Article by Magician and Mentalist Chris Philpott talking about how failure can lead to improvement in performance

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C H R I S P H I L P O T T
TheJoyof 7ailure
tX/hatdo you do when a trick doesn't
work?
There'sa scarythought.That'sthemagi-
cian'snightmare,isn'tit? Butmaybeit
shouldn'tbe.Maybe- jwstmaybe- we
shouldfail more.
Let'seaseinto thisslowly.Considera
methodwherementalists(if not magicians)
havesomecomfortlevelwith makinga
mistake:whentheperformerhasto fish
for cluesto determinewhich thing, out
of a smallrangeof options,a volunteeris
thinkingof. On theuideoMindDyD,Max
Mavendiscussesthepainsthat havebeen
takento devisewaysof doingthissothat
theperformeravoidsany "No" answers,a
questhecalls"an exercisein futility":
I don'tthink there'sanythingwrong
with gettinga "No" responsewhenyou
arepumpinginformation,becausethe
wholeideahereisthat youaretryingto
getinformationfrom someone'smind.
And that is,at leastin theory,not a sirnple
task.Becauseif it was,you'diusttossit
backto themimmediately.If you'retrying
to pull out thissortof vagueandintan-
gibleinformation,stepbystep,thenit
makessensethatyou'dstumblea litle bit
alongtheway.That'swhatmakesit excit-
ing.Whenatightropewalkerisgoing
acrossandstumbleshalfway,that'smuch
moreexciting.And evenif tightrope
walkersarecapableof walkingacrossthe
ropewithoutamiss,they'restillgoing
to giveyoutheimpressionthat theyare
aboutto fall, becausethat'swhatkeeps
theinterestandthetensionforemost
in theaudience'smindandkeepsthem
involved.SoI thinkactuallyhavingno
.l{osisnot necessarilyagoodthing.
Laterin the video,Max goesfurther:
"I think the negativeanswershereactu-
2 0 M A G r C l u L Y 2 O r 3
ally makethis better;it givesit a dra-
maticbuild."
If we canacceptthat theoccasional
smallmistakecanheightenthedramaof
theperformance,is it possiblethat a bigger
mistakecouldhavesomebenefitaswell?
Andy Nymanhasa storyabouta per-
formancethat wentterriblywrong,a tale
herecountedfor BenCummrngs'Conuer-
sationswith Mind Readers.ltwasAndy's
veryfirsthigh-payinggig,a prenuptial
partyat a champagnebar beforealarge,
wealthyfamily.During a performanceof
Heart & Stone,helosttrackof thecorrect
envelope.Try ashemight,hecouldn'tfind
it. Soheguessed:
I openit up andit's wrong.It's
completelywrong.It's thewrong-
estit could be.Wenow haveopened
all theenvelopesandit'sthelast.I
couldn'thavegottenit morewrong.
There'sthis horriblesilence.Then
thepatriarchof the familg this very
smartlooking75- or 80-year-oldman
goes,"Thar hascompletelyf---edme
up. I justdon'tknow what to think!
il/hywould we bepayingyou a lot
of moneyfor you to comeand stand
hereand die like that in front of us
if thiswasn'treal?I justthoughtthis
wastricks.Thismustbereal!" At
whichpoint,someoneelsesays"Me,
too! I justdon'tknow what to think
anymore."Well,from that moment
on,I couldhavedoneDippyDuck
andthey'dhavebeenoverthemoon.
"lnterestingr"a magicianmight answer,
"That may bewell andgoodfor mentalism,
but it justdoesn'tapplyro magic!"
Oh no?On hisexcellentCardopolis
blog,DavidBritlandtellsthestoryof a
seeminglyimpossiblebut failedtrick that
BobbyBernarddid for him at a maqiccon-
ventionoverthirty yearsearlier:
Had I seena nearmiracleor a
fluke?Bobbydid assuremethat the
effectusuallyworked,that hehadper-
formedit successfullymanytimes,and
hada stackof noteson theworkings
of PrincipleX at home.But hedidn't
repeatthetrick. I wasremindedof a
satiricalessayin JonRacherbaumer's
Hierophant that advisedif you want
to fry your fellowmagicians,attempt
a trick that cannotpossiblywork.
