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tommy Eternal Order Devil's Island 16544 Posts |
Are you being funny to be funny or are you using it to misdirect?
If there is a single truth about Magic, it is that nothing on earth so efficiently evades it.
Tommy |
stoneunhinged Inner circle 3067 Posts |
An excellent question. I have seen more unfunny magicians trying to be funny than I could shake a wand at: perhaps more magicians are incompetently funny than any other kind of public performer outside of politics. Which leads me to think that a lot of magicians are using humor as a performance crutch. Humor is the only kind of performance they can readily understand. They don't really know how to entertain because they don't know how to speak and act in a compelling way. So they learn jokes.
A truly compelling performer can use humor when he or she wants it, but does not really on it as their sole means of engaging their audiences. Certainly the greats like Doug Henning or David Copperfield use humor and use it quite well--but their performances are not about the jokes but something else. I don't want to embarrass him, but watch any of Whit's videos and you can see a master at using humor to engage the audience . Whit probably understands just as much about being funny as he does about magic. I hope he chimes in, here. |
tommy Eternal Order Devil's Island 16544 Posts |
That is not quite what I mean, sorry.
Let me put it this way: Isn’t humour a great tool for misdirection? Well yes! Some magicians though don’t seem to get that, and just tell jokes to make them laugh. It is no coincidence that most good magicians are funny, because funny has a magic purpose. IMHO.
If there is a single truth about Magic, it is that nothing on earth so efficiently evades it.
Tommy |
Dynamike Eternal Order FullTimer 24148 Posts |
Quote:
On 2008-09-26 10:23, stoneunhinged wrote: I have confidence they paid a professional writer to put their words together. |
stoneunhinged Inner circle 3067 Posts |
Tommy, I don't think I misunderstood you. I agree that humor can be used for misdirection. Tommy Wonder, for example, had such beautiful timing with his jokes!
I was just trying to make the additional point that many magicians are not even funny, so not only do they fail to see the usefulness of humor as a form of misdirection, they also fail to make an attempt to engage their audience audience on a personal level: they just tell scripted jokes for apparently no other reason than that they don't know any other way to perform. (And I also read your post on humor as misdirection at the card table, so I think I understood what you meant. If not, sorry.) Quote:
On 2008-09-26 10:56, Dynamike wrote: Mike, I'm pretty sure you're right. DC probably has a team scripting every raise of his eyebrow. But the point is that no one thinks, "David Copperfield: what a funny guy!" He's doing something else. And I'd like to say one more thing, just in case anyone misunderstands: funny magicians are cool--and like Tommy says, they have an excellent tool in their arsenal of misdirection. It's the UNfunny magicians who should perhaps think about why they are using humor. I'll confess: I had a very specific video or two in my mind when I posted. I've seen some appallingly bad humor in "magic" videos. Maybe I should dig up an old Tommy Wonder video to prove Tommy's (our Tommy's, not Tommy Wonder's) point. |
Bill Hallahan Inner circle New Hampshire 3222 Posts |
Or, over performing many, many, shows, they found lines that made people laugh.
Some magicians have written that they accidentally found lines that make people laugh, and in some cases, they didn't know why people laughed at a particular line, but they used it because it worked. On one of the L&L Tommy Wonder DVDs, Tommy Wonder mentioned using a funny line to misdirect during a sleight. He stated that it was important not to do the sleight when the audience started to laugh, but to wait a bit later, but not too late. When asked to quantify that, he said, (paraphrased) it takes about 30 years to learn the proper time.
Humans make life so interesting. Do you know that in a universe so full of wonders, they have managed to create boredom. Quite astonishing.
- The character of ‘Death’ in the movie "Hogswatch" |
stoneunhinged Inner circle 3067 Posts |
Quote:
On 2008-09-26 11:12, Bill Hallahan wrote: Or a great gift. I haven't found the video I was looking for yet, but I just watched his cups and balls on youtube, and his timing for misdirection--based not just on the audience's laughs, but on their astonishment as well--is frightening to behold. He's one of those magicians whose performance style brings the word "beautiful" to mind. He was simply beautiful. But I don't want to derail this thread. Sorry. |
Josh the Superfluous Inner circle The man of 1881 Posts |
Micheal Ammar does that very well, as well as gags that motivate motions.
I have a running gag in C&Bs that makes half the routine possible,
What do you want in a site? "Honesty, integrity and decency." -Mike Doogan
"I hate it, I hate my ironic lovechild. I didn't even have anything to do with it" Josh #2 |
Donal Chayce Inner circle 1770 Posts |
Quote:
On 2008-09-26 09:11, tommy wrote: Both, and sometimes even at the same time. |
tommy Eternal Order Devil's Island 16544 Posts |
Think about this:
“Humour sells. In one study of humour in negotiation, "buyers" who made their final offer with a smile and a quip, "Well, my final offer is x dollars and I'll throw in my pet frog," were able to make the buy at a lower price.” Isn’t that misdirection? Good tip in any event.
If there is a single truth about Magic, it is that nothing on earth so efficiently evades it.
Tommy |
stoneunhinged Inner circle 3067 Posts |
Quote:
On 2008-09-27 05:16, tommy wrote: Maybe. Would it work here in Germany? |
tommy Eternal Order Devil's Island 16544 Posts |
If there is a single truth about Magic, it is that nothing on earth so efficiently evades it.
Tommy |
Josh the Superfluous Inner circle The man of 1881 Posts |
Neat article Tommy. I'm half German. I thought it was just a weird family thing that some people found our humor harsh or offensive.
What do you want in a site? "Honesty, integrity and decency." -Mike Doogan
"I hate it, I hate my ironic lovechild. I didn't even have anything to do with it" Josh #2 |
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