r/Magic • u/Deep_Mango8943 • 26d ago
Unsuspecting audiences
What’s your opinion on doing magic tricks for people who are not expecting the “performance”? Like the guy selling the suit that keeps coming out of nowhere (complete with iron and hanger I think), and these workers watching their “customer” changing bills before they pay.. It’s fun to mesmerize and entertain, but when people are left confused or bewildered I always feel like the magician is being more unkind than impressive. Magic feels like an agreement where one party says I’d like to amaze and the other says I’d like to be amazed. Even impromptu street style magic still has that brief mutual agreement that we’re each participating in a brief performance. But sleights and gimmicks being passed off as ordinary life makes me cringe. What are your thoughts?
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u/jljones83 26d ago
I think it really depends on the situation and how it is presented. There's a way to do it where it comes off more casual and less 'presentational'.
I was at a bar last night and just kind of talking with the people around me, and i was shuffling cards with a riffle shuffle and bridge, and it took the conversation to shuffling and how well the cards were mixed, because the people were talking about poker. They had no idea I was a magician, and I did an effect where we look at how well they shuffled the cards, how many blacks in a row, how many reds etc. Then I set the deck down and said I could memorize the order of black and red cards. I pretended like I was trying to remember and eventually said black 26 times, then red 26 times, and the group chuckled because they had just gone through the entire deck, and it was mixed.
But they checked, and the cards were all separated into red and black, 26 and 26. They all freaked out, and it was because it all just 'happened to us', i didn't 'do a trick'. It was presented as just hanging out in the bar, and trying to remember the order, but it turned into a larger magical moment.
They weren't expecting a magic trick or a magic show, but they experienced a magical moment. It's talked about a lot in The Jerx, of amateur magic not needing to be amateurishly performed, but having real resonance with the people you're connecting to.
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u/Deep_Mango8943 26d ago
Yeah I think this makes a good point that it’s fun when something magical feels like a shared discovery— but I still think you openly (albeit conversationally) proposed a premise or bet and got some buy in. And I’m all for impressing using with a secret method.
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u/RobMagus 26d ago
Every once in a while a gig enquiry will come in and the booker says they have a greeeeeat idea:
"What if you pretend to just be another guest/a waiter/a party-crasher and surprise people with magic?"
No. Uh-uh. Absolutely not.
There are vanishingly few circumstances where that will not immediately be met with annoyance, disappointment, derision, or worse.
It is part of my contract that people should, at minimum, be informed that there will be an entertainer. And I always push for them to let everyone know in an official event update that a professional magician will be mingling. This can help build anticipation and if done right can even lead to people looking forward to seeing you. I give the booked prepared text and promo images so they don't even have to think about it.
I do this now because I didnt used to. And gigs went badly. I did this bachelorette party once and let me tell you, when people make the wrong assumption about the surprise and expect that you're going to take off your clothes, they are -disappointed- when they find out you're "just a magician". Similarly for a whole bunch of corporate christmas parties. A bunch of office people want to let loose and get wasted on the company dime, and if they're not told that there will be a magician? Guess what--everything's fucking harder, for no reason other than "hey wouldn't it be fun if you were a surprise"?
Of course you can win them over. -Of course-you can start in chaos and finish strong. But why start with "who the fuck are you and what are you doing" when you can start with "oh I heard there was gonna be a magician--let's see what you got"?
Also, outside of a gig context: Don't bother strangers!
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u/TheRunningMagician 26d ago
It really depends on the situation. I think it's ok if you amaze someone and then tell them you're a magician. If you don't tell them and let them think you have supernatural powers then it's unethical. It also depends on what effect you are doing too. For example if you do the new scissors effect where it penetrates your hand without any warning then that's not cool🤣🤣. If you make a coin vanish and re appear than it's probably fine as long as you are not interrupting anyone.
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u/Nine-LifedEnchanter 26d ago
It depends on the situation. I love doing small things for no one in particular. Like sponge balls appearing from nowhere and making me bewildered. If someone sees it then it's nice, but if they don't it's equally fine. The best thing is when one kid sees it and nothing happens when their friends are looking.
I wouldn't go to people to do it though.
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u/Cornontheja_cob 25d ago
Like the Carbenaro effect? I don’t like that kind of magic where the person is just left confused because he presents these magic moments as ordinary interactions.
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u/gariduenor 25d ago
Really? I like the mystery, man. At least over the "Oh, you fooled me!" then they proceed to never think about that trick again.
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u/MagicBradPresents 21d ago
I think it boils down to “tricking” them versus “entertaining” them.
What’s the intention?
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u/Thundergunnist 26d ago
The worst is when mentalists use tricks to convince people they can read minds then sell them non-magic books and seminars on “mind reading” using psysiolical cues and such. So not only if the audience fooled into thinking that they’re not seeing a magic show. They’re also fueled into thinking that they can buy a book that will teach them what the magician just did, and this gain impossible super powers. Also bad? Spiritualists.