Rick Smith - The Art of Card Throwing
Transcript
00:00 [silence]
00:16 [music]
00:26 [music]
00:36 [music]
00:46 [music]
00:56 [music]
01:06 [music]
01:16 [music]
01:22 In just a moment, I'm going to teach you exactly how to do that.
01:26 But first, let me introduce myself.
01:28 My name is Rick Smith, Jr.
01:29 I'm the Guinness Book World Record holder for throwing a playing card 216 feet, 4 inches,
01:36 obliterating the old world record of 201 feet held by Jim Carroll.
01:41 Today, I'd like to share with you some of my techniques, stunts, and abilities.
01:46 So sit back, relax, and let the card start flying.
01:49 [music]
02:00 And now I'd like to show you some of the card techniques for throwing a playing card.
02:05 The first one is the Herman Grip.
02:08 Take your finger, grab it right there, put your thumb on top, and the rest of the fingers go on the bottom.
02:14 You're throwing it like a frisbee, just like this.
02:19 The next one is the J-Grip, where you take the card and you grab it with your finger, like right here.
02:30 These fingers on the top.
02:33 Now you can throw this one overhand or like a frisbee.
02:38 It doesn't matter. That's the J-Grip.
02:41 Throw it.
02:44 Now my grip, it's a little bit different than these other guys.
02:48 What we're going to do here, like scissors, you're going to pinch the top of the card.
02:55 Okay, so you have a grip right here.
02:59 These fingers right here, your pinky and your ring finger, come up as far as they can.
03:06 The thumb clips the card, resting on the ring finger, as you can see.
03:13 The grip.
03:15 Now, unlike a frisbee, you're going to throw it like a baseball, like a curveball.
03:20 Now the curveball, you throw straight down at the ground, like this.
03:25 Side view.
03:29 You got it?
03:31 Now, you release, you release, you bend your wrist, and you release right about there.
03:37 You open your fingers.
03:39 So it would look like this.
03:44 You have to have that grip here, otherwise the card is going to flutter to the ground right away.
03:48 So you bring that card, these fingers, thumb, bend your wrist.
03:52 You want to be able to bend your wrist.
03:55 And throw it right.
03:59 One more time.
04:03 And those are the three grips for throwing playing cards.
04:07 Here are some of the throwing techniques for throwing a playing card really, really far.
04:23 Now the first thing you have to do is you have to be in my grip.
04:27 Second thing, you have to have body position.
04:30 If I was just to throw the card with no body, it would barely go about 100 feet.
04:35 To get that 216 feet, you've got to use your whole body.
04:39 So what we're going to do, like a pitcher, you're going to get pumped up.
04:44 You're going to use your power in your right leg, if you're a right-handed thrower.
04:49 So what we're going to do is, like a baseball player, use full body motion to wind up and to throw the card.
04:56 You want to build that momentum forward so the card will travel with you.
05:02 So like this, come in your position, forward, and throw.
05:08 Again, you're using your leg, you've got to push off.
05:13 You want to be able to bounce towards the target that you're going for, if you're going for distance.
05:19 And you're throwing it really far.
05:23 Now there's other ways. If you're going for accuracy, you want to be able to just get in that position.
05:29 Like a pitcher, you want to kind of point to where you're going.
05:33 You're just going to throw overhand, just like that.
05:38 Just an overhand motion.
05:43 See? Overhand motion.
05:47 This hand pulls back to give you body momentum.
05:50 Like that.
05:53 Now the other thing, when throwing the cards, you could throw cards up in the air.
06:02 It's the same way, you just want to use your body to throw in every direction that you possibly could.
06:13 [music]
06:23 I'm going to teach you something called multiple card throwing.
06:27 Now it's a little bit different than just throwing one card.
06:30 You want to get a stack of about 15 cards or so.
06:33 Put it in your hand, and this grip.
06:37 Like the picture production, when you make a card appear, you're going to actually grab that card and throw it.
06:45 So watch. Take the card, grab it, throw it.
06:51 Now in faster motion, you're taking cards and you're just throwing them in every direction.
06:57 Again, you take the card up, you clip it in your position, and you throw it.
07:06 [music]
07:18 [clicking]
07:25 Thumb shooting by Audley Walsh. It's fairly easy.
