Yesterday I wrote a post about the Linking Pins. Today I’m going to write a bit about one of my favorite things about the routine. My routine uses a gimmick, but only for a small part of it. The rest of it uses ungimmicked pins, but by the time the gimmick is in play, I’ve … Continue reading “Using a Gimmick…”
Yesterday I wrote a post about the Linking Pins. Today I’m going to write a bit about one of my favorite things about the routine. My routine uses a gimmick, but only for a small part of it. The rest of it uses ungimmicked pins, but by the time the gimmick is in play, I’ve totally negated the idea that I could be using what I’m using.
In the first three phases of the routine that don’t use the gimmick, they look just like I’m using the gimmick. Also they get the audience to check out the pins, when there’s nothing to find, so when they is something to find, no one is looking!
Here’s the final phase with the gimmick:
In the video you see how I put a lot of “tension” into what’s going to happen. The guy can see and feel them together. I’m building tension with that. Once they go through each other, he has to relax. That release of tension gives me a natural moment to get rid of the gimmick.
One of my favorite close up tricks to do is the Linking Safety Pins. What I like about it is that is uses an common object and the magic is direct and visual. Those two things save me a lot of time with the expository phases of the trick. I don’t really need to explain … Continue reading “Linking Pins…”
One of my favorite close up tricks to do is the Linking Safety Pins. What I like about it is that is uses an common object and the magic is direct and visual. Those two things save me a lot of time with the expository phases of the trick. I don’t really need to explain what they are, but I do. I also don’t need to explain what going to happen, because it’s obvious.
The other thing about my routine for the Linking Pins trick is that all of the props are handled by the audience and all but the first effect in the routine happens in their hands. This makes a simple trick a bit more hard hitting.
Sometimes when I’m out doing my routine, after the pins go through each other the first time, someone will say they are trick pins. I tell them they can keep them after I’m done. I have a pocket full of pins so leaving a set is no big deal. This 100% removes the idea that they are trick pins.
This week I’m an a conference for the fair industry. A good friend of mine, who is a great magician was also there and we were chatting magic and the subject of the Torn And Restored Newspaper came up. We were chatting about doing the trick outdoors, and the challenges of doing it in the … Continue reading “Dealing With The Wind…”
This week I’m an a conference for the fair industry. A good friend of mine, who is a great magician was also there and we were chatting magic and the subject of the Torn And Restored Newspaper came up. We were chatting about doing the trick outdoors, and the challenges of doing it in the wind.
He doesn’t do it outdoors, where I do. There’s one difference that allows me to do it outdoors (usually) and that’s the style of newspaper tear we do. He does the Gene Anderson Newspaper Tear and I use Nick Lewin’s Slow Motion Newspaper Tear. The Newspaper Tear that I do has less pages to it, so that means less changes for the wind mess it up.
The routine that most people use with the Gene Anderson Tear, is the one that I think was popularized by Doug Henning:
In this routine the newspaper is held open and flat a lot. Also all of the tears happen from the newspaper in an position where it’s flat. In Nick Lewin’s version, the newspaper is tear is started from a folded position and that helps a lot with wind.
Newer performers frequently ask me about how I travel with my show on an airplane. People are worried about lost luggage. Unfortunately the only thing you can really do about that is to either carry everything on, or accept that can happen. I guess there’s a third option and that is having a show where … Continue reading “Travelling…”
Newer performers frequently ask me about how I travel with my show on an airplane. People are worried about lost luggage. Unfortunately the only thing you can really do about that is to either carry everything on, or accept that can happen. I guess there’s a third option and that is having a show where you can find all of your props in your destination city. Then there’s combinations of the three.
Unfortunately for my show, I can’t do it all in my carry on. Some of the items I use can’t be taken in the cabin of the plane and can’t be sourced locally, so I’m stuck checking at least some of my show. Since I have to check a bunch of stuff already, I check almost everything.
