I have a friend in the area that is also a magician that is pretty good with a muscle pass. Tonight, we just happened to show up in the same line at a local pizza establishment. The guy behind him looked like a perfect target so I walked up to my friend, acted like I didn't really know him and pulled out my Irish Penny and asked if he'd ever seen one of these.

He caught on pretty quickly on what I was trying to do and said "let me see" at which point I muscle passed it to his waiting hand. The guy's eyes blinked several times and nearly fell out of his head when my friend muscle passed it back to my waiting hand. The guy spoke up and asked to see the coin. I said, "Sure!" pulled a Cornelius coin-falling-up routine and handed it to him. He tossed the coin several times and handed it back to me confused (him, not the coin.)

I proceeded to pass it up to my accomplice's hand and then he passed it back to me. I did my Horizontal pass from behind the spec right in front of his face and finished off with my Coin-to-Watch finale. The guy nearly passed out and my friend (who had not seen my coin to watch before) was left dumbfounded as well.
It was great!!!!

Hey Rob,
I love that idea! I have never heard of it being used in that manner before. Thanks for your story, it was pretty funny.
Brian

Now that's the way guerrilla magic should be done. Great audience analysis, and a fine routine as well.

Good one Rob. Would have been great to be there to see his reaction.

Haa Great story!

Thanks for sharing Rob.

Nice work Rob! Glad to see you didn't pass up the opportunity to stun (both parties!)

Great story, it's fun when you can work together with a friend to mess with people's heads...

Has anyone played with "instant stooge" work? David Berglas used similar tactics with spectators. They were each assigned a "role" without realizing that others were involved. They were given just the information necessary and when the effect occurred they were amazed (often for a slightly different reason than the main audience). The pieces were structured in such a way that the information they were presented with didn't contribute to their understanding of the workings, it just "nudged" them in a favorable direction. There is much of this approach detailed in David Britland's book on Berglas...

ajp

That's a fantastic story. It's nice when coincidence and skill fall together so well

I haven't tried an "instant stooge," but for the past three months my many roommates and I have put on a monthly "Untrained Circus" in an empty lot near our house.

The cool thing about the Untrained Circus is that it truly is untrained. The only rule about performing is that it has to be something you've never performed before and are just learning (so I can't do magic or juggling). We've had everything from magic to eating bugs to glass walking to fire poi swinging to banjo music to puppet shows. Last month it was my turn to be the ringmaster (also untrained) and I created the idea of untrained techies. Two volunteers from the audience are handed maglights and run the spotlight for the duration of the show. The untrained techies loved being part of the production.

For next month I'm planning an act based on some belly-dancing moves (you know how you can do coin rolls on your hands? It's also possible, albeit difficult, to do them on your stomach), but I think I might develop an additional act using untrained (and unknowing) confederates. It sounds like terrific fun!