Definition of a Magician

[Antonio Diavolo]

From Urban Dictionary:
"A person lacking any talent, yet skilled enough to master the art of boring people to death. Closely related to jugglers, mimes, and unicyclists."

What do you guys think? I personally find it pretty funny (even made part of it my Instagram bio). I mean they always say the best comedy is based on the truth.

Not so sure about the "lacking any talent part". To be fair, most magic sleights and skills are totally useless in the real world. This isn't exclusive to magic of course but it does apply here.

I mean in all honesty, magic IS inherently boring (in my personal opinion). We can give people that brief moment of wonder but then what? They'll probably think about it for a few minutes, give up, and forget about you in a week. I mean some magicians are able to transform their tricks and make it very entertaining but otherwise, it seems that most people groan at the thought of having to sit through a magic show. I'm mostly referring to the cheesy magicians that use the same hack lines and trick presentations which most people have probably seen/heard dozens of times.

Magic is an old art form that hasn't aged well at all. What was entertaining in 1920 won't entertain audiences today. People are a lot more skeptical. They're less willing to just accept they can't figure it out and move on.

I don't know. Just thought it was a funny quote and made me reflect on magic a bit. Probably not going to show as many people if their response to wanting to see magic sounds more sympathetic than actually wanting to see it.

 

[trapeze]

Reminds me of this quote:

"Magic, as exhibited by the majority, is the indulgence in a hobby which rarely instructs, seldom amuses and almost never entertains."

Dariel Fitzkee
Showmanship For Magicians

 

[Stratego]

I would say that all my friends kinda hate my hobby and the fact that I always have something to show them, but to random people at a bar or a party it's a good icebreaker and gives a lot of laugh. Of course doing it more than 10 minutes would be quite unpolite I guess.

 

[WitchDocIsIn]

If you get into any form of entertainment, you quickly realize the number of people who are not good at entertaining with it. I know a lot of jugglers, poi spinners, fire breathers, magicians, and various other forms of entertainment, who are technically quite skilled but couldn't hold a crowd if they wanted to.

I think probably 10% of magicians really suck. About 79% are mediocre. 10% are good. 1% are great.

I also think a lot of people get into magic to compensate for a lack of social skills, or overcome anxiety. So what you get is a large number of people who cannot interact with people without doing tricks. Which gets tedious, even to those who like magic. Personally, I have made sure to keep my casual performances rare, so even my closest friends and family are excited when I decide to perform. I don't test material on them, I rehearse it until I'm confident, and test it on real audiences.

The bigger thing here, with that quote in the first post, is that this is how magic is perceived in general. It is not seen as a desirable thing by the general public. There was a time, not so long ago, that a magician was top of the food chain in entertainment circles. Houdin stopped a friggin' war. Houdini was the "First international superstar". Thurston, Blackstone, etc. these guys were highly sought after acts. Even into Vaudeville magicians were often the top billed act.

Max Maven said magicians have rendered magic trivial. This is true, but there's nuance there. At the turn of the 20th century it was absolutely true that someone would probably only see 1 magician live in their life, if any. That meant that until pretty recently, within the past couple decades, magicians could perform almost anything - and not necessarily all that well - and still entertain an audience. The obscurity of the skill automatically gave it prestige.

That is not really the case any more, I think. There are so many TV shows, and YouTube channels, and Blaine-inspired street performers, and bar tender magicians, and so on - that people in general have far more opportunities to see magic performed live. Which means they now have something to compare a performance to. Which means magicians actually have to do a decent performance, instead of just relying on the fact that no one knows what they are seeing.

So yes - most magicians are boring. Because most magic literature has not yet caught up with the fact that knowing tricks is no longer enough to hold attention - now we have to be interesting as well.

 

[Lord Magic]

From Urban Dictionary:
"A person lacking any talent, yet skilled enough to master the art of boring people to death. Closely related to jugglers, mimes, and unicyclists."

What do you guys think? I personally find it pretty funny (even made part of it my Instagram bio). I mean they always say the best comedy is based on the truth.

Not so sure about the "lacking any talent part". To be fair, most magic sleights and skills are totally useless in the real world. This isn't exclusive to magic of course but it does apply here.

I mean in all honesty, magic IS inherently boring (in my personal opinion). We can give people that brief moment of wonder but then what? They'll probably think about it for a few minutes, give up, and forget about you in a week. I mean some magicians are able to transform their tricks and make it very entertaining but otherwise, it seems that most people groan at the thought of having to sit through a magic show. I'm mostly referring to the cheesy magicians that use the same hack lines and trick presentations which most people have probably seen/heard dozens of times.

Magic is an old art form that hasn't aged well at all. What was entertaining in 1920 won't entertain audiences today. People are a lot more skeptical. They're less willing to just accept they can't figure it out and move on.

I don't know. Just thought it was a funny quote and made me reflect on magic a bit. Probably not going to show as many people if their response to wanting to see magic sounds more sympathetic than actually wanting to see it.

