The Amazing World of Kreskin

'The Amazing Kreskin' was a low budget programme produced in Canada in the early 1970s. The format was rather basic with Kreskin before an audience in an environment that would not be out of place at a university lecture hall where he would perform acts of mentalism, or the illusion of mind reading, to astound his public.

His television show appeared once a week when new, to my memory. At best it was merely a side-show event which bored me senseless. Today this programme would appear dated by fashion and production, but, even though I have no interest in mentalism, his show would still entertain those who like this sort of thing.

This was a peculiar program, with droning jazz music as a theme. The show was clearly made on a shoestring budget, hinging solely on the charisma of Kreskin, physically an early incarnation of computer guru Bill Gates. Kreskin must have fancied himself a Norse king or something, because he didn't seem to have a first name - always went by Kreskin. Probably fathered a bunch of wiry blond-haired kids who grew up to be chess prodigies.

One thing that always Amazed me about the Amazing program was that it wouldn't apologize for being a rather unimaginative show with a rather dull host - quite the contrary. Rather, for all that it was (and that wasn't much), it WORKED! I watched the entire half-hour show each week and was entertained enough to chat it up with my friends at school the next day!

Dave Thomas portrayed Kreskin in a brilliant SCTV spoof of the show called "The Amazing Cretin." It really made fun of the part of the show where he always asked an audience participant "Just to confirm for our TV audience, we don't know one another and are not at all acquainted. We've never had a conversation in any way, shape, or form. I've have had nothing to do with you before this program in any way, shape, or form. Nothing has been prearranged to your knowledge and we are not related in any way, shape, or form....etc, etc, etc."

This show was distributed all over North America in the mid-to-late 1970s. I have found out that even KABC in Los Angeles carried the program back in the day.

Kreskin was a great mentalist and his legacy seems to have been making the rest of us somewhat mental.

Kreskin is an outstanding entertainer. This show was a "must see" in my home with my parents and me glued to the TV set every week. Some (but not all) of his demonstrations of ESP were extraordinary. But it didn't seem to matter how intrinsically powerful his effects were. His showmanship made all of them them outstanding. I'm still amazed at how Kreskin could sometimes take a less-than-impressive mind reading stunt and package it as a tremendous and baffling crowd-pleaser.

At the time of this writing he's 73 and is still one of the best known mentalists in the world, performing hundreds of shows a year. His performances are very, very clever and I've seen him impress everyone from teenagers to senior citizens..

A DVD set is available with several of these programs and I strongly recommend it. Of course, the show looks dated, but that doesn't take away from the great entertainment value.