Stop the Press by Martin Lewis

This is Stop the Press, a headline prediction with a supermarket tabloid like the Globe, or the National Enquirer.

You hand a sealed envelope, containing a prediction, to a bystander. A page from the tabloid is torn into pieces and a spectator selects one of the pieces. Headlines on other pieces are all shown to be different. The spectator gets to choose a headline from either side of the piece they chose. Your prediction is opened and proved correct.

It’s a great audience participation piece, and an excellent medium for topical humor. It’s at home in the largest of theaters, yet plays perfectly in even the most intimate of close-up settings. No complicated gimmicks, sleights, or calculations involved.

Need I add that it packs small plays big, easy to reset, and the effect? Well, the effect on an audience is remarkable. Al Koran closed with it, and it’s been used by such notables as Dunninger, David Berglas, and Max Maven.

IT’S THE BEST FAKE NEWS EVER!