Do you just do card tricks?

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Lately I've been getting that old line and I can't make out if it's because of people in the UK, if it's my presentation or if I just need a couple more varied tricks.

I always have a deck, digital dissolve and extreme burn on me. I do a couple mentalism type tricks but with cards and various different tricks like haunted deck but obviously that's still a card trick even though the actual "magic moment" is more paranormal. For gig's I also do Ninja Rings and use flash paper here and there, so I do mix it up a little bit, just not as much as other magicians that do mentalism effects like predicting a drawing and sponge balls.

Do any of you get the "do you just do card tricks" question?

 

[Jevonsp]

All the time. Thats why I keep rubberbands, spongeballs and quarters on me at all times. I really like to use sugar free by calen morelli and orbit by jeff prace also.

 

[RickEverhart]

I have never gotten that question in 12 years. I'm being completely honest. I always open with a mismade bill routine, Warning or rubber bands. And after I warm them up go into maybe 2 card effects at most, and finish with an effect that is non card magic related.

 

[YRAMagicMan]

I'm a card guy, but lately I've been getting the question the other way around, as in "do you do card tricks?" because I can't do card tricks at my school. (I'm at the point where I'll get kicked out if I'm caught with a deck. The rest of that story is here.) I'm working on coin stuff now though so it's not too bad.

 

[Jevonsp]

^Wow, @yra, I jsut read the post. Thats messed up. Im in highschool but when I was in middle school my teachers would get pissed at me for doing magic tricks but then I'd blow them away and they'd be okay with it.

 

[AdamF]

I've never gotten that question because I perform in a restaurant/table hopping setting and the only card trick I do is Color Monte. To me, pulling out a deck of cards in that environment seems inorganic and doesn't fit my style or the flow of my routines.

 

[Mike.Hankins]

I think this question COULD be asked to the magicians who do not establish themselves well enough first. There have been moments in my bar gigs where I will just perform card effects. No it does not bore the audience and no, I do not get asked if I do "more than just card tricks." I have built enough rapport with my crowd well before I pull cards out to where I feel that this question becomes lost in their minds.

Do I think it is important to be diverse within this art? Without question. But I think tooooo much emphasis is put on the magic itself and not about the magician. I promise you that rapport is everything...

I've never gotten that question because I perform in a restaurant/table hopping setting and the only card trick I do is Color Monte. To me, pulling out a deck of cards in that environment seems inorganic and doesn't fit my style or the flow of my routines.

Could you explain what you mean by inorganic?

 

[Josh Burch]

I think the only context that I've been asked this in is in the "Can you do more than card tricks? Can you levitate? Can you make me disappear?". Most the time I take this as a compliment that they liked what I showed them and they'd like to see more they just don't know how to explain it in magic terms.

 

[Josh Burch]

Could you explain what you mean by inorganic?

I'm curious too. If a deck of cards isn't organic than that would make me think that sponge bunnies, 50 cent pieces, and pads of paper would be inorganic as well. It's tough for me to imagine a routine like that. I never thought of it as strange for a magician to have a deck of cards.

 

[eostresh]

I probably get that all the time but I am completely oblivious to it. I live and work in Korea and usually perform for Koreans. Sadly, Korean is a difficult language to learn so I only have the most rudimentary skill level with the language. So when my spectators are gasping and yelling and I am imagining that they are saying, "Oh My God that was amazing! How did he do that?"

What they are actually saying is, "Oh my God! I can't believe this guy only knows card tricks! Doesn't he watch Cyril?"

 

[AdamF]

[/QUOTE]Could you explain what you mean by inorganic?[/QUOTE]
Maybe inorganic wasn't the perfect word for what I was trying to say. I feel spectators already have a preconception of card tricks. So pulling out a deck of cards gives them an idea of where a trick is heading, ruining that moment where they don't know what to expect. Also I feel my job as a restaurant performer is to entertain the customers before their food comes out, make them happy they went out that night, and move on. And I'm not saying card tricks can't do this, just to me as a performer and my style of performing, I find I'm a better entertainer using coins, rubber bands, pens, etc. and I have done a ton of card tricks in the past, but they just never seemed to fit me. Just my opinion.

