August 2024 – Page 2 – MagicShow.Tips

Using Projection in my Senior Show!

Last week I had a travel day where I got into the city a day before a week long gig. I booked a show at a retirement community that day as I wasn’t doing anything but loading into the fairgrounds.

My current senior show equipment is essentially a briefcase show. Here’s what I bring in with me (not including my audio equipment)

One element that I’ve added to the show is using projection in the show. I have two bits that use a TV screen.

Most senior facilities will have access to a screen in the performing area. Before I rely on it, I always ask to confirm that they do. I also have alternate things, so that if there’s an issue with the TV or whatever I still can do my time.

Here’s my theory on using projection, I don’t use it as a “look at this cool thing I can do“, everything I do on it is very interactive. The two tricks I do are my That Way More card trick, and my Russian Shell Game. The card trick uses someone in the audience (who stays in their seat) and the shell game uses the entire audience.

-Louie
if you want to learn more about performing for seniors in retirement communities, check out my book How to Perform for Seniors!

Trick from Ginosko

Here’s a trick from the book Ginosko. It’s called Blackjack for Brother John and it’s a packet trick that has a story that has a very 1980’s packet trick feel to it. That’s not a bad thing, but it feels like something Nick Trost or Emerson and West would have put out with novelty cards.

Here’s what it looks like:

@louiefoxx Blackjack for Brother John from the book Ginosko! #blackjack #cardtrick #magicbook #magic #magictrick #closeupmagic #gambling #louiefoxx #ginosko #idahomagic ♬ original sound – Louie Foxx

It’s a great story packet trick, and you only need four cards to do it with. That makes it impromptu, just pull the cards from the pack and you’re good to go. I would probably palm them out and remove the cards from my pocket, as you start by showing four of the same jack.

I recommend you pick up Ginosko, it’s only $25!

-Louie

Magic Trick Premise Idea: The 5 P’s

This is an idea for a presentation to frame a magic trick. The premise is that you’re going to help the audience be better viewers of magic tricks. To educate them, you are going to teach them the 5 P’s that ever magic trick has.

1: Preamble: This is where you introduce the props.
2: Premise: This we were you set up the effect.
3: Prestidigitation: This is the magic moment
4: Proof: This is where you show the magic has happened
5: Payoff: This is the Tah-Dah moment.

Depending on the trick , you may only need four of them and not all five. For example a card appearing on to of the deck would only need four. However a card under glass would have all five. Number four would be the card appearing under the glass, and number five would be turning the card over to show it’s the selected card.

This is kind of a generic presentation that you could plug many different tricks into.

Creating a Bit From Reality…

Last month I was at an AirBnB. I was sharing the house with a bunch of the other performers at the Ohio State Fair. Behind the painting on the walls we found strange “Alien Postcards” from October of 2016

The first one was behind the paint of an apple, then we started searching the AirBnb and found the second one inside of a picture of Groucho!

OK, so that’s what happened in real life, now how do I turn it into a bit for my show?

I started by telling the story.

I’m staying at an AirBnB with some amazing performing, acrobats, jugglers…and a mime. He’s not even performing here. But that guy never shuts up.

One night I was looking behind the paintings and found some “alien postcards”. When I mentioned it to my wife on the phone she said, “why were you looking behind the paintings”, not “what’s an alien postcard.

I was looking for my keys.

Here are the postcards. On the front they say, “Materials deployed for reflective and connective purposes”. On the back this one says, “Thank you for signaling that you are anticipating my transmission”.

The other says, “Thank you for sending the signal that you are invested in receiving this signal…You’re going to die…JK, LOL LOL…but seriously, we’re watching…no parties!”

So now I’m searching the AirBnB for cameras, and you know what I found?
My KEYS!

That’s the story. I’ve embellished it a little bit added some punchlines. The nice thing about being in a house with other performers is that we could workshop the story a little bit.

The next step is going to be figuring out what to do with this. Is it a little stand alone bit, or is it a segue to something else. Like a trick with a key and/or postcards?

