Price$49.95
Media TypeTrick
CategoryComedy
Date AddedApr 15, 2014
LIAR
Baxt, Robert
Robert Baxt
(Based on 3 reviews)
Robert Baxt shows on this DVD how to easily and inexpensively make this gimmick into a security metal detector looking prop, along with examples of other props you can readily create.
Included:
Performance Footage
Bonus PDF File with 23 pages of Jokes, Gags, Bits, Lines, Routines, and Suggestions for this wonderful device
Funny gags that you can add to any show!
Comedy for STAGE or CLOSE-UP!
Reviews
(Top ▲)
Random I-Tunes Song of The Moment: Leper Messiah by The Scorched Earth Orchestra
Liar by Robert Baxt Review:
One gimmick, one DVD and $50 bucks. Is it gem or is it rubble? Stay tuned to find out.
Effect
Not so much magic here. Get a volunteer on stage and have them hold a prop of your choosing as you claim it's a lie detector. You then ask a series of questions. The lie detector goes off and thus (theoretically) hilarity doth ensue.
Method
You're supplied with a plastic gimmick that allows you to make the alert sound whenever you'd like. That and some arts and crafts, and you've got everything you need, almost. This type of thing, in order to be good, relies 99% on personality and performance prowess and pretty much nothing else.
You're supplied with a 20-ish page PDF that contains lines, gags, jokes, "funny" questions to ask your spectators, etc. Humor is relative, of course, but I found many of the lines to not be funny, but rather insulting to the audience.
However, if you've got a personality for this type of performance and don't mind those types of jokes, or you have your own script you might use, then you'll be able to easily do this effect. The gimmick is just a simple push of the button.
However, I did not like the sound of the alert that was made when the lie detector "goes off." You'll hear it in the ad trailer. To me it sounds nothing like a sound that I would associate with a lie detector. In fact, he used the gimmick a few times in the trailer before I realized that it was the sound of the lie detector. If you don't mind the sound in the ad trailer, then you'll likely be fine with the method.
Ad Copy Integrity
The ad copy is accurate. It's brief, but it tells the truth . . . at least I didn't hear any weird noises when I read it.
Product Quality
The product quality is pretty bad. The DVD is not the best footage and the sections where they teach you to make the various types of props to use for a lie detector are poorly taught. They go little, if any, depth. Further, Baxt says that his friend Dorian Lachance created a version of one of the props. He then says that he'll show us a clip that teaches us how to make the prop. The clip did no such thing. It was a very short clip of Dorian Lachance apparently holding the camera in one hand and the prop in the other. He mentioned a couple of things that he did to make his prop, but gave literally zero details.
The problem was that some of the modifications he made needed some depth to fully understand how to create them and how to use the added features in performance. None of that was covered. He also suggests that to learn lie detector routines, we should search YouTube. Then what? Steal the routines we see? Bad form, Mr. Baxt. He does show some of his own footage and the footage of a friend of his that includes a lot of the material that's also found on the PDF. The included PDF, however, was very poorly laid out and difficult to read.
Finally, watch the ad trailer. If you don't mind watching Robert Baxt acting the way he was acting in the video, then you won't mind how he acts in the DVD. Personally, however, I found it a bit hard to watch.
Final Thoughts
For a PDF of a bunch of "lines" that range from stupid to insulting to chuckle-getting to very funny, a poorly produced DVD and a gimmick that you could probably get at a dollar store, you get to pay $50 bucks. That's a bit on the steep side for what you're getting. So you have to ask yourself a few questions. First, do you like the sound of the alarm in the ad copy? Second, do you want to do a lie detector routine? Third, do you need some scripting and lines to use in a lie detector routine that are mostly mediocre and insulting? Finally, is all that worth $50 bucks? For me, I would have been very disappointed if I paid $50 bucks and got this product in return.
