Thought Toon by Scott Alexander
Have someone think of ANY word, and as they watch in real-time, you introduce them to your assistant, an animated stick figure. It's cute, and always gets a chuckle... but the laughter turns to PURE ASTONISHMENT when the stick figure predicts the EXACT WORD your spectator was thinking.
It really can be ANY word. There are no funny delays while you secretly scribble stuff. Scott teaches his clever method of secretly obtaining the information so you can almost immediately start flipping pages.
* No pre-show work
* No swami
* No center tear
* Pad is in full view THE ENTIRE TIME.