Video – Page 39 – MagicShow.Tips

Easy Way To Be Creative…

One of the hardest things to do is to sit down and try to come up with ideas. Your options are too broad, you need to narrow it down and give yourself some rules. Some examples would be doing trick with a dollar bill, or an animation that doesn’t use invisible thread.

When I travel I make videos of magic tricks using things that I find in my hotel room. Limiting the main prop of the trick to things in the room narrows your focus.

Another way to narrow your focus is to find one of the calendars online that lists all of the national days. For example today is National Coffee Day. You then create a magic trick for whatever today is.

Here’s an example of three tricks that use a coffee cup that I did for the tricks in a hotel video series:

Great Effect for a Bad Trick…

Right now I’m a couple days deep into over a week off, no shows until next Wednesday! While enjoying my time off, I came across a video of Doc Docherty‘s routine for the Gozinta Boxes. The Gozinta Boxes were created by Lubor Fielder and the effect is a red box fits inside a black box, … Continue reading “Great Effect for a Bad Trick…”

Right now I’m a couple days deep into over a week off, no shows until next Wednesday! While enjoying my time off, I came across a video of Doc Docherty‘s routine for the Gozinta Boxes. The Gozinta Boxes were created by Lubor Fielder and the effect is a red box fits inside a black box, then the black box fits inside the red box.

Here’s a video of David Ginn doing the Gozinta Box:

What I don’t like about the trick in it’s purest form, is that it’s more of a puzzle than a magic trick and really lacks a magic moment. Then I think Tenyo put out ParaBox which had the production of sponge balls, which I think took the trick from a puzzle to a magical puzzle!

Here’s Paul Daniels doing Parabox:

Comparing the Parabox to the Gozinta Box, I feel it’s a huge leap. The thing that’s lacking with the Parabox is producing sponge balls isn’t a huge production. You are making something that can be squished down appear. A sponge ball is better than no production, but something solid would be much better. Let’s get back to Doc Docherty, and his version called In Through the Outbox, which you can watch below:

The productions of the solid pieces of metal are great and takes the routine to an impossible level. I think it’s a great addition to the trick and really cool! One thing that I’d change with it is the pacing of the productions and do them one at a time. I think it’s be stronger to produce one block get the reaction, prove it’s solid and then produce the second one. Once you’ve established what the first one is, you don’t need to prove the second one is solid. However as is I think it’s a great magic trick.

If my roving consisted of more than an deck of cards, a few coins and the shell game, this is a trick that I’d do!

Fun Surprise!!!

While scrolling through facebook, I saw that Dom Chambers got passed through to the semi-finals of America’s Got Talent. This was of interest to me as I had made a prop for him to use on the show. Here’s video of his act from AGT last night: He uses my Evaporation trick to pour the … Continue reading “Fun Surprise!!!”

He uses my Evaporation trick to pour the beer into the video screen. The bottle was custom made for his act. It was a fun project, and I’m always glad to see people use magic that I’ve created!

Always Stop to Chat…

When I’m out performing and I encounter someone that wants to chat, whenever possible I always try to hear their story. Last week I was performing at a fair and ran into a guy named Dean Lewis. We started to chat, and I was glad I made time for him!

Dean used to get animals from around the world for zoos and circuses. He also ran an oddity shop in a nearby town. The next day I went over and visited his shop, and got to go through his scrapbook. The guy had lived an amazing life! Here’s a little article about him from a local newspaper:

https://www.dailyastorian.com/archives/coastriverbusinessjournal/oddities-of-nature-open-in-south-bend/article_3cdfb684-d400-565e-868a-009b418568fe.html

At the fair he also showed me a little magic trick:

By talking to people after shows I’ve learned a ton of things. Not just life stories, but magic techniques. One time I had an old timer teach me how to table faro, and another time I learned a lasso trick. It’s always worth taking a minute and chatting to people.

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!

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!

Make it Yours…

One of the new tricks I added to my kid show this summer was the Gypsy Yarn (this is Nick Lewin’s version of the Gypsy Thread). I’m using his method for the set up / handling, and string/yarn. Whenever there’s a trick I want to do, if Nick Lewin has a routine for it, I’ll … Continue reading “Make it Yours…”

In the video I should have paused a bit longer at the end of the trick showing the string restored.

If you are familiar with Nick Lewin’s routine, you’ll see that while I use the foundation of his, the routine is 100% different. I think the only thing the same is we both reference a spit ball. This is a good example of taking an existing routine and making it yours. It takes more than simply filtering someone else’s script through your mouth.

You need to actually put yourself into the routine. In the video above while you don’t learn “facts” about me, you get a peek into my personality with how I interact with the kid.

You’ll also notice there are no standard “kid show” bits. It doesn’t feel like a “kid show” magic routine. Yes it’s silly with the counting bit, but there’s no Look, but don’t see, or sucker magic. It’s a fun original routine for a standard trick…and the trick is good!

Add a Little Magic…

When I travel I love visiting junk shops, you can find all sorts of props. Yesterday I found some sandwich skewers that were 50 cents for the pack. I bought them for the sole purpose of bring a smile to the old ladies who ran the shop. Here’s what I did: People who say the … Continue reading “Add a Little Magic…”

People who say the only do magic tricks when they are paid are completely missing the boat when it comes to promoting magic in general. Not forcing magic on people is also important. You notice I do one trick, and she asks me to show another person. I’m not forcing a show on anyone. Just a quick little thing.

Working It…

This week I’m at another fair and doing three stage shows a day. This is a good chance to work on new stuff. I’m going to be putting some more time into my silk and coat hanger routine this week. I’ve been working on the technical end of the trick, now it’s time to work … Continue reading “Working It…”

Since that video was recorded, it’s changed a little bit. I’ve added a phase to the routine, and a couple of jokes. My goal is for this to end up being about 3 minutes.

I’ve got a choice, do I do jokes in between every magic phase, or front load it with jokes and then have the back half be magic. I think it needs jokes between each phase. I’ll play with it both ways this week…

Doing A Trick I Don’t Like…

Earlier this week I was cleaning up and found a bunch of forks that I had bought for a fork bending idea that I had. I had gone to Costco and bought a ton of these forks to work out the routine. I’m trying to use up stuff that that’s just taking up space in … Continue reading “Doing A Trick I Don’t Like…”

Earlier this week I was cleaning up and found a bunch of forks that I had bought for a fork bending idea that I had. I had gone to Costco and bought a ton of these forks to work out the routine. I’m trying to use up stuff that that’s just taking up space in my office, so I took the pack of 48 forks to the fair that I’m working this week.

The fork bend that I created and was working out is the first on on this video:

I published it in Vanish Magazine earlier this year. If you’re interested in learning about it, you can find it there.

What I’ve been doing this week at the fair that I’m performing at is simply putting about 10 forks in my pocket when I go out to do my roving set. Personally I’m not a huge fan of the fork bending, it doesn’t really fit my style of performing, but people really like it.

I think people relate to it because they know what a fork is and how durable it is. When it starts bending they immediately know what’s happening is “magic”. I’m getting great reactions from it, but just because people like it doesn’t mean it’s right for me or my vision for what I do.