Derren Brown had people blaming him for Covid. The mastermind illusionist has been keeping our mouths agape for more than two decades in TV shows like Apocalypse, The Heist, Pushed to the Edge and Russian Roulette.
At the beginning of the pandemic in 2020, Derren, 50, was bombarded on social media with people claiming Covid was somehow created by him.
He laughed: “People were saying I’d created Covid and it wasn’t true. I pretended to fess up and say it was me but there came a point where it wasn’t so funny.
“I get a lot of that. It started with Brexit. I tend to get blamed initially for anything that seems like a big experiment.”
And no wonder. Derren, who describes himself as a psychological illusionist, is also described as a mentalist, magician and hypnotist. He is the king of manipulations.
In 2016’s Pushed to the Edge, he used social compliance to make a group of people shove a man to his apparent death.
In 2006’s The Heist, he used conditioning, anchoring and suggestion to make a group of middle managers stage an armed robbery.
And in 2012’s Apocalypse, he convinced Steve Brosnan, a member of the public, that he was living in a zombie apocalypse.
Derren said: “I got a text message from Steve when Covid all started saying, ‘Thank you. I feel very well equipped.’”
Ever since Derren played Russian Roulette live in 2003, he has frightened and entertained in equal measure.
And while you may be worried meeting him that you’d waddle off thinking you were a duck, in civvy life Derren is warm, funny and self-deprecating. Your mind or wallet will still be there after speaking to him.
He laughed: “When I’m on tour and in different cities no one usually gives me a second look but if they do it’s normally a nice conversation.”
And don’t worry about going to one of his shows and being dragged on stage to do something awful – Derren isn’t one of those hypnotists who’ll put you under and make you think you’re a chicken. Unless you want him to.
He said: “I’d hate to be brought up on stage. I don’t mean in my show, in other people’s shows.
“Perhaps for that reason the way I do it is I throw out a frisbee and you catch it if you want to be part of it and if you don’t you can give it to the person next to you. I’ve tried to do that so people don’t have the fear that I would have. I’d hate to be dragged up.”
Kicking off next month in Glasgow, Showman is Derren’s biggest tour in 20 years. He will be back in Scotland in May for a run in Edinburgh and Aberdeen. He said: “Starting in Glasgow is a proper treat. It is unusual to start a tour as excitingly as Glasgow, given it’s one of the highlights of any tour.”
Scotland means a lot to Derren. Mainly because of Jerry Sadowitz – the controversial but hugely talented magician and comedian.
They met in a magic shop in London and became pals, Jerry helping Derren get his first lecture gig for fellow magicians and opening the door to TV.
Derren said: “I owe him a huge deal, he was utterly instrumental, if not wholly responsible. It was actually Jerry who suggested to the man who would become my manager– Michael Vine – that he get in touch with me. He made the important connection that made everything get going.
“I got a bit of a name in the magic world and one thing led to another and I got signed up for my first TV show.
“We’ve kind of drifted apart but no doubt I’ll see him at some magic event.He’s extraordinary.”
The Showman tour will last for eight months but every five or six weeks he’ll have a week off to rest his voice .
And while he’ll enjoy finding a coffee shop to do some writing in the cities and towns he’ll be visiting, Derren has to be careful of Covid.
He said: “I have to be super-careful I don’t catch it. It’s the one thing I’m not insured for because you can’t get insurance for it. I’m having to be very careful. So because of that I have a mask and a cap so no one will recognise me.”
Although Showman was written pre-lockdown, the heart of it could be about our shared pandemic experience.
He said: “It’s not a show about lockdown or Covid but has ended up sitting quite well at this time.
“It’s about how the things in life that feel most isolating actually tend to be the very things that we share.”
While he had nothing to do with creating Covid he, like the rest of us, had to get through it.
For Derren, that meant spending lockdown moving house from London to the countryside and concentrating on his rather good paintings.
He added: “Everyone had very different lockdowns and some people it passed by almost unnoticed and for others it was a terrifying time.
“It would be lovely to think we could come out of it a little changed for the better but of course the reality is we quickly forget all those lessons of compassion and humanity.
“I remember going to the first restaurant when we could and within three minutes I was complaining about my soup being cold.”
● Showman, Glasgow King’s Theatre, March 4-12, Edinburgh Playhouse, May 3-7 and Aberdeen His Majesty’s Theatre, May 10-14. To book tickets, go to: www.derrenbrown.co.uk
