We've all probably had a time when a spectator guesses how we do one of our magic tricks, and their explanations are so outrageous that it is funny.

The most outrageous solutions for my tricks had to come from a spectator who saw my hot rod. After he examined it, he guessed that I had six in my pocket for each color that they could pick and I switched them very quickly and that was why I was swinging the hot rod so quickly. Then, he thought there were little wires in the hot rod (it was even more funny because it was a clear hot rod). Then, he started making up random solutions that didn't make sense at all, like there was a bar running through the center of the hot rod.

Someone once pointed out that the hand is quicker than the eye, he used that explanation to explain the professors nightmare, and how I was able (in plain sight at all times) to switch three different sized ropes for three that were the same, and back!

The funniest one I had and I'll remember this for the rest of my life. A spectator that told me that he knew how the linking rings worked. the rings where made from a special metal made by NASA that would melt thru each other and leave no marks.

Believe me, this is true.

Haha that's funny!:)

Once I did a show at a school and went around to class rooms befor and after the show to answer questions.. well before the show one kid asked me if I was doing the illusion where you put to blades in the girl and slide her middle over.. I said no.. and the kid said okay that's good cause we were studying illusions last weekand our teacher told us it is all done with mirrors.. I just had to LOL right there but I held it in

I have a favorite effect where a spectator chooses a card, returns it to the deck, boxes the deck, and puts the deck in a microwave oven for a few seconds. When the warm deck is removed, all the cards have turned black except for the chosen card. I performed this at my office in the break room, and the woman I did the trick for insisted on keeping the black cards and leaving them in the refrigerator over night to "prove" that they would turn back to normal once they cooled off.

I found that very entertaining.

One night I was doing some magic in a shopping mall and after producing four aces this one guy would just not believe I was not using a stripper deck.

Wow

I used to do amsusent park shows... we did the subtrunk almost 1500 times one summer.. and the most heard"solution" was that there was a trap door under the stage..


How would that have helped?

I've laughed at people who had insisted that Copperfield flies by wearing a suit of N pole magnets and the same polar magnets are on the stage and that keeps him floating. The best by far was when a woman insisted she knew how it was done and when I asked her to explain she leaned over to me and whispered... " He's in league with the devil."

Best,

Tim

I performed in the talent show when I was in High School and I did a Dancing Cane Routine. After the show everyone was asking me questions and one guy "knew" how I did it. When asked he said that I had magnets surgically installed into my wrists and the cane was a huge magnet!

I think the best I've had was when vanishing a coin a man said to me I saw how you did that. I was rather surprised as I knew he couldn't have so I probed him further. He said that he saw me turn the coin over and the they couldn't see it. He thought it was a coin that you could see through when held one way and that it looked like a coin from the other side. I figured the guy had left his brain back at home, decided to confess it was true, and proceeded with a one coin flurry for my own entertainment, and that of those within ear shot.
Paul
Also somebody once said they could see the string when I did a muscle pass!

Okay here's something. Not really a spectator giving an explaination but...

At the September IBM magic ring in Windsor, there was this one guy who came in late. He was a somebody who had heard about the meeting. He introduced himself and said he was a beginner. The meeting then went on. Most performed something after the business. Then we just had the mingling. This was when this guy decided to try his hand at some things.

He was trying to show some of the other guys how he was attempting at floating a piece of paper. He brought out some rolling papers. He crumple one up and put it on one of the other magicians hand. He then began explaining about manipulating the energy around it and so on. Decent patter if you asked me. But then it became apparent because you realized that this guy was totally serious. He was mentioning about his other experiments in this type of phenomena. He began sweating and looking like a vein was going to burst in his head as he was really trying to make the paper float. He got excited a few times when it moved a bit (really due to air currents and slight hand movements on the other magician's part). He kept at this for close to an hour with various people that would listen to him.

One member who is known for being outspoken asked the guy what stuff he had been smoking with those papers.

Batty,

I loved your Hot Rod explanation. I do not perform the Hot Rod anymore. However, years ago, when I worked in a brick and mortar magic shop, this was one of my favorite items. A demo Hot Rod always stayed in the display cabinet on its side, the customer could easily see both sides. There were six different Hot Rods on a little hidden self on the top back side. When a customer would request to see the trick performed, I would reach into the cabinet and bring the Rod out and switch it out with one of the others before reaching the counter top.

The Hot Rod was always an easy sell.

When I was 14 I sold programs at a show for a travelling hypnotist who demonstrated 'extra sensory perception' as filler. The old routine - he was blindfolded convincingly (and actually) and his assistant would ask him to name objects audience members had on them - in their bags etc.

My school friends had the ridiculous idea the assistant fed him clues by code.

I think they got the idea when she asked him, " Now R******* which coin is the lady holding up?"

"I'm getting an image of a 5 cent piece"

"No R******* - I said which coin, not what coin"

"Aah - would it be a 10 cent piece"

It was...

The other day after doing a superman coin bend with a borrowed coin that was initialled with a sharpie, someone put forward the premise I have 26 bent coins to switch out. I responded why don't we do 2 initials and then I only need to hide 625 plus coins....

Can you friggin imagine... try and keep 10 quarters straight let alone 26... Sheesh Kebabs.....

AFter opening my show with the "lean" illusion, a little girl (9 years old or so) came up to me after the show durring the meet and greet. She looks me in the eye and says "I know how you did Malloy's lean" and then she walked away. Somebodys dad was a magician I think...

Smart lil girl there, MagicBH. Maybe her dad does that too.

Weirdest explanation I got for ACR: the card is magnetic. Your ring is magnetic! (I wear a ring.)

I was once doing my variation of Hitman and a young boy came up to me afterward that was interested in getting into magic. I showed him some self working tricks that no one does and said if he got good at them I may show him more advances stuff like slights and palms. He then claimed that while I hit the cards at the end of Hitman I switched the card with the one I was palming.

I once performed the floating dollar bill for some people, and I remember it being a woman, but possibly a child think I was using some type of cream.

I was doing a show for a grade school one time that had just studied the subject of magic they of course "knew" that ever trick I performed was done with the aid of a trap in the top of my table. The only problem was that the only thing on the top of my table was the handle to transport it when it folded up.
John