Tough crowds... or not

[Nate Malini]

I got a strange one for you.

I went to a restaurant with family from out of town and one of my sons (the 7 year old) asked me to "Do something" so I did Kangaroo coins (4 coins through table into a glass) at the end every body was amazed and my niece said "I never seen magic in real life, only on T.V". Her father my brother in-law leaned over to her and said "He was just flicking the coin over and under the table quickly." No one heard him but me, my two boys and her.
His explanation was wrong and my boys knew it but we just sat in silence as the rest of the family asked for another magic trick. I couldn't.

 

[Brad Henderson]

Whenever someone offers an explanation, especially if it's wrong, listen! Change your presentation so you address that idea and eliminate it as a possibility. After a few months of working and re-writing you will eventually have an iron tight presentation that keeps all the wrong ideas from coming into their mind. Use this as a tool to make your work more deceptive. It's happened to all of us. How you decide to use this experience will make the difference!

Brad Henderson

 

[Nate Malini]

Whenever someone offers an explanation, especially if it's wrong, listen! Change your presentation so you address that idea and eliminate it as a possibility. After a few months of working and re-writing you will eventually have an iron tight presentation that keeps all the wrong ideas from coming into their mind. Use this as a tool to make your work more deceptive. It's happened to all of us. How you decide to use this experience will make the difference!

Brad Henderson

This is not a problem that happens often but when it does I freeze.
I'm 37 years old and any kind of coins across has been a fetish of mine since i was a teen, hand to hand,coin matrix, coins to glass,coins through table,especially Dai Vernon's kangaroo coins. don't get me wrong I don't do a entire show of "coins invisibly moving" I do one of my fetish's then a card miracle,a center tare of some kind and a bill switch routine($100 or torn and miss made or bill in cigarette). When a guy wants to give an explanation to one of my coins across as "quickly flicking" ,i have this bad habit of just stopping and smiling. is this wrong? should i make it a goal of disproving this explanation? I'm also a chef and if a dish is not to the customers taste i go out of my way to give them something deferent and more delicious,i like this better then comping his enter meal or giving them free desserts. I been thinking about this a long time. should i do the same with a person thats not happy with a trick i know was explained wrong? I tried it at times and I'm not happy with the comment "O.K now I don't know how you did that one.".......That one? ....I feel like my demonstration has suddenly turned into a guessing game. How can I change Dai Vernon's "Kangaroo coins" presentation?

 

[manipulation4food]

Well, i usually say..Thats what she said. Only kidding. When someone says that i might say then do it. Or say "uh huh" Just don't pay attention. Do something killer where there only explanation for it is magic.

 

[Brad Henderson]

I am a huge fan of Tamariz's Magic Way. (It is an extension of Daryl's Theory of Elimination.) Basically, you want to construct your presentation so any possible method is addressed and eliminated before it becomes viable to the audience. Now, you don't have to eliminate it by talking about it. You can do things to prove the point. For example, rapping the coin on the center of the table loudly should prove the solidity of both.

If people think you are flicking coins into your lap, then have them point to the center of the table and comment how far away it is from the edges - there is no way for you to sneek anything in OR out.

Now, there are times when the person you are working for isn't paying attention or is just being a jerk. If after this set up they STILL think you are flipping the coins back, you would remind them they picked the middle. If they still don't play along - they are not worth your time or worry.

(I have a horror story like this from the days I was working nightclubs.)

But when you do a trick, try to think how you would figure it out. Then, make sure you address each of those ideas and make them seem an impossible option.

Did that help?

Brad Henderson

 

[Nate Malini]

It helps allot more then you think.
I practice for days before i make a Practice video so i can look for coin "flash", body language and patter. but i never thought of using it to try and find explanations or what one might think is the explanation to an entire routine or even one effect. 23 years in magic and now i think I'm moving up to the next level of improvement.

thanks Brad.

THE MAGIC WAY...I hope I can find that one.

 

[azril44]

there are a few lines that i use regularly,

-can you keep a secret? so can i

-that's why they call it magic!!!

and then when they offer an explination, just look dumbfounded, think about it and say "wow, i guess i could have picked up two cards as one, but MAN that would be really hard!!!"

and me and my one friend are stong belivers in the f-you(forget you) trick. this is one trick you know very well that is damned near impossible to figure out, simple and impactful. mine is usually witness, or deja vu, or a pridiction, my friend uses dream of aces or pip matrix(he likes gaffs, i don't) but once you show them that just walk away while they're scratching their heads

 

[Brad Henderson]

Azril, the problem with lines like that is it pits you against them. It makes them NOT want to like you. It makes them want to dig into you more.

If the people like you and are on your side, it's amazing how much more respectful they can be of your magic.

Nate,

The Tamariz book is out of print and sells for hundreds of dollars BUT it is being reprinted!!!! Hermetic Press just reprinted Tamariz's Five Points in Magic (another great book) and they will soon reprint The Magic Way.

Brad Henderson

 

[Nate Malini]

I also peeked at some other advice you had given before and Henning Nelm's Magic and showmanship and Eugene Burger's The Performance of close up magic is on my list too.

 

[Big George]

Hey guys.

Lately, I've been performing a lot, but my audience seems to be a bit aggravating.

Let's say I do Indecent, and they say, "Oh I know how you did that. You just (insert a stupid and illogical explanation here.)"

I get so pissed. I don't even know what to do.

Any advice?

Dont get phazed by this. Its just the stupid and emotionally imbalacned (i do have a better word) peoples way of coping. What ever you say dont be smart though.

 

[VagueTheory]

Thanks for the help guys.

It just that when people do all that stuff, (i.e "Ohhh all he did was...(stupid explanation here.") it just ruins the moment and buildup. You know?

 

[Nate Malini]

Dont get phazed by this. Its just the stupid and emotionally imbalacned (i do have a better word) peoples way of coping. What ever you say dont be smart though.

Hey Big George...I think that is interesting that you said "WAY OF COPING" Do you think some hecklers are not intentionally trying to "mess" you up?
Do you think some don't know they're being rude?