By: Z-MAN
I'm doing a walk-around/before dinner gig. I have about 1 hour to fill
up walking around an open bar entertaining people.
As far as the magic is concerned.. it's all taken care of.. its the approach to the spectators that Im a little unsure of..
"Can I show you something??","Look at that.. you have a coin in your ear" (Just kidding about the last one..)
Done a number of close up shows, just none that I have to walk around and approach. Any suggestions?
By: Big Daddy Cool
Good question. I do mostly walk-around. While some performers tend to
approach a table or group of spectators performing (M. Ammar's "Salt
or Pepper", David Acer's "Lost Eyeglasses" bit), I prefer an
introduction like: "Hi there Guys and Gals. My name is Big Daddy Cool,
and I've been hired to provide entertainment while you wait for your
dinner. Would you like to see some magic?" This does a couple of
things; introduces me, states my purpose, and qualifies my customer,
and seeks permission to entertain.
The last is very important to me. I seek permission as a courtesy. Many will shy away from this approach because it does leave the door open for spectators to say 'no', but in my opinion it is better to take the 'no' and move on to an appreciative audience. Remember there many different reasons for a spectator to decline your invitation, and very few of them have anything to do with you or your magic.
By: BottomDeal
When working in a cold magic situation like walk around or table
hopping you must remember that you are a salesman and you have a
product(youeself}. Now I could type for hours on what to say when you
approach a cold audience but what it all boils down to is you and your
personality. An audiance must like you befor they can like your magic
an they will decide wether they like you in the first 20 seconds.My
advice to you is to study the use of body language in sales and also
individual comfort zones. There are intire corses and books on these
subjects in any good bookstore. Another book I reccomend is Simon
Says: The Close-up Magic of Simon Lovell. In it you will find a
wonderful treatise on the very thing you asked about. Of coarse the
real secret is experence the more you work with people the better you
will become at dealing with them.
By: Steve V
You walk up to someone in a bar and say "Hi, can I show you
something?" and you might get popped in the chops. I would reccomend
the "Hi...wanna dance?" No, not that, I mean "Hi, I work for Smitty's
Steak House and Brothel (or what ever the name of the jernt is) and am
the house magician, may I show you some magic?".
By: Bryan Dean
Yes, that's my approach. I walk up and smile and introduce myself with
my name and that I'm the magician.
Just talk to them as you would if you were an invited guest. The response will be equally as friendly!
By: Bob K
I think there was a thread on this not long ago. My best suggestion
was "Hey- watch this or I'll kill you".
By: Dave Gripenwaldt
The "Uncanny Scot", Ron Wilson used to share in his lecture his
favorite "ice-breaker". He would approach a table/group with a color
changing knife and say, "Excuse me, did anyone here lose this red
knife? No? How about (change) this white knife?"...at which point he
would introduce himself and go from there.
This also arms you in case you want to take Bob K's approach.
Another good idea when you hit people cold is to have one or two "exit ramps" built into your routine. That is, have your opening effect be short, punchy, and designed to let you read the group after you get going. If they were just being polite when they let you start, and really don't give a rats patooti for your magic, you can do a short closing trick and take off. If things are going well, you can do your regular set.
And under the heading of "it can happen to anyone", Dai Vernon once working as a table hopper approached a couple who were in the middle of a fight, or making goo-goo eyes, or something. Dai walked up and spread his deck on the table and enquired if the couple wanted to see some magic. Without saying a word, the man picked up his drink and poured it over Dai's cards.
Guess that meant "no".
By: Carl
For the walk-around cocktail hour gig, I use the following:
"Aloha, my name is Carl and I have been hired to help make your night as magical as possible." I may then ask them where they are from or simply begin with my first effect...make sure it is strong!
By: Bob Dennis
This is the approach that I use most often when working in restaurants.
Hello everybody, how are you doing today? I'm the magician here, and I just came over to see if any of you would like to see some magic while you're waiting for your dinner. If you like, I could take a minute of your time and show you something amazing, compliments of the the house.
The reasons I word my approach like this are:
1. By asking them if they want to see any magic,I give them the opportunity to say yes, or decline. If they are wishy washy and aren't sure that they should say yes, I say, "If you like, I can show you one thing quickly, and then you can decide if you would like to see some more".
2. I tell them that I won't take up much of their time. Depending on their reaction to the first trick, I will either thank them for coming, tell them to enjoy their dinner, and wish them a good evening, or I will ask if they would like to see some more magic.
3. I let them know that it's free by telling them that it's compliments of the house.
If they say yes, to seeing some magic when I first approach them, the next thing that I do, is tell them my name, even though I wear a nameplate that has my name on it and the word magician. I then ask each one of them their names, so that I can use their names while talking to tham.
