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You are the magician. You need to be the one in control. I personally would never perform a specific effect that somebody may ask for unless it is my wife. Everybody else I am suspect of, if they have seen the effect before and are familiar enough with it to request it then performing it for them would be a lesson, not entertainment. Also because I'm suspect I feel that they would be pitting me against another magician. I will never put myself knowingly in that situation. If they saw another magician perform you can say something like, hey that must be my buddy you saw, doesn't he do that wonderfully? In fact he performs that one much better then I so here let me show you something a little different. Nor do I reward rude behaviour and when somebody pesters me after I've said no. Then I would force a card that says shut the explitive up...of course I actually use the explitive.

What a d***!
Never had it happen to me but I can see that must have been a pain.

At least you werent doing a bullet catch, that would have hurt "prestige" style.

A way to maintain control of the specs and keep them on your side is to point out that you are not in a contest, you want to entertain them but they have to allow you to do that.

I also fond that pointing out it;s a trick and that they have to let it happen works and if it's the right sort of spectator you could try telling them it would be very easy for them to make you look a complete fool.

While forcing cards with rude words on is an option, I think it's better to use tactics that keep the specs on your side. There have been times when performing in pubs to rowdy drunkards that I've found the above tactics to be very effective and what were initially awkward spectators ended up screaming and shouting that I was a freak (or words to that effect).

Best wishes
Gary

After I performed for family on New Year's Eve, my cousin Robert (who is a good-natured but extremely cheeky soul) remarked with some humour that he'd like to mess up a magician's trick in order to "see what the magician would do".

I replied that magicians learn to avoid picking the sorts of people that do that sort of thing, and he suggested that in that case he should come to a performance dressed in his clerical robes (he is an ordained church minister).

I'm sure he wouldn't really interfere with a public performance, provided there are other people in the audience beside himself that want to be entertained, but in a one-to-one demonstration I definitely wouldn't put it past him.

I'll say this for Robert, though: he would definitely not be motivated by a desire to feel superior. Cheekiness and curiousity, yes, pride, no.

Oh dear. Suggest to cousin Robert that he re-reads the Scriptures, looking especially for the bits which may have been changed somewhat over the years. For example, the original passage which says:

Exodus 8.7 - Yea verily, it shall be a sin to deliberately screw up a magician's repertoire, the magicians will with their enchantments, bring up frogs upon the land.

I remember i was involved in a similar incident.

This is what i said: "Damn, that's the second time a spectator has ruined my trick. One time i got someone to pick a card and then lost it in the deck, i gave him my deck to shuffle. Unbeknown to me, he had shuffled the deck face up into face down and gave it back to me....bla, bla, bla..."

Basically, just switch to a Triumph routine. Or check out Emerge Triumphant by Oz and use his patter.

Or you could always just make the deck disappear while holding only one card - gets great reactions as a little finisher, Michael Ammar style.

What did he prove anyway? As you know you learn from mistakes, tricks aren't infallible, something can always go wrong and embarrasses the heck out of you.


You're gonna be thankful for that screwup someday when you realize how much it taught you. ♫♫So don't worry, and be happy!♫♫

Gary Dickson wrote:A way to maintain control of the specs and keep them on your side is to point out that you are not in a contest, you want to entertain them but they have to allow you to do that.

I also fond that pointing out it;s a trick and that they have to let it happen works and if it's the right sort of spectator you could try telling them it would be very easy for them to make you look a complete fool.

While forcing cards with rude words on is an option, I think it's better to use tactics that keep the specs on your side. There have been times when performing in pubs to rowdy drunkards that I've found the above tactics to be very effective and what were initially awkward spectators ended up screaming and shouting that I was a freak (or words to that effect).



Best wishes
Gary

Just so you all know, I was joking about the force card thing. I put professionalism before all else. I do know of a magician who does use this tactic in a bar.

Trust your instincts!!! You obviously felt that something wasn't right because you said no to start with and then let his nagging get the better of your judgment. If someone is overly eager to see a specific trick or effect, say no and offer to show them an alternative effect.

You will always find A-Holes out there who are so insecure in themselves that they need to make themselves feel important by making other people look bad.

Crowd / Spectator control is hopefully something you can draw out of this bad experience.

Personally I wouldn't let it get to you, and wouldn't sink to his level trying to show him up. It generally isn't worth it.

cymru1991 wrote:Everyone sniggers quietly apart from one girl who was next to me. HE SWITCHED THE DAMN CARDS.

Dude, that A-hole aside you probably want to try asking that girl out, the fact that she didn't laugh shows that she probably likes you...

On the subject of 'Some Flippin' people' I had a great one on Saturday just gone.
There I was at a gig doing some walk around and doing quite nicely until I approached a trio (2 girls, 1 guy). I introduced myself and as soon as I said the word "magic" one of the girls (in mid 20's) said "I wont watch it" and preceded to fold her arms and turn her back on me, refusing to turn around.
The other two in the group didn't seem to keen either but agreed to see something quick so I showed crazy mans handcuffs to very blank faces.

I thanked them for their time and wished them a good evening....again to no reaction or acknowledgement. So I walked off to continue my work. Some people are both strange and rude.They could have just said they weren't interest.

In that situation where people aren't interested you can always try this;

"Ok, so you don't want to see any magic. Well I will show you one trick and one trick only, the Amazing Vanishing Magician! have a good evening" and walk away, at least this way they will be smiling.

One thing to remember is that although we all clearly love magic that it really isn't everyone's cup of tea and if people don't want to see it you're better off walking away.

I think more to the point is my continuing bemusment at how a certain minority of people can be so rude.
When you are paid as a professional magican to perform walkaround you must always expect at some point people are not going to like what you do or flatly refuse but at the same time there is absolutely no need to communicate that fact by being rude, childish and aggressive unless approached in the same fashion.
The funny thing is that the guy who hired me told me to tell the people in question to 'fornicate off ' (I'm paraphrasing but you get the idea) which would be a satisfying thing to do but at the sametime wholly unprofessional. It is far better to be doubly polite and wish them a good evening and move on to a group that does appreciate the act.

Finally I always used to dwell on such occasions as these and would always mull them over on my way home but it is slightly counterproductive. On a whole most performances will go down well with the crowd and it is these you should dwell on and feel positive about these. However it is also constructive to look at the problem crowds as a learning experience and both learn from them and to use them as a confident booster (think 'well approaching this group over here cant be as bad as that time when....').

Don't worry about it dude, but as a practical tip, I pretty much never do tricks that involve turning my back and asking them to follow instructions! There are lots of these in books etc. but I just think it's asking for trouble, it must be so tempting for a lot of people to do mess around, put the card in their pocket etc...

Seems funny I'm sure as they're doing it, it's only at the end that they realise how lame it is and that it would have been far more entertaining to let you do the trick properly.