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The mind reader who can't read minds, eh. That's the curiously contradictory claim made by the sparky and, indeed, sparkly (just look at his shoes) Chris Cox, who's heading Berkshire-way with his new show Control Freak.

But the phrase stuck to become his tagline and, as he explains, "it kind of works".

"I believe it to be impossible to read minds and I know I can't read minds," says the 24-year-old, "but what I can do is give the impression that I can read your mind through a mix of magic, psychology, neuro linguistic programming and reading body language, subliminal messaging, devilish good looks - and a lot of lying!"

After selling out his entire run and winning the Zebra Award at the 2007 Edinburgh Festival, Chris, whose daily job is producing Nihal on Radio One, is embarking on an 18-date tour that takes in the Reading Comedy festival, plus dates in Maidenhead and Newbury.

He looks at how fate and chance are mysteries of the universe.

Control Freak: a lot to ponder about

The press release reads: 'He's worked out that there are rules to the universe, and if you learn those rules you can control the universe'.

By removing the audience's free will and controlling them without them knowing it Chris, who started off with a Paul Daniels magic kit aged six, attempts to prove that he can make it look like he can read their minds.

Fans of Derren Brown may recognise a familiar streak here.

"Derren's shows are so good but mine is a very different style of doing the same sort of thing," says Chris. "We use virtually the same techniques but mine is more light-hearted and fun compared to his quite scary dark sinister version of it."

"I try and give away as much as possible," he continues. "Early on you'll see me do this trick where I go through it step by step and show you exactly how I'm getting the answers each time; how what bit of the body is revealing it, and what I'm saying to confuse the person into revealing it."

Listen to an example of this technique here:

But apart from the wow factor trickery there is also a philosophical side to Control Freak.

Chris Cox at the Edinburgh Fringe 2008

Chris will be looking at the 'what if' moments in life, seeing if everything happens for a reason and trying to work out how all those little things about our lives add up to turn us into the person we are.

The thinking behind this aspect of the show is more sinister than anything Derren Brown could concoct:

"In January last year I got mugged," Chris says. "Four guys pinned me up against the wall and just took all my stuff. It was horrible and it changed my life. I moved out of London, I don't like walking around on my own anymore.

"But I got obsessed about how I'd stopped just at the other end of the road to say hello to a friend to have a bit of a chat.

See Chris in Reading on 10 October 2008.

"Normally I'm just the kind of person who'd wave and keep walking, and I worked out that if I hadn't stopped I'd be walking down the road two minutes earlier, and therefore probably would have been with more people and not have been mugged."

He adds: "Everyone's got one of those 'what if' moments. It's that idea of: is there such a thing as fate and chance? And if there is, can we control it?

"Throughout the show the audience have a chance to affect their life by making decisions which may mean they leave the show two minutes earlier or two minutes later.

"My idea is that I never just want it to be a collection of tricks.

"I want there to be some meaning to it, some weight, some gravitas - something you can think about afterwards."