magic show tips – Page 196

Making Progress…

The trick that I’m working on is an object to impossible location. That spot is inside a ball of yarn. I had the idea for the trick a few days ago, and it’s making progress. The trick isn’t 100% new to me, it’s parts of tricks that I’ve tried to get to work for years, and it just never did. Finally the routine is coming together.

For the ball of yarn, one thing I never liked is the awkward handling of cup. Someone has to hold the cup, and it’s much strong if that person isn’t me. That means I need to get another person onto the stage to hold it. That’s just not efficient. The other day I had an idea for a cup holder that’d attach to a mic stand (read the blog post about it here).

The cup holder was 3D printed and ready to go yesterday, here it is:

I used it in three shows yesterday and it worked great! It’s going to need a redesign as the part that holds the foot of the wine glass can be about half as tall as it currently it. A lower profile on the cup hold will make it look a lot less clunky.

It’s still a new routine, but it’s coming along nicely. I’m really glad I took my 3D printer on the road with me this week. There are a few other props I made for the show in my hotel. The next thing I need to make, but won’t have time to do before I head back home is a stand to hold the props for the dollar / drawing routine in my case.

It’s The Little Things…

There are some tricks that I like, but never work for me. One of these tricks is the Slydini Silks. This is the trick where people tie two handkerchiefs together and they magically untie. It’s a trick that’s always fallen flat for me when I’ve done it. Recently I came across a video of Slydini … Continue reading “It’s The Little Things…”

There are some tricks that I like, but never work for me. One of these tricks is the Slydini Silks. This is the trick where people tie two handkerchiefs together and they magically untie. It’s a trick that’s always fallen flat for me when I’ve done it.

Recently I came across a video of Slydini doing it:

One thing I learned from watching the video was that he used a cup to put the handkerchiefs into. I wasn’t using the cup, so I added that the other day. I was amazed at the difference adding a prop that made no difference in the trick made! All of the sudden people were responding positively to the trick.

The small things make a difference. Sometimes the most insignificant addition or change can make at trick!

A Baby Step Forward…

One of the tricks that I started working on this week is my drawing and dollar routine. It’s been playing very well, and I think it’s something that’s going to stay in my show for a while. It’s a good piece where I get to interact with the audience.

The nice thing is that there aren’t a lot of props, but plays fairly large. It uses a small clipboard, marker, three thumbtips, a wine glass and ball of yarn. that sounds like a lot, but it’s packs smaller than most magician’s change bag routines. I can use a borrowed clear wine glass for this, so

So far I’ve done the routine five times, and yesterday I learned that I need to find a place for the wine glass that holds the ball of yarn to be in view, but away from me. Right now the table it too close to me, I want it somewhere where I’m not constantly reaching over it. This trip I packed my 3D printer with me, so I’m printing a stand that will fit on top of a straight microphone stand.

The picture above is upside down, the tube will fit over the shaft of the stand and the foot of the wine glass will slide into the cut out notch. The solid side of the holder will go towards where they are pulling the string from. I’m hoping that the weight in the base of the mic stand will be enough to keep the whole thing from falling over. I also foresee a redesign once I try out this initial design!

Well, That Worked…

One of the great things about performing at fairs is that you have a lot chances to work on new material. A couple of days ago I mentioned an idea for quickly getting a borrowed dollar bill (you can read it here). I tried it at two of my three shows yesterday and it played a lot better than I thought it would.

Basically a kid draws a picture and it turns into a dollar bill, and I will borrow that dollar bill in the next trick of the show. Later the picture reappears in an impossible location.

Here’s what I learned yesterday. The first show I asked a kid to draw a picture and the girl drew a heart. As far as giving me material to work with, the heart didn’t give me much. The second show the kid drew a picture of me and this gave me a lot to work with! Today when doing the trick I’m going to ask the kid to draw a picture of me and I’ll make jokes about it.

With a drawing of ME it’s easier for me to make fun of the drawing without it feeling like I’m crapping on the kid, because I’ll be making fun of me. This is a huge distinction in how the audience could possibly form impressions of me.

Always Be Tweaking…

Over the last year I’ve been working on a Take Up Reel of my own design. If you don’t know what a Take Up Reel is, it’s a complicated process to do something very simple. All it does all you to have a piece of string and shorten it. That’s it. It becomes very handy if you use a wrist to wrist pull and need freedom of movement before using the pull.

What I designed works great for me, however I designed it for how I use it, not how other people may use it. Recently I sent some out to other performers and am getting feedback. Based on that feedback, I’m working for it to hold a thicker gauge line.

