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DallasFrank Regular user Hey Rocky watch me pull a Rabbit outta my hat...oops wrong hat! 104 Posts 
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I was just wondering how you guys handle a heckler or someone exposing your tricks during your routines.Everyone knows the coin has to go somewhere and there are those who choose to ruin everything for everyone by saying things like it's in his other hand even though you have performed a flawless sleight....and move gracefully into the next part of the routine.
Thanks Frank |
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Mb217 Inner circle 9683 Posts
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There are always people like that, in magic, in anything…They just can't get right with the moment and feel a need to prove their supposed superior intelligence to everybody out loud.
 Many folks take magic as a challenge and just refuse to be thwarted by it. They can't just enjoy the moments, they must investigate them, expose them, root them out. Some people take it immediately as some sort of test, an examination that has questioned them and they feel that they must explain it. They can't help it. It's better to stay away from performing magic for these sorts of folks. Once they do it to you once, just avoid them and perform for people that can let themselves enjoy it. You'll come to know the differences easy enough. 
I have often ran into people like this and it's never pleasant, and sometimes it can be quite annoying, even disruptive. But remember, if you have performed the moves adequately, you still have the upper hand in the matter as you can simply go another way with them. Remember, they are just following along and don't really know the way…You are still the lead and can redirect, and many times quiet them down a bit even though they don't want to believe. But your magic they just can't explain at the moment, which helps to keep them quiet until you hopefully never see them again.
Many times I've run into someone that just "can't get right" with things, they just refuse to believe though they totally believe that seeing is believing…These sorts of folks are just wound up tight, uptight, and maybe can't stand for attention to be on others, maybe can't stand for everybody to be happy and having fun when they are not - Who knows or cares! Oftentimes, these are folks that you wouldn't want to share a beer with anyway. I have often blown these same people away at another time and they have been able to better enjoy it - Go figure!
But in general, keep your composure, try to be nice and not let them rattle you or spoil it too much for others there…Because they will if your focus becomes just them. 
*Check out my latest: Gifts From The Old Country: A Mini-Magic Book, MBs Mini-Lecture on Coin Magic, The MB Tanspo PLUS, MB's Morgan, Copper Silver INC, Double Trouble, FlySki, Crimp Change - REDUX!, and other fine magic at gumroad.com/mb217magic
"Believe in YOU, and you will see the greatest magic that ever was." -Mb
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DallasFrank Regular user Hey Rocky watch me pull a Rabbit outta my hat...oops wrong hat! 104 Posts
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Mb
Thanks for your wisdom.I have been interested in magic for years and it seems in the "old days" people showed a little more respect and decorum, times have truly changed. BTW as soon as I knock a little more of the rust off I may be wanting to look into some of your products. thanks Frank |
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Jonathan Townsend Eternal Order Ossining, NY 27470 Posts
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A lot of what you get depends on how you engage them.
If your routine and methods are flawless the heckles and callouts are more likely to be wrong about methods than correct. More up your sleeve than in the other hand. Most people don't care if you are clever or skillful though they do like to be entertained. People learning to question things spend a while questioning the wrong things. That's a lesson best taught using social graces.
...to all the coins I've dropped here
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Ray Haining Inner circle Hot Springs, AR 1907 Posts
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I don't think there were any "old days" when people were more polite. Hecklers have been around since the beginning of time. The psychology of these people has been analyzed and discussed many times before.
There is a recent book titled, "How to Handle Hecklers," by Keith Fields. It is available from H&R Magic. Hecklers can actually force us to make our magic better. You need to look at your magic. Why is it apparent that you are hiding the coin in your other hand? How can you make your moves more deceptive? If you do a routine with just one vanish, you can use a spider vanish to lead spectators astray. How long have you been performing magic? If you are just getting started and plan to continue, things will improve. |
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Chamberlain Special user 629 Posts
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Yeah you're always gonna get someone who heckles, in my experience it's either due to a lack of good presentation or you have overstayed your welcome. I cut my one coin flurry down as whilst vanishing a coin is impressive, audiences aren't stupid and after a certain amount of vanishes will know if its not in one hand it must be in the other.
