Kicker Endings / Surprise Climax

[RickEverhart]

While reading Pete McCabe's Scripting Magic, I came across a very interesting point that I thought I'd share. Some of you may know this and others may not but I'll post it anyway for the good of our members.

It is said that, "The best surprise climax is one that does not come upon the spectators as a complete shock, but rather which the spectators are allowed to figure out for themselves just a moment before it is revealed."

Bill Nagler points out that "This serves to assist the spectator in resolving some of the psychological frustration of magic. But to me, it also strengthens the impact of a good effect. The audience is given the brief opportunity to consider the likelihood of what is about to occur; perhaps to begin to logically reject that likelihood; and the begin to appreciate the significance and value of the impending achievement."

I think this is an OUTSTANDING key point and definitely something I will begin to consider while performing some of my effects with kicker endings.
Think about it...if you slow down...and let the spectator catch up instead of just racing toward the finish line to destroy them...it is even stronger because they get to put all of the pieces together themselves and start thinking, "Oh, no! There is not a chance in hell...."

Any thoughts?

 

[Randy]

Jami Ian Swiss mentioned the same thing in the book. I would say that it depends though, Sometimes unexpected kicker endings can work out really well and other times not so much.

 

[RickEverhart]

Those were my thoughts as well Randy. Sometimes just a good ole fashioned "What the....?" as you nail your kicker is just as strong. Either way I found it interesting.

 

[Randy]

My other point is that sometimes magicians tend to use too many kicker endings to their effects and maybe in their mind it SEEMS good because of all the surprises, but in reality it can end up being dull and pretty annoying. I've seen a few effects out there that rely on having way too many kickers to them to the point where they tend to ruin the entire effect.

 

[Jacob L]

Good post Rick! I'm not sure exactly. Currently I perform effects where I use a surprise kicker/sucker ending they are not expecting. I use ball to square as a fantastic sucker ending, and it kills all ages because I blatantly pull the "ball" into my other hand and flash terribly, but then they get a good smack in the face (an entertaining one, at that).

I think making an ending where the spectators are allowed to catch up will take some more thought and planning than one that is meant to surprise because you have to make sure they can't totally reconstruct the entire routine and figure out how you do it, but rather just the key points to make the reveal as impactful as possible.

Do you know any effects where the climax is one the spectators are allowed to figure out? I'd love to look into this sort of thing more.

 

[DannyT]

Do you know any effects where the climax is one the spectators are allowed to figure out? I'd love to look into this sort of thing more.

I think that some effects can be changed for audiences expecting the unexpected right before the reveal by simply slowing down the effect. Just like a joke, a trick takes a little time to understand depending on who you're performing for. So rather than racing to get to the reveal, walk instead.
So you don't necessarily need to alter a trick to get it to fit this type of reaction. Just perform the effect slower and it just might get the job done.

 

[NathanaelBergenMagic]

I agree. I frequently use Joshua Jay's 'Prism' deck, and of the main routine, there is 3 separate effects. Without going into too much detail, I'll just tie into the conversation with this: the first effect is a card under box, card under box, deck under box. Great because after awhile everyone's laughing because as soon as something happens, they look down and see the card just a mere second before the announcement. So even though they're fooled, they almost feel like they 'almost' caught me. Second is a card is placed into pocket, spectator freely stops at a card, magician knows card, card ends up in pocket. And since they know from the beginning that you've put a card in your pocket, they're almost wondering how on earth you got their selection from place to place. And finally is an ace location. And inherently they almost feel like they know what's about to happen: ace, ace, another ace, and another ace. But what Joshua Jay did so brilliantly is: besides a surprise kicker to find the last ace, he mentions that he must be using a 'marked' deck. And, as we all know from the trailer, every. card. is. different. I love this routine because its got so much back and forth, in and out, that the audience doesn't feel like I'm showing them something, but that we're enjoying a piece of magic together. And the biggest reason for this 'shared experience' is that the audience almost feels like they know what's happening a step ahead when in actuality they're just a tiny tiny bit behind.
Anyway, that's my 2 cents.

 

[Jacob L]

I agree. I frequently use Joshua Jay's 'Prism' deck, and of the main routine, there is 3 separate effects. Without going into too much detail, I'll just tie into the conversation with this: the first effect is a card under box, card under box, deck under box. Great because after awhile everyone's laughing because as soon as something happens, they look down and see the card just a mere second before the announcement. So even though they're fooled, they almost feel like they 'almost' caught me. Second is a card is placed into pocket, spectator freely stops at a card, magician knows card, card ends up in pocket. And since they know from the beginning that you've put a card in your pocket, they're almost wondering how on earth you got their selection from place to place. And finally is an ace location. And inherently they almost feel like they know what's about to happen: ace, ace, another ace, and another ace. But what Joshua Jay did so brilliantly is: besides a surprise kicker to find the last ace, he mentions that he must be using a 'marked' deck. And, as we all know from the trailer, every. card. is. different. I love this routine because its got so much back and forth, in and out, that the audience doesn't feel like I'm showing them something, but that we're enjoying a piece of magic together. And the biggest reason for this 'shared experience' is that the audience almost feels like they know what's happening a step ahead when in actuality they're just a tiny tiny bit behind.
Anyway, that's my 2 cents.

Great post! That effect sounds like a ton of fun. I can just picture everyone laughing and having a good time, sounds like my kind of magic!

