Magician rips his assistant's head off, onlookers flip out

#1

Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2018/07/03/magician-rips-his-assistants.html

…

#2

its all fun and games until…someone looses their head?

#3

Quite literally the oldest trick in the book

http://qi.com/infocloud/magic-tricks

#4

A little uncomfortable that the “plot” of this magic trick is some kind of supernatural domestic violence…

#5

If the audience doesn’t consent to being entertained, is it still “magical”?

#6

Pretty sure it’s called “black magic” at that point.

I bet necromancers have a lot of screaming when they perform magic as well.

#7

I wonder if that magician could likely be successfully sued if an onlooker had a heart attack and died.

(Any non-armchair lawyers out there?)

#8

I know this is performance art and all, but if it causes other people to become truly afraid or enraged, accidents can happen as they chase or flee.

#9

…or until one performs this trick where firearms are allowed

#10

The bus scene seems somewhat staged to me.

#11

Yeah, especially given the icky DV aspect, this felt a little too much like involving nonconsenting strangers in your kink scene.

#12

That trick would be just as funny if instead of pulling a strangers head off, he was flashing people from under a raincoat. People who’ve ponied up admission to a theater have shown consent, these audiences clearly have not.

#13

“It’s just a prank, bro.”

But really, uh, you know. I think we can all use some weirdness like this in our lives. The panic is real, but the release afterwards is also real. I bet there were people laughing their asses off when they figured it out.

Like this poor lady… who thought someone mailed her a bomb.

#14

Yes, I agree, but the question still stands as a legal what-if.

:slight_smile:

#15

If there is one thing I have learned from my years of hanging out with jugglers and magicians, is that magicians can be evil evil pranksters.

#16

Yep. And clear consent here:

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#17

The bus was a bit much.

#18

I was at a party with Penn and Teller once and learned that it’s best to not heckle them. (I wasn’t the heckler)

#19

Yeah, this whole scenario is not much fun. Could be a lot cooler with some humor instead of the dark drama.

#20

Only if they’re successful, I suppose. Otherwise a pretty quiet job.