Failed magic
- Thread starter EinarsK
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This is a pretty trick subject.
I often agree with David Blaine's and Calen Morelli's philosophy that nothing goes wrong in magic. That whatever happens was supposed to happen. This is why you always have a back up trick to redeem yourself. This is also why I never announce what I'm going to do before I do it. I may allude to what I'm doing but I don't ever reveal the final result of the effect because a.) It will ruin the surprise and wonder of the effect
b.) If it fails, people will know that you messed up
So my solution for you is work on how you script your effects to not be too revealing of the final effect, then if something goes wrong say something along the lines of "It is practically impossible for such and such to happen...", redeem yourself by quickly switching to a new effect, "but it's even more impossible if such and such does this..." and close with that effect making it seem like your accidental effect was intended to be all one big effect with the redeeming second one.
I suppose I should give you some practical examples of what I mean as well. Say for instance you have them pick a card and then that card is lost and you can't find it by mistake, I would then say "It's practically impossible to find the card right?" and then ask them what card they picked and find it. Once I have their card I would jump into an ambitious card routine and say "But if I use a little bit of magic, I don't need to find it because the card is always jumping to the top. See the difference?"
That's why it's always good to have effects that you have mastered that you know you won't mess up on. The Invisible Deck, Ambtitious Card Routine, and my effect Camper are some of my favorites to fall back on if I ever need it. With Camper, the effect is self-working so I can do it at any time, anywhere, even with a borrowed deck of cards. I can even have a spectator sign a card, shuffle the deck, and then have them spread all the cards out to find their selected card is now missing and inside of their pocket. The catch is I never went anywhere near them. It's a small and simple effect that plays really big and is my reputation maker, especially when I want to get booked for a gig. I can't recommend enough that you find an effect that you know it will work every time and redeem you from a mistake.
That's why it's always good to have effects that you have mastered that you know you won't mess up on. The Invisible Deck, Ambtitious Card Routine, and my effect Camper are some of my favorites to fall back on if I ever need it. With Camper, the effect is self-working so I can do it at any time, anywhere, even with a borrowed deck of cards. I can even have a spectator sign a card, shuffle the deck, and then have them spread all the cards out to find their selected card is now missing and inside of their pocket. The catch is I never went anywhere near them. It's a small and simple effect that plays really big and is my reputation maker, especially when I want to get booked for a gig. I can't recommend enough that you find an effect that you know it will work every time and redeem you from a mistake.
Sometimes it does happen that the card gets lost in the shuffle but is close to where you intended it to be. If that's the case, you may be able to perform another miracle where the card you arrived to (not the spectators selection) is placed in the spectators hands, and is then magically turned into their card (via a top change, or any method you prefer).
If all else fails, I fall back onto Kolossal Killer, which is a great trick on its own but also a phenomenal out if you ever need it.
http://www.penguinmagic.com/p/S16464
For now, I suggest you practice your routines down until you can perform them smoothly and comfortably. If it happens you mess up in actual performance: learn the identity of the card, and spell down to it.
Feel free to pm me if you want to talk. Good luck!
If all else fails, I fall back onto Kolossal Killer, which is a great trick on its own but also a phenomenal out if you ever need it.
http://www.penguinmagic.com/p/S16464
For now, I suggest you practice your routines down until you can perform them smoothly and comfortably. If it happens you mess up in actual performance: learn the identity of the card, and spell down to it.
Feel free to pm me if you want to talk. Good luck!
Or you can do what Darwin Ortiz did when something went wrong duirng a lecture that I saw, "You know what, that isn't going to work. Let me do something completely different."
Oh I should have also mentioned that its okay to mess up a card trick. It's only a card trick, not life or death surgery. Recover if you can but it's just as well to move on to another one and impress your audience that way.
It was at an in-person lecture. He just moved on to something else. I guess since it is a card trick and everyone knew it was sleight of hand, it wasn't a big deal.
Exactly. Now, if it is for a paid show and you screw up.... that's another story. There should be no room for error (due to using simple methods or endless practice) in a paid show.
Magicians tend to be forgiving for card tricks too considering we have all been in that position at one time or another.
I will always remember what Jim Pace said to me when I asked "What do you do when the (invisible thread) string breaks?"He just gave me this weird look and said "It doesn't."
The idea is that it's also important to practice - a lot. To the point where you are confident that things won't go wrong. When you are starting magic, you feel like you can't practice anymore, but keep practicing! Then once you are sure you have it down pat, practice some more!
