Hi folks, James Harrison here in the confines of my house,
wanting to help you all practice pickpocketing so we can all get ready
for next year, because I can't wait to see you all.
Now, for those who possibly wonder,
why should I listen to this guy? Well, I pickpockets for a living. I
have gone overseas to entertain and educate and all the rest of it,
and I've brought all my equipment for you guys all to enjoy.
But if it's all right, I'm going to get the Four Suits company here to help me
out and present a little video, just for a
refresher, of why I'm doing a talk on pickpocketing,
if you don't mind.
Ladies and gentlemen, all the way from Canada, after 10 years
of us going back and forth, we finally got James Harrison,
pickpocket extraordinaire, and somebody who just performed at the
Rogue's Village in DEFCON. Yeah, it was a lot of fun. Not to
toot my own horn, but apparently there was more people there at my show than
yours. I used to think that this was
something you only saw in movies, until I saw you do it last night. It was a
total blast. We went to the Moon Tower Saloon, where we shoot a ton of
Scam School, Scam Nation episodes, and it was so fun to just point and say,
do the thing. So guys, we thought we'd try something out here,
just something silly with my ring. Lane, do you mind double checking that for me?
It doesn't bend or open or do anything silly? Just a normal ring to me.
Fair enough, because in a moment I'm going to frustrate you, and I don't want
you to blame the ring, I want you to blame me.
So if I take my ring, throw it back on. Yeah, it gets really weird. Do you have
one that comes off? I do. Pop it off, if you don't mind, for
just a second. Sure. Awesome. You seemed a little hesitant.
So I'll tell you what, we'll put mine in the pocket. Okay.
And we won't put yours in the pocket. Okay.
We'll take your ring, and if I give it a squeeze, now it's my ring.
Do you know where yours went? Not in the pocket, because I told you I
would never put it there. Lane, why don't you come over and give
me a hand real quick. Come on up. You get to be my Vanna.
Okay. Now, I can make it jump back and forth
in my hands. Can you hold your hands open for me for one second?
Excellent. I'm going to put my ring here, your ring there.
I'm going to ask you to squeeze my ring as tight as you can.
Excellent. Turn your hand over. Hold tight, because it might disappear
from your hand. Okay.
Squeeze this hand as well. And do you know this lady well enough
she can hold your hand without it being awkward? Sure.
Could you do that? Excellent. We're going to try and get...
Now you made it awkward. That's fine.
We're going to get this ring to join that one there. Ready?
One, two, three. Did you feel it go?
Drop my ring. Open that one up.
I said I'd get it there. I did not say how. Not all of these are good tricks.
Some of these are bad jokes. You can put your ring on for one second,
but I'm going to borrow my ring. Because if I take my ring,
I may jump around. Did you feel it go? Oh, sorry.
That's your phone there. I don't want to play with your phone there.
That's stuck in there. Good. But here's the funny thing.
Did you feel me take that? I did not.
No? No.
If you didn't feel that, you probably didn't feel this either.
No, I didn't. Thank you for not hitting me.
So what really struck me is how important having a process, having a magic trick,
the fact that you were pretending to be doing one thing,
but actually grabbing the wristwatch was,
because it bought you an inordinate amount of time holding their wrist.
I mean, I knew you were doing it. Like after a minute, then I'm like,
he's had his hand on that wrist for a long time.
You don't have to be fast. You just got to be smooth.
And if I can instruct you on something, that means that you're going to be nice
and let me do what I need to do under the pretense of helping me out.
Is that the most important fundamental,
the fact that you need permission to be touching somebody for a long time?
Oh, of course. If I just come up and grab you,
there is no way that you're going to let me stay there longer than the fact that I touched you.
Which is more important, manual dexterity or verbal dexterity?
Oh, that's good for myself. I find verbal dexterity works way better
because if I can distract you with my mouth,
then I can take way more time with my hands to take things.
Yeah, I guess the whole verbal dexterity thing is just don't arouse suspicion.
It's only when they become suspicious that you run into trouble.
Like if I assume that if I'm holding your wrist doing a thing and I'm like,
yeah, and also if I don't have that, then people are like, what is happening here?
