Hi Guys:


I have recently had a magical performance in front of my good friend, and here is the story:

The effects that I have performed included the following (in sequence):

a) Linking paper clips (using a bill)
B) Crazy Man's Handcuff
c) Stealth pen
d) Design for laughter (card trick)
e) Ambitious card (ended with 2 dip pass)

After performing the "Linking Paper Clips", he started analysing and told me how the clips can be linked as a result of the positioning of the clips onto the bill.

Next, after perfoming CMH, he commented that this must be illusion and cannot be real. He challenged me to perform CHM without the index finger touching the thumb. Otherwise, he indicated that he would not believe what was shown to him

When the performance of stealth pen is finished, he said the position of the writing end of the pen is odd and questioned why the pen cap was not separated during performance but separated after performance. He queried why my hands went into the pocket although I told him it is my habit to do so. He then challenged me to reveal the contents of my pocket. He also commented that he should have grab the bill from me when I was showing him that the bill was pierced by the pen.

Subsequently, after I have finished showing him "Design for Laughter", he came out with a theory on how the effect can be achieved and explained to me that it must have been done in that way.

During the performance of ACR, he often said he could not see clearly what happened because my hand was blocking and asked me to repeat. For the finale, I did the dip pass. He was not impressed although it was invisibly done and he came out with his own method as to how the effect can be achieved. I did the dip pass again to show him that the effect was not achived via the method that he thought, taking care of all the angles based on the position of this eye level, but at the execution stage he lowered his head quickly and dramatically and he caught a glimpse of my pinky. He then said I flashed.

Oh my gosh.....I did not feel satisfied performing for him and hence I stopped there.

He then said I have given him too many "riddles" (because he could not understand exactly how the effects were done) which confused him.

He asked me to tell him the answer to which I didn't....at the end, no secret was revealed.

Somehow I did not feel happy after all these performances.

Did I perform wrongly?
How should I manage him - bearing in mind that he is my good friend?

I was thinking of the similar occurence in the future when I perform for my friends and relatives...

Please help me...

Well, you know sometimes, no matter how well you do your magic, your GOOD friend doesnt beileve, i mean, as good a friend they are, they are one of the worse people to perform to.

Why you may ask?

That is becos, like what you had said, they are your good friend, so perhaps he knows you inside out, and come on, he knows that there will be no way you could gain your 'magical powers' overnight. So being a good friend, he doesnt believe you are doing 'real magic' but just little tricks and clever riddles, hence he will want to 'solve' them.

Anyway, dont get fed up with him, afterall, he is your good friend, at least now, you know you wont be performing so much for him eh? So what i suggest is perhaps, do more magic to other people and leave your good friend alone, afterall, you dont want to end your friendship with a 'dip pass' ;)

And perhaps he'll understand your passion for magic

I GOT TWO WORDS FOR YA!




KILL HIM

Simple, don't perform for these people. These are the skeptics who will not want to enjoy a magic perfomance but will want to know how its done.

To be perfroming for friends is good lol... althought they will heck you but they won't force you for answer too much... they can help you to have a good practice in manage a heckler in real life.... Hmm.. I seldom meedt this kind of problem lah the only thing I get from friends is Again agian.. and more again lol.... maybe you should try to see how you present the effect and stuff... :D

man that sounds REAL bad.

Personally i have never encountered such a HUGE heckler before. Seriously. (well, except for my uncle who destroyed my Professor's Nightmare by looking from behind)

For me, i have met some hecklers who try to act smart and destroy your magic in front of some chio bu or your spectators. For me... if a person exclaims "YOU TOOK 2 CARDS U A55" what i would do is:

1. say "Yea, later, i am doing a trick here" then ignore him
2. say "Nice!" then ignore him
3. Keep my cards, punch him and high-5 other spectators

I think your problem is your handling of audience. Such people are often interested in knowing how something is done. Let's say for example, you do a pass and he catches it. What i would do is probably go something like "Yup! It's a technique that's really useful" and go on showing him how it is done.

I know, it may seem like exposure and I should be flamed, but in my opinion by doing that it is somewhat a win-win situation > You dun get heckled, and he gets what he wants. Usually such people will be very happy, and your performance after that will be smooth with him watching in enthusiasm.

My 65 cents.

I agree with Alexander. Friends are sometimes the worst people to perform to. I have a particular drinking buddy who is a complete cut-throat heckler when *I* do anything. It's the whole mentality/prophet in his own land thing. B)

Having said that, 1 other thing that i think MIGHT help is to start with a stronger opener.
You started with Linking paper clips which is a very basic trick found in children's books. And even without pre-knowledge, it is easy to figure out how it's done just by trying it themselves. Having "solved" your 1st "riddle", your friend is encouraged by that experience to put on his "problem solving" hat for the rest of your routine, thus no suspense of disbelief, which regardless of how great a magician you are, is required by the spec. I remember reading something about routining somewhere about having a "good start, a great ending, and put something in between", which sounds like advice for good writing too actually. B)

Anyway, starting with CMH might be better. Once they "get in the mood", even the simple tricks can work. :)

My $0.02.

You shoulda just stared at him on the first time like he said something that pissed you off (he DID).

Second time he does that just end the trick mid flight with a 'You know what, forget it.'

Two things will go through his head.

1. Oh no, he's pissed.
2. NYAH!? What happens next!?

From now on he won't hackle you. I swear. Unless he's that DUMB. Then, bitch slap him.

