The Shell Game at Sea…

The other day I saw Phil Cass‘s show, and kinda briefly mentioned his shell game routine. Phil’s routine on his VHS tape in the late 1990’s was part of what got me going with the shell game when I first got serious about it.

Here’s the trailer for Phil’s video:

It’s always great to meet people who have had some influence on what you do and how you do it…it’s also a bonus when they are cool people!

It was great hanging out with Phil and Phillipa Cass while we were on the ship! The shell game video is still available from phil, you can get it at:
https://www.philcass.com/shop/

If you’re into the shell game, it’s worth checking out!
-Louie

Creating With What’s Around You…

Right now I’m on a cruise ship and it’s pretty bumpy out, and I noticed that all of the floors at the stairwells have “sick bags”. These look like paper lunch sacks, but are made of plastic and have a tab at the top to seal them.

I grabbed one and took it back to my state room to see if I could figure out something to do with it. Here’s my brainstorming from this morning:

  • Chew up some food, spit it in…then blow up the bag and pop it and it’s confetti
  • Someone reaches into the bag and pulls out a single cookie (it’s the only thing in the bag). You take a few bites and spit them back into the bag. Shake the bag and dump out a whole cookie
  • You have the bag sealed. You tell the audience you breathed into the bag after breakfast and have someone try to guess what you ate. You have a note that confirms they are right!
  • Someone from the audience breathes into the bag, and you tell them what they had for breakfast
  • you have a line of people onstage. With your back turned, someone breathes into the bag and seals it. It’s handed to you and smell the bag and tell whose breath it is
  • You put food into the bag and it turns to rubber vomit
  • You say you opened the bag on the plane and captured the air at your seat. Someone smells the air and guesses your row and seat number.

What I like about this is the specific property of the bag, it being plastic and sealable ended up taking me away from tradition paper bag tricks. I really like the idea of trapping air in the bag. I think that the row and seat number might be the winner as it doesn’t involve anyone’s breath, so it’s not cringy.

I don’t know if I’ll ever do this stuff, but it’s a fun creativity exercise.
-Louie

When Not to Busk…

What’s wrong with some people. This was posted in a magicians group on Facebook:

I hope that the guy was just trolling and not serious. It’s insanely unethical, it’s like busking for tips in a hotel lobby or inside the gate at Disneyland.

Here’s my replies:

As for consequences, the cruise line can absolutely ask you to stop. If you don’t, they can disembark you any port. The bigger picture is that at the end of the every cruise passengers fill out comment cards and rate things like the entertainment. There could be some confusion as to whether or not the magician who decides to busk works for the cruise line, in which case they may mark the magician down or leave negative comments about the magician hustling tips. This isn’t good for the guy who got hired to work there.

If you’ve ever thought of doing this…don’t.
-Louie

Ta-Dah?

When I was working on a cruise ship last year, I became friends with the comic on the ride to the ship. We had never seen each other work, and he asked me about how I did my “Ta-Dah”. He was referring to the moment when you tell the audience the trick is over. I … Continue reading “Ta-Dah?”

When I was working on a cruise ship last year, I became friends with the comic on the ride to the ship. We had never seen each other work, and he asked me about how I did my “Ta-Dah”. He was referring to the moment when you tell the audience the trick is over.


I never thought of it as a “Ta-Dah“, but more of a “F*ck Yeah!” moment. In my head, it’s the moment where something amazing just happened it’s amazing, not just something cool happened. I’m trying to build it out to a moment where everyone understands what’s going to happen and why it’s amazing.


Also the shift from “Ta-Dah” to “F*ck Yeah!” is an energetic one. I’m going for a moment of an you believe that just happened, and not, wasn’t that cool. This change is reflected in my silent scrip that goes through my head while I perform.

Magic Apps…

Ugh, this summer for my Library tour I needed a way to either force some information, or get a peek at it. The problem with a peek is this that I need pretty much real time info, I can’t preshow it. I also need it to fit an “educational” bullet point in the show. The … Continue reading “Magic Apps…”

Ugh, this summer for my Library tour I needed a way to either force some information, or get a peek at it. The problem with a peek is this that I need pretty much real time info, I can’t preshow it. I also need it to fit an “educational” bullet point in the show. The bullet point would be researching.


The nice thing about researching is that I could use a book. The downside is that I need to force specific information. I need to force the size of an animal. I was going to use Inject 2.0, however the need for two devices to have working internet was something that I didn’t want to get involved in. This is a huge the problem with most magic apps.

If internet isn’t an issue, then the other problem is why are you using your phone. I use an app on my phone in my show on cruise ships, and there’s a good reason. I make a phone call, and a phone call at sea is very expensive, so obviously I’m not going to use a borrowed phone. The cellphone thing is easily overcome in a kids show, because younger kids frequently don’t have phone on them.


I heard about an Instagram prediction called Predict n’ Grab.

Predict n' Grab magic mentalism trick review

This is the solution. They now scroll through an animal facts Instagram page and stop at one of the pictures and that’s the force! I created a custom Instagram page that has all of the force info in the picture in meme form. Having the info in the pictures makes it much easier for a kid “research”.