magic show tips – Page 199

Sometimes You Have To Compromise…

One of the things that I’m proud of is that when I do kid shows, I don’t really do any standard kid show tricks. There are no sucker tricks, or “clown props”. My show for kids is fun and funny, but the most important part is that the show is amazing.

That said, this week I’m making a compromise with my inner artist. I’m making a deal for cash. I’ve taken on a run of shows and two of them will be for groups of kids ages 2-3 years old. You can’t do magic for them, the concept of magic doesn’t really exist for kids that young. I’m dusting off my old Tipple Topple Wand, Nest of Wands and other clowny props for these two shows.

Unfortunately these two shows were part of the contract and if I wanted the contract, I had to take them. The compromise that I made was going against what I want my show to be for 10% of the shows, but for the other 90% I get to do share my art my way.

Is it worth it? I think so.

I Don’t Get It…

Frequently I’m befuddled about why magicians love to do “throwback” acts. Not period shows like at a Ren Faire or Civil War Reenactment, but recreating things like the medicine pitch, or the riverboat gambler. Most modern audience have no idea what they are. They may be aware of them from brief little scenes in movies, … Continue reading “I Don’t Get It…”

Over the years I’ve worked with many people that do a Medicine Show Pitch. I’ve never seen one that the audience was super into. I worked with one the other night, and while the act was fine, it didn’t resonate with the audience because they don’t know what it is. No one ever gives a historical background on it before they start doing the pitch.

That’s the problem with the Medicine Show Pitch, people have to figure out what it is. Also people don’t know that there really isn’t a payoff, it’s just a lot of unusual, olde tyme talk. A simple introduction about what it is would help a lot. Something like, “A hundred years ago, adoctor would roll into town on the back of a horse drawn wagon, or wood paneled station wagon. He’d be selling a medicine that would cure everything. It would cure the common cold, it would cure ricketts, it would cure social media addiction. By the time you realized that what he sold you didn’t work, he was long gone. This is the 1912 version of the guy on TV selling Sham-Wow’s“

Now there’s a little bit of context to what’s happening. The audience doesn’t have to figure out what the hell you are doing and it’s historical place. Context is KING!

All Sizzle, No Steak…

About a week ago I wrote a blog post about working with a guy that did a superhero character. His show was an “anti-bully” show and unfortunately it really couldn’t hold an audience at a fair. I’m sure there are venues where it can hold an audience, like at a church youth group for younger school age kids, but not at the fair.

The show had a great costume for the main performer, and all of the other performer’s costumes were really an after thought, and not much energy was put into them when compared to the main performer’s costume. Consistency across the board with your props or costumes really makes a difference. Think about having a brand new suit, and wearing old faded, scuffed up shoes with it, that just doesn’t look right.

The anti bully, superhero show had a video intro, which really didn’t make sense. They were lugging a big TV and screen for a 30 second intro that didn’t add to the show. It’s a prop that felt like they bought simply because they had seen other shows that used video intros. To me it felt like the kind of intro that church’s use for kids youth groups for programs that they buy. Many summer bible day camps have themes and some makes and sells “canned” camped, where the church gets everything they need from videos to props, to decorations. This intro felt like it was trying to be that.

The show felt like it had a lot of energy put into things that didn’t matter, where the energy should have been put into the content of the show. I’ll write about what was actually in the show another day. My theory is you should build the substance first, then put the fluff around it later.

One or Two Spots…

When working in a show with multiple acts and an intermission, the show producer frequently splits up my act into two spots. One before and one after the intermission. Usually this happens in shows that have a burlesque background. The reason is the dancers can’t do one long set, they do two shorter ones. The producer then lines up the show so that everyone does two short sets.

Personally I prefer to do one longer set. The reason is that it allow me to build momentum. As a talking act, I can build to a big ending in 10 minutes. In two 5 min chunks, essentially you’re doing two openers. Sure in the second set, people already know you, but you can’t build off the energy you built in the first set.

Another thing with split spots is that your second spot is building off of the energy of the previous act. If the act before you is super high energy, and your closer is a slow burn, it makes it much harder for the audience to get into it.

The final reason I prefer one spot is that if your have a rough first spot, you don’t have time to win the audience back. You’re finished before you get a second chance, then when you do come back for the second spot, you are starting in a huge hole. It’s so much easier to dig yourself out of a hole in one long spot.

My advice is that if you are a talking act the best thing to do is a single spot. Just because everyone else is doing split spots doesn’t mean you have to!

Internal Script…

Something that’s important to doing magic is your internal script. What that means is what you are thinking when the magic happens, or how is it happening. A good example is when Lance Burton made a lady float, the energy he had coming off his hands was almost like he had strings going from his … Continue reading “Internal Script…”

Something that’s important to doing magic is your internal script. What that means is what you are thinking when the magic happens, or how is it happening. A good example is when Lance Burton made a lady float, the energy he had coming off his hands was almost like he had strings going from his hands to the girl.

In my three ball routine, where balls travel from one hand to another, I imagine that they get sucked into my palm, then go up my arm, down the other and finally out of my other palm. I was doing it the other day, and a kid asked me if they went through my arms. That meant that my silent script worked.

For a silent script to work you, the audience doesn’t have to know what it is. What it does it help you sell the trick to the audience. Sometimes it can be obvious, sometimes it’s just something internal that helps you act out a part of the trick and sell it to the audience.

