magic show tips – Page 2

Visiting Haunted Houses

A few weeks ago when I was in Utah, one of the acts I worked with was the juggler Charles Peachock. He’s into haunted houses and we went to a few of them with some of the other acts at the event.

I think the last time I went to a haunted house was thirty years ago.

We went to two haunted houses over two nights. Here’s what I learned, I preferred the haunted houses where the actors weren’t there to just jump out at you, but they were there to help the story move along.

What does that say about a magic show?

A show with some sort of a story or through line is probably something that I’d prefer over a collection of tricks. Now thinking about my show, there’s not really a through line in the show, but it’s more that a collection of tricks. Each routine tells you a bit more about me, however I’m thinking I need to start thinking of more of a through line for my show.

-Louie

NEW Louie Foxx Lecture Notes!

In a week I’m heading out to the 2025 PCAM convention to do my full show and a lecture. If you can’t make it, you can get the lecture notes from me!

2025 Lecture Notes .pdf $25

These are the lecture notes from the lecture that I will present at the 2025 PCAM magic convention. They focus is on stand up/stage magic. They contain seven tricks/routines and five essays.

Introduction
The Opener Card Routine: The five-minute card routine that Louie does as my warm-up for family audiences!
Developing a Unique Show
Louie Foxx’s Take Out Box (Two Versions!): Turn a Chinese food take-out box into a production box!
Moving the Sponge Ball Down the Field
The Fortune Teller: A folded paper fortune teller becomes a self-contained prediction system!
Process in Magic and Mentalism
The Body Language Book Test: A book test plays BIG!
Can I tell that joke?
The Cracker Card Trick: A card trick using crackers! This was performed by Louie TV’s Masters of Illusion!
Fiat Currency: An opening effect that explains what you do.
Why You Should Hang Out With Magicians
The Stand Up Chop Cup: A chop chop routine that uses no table and no one from the audience!

48 pages
These are a .pdf that will be emailed to you within 24 hours of placing your order.

2025 Lecture Notes .pdf $25

The Stand Up Chop Cup

In the October issue of Vanish Magazine I’m teaching the Stand Up Chop Cup routine that I’ve been doing this summer. I wrote about this routine a little bit ago, it was created with rules.

Those rules were pretty simple:

1: No table: I don’t work behind a table, and didn’t want to add one just for a chop cup. Also, when on a raised stage, it can created a visibility issue for people seated on the floor below you.

2: No openly going to the pockets (or case): I think that if you constantly go to your pockets or prop case, it’s not hard for the audience to backtrack where the large production item came from. Sure they may not know how you got it there, but they know where it came from.

3: No one from the audience onstage: The chop cup really doesn’t need a spectator onstage…especially if their only job is to let you use their hands as a table. It’s a lot of dead time to bring someone on and off stage, and most chop cup routines don’t justify that.

Oh, I guess I should mention that this is a platform/stage routine and not a close up routine. I wanted to be able to do this as a solo piece onstage and the reason that I created it was there wasn’t anything that fit all three of those rules.

If this is something that appeals to you, check out the October 2025 issue of Vanish Magazine!

-Louie

Portland Society of American Magicians Meeting

Last week, I was able to attend the Society of American Magicians meeting in Portland, OR. It was their Most Entertaining Card Trick contest night.

It started with John doing a prediction that played like an invisible deck, but was a very different method!

Michael did a version of Fly Cards, where cards with pictures of flies moved around and ended with the pictures of the flies being smashed.

Vinod did a routine where the cards were shuffled by a spectator and they colors ended up separating into piles of red and black cards.

Jin did a do as I do routine where at the end he and a spectator both selected the same card!

Mel is a card trick with 3 piles of cards where a selected card jumped from pile to pile!

And the final contestant Larry did a trick where aces turned to jokers and back to aces!

The winner by popular vote was Jin!

It was fun to see all the different styles of performing card tricks!

-Louie

Being Forced to Slow Down…

One of my bad habits is that I talk too fast. I do this on and off stage, but I’m really trying to correct it onstage. A while ago I started a run of shows with a cold. This was a longer run of 10 days and I was already there when I noticed I was getting sick. I did my best to not socialize off stage with the other acts and switched the show to one that really has no contact with the audience.

