(How) do magicians enjoy magic shows?

[marplots]

Anyone else get a Vietnam flashback from Garrette's description?

I forgot to mention something related that gets my goat. It's the person who possesses one (or a couple) secrets and misapplies them loudly as an explanation for everything that happens. "It's up his sleeve," or "It's done with mirrors."

You can't really correct them without exposing the real method, so there isn't a good retort. This leads some magicians to "over prove" and you get all that excessive showing the hands empty, asking someone to examine or sign something, and a range of junk that doesn't add to a trick. How many times have you seen some poor schmuck on stage spin a box around for no purpose other than to show the back of a box? The really good performers get around this by heading off the questions to begin with, but it's a trap that's easy to fall into.

And then there's the rise of Google and YouTube on smart phones during a performance. I've heard stories.

 

[Jomante]

I forgot to mention something related that gets my goat. It's the person who possesses one (or a couple) secrets and misapplies them loudly as an explanation for everything that happens. "It's up his sleeve," or "It's done with mirrors."

You can't really correct them without exposing the real method, so there isn't a good retort. This leads some magicians to "over prove"

Turn it into comedy. "Mirrors, you say?" as the magician pulls mirrors out of thin air. "Up my sleeves? What else is up there?" and out comes tons of stuff that couldn't possibly fit up the sleeve. That sort of thing. If you've prepared for that and nobody says anything then you can work it into your routine near the end.

I am neither a professional nor an amateur, but I was deeply involved in magic. I did find that it "ruined" some tricks knowing how they worked. Not because it wasn't a fantastic illusion, but often I knew what was coming up and it was too predictable as the magician stuck strictly to the script. BUT...once in a while I'd see a clever presentation of a trick I already knew and I would be able to appreciate the variation. When my friends try to get me to explain an illusion, I simply tell them that they don't really want to know because it will ruin magic for them.

Although I do have a story to share. At an ice cream shop my family stopped at some guy turned a penny into a nickle using a simple sleight of hand (a frenchie type of move *wink* *wink*) and after I showed my 7 year old son that I could do it too, he would not stop bugging me about it. So I used it as a lesson to teach him how it would "ruin" the effect for him and showed him how it was done. Wasn't a day later that he'd already forgotten and was asking me to do it again, so lesson not learned.

 

[Wolfman]

When my friends try to get me to explain an illusion, I simply tell them that they don't really want to know because it will ruin magic for them.

I guess it'd depend on the person. For me, knowing how a trick is done tends to greatly improve my appreciation of the performance, as I'm better able to actually recognize the artistry and skill involved. It also helps me to better distinguish between the truly talented, and the others.

And I'll admit that there's nothing I love more (I am not a magician, by the way...what I know is garnered just from videos and other explanations) than watching a trick, thinking I know how it's done...and then suddenly the magician does something that makes it obvious that my assumptions were wrong.

A lot of people tend to assume that magic tricks are just the result of gimmicks...false bottoms, something up the sleeve, etc. And of course, many of them are. But because of that, they tend not to appreciate the very real skill involved in many of those tricks, assuming that if they had that particular gimmick, then they could do the same trick. Learning how these tricks are done has given me a much greater appreciation for the phenomenal skill of the people who do them, and the incredible creativity of the people who actually create them.

 

[Senex]

If a professional magician goes to a magic show, do they see all the tricks? If so, is it as enjoyable for them as it is for a sap like me? If Penn or Teller go to somebody else's show, do you think they are left wondering how anything was done? I could imagine that you'd see how the opportunities were created without knowing every last detail.

There really isn't much new under the sun. I'm certain I can't explain all the animal tricks you see at Las Vegas but I know identical twin tricks and close up magic.

This is a true story. I was at Lou Tannen's magic store in NYC before Penn and Teller became Penn and Teller. Penn was in the store with me (believe me he is hard to miss). There is one guy helping me and one guy helping him (or chatting) but they both disappeared at the same time so we were both whistling looking at the ceiling. He folded before me and said hello. I was like 13 and he was in his early 20's. I knew he him from a TV show.

My point is I used to perform magic and I met Penn at the big magic store in NYC. You show up and it maybe it doesn't stink to be you. It's important you show up. I was good. I'm not a bad magic performer but I lost my way. I'm not as good as I was. It sucks to lose your way. Don't lose your way.

 

[Michael C]

If Penn or Teller go to somebody else's show, do you think they are left wondering how anything was done?

Look for Penn & Teller "Fool Us". I know AgeGap already posted an example, but since it's blocked in some countries you could see if this one works. Penn and Teller "have no idea" how Shawn Farquhar did the last part of this trick:



Several magicians actually managed to fool Penn & Teller, earning themselves a trip to Vegas to do their act on the Penn & Teller show. It was clear that both Penn & Teller also enjoyed many acts that didn't fool them: even though they knew the techniques being used, they appreciated the originality in the ways these techniques were used, they appreciated the presentation or they appreciated the perfection of the execution.

Here's an act that didn't fool them (well it fooled Penn but not Teller), but they both clearly loved it. Penn said "I think it's the best big illusion stage act I've ever seen":