Comedy psychic Ian D Montfort stunned an room when he identified a man in his audience who had died and come back to life.

During the recording of his forthcoming Radio 2 series, Montfort – the creation of comedian Tom Binns – chatted to a South American man in the studio, who he determined was called Eduardo.

And then, to audible gasps, he worked out that Eduardo had been virtually dead for three days in January last year, but had come back from ‘the other side’.

He explained: ‘I woke up after eight days in a coma. And for he last three days I was just kept alive by the machines. And on the 16th of January last year, I just woke up, after an amazing experience on the other side.’

As Montfort, Binns uses the ‘cold reading’ techniques of stage psychics to make a joke of their shtick, while also being able to surprise the audience with his insights gathered from close observation of their reactions.

During the recording of his Radio 2 series Ian D Montfort Is Unbelievable – which airs from February 7 at 9.30pm – Binns correctly ascertains Eduardo’s name, then says: ‘I’m sure I’ve met you before... I was on stage in Skegness, and we talked then. 2012. Wait a minute, though. You weren’t in the audience. Eduardo, was there anything significant that happened to you in 2012?’

‘Err, yes,’ Eduardo replies

‘I’ve got like a three-day period...’

‘That’s right, yes’

‘...in 2012. You talked to me while I was on stage in Skegness, But you weren’t in Skegness. Eduardo, have you passed?

‘Yes, I have.’

‘And then three days later...’

‘I came back’

‘Is that right?’

‘Yes’

‘So for three days in 2012 you died, essentially, and you came through to me in Skegness.’

Binns – who also performs in the character of inept hospital radio DJ Ivan Brackenbury – insists the exchange was not set up, and that the production team were not aware of Eduardo’s past. He applied for his ticket from BBC Audiences Services in the normal way.

Binns said: “He came with about six friends who were all astonished when Ian D Montfort "made a connection with him". It was a year to the day that he "died"

‘It’s incredible. My instincts were to go, "What the f%uck, stop the show this shits getting too real" but fortunately I needed to stay in character as Ian D Montfort and he's much calmer about this kind of thing as he deals with situations like this all the time.’

Hear the exchange below:

Published: 25 Jan 2013