"Let me show you a trick"

[fabricemagic]

"Let me show you a trick" ,

Presenting like that a piece of Magic ,
Are we selling our job like " cheap tricks" ?
I feel that " they need to see miracles" not " only tricks"
What' s your opinion?
Thanks for your replay ,
Fabrice

[Jack Shalom]

Both are fine. Bread and roses. The more miracles, the less miraculous.

[MagicbyAlfred]

Personally, I would not say to anyone, "Let me show you trick." I rarely perform magic in a casual setting unless I am asked to do so. If I do some magic without being asked, I just "do it" without saying I'm going to and without first asking them if they would like to see a trick or magic. Examples would be: At a grocery store making my credit card vanish momentarily and then reproducing it before using it to pay for a transaction; acting as if I have only five dollars when presented with a check in a nice restaurant, then turning the five ones into five hundreds; making the pen vanish that the teller gave me to sign in the bank; or pulling a silver dollar out of a little kid's ear in a store, and then doing some sleights with the coin.

One time, I withdrew five hundred dollars cash, in one hundred dollar bills from a bank. As I put the bills in my wallet, I switched the bills for my flash cash. I brought the attention of the teller to the five one hundreds I held in my hand and said, "Excuse me, I think there is something odd about this money," and then, with a flick of the wrist turned the hundreds into five one dollar bills. Now that's good clean fun!

If I am performing at an event for which I am getting paid (usually I have to pay them to let me perform ), I will either ask, "May I entertain you for a few moments?" or sometimes, "Would you like to see a miracle." Often I just walk up, light a small piece of flash paper, a silver dollar appears out of the flames, and then I do a couple sleights. At that point they will usually want to see more...

[Jonathan Townsend]

"Let me show you a trick" ,

No introduction or context? May as well say "Let me show you my cell phone." Or better/worse - let me show you my shoes.

[Brad Jeffers]

It seems to work pretty well for THIS GUY.

[Tom Moore]

Magicians fallacy - it doesn’t work for him; by the time he walks up to someone to say that they’ve been through at least half an hour of pre-production briefings; researchers, directors and all manner of people prepping them for what was about to happen on camera. If you’re using (or justifying using) such an ill thought out opening line based on the misunderstanding of how a “reality” tv format uses it then you’re very misinformed.

[Spellbinder]

The best intro is just "making magic happen" as if it usual for you to pull money out of the air or flashes of fire or whatever. Let THEM ask YOU to show them a trick, and then answer: "Tricks? I don't know any tricks. I'm into ... (pause for a quick effect) ... magic!"

[Leonard Hevia]

The best intro is just "making magic happen" as if it usual for you to pull money out of the air or flashes of fire or whatever. Let THEM ask YOU to show them a trick, and then answer: "Tricks? I don't know any tricks. I'm into ... (pause for a quick effect) ... magic!"

Great thoughts Spellbinder!

[MagicbyAlfred]

The best intro is just "making magic happen" as if it usual for you to pull money out of the air or flashes of fire or whatever. Let THEM ask YOU to show them a trick, and then answer: "Tricks? I don't know any tricks. I'm into ... (pause for a quick effect) ... magic!"

Great thoughts Spellbinder!

I agree. Merlin, Harry Potter or Dumbledoor would never say, "Let me show you a trick." I have learned that even asking people, "Would you like to see some magic?" is lame and puts you at a disadvantage. Chances are that their Uncle Harold has bored them to tears with the same pick-a-card trick or interminable cutting-piles or dealing out card-trick(s) at every family gathering since time immemorial. Or, they have had the misfortune to encounter some wisenheimer "performer" who left a bad taste in their mouth for magicians.

It took me years and years to learn that the best way to approach a group at an event or table in a restaurant was to walk up and produce a Morgan silver dollar from the flames after lighting a piece of flash paper. No "let me show you trick," or asking if they want to see magic. Just doing it - and then they, far more often than not, will want more...

[MagicbyAlfred]

MagicbyAlfred Wrote: "It took me years and years to learn that the best way to approach a group at an event or table in a restaurant was to walk up and produce a Morgan silver dollar from the flames after lighting a piece of flash paper."

Clarification: "best way" for me

[Edward Pungot]

Rx: Sense of Wonder by Robert E. Neale
https://www.theoryandartofmagic.com/lesson/robert-e-neale-the-sense-of-wonder-pdf-the-trilogy-of-magic-book-2
table of contents
http://www.magiccastle.com/library/sense-of-wonder-the/

[Paco Nagata]

As Alfred said, if you say "Let me show you a trick", people would think about you as "someone that has leart a trick" or "someone that knows a trick", but never as a Magician.
Philosophising about magic I came up once with the premise that "showing magic" is not the same as "doing magic."
So, a Magician is not supposed to show magic; but DO magic.
People that "show magic" are people that have just learnt a trick, whereas a Magician "do" magic even without knowing how he or she has done that! (Perverse Magic...)
So, as Alfred say, a proper way for a Magician to approach a group at an event or table is doing some magic straightaway (accidentally or not), and it would even be more magical, interesting and funny.
Personally speaking my way has been generally to wait for some of my relatives or friends to ask me for doing some magic, due to my personal reputation as Magician among my people.
I have always trying to be a "demanded magician" instead of a "demanding magician," as if I were a "duty magician" prepared to entertain my people every time they ask me for.
I got popularity as a family magician like so.

[MagicbyAlfred]

Paco Wrote: "Personally speaking my way has been generally to wait for some of my relatives or friends to ask me for doing some magic, due to my personal reputation as Magician among my people. I have always trying to be a 'demanded magician' instead of a 'demanding magician,' as if I were a 'duty magician' prepared to entertain my people every time they ask me for.
I got popularity as a family magician like so."

That's a nice distinction (between a demanded magician and a demanding magician). I agree. When performing for family or friends, I almost always wait for someone to ask. The exception is sometimes when I have something new I've been working on that I want to try out. I think that as well as being a demanded magician, along those same lines, it is important to know when to stop. Like the old show business maxim says: "Leave them wanting more."

I remember that one of the very generous regulars I performed for at a bar I worked at once said to me: "Sometimes, I wish you would just stop after doing like one trick, or maybe two. The magic is so powerful, that I just want to stop and feel the moment and contemplate what I just witnessed. If you go quickly from one trick to the next, I can't truly appreciate the magic as much." I really took that to heart, and my sets became a lot shorter - sometimes literally just one trick. Often they would seek me out later and ask for more. I decided I liked that scenario a lot better...

I have no doubt that Paco regularly delivers when he is asked by his people to be on "duty" and that he entertains the socks off of them. I am also sure that they are touched and moved by his passion for card magic

[Paco Nagata]

"socks off"
I didn't know this phrasal verb
I looked it up in the dictionary...
I'm not only improving my magic knowledge thanks to you Alfred, but also my English

I remember that one of the very generous regulars I performed for at a bar I worked at once said to me: "Sometimes, I wish you would just stop after doing like one trick, or maybe two. The magic is so powerful, that I just want to stop and feel the moment and contemplate what I just witnessed. If you go quickly from one trick to the next, I can't truly appreciate the magic as much." I really took that to heart, and my sets became a lot shorter - sometimes literally just one trick. Often they would seek me out later and ask for more. I decided I liked that scenario a lot better...

This story if very interesting and instructive. It shows us that it is necessary for a comediant to stop talking to let spectators laugh. If a comedian say a joke after a joke without stopping, the audience wouldn't be able to enjoy the jokes in all its splendour, like the magic effects.