One thing I immediately noticed was that I slowed my rate of speech a lot. I’m guessing this was due to my breathing being different with a cold. I also noticed that all the jokes were hitting harder. I was giving people just a little bit more time to process the set ups and punchlines.

I need to keep up talking slower, but when it’s my natural way of speaking it’s a challenge. I’m working hard on keeping it slow…

-Louie

Travelling with your Magic Show

When I travel with my magic show, I put colorful zip ties on my show case. The reason is that when I pick up my cases at baggage claim, if my zip ties aren’t on the case, then I know I need to check them.

Recently I flew and when I got my bags my zip ties had been replaced and inside my case was the TSA letter.

This tells me that when I get to the hotel I need to do inventory on my show to make sure that everything made it back into the case.

In the past I’ve had my checked baggage screened by TSA and the forgot to put my two table tops back into my case! It was an ordeal tracking them down and getting them back.

Knowing something is missing before I start setting up the show is a huge help!

-Louie

Vintage Magic Trick: Circulation or Rounding the Squares by Pavel

Here’s a fun little vintage magic trick by Pavel. It’s called Circulation or Rounding the Squares. It’s a novelty packet trick as the cards it uses aren’t p playing cards. Here’s what it looks like, and what I would change about it.

@louiefoxx Vintage Magic Trick by Pavel! #magic #magictrick #cardmagic #pavel #circulation #vintage #vintagemagic #louiefoxx #packettrick ♬ original sound – Louie Foxx

The ending is soo much cleaner if you palm off the gimmick, versus trying to hide it in the packet of cards. When I showed this trick to people, I was amazed at how hard the trick hit! I thought it wasn’t going to have much impact, but sometimes my view of the trick can be affected by a method I don’t like and I need to remember that no one sees the method.

-Louie

Perform at the Moisture Festival in Seattle!

The Moisture Festival is of the largest variety arts festivals in the world and happens in Seattle, WA. They just opened applications to perform at the festival.

The festival runs 4 weeks and performers are typically booked for one week. Each show has about 10 acts and the festival is looking for acts that run about 3-8 minutes long, so not full shows. If you’ve got a great act, you can submit to perform at the festival here: https://airtable.com/appmcVuHJRPUIvGo7/shrtXsES3kpQhJKAt

If you want more information or to see who has performed in the past visit:
https://moisturefestival.org/

-Louie

Handheld Microphone in Magic Shows

Over the summer I found myself gravitating towards a handheld microphone in my shows. Using one gives you a lot more power onstage. Also it’s a nice prop to gesture with.

I can do a lot of my show with one hand, and I need to work on using the mic stand. The challenge with the mic stand is being locked to one place with a thing in front of you. It makes moves like Sylvester Pitch or tricks that use magnets challenging.

For my show I’ve been using Nick Lewin’s Ultimate Microphone holder. I have a ton of these, and were used for emergency situations if my headset mic didn’t work, or I couldn’t plug into the venue’s system. This is an easy way to hang a mic around your neck to allow you to work hands free. While a mic dangling isn’t the best way to get audio, it’s better than no audio.

I just ordered a handheld microphone that’s compatible with my Sennheiser receiver.

-Louie

Stand Up Chop Cup

I like the idea of doing a chop cup on stage, but it presents some challenges. The main one is on a raised stage, if you work on a table, and the audience is seated below you it can make it hard for them to see things on the table. My first rule of the routine was that there had to be no table. The next rule was that I wanted this to be a solo trick, so no one from the audience onstage. The final rule was that I didn’t want to (openly) to go my pockets or case during the routine.

The first thing I did was go see what was already out there, however most of the existing routines at some point use a table or pockets. When I mention this to other magicians they always mention Axel Hecklau’s routine, but that uses a table, pockets and a spectator onstage. In the past I had one a Ball and Cone routine for a show, so a phase of the trick was definitely inspired by that.

The routine that I’m currently doing now is my second version of the chop cup that follows the three rules above.

I’ve been doing this a bunch this summer and it’s going well!

-Louie