THE RETURN OF NED! By Simon Lovell and Ned the Lemming

Just when I thought I was safe it happened. Some extra punch from the Halloween party bowl and I was flat on my back. Some of our guests kindly carried me through to the bedroom (charging a mere $20.00 each for doing so) and laid me out. I later discovered that they’d opened a book quoting odds on how long it would take me to come out of my coma! Meanwhile I wobbled around in my dreams seeing the pretty colors and furry animals that only a total overdose of alcohol can create properly. Then I saw a furry creature running towards me – It was Ned! He told me that he hadn’t seen me in a long time and so had hypnotized a guest to cruelly spike the punch. That explained the other guests who I could also see wandering around my dream world. I imagined that my appartment looked like a Jim Jones Fan club meeting.

Still having found Ned I decided to test his awesome knowledge of performance and asked him about Card To Wallet. It’s obviously a great trick but how should I sell it to be as strong as possible? Ned chewed a small piece of apple pie for a while before answering.

Then he spoke … use any or all of his ideas with his permission. Personally I use them all but he threatened to bite me if I didn’t.

1. Ned thinks that it is very important for the card to be signed and for the signature to be highly visible at the end to all the spectators. He strongly advises forcing a red 2 or 4 spot card and having them sign the card (with a fattish Sharpie) right across it. This ensures a highly visible signature at the end. This actually holds true of all signed card effects. It’s important that the whole crowd see that it’s the chosen card at the same time!

2. Having controlled the card to the top ask the spectator, “How do you shuffle cards? Show me with your hands … just mime it!” All eyes go to the spectators hands giving you a perfectly directed moment to palm the chosen card from the top of the deck. As soon as you’ve palmed the card, drop the deck in front of them (or hand it to them if doing walk-around) and say, “Yep, I can handle that, really shuffle the cards!”

3. The hand goes to the wallet, loads the card and removes the wallet as you say, “If I can’t find your card I’ll give you the contents of my wallet” Open the wallet to show it empty but for a grubby one dollar bill. Say, “It’s not much but where I live that’s rent money!” Close up the wallet and ask someone to hold it to, “Look after the bet!” This is pretty cool because the card has been loaded very early, the wallet is out for a logical reason and, most important of all, it’s being held by a spectator. Later, says Ned, it will be very tough to back track to when that wallet came out!

4. Take back the shuffled deck and do some fancy flourishy kinda thing with it as you say, “A simple cut that any seven year old child could achieve with only thirty five years practice!” (I use a nifty little six way one handed cut that Ned taught me!). Show the top card – they say it’s not theirs. You say, “Do you know how tough that cut was – you could have lied!!”

5. Say, “OK, You win the contents of the wallet. Hold the wallet at your face level and fold it back upon itself (I use a Kaps Wallet – Ned has apparently got some deal going with Fred’s Ghost and said he’d bite me if I didn’t use the one he gave me).

6. Say, “Not the note but what’s in here”. Undo the zip but keep the wallet at face level. Gently pull out an index corner of the card and say, “It looks a bit like your card!”

7. Pull the card clear keeping both hands high as you say, “Actually it looks exactly like your card!” Theatre guys and gals will recognize this as the famed ‘high hands = applause’ position! Plus the whole group see the card at the same time which is important if they are all to applaud at the same time!

So there you go said Ned. Nothing revolutionary, nothing really that new but such a great effect doesn’t need that. It just needs to be smooth, logical and have a kill high hands finish to get you the applause you deserve. Personally I think Neds being uncommonly low key here. Having tried his routine I can tell you it has improved the response immeasurably, especially the high hands finish! Also the moment of palm direction takes all the heat of you giving you an easy palm even if palming worries you! The quick take out of the wallet ensures that you palm the card for the shortest possible time! I love that little furry critter!

As a bonus when I came round I discovered that I’d won the coma sweepstakes! Ned had cunningly entered me in before started to chat. I’d wondered why he’d nibbled at the pie for so long! That little psychic deviant!

All the best,

Simon and Ned!