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Magician Al Schneider demonstrates how little he needs to do in order to fool the crap out of most everyone.
More here: Al Schneider
Jack Shalom
Musings, Memories, and Magic
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Magician Al Schneider demonstrates how little he needs to do in order to fool the crap out of most everyone.
More here: Al Schneider
That last load was excellently executed.
And I like the entire routine. It was well thought out and presented.
Yes, I had to run that through a few times to see what was going on. I’m curious whether those without knowledge of magical methods see Al’s performance as effective as other cups and balls routines with more adornment. As fooled and amazed as I was at first, I wondered whether laypeople would see this as just a kind of dull performance. I would like to do a little experiment showing this and another more elaborate c&b routine to a number of people to get their feedback on them.
I just showed this video to some of my friends who don’t know any magical methods. They said it was amazing. However, when I showed them a standard version of the c&b, they found it more interesting. They told me that the 3 cups version has a lot more going on.
Nonetheless, I still plan to try this routine. Just ordered Schneider’s book earlier.
Thanks for the experiment, Edward. I showed my wife this clip and one of Johnny Ace Palmer with three children from the audience and a final load of three chicks. She appreciated and was fooled by Schneider, but she liked that Palmer’s had things happening on different levels: magic, comedy, audience interaction. Of course, to be fair, Schneider’s was not meant to be a full performance; rather, he was trying to make the point that the technology of deception can fool even when shorn of other values.
Schneider has a number of books that I like. One of my favorites is a book called something like “Things Every Magician Should Know” that you might be interested in. It’s not exactly tricks but a collection of gags and amusing bits of business like winding up the deck or bouncing a dinner roll off the floor. You’ve probably come across most of these before, but it’s nice that they’re all collected in one place.