stage magic – MagicShow.Tips

Magic as an Art

Magicians love to complain about how no one takes magic seriously as an art. Usually, those are the people who aren’t out there creating art, they’re doing cover band magic. Those are the people who buy a routine and do it word for word.

There’s nothing wrong with buying a routine and performing it. Just like there’s nothing wrong with doing a paint by number painting. If that’s what brings you joy, by all means, do it. It’s just not (in my opinion) creating art.

How do you become an artist? That’s a hard thing to say, and honestly I barely consider myself one and really hate it when I refer to myself as an artist. One place to start is figuring out who you are and how to convey that to your audience.

Do you like movies? Talk about that in your show.
Do you have kids? Talk about them in your show.

Another way is to have a point of view.
Are you Anti Tax? Talk about that in your show.

The more of you and your worldview you put into the show, the closer it starts moving into art.

Also, I should mention, art isn’t just presentation, it can be the sleight of hand.

-Louie

Happy Thanksgiving!

This is my annual posting of my Thanksgiving magic trick:

I think this trick is a good example of theming an existing trick to a holiday.

-Louie

WonderGround in Las Vegas!

Last week I was passed through Las Vegas on my way home from a booking conference and performed at WonderGround! This is a magic / variety show that was originally started by Jeff McBride, but is currently run by Will Bradshaw.

I think this was my fourth or fifth time doing WonderGround and it’s always a ton of fun. I ran into a bunch of old friends, made new friends and met people that I only knew from social media.

One of the highlights of the show was running into Richard. He saw my show at his elementary school about 15 years ago and that was his introduction to magic. Now he’s a working magician in Las Vegas!

Wonderground is really three shows: An early stage show, close up show and a late stage show. I performed in the late stage and close up shows.

One of the cool things about this show is that it’s a great audience! If you’re ever in Las Vegas when the WonderGround show is going on, you absolutely should go so it! For a $20 admission it’s a steal!

-Louie

Upgrading a Gimmick

For years, a gimmick I used in my show was the first version that I ever made out of some old plastic packaging and duct tape that I had laying around.

If you want more info on this, it’s for a trick in my 2025 Lecture Notes.

It wasn’t pretty, but it worked and held up for years. There’s still nothing wrong with it, however I decided I was going to up grade it by 3d printing it.

It came out looking great and more importantly working great!

I’m glad I designed it, now if I need another one it’s a simple and quick print!

-Louie

Prop Case Cover

I needed a new prop case cover that would cover the front and sides of my case. I bought a few yards of fabric and got to sewing and this is what I made:

It turned out fine and will get the job done. I think I’ll use this for a bit to see if there are any design changes that need to happen.

-Louie

The Appearing Aquarium!

When I was in Billings, MT I visited the magic club and someone had an Appearing Aquarium. Here’s what I looks like:

@louiefoxx There are only two magic tricks in history that are worse than this one! #magictrick #magic #magician #fishtank #aquarium ♬ som original – 𝑷𝒆𝒅𝒓𝒂𝒅𝒂𝒔🎵

It seems that the one I saw was a knockoff of a trick called Pisces.

It’s a fun trick to do, but it’s not a great trick. When I posted the video, I thought the title “The 3rd Worst Magic Trick Ever” was a funny title. Now thinking about that, it could be a fun hook for a routine in the show. I liked the idea for that as a hook, and I ended up buying the one that I saw at the magic club.

I think it needs an ending of some sort. Maybe producing a fish bowl, or even something like a gold fish production into a wine glass.

-Louie

No Cell Phones at a Show

Last week we went to see Nate Bargatze at the Moda Center in Portland OR. One of the things that was interesting was how many signs there were for no cell phone use AND people followed the rules!

If you ask people to live in the moment, they are more than willing to! This applies to more formal, ticketed shows than other shows. I think no cellphones is an unreasonable ask for something like a state fair show, where you have a transient audience.

The show was great, but it’s strange seeing a comedian in an arena (over 21k seats), I think stand up comedy is best experienced with 350 people packed into a comedy club that’s got a max occupancy of 283.

-Louie

Custom Chop Cup!

One thing I don’t like about the chop cup is the metal cup that most people use. It looks classy, but that doesn’t fit the aesthetic of my show. When I did the PCAM convention, I was chatting with James Cielen, and he mentioned the metal cup doesn’t fit. He was 100% right, and I didn’t like using a metal chop cup.

I finally found some time to make my own chop cup out of a coffee cup. I started with two matching coffee cups. The reason I started with two was in case I messed one up, I wouldn’t have to start over. If both turned out, I would have a backup.

I glued the magnets into the bottom of the cups and for what I wanted, I glued them off center. Then I poured some resin inside the cups to make a new bottom and to hide the magnet.

In the picture below on the right, you can see the resin about halfway cured.

One of the chop cups I poured too much resin into and the magnet wasn’t quite strong enough to hold the ball like I wanted it to. The other cup turned out perfect!

Now I need to figure out what I’m going to do with the ball. Is it going to stay a ball or something else? At the very least I think I’m going to switch to a rubber ball. For my Stand Up Chop Cup routine from my 2025 lecture notes I need a ball that doesn’t bounce as the ball gets dropped. I just bought a set of yellow Bounce No Bounce Balls and I’m going to try to put a magnet inside of it.

-Louie

Applause Please – PREORDER NOW!

I’ve got the boxes for the Applause Please 2: The Encore from Ackerly Builds and they look great!

I need to add the electronics before I can ship them.

I’ve only got a dozen of them, and if you want one, you can preorder one here:
https://www.magicshow.tips/applause-please-2-the-encore/
The estimated ship date will be November 28th, 2025.

I’d have them ready sooner, however, I’m heading out on the road to perform, so Iwon’t be able to work on them for a little bit.

-Louie

What’s the Effect?

The last few days, I’ve posted about working on a trick with a wavy arm guy. The effect is that I’m handcuffed, and the wavy arm guy is inside the circle created by my arms. A cloth is raised, and when it’s lowered, the wavy arm guy is no longer inside my arms.

One of the things that I want with the trick is a defined effect.

The effect is a penetration, and that needs to be clear. The thing I need to be careful of is not blurring that with an escape. If someone thinks I can get out of the handcuffs, the effect changes, as it is no longer a penetration.

What that means is that at the end of the trick, the person from the audience needs to let me out of the handcuffs. While that’s a slower moment, I think it’s an important moment to make the penetration effect clear.

-Louie