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I was doing a party for some kid, and he turned out to be a right little bu**er. He pretty much ruined the entire show, screwing around and telling poeple how he thought the trick was done. He got it wrong all the time, but still, that's wrong. Has this happened to anyone else, and what did you do to stop the bu**er, if indeed you did.

I was at a magic lecture of Seabrook's a couple of years ago and he had this trick which he done for kids where he placed two clear tumblers with silks inside them open end down on a tray, and when he turned the tray upside down the tumblers stuck to the tray and he was able to pull the silks out without the tumblers falling off. (the kids go, oooooh!!!!)
I wont go into the mechanics of the trick but you'll probably know what I'm talking about.
Anyway this one time he did'nt have the prop with him so he decided to fassion the prop using drawing pins stuck to the tray. the trick worked perfect but this one kid kept nagging and being a general pain in the backside, so when he lead the kid off the stage he give him a slight tap on the *rse with the tray (drawing pins pointing out) just to hurry him up so he could get on with the show. After this shock to the kid he never said a word and for the rest of the showhe sat at the back silently in shock.

Andy Clockwise has a good way of dealing with troublesome boys during his shows. I think I mentioned it in the Ipswich convention thread - but as it seems relevant I will repeat it here.

Basically he does the "Baffling Bra" trick on the boy - then repeatedly refers to him as "Bra Boy" through out the rest of the show.

(Its got to be better than sticking drawing pins in him surely?)

I was lucky enough to meet Terry Seabrooke about a month ago and he was really interested in encouraging me to do more stuff in magic....hes even going to send me some props through soon!!!

theres several contributions about hecklers and difficult kids by yours truly a search for heckler will get you lots of advice and relevent links.
(search link is next to faq on top line of index).

Okyeah, maybe drawing pins are a little bit harsh, what about thumb traps then?

imagine if you will a pestering kid trying to expose how the trick is done:
then you say "the boy who knows everything!!(point-pause) apart from who his true father is"

perhaps not too great but could be fun

ok ok at the risk of repeating myself, for this type of heckler call him on stage and say this child is the formost expert on magic and we are proud to have him monitoring this humble show please give him the round of aplause he disearves.

lead the applause and when you think his ego is suficiantly massaged go for the kill, ok tom isnt it, please take this length of rope, were going to do the classic cut and restored rope trick, i know your aware of thousands of variations but lets stick to the kensington classic one ok.

ok make your loop and i will cut it for you, (classic do as i do trick).
okey my learned friend please disolve your knot, i think you did it up a bit tight, undo it as i disolve mine you move your not off the end of rope, he is left with two ropes.

tom I'm so sorry to have embarased you on stage like this i was convinced that you were the renowed expert on magic please give tom a round of aplause for his embarassment, so sorry tom, heckler is now deseased.

my other favourate and more direct is to get tom on stage and say i've already been paid regardless of how much magic i do so you take over for me wile i have a coffee break, leave him on stage with a piece of rope and a wand go off stage and wait for him to be booed off and you asked to carry on.

remember your paid to do a show not take abuse, make sur you know what policy is in place for disruptive children and adults, its not your problem.

i've already been paid regardless of how much magic i do so you take over for me wile i have a coffee break, leave him on stage with a piece of rope and a wand go off stage and wait for him to be booed off and you asked to carry on.

While i always try never to embarass anyone while performing magic, desperate times call for desperate measures. I always find a £20 note slipped into their jacket pocket keeps them quiet for a bit. My little cousin once took the liberty of shouting out rediculous ways of how i was doing a trick and really put me off. I couldn't kill him as my aunt was watching, well that and it's illegal, so i just let him help me with another trick and make him look good. He settled down after that.However, I must start using this behave or beware thing. Sounds absolutely hillarious.

my points were concerned with the comercial side, but i suppose as there family then you could always go for a restraining order to show your love .

Disco man. And I'll try that "Be nice, then destroy him tactic".

