magic show tips – Page 204

Sketch Money…

Right now I’m on the road performing in Alaska and I tend to practice more when I travel than when at home. There are a few reasons for this, but the big one is that I think I just have less distractions. All of the things that I can use to put off practicing at … Continue reading “Sketch Money…”

For my summer show I needed a way to produce a dollar bill and I remember seeing a review of this trick. This is follow up to the trick Sketch, which was a similar production of a card. The one with the dollar bill was also very poorly reviewed, where the card got good reviews.

I think the main reason for the difference in reviews was that the card one was better for close up where the dollar one has a problem, that can really only be solved by distance between you and the audience. I think most of the people that bought it were looking for a close up trick and that’s the why no one liked it.

The solution on the instructional video was for you to simply step back 6 feet from the audience. That’s a horrible solution to the problem, as it’s strange if you are table hopping and doing stuff under the audience’s noses, then step back two meters. This is a platform trick, not a close up.

I did some reworking of the gimmick to make it slimmer, and I’ve got some ideas to improve it even more, however they were beyond what I could make in a hotel room. The gimmick supplied could be made better, however I understand why it is the way it is. It’s got to be made to hit a price point, and make it reasonably easy for the average person to be able to make.

This is where being willing to rebuild something you paid for is a good trait. You can take something and make it better than the mass market version. Your custom version will be better 99% of the time!

Coin Size…

Recently someone asked me about what size coins I use. Personally I use silver dollar size coins, and I believe you should too. The reason is simple, they are bigger and more visible. There’s really no reason to use anything smaller. Sure some things are easier with smaller coins, but if you take that argument … Continue reading “Coin Size…”

Sure some things are easier with smaller coins, but if you take that argument to cards you’ll see it wrong. Poker sized cards are what 99% of magicians use, however there are bridge size cards which hardly anyone uses for magic. These cards are smaller making a lot of card magic easier with them.

Currently it’s easier than ever to get gimmicked coins custom made and they aren’t that much more expensive than standard gimmicked coins. If you wanted a larger size gimmicked coin you can do that. You’re no longer limited to what’s a stock item.

You owe it to yourself and your audience to use dollar sized coins…Unless you are making an artistic choice to use a smaller coin. For example my coin in bottle routine uses a half dollar, but there is a reason I’m using that coin in the presentation. This also doesn’t apply if you are using a borrowed coin for something like coin in ball of yarn.

The Dollar Dilemma…

It’s been years since I really borrowed anything from the audience to use in my show. The reason for that is simple, it’s a huge time suck, with no guarantee. Sure you can ask to borrow a dollar, but that does mean you aren’t going to spend three minutes asking for one and never get one. I wrote about one solution to this the other day and you can read that here.

Another solution that I came up with is to have a two dollar bill. I know what you are thinking, “aren’t those rare?”. The government still makes two dollar bills, I get them at my bank, just ask for them. You are going to set up the borrow a dollar that’s sort of like preshow, but doing it openly in the routine before the one where you need to borrow a dollar, so it’s pre-routine.

The trick before the trick where you need to borrow a dollar bill you need to tell the audience that in about five minutes you are going to do a trick with a dollar bill. If you use your own dollar bill, everyone will think it’s a trick dollar, so you’d like to buy a dollar bill off of someone for two dollar. Bring out the two dollar bill and tell them the first person to offer you a dollar bill when you ask in a few minutes gets the genuine two dollar bill.

Offering to buy the dollar bill I think takes away the fear that you will destroy or somehow ruin their money. Giving someone in the audience something more interesting that a dollar bill and an immediate profit should motivate them to give you a buck.

Mentioning you need to borrow the bill before you actually need it gives people time to dig it up. Also the idea that it someone else could get the two dollar bill gives people incentive to get the money out sooner. You could ask to borrow the bill within the same routine that you need it as long as there’s some set up that gives you something to do while people are getting out the dollar bill.

The big problem I think that magicians have is that they don’t realize how long it takes to actually borrow a dollar bill. They then end up with a dead spot in the show, that’s not just a dead spot, but an uncomfortable dead spot.

Promotional Tricks…

Every now and then I get asked by bookers if I can make a promotional video for their event. Usually it’s me saying hi and doing a quick trick. This works fine, however I’m playing with doing slightly more informational promo tricks. Here’s one I did the other day: It’s decent, it has a little … Continue reading “Promotional Tricks…”

It’s decent, it has a little bit of a surprise and has all of the information. The next one I do, I think it’ll have a trick and have the information text cards as a kicker to it. Maybe something like a four ace production, then the text cards.

I think getting requests for promotional videos specific to an event are going to be more common in the future with pretty much every public event doing promo on social media. I think having a generic sequence you do, but having custom information cards would be the best way to do it.

PreShow for Non Mentalists…

There is nothing worse than a magician asking to borrow money from the audience and then waiting. I’ve experienced this from the stage as the performer and from the audience watching a show, it’s rarely ever fun to watch.

The problem with borrowing money is that it takes forever, and sometimes it looks like someone else is going to do it so you don’t dig. In the best case scenario the performer asks for to borrow a dollar. Someone immediately takes out their wallet, finds the appropriate bill, holds it up and volunteers it. In this scenario it’ll take 8-10 seconds.