And then they kind of do a self scan and we're like, he's really fidgeting on my wrist.
You have to be dexterous enough and clever enough to create
a good enough smoke screen for what you're actually wanting to do.
A smoke screen is a perfect analogy because that's what I'm trying to do.
Whether it's with my words or actions with my body or my other hand,
that allows me the time I need to slip a wrist, watch off.
Well, teach us the fundamentals. How do we start?
We start with proving that I can do something really, really well.
Yeah, when I know a magic trick's about to happen, then it happens and it tricks me anyway.
I love it. I love it. I love how mad he gets.
So it just occurs to me that once you do, all you need to do is that one decent trick.
And after that, everything else could be a fake trick.
Like you could do two minutes of grab these, swap these, who's got a coin?
And then you could just end with like, oh, I guess it didn't work.
Then you have a watch.
We're going to use your watch, Brian,
because this is a leather strap watch or a belt buckle watch.
Leather's the best, especially if you're starting out.
So I just realized that a very important part is finding a good target.
You probably spend 20 minutes looking for the right wrist watch
before you do the five minute performance.
That's kind of suspicious behavior. He's casing you,
just like casing a house, like we did on Hacking the System.
Yeah, exactly. What you see is just tip of the iceberg.
Everything else I'm doing is under the water.
I'm casing, I'm looking for the right targets.
I'm looking for people that don't have a problem with people in their personal space.
They seem like they will listen to instructions.
These are the people that oftentimes make good volunteers for magic tricks.
You look for people who look you in the eye when you say hello to them
or they're clearly engaged and distracted and on a date
and looking for an excuse to have something amazing happen.
All of these are the same traits that will make them, I assume, a good target.
Absolutely. So first thing I have to do is I have to get you to hold your hand open.
I'm going to make something amazing happen with my ring.
Right.
All I need you to do is just squeeze your hand.
Okay.
Perfect.
This hand goes over top.
My thumb goes right on the tongue of the watch.
Okay.
Right there.
And when I grab this here, my thumb is going to use friction to push that through like so.
This seems like such a dangerous moment.
It kind of is.
But luckily, this is also...
Well, also when I'm doing this here with my motor functions,
I'm asking, again, distracting with instruction,
to open this hand and we're going to get into a moment of just a little bit of disconnect
because you don't understand what to do.
Okay.
I'm going to ask you to hold your hand up like this.
Right.
And I'm going to tell you to close your hand.
Okay.
My thumb's in the way.
Right. So I'm waiting for you to move your thumb.
And so essentially you're handing me the awkward situation like,
Oh, I'm sorry.
Exactly.
All of my attention goes right here.
Because you're on his side now and you want this to work.
Yeah. Exactly.
You don't want to fail.
Yeah.
Exactly. And when I ask you to squeeze that tight...
Okay.
This is the moment that I squeeze over here.
Oh, that's great.
Because I'm 100% focused.
And then there I pop the pin.
The pin is now popped, ready to go.
And then I turn this over like so.
And again, this is all process that I assume is leading up to a magic trick.
Exactly.
Right.
The thumb, again, does its job to push this all the way through.
You can take your time with that.
All the time in the world.
Okay.
And then when I'm ready, I'm just gonna...
This is the one thing...
The one thing you'll notice when I do this is when we're ready to pull the watch off your wrist,
I give it a little extra squeeze.
Okay.
So I assume that's so that I won't notice the difference in pressure.
Because there's always on my wrist.
And it anchors in your mind.
I feel my watch.
Right.
Okay.
Okay.
So I'm going to have you let go here.
I reach under here just for the moment to drop the ring for my gag.
There you go.
I give it a squeeze. I say, open your hand here.
Yep.
Perfect. And then I've got your watch.
That was very fast.
You bother to do a whole routine at this point and keep everyone's attention.
And then you get that time delay that is so important to magicians.
Because you get the moments of amazement.
In fact, it's probably even better if you lock that away and then do three or four other routines.
And then finally, it's a guy who's been sitting down for 10 minutes for sure.
The use of the ring.
And this is something that really appeals to me.
It's not an illusion.
It's a trick.
It really is a trick in this.
And it doesn't require any skill.
