I have posted in the past how difficult it is to perform magic for my friends at work and I finally had to "draw the line". I was performing "Stolen Cards", a relatively easy card trick. I started with the ususal patter, which took about a minute, and as soon as I laid the first card down onto the table he reached for it. I got mad. I was advised by someone here about "magicians respect". I said "do you want me to do this or not?" "YOU'RE the one who wanted to see a trick, right?" he said "Yes". I told him to give me what's called a little magicians respect and DO NOT touch anything unless I tell you to. He said "Ok! Ok!". I went on to complete the trick and to my surprise he was shocked! (Once again an easy trick with proper presentation works wonders) then did another few and was happy with the outcome. Just a little request and they listened. It's still amazing how everyone just grabs whatever is placed down. I've even had someone try to grab it right out of my hand. Hopefully this the start of a "change" by my friends.

I'm glad it worked for you. I hope you don't have to do this with all your friends! I still think you need to be able to project "touching my stuff is unthinkable" to your spectators.

Nattefrost
Bravo sir, you took control of the situation and all turned out for the better. Wouldn't surprise me if that friend of yours asks again sometime in the future and gives you due respect

Good for you Natte.. definitely a step in the right direction. This happened with me too...and the best part was my confidence grew in leaps and bounds after that. Good luck!

Good for you! Don't be afraid to put your foot down. Soon you'll have 'em eating out of your hand.

Controlling the audience, it is one of the most important lessons in magic to learn. Good start.

A little authority and you're getting the prestige you need. Good!

That's awesome Nattefrost! It's your 'stage', take control of it.

Hopefully now that you've established the ground rules your friends will 'chill-out'
and simply enjoy the magic which makes your job easier and significantly more enjoyable!

Congratulations....Respect MY Authoritay!

That's something I've been quite afraid of too, performing for friends and the like.
But I'll try use that magician's respect line next time someone tries to grab something of mine. Still gotta work on my audience control.

Fortunately with friends you can get away with quite a bit as far as controlling is concerned.
So reading them the 'riot act' can be more than appropriate given they see you as 'friend' and not necessarily 'performer'.

It's when you are performing for people you don't know that it starts to get interesting. Then you've got to get creative
in how you get your message across. Too subtle and you lose control. Too heavy-handed and you're just seen as rude.

Nice! That's the way to do it

Its all in the way you control them. Polite and firm. Way to go.

Thanks, guys. The confidence level boosted way up after that. I'm just suprised that just one comment kind of changed things. I should have done that a while ago. Deep Astonishment is next........CONSIDERING THEY GIVE ME MY "MAGICIANS RESPECT"!!!!

It's an excellent example of audience control for beginners and pros! Good work!

Reminds me of the friends episode where Joey lets people know in no uncertain terms that 'Joey doesn't share food!'. You did a great job of making it clear who is in charge. I will remember this when I get to the point of presentation. Thank you!

Thanks for the nice responses. It was that I was kind of "afraid"- in a way- to ask for something like that because I had the impression that it may "take away" the spectator impression from the effect, or like I was "hiding" something but that WAS NOT the case. I really should have done that a while ago. Actually I did a little business card trick today called "business minded" where you predict what the spectator writes and when I started he sarcastically said "I know, I know, I won't touch anything" and the effect came out excellent. I love when they try to tell you how you did it and they are way off. He finally yelled 'COMON, WILL YOU TELL ME?" I said that since you have been giving me my "Magicians Respect", I'll tell you how it's done........................then I said.....................NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh good. So first you scold him for not giving you "Magician's Respect", whatever that is, and then afterwards you taunt him about not sharing the secret?

Lovely.

You can always say "As a musician has his musical instrument, this deck of cards is my instrument. You would not expect a musician to play for you while holding his hands or grabbing his guitar."

That's exactly what I did. This is one of my best friends of many years. I think he can take it.