Ever been caught?

E

enieves

Mar 27, 2009
40
0
Hey everybody,
I just wanted to start this thread for people to talk about any of the times they may have been busted performing an effect:
What trick were you doin?
Was the person that called you out subtle, or just screamed "I SAW THAT!!"?
Were you able to recover?
I think this would be valuable, people exchanging their horror stories. It would be like the magician's version of how poker players always share their "bad-beat" stories with each other. So lets see em. I got one:
I was doin a card to pocket routine and I thought I had the entire crowd in my sights. But this girl that I knew snuck around to get a better angle and she saw me with the palmed card in my hand. She didn't announce to the world she caught me, but she texted me and said "I saw the card..." I just looked over at her and said "shhhhh..." She smiled and I kept performing. Feel free to tell ur story too......
 
Justin.Morris

Justin.Morris

Elite Member
Aug 31, 2007
2,793
888
Canada
www.morrismagic.ca
I did a goldfish production, and moved in such a way that half the room caught a glimpse of it under my coat. After it appeared (which surprised them), a bunch of the kids said they saw it in my coat. Fish production fail.
 
Luis Vega

Luis Vega

Elite Member
Mar 19, 2008
1,840
279
38
Leon, Guanajuato Mexico
luisvega.com.mx
well....I think mine is one of the worst of all...

Some years ago I was going to do a little show...it was one of my first so I was expecting to be great...my opener was going to be a bottle production like the one that David Stone has...

so I prepared everything and I got to the stage and just started and then...the bottle slipped and fall and crashed in the floor just before the production...I was so embarrased!!!

also some people saw me loading the bottle before the show, so they knew what was going to happen...

man, I still got nightmares of that day...
 
M

Marcus Eddie

theory11 artist
Nov 18, 2009
24
0
Austin, Texas
www.marcuseddie.com
I was doing my first stage show as a kid, and I was about to do a feather flower production (yeah, that's right). As I tried to load it under my jacket it was sticking out of the bottom. For a good minute I was walking around like that, not knowing. Then, I triumphantly pulled the flowers out of thin air, as if by MAGIC!

I still have the flowers!
 
R

R.Dupuis

Jul 26, 2009
17
0
I think the worst i have ever had was when i was performing at school.

I was doing William Tell by Daniel Garcia. In the part of the trick in which you pretend that you have messed up, i was fumbling with the two cards on either side of the facedown selection and kept asking if they were the spectator's card. Making subtle jokes and whatever. My spectators were loving it. But then a girl from the back just said,

"I know thats his card i saw you flip it at the beginning of the trick."

Magic Gone. Confidence Destroyed.
From that day on i have ALWAYS checked my angles. Before i was so careless.
 
E

enieves

Mar 27, 2009
40
0
Got another one... I once got caught performin PRESSURE... Well I can't say CAUGHT, somebody just figured it out. It was for a crowd, did the trick, BAM! phone in the balloon. This guy tells me quietly how I did it. I didn't confirm nor deny, but he knew. But then he whispered it to his girlfriend standin next to him. And she couldn't have blurted it out fast enuff. Just had to ruin it for everybody....
 
Robert//Livingston

Robert//Livingston

Jan 5, 2010
658
2
Alabama
I haven't had a really bad story to tell yet. But I think the worst one so far is: I was doing 2CM for a group of teenagers, and after I finished all of the work and asked if he knew where the Ace of Hearts was on the top or bottom, he replied "It's in the deck"... He was the only one that saw the move I guess, so I played off like I didn't hear him and proceeded to ask whether the Ace of Diamonds was on top or bottom, to which he replied on the top. Needless to say after he looked at the cards he didn't say anything else.

I try my hardest to practice audience control, but sometimes things slip in where they grab at my hands during a spongeball routine and whatnot.

I can see how things like this shatter confidence and ruin the moment. I just try my hardest to shrug it off and move on with the effect.
 
Kontents

Kontents

Jun 22, 2009
395
0
Robert//Livingston said:
I was doing 2CM for a group of teenagers, and after I finished all of the work and asked if he knew where the Ace of Hearts was on the top or bottom, he replied "It's in the deck"...t.
Click to expand...

Epic... I would've turned white a bit... kinda like wtf...

I have had my bumps and bruises nothing to shatter me.

