hehe, i have one similar to that. recently at my apt. complex, anytime anybody sees me walking around i get harrassed to SHOW THEM A TRICK. lol i was just telling people, sorry i am not Magic on Demand haha, and people thought that was funny... but now..

i say oh yeah, this is one i made up thinking of you.. i hold out my hand and tell them to inspect it, and i rub it a few times, then i clinch my fist and tell them to really focus on that hand. then i hold it up i the air, with the back of my palm facing then then i wave my hand infront of it, and when my hand passes over my fist, i raise the middle finger. people laugh, then i say but wait!!! i then "grab" my middle finger with my other hand and make it dissapear and ask where did it go? oh ahah, its on my other hand now!!

i know its sort of rude, but it gets the point across..

Point to a chair and say 'Sit!' once they have sat down, check your pockets then say 'Stay!!' as you keep checking you pockets, walk away as if you are looking for something to do.
Do you think they will get it? You just showed them how to sit and stay.

If someone says show me a trick....I almost ALWAYS carry a deck of cards. So it is usually no problem. I can perform for a very very long time using a normal deck of cards.

I really enjoy and get allot of milage out of the simplest of any time anywhere magic. Learnig slight of hand sets you up for life. Learn it...practice it and live it. You will get out of it what you invest in it and you can use it on countless items.
If your in a resturaunt making a quarter disappear and reappear in a sugar substitute pack is quick, simple and amazing to most.
Some Mentalism is very handy when you have no props. A simple PATEO force prediction with all borrowed items is nice although it isn't "magical" it's mental.....you can find that on Richard Osterlind's easy to master Mental Miracles Volume 4.

I think it is great that you are trying to be well rounded. When you can make miracles happen out of nothing...you will be on the golden road of becoming a TRUE entertainer.

Or...when they ask you to show them a trick..say "sure....Do you like bird tricks?" then reach into your pocket and fumble around as if your getting ready to produce something.....and pull out your hand to reveal your "bird" .l..

Well...it depends. See, for me, it's not so much about preparation as it is about mood. I'm never "not really prepared" to perform because I am of the opinion that, if you really want to be perceived as a magician, you have to be able to magic with whatever happens to be at hand...or perhaps even nothing. However, if I don't feel like performing , I just don't.

Having said that, I try to always have at least the following coins with me:

seven pennies
three dimes
one nickel
one quarter
three loonies (Canadian $1 coins) or three toonies (Canadian $2 coins)

With those coins, I can do at least fifteen minutes of magic easily, possibly half an hour or more. Some of the possibilities include...

A Questionable Trick
Sheep & Thieves
Shuttle Sorcery or Nuts to You (variations on a basic two-in-the-hand, one-in-the pocket routine)
Gadabout Coins
Elbow, Knee & Neck
Twenty-Six Cents Worth of Change
A One-Coin Flurry
...and lots more.

If I don't have all of those coins on me, I can usually borrow some or most of them and do what I feel like doing.

Do you find that the reactions for questionable trick are great. I'vebeen using the Greg Wilson presentation while I work on getting the mechanics down as far as the audience is concerned. I have been seriously thinking about changing it up. But if it isn't presenting as a super strong effect for others I may just change it into a curiousity. Just asking...

Thanks Adam

Simple - if they ask you to show them a trick, you show them a trick if you have the time.

I am of the opinion that insulting people is not an option if you are a professional entertainer. You are a magician - do some magic.

It's good to have one trick ready to go anytime

i recently got jay sankey's anytime anywhere dvd, i imagine i'll be using alot of the stuff from that.

but at the minute i'll probably just an an ambitious card routine or somthing. to be honest i just kind of wing my way through situations like that, i kind of like just going with the flow and never knowing what im gonna do next.

Lol dont show them a trick

Do Torn Too, Bring the gimmick with you at all times, and if you dont have it GET IT! Or just buy Invisible Reverse.

I find I am never unprepared to perform something...

I walk around town with at least 3 decks of cards. One is pre-set for red Hot Mama, and the other for Spec cuts to the aces. My third is a Bicycle all plastic See through Deck I got because they are great for practice.

