Beyond a reasonable doubt with Lior Suchard

Before we start, while you read this, I want you all to start thinking of a number between 1 and 10. Don’t choose it yet, just let it swish around in your mind. We’ll get back to it later.

Since spending a couple of hours with Lior Suchard last month, I’ve been trying to hone my skills of influence and suggestion, spending about three hours a day on it.

A word of caution. If you ever get the chance to visit Lior Suchard in his tastefully modern high-rise Tel Aviv apartment, beware.

There is probably an array of concealed infrared cameras on the ceiling that detect all movement by visitors; advanced technology is monitoring active mobile Internet platforms like Google, and the results are made accessible to the host at all times; and invisible devices in the host’s ears detect barely audible sounds from across the spacious living room and kitchen.

That’s the only possible explanation. Otherwise, being in the company of the affable 42-year-old icon and witnessing his uncanny feats may lead us into some uncharted territory involving otherworldly powers. And we are nothing if not rational, right?

Suchard is arguably the world’s most well-known mentalist (even surpassing his one-time mentor Uri Geller), and, taking Gal Gadot, Bar Refaeli, and Benjamin Netanyahu out of the mix, is probably the most famous living Israeli. That doesn’t even include the entire Jewish Diaspora who have visited Israel, who know him as “that El Al guy” for the in-flight safety film he hosts, complete with a card trick that keeps people watching until the end.

A ball of energy, with a supernatural metabolism, he also sports a healthy ego that by all parameters of success seems warranted.

“I consider myself a master mentalist. After People magazine called me that, I started to use it, too,” he said, shoeless and wearing a T-shirt over his svelte frame. Ignoring the detection devices I’m constantly on the lookout for, it feels like the living room of any other successful Tel Aviv tech executive or entrepreneur.

SUCHARD’S FREQUENT appearances over the last decade on mainstream TV staples like Ellen and The Late Late Show with James Corden have cemented his status as a world-class entertainer. In the resultant multi-million viewed YouTube clips from those shows, he stuns studio audiences and celeb guests like Owen Wilson, Harry Connick Jr., and the Jonas Brothers with feats of mind control and the power of suggestion, while making them laugh and keeping them enthralled.

Corporations like AT&T pay him top dollar to perform, inspire, and enlighten their executives – and hi-tech and cyber entrepreneurs consult with him about direction and vision.

Yet, in the morning, he gets up and makes sandwiches for his three children with his wife, Tal (he met her when she was working in a café and he guessed her phone number), and accompanies the kids to school.

“That’s my superpower,” jokes the youthful Suchard about juggling fame and fatherhood. “I have the Clark Kent syndrome. I’m still the shy person I was as a kid. I wear the Superman ring to remind me that I can be on stage in front of 5,000 people and have 100 of them tell me their names and at the end of the show recite them in order, yet the next day I’ll be taking my daughter to kindergarten and will forget which door to go in.”

Barely looking a day older or heavier than he did when he burst on the Israeli entertainment scene in 2005 as the winner of Geller’s reality competition show The Successor, the constantly in-motion Suchard always wears his Superman ring, and his apartment is full of related paraphernalia, as well as no shortage of Star Wars memorabilia and spacecraft models. He’s like the nerdy classmate who never grew up and always knew he had a secret weapon that the cool kids couldn’t touch.

“I was a very shy boy. I’m still shy, even if it doesn’t seem so,” the Israeli celebrity said. “When I was little, my aunt bought me a magic kit, more like a bunch of optical illusions, and I showed it to one of my few friends and he thought it was cool. So I started to use it as a prop to break the ice with the other kids because I wasn’t good at talking. But I loved to perform – and I discovered what seeing those tricks does to people.

“So I started to develop my own ideas and concepts and added some one liners, and people began to come see me in high school. But I was never one of the popular kids; they made fun of me.”

The mentalist

CALL HIM what you want – ingratiating, charming, manipulative – the bottom line is that Suchard does things in his elaborate, constantly changing “mind experiments,” as he calls them, that don’t really have an explanation. Whether it’s inducing an entire audience to all pick the same number from 1-10 or guessing which famous songs The Jonas Brothers are thinking of, he stops audiences in their tracks, unsure whether they’ve been bamboozled or have really experienced a supernatural feat.

People love to be tricked, stumped, and baffled by sleight of hand, or even more, by happenings they can’t explain. Just look at the proliferation of magicians, mind readers, carnival hustlers, and reality talent show mystifiers that we’ll watch for hours or pay good money to crowd a Las Vegas theater to see.

