Many magicians become annoyed that the general public are impressed with TV magicians.

Popular comments about TV Magicians:

“I saw that magician Troy on TV last night.”

“Wow you're like Dynamo!” “

Penn and Teller were so amazing”.

When watching magic, the general public often mention other magicians. How you react to it is very important. It’s tempting to feel that you are being compared or judged by spectators when this happens.. Resist the temptation to slag off other magicians. If one of your spectators mentions another magician it's usually because they really liked him or her. It isn’t some kind of direct comparison, and you don’t need to feel threatened or try and put the other magician down.

Some questions to ask yourself:

What are you trying to do?

How do you want your audience to feel?

Will putting down the abilities of the TV magician help you in any way?

Is your goal to destroy their appreciation of the TV magician and love you more instead?

Many magicians get annoyed by the fact that the performers they are apparently being compared against work on TV. They feel that they need to justify that magic on television is different from that of a real life magic show. The huge budgets, audience management, and staged situations annoy many magicians. They sometimes feel that TV magicians simply don’t have the talent that is being portrayed in their television shows. So what! The quality of magic from a performance point of view is not important. The magicians technical ability is besides the point. If the show has impressed your spectators, it has achieved exactly what it intended to do. Anything negative you have to say about it just reflects badly on YOU rather than the magic show.

Your spectators watched a magic show, and it made them feel good. It made them appreciate magic, and spurred them to want to watch more in a live situation. That’s done a huge service for you. Your own personal feelings about the quality of the magic they’ve seen, and your annoyance about the impossible situations created for the magic within the show is of no concern to the spectators. Your spectators enjoyed it. Anything negative you say about that takes away their enjoyment, and that’s not what you’re there to do.

If you really want to be negative about TV magicians, save your comments for conversations with fellow magicians not the general public. It's fine for you to have issues with the magic you see presented. You have every right as a fellow magician to complain that much of magic that is presented on TV is unrealistic, or unrespresentative of live magic. It's fine to feel that many TV magicians are simply 'product' created by TV production companies. However, complaining about another magician is not something you should do to a spectator, especially if they admire the TV magician. It serves you no constructive purpose.

Your reaction to TV magicians.

So how should you react to spectators being impressed by magic tricks which you know, or feel are impossible TV creations and hype? Be generous, gracious, and complimentary about the TV magician. Say something really positive about them. Tell your spectators an anecdote about a time that you met the TV magician. Let them know what a great person he or she is in real life, how much passion they have for magic, how difficult it must be to create a large number of elaborate illusions to be shown on television.

“Yeah, Dynamo’s a really great guy, who genuinely loves magic. It’s so good for magic that he is introducing it to the public at large”

“I like Dynamo too, you know you can often find him mixing with magicians at magic conventions, he really has a passion for magic.”

“Troy's a lovely guy if you meet him in person. I’m really pleased that he’s being able to take magic and give it a higher profile on TV.”

“Yeah, it’s fantastic to see so much new magic on TV now.”

“ I was at a huge magic convention a while ago and saw Dynamo taking the time to help some of the beginners, he’s inspiring a lot of new magicians to start magic.”

The key attitude as a professional is not to feel you are being compared. You are being put in the same category as a famous magician that your spectators know about. You have something in common with them. Take that as the compliment it is intended to be.

What do you say when spectators mention a famous TV magician? How do you think it reflects on you and your performance? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.

Watch Dynamo Magician Impossible Series 3 Episode 1 Before it’s Shown on TV

by Merchant of Magic Leave a Comment

Dynamo Magician Impossible Series 3 Online

UKTV have announced that they will be showing the first Series 3 show of Dynamo Magician Impossible to Dynamo fans before it goes live on the Watch Channel.

Watch had great success with the last series, which pulled in almost 2 million viewers. That’s a massive viewing figure for their channel.

The first show of Dynamo Magician Impossible season 3 will go live online on the 4th July 2013.

It will then air on the Watch TV channel in a 9pm slot, on July 11.

In order to see the show at 10pm on the 4th of July, Watch wants Dynamo Magician Impossible fans to complete a task for them.

The task: Remembering 4 Playing Cards.

Starting on the 1st July, Dynamo will show you a playing card, at 9pm each night on the Watch TV channel. If you want to have access to the first episode of series 3 when it becomes available online on 4th July, you will need to collect all 4 ‘unlock’ playing cards.

If you want to take part, head over to the Dynamo Unlock to find out more.

We here at Merchant of Magic are VERY excited for the launch of this new series. Having magic in the spotlight and in the forefront of the publics eye always creates a stir which we all feel. There is nothing that helps us as magicians more than the public being interested in what we have to offer.

Dynamo: Magician Impossible Flying Around London

Magic Lessons From Dynamo Magician Impossible

How Dynamo Does His Magic Tricks

The Dynamo Phone In Bottle Trick

Dynamo Magician Impossible – London Bus Magic Trick for Pepsi Max

by Merchant of Magic Leave a Comment

Dynamo: Magician Impossible performed magic live for sightseers around London today. The Merchant of Magic team were asked to attend and witness the magic trick ourselves.

As the new face of Pepsi Max, and with series 3 of Dynamo Magician Impossible starting on TV on the 11th July (9pm on Watch) Dynamo toured London on a double-decker bus. Well actually, he stayed OUTSIDE the bus!

Dynamo floated next to the London bus. With bare arms, he rested his hand on the roof, as he waved to the crowds with his other hand. An impressive magic trick, performed faultlessly.

The reactions of the tourists seeing this was priceless. People just stopped and stared, which is hard to do, on a busy London street.

As the public reacted to dynamo’s magic, Pepsi Max teams gave out free cans of the drink to the crowds.

The stunt was a huge success and great PR for Pepsi Max, Dynamo Magician Impossible and for public awareness of magic in general.

“The reaction of the public as I was travelling was incredible and it was great to see so many people taking in the excitement.” – Dynamo

Pepsi Max has commissioned Dynamo to perform a series of stunts and magic tricks as part of their ‘Live For Now’ advertising campaign. The promotion encourages people to make their everyday experiences (like riding a bus) as thrilling as possible.

Dynamo Magician Impossible - London Bus Ride

What magicians can learn from the Dynamo London bus illusion:

1) Dynamo’s creative team have taken the advertising campaigns key message, and created a magic trick that communicates it as publicly as possible.

Question: Do you offer to customise your magic to the clients theme or to a companies ‘Unique Selling Propositions’?

Question: How could you create a bespoke magic service that would set you apart from all the other magicians in your area?

2) Right from the beginning of his career, Dynamo Magician Impossible has never stopped promoting and marketing his skills.

Regardless of your opinions on TV magic or his take on ‘methods’, you have to hand it to Dynamo, he works so hard for the success he is receiving. He remains constantly in the public eye, with guest appearances, interviews and publicity work. When you contrast that with other magicians that have a break at a TV series, there’s a world of difference in the promotion effort outside of the show. Being the face of UK magic requires energy, drive and ambition as well as talent. Dynamo has shown that time and time again. It’s no wonder that Pepsi Max wanted him to represent them.

Question: Other than practicing your magic tricks, what could you do this coming week to generate a ‘buzz’ about yourself and your magic?