Visiting the Oddities and Curiosities Expo!

When the travelling Oddities and Curiosities Expo was in town I popped by to check it out. I’ve performed at the expo in the past, and swung by to say hi to some friends.

It was great to see the Three Legged Dog Sideshow do their thing!

Oddities and Curiosities Exp

Magicians can learn a lot by watching sideshow acts. It’s a very similar build through routines. A magician has to show the box is empty before you can make something appear, and a sword swallower has to show the sword is real before they swallow it.

You really should check out the Oddities and Curiosities Expo when it’s passing through your town, you can learn a lot!

-Louie

Oddities and Curiosities Expo

On Saturday I performed at the Oddities and Curiosities Expo in Grand Rapids, MI. This was a fairly unusual situation for me performing as the audience was standing, there was no seats. For me, the challenge was getting people to stand for 30 minutes. A standing audience is very different from a sitting audience.

It was also a family audience that wanted edgy, which is a very fine line to walk during your show. I was able to do a lot of bits that I wouldn’t normally do in my show as they’re slightly too edgy for a general audience, but worked great for this crowd.

This was an audience that was ready to see a show, and there were great audiences, and we packed the space with people standing. If I ever do one of these again, I’d probably take more tricks that have a lot of build up, and a singular payoff, versus routines that have multiple smaller effects.

For example I brought my object in ball of yarn that’s 8 minutes and has a couple of mini tricks before the final trick a the end. I should have done my blindfold which is also about 8 minutes and has a single reveal at the end.

It was a fun show, and I’d do it again!

-Louie