07:29 Now to make this easier, I have a thumb tip.
07:34 It's a shooting thumb tip, like a rubber, it's for card flinging.
07:38 You can get them at your local magic store.
07:40 Basically what I do is I just put it on my finger for grip.
07:44 I hold the cards with these two fingers.
07:50 The middle finger also.
07:53 Now what I'm doing here is I'm actually just taking my thumb and pushing the card up.
08:00 Let's try this from a little bit behind.
08:05 Push the card up, up, just by pushing the thumb up.
08:12 [clicking]
08:20 That's thumb shooting by Audley Walsh.
08:23 [music]
08:33 [clicking]
08:38 This is what I call swing shot.
08:40 It's a variation of Darrell's hot shot card cut.
08:44 Basically what it is, you're holding it with your two fingers here.
08:49 You're going to take your thumb from the left, swing off the top portion, and bring it under.
08:57 That's what the cut is.
08:59 Now to make the card fly out, take the top portion, swing it to the right.
09:07 Now this finger right here, you're actually going to grab that ace.
09:14 So I'm grabbing it out, I'm just pulling it with my finger.
09:18 That's all you have to do.
09:20 So when you're here, you pull out the card, grab it with your middle finger under,
09:25 and you're going to push it so it swings out like this.
09:33 One more time.
09:38 That's what I call swing shot.
09:41 [music]
09:52 [clicking]
09:56 That's what I call boomerang card.
09:59 Now the explanation, it's pretty easy.
10:01 I use a finger flick here.
10:03 I put my finger right here, and I grab with my thumb and middle finger.
10:08 Bend my wrist, I hope you can see here.
10:11 I bend my wrist and I'm throwing it up like a flick here, like a little toss.
10:19 Just keep practicing short distances.
10:22 When you get better, you can get higher and further.
10:33 That's the boomerang card.
10:35 [music]
10:46 [clicking]
10:52 That's what I call the ring finger shot.
10:54 It's a really neat trick.
10:56 A kid named Jonathan Burns taught it to me in Columbus, Ohio at MagiFest.
11:00 This is how it's done.
11:02 The card on top gets moved over with your thumb.
11:05 The middle finger goes in between the deck and the card.
11:11 The pivot point is where the corner of the card is.
11:14 Now this is your ring finger.
11:16 What you want to do here is you want your ring finger to open up.
11:19 All you're doing is opening your hand, and it'll fling right out.
11:23 One more time.
11:26 This is called ring finger shot.
11:29 [music]
11:39 [clicking]
11:43 That's what I call snapshot.
11:45 It's a trick that a magician named John George taught me
11:48 at International Brotherhood of Magicians Convention.
11:51 This is how it's done.
11:53 Take the card, middle finger.
11:56 Put the card to the middle finger like this, right where the line is.
12:00 Take your thumb.
12:03 Just get the right feel for it, because it's going to take a lot of practice.
12:06 This is a very hard trick to do.
12:08 Put the thumb right on the top.
12:11 When you're snapping, you're trying to try to snap that card backward,
12:15 like under your arm.
12:17 You don't want it to hit your arm on the way up.
12:19 Let me try to show you one last try.
12:21 Take the card, spin it, and that's snapshot.
12:26 [music]
12:36 So how are you guys doing today?
12:39 Great! Pretty good.
12:40 Good, good. I have this really cool trick that I'd like to show you.
12:43 I have a whole bunch of playing cards.
12:45 All I need you to do, if you would, is just pick one card for me.
12:48 Can you do that?
12:49 Yeah, I can do that.
12:50 Just take one out.
12:51 Show everybody.
12:54 Everybody sees it.
12:56 Can you place the card somewhere into the deck of cards?
12:59 Thank you.
13:00 Do you want to mix them up? Shuffle them?
13:02 Sure.
13:06 All right, do you remember your card?
13:08 Yes.
13:09 How well do you remember it?
13:10 I remember it very well.
13:11 All right, so if you saw your card, you would recognize it.
13:13 Yes, I would.
13:14 I want you to think of it right here.
13:15 Okay.
13:16 We're going to try to do this at the count of three.
13:17 We're going to go one, two, with a little bit of a bend,
13:20 right here in the middle.
13:21 Three.
13:22 You can fling up one, catching one right there in the middle.
13:25 And it happens to be...
