Mailbag: Pre-Tricks

Something interesting happened today, something I honestly thought wouldn’t happen to me anymore after all these years reading your blog and following your style of magic — which has basically shaped mine ever since.

I went to the barbershop I usually go to once or twice a month. The barbers always ask me to show them something, and even after years, they still react really well. But today, while I was performing for one of them, he got genuinely amazed. Then a customer getting his haircut started paying attention and asked what had just happened. When I tried to explain it briefly, he immediately said, “Oh, do it on me.”
From his tone, I could tell it wasn’t a good idea — and that leads to my first question:

When you know someone won’t be a good spectator and you don’t want to perform for them, how do you say no without sounding arrogant?

I ended up doing WikiTest anyway, and he was like, “Ah, you must’ve connected it to your phone.” So I said, “Even if that were true, you only thought of the word, right?”
Then he had that look of “I was fooled, but I don’t want to admit it.”

It’s weird because this kind of reaction hasn’t happened to me in years — not since I started reading your blog. Of course, it was a specific situation — a stranger. But it made me think: just like in hypnosis, where you have the pre-talk — where you explain what’s going to happen, clear up myths and fears, build rapport, and prepare the subject to accept suggestions — couldn’t we have something similar in magic too?

Like, disarming the person first. Something like:
“I’ll show you something, but honestly, it probably won’t work — it only works every now and then.”
Or:
“I want to show you something, but I want you to know it’s not me versus you — it’s not a game where someone has to win.” —DM

There are a couple of different parts to your question.

On the subject of “pre-talk,” I don’t think it’s that useful in magic—at least not in the same way. Hypnosis pretty much requires it because if people aren’t primed to go along with the process, you’ll have no success. Many people assume hypnosis is some kind of spell or trance that they’re “put under.” These people have to be educated that, no, it’s a process that they have to take part in and go along with, or else it doesn’t work.

Magic is a different animal.

If you have a potential spectator who you think might be an asshole and you say to him, “It’s not me versus you—it’s not a game where someone has to win,”—and he truly is an asshole—then that’s going to do you no good. He won’t think, He’s right… magic should be a collaborative, joyful experience! He’ll just double down, trying even harder to fight you because he smells weakness.

Instead of “pre-talk,” think “pre-trick—a quick, low-stakes effect that qualifies them and suggests a performer/audience dynamic that isn’t, “I’m going to fool you. Try to stop me from fooling you.”

So if I was in your situation, here’s what I would do:

“Yeah, sure. We can try something. I don’t know you, so there’s a good chance it won’t work, but let’s give it a shot.” [Write down something.] “Okay, I wrote down a number. It’s a two-digit number, less than 50. I’m going to try and send that to you and see if you can pick up on it.”

I write down 37.

Yes, the 37 force. I wouldn’t even bother with the “two odd digits, different from each other” part because I don’t care if it works.

You see where I’m going with this. It’s a quick, simple trick that’s presented as Spectator-as-Mindreader. There’s a decent chance of it hitting, but that’s not really what I care about. What I’m trying to do is threefold:

First, I want to move what I do outside the usual “magic trick” frame. There’s no process, no sleight to spot, no prop to suspect. From their perspective, the only way it works is dumb luck—or something more mysterious. And that’s the point: simply presenting it as something that could genuinely work shifts their thinking beyond the idea that there must be a trick for them to uncover.

Second, because it’s a Spectator-as-Mindreader effect, it suggests that the goal is something cooperative, not a battle of wits.

Third, and most importantly, I get to see their reaction to the experience. Are they interested in it and having fun? Or are they on guard and making a competition of it? If so, I know they’re not going to be fun to play with, and I can bail without a second thought.

Let’s look at the possible outcomes:

If he doesn’t say 37 and it seems like he’s a tool

“That’s okay. It’s not the sort of thing that most people can just pick up on with a stranger. But I thought it was worth a shot because sometimes, even with strangers, you’re on the same wavelength almost immediately.”

Notice, I’m framing this as his failure: “You weren’t able to do it. But that’s okay.”

Now I can shut it down gracefully—we clearly don’t have the kind of connection we’d need to do anything interesting.

If he doesn’t say 37, but I’m getting a good vibe from him

“That’s okay. It’s not the sort of thing that most people can just pick up on with a stranger. You might be better with words. Here, let’s try this….” And I can transition into a different effect.

If he says 37 and he seems cool

I can say,

“That’s incredible. Have you had these types of insights before? Or did it just feel like guessing, or what?”

Now I’m building him up a little. And again, I can delve into a more substantial trick with him. (Or, if he’s truly blown away, just end it at this point.)

If he says 37 and he seems like a douchebag

“That’s incredible. Have you had these types of insights before? Or did it just feel like guessing, or what?”

Let him respond a little…

“Actually, I’m just messing with you, man. Everyone says 37. Well, not everyone, of course. But certain types of people are very predictable in that way. I generally don’t have much luck connecting with that kind of thought process.”

This would be a very strange situation for them. You wrote down the number they named. It should be a minor miracle. So they get the experience of a successful trick—exactly what they asked for—but then you get to frame it as evidence of a type of thinking that you probably wouldn’t be able to connect with.

It’s kind of mean on your part, but as I said, I would only go this route if I was getting true douchebag vibes from the other person.

Again, the goal is not to get a hit here. Don’t worry about that. You’re just doing what the “pre-talk” does in hypnosis: establishing a baseline and qualifying the person so you can decide if you want to go further with him.

Later this month, I’ll share a variation on this “pre-trick” idea that I’ve been using for a while—though I didn’t think of it in those terms. It’s another quick number guess, but this one actually has a method behind it, so you can control the outcome.