Once, a Magician asked me to pick a card.
I asked, “If I was greedy, could I pick two cards?”
He replied “No. Only one card.”
I then asked, “After I pick the card, do I get to keep it? To take home?”
He asked me to leave the stage.
Damn cheap Magician.
Is this some sort of cultural reference I don’t get?
Otherwise, congrats? You fucked with a guy trying to make a living and probably detracted from other people’s enjoyment of the show. Hurr, hurr.
It would be karmic justice if someone comes to your place of work and pulls the equivalent.
I’m thinking you are missing something known in some circles as a “joke”.
Just a very derivative and indifferent one.
Stranger
Humor based on taking words literally and ignoring the context is broadly popular. Every once in a while you’ll even hear professional comedians milking the genre.
You wouldn’t have heard of them, though. Nobody has.
Oddly enough XKCD has addressed this, and very esrly in his career:
Look up the Patton Oswalt bit about the Cheap Magician he opened for. Funniest damn thing I’ve ever heard!
I’d do it, but I’m having issues…
“He Hate-Fucked the audience with Magic!”
Here ya go! Enjoy!
Patton Oswalt - The Magician (youtube.com)
When I was about 12, I got picked to go up as a volunteer for a card trick - and I got to keep the card (well the torn-up pieces of the card). The magician wasn’t losing any money - I saw him recreate the card I tore up, after all.