If you do a magic show and pull rabbits out of hats or produce doves no one in your audience expects you to be a veterinarian and will be asking you questions about their pet problems.

However, if you are doing Bizarre Magick and are dealing with ritualistic ceremonies, or using a Witchcraft or Voodoo theme, you better know your stuff. There are probably more books published today on the occult than any other subject. Llewellyn Publications put new ones on the market every week covering everything from Paganism, Witchcraft, Magick, Gypsy Lore, the Tarot, Fortune Telling, and all the other subjects so dear to our hearts. They publish them because people buy them. I know because I review their books for them.

Once someone reads one or two of them, simplistic though they may be, they feel like they are experts on the subject and anxious to let everyone know how smart they are.

By the very nature of your show you, most likely will have a number of  these people in your audience and you better know more than they do or they will shoot you down with their questions.

There are a number of ways to deal with these people. If you are to be a Bizarrist, read....read....read. You will not only learn a lot about the subjects of your trade but you will find many ideas for effects and routines.

I realize you can't spend all of your time with your nose in a book, putting a show together is a lot of work, but in your spare time read.

Another way to deal with these people is to acknowledge what they say, then sort of dismiss it with something like, " Oh, I see you have read some of the New Age books. They are fine for what they are, but do you really think that the arcane knowledge that has been kept secret for centuries and known only to the initiates is suddenly being published for the general public. If you do I have some gold mine stocks that I would like to talk to you about." or "I have made certain changes in this ritual. We are dealing with some very old religions, Gods and Goddesses, Demons and Devils, and I for one would not want to do anything to offend them, no more than I would want to offend anyone's religion today. The changes I have made in this ritual are to protect you the audience as well as myself."

This will usually shut up the noisiest 'expert' and put the audience on your side. There are other methods of dealing with these people and I'm sure that most of you who perform have your favorite.