The Whole World Isn’t a Stage…

Variety shows are a blast to perform in, and whenever possible I try to be in them. Earlier this week I was in a show in Phoenix and got to work with a physical comedian, a hula hooper, a sideshow clown and a historian! What I love about these shows is how diverse the range … Continue reading “The Whole World Isn’t a Stage…”

Variety shows are a blast to perform in, and whenever possible I try to be in them. Earlier this week I was in a show in Phoenix and got to work with a physical comedian, a hula hooper, a sideshow clown and a historian! What I love about these shows is how diverse the range of skills the performers have.




One thing that I’m hyper aware of is when you’re not performing on a raised stage. Anything that happens below the armpit disappears for people beyond the second row. I’m aware of this because years ago when I used to do cups and balls in my show I noticed everyone that wasn’t in front having trouble seeing.


In the variety show the majority of the hula hooper’s first set was done with her on the floor, or lower to the ground. Her act was good, but not visible to the whole audience. Sure, artistically doing stuff on the floor makes sense, however moving it up higher in general will make it play better and bigger! This is why juggler’s build larger crowds than a magician, and usually end on something high up like a unicycle.


Great Act, Horrible Conditions…

A few weeks ago I went out to the LA County Fair to see Patrick McGuire perform. Patrick is an amazing juggler and performer. I’ve only worked with him indoors in theaters, so I was curious what his outdoor show looked like. Here’s a video he posted on Facebook: I saw him on a weekday … Continue reading “Great Act, Horrible Conditions…”

A few weeks ago I went out to the LA County Fair to see Patrick McGuire perform. Patrick is an amazing juggler and performer. I’ve only worked with him indoors in theaters, so I was curious what his outdoor show looked like.

Here’s a video he posted on Facebook:

I saw him on a weekday during the day and he had rough conditions. It was over a hundred degrees out, there was no shade for the performers or the audience. The only shade was probably 150 feet away, which is where I watched the show from. To top it all off, there was a stage directly next to and slightly behind the one Patrick was performing on that was having a Mexican Battle of the Bands, which was insanely loud!


To his credit, he did his show, didn’t look annoyed and people watched. He didn’t get much of a response out of people, but they were into it and stayed for the whole show.


The moral of the story is that no matter how bad the conditions, the audience came to see you. If there’s nothing you can do about it in the moment, you need to press on and give them the best show you can!

Themed Shows…

One thing that Disneyland does better than all of the other attractions in California is sticking to their theme. You don’t see “cast members” dressed for frontier land in fantasy land. The do a great job of bringing you into the world that they want you to be in. In a themed magic show, you … Continue reading “Themed Shows…”

One thing that Disneyland does better than all of the other attractions in California is sticking to their theme. You don’t see “cast members” dressed for frontier land in fantasy land. The do a great job of bringing you into the world that they want you to be in.


In a themed magic show, you need to have more than a couple of props that are themed, you need to really jump in an do the whole thing. This is why when I do themed shows for libraries, my shows are more “academic” than a show that is supposed to take you to another place.


For variety performers this is easier to do now than every before. Custom backdrops are cheap, custom decals are cheap, and custom costumes are cheap. All of these are easy to source with the internet, so bringing an audience into your world only adds a $500 or so more to building your show than using generic props.


If you are going to do a theme, I think you really should immerse your audience into that theme. There’s really no excuse to not do that!

Using Music…

Not too long ago I worked with an act that was a talking act, but used music. He did used music as a background to talking pieces and also did acts to music. The music should have added a lot to his show, however it didn’t. The way he used the music wasn’t “seamless” and … Continue reading “Using Music…”

Not too long ago I worked with an act that was a talking act, but used music. He did used music as a background to talking pieces and also did acts to music. The music should have added a lot to his show, however it didn’t. The way he used the music wasn’t “seamless” and it wasn’t loud enough.


Let’s tackle the last problem first, since it’s the easiest. There are times when you want music quiet, there are times when you want it loud, and there are times when you want it to vary. The simple solution is to re-record your music tracks at the approximate levels you want them. Background music tracks are quieter than tracks for acts to the music. Simple…Yes, however I’m always amazed more acts don’t do this.


