I have six months to prepare for a talent show...
December 12, 2014 2:09 PM Subscribe
I have six months to prepare for an office talent show. Pressed to make a decision, I said I'd do a magic trick. I need to entertain 50 people for 5 minutes. I have no previous magical experience. What can I do?
You could spend five minutes on one "I guess the card you picked" trick, or do several of them at increasing levels of "difficulty". Not all card forces require even easy sleight-of-hand, though sleight of hand can help.
You can watch Ricky Jay, per Diablevert's suggestion, to see the kind of elaborate stories you can build around a situation where you've just forced someone to pick a card you've pre-selected, and hidden a duplicate in a watermelon or a coworker's pocket or anywhere else. You might even be able to concoct a funny topical situation relevant to office politics or whatever.
A participatory card trick also lets you put other coworkers on the spot, which can avenge your being pressed to do this at all; just be careful not to pick the jerk who's likely to say "no I want a different card".
posted by xueexueg at 2:26 PM on December 12, 2014
You can watch Ricky Jay, per Diablevert's suggestion, to see the kind of elaborate stories you can build around a situation where you've just forced someone to pick a card you've pre-selected, and hidden a duplicate in a watermelon or a coworker's pocket or anywhere else. You might even be able to concoct a funny topical situation relevant to office politics or whatever.
A participatory card trick also lets you put other coworkers on the spot, which can avenge your being pressed to do this at all; just be careful not to pick the jerk who's likely to say "no I want a different card".
posted by xueexueg at 2:26 PM on December 12, 2014
You can buy all sorts of one-off magic tricks on Amazon. You don't need to turn into Chriss Angel or anything, just have enough stuff to get by.
posted by xingcat at 2:30 PM on December 12, 2014
posted by xingcat at 2:30 PM on December 12, 2014
Worst case, I would blast Europe's Final Countdown before starting, attempt some tricks, and hope they're Arrested Development fans.
posted by betafilter at 2:47 PM on December 12, 2014 [8 favorites]
posted by betafilter at 2:47 PM on December 12, 2014 [8 favorites]
- Juggle - scarves, boxes, or balls. You've got time to learn any of those.
- A Svengali deck of cards is really easy to manipulate
- Teach them how to make the worlds best paper airplane - supply them with paper
- Bartend - make some stellar drinks
posted by tumble at 2:48 PM on December 12, 2014
You'll need to do several magic tricks, and it's best to involve the audience. Not all tricks require skill and dexterity. Here's a 'mind-reading' trick my 7-year old son learnt in Magic class:
Pick a random person in the audience and ask them to think of an object in the room. Pick a second person (your collaborator) and have the first person whisper in their ear what they picked. Inform the audience that you will read the second person's mind as they point at various objects in the room and that you will guess the secret object. Before your collaborator identifies the desired object, they must point at something black. This is your clue that the next object is the one.
Everyone will be amazed how you knew. You can repeat the trick multiple times with different people, and you can even agree on additional colours to prevent audience members from noticing a pattern.
posted by Dragonness at 3:01 PM on December 12, 2014 [3 favorites]
Pick a random person in the audience and ask them to think of an object in the room. Pick a second person (your collaborator) and have the first person whisper in their ear what they picked. Inform the audience that you will read the second person's mind as they point at various objects in the room and that you will guess the secret object. Before your collaborator identifies the desired object, they must point at something black. This is your clue that the next object is the one.
Everyone will be amazed how you knew. You can repeat the trick multiple times with different people, and you can even agree on additional colours to prevent audience members from noticing a pattern.
posted by Dragonness at 3:01 PM on December 12, 2014 [3 favorites]
Tie the trick into something related to your company. Do something that relies more on mechanics than dexterity. Practice a couple of times in front of non-family. If you are going to use a rabbit don't forget to file a natural disaster contingency plan with the USDA.
posted by Sophont at 3:34 PM on December 12, 2014
posted by Sophont at 3:34 PM on December 12, 2014
I'm amused by the Rich Man and the Porter if you're a good story teller like Willie Nelson.
posted by Edward L at 4:03 PM on December 12, 2014
posted by Edward L at 4:03 PM on December 12, 2014
Yellow bandana trick. Requires no skill whatsoever and is funny.
posted by Pallas Athena at 5:16 PM on December 12, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by Pallas Athena at 5:16 PM on December 12, 2014 [2 favorites]
It occurs to me that if you have 6 months to prepare, you might be able to get some extra "oomph" by preparing props or hiding cards now. I'm not a magician, either, so I'm not sure exactly how to best take advantage of this. Seal cards in envelopes, have them notarized with today's date, pass them out to people and remind them to bring them to the show? That's lame, I know, but I'm wondering if there's an angle you could work that would take good advantage of this?
posted by doctor tough love at 6:54 PM on December 12, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by doctor tough love at 6:54 PM on December 12, 2014 [2 favorites]
Mentalism/mind-reading tricks are fun and involve the audience, and you can have a bit of a set up too to use up time. There are plenty of examples online.
posted by alligatorman at 9:28 PM on December 12, 2014
posted by alligatorman at 9:28 PM on December 12, 2014
Yellow bandana trick. Requires no skill whatsoever and is funny.
Yes, this! I watched a guy doing this trick (he's a total ham and does work with kids & teens professionally, but an amateur could totally pull it off) and he made a room full of adults ages 25-60 laugh and groan and laugh.
posted by carrioncomfort at 8:16 AM on December 13, 2014
Yes, this! I watched a guy doing this trick (he's a total ham and does work with kids & teens professionally, but an amateur could totally pull it off) and he made a room full of adults ages 25-60 laugh and groan and laugh.
posted by carrioncomfort at 8:16 AM on December 13, 2014
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 2:10 PM on December 12, 2014