Quotes from Keith Barry

I remember meeting my manager Eamonn for the very first time, and one of the first things he said to me was, 'You're fat. The first thing you need to go is get to a gym.' It was quite a wake-up call. I got a bit angry initially, like, 'The cheek of him', but I'm quite a pragmatic and thick-skinned person, so I just went ahead and joined the gym.

The cosmetics world and mentalism are both arenas of deception, but I suppose the difference is that mentalists and magicians are more honest about it. People tell me I have good skin, and I tell them the magic secret is E45 cream: cheap, cheerful, and very effective.

Let's just say I don't have any points on my licence, and I drive quickly sometimes.

Once people enjoy what I do, I don't mind if they call me a magician or an illusionist or a hypnotist, entertainer, comedian, whatever people want to call me. I'm comfortable with all of the above, so I don't really mind at all what people want to call me.

If someone is lying to you, they'll generally look up to the top right. That means that they're trying to construct an image that doesn't exist.

I don't pretend that I can read minds. I don't believe anybody can read minds. In other words, I don't believe in psychics.

I believe everyone has the ability to be hypnotised, and I think, on different days, different people will have varying levels of susceptibility.

I mixed hypnosis and magic together to try and create a new area. I'm not trying to reinvent the wheel.

For me, I live for performing live because people look at magicians on television, and they always wonder, 'Is it a camera trick?' 'Is it a stooge?' whereas, live, they know there's no set-ups; there's no stooges.

I stock up on nuts, protein shakes, protein bars, seeds, and have them everywhere - the car, wherever - for when I'm on the move.

I don't like people being negative, whining, or moaning. If you're in a situation you're not in control of, just change.

If you write your own material and perform your own material, then nobody can really expose it because if you keep your secrets close to yourself, then nobody can really expose you.

We're able to use certain techniques to get people to behave in certain ways. We're able to use certain techniques to make it look like we're reading minds, even though we're not.

I'm a terrible sleeper because I work all the time. I stay up late almost every night working, whether it's on a TV or live show. I come up with new ideas, do research, watch loads of TED talks, or find psychology articles.

I want to bring magic back to where it started, which is not about the props, and it's not about me as a magician: it's about the audience and playing with their minds and playing with their perception of magic and having fun with it.

I love reading about new advances in my industry. I love feeding my brain.

By combining elements such as hypnosis, magic, neurolinguistic programming and psychology, I can make it appear that I can hack into people's brains.

I buy so much when I go through airports: I buy psychology magazines; I buy 'Mind,' another magazine, 'New Scientist,' 'Scientific America.'

I remember hearing Will Smith, back when he was just a rapper, saying, 'When all the other rap stars are in bed, I'm practicing my rapping.' I try to be like that. There is always something to improve.

I like pushing the envelope. I like pushing myself and the audience, whether it's a TV show or live. I like to throw people over the edge of the cliff and scare the wits out of them, but then pull them back and make them safe.

Studying neuro-linguistic programming is what teaches you how to implant and extract thoughts. Mixing psychology, hypnotism and magic somewhat goes into this area called mentalism, which is what I mostly do. It's magic of the mind.

Our ethos for 'Now You See Me 2' was that everything in the movie at least had the potential to be done in real life, and I'd say over 90% of it was actually done in-camera with no CGI. Of course, movies like this are always going to be bound by the rules of Hollywood, being there's going to be enhancements of CGI.

I have to stay in shape for the physical endeavour stunts I do. I work out a lot. I have a personal trainer. I go two or three times a week. I'm on a diet where I photograph everything I eat and send it to her.

I'm not saying I do evil things. I'm just saying if a cop stops me when I'm speeding, sometimes - not all the time - I might get out of that ticket. Let's just say I don't have any points on my licence in Ireland, and I drive relatively quickly.