Hi Craig, hope you had a good time at the BMC. I had a few questions: - Do you think it is necessary for someone to have experience in close-up/walk-around performing in order to be able to perform on stage? (I'm interested in mentalism, but would also be keen to hear your thoughts on this with regards to magic too) - In the past you have done a "how's and why's" video for things like DFB. Would you be able to do one of these videos for the SvenPad? I'd love to see some examples of how you use this in your performances! - Do you think it's possible to perform as a mentalist and/or a magician without using sleight-of-hand? Or is some level of proficiency in sleight-of-hand always going to be necessary?
Agreed, only buying tricks when you know the method is absolutely ridiculous. No question this week, just a thank you for Evoke. It's absolutely brilliant. I have quite a few of your releases, and it's by far my favorite. And you know you've hit it out of the park when the only negative people have is "the tutorial is too long". Looking forward to seeing what the rest of the year has in store for you and your releases
Hi Craig - loving the channel. Apologies for the long post. Ill try to keep it brief. I did your Penguin Restaurant Residency masterclass a couple of years ago, since doing so ive had 2 residencies - thanks for all the info you give to the community . I now have the opportunity to start a 3rd residency at a great place ive been trying to get to perform at for a long while - but ive not had a residency for 6-8 months. They are interested in it being a regular thing but want to test out the format on their opening night and launch party - no pressure! What are your top tips to ensure i can capture the restaurants interest for future bookings? I understand the magic needs to be good but i want to be able to focus on the rapport, reviews and creating a buzz and not stress about my 90 phase ambitious card ( jokes i only do 85 phases 😅) Any quick wins i can work o. Throughout the night to make a great impression?
QUESTION: As a hobbyist who only performs for a few people, one of the issues I run up against is the "searchability" of magic tricks. Magic marketing is so prevalent nowadays that all one has to do is google "boarding pass magic trick" and the name, price, creator, and performance video of the trick I just finished pops up. The method isn't revealed, but I feel some of the mystique is lost, especially if I develop patter to make the trick specific to me. Should more effort be paid into ways to avoid this? Do you see it as a problem? How do you deal with it? Thanks.
Hi Craig! Here is my question. When someone emails you asking for your services and they ask for pricing. What is the best thing to say to that potential client ? Thanks for taking the time to respond. I love your channel! Frankini The Great
purchased evoke yesterday. I like when youre transparent about things, and I dont understand why other creators won't do the same. I cant replicate the evoke deck for under $40, and knowing before hand lets me know I'll perform it,
Hi Craig, I have a question about one very special form of hyping: the "pre-order now because only 250 will be printed" sort of hype. I know you are a fan of Luca Volpe, and so am I, yet this strikes me as odd: if Luca is sure the Nyx deck will sell out quickly, why only print 250? And if he wants to keep the number of sold decks low, then why hype it?
41:20 I'll add that theres the one Craig and Ryland reviewed with the restaurant gift cards. I also like the necklace that works like a Cubio, or Obedient Cube. AND my edc is a set of color changing knives. 😊
Hey Craig, I have 2 questions & a thank you this week so here goes: 1. I love that I can finally do killer magic thanks to the likes of John Bannon, Cameron Francis & Ryan Schlutz and the ton of no sleight magic but I'd love to do more the only drawback is 90%(ish) of tricks use double lifts and holding breaks which I cannot do due to dexterity issues hence the no sleight magic but, would you have an easier way to perform some of these moves for someone like me or am I doomed to doing no sleight magic for ever? (the last part was needlessly dramatic LOL) 2. Will you ever do collaborations with the legend John Bannon and Theory11? I love both and I'm desperately trying to will it into existence. 3. Finally a thank you to you Craig because on a Q&A sometime in May last year I asked if you could show me a simple coin vanish that I could do to amaze my little nephew, well it has worked gangbusters and it amazes him. Since then my second little nephew has been born so now I can astonish and amaze all over again. Thanks so much Craig.
