Why I Don’t Do Halloween Shows

Halloween is a busy time for magicians, there’s soo much work out there, everyone could be performing and there’d still be gigs leftover. That said, I don’t normally perform on Halloween anymore. Here’s why:

Halloween shows usually suck!

When you put audiences (kids or adult) in a costume they act really strange. The will play up their character which isn’t what I want in my show. I want them to be themselves, not Darth Vadar. Also when in costume, you can’t always see people’s faces clearly, which makes it harder for an audience and you to connect with them. The amount of times I’ve picked someone from the audience to help who wasn’t wearing a mask, then as they got up to walk onstage they put a mask on is remarkably high.

Then you have people’s costumes that interfere with basic functions that you don’t anticipate. Some costumes will have sleeves that will make it harder to do things like hold a prop the the audience can see it, or make it difficult for people to move.

I’m not saying that I will never do a Halloween show again in my life. Sometimes the pay is insane or there’s something I want to buy, so the show will finance it. However I very much dislike them and do my best to avoid them.

-Louie

Halloween Trick!

I’ve always said that creating tricks based on holidays is one of the easiest ways to generate content. Here’s an interactive Halloween magic trick you can do at home, just print out the pdf below and follow the instructions

Enjoy!
-Louie

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 … Continue reading “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.