Now for the problem of using music seamlessly. The act I saw had an ipod in their case, and whenever they needed to play music, they had to stop what they were doing, run to the case and change the music. This created a lot of dead time and took the audience out of the moment. The first solution is to use a cue sheet and give it to the sound person. The next solution is to use a remote control. This is one of the better solutions because you can make sure your cues happen when you want them to. It also allows you the freedom to go off script.


Using music effectively from a technical standpoint is easier than ever to do. Years ago recording your tracks with varying audio would have been insanely expensive and using a remote control is simple and reliable now.


Sound Guys…

There are tons great people that run the sound at fairs, however most of them don’t understand much about what makes a show or contest work. A good example are simple things like having music loud or quiet during your show. The tend to strive for an even volume throughout and that’s not necessarily what … Continue reading “Sound Guys…”

There are tons great people that run the sound at fairs, however most of them don’t understand much about what makes a show or contest work. A good example are simple things like having music loud or quiet during your show. The tend to strive for an even volume throughout and that’s not necessarily what the act wants.


Another good example is how I run my fair show, I like to select my audience, versus trying to hold the audience from the previous show. The reason I want to turn the audience is that if you are there to see the classic rock band, you’re not there for my show. Sure I can try to win you over, however if I don’t you’re eating a seat for someone else that would be a better base for my audience. I’d rather have a smaller starting audience that builds to a bigger audience at the end than a big audience that walks leaving me with a small audience at the end.


When the sound guy gets on the mic and tries to bring people in by saying, “if you can hear me, come fill up the seats for the magic show“, they aren’t helping. First of all, they aren’t helping, I do my preshow in a very specific way. That is to build a base that’s committed to me and the show and weed out the people that will walk and not be down with what I do. I’m not a show that’s for “everyone”, but no show is.


It was also interesting that the sound guy this week would only try to pull in people for the beginning of my show, and not the other acts. I also asked him to stop doing it on the second day as it made my job harder. What I was doing clearly was working as I had the biggest crowds on the stage all week. I’m sure he was just trying to help, and that’s good, however he should really ask before doing anything on the mic during my time, just like I always ask before I put anything into, or out of his equipment.






Don’t Be Like a Band…

In the summer time I share the stage with a lot of bands and I can tell how successful they are within about two or three songs. This has nothing with how good musicians they are, or the genre of music, but with how they treat their time one stage between songs. How I see … Continue reading “Don’t Be Like a Band…”

In the summer time I share the stage with a lot of bands and I can tell how successful they are within about two or three songs. This has nothing with how good musicians they are, or the genre of music, but with how they treat their time one stage between songs.


How I see it is the time you (or your band) is on stage, that’s not just your time, that is the audience’s time. When I’m watching a band, if they waste time by doing a huddle between each song while they discuss what they are going to play next, they are wasting my time. I’m not sure why so many bands don’t have a set list? Shaving off the huddle time, they’d be able to play at least one more song.


How I see it is one way you are doing a show and the other way you’re jamming with your buddies. Jamming with your buddies has a place, but not on a stage. Also if you have a set list, you know how long your show will run, and are able to cut things down and make it work if you are running long, or have alternate songs planned if you are running short.


How does this apply to a magician? Simple, have a plan, have a set list, it will make your show tighter and you won’t be wasting the audience’s time!

Even More Cracker Action!

One of the great things about working at fairs is that you have a lot of chances to perform and work on new material. This trick with a cracker that I’ve written about here over the last couple of days has progressed nicely. A big change I made is that instead of making the cracker … Continue reading “Even More Cracker Action!”

One of the great things about working at fairs is that you have a lot of chances to perform and work on new material. This trick with a cracker that I’ve written about here over the last couple of days has progressed nicely.


A big change I made is that instead of making the cracker reappear in an impossible location, I’m restoring the broken cracker. After I catch the cracker and smash it, I’m putting the crumbs into an envelope and offer it to the kid as a prize. I then rip open the envelope and dump out a restored cracker! I’m still doing the restored cracker with the wrong name, but this restoration phase is new.


