Ok, I've actually just had a REALLY funny reaction from two audience members at an art fair I did a gig at.

A kid (college age) and his mom were standing a ways down from my stage. I was walking around with my sound system (it's late at night and I can't remember the exact name of this thing...sorry). Anyway, I was announcing my next show and I call out "come see the Mystic Shriner, be entertained, enthralled, bewildered..." you get it...and this lady says "what's so mystic about the Mystic Shriner?"

So I said: "Show me your palm". I was REALLY into Witchcraft for a long time and if there's any thing I'm really, really good at it's reading palms. I don't mean a hokey carney "tell them what they want to hear" kind of reading, I mean a READING! So I gave her and her son the reading of their lives. Very blunt, no candy coating at all, and...
THEY FREAKED OUT!

They profusely thanked me and followed me back to my tent/platform to watch me perform and I heard her say to her son before I started...

"I don't know if I'm ready for this guy's show or not, I think he's the real thing!"
Anyway, that made my day!

Yeah, I don't do any readings proffessionally or for entertainment, but that would have been a good reaction. Good going...I guess.

I have a pretty much self working card prediction routine that starts of with some seemingly difficult, but not impossible predictions which get progressively harder. It was the last day of school (I'm the teacher) and I did it for my class of 15 year old science students. After the initial stages, the predictions are read, one at a time, by a member of the audience. At the end I am holding up eleven black cards, the aces, 3s, 5s, 7s and 9s and the four of clubs, as the kid reads out, "And all of them are odd numbers."
Well the class goes wild..."Ha, Sir's got it wrong. Can't do tricks." It was good natured but still they were clearly enjoying the mistake. Once they'd calmed down I indicated to my reader to turn over the prediction--and he read "except for the four of clubs." Silence and then a round of applause. I can't remember the last time I got applause in class.
Anyway, the bell went, I wished them Merry Christmas and the year was over. The best end to a school year I can remember.

David.

Wow. Nothing as exciting as any of these. I don't even really have a story, as it's just about every effect I show. But my friend always gives me weird reactions. He'd say things such as "Ok, I'm calling Mitch Pileggi"...or "I oughta put you on the street corner to make me some money." He flipped his lid when I coughed up cards, using Malone's gag on OTL 1. I think he's a nut...and that's my exciting input.

I was doing the arm twist in a bar for a British soldier. As a habit I get them to kneel down with me and attempt it as well. He was drunk and I noticed he had turned his hand over the same way I did to perform the trick. NOW here is a lesson to be learned by all. They say if something messes up during a performance, just keep going. And believe me...do it. This guy twisted his arm all the way around as well as I did. The people watching didn't catch on...nor did he! He couldn't understand how I made HIS arm twist all the way around. He tried to do it again and couldn't do it without me as a visual reference. I have seen him since and its still ?????? to him.

Mmmm... large coffee.

OK, mine was from Balducci.

I did the effect for a mixed group of children and adults at a camp ground. It was night, so I had a friend of mine (who is also a magician) hold a good bright flashlight on me. He knows the effect, so his lighting was PERFECT for the angle. I walked out a few paces to make sure I was aligned with the right stars", my friend placed the light on me just right, and up I went.

As I was setting up my position, I heard the bunch (about 20 or so) whispering behind me (about 15 feet). When I went up, there was ABSOLUTE silence. I stayed for only about 4 or 5 seconds, and then came down, initially pretending to be dizzy and out-of-sorts after such an expenditure...

But soon the pretending stopped as I was literally mobbed by the group- the wierdest thing was that everybody was touching me- people were just reaching out and touching me- I didn't know what to do initially, it was quite shocking. Another magician friend of mine calls it "The Messiah Effect"...

The next day, I overheard people talking about it in their tents and around the campground. By that evening, I had gone "a foot or two" off the ground. I think by the end of the week I was probably flying over the treetops.

I love Balducci, but I do it VERY rarely because of the angles. Done right, though, the response is unbeatable!

Dave Xanatos

You were fortunate indeed. Most Bible folks want to use it to beat you over the head with, as they call you the devil incarnate. And I mean to say, alot of them are ready to perform an exorcism on you!

But to answer the original question, One that stands out in my mind was a show I was performing when I was in the Air Force. I was up on a stage, and I performed Slydini's master sponge ball routine for a young girl. At the end of the routine, dozens of mini sponge balls fly out of the spectators hand. Well, it happened, and I mean to tell you this girl SCREAMED at the top of her lungs like something you might hear in one of those late night murder flicks. I mean it was intense! This was soooo satisfying!

Friday night was a friend's 40th birthday. So a few of us took him out for drinks.
By the end of the night, we wound up in a bar that tends to have a much younger crowd.

I was doing a bit of walk around stuff... just enjoying the evening.

