Cell Phones Ruin the Magical Moment

[RickEverhart]

I just finished working a 2 hour strolling gig for a local college open house that had a few hundred people attending ranging from age 2-60. I had prepared with about 9 strolling effects and enough variety to entertain young children with sponge balls, silks, hot rod, etc. and had taken some cards, money, and mental magic for the adults.

All in all my performances were spot on and went well except for 2 girls who were in their 20's. I approached them, introduced myself just like I always do and asked them if they wanted to see some close up magic and they both said sure. I am performing Danny Archer's Eye exam (which is phenomenal by the way if you don't use it) and in the middle of the effect the one girls cell phone starts ringing so she looks at me and says oh sorry I have to talk to my friend for a minute....ugh....completely killed the momentum and magic. She gets off about a minute later and I proceed to finish the packet trick however by then she couldn't even remember what had transpired and could have cared less. She proceeded to give me a thumbs up and said, "Good job with your trick." I could feel myself getting heated so I just said thank you, enjoy your day and walked away.

Am I the one in the wrong here or was she being completely rude or was it just bad timing? Two other times while performing for adults today, when their phones started vibrating or ringing they just ignored it and enjoyed the performance.

On a better note I think I handed out around 50-100 business cards to people who genuinely asked for one or I felt showed enough interest.

Has anyone noticed cell phones kind of "ruining" the intimate entertainment lately? And before you guys start telling me it is audience management and I need to be more entertaining....I seriously don't believe that is the issue. I am not a rookie here by any means and have over 10 years of actual performing experience.

Perhaps these two girls do not understand that it was rude. Thoughts?

 

[Luis Vega]

Hey man!!

Yes and no...

I truly know where are you coming from... honestly it does kill the magic moment... I have been in this situation countless times in restaurants, weddings, etc...

On the other side... It was bad timing... I feel it that way... maybe they weren?t expecting to see magic at that moment, also I think you should not get angry for things you cannot control... also since this people are not paying for seeing magic, it?s easy for them to behave like this... my best course of action is when they start to be like this, is to gently back away saying something like "well, maybe in another time" or "I come back later!!" and NEVER RETURN!! MUAHAHA

Of course when you do a stage show... you should ask for everyone to put the phones on silence...

 

[WitchDocIsIn]

Think about it this way -

She was at an open house, which she probably didn't even pay to get in to. She wasn't there to see you perform. She very well could have been dragged there by someone else entirely. Maybe that call was actually something important to her. You were just some guy that did card tricks at her. You're not David Blaine, or Penn & Teller, or David Copperfield, you're not even Criss Angel - you're not famous.

And, as much as you don't want to hear this - What you were doing was clearly not as important as taking that phone call, even if that call wasn't actually important. You were a stranger doing a card trick. Her friend is clearly higher on the totem pole than you are. As much as we, as magicians, may hate to hear it - people don't care about card tricks most of the time. Even if it's a great trick, it's meaningless to them.

Yes, it's rude to walk away from a performance, but it's also rude to expect people to put their life on hold for you just because you ask them to do so. Now you have to decide whether you want to try to make changes to how you perform because of these girls, or are you ok with some people just not caring and walking away?

Most likely you will not be able to hook every single person every single time. I don't consider this to be a majorly bad thing.
If a performer tries to please everyone they usually end up being extremely boring.

 

[Toby]

Hey buddy,

Don't take it personally. It's just a bad timing. It's not like she took the phone to make a phone call or text or something, the phone just rang. Not much you can do about it. Sure, it's rood to answer it, but like Christopher said, maybe it was important. I mean, it's a 20 year old girl, EVERY phone call is important to her lol.
On the other hand, next time you can even try to make something out of it. When the phone rings, just say "don't answer it, it's bad news", pretending you're psychic, or say "don't answer it, it's your aunt" or something, and if it hits, perfect, if it doesn't, it will still get the chuckles.
If the trick can wait, then you can wait, you're payed by the hour anyways, not per trick. If the trick is like that so it cannot wait, just finish the trick for the other people still watching and walk away. When the phone girl asks what happened, just say something like "oh man, it was so amazing, I've NEVER done that before, too bad you missed it " and walk away.