That Was Unexpected…

Within magic (and most variety arts) it’s difficult to keep people from stealing material. Simply because there’s really not a lot you can do. Sure you can claim copyright…but that can’t be enforced until it’s registered. Registering a copyright takes time and money, and it’s no guarantee that it will be enforceable.

So what do you do?

Earlier today a magician went on a TV show and did a couple of stolen bits from some well known magicians. One of the magicians called him out and magicians from around the world rallied. They gave him bad reviews on his facebook business page, dropping his rating from a 4.8 to a 1.5.

It also turns out the guy that was stealing material is at the IBM convention when this all went down, and many of the people he swiped material from are there. I predict things like this will start happening when someone steals material from high profile people.

Make Them Come To You…

This week I’m doing a lot of local gigs and it’s nice to be home. In the summer I do many summer day camps for kids. Usually I’m doing them for school age kids, but this week I’ve been doing mostly younger kids in the 3-5 age range. This is a smidge younger than my demographic, however the shows are doing fine.

One thing that I consciously don’t do in my show is any standard kids show material. No break away wands or anything like that. I want do make them come up a level. This isn’t something that’s easy to do. Making the wand break is easy, making counting pieces of string entertaining to a kid is hard. I’m purposely taking a harder route, but in doing that it makes me a better performer.

Challenging the kids to be more sophisticated separates me from most other kid shows. It also teaches the kids to be better audiences, and that listening is an important part of watching a show, and more important than screaming. Many kid shows are simply getting the kids amped up, and that’s it. They have one gear. I have some slower parts to the show, and some more high energy parts. Having texture in your show is important, even when performing for kids.

Figure It Out…

It’s rare to get an indoor show at a fair, however that’s what I have this week. It’s great to not be out cooking in the sun, and having an audience that’s also not getting heat stroke. With all of the bonuses of being indoors, I’ve been struggling through my shows, and not quite sure why.

Then yesterday morning I was reviewing video of my show and to work on a routine and noticed something. In the video I couldn’t understand what what I was saying. What the mic on the camera (which is never crystal clear) was recording was a lot of echo. To confirm it wasn’t just the camera’s placement I put my small digital recorder in the audience and recorded my first show. The audio from the audience was also very hard to understand.

I narrowed it down to the sound guy blasting the music louder than my voice. And my voice he had very loud, so it just bounced around this and the audience couldn’t make out what I was saying. I asked him to lower my volume and recorded the next show. It sounded the exact same. My conclusion was that he didn’t lower the volume, or not very much.

Here’s how I fixed it. I did my show on the floor in front of the stage. Now I could control of the volume of the music because I was in front of the speakers and could hear how loud it was in the room. This is where running your music with a remote control is helpful. Also standing on the floor he couldn’t have my voice too loud because I’d feedback. So that fixed the problem of me being understood. It worked out great, and I have my first rockin’ show of the week.

The moral of the story is that if your show isn’t working, don’t just chalk it up bad audiences. Yes, something audiences are bad, however if you are struggling multiple shows, it’s probably something you are doing.

Unique Visuals…

One of the things that I try to do with my show is to give it unique visuals. I think I’m starting to really achieve that in my show. It’s a lot of work, and commitment, but in the long run it’s the way to go. When someone describes my show to another magician, I want the magician to know it’s me by the description.

Sure a card trick looks like a card trick, however there are some ways to make them look different. For example the Card Stab trick. In my main show I use a Rat Trap, this is a less common version of the trick. I also do a unique card stab using a dinosaur costume!

In my local market, if someone describes either of these version of the card stab to a magician, they will know it’s me. I wouldn’t say either is my “signature” trick, but both are associated with me locally.

What tricks are associated with you? Are they tricks that no one else can buy? That’s the goal with the dinosaur card stab, it’s something I created, you can’t buy it, it’s 100% mine.

Learn To Play With Others…

It’s rare that I work on the fair circuit with an act that I’ve at least never heard of, however this week that happened. They act is a superhero character, and while there’s a lot wrong with his show, the thing that bugs me the most is that he doesn’t know how to work with other acts. being able to share a stage is a skill that will take you far in show biz.

When I arrived at the venue, I introduced myself to him and asked him how long his show was. He told me 45 minutes, and I mentioned that after his show we’ll need to turn the stage, as my show starts 15 mins after his ends. He said he had no gear to move off stage, and I’d have pretty much the full 15 mins to set up.

Well, that’s not what happened. His “crew” put away the front half of chairs. When I noticed this was happening, I mentioned that we need to get them back because I can’t crowd build without them there. They said no problem. This is the point when I realized this guy has never worked a fair, or with another act. The actual content of his show will be it’s own blog post, however I should mention that he didn’t need the space he cleared up by putting away half of the chairs.

His show ran way over his time…by way over, I mean he did 56 minutes and he was going to keep going until I told he girlfriend she needed to get him to wrap up.

This gave me 4 minutes to set up my show if it was going to start on time. Plus they still needed to put the chairs back. This guy burnt my set up time, and crowd build time. I had to start my show with zero audience because of him, normally even if I have 5 minutes to do a crowd build I can make something happen. However, I can’t do crowd building while they are putting out chairs and I’m setting my gear onto the stage.

The moral of the story is that when working with other acts you: Do your time

When you go over time, it really can effect the other shows. If the booker walks by at my start time and sees no audience, due to the other act running super long, it can effect whether I get booked back.