Dealing with an Overly Annoying Spectator
Hey everyone!
I'm Juan (a beginner), and I've been in this magic community for about a year and a half now.
Here's my question: I'm wondering if anyone could share a trick/effect, or a specific routine and/or patter, to really 'shut down' an especially annoying spectator? Something that makes them lose all desire to keep bothering me. ??
Let me explain... I've run into a spectator who, from the get-go, made it clear their only intention was to be disruptive. Right from the first effect, they kept interrupting, asking constant irrelevant questions, asking for the deck even if they weren't the volunteer, asking to examine it, asking to shuffle it... even offering to do a trick themselves. Constant interruptions that end up throwing you off and making you lose your patience.
On one hand, it's clear you need to grab the audience's attention and keep them focused on the current routine with a couple of strong opening routines.
But in this particular case, it's a spectator who, from the first minute, made it clear their entertainment comes from being a wise-ass and constantly interrupting, showing zero respect.
I've done more or less short shows (40-45 mins) for groups of kids (family and strangers) and for groups of adults (friends, family, and strangers), and only in this case have I encountered someone so intent on being annoying. Not even with kids have I experienced anything like this.
After making several more or less subtle comments with no result, I came to the conclusion that their intention was truly just to be annoying... In my opinion, in these cases, the appropriate thing to do might be, since the spectator is proving to be especially obnoxious and showing a lack of respect towards the magician and the rest of the audience, to bring them up as a volunteer and have them directly participate in a routine where they are exposed for what they are: an obnoxious, disrespectful person (not to mention a complete jerk), and get 'shut down' in public.
So here's my question (sorry for the long preamble)... is there any routine/patter to really shut down an especially annoying spectator? So they lose the desire to keep bothering?
Thanks in advance!
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