63336 Celebrity answers with Chris Cox

An accomplished and much loved performer, Chris Cox does contemporary mind reading, by using a mongrel hybrid mix of magic, psychology, NLP, reading body language and guess work to prove he is a mind-reader who can't read-minds.

Having garnered awards, must see show listings, five star reviews, sell out performances and fans that include Ricky Gervais, Dannii Minogue, Kelly Osbourne, Colin Murray, Nick Grimshaw, Agnyes Deyn, Richard Bacon, The Hamiltons, Lauren Laverne, Barry Cryer, Mark Watson and Tim Minchin, the only thing left for Chris to do is to answer a few questions from 63336.

Ever wanted to know how someone 'did' that trick? You can ask 63336 for free.

Who is Chris Cox?

He is one of the most exciting entertainers in Britain, not my words, the words of The Guardian. He does mind-reading nonsense. He likes to think he is a cool dude. He could not be more wrong.

What is the meaning of life?

That everything happens for a reason, but that reason is yours to control. Nothing happens till you actually do something, so you really should do things.

You claim you're a mind reader that can't read minds. Can you explain this?

Yes I can. Next question. Oh. You want an explanation? Okay then. I kinda use this mongrel hybrid mix of stuff to make you think that I know what you're thinking, so there's bits of magic, psychology, body language reading, devilish good looks and lying all combined so you go, wow he can really do that. But I can't. Gutting I know.

Ok then, what number is 63336 thinking of right now?

Statistical probability says 3, since of the un-subtle amount of 3's in your number. If it wasn't 3 then I'm a mind-reader who can't read minds. What did you expect?!

Who, in your mind, is/was the best magician ever?

Would it be far too egotistical to say me? Yes. Damn it. I like The Prestige as a movie, that gets magicians very well. In real life, Penn & Teller were my first magical inspirations and are continually brilliant.

Is it much more difficult doing magic where people can only hear you, like on BBC R1, to in the street?

Oh most def (can you tell I've been watching The Wire?) a while back I used to do magic stuff on Radio 1, now I focus on my job there more, but it is much harder to do it over the airwaves, you can't see facial expressions, and anything visual is obviously ruled out. I've developed a few tricks that work on the radio that get pretty strong responses. The upside is on the radio people can't see my face so aren't put off by my cartoon character mug.

Have you ever got a trick spectacularly wrong in public?

Oh yes yes yes. I used to do a russian roulette thing with knives hidden under bags then jumping on them, but I saw some bloke do it with his hand and get it wrong, so I've not done it since. In my show I do this thing grand finale which mixes loads of peoples choices that hopefully I've been able to predict and influence. I aim for 80%. When I first did it on stage I got 1 thing right. That was awkward. I'm better now though, honest. I can do it and make you go wow. Everything has a margin of error to it with mind-reading stuff, which makes performing it so much more exciting, you never quite know what's going to happen and every show is different.

Can you teach us some magic?

Oh okay then, since you asked so nicely. You can control peoples feet. True story. Look I'll do it to you now. Pick your right foot off the ground, spin it in a clockwise direction. Keep it going. Now put your right arm in the air. Keep your foot spinning in a clockwise direction. With your right arm draw the number 6 in the air. YOUR FOOT WILL NOW CHANGE DIRECTION! Ta-Da.. did I do it? Yes? Brilliant. You mock but you know you'll be doing that on your friends later!

If you can influence minds, let's set you a challenge. Can you get 5 celeb mates to twitter about @the63336?

I will accept this challenge. I often wish I could do what I really say I can do, but I've got enough favours I can call in. I suspect that getting @stephenfry or @wossy to do it will be pretty much impossible. Tim Minchin and Nihal will I'm sure. Does that make them nicer than Fry and Wossy? I might fail though. I have been known to fail.

It's been said that some of your tricks would make Jesus proud. Have you got any that would make Barack Obama laugh?

He needs a laugh doesn't he Barack. I have one good magic joke that I do. I hope that'd make him laugh. I also hope he puts on his jacket like fake president Bartlett. That's a cool way to put on a jacket. I'm assuming you've got me a performance at the White House now to prove it. You 63336 people have all the power.

Who would win in a fight between Derren Brown (handcuffed) and David Blaine (blindfolded)?

Ha. Both are brilliant. Both have goatees. Blaine has that eye on his hand though and is good at slight of hand. Brown's the master mind-reading mentalist so he could probably make Blaine go all bendy, like Uri Geller would a spoon. Or use one of his chums to kneel behind him then run against him thus making Blaine fall and damaging not only his back as he falls, but also his ego. Win.

Who would be a better magician – Chris Moyles or Jo Whiley?

I once taught Whiley some tricks to do on Derren, so she's got the experience there already, and I could see her going to U2 or The Killers or some big band, pick a card any card.

What is the best answer you've ever got from 63336?

Looking through I seem to have asked 63336 lots of ego questions about myself, got some nice recipes from you for what I should cook for dinner and kindly explained why a chicken is called a chicken when you call other meats things like beef and pork. Although lamb is an exception to the rule. You said "63336: Chicken refers to the entire species, including hens, roosters and chicks. Their meat is called "poultry". A group of chickens is called a peep or flock."*

When can we next see you on stage?

Whenever you want as you're lovely. Or realistically I'll be doing previews in London in June and July then up at the Edinburgh Festival in August. Come along, say hi. You might even get an "I Love Cox" badge.