You're just saying, hold it here. Now hold it here.
Yeah.
You don't have to learn something else on top of how to do all of this.
So the only bummer, I guess you have to practice with a friend.
Because you can't practice on yourself really, right?
You actually can't.
What?
You'll go blind.
With the technique that I'm showing you, this thumb here,
all you're doing is you're kind of like giving yourself a handshake.
Oh yeah, you're right.
So you can just sit there and practice it.
Once you've got that part there, you just give it a little squeeze.
Got it.
And you're going to use the tongue to push the pin.
Yep.
Now this is important. You don't want the pin to fall back into the hole.
Right.
So you're just going to go on a small angle as this goes.
Oh, that's great. So it's slightly off.
And then now it's pretty much done.
You give a squeeze, because even though it's still threaded through,
that moment when it comes off, wow, that is shockingly easy.
And so I assume that with this type of watch,
there's different variations based on where they're positioned that you do.
Yeah, when I'm standing in front of you, I have to use my thumb
because that's just where everything lands.
But if I found you on the other side of me,
I would need to use my middle finger because that's my next strongest finger in my hand.
Okay, what about this crazy one?
He's got like a manacle on him.
Well, when you're starting out, you don't use him.
Okay.
There's absolutely no way I can steal this watch.
I even point out what I got to deal with here and turn it over like this.
And I'm going to ask Jason, Jason, now that I've distracted you,
did you notice that I might have taken your wallet?
No.
And then when you go to look for it, he pulls his hand right out.
Oh, okay.
So you, you get the proof that you can steal watches.
Oh, oh, you actually thought he had taken the...
This is not my wallet.
I know this is.
And I was watching you.
I really should have put this back.
There's not much to take.
No, no.
Patreon.com slash modern room.
Oh, that's so great.
Legit got me.
I was watching for it.
I was trying to help.
You turned me into your confederate.
Yeah, man.
That's my job.
Oh, that's so great.
Very well done, sir.
Thank you.
Uh, so are we going to learn how to do that?
We'll save this for part two.
I want to learn that too.
So let's come back and see part two.
Okay, I hope you enjoyed the trip down memory lane.
And what we're going to do is we're going to go over the basics of how to practice at
home and by yourself.
So we can get ready for next year because I got a lot of stuff planned with you guys
with the four suits company.
Okay, first thing you're going to have to do is have a place to practice.
I have myself made a dummy out of PVC pipe.
But if you don't want to go to Home Depot and make it, you can quite literally hang
a big hoodie or jacket off a hanger and hang the hanger off some string off a ceiling or
a doorframe.
These are useful tools so you can go over the repetitive nature of practice with this.
I usually have this set up.
I have my TV over in the corner so I can just watch whatever I'm doing so I can go over
the muscle memory.
Okay, you want to be able to have, if you do go the dummy route, you do want to be able
to have the arms move up and down so you don't want to glue the shoulders when you do this.
Okay, but all you do is you make a frame like a square with two T's, sort of like what I
have here for the neck.
Okay, shooting up so you can make the legs and all the rest of it.
Now you want to pad your dummy out.
You don't want to just put clothes on there.
So get some old towels and rags and wrap the legs and everything so you get a feel of weight
and girth on your dummy.
Okay, but once this is ready to go, or if you've gone the quick route with just the
hanger, you need stuff to practice with.
Okay, I've chosen a couple things to play with.
We're going to choose a pen for hanging items, sort of like ID tags and Arabiners and stuff
like that.
Okay, usually there's some kind of important information on whatever those things are,
whether it's an ID tag, a clearance card, that sort of thing.
We're also going to be playing with a cell phone.
Okay, mine is an old busted up iPhone 6.
And these are going to let you practice out of any pocket you want to play with.
Mainly because one, it's a lot smoother to have come out of a pocket.
And two, not everybody is going to be wearing one, like have a wallet that they have all
the stuff because we're all going digital now and all our stuff is going to be on our
phones.
Or three, the third item that we're going to be working with is a watch.
We'll play with those things.
And I'm going to show you how you can practice these at home.
That way, we can go over all the different steps later.
