We've all heard it before, a club owner books a bad magician and it makes him less likely to hire any magician, even though he'd never apply that logic to a singer or comedian.

My own opinion, however, is that it's not the club owner's fault (as most would agree), but that it's also not the bad magician's fault. Well, not mostly his fault.

That's the issue I haven't seen discussed much. So I thought I'd bring it up here.

How is it that a club that hires a karaoke singer vs. Celine Dion can tell that the difference in quality is not the fault of the song? Why are other performers not grouped by "art form" the way magicians often are?

I personally believe that the fault lies with working magicians, or at least non-beginners, who fail to distinguish themselves from the beginners. That's why the public at large believes magic is easy to learn, and why some beginners might volunteer to do a magic act before they actually have a magic act. People think magic is easy and requires little skill because, from their perspective, it appears to be easy and require little skill.

There's a big difference between a professional who apparently does nothing more than point to a magic box, which then produces a woman, versus a professional who leads a giant tiger out on stage (without getting chewed up) before stuffing it into a magic box. The first guy apparently (apparently) does nothing that requires unusual skill. The second guy demonstrates, at least, that he can control a giant tiger (most of the time, at least). That's why I blame our own failure, as magicians, to make evident our skill and experience.

Actually, perhaps "fault" is too strong a word. "Responsibility" might be better. In other words, because we can't force the public to change their minds with, and because bad magicians tend to not KNOW they're bad, the only way to fix the problem is to clarify the distinction between beginner and professional.

To me, that means putting on a professional show. For example, if you use music, don't openly manipulate a remote or, worse an actual CD player, while on stage (hide the remote in your pocket and control it subtly - which means AT LEAST investing in a radio-frequency remote extender). I've seen several performers do this. It looks amateurish.

I guess that's one reason I lean heavily towards mentalism (although I'm not big on distinguishing mentalism from magic from mental magic). When it works well (which generally follows a lot of planning and practice), it's obvious to the spectators that there's a great deal of skill involved. It doesn't remotely look like something I bought something in a magic store a few hours before.

Or perhaps it's why new "characters" play so well. It's ironic that magicians perform in tuxes, when the first guy who performed in a tux expressly did so in order to look more "normal."

In any case, I'm not sure there is a real solution to this. It may be beyond our abilities to fix. I do know, however, that magic is perceived as nerd-like by a large portion of the public (even the ones who pay to see live shows). Timothy Wenk went on a long tirade about this on the Usenet once. It's confirmed by any number of pop-culture references (I'm thinking of a dating website commercial where a "nightmare date" wants to "talk about something fun ... like ... MAGIC!").

Anyway, it's something I've been thinking about for a long while now and still haven't resolved for myself. It has, however, led me to believe we should be more grateful to David Blaine and Criss Angel than most of us on this forum seem to be.

magically yours,

Jim Kawashima

I think the club owners or reliable agents should watch any act prior to hiring them and decide if the act would entertain his patrons.

Most club owners, and people in general, have seen many more singers, musicians and comedians than they have magicians and they know there are more of them to choose from.

Unlike other entertainers magicians are a unique group in the sense that they provide a mystery and have secrets.

Some magi are tecnically good but dull as entertainers. Others, particularly better comedy magicians, can mystify and entertain a club crowd with good humor and more likely to.

True enough, Jaz, but the point is we can't dictate what the customer SHOULD do; we can only adjust to what the customer DOES do. If the customer has trouble distinguishing good magicians from bad, then perhaps good magicians should be more distinctive.

Jim

True.
Perhaps we should be able to adjust to the venue and be the best entertainers we can be. Adjusting is easier said than done I think.

There are going to be magicians who are inexperienced in certain venues but want to expand into other venues.
Not doing a great job at a new venue don't necessarily mean that they're bad magicians just that the venue is something new to them.

I still think that the employer should do some research prior to hiring.
If they don't then there's no guarantees they will get what they want.

I don't know who is at fault. Maybe both parties to some extent.

If I had to deal with a skeptical club owner then I would pull out a coin or three and blow his mind. Hopefully that would at least convince him to see some of the bigger stuff.
As far as showing skill, that is actually one thing I have seen done well at both Lance Burton's show, as well as one of our local theme parks.
At the park, the magician strolls around before the show and does some card stuff that obviously takes a great deal of skill. Then the show starts and he points to a box that gorgeous dancing women come out of.
Lance Burton does the same thing, but sitting on the edge of the stage.
Copperfield did it with rubber bands in one special.
It's just a little something special to show the skill without 'finger-flinging'
for the sake of showing off.

