Greetings, Magi:

Two of my pet effects are 'sucker' bits with all the 'gotcha' edges ground smooth: Silk To Egg and a T&R Tissue Paper. Both effects have motivated applause from audiences at exactly the WRONG moments -- revealing the (obviously) fake egg, and dropping the 'torn' pieces of tissue.

This is counter-intuitive...I would expect groans, guffaws, heckling; instead, I often get either mercy applause or the real deal. What's happening? Has there been an outbreak of civility in our society and I simply didn't get the memo?

Comments? Derision?

Leland

Sounds to me like the audience is still being entertained & having a good time-at the end of the day that's really what its all about!!

Soak up the applause-could be worse with hardly any!!

Most audiences will respond how they know best at that time-Enjoy it

I too perform Silk to egg & get very good reactions at all shows to this classic effect -always on the breaking of the egg you get a mixture of applause, loud comments about the egg being real , laughter, head scratching etc

If they like an effect-theyll clap etc

Sounds like your doing really well-Enjoy it!!!!

Cheers

Leland,
I have had this experience too. If you feel the applause is coming at the wrong moment and that it hurts the routine because you are about to "undo" the audiences kindness by being cruel with the sucker punch, you may want to try to minimize and reduce the reation in order to help them store up appreciation for the real climax. I sometimes get too much reaction during the Ball to Cube and if I sense they are going to be too nice, I step on the applause by starting to talk over it very quickly. Roughly meaningless banter so they don't actually miss any words that matter to the effect, but that seems to close off the response in an inoffensive way and helps us get to the real point. Hope that helps.

-Ed

"The re-souling of magic should be the goal of the twenty first century magician"-S.H. Sharpe

Hiya, Ed:

Good point about managing audience reaction, but I've eliminated all of the "sucker" impact, making myself instead the butt of the 'joke' by 'failing' to restore the papers or by revealing an obviously fake egg.

In both instances, I would expect audiences to be disapproving, but I've gotten the responses I mentioned before instead. On my fake egg, I've marked a thick, black line (where the two halves connect) to make it OBVIOUSLY fake, yet people have actually gasped when it appears.

Thanks Magi,
Leland

At least you're getting an applause rather than not getting one. It means that your audience is enjoying your show and isn't just watching someone babble things like "i'm pushing the hanky into my hand" or "as I tear the tissue paper". You get what I mean?

I'm guessing that they applaud thinking it's the end of the trick. If it were me, I'd ask myself the following and see if the audience itself can clue me in as to why they do this.

1. What type of audience is it? Adults, kids, senior citizens, etc.? Does this happen more with one type of audience than with another?

2. Is it mercy applause or the real thing, i.e., how enthusiastic is it?

3. What's the applause like at the end of the trick? More? Less?

Could be as simple as a particular type of audience perceiving what you're doing in a different way than you intended.

Leland,
I can only guess then that folks are just really diggin' you and and your show. It is possible that your persona is so likeable that they just want to be positive right back at ya. Why fight it. Let them applaud and then you notice the fake, etc and play it that way. Go get em!

-Ed
"The re-souling of magic should be the goal of the twenty first century magician"
-S.H. Sharpe