Isnt this why they invented cattle prods ?

talking of cattle prods, i used to have a pair of inocently looking white gloves attached to a static generater, this allowd me to do a version of the electric chairs or static handshake on the said heckler.
it was always of great amusement to see him wince as i shook his hand or touched his shoulder or his chair, he always left confused and a little sheepish about heckaling me again.

and if he chalenged me on it i just said it must be your high fassion clothes that you sheep ware thats causeing the static, see everyone else is ok.

Well now on the subject of troublesome kids I would like to tell you about the worst party I every attended (and don't forget this all happened on the same occasion!!!):

We (I used to perform as a duo with my wife) turned up for a show across town, arriving early as our show takes 45 mins to set up. The hall was locked and there was two people in another car waiting outside. I spoke to them to ask if they had the key and they said they didn't as they were the entertainers for the party!

I then called the client who said she was running late and what were the other people doing there as she had told their agent they were cancelled!

The client arrives 10 mins before the party is due to start! Tells us we are the ones who she booked and then starts a blazing row with the other act (they had travelled from Brighton to South London for this job!!!).

We start setting up our show and she comes up to us, plonks a box full of decorations in our hands and says she forgot the key to the kitchen and can we put the decorations up while she goes to get it!

So, mum's gone there's no-one else here apart from the birthday boy and us! Our show needs another 30 mins to set up, we have a box of f*****g decorations, AND now the guests are arriving!

Luckily a couple of the mums help us put up the decorations. That is until one little f%*@g , dressed appropriately in commando gear, starts ripping the decorations down. When we tried to stop him one of his friends told us that his dad had just died and he'd gone completely 'off the rails'

Wait....

....it gets worse!

We start with our musical games and after a few minutes one of the mums comes up to us and says can we turn the music down as they can't hear themselves talk! Soooooo, after reminding her that we were here to entertain the children, we tried a quiet game, only to get the same mother come up to us and say can't we play a different game as this one was boring! Now I have to say, my wife is not as diplomatic as me with people skills and I had to literally 'step into the ring' to stop the fight.

Finally the break came and it was time to get ready for the magic show. I went into the kitchen where I was hiding my rabbit. And just before I could finish loading him into his box the birthday boy walks in and spots what I was doing. I decide to use some psycology on him and tell him that we are going to make him look like a genius magician and ask if he can keep a secret. He says yes, but as soon as I walk back into the hall he just points at the box and says "The magician's got a rabbit in that box!" Ohhhhhh what a little br*t!

Hah!!

Is that enough?

No....?

.....you want more?

Half way through our show as it is picking up momentum the same little br*t stands up, with no hint, or prompting, and says "Everybody SREEEEEAM!" and proceeds to give an almighty high pitched, nails on blackboard style, scream. Well as it was his birthday, and we knew he just wanted attention, we thought we would wait it out. 30 seconds, 60 seconds, after a couple of minutes it wasn't funny anymore, and after 5 minutes I just closed my case and walked out, with my wife saying that "The magician will not return unless one of the mums decided to do something!" Suddenly the mums finally stopped talking to each other and somehow the boy stopped misbehaving and I came in and finished the show.

The silver lining ...

... we got a big tip from the lady at the end!!!

I must say, although on the day I just wanted to give up and never entertain children again, but looking back I now have the calm and confidence to tackle any situation as I Know that nothing could be as bad as that show!

regards,

and you would be wrong.

in my experience this happens more often than not and most parents are as good at organising things as a chocalate teapot, my humble advise is to check before hand who is to deal with disruptive children and to make it quite clear that there is an additional charge for interuptions and special needs children, this usualy steels the organiser into some kind of action regarding disruption and hecklers.
also make sure you have a secure area to set up your boxes as there is two of you then the kitchen can be a no go area for five minuets guarded by your lovely wife.
being paid in advance with a no refund policy certainly helps the party organisers take you seriousely.

i myself need set up time and even though i state there is no setup fee, i do state that if the venue is late opening or my setup is interupted with other chores then a fee will be incured.
i have found that thease rules have not effected my bookings rather they have been enhanced because it makes me appear to be more proffessional, ok iv'e l;ost some bookings but thoughs are usualy the badly organised ones like your post demonstrated and though's we can all do without.