The Imp Formula

An Imp is “the thing you do which causes the magic to happen.”

It’s a subject magicians cared so little about, that I had to invent the term for it.

Before 2017 if someone asked, “What’s the word to describe the thing the magician does that causes the magic to happen?”

The response would be: “Snapping.”

“No. I mean… that’s just one way of doing it.”

“Yes, correct. Sometimes I snap with my thumb and middle finger. And sometimes I snap with my thumb and index finger to give the audience a real thrill.”

“No… sorry. I guess I’m not being clear. I mean, what is the broad, general term for the thing the magician does which causes the magic to occur.”

“Oh, the general term? I don’t know… uhm… Rhythmic Finger…Clacking?? Or something? I’m not quite sure what you’re asking for.”

Look, I understand the utility of snapping your fingers. It’s quick. It’s easy. And it’s something. This is I heard repeatedly when learning magic in the 80s and 90s in books and videos. “You need to do something to let people know the magic happened. So snap your fingers.”

Oh. Okay.

I understand that if you’re doing table-side magic, you can’t slow things down and bring everyone out into the parking lot to harness the dark essence in the spot where you claim a drifter was murdered in 1986 in order to bring their card to the top of the deck.

And if you’re doing an office Christmas party, you can’t say, “Let’s all make out and see if we can channel our sexual energy into this Chinese coin and make it fall off this ribbon.”

But when performing in social, casual settings, we often do have the time to use a more immersive Imp than snapping our fingers or casting a shadow.

The thing to keep in mind is that it’s not just a decorative detail that’s nice to have. It’s not slapping a bow on the present. It is—when executed properly—perhaps the most memorable part of the trick.

Barring a wildly memorable, simple, visual climax (which many trick don’t have). The storyline to the trick (and a good Imp is part of a storyline) is what people seem to remember the most.

Sure, they might remember the general feeling of amazement and enjoyment. But a few weeks later, they’re not remembering: “There were three selections made. They were placed in different parts of the deck. The four Aces were dropped on top and the selections were now between the Aces. Then the Aces disappeared, and he was left holding just the three selections. If I’m remembering correctly, they were the Jack of Diamonds, the 5 of Clubs, and the 9 of Clubs. Yes, of course. It’s clear as day.”

Here is the Imp Formula. And it’s very simple.

Step One: Do something somewhat unusual.

Step Two: Tie that to the premise of your trick.

— If I come over your house, that’s not unusual.

— If I come over your house at 11 at night and show you a trick, that’s probably unusual. But if I don’t connect coming over to your house at 11 at night to the trick, then it’s not an Imp. It’s just me being a dickhead and annoying you as you’re getting ready for bed.

— If I come over your house at 11 at night and say, “I’m sorry. I know it’s late, but now is the only time I can show you this trick. It only works at 11:06.” And I show you the Ambitious Card, that’s what I call a Weak Imp. I’m telling you there’s some sort of connection between the Imp and the trick, but it doesn’t make much sense. So there’s no logical connection in your mind.

Sometimes a Weak Imp can still be intriguing. “I don’t know why it’s like this, but this is the only time that it works.” That can maybe be interesting, but it’s not ideal.

— If I come over your house at 11 at night on March 19th and say, “I’m sorry. I know it’s late, but now is the only time I can show you this trick. We’ve only got a few minutes.” And I perform On Edge by Angelo Carbone

and I tell you we have this brief window of time on the equinox where this will work.

Well, then you have a sort of symbiotic situation where the Imp and the Trick are both supporting each other. The Imp is the equinox. The Trick is making a card castle balance impossibly. The equinox suggests “balance.” It all works together nicely.

And the Imp provides another way into the memory of this event. You can imagine someone hearing about the upcoming equinox and remembering the time when their friend came over late at night to show them this weird quirk of the universe. And in their memory it was a huge card castle balancing on one little card.

Whereas if the magician created a card castle and made it magically balance with the snap of his fingers, it feels more like a weird, arbitrary power to exhibit. The cool visual of the balancing cards is still there. But it’s just sort of in a bubble with no tether to the real world.

You could say, “Well, that’s what I do. I’m a Magician. I do things that are untethered to the real world!” I get that. I can only say that in my experience, people want something they can relate to in some way. And a pointless impossibility is hard to relate to.

The Imp doesn’t have to be believable (it really shouldn’t be). It’s there to be story material. Use them to help tell a story other than, “I am the god of Dumb Miracles. Watch as I snap my finger and make some pointless, impossible, dumb thing happen.”