Mentalist Oz Pearlman reads people so well it seems like he’s psychic: “The lie is that I can read your mind”

A good magician can ask you to pick a card, any card and they’ll tell you what you’re holding in your hand. but a mentalist will ask you to picture any card from an imaginary deck and tell you which card is in your mind. 

Right now the mentalist on peoples’ minds, and going viral for it, is a 43-year-old father of five named Oz Pearlman. 

Oz insists he does not have supernatural powers — he reads *people*. He reads them so well that when we met him this past spring, his head games had me jumping out of the chair mid interview, and mystified celebrities, billionaires and athletes.

The Robin Hood Foundation gala draws the kind of crowd that ponies up $72 million at one dinner, with athletes like NFL quarterback Russell Wilson in attendance. 

Russell Wilson (at Robin Hood Foundation gala): The question for you is, when I was young, I had a poster on my wall, of someone, and you’re no way in hell are you going to get this. 

Oz Pearlman (at Robin Hood Foundation gala): He said ‘no way in hell.’ I didn’t say those words – he said those words. Which means, there’s no way it was a football player. Also notice the nervous twitching with the hands. Hands here, hands here, always a female. Is it a female? 

Russell Wilson (at Robin Hood Foundation gala): It is a female. 

Oz Pearlman (at Robin Hood Foundation gala): Yeah it is, yeah it is.

Oz Pearlman went to work on him…

Oz Pearlman (at Robin Hood Foundation gala): I don’t read minds, I read people. Here’s what I want you to do. Russell, count the number of letters in the first name just to yourself, not out loud, just to yourself.

Oz Pearlman (at Robin Hood Foundation gala): There’s the tell. Right? Call an audible. He finished counting, and he looked up. 6 letters isn’t it?

Russell Wilson (at Robin Hood Foundation gala): It is six letters. 

Oz Pearlman (at Robin Hood Foundation gala): Yeah. Russell, you’re sitting there, 6th grade, you’re looking up, she’s looking back at you. (Wilson: she was) Tell us all, who was in that poster. Say it.

Russell Wilson (at Robin Hood Foundation gala): Shania Twain.

Oz Pearlman (at Robin Hood Foundation gala): Shania Twain!

Russell Wilson (at Robin Hood Foundation gala): There’s no way. There’s no way…

You’d think a room full of millionaires, including tech titan Alexis Ohanian, might be hard to pull one over on. 

Oz Pearlman (at Robin Hood Foundation gala): Turn it around 

Alexis Ohanian (at Robin Hood Foundation gala): Warlock!

Oz Pearlman (at Robin Hood Foundation gala): Everybody! 

Alexis Ohanian (at Robin Hood Foundation gala): I mean What! Bro….You’re a wizard!

But Oz says this is his perfect audience.

Oz Pearlman: People that are very intelligent are much easier because their mind is regimented in a certain way. Like, I perform for Nobel laureates. You go, “This is the– one of the most intelligent people on the planet.” I go, “Pft. Hook, line, and sinker. Let’s go. This is gonna be a cake walk.”

Cecilia Vega: Seriously?

Oz Pearlman: Yeah. Because they– they– they think a certain way is so much easier to fool.

Oz is the first to admit his act is based on one big lie.

Oz Pearlman: The lie is that I can read your mind. People —

Cecilia Vega: You’re sitting here today telling me, you’re not mind-reading.

Oz Pearlman: That’s correct. And it’s funny, because some people, even though I go to great extremes to tell people that I am not a psychic or supernatural, I have people that come up to me after shows, who are at the highest level where I can’t say names ’cause I don’t want to embarrass people.

Cecilia Vega: Oh, say names.

Oz Pearlman: Of, like, CEOs of major Fortune 100 companies who have called me. And say, “Can you help me on negotiating a deal soon?”

Cecilia Vega: So you’re gonna tell me how you do this?

Oz Pearlman: I am not gonna tell you. That– that– that doesn’t do well for my job security.

But he does drop hints. Oz says he studies body language to read what’s going on in someone’s mind.

Oz Pearlman (during TED Talk): I can always see it when someone’s eyes shift. Also the lingering hands in pockets, always an indicator of another guy. Guy to guy interaction… is it a guy? (guest nods) Of course it is.

Oz Pearlman: I’m getting you to make very specific choices, right. In my show, I guess a lotta things such as numbers, such as words, such as names, things that have seemingly an infinite amount of possibilities. But do they? No. I’ve figured out how to kinda take a piece of information that seems too impossible, I can build up in a big way, and create a lot more of a limited subset than you think. 