They'll spendweekstrying to figure
out what mighthavehappenedif all
hadgoneright.Despitemy reserva-
tions,I did spenda longtimethinking
abouthow Bobby'sPrincipleX might
work. StephenTuckerandI discussed
all kindsof methods.
And all thisfor a trick that failed!
Of course,manyof ushavehadexperi-
encesin which a trick screwedup and for
somestrangereasonit didn't makeour
reputation.What'swith that?/Couldthere
besomerulesat work here?Is it possible
that thereis "a correctway to fail"?
I think so.And to find theseelusiveprin-
ciples,let'smakea detourinto thenarrative
arts.In film, plays,novels,andtelevision,
heroesdon't succeedall thetime.There
arestrugglesandfailures- sometimesa
lot of failures.In a typicalepisodeof the
TV showHouse,how manytimesdoesDr.
Housetry andfail to curesomeonebefore
ultimatelyfindingsuccess?And he'ssup-
posedto bea genius!
But evenwith lesserror-proneheroes,
thereis oftena momentwhenfirilureseems
soinevitablethatyoudoubrr-icrorr-iseven
possible."lt's likein thegrearsrories,"Sam
saysin TbeFellowshipof the Rin,q."The

3. I'
)nesthat reallymattered.Full of darkness
:nd danger,theywere.And sometimesyou
iidn't want to know theend.Becausehow
;ould theendbehappy?How couldthe
,i'orldgo backto theway it waswhenso
:ruchbadhadhappened?"
Failureis an essentialingredientin Hol-
.r.s'oodmovies,codifiedin thenear-oblig-
irory "dark moment"betweenthesecond
:nd third act,wheneverythingseemsbleak-
rst - which only intensifiesthe audience's
:nvolvementin thehero'sultimatevictory
:n actthree.
ConsiderTheAuengers.At the endof
.rcttwo, theteamis scattered,the helicar-
:ier nearlydestroyed,agentPhil Colsonis
Jead,andthetwo peoplewho reallycared
rbout him, Tony Stark
.rnd Captain America,
s'eren't able to do a
:hing about it. Bruce
Banner has failed to
;ontrolhisrage,Hawk-
.).e feels awful about
retrayingtheteam(and
:re looks like crap),
BlackWidow hasfailed
:o face her fear (the
Hulk) or her feelings
for Hawkeye), Thor
ras been easily out-
smartedby his brother,
rnd the teamhascom-
pletelyfailedin theonly
rvo jobstheyhad:hang
t)nto Loki andfind the
Tesseract.And they're
=@$%ingsuperheroes!
Let'sdetoura little further,out of
:heartsandinto science.And why not?
lentalistsoftenframetheireffectsas
rrperiments,and experimentsarenot win/
,osepropositions.MichelsonandMorley
:houghtthey'dfailedwhentheirexperi-
:rentsshowedthat the speedof lightwas
-iis'avsthesame,no matterif it wasmea-
.rred with themovementof theEarthor
.iqainstit. It took Einsteinto sayno, this
:,rilurewasin facta greatsuccessthat
rrinted theway to Relativityanda new
:rderstandingof theudiverse.
As it is in art and science,soit seems
:,r bewith everythingelse:"Do not fear
:rrstakes.You will know failure.Continue
:rrrexchout," wroteBenjaminFranklin.
-tany
of life'sfailuresarepeoplewho
;rJ not reahzehow closetheywereto suc-
.essrvhentheygaveup," notedThomas
F.Jison.And AbrahamLincolnsaid,"My
i:eat concernis not whetheryou have
failed,but whetheryou arecontentwith
your failure."
In the artsand sciences,and life itself,it
seemsthe only realfailureis to giveup.
Sowhy arewe magiciansand mentalists
soafraid of failure,evenin the controlled
andcontrivedway of a fakedmisstepby a
tightropewalker?