 

[RickEverhart]

Thanks guys...this is exactly why I posted this to hear from some of you other workers. I appreciate the feedback by all of you and you guys made some valid points to think about.

 

[Michael Moore]

May I ask what the first trick was that you showed her? Just asking, as you certainly dont need to be a Blaine or Copperfield, or anyone famous at all to establish yourself as someone worth watching. This is why its crucial to have something quick, visual, & to the point as your opener, to really get there attention, & not do some 4 phased card routine where there is no magic happening within the first 30 seconds, & takes a while before the magical pay off. Some examples I like to use as openers are Fire Wallet, rubber spaghetti (rubberband) up the nose, "Cracking" my knuckles, taking my hand off my arm while wearing short sleeves (a new trick Im working on), etc. So maybe your opener wasnt quite strong enough to get her full attention & make her think "THAT WAS SICK! I dont wanna miss a second of what else this guy has to show me!" Again, maybe I'm wrong, just trying to think of why she did that. Or, maybe after each trick, ask "Would you like to see another?" & especially if they say yes, theyd be less likely to answer the phone, or theyd make themselves look like even more of an ass after asking for more, just to stop you to answer there phone.

 

[RickEverhart]

Hi Michael, you are probably right that I should have opened with my Quadflex bill, or Kostya Kimlat's Warning, or CMH cuffs in her hand but I went for the knockout packet trick first to try and impress. In hind sight it may have been a bad choice but magic does happen within the first 15 seconds. Danny Archer's Eye Exam is outstanding and hits them over the head again and again with magic happening over and over again quickly.

To be honest I still think this girl would have still answered her phone and taken the call because it was her friend calling I believe who was trying to find her way to the college where the event was going on. Other people throughout the day who I performed for allowed their phone to ring and never looked away from my performances. I think ringing cell phones while doing table hopping or strolling is something we workers will run into more and more. I think the difference is that "some" of the spectators know it is rude and others simply don't care and will just answer their phone or reply to texts regardless of what is happening in front of them.

After she had answered the phone and kind of blew me off I decided the best was to just thank her, tell her to enjoy her day and move on. I certainly wasn't in the mood to perform for her anymore.

I also need to keep everything in perspective that sometimes people will get an important call that they must take right then and there and there isn't anything I can do about it. I need to just let it go.

 

[timsilva]

Great topic Rick, would love to hear more opinions and tips about this!

I'm not a professional magician, but I perform for at least a few hours every weekend at bars and loud environments. It's clear to me that you are a legitimate worker Rick, so I will only offer what I use to deal with the same, frustrating types of disruptions. Most of my performance settings are far from ideal for retaining attention, so maybe some bits of my approach will be of use to you or another reader. I somewhat agree with what others have said, but I do think there is basic social etiquette that most decent people should follow (but some don't). Walking away from someone because of a phone call is rude in most cases, unless it's an important call (which there's no way of validating on our end). I think going into it with Christopher's mental state is key -- I like to remind myself that the universe doesn't owe me anything. Understanding this can prepare you for negative, aggressive people, as well as those who are simply not interested in watching some magic. So while it's natural to be irritated by this unpredictable behavior, I think there are some ways around it that certainly feel unnatural at first but are actually pragmatic solutions.

