NPH blows the Oscar audience away with a mental effect

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Jonathan Pendragon
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NPH blows the Oscar audience away with a mental effect

Postby Jonathan Pendragon » February 23rd, 2015, 12:24 am

Neil Patrick Harris presented a prediction effect at the Oscars that had Shirley MacLaine (and everybody else) baffled which was an amazing image, for lots of reasons.

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Re: NPH blows the Oscar audience away with a mental effect

Postby Dustin Stinett » February 23rd, 2015, 12:32 am

I enjoyed it and particularly liked the humorous predictions.

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AJM
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Re: NPH blows the Oscar audience away with a mental effect

Postby AJM » February 23rd, 2015, 7:23 am

Not exactly a glowing review of host on the BBC News website this morning:

http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-31583257

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Re: NPH blows the Oscar audience away with a mental effect

Postby P.T.Widdle » February 23rd, 2015, 8:10 am

"third-rate David Blaine thing" - Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.

"despite all his experience, the Oscars undid even him, whose magic touch fell as flat as the night’s long-running, ostensible magic trick." - Willa Paskin, Slate

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Re: NPH blows the Oscar audience away with a mental effect

Postby Jonathan Townsend » February 23rd, 2015, 9:09 am

There was more than the usual politics in play this year coming to a head at the show. How was the audience? Did the show feel relevant?
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Re: NPH blows the Oscar audience away with a mental effect

Postby Roger M. » February 23rd, 2015, 11:42 am

The detail in the multiple answers was far too specific.

NPH of all people should realize that his very high level of specificity basically turned the effect into his audience wondering how he got that folded card in the briefcase, rather than wondering how he could have known in advance (in much broader terms) what would have transpired that evening prior to his opening the briefcase.

Closer to a "fail" than it was amazing.

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Re: NPH blows the Oscar audience away with a mental effect

Postby erdnasephile » February 23rd, 2015, 11:44 am

"We also could have lost his running gag about his predictions, which turned out to be a series of jokes that extended the night by two minutes just when we really wanted to hear the best picture winner and go to bed." -David Hinkley, NY Daily News

I'm not posting that to throw shade on NPH (whom I greatly respect and appreciate for his leadership during some challenging times at the Castle). Rather, I think it's a reminder to me that no matter how strong the magic, it's likely to fall flat when it's perceived as overstaying it's welcome--sort of like my new 15-phase Oil and Water routine (apologies to Mr. Maven).

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Re: NPH blows the Oscar audience away with a mental effect

Postby billmccloskey » February 23rd, 2015, 12:57 pm

Only a magician could have liked that bit. It fell incredibly flat, took up too much time, and was a long way to go for some dumb jokes. I thought it was a complete disaster. Fortunately, the show was so incredibly boring, I'm sure few but the diehards were awake to see it.

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Re: NPH blows the Oscar audience away with a mental effect

Postby brianarudolph » February 23rd, 2015, 2:23 pm

I have to concur with Roger M, erdnasephile and bill mccloskey.

I was also expecting NPH to integrate a lot more magic throughout the show, not only in any big production numbers but also in some clever bits of business as host.

While a lot of laypeople are familiar with NPH's love of magic, performance of magic on TV, and even his service as president of the AMA, I don't think most would ever consider him a mentalist. So attempting to predict elements of the show - no matter how funny and/or detailed - seemed out of character. Plus if you really could predict that stuff, why couldn't you just predict the actual Oscar winners themselves - and even tell us Best Picture before it was announced? Of course if you did that, PWC would have to be in on the bit if for no other reason to ensure that there was no breach of their security. It's like lotto prediction effects ... if you really could predict the Oscars or the results of a lotto drawing, I don't think you'd be doing it on TV - there are far more practical and lucrative alternatives for your talents. There was little in the way to convince anyone that NPH actually made those predictions. I thought that the continual build-up came across as too confident on NPH's part as well.

I was also surprised at how many times NPH was not used, but instead they went with the voice over announcer to introduce the next presenter or act. I thought there would be a lot more of NPH. But even when used, it seemed like the bulk of the time he just quickly introduced someone and bowed out or was good for a one-note gag that didn't play as well as the writers thought it would. He shined in the opening number (virtually a given in view of his past hosting experience for the Tonys and such) but I really thought they would give him more moments in the show.