Because just like I was reminded by our good friends at Foursuits, I will be answering
questions in the Discord.
So write the questions down.
I'll be happy to answer whatever questions you may have.
So starting off with hanging items.
I like to think of it like if you ever watched The Professional, how he was teaching how
to assassinate from the furthest away to the closest.
And we're wanting to practice that way, okay?
You have the hanging items on the outside of the jacket or a hoodie or a shirt, case
may be.
You have the inside of the pockets and then you have the pants pockets, which are a little
more sensitive.
Right now, we're just going to be staying on the outside of the jacket, okay?
We'll get to the inside in a moment.
But right now, we just want to deal with this.
So what you're going to want to use is your thumb and index finger and your middle finger.
You're going to be doing a clipping motion like this and like this, okay?
You put your thumb on the one side, you put your middle finger on the other side, your
index finger goes on top, and you're going to lift.
It's very simple, because it is.
However, you can't just walk up to someone and just lift it out of their pocket.
They tend to notice, especially because their eyes are going to follow whatever moves.
It's what our eyes are designed to do.
So you have to come up with a reason for your hand to go there.
Nowadays, it's going to be a little difficult, but once we get used to socializing on a regular
basis more normally, where we're having more physical contact, a lot of gestures tend to
be the pat on the shoulder, okay?
When you're going for the pat on the shoulder, like, hey, good to see you, I got to get going
kind of thing, I find that if you pat the shoulder and let the hand just sort of come
down, not touching, just in front of the person, and let your hand just sort of graze it.
Once it's in position, you bring your other hand to push, and that way you're kind of
clipping the shoulder underneath and on top, and then, oh, have a good one, and you're
lifting this out and using the shoulder for cover, okay?
There are other ways to do this, but I find for practice, you just want to work on that.
Very simple, very beginner-esque kind of thing.
And if you have friends, this is the perfect thing to play with each other.
Believe it or not, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, as my father used to do
this in high school, and this was something that he would do with his friends.
They would just bond into each other and take stuff.
So I don't underestimate how important that is.
It also gives you the hand-eye coordination to practice this, because you want to be able
to play with different scenarios, because not everything's going to be in this pocket,
not everything's going to be hanging out of here, but we've got to have a place to start,
okay?
So your hand comes here, tap, tap, lift, okay?
Try and get a rhythm with it so it feels a little more natural, sort of like a dance,
okay?
But when you reach in, the hand just goes there to clip, you do your tap, bring it up.
You can actually switch hands if you want to, but again, these are little motions and
little things of rhythm that you're going to find work better suited for your body type
and the way you move your body, okay?
And we can go over that stuff in the Q&A, all right?
The other thing, too, is that there will always be loose items in pockets that are
put here, so when you want to reach inside, you're going to want to use a two-finger approach,
okay?
When this finger goes in, you're going to move whatever you need.
If it's a pen, for instance, you're going to be clipping it like this, okay?
However, if it's like an ID tag or a room card or any of that kind of stuff, I believe
I have it here.
Phone pocket.
Too many things to worry about in the pockets of my dummy.
But if you use a card, it can be any one.
You can get these from stores, like any gift card will work because they carry the same
kind of information or a capacity of carrying the same information, so these are fun to
play with.
A lot of people put them in quick pockets, okay?
Quick pockets usually being the outside front pocket or hoodie pockets.
And I don't want to get into hoodies right now, though they are important to play with
because we find that it's a type of clothing that a lot of people wear, and when it's
unzipped, they sort of hang in the same position.
But for now, I want you to practice what we're going over for now.
Everything starts with the first step, so we're working on those first steps.
So when you go in here to get this, instead of clipping like this, you're going to do
more like scissors, not like a cheerleader.
You're going to go in here, push the pocket away from the body to create space so your
fingers can clip the card and pull it out, okay?
I find for something like this pocket here, when you're doing this, it is better to have
this be the after effect of what's going on, if that makes any sense.
What I'm trying to do is I want my fingers to go in here, but I don't want his eyesight
to follow to this pocket.
So just like in magic, a bigger motion works better so the smaller motion can be hidden.
You're going to kind of reach across this person like they're in the way of what you're
trying to get to, whether it's an object, person, or a local cafe, wherever we're doing
the same.
