Fair Enough

I want you to examine this deck of cards . . . fair enough?

Now shuffle them up . . . fair enough?

There are 52 cards in a deck and I want you to think of any card . . . any card that you want . . . fair enough?

Really? Is that really necessary? Guys please stop saying that! I’ve heard just about every single magician that I’ve ever seen perform (live or on DVD) use that phrase. Even some really solid performers that I really respect. It’s extremely annoying and definitely overkill in my opinion. Especially, some of these guys are saying it dozens and dozens of times in their act and several times per effect. What that tells me is that they are not quite aware of what they are saying. We’ve all been there . . . said one thing but meant another or didn’t realize that we said a certain thing or phrase . . . or even worse: you know what you said, but had no idea how it sounded (e.g. rude, bossy, arrogant, etc).

Root:

Let’s remember our roots. This month’s root: Watch what you say. Be aware. There are so many phrases out there . . . so many jokes, lines, etc. Too many magicians are using them and magicians are using them too many times. I know I’ve ranted about this before, but it’s so important that it’s worth a repeat rant. Do Me a Favor and read the previous rant from January 2010.

There’s a list of annoying catch phrases and standard lines and jokes in the above mentioned article. This month’s root is about being aware of yourself. Much like the previously mentioned rant, it’s all about respecting yourself and your audience enough to care about who you are and what you do.

Would you leave the house without thinking about (and acting upon) how you look? How you smell? Hopefully the answer is no. Would you go to a gig without thinking about (and acting upon) which props you need to bring, etc? Hopefully not. However many of you leave the house and go to a gig without thinking at all about what you’ll say, how you’ll say it, and so forth.

Branch:

Let’s build our branches. Over the next 30 days, I want you to take an effect from your arsenal. Completely change the presentation. Change the patter. If you don’t have a script for it, write one, and practice it word for word. No, the ultimate goal is not to make you script all of your routines word for word, but the goal is to make you think about what you’re saying. I want you to perform an effect where you know every single word that you’re going to say . . . word for word. Do not stray from it. Just try it out for a few weeks . . . just on one effect, not your whole act. Don’t say anything that you didn’t plan.

You may find it liberating as odd as that sounds. You may find it debilitating. It all depends on you and your audience and the effect that you choose. I would definitely recommend that for this experiment you use an effect that doesn’t involve a lot of interaction with your audience. That will minimize the chance of you having to respond and thus go off script.

The point of this exercise is merely to help you be aware of what you’re saying. Once you’ve completed this experiment you’ll have honed your self-listening skills quite a bit, and you’ll, hopefully, be more aware of what you’re saying in other scenarios . . . Fair Enough?

Now go study the Classics and Go Discover Your True Magical Self.