Performing Prophet for friends/co-workers

[dmfan]

Since I'm a total amateur, I mainly perform for friends, families, and co-workers -- people I generally trust. I really like the look of Prophet, and I've been told that it's similar to Extreme Burn. However, I've had a really hard time convincing people that the bills aren't gimmicked. Especially if I'm performing for 5 or more people, handing out a few bills but not all the bills just never felt right to me, as it seems rather obvious that whatever the magician's holding is obviously something gimmicked. Even when watching the performance videos here for Prophet, my first thought was "gee, that's pretty obvious".

How do you guys handle this? I've been called out on it several times, and I never really know what to say. I act like myself during performance, I don't do any nervous shakes or anything like that, especially since these are my friends, the setting's always very casual. Do you guys have any specific thing you do to make it seem natural that people don't examine every one of them? Again, this is really hard for me because these are people I trust, so there's no reason for me to not allow them examination.

 

[JJM10]

I think that your problem is that you are only performing for family and friends. They are your worst critics and they know what to expect, they have seen tons (I assume) of magic from you and they know all about gimmicks and magical what not. You have too much mutual trust with these people.

When (for me at least) you perform for people you do not know, whether you walk up to them on the street or at a restaurant they are sort of caught off guard and therefore more open. I haven't had this problem yet performing for people but I'm sure I will run into a heckler at some point. I suggest finding a way to switch your gimmicked bill for a real one while they're looking at the others, it's perfect misdirection and with minimal slight of hand skill it can be accomplished undetected.

Kinda off topic but I often use profit at the store, but modify the handing so I just pull out one five dollar bill and say I don't want to break it, then turn it into five ones. Instant change, then pay for my pack of gum or whatever. The cashier always flips out and it's a great way to add a little magic to someones day. They will talk about for the next week.


Good luck,
Josh

 

[Squirrel_Magix]

I preform for a bunch of people and whenever i preform something like Prophet, people always want to see all the bills (well sometimes anyways) and normally when they say let me see the other bills, i sometimes say something like "Nah, if I give you too much you may run off with it!" Normally a line or 2 like this will get me into the trick and afterwards people are too astonished to think about 'Gimmicked Bills'.

-SM

 

[CaseyC]

I had the same problem with Extreme Burn(very similar to Prophet). Whenever i would present it as an effect, people seemed more suspicious.

Then i tried something different. I would put the set up in my wallet or pocket and wait for the right situation to present itself. Low and behold, a couple days later when my friends were at the 7-11, i was the only one who had money. So i pulled out my five ones and said:
"oh wait i only have five bucks..."
my friends were like "oh no.."
so i said "hold on..." and did the change super casual. The cashier saw it too and everyone freaked. I just kinda spread through the bills naturally and tossed a twenty on the counter. I then put away the gimmick.
No one asked to see the bills because they were so stunned.
Also, because of the situation, the whole thing seemed impromtu. They were also convinced because the cashier accepted the twenty(after he inspected it).

My point is that you should try to avoid performing any bill change as an effect. Instead, load the set up bills in your wallet or somewhere convient and wait(even if it takes some time) for the right situation. The justification for taking out the bills will make sense and there should be a lot less suspicion.
Remember, a good bill switch used in the right way can be epic.
-CC

 

[nicolaspalacios]

I had the same problem with Extreme Burn(very similar to Prophet). Whenever i would present it as an effect, people seemed more suspicious.

Then i tried something different. I would put the set up in my wallet or pocket and wait for the right situation to present itself. Low and behold, a couple days later when my friends were at the 7-11, i was the only one who had money. So i pulled out my five ones and said:
"oh wait i only have five bucks..."
my friends were like "oh no.."
so i said "hold on..." and did the change super casual. The cashier saw it too and everyone freaked. I just kinda spread through the bills naturally and tossed a twenty on the counter. I then put away the gimmick.
No one asked to see the bills because they were so stunned.
Also, because of the situation, the whole thing seemed impromtu. They were also convinced because the cashier accepted the twenty(after he inspected it).

My point is that you should try to avoid performing any bill change as an effect. Instead, load the set up bills in your wallet or somewhere convient and wait(even if it takes some time) for the right situation. The justification for taking out the bills will make sense and there should be a lot less suspicion.
Remember, a good bill switch used in the right way can be epic.
-CC

VERY GOOD Point, thats how real magic work. Thanks for sharing

 

[dmfan]

I had the same problem with Extreme Burn(very similar to Prophet). Whenever i would present it as an effect, people seemed more suspicious.

Then i tried something different. I would put the set up in my wallet or pocket and wait for the right situation to present itself. Low and behold, a couple days later when my friends were at the 7-11, i was the only one who had money. So i pulled out my five ones and said:
"oh wait i only have five bucks..."
my friends were like "oh no.."
so i said "hold on..." and did the change super casual. The cashier saw it too and everyone freaked. I just kinda spread through the bills naturally and tossed a twenty on the counter. I then put away the gimmick.
No one asked to see the bills because they were so stunned.
Also, because of the situation, the whole thing seemed impromtu. They were also convinced because the cashier accepted the twenty(after he inspected it).

My point is that you should try to avoid performing any bill change as an effect. Instead, load the set up bills in your wallet or somewhere convient and wait(even if it takes some time) for the right situation. The justification for taking out the bills will make sense and there should be a lot less suspicion.
Remember, a good bill switch used in the right way can be epic.
-CC

This is such great insights. Thanks so much!

 

[CaseyC]

No problem. And don't be afraid to use Prophet just because you have had a few bad experiences. I went through the exact same thing =).