Ok everyone I have a little word of advice that really works well for me. I was performing the balducci levitation and a kid was saying to everyone how I just stood on one foot. Well he was just sayin this and sayin this and oh....about after my 2nd trick i was doing in front of people while he was there I told everyone hold on for a minute please....And I pulled him off to the side and said this "Please I'm trying to impress people with my magic and I work hard on it. If you know how a trick is done please don't go out and tell everyone. Just keep it to your self ya know?" and he said this exactly: "Ok I'm sry i didnt mean any harm I was just trying to have a little fun. I'll stop now" and I said "Thank You" and continued on with my tricks.

Listen people. I hear a lot of people saying to be FORCEFUL and i've heard "Ok any heckler you get just kill him" or like to say something like "oh you wanna shufle my deck? ok" and you hand him another deck out of your pocket. No. Don't do this. It will just make YOU look less professional. Just pull him off to the side and do what i said. PLEASE JUST TRY IT i want you to see how well it really does work.

Please take this advice....Nick

HEY that's my idea...lol

this might work when you are preforming at schools or something. but when you get out into the real world there are people that dont want to see you get the trick done correctly because THEY CAN'T DO IT so they are mad, and many times they are drunk too.

Well the thing to remember here is that most hecklers are not trying to do anything but MESS THE MAGICIAN UP! They want you to look a fool and if they expose you then that makes them feel good. They feel I tricked the tricker! So the best way to deal with them is to take the power away from them to make you look foolish.

Vonbodan

OR....

How about performing something that isn't done to death, or something that you know well enough that you don't get caught..

Or better yet, something that no-one has seen before!!

David.

I have found buddying up with the heckler helps.

do the over the head vanishing trick that's on the "On the Spot with Gregory Wilson" DVD. Works better in my opinion.

I was doing a christmas party on the 17 of december. I had this one drunk who was heckling me like crazy. It was a game for him. And playing along i said "Ok this is a game to you right. You having fun?" "Oh yeah" he said. "Ok, if you figure this out...you win. I'll stop for the night" (this was near the end anyway so i had nothing to lose)

"ok man go ahead"

He gets a drink while i sa to the table "Ok now you guys may figure this out, but if you do dont tell him for about a year ok?" they laugh and agree

Over the Head with cocktail napkins. A friends catching them behind him. It worked perfectly. I was fooled, he stopped, the entire table loved me because he was a bother to them as well.

Ive been doing magi for awhile now and i learned one thing... never perform for old people, 6-13 year olds, or drunks. but mostley drunks.

How about this, If someone continues to heckle you, STOP PERFOMING!!! Why does everyone want to do something to win? Sometimes in war it is best to retreat. Then observe where they started to heckle you and work on making that moment stronger. You will be most frequently heckled in your weakest spot. Eliminate that spot and you will eliminate many hecklers.

As a RULE, I will not perform for drunk people. I absolutely refuse to do it, after suffering through more than a few situations of relentless and quite offensive, rude drunkards.

If begged to perform something by a good friend for drunks, I will only perform 2 or 3 effects, tops, and only things that are totally examinable before and after such as Pen Through Dollar and Misled. And sucker effects work best here.

I hate drunk people, so if at all possible, I will make them look like the morons that they are and make them feel stupid and bad for themselves. That's the best treatment that drunks deserve.

Stoned people, on the other hand, are a joy to perform for. They react wonderfully to magic and believe in magic more readily than non-stoned individuals. It's easy to get a "whoa" or "oh, wow"! Wow, man, it's fun!

Guys, Jay's book, Beyond Secrets has a whole chapter dedicated to how to deal with different types of people. You really should check it out.

Usually when Iget a child heckler I just pull them to the side and have a talk with them and maybe tell them that they would make a good magician. I do this because any child that can figure out the trick usually will make a good magician and because embarresing them will stifle their curiosity which helps for inventing tricks.

Why do you pull them to the side, this will piss off the parients and probably instigate his friends to heckle you. I will just make a comment to them like:

Child: I know how you did that

Me: Hey that is great. OR Me too! OR Lets keep it our little secrate. OR PUNCH THEM IN THE FACE

Works like a charm for me :)