Apparently you and I have been chastised to stay in topic.

I too snap my fingers for sure. Albeit only once as a joke.

I’m certain it isn’t the only annoying thing.

All magic is annoying today. Most people who are attracted to magic do so for a variety of personal traits or lackingness in their lives, especially today. 95% of all magicians are annoying for a plethora of reasons. To most magic is about the mechanics which is solely about execution. True magic is about wonder, amazement, theatrics, a journey into a performance, heck, most magicians just execute their (own personal preference of tricks) and there is not performance, personality, and any of the dynamics of true performance magic.

It is very similar to The Three Stooges theories. This is one of the reasons why you will find many women in magic come from and do so from an entirely different place, mindset, and mentality. Unfortunately, there are fewer of them as so many female roles in magic have been relinquished to assistants or in-the-box- executors of the illusion. If you ever sit down and get deep into the reasons, appeal, and mindset of decent female magicians you will quickly find it is quite different and even often complete opposite of most guys. They aren't doing it for acceptance, loneliness, being bullied, outcast or withdrawn, and so on. They aren't living at home their parents basements, performing (forcing their magic on) for family, little kids, and a small handful of friends from the same vein. They have an entirely different core for doing so.

Magic used to be revered, cool, and a legitimate profession one aspired to be (in previous generations), it was a true performance art. In today's world it just about tricks and unoriginality and just execution of someone else's materials. For most the magic is gone or missing from magic and it is just for personal need or and to fill a void of lacking aspects in their lives.

Rene Lavand spreading the cards aimed towards the Spectator. Learn from this.

Click here to view attached image.

Magician spreading the cards for themselves while performing for a group of Spectators. Annoying.

Click here to view attached image.

Any magician who has to post the same thing twice. Annoying. It is seriously annoying.

The need to out “The Great” in one’s name qualifies as annoying.

I don't think calling myself "Magical Mary" is much different than "The Great"

Or "The Amazing Kreskin" RIP

The Amazing Jonathan would agree. (As would I.)

Also any variation of Houdini is pretty annoying.

The things I find annoying is more whimsical than serious to me. I think that even if it annoys me I’m free to not watch or judge.

The Sacred Riana and Dan Sperry give me the creeps and I find neither entertaining. (sad because Dan was fairly local to me at one time and my friend Jim Jays says He's a very nice guy.)

I have always found David Blain annoying.

I don't think it matters one whit to them or the world at large what I think.

I have disliked Mr. Blaine from the very first time I saw his style.

Certainly it has held him back from getting any real traction or success with his career. Can you just imagine where he would be if we approved? It is incalculable!

Okay, I'll throw one in here.

For me, any of the younger performers who come across as, "Hey, I'm a cool and mysterious dude, lookit what I can do" immediately turn me off. IMHO, that's just been overdone to death.

The Cris Angel cos play sect is something I can do without.

How marvellous to see a post trigger a healthy exchange. In the spirit of the original question (helping us to improve as performers) it would be helpful to identify the behaviour that annoys, with the reason / effect it has on you, rather than "X performer annoys me"
Example David Blaine annoys me with the following behaviours
1. He presents magic with minimal presentation, that makes it difficult to "care" or feel engaged
2. Many of his presentations imply a high risk of actual harm, I feel repulsed and don't want to be part of the "industry" that could result in actual harm.

Inspired by the directive to "learn from this" I have studied these two images. One is of a tabled ribbon spread of face up cards, from a spectator's perspective. The other is a tabled ribbon spread of a blank deck with a single face down card in the middle, from a performer's perspective, presumably the denouement (I can almost hear the patter "...and the only card that is printed in this deck is the....") before removing the card and flipping over

Both are equally visible, I thought I understood your point, but am now confused!

I can’t think of an effect that I spread the cards so they can see all of them. Not one I do.

But if the idea is for them to be read by the spectator then clearly spreading them so the can be read, as opposed to upside down is THE way to do it.

2 comments from me:

A) I did not like the old Franz Harary HOWEVER, he has grown on me. There was something about his demeanor, but he's a solid performer.

B) Speaking of demeanor, I was at a big meeting recently.... magic has an exceedingly lower barrier to entry -- VERY LOW. Inexperienced performers will get this smirky little expression on their face after performing something -- it's this "I gotcha, didn't I?" - sort of thing. I greatly dislike it. Now, if the spectator is freaking out -- cool! Go with it! Enjoy the moment! But I absolutely NEVER want a spectator to feel "obligated" to act impressed by anything I have performed. Many amateurs grossly lack a proper 'theory of mind' in this regard.

All clear, thanks for clarifying. I'm rather relieved it is such a specific point!
I interpreted spreading the cards as fanning them or passing them across from hand to hand with the backs to the audience, ie the performer looking at the faces. That annoys me in one specific instance - common in Mem deck work when a spectator is asked to name a card and a moment later the performer spreads the cards for a couple of seconds to locate it, thinking nobody will notice........ but that is poor trick construction rather than an annoying habit!

Okay, I'll throw another one in here...

A lot of props (boxes, tubes, tables, etc.) are still made and decorated in styles that date back to the 30s and 40s, and more and more in no style at all. Yet performers still buy them and too often present them as demonstrations of one-trick-pony miracles. And, in many cases, several of these props are used in the same show with no visual connection or context. Hey, I did that for years when I started out as a kid until the light finally came on.

But there's no reason to think that you have to use something as it comes. The magic police won't break down somebody's door if they re-paint something or alter it a bit to look more modern, or in a specific period or style. And with the internet nowadays, there's no reason to think, "geez, I can't think of what to do with it." All it takes is a little research, which is what professional designers in many fields do: they use research for inspiration and then come up with something fresh.

So yeah, I find it annoying that so many performers don't or can't see their props as the audience sees them, or maybe are just too lazy to put some effort into improving how their props (their shows) look.

On trips to the US I've been struck how magical apparatus and "prop" magic still endures. Even in NYC I saw a slick double act that included mutilated parasol and Die box. In the UK that has been swept aside by "natural" props -probably triggered by the rise of mentalism. That does give some great opportunities to rework the classics over here. I think props should either look "at a stretch believably natural" or "obviously a magic prop", if the latter you can glorify it!

Yes removing dragons from the sides of boxes would definitely be a good step.

I think the biggest problem is magicians have a tendency to look inwards while performing. That is about the worst mindset you can go in with.

All of your focus should be on the folks you are performing for and if they are giving whatever response you are going for.

Hopefully, that response isn't a deep tissue massage of your ego, that's more inward thinking. Although if you give them what they want you will get it as a by product.

Not living in your own head is a good idea for a lot of things actually.