I'm making an "Assassin's Deck" of heckler killers, what are some of your best to write on cards?
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Heckler Killers
- Thread starter Zenn_Magic
- Start date
Write "love" on the advertising card in the deck to remind you of two of Tamariz's veils of magic - love of magic and love of your audience. Look at it before each performance and remind yourself that if you put both of those loves into your performances, you will not have any hecklers.
^Listen to the councilor, he is wise beyond his years. If you follow his advice your hecklers will be rare, unless you perform where the drunk quotient tends to by high and there is no point in debating, chastising or arguing with a drunk. Any hecklers that remain, ignore them. Smile to yourself and carry on. If they keep it up, and you are performing in a setting where it is an option, end your effect, wish the rest of the group a good night and move on. If you were good and entertaining, the group will take care of your heckler after you leave.
you know the cards that say something like "stop interrupting" just a deck full of those so if you get a heckler you switch it out and have them pick one and read it out load.
RealityOne's advice sets a great tone for your performance. Its best to not create an atmosphere where people heckle. Confronting a heckler by trying to out heckle them can create an atmosphere of you versus them rather than a journey together. It makes a "whose the bigger alpha" scenario and can breed more hecklers. If it escalates to the point of where you would consider using an assassin deck cgstorz has some great advice.
Leave or say something to the effect that if the group would like to see more magic you'll return when the offending person is done. If you were doing well and the group likes you they will take care of the heckler for you. If they don't take care of the heckler on your behalf then maybe you weren't doing as well as you thought.
As for a heckler killer....get them on your side. Most people aren't trying to give you a hard time they are trying to be entertaining or funny and possibly would like some attention too. Learn a few tricks where the audience is the hero of the effect and use the heckler as the participant.
Leave or say something to the effect that if the group would like to see more magic you'll return when the offending person is done. If you were doing well and the group likes you they will take care of the heckler for you. If they don't take care of the heckler on your behalf then maybe you weren't doing as well as you thought.
As for a heckler killer....get them on your side. Most people aren't trying to give you a hard time they are trying to be entertaining or funny and possibly would like some attention too. Learn a few tricks where the audience is the hero of the effect and use the heckler as the participant.
I usually kill them with kindness. 
they feel like A Holes and stop bothering me. Also what David said above... if you are noticing an influx of hecklers, it may be because you are unintentionally inviting them. Unless you are like Joe Rogan and baiting and destroying hecklers is like your thing... haha
they feel like A Holes and stop bothering me. Also what David said above... if you are noticing an influx of hecklers, it may be because you are unintentionally inviting them. Unless you are like Joe Rogan and baiting and destroying hecklers is like your thing... haha
I know there are other ways of diffusing hecklers, i've been doing magic for twelve years. And every once in a while, you get a person in the background who yells out stuff like; "MAGIC IS FAKE!" or "I SAW HOW YOU DID THAT!" And it's really funny for the rest of the group when you do something funny with them, like having them pick a card from a deck of offenses.
@Zenn_Magic - The deck isn’t worth the pocket space. Spend your time focusing on making your performances more entertaining and less of a look at what I can do. Hecklers are created when they feel challenged. Often a challenge is unintentional. People don’t like to be fooled, they like to be entertained. Reread everyone’s advice.
“190 years old? You look great!”
“190 years old? You look great!”
I usually kill them with kindness.
O'Brien here is a great example of what I'm on about. Look at 'em. He's "What if Samwise Gamgee were a magician" only taller. Who would heckle anyone who bears such a strong resemblance to Sean Astin, in looks and laid back demeanor?
Also, great quote from Strong Magic: "Challenge"--referring to attitude--"has no place in professional magic"
I have used "do as i do" tricks in the past on hecklers, which is very effective. But again, when you do magic fro twelve years, sometimes you get obnoxious people, and it's fun for everyone including them if you have them read a card that has something funny written on it.
Sorry, I also have nothing to add to a deck meant to try to put people down. I never get hecklers.
Here's how I see it - Challenging a Heckler like this splinters the audience. If one person is bored or disengaged enough to speak out, that means other people in the audience are having the same thoughts without speaking up. They may even think the Heckler is adding to the show, so when you attack the Heckler it feels like an attack on everyone who did not disagree with that Heckler. Which means you're damaging your own show.
If you are regularly getting people speaking out out at your shows, I guarantee something in your presentation is causing it. Something is being perceived as a challenge, or an insult to their intelligence. I also guarantee that if you look over your presentations and performances with honesty, you can locate those moments and change them so they don't insult or challenge the audience, and that will be far more effective and create a better show than any heckler put down line written on a card.
Here's how I see it - Challenging a Heckler like this splinters the audience. If one person is bored or disengaged enough to speak out, that means other people in the audience are having the same thoughts without speaking up. They may even think the Heckler is adding to the show, so when you attack the Heckler it feels like an attack on everyone who did not disagree with that Heckler. Which means you're damaging your own show.
If you are regularly getting people speaking out out at your shows, I guarantee something in your presentation is causing it. Something is being perceived as a challenge, or an insult to their intelligence. I also guarantee that if you look over your presentations and performances with honesty, you can locate those moments and change them so they don't insult or challenge the audience, and that will be far more effective and create a better show than any heckler put down line written on a card.
How about cards killing with kindness and love, as suggested by multiple sages above, thus using reverse psychology to get them on your side:
Example:
"YOU ARE AWESOME!"
"THE AUDIENCE IS THE REAL MAGIC!"
"I PREDICT YOU WILL BECOME MY BIGGEST FAN!"
Example:
"YOU ARE AWESOME!"
"THE AUDIENCE IS THE REAL MAGIC!"
"I PREDICT YOU WILL BECOME MY BIGGEST FAN!"
I understand the tactic that you want to use. As far as a whole deck I don't think you need one. Just write on one card something like "Annoying" and if you come across a heckler throughout your performance you can say something like "If I where to pick a card it might be the ace because I'm good at cards, if you picked one it would reflect something about you, and then force that card on the heckler. It will get your point across as well as good chuckle. There's not point in having a completely different deck filled with these. Because the implication is that you are being heckled. And if you switch decks with the heckler in front of you he/she is going to know your up to something just due to them being how they are. Just an idea.
Fighting with a heckler is like wrestling with a pig in a mud puddle - you both get dirty and the pig likes it.
A dear friend of mine always says, "when confronted by hostility, NICE them to death." Meaning, that the more aggressive they become, the nicer you have to be. Do what you can to get them on your side and, if nothing else works - walk away.
With some really aggressive hecklers, it is like they said in the movie War Games - The only winning move is not to play.
A dear friend of mine always says, "when confronted by hostility, NICE them to death." Meaning, that the more aggressive they become, the nicer you have to be. Do what you can to get them on your side and, if nothing else works - walk away.
With some really aggressive hecklers, it is like they said in the movie War Games - The only winning move is not to play.