theory11 — Magic Tricks & the World's Finest Playing Cards
Examples of inherently weak tricks
- Thread starter Casualistry
- Start date
You're an optimist.
See, I've been vacillating between saying "all" or "none." If it is "all of the tricks on the market are too weak" it is because they are not developed and personalized enough. Very few can meet my standards for performance worthy. If it is "none of the tricks on the market are too weak", it is because a good performer can develop them and personalize the presentation to make them amazing.
Typically, in a book of effects, there are one or two that fit my style and that I think are strong magic. So that's around 6% if you assume 30 effects in a book.
The key here is to find what you like to perform and then find effects that fit your criteria.
That is one of the effects that falls into bad performance rather than bad effect. Imagine a magician treating it seriously and having it float 4 or 5 inches off the ground for a reason versus a magician dancing with the table around the stage just because he can. A good example of why sometimes less is more.
In fairness I've basically completely ignored the entire market for over a year now so I'm not even sure what's out there currently.You're an optimist.
I think I can agree with this. It brings to mind a story about a conversation I had with a successful illusionist when I was just a young magician. He told me that he was very nervous about one of the illusions he was going to do in his upcoming show. It was a levitation, but it was meant to be super dramatic without even a hint of comedy in it. He said he was nervous because if he couldn’t sell that to the audience, they would laugh at him and think the whole trip was silly. He said something to me that always stuck with me, which is “all magic tricks are silly to a degree and the magician has to either embrace that or conceal it.”