Go-fish gone wrong.

Reuben The Great · Go-fish gone wrong.

Before I started magic, I literally never ever saw a magician. Well, once at a friend's bar mitzvah, but he mustn't have been great because I dont remember him (HA!). If you think about it, a lot of people haven't really seen magicians full on, other than on tv or something. So, we have to think about our perspective here. If nobody has seen a magician, magic to them will be extremely, well, weird, if they hadn't seen it before. You have to show them something magical and spontaneous before going into a trick with a storyline.

With that in mind, I like to ask them about their experiences with cards. I mean, somebody starts to watch oyu do magic, and all they know is goldfish and crazy eights. All of a sudden, you pull off a dan and dave cut, do some quick riffle shuffles and spread the cards in your hands like nobody they've ever seen before. Wouldn't this catch them off guard, I mean, they only know simple games and you go spinning a pack in the air?

So, experiences with cards. I like pretending when I'm in a restaurant I'm not very good with cards, and gradually build up my skill as I go along. You may ask them what card games they like (key, they LIKE, not which they've played, its more of a personal question, which is a good thing) or you may propose to play a game go-fish gone wrong. Hey, there's an idea for an effect.

So as I somewhat digress, we must always think about how other people think of a deck of cards. I mean, if I didn't do magic and came do Westmount, and saw Mike doing Madonna from the trilogy (insert joke here) I'd be like "what the hell? He must have fast hands" (which as we all know is a no-no). A lot to think about all at once, and it's hard to actually write down what I'm thinking, hope somebody here understands what I'm getting at.

Just something to think about, what are your thoughts?

Reuben The Great

COULD SOMEONE PLEASE HELP ME ON THIS :'(

Michael Kras

Paul Vigil is one of Las Vegas' best card workers. He's likely got some mad skills. But, when in performance, he rarely does anything fancy.... no fancy cuts, shuffles, nothing... he just handles cards like any person, except smoother. That way, no suspicion is ever raised because everything is perfectly natural.

Greg Wilson, on the other hand, is the complete opposite.... he handles cards like a pro all through his act, and he credits all of his magical skills to fast hands and mad skills. He challenges his audiences to watch carefully for secret moves and cheating techniques, but he's already way ahead of the game.

So, in short, it depends on your style. You could be in between the two aforementioned artists, like me. I am fairly casual in performance but I do "strut my stuff" to show that I mean business and am not just Uncle Charlie. If you've got it, flaunt it, but in small doses.

Reuben The Great

Thanks for the response, helps. But I mean, what are your thougts on spectator's knowledge of cards, not just flourishing?

PS. That's what she said to the last line of your response.

LIVR

Eugene Burger opens by asking "Do you play cards?"

And based on the answer says either "Great" or "Bummer" and follows with "I hate when they play cards it makes my job harder."

But then proceeds to do some (apparently) moveless miracle.

Liam

One day i tested fancy versus terrible
Like, The bucks style versus Lennart green style
The buck performance i got a "wow quick hands buddy"
the green performance someone actually asked me if there is a force in the world that only magicians know about

As for their farmiliarity with cards, most people know what cards are and what the 52 different ones are. I just only use terms i knew before i started magic. Like i didnt know what a deuce was or a pip. So i dont use those terms i use "two" and "number or letter on the corner". Just pretend you are them, would you know what you are talking about?
Trust me, that last sentance does make sense.

Ben Train

Hey Rube,

I’ve often felt, and stated it quite explicitly, that conflict breeds discussion. So, in order to create discussion I am going to create conflict by disagreeing with you. I mention this because it is certainly possible, at least with some parts, to agree with you. But we want conversation…

First:
“We have to think about our perspective here. If nobody has seen a magician, magic to them will be extremely, well, weird, if they hadn't seen it before. You have to show them something magical and spontaneous before going into a trick with a storyline.”

I don’t think the concept is nearly as alien as you make it sound. I think you would be hard pressed to find people that haven’t heard of Chris Angel or David Blain, and who are unfamiliar with the “pick a card” magician archetype. This puts us in a nice position- we have the choice to play it standard: you pick it I find it, or we can notch things up a little with what I call meta-card tricks. I talk about how something ISN’T a card trick (like in the trick I posted here) or how clichéd most effects are (they are) so I’ll do something different. Both these presentational ideas rely on the audiences familiarity with card tricks (the concept).

Second:
“All of a sudden, you pull off a dan and dave cut, do some quick riffle shuffles and spread the cards in your hands like nobody they've ever seen before. Wouldn't this catch them off guard, I mean, they only know simple games and you go spinning a pack in the air?”

I don’t think it HAS to be an issue. Do you know why we walk better then a newborn? Because we’ve been doing it for years. If you want to develop a persona like that, where you want them to acknowledge you’re prowess, then keep this in mind: is it unreasonable that you would handle cards better then them if you’ve been working with them for hours every day, every day, for several years? Obviously you want your contextualize your work, but is it wrong to use flourishes to establish credibility- assuming that’s the character you want?

Third:
“or you may propose to play a game go-fish gone wrong. Hey, there's an idea for an effect.”

I have the very trick. I also have a “War” trick, cheat, a-hole, etc. All developed while I was at normal person camp.

Fourth:
“I mean, if I didn't do magic and came do Westmount, and saw Mike doing Madonna from the trilogy (insert joke here) I'd be like "what the hell? He must have fast hands" (which as we all know is a no-no).”

Is fast hands a no-no? Depends on your persona. James Harrison, I’m sure, wants people to walk away thinking about how damn fast his hands are. Darwin wants people to think he cheats. Others want the opposite.

Now- who wants to quote Erdnase? Lol.

Finally, Fifth:
LIVeR, that’s Don Allan’s idea. I think it’s knock out of the park brilliant. Oh, and do me a favor- can you email me? Magic@bentrain.ca

BEN

Liam

the intro in corindas 13 steps in the step on card tricks has a good bit about what we are discussing here