Adding a thicker line is a small change, but it adds a bit of an engineering challenge to the device. Hopefully it’s not too hard, I’m working on the first adjustment now and we’ll see how it is once it’s done printing.

Being open to other people’s feedback is something that I think is very important, especially if it’s something that I want to bring to market.

Borrowed Dollar Problems…

In my interview on The Variety Artist podcast I talk about working on a drawing duplication trick. It hit me yesterday that this could be the solution to the hurdle of borrowing money from the audience. The challenge of borrowing money is the time it takes people to get out money, or whether anyone will have money to offer.

How do you get from a drawing duplication to borrowing a dollar bill?

Simple, they draw the picture, I fold it up and it turns into a dollar bill. I give them the dollar bill. Then a bit later I need to borrow a dollar bill and of course the person who I just gave the dollar to has one ready for me to use.

Then later, I have the picture that they drew that I can load as a prediction, or as a production of their drawing. I think this solves the problem of time and uncertainty of borrowing money from the audience.

How To Be a Good Guest…

Recently I was interviewed by The Variety Artist podcast and that interview comes out tomorrow! If you don’t listen to it, it’s got tons of tips from people way smarter than me. In my episode we talk about creating original material, and some fun stories from my life. One thing that’s important when being a … Continue reading “How To Be a Good Guest…”

One thing that’s important when being a guest on podcast, or at a TV spot is to plan what you are going to do. Don’t come in with and just “wing it”. One this. A few days before the show I wrote down things that I wanted to talk about and my responses to what I thought John would ask me. During the podcast I kept my notes nearby and referenced them during the podcast.

The key is having thought about what you’re going to say. This doesn’t guarantee you’ll talk about those things, but having thought about it makes you a stronger guest. The majority of things that I talk about on the podcast had a note of some sort written on a legal pad in my hotel room.

Preparation is 80% of the key of being a great guest!

Bonus Tricks…

A year or so ago I published a trick in Vanish Magazine that used a Sharpie Marker as a prediction. How it went was someone picked a card and drew picture on it. I then told them to look a the pen they are holding and it said, “you will draw a smiley face” which was exactly what they drew. This was playing the odds. I noticed that most people when asked to draw a pic on a card will draw a smiley face. If they don’t draw it I don’t tell them to look at the pen.

I call things like that bonus tricks. Tricks that when they happen are amazing, but don’t always happen.

In my close up card set I force the same card over and over again. Finally they get a different card. I top change it for a similar card. If the initial forced card was a 7 of Diamonds, the different card will be something like a 9 of Hearts. They remember the 9 of Hearts, and I top change it for the 7 of Diamonds and ask them to sign it. At this point one of two things will happen, they will either notice the card had changed or they won’t. If they don’t notice the change, then I get a bonus trick once they are done signing it!

The bonus trick is that I take the card back face down and top change it for the 9 of Hearts, which is what they think they signed and set it face down on the table. I do a pass to bring the signed 7 of Diamonds to the center of the deck. I ask them if they remember the card that they signed and they’ll say the 9 of Hearts. I then rub it on the table and show that their signature has disappeared. For the finale of the bonus trick I spread the deck and show that their signature is now on the 7 of Diamonds!

This is a really amazing trick and hits hard! Being on the lookout for bonus tricks in what you already do, you can do some real miracles!

The Elephant in the Room…

One of my best friends (who is also an amazing performer) always says, “you’ve got to address the elephant in the room”. What he means is if there is something that the whole audience can see or is aware of that’s a distraction, you need to acknowledge it. When I perform at fairs, sometimes the “elephant in the room” is a literal elephant, other times it’s not.

A few weeks ago the backdrop to my stage was a row of porta-potty’s. It’s something that I needed to address, so here’s how I did it:

By addressing it immediately in the show, I got a big laugh. It also shows a bit of my personality, it shows that I’m fun and don’t take myself too seriously.

I talk a little bit about this in my interview with John Abrams on his podcast The Variety Artist that comes out on August 12th. I talk about a stage I performed on where to get onto the stage people from the audience physically had to leave the building and go around back. I also talk about how I addressed this problem. If you don’t listen to the podcast, you should give it a listen!

It’s a Community…

I’m a frequent traveler around the United States and while I travel I try to meet up with local magicians. I usually do a Google search for the city and the word magician then contact whoever turns up. I’ve met some cool people while travelling.

Last week I was in Wyoming and I didn’t find any magicians on the internet. However while I was in a small town coffee shop, there was a business card board, and I glanced at it and saw a magician’s business card! I gave him a call and we met up.

It was a lot of fun jamming with him, swapping stories of legendary mentalist Bob Cassidy and talking shop!

If you’re a travelling act, look up some local magicians and hang out! It’s good for magic!