"I know how you did that!" - Oh really?

[OwnerM]

I don't know how common this is with other magicians but I seem to get this a lot.

The best way to explain this is by example.

For instance, I performed an ACR for someone at work. Spread the cards, put the spectator's card in the center of the deck, riffle the cards and the card appears on top.

Simple basic ACR.

My co-worker says "I know how you did that. You had your thumb on my card when I put it in the deck, and when you riffle the cards, you pull it out with your thumb and put it on top!" And then leaves completely sure of her explanation, unimpressed with the trick.

Now we all know that this is completely not it. I can't even see how it would be possible to pull a card from the center while riffling the deck, putting it on top of the deck in one fluid motion all just using your thumb.....

But I get this quite a lot, not only with ACR's but with other tricks as well. You won't believe the explanations I got from people when I use an Invisible Deck! It makes my jaw drop.

One person was so sure he was right when he was so off base it wasn't even funny, he actually said to me "I saw what you did, and Frank, you are not a good magician!" I was completely amused by that. I even laughed.

Am I the only one who gets this? If not, I'd love to hear what you've experienced and how you react.

Personally, my reaction is more "huh?" than anything....

 

[Squ!rrel]

Surprisingly I don't think i've ever had a spectator come up with a strange explanation although as i've heard people talking about it a lot it seems that it happens quite often.

I guess it's because you have fooled them and they don't like that feeling so will immediately try to come up with an explanation, even if it doesn't make much sense. To be honest i'm not too sure what you can do about it, as you say it happens to you a lot I suspect it's a problem in your presentation, if the spectator has this attitude towards you then you can't really follow up with another trick as they'll most likely just do the same thing again.

Perhaps there's something in your presentation that makes them feel like you're challenging them or it comes across as 'Look what I can do', this will result in them trying to work out how it's done.

 

[Wisdom Kim]

hahaha

This is the solution;

Do the ACR very very slowly(just like a part of Tommy Wonder's routine) , and

laymen will completely fooled.



You don't have to worry. There are so many audiences like them.

All we have to do is just do the real magic. Fool them. Show them a maracle.

That's why we(magicians) practice, and do the magic tricks.


ps. I'm really sorry about my bad English. I'm Korean.

 

[OwnerM]

Perhaps there's something in your presentation that makes them feel like you're challenging them or it comes across as 'Look what I can do', this will result in them trying to work out how it's done.

You know, that's a good point. My style of doing an effect (except with ACR's) is basically telling people I'm doing something psychological. I've been inspired by Derren Brown's style so it's similar to what he does.

Now this is at work so there's also there's a possiblilty of a lot of "office political competition" thrown into the mix.

I find it more bemusing than anything else. Just curious if it was only me.

 

[Ben Long]

I've only ever had a Kindergartener do that to me. And it was damn annoying.

 

[mattjones]

You could just accept their explaination and say, "Yep. That's exactly how I do it! How'd you know?" If the spectator really feels that need to expose your magic, let them have their "explanation" and move on... Unless... you're prepared to perform a miracle that will silence the masses

 

[Squ!rrel]

You could just accept their explaination and say, "Yep. That's exactly how I do it! How'd you know?" If the spectator really feels that need to expose your magic, let them have their "explanation" and move on... Unless... you're prepared to perform a miracle that will silence the masses

I completely agree with this, the worst thing you can do in any situation is start arguing with the spectator. If you did flash something and they saw it you're insulting their intelligence if you try and say they're wrong. If they made up their own method then they have already convinced themselves that they are right and arguing will be pointless.

 

[Jakeh]

Hey, it's not as bad as someone telling me that I re-ordered the whole deck by dribbling the cards.

 

[Zephil]

If that happened to me during an ACR, I would say "you know what; you're really close, but that's not exactly what I do.. See if you can catch it the second time." I would then presede to do similar actions as before, extremely slowly, and hit them with a card to mouth / wallet.

 

[YenmanMAP]

That happens to me. I say,

"I know isn't it cool? Actually gamblers use this to cheat. Watch. They have the Ace lost in the deck, but they need to deal it to their partner, so they do the move, *riffle* and it comes to the top!"

etc.

From there I usually go to the invisible palm or some other gambling themed routine.

 

[Squirrel_Magix]

This is the solution;

Do the ACR very very slowly(just like a part of Tommy Wonder's routine) , and

laymen will completely fooled...
...ps. I'm really sorry about my bad English. I'm Korean.

