The Three Stooges

Nyuk, Nyuk, Nyuk . . . Whoop, Whoop, Whoop . . .No . . . not those three stooges. I’m talking ’bout the kind make many of us cringe – though, arguably, the aforementioned stooges may also make many of us cringe. So, do you use stooges?I personally don’t. Am I right? Am I wrong? Does it matter? I guess we’ll find out. Post your thoughts below.To me, there are three kinds of stooges. One is guy planted in the audience well ahead of time waiting for you to call upon him.

Then there is the impromptu stooge where you bring them up on stage and not until you secretly communicate to them their role do they know that they will be a stooge.

Then finally, there is the “pre-show” stooge. I may catch a lot of heat by referring to this person as a stooge, because they often don’t know that they are a stooge.

This third kind is the one who openly gives you a piece of information before the show without the audience every knowing that you spoke ahead of time. Then during the course of the routine, you open “reveal” this information which amazes the audience but does not amaze the “stooge.”

However the “stooge” is amazed at the rest of the effect and truly has no idea how it was done. So in this case, she’s an unwitting stooge.

Root:

Let’s remember our roots. This month’s root: Stooges. They have their place . . . or do they? My issue with stooges, particularly the impromptu stooge is not that they’ll reveal the secret, but rather that they’ll think every effect is accomplished this same way.

For the rest of the show, every person who gets his mind read will be chalked up to “instant stooge” in the mind of the one guy who was an instant stooge. The first stooge is the only one I’ve used in the past – as I’ve mentioned, I don’t use them any more.

The first stooge (plant in the audience) is usually a close friend of mine, but on occasion I’ve used total strangers. I used to do a cut and restored tie routine. When I would use a stranger, after the effect was over, he would (on occasion) hand the restored tie back to me in a gesture of “here’s your tie back.”

Well that ain’t good! As for stooge number 3 (the unwitting), I really hate this one because she does not know she’s a stooge. Thus she may be very open with the fact that we talked before the show. She may even go as far as asking her friends in the audience why they were so amazed when the magician named her favorite store . . . “I told him that before the show started. I have no idea how he knew what I would buy at that store or the price I would name, but I told him the store before the show.”

Well, I’ve been reading some old Annemann stuff where he makes use of a stooge. Some of the effects are quite clever, and has got me wondering what others think about this. It’s also getting me to rethink my own belief on the subject.

Branch:

Let’s build our branches. Would you use a stooge? If not, cool. If so, cool. However, I want to know why, and even if I don’t know why, you should have solid justification for your position. What do you think? Post your thoughts below.

Now go study the classics and go discover your true magical self.