 

[eostresh]

Maybe inorganic wasn't the perfect word for what I was trying to say. I feel spectators already have a preconception of card tricks. So pulling out a deck of cards gives them an idea of where a trick is heading, ruining that moment where they don't know what to expect. Also I feel my job as a restaurant performer is to entertain the customers before their food comes out, make them happy they went out that night, and move on. And I'm not saying card tricks can't do this, just to me as a performer and my style of performing, I find I'm a better entertainer using coins, rubber bands, pens, etc. and I have done a ton of card tricks in the past, but they just never seemed to fit me. Just my opinion.

I don't mean to sound like a jerk but.....The card trick you mentioned was "color monte." Nothing against color monte but....well....it looks like a card trick. Any Monte routine looks like a hustling routine. That's fine if it fits your character but hustling routines look like "tricks." Probably because hustlers have been presenting them as "gambling games" for thousands of years. Thus spectators get a "preconceived notion."

Turn that preconceived notion on its head. Use it to your advantage. The "Wizard Product Review" made an off the cuff referance to how many pros carry an omni deck.(an effect that has kind of been forgotten by amateur magicians over the years) There is good reason for that. It shatters those preconceptions of a "card trick." I have been rediscovering the Omni Deck lately and the reactions are outstanding. People just don't know what to make of it.

So if you think that spectators have a preconceived notion of card tricks then stop performing card tricks. Start performing "Magic with cards" I believe the WPR was reviewing Aaron Fisher's "Panic" when they made the Omni Deck reference. That is another good example of a simple effect that just fries lay audiences.

 

[WitchDocIsIn]

I used to get asked this question, but now I don't. Probably because I do far more than card tricks regularly and usually open with non-card material. Also, the tricks I do are rarely 'card tricks', they are as esotresh referenced, magic with cards.

 

[AdamF]

I don't mean to sound like a jerk but.....The card trick you mentioned was "color monte." Nothing against color monte but....well....it looks like a card trick. Any Monte routine looks like a hustling routine. That's fine if it fits your character but hustling routines look like "tricks." Probably because hustlers have been presenting them as "gambling games" for thousands of years. Thus spectators get a "preconceived notion."

Turn that preconceived notion on its head. Use it to your advantage. The "Wizard Product Review" made an off the cuff referance to how many pros carry an omni deck.(an effect that has kind of been forgotten by amateur magicians over the years) There is good reason for that. It shatters those preconceptions of a "card trick." I have been rediscovering the Omni Deck lately and the reactions are outstanding. People just don't know what to make of it.

So if you think that spectators have a preconceived notion of card tricks then stop performing card tricks. Start performing "Magic with cards" I believe the WPR was reviewing Aaron Fisher's "Panic" when they made the Omni Deck reference. That is another good example of a simple effect that just fries lay audiences.

I completely agree with what your saying. But I'm not denying the fact that color monte looks like a "trick". I mean the moment you pull out only 3 cards and show that the fronts aren't that of a poker deck, throws out the possibility of you doing, in their mind, a stereotypical "card trick". Such as "pick a card any card". From their you proceed to do amazing magic with cards.

 

[eostresh]

I completely agree with what your saying. But I'm not denying the fact that color monte looks like a "trick". I mean the moment you pull out only 3 cards and show that the fronts aren't that of a poker deck, throws out the possibility of you doing, in their mind, a stereotypical "card trick". Such as "pick a card any card". From their you proceed to do amazing magic with cards.

Sorry...I disagree. Color Monte is a trick. A good trick but It looks like a trick. Just my opinion though.

 

[AdamF]

Sorry...I disagree. Color Monte is a trick. A good trick but It looks like a trick. Just my opinion though.

I think we may be on different pages here. I agree that Color Monte looks like a trick, and I agree it is a very good trick. But it's a trick where spectators don't really know what to expect because you're not using a full deck and you're using cards they've never seen before. In contrast, if you have a spectator pick a card, they're thinking you're going to reveal that card in some way, whether that ends up being true or not, such as in the omni deck.