Wrong Magician... Right Party.

[William Draven]

Here's the situation.

You're a magician brought in to entertain a private party for an hour. Since you're a smart magician you always bring a little extra with you just in case you need to substitute something due to malfunction or the show runs over. However nothing could have prepared you for what you're about to encounter.

What you're about to enter is a room full of audience members that are the exact opposite of your target market. If you are an adult performer, you've got young kids. If you're a kids show performer then you have a room full of MIT grads who failed humor and personality 101. If you work geek then your room is a Sunday school fundamentalist group. You get the idea. The point is that your show as it currently is rehearsed and set up is not "appropriate" for the audience you've been hired to entertain.

Omitting the observation that you should have asked ahead of time the kind of show you're booking, You now have to think on your feet.

What Do You Do?

 

[worldwideme]

ask something like this, and see what you can do from there...


"when you think of a magician what do you think? what is a magician to you?" and see if you can manage to fit that bill if at all possible

if they say "pick a card, any card" start off with a tongue in cheek pick a card trick where you make fun of the average joe magician using impersonations and what not.

ex: "ALL RIGHT LADIES AND GENTS I'M HERE TO SHOW YOU THE PREMIERE FEATS OF THE MODERN CARD CONJURER!!! UH YOU, YES YOU LOVELY YOUNG LADY, COME ON UP HERE AND PICK A CARD ANY CARD"

 

[William Draven]

I think I was getting at the point of: "Do you try to compromise the quality of your performance by changing aspects in your act at the last minute to accommodate your performance conditions, do you perform your act as you always have shameless of the potential to possibly offend or put off your audience, or do you find a way to bow out of it completely?"


I was just trying to get at it in a more round about kind of way.

 

[tokyoUW]

If you are a professional, you get the details of the party and guests before you agree to do the show / sign the contract, and you avoid that situation.

If you encounter that situation randomly (not during a paid performance), just don't do magic that night. You don't always have to do magic just because people are around you.

 

[ZacEckstein]

I;m considering myself younger. After the first trick bombed and I realized what I was dealing with, I would start doing gambling moves and demonstrations. Instead of tricking, I am teaching now. Which seems directly up the MIT students alley!

 

[AlfieWhattamMagic]

Lets say I walk into a room full of adults expecting kids abd I have to perform at a table and also do walkaround... I would start off with some sucker tricks like circus card trick, 3 card monte and 2 card monte.

I would then do something where I add humor like a lesson in misdirection (ike lance burtons paper balls...)

Then I would finish with something amazing like a geek trick like thread or control and as im dead i would scream and jump up when they think im dead and everyone screams and laughs

And then I would walk around throught the party/event doing tricks with cards, coins, rubberbands and everryday items like pressure with there phone.

 

[CorbinB]

A gambling demonstration. Everyone loves those...sort of.

 

[William Draven]

If you are a professional, you get the details of the party and guests before you agree to do the show / sign the contract, and you avoid that situation.

If you encounter that situation randomly (not during a paid performance), just don't do magic that night. You don't always have to do magic just because people are around you.

I think that the point of getting the details before you commit to a party can only go so far. Of course that is something you should do.

However you can't control your environment 100% of the time. The hypothetical situation I'm purposing takes into consideration that 2% chance that you find yourself in a situation that isn't ideal for you. More specifically, how you handle it.

 

[AlfieWhattamMagic]

I think that the point of getting the details before you commit to a party can only go so far. Of course that is something you should do.

However you can't control your environment 100% of the time. The hypothetical situation I'm purposing takes into consideration that 2% chance that you find yourself in a situation that isn't ideal for you. More specifically, how you handle it.

William has a point... I hate it when people disagree with the objective of the thread.

For example I remember seeing a thread which said something like:
So lets say your at a restraunt eating with your friends and they ask to see magic but you have nothing on you (No cards, rubberbands, gimmicks, nothing!)... Your friends have 5 coin each there are knifes and forks and a salt shaker and 4 napkins. What do you perform? Then I remeber a guy saying something like FAIL!!! I ALWAYS HAVE MY CARDZ ON MEE!!11 and he was serious.... Everyone was like, this is a game, not real life hes asking what would you performin this situation? Then he said I would probally do some loops then....

