Video – Page 52 – MagicShow.Tips

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.

Pump The Breaks…

At my only show I did yesterday I really slowed down. The entire show I probably went 30% slower. I let the magic moments sink in and the jokes marinade with the audience. I’m really happy with the results and I’m going to keep the slowness going for all three shows I’m doing today.

I understand why I go fast. It’s a fear of failure. It’s the fear of audiences not liking the tricks, or jokes not landing with the audience. How I deal with it is that I plow on to the next line. I recently watched a short little animated documentary on Doc Ellis. If you don’t know who he is, he’s the Major League Baseball pitcher that pitched a no hitter on LSD!

What doc was doing with drugs and alcohol was dealing with his fear of failure as a major league pitcher. I’m doing the same thing with speed. Moving from bit to bit and not giving them time to fail, but in the process they aren’t getting time to succeed!

Instagram Magic

A year or so ago I was chatting with Jonathan Friedman and he said something like, “Instragram is now a perfectly valid performing venue…”. He’s 100% correct. Social media magic has really launched the career, or kept them going for many magicians.

Shin Lim is a good example of this. His fanbase is HUGE outside of magicians. He’s using magic trick to keep people who follow him engaged and promote upcoming shows. A lot of the stuff he’s doing is social media only content. It’s stuff that he’s really not going to do in a show, it’s just to reach or connect with fans.

On a smaller scale than Shin Lim, I do this. The main reason is to give me an outlet for ideas. Things that I know I’ll never really do in a show. Here’s a good example:

Having a reason to work out little ideas and a place to share them is great. I’ve had a couple of ideas I’ve posted videos of get big responses, and I’ve figured out ways to work them into the show.

The moral of the story is to not be upset with social media magic tricks, they have place and a purpose. You need to grow with the times and stop being a dinosaur!

Audience Test…

When I have a new trick, I typically do my audience testing before shows. I do it as “preshow” warm up for people that get there super early. I’m also very clear that they are tricks I’m working on, and not part of the show. Yesterday I performed at a school assembly and had a … Continue reading “Audience Test…”

I was worried about people not understanding the trick when the silk went through the body of the hanger and ended up on the hook. My solution to this was to simply tell them why what they were about to see made it impossible.

The test run of the silk thru coat hanger seemed to go over well, and I think I’ll be working it in more this summer and hopefully have a solid routine in a few months!

More Silk and Coat Hanger

The main reason I’m playing with the silk and coat hanger trick is that I had an idea for a move. I think this is an interesting move, but it’s also fairly subtle. Here’s just a quick video of me running some moves with the props: The first move where the silk goes from the … Continue reading “More Silk and Coat Hanger”

The first move where the silk goes from the body of the hanger to the hook is what interests me. However I think selling the idea of the penetration to an audience may be hard. The concept of going from a locked place to a place that’s not locked in will muddy the effect. I’m worried audience will thing the trick is that the silk go onto the open hook, and not that it got off of the closed body of the hanger.

It’s more about where it started, not where it ends for the first phase. That’s a very subtle difference in effect, but I think that will make a world of difference to the audience.

Researching the Silk Thru…

Playing with the Silk Thru Microphone Stand concept, and starting to do some research on it, I’m amazed a how little there is about it out there. I guess that part of it is that I’m searching for a specific trick, that really only has two methods. It’s also a quick trick, so there’s a … Continue reading “Researching the Silk Thru…”

Playing with the Silk Thru Microphone Stand concept, and starting to do some research on it, I’m amazed a how little there is about it out there. I guess that part of it is that I’m searching for a specific trick, that really only has two methods. It’s also a quick trick, so there’s a lot le

Then I realized I should be searching for a Ring and Silk routines, as that’s much closer to what I’m going to be doing. Once I searched that, I had a bit more success. Here’s a good example of something similar to what I want to do:

I’m not using a ring, but a coat hanger, however the moves are similar. The size and shape of the coat hanger lends itself to a couple of things that a ring doesn’t. This is what I find exciting. Also the routine I’m going to do, will probably be a talking routine, where I’ve only seen silent ones (not that that’s a huge differnce).