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The Heckler

about £35 (think i paid 37.50 for it... big mistake)

difficulty
i wouldn't go anymore than a 3 on it i don't think. i thought it was a bit more difficult at first but after a little practise it's fairly straight forward.

right... a review
1. a deck production: given that he in no way shows he hands empty first (and does keep them a bit hidden) i wouldn't class this as a production at all.
2. Card Switch. the way of gathering a single card for this is quite nice actually. although apart from that it's insanely basic
3.card under glass. nothing but misdirection. and his explanation of how to do a bottom palm is "do a bottom palm"
4. card through glass. What the DVD is all about! i was actually rather impressed with this section, it being the only bit i learnt something from, but made me feel like the price was way too excessive. i've felt i've had to teach this handling to a couple of magicians i've met as i now use it all the time. basically it goes: center DL, cull, palm. (mods: remove this if you wish). well worth learning. but not for 35quid!
5. card to.. a few places. i think the card to mouth bit is only thing you might find interesting on this.

also, the production values leave a lot to be desired. there's a lot of places where the video and the audio seem to be way out of sync. and at a couple of points you can hear tudor saying something like "are we ready to go?..." befor the explanation actually starts.

i did actually learn a bit in here that i've found to be VERY useful, but nothing that warrented the price of the DVD. i would've felt happy to have spent perhaps £20 on it. no more.

I agree that this is a poor quality product on so many levels.
First, the name. Although purporting to be about dealing with hecklers, it isn't really: the format is Brian Tudor performs close-up with a lairy individual. There're no audience manipulation techniques, for which you'd be better reading some of the threads on this forum.

The tricks themselves are competently performed, but performed far too quickly for the audience to really appreciate. I don't think the putative heckler really has a chance to understand that BT's hand is actually empty, and lo! it contains the signed card. If I were a cynic I'd say that he was under commercial pressures to deliver a product; it's not a terribly long tutorial and I'd have preferred at least two or three times the instruction.

Unfortunately, instruction is not Brian Tudor's strong suit: performer he may be (and let's face it, he certainly is), teacher he ain't (in my opinion, based on this DVD). For example, the first technique is 'deck production' in which a deck appears from an empty hand. Except it's not clear at all what's going on: I didn't realise at first that he was actually supposed to have an empty hand and wasn't just lifting up a deck from behind his back.

The instructions are pretty poor. For example "left hand raises to meet with right hand in front of stomach, as right hand rotates, left hand face down, right hand grabs deck ..." basically he's missing the prepositions or maybe just a little personality. Lasts about 40 seconds, after which I had to rewind three times to understand it. Maybe it would have been better if the explanations were not just speech over a video of the moves.

Card switch. It took three goes to understand that he's swapping a 4 clubs with 4 spades, at least I think that's what he's doing. Could actually be juggling pixies for all I can tell.

This isn't a tutorial (to be fair, none of the marketing actually says that it's a tutorial or that it's designed for anyone other than a skilled practitioner). It's an example of a routine using the "execute a cull", hold in a "mechanics grip" and execute a "DL" in the "swing cut postion" school of teaching (or barking, if you prefer).

And as far as it goes, it's admirable. Not worth nearly £30, but an admirable routine for inspection nonetheless and if you already understand how to perform the sleights, then you'll probably be able to interpret enough to incorporate into your own style.

I find that Brian goes way to fast on everything he does. It's like you said, you cannot even tell that he did a trick it's so fast.

is his magic effective at all on a non-magician audience?
even the guy in that video is like "yeah, whatever bitch". is he just not even taking himself seriously anymore?

Larry wrote:even the guy in that video is like "yeah, whatever bitch". is he just not even taking himself seriously anymore?

Maybe that's because of he is a heckler (or supposed to be)?

GaMeR wrote:

Larry wrote:even the guy in that video is like "yeah, whatever bitch". is he just not even taking himself seriously anymore?

Maybe that's because of he is a heckler (or supposed to be)?

walked into that one didn't i?

i mean it's like he's just saying "here, look, my magic isn't all that effective on regular people"

tudors style of teaching on this dvd is pretty poor... and the sound doesnt run with the video properly

but i love the routine... and trust me it does work on non-magicians... this routine looks really good even if it is not done as fast as tudor does it (not many people will be able to lol)

i think it is possible to have this whole routine down after you watch the explaination of each effect a few times and just practice them

if you are lookin for a face paced effective routine then this is for you

hope this helps anyone

Tudors manipulation skills are good he is no De'Vo but he incorperates the flourhies in to his magic very well but no he shouldnt be making teaching videos. If anyone saw Generation extreme they will understand.

Tudor uses a mono-tone cant be bothred voice all the way through . TAKE THE DECK IN THE LEFT HAND EXACUTE A ONE HANDED SHUFFLE. To ONE HAND SHUFFLE TAKE THE DECK AND SPLIT WITH INDEX CARDS WEAVE THEN BEND DOWNWORDS.

there is no hints or tips on how to this just a basic skelton on how to. It is pretty to look at all the cuts and that but not £35 pretty and you wont learn from tudor.

Not to mention his excessive use of the word "essentially"...

Steve

Thanks for the info....

But can people please please please use the review template as it makes it easier to get information at a glance!!

Tudor is the worst teacher. In showoff he was ok at best, cam across extremeley dull though..

After a huge ego boost he revetred to a way of teaching which is annoying more than anything!!

''left little finger gets break, third right finger to upper half of deck, split the deck, flip the deck.. yada yada yada!! ''

Not impressed!!!

From my Understanding he is not well liked in the XCM commuinty. I like his manipulations as I said above but the way he teachies is , dull and lifeless and dosent inspire confidance in people to go do this stuff.

Just FYI

If you really do need support with hecklers

there are several goof posts in the SUPPORT AND TIPS section of talk Magic

I can't see any trick package being useful

The first time I got this, I thought I bought a fake one because of the explanation. He's like reading...well, he really is reading the instructions that's why he speaks that way. Man, I was looking forward to this video before I bought this one. I thought this was a good video but heck, it's not.

The routine is great, but I don't like the way he explained it. He's not a good teacher. Anyway, Tudor is a master of his art. He's an expert in card manipulation. But puh-lease, he should not be doing instructional videos like this one. He should do it on how everybody does.

The routine is difficult. I'm not a fan of palming so maybe that's why.

i got this, and didn;t find a problem at all to learn form it. Then again, I brought it after I became quite proficiant at card handling.

I just looked at the video...didn;t listen to his explanation once. the editing is good in the fact that you can actually see what you have to do in the explanation, good enough to not warrent the speaking anyhow