This trick starts with a very simple premise. You push a piece of paper forward on the table with one finger, and say, “On the back of this paper I wrote a bad word.”

You just dropped a tension bomb.

This alone turns heads, and puts people’s brains in overdrive.

It’s like saying “don’t think of an elephant” times 100.

Good magic, as with good comedy, movies and books, often involves creating tension. Tension that is broken with a miracle, a punchline, or a daring escape. It draws audiences to the edges of their seats. It makes things feel more important, dangerous, it triggers something in our primal brain that says “pay close attention!”

In magic, you might rip a dollar bill (oh no!), or lose a valuable engagement ring (oh no!), only to miraculously heal the tear, or produce the ring.

In this trick, we’re going to create a different kind of tension.

We’re going to put a piece of paper on the table, put our finger on it, and say:

“On the other side of this piece of paper, I wrote a bad word.”

Instantly, we’ve created a LOT of tension.

What is the word? How bad is it?? Without even introducing a magic trick to this, you’ve already gotten peoples’ minds racing through bad words, sizing you up, trying to guess what kind of word you’re capable of writing. Imagine! You’re creating all kinds of neural activity in EVERYONE’s brains by saying a few simple words. They can’t help it, and it’s just delightful.

This moment of not knowing something is beautiful. Let them savor it.

Will the word be funny?
Will the word be embarrassing?
Will the word be offensive?
Will the word be cutesy bad? Or like… bad bad?

Aaaaaah!!! It’s just the best moment.

Next, we say:

“Can you guess what it is?”

And that’s where the real fun begins.