You Do Not Matter

You Do Not Matter
By Jeff Stone

Ouch! What a way to start an article. In my defense, I also do not matter. So who matters then? I think we all know the road I’m about to travel. The answer is: the audience matters. What’s more is that it’s not so much them that matters, but their perception of you that matters.

Root:
Let’s remember our roots. Whether you are a juggler, clown, comedian, mentalist, illusionist, close up magician, whatever you call yourself, you are an entertainer first and foremost. In order to be an entertainer, your audience must care. They must have a reason to watch, listen, and/or interact with you.

Without the reason, why are you there? What’s the point? I can’t answer this for you, but I can guide you there. Remember that The Professor Himself (Dai Vernon) said, regarding his effect Triumph, that you must make the story real. They must believe you. There must be an emotional hook.

The hook doesn’t have to be overly dramatic, but it must be interesting. Why is the hook so important? Why did The Professor rant about it? Because without it, you are nothing more than some clever guy bragging about what you can do that the audience cannot.

Why do you think Copperfield uses music, half-naked models and his “rugged good looks?” He does it for at least two different reasons: First it makes for great misdirection, but secondly and more importantly he creates drama and theater and sexual chemistry between himself and the dancer/model/assistant. Frankly it’s not my style, not even close, but it works. It draws people in. Your job is to figure out how to draw people in, so unless you look like David Copperfield and have an unlimited supply of hot models, you’ll want to read the branch.

Branch:
Let’s build our branches. How do you draw in the crowd? Well my experience is mostly with close up magic and children’s magic shows. I also have a bit of experience in stand up/corporate work. The break down is as follows for my experience:

• Children – 40%
• Close Up – 35%
• Corporate – 25%

I’ll base my answer to drawing in the crowd on my level of experience. First for children shows, then Close Up, then Stand Up/Corporate.

Children Shows:
It’s simple with kids. Back years ago before I ever did children shows, I asked a friend of mine, Brad Gordon, what advice he would give me when performing for children. His answer was simply, have fun and make a mess. That’s it, and you know what? He was right. Kids don’t care about the magic near as much as they care about getting to help or laughing or thinking they “caught you.”

My children show had several bits that were somewhat “sucker” bits where the kids got to yell and scream. I also used to use mouth coils and confetti to make a mess all over the kids, and at the end, I throw candy on them. This is the kind of stuff that gets them excited.

I also would do a routine where I would make a balloon levitate by using “static electricity.” When I would rub the balloon on my head, I would cause my head to stick to the wall instead of the balloon. It was this type of silly-ness that got the kids laughing, and as long as they thought I was funny, they were hooked – emotionally.

Close up:
In the words of Dr. Sam Beckett of Quantum Leap, “Oh Boy!” I say that because close up magic as fun and rewarding as it is, it is the most difficult to make an emotional connection. Without the connection, however, you are nothing more than “Uncle Frank” doing the 21 card trick.

Who wants to be that guy? Besides he smells funny and wears weird clothes. So in my experience, the best thing to do is take the time to truly listen, truly listen, truly listen, truly listen to your audience. Did I say that more than once? Yes. It’s that important.

When I introduce myself at a table or to a group of people at a gig, I always start off by saying something like “Hi my name is Jeff Stone and I’m the hired entertainment. How are you guys/folks doing?” That’s not the most clever opening line in the world, but it’s an ice breaker. That’s step one.

Step two is to show them something incredible. I will usually start with Max Maven’s/Phil Goldstein’s B’wav. It’s a powerful effect and it’s a little freaky if done right. Plus it has a killer emotional hook. My opening line is: “Do you have a good imagination? Have you ever wished that you could make your imagination become a reality? We’re going to do just that, make your imagination a reality.”

Then I go into my performance of B’wav. Once I perform B’wav, they are always blown away. Then they’ve discovered that I’m more than just Uncle Frank. I’m somewhat interesting and I’ve got people skills. From then on it’s about having fun with them.

Once the ice is “broken” and I’ve “nailed them” with a great effect, step three is “serious rapport.” Once they are applauding or gasping or whatever to B’wav, then I make some comment like “I’m glad you enjoyed that. Thank you. It’s nice to work for people who know how to have fun.”

Then I start asking people their names and what they do for work, fun, etc. I use an old sales/recruiting technique known as F.O.R.M.. It stands for Family, Occupation, Recreation, Message. First I ask about them and their family. Then I ask where they work and what their job is like. I then ask them what kind of things they do for fun. The Message part of F.O.R.M. can be construed as the another trick.

I spread out the various parts. I’ll start with them and their family, show some tricks, then ask about job and work, then more tricks, then recreation, etc. I’m looking for things we have in common that I can talk about with them. Trust me, the magic is secondary. If you find something that you both are interested in, it’s a golden opportunity that you don’t want to miss. That common ground is the emotional hook. Often it will tie right into a patter line that you may have, but even if it doesn’t, it’s ok. As long as you have solid opening lines – like my B’wav line about imagination – for your effects that will catch their interest.

Once they like you, things are much easier. Often, I’ll just say something like, “Do you wanna see something completely strange?” Or I may say in a whispering tone, “Can you guys keep a secret?” Anything to get them interested. They already want to be interested because they like me at this point. They’re hooked – emotionally.

Stand up/Corporate:
Warning! I’ve received a lot of criticism for this approach in my corporate work. However, all of the criticism came from other magicians, and none of it came from my audiences. The reaction from my audiences have always been incredible when I do this, and only so-so when I do not do this. So what is it that I do?

My corporate show is strictly mentalism – comedy mentalism to be exact. First, the big advantage of doing the corporate venue is that you usually have someone introducing you. I’ve written a cheat sheet to give to the Master of Ceremonies. It’s an introduction that is funny and gives me credibility as a performer. It mentions my experience and ends with a couple of jokes.

You can view it here if you’d like: MC Cheat Sheet. I print the MC Cheat Sheet with my number and email on the back. Then I cut them into half-sheets and laminate them. The MC gets to keep it.

Once I come on stage, I make a joke about my name: “My name is Jeff Stone. That’s right, my last name is Stone. People often take me for Granite.” Then I will do a couple of site gags that I’m keeping to myself (sorry, I can’t give away all of my secrets). Then, once I’ve got them laughing, I do something that is not magic, but appears to require great skill: Either a Magic Square or Solve The Rubik’s Cube in under a minute.

Either way, this gets them thinking that I’m funny and that I’m clever. Finally, I do a psychological force that I read in a Bob Cassidy book that creates the appearance of the entire audience reading my mind. Then it’s on to my act, but by this point, they’re eating out of the palm of my hand. The criticism I get from magicians is that I have too much comedy and too many gags at the beginning. However, whenever I change it, I get a weaker response from the audience. When I do the show as outlined, they’re hooked – emotionally.

Final Thoughts:
Remember, the root is to understand that you must create an environment where your audience will choose to care. The branch is that you are going to go out this week and perform and apply the principles I’ve outlined. Rather than scripting this out for you, you must build your own branch and practice these techniques. Now go study the classics, and go discover your true magical self.

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