Mike at the restaurant

Mike performing tableside circa 2005

“Bert Allerton’s Rules for the Close-Up Magician. “ Part Two

Please note that each element of “Bert Allerton’s Rules for the Close-Up Magician“ has been reprinted with the express written consent of Magic Inc. (no part may be re-printed in other media without consent of Magic Inc.)

To get a copy of, “Bert Allerton: The Close-Up Magician. “ Visit: http://www.magicinc.net/closeupmagician.aspx

We continue with our next point in the series…
“To be a really successful close-up magician you must:”

2. Love people to the point of sincerely being more interested in their enjoyment of what you are doing than in the effect itself.

This is tough! Most magicians really love to watch magic. We have not only an obsession with it but a fascination as well. Some effects are just cool to watch, even when you know the secret. (In fact many are even more amazing when you know!)

There are tricks that are incredible when presented in a straightforward way that would be more entertaining when played for comedy. This may be because of the nature of your performing character or the context of the performance itself.

In these cases you have to decide what’ more important the audience or the trick? Sounds like an easy choice right? Not always…Sometimes a performer gets more mileage out of making the effect the main thing. It can sweep everyone up into a sense of something bigger than themselves.

But I think what Allerton is talking about is really a matter of being gracious to the audience (and it’s certainly my goal!) For me the bottom line is this:

If my audience has a choice between saying, “Wow that was an amazing show!” VS. “Wow we had an amazing time!” I want them saying they had a great time. It’s not usually a choice between the two – but if it were I’m going to choose to focus on them.

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