The Life of Jim Karol
“Mind Over Man” Jim Karol is recognized for his incredible memory and unusually high brain capacity, due to years of brain training. Eschewing the word “magic” and embracing the science of brain power instead, Karol’s feats must be seen to be believed. From celebrities to corporate clients to hundreds of audience members at a time, people can’t describe the awe-inspiring experience of seeing Karol perform his feats live.
Voted the World’s Greatest Mentalist at the World Magic Awards, he has entertained millions globally via events and TV appearances, including “The Rosie O’Donnell Show,” “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno,” “The Ellen DeGeneres Show,” “The Howard Stern Show” and NBC’s “TODAY Show.” Karol was chosen as a contestant on NBC’s “Phenomenon” and assisted in creating some of the ideas in the movie "Jackass Number Two," in which he had a cameo.
Karol has earned two Guinness World Records, and he has toured the country with Guinness. In his live shows, Karol performs such feats as memorizing a shuffled deck of playing cards in less than a minute and identifying information about audience members. He’s known for his high energy, sense of humor, infectious personality and passion for teaching others how to tap into their mental potential.
Born April 10, 1953, Karol was raised in Allentown, Pa. Tough times quashed Karol’s aspirations of becoming a policeman, and he found himself working at a steel mill. While there, Karol was inspired by “The Mighty Atom,” a man who could bend spikes with his bare hands. Karol quickly learned how to bend spikes, too. Married, with one child and another on the way, Karol was laid off. He opened a magic shop in his home with a loan from his father and began studying mentalism and card tricks, such as throwing playing cards. “A deck of cards changed my life,” he says.
When his wife was pregnant, Karol took over her Avon route and entertained customers with his card skills, receiving rave responses. At the age of 29, he performed his first shows for Avon and for the Boy Scouts in Allentown. Around the same time, the street performer Cellini was astounded by Karol’s feat “the trap,” during which he inserts his hand into a steel, double-jawed animal trap and withdraws it unharmed, so Cellini invited Karol to perform with him in New York. “That was the thrill of my life,” he says. “I knew I was meant to do this.” Word of Karol’s unusual talents spread across Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and he began entertaining throughout the region. After performing at colleges nationwide, Karol started headlining at comedy clubs and casinos.
Biography
Previously called “The Wild and Wacky Jim Karol,” he earned the moniker “Psychic Madman” at age 37 for an awe-inspiring prediction. On Nov. 8, 1990, Karol dreamed someone was thanking him for predicting the Pennsylvania State Lottery Daily Number for Dec. 22, “222.” Karol told his audiences, and dozens played his numbers—and won. That day, he received 67 voicemails, including the exact message he heard in his dream. Karol’s prediction cost the state more than $12 million, and officials changed the rules for the Daily Number lottery that day. The story drew national attention, and individuals began flocking to Karol, begging him to help them win the lottery. In the interests of his wife and children, Karol and his family moved to upstate New York, and Karol stepped out of the limelight for 10 years.
In 2000, Karol picked up his career where he left off. He earned a Guinness World Record for throwing a playing card 201 feet, and Guinness approached him to go on a national tour. On that tour, Karol met a producer for “The Rosie O’Donnell Show.” Because the producer was initially unconvinced of Karol’s talents, Karol asked him to pick a card from a deck and place it face-down on a table. Karol then had the man call Karol’s 8-year-old son, who was at home across the country. The boy then correctly identified the man’s card, and the producer immediately booked Karol for the show, which was his first national television appearance.
At age 49, Karol was diagnosed with cardio myopathy and an enlarged heart. “I went on a complete turnaround,” he says about the strict diet and exercise regimen he adopted, which included many dull hours on the treadmill and stationary bike. Looking to entertain himself while working out, Karol began playing memory games.
The more Karol practiced, the sharper his memory became, and he soon began memorizing 100 digits of Pi a day. “I knew I was onto something,” he says. Karol has since learned enormous amounts of information, including 80,000 zip codes, every word in the “Scrabble Dictionary” and the day of the week for every date since the beginning of the calendar.
Not only did his mental functioning improve even as he aged, but, after 10 years of his healthy new lifestyle, Karol’s heart problems disappeared. At age 60, Karol lifts weights and plays full-court basketball regularly, also crediting his consumption of dark chocolate and Advil (for anti-inflammatory purposes) for his peak condition. “I stumbled upon the fountain of mental youth,” he says. “And, physically, I feel 25.”
He recently was appointed the celebrity spokesperson for the International Brain Research Foundation, whose research discovered that Karol’s brain has reached unusually high levels—three standard deviations from average. The IBRF is just one of many organizations that has approached Karol to study his unique cognitive functioning.
Over the years, Karol has used his brain training techniques to help wounded soldiers, autistic children and struggling high school students in his hometown. He’s even teaching his young grandchildren how to memorize significant amounts of data. “I’ve taught a lot of people,” he says. “First, I need to motivate people and ignite their passion to learn. Then I can make it happen.”
Karol is the author of three books, “The Psychic Madman,” “50 Ways to Hustle Your Friends” and “Useless Memory Skills.” He has performed for myriad of celebrities including Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Carmen Electra, Steven Tyler and Jenny McCarthy, and his corporate clients include Coca-Cola, AT&T, McDonald’s and Sears. He hopes that his bootstrap success story will inspire others to reach their full potential: “You can have anything you want in life if you put your mind to it and don’t give up.”
© 2013 by JIM KAROL. All rights reserved.
