showmanship Archives

Sometimes magicians are asked to repeat a magic tricks for people that have seen it performed before. It’s great to have regular clients, and that our friends and family enjoy watching our magic, but this can cause a problem.
What should you do if you are asked to repeat a magic trick that you have already shown that person in the past?

Dominic Reyes filmed a few quick tips about this situation:

It’s usually not a good idea for magicians to repeat a magic trick to the same person. The expression goes ‘Once a trick, twice a lesson’. However, sometimes you will be in a situation where you have no choice. This may happen:

You join a new group and start to perform a magic trick, suddenly a member of the previous group joins, and they have already seen the ending to your trick.
A spectator calls you over and asks you to show his guests a trick you showed him earlier.
You have a limited audience and perform for the same small group often.

If you haven’t already started the trick, it’s fine to simply decline the request. You can say: ‘Yes, that’s one of my favourites too, but I really want to show you this, as I think you will love it..’ Then go on and perform something new they haven’t seen before.

If you are already performing a routine and a spectator joins, that has seen it before you need to handle this differently.

1) Involve the spectator. Make them your assistant in any way, even if one isn’t really required. This will often give them a new perspective on the trick, and cause them to focus more on helping and ‘being on show‘ than on noticing something they shouldn’t. You change their experience, and context within the trick, from audience to participant, and this gets in the way of them studying your method.

2) Switch to a new variation of the method. If you can, move or change one of the phases of the trick, use different sleights or better yet, morph the trick into a wider routine that they have not seen before. A great example is The Ambitious card. There are many different phases and stages, so it’s easy to simply switch to a different path. A traditional Ambitious card, could transform to end with an Omni Deck, or by adding in FAX by Loki Kross, it can even switch around altogether so it happens in the spectator’s own hands.

Sometimes, there is no escape, the trick is half way through, and can’t be adapted. If that happens, it’s not the end of the world. Just relax and preform the trick as normal. Most people don’t REALLY care about the method as much as you think. They just want to have fun and watch other people being fooled. If a spectator spots something they missed the first time, they may work something out, but generally they will be enjoying how ‘clever’ it was that they missed it the first time, and how everyone else didn’t notice. This knowledge can be just as entertaining as the trick itself.

How do you deal with repeating your magic tricks? Share your advice in the comments section below:

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?