The other change is that I was doing a pass to bring the signed cracker to the top. Doing a classic pass with crackers is really hard to do invisibly, so I’m doing a side steal. A side steal is sooo much easier with a cracker than a card!


The final change was switching from a Ritz Cracker to a Saltine Cracker. A saltine is less greasy and the signature shows up better on the white cracker.


All of these small changes are starting to add up a bigger results.

More Crackers…

At the fair yesterday, I tried the cracker magic trick in my preshow. It went well, and the audience liked it. That said, there are a couple things that I need to improve on. The big one is writing a script, and the other prop management. For prop management, this will come with doing it. … Continue reading “More Crackers…”

At the fair yesterday, I tried the cracker magic trick in my preshow. It went well, and the audience liked it. That said, there are a couple things that I need to improve on. The big one is writing a script, and the other prop management.


For prop management, this will come with doing it. I had to dig around too much looking for the cracker or bowl, that’s mostly because I don’t know what I’m doing. There’s not a clear “flow” to the routine as far as what goes where.


For a script, I basically said something like:

I couldn’t find a store that sold a deck of cards in this town. I ended up having to buy something to try to make it work. So we’ll do a cracker trick! Pick a cracker, remember it, put it back and mix them up. Is that your cracker!!

How about you write your name on it, so we can tell it apart.

It goes into this bowl, we’ll cover it up and shake it to mix them. When I count to three you’ll toss the crackers into the air and I’ll reach out and catch one, it’ll be your cracker. If I can’t do that you win what’s inside this cup.

One…Two…Three!

Was that your cracker (show crushed cracker)?

Wait, there’s the cup…inside the cup is a cracker…read the name…Oh, that’s not your name.

We’ll make it disappear. All I need is some magic dust…and that makes it change into your name!!!

It’s a pretty bare bones script, not much going on. I’ll try to “punch it up” a little bit later today.

Magic Crackers…

During the three hour drive from the airport to the hotel, I started thinking about the card trick using crackers. I think it’s going to be more than a “card trick” with crackers. It’s going to a magic trick with crackers. Here’s how I’m thinking it’s going to flow: Someone picks a cracker and signs … Continue reading “Magic Crackers…”

During the three hour drive from the airport to the hotel, I started thinking about the card trick using crackers. I think it’s going to be more than a “card trick” with crackers. It’s going to a magic trick with crackers.


Here’s how I’m thinking it’s going to flow:

Someone picks a cracker and signs it. The signed cracker is mixed with the other crackers into a bowl. The crackers are flung into the air, you reach out and grab a cracker in your fist! When you open your hand it’s just crumbs. An envelope is opened and inside is a cracker…with the wrong name on it. You put the cracker in your hand, and say you’ll make it disappear. You reach into your pocket for some “magic dust” which the audience thinks is the cracker you just put into your hand that you are crunching up. When you open your hand, the cracker is still there, but it’s now got the correct signature on it!

This routine above has a few twists and turns into it. I think if I started doing this, it would change a bit with doing it. The one huge downfall of t he routine would be how messy it is. This is easily fixed with a drop cloth.


Just Do It!

One thing that drives me nuts is when people talk about performing for money and they say, “I don’t leave the house for less that $XXX”. They are missing a ton of great chances to be in some cool shows with cool people. Next week I’m performing at Valley Variety in Phoenix. When I originally … Continue reading “Just Do It!”

One thing that drives me nuts is when people talk about performing for money and they say, “I don’t leave the house for less that $XXX”. They are missing a ton of great chances to be in some cool shows with cool people.


Next week I’m performing at Valley Variety in Phoenix. When I originally got the gig I was going to be in the area, however now I’m basically flying in for it, so I’m doing it at a financial loss. I didn’t cancel the gig because it’s fun show with some acts that I’m interested in seeing.

There are a ton of amazing shows that people can perform in. Sure most of them don’t pay very much, but you get network with other great performers. Also typically you are doing an act, not a whole show, so it’s a great chance to work on new material.