talkmagic.co.uk

You should have allowed him his moment of glory

WHY? Bejesus.

I do agree with your other points regarding audience/spectator management though - I think this whole situation was avoidable.

MagicBill wrote:

You should have allowed him his moment of glory

WHY? Bejesus.

Because, by allowing him that, you have then got him on your side. By refusing, your potentially putting yourself in a hostile situation - which results in the dreaded heckler.

Like I said though, he shouldnt have been able to get into a situation where the spectator can do stuff with the deck.

Mark

If your only way to get the loose cannon 'on-side' is by allowing him to do a trick or two then give up performing magic professionally!

You really do have to treat these people with a smile. I know that they're a pain and yes you're right that you shouldn't let a situation like that happen but we all make mistakes and these situations can and do happen to everyone.

If you start trying to mess up what they're doing then you're putting up a challenge and giving them the green light to try messing you up. Be friendly, let them do their trick and avoid any trouble. Any arguements or 'I'm better than you' situations are only going to make you look unprofessional in the end.

Never belittle an audience member, it makes you look like a petulant kid, and is exactly what they want. Anyway, they're usually perfectly adept at makings tits of themselves on their own...

and, everyone else will notice what you are doing, and say/think "blimey, he/she has some patience/skill to let him do that.."

and more often than not, tell the guy he's s**te, and to shut up...

even if someone is shouting "tooooootle-tooooooootle-toooooooooootle" down a megaphone at you...all you have to do is say, "sorry folks, this guy wants your attention...i'll see you all later..."

let the audience manager the heckler for you...

its different if your a stand up comedian, cos its your job to be funnier/quicker than the heckler...but if someone is being a t*t...let him take the blame for sure...but make sure you come out of it in a positive/polite way...

IAIN wrote:and, everyone else will notice what you are doing, and say/think "blimey, he/she has some patience/skill to let him do that.."

and more often than not, tell the guy he's s**te, and to shut up...

even if someone is shouting "tooooootle-tooooooootle-toooooooooootle" down a megaphone at you...all you have to do is say, "sorry folks, this guy wants your attention...i'll see you all later..."

let the audience manager the heckler for you...

its different if your a stand up comedian, cos its your job to be funnier/quicker than the heckler...but if someone is being a t*t...let him take the blame for sure...but make sure you come out of it in a positive/polite way...

I honestly couldnt have said it better

You've got to remember, your job as a magician is to entertain. I'm currently working at an adventure playground, the kids know I do magic tricks they want to see me do them, and some of them want to try to trip me up.

As a play worker and a magician, I've got to give the audience what they want.

There was this kid who's seen me do a particular trick, where I hold up two cards, someone else selects two other cards, and I turn mine round to reveal they're the same.

He sees me doing it again and grabs the two cards off me to steal my reveal.

I let him, as a a magician and a play worker, I make sure it's my audience that enjoys themselves including that kid.

However after the playground closed, I was no longer a play worker or a magician, and I found that kid and beat several types of snot out of him in front of his friends, so they'll all know not to mess with my act next time.

However its different for you, most of your specs aren't smaller than you.