It’s human nature, and Suchard’s genius is being able to tap into our deep desire to be fooled while we hold on to the remote possibility that it’s not just a trick – that there’s something supernatural going on here. His biggest “magic” trick is turning a jaded audience of grownups with adult-like problems into wide-eyed children.

“I level the playing field. The audience becomes children with a sense of wonder about things,” said Suchard.

“I come on stage, and first of all, it’s entertaining, and fun and cool. It’s an interactive stand-up comedy show. But by the end of the 90 minutes or two hours, the audience will get a sense that, of everything they thought they know, they don’t really know anything.”

Suchard is careful to differentiate himself and what he does from the whole magician “saw-a-woman-in-half” genre – but not because of any feeling of snobbery or sense of superiority.

“When you see a magician, you get the same sense of wonder from the card tricks, the hidden props, and you don’t know how it’s done. But in the back of your mind, you know that it’s a trick.

“However, in the art of the senses, in mentalism, there’s an added element – belief. Can that be done? Is it real? It takes an audience on a journey through the power of the mind that is both educational and inspirational.”

LOFTY ASPIRATIONS which he frequently achieves, but since Oct. 7, Suchard has also been putting his immense talent to an even higher goal of boosting the morale of IDF troops and displaced citizens from the North and the South.

“On Oct. 7, I was on a flight from London back to Tel Aviv and was texting with my wife the whole time. I was in shock, like everybody else,” he said.

“When I returned, I started to help in a number of ways, doing shows for evacuees all over the place, and for troops from the different forces. I went from unit to unit near the Gaza border, focusing on two different audiences – soldiers about to go into Gaza to raise their morale, and those who have returned from Gaza and are about to be released. I try to help them and motivate them through my act. It’s not regular entertainment, it’s thought-provoking and emotional, and it boosted morale and positivity for these people that needed it.”

When asked if he had been approached by Israeli security services to use his skills in the war to help locate hostages or other sensitive missions, he responded with a very Israeli “You know the answer is that I can neither confirm nor deny that.”

When he wasn’t volunteering, Suchard found himself getting sucked into the social media black hole of anti-Israel hatred, often writing lengthy rebuttals to an anonymous tweet denying Oct. 7 atrocities or shouting “Free Palestine!”

“It took me a while to understand that I shouldn’t be wasting my time on the ‘small’ stuff. I knew the benefit of what I can do, and I began to understand that I needed to use my ability for bigger things,” he said.

He used his celebrity status to get in touch with some famous influencers he’s made the acquaintance of over the years, like Kris Jenner, who consequently posted an “I Stand with Israel” meme. He has also made a few trips to New York and Miami for fundraising performances for different organizations helping the war effort.

“I felt good that I was doing something important. We raised millions of dollars,” said Suchard.

ARE YOU thinking about a number? It’s getting close to choosing the digit. Let’s meld our minds.

SUCHARD HAS never been shy about proudly announcing his Israeli heritage whenever he appears onstage or on TV, usually dropping it in with an offhand introduction of “Hi, I’m Lior, and I’m from Israel…”

On the other hand, he’s never made it the focus either, something that in the post-Oct. 7 reality raises new issues for him. He hasn’t appeared on any foreign talk shows since the war, but he realizes that things may be different now, especially with his higher-profile social media status advocating for Israel.

“I’ve thought about what I would do the next time I go on a big show, and my conclusion is that I would do one of my spectacular things” – he can say this without a hint of boastfulness – “but I would tie it into what happened in Israel. I couldn’t not talk about it – it’s too big a part of our life,” he said.

“If it’s a corporate event, they didn’t invite me because I’m Israeli or not but because of my reputation and because I’m the best in the world at what I do. Then I take advantage of the access, and I brief the CEO or the VIPs at the event about the situation in Israel. And 99% of them are receptive and supportive,” the onstage influencer said.

“I’m not going to disrupt the show. If I’m invited to come and do something entertaining, I’m not going to go on stage and wave an Israeli flag and denounce Hamas. But I will find a way to plug it in.”

Suchard is likely to put that theory into action in December when he’s going to debut a new show for an extended run in New York City. Another war-related issue that he’ll have to deal with is the same one that other Israel advocate entertainers – from Matisyahu to Michael Rapaport – have encountered: anti-Israel protests and pressure on venues and crews.