13:27 Oh my God, that's the card.
13:29 That's killer.
13:30 That's awesome.
13:31 That's wicked.
13:32 Wow.
13:33 [music]
13:44 And now for the explanation of the flick trick.
13:47 Now this is a trick that was once taught to me by a guy named Dave Volpe in Cleveland, Ohio.
13:53 Now this is what it is.
13:55 You have a regular deck of playing cards.
13:58 All I need is someone to pick a card.
14:00 Michelle, would you pick a card for me?
14:01 Sure.
14:02 Just take a card.
14:03 Now this is something called the classic force.
14:06 She took the ace of diamonds.
14:08 Here, would you stay here?
14:09 What I'm doing here is I'm taking the ace, which is on top of the deck,
14:13 cutting the cards, and visually seeing where the ace of diamonds is.
14:19 So when she's picking a card, I want to watch her finger.
14:21 When her finger starts coming closer, I'm going to start moving faster
14:25 until she takes my chosen card.
14:28 She's going to show everybody at home and put it anywhere into the deck.
14:36 Thank you very much, Michelle.
14:38 Once you put it back in the deck, the cards can be mixed.
14:41 As many times as the person would like to mix them.
14:45 The thing now that you have to do is you have to find the ace of diamonds
14:49 and you have to bring it to the top of the deck.
14:51 What you do here is you find the ace of diamonds.
14:53 It's really easy.
14:54 It's third from the bottom.
14:55 So when I'm looking through the cards, I tell the spectator to think of their card in their mind.
15:01 While they're thinking of their card, I'm taking the three cards,
15:04 the ace of diamonds right here, bringing it to my forehead
15:08 and bringing it to the top of the deck.
15:10 Now I'm all set.
15:11 The ace of diamonds is on top of the deck.
15:13 Here is where I do a cut.
15:17 It's a false cut.
15:19 You just do something like this.
15:22 Let me teach you how to do that.
15:24 You take a block of the cards.
15:26 You pinch it with your thumb and forefinger.
15:30 Then you do it again.
15:31 Take another block, but this time your pinky and your thumb are going to grab that block.
15:37 Then you take it again and you pinch with your thumb and your forefinger.
15:42 You're going to grab those cards, open your hand, pinch, close your hand,
15:50 and drop the cards on top.
15:52 The ace of diamonds is still on top.
15:55 So here, after you do the one, two, with a little bit of a bend,
16:01 three, you're flicking the card and catching it in the deck.
16:05 Now the flick, it's fairly easy.
16:08 What you have to do to get this flick down, you have to start with one card.
16:12 You hold the card with your thumb and your forefinger.
16:16 Your thumb stays at the bottom.
16:18 Your finger right here needs to touch right here.
16:21 So basically what you're trying to do is you're going to try to take this finger
16:26 and push it as far as you can to get into this area to fling that card.
16:33 Then with the whole deck, same way, you hold with your middle finger and your thumb
16:41 and then you take this finger like you're doing the one card,
16:44 just pretend it's the one card but it's with the deck.
16:47 Bring it down and you can fling that card up.
16:54 This flick right here is called the Martin Lewis Spinner Move.
17:00 Now, next, after you do all the cut, the fling and the catch,
17:06 a lot of people would like to learn how to do the catch.
17:09 So what you have to do is take your forefinger, open it up, open the cards.
17:19 It'll take a little bit of practice but once you take that card, you fling it up,
17:22 you can catch it just by opening the cards.
17:31 And that's the explanation of the flick trick.
17:34 [music]
17:49 Now for the explanation of back flicks.
17:52 This is what we're going to do.
17:54 Unlike the Martin Lewis Spinner Move where you're taking a card and flinging it from the top,
17:58 we are going to do it from the top but with the cards turned to the side.
18:03 Now it's not very easy to do the Martin Lewis Spinner if you're going to try to go up to catch the card
18:07 because the card goes to the left.
18:09 So that's what you're going to use with the momentum from your back to catch the card.
18:14 Let me show you what I mean.
18:16 If you're taking that card, flinging it behind your back, you're going to be able to catch it
18:23 because of the momentum of the card.
18:25 Let me show you from the back view.
18:27 Take the card.
18:28 Again, you're just doing the same thing that we did before.