Some confessions:-
1) I use ALL the psychological tricks to persuade people I learn thru magic in my daily life.
2) When I need to sneak things in somewhere (like when my mother tells me to take just one chocolate and I want around 6...call me childish, I don't care, eating and sneaking chocolates does not have an age limit) I use a finger palm.
3) When that really annoying guy in my school asks for an eraser (he breaks it, loses it and pelts people with borrowed erasers, so the owner gets the blame) I classic palm it.
4) I use the showmanship skills for speaking in my daily lives, to enhance my orating performance.
5) The dexterity in my fingers and hands helps in handling delicate instruments.

So I dunno what you mean by magic sleights and skills not being useful in daily lives

Magic may be boring, but like u said, happens more to the magicians who ARE, well, boring. Exciting magicians do exciting stuff, boring magicians do boring stuff. Just like good chess players make a chess game seem more nerve-wracking than a cricket final, but most other chess players make you wanna slash ur wrists than see the whole chess-match (*disclaimer:-Do not try slashing ur wrists in ur house. I am not going to be held responsible for 1) dead people 2)bloody floors 3) untidy knives). So that depends a lot on the magician.

And this goes to show why we can't really define any art form or its artists on general...there are just TOO many variables to consider.

But of course, Urban Dictionary does all this for humor, and I don't think any magician minds that (or rather, they should not mind that).
Like, you know, if you search 'definition of qwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnm' and other combinations of the keyboard letters in a patter, Urban Dictionary does seem to read your mind sometimes!

 

[Maaz Hasan]

I mean, they're not wrong. Here's the thing about magic from what I've figured out so far:

If you continuously perform for your close friends, your an annoying jerk. And they aren't wrong, even my friends who do magic got me annoyed by constantly doing magic. If you don't perform for them, they forget your a magician half the time. I'd take the latter. Occasional performances for your friends are way better than the back to back stuff I see a lot of people do.


Remember, to a layman, a magician is anyone who knows a few tricks. This includes the creep from the internet, the jerk with a deck of cards, and the guys who learned a few tricks from the old dude at the library. Very few people actually put in the time to perform.

What this means for us is that IF we can make our show exciting and give a great performance for 10 minutes, the audience will love it. After all, it's not the art form that's giving magic a bad rep, it's the artists.

 

[ChrisJGJ]

Urban Dictionary is only good for looking up slang. I don't know if kids these days know what a taco is besides the delicious Mexican food version. Look it up if you're curious. I wouldn't use Urban Dictionary to define words that already have a clear definition. Look at Urban Dictionary's definition for Basketball Player lol. "Not a rapist."

The definition of a magician though has some merit. It describes the stereotypical magician. Stereotypes are just the truth oversimplified. You shouldn't really take offense to this, unless you think you fit it.

 

[WitchDocIsIn]

Remember, to a layman, a magician is anyone who knows a few tricks. This includes the creep from the internet, the jerk with a deck of cards, and the guys who learned a few tricks from the old dude at the library. Very few people actually put in the time to perform.

This is most of the reason I never use the word 'magician' to describe myself. It's noble to want to change this view in the public eye, but I personally need to pay bills and I don't want to start with an uphill battle right off the bat. So I defined my own brand that avoids any stereotypes that might hang people up.

 

[Antonio Diavolo]

This is most of the reason I never use the word 'magician' to describe myself. It's noble to want to change this view in the public eye, but I personally need to pay bills and I don't want to start with an uphill battle right off the bat. So I defined my own brand that avoids any stereotypes that might hang people up.

What do you call yourself exactly?

 

[WitchDocIsIn]

I'm the Witch Doctor.

 

[Al e Cat Dabra]

The most important definitions may well be how we define ourselves and what our goals are as performers. And then, tailoring our performances accordingly. Does one wish to be what Eugene Burger called, in the Performance of Close-up Magic, the "generic magician," performing the same effects in the same way, with the same type of corny lines or explanatory patter, as the vast majority? Or does one wish to find that something within him/herself that is truly unique and put that personal creative stamp on the performances? In choosing the latter path, we are far more likely to delightfully surprise our audiences and change any negative or stereotypical images they may have previously had about "magicians." Do we define ourselves as imitators or innovators?

Personally, having searched for my own character for a long time, I would define myself as a "magical entertainer," and that is how I introduce myself or am introduced. My goal is to be an interactive performer, who makes my audiences feel like they are as much or more center stage as myself. I have also found that I am a natural story teller. People love stories, so I try to create a plot or a theme for each routine, that draws people in and engages their interest and emotions. I strive to bring the spectators into the limelight and to cast them in a leading role. Thus, instead of a "look how clever I am" orientation, the goal for me is to create an atmosphere that is fun, intriguing, inspiring, and memorable, and where there is a group experience, as opposed to me being the focal point, where everyone is invited and encouraged to be involved as a star of the show.

 

[Antonio Diavolo]

I'm the Witch Doctor.

That's extremely fitting