Cecilia Vega: Is it deception?

Oz Pearlman: When I perform, I explain to people what I’m doing. I like to leave breadcrumbs along the way. If you feel like you know a little bit, then you’re hooked. Now you’re– you’re intrigued. It keeps getting in your brain. It cycles over and over. It drives you crazy for a few weeks or months, and you tell other people. And that’s my goal, right?

Oz Pearlman (during podcast): I think the first number of your code’s a one, isn’t it? Your real pin code. 

Joe Rogan (during podcast): My ATM pin code? Why would I tell you that on the air? 

In June, Oz guessed Joe Rogan’s ATM PIN code, leaving the podcaster befuddled.

Oz Pearlman (during podcast): How’d I do, Joe? Is that your ATM pin code? 

Joe Rogan (during podcast): Yeah.

Cecilia Vega: He looked like he wanted to punch you.

 Oz Pearlman: I (laugh) think so. 

Joe Rogan (during podcast): I’m skeptical because I got that pin code in the mail. 

Oz Pearlman (during Joe Rogan podcast): He’s calling his bank right now and being like, “Yo, do you know this? Has this guy been playing the long game?”

Joe Rogan (during podcast): Yeah, I don’t like that.

Oz says it’s skepticism from the audience that is key to making his act work. 

Cecilia Vega: I’m sure you’ve gone online and seen some of the community of– critics out there–

Oz Pearlman: Yeah.

Cecilia Vega: –who have accused you of wearing a fake thumb (Oz laughs) to be able to secretly write something.

Oz Pearlman: Sure.

Cecilia Vega: You’re laughing. To go so far as to have someone on your team follow someone like a Joe Rogan around so that you could secretly see his ATM code before you sat down face to face–

Oz Pearlman: Right. I love that.

Cecilia Vega: How about you give me a yes or no that’s actually not true or false, first of all–

Oz Pearlman: Oh. Well, I can’t answer every single one. But man, if you think that I followed Joe Rogan around to get his ATM pin code, I love that answer. but no, I did not follow Joe Rogan around. If you have these theories, that means I’m in your brain. I’m taking up real estate in your mind, and you’re thinking about it.

The real estate empire he’s built up in his audience’s mind is the result of thousands of hours of repetition in front of a mirror and more than 30 years of an obsession with his craft. 

the pearlman family emigrated from israel and moved to michigan. at 13 oz’s parents took him on a cruise ship vacation.

Oz Pearlman: I had never seen a magician in person. I was brought on stage. He performed this trick with me as the person. And I was– I was blown away.

Back on land, he checked out every magic book he could find and got a part-time job so he could buy every trick in the neighborhood magic shop.

As his audience grew, Oz dropped the card tricks and turned to the mind games of mentalism.

Cecilia Vega: What you’re doing is not magic?

Oz Pearlman: So I would describe it as a subset of magic. I do magic of the mind. I no longer need to– see how when I looked there, you looked there? That’s the number one thing you learn in magic, misdirection. When you make an elephant appear or disappear, the elephant was always there. The elephant didn’t really vanish into thin air. We all know that. I made you look in the place I want you to look by using skills. When you take magic to a higher and higher level, you start to get rid of all the props.

Cecilia Vega: You said, “I like putting words in people’s heads.”

Oz Pearlman: Yup.

Cecilia Vega: How do you do that?

Oz Pearlman: How you’re gonna think is shockingly under my control. It’s almost like the way a puppet gets moved around. Certain moments where you’re right now about to change your mind, and I move you into another direction, you don’t realize that you were about to do something but that your mind works in a certain way.

Cecilia Vega: I know you said your goal is to not creep people out.

Oz Pearlman: Right.

Cecilia Vega: But I (laugh) gotta tell you, what you just said is pretty creepy. “Under my control,” “like a puppet.”

Oz Pearlman: Sure. The moment I lose control is the moment the trick falls apart. 

The tricks have fallen apart in front of very large audiences. The magic is in Oz’ ability to pivot in the moment, keep from panicking and make us all think he pulled it off. 

Oz wanted weatherman Al Roker to pick a celebrity who would run for president in 2016. He wanted him to say Taylor Swift.

The trick failed… This is Oz recovering in real time.

Oz Pearlman (on “The Today Show”): Who is that celebrity you have in mind, who’s running, shock us!

Al Roker (on “The Today Show”): George Clooney.

Oz Pearlman (on “The Today Show”): Anybody else? Any women?

