Mentalist Shares His Tricks With Anderson Cooper.

Have you ever wished you could read people better? Well, mentalist Oz Perlman can, and although he's often accused of being a mind reader, he claims that's not how it works. He's the author of the new book, Read Your Mind, Proven Habits for Success from the World's Greatest Mentalists. We spoke just before air time. So you don't, you're not a magician, you're a mentalist. What is the difference? So a magician, you can kind of visualize card tricks, sleight of hand, right? I fool your eyes by showing you where to look, right? Misdirection. Mentalism is where there's really no props. There are no cards. I just tell people, think of a card, and I watch you and I observe, and it looks like mind reading, but it is not supernatural. I don't have any psychic powers. I'm not talking to the dead. It's a learnable skill. And you've written this book. Yep. What's the purpose of the book? So the book will not teach you to be a mentalist. Spoiler alert, anyone who buys it and goes, how did you know which ball Joe Burrow would throw too? I'm not gonna teach you that. I'm sorry, there's other books. I wanna teach you the skills from what I do that are transferable, that give you an advantage in your life. Because being able to read the room effectively and know what people are thinking about you and hopefully influence them, building rapport. Whether you're in the boardroom, classroom, wherever it may be. Anywhere, think about it, in your relationship with your kids, with your spouse, with somebody you are selling to. You have five kids, is that right? Five kids. So do you use? I'm using a little mentalism on them, but they know how it works now. My nine-year-old is like, I'm onto you, Dad. But yeah, there's a little bit of Jedi mind control tactics that I'm sure every parent uses. But what's funny is, in the book, where I give you little elements of know how to detect deception, and there's someone telling you the truth. Is this person really interested in what you're selling? And make no mistake, selling doesn't mean if you're a salesperson. You right now are selling your viewer on maintaining their eyeballs, right? We're all selling in life. I'm selling my kids on eating their vegetables every night at dinner. So when I say selling, it's knowing the fact that how you interact with somebody, how you get them to trust you, develop deeper bonds, rapport, how to walk into a room and leave it being the most memorable person someone met that day is a huge skill in life, and it's what's allowed me to achieve success. It's not the tricks. All right, so what are we gonna do? What are we gonna do? Well, you know what? Let's do this. Anderson Cooper 360. I came prepared. I stayed very much on trend. 360. I'm gonna hold this. Look at this, look at this. You spin it around in your hands, and look at various places you have traveled to, which is probably most of the globe at this point. You have really done a number on this. You've been to how many countries if you had to guesstimate? Give me a ballpark. Like been to, worked in. All the above. 80 to 90. So most of this globe. Imagine that as you're looking at this globe and you're looking at different places, bam. I like to jar you out of autopilot. Something unexpected. Your phone, which is here. Imagine that you left the ringer on. You're mortified. You grab it. You're about to silence it. You turn it around, you look, and you are looking at the number and the person, and it just hits you where you go, I am not expecting a call from this person. I have not thought or spoken to this person in months. Close your eyes. I'm putting you on the spot. And I want you to visualize, as this scenario plays out, this person's face. Can you picture their face right now? Yes. Open your eyes. When was the last time you'd even thought of this person? Six months, eight months. Is there any conceivable way I could know who would have popped in your head? No. No way, right? There's no way. Think of the number of letters in this person's first name and try to count it, but try not to show me anything. Just do it in your head. Now notice the struggle in Anderson's eyes. He's either acting very well or it's a longer name. Don't say it. Just look at me when you feel ready. In the full name? First name. First name is good. Look at me. Oh, hold on. No, don't use your fingers. I can see your fingers, Anderson. No, I'm not. I'm not. Okay. Open your eyes. See, I was debating that first name. I watched you and you went like this. You counted twice, so I think you miscounted the first time. You're like, I counted by one too much. You went back down. Six letters, isn't it? It is six letters. And mix up all the letters and just, you stop and you grab a letter out. Like, let's say you just swoop and you grab the first letter and you just focus on that one first letter. Can you do that for me? Yeah. Hmm. It just got cold out. Your lips were a little chapped. Close your eyes. Don't peek. Close your eyes. I just want to show the viewer at home. Keep your eyes closed for me, Anderson. Open your eyes. That's why you did this. You pursed your lips. You put them together. What's the first letter of this person's name? The first letter. M. And then keep going. Keep going. It's sound. It's not Michael. This is definitely a guy. Tell me. Who popped in your head? You imagine this person calling you. You haven't thought of them in months. What's his name? Full name? Full first name. Milton. How is that? That's bananas. And you know what? When you were looking at the globe, it's called the power of suggestion. You asked me how I did it. You didn't need a globe in your hands, but as you were looking and telling me I've been to so many countries, I noticed at a certain point, when you thought about Milton, you looked down at the globe. Not at a place. You were looking for a place, which tells me that I led the witness. You know what I said to you? I said to you, what did I say? I said, you've been to all these places. You've had an impact on all these places and people had an impact on you. Is there a place that you thought of when you thought of Milton and you looked for it, where you met him or you know him from? Does that make sense? Yes. That's why you looked at the globe. Hold it in front of you, right here, Pacific Ocean. You can't see anything. Is there any way in the world you've ever discussed where you met Milton before this moment? Anywhere, period, that anybody could possibly know this? I mean, unlikely. Unlikely, right? Definitely not me. Was it a city? You seem like a specific type of guy. Were you speaking of a specific city? A place, specific, yeah. A city and a country? Yeah. You know what, tell us. Hold this a little lower. Not a big place. Doesn't matter. Very remote. What's the city? What's the country? Tell us. Where did Milton pop in your mind and you thought of? Tell us, please. Where is it? Maradi, Niger. You know how you shine a light on different places and current events? Look down, because I want you to see what I'm shining. I mean, give me a break. Turn it around. If we could turn that around. How, do you even know where Maradi, Niger is? I mean, how is this? Of course, I'm in your head. I knew it before you even said it. What? That's crazy. Tell them there is no way we could have known this. This is not something you could have thought of anyone. There's no way you could have known this. That is really crazy. I'm a little freaked. A little freaked out. Yeah. You know what? End on a high note. Knock this out. Imagine right now. I always like to say this. I disappear. Pow. You've interviewed hundreds of people. Maybe even thousands. The number one person, if you could have right now in front of me, instead of me, somebody famous or heard of, dead or alive, can you visualize who the number one person you'd want to interview? Right now, can you see them in your mind? Famous. Yes. So here's the thing. Number one person, I bet you've mentioned before. Chat GPT would know it. So right now, you fool yourself. You didn't even know. Boom, you jump. You change your mind. Number two person. So you immediately shift gears. So you couldn't have known. Bam, can you picture that person? Sure. Look at me. Imagine you're looking at them eye to eye. I know you've met this person before. I see familiarity in your eyes. Imagine we shake hands and I'm that person. And right now, Barack Obama's who you just thought of. What? Get the **** out of here. How is that possible? How is that frigging possible? The book is Read Your Mind. Uz Perlman. Thank you. That last one, I don't get it.