If I am performing for a group, and my primary spectator's phone goes off, I immediately gage whether or not they are going to ignore it or answer it. You can tell by whether or not their eyes are still on you. In most cases, people at least check who is calling. If another spectator seemed interested/engaged before the call, I encourage the person being called to answer the call, and then I start over with the other person as if I'm not phased at all by the disruption. I like to be friendly, and say "Go ahead," as if I don't mind at all. You can then look over to the other spectator(s) say "I think you'll love this one, actually." This way (1) you don't appear thrown off, (2) the person getting the call doesn't feel guilty about checking or answering it, and (3) the other spectator gets to have all the fun. Win-win-win. Sometimes, by handling it smoothly, the person will want to ignore the call and continue watching you instead of letting their friend(s) enjoy it while they are off giving someone directions and missing out. You can essentially shift the urgency from the call to you. It doesn't always work, but it does enough to justify handling it this way. I should note that not all tricks have the convenience of a quick reset/restart if this happens, but most of mine lean that way, especially when I know that I'm going to loud social environments (especially when alcohol is involved and people can't even spell eitquaete let alone do it lol).

If I'm one-on-one with someone, I almost always try to avoid ending the conversation by taking control in a fun way. One example is to check the phone with them, and ask "Can I talk to *insert caller's name*!?" as if you know this person and miss them. For example, if there friend Erin is calling, you can loudly say "Oh my god! That's classic Erin timing, right? She always does that..." This isn't for everyone's performance style, but I love being the exact opposite of shy like that because it keeps you involved and in control. 90% of the time people will laugh and explain to their friend/caller that they are talking to a magician. You have to be able to improvise with a fun and confident attitude which I'm sure you know how to do since you do perform often. From here, you can put the call on speaker phone, have the caller think of a random card, and then you can perform the invisible deck which I always have on me. Then you can hand the phone back and walk away with them raving about you, trying to explain what just happened over the phone. Early on, if the spectator gives me a vibe that they really have to answer the call (like if it could be an emergency), then I use my best judgement, respect that, and move along to someone else without any reaction. If the timing is right, I quickly smile and make eye contact while saying "Find me when they are ready to start over." Walk away, ideally to someone else nearby in case their call is short and they want to come find you. You don't want them or anyone else to think that you are upset or affected by what happened, because it makes you look and feel insignificant which leads to awful performances for me.

Another good idea... Pressure!

 

[RickEverhart]

Tim, thank you kindly for your feedback and expertise as well. I can only imagine some of what you deal with at bars and loud environments and short attention spans...ha ha. I absolutely love the idea of having them put the phone on speaker and the caller name a card and then go straight into the invisible deck. Thank you, thank you, thank you! That is definitely a "fun" way of not allowing the call to ruin the moment. This is going straight into my repertoire.

I also would love to hear more from other guys who run into this situation from time to time and how they handle it. Thanks again to everyone who has given me things to think about in this thread.

 

[formula]

It is a rare privilege to be entertained by a magician, if spectators prioritise a phone call it's my opinion that the magician should politely walk away and maybe return later. I rarely perform for people who say "can you show me something quickly" because we're not entertainers that should be squeezed in to someones schedule, we're skilled individuals that people should make time in their schedule for.

There's a part in one of Derren Brown's shows where a phone rings and he says, "Don't answer it, it's bad news". I thought that was quite good.

 

[WitchDocIsIn]

It is a rare privilege to be entertained by a magician,

Indeed. In most cases, true even when a magician is performing at you.

There's a part in one of Derren Brown's shows where a phone rings and he says, "Don't answer it, it's bad news". I thought that was quite good.

I've seen some good ways to compensate for a phone call. Someone is going to leave a cell phone on, it's inevitable. I just got home from Vegas and saw three shows while I was there - phones went off in two of them. Derren Brown is generally performing for huge theaters filled to capacity. He can't go for a personal response so he does things like that - and I also quite enjoy it. Half tongue in cheek, half serious.

It would never suit my style, but I like the way Gazzo and Kozmo handle calls during their show. They take the phone and say, "Hello! What has little balls and hangs down? A bat! What has big balls and hangs up?" Then they end the call. (Side note - anyone else miss how satisfying it was to actually hang up a phone instead of touching part of the screen?)