The Importance of A Magician's Patter

The magicians patter is the story that sets the tone and emotional atmosphere for the illusion that he is performing for his audience. If the patter is done well it draws you into the magic trick, and keeps you captivated while the magician weaves his magic through the story he is telling. Patter is also instructional and explains to the audience what is happening or at least what the magician wants them to believe is happening. It may also be used to instruct the audience participation in a magic trick, either as a group or an individual volunteer from the audience. The patter used while performing magic tricks can come in many forms. It can be as mundane as pick a card any card, or can be quite complex. The patter can have a comedic overtone meant mainly as way to keep the audience attention during a trick or as misdirection, many times making the audience believe that the magician completely messed up the magic trick or that they actually caught the magician's secret to the trick. Then to find out in the end that not only did the trick succeed but usually in a bigger way much to the surprise and amazement of the audience. Patter can also set a very mysterious and theatrical atmosphere, completely engulfing the audience into the illusion that the magician is weaving. One magician who is a master at this type of patter is David Copperfield. Once in a while you will encounter a magician who uses what you would classify as inapporpriate patter, by incorporating a dirty joke or a racial slur into his routine. I really don't think that performing this style of patter to be a wise choice to make. You might get a big laugh from part of the audience, but there always will be someone who is offended by off color humor and you could lose a potential job because of it.

No matter what style or type of patter a magician uses it is important for them to appear natural in the telling of his patter during his magic tricks. It can very helpful for a magician to take an acting or an improvisation class or two, because after all, a magician is just an actor with tricks up his sleeve. Because a magician practices his magic tricks over and over, he must be careful not to make his patter sound monotone. He must make it sound like it's the first time he's telling the story, because it is the first time his audience has heard the story. All in all a magicians patter has many uses during the performance of his magic tricks, and takes many forms, and is so important for a magician to perform it as well the rest of the illusion and to make it very entertaining.