I find that performing in front of boyfriends that are with adate is the worst. they do not like to be tricked. its a shame how a good spectator can get a hot head in front of a companion of the opposite sex.

My mother in law, she just doesn't get it

True!

I guess I'm a bit of a dabbler, I'm still new and only perform for family and work mates. So I feel it's a little unfair to attack dabblers. A slight modification may help, It's those who know a little and can't keep quiet. So they've heard of IT and think you use it for everything, or they know how to DL so when you show the top card they blab, even if you really are showing the top card.

So I'll call them blabbers, not dabblers. It keeps me happy that way

Oh, and there's this guy at work who _has_ to know how every trick is done or he bugs me for ages. So I showed him NFW and clammed up, no repeat, no clues. He's getting the point that I pay for these effects so he can't have them for free.

Greetings, All! I'm new here, and relatively new to magic. I've seen quite few posts here, but very few address how to deal with those who disrupt your routines. I would be appreciative if some of you who have been doing this a while offer advice/suggestions on how to deal with the various hecklers/dabblers/blabbers/etc etc.

A few weeks ago, I was basically doing a kid's show (about 25 kids). 24 of them were great. But one of them, instead of applauding or showing some type of positive reaction, responded with "I know how you did that" or some similar response. What was really funny, were the 'explanations' he offered on how the trick was done. He was almost always way off, but I didn't want to waste my time trying to please this one loudmouth little 10 year old when I had a room full of wonderful little kids. Any suggestions on how similar situations have been handled?

I think people that are very anlyical and grounded in logical reasoning are a group of hard core people to please - because they contantly trying to figure the trick themselves and they don't just sit back and enjoy themselves. Magic is all about sit back and put your feet put and enjoy - not taking a test for Pete's sake...

Hiya all, I am a young female magician,

I am a stage magician, and mainly a children's entertainer.Below are 3 of my shows that have been bad.
One time I performed the cups and balls to these 5 year old, at first it was bad but then it was funny, because when I made both the 1st and 2nd ball disappear one boy said " Oh I know how you did that!", but when I made the 3rd one dissapear and then all 3 balls appeared together he said "Oh I do not know how you did that!"
One time I performed in front of my parents, sister, my uncle,auntie and cousins (in their 20's), it was ok in the beginnig, but soon afterwards they fell asleep, aprt from my uncle! They go to bed late every night, and are always tired in the day, and tend to bum around a bit, I was offeneded that we had invited them over for the day and they couldn't be assed to participate.
MOST RECENTLY THE WORSE AUDIENCE WAS to some older children, arhh!! it was so scarey...
The party was for a 7 year old, and the parents didnot give me much infomation about the people who would be there, and I like to know.. her friends her like older some young some old like 9!!!!, and adults were standing behind them luckily,but there was one child who wanted to be the smart arse!! and he wasl ike I know how that is done etc, its in ym box of tricks at home!!, and GOD I performed the cups and balls MISTAKE!!, the kid sohuts out the secret, and some even went to one of the sides, fo when I placed the cups on each other... and this is annoying too, the birthday girl was there obviously, my first rick was for her, I bothered to buy her a present and card,and when she got up did a trick with me and I gave her the present she bu**ered off for ages, and when she did return, you know what the girl did, well she went over ot a corner and had a 'mothers meeting' with her friends!! I was so offended, also I have a bag with sweets in, that I give to my helpers, and as I was in a bit of a rush to ESCAPE, the bag must of came off who got nicked cos it wasn't with me in the car when I got home!! After the show I told my mum and claimed they were bohemians!!! The girl's dad is a bit weird, to be honest he looks like the 'rapist' Graham in that soapy soap 'Eastenders' (can't stand that program!), and he was like coming onto me too - winking at me, getting close..and he is like married has 2 children!!
The only godo thing about this guy is that he makes t-shirts and said he was hapyy ot make a t-shirt for me, magic wise it would be great.
BELINDA - hating that show so much.

One line I use for hecklers (when the atmosphere is right) is to stage whisper "I remember when I had my first beer". It always gets a big laugh, and usually shuts up the heckler, though not always. I know in Card College Volume 4 Roberto Giobbi has some great lines for controlling hecklers.

