How Much Does a Mentalist Cost? (Or Why I am Not a Can of Beans)

You Google “How much does a mentalist cost?” or “magician prices” and discover that a lot of experienced corporate entertainers won't give you a price until they know as much as they can about the event, as well as your budget.

Why not?

Because you aren't buying mentalism; you're hiring a mentalist.

And I don't compare very well by the ounce.

Why don't mentalists and magicians have price lists?

Some do. I don't — and neither does any true professional I would refer you to.

Good entertainers are not like Chinese restaurants. There is no laminated menu:

Mind Reading — $1.95
Telepathy — $2.49
Psychological Illusions for Two — $15.99
Fried Rice — $1.00 extra

Thirty people at a birthday party ten minutes from my house is one job.

Eight hundred executives at a conference in Las Vegas, with airfare, hotels, production meetings, several days blocked out and a woman named Madison wearing a headset who knows my precise location at all times, is another. Of course I charge differently.

The date matters, too. Saturday night in December is prime real estate, but Tuesday morning in February?

Call me.

You're not paying for tricks

Please don't pay me for tricks. You can buy tricks on the internet. So can your nephew.

What you're hiring is a person. That's the part that's hard to put on a price sheet.

You're hiring my personality, my sense of humor, my experience, my taste, my judgment, and whatever peculiar combination of qualities makes people enjoy having me in the room.

Or not.

Maybe you hate me. This is useful information to discover before the deposit.

For strolling entertainment, think about what you're actually doing: you're hiring a stranger to walk up and interrupt your guests' conversations, so you had better choose a good stranger.

For a stage show, you're giving that stranger everyone's attention and putting your name, at least indirectly, on whatever happens next.

One entertainer makes you look brilliant for hiring him. Another has you sitting in the back wondering if you can plausibly claim Accounting booked him.

Why do I ask about your budget?

Mostly so we don't become pen pals for no reason.

If you have $2,000 to spend, I may have a terrific idea for $2,000. If you have $10,000, we're talking about a different animal: perhaps customized material, several appearances, a stage show, cocktail entertainment, a trade-show activation, or something built around your company.

If you have $500 and I live nowhere close to you, no harm done. We can discover that now instead of 14 emails from now.

That's why professional entertainers ask questions before quoting a fee. I'm not trying to obtain your dental records; I just need to know what I'm pricing.

Should you hire the cheapest magician or mentalist?

Maybe. I say go for it. Expensive entertainers can stink, too.

But I assume you're not putting on “just any old event.” You've chosen the venue. You've thought about the food and the drinks. Somebody may already have survived three meetings about silverware.

Then you get to the human being who's going to command everyone's attention for an hour and become the one memory people still retain about this event a year later: “Eh. Sort by price: low to high.”

That’s a strange place to stop being picky. Your guests won't know if the flowers cost $40 or $140, but they will definitely know if the entertainer was good. They will especially know if he wasn't.

So when you're comparing mentalist prices, magician prices, or corporate entertainment costs, watch the videos. Read the reviews. Look at the clients. Find someone who seems right for your people.

Then look at the price.

So how much does a corporate mentalist cost?

There's no universal mentalist price or magician rate. You can find inexpensive local performers, and you can find established corporate entertainers charging many thousands of dollars. You can even hire a celebrity who, by comparison, makes me seem as affordable as a can of beans.

If you want a useful quote, fill out my intake form. I'll tell you what I'd recommend and what it costs.

Maybe I'm your guy. Maybe I'm too expensive. Maybe someone else is a better fit. That's okay. I'd rather you hire the right person.

Just don't spend months planning a thoughtful event and then shop for the main feature in the dented-can aisle.

You aren't buying an hour or two of mentalism; you're hiring a person with a personality. And 99% of the labor and skill that make those hours work are hidden from you on purpose. That's rather the point.

So please don't imagine you're paying me simply for the amount of time I am physically at your event. That's like imagining you can pay a lawyer only for the minutes his mouth is actually moving in court.

And if you happen to find me on a dusty bottom shelf with an orange 59¢ CLEARANCE sticker slapped across my face, pick me up.

But check the expiration date first. I may not be available.