Is Magic Cheesy? Well, that depends. Read More To Find Out.
He is hiring a magician for a wedding cheesy. The answer to this is yes and no. You’d think the answer would be no from a professional magician like me, but unfortunately, there are cheesy magicians out there. However, these are the exception to the rule as opposed to the rule.
If you’d asked me this question in the 80s or 90s, I would’ve said yes, magic is cheesy. This was the era of Paul Daniels of David Nixon, where magic was focused on them. Look how good I am. Look how fantastic I am. I’m here to trick you. I’m here to fool you, and on occasion I’m here to make you look silly. However, in the early 2000 and late 1990s, David Blaine ushered in a new era of magic—a new era of magic, which was hip, cool, fun, and focused on the audience and their reactions and the quality and simplicity of the magic as opposed to the magician entertainer.
Magic saw a revival and took a full U-turn away from that era of cheesiness—following in his suit were magicians, such as Chris Angel and Penn & Teller, which have polarized cool magic on tv, even more with Dynamo, The British illusionist following in suit as well.
Magic Has Elevated It's Profile!
Not only that, but magic has elevated its name from Cheesy on Britain’s Got talent where once it was seen as cheesy, silly, and baby-ish.
Magic is now perhaps the most popular genre on the primetime TV show where it was originally cheesy, Simon Cowell, Amanda Holden, and Alisha Dixon and others have all given their seal of approval to magic. Sure, you can still experience and see cheesy magic on there, but so too can you see four singing acts and other acts as well. Sadly, the talent show is an entertainment show, and it is tailored to make some acts look silly through its editing process to entertain audiences.
Whilst the performers themselves may not be particularly cheesy, we cannot have all fantastic magicians, otherwise the show will become boring.
Non-Cheesy Magician - Duncan William
So, whilst 90% are not cheesy, there might be the odd 10% that are. So, it links back to that question and the greater industry of magic, when hiring a magician, of course, you don’t want a cheesy magician at your wedding, especially if you’ve put all of your thought and attention into making it cool, classy, fun and sophisticated. You’ve probably spent hours poring over the kind of flowers table, decorations, your bridal dress, as well as other parts of the wedding that you’ve considered. So, you also want to give the same attention to your entertainment.
One of the questions I’m asked most is, “Are you in the magic circle?” I want to give a moment to the magic circle because I am not in the magic circle. The magic circle is a boy’s club. Yes, you have to pay to enter, and yes, the entrance exam is there to prevent non amateurs or non-professionals entering or amateurs entering, but the bar is low. I’ve seen huge amounts of magicians who proudly display a magic circle badge on their lapel, on their suit, or on their website, but they are at the height of cheesiness. They come from the ear of Paul Daniels where magic was about them, and they failed to adapt and evolve into making magic cool, slick, sophisticated, and classy.
So, from my experience, being in the Magic Circle is not necessarily a badge of honor. It just shows you are part of a club which has a reputation for quality. It’s managed to keep this reputation alive. However, you would be surprised at the quality of magicians in there.
Watch Duncan's Close Up Very Much Non-Cheesy Party Magic Showreel Below:
Cheesy Magic Still Exists So Be Careful
Why is this? Well, cheesy magic still exists because there’s no barriers entry into the world of magic, and for people who pick up a self-working card trick from a magic shock, can instantaneously call themselves a magician. That magician may then take the routine added to the box of tricks that they’ve bought, and it may in itself be cheesy without giving any consideration to the audience or the bride or groom and their guests and their age.
Similarly, there’s no barriers to entry to getting work. A lot of bookers, number one priority is their budget, and they think they would’ve found themselves a massive deal by finding themselves a cheap magician. Unfortunately, these magicians are more likely to let them down or perform, said cheesy magic. They’re not to know that, I suppose this is a word of warning. There are very few things in the world which are cheap and have high quality. For some reason, clients think this doesn’t apply in the world of entertainment. There’s a phrase which I’ve always loved, which if you think hiring a professional isn’t expensive, try hiring an amateur. It’s certainly not the time or the place to be taking risks with your entertainment on the only day of your life that you’ll be getting married.
Watch Duncan Performing His Family Party Magician Entertainment Cabaret Magic Below:
If You Think Hiring A Professional Is Expensive - Try Hiring An Amateur
Unfortunately, hiring a bad magician or a cheesy a magician, results in a word of mouth, knock on effect, where people in the audience may consider other magicians as also cheesy. Unfortunately, this can evade some circles. Unlike an electrician, if you have an electrician in and he does some bad work on your house or a builder who wall has he’s built you falls down in a couple of years. You don’t then disregard all builders or all electricians. You just isolated to that one builder of electrician. However, the same is not true for a magician. People think all magicians are like that. All magicians are cheesy. If they see one cheesy magician. I’m keen to elevate the bar of magic to move it as far away from cheesy and to make it as cool, contemporary, sophisticated, and fun as possible. Unfortunately, there were online agencies such as Bark and Pop Top, which offer potential clients the opportunity to book a magician without any quality control. Often, it’s a race to the bottom with both AFO mentioned, agencies aiming to make the biggest profit and secure the most amount of bookings.
Funnily enough, I was hired for one of these agencies, or I don’t want to name, but when I asked why did they book me direct as opposed to through their agency, the answer was because we wanted a high quality to performer. So, be careful when considering booking an entertainer through an agency, an online agency, because they’ve probably never met or spoken to that performer, and the odds of them being cheesy significantly higher.
I must say that this is not the same for all magicians, and I don’t want to tarnish them all with the same brush, but a true performer of quality skills and expertise wouldn’t have to rely on these waste to the bottom online agencies to secure them work.
How Can You Ensure You Don't Hire A Cheesy Magician?
So, how can you be sure that you’re getting a contemporary magician who’s not cheesy? Unfortunately, the answer is that you can’t. However, based on everything I’ve suggested in this blog post, I would suggest that if you are booking a magician who’s older than 50 or 55 years of age, the chance that they are cheesy increases significantly. Again, this is a generalization, but from my experience, this is more accurate than not. Why? Is because they’ve been brought up in an industry where those core magicians inspiring them and leading how they’re supposed to perform magic with those such as David Nixon and Paul Daniels? Sure, they were fantastic magicians, but I don’t take that away from them. However, their style, as I said before, was somewhat cheesy and occasionally sleazy. This was the norm and pervaded that industry.
So, it’s important to consider what kind of magician you want, and a slightly older magician may increase the chance of them being cheesy. Younger than this, magicians would’ve been raised on a different diet of magic—a diet of magic ushered in by people like David Blaine Dynamo, and generally these are at the age of 40, 45 and potentially younger. They know that magic is about the audience and it’s about the word of mouth, and it’s about how fun, contemporary, and stylish this magic can be.
How To Book A Great Magician For Your Wedding Instead
So, if you’re looking to hire a close up magician, ipad magician or mind reader you certainly is not cheesy, but is fun, is contemporary, is modern, and consider getting in touch with Duncan, and he can help make your event as fun, as entertaining and as classy as you envisaged. You can check his availability using the button below or contact him through his contact form on his website, or simply call him direct. He’ll give you advice, tips on how to include his part of the entertainment for your event, and it’s a good way to get to understand if he’s a cheesy magician or not.
If, however, you are considering a different kind of magician, then look at the reviews, check them out on Google or on Facebook, because often these cannot be adopted and they will be more than lightly authentic. You’ll soon get a feel for whether that magician performs at kids’ parties or weddings or private events and the kind of contemporary or traditional style that they perform. Look at Duncan’s reviews and see for yourself.