18:31 Taking the card, spinning it forward.
18:39 And do it from this angle.
18:44 And then from the front view.
18:55 And that's what I call back flicks.
18:58 [music]
19:09 Here's something I call fire flicking.
19:16 And this is how you do it.
19:18 Just like the Martin Lewis Spinner, how you're taking the card and you're flinging it.
19:23 You're just going to have to do this fast.
19:25 Honestly, you're just going to have to fling it as fast as you can to get those cards.
19:29 A little bit of momentum with your arm, pushing that card out.
19:34 And as fast as you can get it, they'll spin.
19:37 See, just watch.
19:41 So just do the Martin Lewis Spinner move, but a little bit faster.
19:46 And you'll get fire flicking.
19:50 [music]
20:01 I have a question.
20:02 How does a card thrower do a sucker trick?
20:05 Well, watch.
20:10 Now the explanation.
20:12 Basically, the Martin Lewis Spinner move, where you're just flicking the card.
20:15 You're going to just suck that card.
20:18 Really, you're just going to throw that card up, suck it.
20:25 Just like that, watch.
20:29 Now I was inspired by this trick from a magician called Sean Farquhar.
20:33 Now he's the one that inspired me on this trick.
20:35 So I hope you guys enjoy it.
20:38 [music]
20:48 This is what I call hacky flick.
20:55 It's easy.
20:57 Just practice.
20:59 I would love to teach you hacky flick, but it's impossible to do,
21:03 as you'll see in the bonus material at the end of the tape.
21:06 [music]
21:24 This is what I call catching the pop-up.
21:27 It's a variation of Audley Walsh's pop-up cards,
21:30 found in the Tarbell Course in Magic, Volume 4.
21:32 Here's how it's done.
21:34 What you have to do is you have to take the cards.
21:36 You only want to get three, four, five, six, ten cards in your hand.
21:41 You want to hold it like you're palming,
21:44 like you know how to do back palming or front palming.
21:47 What you want to do here is you want to take that card,
21:51 and you want to, with your thumb, again, you're using this as a pivot point.
21:55 You want to take that thumb and press straight down.
22:00 When you push that thumb straight down, you're getting the card to pop up.
22:05 That's what's called pop-up card.
22:11 Let me show you catching the pop-up from the back.
22:16 Hands in palming position.
22:18 Your left hand, your thumb goes to the left.
22:20 Your right hand, your thumb goes to the right.
22:22 You're going to just clip one card, one card.
22:26 See how I clipped the one card?
22:28 Now, having the pivot point here and here,
22:32 we are going to actually take those cards and fling them across.
22:36 Fling them across.
22:38 I'm taking the right thumb, going to the right,
22:40 left thumb to the left, and they fling.
22:43 So you can actually catch the cards.
22:48 See what I mean?
22:51 That's catching the pop-up.
22:54 [music]
23:05 This is something I call fly out.
23:17 It's a variation of Audley Walsh's pop-up cards in the Tarbell Course of Magic Vol. 4.
23:23 What you're doing is you're doing the pop-up move toward the audience.
23:30 So basically, you're taking the cards, holding them down,
23:34 and you're shooting it out.
23:43 With your thumb right here.
23:47 And that was called fly out.
23:50 By the way, Jeff McBride was the one that popularized the crossover move,
23:54 which was talked about a little bit earlier, that we call catching the pop-up.
24:00 [music]
24:17 This is what I call quick flick.
24:19 It's a variation of pop-up cards.
24:21 It makes a card look like it appears from your left hand.
24:24 Now this is done by the same positioning of the cards as pop-up cards.
24:30 What we're going to use is a little momentum in the right hand to push that card to the left.
24:36 And then if you practice, you can take that card and master it as you catch it in the left hand.
24:44 Again, it's just pop-up cards with a little bit of a catch.
24:51 [music]
25:03 This is what I call canned.
25:07 Whatever you do, don't move.
25:09 The card will be moving over 90 miles an hour.
25:15 This is the Rick Smith Jr. Carnival game.
25:18 You get three tries.
25:21 One.
25:24 Two.
25:26 Third time's always a charm.
25:28 [applause]
25:37 [music]
25:47 I'd like to introduce you to Michael Mage.
25:50 He's my human target.
25:52 This trick I'm going to perform for you right now is called Celery Stalker.