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Re: NPH blows the Oscar audience away with a mental effect

Postby petnard » February 23rd, 2015, 4:09 pm

Not a good review of the magic trick in LA Times
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/moviesnow/la-et-mn-oscars-2015-neil-patrick-harris-magic-trick-20150222-story.html

But I think NPH overall did a decent job as host, even if he could have chosen a much better trick to do (like he did on the Tony show).
Last edited by petnard on February 23rd, 2015, 5:19 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: NPH blows the Oscar audience away with a mental effect

Postby Richard Kaufman » February 23rd, 2015, 4:58 pm

Hosting the Academy Awards has to be one of the hardest jobs in show business. Bob Hope and Johnny Carson made it look easy. For everyone who has followed in their place, it's been hard as hell to make it look easy. More fail than succeed. There's no way to really prepare because it's such a crazy event with so many variables ... and by the time you've learned how to do it (after doing it), it's often too late to come back and use what you've learned.

That said, the end of the Academy Awards is always a mess. The show always runs long, people are bored and many just want to hear who's won best actor, actress, director, and best picture and go home or turn off the TV. Choosing to reveal the contents of a locked prediction chest when everyone really just wants it to end was not the best idea.

It's really easy to get tripped up along the way with a single remark.

I think that for his first time as host of the Academy Awards, Neil did a fine job. I hope he gets the chance to use what he learned last night to do a spectacular job next time.
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Re: NPH blows the Oscar audience away with a mental effect

Postby erdnasephile » February 23rd, 2015, 5:31 pm

petnard wrote:Not a good review of the magic trick in LA Times
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/moviesnow/la-et-mn-oscars-2015-neil-patrick-harris-magic-trick-20150222-story.html

But I think NPH overall did a decent job as host, even if he could have chosen a much better trick to do (like he did on the Tony show).


I've seen a bunch of close-up guys use a designated spectator to watch something as a running gag throughout their acts before. However, it always strikes me as sort of lame, since generally there is nothing to see--so the spectator ends up serving an essentially useless function throughout the show.

There are, of course, notable performers that make this experience fun for the spectator. Most often though, it seems to make the spectator look foolish. It's very much akin to performers who hand out props for examination, then quip: "Of course there's nothing to find--I'd never let you touch it if it weren't normal!" (Then why the heck are you wasting our time?!).

And, yes--I'm hoping they give NPH another shot--it is a really tough gig to get just right.

PS: Did anyone catch the name of a magic consultant listed in the end credits?

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Re: NPH blows the Oscar audience away with a mental effect

Postby Ted M » February 23rd, 2015, 5:47 pm

How is the subject line of this thread so far out of touch with reality?

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Re: NPH blows the Oscar audience away with a mental effect

Postby Chris Aguilar » February 23rd, 2015, 7:07 pm

Oscar Ratings drop to six year low.

The 87th Academy Awards won't be remembered for its big audience.

Sunday's trophy ceremony on ABC, hosted by Neil Patrick Harris, averaged just 36.6 million viewers, according to preliminary Nielsen estimates.

That's a steep 16% drop from 43.7 million last year, when Ellen DeGeneres hosted and 12 Years a Slave won best picture. Among adults ages 18 to 49, the Oscar telecast dropped 18%.

The turnout marked the lowest for the Oscars since 2009, when 36.3 million tuned in, and follows declines for CBS's Grammys and NBC's Golden Globe Awards earlier this year. (The Oscars are typically the year's most-watched entertainment telecast.)

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Re: NPH blows the Oscar audience away with a mental effect

Postby Richard Kaufman » February 23rd, 2015, 7:09 pm

The magic consultant would likely have been Ed Alonzo, since he's good friends with Neil and has done work like this for him before, or Derek Delgaudio, who was one of the writers Neil hired for the gig.

