What kind of reactions do you get ?

[houchini]

Hi guys !

Well, the title says it all ! I've been in magic for about 2 years now, and I usually perform for my friends (only Tequila gives me the nerves to run into complete strangers and perform for them, which happened twice with good results ). Most of the time, my friends are quite impressed and enjoy the magic, but I've never had those "OH MY GOD" kind of reactions everybody's talking about, you know, I've never blown anyone's mind, nor popped no eyes. They enjoy it, but more in a "we didn't know you were that good !" way. The best reactions I got so far were :
- my girlfriend staring at me, speachless for about 1 minute (thanks to Morgan Strebbler's "Spun" !)
- my girlfriend slapping me in the face ("thanks to D&D's "Card in mouth", proving that catching people offguards with a simple trick can be powerful !). She told me later that she couldn't help it, she HAD to hit me.

So do you think it's easier to have tremendous reactions with people that don't know you in real life ? Have you ever made your friends shout, scream, run away while calling you the devil ? Has anyone ever told you that you were "Better than Blaine" ?

PS : I'm french, and it always seemed to me that people were overreacting in american & english videos (nobody screams "OH MY GOD" here). So maybe there's a cultural difference, and people have more quiet reactions here ??

 

[Zeroshift]

a couple of what the **** reactions

and after doing distortion...the reactions that i got cannot be described with words..you just have to be there =)

 

[jdstyle]

i had 50 people running in the halls when i did stigmata at school

card to mouth is only good with girls or even card to zipper ( the heckler )

 

[Bizzaro]

I recently talked about getting silent reactions in my magic journal. SOmetimes an effect is SO powerful the only thing they can do is stare. Believe it or not, it's not a bad thing when they are silent.

Mind you there is a difference between "it's a bad trick" silent and "Holy crap you just broke my brain" silence. Know which is which.

 

[y2john]

Ive had all kinds of reactions from laughing to swearing to just smiles and enjoyment to complete silence.
All are great as each individual will react to the things they're experiencing in different ways... not everyone is the type to run around screaming, some will just be silent and not really say anything but this is just there way of handling the situation.
Remember aswell to give them time to react, even if at first they just look slightly puzzled... leave there feelings to bubble up.
It helps if you really connect with those your performing for.

Anyway thats my view.

 

[Aris.SA]

Yes, I have but remember some people doesnt say anything and they are telling to themselves holy sh*t! because they dont want to look so FOOLED xD..

 

[b.boulton]

ive gotten everything from that "blank stare" which means that you just figgin blew away everything i thought i knew about this world.... to the AHHHHHHHHH this isnt right!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and running away...it all depends on the people and your performance!

 

[Avancer]

I've had various reactions, from stumped looks, to the classical "freak out" reactions, it's a joy performing

 

[hawk7]

i have the same problem, i usually perform for people who know me at least a little, but when i started magic i did some really silly stuff, like those totally self-working things that don't really get you a reaction, so my friends were like "ok, well if you like it..." (which i totally understand now), BUT when i was hanging with a couple of my friends about 3 months later, and i could actually do a few things that deserve the phrase magic trick, i totally freaked some of them out, especially the girls. i mean i never had one of those totally freaked out insane reactions you frequently see on the videos, but the best things i've done so far, that i usually use as closing effects in my routines, were first the mind bender, where i build and build and let everyone shuffle the cards and then i ask them to pick one, and just bend it (by the way i've found that i only need the first phase of the trick, because the card bends enough to get great reactions), hell yeah, about that trick some friends still ask me how it's done. and of course, nothing beats doing stigmata with a girl, they just go crazy, i got the "damn, you're weird and awesome, i don't know what to say and can't stop looking like someone just died" quite some times.
finally, of course friends who know you often don't have the same intense reaction as a stranger, but if you do good tricks and do them right, you always get a good reaction.

P.S.
i'm glad i'm not the only one who thinks it's kind of weird to just walk up to people on the street and show them some magic.

 

[The Dark Angel]

I've been accused of being the Anti-Christ.
Beat that.

I mostly get "What the hell?!?!"
But a couple people just do the "I'm trying to comprehend what I just saw" stare.

 

[Austin Fields]

Recently just performed "blank out" I think it's called, on the loops dvd's (justin's) and blew my friend away, he was like, that was good, it was, then I showed all the cards to be double backed, and he froze, leaned back, and stared, couldn't even believe it, and slowly flipped over a couple cards, checked, and didn't say a word.

Love that effect.

~Beans

 

[clllllust]

Hi guys !



So do you think it's easier to have tremendous reactions with people that don't know you in real life ? Have you ever made your friends shout, scream, run away while calling you the devil ? Has anyone ever told you that you were "Better than Blaine" ?

Hahaha that's so funny you said that exact thing. One time when I was at my grandpas birthday at Boston Pizza I performed Stigmata and some guy called me the Devil. Then I performed to some friends some Gaff tricks on a ferry ride recently and they said "That was way better than David Blaine or Criss Angel." It sorta annoys me because theres so many magicians that are better than those 2 but they happen to have tv shows so people can compare. But yes I do get those OMFG reactions but not often.

-RA69

 

[Pots54]

a couple of what the **** reactions

and after doing distortion...the reactions that i got cannot be described with words..you just have to be there =)

The same with me!

My magic before Distortion was...lets say not very impressive, but when I found distortion, It has given me the confidence to go to my friends and show them...sort of(I'm sure you know what I mean, something to make their mind freak). I did distortion for a friend, and she went speechless, then started screaming, and then started laughing.

To get 'screaming reactions, you need to be in a large group, with girls of about 17 - 23...I'm just taking a guess, because in Distortion, thats who Wayne Houchin was performing for.

-|P54