Have you ever met?

LuseifHo · Apr 2, 2009

Has anyone ever met a mean magician?
I say mean as in a dick sort of mean. Not mean as in "thats a mean trick" mean. And not mean as in Gazzo/ John Archer mean. Those guys are mean as part of their character and it works well.
I mean mean as in like you talk to him. and youre like "god... he should die..."
In my four years (not alot) of magic I have never met one mean magician.
There has never been a magician who is like
"Hey have you seen the..."
"GET LOST!"
"no wait... the.."
"I WILL KILL YOU IN YOUR SLEEP IF YOU DONT SHUT UP!"

anyone ever met one before?

chriswiehl · Apr 2, 2009

no. like he shows you a magic trick and is like, hey you suck, f**K you?
ive met some dick magicians who were like yea i do magic, and you suck but thats it

magician · Apr 2, 2009

Sadly I have, a kid at my school who is just two years younger than I am, I am 15 1/2, was a total dick, he asked me to do some magic for him so I started, and I had him pick a card and he goes " ok a force" then I have him put it in the deck, he goes, " ok, your getting a break, now controlling it to the top" and this was while others were watching as well, I finally just said what are you talking about? he said its on the top so I palmed the card and ditched it in my pocket, and said what? look, and it wasnt on top or bottom, but I stopped the trick just cause he was such a dick, I didnt bother revealing the card in my pocket...

Sean_Raf · Apr 2, 2009

magician said:
Sadly I have, a kid at my school who is just two years younger than I am, I am 15 1/2, was a total dick, he asked me to do some magic for him so I started, and I had him pick a card and he goes " ok a force" then I have him put it in the deck, he goes, " ok, your getting a break, now controlling it to the top" and this was while others were watching as well, I finally just said what are you talking about? he said its on the top so I palmed the card and ditched it in my pocket, and said what? look, and it wasnt on top or bottom, but I stopped the trick just cause he was such a dick, I didnt bother revealing the card in my pocket...

Similar story but it was one of the guys who run International Magic in London. This was when I was just starting out (maybe 3-4 months) in magic and he wanted to see what we could do. The Biddle trick was one of those ones I was pretty confident in, at least until it got to a point in the trick and he quite openly and frankly says "Do you need that pinky break there?", completely threw me for six and I was unbelievably uncomfortable performing the rest of the effect.

Looking back on it, I can see that what he really wanted to do (I hope) was help by saying that my breaks were noticeable. But it wasn't anything more than the smarmy comment he made, there was no kind of "Here's how to do it a better way that'll help conceal your breaks", which would've been great.

Ah well it's a bumpy road and if you can't take 'em, try a different road.

- Sean

Medifro · Apr 2, 2009

sciffydof said:
anyone ever met one before?

I pointed out the credits for someone (who's knowledgable and he's a fairly known in the online magic community ) who posted a video of his creation, I notified him about the name of book. He told me that a similar idea appeared in an even older book, I thanked him for adding to my knowledge. So far so good?

He called me a liar because I believed his fake credits.

I mean, where the HECK did that come from. What kind of logic is that?

I posted the credits down to the page number, I got back many personal attacks, claiming that the worse thing you do for a creator is telling him the credits, as this means you're telling him his work isn't original.

If thats not flawed logic, I don't know what is.

Luis Vega · Apr 2, 2009

Great stories here!! I remember when I was starting I went to a magic shop and I met this magician who has a lot more experience than I had at that time, so he tried to overrun me by doing some backpalming, technique that I didn´t know how to do it at that time, the funniest part was when he tried to make an ace production and for some reason he mess up in front of a spectator because when he produce them, well, none of them were aces, so the spectator didn´t understand what happen and I just stare there and looked silently... he was very ashamed.

I think that everybody get what he deserves...when you are a mean person

Zephil · Apr 2, 2009

Luckily, I've only ever met nice magicians. However, I've heard of some pretty nasty guys out there, but most of them were likely just insecure in their own abilities due to inexperience.

In my opinion, if you ever come across someone who tries to call you out on everything you do, don't try to fool them. Work WITH them. Change your presentation. Rather than "hey, let me show you something cool" (which they percieve as a challenge; as if you had said "hey, let me fool you"), say "hey, have you seen this one before? Maybe you can tell me if I flash anything". You can even do this if there are laymen around. Just make sure that he gives his critisism aside from the others

.

As Jeff Mcbride says, people support what they help create.

MagicUK · Apr 2, 2009

Sean_Raf said:
Similar story but it was one of the guys who run International Magic in London. This was when I was just starting out (maybe 3-4 months) in magic and he wanted to see what we could do. The Biddle trick was one of those ones I was pretty confident in, at least until it got to a point in the trick and he quite openly and frankly says "Do you need that pinky break there?", completely threw me for six and I was unbelievably uncomfortable performing the rest of the effect.

Looking back on it, I can see that what he really wanted to do (I hope) was help by saying that my breaks were noticeable. But it wasn't anything more than the smarmy comment he made, there was no kind of "Here's how to do it a better way that'll help conceal your breaks", which would've been great.

Ah well it's a bumpy road and if you can't take 'em, try a different road.

- Sean

Sounds like Jerry Sadowitz!

Sean.Cinco · Apr 2, 2009

I've met alot more arsehole magicians than cool ones. Majority of the cool ones I met are from Hawaii. I guess that's why I've turned away from hanging out with other magicians here in Florida with the exception of a select few (and by few I mean like...4 people).

michael_weiss · Apr 2, 2009

Ive never met a magician who was per say "mean"....but i was performing for a fundraiser event and and was performing my own take on the A.C.R....there were other performers there as well...well i manage to gather round a group of 30 people an one of these performers came an watched my routine....when i needed to perform the pass it looked invisible to everyone else EXCEPT for the magician who blantanly yells out..."you call that a pass, thats a joke".....everybody looked at him including me. He gave me a dirty look an walked away...overall thats my only expirence with a magician who was ever a dick to me. Overall i've met alot of great magicians...

