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what do you do when you screw up a trick. im not good at impromtu talking and stuff.

THis has been talked about before, use the search function. SOmpeople said that they use a card in their wallet that has all 52 miniature cards and ask them is your card on here for laughs and then move on to another trick.

Just move on to the next one! Its a trick that has gone wrong, SO WHAT? It happens to us all, and I have seen it happen to many working pros. If they can do it, we are in good company!

I usually say something easy like... "oh s*d it!" Have a laugh and your speccies will too! Just make sure that your next one blows them away!

If its a card trick, Ask them what there card was, then do a snap change. Simple

If your not good at impromtu then you must plan ahead. Think through the trick, where is it possible to go wrong? think it through and plan what you can do in each situation. In most cases there is some kind of out. Some people can think quickly on their feet some people have to be much more thorough in the planning stages. Sounds like you need to do a good job on the planning side.

I have found a humerous approach works well for me......make light of the error, and move on......some things to consider saying:

"I was only making it up as I went along, would have been a good trick though don't you think?"

"Wow you are very understanding.......I have not messed that one up in ages........the crowd last night was not nearly as patient!"

"I don't come to your office and flaunt your failures in your face do I?"

"Just wanted to see if you were paying attention!"

"Sorry, but that one was my bread & butter, as good as it gets.....the rest go downhill from here, so you can see it will be a long night!"


"I'll try that one again until I get it right.......you guys are paying me by the hour right?"

I have also put a set of fake instruction in my pocket, and I can pull them out, and pretend to read them and "trouble-shoot" the effect, and start another trick, with a similar effect!" Usually gets a laugh!

Hi

If a card trick goes wrong the Inisible deck is a great item to carry as you can always say nope this one is too easy lets try somthing different ask then to think or a card and bring out your invisble deck and wow them.


Dean

If you are gettiong yourself into corners, you need to question every move and section of a routine you are performing. Rehearse, rehearse and rehearse till it aches. get a close friend to watch you perform, NOT a magician who will only want to tell you how HE does it.
Buy the 1940 book, Outs, Precautions & Challenges, by Charles H. Hopkins. It's only £5 ( + postage), and 78 pages long. He covers Psychology Of Failure, use of sucker gag techniques, and 10 well mapped out chapters involving information gettting, handy card sleights, the heckler etc. Myles Sinclair, of Magic Wonders, info@magicwonders.com has just put it in his Sept. 2005 catalogue. Magic Books By Post retail it at £5:50p incl post.
Allen Tipton

actully, hmm i think we should make a thread talking about speific tricks about screw ups. this topic is a little to broad

Comedy is a good way to get out of a jam and it helps to try and get the specs to think that your mistake is actually part of the trick. It doesn't always work but it does give you that brief moment to try and think of another way out.

I strongly agree that the ID is an excellent out for card tricks that go wrong.

Others, you just have to improvise.

Well, one thing you could do is if you are doing a trick where they pick a card and your job is to figure out what it is... then carry an ID. For instance. Say you are going to do card control and they are jerks and put the card in the wrong part of the deck so it is lost. Just do a quick deck switch (but make sure the deck matches your ID) and then ask them to name the card and say "oh i thought there was a reason I saw this card upside down..." or something whatever doesnt matter. Just go through all the tricks you have and think of the possible ways people could screw you up and what you could do to counter it. Then go through them again and think of the possible ways you could screw it up and how to counter that. Then you dont have to worry about being 'impromptu'.

Try to make the screw ups look like they were supposed to happen when possible.

1011

Yeah I agree with dat8962, Moodini and MagicAL's advice - I've messed up a trick a few times and if all else fails then I find that making a joke out of a trick that's gone wrong always helps. Magic is about entertainment after all, and if something goes completely wrong then it's better to make a good joke out of it and get people laughing (not at, but with you) and enjoying it than getting in a mood.

yeah, i am too nervous when i do the tricks. i think im fine, but really i can hear my heart beating faster and my hands to respond as much... then i screw up, then the process begins then i start cracking jokes and such

you should not make a big deal of it move on mabie turn it into a joke

If it's nervousness then this link may be of use...

http://www.talkmagic.co.uk/ftopic6792.p ... 413c24e0e1

I don't know. Just an idea.