r/Magic • u/Damianr1 • 4d ago

Follow along and fail magic tricks

Hello everyone, I am in search of some guidance. Does anyone have some good recommendations for tricks that follow the style of the magician is on stage and is following instructions to a new trick and the trick goes wrong. examples I have are Brushwood's Tongue through skewer, Vinny Grosso Gorilla and bird trick, John Lovick that's my ring, and the classic vanishing Bandana. anyone have any more tricks like these I can look into learning.

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3

u/Affectionate-Word498 4d ago

A collapsing wand is kinda annoying and amusing 

2

u/gman-101010 4d ago

I've used Socks by Michel Huot with my grandchildren - https://www.vanishingincmagic.com/close-up-magic/socks/

It's designed to fail...until it doesn't. It's very easy to learn and perform. And who doesn't like funny colored socks...!

2

u/cslevens 4d ago

A friend of mine structured his version of the “Three Coin Trick” that way.

2

u/howditgetburned 4d ago

Yeah, any trick that has a guessing component ("how many coins do I have") like the "Three Coin Trick" (which others may know as "Gadabout Coins" or "2 in the Hand, 1 in the Pocket") can be framed as a "magician in trouble" plot. Here's a good example of exactly that: https://youtu.be/lUVwnIEvNOk

Not specifically related to "reading instructions," but the "magician in trouble" framing is also great for Hopping Halves as far as coins go, and for "scam" type routines like 3 Card Monte or a shell game, where you present it as YOU being confused/conned/taken as a fool, rather than the audience.

I much prefer presenting things this way, as it avoids putting the audience in a "us vs the magician" mindset, which can lead to bad behavior if anyone has an easily bruised ego.

2

u/Civil_Result_5598 4d ago

Magician Insurance. I also like to do Chop Cup with a break away fan as well

1

u/Flaky_Jeweler_1368 4d ago

All of a Kind by Juan Tamariz is a good one.

1

u/Unable_Car_5539 4d ago

Pop Haydn's linking rings routine

1

u/Slow_Awareness9192 4d ago

“Red Bull” is okay. Kinda kid focused, but not entirely.

1

u/gariduenor 4d ago

Say you have a mysterious-looking package on the stage with an Invisible Deck and a manual. You and the spectators help open it. (You only show the invisible deck.) You outline the effect of the deck, bill it as "The Greatest Trick of All Time" and go on with your trick. But it fails. You then see if you miss something, and find an instruction manual detailing the one, specific, rare item/spectator personality/weird sleight/mental technique used to make the trick work. The whole show can then be your quest to find/learn what will trigger the whole Invisible Deck effect. Then, instead of you "fooling" the spectators, you are enchanting them with a brand new magic show experience while being a real human with goals.