Mailbag #131

/

I bought Gabriel Werlen’s Penguin Lecture based on the rave reviews on the cafe with dozens of people saying it’s the best mentalism lecture ever. 

I genuinely don’t know how people can see these routines and think their audiences will be entertained by them. One that everyone is raving about involves the mentalist revealing which clear plastic cup holds two different colored imaginary balls. Like… I get that the method can be exciting but the experience of watching that and/or participating in that is a nightmare. Maybe I just perform for really stupid people, but as soon as a trick involves someone tracking the way they mix two invisible balls, I’m screwed. My audience would think that’s part of the fun and they get to just make up where the balls end up. But no—they must actively concentrate on multiple “colored” imaginary balls as they move cups around. The other one that has really excited people involves a magician finding one card out of 10 after they flip cards over and switch them in pairs. Like… why would any lay person be more impressed at a magician finding their card out of 10 than out of the whole deck? Especially since this involves a very specific switching of cards and no mixing. Again, I get that the method excites magicians, but this entire lecture was full of material that is boring as dirt to watch/take part in. I feel sorry for the poor laypeople who are going to be forced to watch some dude do these tricks on them because they are genuinely saying it’s some of the best mentalism they’ve ever seen.—XX

I won’t say that the Venn diagram of tricks that excite magicians and tricks that thrill laypeople are two completely separate circles, but it’s close enough to being true that you might as well just assume it’s true when analyzing magic.

I haven’t seen Gabriel’s lecture yet, but I’ve seen some of his other work and I understand why magicians are intrigued by his thinking. But I see your point as well.

It used to drive me crazy when magicians were hyping up some trick that I knew wouldn’t mean much of anything to laypeople. It felt like gaslighting to me, in a way. But I think the most helpful mindset to have is that some people are interested in magician-centric (which could also be called method-centric) material, while others are focused on audience-centric material. Whenever you see people praising the method, or the performer’s skill, or the cleverness of the gimmick—they’re approaching things from a magician-centric perspective, and likely there’s not a whole lot you can take from that about a trick’s appeal to a real audience.

I was at Blackpool convention and saw Dom Chambers show which was excellent.
He performed an OOTW routine with ladies on cards, Uv light used to show cum on the back of the cards as a climax and made me think of your routine.
Did you work with him on this ?—KQ

No. I mean, not in any way beyond the fact that I posted the routine (based on an idea from Jon Shaw) and he saw it and decided to do his version in his show. That was the extent of my “work” on it.

Anyone is free to take an idea from the site and perform it. I would suggest maybe using the phrase, “my friend Andy” during the presentation. That way, people who are in the know will know that you’re not taking full credit for the idea.

I do like what you've outlined as a way of presenting sucker tricks, but as I was imagining myself as the friend who is becoming your "co-conspirator," I found myself wanting to say to the magic guy, "Oh that's great, you're really going to fool the other guys with that," (and after a few seconds) "...but wait, how did you do that?" Now I think you're in a difficult place...WWJD? (What Would Jerxie Do?)—JS

The thing about this presentation is that it frames this interatction fully as a trick and the method behind the trick as something secret and valuable. So I think it makes people less like to ask you to tell it to them. As opposed to if you just did the trick in a standard presentation.

If you want to emphasize the value of the secret than at some point in your presentation, mention that part of the way the group works is that if you fool them, the other four guys in the group each pitch in $400 to learn the secret.

Then, if the person you’re performing does ask how it’s done, you can be like, “Look, if you want to come up with $1600, I’ll tell you. But part of the deal is that we haven’t shared these secrets with anyone else.” Or something like that.

And what if they do pay you $1600?

Then tell them the secret, bonehead. And enjoy your $1600.