Tom Burgoon's Snake Eyes would be perfect. It's a brilliant little trick that's sure to get laughs. It is inexpensive and worth every penny.

http://www.penguinmagic.com/product.php?ID=S9174

What I thought of was....how the heck does he know where every one of your shows is going to take place? How does he find out?

Best,

He just asks some of my friends or he looks on my skype or facebook status. I blocked him, but I guess he sees it anyways...

Goblin

Don't go there.

Magic is about entertainment. If this person doesn't want to be entertained, then don't entertain them. Trying to prove yourself as someone who can put something over on another person will never advance an agenda of becoming a good magician. Unless you area a paid performer, then you are not required to perform. Wait till this individual is not around.

A great magician, Max Malini, once asked how long should you wait till you do a trick. His response was,

"You vait a veek,"

Malini was famous for producing a block of ice from under a hat -- in the late 1800's! Imagine carrying a block of ice around under your suit for the right time to produce it! Well, that is the same advice I give you -- wait till this person is not around to do your magic. You will be much better off not trying to one-up them with some sucker trick.

Good luck,
Hudson

I keep a bat in the trunk for guys like that!!! lol

Sounds like you may have a bit of a stalker problem.

This "friend" sounds pretty insecure (and VERY childish). He's trying to 'prove' to himself 'something'. Blow him off 100%. After you do a excellent effect, and he states something like he can do better... go ahead hand him the deck (or what ever) and demand that he does the SAME effect... but better. Call him on the red carpet... let him embarrass himself to all the others. After a time of two, I'll bet he'll stop. (You ARE doing the effect perfectly aren't you?)

Of course, I wouldn't show something until I'm 100% sure that I'll not mess it up.

It sounds like he may have a crush on you and that's his way of flirting. Maybe you should invite him to coffee one day and ask him why he is always a jerk. He may just be jealous. Perhaps you could teach him a trick and convince him to try it out on one of his own friends. Then just be there to support him. Show him the way to be a good friend/audience member. Kill 'm with kindness is what I always say. Just always keep in mind that even though magic to the magician is nothing short of angles and manipulation of objects, there is a very real unseen energy that reacts on your positive or negative output. And if you are playing dirty tricks on people it will come right back to you eventually. ...Having said that, the flaming bag of dog poop on the doorstep is always a classic. Good luck either way. Namaste.

Instead of all of this crazy stuff, why don't you pull him aside and explain to this guy exactly what is bugging you and let him know that it is really bothering you, and can he please just STOP it. (I will say that if he really IS a virgin, any comments to that effect towards him would REALLY make him think differently when he wants to embarrass you. But only if he REALLY IS a virgin.). But you should just tell him how you feel and that you are trying to put on a show and entertain people and what he is doing is just NOT right. It's not easy trying to perform for people even when your audience is "perfect", let alone some loudmouth trying to ruin your show. You should really try as hard as you can to speak to him on a real serious level, and THEN and only THEN, if he scoffs at your suggestion, you may have to follow the advice everyone is giving you. I have to admit I was stunned when I saw that this guy is 25 years old. Until I saw that I thought this thread was about 2 teens going at it. I would assume that the people you perform for ALSO would not like this idiot around, too? Especially when they come to see YOU, no? What do THEY do when all of this stuff happens? How old are you if I don't mind asking?

Not sure if you are familiar with an effect called "Death to the Heckler". It may work on this individual. All it involves is a force with a "tarot deck" of cards and an envelope with a message inside.

I'm 23. I tried a lot of times to talk normally with him, but he always says stuff like "Because it's fun". I can't even believe that such a person could exist. Even most unbelievable is that he is not 14 to act like that.
The other people from the audience don't mind, because they are curious and want to understand my methods. For example, when I use the riffle force, he always says something like "you didn't stop where he told you". The others feel curious and want to know if it's true, so they ask me to do it again. So I just use another force, like the number 9 force (i always have a duplicate force card on the 9th position, just in case he ruins the riffle force). I just tell them, "okay, if you think I'm cheating, let's do it in the fairest way possible" and I give them the instructions. He doesn't know how it works, so at least he can't ruin it.
Since he knows some sleights, he just tells them what I did. So in my shows, I still use those sleights, but I always have a plan B. That way he cannot reveal them the tricks. Most of the tricks I do involve gimmicks and gaffs, so even if he tells them the move, he cannot explain the reveal itself, the magic moment.