Al Roker (on “The Today Show”): Uh, Taylor Swift.

Oz Pearlman (on “The Today Show”): Ok. I like it we’re going instead of Hilary — Uh, I have a prediction I just thought of. I just want to show you, I planned ahead the campaign slogan: “Taylor Swift for President” —

Oz Pearlman: And so in that moment, it’s hyperfocus of saying to him, “And what if it could be anybody else?” What if– and– and so, I was steering him back on track to what I thought would work. And– and so it looked even more amazing, because it seemed like he changed his mind at the last moment. 

Cecilia Vega: So it worked.

Oz Pearlman: It– thank God. (laughter) 

He’s now growing a new fan base, performing for NFL and college football teams. 

The clips have gone viral. And the league’s top coaches are calling on Oz to help teams bond off the field. 

Cecilia Vega: So how much preparation goes into a gig like this?

Oz Pearlman: Last whole year. Since the last season ended, I have been ideating, formulating, thinking, what am I going to do this time?

In August we went with him to the Los Angeles Rams practice facility. 

For over an hour, Oz did half a dozen tricks. including an old favorite — the ATM PIN code. This time he had safety Kam Curl play mindreader on coach Sean McVay.

Oz Pearlman (at Rams practice facility): Suddenly a voice will enter into your mind and start to tell you coach’s pin code. Do you believe this?

Kam Curl (at Rams practice facility) : Yeah.. no

Oz Pearlman (at Rams practice facility): No, no, never say yes to voices in the head. Never say that. So I want you to look right at him, look right at him. Kam, see into his eyes. And one digit at a time, tell coach, what is his ATM pin code?

Kam Curl (at Rams practice facility): 5-8-3-1

Cecilia Vega: I mean, there’s gotta be something really gratifying for you, to be able to get a 300-pound (laugh) grown man to freak out on camera.

Oz Pearlman: I– I love it. It’s– it’s this feeling of wonder that– that you– not only do you not know how it’s done; but it’s the feeling it gives you, right? It’s– it’s– it’s like certain movies give me goosebumps. And you don’t get that, often.

Oz says he makes most of his money from private corporate events. His next public move is to offer up lessons with a new take on the classic self-help book “How to Win Friends and Influence People” –offering advice on how to use mentalism in everyday life.

Oz Pearlman: My book is not about teaching you to be a mentalist because there’s books about that. And so I want to teach people not to be a mentalist, but how to think like a mentalist.

We’d studied Oz and his tricks and were skeptical he’d be able to pull one over on us. Then, at the end of our interview, he asked me to name a place I’ve always wanted to go, but have never been.

Oz Pearlman: Tell us the place. Tell us the place you thought of. What– where you said, “I want to go there, can’t wait to say it.” What was it–

Cecilia Vega: Vietnam.

Oz Pearlman: Vietnam? And you were about to say somewhere different. That was the key. You were about to change your mind. Say the other place you were thinking of.

Cecilia Vega: Thailand.

Oz Pearlman: Thailand was the other one you were gonna go with. 

Cecilia Vega: Come on. (laugh, stands up) How did you get that? Of all the countries in the world. Did you– did you, like, hack my phone?

Oz Pearlman: I’ve hacked your brain. (laugh) 

Cecilia Vega: What the heck (laughs)

For the grand finale, he asked me to come up with a question impossible for him to know the answer.

Oz Pearlman: Ask me the question.

Cecilia Vega: Who was my third grade teacher who had a paddle above the classroom door?

Oz Pearlman: this is not written down. This is not posted. This is nowhere but in your brain, this question. Correct?

 Cecilia Vega: Right, right.

 Oz Pearlman: Zero.

 Cecilia Vega: Right.

Oz Pearlman: You know what? You’re not gonna tell the truth. You’re gonna lie.

Cecilia Vega: I’m not gonna lie.

Oz Pearlman: No, no, I want you to.

Cecilia Vega: Oh. (laugh)

Oz Pearlman: I want you to.

Cecilia Vega: OK, OK. You want me to lie.

Oz Pearlman: I want you to do the lie instead– do the lie instead of the truth.

I did… I thought of my high school teacher rather than my third grade teacher to try to stump him.

Oz Pearlman: Say it, what is it?

Cecilia Vega: Flannery.

Oz Pearlman: Sister Flannery. 

Cecilia Vega: OK, now you’re freakin’ me out.

Produced by Michael Reyl. Associate producer, Jaime Woods. Broadcast associate, Katie Jahns. Edited by Matthew Lev.