Kreskin is quick to sing the praises of several late-night greats, including Carson,Jack Paar, Joey Bishop and David Letterman, though he says comparing Fallon to those guys is trickier that it may seem.
“There will be others standing in the wings, but Fallon, like Carson, will figure out how to bring [rivals] into the fold and not see them as enemies,” he predicts.
Kreskin is quick to sing the praises of several late-night greats, including Carson,Jack Paar, Joey Bishop and David Letterman, though he says comparing Fallonto those guys is trickier that it may seem.
“We all know the terrain is different now, because we have an overcrowded late night,” said Kreskin.
Cerabino: Getting Kreskin to solve the Washington stalemate? Now that would be amazing
Sunday, March 17, 2013
I think it’s time we bring in The Amazing Kreskin.
I’m talking about finding a solution to the political stalemate in Washington. The mutually despised “sequestration” cuts were supposed to lead to compromise between the two political parties. But that hasn’t worked.
So maybe this calls for something more drastic: like giving a 78-year-old thought reader from New Jersey a crack at saving the country.
“I would need to gather four or five of the party leaders on both sides and put them in a room for hours with no phones, no Internet, no contact with the outside world,” Kreskin told me.
Kreskin, the mentalist whose fame grew during dozens of appearances on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, said he’d be more than happy to save the country. If only somebody would ask.
“I need to set a psychological mind-set,” he said, further explaining his idea of locking himself in a quiet room for hours with Congressional leaders. “I won’t put them in a hypnotic trance.”
But it would be a state that more resembles love, he said.
“When people are in love, they are able to adapt,” he said. “That’s the problem now. Nobody wants to adapt. The way things are now, most of them should be on the Titanic, because they’ve been such titanic failures.”
Kreskin says he’s politically independent. His involvement wouldn’t have any ideological baggage.
“I think I could get them to start thinking in harmony with each other,” he said. “They’re not willing to put themselves in the shoes of other people.”
This month, President Barack Obama quipped that he wasn’t able to do a “Jedi mind meld” with the GOP congressional leadership to break the political stalemate. Most of the commentary over that remark centered on Obama’s science-fiction blunder of combining the Jedi mind trick from Star Wars with the Vulcan mind meld from Star Trek.
But for Kreskin, this was more than a botched joke. He offered his services to Obama.
“All right Mr. President let’s take a giant step beyond science fiction,” Kreskin wrote on his website. “I know what I’m talking about because on television, I have both read and influenced the thoughts of Star Trek’s Bill Shatner.”
The Jedi mind trick, Kreskin said, is not a trick at all, “but done legitimately by yours truly.”
Obama hasn’t called yet, Kreskin told me.
I was talking to Kreskin because he will be appearing in Palm Beach Gardens on Friday night, where he will do a show at the Eissey Campus Theatre at Palm Beach State College, a show that involves him reading the thoughts of the audience.
And he will be doing one of his favorite bits during the show to prove that he’s willing to gamble on his abilities.
“I will gather six or so people from the audience who do not know each other, and I will hand them my check,” he said.
The check is his fee for that night. While two of those audience members escort him out of the building and keep an eye on him, the other four pick a spot inside the auditorium to to hide the check.
Then Kreskin is brought back inside. If he can’t find the check, he forfeits the fee.
“You’ve got admit — that’s a hell of a way to make a living,” he said.
Kreskin estimates that he has done that bit about 6,000 times, and by his counting, he has only failed to find the check nine times.
A guy with this kind of magical power might be just what’s needed to solve the gridlock in Washington.
And maybe for an extra incentive, after he corrals the congressional leaders in that room, he can hide all of their checks.
We’re thinking of a man who has been wowing audiences for decades and, even at 77, shows no signs of stopping. (If you had his mentalist abilities, you’d know we were talking about George Kresge, better known as The Amazing Kreskin.)
WILL THE AMAZING KRESKIN LEAVE A STRONGER IMPRESSION
THAN THE INCREDIBLE BURT WONDERSTONE?
In New Jersey’s Newark Star Ledger review by syndicated reviewer Stephan Whittey comments about the movie the Incredible Burt Wonderstone… and his commentary …
“You don’t have to be Kreskin to predict that one… Actually, Kreskin already inspired a much better comedy, The Great Buck Howard which had John Malkovich crisscrossing the country…”
Philadelphia Daily News movie reviewer Gary Thompson commented…
“by the way, this movie was much better, a few years ago, as “The Great BuckHoward“, featuring the great John Malkovich as a Kreskin-like figure…”
The Great Buck Howard still getting well reviewed several years after its release, great opportunity to revisit the film or see it for the 1st time, even better read Kreskin’s new book Conversations withKreskin and gain insight into the legendary entertainer and to top it off you can see Kreskin over 200 dates per year and prepare to be blown away by his live performances.
Ian Allen
