Pictures – MagicShow.Tips

Getting to the Gig is the Real Work

When I first started on the road as an opener for comedians, I was told by one of the headliners (Brad Brake – RIP), “We don’t get paid for the gig; we get paid to get to the gig.” I quickly learned that that’s a common saying with acts that travel.

Yesterday my flight from Sacramento was to phoenix had a layover in San Diego. Shortly after landing in San Diego my flight to Phoenix was cancelled and I was rebooked onto the last flight of the day to Phoenix six hours later!

Then about 45 mins after the first flight was cancelled, the last flight was showing a delay of an hour. I had a feeling that I was going to be stuck in San Diego after waiting 7 hours at the airport, so I rented car and drove 5 1/2 hours to Phoenix.

I periodically checked the status of that the last flight during my drive and it was delay a second hour, then ultimately was cancelled!

Had I not trusted my spidey sense, I would have waited 8+ hours at the airport to ultimately be stuck there for the night.

If the drive was much longer, I probably would have just stayed at the airport to see how it played out, but when the drive is shorter than I’d be waiting at the airport for the flight if it left on time, it was a no brainer.

When you’re faced with significant delays, it’s always good to look at other options. I made a good choice bail on the flight!

-Louie

Kapital Kidvention – Louie Foxx Lectures!

In January I’ll be lecturing at the Kapital Kidvention in Arlington, VA. I’ll be doing two lectures.

magician with french fries in his mouth on an advertisement for the kapital kidvention

The first lecture is my 2025 PCAM Lecture that debuted last November. The second lecture is a new one called: Two Openers, Two Middles and Two Closers for Kid Shows. The name pretty much says what it’s about, 6 tricks, two for each spot in the show.

The Kapital Kidvention has a “deal day” on September 14th, where you can get discount registration. Visit https://kapitalkidvention.com/kk/2025registration/ to learn more about registration.

-Louie Foxx

Roving Magic Show Set List

Here’s what my props for a roving magic set look like:

The bottom row is my card routine, which is modular and can run anywhere from about 90 seconds to 7+ minutes. The top row are the other props that I use. Everything goes into my pockets except for the empty chop cup.

The top row is the fortune teller (it’s in my PCAM lecture notes), then my Out for Beers trick, three shell game and a chop cup. The nice thing about these props is that there’s a lot of texture I can have with my roving magic set. The opening is always the card routine, then the next trick depends on the group.

-Louie

Chattering Teeth by Doug Malloy and Terry Seabrooke

Last year, I picked up a Chattering Teeth by Doug Malloy (routine by Terry Seabrooke). This is Terry’s routine that I first saw in the mid 1990s on a VHS tape of his called The Vidiot and the basic routine is also in his lecture notes that are still available from Magic Inc for about $6.

I thought the fan in my unit was broken, it had two AA batteries in it, and I changed it to a 9v battery, and it started whirring…but was super loud! I changed out the fan and here’s a before and after video:

I thought the unit I had was unusually loud when I got it, but after posting that video, I have the impression that all of them were pretty loud! This isn’t a knock at the maker, it was made with 1990s technology, and it appears Doug fabricated the fan from scratch!

When I changed the fan, I also added a remote control to it. The remote is two channels, so my remote control chattering teeth and the fan can run off a single remote contol!

Here’s what it looks like:

I’m glad I finally got around to updating the Chattering Teeth prop! Working on this set is actually a stepping stone for a version of the trick that I want to build for myself.

-Louie

Summer Camp Magic Shows

The final summer camp magic show of the year is done. That means my busy season is starting to end! I still have a very full September; however, it’s not as crazy as it was since mid-May!

I’ve been doing summer camp magic shows for a couple of decades. At one point, they were my main market in the summer; now they are mostly shows that fill in holes in my schedule between five (or longer) day contracts.

These shows are a ton of fun; it’s interesting how they’ve changed over the years. When I first started doing them, there were a lot more older, school-age kids; now they’re predominantly younger kids in the 3-6 year old range. That means the style of material has really shifted from what was more of a school assembly type of material, which was a bit more sophisticated, to a lot more silliness. There’s nothing wrong with that, but it can be a very different gear.

