On Saturday night I headlined a bar gig with a few comedians. The feature act was Morgan Colis and she had written a whole chunk of material about magicians because she was working with me. She went as far as to borrow a coat from her grandma for one of the jokes.
Things like that remind me that I’m not working as hard as I used to. Years ago when I was younger, I’d research all of the other acts I was working with, write venue, city, act specific jokes or bits for the gig. I don’t do that very often anymore, especially for a one off gig.
Working with younger acts (by younger I mean performers who are newer) reminds me that I need to work harder to keep up with the “kids”. There are many performers that phone it in the back half of their career, and it’s passable, then there are acts that keep working on their show.
I want to be one that keeps working on their show…
-Louie
Tag: bar gig
Staging Challenges
One of the biggest challenges performing a magic show that’s not in a formal theater is being seen. These challenges range from pillars in the room, not being on a raised stage, or lighting. Sometimes you can fix these problems and sometimes you can’t and just have to deal with them. Last night my challenge … Continue reading “Staging Challenges”
One of the biggest challenges performing a magic show that’s not in a formal theater is being seen. These challenges range from pillars in the room, not being on a raised stage, or lighting. Sometimes you can fix these problems and sometimes you can’t and just have to deal with them.
Last night my challenge was lighting. I was performing at a comedy night at a bar. Look a the pic below, the stage is on the left side and you can see the two speakers on each side of the stage.
The stage is in the darkest spot of the room. There’s no light there. Unfortunately there’s not much you can do about it because of how the room is. I can’t move the bar of the booths, the stage is pretty much in the only place it can be.
The next option is bringing in some light trees, sure, but then that brings up a new set of challenges, like blocking sight lines, taping down cords and where to put them. Also I refuse to travel with light trees. If I’m performing in the dark, that’s 100% the venue’s issue and one that’s not easily solved by me.
My solution was to do my show on the floor in front of the stage. There was a lot more light there. It’s not the ideal situation for my show, but the best for the circumstances I was given.