I’m still reading John Carney’s book Magic by Design. I wrote about in previously in this blog post.
I’m really enjoying this book and I like his approach. In the beginning John say’s that these are his theories and whether you follow them or not, at least they made you think about why you do the stuff you do.
In the book he mentions having an impromptu show you can do. Not just a few impromptu tricks, but tricks that you’ve practiced and know inside and out. Material that’s you treat like the stuff that’s in your show, you know the script, you can do the sleight of hand under fire.
If you’ve hung around me, you know I have a 3 trick show on me at all times. These are three tricks that live in my wallet and are good go. I started doing this after I had read Ken Dyne’s book The Impromptu Mystifier.
You don’t have to do the three tricks just because someone asks, like some sort of trained monkey. However when you need them, you’ll be good to go. My impromptu set will play close up or in a cabaret setting.
The moral of the story is: you are a magician, you should be able to amaze anytime!