On Sep 18, 2017, Last Laugh wrote:
I like to walkaroud propless when I'm at home, but not in public.

On Nov 30, 2017, Mark Strivings wrote:
As many have pointed out, the vast majority of magic/mentalism purchasers are hobbyists and amateurs who rarely if ever actually perform, so the secret (and perhaps the gadget) is the thing.

There's nothing wrong with that. I like the toys as much as anybody, and I get it. As far as professional considerations go, all that a true pro needs to know is 'yes, it's good for strolling', or 'no it isn't', because they already fully understand all of the ramifications of the question and answer.

...than to merely satisfy my own ego at the notion of being able to read a total strangers mind with absolutely nothing. It's a power trip. My hesitation stems from the fact that much of the time it's a power trip for the performer only.

//it needs to be about our audience and not about our own ego.

On Nov 30, 2017, Mark Strivings wrote:
But I would MUCH rather be perceived of as a magician who does extremely cool mind reading stuff

On Oct 25, 2017, Mindpro wrote:
That would be a magician doing "mentalism". Nobody paying to see a mentalist wants to see "the illusion of a mentalist."

If I received promo at my agencies stating that, it would go in the round file right away.

On Nov 30, 2017, Mark Strivings wrote:
As far as walk around and 'propless' mentalism goes, here's where I sit. I ALWAYS use props of some sort when I do mentalism in a strolling environment. There are several reasons for this. I get the guys who want to be able to simply walk up to a stranger and tell them what they are thinking with nothing written down and no props of any kind. In other words they want the picture that they have in their own heads about what mind reading would look like if it were real. I get that. But here's the problem from where I sit. What if you were that total stranger, and someone walked up to you out of the clear blue sky and truly seemed to read your mind? Would you find that entertaining? Perhaps. Might it make you want to run screaming to get away from the freak of nature who just invaded your head? Entirely possible. Again, this is 100% my opinion and you do not have to agree with me in any way. But I simply must say that I don't want my audience to be terrified of me. We are supposed to be entertainers. And while some people surely find being terrified to be entertaining, I think it's a dangerous assumption to make on a first-time basis. This is one of the reasons why I always use props. Having a prop of some sort, and it can be anything, literally gives the audience something to hang on to o=apart from 'the guy with the freaky mind powers'. Props tend to take this edge off. Most people today have been at least made aware of strolling magicians and can generally handle what that might entail. There are exceptions of course. But I would MUCH rather be perceived of as a magician who does extremely cool mind reading stuff, and not send anyone screaming from the room, than to merely satisfy my own ego at the notion of being able to read a total strangers mind with absolutely nothing. I get this idea, too. It's a power trip. My hesitation stems from the fact that much of the time it's a power trip for the performer only. That's not the most entertaining position in the world to be in.