By: Mark Holland <
Here's a question for you all..... How do you aproach someone and ask
if they want to see some magic?
It's a hard one ..... Tommy Wonder said quite alot about this subject .......
If you aproach someone and ask if they want to see some magic they might say yes but really they want to say no but they are just being polite and don't want to hurt your feelings, so they watch and there like...yeh ok its good, although they don't like magic.
Maybe a good thing to do would be to do an impromptu trick first when there not excpecting anything like say .... the bitten coin .... it's quick and to the point .... and they are (hopefuly) amazed, then you take out your cards and go into your routines before they get a chance to get over the coin thing.
By: Elimis
There has already been discussion on this topic here in the
forum. Lots of people say to just ask, others suggest other things.
My method, however, is to let them approach me. I use this on the family, or friends of family. Sometimes on strangers. I just take a deck of cards, start doing flourishes, and let them ask me if I do tricks (which happens a lot, actually). This way, I am not intruding, and they have already seen me doing nice things with cards (or whatever I use at the time) and already think I am at least O.K.
When they ask, I go into a short routine (with cards, I just use a bit of ambitious cards, then I make it disappear and reappear, then a color change into their card). This routine is good IMO because it is short and to the point. Well, it isn't short, but it is easy to stop. I bring their card to the top, and again. If I see that they're not interested, I end there. If not, I continue with various nicer things, like color changes into their card, then back palming. And I can stop at any time.
If they want to see more, I usually do some more impromptu card tricks, and depending on the situation (if I can leave and return) then I go into some more prepared tricks.
By: APV
For me personally, when I am at the restaurant performing, I like to
do two things very quickly...One, is to let them know I do in fact
work at the restaurant, and two, that it is compliments of the
restaurant. Letting them know you work there is something you have to
do quick if its a table of 5 beautiful young women (at least it seems
to be for me)
I have also found that over the years you can get very very good at being able to judge wether a table will like to see magic just by watching their body language as you walk by.
The greatest thing in the world to me is, after intorducing myself, you can tell that they are saying yes just to be polite when they would rather not see magic but by the time I leave, they are asking to see more.
By: Jason Wethington
When I am working in a restauraunt I don't do magic right away. I feel
the best approach is a soft sell kind of thing. I walk up to the table
introduce myself as the house magician and get their names. During
this I am feeling them out, watching their reactions, when I say that
I perform magic. I get the issue of money out of the way by telling
them I am hired by the management. I chat with them for a moment
learning their names and when I feel that the tension has built ( you
can see them looking at your hands wanting to see something) properly
I then go into my routines. If they say no, I work at a magic-themed
restaurant and sometimes even there they say no, you aren't standing
with your deck in your hand ( pardon the expression) looking put
out. I have had great success with this approach. The best thing is
you can learn their names before you have to worry about controlling
cards or anything else and it lets them get to know you which is
really important. I have found that by doing this you are no longer
the "Magic Man" but now you become a person with a name that they
(hopefully) can identify with.
It does come down to what you feel comfortable with.
By: Olde Rabbit
If you are not specifically at a restaurant working, but in a more
informal setting, I'd suggest you just walk up to someone, talk with
them for a moment, then tell them you are a magician. Ask them if
they'd like to see a trick.
Then, do something which is very good, easy to follow, but not too long. And while they are watching the trick, you watch them. Do they care? Are they getting into it? If not, you'll know they just said "yes" because they didn't want to be rude and say "no", and you can thank them for the opportunity to perform, and move on.
However, if they show interest and enjoyment, you can do as Elimis said, working into a longer routine, with the ability to opt out anytime you perceive their interest flagging.
I wouldn't hold back from asking just because you think they might say "no". They may just as easily say "yes". And if they do say "no", it is most likely for reasons which have nothing to do with you personally. They may very well really enjoy magic, but not have time, be thinking about something important, be worried about something, etc.
By: magicshopguy
Every different person will have a different way of going up to
someone.
Johnny Ace Palmer goes up to people very calmly, introduces himself as a magician, speaks slowly, gets everyone's name, and shows them a quick "impromptu" trick.
Gregory Wilson is very excited, talks quickly, makes a few jokes (OK, a lot of jokes), shows some rapid fire tricks, and then gets into his routine.
From one extreme to another, but both are very capable magicians, and approach people in the style that they are accustomed to performing in. You have to go up to people, you can't just sit back and relax and wait for them to come up to you (that is if you're getting paid for the gig).
