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While doing some tricks on Saturday night this really cocky annoying total amateur tried to "muscle in". I was on a real roll with an appreciative group of specs when he grabbed a deck and did a couple of completely rubbish tricks. VERY ANNOYING!!! I'm normally pleased to meet other magicians and swap a few ideas, but this guy was a total pain.

So...

All he seemed to be able to do was use a key card on the bottom of the deck to find someone's selection after a cut. So when he tried this on me I did a fancy cut and p**med the key card! Much hilarity ensued as he hunted in vain for it!

Has anyone else encountered this sort of bad behaviour and how did you handle it?

TheStoner wrote: So when he tried this on me I did a fancy cut and p**med the key card! Much hilarity ensued as he hunted in vain for it!

You just lowered yourself to his level by doing that - in my opinion anyway

I'd have to agree with Mark.
Let him have his 5 minutes of fame. If you can't make him look like a fool by performing better effects, it's back to the drawing board.

But but but...

He muscled in when I was on a roll with some specs. Surely that makes him "the bad guy"? Especially as he was rubbish and just grabbed my deck. I really can't see that this is acceptable behaviour on his part.

Yea... it takes a much bigger man to let the little people of the world to have their time to shine, for many of them it is the the closest they will come to any sort of "feeling a part" as it were. Too, from a "Public Relations" point of view, such kindnesses will go a very long way in delivering to you strong, positive word of mouth by those you show such grace to... No One likes a smart ass

Im afraid thats what its like in the trenches as a professional. What if someone had been sat there thinking of booking you, then seen you act like that and completely changed their mind about you.

As Lenoir said - if you cant give him his moment then better him with something else, then id go back to Royal Road.


This isnt a personal judgement, just my opinion from the professionl side of things. Even if you arent professional, you should always act professional.


Mark

The trouble is that magic is often seen as a battle of wits. This mind-set is to be avoided at all costs. At weddings one often encounters drunken young men who insist on showing me (and the rest of their table) mind-numbingly awful card tricks involving counting cards and naming which row the card is in. I let them get on with it. I would never dream of purposely ruining their "trick". I rise above it, smile nicley, tell them how much I enjoyed their demonstration, and move on.

from experience, some magicians always get excited and do tricks over yours - for instance, they start a trick really quickly after you

john milner told me to carry a cheap deck of cards and give them those

i've had people mark my cards with their nails, etc

now if people ask, i just say "no"

it upsets people, but hey, i don't care

tell them "no"

do you know why? because one day you will get the "52 card pickup"

Ah yes; I was at a dinner party where someone did the old cycling court-cards, everyone gets married trick. And apparently she knew how OOTW worked. I was well behaved about it, and it kind of demonstrated to me that, to that particular spec at least, there wasn't all that much distance between the two effects.

The "battle of wits" thing is probably why I enjoy spectator as magician effects so much. There's an effect up on Cardopolis at the moment which involves getting the spec to cut to a crimp, and the suggestion is to really motivate the spec to succeed. When you do this, the battle of wits really can fly out of the window.

Even though you are inwardly seething at the disrespectful attitude, take a deep breath, smile nicely and let him have his few minutes of glory. You can scream and curse as much as you like in private afterwards and you'll have the satisfaction of knowing you were the better person - something he can never know. I also agree with you that he's probably a total @rse .

The thing is if this guy had said "can I do a trick or two" I'd have happily said yes. But he literally grabbed the deck out of my hands. That is not acceptable behaviour.

Like I said, a total @rse. Sadly you get no points for taking him down a peg or two......

I was once that annoying spec, I mean I didn't grab the cards out of the guys hands but watched him, appluaded him then asked if he minded if i showed him something.

I chose to do a particularly strong card effect using the extractor I had in my pocket which floored him and his spectators. I got a cracking round of applause but you know what?

I felt like the c**t I was right after. I bought him a drink and had a good old chat and sit down with him. He was a great guy and if I could go back in time I would never repeat what I did that day.

If I get asked the other way around I double check they're not going to use 21 cards and let them have some fun showing me something and as Paul said congratulate them and move on.

I think you should always come across as polite, courteous and friendly - but personally I have no problem with engineering something that, without the others knowing, lands the Rude looking even more of a fool - like your palming of his key card, which I think was quite funny Harry Robson mentions a situation in which a young upstart basically thrust a deck under his nose and demanded he prove himself with a trick - he did his version of torn and restored which destroys two cards - I hope the lad learned his lesson (they were probably "Guardians" or something )

But frankly, if they've interrupted and their magic is not as impressive as yours (it's usually not), they'll already be looking a fool.

I think the problem comes when you're doing magic for obviously quite a close-knit group, and there is one guy who's obviously the group joker/clown, who everyone else thinks is "a right old laugh - Dave's just crazy!" - sure you know the sort. You might then find that even if your magic is better, because they know this fellow, no one seems to mind him being rude, and they may well all find it hilarious watching him @rse around. In this situation, just smile and make your exit.

But overall, do remember - if you can get them on your side, with a spec as magician trick or something, just like the naughty kid in class you'll have someone who is going to rave about you and buy you drinks all night.

Edit: way to drop the C-bomb on TalkMagic, Agecroft

I usually just make sure they don't be a t*** by asking "You're not gonna do 52 card pickup are you?" in a jokey manner first, then let them use the cards. From time to time you see some rather nice stuff, and I'm (wo)man enough to know I'm rubbish when they out-do me