How to treat the Laymen

This is, of all of the things that I will blog about, one of the most important to me, because a single piece of advice totally flipped my perspective, changed my magic for the better, and literally started a revolution for one.

When I first started out (and if I am being honest, quite a few years after that) I thought of myself as a pretty good performer. I would do paid gigs, and the majority of the time, they would go very smoothly.

Occasionally, there would be the odd spectator or two who didn’t like the magic, or ones that would grab props, or interfere and heckle generally. But hey, what’s a guy to do? Everyone gets guys like that right? But a funny line, to put them in their place, puts them straight. That’s what I’d been told. My job is to show people magic, and I’d do that, regardless of anything else.

At the time, I thought like this. And now, here’s the piece of advice that blew my brain.

It comes (like all good knowledge) from an old man with a beard – Eugene Burger. In Mastering the Art of Magic (one of his books) he tackles the subject of hecklers, and how to ‘deal’ with them.

His advice wasn’t to ignore them, or belittle them, or even to view their actions as a threat of any kind. The fact is, Eugene says, is that these people want to participate in what you are doing, and get involved! Picking up the prop, or making a joke about making their wife vanish, or making the restaurant bill disappear, or many other exhibitions of the same sort, occur because people are INTERESTED in what you are doing.

Is the correct reaction to smite them down with a witty one-liner? Well, I certainly think so, for longer than I care to think.

But, I tried the advice at the next gig I did. Man, how everything changed! Things I perceived as a threat before were now opening up avenues for banter, light-hearted ‘playing’ with the audience, a bit of back and forth!

It overnight made my performing character obsolete. I didn’t need it anymore – the realization that I could just be my own personable self, and actually generate more reactions, and more laughs, more connections, was totally mind blowing.

From that, came a much-needed sense also of respect. When I approached a table previously, I would take a spectators negative reply to a request of magic as an insult, and would make a challenge of trying to ‘turn’ them. Looking back, it’s embarrassing to wonder about how many people just wanted a quiet meal out, and were instead subjected to sponge balls.

Now, I take a polite refusal in very good spirit. After all, would I want a close up magician interrupting a conversation and meal with close friends? Probably not. But no worries, I wish them a top evening, and say that if they change their minds, they just need to let me know.

This approach literally works wonders. I then do one table, and the laughs and reactions generated literally draw the other tables in, and suddenly, now that they realize you are good at what you do, and that other people are enjoying it, people that originally refused nearly always ask to see something!

And those that don’t haven’t had any part of their evening spoilt by an ambitious card routine – win/win!

Another aspect that changed was how I reacted to my spectators. As magicians, we often ask questions as part of a presentation, or often as misdirection. But you know what? I never used to listen to what they said! ‘Did you pick the number 7 for a reason?’ and with the secret move done, I’d be on my way.

Stop and listen to spectators. Ask many questions, and work with the responses you get – some people have amazing stories to tell, that will entertain you and the crowd! And if they don’t, at the very least, you look respectful. Again, win/win.

As always, I feel that I digress and ramble a bit in these things, but I hope my point was made, and that if you are honest with yourself, and see any part of you described above, you will try what I did. The chances are, you will never look back.

Until next time (if not before…)

Liam Montier for dudethatscoolmagic.co.uk

 

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