The names of the people you're performing for are important, and it's even better if you can remember them at the end of your routine. The best thing that I can recommend is to watch as many world-class magicians as you can. Buy MAGIC magazine, and read about where the magicians are performing, and then go there and watch them.
By: WhiteRabbit
I relise you are prob. talking about table hopping. The following
pertains to magic in our every day lives...
At Gregory Wilson's lecture Gregory said "We often, as magicians, Force our magic on people." He explained that many of us become the "Hey let me show you a trick!" person. He spoke about giving it then takeing it back. To explaine this he said that in a conversation we state, when asked or if it comes up, that we are a magician (Giving) then wait (Take Back). If they want to see something they will ask. This way your are not forcing yourself on people. Also he says "never do a trick for the 'So your a great big magician show me something'person." This person will not, normally, respect you magic. Also he brought up; when someone ask to see something don't give a 30 min show. If they ask to see another, Show them. If not, don't force yourself upon them by cramming the trick down their throats.
I have been trying this and have caught my self forcing once or twice and have stopped my self. I have found that the reactions over all a bigger and greater when I use Gregory's formula.
By: Elimis
I agree. I was performing for someone a few days ago, and after the
trick he started giving me all sorts of stupid explanations, telling
me it was obvious. I just stopped. If he looks at my magic as
something for him to figure out then use to annoy me, then after the
first trick, I stop.
BTW It was the routine I talked about earlier down. I had a Double Lift on the card and wanted to amaze him more, but I didn't even bother using it. I just said "OK, You're right" let him feel good with himself, and went back to other things.
By: Roscoe
I don't do paid shows, but at parties...
I usually start with a quick effect for someone I know. That usually gets a few people to watch from a distance. This way, they know that I can and am willing to do some entertaining. After that, I usually get asked by a few other people. Sometimes it can turn into a real show, sometimes I do one or two more and that's it. Kind of depends on the group.
I have found that the more people know I am into magic, the more often I get asked before I even have to look for someone I know.
Of course if any of my grandkids are around, the problem is stopping
By: Carl Andrews
It really depends upon the situation. Are you hired to perform? Is it
a walk around gig at a cocktail party or a table hopping gig at a
restaurant. My first video "making a living performing close-up magic"
covers the restaurant in great detail. My second video, due out any
time now by MagicSmith, is all about working the strolling gig. Also
in Magic Menu, Gregory Wilson had a column with several unique ways to
approach.
An example of one way I may approach people at a strolling gig where I have been hired:
Aloha(I live in Hawaii)my name is Carl, I've been hired to make your night as magical as possible. I hope your having fun so far but it is about to get even better....and begin my first effect. Notice I do not ask if they want to see magic, I have been hired to show them magic. I introduce myself, let them know they are about to have some fun, and then begin.
By: Ron Reid
Hi Carl:
I had a strolling gig last night and tried your approach and it worked wonderfully for me. I've tried many other approaches, and this one sits very comfortably with me. Simple and direct.
By: Bob Dennis
Whether at a restaurant, or at a private function, I always give the
people a chance to decline, if they wish.
Here's an example in a restaurant: "Hello everyone, welcome to -------. How is everything so far? Great. My name is Bob Dennis, and I'm the magician here. I stopped by to see if any of you would like to see some magic while you are waiting for your meal. If you like, I could take a few minutes of your time, and show you some magic. And if not, that's o.k."
If it's a private function, then I just introduce myself and tell them that "I'm the magician here today." Then follow with the rest of my introduction, just like the one I use in restaurants.
Often, after telling people that I'm the magician here, judging by their reaction, I'll say, "Well, somebody has to do it!" That usually gets a laugh and lightens things up a bit.
Another line that I use from time to time, I read in the Magic Menu. I don't recall the name of the magician who used it, is "Excuse me for interrupting folks, but that's my job here. How am I doing so far?"
For the right type of group, this line is pretty funny, and gets a laugh before I introduce myself.
By: Carl Andrews
Sorry Bob but in my 20 years experience of performing for a living, I
disagree with giving them an option to say no. I never give them a
choice because you are asking them to answer a question that they are
not equipped to answer...do you want to see some magic? I don't know
what does it cost? Are you any good? what kind of magic? are you
kidding? etc.etc.etc. Just introduce yourself, using the line you
found in magic menu is good to get a laugh with the intro and then
start into your act, you are hired to entertain people so entertain
them. If it becomes obvious during your first effect, that the group
is not interested, thank them for watching and then move on. That's my
2 cents.
By: Bob Dennis
Carl, thanks for your opinion on the subject. I appreciate your point
of view, and I'm always open to new ideas.
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