Personally, I feel that my job as a magician isn't to actually perform magic. This may sound odd, but hear me out here. As a magician, I dont perform magic but rather give the illusion of performing magic. Let me clarify:
I dont explicitly say what I'm doing; sleight of hand, gimmicks, whatever, in fact, I build my patter to destroy these as options of what may be going on. But at the same time, I'm very open about the fact that what I'm performing isn't actually real.
Many magicians may question this and wonder what I'm trying to accomplish by performing in such a manner. I'm trying to do 2 things: entertain and let people walk away with a smile, as well as make them learn to see the real magic that is all around them.
As corny as this may sound, I do believe in magic. Unexplainable events and things occur on a daily basis. As a magician, I feel that my tricks are simply gateways into allowing people to recognize this magic around them.
I think of it as how a girl who thinks she's pregnant starts to see more pregnant women, baby posters, billboards and products. I aim to have a person see my magic, question things, and start seeing magic elsewhere around them.
Like I said, corny, but true.
Now on to the second part: character. I'm basicall just a normal everyday guy, even when I'm in character. My character is essentially... me. I'm funny, I joke around and I enjoy people.
But character isn't the most important part, for me, its presentation. I'll come out in the open right now and admit that I realize that for me to accomplish my goal, it's probably best to use everyday items as far as effects go. That said, I dont. I do cards. This is because I enjoy them and i feel that while satisfying your audience, you must also cater to yourself as a performer to some degree. Now the reason I explain this is because I need to make it clear that performing card tricks isnt helpful in achieving my goal unless i present them properly. What I do with card tricks is I relate them to every day things. Not telling a story, but simply explaining how this can relate to other parts of our lives.
So there we go. Those are my thoughts on the subject I guess. I'm probably a little erratic in what I'm saying and jump from subject to subject, but I hope you understand what I'm trying to get at.
Basically, connect to the audience in the way that you do best, and show them the magic that's already there.
Cheers,
Lucas