"So that's how it's done? I'm glad you told me, now I can do it that way from now on!"

3 way tie. The heckler, the know it all and the air brain.

The Heckler: I allow his presence if I’m in the middle of something otherwise I avoid him like the plague.

The Know it all (a.k.a. the puzzler): Has an answer for everything. I perform the unexplainable just for them.

The Airbrain: Had one of these a couple of nights back at the bar. I was performing my VCA, when I was about a third of the way through.

This person started talking about how they once saw a magician, and then what state he was in, and how that state needed to raise taxes so they could balance the budget. I never even finished my routine, just put all the coins back into my purse.

I gotta go with heavily intoxicated spectators with grabby hands.

The worst spectators I've run into are magicians.

I'd hope that fellow magicians watching other magician performing have the empathy and compassion to be supportive of other's attempts to be a magician. I sincerely hope that what you run into are not a common occurrance.

Somehow I think dabblers' existance is very reasonable. We all know some persons, especially the smart ones, are really good at problem solving. In fact our education (in Honkong) teaches us to be a problem-solving machine. Also, if we experience sth can't be explained at once, we want to find out the answer. It's a human nature. So, some audience turn out to be dabblers is very normal. I'd surprise if there's none.

For my limited experience, I find a well-thought patter is helpful. Try to present a trick as an experience, a test, a story, DOWNPLAY THE PUZZLE SIDE OF A TRICK, try your best to eliminate the "challenge" side. Be nice and be entertaining.

But yes, still there're diehard persons always play the role of dabblers no matter how good you are or how well you plan.

Drunks and other people who know a few card tricks aswell, I happed to have performed to these people on saturday night at a party. it was a nightmear. later found out one of the guys was a card cheat.

Lukas

I agree with Ron - people who think I challenge their brain with my magic are the worst. They feel constantly embarrassed. And they think that if they don't tell their friends how a trick worked right away, these friends will call them stupid. As if I was doing magic only for them.
Sometimes these people even become aggressive. That's the time to pack up the stuff and leave.

The best specator, on the other hand, is my girlfriend. Knows no sleights, but watches carefully and tells me everything that caught her attention.

I'm sorry about my post above. I don't think I said what kind of magicians I was talking about. the worst kind of spec I've run into are kid magicians who just want to figure out how you did that, not how good at magic you are.

I've enjoyed all the posts on this topic & especially liked Jaxon's post about the spectator who wont let down his 'guard' (ie relax and be entertained).
As far as 12 yr old boys who want to know the secrets??? I once did a card performance for this crowd ... and really had a blast, even though they were trying to look under the hanky (card thru kerchief), etc. Some of those kids might become future magicians, who knows? The main thing is that I entertained them. Sometimes one or 2 might stand out as really wanting to know how to perform a trick. In fact I sometimes teach them a simple trick (like the 21 trick), and then tell them where the magic shop is located. So, I'd say we all have to let our guard down once in a while (of course without revealing secrets).

In my experience the worst kinds aren't even spectators. They are the people who walk up to a table or area where you are performing, look at you, and then begin a conversation in normal tone with somebody who is watching your performance.

They obviously know that a show is going on, but they are so rude, and have such a lack of basic social skills, and are so self-indulging, that they don't think you or your performance matters one iota.

I agree. I'm in college right now getting a double-major in engineering, and a few of the other engineers I've tried performing for are absolutely horrible. I actually had one person who, after watching me doing a few tricks for a group of people (who were all really impressed), said "yeah, I don't have any respect for people who do magic, just for the amount of practice that goes into the sleight-of-hand." I ended up just ignoring him and focusing more on everyone else while I did a few more tricks. Everyone else's reaction to his comment helped to keep him quiet for the rest of the time he was around ;-)

College students as a whole are pain to perform for in an infomal situation. When I was in college, there were very few I would perform for. Engineers and other 'logical types' are a slam dunk and fun to entertain once they're in the working world. Especially if you select effects that are geared toward them.

Many college students have an ego (those that don't go into college and go into the armed forces have similar attitudes) and are idealistic and think they can do anything. By the time they've worked a few years, gotten married, and have a familily, they get a more realistic perspective and, thus, are easier to fool.

I still run into people with large egos and they are still a pain to entertain. Some people just don't change.