This is exactly what I do when some tells me something along the lines of, "Hey! I know how you did that!" So normally I do the above or I simply say, "Okay, show me how it works then..." Normally they will try miserably to do the trick and it ends up looking plain stupid, I'll do the trick again and they have to completley question themselve, the trick, what what F@(k just happened.

-SM

P.S.- Tricky Cat, don't worry about your english, it's better then I've seen before.

 

[MagicSanj]

I agree!

You could just accept their explaination and say, "Yep. That's exactly how I do it! How'd you know?" If the spectator really feels that need to expose your magic, let them have their "explanation" and move on... Unless... you're prepared to perform a miracle that will silence the masses

Exactly!!! I can't agree more. Just agree with them, and then say:

"But I have some trouble with sticking my thumb in the deck, could you show me how you do it, maybe give me some tips? "

 

[Squirrel_Magix]

"But I have some trouble with sticking my thumb in the deck, could you show me how you do it, maybe give me some tips? "

Omg, I don't know why but I just started laughing majorly when I read that!

-SM

 

[PjPinsonnault]

I don't know what you do presentation-wise, so this isn't an assumption, but from my own experience, if you don't give them a "Why," they will try to find a "How."

If you're doing a "check out what I can do" type of effect, which an ACR surely can be, then you have to either present it in a way that makes it make sense for people or fully understand why you decide not to.

People look to you for how to react. If you make choices without understanding them, that lack of understanding will percolate into the audience's own response to your magic.

Give them a why. They won't care about how.

Pj

 

[Brad Henderson]

If the audience comes up with a method, it's your fault. The job of the magician is to eliminate the possibility of any method. This is accomplished through many means, most often presentation (physical as well as verbal.)

If someone offers an answer, no matter how crazy, then it is your job to make sure the next person never has that thought.

Brad Henderson

 

[UnholyGodn]

You know, that's a good point. My style of doing an effect (except with ACR's) is basically telling people I'm doing something psychological. I've been inspired by Derren Brown's style so it's similar to what he does..

I do find that if you overuse the Psychological approach without reason, that people see through it. If you simply go "I'm going to read your mind" they are more prone to think you're just using some card handling skill. If however you say that each suit invokes a different emotion and hence you can read subtle eye movements and such, then it seems like you are actually doing something plausible rather than impossible.

Sure this takes some of the "magic" out of it, but it's still impressive to have such a skill and gets good reactions, and works well on those hard to fool types. I mean, if someone tried to read my mind, I'd call them an idiot for being so condecending that I'd actually believe that it was possible. If the person looks like they'll go for the "magic" approach, use that and it'll be magical, if not, rather than have a trick fall flat, or do nothing at all, try another approach.

A lot of magic is being able to judge your audience and change your routine to suit them to make it as enjoyable as possible for them the spectator. If one approach seems to fail, try something else, it's all trial and error really, adding and cutting away at patter to get the best results. Too much explanation can kill the trick, while being silent can also kill it. Yet in cases these such things can also work.

 

[samgold89]

With regard to the:
"I saw how you did that!"
"[Insert filler] then you can show us all how!" approach, I've tried that approach, but has anyone ever had it work? All (I think) that does is give them the chance to ruin any "magic" you have your audience believing because he will most likely respond with, "Well, I haven't practiced, but I'm sure you've put in a lot of time. (Or something of the sort)"

I feel like this just prompts a response with a comment about sleight of hand. While everyone "knows" that there is some secret, it's great if they relinquish beliefs for a little bit. Comments?

SG

 

[mattjones]

Exactly!!! I can't agree more. Just agree with them, and then say:

"But I have some trouble with sticking my thumb in the deck, could you show me how you do it, maybe give me some tips? "

Ha ha... Nice!

 

[snibbor]

This is something that makes me laugh all the time.
Whenever I would be bored in class, I would turn to somebody and "pull my thumb off". They would always say "Are you serious? Everybody knows how to do that." Then they try and EVERY TIME they fail miserably.

 

[dasmagic]

the reason

the reason for peole doing this is that they hate being confused and if they think of a solution no matter how bad its is for them its a solution and they can carry on with what they are doing and not have it bugging them for the rest of the day! as magicians we cant do that cause we know whats possible. so when we see a trick we cant do, we sit for hours trying to figure it out but a lay person will believe the first idea that comes to them because they wont try and see if that solution is possible because unlike a magician they dont want to perform it for others!