My gosh, panx3, i believe this is the 2nd time I'm responding to a post of the similar nature by you. -_- You are really really loose on the "Don't reveal your secret" part of magician's code isn't it? <_<

If you think your spec catches you doing something, THE LAST THING YOU SHOUD DO IS TO CONFIRM HIS SUSPICIONS. :ph43r:

"Oh! You saw that har?? hurhurhur...ok ok...let me show you how it's done...hurhurhur...don't laugh at me....hurhur...you will realise how difficult it is after i show you how....hurhur.." <_<

Yes i can see where you are coming from. You felt you have been caught out so you are eager to convert your heckler into your friend, so you "bribe" him by showing him the whole secret. It's your way of "not looking bad". You are looking a quick and dirty method to "get off the stage".

You are offering the secret to them as a bribe for fear that they might mock you for your mistake.

But you are teaching moves to people who have no real interest in learning them, and by your "reward", you are ENCOURAGING him to act the same way at your, and other's, subsequent performance.

On top of that, you are CONFIRMING their suspicions. Coz whatever they THINK they saw, they will never be able to be certain of it till they receive YOUR confimation. They could be just making a blind stab and got lucky, to which you assure them that they guessed correctly and by that, that they should continue this heckling behaviour.

Nobody can control how you want to act but FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE, don't give bad advice if you don't know what you are talking abt. <_<

Ha ha. Aloy hit it on the nail. Teaching people magic, especially hecklers is NOT an option...

Err pls think before you give advice and his advice is super bad and should not be follow.. I say again Should not be follow..

If you flash you also should not tell the person how is done as they may not know and they just making wild guesses... wat WIN WIN suitation?? You are just creating a heckler for others and yourself dude.. think about it..

panpanpan:
Do let me know when you are performing ;)


Back to topic.

All the advise seem to have been given, but just to add one more thing. Hope i don't sound repetitive.

When performing for friends (from experience), try not to perform effects that are long winded. I tried doing some mentalism stuff which requires presentation and in the middle of the act, he just shot out

"ok ok, can you just get to the effect"

So go for 'Kaboom' effects which are visual with little presentation when performing for close friends (or at least thats how i do it).

As for them figuring out or making theories of how a trick is done, take illusionist's advice. They might just be making guesses or trying to reason things out. This does not necessarily make them a heckler, but it does show that they are more interested in the method than in the effect, so move on ^_^

:off: I really wonder if that is really your good friend.. After all, why would a good friend want to be so hard on you?

Personally, i havent performed to such friends before. To those of my friends who try to hack or comment on every one of my move, i usually ask them straight.. "Hey do you want to watch the performance? or are you only interested in figuring how i did something?"

Most will tell me watch the performance and do so quietly. (after being "scolded" or should i say questioned.) If the guy says figure, i'll just tell him,"well prob next time." give him a smile and walk away..

He'll either feel sad cos he can't watch anymore, or just proud that he "caught you". Either way, a level too low for you to be in.. So just ignore ;)

Honestly, i wont agree.. I'd be very interested to see you perform too B)

No exposure.. If they think they saw it, just move on and they'll soon forget.. If it's a tough nut to crack.. ignore the audience.. It's better than feeling like a loser not being able to satisfy his needs.

- thats my philosophy ;)

-Chris

I got friends like yours. I dun do it to them anymore, they din even help me in my presentations. Onli a handful will observe the whole routine and tell me where is slow and boring etc.

If you happen to perform to them and they are wat u mention, dun perform to them anymore. If they keep pressing you to perform, juz do self working trick or pre set tricks. It work most of the time and they cant explain what is set before them unless you tell them. But i dun do it now, cause they wont help also, they will juz say it is being set up and ask me to do again. You just have be firm and say you wont do it because of the magician code or other things. Be FIRM is the attitude you need to have.

Other things, Aloy is correct, dun buy over your friends, it reflect bad on you and eventually when u do for them, they will not be conviced it was magic. I once do magic for some other people and these friends happen to be around me, they din really expose the magic but told the people that i move the hand or wat. But the good thing is, the people are conviced that my hand din move like wat they say. So my magic works. Keep quiet and let them analyse their own, if they happen to hit the nail on the magic, dun agree with them. If they din manage to hit it, dun agree with them also. Set them to thinking.

Just wat i think. :)

Hmmm normally when you perform for close friends, you should try doing an extremely safe yet amazing magic trick eg. ' Out of this world' or 'Out of the borough'. If you manage to find out whether your friend isn't irritating, you will be able perform the more 'sleight' involved tricks. Alright bro, good luck.

gawd. i wish i could delete that post... can any moderator do that for me? maybe i was possessed at that time.

Yeah, after reading other posts, i realised a good opener must be present. Linking paperclips will get them finding the opener weak and 'unsolid'. Try something that hits BOOM in their minds.

Ok fine. pls dont follow my previous post.

Somebody please delete that previous BAD ADVICE post? (Works for me, but it is bad advice, please do not follow everybody)

you should be happy to had some one allow you to show him all your trick and pointed out his view, i hardly find some one to share to.

his point is a good mirror to u, improve on all angle and pointer he had, this might be a new move u might had, in next perfm. B)

i have a few friends like yours too... i performed for them once and that was the last time...these people are too egoistic to allow themselves to be fooled by someone else... sometimes they tell me to perform for them...but i always reject.

Lucky for me, i hve this good friend whom i always perform to...he gives good advice and comments on whether i have improved from the last time... i even teach him magic too...considering that he has not lost interest for a long time and has not done anything to spoil the secretive world of magic...

SOOOO....the bottom line is...whenever you sense hints of "heat", stop and finish off quick...say you're tired or 'that's all i know', nevermind if they say you suck, you know yourself best...