talkmagic.co.uk

Paul is playing the brighton fringe festival.

SamGurney wrote:I have to admit, someone asking you to 'do some mind games on me' or 'show me a trick magic boy' can be extremley vexing at the wrong time, but I'd never talk to someone like that, I usual find 'No I'm busy, thanks' works just fine .
But, 'Go on!! ' = instantaneous death following my psychological medusa stare, followed by an my hollywood movie line 'hows that for a mind game? '
Anyhow... ( ) Totally out of order, but still- he has a point: you don't go up to someone and ask them to do their job for your entertainment, I wouldn't go 'Hey! Gordon Brown- could you spend my money for me?' or 'David Cameron- could you insult Gordon Brown for me?'

i like paul zenon and enjoy his tv magic very much. it's a shame he is so rude, but i have had something happen to me like that.

i was out in a local harvester with my wife and children and when my wife took my son to the salad bar he started talking to another boy there whose birthday it was. the child mentioned that he had a magician last year at his party and my son told him that his dad was a magician and pointed to me.

next thing i know there are 12 children standing around my table chanting "magic! magic!" as i am trying to butter my bread, so i did a few tricks for them which they enjoyed. when the main course came i thanked them for coming over and said i was having my dinner now. i felt rather pleased with myself and happy i had made some childs birthday special.

as i started to tuck into my dinner (i was very hungey) a big fellow with tattoos came over and pointed to his wife and kid sitting nearby and said "do some magic for my boy?" i told him politly that i wasnt there to perform that night and was out to have dinner, but when i had finished would show him a couple of tricks. the man said "no NOW!" and i firmly said i was eating, then he started saying that i didn't think his kid was good enough and swearing at me. my wife said to me that if i did the kind of things derren brown did this kind of thing wouldn't happen. paul zenon would have dealt with it far better than i

stab him in the nuts with the butter-knife!

Eddie Booth wrote: as i started to tuck into my dinner (i was very hungey) a big fellow with tattoos came over and pointed to his wife and kid sitting nearby and said "do some magic for my boy?"

At least he didn't reveal your methods.

IAIN wrote:stab him in the nuts with the butter-knife!

Tea everywhere when i read that!

I think both parties were rude in the Paul Zenon incident. There is a world of difference in shyly and hopefully requesting someone do a trick and rudely demanding it. But Zenon was wrong in his reply. Dreadfully wrong in fact.
Can anyone imagine the late David Nixon replying like that? He still might not have performed but he would have smiled and made some kind of polite excuse.

I have seen instances of fans being horrified by celebrities acting like this and then they are no longer fans. I have seen it with Tommy Cooper and Al Goshman. People who idolised them being turned off them in an instance of rudeness.

I personally always perform if someone asks me. I have a very odd attitude which is personal to myself. I don't expect anyone else to understand it and certainly not to emulate it. I feel it my DUTY to perform if anyone asks. I feel that I MUST. It is the reason I took up magic in the first place. It is what I do and what I am.

But that is me and me alone. I don't expect anyone else to follow this obsessive philosophy. But even so I would still have been irritated by someone "demanding" that I do magic as if I am a performing seal. I would still do it but the irritation would have still been there.

Personally I feel that approaching a recognised magician at a bar and asking him to perform is appalling behaviour. An autograph, fine, but a performance? Would anyone consider, upon a chance meeting with their favourite singer, asking him/her to do a quick turn at your dinner table? Not on your life.
What Paul said in that exchange is absolutely right, sadly though he said it in an alarmingly rude and aggressive way.
I'm reminded of an interview I read with Kelly Jones, lead singer of The Stereophonics in which he discussed meeting fans. I can't find the actual interview to quote him directly but in essence he said that no matter how rubbish a day you're having, no matter how bad a mood you may be in, to that fan the 2 minute meeting with you may well be the highlight of their year. It's your duty as their idol to treat them well, putting aside any personal 'issues' you may be experiencing at that time.

Excellent point Van der belt:

Even if the magician doesn't want to perform - you can still make the fan feel appreciated, arn't we supposed to be masters of distraction and audience manipulation? So distract the request with a a few questions and refocus attention by letting them take a photograph, then do a simple effect that finishes with them getting an autograph.

If you are a famous performer that gets pestered a lot then surely you should come up with a way with dealing with it in a charming manner - just as you have ways with dealing with hecklers and tricks that go wrong.