Gardyloo #57

/

On Wednesday I wrote about the old trick where you have a coin on your hand, you cover it with a napkin or a handkerchief, and it disappears. The method is that the audience is allowed to feel that the coin is still there right before it vanishes, and the last person to feel it's there is in on it and he steels the coin out from your hand. 

If you want to take this to the next level, a little game you can do with your friends is have the person who steals out the coin also put something into your hand at the same time. The game is that you don't know what they're going to put in your hand, so you have to try and identify what it is, and then justify why the coin changed into it for the other spectators. It's part magic trick, part improvisation game, all stupid.

[You feel the item and think you've identified what it is.] "Do you know they charge 50 cents for pickles at the burger place down the street? I save money by changing my quarters directly into... gherkins!" [Whisk away handkerchief.]

That's an actual example. And I'd say that's probably one of the better justifications we came up with, believe it or not. It's not easy to come up with something in a second or two when someone has placed a button, a screw, or a used condom in your hand.

Here's a billion dollar idea for my hot female readership. Go take this and run with it and become the biggest magician since Merlin.

The idea? A slutty female mentalist who bills herself as:

v5ArIL4.jpg

Alakazam Magic has something called the Alakazam Online Academy which is pretty much their version of online magic lectures. The difference being that they are sometimes devoted to a specific subject, not just the general magic of the performer lecturing.

They're getting a little bit of shit on the Cafe because originally they said that the lectures would not be available for purchase after the live airing. You didn't have to watch it live (you could download it and watch it later) but you had to pre-order it.

Hey Andy, that's moronic.

Oh, I know. And if you had half a brain you would recognize it's a policy that wouldn't last. Why it was implemented in the first place is beyond me. But they've done away with that idea. Now anyone can buy it whenever. This has upset some early buyers who feel Alakazam used FOMO to get them to buy something they might have waited on otherwise. (You can close the Urban Dictionary tab you had open for "Thot." FOMO is Fear Of Missing Out. What? You can't keep up with my hip slang? Sorry, old man. Me and my 14-year-old bros are going to the park to dab to EDM and vape some Gogurt. Sayonara bitch! )

tenor.gif

I'm going to try and save the people at Alakazam some time and energy going forward. Here is how they advertise their online academy.

Our Online lessons are broadcast live directly in to your Alakazam account so you will be able to ask questions in the chatroom and interact during the lesson

Spaces on each live course are limited to ensure as many questions as possible are answered during the live lesson via our integrated chat feature. 

Do you know why Penguin and At the Table dumped having people from home "ask questions"? Because it sucked. All it did was slow things down and ruin the momentum of the event. It's like being in school where you're forced to learn at the pace of the dumbest kid in class. It's not a selling point. 

99 time out of 100, if people have specific questions about what's transpiring, they could get the answer by replaying what they just watched. And if you're looking for general questions, then solicit them before the event so you can curate them and not have them lost amongst the terrible questions.

Do what Penguin does and put a knowledgable magician as host so if something is glossed over or accidentally unexplained, he can pause the proceedings and get more information about it. You don't need to open it up to everyone. 

Of course, you'll soon realize that if you're not taking live questions you don't need to do the event live. Yup. Bingo. You don't. Save yourself the trouble.

You're eventually going to come to these conclusions anyway, I'm just trying to save you time. 

Can you believe Bill Cosby was convicted of drugging and sexually assaulting women? Crazy. You never know who the real monsters are.

According to the prosecution, Cosby was an expert at drugging women's drinks. They say he could have only gotten that good under the tutelage of someone who is a master of deception and being around beverages. I'm not sure who they were referring to or what they meant by th--

Ohhhhhh noooooooooooooo...

unnamed.jpg

(Thanks to JM for the pic.)

Do you know Bill Cosby's favorite magic gimmick?

2a16ll.jpg

Wingmen

/

When people talk of the most valuable tools for a magician to have, they usually talk about a thumbtip or a marked deck or something. But in my experience, when it comes to creating small miracles, the most useful weapon in a magician's arsenal is a magic wingman.