Currently here’s what I carry onto the plane in my backpack:
The white tube has my vanishing birdcage. If that wasn’t so easy to break by someone who examining it, I’d check it. In the zipper compartment is my cage pull, a thumb tip, mismade bills and a thumb drive with everything the people running the theater would need (cue sheets, video, music, intro, etc). Then in the yellow case is my audio gear (mics, mic packs, audio ape, etc). Everything else in the backpack is my personal stuff, so books, my laptop, etc.
I’ve had my luggage “lost” by the airline once, and they had it delivered to me within six hours. I also have had TSA screen my bags and forget to put a couple of things back into it, luckily after weeks of phone calls I tracked down my props!
What do I do if my luggage gets lost?
I’m lucky that I can do a lot with simple stuff and in the past I’ve done a lot of standard magic, so I can source a show locally. It’s not the ideal situation, however I can go to the Walmart in any city and pick up a two deck of cards, rope, scissors, yarn, pad of paper, duct tape, a couple of handkerchiefs and some markers and I’m good to go. This isn’t the show that I want to present, but I can do a decent show with that.
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.
If you want your magic show to stay relevant, you need to stay on top of what society say is “politically correct“. Yes, there is a place to push the envelope and be edgy, but for 98% of us we aren’t. Of that 2% that do probably less than a quarter of them do it … Continue reading “Don’t Be a D*ck”
If you want your magic show to stay relevant, you need to stay on top of what society say is “politically correct“. Yes, there is a place to push the envelope and be edgy, but for 98% of us we aren’t. Of that 2% that do probably less than a quarter of them do it in a way that has a purpose, the rest are just a-holes.
The Swedish Chef has been around longer than I’ve been alive, however it might be time to retire part of his humor. His imitation of the Swedish language borders on not being what’s acceptable in today’s world. If I saw someone doing a Chinese character and they spoke saying things like, “Ching chong, chin chang…” I would walk out of the show. There’s no reason that the Swedish Chef can’t speak actual Swedish. Part of the humor is making fun of a group of people’s language. If you took that out, would it still be as funny?
I get in 1975, it was a bit harder to just learn a language, but now it’s super easy to actually learn a language now. Here’s an example. I wanted to use the Khoisan language in my show, this is the one that has all of the mouth clicks in it. All I needed to do was count to three. I could have faked it and just made random clicking noises, but wanted to do it respectfully and the least I could do was learn to actually do it. It was really easy, and using the actual language was much funnier as it had a sense of build to it.
When something breaks are you still using the offensive and hack line, “Must be made in China“? Here’s why that line is bad, it’s putting down an whole group of people for the laugh, and it’s outdated as the quality standards in China are frequently higher than in the USA. In my show I have a fishing pole that breaks, in 1983 the “made in China” line might have worked, but I want to be better than that. The line I use when it breaks is, “That’s the last time a buy a fishing pole on Tinder…should have gotten it on Plenty of Fish…“. This line puts the laugh(s) on me, and I guess on the fictional person who would sell a fishing pole on a dating website.
Take a look at your show, are there any bits that have aged out of it?
Personally I love seeing any magic show, I’ll watch good ones, I’ll watch bad ones, however the ones I like the least are ones that are mediocre. Usually a bad show has some sort of merit to it, like someone is trying something new or they are new to performing. Watching a good show inspires … Continue reading “A Bit of Effort…”
Personally I love seeing any magic show, I’ll watch good ones, I’ll watch bad ones, however the ones I like the least are ones that are mediocre. Usually a bad show has some sort of merit to it, like someone is trying something new or they are new to performing. Watching a good show inspires me, but a show that’s just OK is well, just OK.
These mediocre shows are the ones where the person put the least amount of effort into their show. They bought a trick and do it per the instructions. It’s a trick where they as a performer don’t have to think. I’m not talking about thinking in performance, but thinking in preparation to performance.
They put no thought into the props, the script, the whatever. They simply bought a show, and that’s it. Recently I saw a show like this it feels like a waste time for the audience. Whether or not the audience knows it, the performer is not creating art. It’s like seeing a painting and hearing the artist talk about it, or having someone print out a picture and hearing someone unconnected talk about it. Personally, I’d rather hear from the artist.
