America's Got Talent WHAATTT?!?

James Wise Magic

Elite Member
Dec 28, 2007
1,021
13
not much I can say about this. Hahaha I loved the performance. Very strange and entertaining but come on, that shouldn't have gotten a yes!!! =P
 
Feb 4, 2008
959
3
I was just making a point on another forum about the quality difference between the magic seen on British television vs. the quality of what is put on American television. Not that Britain's Got Talent is much better(David Penn excluded from that criticism) but on the whole.... Still waiting for the Supernaturalist to hit youtube but until I see that I will keep browsing for shows like the Derren Brown specials and Penn & Teller's "Fool Us" and ignore most of what is coming out from US programs.
 
It's not about talent... it's about ratings. Trust me, if that show WANTED to make a magician look good they would. The producers know from almost the second they cast who they want to win. It's nothing like an actual talent competition.
 
Why all the criticism??? For one, it's a lot better than stupid clown magic. And his personality and presentation is much more entertaining than David Blaine. *In a dull and disinterested voice* "Okay, pick a card. Okay that card goes in the middle. Okay now it's on top." He clearly fooled the judges and got great reactions from the audience. So I think he did his job pretty well, regardless if the trick just used a simple stacked deck.
 
Jan 1, 2009
2,241
3
Back in Time
It's not about talent... it's about ratings. Trust me, if that show WANTED to make a magician look good they would. The producers know from almost the second they cast who they want to win. It's nothing like an actual talent competition.

Pretty much this. The show can sometimes have the most talented people on there but usually they'll often say No to them and end up giving the 7 year old girl who sings off key and plays a mediocre piano the yes.
 
Jan 5, 2010
658
2
Alabama
Why all the criticism??? For one, it's a lot better than stupid clown magic. And his personality and presentation is much more entertaining than David Blaine. *In a dull and disinterested voice* "Okay, pick a card. Okay that card goes in the middle. Okay now it's on top." He clearly fooled the judges and got great reactions from the audience. So I think he did his job pretty well, regardless if the trick just used a simple stacked deck.

Do you even know David Blaine's character, or what he is trying to accomplish with *dull and disinterested* voice? Also, yes, he fooled the judges... bravo. Do you find it hard to fool a lay audience? Now what EMOTION did he illicit from the judges? First, it was a "Oh, how did know the card I was going to say would be on the top or bottom" (curiosity). Then the second emotion (clearly displayed by Howie) was disgust.

I don't see much difference between his presentation and character versus "stupid clown magic".
 

Michael Kras

{dg} poet laureate / theory11
Sep 12, 2007
1,268
3
Canada
www.magicanada.myfastforum.org
He was dreadful... theatrically nonsensical, dry to watch, and his technique was generally horrible. I almost feel like the entire thing is a joke and that everyone is humouring him.

"The Ace of Hearts... guess you've got a good heart". REALLY? Where the heck is the logic in this? This isn't theatre, it's just plain embarrassing.
 
Oh come on, cut the guy a break. He's just an old man trying to have a good time. Hence the cat and the random dancing. Yes the trick can only fool a lay audience. Does that make it a bad trick? Michael Vincent didn't fool Penn and Teller, but he delivered an extraordinary performance of a wonderful routine. Why are so many of you taking this guy's routine so seriously? Just let him have some fun. Besides, I've seen much, much worse performances.
 
This guy is interesting. You guys just don't see showmanship when it slaps you across the face now do you? This man has a fun attitude that will make the audience feel comftorable. Comedy will most of the time get better reactions then complete seriousness with a performance. The sad thing is you only care about the trick. Not the performance skill (which is about 90% of the reaction) Let's put it this way.

One person performs Rizer infront of an audience but with a horrible performance and patter.
Another would perform let's say The Bank Robbing Jacks with amazing patter and a great performance.
Who do you think would get a bigger reaction? Obviously the person who performs the best.
His performance style maybe a little bit silly but silliness is not frowned upon. He had a great reaction and made the audience laugh a lot which makes them ENJOY the performance.
You may think he's just creepy and stupid. But let me ask you a question, have you ever performed with over 10 million spectators and actually pull off an amazing show? It's extremely easy to be a critic, but it takes some serious guts to nut up and shut up and actually perform infront of that many people.
 
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