"Wingman" singular, is a bit of a misnomer. Ideally you want a small group of people you can call on to help out with your effects and for whom you make yourself available to help with theirs. Similar to your 100 trick repertoire, crafting your little syndicate of deception should be an ongoing project of growing and refining your crew. 

To be clear, I'm not talking about creating a group of magicians who go around performing tricks together like the it's the goddamn reboot of Totally Hidden Extreme Magic. I'm talking about creating a resource of like-minded individuals who are willing to help each other out with the execution of tricks and experiences.

I first learned the value of a wingman by being one, not by having one. I remember reading a trick in a beginners book as a kid. It's a trick where a coin disappears from under a handkerchief. The magician places the coin on his hand, then covers it with a handkerchief. The spectators can feel the coin underneath the handkerchief to confirm it's still there. And then—with a snap of his fingers or an entreaty to Christ himself (whatever type of Imp the magician prefers)—the handkerchief is whipped away and the coin is gone. And it's truly gone. It's nowhere on the magician. 

The method, as most of you know, is that the last spectator to confirm the coin is under the handkerchief actually steals the coin away. When I read this trick as a kid I desperately wanted to perform it. But not as the magician. I wanted to be the guy who steals the coin and then acts dumbfounded with everyone else. That, to me, seemed much more fun.

Ever since that time, I've always been willing to be the wingman and I've seen how strong effects can be when the deceptive duties are shared with someone the audience doesn't know is even in on it.

Not everyone who is into magic will be a good wingman. That guy you know from the local magic club who is super ego-driven and believes people really think he has powers, he's not good. You just want to find chill, normal people who are in this for fun, not validation. 

The one rule we have amongst my group is that as long as you're available and the request isn't onerous in some way, then we just automatically agree to help each other out. And we'll pretty much do whatever is asked. That way it doesn't have to be an issue where we're like, "Hey, do you think maybe if you're free on Sunday you could possibly help me out with this idea I have? If not, no big deal. But if it's feasible could you mull it over and maybe consider it? If it's the sort of thing you'd be okay with?" We're already committed to help each other, so we don't have to renegotiate everything each time we want to try something. It's just like, "Are you free Sunday? Okay, here's what I need." No one ever feels taken advantage of because everyone is available for everyone else. You're not constantly being asked to give up your night for someone else, but maybe a dozen times a year or so you're asked to help out with some ambitious effect.

Wingman Roles

Secret Assistant - Having someone who's willing to be at a bar or cafe you're at, or wait outside your house while you toss something out the window, or sit nearby while you're hanging out with someone at the park, or anything along those lines, that's the ultimate weapon. Your spectator views the interaction as being just between you and her, but there is at least one other party helping out who she never factors into the experience.

I've done things like The Look of Love, and Faith from The JAMM #6 with the help of secret assistants. Those tricks are already amongst the strongest tricks you can do in magic, but with the help of a secret assistant they're stronger than at least half of the miracles Jesus accomplished (some of which I'm sure he had help with too).

Less-Secret Assistant - The previous category is about having people help you who aren't noticed by your target audience. The "less-secret" assistant, is similar to the person stealing out the coin from under the handkerchief. Your target audience knows they're there, they just don't realize they're in on it. Ideally, your target audience won't know that the LSA is someone with an interest in magic, but it's not necessary to keep that totally secret.

I have a whole post coming up on uses for a Less-Secret Assistant. It's one of my favorite ways to utilize a wingman (and be utilized as one).

Partner - Sometimes you and your wingman will be performing as equals, like in a two-person code act, or something along those lines. I don't use this wingman relationship that often, but my absolute favorite version of it will appear in Magic for Young Lovers. 

Pimp - In improv comedy there is the concept of "pimping" people (yes, I know pimping isn't exclusive to improv comedy, but that's the most direct correlation to what I'm talking about here, not, like, sexual slavery). An example of pimping in improv would be someone walking on stage and someone else saying, "Oh, hey, Bill Cosby, how's it going?" Now the person who walked on stage is forced (pimped) into being Bill Cosby in that scene.

