I have good authority that they are aware of this thread, I think saysold1 is right.

I do hope they will chime in here too.

I find this a rather hypocritical statement coming from you, Brett. I've seen you react to friends that care about the art a lot on the Café. If one of us -a "friend"- is only half as critical of Svenpads as you are of the Clairvoyants' performance you would give them a very unfriendly treatment. And that's putting it mildly.

Of course it would be great if this is what they think. But my guess is it hurts. I've been in this position about 15 years ago. I had a terrible performance and about 2,5 million people watched it, it was no 9 in the television ratings in the Netherlands that week (we had a population of about 16 million back then, so a quite a high percentage of Dutch people saw it). I had not only alerted all my friends and family but also all my business relations... . It just sucked. I learned a lot from it, but it definitely wasn't fun. But it comes with the territory of being a pro and being ambitious.

This was not their finest hour to be sure. But this is pretty much the only time that I have found them to be dull. I have no idea what was going on behind the scenes on the Ellen show that may have contributed to this poorly executed performance. But I will say this, I have seen Thommy and Amelie perform in person quite a few times. At the Magic Castle as well as their full stage show. They have always been very good. I also liked most of what they did on AGT. And the rest of the country did as well it seems.

I think they just had a bad day and that this does not accurately reflect their act or abilities at all. Seeing them perform for a full sold out theater where everyone in attendance was mesmerized proves that to me.

To the average audience, like the one in the studio, their performance was fabulous. I have seen them perform in person and on TV as well, and only when I watch any performers as a lay person do I appreciate anyone's act. How many of us have performed (myself for over 50 years) and thought "man that sucked", but still got a standing ovation?!

I think us mentalists or magicians who are somewhat aware of what's going on in a performance, don't feel the impact that lay people do. I remember at least one Magic Live that was loaded with talent where only the juggler got a standing ovation!

Sometimes it's nice not to be too familiar with something and just enjoy the show.

Scalito

Scalito... that is exactly the line of thought that prevails amongst magicians and mentalists. And sadly that is exactly the line of thought that keeps the reputation of our art from evolving beyond inauthentic, hokey and amateur. That is exactly why most lay people do not like mystery artists. This is NOT about the impact of a trick on lay people. It is about how devastating a hokey presentation is.