talkmagic.co.uk

While i address this mainly to the performers among you, i guess if you've ever seen any magic first hand you're welcome to put your tuppence in too.

T'other night i was doing some magic for some people i'd just met at a friend's flat-warming party. I'm not of the ilk that shoves the whole 'I KNOW MAGIC, ME' in people's faces as i know it can be a bore, it was only a friend of mine that brought it up and i was pressured into performing some effects.

I say pressured because i'd had a few drinks and would really rather not have bothered.

Aaaaanyway. I did a few things that went down very well. It was after i'd finished (i think 3 good, solid, powerful tricks are enough incidentally - just thought i'd throw that in) that someone there said that i come over as a smart *rse when i do the tricks.

Now, i've never had that before and it disappointed me. I like to present magic tricks as a puzzle to be solved. I perform Derren's version of OOTW, because it is a huge puzzle to people, and i like watching them back track, either out loud or just in their heads. I know Stephen Fry called magic ' the revenge of the nerd ', but i don't like presenting it as such.
It's simply something for people to marvel over. I don't grin smugly and i don't act superior after an effect.

Or at least, i never thought so.

Am i giving too much credence to a comment that may have been made in jealousy? If it was a male who made it i may think so, as i know that some men can feel threatened if they can't explain something in front of females. This was a female's opinion though, and to me that adds weight to it.

Though i accept magic is not for everyone, it has made me re-think the way i perform. I've not taken such a knock as to want to stop, and as i said this is the first time anyone's said this to me.

Have any of you regular performers experienced such a thing? I've seen some magicians come over as very superior, smarmy and smart *rse and i've made a conscious effort to avoid such a character, hence my disappointment and my request for advice or tales of similar experience from you. By all means tell me to man up, and it was just one person's opinion in a room of ten or twelve. The rest seemed to enjoy it.

Are we, as magicians, doomed to be graduates of the school of smart-arsery? Or is it all in the presentation?

Perhaps she fancies you? Or perhaps she just has that opinion of all magicians.

I would ask the opinion of other people who have seen you perform but I would not worry about it. I feel the same way generally about jugglers, even if they are exceptionally good there's a part of me that says "Well done you can catch", even though I may not completely mean it. If she had been drinking too it may have just slipped out (oo-er).

There are some people who react this way to anyone who can do anything they can't. "Ooh, you said a word I don't understand/know the capital of Bolivia/read a classic novel/painted a picture/did a card trick. What a smart-arse."

It's not so much aggressive competitiveness, more a defensive lashing out in response to a sense of inferiority. Don't let it get to you.

Robbie wrote:There are some people who react this way to anyone who can do anything they can't. "Ooh, you said a word I don't understand/know the capital of Bolivia/read a classic novel/painted a picture/did a card trick. What a smart-*rse."

It's not so much aggressive competitiveness, more a defensive lashing out in response to a sense of inferiority. Don't let it get to you.

I agree wholeheartedly.

Without seeing you perform there is no way I can judge whether you are guilty of the offence or not. I suspect not otherwise you wouldn't be agonising over it. It is the ones who don't give it a thought who are the ones who are usually the smart alec type.

Oddly enough I have written about this extensively. I call it the "defensive resentment" theory. In my most wondrous book "The Wit and Wisdom of Mark Lewis" I have pontificated on this very matter. I shall reproduce the pontificating for your edification in my next post.

I have changed my mind about the pontification. I cannot find my own e-book. I never did understand computers. You will have to buy the book to get the gist of it. A mere $15.

To be honest, I've though that sometimes I might come off a bit smartish when I perform, even if that's really not the way I want to. It just depends.

I don't do magic as a puzzle, more of a joke or a Isn't that strange?! type of presentation. So if I'm doing something in a jokey way, I tend to watch myself to make sure it doesn't feel like I'm trying to make the other person look daft but still, a grin at the wrong time or some ill-placed patter and it can come off that way.

Generally though, I really don't let it bother me if I do. Some people are going to feel that way no matter how you perform it. Just like some will laugh and enjoy the trick and others will demand to know how it is done.

Occupational hazard I suppose. Don't fret it too much, can't please everybody.

As Mark said without seeing the performance it is impossible to say.

However the fact you have taken the comment on board and looked at it is a good sign. If only more of our fellow conjurers would be the same

I've never had it myself as I always act bewildered and forgetful at my own effects, I act as if I'm shocked that it worked. maybe that's it. Or I have selected hearing, could be that as well.

Yeah Id have to agree that sometimes you just have spectators who are of the mind set - I want to know how thats done and if i cant ill muck it up or insult you.

Few and far between from what ive seen, but they are out there and often no fault of magi in question.

Although of course there are also smart *rse magicians as well... lol

e x

You didnt perform this did you...?

Harris wrote:Although of course there are also smart *rse magicians as well... lol

I cannot believe this is true

Thanks for the comments everybody. I think part of my issue with the whole thing is that i started to perform magic because i wanted people to feel like i do when i see a really great trick. I'm also aware that a lot of what makes a great trick is in the presentation. I know you can't please everyone, but I'm of the ilk that has worked hard on a small number of tricks so that i can concentrate on presentation, rather than buying a shed load of things and bumbling my way through a trick i only learned a few hours previous.

I also couldn't imagine Eugene Burger being called a smart *rse by a member of his audience, and please don't think I'm comparing myself to him, I'm just saying his performance style is such that i doubt it would ever happen.
Someone like Luke Jermay though.....i can see it happening, and i say that in the nicest possible manner. I'm just using these performers as a frame of reference.

It's all but impossible to know, because you're not seeing your performance like a spectator.

If you can, have you thought about filming yourself perform? It will give you a much better idea about how you actually come across to audiences.

Personally I have never liked puzzles. If I saw magic being presented as a puzzle it would be a turn-off for me. No disrespect to those of you who do this, but that is a personal preference.

On the other hand I love storytelling, and magic with a story does it for me.

Perhaps you just met a guy who doesn't like your style? I don't think I'd worry, if most of your spectators like it.

Technically it was kind of the guys fault for egging you on to perform when you didn't want to, and when you were a bit buzzed.