What I’ve Learned

I’ve been doing magic as my full-time job since I got out of college in 1981. Since then, I’ve done over 20,000 shows for millions of people, which makes me old. But also, I feel like I’ve learned a lot of lessons over those years of shows. Here are three of my favorites…

Read a lot of books. The internet has a lot of videos explaining magic tricks. But if you want to be different from the other magicians (trust me, you want to be different from the other magicians), instead of using the internet to watch the same tricks all the other magicians are watching and copying, use the internet to track down old magic books and dig up tricks that no one else is doing.

Do a lot of shows. This is really the only way to get better. You can practice in your room all day, every day, but until you do a trick for another human, there’s absolutely no way to know for sure how good that trick is. The only way to know if your trick is good is to pay attention to the third (and maybe most important) rule…

Be a good listener. As I said this is probably the most important lesson I’ve picked up. First, learn to listen to the audience. If you’re trying to make a joke, they’ll let you know if it’s funny. If you haven’t truly fooled them, they’ll let you know by not genuinely reacting. If they’re bored, they’ll let you know by talking amongst themselves or just being quiet. Once you’ve gotten good at listening you’ll even be able to tell the difference between the good kind of silence (they’re really paying attention) and the bad kind of silence (they’re bored).

If you use audience participation when you perform, listen to the person who’s assisting you. Genuinely listening to that helper lets them know that you appreciate them and that they’re not just another prop in your show—listening to them acknowledges their humanness. And, as an added bonus, every now and then the audience will say something truly funny or interesting that you’ll want to use in future shows. If you’re not sincerely paying attention to them you may miss that opportunity. So many memorable bits in my show come from an audience member saying or doing something entertaining.

Next, find a friend or family member who you trust to give real honest feedback, and listen to them. Because they know you well they can really sense when you’re doing something “off,” whether it’s a secret move that flashes or you’re saying something that just isn’t quite “you.”

And then, listen to yourself. You know yourself better than anyone. Listen to everyone, and then do what that little voice in your head tells you is right.

-Mac King