One idea is to have borrow a key, cover it up with a handkerchief and have that held by someone in the audience. Then 5 postcards are shown, each has a place where I’ve found my keys. These could be funny places, like in pie, or whatever. One is selected, and the key disappears and ends up inside of the postcard.

I don’t know what will happen with this bit…

-Louie

Billy Kidd’s Show

Last month I got to work with Billy Kidd for a week.

Billy does a great show, and has a strong stage presence and persona. Off stage she is super cool as well!

If you get a chance to check out Billy’s show, I highly recommend it! You can learn a lot about performing from it. Like how she talks to the audience, not at the audience, which is a skill a lot of people need to be aware of!

-Louie

Nick Trost’s 1-2-3-4 Trick: UPDATED

When I was performing at a 12 day gig, I was playing with Nick Trost’s 1-2-3-4 Trick. I liked the sequence, but thought the ending was just “Meh”. Here’s what the original trick looks like:

@louiefoxx Vintage Magic Trick: Nick Trost’s 1-2-3-4 Trick! #cardtrick #closeupmagic #magic #magictrick #vintage #columbus #louiefoxx #nicktrost #packettrick #cards #foxlake ♬ original sound – Louie Foxx

The main change was the theming, and I kinda changed the end. Here’s what I came up with:

@louiefoxx The One Dollar Card Trick! #cardtrick #magic #onedollar #cointrick #louiefoxx #magictrick #magician #what ♬ original sound – Louie Foxx

I like the ending being a picture across the four cards, instead of four separate cards. I think them being one image wraps up the trick nicely.

-Louie

The Moisture Festival Podcast: Wren the Juggler

On this episode we welcome in Wren the Juggler. Wren tells us all about how he became a juggler and how meeting the love of his life helped him overcome his mental block of being a performer.

We also discuss the various game shows he has appeared on and how he won the wheel of fortune. A great interview with a first time performer the 2024 festival.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

UnProfessional Sound

Sometimes the “professional sound company” was professional in the early 1980’s! This was the mixer that the sound company had for an event I was performing at recently.

You’ll notice that this mixer has no XLR inputs. Those are the standard inputs for microphones, so this was unusable by me. Of course the sound company didn’t have any adapters to get an XLR to 1/4. I think that this mixer is more for a guitar, than vocals.

So what did I do? I used their corded mic with a Microphone Holder and did the show with no music. Always having one of the Microphone Holders with my gear is frequently a life saver!

-Louie

Take a Penny

I’ve been playing with my Coin Tray (see post at https://www.magicshow.tips/magic-show-tips/3d-printing-magic-tricks/) that looks like one of the “take a penny” trays at that corner stores have on the counter.

The routine starts with a gag, where I ask to borrow 10 pennies from a person in the audience. When they don’t have them, I take out the tray and it get’s a laugh.

I’m just doing a pretty basic routine where three coins are removed and disappear. Then the coins reappear in someone’s hand. It’s a strong routine and plays well. I’m glad I’ve started playing with it!

-Louie

Filling the Moat!

When you work corporate parties (especially in December) you will frequently encounter a dance floor between the stage and the audience. A lot of performers call this the “dance floor of death” because it’s really hard to connect with the audience when the first row is 30 feet away.

This moat between you and the audience isn’t exclusive to corporate gigs, I recently encountered it at a county fair that I was performing at. Here are two view, one is from the stage looking towards the audience and the other is from the audience looking towards the stage.

You can see my show set up on the stage, and since I was the first show of the day, I left my gear up there until just before I started to “talk up” my show. About 10 minutes before the magic show’s start time, I moved my gear to the floor and in front of the stage. That closed the gap between me and the audience.

Since the audience was seated in bleachers, I didn’t have to worry about people not being able to see things as I wasn’t on the raised stage. It worked out great and I filled the bleachers for both of my shows!

Being on the stage is a power position, but sometimes the floor can be more powerful!

-Louie