Diverse reactions from around the globe

Being a professional magician I see a huge variety of reactions to my material and it always intrigues me how people react differently to the same tricks. My tricks are chosen based on the overall net reaction across twenty or so performances in the UK, and if that is very strong the trick becomes part of my working repertoire, even if the odd person/group fails to respond well.

Let’s make this a bit more clear. I do a trick on a group and I mark the reaction to this out of 10. I continue to do this (I’m not saying I actually give marks, I’m just using this to explain my point) and let’s say across London, over 20-30 performances, I get an average of 7-8; pretty good.

Now, here’s the thing. Let’s say I now go to the USA and perform the exact same trick (I have done this), again marking the reactions. I get an average of 9 ! Why?

Why do different nationalities react so differently? We’re all human, afterall. Is it the environment we are brought up in? Is it genetic? It’s always been said that the English are very reserved, why is this? 

I’d be very interested in peoples views on this especially as I’m toying with the idea of putting this to a production company for a possible show.

Now, saying all this, there is always an exception to the rule. The following reactions from my latest showreel, recorded during a London gig last September, are far from the reserved nature we expect of the British; why? Simple….they were totally smashed!

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