Master mentalist Loir Suchard has dazzled audiences around the world with his mind-reading abilities, mesmerizing performances, and disarming sense of humor. Now, he is eyeing Asia – from Bangkok.
Text & Photo By Percy Roxas.
Hollywood superstar Renee Zellweger described best my first impression of Loir Suchard after meeting him at the Executive Lounge of Amari Atrium Bangkok recently: “Seriously it’s nothing like you’ve ever seen before. He’ll have you on the edge of your seat, sweating with excitement.” Loir was in Bangkok for a one-night only demonstration of his “infotainer” skills, which he and his manager are keen to bring to Asia soon.
Before I began shooting my questions, Loir looked at me, got a piece of paper, wrote something, and then said, “Tell me the first number that comes to your mind.” Gamely, my mind played with a few numbers before settling “52.” He then showed me what he wrote on the paper: It was the same number! “How did you do it,” I said. He answered simply: “I influenced your mind.”
Then he asked me if I have a small coin. I gave him one baht and he wrote my name on it. “Now,” he said, “put the coin in your palm and close it for a sec.” Then he put both his hands between mine, squeezing my palm gently with them a few times. When I opened my hand later, I found the coin bent in the middle! He followed those up with a few more displays of telepathy and telekenesis – and all I can say each time was “wow!”
Simple tricks? In fact, these displays were nothing compared to what the Israel-born Loir does in his highly successful “Supernatural Entertainment” shows around the world. In these shows, Loir — considered to be one of the top mentalists in the world and known for his extraordinary talent in mind-reading, thought-influencing, predicting, and many other amazing mental feats — takes the audience through an incredible journey through the wonders of human mind. Indeed, how do you react to someone who seems to know what you’re thinking, what you are about to say, and maybe even what you’re hiding from yourself?
“Mentalism involves the mind, heart, and soul,” says Loir. “It’s the movement of our strongest, most powerful energies from a thought to our physical being.” But Loir’s acts not only build on drama and astonishment but also include a huge element of warm humor, fun, and audience participation. He guesses the names of audience members’ first loves – as he did with Zac Efron in the “Tonight with Jay Leno Show”; performs mind-boggling demonstrations and influences audience members to move without even touching them.
One time, in a corporate function, an audience – apparently trying to test if he’s genuine — asked him if he could guess the name of his kindergarten teacher. Loir replied, “If I guess the name of your kindergarten teacher, would you give me $20,000 for charity?” The guy said: “Listen, there’s no way you can know my kindergarten teacher because it was not in the States. It was in a country that nobody knows, I mean, there’s no way! and if you guessed the name I will give you $40,000.” Loir said, “Are you sure?” So a bet was made in front of 1,000 people., and when Loir told him the name, he screamed liked crazy. He gave the money for charity.
How did he do that? Loir shared with us what he told an audience in once: “If I told you I have to kill you,” to which the guy answered: “Then please tell it to my wife instead.” An example, of how his wit rubs off with his audience. His excellent ability to draw out the comedy of each act makes his audience instantly warm up to him. And his audience has range from ordinary members of the public to some of the world’s best performing CEOs to top Hollywood celebrities. While most people understandably starts as a doubter upon meeting him, they all leave as true believers even after a one-off meeting.
Loir has dazzled and surprised audiences in over 50 countries, and has appeared on international television both as a guest and as host of his own specials – and now he is eyeing Asia, from Thailand.
His manager said he intends to transform any business event in Asia – whether it is a big conference, trade show, small reception or intimate company meeting – into a unique occasion. “Loir’s energetic performance guarantees to entertain, inform and motivate both clients and employees and get them talking for all the right reasons,” he said. “Most of all, he will drive home your business message in a way that won’t be forgotten.”
Indeed, Loir has now been dubbed as the “ultimate infotainer” because of his success in conventions and corporate events. He has worked with some of the world’s most respected companies. What he does is tailor his performance to fit any need by relating important company information to clients or employees in an entertaining way. He does this by incorporating any business message, specific targets or company logos, and mottos both in his entertaining speeches as MC combined with his impressive acts of mentalism. His elegant manner and gentle humor make him a great ice-breaker for any business meeting.
