The Self-Working Hook

An email I received recently:

Here's a quick testimonial,

Monday night, I met with a friend to catch up and talk a little about magic. He's been learning a few things so I brought both of us a deck and "Self Working Card Tricks by Karl Fulves" just so he'd have some easy tricks while he learned to handle the cards.

We were at a bar and as the night went on our waitress saw the cards and book each time she came to check on us. They weren't terribly busy, so when she brought the checks, I used Peek Backstage but using the book as icing. "Hey, we're trying to learn magic, can we try a trick if you have like a minute and a half?" 

I kinda expected her to half-heartedly sit through one but she seemed genuinely interested in seeing a trick. So I performed a short magician-in-peril type plot where the card in her hand becomes hers, all the while consulting my "Self Working" book. I ended it with "It says: 'If the card she stops on isn't her card, then have her turn over the card in her hand'"

Great reaction, only did the one so we didn't hold her hostage, and all the credit went to the book. 2 minutes later another waiter came over and said "I gotta see this trick". 

10/10, would recommend presenting yourself as amateur at the bar table.

—TW

Yes! I use magic books all the time as a Hook. There is really no more natural segue from someone saying, “What is that?” To you saying, “Oh, it’s something I’m working on for my nephew’s birthday [or whatever reason]. Can I try something out on you?”

Hooks make the transition into an effect feel essentially seamless. The reason they’re not a more popular concept in magic is because the best ones take the “power” from the magician. Obviously, sitting around with a self-working card magic book is not a power move. In fact, it probably undermines your actual level of skill. And that’s not a look most people who perform magic tricks want to portray. But for me, a magic book makes an ideal segue into performing

I’m not suggesting you go around with The Art of Astonishment stacked up on your table at Starbucks, but there are a few benefits to carrying something like the Karl Fulves book mentioned above.

1. It’s small and slim. It may even fit in your back pocket. When people see it, it draws attention, but it doesn’t obviously demand it.

2. It’s a perfect gift to give someone on the fly if they show an interest in magic. I’ll buy a few copies at a time to have some to give away.

3. If someone picks it up and flips through it, they’re unlikely to stumble on any important secret of magic.

4. It misdirects their suspicion. When I use a self-working book as a hook, I don’t actually perform a self-working card trick (at least, not generally). And I’ll take advantage of the implication that they don’t need to be on guard against sleight-of-hand.

5. Here’s something I would never have realized until talking about it with laymen: The phrase “self-working” magic can be very intriguing to people who aren’t familiar with the vernacular of learning magic. Erase what you know about magic. You see a book entitled, “Self-Working Card Tricks.” What would that even mean? And then someone says, “Yeah, let me show you something unbelievable. I have no idea how it works.” That can seem almost believable. If it’s something that works, “by itself,” the implication is that it doesn’t need the performer to direct it.

Okay, but what if I show them something and then they say, “Let me see where that’s written up in the book. I want to try it.”

That’s a possibility. For that reason, I generally don’t present it as TW does in his email to me, where I’m constantly referencing the book. I just use it as a hook. They see the book and ask something about why I have it or whatever, and that propels us into the conversation. I only imply that what they’re seeing is straight from the book, but I don’t reference it. If, at the end, they say, “Okay, show me where that is in the book,” I’ll spend a minute or so looking for it and then say, “Hmmm… that must be in Volume 2.” The book has already served its purpose of naturally guiding us into the trick.

The Exaltation of Joshua Jay Finalists

Below are the 10 Finalists in the Exaltation of Joshua Jay contest as chosen by members of the Jerx Advisory Board.

The ultimate winner will be picked by the New York Lottery Commission. Next to each finalist is a three digit number range. The winner of the Exaltation of Joshua Jay Contest is the person whose range contains the selected number in the midday three-digit Numbers drawing on 4/30/2019.

Below the finalists are a number of Honorable Mentions.

Thanks to everyone who entered. It’s a very special situation when the public can recognize a genius/messiah in his or her own time. In this respect, Joshua Jay is way ahead of Christ, who had essentially no photo contests done in his honor when he was still alive.

For those who entered and don’t end up with the prize package, keep this in mind… Your life situation is such that you have internet access, a camera, and enough free time that you’re able to read this site regularly. Your mindset is such that you were willing to engage in some mindless stupid fun for a chance at a prize. And your picture is bringing some small level of joy to people you don’t know. You’re all winners in the big scheme of things.