Practice with a mirror. Record it on your cell phone and watch it back. You will see the mistakes you made and be able to correct them.
This will not only help the trick to go right, but your performance will be better and your nerves will be calmer once you actually perform it.
That said...
Sometimes things go wrong outside of your control.
One time I was at a paid gig performing Interlace. Well, the ring got 'lost' (I knew where it was) and would not appear on my shoelace. What a mess. Now I have a back up plan if that ever happens again.
Another time I was doing tossed out deck and a person just lied about the card they saw (you can know with that effect). I had to just concede they had "got me' and that sometimes these things aren't always clear. Now for every show, I have a small clear box on stage with an Invisible Deck inside. I set it in full view and have never had to use it. But in the instance someone does that again, I have that as an out.
For impromptu card tricks, I have a couple of tricks I do as an out if I ever lose their card in the deck. My go-to if I am being sloppy an lose a break, I genuinely mix the deck and then talk about how hard it is to actually retrieve a card. Then I hand them the deck and say "try it!" I'll count to see how long it takes. They go through the deck an find their card as fast as they can. I praise them for how fast they were ("Oh wow! Most people take much longer! Nice work! I'm not sure I can top that, but I'll try..." or "If pulling it out takes __ seconds, imagine how easy it would be to find if the cards just floated to the top of the deck.." etc.)
Then I go into the trick that is appropriate. Usually this or a short three phase ambitious routine.
The idea is that it's also important to practice - a lot. To the point where you are confident that things won't go wrong. When you are starting magic, you feel like you can't practice anymore, but keep practicing! Then once you are sure you have it down pat, practice some more!
Practice with a mirror. Record it on your cell phone and watch it back. You will see the mistakes you made and be able to correct them.
This will not only help the trick to go right, but your performance will be better and your nerves will be calmer once you actually perform it.
That said...
Sometimes things go wrong outside of your control.
One time I was at a paid gig performing Interlace. Well, the ring got 'lost' (I knew where it was) and would not appear on my shoelace. What a mess. Now I have a back up plan if that ever happens again.
Another time I was doing tossed out deck and a person just lied about the card they saw (you can know with that effect). I had to just concede they had "got me' and that sometimes these things aren't always clear. Now for every show, I have a small clear box on stage with an Invisible Deck inside. I set it in full view and have never had to use it. But in the instance someone does that again, I have that as an out.
For impromptu card tricks, I have a couple of tricks I do as an out if I ever lose their card in the deck. My go-to if I am being sloppy an lose a break, I genuinely mix the deck and then talk about how hard it is to actually retrieve a card. Then I hand them the deck and say "try it!" I'll count to see how long it takes. They go through the deck an find their card as fast as they can. I praise them for how fast they were ("Oh wow! Most people take much longer! Nice work! I'm not sure I can top that, but I'll try..." or "If pulling it out takes __ seconds, imagine how easy it would be to find if the cards just floated to the top of the deck.." etc.)
Then I go into the trick that is appropriate. Usually this or a short three phase ambitious routine.
If you're interested in 'failed magic' look up Tommy Cooper. About 95% of the magic he does goes 'wrong' in some way, shape, or form. Fantastic, brilliant stuff.
I like the advice of acknowledging your mistake and moving on. Roberto Giobbi also covers some really great outs in Card College, I believe it's Volume 2.
I quite literally just had a mishap at a show this last Saturday (as of posting this), in front of around 50 audience members. I had a spectator select and sign a card, I then proceeded to pretend to lose it in the deck. Much to my dismay, I actually did lose it in the deck. Now the audience did not know that. I looked through the deck face up to the find the card. This may seem bold, but all the while I asked "Are you sure, that you signed the card? I swear I have seen this trick before!". Long story short I just copped it and pulled it out of my back pocket and stated that there was no way they could have picked, and signed that card BECAUSE it was in my pocket. Mistakes happen to everyone, even professionals. The difference is that professionals are great at recovering from their mistakes without anyone being any the wiser. Also, if you feel nervous don't try and fight that feeling. Acknowledge that you feel nervous and use that energy, redirect it to pump yourself up, and give your performance more energy. If your audience is having fun and is laughing, they won't be paying attention as much if you do mess up. Actually, I just received an email from Steve Reynolds (Side note, he is a really nice guy. He has some wonderful material.) about magic without a sense of humor. He had this really nice quote, "Magic without a sense of humor isn't worth a farthing."- Jon Racherbaumer