# Stage Magicians are cheapskates **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 8, 2024, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stage-magicians-are-cheapskates/999990 "2024-04-08T02:00:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2024, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stage-magicians-are-cheapskates/999990/1 "2024-04-08T02:00:19Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Zakalwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zakalwe/32/270_2.png) [@Zakalwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zakalwe)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2024, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stage-magicians-are-cheapskates/999990/2 "2024-04-08T02:14:27Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2024, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stage-magicians-are-cheapskates/999990/3 "2024-04-08T02:35:34Z")
> [@Zakalwe](#): > > Is this some sort of cultural reference I don’t get? I’m thinking you are missing something known in some circles as a “joke”. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2024, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stage-magicians-are-cheapskates/999990/4 "2024-04-08T02:41:40Z")
Just a very derivative and indifferent one. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2024, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stage-magicians-are-cheapskates/999990/5 "2024-04-08T02:53:49Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2024, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stage-magicians-are-cheapskates/999990/6 "2024-04-08T03:10:27Z")
Oddly enough XKCD has addressed this, and very esrly in his career: > **[Words that End in GRY](https://xkcd.com/169/)** > > The fifth panel also applies to postmodernists. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2024, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stage-magicians-are-cheapskates/999990/7 "2024-04-08T04:11:29Z")
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_!” ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2024, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stage-magicians-are-cheapskates/999990/8 "2024-04-08T04:23:11Z")
Here ya go! Enjoy! [Patton Oswalt - The Magician (youtube.com)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7V_ejupklng) ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2024, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stage-magicians-are-cheapskates/999990/9 "2024-04-08T22:37:20Z")
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.