I do my shows in the VIP room of a bar, I asked the manager to tell the security to forbit him to go in, but he said that he is a regular customer and he can't do it.

I think next time I'll get him in front of everybody and I'll do the card on forehead by Michael Finney on him. If it doesn't make him stop, then I'll think of something else.

Ok. That right there is the important part for me. How serious are you about working there? Management told you that he is a good customer and they do not want to tell him not to do it. Read between the lines: make him feel really bad, like an idiot, he will complain, and you loose the gig. I am speaking from experience here. If management has to choose between what they consider a good customer and the hired magician, the customer wins! If you want to put a heckler in his place, that is one thing, but be aware you are walking a very thin line!

Just my opinion...

Also, unless the other patrons at the bar are sick and tired of this guy, they are not going to want to see you rip him apart publicly. Don't make yourself the jerk.

Here's another thought. Switch directions entirely. Do totally different magic. This takes time to prepare, but you can do it. If you normally do cards, try rope magic. There's some really great stuff out there for ropes. And you can play it totally straight or be very silly. Want to have the whole audience laughing? Do Professor Cheers.

Or, do a series of sucker tricks and present them as a lesson in magic. Whit Haydn has an utterly fantastic act (check YouTube) that is made up of tricks he is "teaching" the audience. Present it with something like "Our favorite magic teacher is probably tired of having to explain to everyone how all of my tricks work, so I thought that today I'd give him a break. Instead of trying to fool you, I will explain how each and every one of my magic tricks works and you can all go home and amaze your girlfriends. Girls love magic, just ask him!"

The half-dyed hank DT routine is a real killer. The whole routine is predicated on the idea that you are explaining how to perform the trick. Haydn does silk to egg (I really like Steve Dacri's method where he uses duplicate props and has a volunteer going through the same motions), but I don't like the idea of carrying raw eggs around. Mess potential.

If you did a simple C&R rope, you could use a method your heckler probably doesn't know and then say the way it works is a complicated apparatus that whips the cut bits up your sleeve, here let me show you the other rope. Start pulling. Professor Cheers, of course. Use that to close.

The Paul Potassey newspaper tear is one that uses the same teaching format. Also, you can do a napkin tear similarly. Bars will have plenty of napkins. Mark Wilson's book has a good basic routine for this, Aldo Columbini has another on one of his DVDs.

Not exactly a sucker gag, but the Magician's Insurance Policy is fun. You tell them that you have some special method for telling what card they picked and offer to "prove" it to them. After about 20 wrong cards (make it as creative as you can, use jumbo cards, have a card on your back, one behind the picture on the wall, and so on) you finally pull out the insurance policy and give the line about how you knew there was always a tiny chance of getting it wrong, so you took out insurance for just that possibility. It starts off with a simple pick-a-card premise and ends with a correct revelation. Your "teaching moment" is just there to make it fit with such a routine.

Lots of tricks exist that have sucker endings or you can be creative and write your own. What would be a good sucker explanation to something like card on ceiling?

Doing a "teaching" act that is made up of sucker tricks is gentler than just slamming the jerk. It means totally restructuring your performance, but if you are at all funny it also means you get everyone laughing and having a good time. If the jerk tries to shout out a method, you just sigh and say "close, but not quite! Just watch along with everyone else and you will see how it is done for real."

I think I just started scripting myself a new act.

Above all, look at this as a way to practice being professional under fire. Not everyone will go along with magic and enjoy the ride. You have to find a way to help everyone else have fun without letting this guy ruin it.

And you could always just keep a Pea Can in your pocket if you have to be mean to this guy. Small, cheap, mean gag without making you look like a total jerk. A gag that gets a laugh at his expense without hurting anyone.

-Patrick

Thank you!

I never thought about that. I'm only a card magician, I'm not good at all with other stuff, but probably because I haven't tried enough.
It seems that this is a good motivation to expand my magic.

