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| Image courtesy of Joke Productions |
The reason why this show is called "Don't Trust Andrew Mayne" is proven quite efficiently within the first 30 seconds of the program, then reinforced constantly for the other 29 minutes. He's an asshole and you can't trust him for shit. LOL Just within the first episode, he locked bike tires into bike racks, trapped people's id's behind fire alarm glass (then stole their wallets), and tricked others into thinking their money was counterfeit (and threatening to call the police on them afterward), just for funsies. The episode started out with him pranking strangers in public, stealing their phones through glass windows, on one occasion taking a photo of himself with the victim and her friend in the background, and another in which he stuck the phone down his pants. He stole another woman's sunglasses, borrowed a salt shaker from someone's table outside, and that wasn't even the major story of the episode. The person who actually called for Andrew's help is a woman whose husband refuses to stop riding his motorcycle despite signing a contract promising he would, and has even involved their two young daughters in the act. Andrew makes the guy's bike vanish, and because there are cameras around, you can clearly tell that the guy's struggling to hide his anger. Guy is livid when he realizes his bike is gone for good, and even more so when he sees his wife coming towards him afterward. Andrew knows it too, and gives him a hug, then tells him to let it out and that he'll never forget this day, because it's the last day he rode a motorcycle. lol So in addition to showing that he'd rather help create an awkward moment than deflate one, he's also an incredibly smart-mouthed dude, teasing one man about his fashion and zinging another about her hair earlier in the episode. It's hilarious.
The second episode, Andrew kicks things off by turning random people's phones into '80s versions of cell phones and even producing a couple of physical photos from pictures people had had saved into their newer models. He's clowning people here too; called one guy Al Franken and teased another lady about calling her now deceased cat with her now stuck-in-the-past cell phone. Did I mention that after he pranks these random people, he leaves them to their own devices....err, no pun intended.....to figure things out on their own? The next segment, he takes people's phones, this time in a grocery store, puts them in a Ziploc bag then in a paper bag, then smashes the bag so everyone can see that it's empty, only to turn around so the person can see their phone.....inside a jar of pickles.....in the middle jar at the bottom of a pickle pyramid display. Unfortunately, retrieving the phone usually makes the rest of the jars collapse, causing more commotion. And where's Andrew? Nowhere to be found. LOL He stops a young lady and asks to see her purse, citing recent thefts in the area, then makes the contents of her purse disappear save for a nail file. He then stops the next lady he sees, telling her she had 'a suspicious face' and took her purse, where the first victim's items were then found. He accuses her of stealing from the girl and walks away, leaving both women looking confused as all hell. In another segment, he stops a girl on her phone, then a young man who happens to walk by. Telling them both to write their names and numbers on a piece of paper, Andrew instructs them to fold the paper into quarters and place the papers in their mouths. He then holds up a small sheet of glass and asks them to kiss it, as if they were kissing each other, then pull away and remove the paper. When they show their papers to the camera, it is the other's name and number on the paper, not their own. As a little bonus, Andrew fogs up the glass and their initials are on it (they had not disclosed any of that beforehand). In what I am noticing is becoming custom, Andrew leaves the two to figure it out. Another girl has an e-reader and Andrew asks her to select a word from the page but not to tell him the word, then he turns the e-reader into a physical copy of the book and then shows her the word she had chosen, which was already circled on the page. The focus of this episode is on a girl whose boyfriend Giovanni is addicted to his phone. Andrew throws his phone into a toll booth (that was not there 30 seconds prior) and it is shown that dude's iPhone is now attached to the toll booth, where the phone receiver should be. Capitalizing on dude's fear of heights, Andrew then makes the booth levitate, tells the girlfriend to close her eyes, hold out her hand and visualize her boyfriend coming down, then leaves before she opens her eyes. The phone is restored to its former glory, and the now-'reformed' phone addict leaves hand in hand with his lady.
I don't have my typical list of good vs bad here, I'm just going to give my thoughts and my overall review.
Overall:
First things first, I'm a skeptic. Truth be told, I'm so skeptical that it gets on my own nerves. Strangely enough, I am a big fan of supernatural and paranormal things, but the concept of magicians and illusionists always makes me too curious. I risk spoiling the trick/illusion for myself because I become so interested in figuring out how it's done, and I stay looking for the trap door, the string, the hole in the plan. But then if I find it, I'll think the person isn't good at what he's doing. LOL However, if I cannot find it, I don't want to allow myself to be completely awed by it knowing that it's someone's intention to trick me into believing it's real. I end up being so skeptical because I know there's some mad science behind it that I can't enjoy it, but then if I know how it's done then the point of the illusion or trick is gone. Apparently, this complete contradiction is how I roll though, so I don't usually watch these kinds of shows. But I have to give it to this guy. He's freakin' awesome. The tricks I saw him performing today were tricks I haven't seen, seemed to be completely at random, and I really enjoyed how many segments were able to fit into one 30-minute program. It gave a lot of variety, maintained a fast-paced vibe throughout the show, and since each prank was different, gave me something else to gasp over. I also liked that you were invited and encouraged to contact him if there was someone you wanted to get a little revenge on; according to him he enjoys messing with people, so really it's a win-win if you get him to help you out. He's not trying to be nice and although it makes him look like an ass, I love it. LOL
I think the only thing I am still skeptical about is whether or not the people he stops at random are really random folks or if they're the typical moles to make the stunts more believable. In this day and age, it's quite obvious that very little is real anymore. I mean, seriously. Reality television, which was supposed to be the breaking of the 4th wall and allowing us to see real life (hence the word 'reality'), is even scripted now. The concept that reality tv of any kind will be even remotely real is quite laughable now. Reality tv to me has taken on a Truman Show-ish vibe, especially in recent years, so I think it's just become normal now to be skeptical about anything, especially something being shown on television. There's editing, there's special effects tricks, there's willing moles rather than random participants, there's additional takes. All of that is involved in reality tv. With that in mind, how much of anything is real? So if I did have anything to genuinely be skeptical of with this show, it would be the concept of whether or not the people being pranked were truly unaware of what was going on. From what I have seen, they really are. But I'm suspicious of everything.
But enough about that. Overall, I really liked this show. I think Andrew Mayne is incredibly talented, and for someone pulling off these illusions and tricks that look terribly hard to learn how to execute, not only does Andrew do each one with ease, he makes it look like fun in the process. Andrew knows how to work the camera and engage the viewing audience and while we're sort of being duped as well, we're not getting our stuff stolen in the interim. lol Even though he pulls asshole stunts, you can tell that he enjoys what he does and enjoys the reactions of others, which makes or breaks the overall joke by itself. If these really are random people, then that makes his talent level more apparent and makes the show more believable. Despite my skepticism, this show hooked me. I can't wait for next week. If you like magic-themed shows with a more realistic environment rather than a professional or glamorized stage or if you enjoy pranks being pulled on unsuspecting people for absolutely no reason, I think you'd enjoy yourself watching Don't Trust Andrew Mayne. The pace of the show is quick and styled in different segments that don't last too long, but provide some variety to keep you from getting bored. As the main storyline progresses, various prank segments keep you entertained, then the final trick of the episode ends the show, with a small follow-up segment on one of the people pranked earlier in the episode. I believe this is a show you can easily get hooked on, even if it's simply to find out what the hell else he does to these poor people he meets out in public. I'm not sure if these people in the episode's main story truly learn their lessons afterward, but even if they don't....it's still funny.
Rating:
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