Finalist #1 - CL - 000-099

Finalist #2 - DM - 100-199

Finalist #3 - KG - 200-299

Finalist #14- SW - 300-399

Finalist #5 - CG - 400-499

Finalist #6 - AI - 500-599

Finalist #7 - MH - 600-699

Finalist #8- SC - 700-799

Finalist #9 - MT - 800-899

Finalist #10- LH - 900-999

Honorable Mentions

Being Neighborly

The Exaltation of Joshua Jay Contest ends today at noon, New York time.

The entries will be voted on by the Jerx Advisory Board (i.e., some friends of mine). The top vote getters will be announced on Monday with the winner chosen in some random manner on Tuesday.

---

Just a quick anecdote today…

The apartment across the hall from where I’m staying had been vacant for a few weeks. The door was unlocked during that time and I would go in and walk around the empty apartment wondering if there was some things I might be able to set up and utilize in a trick at a later point in time. Maybe months from now. This may seem psychopathic, but it was kind of just a mental exercise.

So I set up for the Time Traveler’s Toilet (they certainly may lift the toilet lid in the ensuing months, in which case they might be a little confused, but I don’t think they’d find it that weird). And I carved a little something on the underside of a drawer to be used as part of a revelation in a routine. And a couple other little things.

I figured I may never even end up speaking to these people, and even if I did, we may never have the sort of relationship where I’m showing them magic. But that’s okay. I don’t mind planting a seed that might never grow.

The other night I got home around 9:30, grabbed some items from my place and went across the hall and opened the door to the other apartment.

And there are three people sitting on cardboard boxes eating pizza.

And there’s me with a bottle of anti-fog spray in one hand and a q-tip in the other. (Long story. Part of a trick idea I had with their bathroom mirror.)

“Oh…hey,” I said, cleverly, as they all stared at me.

“Sorry, I didn’t know anyone had moved in and I heard noises and I came to check it out.” So I just barged right in instead of knocking in this scenario? I guess. And what was my plan? Was I going to blind the intruders with anti-fog spray and bludgeon them with a Q-tip? I tried to play it off like I just happened to have those objects in my hands from something I was doing back in my place. I’m not sure how convincing I was at changing their perception of me from “home invader” to “good samaritan,” but I did my best.

I sort of salvaged the interaction by being warm and welcoming and normal for the next 15 minutes or so. But sadly I lost that element I had hoped to take advantage of in a future interaction: the notion that I had never been in their apartment and obviously couldn’t have arranged anything there. Now if I ever do something I’m sure they’ll think, “Oh, he probably set that up when he was creeping around our house like a maniac before we moved in.”

I’ll update you if I ever take advantage of anything I set up over there. Don’t hold your breath.

EoJJ Contest Update

One day left to get in your entries for the Exaltation of Joshua Jay contest. See the April 11th and April 23rd posts for details.

The prizes are a box full of Tenyo effects and a $100 gift certificate to Vanishing Inc.

Two quick updates:

Vanishing Inc is now officially sponsoring the contest and providing the gift certificate. Thanks to Josh and Andi.

Also—and this is for real—here is part of Josh’s recent email to me on the subject.

“So we'll sponsor the $100 gift card, and I'll include a high rez photo of any pose requested by the winner with their order.”

I’ve given him veto power on the “any pose” requested, although you can certainly take a shot with requesting one of these 33 Impossibly Sexy Boudoir Photo Poses.

Actually, I think the best idea would be to have him mimic a photo of you. So then you’ll have a photo of you posing as him and him posing as you.

The Limitations of the Professional Performance

I was recently sent this clip from Britain’s Got Talent. It came up in an email exchange between two friends of the site. They were discussing if there was a Jerx-like element to the performance.

The performer’s name is “Elizabeth.” Can you even imagine? Just going by your ordinary, everyday first name? It’s not like her name is Mandrake or something cool. How stupid.

Uhm, but Andy…

Shut up!

While I don’t believe this woman was inspired in any way directly by this site (other than maybe some of the ideas being more prominent in the magic zeitgeist because I’ve been writing about them for four years), there are some things in the performance which are possibly Jerx-esque.

For example, while she’s obviously doing a magic trick, her role isn’t exactly a magician. And taking the judge off stage is sort of an example of reframing a trick, and is a small sort of buy-in. Even just going by “Elizabeth” could be seen as a way to eliminate an element of “performance.” (If you see it as her suggesting this is not “about her,” so her full name isn’t important. Sure, “Elizabeth” could still be seen as a stage name, but certainly not an obvious “performer” stage name like, “The One and Only, Incredible Elizabeth X, the Second 1st Lady of Magic.”)

There is still much that is very presentational. Her patter, for example, comes off as highly scripted, not like someone chatting with you, or even like a lecturer speaking casually. It sounds like a memorize monologue. Which is fine and perfectly appropriate for the environment, but obviously un-Jerx-like.

