The Night I Realised Mentalism Could Be More Than Entertainment

There are certain performances that stay with you long after the applause fades.

Not necessarily because they were the largest audiences or the highest fees, but because something shifted internally whilst you were there.

One such evening for me took place high above Canary Wharf during a corporate event for KPMG.

Even now, years later, I can still remember the feeling of standing inside that building looking out across London at night.

It genuinely felt like the city stretched on forever.

Arriving Above the City

Corporate events in London always carry a different kind of energy.

The pace feels faster. The expectations are often higher. The people attending are usually operating at the very top of their industries and, whether consciously or not, you feel that pressure as a performer the moment you arrive.

This particular event involved senior executives, partners and invited guests attending a special evening gathering that also featured keynote speakers and presentations, including a fascinating demonstration involving pioneering augmented reality technology.

I remember arriving and immediately feeling slightly overwhelmed by the environment itself.

The event was being held high up within one of the Canary Wharf buildings and with darkness already falling outside, the view across the city was extraordinary. Thousands of lights stretched endlessly across the skyline while office windows glowed against the night sky below.

It was one of the most visually spectacular settings I had ever performed in.

And if I’m being completely honest, I remember feeling nervous.

Not because I doubted the material.

I doubted the room.

The Pressure of Executive Audiences

There is something psychologically different about performing for senior executives and leadership teams.

Corporate audiences are rarely passive. They observe everything. They analyse. They assess.

And in environments like Canary Wharf, surrounded by finance, business and international corporate culture, performing as a corporate mentalist in London carries a very particular kind of pressure.

As performers, we often talk about “reading the room,” but some rooms demand more from you than others.

This was one of them.

What helped settle me however was remembering something important that years of live performance eventually teaches you:

People are still people.

No matter the job title.
No matter the industry.
No matter the size of the office behind them.

Curiosity, surprise and emotional connection remain universal.

The Performance

Thankfully, the atmosphere shifted almost immediately once the performance began.

The audience were engaged from the start and I still vividly remember occasionally catching sight of the client who had booked me standing towards the back of the room smiling proudly throughout the evening.

That always tells you more than applause ever can.

The reactions throughout the show were incredibly strong. Some moments created stunned silence while others generated the sort of laughter and disbelief that spreads quickly through an audience once people collectively realise they are experiencing something they cannot quite explain.

What I particularly enjoy about corporate performances is watching highly analytical people temporarily let go of the need to fully understand something.

For a few moments, logic gives way to curiosity.

And in rooms filled with pressure, deadlines and responsibility, that emotional shift can be surprisingly powerful.

The Conversation Afterwards

What stayed with me most however happened after the performance had already ended.

I ended up sharing a taxi back towards the station with several of the senior partners from the event and, as often happens after performances, the conversation initially revolved around the demonstrations themselves.

But then something interesting happened.

The discussion gradually moved away from entertainment entirely and onto psychology, communication, influence and the ways certain principles connected to mentalism might potentially apply within leadership, training and corporate environments.

That conversation genuinely changed something for me.

Up until that point, I had largely viewed myself purely as a performer. Someone hired to entertain, create reactions and help make events memorable.

Suddenly I realised there were aspects of what I did that businesses found valuable beyond entertainment alone.

The idea that psychological performance, audience dynamics and communication could potentially overlap with leadership and human interaction in the corporate world had honestly never fully occurred to me before that evening.

I remember leaving London that night thinking about that conversation repeatedly.

Validation

I also remember the fee for the event being one of the strongest I had received at that stage in my career.

And whilst the financial aspect was obviously appreciated, the real value came from something else entirely.

Validation.

Not ego.
Not status.
Validation.

The feeling that perhaps I really was moving in the right direction professionally.

For many performers, especially early in their careers, there is often a quiet uncertainty running beneath the surface. A question that occasionally appears during long drives home or quiet moments after events:

“Am I genuinely building something meaningful here?”

That evening in Canary Wharf was one of the first moments where I truly felt the answer might actually be yes.

More Than Just Entertainment

When people think of live entertainment, they often imagine somebody simply standing on stage performing tricks or delivering a scripted presentation.

The reality of corporate events is far more layered than that.

Sometimes your role is to create energy inside a networking environment.
Sometimes it is to help delegates emotionally reconnect after a long conference day.
Sometimes it is simply to create moments that people continue discussing long after the event itself has ended.

But occasionally, if you are fortunate, a performance also changes the way you view your own work.

That night above Canary Wharf did exactly that for me.

And despite all the skyline views, executive conversations and unforgettable surroundings, one of my clearest memories still remains the quiet journey home afterwards, sitting alone reflecting on the evening while London slowly disappeared into darkness behind the train window.

You can also learn more about Looch’s corporate mentalism performances throughout London here.