This Thanksgiving, I’m thankful for my audience members. Magic provokes a very wide range of weird responses in people and it’s those responses that make the job fun. Read through the below list and see if you can figure out which type of audience member you are. If you don’t fall into the categories below, make a comment with your category. I just might be thankful for you too.
1. Childlike Wonder
80% of audience members fall into this category. These are people that simply like magic tricks because of the essence of what magic is. I’m thankful for these people because they’re the ones that appreciate magic like I do. They like the idea of knowing that there’s a trick to it, but being able to convince themselves that it’s magic.
2. Quiet Contemplative
Over the years, I’ve learned to not discount this quiet, contemplative audience member. They’re enjoying the show too. I once performed for the CEO of a Fortune 500 company and at the climax of the trick (when I had made his card appear in my shoe), he made no expression, turned, and went about his business. Two years later, I saw him again and he showed me the card that had been in my shoe. He keeps it in his wallet. The quiet contemplative audience members enjoy magic too, and I am thankful for them.
3. MacGyver
MacGyver is the audience member who tries to piece together the magic trick in his or her head like a jigsaw puzzle. I’m thankful for these types of audience members because they get really involved and ask a lot of questions. “Could you do that with MY deck of cards?” “What if I would have said the 4 of spades?” “Are those your real hands?”
4. TV Magician Analysts
These are the people that immediately upon seeing me perform, compare me to whatever TV magician they can think of. “Whoa, that was some David Blaine shit!” or “What do you think of Criss Angel?” For older people, it’s usually “Are you gonna make the Statue of Liberty Disappear like David Copperfield?” I’m thankful for them because they left the living room to come see my show.
5. Career Advisors
Career advisor audience members are the type that feel like they enjoy my performance so much, they will tell me what I should do with my talent. “You should go on Ellen!” “You should go perform on cruises!” Generally the second part of the sentence is filled with wherever they last saw a magician. I appreciate these audience members and I’m thankful for them because they’re pulling for me.
6. Asshole Who Tries to Ruin it For Everyone Else
This person doesn’t really like losing their spot as the center of attention. They will loudly try to explain how they think the trick is done. I am thankful for these people because they’re almost always wrong and they usually set me up to look like a superhero.
7. Full of Laughs
This reaction intrigues me. For some people, they respond to magic with nothing but laughter. I’m not even talking about the comedy in my show. Some people simply laugh when they’ve been fooled or amazed. There’s something innocent and childlike about that, and I dig it.
8. Do It Again
This audience member can sometimes be lumped into the “MacGyver” group because they want to reconstruct what they just saw. They’ll yell “Do it again” at the end. I’m am thankful for them, because they let me know I’ve been successful.
9. Angry But Entertained
I find more females in this category than males. They’ll cross their arms and pout their lips and say “This frustrates me because I can’t figure it out!” They secretly like it. But they don’t know I know that. I’m thankful for them.
10. Guy Who Runs Out of the Room
I love this guy. In about 1 in 4 shows, there will be a guy that, when he is fooled, just gets up and runs out of the room. Usually he’s saying something like “Aww HELL naw.” That guy never fails to make my night and I’m thankful for him.
BONUS CATEGORY
11. Religious Implicators
These are the people that like to imply that I have somehow sold my soul to the devil or practice witchcraft. They get an honorable mention here. I am thankful for them because they believe.
Have an awesome Thanksgiving and take some time to think about what or whom you’re thankful for.
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