Was browsing through the E's forums in school today and I came across a thread debating that Criss Angel is a liar and most of his effects requires camera tricks and stooges to accomplish.

Some of the forumites even call him Stooge Angel :lol:

It was until I came across a post which I find it very meaningful. Let me quote him.

They even mention that some of the top magicians also use stooges in their act too. Personally, I disagree with the usage of a stooge although the above quote deserve a pondering moment.

So what do you guys think? Will you use a stooge to amplify your effects? Or otherwise sticking to just pure sleights and audience managment skills?

P.S Please do not turn this into a Criss Angel bashing or Criss Angel vs Blaine vs Cyril vs other magicians thread. This is a topic on stooges ONLY B)

while I'm open to the possibilities, I prefer not to unless its a very very trusted friend or a fellow magician (trusted too of course)

Gaffed cards can't talk.

Stooges are not essential in certain effects but certainly can make an effect spicier :) I for one agree with the usage of stooges to enhance a performance.

Take for example tricks that look good only on video. Are these considered 'lame' or 'lousy' then? I don't think so right? Marco Tempest has a whole series on magic using his handphone as a recording device and I believe the effects are really amazing as well as fun.

2cents worth :)

For so long, magicians and mentalists have utilised stooges for their performances... i see nothing wrong with using stooges for certain effects sometimes. A 'stooge' in the crowd helps to spice things up, kinda diffuses the right energy into the audience sometimes so why not?

I think some of the guilty folks who slam street magicians who made it on TV are either jealous or just following the crowd... but of course, that's just my opinion.

My 2 cents...
ning ^_^

To me, i am not against the use of stooge, or stooges haha...

Like what the rest mentioned, it helps to spice you the trick, very much i would say...

I think that alot of close-up magicians does not use stooges as it is just not pracitical to hide a friend in your bag and wheneva you are performing, take him out and make him walk pass you like a stranger, then confront him.

As close up is a very "experience" kind of feeling fo the audience, they would rather one to experience the effect, like "STIGMATA" then watching you mind read some other people.

Can i break your pinky Benny? Its sticking out from my bag, i dont want anyone to suspect anything... SORRY!!!

Anyway, for stage, i guess not alot of Magicians will have alot of stooge effect, like for me, because of the coming Children Day, my weekend is burn!!! Some of the shows are sort of "private function" like. Some it is hard to plant someone there, theres will most of the commercial shows/act, does not require or make use of stooges.

I did use stooge on one of my stage show is NYP, people thinks that i am Satanic!!! So why not. :)

The important thing isn't about how it's done, but what is done. As in, the magic.

The audience won't know that you're using stooges! It's the effect that's important. Most magicians I know don't like stooges only because they don't like the idea that a stooge is used.

I mean, surely you too would be dissapointed, if all the killer effects that you so looked forward to learning required a stooge, right?

Well, using a stooge to amplify an effect is acceptable in my opinion. i have been used as a stooge before. not that i wanted to but my friend just P*** a card and handed it to me while talking to a spectator.

Of course, as a stooge, there will always be this great advantage over the magician. I could have just shouted, "Hey why are you passing a card to me?" but being a people's person, i went along with it. =) So for people who want to feel in power, just be a stooge and subject your friend to tortue through threats. =P

Yep, therefore i do believe that stooges are perfectly fine, just don't expose the magician. =)

Aaron

I'm not a fan of Criss Angel because of that. I certainly think that using stooges would bring magic to a next level. But it is one thing to do it in a live performance and another to do it on TV. On TV, one has to be more selective and cautious on how the spectator would perceive it.

For Criss, what difference does it make if you use stooges or if you use "camera tricks"? To me there is no difference. But some of Criss' effects are very clearly "staged" - even to the lay spectator. (And not to mention that this is a well known fact) To me, that take away the "Magic" in an effect. Defeats the whole point of using stooges.

For example, some of Criss' effects like the couple that "teleported" from a distant end of a corridor to up close; a lay audience would simply think that it is camera tricks even if he has no idea how it is done. I think it pays to be mindful how an effect is impressed upon a TV audience. Think the way the spectator would think. What would the first thought that enters a spectator's mind when he sees the effect for the first time.

Having said that, some of his other effects are nice though, like the one where he pulls the woman into two and the top half runs away on her hands. I know how that is done because I've watch documentaries on that woman before. But I would not think that it would come across as being "staged" or camera tricks by lay audience. But even then, he could have used a less well known actress. ;)

In a life performance however, where the audience know that no camera tricks are involved, stooges are wonderful. On camera however, stooges are useful only to a certain point - where they appear to be part of the lay audiences and not appear to be a planted audience

There are other famous "street magicians" who do use staged actors and stooges, but the effect does not come across as being "camera tricks" to the audience.

Truth to be told, I used to despise Criss Angel when I first heard he used (or suspected to use) stooges in his TV series. It was tantamount to cheating the audience!!

But later I realized I was being absurd. All magic is a form of "cheating" (though in an positive sense). Like what bigbadwolf wrote, stooges are like gaff cards or shells (even if gaffs can't talk), they are utilized to achieve an effect to amaze the audience. If the end is met, the means are not really that important, at least to the audience.

It's always the magicians who love to argue against using gimmicks or stooges.

LOL... i think sometimes magicians forget that at the end of the day, it's not supposed to be an ego trip but how the audience is entertained :)

I agree with Ning jie.
For me, i think as long as the audience is convinced that the person is not a stooge (even if he is),and the effect is magical, stooge or not doesn't matter. Remember, the audience doesn't know (or care) what method is used. They just want to see MAGIC. :)

A.

Everything that you use, you say, you do are part of your performance. So no matter how you do it, do your performace well!

doing the same magic without a stooge would just bring your magic to a certain level. if you have a way to perform magic(that required a stooge) without a stooge, market your method! I sure you will earn a lot of money.

Adrian