So yeah, I can see some similar elements there. I’m curious to see what her next appearance on the show is like.

What I really want to take note of in this post is how limited the professional performance is to invoke feelings, compared to the same effect in a social setting.

I mean, this woman put a lot of effort to create a creepy effect. And I think she did a good job. But still, how scary was it?

On a scary scale of 1-10. Where this is a one…

And a 10 is being hunted by mutant mental patients who were left in an abandoned asylum in the woods and have survived all these years by slowly feasting on the bodies of people who lost their way while traveling the back roads. (They eat them piece by piece, not killing their victims until they absolutely have to. They start with your penis, which they place on the grill, still attached to you. And the mental patient doing the deed used to work at one or those hotdog places where they butterfly the meat first.)

On that scale, what is this Britain’s Got Talent performance? A four maybe?

Now, imagine the exact same trick, but performed in a social context using the tools I write about here.

Imagine engaging someone in a conversation about some creepy location you read about. It’s not “patter,” so they’re not quite sure how to take this.

They’re experiencing something one-on-one, not in the comfort of a crowd.

You get to utilize a time investment to perhaps build a sense of impending creepiness. On Britain’s Got Talent you pretty much have 3 minutes between the time you’re introduced and the time you have to change into the ghost of Rhea Pearlman. That’s not really conducive to generating any true fear or dread.

But what if I get you to make a buy-in, and you agree to join me on a car trip to this location. Not too far. Maybe twenty minutes away. But as each mile passes, we’re getting further and further away from civilization. The streets are no longer lit. And the trees are much closer to the road.

Instead of this all happening in a set-dressed greenroom off the stage, it’s happening in a genuinely haunted location (“genuinely” “haunted,” I mean, of course.). It’s happening somewhere dark, and moist, amidst the scent of decay.

It’s in this location that—by a slowly dying flashlight—you look through the pictures and select one. And there, on the rotted wall behind you, you see the name of the person you selected. When you turn back, I am now the person you saw in that old photograph, lunging at you.

Here’s the truth, if you did that trick in a social magic setting like I just described, you would be a fucking asshole. It would be cruel.

The same effect that was somewhat creepy on stage would be genuinely terrifying off. But this goes for all emotional responses. They’re all amplified in a social context. The wistfully nostalgic trick on stage might bring someone to happy tears in a social setting. A sweet trick in a professional setting can be genuinely romantic one-on-one.

The magic feeling itself is intensified when the effect isn’t seen as part of a “performance.” That’s why I recommend stripping any of the trappings of a '“show” from your magic interactions, e.g., patter that isn’t conversational, routines that feel meticulously planned, etc. Your spectator may very well know it’s all still a trick, but if it feels like a “show” then they’re going to feel like an audience, rather than a participant. And getting them to feel like a participant is one of the goals of social magic.

I don’t mean it as a slight against professional performers to say a social performance has the potential to be more affecting to the audience. It’s just the nature of human experience. Professional magic is at a disadvantage when it comes to really connecting with people. It’s easy to think Copperfield has the edge in creating powerful magic because he’s got the money and a staff of people working for him. But the lights, the stage, the staff of people, even the name “David Copperfield,” all serve to distance him from his audience. Not connect with them.

When Copperfield flies in a theater in Vegas, the response is, “Ah, how delightful! I feel like a child again when I see that!” But if he was just a guy you knew from the bus stop and one day he was like, “I feel really weird. I think a moth crawled in my nose last night and got in my brain. I know it sounds ridiculous. I’ve just been light-headed and dizzy and having…like… moth thoughts all day.” And then he just flew up and started buzzing around a street lamp, you would not be talking about “the splendor of magical flight!” You’d be cursing up a storm, or grabbing your gun, or running down the street leaving a trail of poo dripping from one of the legs of your freshly shat pants.

Get Up to Date with Updates!

1 - The newest version of The Jerx app should be deployed tomorrow. Go to the instructions and scroll down to where it says April 2019 Update to see what’s been added.

2 - The first issue of the X-Comm review newsletter was sent to subscribers on Sunday at 9:34 PM, New York time. If you were expecting a copy, but didn’t get it, first check your spam. If it’s not there, make sure you’re checking the email associated with your paypal account (which is the default address I use unless you tell me otherwise.)

3 - The Exaltation of Joshua Jay Contest is being extended to Friday at noon, New York time. See the details of it in the post on April 11th.

The prize package has grown. Not only does it include all the Tenyo items you see here.

But a friend of the site is going to donate your choice of one of the following older and rarer Tenyo items.