Hi Craig just got back from the madness of Blackpool, not everything went right and too much queueing 30 to 40 minutes to get into a lecture so only did a few although seen mat in the bear pit and had a chat on the stand , mac King was amazing and worth the price of the ticket and again did not get a chance to say hi either you or I was doing something, ok to my question my only real magic buy was evoke and only seen a bit of the download but the problem am having is seeing the marking even though they say they pop out and showed a friend and she the same ,you were showing her something at Blackpool and she said she could see the markings, have you got any tip to help , I know you carnt do a video but any advice would be appreciated
Hey Craig, I hope you're doing well. First of all, congratulations with bringing out Evoke. I have a question I hoped you could answer for me. I'm a amateur magician trying to get further into the world of magic gigs but I feel like I still lack the confidence. How did you overcome this issue and is there any tips and tricks to get more confident doing gigs?
Question: Hi Craig, Thank you for doing these Q&As and being the Macho Man Randy Savage of the magic industry!! 🙂 When you do your Empowerment Coins Across routine, is there a reason you use a half-dollar flipper coin instead of an Eisenhower flipper coin? Does a half-dollar work better?
Hello Craig, Thank you for your engagement on these Q&A sessions. I have more of a statement than a question: as a consumer of magic secrets and methodologies, I find it to be entirely subjective. Because of this, it invites a certain element of snobbery to permeate among influencers and the influenced. Even when a new effect is embraced by all, which is damn near never, and although there is a consensus of opinion, it is still a subjective preference. Opinion is not fact; it can be a fact that an opinion is universally shared, but an opinion, by its very nature, is biased. Even when considering multiple perspectives and environmental factors, there may still be inherent biases present. Making an effort to consider various viewpoints, gather diverse sources of information, and critically evaluate evidence can help individuals form more informed and well-rounded opinions. This approach promotes fairness and balance in decision-making processes, even though complete unbiasedness may remain elusive. Overall, while individuals can strive to be fair-minded and open to different perspectives, the inherent subjectivity of human cognition makes the notion of truly unbiased opinions highly improbable. Recognizing this limitation is crucial for fostering critical thinking, humility, and constructive dialogue. Every time I hear an influencer state that this is their unbiased opinion, I cringe. Regardless of whether it is intentional or unintentional, the statement is ultimately a grift. While influencers or reviewers may strive to present their reviews as fair and balanced, their ability to achieve complete impartiality is indeed constrained by their personal limitations, biases, and perspectives. In summary, while influencers and reviewers may strive for fairness and balance in their reviews, they are inherently limited by their personal perspectives and biases, which can affect the objectivity of their assessments. Recognizing and acknowledging these limitations is essential for consumers to critically evaluate reviews and make informed decisions. In truth, all reviews should come with a disclaimer other than asserting it is something it is not. Disclaimer: While I've endeavored to consider multiple perspectives and factors, my review reflects my personal assessment and may be influenced by my individual experiences and biases. I would like to know your thoughts on this.
first, just thank you. evoke for me is the best release of the last decate. related to your great idea for the new series of creating a routine, just create a gaffed deck for evoke as a spinnoff-show. i would love to have at least 14 doublebackers included to create all the cheeky-effects. and of course release this deck! greetings from cologne, germany
Hi Craig! Do you know of any books or videos on getting started in doing comedy stage magic? Do you know of anything on stage show structure? Also, will you ever do your RUclips Q and A video but answering questions on a live stream? Thank you
No question here, just a big thank you for "exposing" most of your tricks on RUclips. Although I already had a couple of gigs I am quite new to magic (two months newer than Matt), and have a limited budget for this. Buying the wrong trick and wasting some of this limited budget is something I always worry about, so I tend to be very weary about buying something if I don't know anything about. I purchased three of your tricks though, and one of the main reasons is that I knew exactly what I would get. So thank you!
Hi Craig,. I loved your video you did with Matt about mnemonica. I recently memorized the stack and am going through the mnemonica book as well as repertoire by asi wind. I really like mnemonicosis, or jazzing with the deck. Do you know of any way to learn or practice this? Im struggling to find outs for each card. Thanks!
Question: since you have created many gimmick decks, how many are you bringing to the gigs and and how are you carrying them on yourself? And do you just deck switch or blatantly put one out and bring one in?