 

[NathanaelBergenMagic]

Great post! That effect sounds like a ton of fun. I can just picture everyone laughing and having a good time, sounds like my kind of magic!

http://www.thebluecrown.com/store/tricks/prism-by-joshua-jay.html

Somehow this has turned into a shameless plug for Joshua.
Anyway, if you're seriously considering this, let me inform you: if you're wanting the most out of this, you're going to need a Phoenix deck; this trick deck is based on that deck. Now: I've worked it out so when I perform, it's with bicycles, so, if you ever do get it, PM me, I'll tell you the stack so you can make it work without a Phoenix deck.

 

[Jacob L]

http://www.thebluecrown.com/store/tricks/prism-by-joshua-jay.html

Somehow this has turned into a shameless plug for Joshua.
Anyway, if you're seriously considering this, let me inform you: if you're wanting the most out of this, you're going to need a Phoenix deck; this trick deck is based on that deck. Now: I've worked it out so when I perform, it's with bicycles, so, if you ever do get it, PM me, I'll tell you the stack so you can make it work without a Phoenix deck.

Am I gonna need 52 decks of Bikes?

 

[NathanaelBergenMagic]

No, you'll need atleast 4 aces of red or blues (bicycles); then on top of that: for the climax, you'll need 3 aces of different backs + 1 of the aces from the red or blues bikes from earlier. And a few other cards, but in the end, to make the Phoenix deck work, you'll need to replace: 12 cards. (Trust me, magicians will already have these cards readily available.) Upon getting this DVD, I had the cards replaced and effect working in less than an hour; an hour is all you'll need to understand the routine, after that it's just practice.
Hope this helped.

ps. Just another quick tid-bit to be clear: the reason for replacing cards is because Phoenix cards have larger ace pips, making it necessary to replace them. But as far as the other cards of the deck: 30+ of them aren't any type of recognizable card anyway; the few altered Phoenix cards blend in because people are just focusing on the fact that they're all different.

PM me if you want me to get into a more detailed explanation of the stack if it will better help you make up your mind. (That way I won't have to worry about exposure.) Although, there's really no exposure to worry about: he shows the deck in the video.
But mainly: I believe this is a must have effect, so I'm willing to put in the time so you can make a well informed decision.

 

[RickEverhart]

Great info and thoughts gentlemen. Thanks for the post on PRISM as well.

 

[Chris W]

Darwin Ortiz has some great insight on these types of endings and the pitfalls (i.e. having the kicker ending be not as exciting as what preceded it). It's in his book Strong Magic.

 

[Phenomena]

depends on your style...i love close up in your face type comedy routines....perfect surprise ending for me has to be 5 speed. Adds a perfect wtf moment

 

[RealityOne]

I think there is a lot of power in having spectators WANT there to be specific ending. The key is to build up the impossibility of what they have been lead to want and then deliver it. I also think that having the spectators "get there" a moment before the reveal makes the kicker perfect.

For Eric Ross's Election, I present it as a comparability test. I ask in the beginning if it is better for a couple to be more alike or to be different? Younger some great answer and can have some fun if the guy and girl give different answers. I play down the first reveal by saying "You would be pretty alike if you both picked the same suit or a number close to each other." Then, I talk about how I think (or if they mentioned it earlier how they think) that it is helpful for a couple to be BOTH alike and different. I then say "now, you both have different colored decks, so...". I've never had to finish that sentence because one of the spectators figures out that the backs of the cards are different colors. My best reaction was a spectator who said, "I'm going to freak out if this card has a red back." I simply said, go ahead, turn it over.

Other kicker endings work because we have lead the spectator to expect one thing (the old lead them down a garden path") and then hit them with another MORE impossible ending. Bannon has a great example of this in Six.Impossible.Things. Most cups and balls routines have this sort of ending. I tend not to like "sucker" effects where the audience expects a method than the magician disproves the method. To me that focuses the spectator too much on the method and not enough on the impossibility of what is being done.

The key here is managing the spectator's expectations. The Ending in Election with basic say-do-see patter comes across as an "oh, look at this too." My patter builds that into something that is stronger than the first reveal because the spectators want it to happen. In other effects with unexpected kicker endings, the power is that the spectator's expectations are exceeded.

But sometimes it goes too far. A triumph routine has a double ending... The selected card is found and the rest of the cards are reversed. Ive seen some triumph effects where the deck ends up in new deck order without any reason. Yes, that is interesting but it doesn't make the effect stronger. It is unexpected by the audience. They think the effect is over and aren't expecting anything. I think add ons like that actually dilute the power of an effect because it reduces the clarity. Think about how the spectator would explain what they saw -" all the cards turned face up except the card I selected, and the cards were in order, and the back of the deck changed to purple and then the magician had a lemon appear under the card case which had my signed card inside.".

 

[CaseyRudd]

Reading this thread just reminded me of a new effect that just came out by Liam Montier called "Timeless" (can be found on Vanishing Inc.).

While presenting the effect you tell your spectators that you are going to steal the thought from their mind, steal the time from the watch, etc. And if you do it right, before the reveal, they might think you actually stole the time from the watch. And as they turn the watch over, they find that you did, in fact, steal the time away from the watch, leaving no hands inside the watch. It's a blank face and the hands are gone. I've been deeply interested in this effect and I might have to get this for Christmas this year. I'll always have a quick Mentalism effect on my wrist at all times. Pretty excited! Liam is a smart dude, and he's also very under-rated in the magic community. You guys should check out his other stuff!