“I had a show – not a fundraiser – in Miami that was open to the general public,” said Suchard. “Four hours before the show, the American union team we hired for lighting, sound, camera announced that they weren’t going to work. ‘We realized that you’re from Israel,’ they said.

“We were shocked. But I’m a very positive guy. ‘Listen,’ I said to the producer, ‘it’s only 1,000 people. The worst case scenario, I’m doing it unplugged. I’ll shout, and it will be amazing.’

“But then, we got them all together and calmly explained that it’s fine if they back out, but just know that we already paid you and you have a signed contract. And they’re part of a union, and unions don’t like to get lawsuits. What would be their defense? ‘We didn’t want to work with him because we’re antisemitic?’ In the end, they went on with the show.”

FOR THE December show, Suchard has been developing new material and platforms for his skills and honing them over time, sometimes years.

“I’m a big believer in creativity and innovation – thinking differently. As we speak, I have two new acts that I just put in the show that I’m really proud of. They involve the entire audience, and are engaging and surprising,” he said.

“It took me three years to develop them. That doesn’t mean I’m working on them constantly; I could have an idea and write it down on my phone, and then find something to connect it to. I’ll try it out on my wife or in front of people I meet, and I see the reaction and then adapt. I’m always thinking about how to improve and renew myself and give the audience the most amazing experience. For me, the most important part is the interaction with the audience. They judge you in the first 10 seconds: They either love you or not.”

And forget about Israeli audiences. According to Suchard, they are the toughest because they’re the most cynical and ornery.

“Israelis always want to know ‘what’s the trick?’” he said with a laugh. “It’s our chutzpah. I actually created an act based on the fact that a cellphone will always go off in the middle of a show. I say ‘Answer it,’ and I take a microphone and have a conversation with the husband or daughter who’s calling. Then I do an act with them on the phone, and the audience loves it. But I could never do that in New York because everyone listens to the instructions at the beginning and turns their phones off.”

Suchard explained that the Israeli in-your-face attitude permeates all aspects of his onstage persona. He quoted Barbra Streisand, who asked him to perform as a support act during a tour in 2016 – calling him “charmingly aggressive.”

“Or aggressively charming,” he chuckled. “It adds to the creativity. Part of the showmanship and charisma I use abroad was developed by performing for an Israeli audience. I can get a heckler in a show who shouts ‘I just drew a picture – what is it?’ And I’ll say, ‘Listen, I’m in the middle of a show.’ But then I’ll come back to it later and tell him what he drew. That’s part of the fun.”

And more than the financial security and notoriety it’s brought, fun and the thrill of performing are still what attract Suchard.

“I love it. Give me a billion dollars to stop performing, and I wouldn’t take it. But now I’m spinning it a bit. I give lectures about the back story of what I do, and I consult with companies. I’m involved in the investment world of cyber and AI and have joined a venture capital fund. I work with the founders and CEOs providing inspiration and insight. It all comes down to one line that I leave with them: ‘I may not know what you’re thinking, but I know how you’re thinking.’

“I use the ideas and concepts that I’ve developed to do many different things, but it always comes back to the performance, and that’s something I still love very much.”

BEING IN the elite of his profession can be a lonely endeavor, but Suchard acknowledged he’s part of a small group of fellow wizards around the world who consult with each other and occasionally fill in for each other when there’s a double booking.

“There’s not a lot of real mentalists in the world; I can think of maybe three or four I can call my peers,” he said. “There’s no school for this. It’s like being a musician. Anyone can learn to play the piano and practice for 10 years and get quite good. But you’re not Beethoven.

“I could teach you and you could workshop, work on body language, non-verbal communication, reading people, suggestion, and all the subtleties of what I do,” he said. “But it doesn’t mean you’ll be able to go on stage and do what I do.”

There are a few options to explain how Suchard does what he does: trickery/sleight of mind, persuasion/ mind manipulation, or supernatural abilities.

But in the end, does it really matter which one it is? He makes people happy.

In today’s harsh reality, we should embrace any opportunity to be mesmerized, entranced, and transported to a state of wonder. And Lior Suchard’s ability to seemingly do that at will is in itself a supernatural act.

OK – made your choice of a number between 1 and 10? You didn’t tell me, right? Look upside down to see my guess.

Was it 3?

If it was, then I am picking this telepathy thing up. If it wasn’t, then – as Suchard taught me to say when the occasional trick goes awry: “Sorry, you’re wrong. You’ll do better next time.”