I want to do the linking rings but I keep stopping myself because I keep thinking that’s it’s very obvious to guess there is a hole in the ring because that is just a common sense thing to guess. Have you ever had it when someone said this. Am I correct in stopping myself from doing it because of this ?
Thanks for answering my question Craig! Im definetely going to buy Evoke! Anyways I want to ask if you dont mind how do you structure a routine for your MEM deck tricks like what tricks do you start with and what tricks do you end off with when using a MEM deck or do you just destroy the stack at the end?
as far as everyday objects to do magic, I always have my chop pen, and of course it works with other sized “things” that are super cheap, don’t care if their destroyed, but you have that Sharpie, yup, can do all sorts of things beyond the Chop stuff, and have it for signing cards as well, so it’s perfect
If you could only choose 10 tricks to do for the rest of your life what tricks would you do. Also by the way magic button is my favorite magic purchase. Gonna have to buy 10 refills because of how much I use it.
Hi Craig I hope you are well I just bought your train ticket trick it's by far the best thing that I have seen if I had one thing to say the marking system is great I just wanted the year 21 and 22 on the back aswell I do ask people to tell me the month and the year and then I can do the rest. You're stuff is great I do mentalism
Hi Craig, great show as always 🙂 My first is a gripe which I fear I must bring to your attention - my wages each month is split between, bills, my wife, children, Nightshade fund and Tabitha’s House of Pain. I am currently saving for the Nightshade Project but some bugger out there keeps bringing out amazing tricks like Magic Button and Evoke and I assume many more in the pipeline this year - this is hitting in to my Nightshade fund and you are putting me in a difficult position where I must stop giving my wife money! This is a cease and desist message to stop being so damn amazing! On a lighter note - I know you have your own outlet for your tricks. Have you thought about offering signed copies of your tricks - charging ‘slightly more’ to set you apart from the other outlets when purchasing tricks as opposed to the promotional merchandise. It is just a thought that was brought on by Murphy’s Magic’s latest competition whereby you could win signed copies 🙂 Kind regards Ian
Craig, I appreciate your desire to be cordial and diplomatic in the case of the drunk amateur magician. However, respectfully, I think that is dreadful advice. Whether or not that individual is trying to help or detract from the paid performer, trying to encourage an intoxicated person or bring them in on your set for the evening is like spraying a aerosol can at a lighter. It may work and look good, but it is also highly risky and can blow up in your face. As a professional it is important to act as one, and part of that is separating oneself from the conventional amateur or hobbyist. A performer's value and income are necessarily based on that distinction. I understand the benefit of trying to win them over to your side so they do not feel spurned, but in no other paid performance art would we entertain the notion of a tag-along undercutting the professional. It is disrespectful, inappropriate, and should not be tolerated in any fashion. Just some thoughts, Cheers
Hi Craig second question what is the best place to learn non gimiced card tricks ty again in advance Wayne ps i love your devotion to your sons career his name will be in the lights of vegas
Hi Craig i love all your content you are always trying to help people which is always appreciated. i want to join the magic circle what type of magic whould be best to do to pass the first test to become an apprentice so i will need to do 2 tricks i have got your 3 coin sets that are great i also got a lot of card magic. what 2 tricks would you recomend as 1 will need to show skill and not self working i think ty in advance wayne
Hi Craig, I do not agree with you on this. You are a great magician, and a great educator. Still, I do think nobody is authorised or has the privilige to expose other peoples, in this case fellow magicians secrets, when in this industry, it all revolves around secrets. Secrets of creation, hard thinking, experimenting, trials and errors and a whole process of manufacturing and processing. You know it better than me. I ' m just a layman.
![Felix "Unfair" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Oswujxm2Ag0/mqdefault.jpg)
Hi Craig, hope you had a good time at the BMC. I had a few questions:
- Do you think it is necessary for someone to have experience in close-up/walk-around performing in order to be able to perform on stage? (I'm interested in mentalism, but would also be keen to hear your thoughts on this with regards to magic too)
- In the past you have done a "how's and why's" video for things like DFB. Would you be able to do one of these videos for the SvenPad? I'd love to see some examples of how you use this in your performances!
