Friendly Laymen tell I must have copied (in a way, indirectly)!!!

[Lord Magic]

I'll get straight to the point then.
I performed a book test and people loved it but there was this ONE person who said "You have seen it from Britain's Got Talent, right?"
Now this comment was not meant to be harsh, just like most laymen comment, to show maybe that they care about the trick? They or not a complete alien to amazing magic? Nothing else to say? Dunno, but the comment was not meant to be harsh, just something with the flow of everything, if that makes sense.
Probably the performance the person was talking about was Richard Jone's book test on BGT. But I obviously used a different method and performance style...
How do you explain to a layman in a really short way (no sermons required) that effects might be same, but the method essentially, and the performance style differ. Like if Blaine performed a coin vanish, he wouldn't be copying me (honestly, he will do it much better than me . )
What to do? If I use words like 'effect', 'method', 'unique performance style' and things, I don't think it brings out what I wanna say completely.
I want it to be srsly short way of putting across my thoughts. And since these comments are mostly friendly,I want to be friendly in my reply too.

 

[ParkinT]

My response would be light-hearted and [marginally] dismissive. For example (and realize this suits my particular style) I may say,
"I did not see that. He must have copied the idea from me!" with a smile on my face. Then move on; quickly.

 

[DisasterTheory]

"I haven't seen it. I'll have to check that out some time." should be short, sweet and allow you to move on.

I generally like to keep interaction with hecklers short and to the point, even if it is polite unintentional heckling. Of course, I'm also known as a royal smarta** (it's just part of the persona people perceive of me). So it also allows me to say things others may not easily get away with saying. So if it's an intentional heckler, I generally, and openly, make a fool of them until they're silent or until they walk away.

 

[Maaz Hasan]

You could always completely change the presentation and get it to look completely different. But I agree with what these guys have said.

 

[WitchDocIsIn]

If the way you do the book test is similar enough in presentation to what they saw on TV, you'll never really convince them that it's a totally different trick. That's just how people think.

I avoid it by not performing like anyone famous.

Any time someone does ask questions like that, I just tell them honestly that I don't watch TV much, I spend a lot of time reading.

 

[DavidL11229]

Or mention the history of the trick. Reference they past greats who made it famous and acknowledge the long tradition of carrying on the effect and how glad you are that you are able to bring something new to it.

 

[Maaz Hasan]

Or mention the history of the trick. Reference they past greats who made it famous and acknowledge the long tradition of carrying on the effect and how glad you are that you are able to bring something new to it.

The only problem with this is when you start mentioning people no laymen know or care about.

 

[RealityOne]

To a laymen, it all looks the same. Lose a card, find a card. Produce four aces. Make a coin vanish and reappear. Figure out a word picked from a book. All the variations and differences in method that we care about as magicians don't make a difference.

Like @ChristopherT, most of my performance pieces don't resemble anything I've seen anyone else perform. To the extent some of the effects are the same, the performance is so different that in the few instances where people have seen something similar, they comment on how my performance is different (in a good way).

My response would (truthfully) be - "Oh, I didn't see it." Your response could be "I know, I saw that. There are very few people who can actually do this because it takes years of training andpractice."

 

[Al e Cat Dabra]

I would advise against ever discussing or even mentioning the word, "method" or anything similar, to a layman. It takes away from the atmosphere of magic we are hopefully trying to create, and they won't know what you're talking about anyway - they see only "effects." I would just say, "I do not pay attention to what other magicians do, I just focus on making my own magic."

 

[obrienmagic]

Usually i would say something along the lines of "No i haven't seen that. Sounds interesting though! I'll have to check it out!"

 

[Maaz Hasan]

You could also say "I did see it. Did you like it?" They obviously will say yes, whoch allows you to say "you wanna see another?" Which because of how psychology works, they will say yes again, allowing you to perform more

 

[DisasterTheory]

You could also say "I did see it. Did you like it?" They obviously will say yes, whoch allows you to say "you wanna see another?" Which because of how psychology works, they will say yes again, allowing you to perform more

This is ingenious reverse psychology. Love it lol

 

[Maaz Hasan]

This is ingenious reverse psychology. Love it lol

Lol Thanks.
Credit should be given where credit is due: I picked his little social engineering trick from watching Brian Brushwood Perform. He managed to steer the conversation wherever he wanted!

 

[Lord Magic]

Thanks everyone!
Am better prepared now!