Trick-How is this done?

[the 12 th man]

Keith Barry thing I've heard him do it a few times on the radio.


Random listener (supposedly geniune) rings in and tells us where they want to go holidays and what they'd like to do while there and Barry has a sealed envelope in his pocket that says exactly that on a piece of paper.

[oscar]

magic

[John83]

On the radio like that, it sounds faked. I've seen Derren Brown do similar tricks in stage shows and on TV, picking someone from a crowd in a way that seems hard to fake (like letting the crowd toss a stuffed toy around for a bit and picking whoever winds up with it).

It comes down to this: assuming the caller isn't a plant, he must either modify the sealed note (possibly switching the one he showed initially for a new one with a sleight of hand), or have the answer in the envelope be such that he can steer the conversation with the person (and perhaps the initial selection of the person) so that the answer fits.

With a radio show, so much of it is hidden that there's no way to guess.