talkmagic.co.uk

Doing some close-up stuff at the weekend, I was treated to my first dose of a spectator begging me to do a trick again (which is a big no-no, obviously). He even went so far as to shout after me as I walked away.

What's a good response to this? I'm buggered if I can think of anything.

You could always do the same effect by a different method, or seem to do the same one but with a different ending.

"I'll show you something else"

"I'll show it you again" (use a different method or do a different effect)

"I never repeat a trick, It ruins the effect when you know how it ends"

"No"

I'll usually say something along the line of, 'I know something else that I think you'll like' and then just show a different effect.

If you stick at it long enough you will get every kind of smart a***d comment people can think up. The responses above are all very good and you just need to use the one that best fits the situation. If somebody shouted at me I would smile and walk. Even if I am earning money there are some rules of basic manners that I have a right to.

Often when you are asked to repeat a trick it is a compliment, even though the spectator may not directly mean it to be. If you have done something so surprising and so baffling that somebody wants to see it again, well done. I do a regular Sunday lunch gig at a local restaurant and I can't remember a day when I wasn't asked at least once to "do that again".

Other gems of the spectator wisdom and wit include "Can you turn this water in to beer?" Answer, "If I could i would be on a Caribean beach now not working here on a Sunday", "Can yo make the bill disappear?" - refer to my previous answer, "can you make the kids / wife / mother in law dissapear" "sorry I'm good but not that good". And so it goes. The person who asks the silly question inevitably regards himself to be the wit of the group and nothing anyone says is going to shut him up so you either have to ride it or walk.

If like me you are table hopping you also have to get thick skinned as well about being turned away. A polite "no thanks" to my approach to a table is all it takes and 9 time out of 10 is the rejection I get. But then on the tenth occasion you will get the downright nasty. "If your a magician why don' you just disappear" is one of the rudest.

In all cases it is a case of audience management that will get you throught. There are books on the subject but the only real way to learn is to live it. I find that performing magic in public is fun, I love the reactions I get most of the time and I know when I leave a table laughing and applauding that I have entertained and given pleasure. I did a 4 hour stint on Mothering Sunday lunchtime covering three seperate sittings. I had one turn away in that time and it was apologetic and polite. I had a couple of requests to turn fivers in to tenners (see answer above) but for the rest of the time I had great fun and so did my audience. On the last table I did, tired thirsty and wanting to go home, I stayed behind talking for twenty minutes.

I think I have strted to drift off the original topic by a country mile now so it's time for me to shut up.

Good luck with the "do it againers", you will find quite quickly which answer suites you best.