After either Red Hot mama or spec cuts to the aces, i do Twisting the aces, Dr. Daley's Last Trick... Both from Ammar's Card Miracles Vol 2. I will also do " That's it". This is a " Pick a card" trick with an interesting premise You tell them that you are getting a lot better at spotting liars and want to see if they can fool you... They select a card, which is lost in the deck. Then no matter what you show them they are supposed to say.." That's it" to try and fool you... You show 3 cards, one of which IS their card...but when they say that's it... you say.." good try, but no, that's not it." then you show the card you THINK is their selection... when you look all confused when you realize that it's not, you ask " what was your card?" They'ss say, and you reveal that the card you are holding IS their selected card.

After that depending on mood, I may finish with Jazz aces. Which leaves them totally stumped.

I have been practicing Fiber Optics, and will be carrying around a piece of rope with me once I have it perfected.

Personally I agree that we should be prepared to perform at the drop of the hat. I think it adds to our mystique that we are true magicians.

" I am not prepared." should never be our response.

" I don't have anything with me." is most unprofessional, since it implies you are a "gadget and gaff magician" and while I think Gadgets and gaffs have their place, they should not be the backbone of our art. It also tells them that it's not you performing magic, but your props.

" I am not in the mood." ...Ok, sometimes we are just not in the mood to perform, I know how that can be...but for those occasions don't do a LOT...Just maybe 4 or 5 minutes worth of something... after all, you never know when someone will know someone with a party coming up... etc...

And if you just don't have anything to show them because you are unprepared, don't say that just do say.." I am not in the mood..." or .." My hand is cramping up something fierce." Or.. "I have a headache." Many use that to get out of performing... and not just magic.

It's funny but I just finished watching a show where Teller was talking..( Yes, he actually talks) about sleight of hand. And he said.." the amazing thing about sleight of hand is, that this way, you can if you had to... perform...naked...on a beach... and I have performed... naked...on a beach."

I think that says it all.

if you have on the spot, you should always be prepared. that is the point of the video. to always be ready "on the spot"

So if you are a surgeon, and someone says do an operation on me right here and now, do you do it?

No but if you are at a diner, and someone is choking... and they ask for a medic... if you are a surgeon... you go help.

The two are not analogous. The surgeon is not a performer. We are. Plus, it's free publicity. We never know who is watching.

There is a story that at one point in Dai Vernon's life he refused to perform for laymen... it gave him the shakes something bad. He only performed for fellow magicins... kind of explaining his handling etc...

One day in a park he was doing card effects for few fellow magicians and someone saw him...quite by accident... turns out she was a top talent agent, that put acts on vaudeville circuits across the country... also parties for the wealthy of the time... Vanderbilts, Morgans, Rockefellers... etc.. that sort of thing.

If Vernon had been.." sorry mate, you don't pay me I don't perform" maybe he might never have gotten his big break?

The difference between us and the surgeon is that for the surgeon surgery is a job...it's what he does to earn a living, for us, it's more than just a job.

Tell you this though... if the surgeon in the diner had to perform an emergency tracheotomy to save someone's life I doubt highly he would complain about not being in the mood... or ... whether or not the guy has medical insurance... before he performed it.

We are performers, we perform. As someone said, we are magicians, make magic. Sometimes you perform for your sake... either it pays the bills, or you get to express yourself, as an artist.

Other times you perform for others, you happen to be at your nieces birthday party, and she asks you to perform a couple of " tricks" what are you gonna tell her? " no...pay me first ."? .. and sometimes you perform simply for the good of the art, and other magicians... as in " can you do a trick? * hands you a deck of cards.*"... " Ok, have you seen this one?...* Do twisting the aces...*

You do not have to launch into a 40 minute act. I do not see what is lost with giving away a few minutes of magic... 4 or 5... you brighten everyone's day, and have a little fun. You don't Always have to get paid to perform. And sometimes the paycheck is more ephemeral than cash...doesn't make it any less real. Your niece smiles and her eyes glow with wonder, wonderring how the heck those aces turned over