The Masked Magician sucks...

benot · May 3, 2009

I was performing at a party. Everyone was enjoying it. I got good reactions. I performed some mentalism effects. A guy came up to me in front of the spectators and asked me if I can show him something. I decided to perform two card monte. After performing, everyone that were watching were shouting and all that except this guy. He decided to open his mouth about seeing it being revealed in a show. He said something about a mask magician. I thought he forgot how the trick goes, but then he started blabbing how I did the routine. I was pissed at him. And the mask magician.

But hey, I remained calm and just smiled at everybody, and guess what, nobody understood a word he said and they all asked me to perform other tricks. I decided to stick to the mentalism routine where even the "heckler" doesn't know how I did it.

I just want to share this experience. Thank you

The Tumbleweed · May 3, 2009

Ahh that sucks, and we've all been there.
Keep performing 2CM, it's a great trick, and not many people know it.

James Wise Magic · May 3, 2009

yeah man. That does suck. Like the guy above me said, we've all been there.

SKSleighofHand · May 3, 2009

Same, I really hated the Mask Magician, he has no right to expose magic on the national tv.

Shades fan · May 3, 2009

Really in my opinion you handled it wrong. you should have done a amazing variation on the 2 card Monte to him, to prove him wrong!

Twozwozer · May 3, 2009

Shades fan said:
Really in my opinion you handled it wrong. you should have done a amazing variation on the 2 card Monte to him, to prove him wrong!

Why would you poke the angry tiger with a stick and then give it some more meat? Surely common sense says "Walk Away"....

Cheers, Tom

Ps. Here's a perfect example of showing a heckler your "The Bomb" and your a show off at the same time! BOOM!

Do you honestly want to be a performer like that?

James Smith · May 3, 2009

Twozwozer said:
Why would you poke the angry tiger with a stick and then give it some more meat? Surely common sense says "Walk Away"....

Cheers, Tom

Ps. Here's a perfect example of showing a heckler your "The Bomb" and your a show off at the same time! BOOM!

Do you honestly want to be a performer like that?

That's true, performing a "better effect" is the absolute worst thing you can do to a heckler. Do not wave red meat in front of a lion cage.

RDChopper · May 3, 2009

Twozwozer said:
Why would you poke the angry tiger with a stick and then give it some more meat? Surely common sense says "Walk Away"....

Cheers, Tom

Ps. Here's a perfect example of showing a heckler your "The Bomb" and your a show off at the same time! BOOM!

Do you honestly want to be a performer like that?

Agreed. Thankfully for me, the only Magic special that appears on television here in my coutry is Criss angel

Steerpike · May 3, 2009

benot said:
But hey, I remained calm and just smiled at everybody, and guess what, nobody understood a word he said and they all asked me to perform other tricks. I decided to stick to the mentalism routine where even the "heckler" doesn't know how I did it.

So you came out smelling like roses and you're still going to complain?

Shades fan said:
Really in my opinion you handled it wrong. you should have done a amazing variation on the 2 card Monte to him, to prove him wrong!

And how's that working out for you?

William Draven · May 3, 2009

Yeah, that's always rough when you get a smart ellic spectator on stage that wants to disrupt the show by "revealing" how they think your effect is done to the audience. My advice for the future is to do an abort.

An abort is where you know the trick is going south and will end badly if you go on. It is more professional to stop a bad trick in motion than to play it out and let the situation and your image get worse.

The better you are as a performer, the more experience you get, the easier you can make the abort look as if it was part of the show. For your situation an abort could have been played off like: "Well since you've already seen this trick, have a seat. I'll do something else with someone else."

There's no shame in letting the spectator know he just ruined something for the rest of the audience. If done right- it can ralley the audience to your side and they'll worry about dealing with the jerk, while you worry about the rest of your act.

The important thing is to not place yourself in a compermising situation that would allow a trick to go bad and make you look bad. You're the star of the show, not some mark who thinks he knows it all.

Something goes bad, wrong, doesn't feel right, the conditions are dangerous to your self, the audience, your image, you get the assistant from hell, what ever, just abort and move onto the next effect. Thats why it is also important to have extra material with you that you don't plan on showing (but will if needed) just incase.

benot · May 3, 2009

Steerpike said:
So you came out smelling like roses and you're still going to complain?

I wouldn't call it complaining though. More like expressing how I felt during that moment where it could have turned out bad. Facing hecklers is difficult for me especially when caught off guard. My mistake is not anticipating and observing the crowd more for me to see that a heckler is going to make a move. But really, if I get off guard, I usually just stay quiet and observe how the other spectator would react. If worse comes to worse, I would politely tell the heckler to stop ruining the moment for other spectators who actually enjoys the magical moment..

benK

Steerpike · May 3, 2009

You came out on top. You rose above the situation. You won. And yet you title your thread, "The Masked Magician Sucks" as if your entire performance was ruined.

RDChopper · May 3, 2009

benot said:
I wouldn't call it complaining though. More like expressing how I felt during that moment where it could have turned out bad.

okayyyyy????

benot · May 3, 2009

Shades fan said:
Really in my opinion you handled it wrong. you should have done a amazing variation on the 2 card Monte to him, to prove him wrong!

I understand where you are coming from. But we magicians have different ways of handling those kind of situation. I chose not to push it, as some may say, because I did not want to prove anything to them, especially to that heckler. Staying quiet and observing the situation helped me do my next move which is give what the other spectators want, which is more magic which they enjoyed.

benK

benot · May 3, 2009

Steerpike said:
You came out on top. You rose above the situation. You won. And yet you title your thread, "The Masked Magician Sucks" as if your entire performance was ruined.

Hey, just expressing what I felt bro.

-benK

Randy · May 3, 2009

Performing a better effect for the guy is stupid. You don't want to get into a battle of wits with them because no matter how much you try to prove him wrong. It will just ruin the show and make you look like a dick. The best thing to do is to simply ignore them and let the audience or other people tell them to leave.

But yeah, you did come out smelling like roses. So you really have no reason to complain about it.

benot · May 3, 2009

Randy said:
Performing a better effect for the guy is stupid. You don't want to get into a battle of wits with them because no matter how much you try to prove him wrong. It will just ruin the show and make you look like a dick. The best thing to do is to simply ignore them and let the audience or other people tell them to leave.

But yeah, you did come out smelling like roses. So you really have no reason to complain about it.

Alright, so I chose the wrong thread title. Apologies..

KBillusions · May 3, 2009

Same with me bro. I figured out how to put Sinful into my routine (NOT YOU SINFUL USER) but a heckler exposed it and he walked away. I was mad but I just laughed and finished my routine. Next group I did it with, he came out of nowhere and !

smacked

! my hand really hard when I was showing the can. Then well if you have sinful....you know.

benot · May 3, 2009

KBillusions said:
Same with me bro. I figured out how to put Sinful into my routine (NOT YOU SINFUL USER) but a heckler exposed it and he walked away. I was mad but I just laughed and finished my routine. Next group I did it with, he came out of nowhere and !smacked! my hand really hard when I was showing the can. Then well if you have sinful....you know.

Aww, that sucks man... If I was in your situation, I don't know how to get back at that. How did you handle it when he smacked your hand?

Magicator · May 4, 2009

lol I get at least one heckler everytime i perform for people. I just make it sound like he doesn't know what he's talking about and people would rather watch do more than understand what the heckler is trying to say.