- Do you think it's possible to perform as a mentalist and/or a magician without using sleight-of-hand? Or is some level of proficiency in sleight-of-hand always going to be necessary?
Agreed, only buying tricks when you know the method is absolutely ridiculous. No question this week, just a thank you for Evoke. It's absolutely brilliant. I have quite a few of your releases, and it's by far my favorite. And you know you've hit it out of the park when the only negative people have is "the tutorial is too long". Looking forward to seeing what the rest of the year has in store for you and your releases
Hi Craig - loving the channel.
Apologies for the long post. Ill try to keep it brief. I did your Penguin Restaurant Residency masterclass a couple of years ago, since doing so ive had 2 residencies - thanks for all the info you give to the community .
I now have the opportunity to start a 3rd residency at a great place ive been trying to get to perform at for a long while - but ive not had a residency for 6-8 months.
They are interested in it being a regular thing but want to test out the format on their opening night and launch party - no pressure!
What are your top tips to ensure i can capture the restaurants interest for future bookings?
I understand the magic needs to be good but i want to be able to focus on the rapport, reviews and creating a buzz and not stress about my 90 phase ambitious card ( jokes i only do 85 phases 😅)
Any quick wins i can work o. Throughout the night to make a great impression?
QUESTION: As a hobbyist who only performs for a few people, one of the issues I run up against is the "searchability" of magic tricks. Magic marketing is so prevalent nowadays that all one has to do is google "boarding pass magic trick" and the name, price, creator, and performance video of the trick I just finished pops up. The method isn't revealed, but I feel some of the mystique is lost, especially if I develop patter to make the trick specific to me. Should more effort be paid into ways to avoid this? Do you see it as a problem? How do you deal with it? Thanks.
Hi Craig!
Here is my question. When someone emails you asking for your services and they ask for pricing. What is the best thing to say to that potential client ?
Thanks for taking the time to respond. I love your channel!
Frankini The Great
Thanks Craig for explaining some of your effects, let's me understand what I'm buying and I'm buying most of your tricks, keep it up.
purchased evoke yesterday. I like when youre transparent about things, and I dont understand why other creators won't do the same. I cant replicate the evoke deck for under $40, and knowing before hand lets me know I'll perform it,
13:21 👍🏼
Hi Craig, I have a question about one very special form of hyping: the "pre-order now because only 250 will be printed" sort of hype. I know you are a fan of Luca Volpe, and so am I, yet this strikes me as odd: if Luca is sure the Nyx deck will sell out quickly, why only print 250? And if he wants to keep the number of sold decks low, then why hype it?
41:20
I'll add that theres the one Craig and Ryland reviewed with the restaurant gift cards. I also like the necklace that works like a Cubio, or Obedient Cube. AND my edc is a set of color changing knives. 😊
Hey Craig,
I have 2 questions & a thank you this week so here goes:
1. I love that I can finally do killer magic thanks to the likes of John Bannon, Cameron Francis & Ryan Schlutz and the ton of no sleight magic but I'd love to do more the only drawback is 90%(ish) of tricks use double lifts and holding breaks which I cannot do due to dexterity issues hence the no sleight magic but, would you have an easier way to perform some of these moves for someone like me or am I doomed to doing no sleight magic for ever? (the last part was needlessly dramatic LOL)
2. Will you ever do collaborations with the legend John Bannon and Theory11? I love both and I'm desperately trying to will it into existence.
3. Finally a thank you to you Craig because on a Q&A sometime in May last year I asked if you could show me a simple coin vanish that I could do to amaze my little nephew, well it has worked gangbusters and it amazes him. Since then my second little nephew has been born so now I can astonish and amaze all over again. Thanks so much Craig.
