Mine would've been when I was trying out a friends version of Triumph (the selection ends up in the spec's hand, the tranditional reveal was used as a false climax). Anyhow, the card in the spec's hand didn't end up to be the selection. That was rather embarrasing........
Your worst screw-ups - share your stories here!
- Thread starter Jordan Lapping
- Start date
My stage momment
I was doing a show at a hotel and i was up on stage doing a trick called king thing. In the trick the magician finds all four kings and puts them in the deck and they appear in 4 different places. so anyway i was doing this trick and the whole thing went wrong. Either there were to many cards on top of the kings or i hade one king acidentaly in the box. menwhile there are about 150 people looking at me like " who the hell hired this idiot". That is my story.
From,
Magicdude349876
I was doing a show at a hotel and i was up on stage doing a trick called king thing. In the trick the magician finds all four kings and puts them in the deck and they appear in 4 different places. so anyway i was doing this trick and the whole thing went wrong. Either there were to many cards on top of the kings or i hade one king acidentaly in the box. menwhile there are about 150 people looking at me like " who the hell hired this idiot". That is my story.
From,
Magicdude349876
I was at my cousins birthday party and she is little so her friends are little. then she asked me to do some card tricks for her friends so i said what the hey. I started with a color change and i was doing it fairly good then one of the kids annoyingly shouted hey that was two cards u picked up and i said sssshhhh and he said he is cheating and he started talking and being annoying and disruptive so i just stopped. I will never perform for little kids like that again.
I was performing for a little kid of grade 7 ... I was having a break from my work; so I went outside and asked a kid if I can show him something.
I let him pick a card, put it back in the deck and control it to the top. As I was about to begin the effect, he asked to shuffle the deck (this kid was extremely skeptical...).
I didn't have any excuse for not letting him shuffle the deck, so I said:
" Alright, you know what? We'll start this all over again and we'll make it as fair as possible; you'll pick another card and this time you'll shuffle the deck after you put the card in. Good Enough? "
This time, I planned to force a card...in that way, the kid can shuffle as much as he wants since I already know which card he took. So I forced the card to him...BUT by the time he put the card back to the deck, he suddenly dragged a radom card out and said:
" I changed my mind, I'll pick this one instead!"
I was really frustrated
; I didn't want to continue to perform for this kid anymore. So I just said: " You know what? I 'll have to get back to work (and it was true indeed)."
That was my worst performance ...
I let him pick a card, put it back in the deck and control it to the top. As I was about to begin the effect, he asked to shuffle the deck (this kid was extremely skeptical...).
I didn't have any excuse for not letting him shuffle the deck, so I said:
" Alright, you know what? We'll start this all over again and we'll make it as fair as possible; you'll pick another card and this time you'll shuffle the deck after you put the card in. Good Enough? "
This time, I planned to force a card...in that way, the kid can shuffle as much as he wants since I already know which card he took. So I forced the card to him...BUT by the time he put the card back to the deck, he suddenly dragged a radom card out and said:
" I changed my mind, I'll pick this one instead!"
I was really frustrated
; I didn't want to continue to perform for this kid anymore. So I just said: " You know what? I 'll have to get back to work (and it was true indeed)." That was my worst performance ...
I sneezed while doing Mercury.
And it wasnt one of those nice sneezes that come with a warning.
It wasn't that "AH... hAH... AHCHOO!!!"
NO!
it was a sneeky come out of nowhere sneezy, right in the middle of showing that i had just flipped 2 aces over..
Shabam out it comes and i drop the cards.
Sneeky SOB.
~Jordan
And it wasnt one of those nice sneezes that come with a warning.
It wasn't that "AH... hAH... AHCHOO!!!"
NO!
it was a sneeky come out of nowhere sneezy, right in the middle of showing that i had just flipped 2 aces over..
Shabam out it comes and i drop the cards.
Sneeky SOB.
~Jordan
For me my worst performance wasn't even my fault.
I was performing to this lady who for some reason could never remember her card. Even when i forced her card, and i asked her what card it was as that was a part of the trick, she told me the wrong card, but i couldn't say that to her because then she would have known that i knew her card already, which would have spoilt the trick. and for other longer tricks i tried on her, i got right to the end and revealed her card saying the typical "is this your card?" with all the confidence in the world, but she comes out with "i really don't reember"!!
I just didn't know what to do with her
I was performing to this lady who for some reason could never remember her card. Even when i forced her card, and i asked her what card it was as that was a part of the trick, she told me the wrong card, but i couldn't say that to her because then she would have known that i knew her card already, which would have spoilt the trick. and for other longer tricks i tried on her, i got right to the end and revealed her card saying the typical "is this your card?" with all the confidence in the world, but she comes out with "i really don't reember"!!
I just didn't know what to do with her
Man where to start ...
