magic show – Page 25 – MagicShow.Tips

Live it!

When I was a kid I remember Michael Close in his lecture talking about how to get good patter ideas for your tricks. His advice was to go out and do stuff that’s not magic related. Living a life aside from magic will add depth to you onstage. Personally for me, I love magic and … Continue reading “Live it!”

When I was a kid I remember Michael Close in his lecture talking about how to get good patter ideas for your tricks. His advice was to go out and do stuff that’s not magic related. Living a life aside from magic will add depth to you onstage.

Personally for me, I love magic and it’s a huge part of my life and something that I’m very passionate about. However I do have a lot of other interests. Things like travel, urban exploring and leather craft. Having those interests gives my show depth.

Earlier this week the podcast that I co host did an interview with Carisa Hendrix where she talks about her life.

You can listen to it here:

http://oddandoffbeat.com/podcast/episode-93-carisa-hendrix-in-studio/

Got out and add to your life experience!

Keep Playing…

Another thing that I learned while I was in Nashville was about the beginnings of Elvis’s performing career. I don’t remember who wrote it (it was a band member, or agent) said that, “Elvis got on stage, jumped around and carried on, then the bass player would start carrying on, then the next guy. ” What they were doing onstage was playing around and having fun.

One of the bands I saw in Nashville was had four performers (only three are pictured) and only one of them was having fun onstage. In the band the bass player was having a blast, or at least he did a dang good job acting that he was having a ton of fun. His enthusiasm really carried across the audience.

When you are on stage, have fun and play around. Try something new, be whatever your version of silly is, and whatever your version of comedy is, don’t be so serious.

Community Center Shows…

For some reason this month I’ve done a lot of community center shows. I’m not sure why, it could be that they call me year round, but I’m just not available to do them and this month I was home. These shows are family shows, and the age range will vary from very young to very old. While these shows are geared towards kids, there are usually an equal number of adults and kids. Frequently you’ll have more adults than kids.

I’ve mentioned this in the past, when I do these shows I don’t do a kids show. I do my normal show and make the kids “step up” to whats going on. My show which ran 50 minutes didn’t pander the 4 year olds, and it shouldn’t when they are a minority of the audience. Sure I do some funny things, but they are universally funny across most ages.

The other thing is that I’m doing a show that’s watchable to the people who are in charge of making the decision to go, or buying the tickets. When my kid was young, I didn’t take her to shows that I knew weren’t going to engage me. I was the one in charge of the decisions, and that’s who I’m catering my show to.

Keep Learning…

Yesterday I was at a class on making silicone molds and using them to cast things in resin. Personally, besides learning the skill, I’m always watching for ideas that I can use during my performance. I noticed a couple of things that confirm my current thoughts on audio and video during a show.

The first thing that while we were in a fairly small and quiet room and there were only 25 of us, it was hard to hear the presenter. They should have been mic’d up. This goes for pretty much anything that’s not a close up gig, you need to wear a mic!

The second thing was their use of video. They had a straight down show from directly above the table with the screen directly behind the presenter.

This is the way to do it. In all of the shows I’ve seen when the action is on a sidewall, your attention is torn between the screen and the presenter. With the action on the screen behind you, it really lets you watch both the same time as both are in your field of vision. This is the way to got for projection.

As a bonus to confirming my theories on audio and video during a show, I also learned to make molds and cast things in resin!

Economy of Motion…

Recently I added the Silk in Light Bulb trick to my show. Essentially a silk that has disappeared reappears inside a light bulb. To do this or similar “in light bulb” type of tricks I’ve always used glass light bulbs. I hollowed out real glass light bulbs and used those. These look great and work … Continue reading “Economy of Motion…”

Recently I added the Silk in Light Bulb trick to my show. Essentially a silk that has disappeared reappears inside a light bulb. To do this or similar “in light bulb” type of tricks I’ve always used glass light bulbs. I hollowed out real glass light bulbs and used those. These look great and work great, but travelling with them is a pain as they are fragile.

About a week ago I was talking to another magician and he mentioned he started using plastic light bulbs. These have the metal base that unscrews giving you access to the inside. I ordered some and they showed up a couple days later. They look great, and I’m glad I ordered them, it’s going to make travelling much easier.

One problem with this style light bulb is how long it takes to unscrew it. There’s too much threading on the base:

I took my Dremel and sanded off some of the threading:

Now it unscrews in less than one twist. That speeds up the moment from when the audience realizes it’s the silk in the light bulb to when you are displaying it.

Look at your show and figure out where there’s wasted procedural motion. Once you find that, try to figure out ways to eliminate it. That will tighten up your show.

Follow The Crowd…

In any art form you are taught to be different, and as far as your show goes that’s what I think about magic. Marketing is a bit different. Recently someone in a Facebook group for magicians wanted advice on getting an agent to get them shows around the country. In my career, every agent that consistently gets me work has seen me perform and approached me. Sure, there are more ways to do it than my route, that’s just my experience.

One thing about agents is they’ve come into my life when I was ready for the kind of gigs they book. One of my agents has told me I’m “starting to level up” and I need my promo to reflect that. I’m currently working on taking my promo to the next level. That’s the thing, if you promo isn’t at the level you expected for where you want to work, then you’ll have a hell of a time getting any agent to take you seriously.

