:D hey guy.. i got kinda little problem here.. as i perform magic to my freinds... u know there's lot of different kind of audience..the problem is after i have done my trick, some of them will jus say "wow.. how u do tat" or "do it 1 moretime".. but another thing is wat if some of them jus like to challenge the magician by saying " oh.. i know u do this do tat correct?" or some of them jus " cheh.. i know how to do also ma, u do this do this, correct anot?" they jus like to bring everything down and " pour the cool water on u".. pls tell me how to handle the situation.. any better way?? :wacko: :(

Well... depends... if ya fren's are laymen or magician.

Also, their comments, are they because they saw a flash or an exposure? That's why they comment. Or is it coz they've seen this elsewhere and they just know how it is done.

You can just say something like... "er... Im not surela.... why dont u show me how u think it is done. Perform what i just did."

If they describe the way it is meant to perform and ask u "correct or not ah u did this and that..." Even if it is correct, just say "maybe", depends u want them to know or not. To me...if they can ask u correct or not ah?... it means they are not sure. If they know they wont comment. So dont agree with them. U can just say.. "that's a pretty good way, how u learn that ah.... u figured it out?" blah blah blah. Or another way is show them something that is really really amazing.. maybe not so sleight related trick. Sometimes self working tricks can just make them wow!

Most of the time... I feel that if one performance is near flawless and entertaining or skilled.. it is not so often to have fren's to comment and push u down like that.

Ive beeen doing card tricks to many of my frens. I almost show them the same ones over and over. haha... Some have an idea of what i actually do and some really dont know. For those who know a bit of sleights... it's always great to have comments like.. hey.... u v smooth.. i like a handling etc etc. That'll just give u the boost to perform more. Try jumping around from different audience. Dont always perform to the same old people. It is always good to have some magician frens or buddy as a tester and seek his/her opinion.

Dont be put down with comments like "hey i know wat u did la bla bla". There's always gonna be a smart-*ss person or heckler around. I'd say pick ya audience wisely and great the reactions u deserve!

Cheers,
Brendan

I guess almost every faces this problem when performing for friends.
I feel we must check and see if we had any of the problems below first before we say we had a difficult spectator.

1) Our performance was bad. We flash, or exposed a sleight, failed misdirection, etc. Technical problem.

2) Our performance was bad. All technique, no entertainment value, we made the effect come out as a challenge/puzzle instead of entertaining. Presentation problem.

This is just my opinion. Feel free to disagree. I'd like to hear your thoughts.

It may sound offensive, but maybe you did not perform as good as you thought you did. As I perform mostly to my friends and their friends I tend to notice that there are just people who does not love to see magic. There will always be 1 or 2 out of say 15 that will try to heckle you. When that happens try to stay clear of them the next time you perform. Then you won't have the trouble of them heckling you and you can perform your magic to the people that enjoy it

Just my thoughts

Well said Jeff...;)

people will try figuring out your effects because the way you perform it might not be entertaining enough.

Having people say "nice!", "smooth!" or "awesome!" all of the time will not make your magic better. It will make you complacent, self-centered and unwilling to learn or improve. Nice comments are a great boost to your confidence, nothing more.

Having a few negative comments and/or hecklers will inadvertently help you to improve. Situations like that will force you to ask yourself the question, "What am I doing wrong?"

And in the end you'll take a long, hard look at yourself, and find ways to make your magic better.

good thoughts and good will,

Baalan

hey guys... haha.. maybe u are rite..but i am sure i din expose my trick.. nah...maybe not entertaining enough... haha.. guess i should work harder 4 my magic 4 a better performance.. ;) .. thankz guys i really apreciate for ur comments here... ya another ques to ask.. izzit better not to perform to the "troublesome audience" anymore if he is like one or twice mocking or some how tease u after u perform a magic?? some time i feel kinda down so i jus keep quite coz dunno wat to do.. haha..

if you aren't appreciated by the spectators even after you know you did a good show, you shoudn't perform for them. Some people are just like that.

Be polite and end the show. BUt learn from your mistakes.

Sometimes performing for a "troublesome audience" can be challenging if you're somewhat of a masochist. Most of the time, you're just wasting energy.

Walk away, and flip 'em the finger. (kiddingggggg!!!)

Yups.. we all learn from our mistakes and feedbacks.

Presentation and entertainment value plays a big part in magic (i think a good 80%).

Skills.... well not really. U may screw up a lil but yet entertain them.