At a birthday party a family and the rest of mine thought that it would be a great idea to celebrate everybodies birthday in order (Lighting a candle on the same cake again, and again, and again ....) since we only see each other once a year.
I was already bored enough and my pockets were full of tricks, but I didn't know when to start.
So when it got to my turn I tore a bit a flash paper ou of the sheet for In a Flash and did a nice flame before blowing my candle out.
The effect was nice so they asked me to do it again on the next persons candle, but when the moment came the bit of flash paper didn't contact the flame so all they say was this ridiculous tiny peace of paper that I just threw over the cake, quite dissapointiong...
Then things got worse, I realized that I didn't have enough flash paper left for in a flash so instead I balled up what was left and palmed a sponge ball to start my sponge ball routine.
But of course I had too much flash so when the flame contacted my hand it just burned for about 3-4 seconds (Which is long when you are holding fire), burning also the sponge ball.
My hand was very burnt, but I just played it like "Everything is fine, was supposed to happen...." But it hurted like hell, and my first ball was burnt about a quarter....
The rest of the performance went great , if you forget the pain, and I had and extra piece of flash paper in my pocket, so I still did in a flash.
Lots of words to say nothing...
At a birthday party a family and the rest of mine thought that it would be a great idea to celebrate everybodies birthday in order (Lighting a candle on the same cake again, and again, and again ....) since we only see each other once a year.
I was already bored enough and my pockets were full of tricks, but I didn't know when to start.
So when it got to my turn I tore a bit a flash paper ou of the sheet for In a Flash and did a nice flame before blowing my candle out.
The effect was nice so they asked me to do it again on the next persons candle, but when the moment came the bit of flash paper didn't contact the flame so all they say was this ridiculous tiny peace of paper that I just threw over the cake, quite dissapointiong...
Then things got worse, I realized that I didn't have enough flash paper left for in a flash so instead I balled up what was left and palmed a sponge ball to start my sponge ball routine.
But of course I had too much flash so when the flame contacted my hand it just burned for about 3-4 seconds (Which is long when you are holding fire), burning also the sponge ball.
My hand was very burnt, but I just played it like "Everything is fine, was supposed to happen...." But it hurted like hell, and my first ball was burnt about a quarter....
The rest of the performance went great , if you forget the pain, and I had and extra piece of flash paper in my pocket, so I still did in a flash.
Lots of words to say nothing...
I was performing for a little kid of grade 7 ... I was having a break from my work; so I went outside and asked a kid if I can show him something.
I let him pick a card, put it back in the deck and control it to the top. As I was about to begin the effect, he asked to shuffle the deck (this kid was extremely skeptical...).
I didn't have any excuse for not letting him shuffle the deck, so I said:
" Alright, you know what? We'll start this all over again and we'll make it as fair as possible; you'll pick another card and this time you'll shuffle the deck after you put the card in. Good Enough? "
This time, I planned to force a card...in that way, the kid can shuffle as much as he wants since I already know which card he took. So I forced the card to him...BUT by the time he put the card back to the deck, he suddenly dragged a radom card out and said:
" I changed my mind, I'll pick this one instead!"
I was really frustrated
That was my worst performance ...
Nah, that had nothing to do with your ability to do a trick- That kid was just a jerk. But if you can ever pull it off, they're the best kids to fry.
-Matt
My worst performance or most annoying spectator story was when I was coming back on the ferry with some of my friends and there was about a group of 20 around me. I kept passing the cards to the top invisbly except it took a long time because they were watching like hawks and I wanted to punch someone in the face. And every time I passed the card to the top they would ask to shuffle the deck, and I kept saying "Can you just follow along and not be ignorant?" So instead of them just being quiet, one person took my cards out of my hand and shuffled them, well 1)DONT EVER DO THAT TO A MAGICIAN 2)I have a bad temper. I tore this kid apart I've never made fun of someone so bad, it felt good but then he got really offended and stuff. Anyways they kept asking if they could shuffle the cards so I kept getting flustered, and just forced the card for every trick and then let them shuffle then somehow I would sneakily get the cards into the proper position. But, since then no one has grabbed cards out of my hand, and I dont think ever will again. This may sound like I have a really bad temper but, it was only that day I've really ever lost it, it was something that just got to me.
-RA69
-RA69
YOU D bag!!
Nah kidding man.
I know what thats like.
I just do a palm and hand them the deck to shuffle.
SO then i can't loose the card.
Just something for you to keep in mind.
~Jordan
I thought of that, except didn't want to crimp or bend my Masters lol., but yeah I should do that more often, I'm very skeptical of palming although when I do it I don't get caught, just don't like taking the risk. I should practice more. Thanks
-RA69
I thought of that, except didn't want to crimp or bend my Masters lol., but yeah I should do that more often, I'm very skeptical of palming although when I do it I don't get caught, just don't like taking the risk. I should practice more. Thanks
-RA69
Well thats a nice thing about masters, They bend back easily.