My wife suggests that you develop alternative patter instead of changing your focus. Be prepared to answer most possible call-outs and do it in a way that keeps the audience on your side. If he says "you didn't stop when she said to" you can respond "well, of course! It's a trick!" and then use a different force. Plan for him to try to handicap you and it looks like part of the show. Many comedy magicians use the concept of failing at what was intended to build humor and suspense. Then they succeed anyway and that's the best part. Find a way to plan ahead to succeed no matter what this goofball says. And use him as a foil to make the show better because there's sure to be someone else thinking what he is saying.

You can also draw the audience into it by asking "does everyone here really want this gentleman to keep interrupting?" Only do that if the vibe is right for it, but be prepared to let others know they are important here. Some really good advice from card wizard Simon Lovell in one of his Man of Danger tapes was "care about your audience." Not really easy to understand at first, but how much does it show the rest of your audience that you care when you let the one goofball keep messing things up? Show them you care that they all have a good time.

-Patrick

Three thoughts - first Aldo Colimbini has books of comedy lines for use against hecklers.

Second. I have always liked the line "Don't watch too closely I am not that good"

Third one of the forum guys on another thread wrote something on the lines of....in these situations he says "whenever someone tells me how a trick is done I tell them they are right, irrespective of whether they are right or wrong......so .....you're right"

Good luck and let us know how you get on

This from Tarbell may be pertinent:-

How to Deal with the Wiseacres. No matter what happens, you must keep your poise. Always be a
gentleman, and be the master of every situation. There is occasionally someone in an audience who tries to
discourage the performer and put him in embarrassing positions — the "smart" person who will not give the
performer a chance. If the magician suggests one thing, he suggests another. He also is the type who tells
everyone around him how the trick is done. He is seldom, if ever right but he is very annoying, nevertheless.
He acts in this manner because he wants to be in the limelight and he is doing his best to get there. You must
never permit yourself to fear this person.
The audience is always with the performer. They do not like to have disturbing elements arise to interfere
with the show and they will admire you if you keep cool and smile away difficulties. Make your presentation so
good that even the wiseacre will admit your worth. The tricks in this course are designed to help you puzzle the
"wise" ones.
Remember that you are the MASTER during your performance. Your audience will think so and you must
keep them thinking so.
I shall tell you of one experience I had with the so-called wiseacre. This man insisted on making noise
during my performance. Instead of becoming provoked and arguing with him, I said to the audience: "It isn't
very often in performing on occasions like this that I have a magician in the audience, so I am going to ask him
to come up and help me."
Then I gave him a few articles and said: "I am going to let you do the next trick. You know this one is
familiar to all of us magicians. I think it is about the first one we learn. It is called THE BURNING
HANDKERCHIEF. Now you show the audience how we do this."
Then I sat down and waited for him to do the trick. Needless to say, he was unable to do it and appeared
ridiculous in the eyes of the audience. That was the last I heard of him.
Another way of dealing with this sort of person is to describe hurriedly what you are going to do and give
him the material without the secret apparatus. Of course, he is stunned, and you can go on with your show.
A good scheme is to tie the double tapes around his neck, pass them through his sleeves and tie the rings
on without using the fake joining. Give the two ends to two spectators to hold. Then tell this man that as he is
an accomplished magician he will have no difficulty in escaping from the ropes while the gentlemen pull on
them. Of course, he is unsuccessful. Then you arrange the tapes with fake joining principle and put them
around another gentleman. You get your effect, and the wiseacre is squelched.

That may have been effective 80 years ago for a general know it all (or the outdated term "wiseacre"), but the person Goblin describes is intentionally going out of his way to be at his shows to show/screw him up. It does not seem that there is any trick or patter fix which will make this loser let up.

I love the advice of Mr. Wollery, Cyberquat and djurmann. This would be my line of approach for this issue. However, just for the sake of completeness (this is not my style at all- and I would probably never do it) I was at a magic store once and picked up a shock-pen. When I say that the experience was uncomfortable and threw me off my game for a few minutes I am not exaggerating. I remember it to this day. (it's a pen or a lighter that when picked up delivers a not-insignificant electric-shock)

If I had a bully like this- and I had tried every way to dissuade him- given up every option- I think I would like to see what happens when I told him specifically not to touch my pen, then watch him pick it up and scream.

"I told you not to touch the pen." "Now go away- no one wants you here."