Hi Craig just got back from the madness of Blackpool, not everything went right and too much queueing 30 to 40 minutes to get into a lecture so only did a few although seen mat in the bear pit and had a chat on the stand , mac King was amazing and worth the price of the ticket and again did not get a chance to say hi either you or I was doing something, ok to my question my only real magic buy was evoke and only seen a bit of the download but the problem am having is seeing the marking even though they say they pop out and showed a friend and she the same ,you were showing her something at Blackpool and she said she could see the markings, have you got any tip to help , I know you carnt do a video but any advice would be appreciated
Hey Craig, I hope you're doing well. First of all, congratulations with bringing out Evoke.
I have a question I hoped you could answer for me. I'm a amateur magician trying to get further into the world of magic gigs but I feel like I still lack the confidence. How did you overcome this issue and is there any tips and tricks to get more confident doing gigs?
Question:
Hi Craig,
Thank you for doing these Q&As and being the Macho Man Randy Savage of the magic industry!! 🙂
When you do your Empowerment Coins Across routine, is there a reason you use a half-dollar flipper coin instead of an Eisenhower flipper coin? Does a half-dollar work better?
Hello Craig,
Thank you for your engagement on these Q&A sessions. I have more of a statement than a question: as a consumer of magic secrets and methodologies, I find it to be entirely subjective. Because of this, it invites a certain element of snobbery to permeate among influencers and the influenced. Even when a new effect is embraced by all, which is damn near never, and although there is a consensus of opinion, it is still a subjective preference. Opinion is not fact; it can be a fact that an opinion is universally shared, but an opinion, by its very nature, is biased. Even when considering multiple perspectives and environmental factors, there may still be inherent biases present.
Making an effort to consider various viewpoints, gather diverse sources of information, and critically evaluate evidence can help individuals form more informed and well-rounded opinions. This approach promotes fairness and balance in decision-making processes, even though complete unbiasedness may remain elusive.
Overall, while individuals can strive to be fair-minded and open to different perspectives, the inherent subjectivity of human cognition makes the notion of truly unbiased opinions highly improbable. Recognizing this limitation is crucial for fostering critical thinking, humility, and constructive dialogue.
Every time I hear an influencer state that this is their unbiased opinion, I cringe. Regardless of whether it is intentional or unintentional, the statement is ultimately a grift. While influencers or reviewers may strive to present their reviews as fair and balanced, their ability to achieve complete impartiality is indeed constrained by their personal limitations, biases, and perspectives.
In summary, while influencers and reviewers may strive for fairness and balance in their reviews, they are inherently limited by their personal perspectives and biases, which can affect the objectivity of their assessments. Recognizing and acknowledging these limitations is essential for consumers to critically evaluate reviews and make informed decisions.
In truth, all reviews should come with a disclaimer other than asserting it is something it is not.
Disclaimer: While I've endeavored to consider multiple perspectives and factors, my review reflects my personal assessment and may be influenced by my individual experiences and biases.
I would like to know your thoughts on this.
ABSee is NOTHING LIKE Evoke. I own both and you should definitely buy both.
first, just thank you. evoke for me is the best release of the last decate. related to your great idea for the new series of creating a routine, just create a gaffed deck for evoke as a spinnoff-show. i would love to have at least 14 doublebackers included to create all the cheeky-effects. and of course release this deck! greetings from cologne, germany
Hi Craig! Do you know of any books or videos on getting started in doing comedy stage magic? Do you know of anything on stage show structure? Also, will you ever do your RUclips Q and A video but answering questions on a live stream?
Thank you
No question here, just a big thank you for "exposing" most of your tricks on RUclips. Although I already had a couple of gigs I am quite new to magic (two months newer than Matt), and have a limited budget for this. Buying the wrong trick and wasting some of this limited budget is something I always worry about, so I tend to be very weary about buying something if I don't know anything about. I purchased three of your tricks though, and one of the main reasons is that I knew exactly what I would get. So thank you!
Hi Craig,. I loved your video you did with Matt about mnemonica. I recently memorized the stack and am going through the mnemonica book as well as repertoire by asi wind. I really like mnemonicosis, or jazzing with the deck. Do you know of any way to learn or practice this? Im struggling to find outs for each card. Thanks!
Question:
since you have created many gimmick decks, how many are you bringing to the gigs and and how are you carrying them on yourself?
