Dustings #99

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My Buddy Paul
a Clarification Technique

Building on ideas talked about in Wednesday’s Pre-Climax Summary post, here’s another way you can emphasize the fairness of certain conditions when you perform.

“I did this for my buddy, Paul, the other day and he completely forgot that he had shuffled the cards at the start and the whole experience was lost on him. So keep that in mind that we started this out with the deck shuffled by you.”

Or (as in yesterday’s Half Down technique):

“I did this for my buddy, Paul, and he was convinced that I somehow made him eliminate one of these halves as opposed to the other. So I want to slow down and make it clear to you that you have a completely fair choice of either of these packets. Which do you want to keep and which do you want to get rid of?”

If it’s not completely clear, you’re verbalizing anything questionable or anything you want to emphasize, and claiming it was something your buddy Paul said or questioned. (Your buddy doesn’t have to be Paul. (It could be Saul.))

So instead of, “Here’s what I want you to remember,” or, “Here’s what you’re probably thinking,” we have “Paul” as, like, an independent “third party” to give some weight to these points.”

I think it’s a fairly natural way to emphasize certain conditions when you perform.

Don’t overdo it, or people will start to wonder what Paul’s fucking problem is. But used sparingly, it’s helpful.

“Here’s my used rubber to take home as a souvenir.”
- A magician after having sex

I haven’t made this point in many years, but I was thinking about it again this week…

In most cases, it’s up to your audience to decide what is a souvenir and what isn’t.

I’ve had plenty of people who have kept signed cards from card tricks. And I’ve had plenty of people who have loved the trick, but wouldn’t even consider taking the detritus from an effect.

Telling someone, “You can keep that as a souvenir,” is like saying, “Hey, do you want my autograph?”

It’s kind of presumptuous to say, “You’re going to want to remember this so much, you’ll hold onto this piece of trash to remind yourself of it.”

Of course, if the item is something that they might feel like they couldn’t ask for (something seemingly expensive, or maybe something that they would assume is a “trick” magic item that they can’t take with them), then I’ll make a point that they can keep it.

But with, like, a signed card or a billet they wrote “Tree” on, I just leave that out on the table while I put the other stuff away. If they want it, they will either just take it or ask for it.

Okay, sure, this is lovely. But let’s be honest. He should have brought up a translator and then “talent swapped” with him. Or acted like he got shocked by the microphone and could now speak Korean. Or sent around a magic “elixir” to the Korean-speaking members of the audience so “you will hear what I have to say next as if it was spoken in your native tongue.”

If you’re going to bother learning something in secret, make the most out of it.