Performed Kostya's Warning outside/daytime/windy... lit the label and the wind made the paper burn up quicker then I could finish.. (spectators face = Awkward)

Performed a prediction card where the card I forced was incorrect (spectators face = That was stupid)

ahh so many to choose from... I don't really care about mess ups to much I just learn from them as much as possible and accept when they happen as a lesson.

You need to mess up to get better.
 
B

blakehensley

Aug 17, 2008
473
13
Ann Arbor, MI
I have had mine, and not to many that have been HORRIBLE... but needless to say i have had some where i do a double lift... and the second card flys out of my hand because i was paying much attention. This was when i first started... but yeah.

But i have had a friend a couple of times, like i performed C.A.A.N for DG project, and i did flash and he was right next to me so when i did a move he saw... I thought he wouldnt do anything because he is a good friend of mine but he was like"I saw that!" then another time, i was performing .44 and i dont know how he knew because i didnt show him, nor did i flash because he was on the right of me. And he was like, "hmmm, wonder how he did that..." when i was actually showing this other kid and not him. It annoyed me but i let it go after about 20 seconds.


-blake.
 
scarecrow1

scarecrow1

Oct 29, 2009
971
0
Just around
Here are a few,

This one was one of my first performances for a group (small group) of people, and I was doing a small packet effect (color monte if any of you have heard of it...still perform it to this day, love it), but when I came near the end, I showed them the "top" card, and the double split....and it split good. There was nothing to really say or do, so I just smiled and continued...still have no idea how I did not blush and freak out...must have been lucky:rolleyes:.

This happened not too long ago:p I was doing hand to mouth (the Buck version) and as I did the extended version of the floop, it split. I still have no idea how this happened, but no one noticed. I made a fan and stuck the card in and asked a girl to push it in. Everybody was watching the card in the fan...I was psyching out in my head, but somehow they didn't notice, and the effect still worked.

I was performing Out of This World (the version taught in Magic by Joshua Jay) and the girl who was dealing the cards....well...I could have used better judgment on who I picked for dealing the cards out. (She hates me...long story) and so she dealt all the cards on the red pile...ALL of them...and very VERY fast too. If you know how this effect works, then you know this isn't the best situation. I was like "Oh crap" in my head, but I tried to keep calm. Anyway, without revealing the effect, I did the rest of the dirty work (there isn't much thank goodness) and everybody freaked out. So I was lucky:p.

Anyway, there are way more, but those stand out to me the most.

PS: Oh yea, once I failed at a Shapeshifter in front of an audience...not good:rolleyes: I hadn't practiced it much before then...lesson learned.



Cheers
 
Jv

Jv

Jan 11, 2008
1,223
26
scarecrow1 said:
PS: Oh yea, once I failed at a Shapeshifter in front of an audience...not good:rolleyes: I hadn't practiced it much before then...lesson learned.
Click to expand...

Maybe it's me, but 'SHAPESHIFTER' looks like a very 'obvious' 'color change', even from a specs. point of view.
 
scarecrow1

scarecrow1

Oct 29, 2009
971
0
Just around
Zeedub81 said:
You would think so, but I've fooled many a spectator with it.
Click to expand...
Same here, but I never use it in a routine (since that one day:p). I usually use it when I see someone looking out of the corner of their eye at me when I'm playing around with cards. It always gets their attention:). Recommended just for that use.
 
W

WitchDocIsIn

Elite Member
Sep 13, 2008
5,879
2,945
When done well it flies right by people. The problem is that it's so simple many people don't put enough practice into it to make it look good. A lot of people I've seen learn the secret, think, "Oh, that's simple, I can do that already." then go out and use it. Then it's done sloppy and people can see what it really is.

Performed well, it looks great.
 
R

[R.C]

Nov 30, 2008
249
1
31
Ann Arbor, MI
Once when I was performing the GOAT change, I missed the card completely so I was sitting there with the cards split. Pretty Awkward.

And when I first started I tried to perform Witness. Oh boy, was that exciting. I completely forgot to leave part of the bag open, and needless to say it was awful looking. This was at school, and someone walking behind me said "I can see the trick from his side of the bag." Instant embarrassment.
 
A

AlfieWhattamMagic

Nov 7, 2009
502
0
I performed card to shoe (dup card in shoe :p) then I stated shuffling the deck (face up :p) Then a cut right to the dup ace, everyone stared at me ....
 
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