INTERVIEW: Kreskin and his ‘Amazing’ method of earning money

The Amazing Kreskin, the legendary mentalist, has a simple phrase that is broadcast on his official website. These words sum up a career that has lasted decades and continues to impress audience members: “Even now I know what you are thinking!”

Kreskin’s biography is a long litany of accomplishments. There was the successful TV show in the 1970s (The Amazing World of Kreskin), the 20 books, the unbelievable predictions, the many appearances on late-night talk shows and his continued cultural impact.

Fans of the thought reader can catch him live Thursday, Jan. 4 at the Stanhope House in Stanhope, New Jersey. The mentalist performs regularly throughout the world, especially in the New York-New Jersey area.

“[The airline industry] figured out up to now in my career I’ve flown almost 3.5 million miles,” Kreskin said in a recent phone interview. “I’m only home about five days a month. All of my performances are interactive. I like to explain that when people are coming to see me that there are no footlights between myself and the audience. … The audience is an extension of what I’m doing because they’re my equipment. I’m reading their thoughts. I’m tuning in on what’s on their mind. They are participants.”

His performances typically run more than two hours, and he reports that repeat business is solid. Many people are amazed at the Amazing Kreskin and want to come back for more. He runs the performing-arts circuit, playing many universities, colleges and theaters.

One of the most famous acts during his performance involves his booking fee for the night. Kreskin called it the “check test.”

“At a certain point in my performance, I gather from the audience a group of people,” the mentalist said. “The one condition is that they must not know me or have met me in the past.”

His audience sizes vary. On New Year’s Eve, he performed a private event for 30 people. At state fairs, his crowds number in the thousands. The “check test” works on both groups.

“I will get a committee of five or six people and hand them my check for the evening,” he said. “I am then taken by two people, plus one of the ushers who can guide us to where we’re going, either out of the theater or into a dressing room area if it’s bad weather.”

At the Toronto State Fair, where he played almost 30 shows over 19 days, he was taken to a nearby trailer because the venue was outdoors. The trailer had boarded-up windows.

“I couldn’t see what was going on,” he said. “The door was closed. I was guarded there. While I’m out of the theater, the committee hides my check anywhere in the entire setting of the program. Whether it’s a theater, outdoors. It could be amongst 1,000 people, what have you and so forth. Now when they’ve hidden it, they return to the stage, and I’m brought back from wherever I am.”

The group that escorts Kreskin out of the theater verifies that the mentalist did not see or hear anything. That’s a key part of the act.

“There’s no conversation with the people who hid it,” Kreskin said. “I simply ask one or two of the committee members and address them in this way and tell them, ‘I want you to think of what you’ve done. I don’t want you to talk to me. I don’t want you to say anything. Just concentrate on what you’ve done.’ And that’s it. If I don’t find my fee in that theater, if I do not physically find it, I forfeit the fee, and it is returned to the committee.”

That means the show would be for free, so it is important for Kreskin to find that check. “It’s a hell of a way to make a living,” he said with a laugh. “In all the years I’ve done this, I’ve failed 10 times. That’s not many out of 6,000 times, but a couple of the occasions have been written about in many parts of the world.”

Kreskin said in New Zealand, one of his favorite places to perform, he failed to find the check on the second night of an engagement. The next morning there was a press conference that attracted many reporters to the theater. They were interested less about the performance and more about how much money Kreskin lost. The mentalist remembers the fee being $51,000.

A critic from Philadelphia reviewed Kreskin’s show and said the “check test” is like watching a murder mystery, except the solution is different every night.

Here’s one of the more memorable times he found his money: “It was a gymnasium of 8,000 people,” he said. “I come back into the gym. It’s somewhere hidden. You can hear a pin drop, and I’m climbing over, stepping over people because some are sitting on the basketball floor, which has been covered to protect it. And some are sitting in bleachers. I finally stopped in front of this elderly gentleman, and I have him stand. And I’m looking at him, and I said, ‘You know, I’ve never asked anybody to do this in my life. Would you open your mouth?’ Well, I felt like a jackass. I felt like an absolute damn fool. There’s no check. I said, “Sir, I am sorry.” And I walked about 20 feet away from him, which took a while because it was so congested, and something started telling me mentally in my mind to come back. And I thought, what the hell is going on. On my way back, I came to a gentleman. … I said, ‘Would you open your mouth?’ He did. I said, ‘This has to do with the roof of your mouth.’ He reached into his mouth, took out his upper plate, and it was my check.”

A hell of way to earn a living, indeed.

The Amazing Kreskin continues to bring smiles to audience’s faces and more than a few furrowed brows. “I’m not a psychic in the sense that I don’t look into a crystal ball and look at things that are going to happen,” he said. “I find that if I do that, I get headaches.”

By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com

The Amazing Kreskin will perform Thursday, Jan. 4 at the Stanhope House in Stanhope, New Jersey. Click here for more information and tickets.