Get Your Own Bread!
Get Your Own Bread!
By Jeff Stone
About a year or so ago, I was watching some old Sankey stuff (the very best of… by LL Pub), and Jay makes a joke about how he’s enjoyed working for the L&L audience because back in the real world they don’t react this good. They ask you to get their bread. The reason that’s funny is because it’s true. Too many times working in a restaurant or table to table situation, the spectators/patrons of the restaurant don’t fully understand your role and who you really are. That one line from Jay inspired this month’s article.
Have you ever been at a table giving your opening line and had a spectator ask you how much it’s going to cost to watch you do magic? I don’t work for tips. I always work gigs where someone else is paying me to entertain their guests, so I hate that question… how much does it cost? It ruins the moment. But it made me realize that if one person asked me, there are probably tons of others who are thinking it, and so they are distracted by their inner dialogue about price or wanting drink refills or more bread that they don’t “get” the magic.
Not “getting” the magic creates another problem. They become unsure as to whether or not you are done with “your little show.” They are distracted by your presence more than they are enamored by it. Of course this doesn’t happen at every table, and it has happens much less these days than it used to. It’s because I’ve learned how to properly handle my relationship with my audience.
Root:
Let’s remember our roots. This month, the root is clarity, clarity in your mind, clarity in the audience’s mind and clarity in your collective interaction’s mind. The audience must know what your role is and what their role is. How do you communicate those roles to them?
There are three levels for this process:
- Define the roles yourself
- Clarify them to yourself
- Communicate them to your audience
Branch:
Let’s build our branches. Let’s examine each one in detail. Step one is to define the roles yourself. This is, by far, the most difficult aspect of this exercise. Until this is done, the rest of the branching out process is impossible. This is also where most magicians fall short. They tend to just go up to a table, introduce themselves and do a trick.
Think about it from their perspective. Imagine you’re sitting at a table talking to your friends or having a business meeting and suddenly some “goof ball” shows up and begins telling you to hold this sponge, or pick that card or “loan me a dollar”, etc, etc…
It can be taken as very rude. So unless they know who you are and more importantly, who they are, you might as well stop performing. Let’s walk through my definition for me and my audience with the hope that it will inspire you to create your own definitions for you and your audience.
- Who am I? I am the hired entertainment.
- What’s my purpose? I’m here to enhance the already pleasant experience you (my audience) are having.
- Who are you? You are my team members, my helpers, my assistants, those who share the enhanced experience.
- What’s your purpose? You are to work with me and suspend your disbelief for a moment and have a good time.
That is my definition of my role and the audience’s role. I have defined the roles for myself. Understand that your definitions might be different. Maybe you see yourself as the master of the mind, and the audience is there merely to be in awe at your presence. That’s a tough role for everyone, but at least it’s been specifically defined.
So take a moment, right now, to figure out who you and your audience are. Then take a moment, right now, to figure out your purposes and how the two relate with each other.
Step two is to clarify them for yourself. If you haven’t already, now would be a good time to go back and read Diamond Jim’s article about character development, Know Thyself, in the October 2007 Roots and Branches. The intent of this step is to think through your role and your audience’s role and understand how you and they would react to certain situations.
Taking my information from step one, how would I and how would my audience react to certain situations? Well since my role is hired entertainment and I am to enhance an already great experience, I must carry a certain posture and confidence. I am funny. I am interesting. I am mysterious. I am clever. But most of all I (my character) am entertaining.
When placed in front of an audience I believe, I think, I know, I am sure that I will entertain because that’s my role. How do I enhance their experience? I work with (not against) my audience. I get them involved. I let them inside of my head. I show them that I’m one of them.
What’s their role? They are my helpers and without them the experience can’t happen. So how would someone like that act? They would be excited to see me. They would be eager to participate. They would welcome me at their table. Those are the characteristics that my audience would have if they were living their role properly.
The problem, however, is that the audience members and most magicians don’t know what their role is, and since nobody knows that the audience is supposed to be eager to participate, the audience ends up not being eager to participate. This leads us to step three which is communicate the roles to your audience.
How do I do it? What do I do? Before I answer that, keep in mind that my actions are solely based on my specific definitions of who I am and who my audience is to me. So you will need to do some soul-searching and make your own definitions and actions for your role and your audience’s role. If you have not taken the time to do steps 1 and 2, do them now.
First, in my definition of an audience, they are excited to see me and eager to participate. Well how do I inform a group of people that they are excited to see me? Good question. On my stage and “Parlor” acts, it’s a lot easier because I have an M.C. introducing me, and it’s very easy to loosen up the audience with my intro, plus as mentioned in last month’s Roots and Branches, I use a few jokes to start off. Also, they know that a show is happening. At a table in a restaurant, however, the fact that a show may be coming to their table in a minute may be quite a surprise.
When working strolling gigs, I make sure to have 2 major things going in my favor. First, I make sure that the manager of the restaurant or the host of the event, etc informs everyone that a table-to-table close-up magician will be present. I chose those specific words purposely. “Table-to-Table” lets them know that I’ll be coming to the table and “Interrupting” them.
“Close Up” magician always has better credibility than just plain old “magician.” You hear it all the time on talk shows, where the host will say something like “of all the different styles of magic, ‘close up’ magic is my favorite. It’s just so up close and personal and the magic happens inches from my face.” I’ve heard that phrase uttered by many talk show hosts and many lay people.
How does the manager or host inform the guests that I’ll be there? Well at a restaurant, it’s easy… table tents, posters and fliers that say, “Come and see close up magic by Jeff Stone every Tuesday evening.” For say wedding receptions or corporate parties, they need to make sure that the invitation mentions that there will be “close up table-to-table magic by Jeff Stone after dinner.”
I think you get the idea here. That’s the first major thing going in my favor. The second major item I need to make sure is going for me is the wait staff. During the meal, I’ll have them drop hints. Have them say things like, “has Jeff Stone come to your table yet? Let me go get him for you. He’s the hired entertainment. He does close up magic. You’ll love it. He’s great,” etc, etc….
The wait staff needs to be telling the audience how fun it is and how exciting it will be to have you at their table. Then when you show up, they are excited to see you just like I defined their role to be. While performing, I’m sure to ask them personable questions that help me to get to know them. I tell them things about me and my wife and kids to help them to get to know me. The old adage is true: People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.
I teach the “Gospel Doctrine” class in my church every Sunday, and I’ve found that the classes are much more successful when I really do care about the members of the congregation. When I truly care about them and they know that I’m there to serve them and learn together, not just lecture them, the classes are much more enlightening and beneficial to all of us.
The same is true when I perform. I’m always saying things to my audiences like, “you would be perfect for this next experiment.” Or, “I feel like we’ve gotten to know each other a little bit, do you feel like you can trust me?” My tone and attitude are taken right out of the Paul Harris school of thought regarding audience astonishment and connection. For a refresher on that subject, read the December 2007 Roots and Branches article, Astonishing Connections.
I am constantly treating them as a peer to me. We are “in it” together. If the moment of astonishment isn’t experienced properly, then it’s equally their fault and mine… That’s the attitude I convey. At the same time, if the moment is experienced, I also make it clear that it was equally their doing, that they helped the moment occur.
Remember, this is how I handle my audience. I wanted to show you what’s going on in my head for my role and my spectator’s role so that you can create your own roles and live by them. So instead of telling your audience to get their own bread, you can share a moment of astonishment with them.
Next month, we’ll talk about openers, closers and middle effects, and how to communicate with your audience when the beginning and end of your act is. That is definitely an extension of the topic of clearly defined roles. Now go study the classics, and go discover your true magical self.
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