Here’s a good example, my core market is performing at fairs. I want to work indoors more, and the first thing I did was look at the websites of people who were doing the gigs that I wanted to do. If you look at a lot of them, you’ll start to see things repeating. Not tricks, but things all of their promo has in common. Things like the length and style of their promo videos. Are they one trick, a sizzle reel, or a combination of the two? Are their headshots studio or something else? There’s a reason they are common things in promo, that’s because that’s what the industry expects.

Now you need to take a moment and look at your promo, what can you do to take you to the next level?

Kid Show vs. Family Show

One of the big changes in my career happened when I learned the difference from a Kid Show and a Family Show. A kid show is when the audience is a large majority of children, so something like a school assembly or birthday party. A family show is when kids are about less than half … Continue reading “Kid Show vs. Family Show”

One of the big changes in my career happened when I learned the difference from a Kid Show and a Family Show. A kid show is when the audience is a large majority of children, so something like a school assembly or birthday party. A family show is when kids are about less than half of the audience. This is an important distinction.

Yesterday I did a show at a community center and the audience:

The audience was mostly adults. For a show to be successful you need to be able to engage the whole audience. In family shows there really aren’t any “kid magic tricks” that have low magical effect. Every trick is a good trick.

The humor is aimed at the adults, I make the kids step up, instead of making the adults step down for laughs. I don’t do any “turn it around” type gags, I have to dig a bit deeper for the laughs. For me this is the secret to my success on a local level.

Let it Die…

One of the hardest groups to work for is middle school aged kids. They don’t have the life experience that someone a bit older has, but are too old for the reference that elementary school aged kids would get. I work for them like I would for a group of adults, I’m just aware that … Continue reading “Let it Die…”

One of the hardest groups to work for is middle school aged kids. They don’t have the life experience that someone a bit older has, but are too old for the reference that elementary school aged kids would get. I work for them like I would for a group of adults, I’m just aware that some of my material will fall flat.

I do my best to cut material that won’t work for that age range, however there’s some stuff I need to leave in. For example I need to move something from one thumb tip to another in my show. I cover this by reaching into the bin on my table and taking out a W-9 Tax Form and there’s a joke about it. This bit has to be there, otherwise I’m just reaching the bin, shuffling around and coming back out with my hands empty. This makes the trick a lot less deceptive.

In the show that I did for the middle school group, I did the bit and had to let it die in front of the audience. I had no choice. I did present the bit with much less emphasis than I normally would. This played more like a throwaway gag for the few adults in the room. The trick otherwise played well. Being aware of what will work for an audience and what won’t puts you way ahead of the game!

Work on Your Origin Story…

My big project right now is co-hosting a podcast for a variety arts festival where we interview the performers and the people behind the scenes that make the festival work. One thing I’ve notice when interviewing performers is some are good interviews and some are more challenging interviews, and I can predict who will be … Continue reading “Work on Your Origin Story…”

My big project right now is co-hosting a podcast for a variety arts festival where we interview the performers and the people behind the scenes that make the festival work. One thing I’ve notice when interviewing performers is some are good interviews and some are more challenging interviews, and I can predict who will be which.

Before someone comes in for an interview, we do research on them. We read their “offical bio” as well as try to do some digging for some other things about them that might be out there. Usually the more someone has out there, the better the interview is. If there’s just one bio that’s repeated around, they’ll be a harder interview. This is simply because they haven’t told their story very often. They haven’t learned the punchlines of the story, or what parts are interesting and what isn’t.

The one question that stumps people that haven’t told their story is, “How did you get to (name of city they live in)?” If you can’t tell me that is a direct way that’s interesting, you don’t know your story. Personally this is a story I tell on stage and it’s got a lot of laughs in it. Your story doesn’t need to have laughs, but you need to learn to tell it and take out all of the BS and make it interesting. This is a common question, and it’s also one that’s easy to shoehorn into any interview if it’s not asked. Take a few minutes, write it out and figure out what’s important and what isn’t.

Podcast Guest Tips…

Yesterday I wrote about learning to be a good guest for doing media spots. Today I’m going to give you some tips to being a good guest on podcasts. Here’s a quick bit of background, I co-host a podcast called the Odd and Offbeat Podcast and also am the co-host of the podcast for the soon to be released Moisture Festival, which is the largest variety arts festival in the world.

My role as co-host of the Moisture Festival Podcast is to interview performers from around the world. One thing that has surprised me is how many don’t know how to be interviewed. Here are a few tips to be a good podcast guest:

Speak into the microphone and stay on the mic.
Come prepared. Ask if they have sample questions, or write out some questions and have answers to these. Even if these questions never come up, you’ve put thought into the interview and that will show in the final product.
Don’t think you are interesting, plan to be interesting.
Arrive a few mins early to chat with the host(s). That will allow you to relax a little bit and get all the awkward chit chat out of the way.
Don’t speak with your hands. On a purely audio medium, no one listening can see you. Also when you talk with your hands, you will be whacking stuff like the table and the mics pic all of that up.
Before the recording ask if things can be edited. Especially if you are telling a story and accidentally whack something with your hand, can you start over and have them edit the part with the distraction.
Answer questions and don’t ramble. If you are asked a question and you don’t want to answer it, tell them that. Don’t ramble a “non-answer” for two minutes.

Of all of these, the big one is to stay on the mic! When editing an episode, if I have to go in and bump all of your audio and no one else’s audio, that’s a huge pain in the butt. Hopefully you can go out and be a better podcast guest!