• The Nostradamus Clock

• X-Ray File

• Squeeze Play

• Lucky Rabbit

• Silver Express

• Krazy Keys

• Alpha Tunnel

• Knife of the Ninja

• Telephone Telepathy

And you will get a $100 gift certificate to Vanishing Inc. Is Vanishing Inc. sponsoring this contest? No! I’m sponsoring the contest. (But hell, if any magic company would like to sponsor this contest, feel free, I’ll dump the Vanishing Inc. gift certificate like a hot potato for your $100 gift certificate).

Also, I’ve changed the way I’m going to judge the contest. Originally I was just going to picke the one I liked “best.” But I’m seemingly incapable of judging that, because each time a new entry comes in, I think, “Oh! I like this one best.” Recency bias and just generally being a happy-go-lucky ding-dong, delighted by everything, prevent me from judging the contest as I’d like. So instead I will nominate the top 3 or 5 (or more), and the winner will either be chosen randomly, or by a vote (if I can find a good way to do that).

If you’re like, “Oooh, I don’t care about Tenyo, but I’d like the gift certificate,” or, “I’d like something off that older Tenyo list, but I don’t need the new ones, I already have them,” just know that if you win you can accept any portion of the prize you like and the rest will be offered to the person in second place, and so on down the line.

There’s no point in entering if you’re not going to put some real effort into mimicking a JJ photo. I already have plenty of solid entrants, so you’ll have to do some work to crack the top 5, although it’s still very doable.

And yes, your photos will definitely be posted if you’re in the top group, and possibly even if you’re not. Although my default will be to not use your name, just your initials, so it won’t show up on a google search. IF you want your name associated with it, you’ll have to explicitly state that. For example, “Oh, please use my name. I want friends, family, and potential employers to be able to google my name and find a picture of me mimicking Joshua Jay except instead of a deck of cards I’m holding a clear dildo.”

Need

I had a little “A-Ha” moment while on break this past week.

Before I get to that, let me start this post with a conversation I’ve had with a number of women throughout my life. The conversation is the same, but it might start from one of two parallel paths. It’s me discussing one of my favorite past-times and the woman responding by saying one of these two things…

“I don’t like magic.”

Or

“I don’t like (receiving) oral sex.”

In both cases, I give a little smile and nod. “Sure,” I say.

“You don’t believe me?” she asks.

“Uhm… no, I believe you. I mean, I believe you think you don’t like it.”

“Oh, so I don’t know what I like?” she says.

“It’s not that,” I say, “I just get the sense that you haven’t experienced it from someone who knows what they’re doing. So your judgment is based on unsatisfying experiences. But I wouldn’t write it off all together if I were you.”

“Ah… I see, and let me guess…you’re the person who is going to change my mind about this?” she says, skeptically.

I stare her in the eyes. “Yes.”

I give it a beat. “I mean, if you give me the opportunity.”

Then, if she’s into the idea, we follow one of those parallel paths. Both which generally end with her screaming, “Oh, my god!”

✿✿✿

I met a girl named Jessica last summer. I mentioned my interest in magic. She told me she didn’t like magic. “Sure,” I said.

Whenever I get that response, I always ask them to break it down for me what they don’t like about magic. Often they can’t put it into words. They’ll say something like, “I just don’t like it.” I don’t mind this response. I relate to it. I don’t love watching most magicians either.

Jessica was one of those people who couldn’t put into words why she didn’t like magic.

Over the summer we became better friends and I showed her a few things in a social magic style and she absolutely loved them.

When I asked her what she like about the magic I was showing her, she couldn’t put that into words either. She would just give some unenlightening reply, “It’s fun. I don’t know. It’s just different.”

I tried to get her to give me something more helpful because I felt like if I could identify what specifically we can do to turn someone who doesn’t like magic into someone who does, then that would obviously be very valuable information. I must have asked Jessica three or four times about it because the turn around with her was dramatic. She went from saying she didn’t like magic at all to always pestering me to see more and more.

But she never really gave me anything solid to go on as far as what exactly caused the turn around.

✿✿✿

Then this past week I got an email from her talking about a podcast she listened to.

“[Conan O’Brien] described them [“them” is SCTV, the Canadian sketch comedy program] as ‘the least needy comedy show’ he’d ever seen. I think there’s something about that in the magic that you and Mark [a friend who also does “social” magic] do. It feels very non-needy. It’s just fun.”

Her email made me think back to the magic I performed 10-15 years ago. In those days, my magic was more traditional in presentation. “Watch this amazing thing I can do,” more or less.

