Tag: bar magic

Play Around…

The other day I was hanging out with a magician friend, we were working on something not magic trick related. At some point we always end up goofing around with magic. and that’s when the good ideas come out. Unfortunately this day it was just goofing around. One of the things we were playing with … Continue reading “Play Around…”

The other day I was hanging out with a magician friend, we were working on something not magic trick related. At some point we always end up goofing around with magic. and that’s when the good ideas come out. Unfortunately this day it was just goofing around.


One of the things we were playing with was a bottle cap. Here’s one of the things that we did:

It’s not a great trick, or even that original, however it’s a good example of part of the creative process. It’s just playing with an item and seeing what comes up.

Magic From Non-Magicians…

There are tons of magicians that hate it when people show the magic tricks. Honestly I’m not sure why they’d dislike it. When you watch a trick you are encouraging someone that’s into magic on some level. You are also not being a jerk. I understand that there’s a common magic trick that people show … Continue reading “Magic From Non-Magicians…”

There are tons of magicians that hate it when people show the magic tricks. Honestly I’m not sure why they’d dislike it. When you watch a trick you are encouraging someone that’s into magic on some level. You are also not being a jerk.


I understand that there’s a common magic trick that people show us and it’s a horrible trick and quite often the person fails to find the card because they don’t practice enough. However you never know when you are going to see something interesting.


Here’s a bartender that saw Chris Beason and I jamming magic tricks and offered to show us a trick:

Bartender magic trick

While the trick was a math based trick, it was something I think I had read as a kid, but had never seen anyone do it. It was an interesting trick and while not the greatest trick in the world, it was worth watching 10 bad tricks to get to one that was fun!


The Curse of the Opening Act…

Recently I did a gig where I MC’d a bar comedy show.  Normally I’m the feature or headline act.  It was fun, however as the first act, it’s really had to “crush it”.  There are a few reasons for this.   First, as host, it’s not your show.  It’s your show, but it’s not your … Continue reading “The Curse of the Opening Act…”

Recently I did a gig where I MC’d a bar comedy show.  Normally I’m the feature or headline act.  It was fun, however as the first act, it’s really had to “crush it”.  There are a few reasons for this.

 

First, as host, it’s not your show.  It’s your show, but it’s not your show.  Second, the audience is COLD and you need to really get them to switch from hang out mode to show mode.  This is made harder by the fact that the room doesn’t change into show mode (i.e. lights don’t dim, etc).  The final thing is that everyone is still eating, so it’s harder to get them to laugh with food in their mouths.

 

Add the normal first act in a bar show challenges to the place having a PA set up horribly and the stage in the darkest spot of the room.  All of this made it a challenging room.

 

I opened with a verbal bit that’s goal it to unite the room, it did it OK, then moved on. This is one of those gigs where as the first act you really have to just keep moving forward until they finish their dinner.  That’s what I did.  And about minute 11 of 15 I finally got them warmed up and they were a great audience for the next two acts.

I guess the lesson here is don’t bail on your audience, always give it 100%.  Eventually they’ll come around…

 

Louie