magic show tips – Page 89

Working the Work…

In working on the trick with pictures of my cat, that is really just a clock prediction using UTP/Time Hacker this week, I feel like I’m learning a lot.

First of all, I was going to have the cat pictures like a list joke, where there are three pictures and I end up the final one of my cat. It think I only need one picture and that’s of my cat. Initially I was hoping to get 5 mins from the routine, but it’s looking like it’ll be more of a 3 min routine and that’s fine if that’s where the trick naturally wants to land. There no reason to make a trick longer than it needs to be.

The second thing I learned was if you ask someone to give you a random time, they give things like six o’clock, which is fine, but not very interesting. The reveal is better if they are thinking of 6:17 as it feels more impossible.

The final thing I’m coming up with is that this trick needs an out. The first day I did it, it worked great…but the second day it failed both times. I think the fails were user error, so I’ll try to figure it out…

-Louie

Cleans Up Nice…

this is the beginning of my fair season and I was going through and fixing, cleaning and upgrading props. One of the props in my show is a bowl that holds a ball of yarn. I use a plastic bowl instead of glass because it travels better and is much lighter!

Over time the bowl has really gotten beaten up and it was time to replace it.

I probably hung onto the old bowl for too long, but I liked it because it’s half the height of any plastic bowl that I’ve been able to find. Sometimes you don’t realize how bad things look until you see them next to a new one!

-Louie

Reducing Mistakes

One of the symptoms of getting older is that my vision is going. One of the tricks I’m working on this week is Time Hacker by Pitata Magic. The device has switches and the functions are molded into the plastic. Unfortunately I can’t easily read this stuff anymore, so I had to add labels the unit and a cheat sheet to the board that the remote is mounted on.

It’s little things like this that make setting up the show much easier and will reduce the chance of mistakes. For example the remote has two modes and two switches, and it’d be easy to forget which is which. Now I really have no excuse to flip the wrong switch.

Look at your show and try to find spots where you can dummy proof or at least reduce the odds you’ll make a dumb mistake.

-Louie

Beginning of Fair Season

This morning I’m heading out to AZ for my first fair gig of the year. When I do fairs, I try to work on new material. I’ll be doing something like 15 stage shows, plus I can do as much close up as I want in between shows.

One of the new tricks that I’m bringing down with me is Time Hacker. This is Pitata Magic’s version of Ceseral Magic’s Ultimate Time Prediction. The basic effect is someone thinks of a time and that’s the time showing on a clock.

The presentation is based on a old myth that was popular during the WWII era myth that Asians can tell time by looking at a cats eyes. I had some posters made of my cat and someone is going to try to guess the time and that’s the time on the clock.

I’m hoping the idea of having a cat and talking about my cat will suck people into the trick. I’m not sure how it’ll play, but I have five full days of shows to try to figure it out!!

-Louie

Ben Murphy’s trick…

The video of Ben Murphy getting shoved during a show has been making the rounds. If you haven’t seen it, here it is:

@thebenmurphy_ My assault onboard. Entertainment, comedy, and magic are NOT contact sports. This guest should not have been allowed to enjoy the rest of his cruise. #assault #magician #magic #comedianattacked #violence #cruiseship #cruise #magic #comedian #comedy #domesticviolence #insecure #toxicmasculinity #justice ♬ original sound – The Ben Murphy

He’s doing the trick “French Kiss” which is a card transposition. I’ve seen it done by several performers and only once have it seen it where it wasn’t cringy. I should say that the trick unless it’s framed perfectly leaves you open to having a pissed off spouse/partner etc. The guy from the audience shouldn’t have shoved Ben, and there’s a lot of context missing as we don’t see the whole routine. I don’t know how suggestive Ben was, from what I can see the routine is being done as flirty, or with sexual tones, but that may not be what’s actually happening. In our modern times, I think this sort of routine really needs to stop being done…or have very clear expectations of the person coming to the stage.

A good, but very different example is when Rob Williams makes a sandwich with his feet. He’s very clear with what’s going to happen and what’s expected of the person from the audience.

