How to do Magic Tricks

Advice and Support for Magicians

3 Things to Do When Your Magic Tricks Go Wrong

by Merchant of Magic 9 Comments

epic fail

By Dominic Reyes

Opps! The magic tricks gone wrong! You asked them to pick a card and lost it in the deck, then with a sophisticated flourish you proudly revealed completely the wrong card.. Awkward silence..

What to do:

Don’t worry, it’s not a big deal. Magic tricks go wrong sometimes and no matter how much you practice, it can happen. The key is to be prepared in advance. You are not pre-recorded, you are doing something LIVE and part of the thrill for the audience is that it’s real, happening before their eyes, and they can interact with you.  The audience has not invested in you, and have nothing to risk from you making a mistake. You are there to entertain them, and if something goes a little wrong, but you carry on and DO entertain them, then they get what they want. After all, Tommy Cooper made a living from making his magic tricks go wrong. The important part is the entertainment.
Having said that, there are some things you can do to make it go much better:

1) Always have an ‘out’

As a magician you are one step ahead. You decide how the trick tricks should end and what that ending is going to be. There is no reason your magic tricks need to follow a pattern unless you told the spectators in advance what the ending is going to be. Avoid doing that!

A few easy outs to get you started:

A playing card is picked and lost in the deck. You intended to find it with a flourish, but something didn’t go right.  Just change the ending. Ask them what their card was and act confused that it could not possibly be their card as that one is not even in the deck. Go through the deck to show them it’s not even there, before taking off your shoe and letting their card fall out from inside!

Don’t know an impromptu card to shoe? Rus Andrews BOLD teaches a great impromptu version on DVD or Download

OR


Go through the deck of playing cards looking for their card, then take out your wallet and show that the card is inside a sealed envelope in your wallet

OR

Ask them which playing card they chose and show it’s the only face down card in a face up deck that’s been in your pocket the whole time. We are thinking Invisible Deck here folks!

2) The magic trick goes wrong, and you expose the method and it’s a total disaster.

‘Wherever you fly, you’ll be the best of the best.
Wherever you go, you will top all the rest.

Except when you don’t
Because, sometimes, you won’t.

I’m sorry to say so
But, sadly, it’s true
That Hang-ups
Can happen to you.’   – Dr. Seuss

Sometimes they will spot the coin, the gimmick will fall apart in your hands, you will flash a card or maybe a heckler will expose the method half way through a trick.  These things happen to every magician. The secret is…

Don’t worry about it.

Just stay relaxed and confident and don’t ever apologize or make it a big deal. Just end the magic trick and start a new one. Perhaps with a smile and little positive joke comment. If you stop and act embarrassed, your audience will feel embarrassed too. This can express itself as either sympathy for you or they will mock you, neither of these are good!

When magic tricks go wrong, Don’t frame the error.

If you draw attention to the failed magic trick, your audience will pay more attention to it. (Pretty obvious really.) Instead, just move on and perform your next great trick. The impact of the magic tricks that follow and the magic they create will overshadow the bit of ‘nothing’ that happened between the first trick that amazed them and the next trick that impressed them.

For example: You perform a vanish using a pull and a spectator sees a flash of it flying away and comments on it. Simply say ‘oh, did I not throw it quickly enough?! I tell you what though if you reach in here and grab a card…’ By moving straight on to something else it will help blur the moment and you are away and onto another trick, no hang ups, no framing of failure or apology, just more magic tricks!

3) Minimize the chances of error.

Practice, Practice, Practice and then rehearse, rehearse, rehearse. We don’t really need to tell you this do we? Good practice doesn’t just make your magic tricks look good. It irons out the chances of failure and allows you to spot the places the magic tricks could go wrong. You can then build in ‘out’s and be relaxed enough to handle a problem should it spring up.

Do you have a story about when magic tricks go wrong? How did you deal with it? Please share the experience in the comments section below:

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Filed Under: how to do magic tricks Tagged With: beginners, magic advice, performing for the public, performing magic, practice

Comments

  1. Anonymous says

    November 10, 2012 at 9:38 pm

    Card forces work as an out! I have used this before when I lost a card trying to do an effect where there card is face up in a face down deck. Got the wrong card! I then asked what the card was, they told me, and I discreetly found their card in the deck and put it in a position to do the riffle force. I then made the focus on them as having magical abilities, and the mistake was very quickly forgotten!

    Reply
  2. Scott Moran says

    November 10, 2012 at 9:42 pm

    Forgot to mention above, it is key tonot panic and keep talking with the spectator while controlling the card in to position otherwise they will burn your hands and spot that something sneaky is happening

    Reply
    • The Merchant of Magic says

      January 2, 2013 at 11:02 am

      Great advice Scott. Thanks

      Reply
  3. Fried van Gool says

    December 29, 2012 at 7:26 pm

    If a chosen card gets totally lost in the deck my solution is to have the spectator mention his card and act surprised. Go through the deck and locate the card. Bring it secretly to the top and say, how is this possible, your card is not even in the deck. False overhand suffle and palm the card off the top of the deck and hand it over to the spectator saying “please look for yourself”. Put the palme card into your pocket and say “You see your card is missing from the deck because it is the only card I removed from the deck prior to this performance.

    Reply
    • The Merchant of Magic says

      January 2, 2013 at 11:03 am

      What would work great. You could alos produce it from other ‘impossible’ locations too!

      Reply
  4. carl says

    September 11, 2013 at 1:51 pm

    Hi all,
    My best piece of advice for an out is to do it openly right under their noses and at the same time making it seem even more impossible. If I lose the selected card while controlling it(or not) I simply say something like “how impressed would you be if your card was now in your pocket” They say very and I reply with a cheeky smile and say “yes, so would i”. It gets a laugh! Then I simply say “let’s make this easy to follow. Did you sign your card? No. Could you please look through the deck, remove your card and sign it for me, but I don’t want to see it”. I turn away while they sign then go straight into ambitious card while explaining that this could easily be explained if I had several of your selected card BUT there is only one with your signature on it!

    I find this first fry’s their mind as they are now expecting something special then I blow their mind with triumph and use the very same signed card to perform ambitious card before leaving them with the souvenir. Try it, it’s fun. It seems more special to them because they signed it.

    Reply
  5. Kevin says

    September 23, 2013 at 6:31 pm

    The last tip would have come in very handy for me last Sunday.  I fanned the cards and spec picked the card on top of the deck and while I was giving some spiel about how most ppl dont pick the top card or the bottom card and sometimes I have a set routine with cards already in place, which invites banter, and then I say I'll have to do something really special now, as I shuffle cards.  I lost the card, and was mortified, I carried on the banter and carried on shuffling, then the spec made a comment and I said "right because of what you've said I'm going to get you to pick another card."  I don't think the heat was on me for long but the trick following this was Triumph where I use an 'up the ladder' shuffle and everyone was so amazed they got me to repeat it three times, so mistake forgotten, except by conscientous performer. I shall use either the signed get out or invisible deck.  Thanks guys, always learning huh 🙂

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Getting Caught Out Performing Magic Tricks - Magician Eric Jones How to do Magic Tricks says:
    January 14, 2015 at 10:40 pm

    […] Things to do when your magic tricks go wrong […]

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  2. What is a Magicians Out? - How to Use an Out When Magic Tricks Go Wrong How to do Magic Tricks says:
    March 16, 2015 at 11:17 pm

    […] Have you ever had to use a magicians out? Think about what you would do if one of your magic tricks goes wrong. […]

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