William Draven · Apr 2, 2009

First off I can't say that I think anyone of the following should "die" persay. I just have had enough experiences to prefer to not be around them.

1. Criss Angel: Has gotten quite arrogant as of late. Think his success has finally went to his head. (Note: This is not drawn from my own experiences, but those who have worked with him in the past year or two. When I met him two years ago he was fairly nice.)
2. Tony Picasso: Amazing artist, lacks personal skills when dealing with other magicians.
3. "Handsome Jack" AKA John Lovick. Don't really have anything positive I can say about him. He's just an angry, bald, old man.
4. Penn (can be... if you aren't careful.) Very Opinionated.
5. Copperfield: Can be arrogant and self absorbed depending on who you talk to. He has some power in the magic world and knows it. (Note: I don't have a lot of personal experience with him. This is just what I've been able to gleam from others that do know him, and have worked with him.)

True2Coins · Apr 2, 2009

I basically own out everybody who does magic in my school. Sometimes you just need to do magic without explanation lol. I once had this kid in my school try to bust me on EVERYTHING but he eventually just made himself look stupid and everybody was telling him to shut up. Turns out he actually wants to learn magic after seeing an interview I did on the school's live channel. WHo would've thought that I would now be mentoring him and another kid lol. There are 2 magicians like that are really dicks that I know.

LuseifHo · Apr 4, 2009

yea
most of what you named were just dicks.
other than William's post about Lovick, which was what I was really looking for. Magicians who arent really people persons... which is kinda impossible.
Well, Ive got a few dick stories of my own i guess.
1. This guy is my friend so i think he was either being a dick on purpose or just plain stupid. I was performing an ACR to some people including him. During the first phase he asks me in a questioning tone rather than a heckly one. "Double lift?" quite loudly as well. He wasnt saying "DOUBLE LIFT!! ITS TWO CARDS!" or "that was a horrible double." he just asked me if it was one. I nodded and kept going. I then performed the pass and ocne again he goes "the pass?". And it went on for quite a while, him asking me about every move. The trick still worked, but it ticked me off. Hes quite bad at magic now, but thinks he knows everything, I just make fun of him now... still good friends.
2. If any of you have seen the movie "Magicians", a british movie about 2 magicians and what not (awesome movie. funny. cameo by a ghost deck!) There was one fellow in it who didnt reveal anything, but was a dick anyways. I met one of them before. I was performing a trick with a patter, those lame patters with a story, where you just tell people to play along anyways. As i began the guy turned his head and started laughing. I went on, then he said somehtin along the lines of "oh god...." and basically scoffed and what not throughout. He got pretty bad looks from the others, and he looked kinda stupid at the end.

thanks for the input guys.

James Smith · Apr 4, 2009

Well a couple of weeks ago I found out that my friend's little brother does magic. I decided to do my ACR after a baseball game. As I was doing it he said, ok that was a double lift...and so on. It annoyed me because there were other people watching.

LuseifHo · Apr 4, 2009

Im kinda fine if the guy whos a dick is older and more experienced than me, but when they are these little 2 months in magic 10 year old buggers, then it bugs the hell out of me. The old ones, I feel that they have half a right to do it because they are better than me. But when they have just started and wanted to look good, then I really want to sock them in the face. If I was you Daveygs, then I would have humiliated him right there. I know you people say "handle hecklers with care" but I honestly dont see the point in that. "They want attention? give them the bad kind"

James Smith · Apr 4, 2009

sciffydof said:
Im kinda fine if the guy whos a dick is older and more experienced than me, but when they are these little 2 months in magic 10 year old buggers, then it bugs the hell out of me. The old ones, I feel that they have half a right to do it because they are better than me. But when they have just started and wanted to look good, then I really want to sock them in the face. If I was you Daveygs, then I would have humiliated him right there. I know you people say "handle hecklers with care" but I honestly dont see the point in that. "They want attention? give them the bad kind"

I wish I could've socked him in the face, but his big brother is the lead singer in my band!

Randy · Apr 4, 2009

Honestly nobody has the right to act like a dick no matter how many years experience they have. If they can't handle that, then they need to find another line of work that doesn't require them to deal with people.

magic_slave · Apr 4, 2009

last year when i was in a leadership camp... i was trying to do some tricks coz there were a lot of chicks around the camp.... and when i was half way on The Biddle Trick this stupid fellow shout out loudly and said " come on your double undercut sucks!"... i was like this guy should die..... but i was clever enough to say to the chicks " sorry girls i can't continue my tricks because of some disruption here...." and i walk-away.... after that the guy was being f***ed up in the camp... so be it... when this guys try to get attention just embarressed them

LuseifHo · Apr 5, 2009

I didnt really mean the experience to dick thing. But I feel okay when a more experienced person is giving me critism as I feel that they may know more than me. But when a kid, then its just like what??? Its like magicdude09 teaching Chris Kenne a double undercut.

As for magic slave. That seemed like you handled it well. I wouldve done it more differently as Im more aggressive and what magicians would call a "bad heckler handler" but I dont really care. I like to make them feel like a jackass. Wheres the fun in peace. Take revenge baby!

And i just thought of something you can say to the kid next time he points out something.
"Yea its a double lift. Alright everyone lemme just stop here. Ill continue on later. Wait. This is what we call a double lift, this is a double under cut, this is a pass, and oh! theres a dumbass!"
HAHA