Presentation vs Context: The Invisible Palm Aces

This is the final post I have planned on Presentation vs. Context. Although I’m sure the subject will come up in the future. Today I want to look at the exact same trick, presented with an identical premise, but in one case that premise is a Presentation and in the other it’s a Context.

Here is Paul Harris’ opening patter for the Invisible Palm trick:

“I’m going to show you how a professional gambler cheats at cards. Basically, it’s an advanced technique called PLAMING. That’s spelled P-L-A-M-I-N-G. It was invented by a famous gambler by the name of Bermuda Shwartz. This was the very same man who nicknamed his wife Houdini, because she had trouble escaping from his trunks, but that’s another story.

“Anyway, I”m going to demonstrate this wonderful technique he had for ‘plaming,’ and I’ll show you the very same way he showed me, by using these four Aces

“The first card starts in the standard V position, symbolic of the first letter of the word Venezuela…”

And on it goes. Most of Paul’s early work had these sort of silly, nonsensical, jokey, hokey presentations. It’s somewhat surprising, given that he would go on to be one of the people behind David Blaine and his virtually patter-less/Presentation-less performances. And the Bro Gilbert led performances on the True Astonishments box-set didn’t have any of this kind of weirdness. So I can only imagine there was some point where Paul was in the midst of this sort of performance where he stopped himself and said, “What the fuck am I talking about?”

If you watch his performance of this trick on The Magic Palace, you can see how this presentation goes over. You might say, “Well, he got a few laughs in there.” Okay, I guess, but what about the trick itself? This is a multi-phase effect that gets zero reaction from the audience until the polite applause at the end.

Now, let’s contrast that with Wayne Houchin’s performance of the same effect. It’s the same trick, same handling, and same premise that the cards are being absorbed into the performer’s hand. But where Paul delivers this as a loose Presentation in which to tell jokes, Wayne performs it as if he’s demonstrating a genuine technique.

Notice how each phase of the routine gets a strong reaction. It’s the same trick, but because he doesn’t need to steamroll on to the next joke, he can focus on each moment and let it breathe.

Presentations have jokes. Contexts do not. That doesn’t mean that both can’t be funny. But Contexts should not have scripted jokes (they should not feel like they have scripted anything).

With a context the humor should come from the premise, or from the natural interaction that comes from that premise.

With a Presentation you can add in jokes, like Paul does, but I don’t think it serves the magic particularly well. Since the humor isn’t inherent in the trick, you split the audience’s focus. “Who is this Bermuda Schwarz? What do you mean ‘V for Venezuela’? What is ‘plaming’ is that supposed to be funny somehow? Or is it important… is this something I need to remember?” You can watch the video of Paul Performing and see that there are some lines which no one has any clue how to react to. This can’t help but take focus off the power of the effect. And honestly, it feels kind of apologetic to me. Like you’re shucking and jiving to keep them entertained because you’re worried the trick itself isn’t interesting enough.

However, you may want to be the guy who tells jokey, whimsical stories with accompanying card tricks. Here’s a guy doing just that. He’s presenting that trick with Paul’s original patter. I’m not posting it to make fun of the guy. I just want to give you an outsider’s perspective of what this sort of thing looks like. Maybe you watch that and think, “I bet my friends would like that!” Well… god bless you. You’re a lucky man. I wish I had those sorts of friends. The minute I start saying, “This ace represents mud, blood, beer, and crud,” my friends would be like…

(I have friends all over the political spectrum.)

I’m not anti-humor, obviously. And I’m not anti-humor in magic. But if it’s not inherent in the premise, I think it pulls people out of the effect. Or, at the very least, it comes off as scripted. And scripted equals Presentation. And if you’re striving for an immersive Context, then Presentation is your enemy.