It’s the little things that when people notice, I think it elevates your show. Before Darren Brown’s show, I noticed some posters in the theater that seemed out of place. Well, they played a role in the show, but their role wasn’t really IN THE SHOW, but after the show. They reinforced something that happened. … Continue reading “Adding a Bonus Trick”
It’s the little things that when people notice, I think it elevates your show. Before Darren Brown’s show, I noticed some posters in the theater that seemed out of place. Well, they played a role in the show, but their role wasn’t really IN THE SHOW, but after the show. They reinforced something that happened.
There was a very cool moment for some of the people that attended the show as we were leaving the theater. When walking down the stairs from the balcony to leave the theater, people noticed the posters and started commenting on how they were a part of the show. It was almost like the people got a “bonus trick” on the way out of the show.
I’m a huge fan of things that tell your audience that it’s not a bunch of tricks you threw together. That your put thought into your show. The easy way to do that is through call backs, when you reference things that happened earlier in the show later in the show. In magic, you can do more that just reference, they can have a role in what happens later in the show. Darren Brown’s show has this happen in the body of the show, but using it for something that people notice while they are leaving the theater is GENIUS!
Sometimes you need to stick to your guns and do your show how you want it to, then there are other times when you need change it. I’m a huge advocate of pushing back if someone unreasonably wants you to change your show. An example of this is a booker wanting you to incorporate something … Continue reading “Raise Up Your Show”
Sometimes you need to stick to your guns and do your show how you want it to, then there are other times when you need change it. I’m a huge advocate of pushing back if someone unreasonably wants you to change your show. An example of this is a booker wanting you to incorporate something into your show at the last minute. I’m frequently asked to magically make a prize or award appear. I almost always decline this.
There are times that you want to alter your show for the event. When I performed in Virginia a couple days ago, I saw an illusion act perform. They weren’t on a raised stage, which is something I’m very conscious of. Being an act that uses smaller props I’m very aware of how they can disappear if they are held too low when you aren’t on a raised stage. The act I saw did a Wakeling Sawing in Half, which is a great illusion. It’s a big prop, but the action happens low.
I’m standing in the back taking this picture, you probably wouldn’t notice the large box for the illusion in the picture. There’s a girl in the third row standing on someone’s lap to see. While it’s a big and visual prop, you can’t see it if it’s too low to the ground. This is a situation where a small handheld prop would have played a lot larger than the sawing in half.
In my opinion the show would have flowed better if they had cut out the sawing in half and filled the spot with something smaller, that could be held higher, or just run the show five minutes short. Removing the trick would have made the show much more enjoyable for me, as there wasn’t really any jokes, or story engage me once the visual was lost.
Be aware of the sight lines of people seated from the third row and back.
One thing I love is when I get to do great shows on the road. Knowing what audiences like in my local(ish) area is one thing, but then when you travel 2,500 miles away, they can be a very different audience in terms of what they like or are offended by. This year my New … Continue reading “Does It Work 3K Miles Away..”
One thing I love is when I get to do great shows on the road. Knowing what audiences like in my local(ish) area is one thing, but then when you travel 2,500 miles away, they can be a very different audience in terms of what they like or are offended by.
This year my New Year’s Eve gig was at a First Night arts festival on the east coast. My humor worked out and the audiences liked my newer material, which is good.
After the show I got an email from a magician who was in the audience at one of my shows. He made an interesting comment, he said that by the time the show started the audience was rooting for me. This is something that I do by design, and I’m glad that he noticed it.
What I do is before the shows start time, I do some tricks that I’m working on. These are things are semi formed routines, but not fully fleshed out. Sometimes they are routines that I like, but just don’t have a place in the show. One thing that they aren’t are tricks that I don’t really know how to do.
The purpose of these tricks is to warm up the audience, but put no pressure on them. They aren’t part of the show (but they actually are), but they do make a good first date. Now by the time the show starts the audience is invested in me and invested in me succeeding.