-Louie

ProMystic Inception Repair!

A few weeks ago, I wrote a post about a magic prop that broke. That prop was ProMystic‘s Inception, so not a prop that can be easily fixed. I’ve had this prop for probably close to a decade, and this is the second time I’ve sent it to them; the first time, I cracked the screen. That’s a long life for a prop that performs as much as I do!

I just got my unit repaired until back from ProMystic and it works great!

They do a great job servicing their items, and the fix plus shipping was super cheap…and fast! It’s always great to have people who make products that can provide service for them after the initial sale. Many magic manufacturers will just tell you to buy a new one, which I understand; sometimes it’s cheaper/easier to replace than repair. It’s always a bonus when when I can just have the existing one fixed!

-Louie

How to Make it Play Onstage

The last couple of days, I’ve written about my idea for a three shell game style routine to be done onstage. The basic premise is that the prize is put into a tennis ball that has a slit cut into it and it’s juggled with two other balls and the audience has to follow the one with the prize.

You can read about the idea here and how I solved one of the problems here.

A challenge that I didn’t think about with using a two dollar bill and a couple of one dollar bills is that they are visually similar when viewed from a distance. The different formatting of a five and higher value bill looks different, however a $1 and $2 have the same layout.

How Can They Look Different From a Distance?

This is the challenge, making the trick play to the back row. Here’s an idea for the solution to that: What if on the back of the two dollar bill in bright, sparkly ink/paint I wrote “LUCKY”? I could introduce the two dollar bill and say it’s my lucky one, then turn it around to show the word on the back. That visual difference would make it play further back in an audience.

When I create routines, I always try to think about the back row!

-Louie

Why Not Make it More Deceptive?

Before I start, I want to mention that this is not a knock at the performer in the picture below. OK, so now that that’s out of the way, look at the picture below:

This is an image that’s heavily edited (before I blurred out the faces), which is fine; it’s a show poster. The Zig Zag Lady illusion uses an optical principle (black art) to make it more deceptive. It’s not really black art in the sense of a black art act, but it’s used to make something less prominent.

My thinking is, as long as we’re altering the picture, why not remove the black art part? I’m sure this poster was made from an actual picture of the illusion, and the marketing person for the event didn’t notice…but why would they?

Is it Ethical to Alter the Picture of Illusions?

Is doing little things like removing something that the audience doesn’t realize they see from a promo picture OK to do? I think so. In promo pictures for shows, typically you aren’t doing a live show, so it’s already an unrealistic situation. You can retake the picture dozens of times. I think as long as the illusion is presented accurately, it’s OK. If you Photoshop out the chairs in a chair suspension, that’s not ethical, as you’ve substantially changed the illusion.

That’s my opinion on that!

-Louie

What is the Greatest Packet Trick of All Time?

Of the hundreds of packets tricks I’ve learned and tried, last week I took out an old one that I really haven’t done since I was a teenager, and was amazed at how much people loved it! That packet trick is COLOR MONTE!

While it’s not my style to do, I also can’t deny how great it is! It’s really the sponge balls of packet tricks!

There’s so much action in it; you get a lot of magic effects in a short amount of time. Plus it has a story that’s easy to follow and makes sense. Not some wacky story about bigfoot or splitting breakfast with a football team.

This post is just a shout out to an amazing routine!

-Louie

Making a Juggling Routine

A few days ago I had an idea for a magic routine, and in that routine there is a juggling element. I can juggle, but am not a juggler and needed to work out a sequence. Luckily, in the performer house that I’m at, there are two jugglers and a physical comedian there. Last night we had a little workshop on the routine!

I’m a huge fan of workshopping with other performers. It’s a way to get a lot of ideas quickly, or to get expertise that you don’t have. I can juggle, but I don’t know the best way to put together a juggling sequence.

Workshopping with performers who don’t just do magic brings in a lot of different thinking and ideas than just magicians.

-Louie