Final Verdict:
2.5 Stars with a Stone Status of grubble (very few gem-ish ideas surrounded by a whole lot of rubble).
(Top ▲)
It is hard to review this product because on one hand, there are some nice and funny possibilities with the prop, but on the other hand there are some not-so-great things about the DVD.
I will start with the prop itself. The quality appears to be very good and it comes with a removable key chain attached to it. It has an LED light on it and has two push buttons - one for the light and the other for the sound. The sound is a high-pitched alarm-type noise and has one volume: Loud. There is no master ON/OFF switch so if you toss this in a box or case with other objects, it could possibly be set off continually by those items and potentially drain the battery. I just point this out because it is a possibility and I have no idea how long it would take to drain the battery, which is replaceable when it eventually dies.
A quick side note: The prop has an LED light on it but nowhere on the video does Mr. Baxt show you any applications for the light. To my way of thinking, if you can build a prop that would glow when you pressed the light, it could be used instead of the sound part in venues where it would be just too loud. In that way, you would have a light-up lie detector.
The production quality of this video is not great. It looks like it was shot with an older video camera in a living room in front of a painted white wall. The lighting was just okay - again it looked like a living room production. The sound was iffy and of comparable quality to the video, but it was clear enough to understand him in the explanation sections. The performance clips though are another story - some of them had such poor quality audio and poor volume that it was difficult to hear or understand what was being said between him and the participant.
The DVD opens with Mr. Baxt giving a brief history on lie detectors and lie detector routines and utilizing still shots from various TV and theater shows, programs and other productions. While I did know some of the history, I still learned some new things and found it rather interesting.
Mr. Baxt then teaches you how (roughly) to construct the type of lie detector you see on the DVD case - a metal detecting wand that you see at security checkpoints all over the world. It is a rough outline of how to construct it and he includes a PDF copy of the "DETECTOR" template should you wish to replicate and use his style of lie detector.
He then shows a clip of a friend of his doing a lie detector on stage on a cruise ship with his original design. This clip looked like it was copied from and old video but the audio was clear enough to understand it and the video was pretty good. He then showed a YouTube clip from another friend of his which outlines his version of the wand-style lie detector. He does not give details but it is pretty easy to replicate it if you choose to do so. For being a YouTube clip, the video was good and the audio was clear. You then see a bunch of performance clips of Mr. Baxt performing his lie detector routine in various venues like private homes and banquet halls. He was using the same lines over and over in each clip, which got old after the second clip.
Mr. Baxt then gives you a few ideas on how to construct different types of lie detectors and in my opinion, the coolest one of them all was the Steampunk/Dr. Who Lie Detector Box. Others I would never use on my audience volunteer but rather on myself - one such example would be the spaghetti strainer hat with a bunch of coiled wires and a wiry head massager attached as an antenna.
He then talks about the 20+ pages of jokes, gags and lines that are contained in a PDF file on the disc and how to access them. The idea with the lie detector routine is kind of a Q&A format where you ask the participant a "predetermined" set of questions. To save you the trouble of memorizing any of them (which you can do if you like), you just print them out and put them on a clipboard.
Now one of the biggest problems I had with the material: I have no doubt that Mr. Baxt (and possibly others) have made some of these jokes/gags/lines work, but there are some that are so tasteless I would not even touch with a barge pole. Allow me to give a few examples: The first one is where he is performing with a kid about 6-8 years old: "Do you brush your teeth everyday?" "Yes." [BUZZZZZ] "Do you listen to your parents all the time?" "Yes." [BUZZZZZ] "Do you like doing chores?" "No." [no buzz] "Oh, that part was true! Do you like school?" "No." [no buzz] "Do you like your teacher?" "Yes." [BUZZZZ] "Do you LOVE your teacher?" "Yes." "Do you want to MARRY your teacher?" "No." [BUZZZZZ]
Now, I have no problems with lines like he used about your mother making him clean the toilet with his toothbrush, then asking if he brushes his teeth with the same one. What I do have an issue with in some settings is the whole "Like/love/want to marry your teacher." This day and age and in many areas, regardless of the "cute" response given the younger age, that can be a very taboo thing to talk about.
