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Well, sometimes when i am just playing around with tricks on street, in class and entertaining people. Even on shows, people call up how the tricki was done. It's so annoying, i know people mostly wont get it. But they do. I don't know many jokes and stuff so i just say like: Who's the magician? or: Do you wan't me to come and ruin your life (meaning that magic is my life). Any tip's?

Belfast wrote:Even on shows, people call up how the tricki was done.

When they call out, are they right about your method or wrong?

This partiicular question has been done to death in the past and I recommend that you take a look GOOD through the support and tips section where you'll find loads of good advice.

My advice is to stop performing for the tinme being. You sound as if you're inexperienced and that you've not properly re-hearsed your material before showing it.

It's all ell and good knowing how something is done but doing it in front of an audience is a different matter. People should NOT be able to work out how things are done and if they can, something's wrong abd it's tie to stop and practice more.

There'a a saying that an amateur magician practices untl he gets the trick right where a professional praqctices until he doesn't get the trick wrong.

Good luck.

It's called "audience control".

Either that or your tricks are not very good.

For the average performer, hecklers are very few and far between. What you called "ruiners", your audience would call "helpers". They feel you and your act need help and they are providing it.

The most effective way of dealing with them is to pretend you didn't hear them and ask for the comment to be repeated. The focus is then on the heckler, something he doesn't want. Besides, it won't be as "clever" the second time.

Firstly DON'T try to be clever or insult them, it'll only make things worse for you. The best thing to do is to just either shrug and move onto something else and walk away from the group if you can.

Ted wrote:

Belfast wrote:Even on shows, people call up how the tricki was done.

When they call out, are they right about your method or wrong?

They are almost ALWAYS wrong, but it hasent happen in a while, and it happens very few time, mostly in close-up, person.

Belfast wrote:Well, sometimes when i am just playing around with tricks on street, in class and entertaining people. Even on shows, people call up how the tricki was done. It's so annoying, i know people mostly wont get it. But they do. I don't know many jokes and stuff so i just say like: Who's the magician? or: Do you wan't me to come and ruin your life (meaning that magic is my life). Any tip's?

Yes.But your not going to like it.

You need to become a better magician.

Unfortunatly people tend to guess, or even see the method behind a trick, because it's being performed badly.

Now, Its not all doom and gloom, because what your now going to do, is take the crits, and brick bats, and learn from them.

Look on the hecklers, as your guide to where you need to improve.
Is it the way you execute the effect? Maybe your performance style, could you need to tighten up the misdirection.. All fundimental lesons we all have to go through in order to become a better magicican.

One thing i would definatly not do, is react. Because a reaction, can often be seen as an invitaion to war.

anyway, what magic are you doing to provoke the reactions?

Also, if their shouting out the wrong method, i cant see the problem.
Their wrong.. your right.. doesnt that make you feel smug?
Dont you realise that you have got one over on the shites that are goading you?

Its one of the secret joys of performing magic. Having them guess wrong.
Relish it. ( just dont tell them their wrong )

Hecklers are the bane of every live act regardless. Possibly the less heckled are drop dead gorgeous female singers that show tons of "asset" in that the a-holes of life are too busy drooling on themselves to show off their I.Q. Outside of that equation though, you're pretty much screwed and the real secret is GROW A THICK SKIN.

As to the issue of those claiming to know something... now here is where you can put them in their place. Especially when you're just goofing off in that word will get around really fast (on campus especially) that so and so was put on the spot by you... that is to say, when jackass Bob shouts out "how" the trick works you step aside and invite him to come over and do it that way... nine times out of ten they will back down before stepping up to the plate. I can assure you, if you do this a couple of times the imbeciles of life... at least at school and those places you tend to hang at the most, will quickly lessen in abundance and consignment in that they will have been proven FOOLS and no one likes that.

Secondly, as has been pointed out, YOU need to make your presentation as well as your technique BETTER.

We tend to worry far too much about our technique sometimes and forget about the power of presentation. I've seen some horrid technicians over the years that were uncanny showmen; their enthusiasm and charisma is what generated public appreciation/cooperation... befriending! This is powerful stuff and if you were able to filter out that side of what you see in some of the top entertainers out there (in our field) you would be shocked as to just how bold and sloppy some of their moves are and yet the never get caught out.

Yes, audience management is a big thing but that is part of what happens when you allow yourself to be a genuine showman. But study the masters of the craft; not just magicians (though there are a few I can think of) but real show people/legends like Bill Cosby, George Burns, Milton Beryl and Bob Hope... these are guys that filled a stage, no matter how big it was, with their own presence and nothing other. Yet they held full and complete control over their public. I'd have to say the greatest master of this skill that I ever had the pleasure of watching work, was the late Red Skelton

Of course if you prefer the more dramatic route with things you may want to study Vincent Price or Orson Wells but I think you get the gist to what I'm saying here; find the people who command the stage when working live. Wells & Price were two who had merely to speak and people went silent, almost reverent.

