Ever been caught?

RickEverhart

forum moderator / t11
Elite Member
Sep 14, 2008
3,637
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46
Louisville, OH
Worst time was at a nursing home with the Growing / Shrinking head illusion spiral.
I was in front of about 50 people who were 80 or so.

Apparently...I did not know this, but older people's eyes cannot "focus" on the spinning of the spiral for the required amount of 30 seconds to make the illusion happen. I was waiting for the laughter...as it normally comes with this effect...and....nothin'....silence...crickets...

So...I try it again....nothing. OH well...and that was my opener. Boy could I feel the sweat running down my forehead.

"And for my next effect...."


Other embarrassing moment was at a different gig and when fanning the entire invisible deck at chest height and the audience was seated and saw how it worked....man did I feel dumb. Point taken and it has never happened again.
 
Mar 1, 2010
163
0
Hong Kong
I believe every magician have the experience of getting caught.

I remember that I was doing cardini change, and I messed up.
 
Jun 22, 2009
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0
Other embarrassing moment was at a different gig and when fanning the entire invisible deck at chest height and the audience was seated and saw how it worked....man did I feel dumb. Point taken and it has never happened again.


Wow that sucks...
 
Sep 1, 2007
44
0
Today a close friend of mine caught me palming, but decided to interrupt my "show" buy screaming "DUDE I CAN F***ING MIND READ". He calmed down, looked the guy in the eye, made a serious face, and spelled his card out.

I took this moment to slip the palmed card into the spectaters jacket.

Best friend ever? I think so ;D.


Oh the spectater was in shock. It was great.
 

WitchDocIsIn

Elite Member
Sep 13, 2008
5,877
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Oh, sorry, apparently I've misunderstood the point of this forum. I thought it was for the serious exchange of professional level information, not the exchange of juvenile humor.

My mistake.
 

Luis Vega

Elite Member
Mar 19, 2008
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Leon, Guanajuato Mexico
luisvega.com.mx
Oh, sorry, apparently I've misunderstood the point of this forum. I thought it was for the serious exchange of professional level information, not the exchange of juvenile humor.

My mistake.

well I really think you are over-reacting...I didn´t say that it was bad or good...but it´s good to have some humor from time to time...after all...we are humans...
 

Luis Vega

Elite Member
Mar 19, 2008
1,838
278
38
Leon, Guanajuato Mexico
luisvega.com.mx
besides...in this thread we are exchanging funny experiences and mess-ups...I am laughing at myself for my post of when I mess up...I think a little humor is not out of place...

when we are in a very, very serious thread then I understand...
 

WitchDocIsIn

Elite Member
Sep 13, 2008
5,877
2,945
I do apologize if my desire for substantial discussion is seen as pretentious.

My issue arises from the general lack of maturity exhibited on this forum, this thread was merely the tipping point.

I come to this forum for the posts of about five members. I skip almost all the others, because I just can't be bothered to read inane prattle from immature people. Luckily, those members that I actually value seem to be migrating to other forums that I frequent.

But I know that there is a huge pool of talent on these forums. It pains me to see it drowned out in the incessant, immature, attention-seeking idiocy that I see in every single thread. I would really, really like to see the immaturity reduced and the quality posts valued. I want to read the thoughts of those who are better than me, but only if they consist of something deeper than masturbatory humor.

Maybe I'm just in the wrong place, maybe I'm just too hopeful. Who knows?
 
Mar 27, 2009
40
0
I do apologize if my desire for substantial discussion is seen as pretentious.

My issue arises from the general lack of maturity exhibited on this forum, this thread was merely the tipping point.

I come to this forum for the posts of about five members. I skip almost all the others, because I just can't be bothered to read inane prattle from immature people. Luckily, those members that I actually value seem to be migrating to other forums that I frequent.

But I know that there is a huge pool of talent on these forums. It pains me to see it drowned out in the incessant, immature, attention-seeking idiocy that I see in every single thread. I would really, really like to see the immaturity reduced and the quality posts valued. I want to read the thoughts of those who are better than me, but only if they consist of something deeper than masturbatory humor.

Maybe I'm just in the wrong place, maybe I'm just too hopeful. Who knows?

HaHa! Randy is the man for that joke! As for the no nonsense dude overtop of me. Im sorry if MY thread sent u over the edge(not really). But clearly you've misinterpreted my purpose for it. I put up this thread as a chance for a learning experience. This is something we all go through as performers and we all deal with the situation differently. Some of us may be caught and question our abilities. But when we exchange these stories and ideas we have something to refer to and realize "Its not just me".
If you've read all these responses, even Marcus Eddie posted his story. Because he understands why this thread is up. I'd like to feel like I'm contributing to magic with this thread.
While you just nag about how all of your buddies are goin to other forums for "intellectual stimulation". All I can say is if thats the way you feel, then maybe you should join another forum. I'm sure someone will accept you :rolleyes:
 