Similarly, you can have your wingman "pimp" you into performing, but it's all a con, because he's setting you up for something you're already prepared for.

This can be as simple as your wingman saying to you and your target audience, "Oh, you have to show them that trick you showed me the other day." This type of thing can create an anticipation for an effect that might not be there if it seems like you are pushing the effect on them (as opposed to having it pulled from you). It would be similar to being out with a couple people and one of them says to you, "Oh my god, you have to see this video Corinne took. It's so funny." That's going to hype up Corinne's video more than if she pitched the video to you herself. And that's even more true with something like magic, because a third party can say, "You have to see this trick Andy performed for me the other day. It's fucking amazing." And that will be intriguing and get people excited. But if I myself say, "You have to watch this trick I'm going to show you. It's fucking amazing." That may come off as egotistical and even turn people off.

Your wingman can also pimp you in a way that sounds more like a challenge. "Okay, but what if she didn't have to take the card out of the deck? What if she just thought of a card." And, of course, you're set up to do the trick with a thought of card.

Cast - One of the more satisfying ways I've found to use a wingman is to have them play a part in some sort of long-running fiction that you've established. For example, in this post I wrote about a presentational tool called The Cast, where you create some characters to help you get into different effects. And these people can recur in your presentations over months or years. 

Now, the first time you bring up someone in your "Cast" it can be somewhat believable. Maybe you do have an aunt who used to be a professional psychic, or an old mentor who you visit once a year, or a guy in your office who used to be a male witch. But as time goes on, people may start to think that it's just part of the story you're weaving. This all depends on how outlandish the character you've created is, and the tone you take when talking about the person. 

So maybe, over the course of a few months, I've shown someone a few things that "Glenn the male witch," an old co-worker of mine taught me. At this point they're probably pretty sure this is all part of the fantasy. 

Then, one day we're at the farmer's market and I whisper to my friend, "Oh, look over there. That's Glenn, that male witch I used to work with. Oh, hey Glenn! Good to see you. You got a lot of herbs there. I'm guessing those aren't for cooking with. Haha. Great seeing you."

And my friend is dumbfounded. Fucking Glenn, the male witch is real!? That sort of thing can be as mindblowing and "magical" as any trick.

✿✿✿

So where do you find these people? Look, man, I don't know. I'm not here to tell you how to make friends. Keep an eye out for people with an interest in magic who don't seem like total drips. You don't want to add someone into your little circle of wingmen if they're not the sort of person you'd want to be around in real life anyway. Attend some local magic club meetings or lectures and poach some people from there. Or send some of the people you already know with an interest in magic a link to this article and ask if they'd be interested in establishing this type of arrangement. 

The one key thing to keep in mind is that to find willing wingmen you have to be one.

Too often magicians only get together to perform for each other. It's a very safe thing to do because no one is expecting much insofar as presentation goes and if you screw up a trick it doesn't matter because the other person probably already knew how it was done. While it can be fun to dick around for the sake of other magicians, joining forces with them to truly mystify the uninitiated is (in my experience) a significantly more fulfilling way to use these skills.  

Heads Up

/

If you were interested in obtaining the upcoming book, and you wanted to do so via the monthly payment option, you have a few weeks to sign up for it before that option isn't available anymore. So, there's no huge rush, but it is something that will be going away next month. 

I've got a couple emails from newer readers asking what X-Communication is. X-Comm is, at this point, a quarterly newsletter that goes to supporters of the site. It originally started out as primarily reviews back in the first season of the site. But now I think of it as the outlet I use when I want to talk about other people's work. So that includes reviews, but also looks at different plots in magic, my personal routines for marketed items, and spotlighting effects from older books/DVDs.