One last thing... find local Improvisational Groups to work with. I know it has nothing to do with magic (directly) but everything to do with thinking on your feet and becoming an ENTERTAINER. You'll find such a background priceless.

Don't be hard on yourself when societies hemorrhoids flare up. Just take a deep breath and accept the fact that such people are generally unhappy and have the psychological need to be the focus of attention. I know it's a pain, but it's also fact.

I'm certain Dale will agree with me, it can be amusing to sit in a theater hearing all the theorists spew on as to how things work... while you are sitting there knowing the facts and then some. As someone that worked as a Technician on grand illusions most of his life, I relish those rare moments when something is presented that leaves me befuddled. But I likewise enjoy watching any master showman do the same tired bits of business that have been around for 100 years in that they are doing their job and ENTERTAINING their public... who, in some cases, know how some of those tricks really do work but that doesn't take away from the fun and intrigue of the encounter... I still get chills watching someone do a Thin Model Sawing or the Asrah or Broom... even the Sub Trunk IF and when they do it in a way that is practiced and entertaining.

Pardon the diatribe here, memory lane seems to be plaguing me of late But I hope you get the point to what I'm trying to say.

I'm certain Dale will agree with me, it can be amusing to sit in a theater hearing all the theorists spew on as to how things work... while you are sitting there knowing the facts and then some.

It's like that on the forums sometime.

I must agree with many of the words of wisdom found here.

Hecklers will sometimes teach you more about perfecting a trick than any other source. Polite folks might notice the same thing, but have some social grace. Hecklers, as rotten as they are, can point to a weak spot that needs work.

Sometimes the work is the change of a phrase or gesture. Sometimes the work is to add an additional "proof" that will short-circuit the thought of a particular solution. Sometimes another method is needed. ALWAYS, think deeply about your magic and find ways to improve it.

I hate to say it but when there are 'ruiners' in the crowd, they are usually more entertaining then the performer. Like others I don't mean to be harsh, (or do I) but the best thing to do is improve your skill in presentation and method.

c'mon guys annoying as it may be. there are intelligent people out there who im sure would be able to sypher out a method for a certain trick even if done perfectly. ive certainly done it - before entering a magical perspective , and im sure you have too.

Could I just echo Craig's point about challenging the knowall to show you how it's done? They always bottle out.

Also, in Belfast's defence, although it seems likeliest that his work needs to improve, there's an awful lot of exposure out there on YouTube, Magic's Greatest Secrets Revealed etc.

That said, if your presentation is strong enough, it shouldn't leave room for the ruiner.

naychandler1 wrote:c'mon guys annoying as it may be. there are intelligent people out there who im sure would be able to sypher out a method for a certain trick even if done perfectly. ive certainly done it - before entering a magical perspective , and im sure you have too.

To a degree you are correct but at the same time most lay people DON'T WANT TO KNOW HOW IT'S DONE.

Those exposure shows and forums cater to the immature, primarily. Thus, they are the ones that come into a show and reveal to the world that they are in fact a donkey's hind-end. But then I love it when they use one of the bogus explanations you get from those shows... as Banachek says, "I'm still looking for one of those special watch things so I can do PK Time the right way..."

In other words, not everything shown in those expose shows is anywhere near legit not to mention "practical".

90% of the lay public knows basically how the standard Sawing a Lady in Half works that is why the crystal sawing box and those without cabinets and the big "death saws" create such a stir... we've robbed them from the "out" they had for decades. Yet, if any one of these new systems isn't staged or built properly, an observant witness may just catch things at the right angle, to figure it all out... but there is a reason why people pay extra for the Gaughan, Smith and Owen brands... they tend to be the more deceptive in design.

My poor mother is uber-religious. When she first saw me do the Cremation (I used a cheap Abbott made cabinet) she swore that I'd sold my soul to the devil... even after I showed her all of the workings (in hopes of settling her down). To this day she holds to that belief.

I bring this up because of another fact when it comes to presenting magic, even the traditional stuff; You have people out there that want to believe and depend on what we do, so they manage to escape "reality" for a few moments. For these people the magic has to be real and for that reason they tend to deliberately turn off their logic motor... they don't want to see it "naked"... they want it to be part of an alternate reality.

As magicians we tend to forget such things. We become jaded because of what we've learned about deception within the craft and because of that we forget how that piece you've been bitching about, calling it a piece of drek, actually fooled and amused you at one time. I'll even bet that you can find those skilled showmen that can take you back to that point where tricks once again appear to be magic even though you know a good bit about the mechanics around it... but that's because you still want it to be real

Think about it