FEEL BETTER (Gimmicks and Online Instructions) by Chris Philpott - Trick

"The most beautiful magic trick I've ever seen."
- Raney Aronson-Rath, editor-in-chief and executive producer of PBS's Frontline.

"Beautiful! What a transformation, literally and figuratively!"
- Banachek

"Wow! That is powerful! And what a beautiful gift to leave people with. This is great for both close up and stage. Love it!"
- Billy Kidd

"OK, screw you! You made me tear up watching a MAGIC TRICK?! It's great. It may be the best magic trailer ever. Really."
- Ken Weber

The Performer displays a deck that Therapists use to help their clients describe their negative emotions and says, "I don't want to go into any personal trauma, but we've all just been through a collective trauma - the pandemic." The Spectator takes some cards and chooses one that describes how they felt during the pandemic.

The Performer then mind-reads the spectator's emotions with uncanny detail. Then the Performer borrows a cell phone and takes a picture of the spectator holding the card while imagining a brighter future. When they look at the picture, their word has transformed into something wonderful!

(Note: the pandemic scripting is only one possible presentation.)

"The only trick I know where the magical transformation happens to the spectator! Highest possible recommendation."
- Pete McCabe

"Ok, it's no secret that Chris and I are mates, and I'm a huge fan of his work. Why? Well, most magicians make their tricks about themselves, and Chris almost always makes it about the AUDIENCE, but now HE'S GONE ONE STEP FURTHER, with Feel Better he makes it about EVERYONE. You can't get more topical, more powerful or for that matter more easy to perform. Feel Better is going straight into my new show as the encore piece, because I want to leave that final powerful moment with the audience to share."
- Steve Valentine

"Feel Better is a beautiful, perfect piece of work. This is exactly why I became serious about magic as an art. Seriously, this is such a huge gift to the magic community and the world. After two years hosting a radio show about the pandemic, I can't wait to get out there with this."
- Arun Rath, NPR and PBS host and correspondent

"One of the BEST routines in the last decade!"
- Eric Bedard

"Sure, we magicians have the power to say, Ta-Da! Look at me! But after doing this work for a while, we should also realize that we have the power to help and to heal. Feel Better is a wonderful way to express that you do genuinely care about the people in your audience. In the right hands, Feel Better has the potential to change a spectator's outlook on life. What is more magical than that?"
- Professor Phelyx