Now my flurry (loosely based on roths routine) is just false transfer, disappear, appears in elbow, vanish again, appears in other elbow. Spider vanish, completely gone, appears behind knee, change to jumbo 3" coin, then whilst they are looking at that coin I produce a 5" jumbo from behind someones head. For me the power of that routine, like a good chop cup routine, is the production of the jumbo coins at the end, rather than the single coin vanishes. Sometimes the best thing to do with a heckler is do some fast effect that's completely unexpected, rather than a slow "watch how skillful I am as a magician" style routine. Such as a coin on specs shoulder routine. Look at David Roths apperance on the tonight show, and the difference in response he got from his winged silver/chink a chink compared to his quick coin flurry. |
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bowers Inner circle Oakboro N.C. 7024 Posts
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I can usally spot them right off
by their action's or personality. And tend to just shy away from them. Todd |
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Atom3339 Inner circle Spokane, WA 3242 Posts
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^ I tend to do this too, Todd.
TH
Occupy Your Dream |
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tomsk192 Inner circle 3894 Posts
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Using a feint is a good idea. The fact is, you can't necessarily 'get away' from such people, so best to be bullet proof, no?
Good sleeves or laps, or similar, with a feint, will confound most idiots. |
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Jonathan Townsend Eternal Order Ossining, NY 27470 Posts
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[joke]Perfect excuse to get real good at a the basic French Drop sleight - so the sucker version can be ready when they are all wound up and starting to look at the wrong hand[/joke]
You're better off engaging them than challenging them to catch you where you can get caught in the next trick.
...to all the coins I've dropped here
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DallasFrank Regular user Hey Rocky watch me pull a Rabbit outta my hat...oops wrong hat! 104 Posts
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The reason I asked this question is I was at the Scottish Rite Hospital for children doing a small set to entertain the children and there was a volunteer there who obviously had some knowledge of magic trying to tell the children how I did everything.He had an angle on me because he had to care for some of the children during my performance and was walking around me.It was a very simple routine because I wanted to make sure the children could follow it.The set included a couple of other things besides coin magic such as vanishing water from a cup and cups and balls.The children were entertained and had a good time. I waited until I was finished and took him to the side and told him I thought his conduct was abominable.I just couldn't fathom someone ruining a magic show for children. This situation made me wonder how I would handle someone doing this during one of my coin routines.
Thanks for the input. Frank |
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Jonathan Townsend Eternal Order Ossining, NY 27470 Posts
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A staff member... Oh well
At a guess that's more of enroll than engage problem. Are there some tricks where you could use an assistant?
...to all the coins I've dropped here
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Mb217 Inner circle 9683 Posts
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Thanks for the deeper dive here Frank. I think you did about the right thing in speaking to the guy a bit later. I'm sure the kids just got the great magic you intended, and not the "crazy" explanations given by the volunteer. I'm sure he didn't mean to hurt the show but none the less, you let him know and good for you.
I have always told these sorts of folks (with a smile) that this is not a test, just some fun magic, so please try not to ruin the moments for others, especially children - How selfishly moronic. And sometimes it's one of the kids spoiling it for others and that's another matter to contend with but an adult is totally unacceptable. Anyway, when you approach them like that, they always look somewhat perplexed with a blank look on their face, like they don't understand or thought they were providing a public service by exposing things. I tend to think they are somewhat put on the spot and embarrassed by your confronting them, as at that point all of the sudden they are not so smart as they thought they were, as they have truly missed the magic of the moment - Completely on the wrong frequency, waiting for lunch to be served in the library instead of the school caféteria…on a Sunday, when they should've been in church.
The key is to find a middle ground where you don't antagonize or scold them too much, and or get yourself too uptight about it. You simply want to let them know to just relax and let people enjoy the show. Oh well, live and learn.
*Check out my latest: Gifts From The Old Country: A Mini-Magic Book, MBs Mini-Lecture on Coin Magic, The MB Tanspo PLUS, MB's Morgan, Copper Silver INC, Double Trouble, FlySki, Crimp Change - REDUX!, and other fine magic at gumroad.com/mb217magic
"Believe in YOU, and you will see the greatest magic that ever was." -Mb
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Ray Haining Inner circle Hot Springs, AR 1907 Posts
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Frank, it sounds like you handled the situation in the best way possible.