For example, in the Summer issue of X-Comm there will be articles about:

  • Some of my favorite effects with a "coincidence" premise
  • What tricks I carry in my wallet as of Summer 2018
  • A two-phase coin routine that uses a time-gap (as talked about last week) to turn a fairly standard coin effect into a real mind-fuck

The way things have kind of shaken out—and I think this is a pretty good system—is that the best routines and ideas I come up with are saved for the book; my thoughts on other people's commercially available effects are in the newsletter; and this site is for everything else (ideas in development, commentary, testing results, random thoughts, and gifs... mostly gifs).

giphy (1).gif

Real Magic?

/

I talk a big game on this site about magic and the power of a really well executed effect, and how giving people a magic experience is just about one of the most unique gifts you can give someone. In my writings, I suggest that there's some value to witnessing something extraordinary, and that it's worth it to put in the effort to give people that experience. But what about me? How do I react to being really fooled? Well, it's time to come clean. This is all an act on my part. Magic is just something I use to get some pussy. And on the rare occasions I'm fooled by something, I'm not like, "Oh, thank you for this grand example of amazement." I'm just like, "Oooh, daddy, tell me how it's done. Secret secret. Gimme gimme!"

I mention this because I'm in a bind. I've watched the video of this bottle production 100 times and I can't figure out where the damn bottle comes from.

Seriously, how is he doing this?

One second, the bottle isn't there. And then the next second... well, not the exact next second... but a few seconds later the bottle is there.

I'm just like...

giphy.gif

Can someone please tell me where that bottle came from? Please. Please!

I've slowed the video down, taken it frame by frame, but I have no clue. 

I think it may be tied to his deft use of misdirection. The way he mimes the scissors and looks out into the audience to suggest, "Hey, I need some scissors. Do any of you have scissors? No. Probably not. That's okay. I brought my own." Then he looks off-stage right like, "Hey, maybe someone over there has my scissors." Then he pats his right jacket pocket as if to say, "Maybe my scissors are there." Then he pats his right pants pocket and left pants pockets as if to say, "No. My scissors weren't in the my right jacket pocket. Maybe they're in my pants pocket." Mind you, none of this is spoken, it's just brilliant subtext skillfully delivered by a genius performer. Picking up where we left off, he now reaches into his inside jacket pocket, like maybe the scissors are in there. "No," his face suggests, "the scissors aren't there. But fuck it, how many more pockets can I possibly have?" With that, he checks the breast pocket of his jacket. The look on his face says, "Maybe my first instinct was right. Maybe they're offstage somewhere. That seemed like a dumb assumption at the time, but certainly I wouldn't be patting all these pockets and not finding shit if I had those scissors on me, right?" Then he smoothly shifts the balloon into his right hand, reaches into his left jacket pocket, fiddles around for a moment and... I guess removes a pair of scissors? That part I didn't quite get, honestly. But he must have because something popped the balloon and, miraculously, without too much of a gap after the balloon burst, a bottle has appeared FROM FUCKING NOWHERE!!!!!!!

Now, that sequence above, which only takes a scant uncomfortable 10 seconds to perform, is related to Juan Tamariz's "Crossing the Gaze" technique. It's called Clusterfucking the Gaze, and it's quite effective, and psychologically invisible. If you asked that audience if there was any awkward moment before the bottle appeared, I'm sure they'd say, "No. Well... there was a moment where I dozed off, so something could have happened then. But nothing I specifically remember before I was awoken by the sound of that balloon popping."

I'm beginning to suspect it was a camera trick. It had to be, right? There's no other way. If this isn't a camera trick I will give $1800 for the secret (and exclusive performance rights).

Thanks to Magic Transcribed, a twitter account that transcribes only the best magic, for the video.

Gardyloo #56

/

"You're not thinking of a red card, are you?... I knew it."

If you use this type of sentence structure in the course of some sort of fishing in a mentalism routine, there's a decent chance you're not very good at what you do. I can make that statement because being a good mentalist (or magician) means being able to listen to your audience and give an honest assessment of what works and what doesn't work.

This weaselly sentence structure (that some mentalists suggest will be seen as a "hit" either way) has never—in the history of mentalism—come across as anything other than the mentalist flailing to get a piece of information that he has no clue about.