I walked up to this one girl and placed a sponge bunny on her hand.
She looked up at me and said, "This isn't going to get me pregnant is it?"
Her sister standing beside her laughed.

I went through a little bunny routine and finished with her hands full.
As I finished up and was removing the bunnies, she smiled at me and said, "It is o.k. You can get me pregnant."

True conversation. Actual words. I wished her a wonderful night and went with friends for pizza.

Cheers - El Lamo

I've always been partial to a good "spit take" myself!

Cheers!

I had someone punch me once after I fooled him...I've decided not to perform at college frat parties from now on.

Today, I was doing some magic for this girl at my school. When I was done, her friend who was watching said, "Ooh, ooh. Do me!" I did the Ambitious Card, and she said in a dreamy voice, "Will you marry me?"

Shane Wiker

The wildest reaction I ever got was not long ago in a small Café in Amarillo. It was just after Pope Benedict XVI was elected. I was wearing my collar , drinking coffee. I often do tricks for both the waitresses and customers in this coffee shop when I'm there. This elderly lady seeing my collar started to talk to me about the pope and ask me a bunch of questions and I simply told her, "I'm Greek Orthodox, not Roman Catholic, I don't really know." She smiled and said she was Roman Catholic and went on to tell me how much she enjoyed my parish's festivals and loukoumadis breakfasts. In a few moments her friends came in and she told them I was Greek Orthodox, and she started telling them about our festivals, etc, then she started to talk to them about the pope. I saw the waitress coming so I slipped a loop on my wrist around a small bottle of hot sauce and began to appear to PK it across the table. The woman at the other table stopped in mid sentence pointed to my PK effect and shouted loudly " To Hell with the Pope, I'm converting." I had to explain to her I as a magician and this was not spiritual powers. Got to be careful what I'm wearing when I do magic.

When I was in the Navy, we were getting ready for a shift change and I stuck the english penny from my S&S set under the trackball of the computer. On of my female shipmates came in to use the computer before the changeover. about ten minutes later, I pulled out my coins and asked her if I could try and amaze her with something. After I performed the effect, she of course wanted to know where the other coin was. I told her it was under the trackball. She looked, found it, screamed, and told me to stay away from her because things like that freak her out. We laughed about it a ferw days later, but it still made me feel pretty good.

Patrick

I did the invisible deck with a eery presentation to my cousin. after the effect she was at the kitchen sink shaking. I had to make her feel alright.tell her it wasn't what she thinks it is.

I've had the same experience as Shane has had, several times actually. I think it is just because it's the south, we're weird down here.

Anyway, the most interesting reaction I've ever gotten was on the bus ride home from school. I did the folded card in mouth thing, Simon Lovell Million Dollar Card Magic I think. I do it quite a bit because I can use the chicks phone number to make other guys jealous. The girl I did it for looked at me funny then just took the card out of my hand and started looking at it. Normally taking a card isn't that odd, but she was the first person to ever take the card that was just in my mouth and is normally covered with spit. I've been doing that trick for a while and she is still the only person to touch the card after it's been in my mouth. Another reaction to the same trick, and this one gets a bit racey, but if the Café doesn't like they can delete. I just finished the trick and the girl goes,"Wow, if he can do that to a card with his tounge just imagine what he do with it elsewhere." I just smiled, I didn't want to denie or accept that so I just sat there and smiled. She and I are pretty good friends now. That's about it for my interesting reactions.

Cheers!

I've had people run out of the room... one time last week even before the whole trick was done.I had to have someone go find him so I could finish the effect. And one time when I was performing at an apartment a guy ran out of the room, into his room and under the bed, where he stayed until I left.

I have made a couple of people cry (Some have been because they enjoyed it so much), but the wierdest on was after performing a card colour change, a french lady started licking the backs of my cards to see if the ink came off.

These are awesome stories. =)

One weird reaction I get is from my coin bite. I borrow a coin, bite it, and blow it back together.

Just after I bite the coin, for some reason, EVERY TIME I've performed this trick for Taiwanese people, someone in the crowd (if not more than one) whispers quietly "....chocolate...."

A few times (but not often enough) someone has retorted "what?! how could it be chocolate?!"

Yesterday I did a show where, unbeknown to me, there was a blind lady in the audience. At the end of the show, she and her friends called me over. She told me she enjoyed the show very much. She said that I was very discriptive in my act and she only had to ask her friends very little about what was going on to understand my act. That made me feel very humble.

I did a small private party once and had badly fooled everyone at a table, except for (I thought) an elderly gentleman to my left. He just sat there the entire time, remarkably quiet and emotionless. Much later, he came up to me and told me how it was the most miraculous thing he had ever seen. He shook my hand, handing me a hundred dollar bill in the process. Needless to say, that was the most miraculous thing I had ever seen.
Mark