What I noticed back then was that, generally, people seemed to enjoy the tricks. But the tricks I had the most fun performing and seemed to lead to the best “vibe” in the group, were often tricks that were a 6 or 7 on the “impressive” scale. A really solid card trick, or something like that.

On the other hand, if I showed them something that was a 10 as far as how amazing it was, I might get an initial blown away response, but there would often be an awkward energy afterwards. One that didn’t mesh well with hanging out and having fun. And I think I would tell myself, “Oh, well they’re just freaked out by that incredible thing you just showed them.” But I don’t think that was the problem. Or, at least, I think it was only part of the problem.

I think I have a better understanding of the issue now, and I believe it’s this…

Magic, when it’s performed well, makes the magician look powerful. And also, magic, even when it’s performed well, makes the magician look needy.

These two things are not compatible. And some audience members are more uncomfortable with this incongruence than others, and they will be turned-off from magic altogether.

✿✿✿

The more power you’re claiming to have, the more uncomfortable and awkward the “neediness” will feel in comparison to it. This is why a mediocre magician demonstrating sleight-of-hand will come off as a bit of a goofball, whereas a mediocre mentalist claiming actual powers will come across as weird or creepy.

It’s also why, when I was performing in the usual style, my tricks that were 6s and 7s on the impressive scale didn’t create the same uncomfortable energy the most powerful tricks would.

When I was performing a trick that was a “level 10” powerful, they were witnessing a great demonstration of power that wasn’t in harmony with someone seeking approval or attention which is how we typically come off when performing magic in the standard manner.

I believe, in a social setting, for your most impressive demonstrations to feel “right” to the spectators, you need to remove anything that comes across as needy, and that includes what we think of as the classic way to perform magic.

This is what I think Jessica was responding to. When the spectators don’t sense any “need” they can fully engage with even the strongest magic without having to wonder what the performer’s motivations may be.

✿✿✿

Some will disagree with me that performing magic makes the magician look needy, but I think it’s almost inarguable. Magic, as it’s traditionally performed, is you demonstrating something the people you’re performing for can’t do. Asking people to watch you do something in a social situation that they can’t do is inherently needy. You want their response, their attention, their appreciation, their validation.

But no! I don’t want anything from them. I just want to entertain them.

That may be true (I kind of doubt it) but that’s not how it will come off to other people. Put yourself in the spectator’s shoes. Think of it this way… if you go see an NBA game and you watch guys dunk and perform incredible feats of human agility, you can see that as pure entertainment. Now imagine yourself at a party and some guy says, “Hey everyone, come out front, I’m going to dunk a basketball for you.” You may be wildly impressed by his skill, but you’re also going to think, “This guy is a little desperate.”

The entertainment comes from him doing something that you can’t do. But, as I said, “Hey, I want to show you something that you can’t do,” is a simultaneously powerful and needy concept.

✿✿✿

The good news is, even though I hadn’t quite put it in these words, this whole site is filled with techniques to downplay or eliminate the “needy” element of magic, so you don’t create that awkward energy.

What is the Distracted Artist performance style? That’s dunking the basketball when you think no one is looking. That doesn’t come off as needy. That’s just cool.

What is the Peek Backstage performance style? That’s you saying, “Hey, would you mind coming outside and shooting something on my phone for a couple minutes? I’m trying to learn how to dunk, but I just can’t get it. I need to look at some video to see what my issue. is” Then they’re out there filming you and on the fifth or sixth attempt… you fucking do it! Oh my god! You can’t believe it. And they’re psyched too because they’re rooting for you. The neediness is gone.

Shifting the focus from the magician removes the neediness. The needy feeling is a byproduct of you asking them to watch you demonstrate your special ability. When your presentation shifts the focus from yourself, you’re undermining that feeling. It does not matter if they believe the presentation or not. You can tell them a believable lie that you want to show them an interesting psychological quirk of their mind, or you can tell them an obvious fiction about your invisible dog. Text will trump subtext. If your presentation is, “Check out what I can do,” (which is the standard presentation for traditional magic) that will reinforce the idea that you need validation. If you put the focus on anything else then you clearly are making the choice to not put it on your “abilities,” which is an obviously non-needy thing to do.

✿✿✿

While this is something to keep in mind throughout your performances, I think it’s particularly important the first few times you perform for someone. Over time you will build a reputation with them and they’ll begin to understand your motivations and probably won’t sense a neediness in your performances if you haven’t demonstrated one in the past.

But at the same time, if early on you perform in a way that looks like you’re showing off, or trying to impress them, or looking for approval, or doing anything else that comes off as needy, it’s probably going to take a lot of work to get them to lose that impression of you.