But you're reaching across this person to dip your fingers in, and you're going to
continue going that direction, okay?
So when you've put your body in front of them to sort of make them look the way you
want them to look, these hands dip into this pocket and lift it out, okay?
Now the same can be said for putting items back.
Why would you want to put items back?
Well, you want to put items back because you don't want them to think that you did
anything. Because I know a couple people that I'm sure can get the information off
these quite quickly.
So if I'm able to lift one of these, feed it to one of my friends, and then come back
later and put that back in the pocket without them knowing, I think you're going to have
a much longer time period where you get to use that information without this person being
suspicious.
So, to be able to take it out is one thing, to put it back in is sort of a little different
only because you can't hold it at the fingers.
You can't hold it here to do this, okay?
You have to hold it in more of this kind of motion.
Your thumb is holding it where the muscle of the pinky is holding it right there, okay?
You're going to take this, and again we're doing the pat, okay?
Like we're hitting the shoulder, and then this hand comes down and just slides right
in, okay?
And then our ID badge is back where it needs to be, and we've got a much bigger window
to work from, okay?
So just boom, and in it goes.
So when you are at home and you've got your jacket that you're practicing this on, this
is what you're going to start with.
So you're going to start with your pen, and you're going to start with a gift card,
simulating our ID badges, okay?
If there's any questions, again, please put them in the Discord.
I'll be happy to answer them for you, okay?
Now, the next item that we're going to play with is the cell phone.
We all have them.
We all like to take care of them.
So this is going a little closer to the body, so we have to use a little more direction
of attention to make sure that we get away with this, okay?
Because it's on the inside here, this is going to be a little harder, and we have to
create scenarios in which will allow us to have the opportunity to do this.
So to go on the inside of a jacket, like this, to grab the phone, by itself is not good.
We need scenarios to work with.
It could be anything as simple as someone reaching up to put stuff away, say an airport
luggage.
It could be as simple as someone reaching for something in a store, okay?
When they reach, this opens up, okay?
Again, while we make sure that our dummy's arm can move, okay?
When they reach up, this creates the space away from the body that allows us to reach
in here, okay?
Now, what you want to do is not just reach in when they're moving their body out of the
way.
You're going to want to be a help, but be a hindrance.
And what I mean is you're trying to be helpful, but in reality, you're being a hindrance,
and you're annoying them, and they want you to go away as quickly as possible, okay?
So when the arm goes up, this arm is going to be under here to go for the jacket, because
this is no longer near the body to be able to be felt, okay?
And you're going to reach there.
You're going to be putting your hand up here to be in the way, all the rest of it.
And then these two fingers have clipped the foam, and you just slide it out like so, okay?
It's a very simple technique.
The two-finger technique is a workhorse, okay?
You're definitely going to want to practice with those two fingers.
And it's just repetition, okay?
Now, if you don't have the arm movement, and you're just using the coat hanger, that's fine.
There are other techniques, and I'll show you that now.
All we're going to do is we're going to do sort of like a little bit of a ballet, okay?
Your hand is going to go here and reach around the jacket, okay?
So your hand goes like this as you reach into the pocket to grab the foam.
But what you're going to do is, and I apologize, I'm going to turn my back to you for one second.
When I turn, I'm going to look this person in the face, keep eye contact,
so I can slip this out without him looking down.
Because what's going to happen is I'm going to turn this way.
I apologize for going out of frame, but what I'm doing is that I'm stepping out of his
sort of view of the world, okay?
Because as much as we want to think that we can see everything,
when it's up close, you'll find, especially if you're looking at video,
that's where I can't see my hand anymore, okay?
So if it's up close here, I'm looking straight ahead,
you've got a lot of window space here to reach in.
So if I'm making sure that this gentleman is looking at me,
I can easily... oh, excuse me, sir. I apologize. Let me get out of your way.
And I can use that awkwardness and looking him in the eye,
which is not a comfortable thing for people,
and they want to get out of that uncomfortable situation as quickly as possible.
So that facilitates us reaching into here because they're not going to be worried about this.
They're going to be worried about this, okay?
