CONN'S CRAIC MAGIC

Rising star has plenty of tricks up of his sleeve to put a smile on audiences' faces

- BY CIARA O'LOUGHLIN

"PICK a number between 1 and 100," magician Conn McCormack asks me, saying he has a numbered list on his phone of all his magic tricks.

I pick 59, and wonder why I picked it. Tapping into my thoughts, Conn asks if it has any special meaning and I say “No”.

He hands me his phone, tells me to open up the Notes app and scroll down to number 59.

It reads: “This is the number Ciara is going to pick.”

Now I'm bewildered. Is this man able to read my mind? Maybe not - but he can control it.

Because in the few seconds Conn was explaining his list to me, he was displaying the numbers 5 and 9 on his fingers.

I didn't even think my brain was taking in what he was doing with his hands. It's scary how easily the human brain can be manipulated. He put those numbers into my mind, and subconsciously, I picked them.

While Conn’s act is all about performance - or “magic and mind-feckery” as he says - can he use it to his advantage in his personal life?

“There are skills that you can use outside of magic tricks as well,” he says. “I couldn't use them to rob a bank or anything crazy, like you see in the movies.

“But it’s fun to think that maybe you could leave a job interview and if that person was asked to say a number they'd probably say 27 for the next three days or something.”

STAR