I've made this point before (in more detail) in an earlier post on this site.

This ploy has never caused a single spectator to think, "Wow, how did you know that?" And the reason it doesn't is because it's a question. It's said as a question. And your spectator realizes it's a question. 

But Andy, I've heard many famous magicians and mentalists use this sort of sentence structure while fishing.

I've seen it used by dozens of mentalists and magicians too. And when the spectator knows the potential options are binary, this only ever comes across as a dodgy guess. (If the spectator doesn't know the options are binary—if, for example, you know they're thinking of one of two cards, but they think they could have been thinking of any card in the deck—then this ploy is a little less transparent.)

In the previously linked post I suggest the alternative I use (which is to make a definitive statement and be right 50% of the time and deal with being wrong the other 50% of the time). I find this much preferable than coming across like a goon 100% of the time.

Here is 5th Beatle, Devin Knight, trying to use this tactic in his recent Penguin Live lecture. You'll notice the spectator doesn't react as if he's provided information, she reacts as if she's giving him information, because she is. And what does the audience do? They laugh, because it such a shitty, obvious gambit that they assume he must have meant it as a joke.

I had an email this week about the subject of hecklers and I was reminded of something that I want you to keep in mind if you're a non-professional. Especially if you're younger.

There is something that is true only for amateur magicians and for those who reach the status of, say, David Copperfield, and that is this:

You never have to perform for anyone who isn't 100% into engaging with your performance and enjoying the interaction.

Strolling performers, restaurant performers, guys who do corporate shows or school shows, kids performers—magicians at almost every other level— they have to work to win people over, at least some of the time. But you don't have to if you don't want to. 

As I said, this is primarily geared at younger performers who are concerned about dealing with antagonistic spectators, although it's true for all of us.

But understand what heckling is. Heckling is not someone saying, "You turned over two cards," or, "You still have the coin in that hand." That's not heckling, that's helping. Address the weakness in your technique or in the effect and you'll only get better. You don't need to fear this. If someone busts you, just say, "Damn. You got me." Don't let your ego get involved.

"Heckling" is when someone is unwilling to engage with the experience in a positive manner. You have the power in this situation because you can just choose not to perform for these people. It can be confusing because magic has the element of trickery going on so performers often confuse people not being fooled or noticing some element of the method as them being "hecklers," but don't get caught up in that trap. Remove the magic element altogether. Instead imagine yourself doing something respectable... like being a stripper. If you were an amateur stripper, stripping for someone who was being hostile, you'd just step off stage. You'd feel no inclination to perform for them, instead you'd go find the audience who is drooling, whooping, and creaming their jeans over your fat ta-tas and entertain them.

Penguin magic has hosted about 280 different lecturers for their Penguin Live series. Of those, I believe seven have died:

  • Tom Mullica
  • Daryl
  • Aldo Colombini
  • Harry Anderson
  • Bob Cassidy
  • Eugene Burger 
  • Don England

(When I say, "I believe," I don't mean that I'm not sure that those guys are all dead. I mean there might be more I'm not remembering.)

Now look, I'm not suggesting anything nefarious here. Just pointing out that if you lectured for Penguin there is a 1 in 40 chance you're dead. Test pilots and ice road truckers don't die that frequently.

Actually, what really made me think about this was the passing of Harry Anderson. His daughter and I run in the same circles and she's always been a delightful person to be around.

I was thinking of her and her father recently and so I rewatched her father's Penguin live lecture and I was very happy to have this record of his teaching and talking about magic.

You may not remember, but when the Penguin lectures first started, they got a lot of flack. I can't remember the reason why. I have a feeling there wasn't a reason why beyond, "This is something new so I don't like it." But now, a few years later, isn't it fortunate that we have good quality video of these people not only performing, but teaching magic as well (in a relaxed, conversational way—as opposed to the way they might teach on a commercially released magic DVD)? 

