Mailbag: Fantasy & Humor

Just been rereading The Amateur at the Kitchen Table (looking forward to the rerelease by the way) and the section about introducing people slowly and the fantasy analogy (page35) you give reminded me of something. Game of Thrones. My father hates fantasy, D&D, Harry potter, wizards and monsters etc. I’m a big fan and he’s mocked for it my whole life. However he LOVES Game of Thrones. Your analogy really rings true here. GoT started out like a standard historical drama/action series (which he likes) for the majority of the first season, it drew my Dad in so by the time the Dragons turn up he was already invested in the world. Also the characters were reacting as he would rather than just accepting the crazy shit that’s happening, “WTF is that? A fucking Dragon?!?” I think that also makes it easier to buy into.

I imagine at their best the amateur introduces someone in to the world of magic like GoT season one and then reacts along with them as things get progressively weirder in the following seasons

I’m going to keep GoT season 1 in mind with new people in future.—KF

I think that’s a good analogy.

For those without that book, in The Amateur At the Kitchen Table, I wrote:

If you had never read a fantasy book, and weren’t even sure what they were like, and then you picked up a book and on the first page an elf is talking to a dragon or whatever, you might not be able to get into the book. You might not even really understand how you were supposed to appreciate it. But if you had a book that eased you into the world of fantasy from a world you already know, it would probably be a transition you could more readily adapt to.

For most people, the magic tricks they’ve seen in real life amount to no more than puzzles and brain-teasers. They may not know how they’re done, but they’re not really “magical” in any way. When you’re doing more high level tricks, that’s a completely different animal. So you want to, essentially, ease them into your world of fantasy. Once they realize the stuff you do is unlike what they’ve seen anyone do in person, then you can open the door to all sorts of effects. Once they’re acclimated, once they understand this is a world where dragons exist, then you can do anything else you like.

The type of magic I enjoy performing and advocate for on this site is one where you create a fictional version of the world and reality, rather than just a fictional version of your own abilities (which is what amateur magic has almost always been for centuries).

In general, I like to gradually take people into more and more unbelievable premises.

But I have also found a pretty sure sign that I have a person with whom I can progress into unreality more directly, and that is to see how they respond to silly or absurd humor.

I was at a party at my friend’s beach house a couple of weeks ago, and I was talking to this woman there who I had just met. And she was mentioning how she likes trash reality shows like 90 Day Fiancé, and she asked if I had ever watched it. I furrowed my brow a little and said dismissively, “Hmmm…no. That’s not really my scene. I’m more of a bibliophile. I like to curl up with the Canterbury Tales or maybe Beowulf.”

My friend who was in the conversation with us rolled his eyes and said, “Uh-oh, here he goes again with Beowulf.” As if it was something I’m always talking about.

Now, the woman we were talking to understood immediately that we were kidding around and that I was just feigning my intellectualism. But that’s not always the case. I’ve had plenty of situations in the past where I’m screwing around in a similar manner and people act as if I’m being serious.

When I meet someone with a “playful” sense of humor that meshes well with mine, I usually find them more willing to go along with an unusual magic premise and not feel the need to question it as if I’m being 100% sincere. So if I introduce a fantastical concept that also is humorous in some way, I can “skip the line” with them and get straight to something crazy because the absurdity of the premise tells them the spirit in which they should go along with what I’m saying.

So if you find someone whose sense of humor matches yours, and you present them with a humorously “out there” presentation, you can quickly advance to a more unbelievable effect without alienating them.

I was comfortable enough with this woman that later on in the evening I leaned into her and whispered, “This is going to sound like bullshit, but God has been texting me about stuff five minutes before it happens,” which was my premise for a prediction effect I showed her. She went along with it happily and without thinking I was legitimately crazy.

However, if she had not latched on earlier in the day humor-wise, I probably wouldn’t have jumped into something with such an odd premise.

So while I’ll normally take things slow, if the humor connection is there, I’m sometimes comfortable pushing things along more quickly.