Mind-blowing mentalist Colin Cloud has been on the Vegas stage as illusionist Shin Lim’s right-hand man for more than five years at The Mirage, but now the “real-life Sherlock Holmes” has a show of his own, Colin Cloud: Mastermind, at Harrah’s Las Vegas. Las Vegas Magazine caught up with the performer ahead of the opening.

You’ve been in Vegas with Shin Lim for a while. What pushed you to finally create your own show?

So Shin and I, we’ve been here for five years; the anniversary has just passed. But with my own show, I had performed solo at the Edinburgh festival since I was 18 years old and always loved the challenge of writing my own event and sharing that with people. As much as I love being with Shin, having been here and fallen in love with the city, and this city feels like Edinburgh festival but 365 days of the year, to be able to then have that opportunity, that platform to be able to share the best of all my work, I just felt like now was the time … And it was really the combination of everyone else asking so much, and then pushing and then prompting and then requesting. I was kind of like, “Oh wow, maybe people actually want this.” I was like, “Well, I've ticked off a lot of my bucket list in life for entertainment already; I think this is the next thing that I really want to do to challenge myself.”

It’s one thing to be a skilled mentalist, it’s a completely other thing to command a room. Where does that ability come from?

As a kid I was very shy, reserved, introverted; hated, in class, having to stand up and speak. I hated it, I would be sick for days thinking about it and then I went to university quite young. I was 15 and I realized no one knows that. I can pretend to be older and be more confident, no one knows who I am. I got into stand-up comedy because I realized comedians are really good at being Sherlock Holmes in that they observe the world differently. I think the number one human fear is public speaking, and these comedians choose to put themself on that stage with nothing between them and the audience other than a microphone and they’re fully exposed really. But they are able to be relaxed, share that view of the world, but they’re also able to pick up things for real in that environment, and I thought, “This is amazing,” and I realized the only way to learn that skill was to actually do stand-up comedy and force myself.

I'll be honest, most mentalism is really boring and slow and drawn out, and what I learned from things like YouTube and people with that need for something new every 10 seconds is how to then engage the comedy and use that as the vehicle that drives it to keep people engaged and focused and attentive and just make the full experience more fun. So what would normally be quite procedural and drawn out in classic mentalism, I've really tried to modernize it by adding that energy.

Here’s the thing: If you were really going to read minds, you would be aware of the audience thinking, “This is getting a bit drawn out and lengthy,” and you would pick up the pace. So, I really think I've tried to add to it what I would want to see if I was in the audience and I've tried to create that … It’s very much that I am grateful these people are here, beyond spending money on a ticket, they’re giving their time to watch me, a guy from the middle of nowhere in a country they’ll probably never go to, share with them the thing they love most in life. And I don't take that lightly. That is a beautiful thing they’re giving me, and I want to make sure that it's spent in the most productive and amazing way it can be.

Is it hard to turn off the mentalist part of your brain in your day-to-day life?

There’s certain things, it’s like riding a bike. You do it so often you do it without even thinking. And there are certain things that I do that are just muscle memory for reading people for getting a sense of people but not in any sort of nefarious ways … I think there are certain things that I do now in day-to-day life just to connect with people better, and be more authentic and get people to open up and have real connections in life. I'm not sitting there working out everyone’s pin code every minute of every day; I could, but I don't. I use it to create fun, warm interactions constantly is what I aim for and that’s what I use it for in day-to-day life.

Having been here for nearly five years, you’re basically a local at this point. What’s your favorite local hot spot?

I love the Arts District. I only really discovered it when I moved more to that (area) ... You know, Esther's Kitchen, Makers & Finders, Cornish Pasty Co. It feels like this little hub away from the Strip, the intensity of the Strip that just feels like a more local, chill hangout area and, as an introvert at heart, I just love how much calmer it feels compared to the lights, the noise, the glitz and glamour of the strip.

What made the Harrah’s Cabaret the perfect room for you?

Over the years of performing with the illusionists and even with Shin, that room is over 1,000 people, and I can often feel like when people come to those shows, I feel like for most of those people they are watching a magic show, they're not part of the magic show. And I feel like when I do my shows I want everyone to feel like they're engaged in some way.

When I do test shows, it's usually 100-seater rooms and I turn up there and I love the connection I have with everyone. By the end it feels like you know each other. Everyone leaves having created this thing together, so I didn’t want to lose that … The layout of this room, the combination of cabaret and comedy club vibe, it just kind of fits me perfectly and I just thought if I'm going to come here and start my own Vegas career, I want it to be in this room. I saw Tape Face in here, and in the U.K. I very much followed his trajectory. If he was in a venue, usually the next year, he would move up and I would move into where he was. And the fact that (I’m) doing that here as well, I just feel lots of good vibes for moving into this space … Everything in here was meant to be. I love how intimate it feels, but also it feels Vegas. It’s perfect.

Harrah’s Las Vegas. ticketmaster.com

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