Another example: He is performing with an executive from a company who is retiring: "Did you like your boss?" "Yes." [BUZZZZZ] "Did you like your job?" "No." [no buzz] "Hmmm, interesting truth! Did you sleep with your boss to get this job?" "No." [BUZZZZZ] "Is that why you are retiring, because you got caught?" "No." [BUZZZZ] "They told me the company is $2,000,000.00 short this season and now you are retiring. Did you steal that money?" "No!" [BUZZZZZZZZZZZ].
Again, I am sure that in some settings that type of thing may be funny with the right people. I do not know about you, but I would never be caught dead going into a corporate show and humiliating someone like that in front of a crowd because face it, there is no other way to describe that other than with the word 'humiliating'.
There are even worse and more tasteless lines that are in the PDF for the choosing and to be fair, a couple of them come with a disclaimer of Mr. Baxt who does not recommend their use. Good on him, but why even bother putting them in there then? He does do a few clips where he uses some of the more tasteless lines in the living room setting.
Regardless of the cleanliness/dirtiness of the lines used and no matter how well-routined, the lie detector with an audience member fits into the category of "sucker" type magic - that is, the participant is often stung by the performer in some way. In most cases there are ways to take the sting off of them and put it back on you, which is what is recommended on the video at one point. In the PDF they give a few other suggestions as to how to present a lie detector routine, such as with a married couple. Some of the applications like that one have the potential to be very funny and you can even push the envelope a little bit without going too far. The point I am trying to make is to be respectful to those you are working with when deciding which lines/gags and jokes to use.
I gave this 2.5 stars because of the relatively poor DVD quality and for some of the terrible joke/line suggestions, but also the price point. $50 is way too high for this. I still believe that there is a lot of potential for great comedy with this prop, no matter how you choose to use it, just as long as you know the limits for the venue(s) and situation(s) in which it is used.
I will start with the prop itself. The quality appears to be very good and it comes with a removable key chain attached to it. It has an LED light on it and has two push buttons - one for the light and the other for the sound. The sound is a high-pitched alarm-type noise and has one volume: Loud. There is no master ON/OFF switch so if you toss this in a box or case with other objects, it could possibly be set off continually by those items and potentially drain the battery. I just point this out because it is a possibility and I have no idea how long it would take to drain the battery, which is replaceable when it eventually dies.
A quick side note: The prop has an LED light on it but nowhere on the video does Mr. Baxt show you any applications for the light. To my way of thinking, if you can build a prop that would glow when you pressed the light, it could be used instead of the sound part in venues where it would be just too loud. In that way, you would have a light-up lie detector.
The production quality of this video is not great. It looks like it was shot with an older video camera in a living room in front of a painted white wall. The lighting was just okay - again it looked like a living room production. The sound was iffy and of comparable quality to the video, but it was clear enough to understand him in the explanation sections. The performance clips though are another story - some of them had such poor quality audio and poor volume that it was difficult to hear or understand what was being said between him and the participant.
The DVD opens with Mr. Baxt giving a brief history on lie detectors and lie detector routines and utilizing still shots from various TV and theater shows, programs and other productions. While I did know some of the history, I still learned some new things and found it rather interesting.
Mr. Baxt then teaches you how (roughly) to construct the type of lie detector you see on the DVD case - a metal detecting wand that you see at security checkpoints all over the world. It is a rough outline of how to construct it and he includes a PDF copy of the "DETECTOR" template should you wish to replicate and use his style of lie detector.
He then shows a clip of a friend of his doing a lie detector on stage on a cruise ship with his original design. This clip looked like it was copied from and old video but the audio was clear enough to understand it and the video was pretty good. He then showed a YouTube clip from another friend of his which outlines his version of the wand-style lie detector. He does not give details but it is pretty easy to replicate it if you choose to do so. For being a YouTube clip, the video was good and the audio was clear. You then see a bunch of performance clips of Mr. Baxt performing his lie detector routine in various venues like private homes and banquet halls. He was using the same lines over and over in each clip, which got old after the second clip.