Loir discovered his extraordinary gift early. According to his parents, he was then eating soup when all of a sudden the spoon began to move. He was six. Of course, they freaked out. They took him to a doctor but the doctor said there’s nothing wrong with him. Then he discovered he can do special things with his mind. And he could predict his playmates’ thoughts with uncanny accuracy. “I can influence people, I can feel people, and I can read their minds,” he recalls, “I can also move objects and I can do a lot of very interesting things with the mind.”
As his talent and popularity grew, he saw a vision of himself on the world stage – and he knew it would be so. “Even as a kid I was very intrigued by entertainment,” he said. “I was very funny and even when I was 10, I used to do all those tricks of influencing, guessing numbers, doing games—mind games and tricks. I used to do that to my friends all the time. It never let go. My love for the stage and performing just got developed more and more while I’m developing my abilities. And I just continued performing.”
How did his abilities develop? “As I wrote in my first book, ‘Mind Reader,’ published by Harper Collin’s last year, everybody can learn to play the piano,” he says.”Yes you can learn it and be very good at it but you will not be like Mozart. Why? Because Mozart has something else; he has something extra. So I can teach you maybe some elements of how to use the power of the mind but, it doesn’t mean you will be able to guess numbers and influence people and do the stuff that I do. But you could definitely learn some of it if you really believe in yourself.”
His first shot at big-time international fame came when renowned mentalist Uri Geller announced “The Successor,” a reality show that sought to find the world’s next great mentalist. Loir immediately applied, quickly capturing the hearts of millions, and eventually winning the competition. Since then, he has been performed to sold-out audiences in prestigious events in over 50 countries, delighting, and mystifying them with his grace, with and seemingly supernatural abilities.
And there’s no stopping yet. “Right now, we have many projects to process,” he says. “I have the book. There’s a publisher in Thailand bought the rights for the book. I have live performances for corporate conventions. And I have performed for privates, celebrities, politicians, businessmen. I’m working on a TV show in India, and more TV show in the United States, as well as in Israel. I’m doing a special cellular application. I’m doing workshops on motivating and speaking for various companiy events. So everything’s working. And we’re working on spreading the business to the East: to Thailand, Japan, and Korea, etc.’
With his super busy schedule and superstar lifestyle, does he ever get what we ordinary mortals call “life?” “Life? You know there’s a famous joke in Israel about Polish women,” he said. “When asked if ever they have time to rest, they say: ‘I will rest in the grave.’
Loir said he loves what he does so much; it gives him so much energy. “Plus, I love to travel, I love to see new places: I haven’t been in Bangkok since 2009, so it’s great to be here again” he continues. “Then there’s Phuket, which I have never been to in three years.”
“I love to meet people, I love to see other cultures, and again, I just love what I do, so it’s fun for me. But yes, sometimes I take a day off,” he says. :And yes, on stage I may look like a superman, but I can still draw the line between my career and my personal life. I have friends, I have other interests, and I can be ‘normal.'”
His eyes are obviously set for bigger things to come. After all, he is only 30.
As he says, “I think it was Albert Einstein who said that the only limit is your imagination. So actually, there’s no limit. You know the sentence saying that we only use 10% of our brain? That’s not true. We use 100% of our brain. We just use different parts of it in different ways. It’s like a muscle, if you develop it, you can learn more and more and you can do more with it. And I really believe that if people really believe in themselves, and do and follow my instructions on the book, they can literally improve their way of living.”
There’s so much more about Loir that is worth writing about and it’s a pity we only have limited space in this edition. But he will be back in Bangkok soon anyway, so there’ll be another chance to write a piece about what he’s up uo to for certainly, he’s the young man to watch. For now, let me just share an advice he likes to tell every one he meets anad which he gave me before we parted ways: “Always keep positive thoughts, you never know who’s reading them.”
I think that’s great advice.
To learn more about Loir anad his upcoming appearances, or to book him for an event or function, visit www.loirsuchard.com. Or follow him on Twitter@LoirSuchard, watch him on YouTube, and “like” his Facebook page at www.facebook.com/loirsuchardsupernatural.
