So this is part 2. The first section was a couple of things that have really bugged me about magic that I thought as magicians we should work on collectively to improve. I focused last time on a couple of online points, this time around the points are a bit more generalised but still seem to have online connotations. So this is Part 2 of things that irritate me about magic.
Old Magic Tricks
Now I know by just saying this I've already split the magic community in half. At a guess right now you're probably thinking either "What the hell?" or "Damn right!" And either way you're entitled to think that way. If I said to you "Vanishing Bandana" what would you think? I've read it in the forums and had enough conversations with people to realise that many magicians poo-poo these "classics of magic". Much like cups and balls, linking rings, and snowstorm there has been an oversaturation in the magic community of these tricks. Every magician at one point will use learn tricks and be tempted to put them in a show. But what often happens is when people discuss these tricks there is condemnation from the magic community (and with fair point too sometimes).
I remember seeing the vanishing bandana being performed by every tom dick and harry when I first started out a decade ago in the club scene. Everyone... and I literally mean everyone performed it. It was so overused I thought the punters would have been bored completely with it. So I avoided it like the plague. In fact I was striving so much to avoid the classics I created a completely different show. I was happy with it and for a few years never even considered using it again in my show. It was only when I was updating my show one day that it crossed my mind.
When I discussed this with a friend he was adamant I shouldn't use it because it's "cheesy", overused and "everyone knows it". But I'd watched it a couple of times and thought it would be a good filler in case my shows run fast. So I put it in. And the first time I used it I spotted the crowd reaction. They loved it. In fact chatting with people I knew at the show it was their favourite routine (and one they were most puzzled with). I soon came to realise something. Because they have a negative connotation with magicians, they aren't being performed anymore. They've become a gold mine of tricks that can be used that you know work well and are crowd-pleasers that no one is performing anymore.
And that's the thing. The reason why they became popular is because they work. They are good routines which are tried and tested and don't deserve the negative reputation they have got with magicians. I'm sick of seeing people criticise these classics because they are classics. Instead we should be using them to their full potential again. I get it though. When you're in a room full of magicians everyone has used a devils hank and yes it can be very samey. So don't make it the same. Personally I've updated the Vanishing bandana routine in my show and made it more up to date. Using a bit of technical know-how I've created my own Alexa version of the script, with extra jokes, interactivity and conversations between me and "Alexa" that brings a new life to the trick. It's been updated for a modern audience and really works.
Take these classics, take their strong methodology and the principles that make them great and make them yours. That way you are performing a trick that you know works well and it is modern and fresh enough that its unique to you. Just don't poo-poo them because they are old or were done lots. Like Hippety Hoppity Rabbits, they are the kind of trick that everyone remembers, even though they are old.
(P.s. Feel free to use the Alexa/Bandana idea. I'm not going to put a copy of the script up I use here for obvious reasons - I want you to be able to make it your own too)
Stooges
I promised that I wouldn't go too much into online stuff with this one I know, but there has been something that bugs me about magic which is becoming more prevalent online, but used to be a staple of magic shows too. It's the use of stooges.
One of my favourite movies about magic has to be Mitchell and Webb's "The Magicians". It's the perfect subtle spoof of the magic industry and does so many tropes so well. And of course, it discusses stooges. If you've not seen the film before I highly recommend it.
When we think of stooges we think of this kind of thing. The fakeness of it all. Yes, it's done in this film for comedic effect but the essence of it is true. These people spend all their time trying to be normal and have a great reaction to your trick that it just looks fake. Stooges in live shows never really work that well. Anyone who is observant can soon see that it's fake. As the stooge says "normal is hard". It's really hard to be convincing that you're normal, especially when you are under that much pressure of hundreds of people watching you. I've used a stooge once in my career and I will probably never again.
When I first went pro one of my first big gigs was for a friend at a large dinner for a very large religious organisation. The guests were in the hundreds, lots of VIP's etc and I was a shy 17 year old with a couple of 15 minute routines. My opener was "The Missing Spade" trick, where you produce a full size garden spade. It requires a card being forced and as I was feeling nervous I panicked. I asked my friend who was there to help me out and I'd select him "randomly". In case I screwed up the force he was to say the right card no matter what.
And he did. But because he was trying to be natural he was very loud, confident, bold and completely unconvincing that it wasn't set up. (Not blaming him, he's a lovely guy who was my best man a few years later so I still think highly of him many years later!) I cringed as it so clearly looked like it was staged when he was trying to be natural. And that is the curse of the stooge. It's hard to be natural.
They used to be a staple of a lot of shows. Seats would be booked out by a magician a few rows back and during the show, they would be called on for a mind-reading trick or something that required a "free choice". They work for one or two things, but some magicians became reliant on them. It becomes no longer a show of magic, but a theatre production pretending to be a magic show. There's no real skill there. (I must add a caveat here that there are some times when stooges are useful, but they should not dominate your show).
So they're annoying when overused in live shows, but they are even more annoying when used on film. Going back to the whole TikTok thing some magicians have made their money from using stooges to create huge reactions to basic tricks. These "audiences" are in on the routine completely. They're told to react a certain way and are often paid too. Because they want a big reaction to make it seem like the magic is better than it is they often ham it up too much. They're cheesy, cliched and fucking annoying to watch. The reactions are so fake it's unnatural. They do make the tricks seem better then they are, but they are incredibly misleading.
I want you to imagine dear reader that you are just getting into magic (some of you may even be now). Imagine watching one of these Insta magicians performing something like a paddle trick to a woman who practically screams when it changes over. Now lets be honest with ourselves here. In real life how many times do we see that happen? You can master a trick, but often the best reaction you'll get, especially here in the UK is a subtle smile, a wow and a genuine look of surprise. They'll be entertained and it will be a true and honest reaction, but if someone is only used to seeing these huge reactions on insta well they will be disappointed when they show the same trick to someone and get a muted response. We need to show some realism (or get more subtle honest-looking stooges) so that people don't get a misleading view of how people react - and if a trick is actually any good.
A magician shouldn't rely on stooges to make them look good.
On a side note: I was going to finish there, but writing this last part gave me another quick thought about stooges. It's about those used in magic sales vids. We've all seen the demos that people show of tricks when they are trying to get you to buy them. The ones with the over the top reactions that you will never be able to get in real life. They really distort how good the trick is and whether it's worth the money to buy them. I've bought tricks before that looked good in the video, but soon have realised that its all a clever marketing technique. If you want to make a name for yourself with marketed tricks, show people the real trick in a real environment to a real audience. It may not look as impressive, but I'm sure you'll get more sales if the trick is good.
That's it. My rant about what irritates me in magic is over. As I've said before these things are more things I think we should work on as magicians to improve the craft - it's not just a moan... honest.
And I promise my next magic post will be a hell of a lot more positive...