Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Are some tricks just too good?

My favorite card trick is the ambitious card. I love that trick; It's fun, visual, and can go on forever. You can do it sitting down or standing up.

I almost always start my routine by asking the spectator to hold out their hand. I then openly place a face down card in the palm of their hand. I ask for them to name ANY playing card. Whatever card they name, I quickly scan through the deck and secretly cull their selection to the top . I now say,"would that be the best trick if the card I placed in your hand is the card you JUST NAMED?!" I then turn the spectator's card over (which 99% of the time is incorrect), and mutter,"you're right, that would be the best trick!"

This normally gets a laugh, and on the offbeat I perform a top change. I now switched the card in their hand for the card they just named. I make a magical gesture and reveal their selection. It's a pretty strong trick. It totally catches them off guard.

An even better trick is when the spectator just happens to name the indifferent card I placed in their hand.

This just happened to me this past weekend. I had the spectator name a card and I KNEW the card in their hand was the exact match. I made a huge build up and then revealed their selection. Normally when this occurs I bow to my no doubt, thunderous applause. I mean, I OPENLY PLACE A CARD IN THEIR HAND AND ASK THEM TO NAME ANY CARD. That card winds up being the card they named! That trick's impossible......

For some reason my spectators were not impressed. Sure, they fabricated some enthusiasm, but this trick should have made their jaws drop. What happened? Why didn't they care?
After all, it's as close to real mind reading as one could get. Has this situation happened to anyone else? Are some magic tricks just too perfect?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Interesting. I think most likely your spectators were not impressed for one of two reasons: 1) they were not paying attention enough or aware enough of what actually just happened or 2) the theater of the presentation was weak. Please note, I am not accusing you of #2! haha. I've never seen you perform, but I'm quite sure #2 is not the case.

Alot of magicians today have a tendency to bring up the argument that with today's media-drenched world that people are just not impressed. I am not of that school. I think that the simplest top-change or double lift can instantly impress even the most cynical spectators. The "moment of astonishment" (to quote Paul Harris) is just as much a reality today as it was 100 years ago. Comments?