The Jerx, Vol. 1 by Andy

Sometimes controversial but always entertaining this book represents the culmination of the first year of Andy’s infamous blog The Jerx. Andy seems like a nice guy and his blog has made me laugh out loud real hard many times over the last 12 months.

He was even kind enough to mention me and two mostly forgotten comedic geniuses Derek + Clive on his blog for being an early supporter. So I’ve got that going for me.

This first volume was subscriber supported and was also released with a 46 page booklet titled: The Amateur at the Kitchen Table by the same author.

Details: (From the introduction:) So this book collects a number of ideas and routines that first appeared on my blog, The Jerx, along with many new routines of the same ethos.

I am a non-professional magician who performs primarily in casual settings. If you are looking for material that is geared towards the professional performer for use in table-hopping or strolling gigs, I am happy to recommend any other goddamn book on magic. Seriously. I think any performer could get something of value from this book, but most of the effects are designed for informal performances.

My style of magic is what I refer to as “audience-centric.”

Let’s be honest, the practice of magic-certainly the practice of amateur magic, and the discussion of it on the internet-is generally not about entertaining an audience or giving them a positive experience. I can prove this very easily. How many methods for ace assemblies are there in magic? 100s? 1000s? Okay, now how many presentations for ace assemblies are there? Two? Two and a half? There’s the one where you just do it and the one where you pretend it’s some sort of gambling demonstration. So what is the main priority of magicians? It certainly doesn’t seem to be looking at things from the audience’s perspective. Or, to put it another way, if film making websites and books and message boards were all dedicated to recreating pre-existing films, just with different techniques behind the scenes, you would not think those were audience-centric filmmakers. You would think they were people who liked dicking around with cameras and special effects and editing software.

And don’t get me wrong, I love the dicking around aspect of magic. I’m as big a fan of the sleights and techniques and deceptions that magic is built on as anyone. But the best thing that can happen to you as a “magician” is when you realize those things are a separate hobby from performing for people. Much in the same way that building guitars is a different hobby than playing the guitar. If your goal is to engage people with magic, then you have to separate these things in your mind because otherwise you will spend all your time working on sleights and techniques when really those things only lead to tiny advancements in entertaining an audience.

…

Contents:

Note ix
Preface xi
Introduction xvii

On Presentation i
Spectator Cuts the Aces Three Ways 27
Bazillion Dollar Bill Mystery 41
Talisman 55
Limitless Ahead 69
The Revealing Thing 79
Passion of Donny Ackerman 83
The Miracle Worker 93
Shutterlock 97
Applied Cartomancy 103
Dream Weavers 109
Third-Wave Equivoque 123
The Use You Gambit 131
Narrow Your Eyes 137
The Magician’s Role As Moral Arbiter 143
And Then There Were None 147
Guided Visualization 155
Cryptophasia 157
Dewey Defeats Truman 165
Dear Penthouse Forum 173
Will You Let Me Into Your Dream? 191
Reverse Psychology 203
I Know What You Need 213
Hallmark 229
Multiple Universe Selection 237
Pale Horse and Rider 255
Meta-bored 265
Toxic Shock 275
And Now He Is Me 283
Mad Libs Ploy 291
The Baby Who Knows 307
A Very Unusual Camera 313

Epilogue 337
Acknowledgments 347

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