Sorry to be rude,

My wife just phoned me to say on GMTV (A Uk morning show, watched by many) has a magician on there.
His ruined the ACR by not finding her card and dropping them! And now performed a sponge ball routine which my wife thought was rubbish.

My wife is no magician, but she knows a few tricks I train on her... and if she thinks his just ruined it, then it must be bad!

I'll be watching it when I get home, she recorded it.

I don't want to be cruel, we all mess up! But don't go on nation wide TV and ruin a classic, basic effect. I feel it makes us look bad all over!

Sounds like the masked magician. And if it were him, he deserves it!

Jim

Well said Jim!!

I can feel your anger Wazmeister. lets just say these kind of people fail where others shine. And.. Karma karma karma

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3v0wgEZoW2c

I still smile everytime I see this

The good news is they really don't ruin anything. Magic is cyclic anyway. What they expose will be forgotten. Certainly in the us, where the average memory span is about 6.5 minutes.

Just watched it, wasent masked magician.

SOme young dude who does other hosting on TV and does magic too.

He just messed up poor sod from being so nervous and shaking + the girl messed all the cards up and dropp them all..

Still, he should be prepared for when things like that happen I suppose.

The original Masked Magician was, I believe, Las Vegas's Valentino, a very accomplished performer...that's definitely not him.

WazMeister, I hear ya. You're not being rude at all. Messed up the SPONGE Balls? Wow...that's one of the first effects I ever learned...he must have been an unpracticed beginner, for sure! Sad.

National TV, no less..tsk tsk.

Doug

He did SPonge ball well, messed up a basic ACR move.

Michiel, I hadn't seen that clip of the MM.

That has got to be the most painful "out" ever done. It actually hurt to watch.

I love it!

Thanks for the link!

Couldn't stop laughing...

I don't think it's fair to say he has ruined it for all of us! It certainly makes me feel good about my ACR

He used to do kid's magic on television and then went on to presenting other shows (think he might be older than he looks). His game show is about telephone numbers and it's called Magic Numbers so it might have been a case of the producers telling him to go relearn a few tricks for TV.

He has it all worked out apart from the tricks, got his own TV show etc, and seems a genuinely nice guy too. He may not get hired as a magician but I don't think he will want to.

How many times do we see poor singers and actors on television, I hardly think other actors claim they ruin it for them!

He's not claiming to be a master magician, he's just having a bit of fun and I'm glad to see at least SOME form of magic on morning TV again. I really wanted him to do well at this... but he did mess up a simple move and on his show this past week he did another simple trick, got it right but it was awkward and nervous. Still, I like the guy

You knew a train wreck was coming, but like a train wreck, you just couldn't help but watch wondering how bad it would be.

Oh that was hilarious. And that effect is rather easy! I believe there is a new season/another "masked magician" these days, he`s also on dutch tv in a horrible show called goochelaars ontmaskered (demasking the magicians), revealing things like the 100-dollar bill switch and other essential stuff. It really is self-torture to watch it as a magician, and I really hope this is the same guy

I know this youtube vid seems somewhat innocuous and I'm probably over thinking it but here is my 2 cents. I'm really of mixed minds on the masked magician. On the one hand we are getting to see magic on TV which is not terribly common. On the other hand there is the exposure. Does bringing magic to the public on TV and its potential promotional value outweigh the exposure and\or subpar performance? All I know is that as a beginner I would not feel comfortable performing any magic on TV let alone live TV and I give anyone credit who can try to pull this off. Guys like Chris Angel, Copperfield, Alain Nu, Penn and Teller have all been exceptional on TV.

The other side of this is the exposure. Does the negative effects of exposure sour the public against magic that it creates disinterest in the art? I honestly don't know what the layman's view is on this.

As you can see I've thought about this way too much. I'm very curious of other people's views on this.

Thanks,

Jeff

I made a comment a while ago in a thread about the Masked Magician because I was talking about a very simple 4 ace effect where it seems like you completely mix the cards and deal 4 piles and an ace ends up on top of each pile (each pile you deal 3 cards to the bottom and then one card on each pile, etc.) Very, very simple effect to do and then someone put a link to the Masked Magician on Youtube completely messing that effect up. (He only deals ONE card to the bottom of each pile and then tries to make up for it by using one of the cards as an "indicator" card, and then counted down that many cards).... Bottom line----he blew this one. Can someone who remembers this provide a link?


Posted: Aug 6, 2010 8:48pm
--------------------------------
I didn't mean to stray away from the last post with my comment, This is how I feel about the Masked Magician. When I saw him exposing all of those stage effects with those big props, I said to myself---"big deal...I do close up magic anyway and none of this exposure is going to affect me in any way. This is all Giant Stage Props that I will never use." I quickly learned what a very, very selfish thought I had and realized that people have their own style of magic whether it be stage, close-up, strolling, etc. Anyway, I then proceeded to watch the Masked Magician expose The Self-Tying Shoelace, Crushed and Cured Soda Can, and a bunch of other close-up effects. I was very wrong to think like that. I feel no one should be allowed to go onto National Television and do something like that. People that do not understand magic will love to watch this and see the "secret" behind all of the effects, but all in all it just stinks. It's real sad. I still don't know why he would do something like that.

I think the question of whether or not the MM exposure hurts magic should be left to those who make their living, or part of it at least, from magic. Until you have "skin in the game" you are just clouding the extent of the harm...

The tv magician ruined it for himself and nobody else.

Well, I have to respond (again). I worked as a stagehand a number of years. I worked the David Copperfield Show when he came to town, and had to sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement to protect not only HIM, but the 100 or so staff that work directly for him. Exposure would, of course, compromise the security of those said jobs.

Then we see this (~blank~) on National TV, exposing secrets, willy-nilly. I have made a living doing magic, and am glad I no longer do. Seems "anything goes" these days.

I'd be sued, screwed, gun-blued and possibly TATTOOED, if I ever blatantly exposed everything (or ANYTHING) I know of Copperfield's act. Heck, I got criticized a few years ago, for just discussing a well known effect here in the Café! No exposure mind you, just a discussion! The method was already being discussed, and I just added my opinion. Big mistake.

I couldn't do "Prohibition" for a long time due to that (~blank~)'s exposure in Prime Time! This gets me riled, and I shouldn't go too long on this. Your mileage may vary. Check your theater for a newspaper near you...

:)

Doug

I raised the question of whether exposure is really harmful in "Food for thought" and we had some good discussion. I honestly believe that it is an open questions as to how much damage it does or doesn't really do.

I do think as magicians we can put way too much emphasis on the mechanics and miss that we are performers first and foremost, and that the most brilliant mechanics fall flat in the hands of a dull performer and that a truly great performer can take mechanics we all know and either make them invisible or make us not care.

I also think that we feed the flames for exposure when we act like "keepers of great secrets."

But what kind and how much damage exposure does, I think if we're honest, we'd have to say no one really knows. Having said that, I think you have every right to be ****ed at this guy (or really his producer, he's totally replaceable behind that mask) for taking unknown risks with your livelyhood, if magic is that livelyhood.

Exposure not only hurts magicians, but also the public. Much of the excitement and interest in magic stems from trying to figure out how an effect is accomplished. This is especially true of effects that are quite simple in execution -- which many effects with the highest impact are -- if the spectators knew the secret, then the entire experience is often destroyed.

Magic is all about entertainment. Trying to figure out how is a key element of that entertainment.

Hudson