I am currently doing parlor style shows for seniors, and enjoy the "magician in trouble" gambit (for one, but not all my effects in a show).

This works very well with children, but after a show for an adult audience, someone (a female who was not born in the USA) came up and said something about practicing more. I didn't ask her to elaborate, but I always wondered if that comment was related to a legitimate need on my part to practice more, or if it was a misunderstanding of my playing a "magician in trouble".

All this makes me wonder if I need to re-frame my MIT presentations. Do any of you use MIT for adult audiences? Do you ever have people think you really messed up? Would you care if they did?

John

I think these types of things play well for adults, I regularly use Shoe Buissiness and it always gets great reactions. Years ago I used to do vanishing bandana, that always went over well too. I think as long as you make sure they realise its supposed to go wrong you should be OK.

Being that she was foreign, she may have misinterpreted your acting skills.
That probably means that you didn't make it clear you were joking ( because you didn't emote that you knew about the problem) as soon as you "fixed" the problem. Or that you made a habit of problems so she thought you really were unrehearsed.

To overcome the appearance of not looking practiced it helps to have distinct beginnings, middles and ends and it helps to educate the audience (in a live show ) how to react when things go right, that way when something falls off the table and you point, and it flies into your hands, or you break something and. "Push it off onto the spectator" the audience knows the action is a put on. They know because you demonstrate that your other affects work and that you are delibrate in your actions. You can also create a complete routine of problems that you never seem to notice yourself.

There are other theatrical methods employed here so I would suggest getting the 7 set DVD of Charley Chaplain and some laurel and hardy DVS to start. Watch how many stunts Oliver actually does himself, it's amazing. Also buster Keaton

Yes these are all slapstick but WHAT great learning tools for the beginner and the expert.

Jay:

I'm not clear on what you are saying. I'm not sure how to "emote that you knew about the problem"

For a routine that I am currently working on, After the first "mistake" I continue to act like I can/try to "fix" things (in this case I repeat the process with little modification). The problem does resolve on the third try. Your comment suggest that I should handle that differently, but I'm not sure how.

John

Jay, if iI'm not mistaken, from your last post it seems as though it is taking you 3 tries with slight modifications to do the same thing. To lay people, it looks like you're practicing live in front of them and are not polished.

The way I typically use MIT is:
Try 1: goes wrong
Try 2 (with slight modification): goes wrong
I then "give up" and the trick works... but not the way it was presented the first 2 times!

The audience should think that the first 2 tries are mistakes when they're happening; however, as soon as the trick "works", they should then clearly realize that the first 2 tries were just a joke.

As a "top of my head" example...
Spectator pics a card, returns it to the deck, shuffles, returns the deck to magician.
Try 1: Show wrong card "Is this your card?"... "no"
Try 2: Do some flourishy cuts, etc. Show wrong card. "Is this your card?"... "no"
Give up: "Wow, I'm so sorry. I can't believe this, it's never happened to me before. Lets try something else." Turn around to face your back to the audience/spectator to put the cards away and maybe pick up another prop, etc. When you turn around, the chosen card is stuck to your back.
Now the audience realizes that you weren't making a mistake and that the first 2 tries were planned all along.

I'm not sure if this is what you're looking for but I figure I'd throw in my $0.02

I use MIT in every show. At a small show, but HUGE names... I screwed up an actual trick. Bad!!! Because of my MIT patter, a little earlier in the show, I immediately morphed the screw up into a huge "I did it on purpose" and got a huge laugh. I knew I screwed up, but they didn't.

Yes. Along those lines. Sometimes it's just a visual effect where you attempt to pick something up and it moves - then you quit and it jumps in your hand.
Or the ball in the silk bit where the silk is dropped and it bounces back.

Sometimes it's a patter thing - like naming the wrong card several times but it's on your forehead.

Going back over the original post I also see that - The lady could habitually interpret things a certain way (similar to the Pariadolia Effect) Where everything that happens SHOULD happen in an orderly fashion (her way) or it becomes unsettling. In that case there is nothing you can do because her ability to interpret social queues is lacking in sophistication.

I have had a similar response.

Someone told me not to be so hard on myself.

A lot of humor I use, is targeted back toward me.

Another similar idea, was from someone that wanted to get up and help me.

I was presenting at the National Council on Alcoholism to a group of spouses. One "new Alanon", had to sit on their hands and not get up to
help me get out of my strait jacket.

Oh what fun it is to share in live theater.

Harris
still 2 old to know it all

I think you were addressing that to me, not Jay Leslie. So, in the new effect I was referring to, I took three tries. In your response, you took three tries, so I'm not clear on what you think was lacking in my trick. As far as "'thinking the first 2 tries were mistakes..". Each phase includes a visual joke (my effect is a mis-made lady type of effect, using a picture of the lady, and the "tries" do seem to elicit some laughs (I've performed it once since my original post)

I still don't know how to "emote":
"That probably means that you didn't make it clear you were joking ( because you didn't emote that you knew about the problem) as soon as you "fixed" the problem." Nor am I sure I should; at the moment my presentation was intended to convey MIT; the last phase is a success (the lady is put back together), but I don't know if people may perceive the three tries as me needing more practice.

Maybe I just need to let another magician see the actual presentation.

I really like MIT scenarios and I find they can work just as well with adults as well as kids, sometimes even better with adults. I have had situations where the audience doesn't respond or really laugh the way I had hoped when the trick apparently hasn't worked out, but something surprising has still happened. And it has bothered me! For me at least I found 3 things I had to work on..I'm sure there's more:) I had to slow things down more. If the trick appears to have gone wrong but something magical has still happened I try and pause for longer to let that moment sink in. My character is a bit laid back and dry but I have found that from trick to trick my character is not always consistent and sometimes with an MIT routine I might suddenly be acting like the magician I learnt the trick from! So I try and stay in character...although I'm still not sure I've even found my performance style yet. Related to this is the fact that I think I can overdo the fumbling and flustering type of acting in a performance...I'm not sure whether this has led some in the audience to think I really did mess up or not but I did feel the humour or acting was forced. I have found that less is more with that type of acting!