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Roki Special user London 749 Posts |
I would ask "Does your wife know you use stooges ?"
Its another metaphor I know but its not unlike the attitude , if she doesn't know about an affair that makes it O.K. Plus a lot of others are doing it so its fine. Would your audience even be there if they knew you were s****ing around before the show? Would they feel betrayed if they found about it afterwards. Is it worth the risk? I think its up to the individual to decide. Just be sure you are not lying to yourself also. |
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Ola Loyal user Australia / Sweden 245 Posts |
Greg,
"I treat my mentalism like a crime scene... no clues and no witnesses." What a superb statement. If anyone in the audience can back-track and solve the mystery... You will be behind bars. You made my day with that statement Cheers Ola
You laugh because I'm different. I laugh because you are all the same...
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Gaston Quieto New user Argentina 23 Posts |
Everything depends on how you use it...I ve seen performers use stooges in the most horrendous ways, and I've sen others use them flawlessly. Now as pre-show you can say "people talks", yes, but what happened with the other people? it's just another weapon in the arsenal of a "PROFESSIONAL"performer...use it or not, like all the other props and gimmicks.
Gaston |
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Dark Thought 13 Regular user Washington D.C. 122 Posts |
Sorry to butt in on this but one point I'd like to make is even if we don't use stooges, pre show or electronics people still talk regardless.. This may not seem overly clear so let me use an example..
I was performing a stacked deck routine at a very high profile company function in Chicago. I use Richards stack combined with a very convincing f---e sh---le. I actually have a regular deck in play during the first sequence and the stacked deck is brought into play when the heat is totally off so the audience actually see others shuffling the cards etc. I performed the cards in pockets to great success. At the end of the show a lady came up to me and said "I was blown away by the card calling but John told me how it worked.", at which point her husband John comes over with a smug smile and says "I worked out the card calling, very clever though!" His solution was the cards were marked and I merely saw each back before naming it. Now we all know that isn't possible even if the backs were marked as the cards come out after being named. I pointed this out to John who then said "That's not what I remember? anyway you could have seen them as they went into the guys pockets." I told him my back was turned and I never looked around. He said " You can easily have someone in the audience tell you." At this point I had two options, one kick Johns arrogant head in or smile and walk away politely, luckily I chose the second option. My point is this even if we do not use stooges, pre show, electronics, sneaky books etc people will still jump to these conclusions. I think unknown performers (myself included) hear more truths about our performances and the theories the audience may have than recognized performers. A very promenant mentalist did a show for the company sister worked for about six years the audience was absolutely amazed and the show was a success, however when my sister spoke to many of her colleagues the follwing day many said things like "He must have just seen the drawing, maybe the book wasn't a regular book, he knew the number in advance obviously. The performer left this show not using stooges, electronics, or pre show and had a great round of applause yet he was totally unaware of what they really thought. Another great example is Uri Geller, I watched a documentary about him and a number of people actually saw him stick the bend in, when asked why they hadn't said anything to him they replied, this is Uri Geller, he was one of the most talked about men on the planet at that time, you just don't say things like that. Imagine the local unknown metalist in that situation, Ahh I saw that you just bent it. I have used a stooge a few times and it went perfectly, I think there is a danger with using an instant stooge as they may just be Mr or Mrs blubber mouth, I use a stooge who is a relation, looks nothing like me, is 30 years older and helps with a sequence I do for cabaret (mixed) audiences. I do not use stooges in corporate cabaret. I have no problem using electronics or small amounts of rationalized pre show that I mention in performance. A dietion would say everything is okay in moderation, I think the same applies to mentalism, the real art is knowing how much to use and when not to use it. To vary methods helps hide those we use. Michael Weber has a rubberband routine in Life savers that uses two methods both of which he mentions to cancel out the other, you'd have to read it to fully understand. DT13
"I love the one with the plastic thumb!"
Someone who has seen a s*** magician |
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