I think it betraysa certainway of think-
ing:theideathat a magicshowis a compe-
tition betweenmagicianand audience,with
themtrying to figureit out and ustrying to
fool them.No doubtaboutit, that'spart of
theexperienceof a magicshow.But I seein
manyof the greatestmagiciansa tendency
to try to escapethis dynamicandfind
somethingmoreprofound.Audienceshave
a greatetcapacltyto
besweptawayand
suspendtheir disbelief
than to try to figure
out how trickswork,
which is why we can
happilywatch the
magicin a three-hour
Harry Pottermovie
while an hour of
mind-blowing"how'd
hedo that?" effects
canbeexhausting.
I believethat fail-
urein a magicor men-
tal routine,handled
well, is potentiallyone
of our mostpower-
ful dramaticdevices.
First.it is an actof
generositytoward your audience- you
allow themto seeyou asvulnerable,imper-
fect,andhuman.Failuremakesyou relat-
able,andhandlingthe failurewell makes
you likeable.
How do you handlefailurewell?The
sameway a characterin a moviemight.
First,allow yourselfto feelthedisappoint-
mentof theloss.Instinctively,we like
characterswho arevulnerable,andour
heartsgo out to thosesufferingpain,loss,
or humiliation,especiallywhenundeserved.
(Conversely,we distrustthosewho seem
imperviousto suffering.)But painmustbe
bornewith graceandwithout complaining,
self-pity,or blamingothers.Weadmirethose
who worry aboutothersin theirmoment
of loss- soworry moreaboutyour volun-
teer'sfeelingsandtakethetimeto makesure
theydon't think theyhavefailedin anyway.
Acceptall theblameyourself.
But thething we admiremostof all in a
characterisperseverance.You keepgoing.
Own thefailurebut - andthis is essential-
do not let it stopyou! Here'stherestof Sam's
speechon darknessandfailurefromFellow-
shipof the Ring:"But in theend,it'sonly a
passingthing,thisshadow.Evendarkness
mustpass.A newdaywill come.And when
thesunshines,it will shineout theclearer.
Thosewerethestoriesthat stayedwith you,
that meantsomething,evenif you weretoo
smallto understandwhy.But I think, Mr.
Frodo,l do understand.I know now.Folk in
thosestorieshadlotsof chancesof turning
back,onlytheydidn't.Theykeptgoing."
A herodoesnot giveup. Yes,hefails
andhe suffers,but heusesthis failureas
fuel- hegainsinsightfrom it. He refuses
to giveup. And thenherisesup and suc-
ceedsin theend.
A heroacceptsfailure.He doesnot
acceptdefeat.In fact,heis willing to face
an evenbiggerchallenge.lnThe Auengers,
whentheteamis defeatedby Loki and a
smallshipof henchmen,theygo on to face
not justLoki, but an entirearmyof Chi-
tauri! On flyingscooters!And a bunchof
hugearmoredflyingwhalethings!
Soif you fail, you try again.And You
try bigger.
To givea specificexampleof how this
might work in a mentalismshow,I'll
relatean effectthat wassharedwith me
by BenCummings.He endshis actwith
a three-phasebook testroutine,starting
with The Mother of All Book Testsand
endingwith my own theTossedOut Book
Test(whichis why he sharedthis with
me).But it's his secondphasethat I want
to talk abouthere,andyou'll readilysee
how this strategycanbeappliedto other
situations.His secondphaseis this:he
doesa book testwith an ungaffedbook,
the strictestconditions,and absolutely
no methodJIt's designedto fail, andfail
big! But it failsat just theright moment
in his routine:long afterhehascreateda
rapport and establishedhis skill - pretty
muchexactlywhereyou'd find the "dark
moment" in a movie,iust beforethe final
challenge,settingup the big finish.He tells
me that whenhethengoesinto theTossed
Out Book Test,in which he facesthe even
longeroddsof readingfivemindsat once'
it just slaysthem.
Gracein failure.Disappointmentwith-
out self-pity.Acceptanceand learningfrom
mistakes.Perseverancein thefaceof an
evengreaterchallenge.This is what gives
the final victory meaning.This transforms
a simplevictory into redemption,which is
themostpowerful story of all.M
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