Its people like this who are ruining theory11. This is a game people! Dont try and be funny when your just being immature. Just stick to the rules and have fun.

PS: Sorry if I sounded mean Im having a bad day....

Oh and im not saying you did anything wrong Tokyo... Sorry if you think I was calling you out.

 

[Cedric Taylor]

Here's the situation.

You're a magician brought in to entertain a private party for an hour. Since you're a smart magician you always bring a little extra with you just in case you need to substitute something due to malfunction or the show runs over. However nothing could have prepared you for what you're about to encounter.

What you're about to enter is a room full of audience members that are the exact opposite of your target market. If you are an adult performer, you've got young kids. If you're a kids show performer then you have a room full of MIT grads who failed humor and personality 101. If you work geek then your room is a Sunday school fundamentalist group. You get the idea. The point is that your show as it currently is rehearsed and set up is not "appropriate" for the audience you've been hired to entertain.

Omitting the observation that you should have asked ahead of time the kind of show you're booking, You now have to think on your feet.

What Do You Do?

CALL THE GHOSTBUSTERS!!!!!

no seriously, i wouldn't change it, sometimes its good to have a off beat moment, this is what i would do though, since i'm geek and i walk into a bible thumping crowd, i'd do maybe a set first two tricks to get a feel for the crowd and what they enjoy, next, i'll have a few effects to what they will enjoy. Since you are doing it totally impromptu, do effects thats going to get the most out of crowd participation. But keep doing what you do, don't change. Just add more humor, in those MIT grads case, less humor. Those Adults case, more adult like patter, and for kids, always have some torn and restored of some kind, a levitation, transpo, and some mentalism( no matter what age group, its universal) just tie that in to what you do and you'll get a happy crowd. Lets remember all it takes is one effect to be remembered for. One.

 

[Justin.Morris]

In my situation, I would absolutely alter my performance. I do a lot of improv aside from magic, so the show would be fine. If it was a crowd I know very little about, I would use very general patter. But I don't think I'd be too phased.

I was recently in a situation where I thought I was to do a thirty minute kids show, and when i arrived, the said I was doing an hour. The problem is that I don't have an hour of kids stuff. I panicked a bit (in my head), and tried recalling Quinton Reynolds routine as I tried to find a hanky or napkin. Then as we talked more I realized she only wanted a thirty minute show, but just must have said the wrong thing to me once I got there. Needless to say, I was very relieved.

 

[worldwideme]

i would alter my act then william. i have to take the risk of it being subpar for my own standards to ensure my audiences comfort.

 

[Shodan]

Adapt - as any professional should be able to. I restrict my perspective to that of a professional entertainer because, as has been pointed out earlier in the thread, an amateur who doesn't HAVE to perform, should probably not if they are that far out of their comfort zone (unless they're real hungry for a learning experience!)

I do card magic aimed at adult audiences. My worst case scenario would be walking into a kids party. At least half my set would have to go out the window as its too involved to hold the attention of a young audience; the rest would work well with adapted presentation. It doesn't matter if the kids are into cards or not - they have to be "into" my performance. So its really a question of how adaptable you are as a performer, rather than a question about what material you would do.

Cheers,
David.

 

[RickEverhart]

This has happened to me 2 years ago in the following instance.

A parent hired me for a "kids" show, however after I got there I soon realized that it was more of a "family" style show where the adults wanted in on the action as well.

I always carry extra in my close up case and was able to improvise and go back and forth between my classic kids effects and throw in some rubber band and hard hitting card effects for the adults. It worked out well and made everyone happy.

You will also find it funny that this was my first paid birthday party show and when I showed up at the home....there was another entertainer there doing a live monkey show. Talk about following that up....ha ha. Boy was I nervous.