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Ken Abbott New user 100 Posts
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I work hard on my coin magic and always hate it when I hear someone tell others where he thinks the coin is (especially when he is right).. I just act like I didn't hear them. I don't get many hecklers because I am not confrontational and I don't let anyone interrupt my pacing. If someone is too obnoxious I can usually just end the trick in the middle somewhere. But, I almost always try to analyze what I might have done wrong to give away the method, and I try to think about how to avoid the problem in the future. Maybe it was an angle problem. Maybe my technique was bad. Maybe I did it perfectly and he just guessed correctly. It's just a trick. I have never lost sleep over a person seeing where the coin was. But, I have lost sleep when I mishandled the situation with the spectator.
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harris Inner circle Harris Deutsch 8834 Posts
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Sounds like a great teaching moment ....for you, the volunteer and us.
Did you consider asking the volunteer to share a quick routine, the next time you saw them? Thanks for your work in the hospital. I haven't done that in years and years. Harris
Harris Deutsch aka dr laugh
drlaugh4u@gmail.com music, magic and marvelous toys http://magician.org/member/drlaugh4u |
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Shy Regular user 133 Posts
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I think that if someone gets caught by a heckler it means his missdirection and maybe the sleights are not that perfect. So, keep practising and upgrade your skills so it doesn't happen again.
Something important to know is that the hecklers don't really know whats happening, they just throw random bull, if you vanish a coin they will said all loud that it is on the other hand, but they have no idea of how it got there, and you can take advantage of that. For example: if you vanish a coin they will say it's in the other hand, however, if they are right, just act like you heard nothing and proceed to say something like "look, it's now here" and show the coin. So, for the real spectators (no, I don't consider hecklers as real spectators, they are there just to call the atention) it only looks like he knew what was going to happen, this also feeds the heckler, because he feels that he sucefully called atention knowing what was going to happen. However, in this case the heckler did have knowledge about magic and thank god you told him about his behavior, I mean, I don't think he would like that in the middle of a trick someone ruins everything just because he wants to be the "unfoolable guy" (is that a word?). -Daniel |
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Magnus Eisengrim Inner circle Sulla placed heads on 1053 Posts
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Quote:
On Apr 13, 2014, Mb217 wrote: I completely disagree with this post. It is not the spectator's job to act the way we want. Some people like figuring stuff out. That's not a character flaw, it's just the way they are. Some people see something in your hand and play along by pointing it out. That's not their problem it's yours. All sucker moves and tricks involve using this most basic human tendency. If the spectator thinks you're holding something out, they point it out. This works to your advantage if you can make them think you've done something when you haven't. But the last think in the world we should ever do is blame the spectator for our mishandling of the trick. Yes it happens to all of us sometimes. But we should be continually working to overcome our shortcomings.
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned; The best lack all conviction, while the worst Are full of passionate intensity.--Yeats |
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AaronSterling Veteran user 319 Posts
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Quote:
On Apr 14, 2014, DallasFrank wrote: "You're absolutely right. That's really good. What's your name? I'm Frank, good to meet you. Kids, you're lucky to have a guy who knows magic taking care of you! This way, if there's something I do that you don't get, and you want to know more, you can always ask (name). Sound good? Great. Ok, (name), is it ok if I make a suggestion? How about any kid who wants to know how something is done can ask you after the show? That way the children who want to feel amazed get to feel amazed, and the children who want to figure things out can figure things out. What do you think?" |
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DallasFrank Regular user Hey Rocky watch me pull a Rabbit outta my hat...oops wrong hat! 104 Posts
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Aaron
That is pretty much what I told him. I asked him to work with me next year when I come back.( I am a radiologic technologist and started doing the shows when my college class volunteered there and each class after has asked me to go with them and do magic)Children that age still believe in Santa the Easter Bunny the Tooth Fairy and Magic. Magnus There is a difference in trying to figure out how a trick is done and being disruptive while doing so.I said in the very beginning what if your technique were flawless? Yes there are several ways to thwart a know it all spectator including sucker vanishes a good handwashing technique or complete vanishes.Trying to figure things out is not a character flaw but being disruptive while doing so certainly is. Thank You all for the very constructive replies. |
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Posted: Apr 13, 2014 01:03 pm 
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