OXFORD – Even now, The Amazing Kreskin knows what you’re thinking.

He’ll prove that to you at The Lyric Oxford, when the legendary mentalist, thought-reader and hypnotist performs two shows on Friday.

Kreskin has hundreds of TV appearances and thousands of performances under his belt.

“Last year, around the world I did 261 appearances. I’m on the road all the time,” Kreskin said in a phone interview with the Daily Journal. “So far I’ve flown a little over 3 million miles.”

Kreskin first made a name for himself in the 1970s and has kept busy since. He’s appeared on Regis Philbin’s talk show more than 100 times, on Johnny Carson’s “The Tonight Show” 88 times – more than any other guest – and David Letterman’s show so often that “I can’t even think of the number,” he said.

When times are tough, he said, folks become more interested in what he does.

“One of the reasons I think I’ve been so extraordinarily busy is, historically, during wars, during true depressions, the public seems to show a great interest in the areas of life that deal with more of the metaphysical,” Kreskin said. “No one has the answers. I don’t have the answers to everything. Science and politics don’t seem to be answering everything in life.”

One of his most famous tests, which he’ll do at both Lyric Oxford shows, is his check test. Kreskin asks members of the audience to escort him out of the building, while other members of the audience hide his check for the show. He returns and asks those who hid his check to concentrate on the check’s hiding place, and if he can’t read their thoughts and find his check, he forfeits his fee.

“That’s a hell of a way to make a living,” he said, laughing. “My career is like an adventure.”

At one show, the audience hid the check on the roof of one man’s mouth.

At a dinner with Bob Hope and Walter Cronkite, the check was hidden with the food – inside the stuffed turkey, in fact.

“I can still feel the sensation today of thrusting my hand into the stuffing in the turkey,” he said. “Boy, have I given your readers a lot of diabolical ideas.”

sheena.barnett@journalinc.com