magic show tips – Page 145

No Outs and Snagging…

Honestly, I’m not sure how I used to do the vanishing birdcage. I think I was very lucky in that years ago it never really hung up on my sleeve in a show. I also think that I’m currently more aware of failure without an “out” in tricks that I do in the show. Billy … Continue reading “No Outs and Snagging…”

Honestly, I’m not sure how I used to do the vanishing birdcage. I think I was very lucky in that years ago it never really hung up on my sleeve in a show. I also think that I’m currently more aware of failure without an “out” in tricks that I do in the show. Billy McComb in an interview on the Greater Magic Video Series says, “…there is no out when the cage is hanging out of your sleeve.”

Currently I’m following Tommy Wonder‘s advice. Every time the cage snags on something, I’m trying to figure why it snagged and what I can do to stop it from snagging. It’s a smart approach, and one that’s a lot of work and will end up with a fairly altered jacket.

The last year or so I’ve been working with the vanishing bird cage trick. I used to do it a long time ago, and at one point even did the Tommy Wonder version with the sleeves rolled up. The vanishing bird cage is one of those tricks that I keep revisiting. Currently it’s in the … Continue reading “”

The last year or so I’ve been working with the vanishing bird cage trick. I used to do it a long time ago, and at one point even did the Tommy Wonder version with the sleeves rolled up. The vanishing bird cage is one of those tricks that I keep revisiting.

Currently it’s in the show and I’ve been doing essentially Billy McComb’s Slow Motion Vanishing Bird Cage. The main difference is that I’m doing it fast, just under the cover of the sheer scarf. I think the scarf adds a little bit to the vanish. Yes, it takes away from the instant vanish, but also adds a bit of other options as to where the cage could have gone.

Last night I stumbled upon a video of Tommy Wonder doing his vanish with the scarf:

I like this better than when he does it uncovered.

One thing that the scarf does is that it gives the audience a moment to process what’s happened while you show the sheer scarf empty and let’s their brains get caught up.

Magic Jamming…

One thing that I recommend to all magicians is to hang out with other magicians. Playing around with magic can lead to some interesting results for tricks. Here’s the highlight reel from a magic jam session yesterday: One of the things that we played with was an oversized thumbtip. There was a lot more we … Continue reading “Magic Jamming…”

One of the things that we played with was an oversized thumbtip. There was a lot more we came up with using it than what’s on the video. Who knew you could do soo much with a thumbtip without putting it on your thumb. Now the tricks don’t really work in the real world, as you’re using the tip as a prop that’s in view. With that in mind, it’s still a great creative exercise!

Creative Slump…

The last few weeks I feel like I’ve been in a creative slump as far as generating new tricks goes. It’s not that I haven’t been creative, I’ve been working on existing tricks that are in my show, just not creating new tricks. There’s nothing wrong with this, it’s just that when I go out and do close up gigs, I feel like they are lacking something for me.

One of the things that I love about performing is doing new stuff. Exploring and taking risks. The last month in my close up work, I really haven’t been taking any risks, while the gigs are good, they aren’t as personally fulfilling as they could be.

Luckily I have some time off, so I’ll have some time to start creating some new stuff. With any luck I can have something new for my close up set!

It’s Over!

The final two Halloween shows that I did yesterday went fine, with the usual challenges that I’ve written about the last couple of days. I just don’t get people who insist on sitting and watching a show through a mask. It doesn’t make sense and really I find it disrespectful to the performer, unless it’s a mask that’s really difficult to take off.

Oh, I forgot to mention that of the four of the shows, apparently none of the read the document I send that tells them how to set up my show. The main thing is having people seated in rows, at all of my shows but one they were seated at tables. Another thing is that food isn’t served during the show. At one show they put me in front of where the food was and kept going behind me during the show to get food to serve!!!

As much as I dislike the performing situation at Halloween gigs, I think it is good to take them. It makes you have to work a little bit harder as a performer and not let the conditions get to you.

