The Mishear Convincer Explained

So, look. As a magic consultant, my job can only go so far. Some magicians find it odd that I believe my role is to produce easy magic with zero risks that will always work. But that's what consultants are valued upon. We aim to deliver reliable, fooling magic that feels unique to the performer.

But, once you had the magic over to the performer (who likely led or co-produced the trick with you), they had opportunities to improve it. And these opportunities tend to be beyond my control.

I can't, for example, force a magician to sit and practice a trick. A lot of the time, there's no time for that, and occasionally the performer doesn't want to anyway. See – this is why you produce easy magic.

But sometimes, you work with brilliantly talented, engaging performers who seek out the risks, especially in television. TV magicians are lucky sometimes in that they can perform a trick several times, knowing only the best will make it into the final cut.

These magicians take risks, and many of them pay off.

Some of these magicians take risks in the real world, too.

Asi Wind is the performer who comes to mind the most when I think of these almost bulldozer performers who take significant risks and plough onwards. Oz Pearlman and Colin Cloud also come to mind.

The odd thing about magicians who take risks is that the risks become less risky over time. This is because the performers get used to it, their nerves calm, and their understanding of the audience changes. They get used to every possible income and get better at reading spectators: their delivery changes, and their confidence increases.

These risk-taking magicians start to rely on more ballsy methods like heavy pre-show and crazier ones like instant stooging and miscalling.

I've written about pre-show techniques and miscalling in the past.

Today, we're talking about something else.

The Mishear Convincer

So this technique tends to be used with a force, and it aims to convince the audience that the election was free and genuine. But that's not all; if you time this convincer correctly and much later, it can also get used to timestamp the magic and convince the audience no magic has happened yet.

In its simplest form, mishearing is called a mishear because you pretend as if you misheard or misremembered something chosen by the spectator.

So, let's have a look at some examples.

Force Convincer

You ask the spectator to choose any card, and they do so, and it's the eight of hearts. They tell you and the rest of the group the card's name and return it to the deck.

You recap the trick for the audience. Recapping is a compelling way to remap, timestamp or install convincers to any magic routine. I don't like recapping unless it has a secret second use in play.

"So, Emma chose any card from a randomly shuffled deck, and she returned the ace of hearts to the deck, which had now been reshuffled –"

At this point, the spectators will interrupt you and inform you that the card they chose was the eight of hearts, not the ace of hearts like you said.

"Oh, you say. The eight of hearts? Right, okay."

Then you continue your trick.

I don't know about you, but if I saw the trick as a layperson, I would never assume that the eight of hearts was a card the magician knowingly forced upon the spectator. This mishear convincer makes it sound like the card was freely chosen, and the magician misheard or misremembered it.

Timestamp Convincer

Using a mishear as a timestamp or forcing convincer is similar in practice. The critical difference is the timing of when the convincer takes place. In this instance, it tends to be much later in the trick, after the sleight/set up but before the reveal.

A card is freely selected and returned to the deck, and you shuffle it a bunch, then you take a Joker card and place it face down on the table.

"The Joker card is a wild card. If you lose any card in the deck during a game, you can take the joke and use it instead of the missing card. So if we want it to change into your card, the ace of hearts, all we need to do is –"

At which point, they'll let you know the card they chose was the eight of hearts.

"Right, okay – the eight of hearts – all we need to do is snap our fingers..."

You then turn over the card and reveal the Joker is now the Eight of Hearts.

If you use this type of timestamp convincer correctly, you're signalling to your audience that the magic has not already happened. Without a timestamp like this convincer or the snapping of the fingers, the audience might backtrack to the point at which you switched the Joker for the Eight of Hearts.

But, the clever mishear convincer makes it seem as though the magical change had not already taken place or was not set up ready to get revealed. Because if this were the case, the card would be set up to be the ace of hearts, not the eight of hearts.

Powerless Convincer

The final primary way you see this type of convincer used is to signal to the audience that the magician is powerless to the magic. Our Spanish magician friends are probably the best in the world at this, and it works. I've seen Christian Grace do the same to huge reactions.

There's something about convincing the audience you are powerless to the magic that makes it more fooling. It assures us as spectators that you are not doing any sleight-of-hand, and your shocked reaction encourages us also to react similarly.

A card is returned to the deck, and with a snap of the fingers, you tell the spectators, "Your card" has travelled to your wallet/purse (it's essential you say your card, and you don't name their card at this point."

You reach back, remove it, and open it to display the face-down card inside.

At this point, you use the mishear convincer and name the wrong card.

The spectators correct you at this moment.

"A, yes, of course, the eight of hearts!"

You turn over the card and reveal the magic worked correctly. This convinces the audience that the magic worked free of your actions because you thought they'd chosen a different card, so if you were doing sleight of hand or trickery to make the trick work, the wrong card should be in the wallet.

Notes

This convincer works because the audience is encouraged to lie to themselves. And, just like the title of my book, The Best Lie is the One We Tell Ourselves. People are far more likely to believe a lie they tell themselves because it's much harder to admit we are wrong, especially to ourselves. Plus, it's easier to believe in ourselves than in a magician's words.

It would be best if you sounded confident in your mishear convincer. This is tricky; if you are too confident, they might not correct you. It's a delicate balance, but I've figured out the best way to explain how to get away with it.

You must be confident in your delivery but look for confirmation.

You're not questioning whether they chose the card you name, but your gesture to the spectator seeking visual confirmation for the card they chose. You're not waiting for them to confirm, but you nod to them as you say it with the understanding that if you were wrong, they'd step in and let you know.

It's one of those things you'll need to practice to get just right like the pros.