That what alot of us try to do... work on our skills, our sleights but lil effort put on our presentation aspects.

But, yes.... work on both skills and presentation and u'll be admired :P

As mentioned by Jeff, I do feel the same too, the problem usually lies in our performance / showmanship. If we are able to give our audience more than 80% entertainment value, (they enjoy your show, your jokes, and you interacting with them) most audience will love the magic.

However, they will be surely some black sheep in the audience that you are performing too. The best way is don't let the black sheep affect you, be able to entertain the 80% of the audience and the 20% that gives you trouble will usually be shut up by the other 80% due to spoiling your magic. However sometimes this will not be the case, in that way, just say sorry politely and walk away smilling.

Always reflect on what did you do wrong and how you can improve after each performance. What did you do wrong? Technically or performance wise?

Then analyse your audience from different angles. Maybe some of them are in a foul mood due to a parking fine? quarrel with friends or their partner? Not enough sleep? Macho attitute? Their attitute towards your show usually have a reason behind it.

Most of us have go through all this and after going through it many many times, we know how to handle hecklers. It is through trial and error that we learn as mentioned by Baalan and Brendan, this cannot be found in any book or dvds, it is only through experience we learn to handle it.

As a whole, there is no right and wrong, what I wrote is just from my opinion. :)

Hi

I think almost everyone sure will face the same problem, and i usually din perform much to my family, cos feel kinda weird to perform to them, cos all those presentation things, and my bro also learn some from me, so i ll just perform, he told me the mistake, i learn form there.

And 1 thing, i m not trying to be offence, but after i study in U, i feel like when you performed to malay, indian or other races, i feel like they are more friendly than chinese, by the way, i m a chinese too...i feel that they are really entertain by me, while the chinese just simply like wanna challenge wit you or somethin like that, try to spoilt ur trick everytime u start it.

My experience, i still remember there is a guy find me in my apartment, and the moment i open up the door, the guy jus say, i wanna challenge, that time i think that guy are crazy, but with the 'face' problem, i do some easy card tricks, after both of us finish, he jus walk away. In my mind, this kind of guy never grow up. u cant jus walk to the stranger and say 'wanna challenge u' u have to be polite, intro urself, so on and so on....

nice days, ^_^



p.s : sorry to the chinese out there....hope u all know our situation..

Erdnase said:" Not only shouldn't they see anything, they shouldn't suspicion anything." Can you do that? Obviously, I can't.

Sometimes, there'll be a heckler or two if you're performing to a crowd. Most of them will be appreciating your magic (if performed well) and the hecklers will try to make you look like an idiot by revealing your trick, whether they really do know how you do it or not.

When stuff like that happens to me, I'll make the heckler look like an idiot by making delibrate 'mistakes'. Here's an example of what happened to me not too long ago:

I was performing my usual ring routine to this group of malay boys in my school. They're a noisy bunch, but all of em' kept quiet and were impressed when I started performing my magic. All of em', except for this one heckler, of course. He was watching my every move. He had something to say for every move that I made, eventhough everything he was saying was crap. To shut him up, I did this move (It's part of my ring routine, actually). I took the ring, did a false f. drop, and pretended to keep it in my pocket (I did it really, really obviously). The heckler of course quickly said, "Dia simpan dalam poket dia!" or in english, "He kept it in his pocket!". Then, everyone else watching laughed at him when I revealed the ring on my finger. Bwahaha, I say!

Um. Yeah. That's my opinion on how to handle certain hecklers.

Hi

Haha, nice method though Rizal, haha, but when this kidna situation come, i usually either do Stigmata or Mindbender, hehe.....they sure will freak out of this, so, my advice is, keep ur strongest effect, hehe...

Nice days ^_^

Two words: Card p*****g. It solves most of the problem :P when you're with cards anyways. When you're not: False t******r, and get what Rizal did. When all else fail: Flick the finger, throw magicians insult (Ha well can you do Kosby's Raise Rise!?!? -even if you don't know what the hell it is-), and fly away.

The last one shouldn't be taken seriously.

“There is no place for challenge in professional magic.” (Fred Kaps)

When you respond to an interruption, you give the audience permission to interrupt again.

If it happened before, it’ll happen again.

Leave nothing to chance.

Always remain in control.

Jeff, you hit it right on the dot.

There's a lot of good advice to be read here, I hope we all take the time to read through and learn from those more experienced than us.