WitchDocIsIn

Elite Member
Sep 13, 2008
5,877
2,945
HaHa! Randy is the man for that joke! As for the no nonsense dude overtop of me. Im sorry if MY thread sent u over the edge(not really). But clearly you've misinterpreted my purpose for it. I put up this thread as a chance for a learning experience. This is something we all go through as performers and we all deal with the situation differently. Some of us may be caught and question our abilities. But when we exchange these stories and ideas we have something to refer to and realize "Its not just me".
If you've read all these responses, even Marcus Eddie posted his story. Because he understands why this thread is up. I'd like to feel like I'm contributing to magic with this thread.
While you just nag about how all of your buddies are goin to other forums for "intellectual stimulation". All I can say is if thats the way you feel, then maybe you should join another forum. I'm sure someone will accept you :rolleyes:

You're missing my point entirely. What I want IS what you were after. Intellectual debate about magic and the issues surrounding it. What I see is juvenile humor. Granted, this probably wasn't the thread to get annoyed over since the joke was admittedly not inappropriate for the context. For that I apologize. Straw that broke the camel's back and all.

Anyway. Any further ranting from me will only drag the thread down further, so I'm done.
 
I had some epic fails.....

I was doing Sinful right? And just when I got ready to do the coin reveal guess what, the tab of the can broke and i was left in mid-effect holding a can that wouldn't open.....

Then there's the time i did the classic pulse stop and i ask the spectator to tap her foot everytime she felt my pulse....guess what, she never stopped tapping....omg, another epic fail.....
 
Feb 13, 2009
15
0
Remember that when someone says they saw you how you did an effect, they might have just guessed the right method but not know exactly how the sleights or moves happened. It's important that the trick not be complex I guess u could say where you can tell the purposes of the moves.


Case in point. I did an almost impromptu card change effect for someone. Was impromptu cuz I was just fiddling with an effect and someone saw what I was doing and asked to see it. So I went and foolishly proceded. The effect was to have him pick a card and controlling to the top using the kelly bottom placement and false cuttin then DL to show the "wrong" card and showing the bottom and of course magically changing the top card into the selected card.


The spectators exact phrasing were "I saw how you did that. I saw you. I was watching. I saw u brought my card to the top somehow, and u did a cut but my card stayed on top and u lifted 2 cards at the end one of them was my card." I was thinking I got caught but later on after replaying what he said in my mind I realised he was just guessing what happened. He guessed right but didnt exactly see how it all happened. The same thing happened too when I was doing the coin in bottle for a friend. He said "I saw you thats a trick coin I can see it from here" I was using a green bottle and at least few yard away where u cant see the slits in a folding quarter and the bottle was being moving around for displaying. Both times I came to the conclusion that they were just assuming how it worked by studying what and how they said in theyre guessing.

Few lessons I learned from that. First find ways to perform the trick so spectators wont be following along whats going on. lol I coulda done a spread conrol maybe no false cuts or doing maybe a slip cut instead where he has a say where at to cut and maybe do a top change or seconds instead of the not so secret anymore DL.

Second, lol, is to stick it out unless u know that u obviously flashed big time or messed up bad. I just say now "that would be one way of doing it I guess" or "guessing what happened is not the same as knowing what happened" when people say they saw how u did it.

And lastly when theyre burning your hands go into an In your Hands Triumph in the middle of the trick. lol
 
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Well, I think that I was caught for sure multiple times, but as a performer you are going to slip up every once in a while. I was doing my very first performance (if you can even call it on) and I was not doing so good. I tried to do an appearing wand, but it got tangled, and then came out of the card box I was making appear from in a tangled wad. Also, not really being caught but it put me in an awkward situation, was when I was doing a show for kids, and some random kid yelled out in the middle of my zombie ball routine, "HE IS USING STATIC!" And I looked dumbfounded, because this kid is like 6 and he thinks I am using some static electricity or something, and I looked at him and said "Nope...uhh...no... not it sorry" After the show, I could hardly remember what went on, because I was so nervous, and to this day there are only certain parts I remember, and I don't even know if it was a good show!
 
Jan 26, 2008
419
1
Sweden
Few lessons I learned from that. First find ways to perform the trick so spectators wont be following along whats going on. lol I coulda done a spread conrol maybe no false cuts or doing maybe a slip cut instead where he has a say where at to cut and maybe do a top change or seconds instead of the not so secret anymore DL.


The technique is not the problem here so there is no need to change from DLS to seconds etc.

The problem is that you should not have the spectators attention or focus on the deck when your doing the moves, if we use missdirection in the right way this is not a problem.
 
Mar 16, 2010
106
1
Lithuania
I was dong some magic tricks in my english class in front of my teacher and classmates. I did a riffle force on one of my friends. I looked him in the eyes and told his card. They were speachless. The other day one girl from my class came to me and guessed - ,,Maybe you were holding a break with your finger and you cut where you wanted?". I said No and walked away. She was nowhere near me when i was performing. How did she gues? I have no idea...
 
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