World’s Greatest Con – A Conversation with Brian Brushwood

If you love learning about cons, scams, and tricks, then this is the episode for you. Listen as Perry sits down with Brian Brushwood, someone who has made understanding and teaching scams and tricks his life's work. Brian is the creator of Scam School, Scam Nation, Hacking the System, Modern Rogue, and more. For the past 20 years, he's toured around the world teaching and demonstrating everything from side show stunts, to sleight-of-hand magic, to the intricacies of con artistry.

Brian’s new podcast, World’s Greatest Con is a deep-dive into the stories and tactics behind the most intricate and interesting cons imaginable. In season 1, he told the story of Operation Mincemeat, a WWII plot devised by Ian Fleming (creator of James Bond) to trick none other than Adolf Hitler. Season 2 covers five different cons all related to the game show industry… it’s both entertaining and riveting in some very unexpected ways.

A big thank you to my friends over at the PodCube podcast for creating a custom skit for this episode. If you are a fan of sketch comedy, be sure to check out their show! (PodCube: The Future, is Yesterday™).

Guest: Brian Brushwood (Website) (Twitter)

Books and Resources

• Brian's Website
• World's Greatest Con podcast site
• Scam School YouTube Channel
• Modern Rogue YouTube Channel
• Brian Brushwood Mistreats His Tongue
• Brian doing psychic surgery on Penn & Teller: Fool Us
• Brian doing the "hidden ghost" trick
• Brian's Entire Bizarre Magic Stage Show
• How to make a fake tongue (without using a deer tongue)
• Operation Mincemeat -- Wikipedia
• 13 Unbelievably Fascinating Game Show Cheating Scandals That'll Shock Both Devoted And Casual Fans -- Buzzfeed
• Project Alpha -- Wikipedia
• Going Mental: A Conversation with Banachek -- 8th Layer Insights S1E7
• PodCube Podcast
• Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman 
• Influence, New and Expanded: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert Cialdini
• Transformational Security Awareness: What Neuroscientists, Storytellers, and Marketers Can Teach Us About Driving Secure Behaviors, by Perry Carpenter
• The Security Culture Playbook: An Executive Guide To Reducing Risk and Developing Your Human Defense Layer by Perry Carpenter & Kai Roer

Production Credits:

• The opening skit featured the voice talents of Rich Daigle (a.k.a. Mouth Almighty), Hannah Trusty, Adriana Beals, and Rob McCollum.
• Writing support for this episode's opening section from Terry Hicks
• Music and Sound Effects by Blue Dot Sessions, Envato Elements, & Storyblocks.
• Artwork by Chris Machowski @ https://www.RansomWear.net/ and Mia Rune @ https://www.MiaRune.com.
• 8th Layer Insights theme music composed and performed by Marcos Moscat @ https://www.GameMusicTown.com/

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• Email: hello [at] 8thLayerInsights [dot] com