All of these are great examples but don't try explaining this to Bill Malone.

I had a dream last night...and YOU were in it!

Totally unbelievable. And if they do believe you, they'll probably just think you're a weirdo.

I LOVE Michael Ammar, and have really enjoyed spending a bit of time with him, but...
"All I have to do is...."

I feel like that's his go to line for just about everything he does. All I have to do is snap my fingers. All I have to do is cast a shadow over the deck. All I have to do is blow.
Wears me down a little bit when I've heard it for the thousandth time.

For me it's the "wouldn't it be incredible if ..." or "wouldn't it be magic if I could ..." line. Leading the witness. The audience knows immediately that you can do it because you're asking it. Always sounds like bragging to my ears and I cheer inwardly when the audience member shrugs in response.

This is for the people in the cheap seats.

Give me your hand, no the clean one.

Now

Solid through solid.

Check it out,Check it out.

One I despise is; " I have here an empty box (bag, etc.) as you can clearly see".

Stand here over the trap door.

I try not to say anything though it hurts when a Magician says "I LOVE Criss Angel..."

It would look something like this...

Now all I have to do is snap...

Would you be amazed if...

Magicians counting things (cards, ropes, etc.) when everyone can clearly see how many things there are. (Remember the words of Tommy Wonder: Only magicians and idiots count when the number is less than six).

Oh, and magicians referring to their trick as "experiments."

"absolutely nothing up my sleeves and at no time do my fingers leave my hands."

Any sentence that uses the word "silk" instead of "hankerchief"

Interesting post, but my question is this....Wayne Dobson delivered some of these corny lines (stand here over the trap door, not that hand the clean one) and the audience all laughed.....so if the line works, would you use it? Though of course your personality might mean it doesn't work for you.

D

I have recently seen a lot of clips of Wayne's old act and I honestly feel uncomfortable for some of the unwitting spectators dragged up on stage and subjected to that humor. I do not at all consider myself overly sensitive or PC. It doesn't strike me as either funny or something you should do to someone who purchased a ticket to your show.

Hi Denis,

Would this be from Wayne Dobson's DVD's a Life in Magic? ( A good buy by the way). In many ways I agree, and personally don't like comics who pick on audience members....I feel it is a bit like kicking a puppy since the comic can be rude but all the audience member can do is laugh....even if they want to smack the guy. But in addition to "that humour" there are also some general lines of the "stand there, no there over the trapdoor" variety which are not offensive and go down well. Taking it outside of Wayne there are also other magicians who successfully use some of the lines others find corny (heck maybe they ARE corny), so in the broader sense I guess my question is would forum members use a corny line if it raises a laugh?

"What I want for you to do is..."

"I have here an ordinary..."

"I'm a mentalist, I know everything, etc etc etc... I need an assistant; you sir, what's your name?"

"what I'm going to do is....."

When mentalists "hope that the experiment works" is a HUGE pet peeve...Especially when they never get it wrong.

#1: I don't expect a performer to experiment during my show.. I'd hope he knew what he was doing.

#2: I've seen mentalist get "small misses"...but for some reason, they always get the "big trick" correct.

One of these days.. I'd love to see a perfomer miss horribly... and then at an off moment.. do something even MORE spectacular.

Posted: Feb 13, 2011 12:27pm
On another note.. I hate "curosity shop" magic.

When a 12 year old takes out a MAK magic prop and tells a story about how he found this in the ancient ruins of outer Mongolia...

it's enough to make you want to SCREAM.