The Attitudinal Key to Social Magic

I’ve often written that in order to strengthen the casual feel of a trick and to make it so the interaction comes off as more genuine, you need to eliminate the theatrical trappings that so often go along with the performance of a magic. The overly-rehearsed patter, the bad jokes, the obvious magic props, etc.

But that’s the easy part.

The most important—and for some the hardest—things to eliminate to give your magic a more “normal” quality is going to be the feelings of fear and discomfort. Audiences can smell this all over you, and it completely undercuts a naturalistic style of performance.

I was listening to the Fly on the Wall Podcast which is hosted by Dana Carvey and David Spade where they talk to people from Saturday Night Live. On Amy Poehler’s episode, she says this about hosting SNL...

If you don’t look like you’re relaxed or having fun, the audience gets very stressed. When I see hosts and they’re either nervous, or stressed… it’s like, “Oh no!” I get so stressed [by them]. Because you are hosting a party. You’re supposed to look like you’re having fun. […] It’s the hardest piece to learn because you’re pushing or you're nervous or your head’s somewhere else. And then when you actually relax, the audience just relaxes with you.

This is so true in magic as well. If you’re doing your ambitious card routine and your hands are shaking and you’re clearly nervous… you have stripped the moment of any magic and whatever story it is you’re trying to tell. Even if your “story” is as basic and dull as “I’m a magician with the power to make cards rise to the top of the deck.” The only story the audience will perceive is, “This guy is a nervous wreck and I better smile along and encourage him or he’s going to totally fall apart.” You take away their ability to get lost in the experience because they have to babysit what they perceive as your fragile ego.

So above everything, whether you’re going for a casual style of social magic, or an over-the-top immersive style, you need to find a way to eliminate fear from your performances.

How do you do this? I’m not sure, because this isn’t an issue I deal with regularly.

And I don’t know that there’s one “answer.” I mean, I think there’s an answer for each person, but I don’t think there’s a “general” way to eliminate fear and nerves. (If there were, people wouldn’t struggle with fear and nerves.) But here are some thoughts.

Don’t push the boundaries of your skill set when you perform. If you’re nervous about performing in general, don’t compound that by trying to perform something that you’re not completely comfortable with. If you do, you’re dealing with two sets of nerves instead of one. There is so much strong self-working or nearly self-working magic out there, you don’t need to push yourself to go and perform something you’re not comfortable with in order to really entertain or fool people.

Feel the fear and do it anyway. I know a lot of people who get nervous when they show someone a trick… and so they only show someone a trick a few times a year. You’re never going to break the cycle that way. For most people, the more you perform, the more you will trust yourself and the less the nerves will affect you. Perform daily for a couple of months and just resign yourself to the fact that you’re probably going to suck while you do. You will almost certainly come out the other side more confident and less fearful in performance.

Don’t fight the fear. When you feel it coming on, note it in your mind and accept it. Trying to fight it and telling yourself to calm down is a sure way to amplify the negative feelings. This is true pretty much in all facets of life.

Contextualize the nervousness. If you don’t say anything about the nerves, then you’re going to look like someone who is worried about impressing the person you’re performing for with your magic trick. But if you weave your nerves into the storyline of your performance, you can make them congruent with the narrative you’re trying to tell.

• “Okay, this guy cheated my friend out of $2500 in a poker game. This weekend we’re trying to get him back. I have a plan for how we could swindle him, but I get super nervous thinking about executing it. Can I try this idea out on you to work some of the nerves out of my system?”

• “I have this audition for a super exclusive magic club coming up next week. I’m really anxious about it. Can I try something out with you to see how it goes?”

• “Something strange is going on. It’s got my nerves on edge, but it’s also made me hyper-sensitive. My hands are even shaking. It’s like this weird sense of… I don’t know…a type of power. Can I show you?”

Doing something like this will allow you to disguise your real nerves in the story of the effect. I wouldn’t be surprised if having this safety valve built into your presentation actually diminished your nerves significantly, to the point where you need to start feigning a little fear to keep it consistent with your story.

Keep perspective. It’s just magic tricks. It’s just entertainment. The less you go into this seeking validation, the less your ego is on the line, the fewer nerves you’re likely to have.