The Magicians Wife Test

Why using a magicians wife test isn’t always the best way to try out a new magic trick

Guy writes:

‘I bought a book explaining a card effect from you, I read the plot and set it up. As there was no sleight of hand, it was easy to do and practice. A lovely effect. Now my first victim on any magic is my wife (part of wifely duties is to put up with being the guinea pig on magic effects – aside from the other wifely duties). And obviously by now she knows all the sleights and tricks. After it was done she told me how the trick was accomplished; it didn’t fool her.‘

Hi Guy,

Many thanks for sharing this with us. One of the problems with using a friend or a family member as a guinea pig is that they begin to learn methods, and that’s what they begin to see when a performance is going on. Like us, they stop seeing and enjoying the ‘magic’, and they follow all the wrong things.

I never show my wife a trick first now as it can put me off performing it to a lay audience. My wife can see all the things I know a lay person will not see. My wife isn’t taken in by patter and generally doesn’t find me interesting if I start to talk about some psychological study, she knows what I know! If I begin talking to her about a subject that she knows to be just patter it won’t engage her, it just doesn’t have any effect. Other people who you don’t know, even friends you don’t see much of will be hooked in by your patter and then you can entertain them with the trick.

It can be good to test a routine with a ‘magicians wife test’ but the more wife tests you do, the wiser she will become and the harder it will be to get a great reaction. Look at a room full of magicians and how they can give great magic very little applause or reaction as they have an idea of what is going on. Methods are what are running through their minds when you perform, which means you never connect in the same way as you do to a completely lay audience.

Sometimes though an effect can also fall flat on one audience and go through the roof with others. The real secret is to work an effect with different audiences to see if it is ‘for you’ or not.

I hope this helps

Ben Williams

P.s You may also find this free ebook useful:

Not Doing Magic Tricks – How to Say No

by Merchant of Magic 1 Comment

By Ben Williams

Not doing magic tricks for a specific group Barry writes:

‘The bit I’m really struggling with is the people who do the line “oh, so you’re a magician…” and then expect to see something immediately. This is particularly a problem when someone who knows the stuff you do introduces you, so they have seen it all before.’

This can be a common problem. A lot of people have never seen close up magic before so they will jump at the opportunity to see magic first hand. One thing you should always do, whether you show them magic tricks immediately or don’t show them anything at all, is tobe polite. If you are polite and likeable, it doesn’t matter what you say.

If you are serious about your persona as a magician then you should always account for these types of situations. Have a few select items in your wallet or on your person so you have something to show. Turning around and saying, ‘oh, I haven’t brought anything along with me’ (unless you are a stage magician!) is a major let down and immediately ruins any mystery you may have about you.

If you are introduced as a magician, and someone wants to see some magic, remember that you are still in control of your actions. If you don’t show them a magic trick right away, it doesn’t have to be a bad thing. Sometimes delaying your performance and not showing them something right away can help intensify the excitement when you are ready to perform, which in turn can lead to better reactions.

Some of my favorite magicians are always 2 steps ahead of anyone else. Magicians like Gary Jones and Greg Wilson will already have loaded a card in your pocket or set something up as soon as they settle into a situation. If you pre-empt situations like this, when you do perform some magic tricks, it will seem absolutely impossible. If you keep this in mind and ready yourself, that is half the battle. Whenever possible, try to predict these situations!

However, if you really don’t want to perform you should not be afraid to say that you are having a night off. Make sure you tell your friends that there won’t be any magic tonight, and ask them not to introduce you as a magician. Most friends will understand this, and won’t want to knowingly put you on the spot.

Repeating a Magic Trick – Improve Reactions When showing magic tricks to friends

by Merchant of Magic 3 Comments

How to repeat a magic trick to the same people

By Dominic Reyes

What should you do when repeating a magic trick for a spectator?

I was recently booked to perform at a large dinner party and discovered the client had arranged a ‘fun’ way to mix up the evening. There were 15 tables of guests and between each course the host made everyone change tables with each other. Great fun for the guests, but not so much fun for a table hopping magician. Pretty soon, most tables had a guest or two that had already seen me at their table earlier. On top of that, many had been talking about it to the others that hadn’t seen me yet, and were excited about me performing some of the tricks they had just seen for the others.

Situations like that are rare, but people often want magicians to show their friends or colleagues a trick that impressed them in the past. Perhaps it’s a walk-around magic situation, and you approach a group only to find some of the members have moved from another group you have already visited.

Maybe your friends or family ask you to repeat a magic trick for one of their friends. Here’s a couple of tips I hope might help.

No, it’s not moody, atmospheric lighting, and I’ve not got the worlds worst sunburn… I’m in my car, at stupid o’clock, parked outside a hotel near Birmingham. Seriously, there’s no expense spared when it comes to my video’s!

How do you handle repeating a magic trick for spectators? Leave a comment in the section below.