And do you just deck switch or blatantly put one out and bring one in?
I want to do the linking rings but I keep stopping myself because I keep thinking that’s it’s very obvious to guess there is a hole in the ring because that is just a common sense thing to guess. Have you ever had it when someone said this. Am I correct in stopping myself from doing it because of this ?
My opinion is that if you're feeling "guilty" then don't do it, because that will "telegraph" to your audience. 😊
Thanks for answering my wallet question.
Thanks for answering my question Craig! Im definetely going to buy Evoke! Anyways I want to ask if you dont mind how do you structure a routine for your MEM deck tricks like what tricks do you start with and what tricks do you end off with when using a MEM deck or do you just destroy the stack at the end?
as far as everyday objects to do magic, I always have my chop pen, and of course it works with other sized “things” that are super cheap, don’t care if their destroyed, but you have that Sharpie, yup, can do all sorts of things beyond the Chop stuff, and have it for signing cards as well, so it’s perfect
If you could only choose 10 tricks to do for the rest of your life what tricks would you do. Also by the way magic button is my favorite magic purchase. Gonna have to buy 10 refills because of how much I use it.
Hi Craig I hope you are well I just bought your train ticket trick it's by far the best thing that I have seen if I had one thing to say the marking system is great I just wanted the year 21 and 22 on the back aswell I do ask people to tell me the month and the year and then I can do the rest. You're stuff is great I do mentalism
Hi Craig, great show as always 🙂
My first is a gripe which I fear I must bring to your attention - my wages each month is split between, bills, my wife, children, Nightshade fund and Tabitha’s House of Pain. I am currently saving for the Nightshade Project but some bugger out there keeps bringing out amazing tricks like Magic Button and Evoke and I assume many more in the pipeline this year - this is hitting in to my Nightshade fund and you are putting me in a difficult position where I must stop giving my wife money! This is a cease and desist message to stop being so damn amazing!
On a lighter note - I know you have your own outlet for your tricks. Have you thought about offering signed copies of your tricks - charging ‘slightly more’ to set you apart from the other outlets when purchasing tricks as opposed to the promotional merchandise. It is just a thought that was brought on by Murphy’s Magic’s latest competition whereby you could win signed copies 🙂
Kind regards
Ian
Craig, I appreciate your desire to be cordial and diplomatic in the case of the drunk amateur magician. However, respectfully, I think that is dreadful advice. Whether or not that individual is trying to help or detract from the paid performer, trying to encourage an intoxicated person or bring them in on your set for the evening is like spraying a aerosol can at a lighter. It may work and look good, but it is also highly risky and can blow up in your face. As a professional it is important to act as one, and part of that is separating oneself from the conventional amateur or hobbyist. A performer's value and income are necessarily based on that distinction. I understand the benefit of trying to win them over to your side so they do not feel spurned, but in no other paid performance art would we entertain the notion of a tag-along undercutting the professional. It is disrespectful, inappropriate, and should not be tolerated in any fashion. Just some thoughts, Cheers
Hi Craig second question what is the best place to learn non gimiced card tricks ty again in advance Wayne ps i love your devotion to your sons career his name will be in the lights of vegas
Drunk magicians, wow, Michael Webber ?
Hi Craig i love all your content you are always trying to help people which is always appreciated. i want to join the magic circle what type of magic whould be best to do to pass the first test to become an apprentice so i will need to do 2 tricks i have got your 3 coin sets that are great i also got a lot of card magic. what 2 tricks would you recomend as 1 will need to show skill and not self working i think ty in advance wayne
Can you do a talk magic with magic Singh
Hi Craig, I do not agree with you on this. You are a great magician, and a great educator. Still, I do think nobody is authorised or has the privilige to expose other peoples, in this case fellow magicians secrets, when in this industry, it all revolves around secrets. Secrets of creation, hard thinking, experimenting, trials and errors and a whole process of manufacturing and processing. You know it better than me. I ' m just a layman.
Hi Craig fab show at Rugeley with Slightly Unusual , are we touring again cheers