The fact of the matter is, that list of dead magicians... that's just going to get longer. And these live lectures are just going to become more valuable as a record of those we've lost as both people and performers. This may sound like the world's most morbid sponsored post, but no one's paying me shit for this. It's just something that was on my mind.

Here's a thought for Penguin. The next time someone dies (the smart money is on Andi Gladwin) make their lecture half price for a few days and donate all the proceeds to a charity chosen by the deceased's family. It's a win-win for everyone. And no, this isn't just some clever ploy of mine to save $15 by suffocating Josh Janousky and then picking up his lecture at a discounted rate.

Antica...

/

Supporter of the site, Steve. F, writes:

The Spring issue of X-Communication was really great. I bought the app you mentioned and ordered a couple of the other items too. I wrote you last year to say you reignited my old interest in magic which had dissipated over the past 20 years and that's still true.[Ed. Note: I've redacted some stuff here that is uncomfortably flattering.] I'm looking forward to the next book in a way I haven't looked forward to a magic purchase since I was young. 

Hey, thanks, Steve.

I'm happy to hear that you're looking forward to the book. I'm pretty excited about it myself.

I have a theory that I want to touch on briefly here. (I'll expand on it one day when I write my Guide to Life.)

I believe that anticipation keeps you happy and your mind and heart young.

The happiest people I know have things on the horizon they're looking forward to. I don't mean big things like buying a house or starting a company. I mean they have a lot of little trivial things they're excited about.

Maybe it's easier to find little things to be excited about when you're happy, but I think it also works the other way. I think if you find things to look forward to, you'll be happier generally.

At all times you should have something in each one of the categories (and once it comes to pass, you replace it with something else):

Anticipation Checklist

  • A movie you're looking forward to
  • A book you're looking forward to
  • An album you're looking forward to
  • A tv show you're looking forward to
  • A meal you're looking forward to
  • An event or outing (concert, play, author reading, amusement park visit, comedy show, athletic event) you're looking forward to
  • A party you're looking forward to (if no one invites you to parties then start throwing two every year: a summer gathering and a holiday party)
  • A trip you're looking forward to
  • Someone you're looking forward to seeing (or meeting for the first time)
  • A sexual encounter you're looking forward to
  • Something you're looking forward to in regards to a hobby (a magic book, a video game, a comic)
  • A plan you're looking forward to executing

The Times They Are A-Changin'

/

One of the things I always thought would happen when I started writing about amateur/social magic is that people would come out and say, "Oh, yes, here are the other books on the subject that were written over the past 100 years that you don't know about because you're a magic ignoramus." But that never happened. There were a few things here and there directed towards amateurs, but very little that looked at it seriously. Since I've started this site there has been more talk about it (because I am, obviously, a world-class thought-leader) but still not that much. It makes sense though. because while there is a huge population of amateur magicians, most of them perform rather infrequently. And to get useful insights and ideas, you really need to be out performing regularly. But the people who are performing regularly tend to be professionals, so most of what you read is from that perspective. To perform a lot as an amateur, you have to be independently wealthy or have stumbled into a situation where you started a magic blog that eventually evolved into a situation where people financially support the site which allows you to spend a lot of time trying out new material and going to bars, restaurants, coffee-shops, libraries, etc. in order to generate more social interactions and try out different ideas.  As I've said before, I'm the world's first professional amateur magician.  

I bring this up because what I want to talk about today is something that is a fundamental tool for the social magician. And it's something we should obviously be taking advantage, but there is almost nothing written about it in the magic literature because it's not a tool that is available to the professional performer. So no one bothers writing about it. Even people who aren't professional performers will tend to create magic to be used in a professional situation, so they ignore this tool too.

The tool I'm talking about is Time.

giphy.gif

As I was talking with a friend about some of the unpublished routines that will be in Magic For Young Lovers, I realized that a number of them followed a very non-traditional time-table for a magic trick. There's a trick that starts in the evening and ends the next morning, another that takes days (potentially weeks) to play out and concludes at a time you (the magician) don't choose, another where you "expose" a trick a couple hours after performing it and the exposure is actually more unbelievable than the effect.