In a more common scenario the performer will ask to borrow money. There will be a pause while everyone looks around to see if someone else is offering it. Finally someone will say they have it, then take out their purse and start digging for their wallet. Once they find the wallet, they’ll start digging for a bill. In this more common scenario it’s 90+ seconds to get the borrowed bill. That’s a lot of dead time!

Until recently I didn’t do magic with borrowed money because there’s too much dead time. Now what I do is I put a dollar in my pocket and go out into the audience before the show. I introduce myself to someone in the audience and I tell explain that I need to borrow a dollar from someone in the show, and ask if they have a dollar. I then explain how big of a time suck it is to borrow money, so if they have a dollar can the take it out now and keep it somewhere accessible and to offer it when I ask. If they do not have a dollar bill, I give them the one in my pocket.

Setting up that person to give me the dollar bill really makes a huge difference in the flow of the show.

One thing you have to do is address the “elephant in the room” when there is one. Last night I did a show with light attendance, which was due to an unusual situation. The show was in a big theater, and it was obvious that it was a light turn out.

I opened the show with a joke about it and it went over well and the show proceeded to do great. I think that when everyone notices something, you need to say something about it, you can’t pretend it doesn’t exist.

A good example was many years ago I saw the Amazing Kreskin perform. He had a light turn out, and he came out before the show, mentioned it, and invited the balcony to move to the floor. That gave him a more tightly packed audience, and really made the show better for him and the audience.

Whether it’s a light turn out, someone having a heart attack, whatever, if it’s on the audience’s mind, you need to address it.

Take a Risk…

Sometimes you have to do something that’s hard. Where if it fails, you stand to actually lose. I was curious about adding money to the presentation of the 10 card poker deal. The idea of losing real money, even for a sure fire bet was hard to do the first time.

Yesterday I put some money out, by the third hand I had over $400 on the line. Personally I don’t like the idea of me giving the person money to bet with. I prefer just betting my money, and letting them risk nothing. I think that if they never had money in their hand, the feeling of loss is lessened.

The main reason I wanted to put real money on the line, is that I wasn’t positive I wanted to have a money aspect of the routine. What I learned was that I don’t, but I never would have known, had there not been a risk element to it.

Doing the Work…

This week I’m trying to be good about actually working on my show. What I’m doing is watching video of my show and writing notes on the video. I’m writing down what I don’t like, and ideas to improve it. When I do this, I write down the time code on the video that the … Continue reading “Doing the Work…”

When I do this, I write down the time code on the video that the note is relevant to. This really helps if I am trying to make sense of it later. When writing notes you also need to be brutally honest, if you can’t say it to yourself, no one can.

I had one bit in the show where I don’t think the ending got the payoff it deserved. After watching it, I think I figured out why. It needed a music change at the end. I added some “stinger” music and we’ll see how it plays tonight!

Newly Acquired Taste in Card Tricks

One of the books that I’m reading right now is Principia by Harapan Ong. It’s a card magic book, and while I’m only about 50 pages into it, I think it’s a really good, modern card magic book. One of the books selling points is that there is internet video of Harapan doing all of … Continue reading “Newly Acquired Taste in Card Tricks”

One of the books that I’m reading right now is Principia by Harapan Ong. It’s a card magic book, and while I’m only about 50 pages into it, I think it’s a really good, modern card magic book. One of the books selling points is that there is internet video of Harapan doing all of the material in the book. Unfortunately I’m in a position where I don’t have internet access fast enough to stream video, so I haven’t watched them.

One thing that surprised me was there was an “elevator” card trick that I actually liked. I think I was introduced to the elevator plot when I was a teenager reading the big Alex Elmsley books. I never really liked the plot simply because there always seemed to be either too much process or too much proving. The Michalevator routine in the book doesn’t have much process and doesn’t over prove…and I like it.

I don’t know if I’ll ever actually use Harapan’s elevator trick in an actual show or not, but it’s been fun to play with. I’ve said it before, but it’s important to still play with magic. That’s how we learn, through play.

Artist vs Craftsman

One thing that I don’t get is the appeal of a coverband to a performer in one. What I mean by that, is your art is 100% other people’s art. You are taking something that someone else did the work on and taking credit. You are relating to the audience through other people’s art, which … Continue reading “Artist vs Craftsman”

This relates to magic, not just music. After David Copperfield did his snow routine on TV, and Kevin James started selling the prop, 99% of routines that were presented were about someone “never having seen snow”. This dumbs down magic. It gives performers a false feeling that they are artists, but it’s also why a lot of magic isn’t taken seriously.

Magicians say they are unique and this is the problem. If you say in your promo you have a unique take on magic, or a show unlike any other and you do standard tricks the standard way, you are doing everyone who is an artist a disservice.

I you are a magician that does tricks the bought and presents them in a way that’s standard, you should bill your show as “classics of magic” or something like that. I know we’re all guilty of having done standard stuff in the normal way, that’s part of the learning process. At some point you have to decide if you’re going to be a 1980’s cover band or Bon Jovi.