It is hard to review this product because on one hand, there are some nice and funny possibilities with the prop, but on the other hand there are some not-so-great things about the DVD.

I will start with the prop itself. The quality appears to be very good and it comes with a removable key chain attached to it. It has an LED light on it and has two push buttons - one for the light and the other for the sound. The sound is a high-pitched alarm-type noise and has one volume: Loud. There is no master ON/OFF switch so if you toss this in a box or case with other objects, it could possibly be set off continually by those items and potentially drain the battery. I just point this out because it is a possibility and I have no idea how long it would take to drain the battery, which is replaceable when it eventually dies.

A quick side note: The prop has an LED light on it but nowhere on the video does Mr. Baxt show you any applications for the light. To my way of thinking, if you can build a prop that would glow when you pressed the light, it could be used instead of the sound part in venues where it would be just too loud. In that way, you would have a light-up lie detector.

The production quality of this video is not great. It looks like it was shot with an older video camera in a living room in front of a painted white wall. The lighting was just okay - again it looked like a living room production. The sound was iffy and of comparable quality to the video, but it was clear enough to understand him in the explanation sections. The performance clips though are another story - some of them had such poor quality audio and poor volume that it was difficult to hear or understand what was being said between him and the participant.

The DVD opens with Mr. Baxt giving a brief history on lie detectors and lie detector routines and utilizing still shots from various TV and theater shows, programs and other productions. While I did know some of the history, I still learned some new things and found it rather interesting.

Mr. Baxt then teaches you how (roughly) to construct the type of lie detector you see on the DVD case - a metal detecting wand that you see at security checkpoints all over the world. It is a rough outline of how to construct it and he includes a PDF copy of the "DETECTOR" template should you wish to replicate and use his style of lie detector.

He then shows a clip of a friend of his doing a lie detector on stage on a cruise ship with his original design. This clip looked like it was copied from and old video but the audio was clear enough to understand it and the video was pretty good. He then showed a YouTube clip from another friend of his which outlines his version of the wand-style lie detector. He does not give details but it is pretty easy to replicate it if you choose to do so. For being a YouTube clip, the video was good and the audio was clear. You then see a bunch of performance clips of Mr. Baxt performing his lie detector routine in various venues like private homes and banquet halls. He was using the same lines over and over in each clip, which got old after the second clip.

Mr. Baxt then gives you a few ideas on how to construct different types of lie detectors and in my opinion, the coolest one of them all was the Steampunk/Dr. Who Lie Detector Box. Others I would never use on my audience volunteer but rather on myself - one such example would be the spaghetti strainer hat with a bunch of coiled wires and a wiry head massager attached as an antenna.

He then talks about the 20+ pages of jokes, gags and lines that are contained in a PDF file on the disc and how to access them. The idea with the lie detector routine is kind of a Q&A format where you ask the participant a "predetermined" set of questions. To save you the trouble of memorizing any of them (which you can do if you like), you just print them out and put them on a clipboard.

Now one of the biggest problems I had with the material: I have no doubt that Mr. Baxt (and possibly others) have made some of these jokes/gags/lines work, but there are some that are so tasteless I would not even touch with a barge pole. Allow me to give a few examples: The first one is where he is performing with a kid about 6-8 years old: "Do you brush your teeth everyday?" "Yes." [BUZZZZZ] "Do you listen to your parents all the time?" "Yes." [BUZZZZZ] "Do you like doing chores?" "No." [no buzz] "Oh, that part was true! Do you like school?" "No." [no buzz] "Do you like your teacher?" "Yes." [BUZZZZ] "Do you LOVE your teacher?" "Yes." "Do you want to MARRY your teacher?" "No." [BUZZZZZ]

Now, I have no problems with lines like he used about your mother making him clean the toilet with his toothbrush, then asking if he brushes his teeth with the same one. What I do have an issue with in some settings is the whole "Like/love/want to marry your teacher." This day and age and in many areas, regardless of the "cute" response given the younger age, that can be a very taboo thing to talk about.

Another example: He is performing with an executive from a company who is retiring: "Did you like your boss?" "Yes." [BUZZZZZ] "Did you like your job?" "No." [no buzz] "Hmmm, interesting truth! Did you sleep with your boss to get this job?" "No." [BUZZZZZ] "Is that why you are retiring, because you got caught?" "No." [BUZZZZ] "They told me the company is $2,000,000.00 short this season and now you are retiring. Did you steal that money?" "No!" [BUZZZZZZZZZZZ].

Again, I am sure that in some settings that type of thing may be funny with the right people. I do not know about you, but I would never be caught dead going into a corporate show and humiliating someone like that in front of a crowd because face it, there is no other way to describe that other than with the word 'humiliating'.

There are even worse and more tasteless lines that are in the PDF for the choosing and to be fair, a couple of them come with a disclaimer of Mr. Baxt who does not recommend their use. Good on him, but why even bother putting them in there then? He does do a few clips where he uses some of the more tasteless lines in the living room setting.

Regardless of the cleanliness/dirtiness of the lines used and no matter how well-routined, the lie detector with an audience member fits into the category of "sucker" type magic - that is, the participant is often stung by the performer in some way. In most cases there are ways to take the sting off of them and put it back on you, which is what is recommended on the video at one point. In the PDF they give a few other suggestions as to how to present a lie detector routine, such as with a married couple. Some of the applications like that one have the potential to be very funny and you can even push the envelope a little bit without going too far. The point I am trying to make is to be respectful to those you are working with when deciding which lines/gags and jokes to use.

I gave this 2.5 stars because of the relatively poor DVD quality and for some of the terrible joke/line suggestions, but also the price point. $50 is way too high for this. I still believe that there is a lot of potential for great comedy with this prop, no matter how you choose to use it, just as long as you know the limits for the venue(s) and situation(s) in which it is used.