The professional magician usually has to wrap up a trick in a few minutes. If he has a full-length show, he may be able to start a trick at the beginning of the show and wrap it up at the end, but he's still generally limited by the boundaries of the show itself.

As social magicians, we're often not constrained by the same time boundaries. And I've found that messing with the time element of a trick is a very good way to give people a richer experience than they may have with a more standard presentation. (I'm not suggesting that you need to turn every 2-minute trick into a 2-hour ordeal, but sometimes it's worth it.)

I would suggest if you have an idea for a trick that you feel is solid, but you're not getting the reactions you want from it, or it feels somewhat inconsequential, that you mess with the time-line in regards to how the trick plays out. I've found this to be a reliable way to generate a deeper experience from effects and it may be the key to amplifying the reactions you're getting from the trick.

Ideas and Examples

Let's say you meet someone at a party and they find out you do magic or mentalism. They write down a word (on an impression pad) tear off the page and you read their mind. This may or may not be a good trick depending on how you go about it. 

But consider this instead. They write down a word on a piece of paper, fold it up and put it in their pocket. "To be clear," you say, "I'm not really psychic. And I'm just learning how to pretend to be. So I'm not just going to be able to guess what you wrote. But I bet by the end of the night I'll figure it out." Maybe you actually wager some money on it.

Now, instead of a 1 minute trick, you're able to weave this effect all through the night. As the party goes on you check in with her from time to time, trying to get a feel for what she might have written down. Maybe you ask her some bizarre questions that you imply are designed to allow you a peek into her subconscious. Maybe you show her a funny video on youtube and while you're doing it she catches you trying to steal the slip of paper from her pocket ("What? I didn't say I'd read your mind, just that I'd somehow figure out what you wrote.")

And there can be different beats that play out throughout the night as you attempt different ways to figure out the word. In a professional show, a 10-minute presentation to guess a word is likely going to fall flat. But for the social magician, a presentation that is broken up into 10 one-minute moments throughout the night could be very fun. In this case because it's more than a trick, it's also a game (and if you're at all charming you could turn this into a playful flirtation (if you needed me to tell you this, you're not at all charming, don't try it)).

The night ends and you approach her with $20 in your hand. "You win. I have no idea." But as you give her the bill your hands touch and then you grasp her hand and twitch your eyes, Dead Zone style. "Wait... no... I got it... it's... doormouse." (Or however you choose to reveal you know the word.)

IMG_4701.GIF

 

✿✿✿

I've mentioned before the Michael Weber idea of splitting up a multi-phase routine over the course of several interactions with a person.

This is a great way of extending the moment and using "time" to make a trick feel different. Look, a 10-phase ambitious card routine is—almost by definition—going to peter off after a couple phases. But if you just do three phases and then keep the person's signed card on your bookshelf and every time they visit you're like, "Remember this card you signed that kept rising to the top of the deck? Well I thought maybe if the deck was bound in rope then the positions of the cards couldn't change...but check this out." In other words, you could do a single phase each time you see them. Then, rather than having a jumble of moments in their head after one long multi-phase effect, they would have this one moment they could keep with them (at least until the next time you see each other).

✿✿✿

Other ways of using a time element to give people a different experience.

  • Tell someone you're working on a new trick, fail at it a couple times, and then a week later perform it for them and nail it.
  • Send someone a text in the afternoon asking them to stop by on their way home because you have something cool to show them.
  • Teach them a trick and then months later say, "I've been working on that trick I taught you." And show them something similar but with a wildly different method they could never conceive of. 

I would also direct you to the Presenting Coincidences post from a couple weeks ago for an example of what I consider a very satisfying modification of the "time" element of a standard trick.

I have more thoughts on this that will come out in the future, but this isn't the type of thing you really need someone to guide you through. With a little thought you'll find ways to adjust the time it takes for an effect to play out so that the tenor of the overall experience changes.