The other problem I have with the trick like French Kiss is in the post covid world, I wouldn’t want my me or spouse to have their face that close to a stranger’s face for hygiene reasons. The lamest way to get the flu or covid would be from a card trick!

Lapping On Video

One of the things I’m playing with in my Tik Tik videos is not bumping the edge of the screen to ditch things. Here’s an example of a ditch where my hands are in full view the whole time:

@louiefoxx Magic With a Stolen Fork! #fork #mexicanrestaurant #magictrick #magician #louiefoxx #silverwaretrick #magic #surprise #stolen ♬ original sound – Louie Foxx

I’m essentially using my forearm to block the drop of the fork. It’s a good clean up, that honestly I think only magicians will notice or appreciate that I didn’t take the lazy route of just dipping my hand to the edge of the screen. It’s not always possible to do it this way, but I think whenever possible using slightly more creative ditches are better.

-Louie

Hockey Magic

The other night my wife and I went to a hockey game and it got me thinking about magic with a hockey puck. The nice thing about them is that they can be big, or fairly small depending on the side you have towards the audience. It’s also a really well known thing, at least in the northern hemisphere.

This morning I wrote a bunch of ideas and found one that I kinda like:

You have five different colored hockey pucks on the table. You ask if someone in the audience played hockey or a sport as a kid. Ask them if they remember their number and using that number you count across the pucks back and forth finally ending on one. Let’s say they ended on the green puck.

You then have a prediction that shows they picked the green puck…but then on the back of your puck has their number on the back!

This is simply Phil Smith’s Quinta Force and a nail writer.

Not much to it. It’s a pretty simple and direct trick. You could use any force like PATEO or the Hot Rod Force, but I personally like that with Quinta you can use their jersey number.

-Louie

Saturday Night Sideshow

The Saturday night show at the Sideshow Hootenanny also had some incredible acts. Here’s the highlights of the night:

@louiefoxx Sideshow Hootenanny – Sat night show! #sideshow #juggling #fireeating #sideshowhootenanny #neworleans #nola #badass #acrobat #crossbow #ariel #stunts ♬ original sound – Louie Foxx

One act that I’ve been thinking about is Krystal Younglove’s strongwoman act.

It’s something that really fills the stage without much in the way of props. It’s the two metal triangles, some rope and 4-6 people from the audience. I think the stunt is very relatable, you’re playing “tug of war” against two groups of people from the audience at the same time.

For me a lot of strength feats fall flat because it’s a “look how cool I am” sort of thing, but I with this particular one, no one wins and you’re fighting a losing battle and essentially it ends in a three way tie. I really like it and I’m surprised more people don’t do it.

-Louie

Friday Night Show

The variety of acts that I saw in New Orleans was amazing! Here’s the highlight reel of the Sideshow Hootenanny‘s Friday night show:

@louiefoxx Sideshow Hootenanny – Friday night show! #sideshow #juggling #fireeating #sideshowhootenanny #neworleans #nola #badass ♬ original sound – Louie Foxx

There was a great mix of traditional skills, and crazy new twists on classic stunts! One of the highlights for me was Chris Broken and his chainsaw guitar!
Going to events like inspires me to be better. If you’re not going to industry events to see how people are pushing boundaries within their art (and yours), you really should be!

-Louie

Street Performer in New Orleans

In the French Quarter in New Orleans I ran into a street performer. He was doing standard stuff in a pretty standard way. It wasn’t bad, but for me it was just “meh”.

He closed with the cups and balls. If you look at the picture above, you can see the table top. The above picture was taken with the camera held above my head.

I also took a picture of with the camera at my eye level:

I was in the 3rd row and couldn’t see a thing. The busker had trouble building past the second row, and that’s because you couldn’t see what he was doing.

I know I write about this a lot on this blog, but most magicians would learn a lot about what’s visible if they saw a picture of their show from the audience’s eyeline.

Have a friend take a picture of your show and check out your audience’s sight lines, it’s eye opening!

-Louie