Don't be too worried
Admitedly a bad amateur can convince a new patron to let him do magic professionally in his restaurant and discourage him.
Generally however patrons have been around for a while and have seen a sufficient number of magic to be easily able to tell the difference. The risk for a seasoned patron to be discouraged of using magic to attract and retain customers does not only result of the quality of the performance, but also of the seriousness of the performers (be on time, have clean hands, keep clean props, maintain a good relationship with the waiters, understand that that the restaurant business is not about magic but that magic is a way to enhance that business...)
So let's not try to close the door behind us. When amateurs become professionals they cannot have the years of performing experience but they also have the right ot work. What magicians consider good performances is generally (but not always) very different from what audiences consider as such. At the performance game the performer's personnality plays the major role, and that is independant from the age or the effects. We all know of seasoned masters who make a great success and of old desillusioned professionals who create magical dammages, as we know of young talented guys who wrap up audiences and of young amateurs who illusion themselves more than their spectators. It's a one by one case and it would be unfair to cast age or sex or experienced groups as low or high quality performers. In the word "amateur" there is the latine root "amare" which means "to love", so let's not get into a semantic fight between the meaning of "experienced" and the one of "lover": a real magic lover will almost allways become experienced. Too bad for the others...

We find the same thing in the world of ventriloquists..people see one bad vent and assume they are all the same.

See, for me, the fault is entirely in the performer. Granted venue also plays a huge role, but, a good magician, as Jaz said (I think) would know his venue and his strengths and weaknesses. There is a time when you are ready, and a time when you are not. If you go out there and show terrible magic, they (the audience) will eat you alive. Then that makes it harder for someone to see another magicians magic as good. But that's only one level of it. I personally, love performing for people who have had bad experiences viewing magic, and have gained much work out of it, simply because if you can elevate to a level, beyond what they have defined for themselves as magic, they will have no choice but to be astonished.

Ultimately you have to do YOUR magic to the best of YOUR abilities. Your love for it, will naturally shine through.

If you can get the job. The problem is that bad magicians can burn out a territory.

I have often been asked about being a magician in LA where there is so much competiiton. I think it is a great place to be a magician, because there are so many other good magicians here that the public has a high level of appreciation for magic.

They are much less likely to say, "He was really good, but he didn't go over well with our group...I guess they just aren't into magic."

Usually, this means that he was terrible, but had good credentials.

In areas where there are fewer good magicians, the bad ones can really make an impression, and cause a depression in work for those that aren't terrible.

Another factor that comes into play is that booking an act for a nightclub is based on the type of crowd that frequents the place. Most clubs play to a young crowd that would rather hear crappy music than see a GREAT magician. Magic is a novelty act in the same vein as juggling and ventriliquism.It isn't likely to grab the attention of a club owner as a regular spot on the stage unless a cabaret style night of entertainment is scheduled on the clubs calendar. Unfortunatly,the bar for a good magician is being set by lads on TV who use technological advantages that a stage performer cannot use. If the local pro,no matter how good the guy is,cant reproduce what the cool gothic looking magician did last night on TV then why should the club owner consider having him take up space at his club?

Have you met even one person who'd want to listen to what they consider crappy music?

I saw that happen first-hand, where just 2 or 3 really bad guys, in conjunction with an incompetent club, had totally burned the market. I had to relocate because it had become nearly impossible to even propose the idea of "magic" beyond the "$30-birthday-clown" and the "work-for-free-restaurant-magician" scenes. There I was, living in a decent-sized city because I thought the work would be closer to home, but the market was shot,and all of my gigs were way out of town. That was really frustrating.

I moved. Things are better now.

"Another factor that comes into play is that booking an act for a nightclub is based on the type of crowd that frequents the place. Most clubs play to a young crowd that would rather hear crappy music than see a GREAT magician. Magic is a novelty act in the same vein as juggling and ventriliquism.It isn't likely to grab the attention of a club owner as a regular spot on the stage unless a cabaret style night of entertainment is scheduled on the clubs calendar. Unfortunatly,the bar for a good magician is being set by lads on TV who use technological advantages that a stage performer cannot use. If the local pro,no matter how good the guy is,cant reproduce what the cool gothic looking magician did last night on TV then why should the club owner consider having him take up space at his club? "

Rocky, I could't disagree more with you...on every point really. Basically you've just described everything I've ever done. I've headlined shows at 3 or 4 different Rock Nightclubs around here. That's my audience. None of them compare me to Criss Angel, or the other guys on television. I think you might be underestimating the audience you would find at places like that.

I agree. I do comedy-magic for adults, and that's my crowd, too. Hard-working, hard-playing adults. I've had people ask what my opinion is on the goth-TV guy, but I've never had a "do what so-and-so on TV did" heckle. Remember, the people who go to nightclubs are also the people on the street, the people with the jobs, the people who went to school, and the people with families. Just because they're enjoying a beer and some live entertainment doesn't make them stupid.

What I have found, that worked for me a few times, was to offer the the first night free to see if the people liked it and if so, then we can talk about a weekly or bi-monthly commitment. If you're confident in yourself and have your presentation done pat....there should be no problem.

Magically,
Joseph

Oh, my bad. I was talking about one-nighter stand-up gigs, not strolling. Sorry 'bout that.