The “Big Boy” Table Issue

Dear Friends:

In this month’s Museletter, Franklin Williams addresses a quiet but critical challenge in the world of magic: who gets a seat at the table, and who doesn’t. It’s easy to forget how it feels to be a newcomer, eager to share an insight or ask a question, only to be told you haven’t “earned the right” to speak. But is this mindset truly serving our art? Franklin takes a closer look at why welcoming every voice to the table might be the healthiest step we can take for ourselves – and for the future of magic.

The “Big Boy” Table Issue

I sat down initially with the intention to write about a different topic altogether, but then something heartbreaking happened that I thought was no longer a thing in our beloved art of magic. A friend of mine was given the “Big Boy” table speech. It goes something like this:

• “Ok, you have no right to give thoughts or feedback during our sessions because you haven’t been in the art long enough to know anything yet. I am sure anything you would say, the guys here have already said or thought of.”

I beg to differ on this wholeheartedly for a few reasons, and it has made me a much better magician overall because I will listen to feedback from anyone regardless of how long they have been doing magic. I won’t always take it or use it, but I will give them the courtesy of listening. Let me go a bit deeper on why I take this stance.

The Echo Chamber Effect

First of all, I have noticed among many of my full-time pro friends there seems to be an echo chamber effect. If most of them were on the same bill, the audience would not remember who was who or who did what. We, as magicians, would be able to tell the differences in their performances, because we know the subtle differences between different effects and presentations. 

They perform magic the same way that their mentors did and view it as sacrilege to do it any other way. Magic needs to move forward, and the only way it does that, is by trying new and different things, while still honoring what came before.

What can a person tell me who has been in magic a short time? Many valuable things, and I will list a few of them here.

1. What Still Plays: They can remind me that a piece of magic I discarded years ago is still good and worthy of my attention again. They have not seen enough magic yet to be jaded. To them a well done Card Warp is still a miracle, and we should treat it as such. 
2. What Does Not Play Anymore: Someone new to the art can tell when something we take for granted as natural does not actually look natural anymore. Certain mannerisms that were added into effects decades ago made sense then, because audiences of that time were different. 
3. They Think Different: New converts tend to think differently than more established practitioners, and they may ask a question that solves something we have been working on for years. I had a newcomer ask me why I did a particular action in my Chop Cup routine that none of my pro friends asked me about. It made my routine better because the newcomer just thought differently
4. They Ask Really Good Questions: I want them asking all the right questions and getting better. Allowing people the courtesy to speak and give ideas is going to allow us to help them grow faster and become better performers. That is good for magic as a whole, because if we do not welcome them to the table, they will struggle in front of audiences and make our art appear less than it should in the public’s eyes. 
5. They Can Reignite A Fire: I have come away from many conversations with new magicians with a reignited passion for a particular effect, style, or area of study in magic, that I would totally have forgotten about if I was only allowing people in my circle who knew as much or more than me. The feedback I get from some of my newbie friends has absolutely led to some of my best work, because I revisited something due to having to teach it. 

I think it is important, especially in our age where pretty much every magic effect is able to be learned thanks to a quick AI search. We need to recognize that the Big Boy Table philosophy only hurts the art. Am I saying you should teach someone new everything? Absolutely not, you should give them valuable information for where they are in their magic journey, but don’t make them feel “less than” for being new.

Embrace the newcomer to the art of magic and ask them to pull up a seat at the table. You may be surprised at the value they bring. You may even be able to stop complaining about other magicians in your area charging too little or making magic look bad, because you all worked together for magic – rather than against each other.

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