I have no problems about being awkward about stuff because I have a goal in mind.
And that's the same thing that you guys are going to have to practice,
is working for that goal so you guys can overcome the awkwardness, okay?
And now all you're doing is you're just using those two fingers again
to hold onto the phone, to put it inside.
Last year, there were some people that were having difficulties
with picking the phone up with those two fingers.
We came up with solutions because their hands were much smaller.
So if anyone in the Discord remembers this, please make mention
because I remember us working on that.
And I don't think I've seen anywhere in print about people using this technique.
So I think we kind of came up with something on the spot.
But what they were doing was that they were using all four fingers
because they could get their whole hand in.
And what they were doing is that they were doing this
with the first and last finger down, middle and ring finger up,
and they were gripping it like this.
This allowed them to use more muscles in their hands
to be able to lift a heavier object, like a phone with a case on it.
But because their hands were smaller, they were able to reach into a pocket
and pull it out with that technique, okay?
So you have this technique here.
There's usually a three-finger technique,
but with smaller hands, we worked on a four-finger technique, okay?
So try all of them. See which one works for you the best.
That will be important, okay?
Now, you can do this with the cell phone in almost genuinely any pocket.
You can use the cell phone for the pants pockets as well.
I would suggest avoiding the pants pockets for now
only because it's a little more involved and it takes a lot more time to go over everything.
And I don't want to do that with you guys right now because we only have so much time.
I'd rather do this in person as well because I'm able to hit all the little minutia with it.
So I'm trying to get everybody's baby steps going
so when we meet up next year, we'll be able to do a whole bunch of cool stuff
because we've got a lot of cool things in store for you next year.
But when I've got it in the pocket, you're wanting to use those fingers to hold on to it, okay?
Now, our last item is the watch.
How do you practice that by yourself?
Well, I've seen videos where they show you how to do a doweling rod,
wrap it with towels and duct tape and practice and practice and practice.
But we're just going to practice the buckle strap for now.
There are other kinds to practice, but this is the kind that I want you to practice for now.
There are the Apple watches and the Fitbits and all that kind of stuff.
But again, we're trying to walk, not run.
And all I'm going to do to do this, this thumb is going to do all the work.
You're going to put your thumb right here.
You're going to push.
If I can get this right, you're going to push this up as high as you can.
And if I can show you this, there it is.
My thumb and my index finger are going to clip this and pull.
Once it's pulled, the pin is popped and you can just practice letting it fall back out
and pulling it off.
Now, I'm going to move in place so you guys can see this a little better, okay?
So, I apologize, I'm going to go out of frame so you can kind of see this.
But this kind of watch, you're going to use your thumb on this part here,
where your thumb is going to push, like so, to get it out of that there, okay?
And if I get this part here, you're going to clip it with this part of your hand
to get the pin to pop out.
Push this over just to the side to open this up and then use this to kick that part out.
And you're good to go.
You can practice this on yourself as many times as you want until you get bored of it
and then you can start again the next day.
It is not the most advanced technique, but like I said, it is a starting point.
There are far, I think personally, there are far better techniques, but they are more advanced.
And this one, you don't have to set anything up.
You can just practice again and again on your wrist, put it back on, so forth and so forth.
The same goes for the other technique that is taught on watches.
You can learn to do that.
You just switch the band on the watch itself, where it would switch, so this is backwards.
And then I can practice doing this on my wrist this way, as opposed to this way.
Now, all the techniques I'm going to be wanting to show you guys right now,
if you have questions, go to the Discord.
I'll be happy to answer all those questions.
I so wish I could see you guys in person.
I'm really happy that you guys enjoyed everything.
Oh, and if you don't mind, just to help us with next year's surprises,
I have a, I believe we have a link for this, but there's a link for a Pickpocket shirt at TeePublic.
Just look up Pickpocket, it's Thieves Den.
I think there'll be a link that we'll share with you nice folks.
But please, if you want to help support this so we can do some really cool stuff next year,
go buy a t-shirt.
And if I see a t-shirt, I'll be your best friend.
So, if we are all good, I will see you guys in the Discord.
I hope you enjoyed, and I will look forward to your questions.
You guys have a great evening.