'This magician told me to pick a number, now I think he hacked my brain'
As if he's reading my mind, Conn asks if it has any special meaning to me and I say no. He hands me his phone, tells me to open up the notes app and scroll down to number 59. It says 'This is the number Ciara is going to pick'.
Now I'm bewildered, Is this man able to read my mind? Alas, he isn't, but he can control it. In the few seconds that the mentalist was explaining his list to me he was displaying the numbers five and nine on his fingers.
I didn't even think my brain was taking in what he was doing with his hands. It's scary how easy the human brain can be manipulated. While Conn's act is all about fun, can he use it to his advantage outside of putting on a show?
'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.'
At 28 years old, the Dubliner is a rising star in Ireland's small circle of magicians and mentalists. He knows all the big names across the globe- Keith Barry, Darren Brown, Dynamo and David Blaine. And while he looks up to them, the performer is doing things his way.
Since the age of seven Conn has spent endless hours studying the craft and coming up with his own ways of tricking others for wonder. He's also an actor- and believes being a confident performer is the biggest component of being a successful magician.
'I think you could teach a really skilled actor, if you said here are five tricks and they weren't really slight, heavy tricks. There are certain slights with cards that have taken me 10 years to do this. Some are really sore, but totally worth it.' Magician Conn McCormack pictured showcasing his tricks. (Image: Collins Photo Agency)
Some sceptics love to catch magicians out, but Conn says a key skill is even being able to trick people when things go wrong. 'If I said 'pick a card', and you picked the queen of hearts, and then I messed it up, flicking out the two of spades, you can tell that I clearly got it wrong.
'So I would say 'Oh, it wasn't this card? No way. What was it?' And I'll flick a queen of hearts. Now the audience's expectations were down, but they were shot back up again.'
A big reason why the Dubliner got into magic may surprise some- as a child he was a big fidgeter and needed something to do with his hands. 'I used to fidget a lot, but there are loads of random stories that I suppose got me here, and I feel like they all connected at some point.
'My dad's friend did a trick on me when I was a kid and it fooled me. So I spent years in retaliation, learning the craft. So I've been doing it professionally since I was 16. That started with 'I'll give you 50 quid to come to the tennis club and do card tricks for an hour'.
'And now I'm booked up for weddings for the year, and I've got corporate events all the time. I did Joe Duffy's retirement party and each year I do the Irish rugby team's ball in the Shelbourne.' The Liveline Host, who recently left RTÉ after being at the helm of the popular show for 27 years, is a fan of the young magician.
While they both live in Clontarf, the man of the people enjoys a good trick or two. They met while Conn was working at a show in Malahide, and Joe knew he'd be the perfect person to have people in awe at his retirement bash.
'Joe loves magic, he was saying 'I love magic, show us a trick!' So I did the number notes trick on him straight away.' Like most people that Conn manages to fool, the broadcaster was in awe.
Getting a good reaction from people and bringing a bit of child-like fun into their lives is why the mentalist loves his job so much. 'It's like Santa Claus. Everyone knows in their rational mind there's a method behind all of it, and there's a method to the madness.
'The magic world is so cool, sometimes I wonder' Why doesn't everyone want to know how to do this?' It's so fun, why doesn't everyone want to make someone smile?'
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