If a deck of cards is whats keeping you from saving yourself.. well then thats not good.
I can understand if it was a blck ghost or jerrys.
But masters?
=P
~Jordan
my mom discovered my force deck at the ABSOLUTE worst time in a trick. "HAHAHA Look! There its a bunch of 9 of spades!"
*shiver*......
*shiver*......
I don't remember every single thing but at my Great Grandma's 94'th (yes, 94'th) birthday I was doing some sort of ace reveal.. not sure what it was now. Every single stinking time I did the reveal it was the wrong card. I did a reveal, WRONG, recovered with another reveal, WRONG.. you can see how it went.. Finally I got the right card and most everybody thought the screwup(s) were on purpose. Afterwards my grandma asked if i'de really messed up... I just smiled and said "Not telling.. hehehe"
Haha,
Sharp
Haha,
Sharp
I don't perform much yet. And the last 2 times I did perform a trick, the spec reached into my performance and turned a card on the table, that, of course, wasn't theirs :/
I could kill when people do that.
But I guess I won't be using "Look I'll put your card here on the table" any more.
I could kill when people do that.
But I guess I won't be using "Look I'll put your card here on the table" any more.
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Audience control comes with time. It is a blend of Misdirection, Confidence, and just performing experience. We've all been there and it suuuuuucks but just keep practising and performing and you'll find ways to control that.
Steve Simmons also posted a very interesting "Crotch Holdout" thread which prevents people from grabbing items, it is somewhere in the General Forum.
I thought of another mess up. Once I went to perform a coin routine only to find that my expanded shell was STUCK to a coin right as I went to perform. I tried to cover with an original 3 fly but.. that went waaaaay down the drain...
Sharp
Thanks for your post SharpestLives. I'm sure that with time, I will get better in that area. But those two were hecklers anyway, I should have know not to do that kind of trick.
I checked out Steve's thread, I'll keep that in mind.
Anyways I'd be happy if some of you seasoned magicians out there would share some tips with me on how to control the crowd or to make them confident that it's really their card that's on the table or that they're holding.
A friend showed me a few things you can do last week and that helped alot.
But I'd be really happy on more ideas.
@mods - I hope this isn't offtopic for you, although maybe it should get it's own thread.
Thanks.
I checked out Steve's thread, I'll keep that in mind.
Anyways I'd be happy if some of you seasoned magicians out there would share some tips with me on how to control the crowd or to make them confident that it's really their card that's on the table or that they're holding.
A friend showed me a few things you can do last week and that helped alot.
But I'd be really happy on more ideas.
@mods - I hope this isn't offtopic for you, although maybe it should get it's own thread.
Thanks.
I think its actually on topic. Having people tell their worst mistakes and not telling them ways to correct them is a mistake in itself.
It really just comes with time and you will learn how people think and when to sit things down/when not to. But a few tips i'll give you is 1) make sure if your using a double lift that they see their card until the last possible second. Don't show them the card and then wait a moment after turning it over to sit it down.
Also, a small subtle thing I do SOMETIMES (thats very important, do not do this every time you lay a card down). Is a mis-call. That is, I look at the indiferent card and say it is there card. Example, the selected card is the 5 of diamonds. I would lay an indiferent card down say "We'll take your card the *pause and glimpse indiferent card* the 5 of diamonds and..." get the idea? You don't want to over do this but just using this in a very subtle manner works WONDERS.
Also, until you have confidence in yourself and performing start by performing routines for people where the card is REALLY laid on the table or you actually place it in their hand. This builds confidence in your spectator that you are doing what you say.
Just a few tips,
Sharp
It really just comes with time and you will learn how people think and when to sit things down/when not to. But a few tips i'll give you is 1) make sure if your using a double lift that they see their card until the last possible second. Don't show them the card and then wait a moment after turning it over to sit it down.
Also, a small subtle thing I do SOMETIMES (thats very important, do not do this every time you lay a card down). Is a mis-call. That is, I look at the indiferent card and say it is there card. Example, the selected card is the 5 of diamonds. I would lay an indiferent card down say "We'll take your card the *pause and glimpse indiferent card* the 5 of diamonds and..." get the idea? You don't want to over do this but just using this in a very subtle manner works WONDERS.
Also, until you have confidence in yourself and performing start by performing routines for people where the card is REALLY laid on the table or you actually place it in their hand. This builds confidence in your spectator that you are doing what you say.
Just a few tips,
Sharp
They sure are underrated, that's for sure. Derren Brown uses them? And if you know who he is, and have seen something from him, you also know he has sleight of hand skills far beyond the average card magician today.
I don't personally use them, but I guess that is simply because I don't have one..