Halfway Done…

Two Halloween shows are down and two more to go. Yesterday I did a show for kids and one for adults. They both ran into the challenges that I was anticipating and wrote about yesterday (you can read it here). Both shows went well, but I had to work hard at them.

The one thing that I notice this year, and hopefully it’s a trend, was that there were less masks worn, in fact I don’t think I saw a single person wearing a mask. I’ll never use (if I can help it) someone with a mask. This is good as it gives me a bigger pool of people from the audience to use.

The downside was that I notice more full face make up on people as part of their costumes. For the same reasons as someone wearing a mask, I avoid using someone with full face make up.

This year I’m only doing a total of four Halloween shows, so it’s not as big of a pain as when I was younger and would do two weeks of these shows!

Halloween Shows…

The next couple of days I’m performing shows that are at Halloween events. If you read my post from yesterday you know that I don’t do a “Halloween” show, but my normal show. As a performer I’ve notice that Halloween shows reliably have the worst audiences.

Why are the audiences bad?

The answer is simple, they are wearing costumes.

When the audience is in costumes, they act strange. Some play their character, which if that’s the person you bring on stage that makes it hard for the audience to relate to them. Or in the case of kids (or drunk adults) if they are dressed as a wolf, they’ll just howl instead of talking.

Add that to costumes not being as comfortable as normal clothes and masks can limit vision and it makes the show hard to watch for the audience. Then you factor in that costumes can also make you hotter, or colder than normal. An uncomfortable audience isn’t a good audience.

I’ve got four of these shows over the next two days…yippee!

Themed Magic…

Frequently I’m asked to perform magic for a Halloween event and they want me to do magic for that theme. I don’t really do that (anymore). When I was younger and was being hired more because they wanted a “Halloween Magic Show” rather than a great magic show, I did them.

October used to be a HUGE month for shows. Over the years as I’ve stopped doing a Halloween or Harvest Magic show, the second half of the month has slowed down (I’m OK with that).

So why not dust off an old themed show for a couple weeks and make some money?

The answer is simple, doing them was never in my heart. I’m at the point in my career that I want to do the show that I want to do. Also a show you do dozen times once a year will never be as good as your main show. I’d rather work on my show.

The compromise that I’m willing make is that I can use props that fit a color scheme where appropriate. For example using black and orange handkerchiefs in a color changing handkerchief routine, or something like that. However the booker’s budget to buy new props in their color scheme makes this not happen very often.

Watch Out For Yourself…

While at the showcase last week, all off the other variety acts has problems with their vocal mics. In the three showcases prior to mine all of the headset mics cut out multiple times. I notice this and didn’t want it to happen to me.

The first thing I did when I went into sound check was scan for a free channel while the band that I was sharing the showcase with was doing their sound check. In theory they are going to have all of their wireless packs on, so my pack will find a channel they aren’t using.

The second thing I did was insist on using my mic pack and not theirs. I didn’t initially do this, I just assumed they’d be using mine. When it came time to tech me, they told me they’d prefer that I use their mic and pack and that all of the other acts used theirs. That told me that the problem was with their system, as that’s the thing all of the other acts had in common, using the sound company’s gear.

When my showcase came around, I used my audio gear and it went great. Nothing cut out, and my vocals went flawlessly! If you notice a problem with other acts audio, try to solve it before it’s your turn!

Bigger Props…

Right now I’m at a showcase for performers and last night a friend of mine performed. He uses larger props in his magic show. He does things like balloon to dove, dove to rabbit and walking thru a plate of steel. It’s crazy how much bigger his show feels than mine does.

Using larger props really fills the stage. In a show like mine, it’s just me and some hand held props. I think that my early days performing in comedy clubs and cabaret shows really molded how I perform. In those venues you really can’t have big props. Even something like a table is a lot of real estate on a tiny stage.

I’ve learned to make small props play larger (usually). For an act like mine, that’s important, keeping the props to a minimum. I want to the show to feel less formal and having large props makes it feel way too formal for me.