talkmagic.co.uk

Indeed, Robbie, although black cards are more clearly visible to the audience in a stage/cabaret setting.

Stop challenging your audience! If they are deliberatly going out of their way to ruin your act than you have to step back and figure out why? (unless your spectator is drunk) then you have to look inward. If you are that worried, and if this is your final trick and you have not yet been able to read your audience, then perhaps it be best not to perform a trick where you have to manage 7 people.

If something goes wrong, anything then it's something that you've done wrong, not your spec. While I admit that there are some very difficult people in the world, and we've all experienced them at the end of the day they're messing you about because of something that you've done.

In my opinion the most important thing in magic is to have your audience on your side and wanting you to succeed. You need to create a good impression from the start, be polite and friendly. I like to try to include everyone in what I do, that way no one's going to be left out and no one's going to be put on the spot. If a whole group is involved in what you're doing then I find that there's much less chance of one of them deciding to play the fool.

Get people involved in what you're doing, get them interested and keep them interested and things'll work out.

At the end of the day, this will happen, however you are prepared to counteract it.
Some people will always try to be cheeky / funny / clever / nasty, and this will happen. Wether you know you had their card or not, it is still your word against theirs...
And you need to be careful about how you handle the situation... you could turn your audience against you.

Most people don't do it to be nasty (most of the time), I think your only option is to bow down and say you screwed up... they will then own up most of the time... At that point, I just joke saying "don't do this to a magician, you're gonna give him a heart attack or something"... That usually gets a laugh, and all is forgotten, move on with the show, and they won't do it again...

Etienne Pradier usually says "oh, you're a liar... like me!"

that was my crappy advice.

I find my most difficult customer is myself. I force cards then seconds later forget what bloody card I forced. Give me a heckler every time.

Harry Lorayne has a book that should help with that.