Meet Gerry McCambridge

Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Gerry McCambridge. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Gerry, we’re so appreciative of you taking the time to share your nuggets of wisdom with our community. One of the topics we think is most important for folks looking to level up their lives is building up their self-confidence and self-esteem. Can you share how you developed your confidence?

I have been performing since I was nine years old. I know I’m very good at what I do. I have been performing for over 36 years. So my confidence comes from years and years of practice.

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?

On October 31, 1962, Scott Thomas Burns was born in Brooklyn hospital. Immediately after his birth, he was moved to the Angel Guardian Home in Brooklyn, New York, where he was put up for adoption. A few months later he was adopted by Frances Ann McCambridge and Gerard Alexander McCambridge Sr.. After the adoption was final, they changed his name to Gerard Alexander McCambridge Jr..

From the age of 9 years old, Gerard was fascinated by magic. He started to study the art as a hobby. Gerard performed his first magic show at a neighbors birthday party for money at the age of 12. He was billing himself as “Gerard the Great.” He started apprenticing for professional magicians and touring the country as an on stage assistant at the age of 15. By the time he was 18, he had a full show of his own. It is then he changed his performing name to Gerry McCambridge.

He realized he wanted to be a full time entertainer. Years later he took his love for magic, and mixed it with the observational and interrogation skills he learned from his father, a New York City Detective. Gerry added a few mentalism routines to his magic show. to create the character of “The Mentalist.”

In 1988 he stopped performing magic completely and focused solely on performing as a mentalist. He has studied memory techniques, body language interpretation, stage hypnosis, linguistics, statistics, law of averages, non-verbal communication, acting, theatre and stand up comedy, to enhance his mentalism show.

Gerry started performing as “Gerry McCambridge-The Mentalist” in Comedy Clubs across the country, Fortune 500 corporate events, and ultra exclusive “A-List” celebrity parties. Gerry also appeared on countless radio and TV talk shows. In 2002 Gerry dropped his name and billed himself as “The Mentalist.”

In 1999, the International Magicians Society presented Gerry with the “Merlin Award” for “Mentalist of the Decade”. Gerry was the first mentalist in history to receive the Merlin award for mentalism since the organizations inception in 1968.

In 2002 Gerry wrote his first TV script titled “The Mentalist” and took it out to Los Angeles to pitch it to the major networks. Jeff Zucker, the president of NBC witnessed Gerry’s live performances many times, and instantly licensed the special for his network. Gerry became the creator, executive producer and star of the hit prime-time network television special “The Mentalist” which started airing to 6.2 million viewers in the United States on May 12, 2004. The show then aired in Canada, South Africa, Korea, The Middle East, New Zealand, India, Thailand, Australia, Denmark, The Netherlands, Malaysia and the United Kingdom.

In the summer of 2004 Gerry performed his one man show “The Mentalist” to critical acclaim Off-Broadway in New York City.

Later that year Gerry made his acting debut in the movie “Mattie Fresno and the Holofulx Universe.”

In 2004 the Psychic Entertainers Association, an international organization of his peers, awarded Gerry for his “Outstanding Contributions to the Art of Mentalism.”

In 2005 Gerry opened his one-man show in Las Vegas. The Las Vegas Review Journal readers poll voted Gerry’s show the “Best Magic Show” in all of Las Vegas. Gerry performed for a year of sold out performances at the Rampart Casino. From there, Gerry moved his show to the Legendary Stardust Casino. When the Stardust closed its doors for implosion, Gerry moved his show to Hooters Hotel and Casino for two years. In 2005 Gerry then moved the show to the V Theater in the Planet Hollywood casino.

In 2005 the Psychic Entertainers Association again awarded Gerry. This time he received the “Mentalist of the Year” award.

In October 2007 Gerry starred in the weekly reality television series “Phenomenon” with Criss Angel, Kim Kardashian, Carmen Electra and Holly Madison.

In August 2008, the International Magicians Society presented Gerry with the “Merlin Award” for “Mentalist of the Year.”

In 2009 he was voted one of the “Top 10 Absolutely Have To See” shows in Las Vegas by the Las Vegas Weekly Magazine.

In 2010 the Las Vegas Review Journal readers poll placed Gerry’s show as the “Best Bargain Show in all of Las Vegas.”

In 2013 the Bravo TV show “Millionaire Matchmaker” tried (unsuccessfully) to find Gerry the love of his life. (season 7, episode 15) Gerry also made a cameo appearance on the hit TV show “Pawn Stars.”

In 2014, he authored his first book titled, “Making the Mentalist” which told of his never ending desire to be a successful performer, and his battle with sexual abuse at the hands of his high school wood shop teacher.

Since opening in Las Vegas in 2005, Gerry continues to perform nightly the Planet Hollywood casino. With over 5,150 performances, Gerry has the longest running Mentalist show in Las Vegas history.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

The first skill is learning how to fabricate things. I took woodshop and metal shop in school. So all of the props that I use in my show, I custom make myself. That ensures that they are perfect, and the way that I want them to be.

The second skill is learning how to be confident in front of an audience. I took speech classes, drama, classes, play production, classes, TV, studio classes, and anything else I needed to be able to speak in public in front of a small or large crowd.

The third skill I learned was business organization and management. In college, I studied how to run an operate a business successfully.

Alright so to wrap up, who deserves credit for helping you overcome challenges or build some of the essential skills you’ve needed?

Motivational speaker Tony Robbins has been the most helpful in my career. He has taught me how to define my goals, and achieve my goals. Over the years, he has hired me to speak at many of his events. We have become friends. We speak often. Any help helps me as much as I needed.

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