Visions, The Online Journal of the Art of Magic

If you perform for pay much at all, I guarantee that you will, sooner or later, have a tough show. I’m talking about one of those shows where you would just as soon be sitting in a dentist’s chair getting a root canal with no Novocain. So what do you do?

I have heard (repeatedly) in magic forums, lectures, conventions and sessions, the old cliché: “There is no such thing as a bad audience; only bad magicians!” I think there is some truth to that, but I don’t think it is an absolute. In other words, I think that sometimes, there are “bad audiences.”

I had a show once for a group of guys who worked for a major heavy equipment manufacturer. It was the last night of a training conference. They were liquored up, they’d had dinner, and they had been told that, “as soon as the magician finishes his show, we’re all gonna go to the strip club!” For the next 45 minutes, that was a tough room!

I had another show where I was performing at an all-night graduation party for a wealthy private school. I went on at three in the morning. All of these kids drove nicer cars than I do. They were excited, spoiled, tired, and feeling like magic shows were for little kids. That was a tough room, too!

Another time, I was doing a Christmas party for the employees (and their families) of a large corporation. There had been a great deal of tension between management and the workforce. Both sides were there and they had been drinking heavily for about three hours. A couple of fights actually broke out during my act! Talk about a tough room!

Then there was the time I was playing at a nightclub. It was my fourth engagement at this club in about 18 months. The first three times, I was a huge hit. But this fourth time, right after I had been introduced, the biggest, meanest-looking guy I’ve ever seen outside of a biker gang or pro wrestling event stood up, started yelling obscenities and throwing tables across the room, and threatened to kill me and anyone who stood in his way. That was a really tough room, in more ways than one!

Over the years, I’ve done literally thousands of shows. About 75% of my business is comprised of repeats and referrals. I regularly get standing ovations at the end of my show. It “plays,” to people of all walks of life - construction workers, insurance agents, CEO’s. I know it’s a good show, and I’ve done it enough times to know everything that could go wrong and how to cover it. And still, maybe once in every several hundred shows, I find myself playing to a tough room.

Most of the time, the audience simply needs to “warm up” a bit, and by the end of the show, I’ve got ‘em. But sometimes… So what does one do when those sometimes become this time? Well, it depends.

Whenever possible, I “soldier on.” That’s what I did at the first two gigs mentioned above. It wasn’t easy, and it was like pulling teeth to get audience volunteers to help me, but I did the time I had been booked to do. I focused on a few people who were really trying to enjoy the show. If a certain genre of trick didn’t play well, I cut out anything similar to that genre later in the act. Conversely, when I had a “hit” (albeit a minor one), I tried to play to that. I took my check, thanked the person who booked me, and apologized that it wasn’t better received. In both cases, that person apologized to me for the behavior of the audience, and thanked me for being a professional.

In the latter two examples from above, well, that was a different story. My safety and the safety of others was at risk. In my performance agreement, it very clearly states that I will be provided with a safe environment in which to perform. At the first event, I looked at the boss and said, “You’ve got to do something about this.” When he didn’t, I said, “I can’t work like this.” I packed up and left. At the second event, I stopped and waited as the manager called the police and told the aggressor (who was on parole) that the cops were on the way. He left, and I went on with the show.

It is perfectly legitimate to evaluate yourself after a performance; to try to figure out what you could have done better to “put the show over.” But gang, sometimes, no matter what you do or could have done, the show wouldn’t have gone better because that particular audience (or at least a large portion of it) didn’t want you to go over well. That audience would have treated Houdini or Copperfield the same way. So, if at all possible tough it out, knowing that better days are ahead. But if safety becomes an issue, better safe than sorry!

Best wishes,