Mr. Baxt then gives you a few ideas on how to construct different types of lie detectors and in my opinion, the coolest one of them all was the Steampunk/Dr. Who Lie Detector Box. Others I would never use on my audience volunteer but rather on myself - one such example would be the spaghetti strainer hat with a bunch of coiled wires and a wiry head massager attached as an antenna.
He then talks about the 20+ pages of jokes, gags and lines that are contained in a PDF file on the disc and how to access them. The idea with the lie detector routine is kind of a Q&A format where you ask the participant a "predetermined" set of questions. To save you the trouble of memorizing any of them (which you can do if you like), you just print them out and put them on a clipboard.
Now one of the biggest problems I had with the material: I have no doubt that Mr. Baxt (and possibly others) have made some of these jokes/gags/lines work, but there are some that are so tasteless I would not even touch with a barge pole. Allow me to give a few examples: The first one is where he is performing with a kid about 6-8 years old: "Do you brush your teeth everyday?" "Yes." [BUZZZZZ] "Do you listen to your parents all the time?" "Yes." [BUZZZZZ] "Do you like doing chores?" "No." [no buzz] "Oh, that part was true! Do you like school?" "No." [no buzz] "Do you like your teacher?" "Yes." [BUZZZZ] "Do you LOVE your teacher?" "Yes." "Do you want to MARRY your teacher?" "No." [BUZZZZZ]
Now, I have no problems with lines like he used about your mother making him clean the toilet with his toothbrush, then asking if he brushes his teeth with the same one. What I do have an issue with in some settings is the whole "Like/love/want to marry your teacher." This day and age and in many areas, regardless of the "cute" response given the younger age, that can be a very taboo thing to talk about.
Another example: He is performing with an executive from a company who is retiring: "Did you like your boss?" "Yes." [BUZZZZZ] "Did you like your job?" "No." [no buzz] "Hmmm, interesting truth! Did you sleep with your boss to get this job?" "No." [BUZZZZZ] "Is that why you are retiring, because you got caught?" "No." [BUZZZZ] "They told me the company is $2,000,000.00 short this season and now you are retiring. Did you steal that money?" "No!" [BUZZZZZZZZZZZ].
Again, I am sure that in some settings that type of thing may be funny with the right people. I do not know about you, but I would never be caught dead going into a corporate show and humiliating someone like that in front of a crowd because face it, there is no other way to describe that other than with the word 'humiliating'.
There are even worse and more tasteless lines that are in the PDF for the choosing and to be fair, a couple of them come with a disclaimer of Mr. Baxt who does not recommend their use. Good on him, but why even bother putting them in there then? He does do a few clips where he uses some of the more tasteless lines in the living room setting.
Regardless of the cleanliness/dirtiness of the lines used and no matter how well-routined, the lie detector with an audience member fits into the category of "sucker" type magic - that is, the participant is often stung by the performer in some way. In most cases there are ways to take the sting off of them and put it back on you, which is what is recommended on the video at one point. In the PDF they give a few other suggestions as to how to present a lie detector routine, such as with a married couple. Some of the applications like that one have the potential to be very funny and you can even push the envelope a little bit without going too far. The point I am trying to make is to be respectful to those you are working with when deciding which lines/gags and jokes to use.
I gave this 2.5 stars because of the relatively poor DVD quality and for some of the terrible joke/line suggestions, but also the price point. $50 is way too high for this. I still believe that there is a lot of potential for great comedy with this prop, no matter how you choose to use it, just as long as you know the limits for the venue(s) and situation(s) in which it is used.
(Top ▲)
This is a funny prop. I wanted this for a trade show where I talked about the competition and how everything they said was B.S. It was great! There are plenty of gags on the included file and it was simple to construct with the included gimmick