining envelopes. Together, they chose envelope #5. The audience watched Bott open the envelope labeled “#5”, to discover it said “plaid shirt.” 

That was gist of the show, but it did not completely stop there. Sean Bott was able to get every envelope he had prepared beforehand opened by the choice of an audience member who was questioned but never seemed to be told or even hinted at being told what to choose. Furthermore, he went on to ask random audience members questions and then guessing things about their lives, such as the name of a close relative or loved one. These random guesses landing home run hits were obvious in the audience members reactions before they all, including me, confirmed that Bott had indeed guessed right.  

Read and find more at www.seanbott.com/ 

Categories: Art & Life