As far as the title of the thread, that's the opinion of the person who wrote it, Mr. Pendgragon. He's entitled to it.
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Re: NPH blows the Oscar audience away with a mental effect

Postby Roger M. » February 23rd, 2015, 8:51 pm

Just for clarity, I thought NPH did a brilliant job of hosting.

I think he's possibly the the warmest and most accessable host for these kinds of variety events since Johnny Carson.

I did however, note that I thought he overdid the Headline Prediction, and that he would have been better served if he shortened it, and stuck with generic predictions that were far less specific.

I think he err'd in going for the laugh rather than focusing on the impossiblity.

But as a variety show host ... NPH is the best of the bunch.

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Re: NPH blows the Oscar audience away with a mental effect

Postby Terry_Holley » February 24th, 2015, 1:02 am

I wonder if a mentalist was consulted about the wisdom of using this effect? I doubt it, as I think that most would have predicted that a prediction at the Oscars would be a fail.

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Re: NPH blows the Oscar audience away with a mental effect

Postby Gordon Meyer » February 24th, 2015, 9:13 am

For me it highlighted the difficulty that most of us amateurs face -- the presentation of magic outside of the context of a magic show or being known as a magician. It's easy for a trick to become an awkward, out-of-place thing that's not easy to interpret.

That said, I thought it was great, and some non-magician friends of mine thought it was cool and (mostly) funny. Bravo to NPH for getting the producers to let him include it at all.

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Re: NPH blows the Oscar audience away with a mental effect

Postby billmccloskey » February 24th, 2015, 2:59 pm

"Bravo to NPH for getting the producers to let him include it at all."

I would have prefered if the winners had been able to include all of their acceptance speeches.

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Re: NPH blows the Oscar audience away with a mental effect

Postby Dustin Stinett » February 24th, 2015, 10:56 pm

From Entertainment Weekly: Derek and NPH talk about "the trick." (Please don't shoot the messenger or blame him for the spelling in the article...oy):

http://www.ew.com/article/2015/02/24/ne ... agic-trick

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Re: NPH blows the Oscar audience away with a mental effect

Postby Richard Kaufman » February 24th, 2015, 11:27 pm

David Copperfield has been doing this trick in his shows for decades! Jeez.
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Jonathan Pendragon
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Re: NPH blows the Oscar audience away with a mental effect

Postby Jonathan Pendragon » February 25th, 2015, 3:32 am

It's not out of line, The audience is the toughest in the world for anyone who isn't presenting "main stream" (Acting, Singing, Dance, or Comedy) entertainment, especially at the eleventh hour when everyone is ready to party, or fall into a major depression. And the reaction shot of the audience showed many big names clearly baffled by the effect.

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Re: NPH blows the Oscar audience away with a mental effect

Postby Tom Moore » February 25th, 2015, 4:17 am

Those reaction shots of people looking baffled - would they be the (in many cases award winning) professional actors who all through the night have been looking happy when their enemies won awards, clapping and smiling for films they hated and laughing at jokes they might not have actually found funny whenever a camera was pointed at them?

Technically the effect was very nice, however as others have pointed out its position in the show was wrong, the choice of this genre of material for that performer jarred and most importantly of all; the public KNOW that the oscars is very tightly scripted and that the "spontaneous stuff" that happens is actually planned and rehearsed to within an inch of its life so already there's a perfectly plausible explanation for 95% of the prediction. I can appreciate why as a performer he wanted to do something different (so that he couldn't be accused of doing the same job as he did at other awards) but i think that was his fatal mistake. Doing something big (probably with a run-around) in a song and dance number would have much better fit his style, flowed better in the show and almost certainly gotten a better public response than this choice of effect did.
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Re: NPH blows the Oscar audience away with a mental effect

Postby Richard Kaufman » February 25th, 2015, 10:37 am

I really don't think it would have mattered what Neil did at that point in the show: no one wants to see or hear anything other than the Best Picture Award so they can go home.
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Re: NPH blows the Oscar audience away with a mental effect

Postby brianarudolph » February 27th, 2015, 6:56 am

http://www.msn.com/en-us/movies/video/n ... vi-BBhSkh7

It doesn't sound like NPH himself is all that excited about hosting the Oscars again. But he did leave the door open just a bit.


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