25:56 Here we go.
26:05 Ooh, that went through.
26:09 One.
26:11 Two.
26:13 Three.
26:16 [music]
26:26 [music]
26:36 [music]
26:46 [music]
26:56 [music]
27:06 [music]
27:16 [music]
27:26 [music]
27:36 [music]
27:46 [music]
27:56 [music]
28:06 [music]
28:16 [music]
28:31 216.
28:32 That's the record!
28:35 Thank you.
28:37 Sweet.
28:39 [music]
28:51 I hope you guys had fun watching the video.
28:53 I had a lot of fun making it.
28:55 So now, one more time for a reminder.
28:57 When you're throwing that card, take the card.
29:00 Two fingers.
29:01 Pinch the card.
29:03 Thumb on top.
29:04 Fingers on bottom.
29:05 Throw it like a curve ball.
29:07 Don't forget about the body positioning.
29:09 If you want to go for the record, you've got to use your body.
29:12 One more time.
29:13 Here you go.
29:14 Watch.
29:15 Have fun.
29:16 Thanks.
29:17 Goodbye.
29:18 [music]
29:34 This is what I call hacky flick.
29:37 [snort]
29:40 This is what I call hacky flick.
29:42 [snort]
29:47 This is what I...
29:48 [laughter]
29:51 Should I go to the other foot?
29:53 [snort]
29:55 [laughter]
29:57 Did you get that on tape?
30:00 That was sweet.
30:01 Cut the volume on.
30:02 That'll be a good one.
30:04 This is what I call hacky flick.
30:06 [snort]
30:08 That'll work.
30:09 This is what I call hacky flick.
30:11 [snort]
30:13 This is what I call...
30:15 This is what I call hacky flick.
30:17 [snort]
30:20 This is what I call hacky flick.
30:22 [snort]
30:23 Oh, the cameraman's making me laugh.
30:25 [laughter]
30:28 This is what I call hacky flick.
30:30 [snort]
30:32 Oh!
30:33 This is what I call hacky flick.
30:35 [snort]
30:39 This is what I call hacky flick.
30:41 [snort]
30:47 [laughter]
30:51 You're having fun with this, aren't you?
30:53 This is what I call hacky flick.
30:55 [snort]
30:56 Ow!
30:58 [laughter]
31:01 Which way is the card spinning?
31:02 Wait a minute.
31:03 [snort]
31:04 This is what I call hacky flick.
31:06 [snort]
31:09 This is what I call hacky flick.
31:11 [snort]
31:14 This is what I call hacky flick.
31:17 [snort]
31:22 This is what I call hacky flick.
31:24 [snort]
31:27 [laughter]
31:32 It's hard, but you can do it.
31:34 [laughter]
31:40 [music]
31:50 Hey, whatever you do, don't move.
31:53 The card will be moving over 90 miles an hour.
31:56 [snort]
32:02 [snort]
32:06 [snort]
32:11 [snort]
32:12 [laughter]
32:17 I need new cards.
32:18 You just changed the name of this to nut shot.
32:20 [laughter]
32:23 Can we do it again?
32:24 [laughter]
32:26 Whatever you do, don't move.
32:29 The card will be moving over 90 miles an hour.
32:32 [snort]
32:38 [snort]
32:39 Whoa.
32:41 [snort]
32:45 [laughter]
32:49 Thank you.
32:50 [laughter]
32:54 I'm afraid I'm pregnant and not you guys.
32:57 [laughter]
33:00 Whatever you do, don't move.
33:02 The card will be moving over 90 miles an hour.
33:05 Oh my God.
33:10 [snort]
33:13 Three chances.
33:17 One more.
33:20 Jesus.
33:22 [laughter]
33:24 I give up.
33:25 I feel bad.
33:27 [music]
33:38 Hey, I hope you guys had fun watching the video.
33:41 Now, when you're outside and you're throwing for distance,
33:44 one quick reminder.
33:46 Take that card.
33:48 Clip it like scissors.
33:50 These fingers go under.
33:51 Thumb goes on top.
33:53 Don't forget the arm and the body motion.
33:56 Here we go.
33:57 We're going to try to even hit a car.
33:59 Ready, set.
34:01 [wind]
34:07 [laughter]
34:11 [music]
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