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Oz Pearlman, a lowly analyst, stood before the CFO of Wall Street giant Merrill Lynch. Normally, an officer of such a prestigious firm would never give the time of day to someone like Mr. Pearlman—but he wasn’t there for financial reasons.
He had met the CFO as a mentalist performing a show; little did the CFO know that Mr. Pearlman was actually a Merrill Lynch employee.
When Mr. Pearlman began integrating corporate lingo into his act, the CFO learned that he was employed there; he loved the show and was dumbfounded as to why Mr. Pearlman didn’t pursue his talent full time.
That served as a wake-up call for Mr. Pearlman—and so he quit just a few months later, dove into the world of mentalism entertainment and hasn’t looked back.
In simple terms, mentalism is “magic of the mind,” requiring acute understanding of human behavior. The art incorporates techniques such as body language reading, subliminal messaging and the art of suggestion.
“It’s about breaking down barriers,” Mr. Pearlman said of mentalism. “As an analyst, I used mentalism to win clients over. It really sweetened the deal with clients who saw me as a roadblock.”
While mentalists are commonly misconstrued as psychics, Mr. Pearlman acknowledges that he has no special gift, and attributes his success as a mentalist to lots of practice and persistence.
“Everything I’m doing is explainable,” he said. “Psychics claim to have powers that are supernatural. But with mentalism, there’s a method of utilizing my senses, my skills and my intuition. It’s an attainable skill and talent.”
Mr. Pearlman—who will bring his show to the Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center on Saturday, June 17—said he also recognizes that mentalism is a form of performance magic, although some mentalists believe they are two separate art forms completely.
“They’re definitely within the same realm. I started out doing magic tricks, and I often consider myself a mentalist/mind reader/magician,” he reflected. “But magic is focused on props. Magic tricks are very physical. But with my show, I am the show. There’s nothing I bring to it that, if an airline lost my luggage, I couldn’t go buy in 10 minutes.”
Mr. Pearlman started out performing at private parties and corporate events, but his breakthrough was winning third place on season 10 of “America’s Got Talent.”
“‘America’s Got Talent’ was the rocket ship that took me from being a local/national act to a national/international act,” he said.
Although on seemingly opposite ends of the spectrum, Mr. Pearlman often fuses his experience in business and finance into his entertainment career. “When doing corporate events, I always try to incorporate their products, or whatever it may be, to connect with them more and make the experience more personalized for the company. They love that. That’s something I learned from being in corporate America.”
Along with being one of the busiest mentalists in the country, Mr. Pearlman is a dedicated marathoner, winning the Hamptons Marathon three times and competing in notable endurance races, including the Hawaii Ironman, Badwater 135-Mile Run and Spartathlon 153-Mile Run.
Mr. Pearlman has the same mindset performing a show as he does during a challenging race. “A lot of staying cool, calm and collected under pressure involves the same things as a marathon. When the going gets rough, I know how to focus my mind and channel that,” he said. “When you’re on live TV and 15 million people are watching, it is a very stressful moment where, if things aren’t going right, it takes a real focus to overcome that. The same focus I use when I’m competing and racing gets laser-tuned when I’m performing.”
When approached by budding mentalists, Mr. Pearlman’s words of advice are to have thick skin, persistence and the ability to learn from mistakes. “When I do a show and I mess up—which, trust me, does happen—I learn a lot from it and how to improve from there.”
At the heart of it, Mr. Pearlman said, the best way to succeed as a mentalist is to practice as much as you can. “Above all else, perform, perform, perform.”
Oz Pearlman will perform at Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center on Saturday, June 17, at 8 p.m. Tickets are $61, $81 and $101. Call 631-288-1500 or visit whbpac.org
on Jun 9, 2017