MagicShow.Tips – Page 159 – A daily blog about magic by Louie Foxx

Secrets…

Darren Brown’s show is one I’ve wanted to see live for a long time. I got to see it last night on Broadway in New York City and it was amazing! I rarely give standing ovations to magic shows, however this is one that I did and enthusiastically did. Nothing in the show “fooled me”, … Continue reading “Secrets…”

One of the things that I found really interesting was how he managed to make a trick that was a transposition work within his character as a mentalist. I found this really cool and interesting, and what made it work was that there was only one part of the transposition. There was never a vanish, just a reproduction. I think that also gave it a lot more impact within the context of his show.

I love it when I see something that’s so outside of the “rules”, and the person makes it work and makes it work big! My only complaint about Darren’s show is that I don’t get to complain about any of it!

Raise Up Your Show

Sometimes you need to stick to your guns and do your show how you want it to, then there are other times when you need change it. I’m a huge advocate of pushing back if someone unreasonably wants you to change your show. An example of this is a booker wanting you to incorporate something into your show at the last minute. I’m frequently asked to magically make a prize or award appear. I almost always decline this.

There are times that you want to alter your show for the event. When I performed in Virginia a couple days ago, I saw an illusion act perform. They weren’t on a raised stage, which is something I’m very conscious of. Being an act that uses smaller props I’m very aware of how they can disappear if they are held too low when you aren’t on a raised stage. The act I saw did a Wakeling Sawing in Half, which is a great illusion. It’s a big prop, but the action happens low.

I’m standing in the back taking this picture, you probably wouldn’t notice the large box for the illusion in the picture. There’s a girl in the third row standing on someone’s lap to see. While it’s a big and visual prop, you can’t see it if it’s too low to the ground. This is a situation where a small handheld prop would have played a lot larger than the sawing in half.

In my opinion the show would have flowed better if they had cut out the sawing in half and filled the spot with something smaller, that could be held higher, or just run the show five minutes short. Removing the trick would have made the show much more enjoyable for me, as there wasn’t really any jokes, or story engage me once the visual was lost.

Be aware of the sight lines of people seated from the third row and back.

Does It Work 3K Miles Away..

One thing I love is when I get to do great shows on the road. Knowing what audiences like in my local(ish) area is one thing, but then when you travel 2,500 miles away, they can be a very different audience in terms of what they like or are offended by.

This year my New Year’s Eve gig was at a First Night arts festival on the east coast. My humor worked out and the audiences liked my newer material, which is good.

After the show I got an email from a magician who was in the audience at one of my shows. He made an interesting comment, he said that by the time the show started the audience was rooting for me. This is something that I do by design, and I’m glad that he noticed it.

What I do is before the shows start time, I do some tricks that I’m working on. These are things are semi formed routines, but not fully fleshed out. Sometimes they are routines that I like, but just don’t have a place in the show. One thing that they aren’t are tricks that I don’t really know how to do.

The purpose of these tricks is to warm up the audience, but put no pressure on them. They aren’t part of the show (but they actually are), but they do make a good first date. Now by the time the show starts the audience is invested in me and invested in me succeeding.

Great Book…

The other day a buddy of mine gave me the book A Magician Prepares and I started reading it on my flight yesterday. This book has some shortcomings, like the layout which makes it hard to read and the title isn’t that great, however the content is fantastic. The book is a bunch of short … Continue reading “Great Book…”

There’s a lot of great advice in this book, and I think it’d be a great book to read when you start to hit the semi-pro level. When you’ve begun to get an act and are out working it semi-regularly. I do think it’s worth a read no matter where you are in your career.

One thing that struck me was in one interview a guy mentions that people ask, “why do all cruise ship magicians do the same stuff?”. His answer was the limitations of the gig, you need to fit it all in a suitcase that’s less than 50 pounds.

Having worked on some ships, I get the challenge of the limitation, however I also think that it’s a shortsighted reason. The reason is laziness, they don’t want to create a something new. Sure something like color changing hanks plays big, packs small and there are plenty of routines for it. That’s a trick that’s in my show, however it’s not chosen because of the size of it. I do the trick because in my routine there’s a message that I want to convey with it. Also the way I do it, I use an additional prop that takes it out of the “packs small” category.

Inspiration…

Seeing other magicians do magic tricks is something that inspires me. They could be amazing, horrible, or whatever and I’ll love it. More than enjoying it, it inspires me to be better. A bad act inspires me to be better to put distance between me and the act and good act makes me want to be better to close the distance between me and the act.

Based on how many magicians I see at all the magic stuff I go to, I think that not many magicians are out there supporting magic. I go to most of the local shows and hardly ever see the same faces, with a couple of exceptions.

Your New Years Resolution should be to go out and see more magic shows and support live magic. The more of us out performing the better it is for all of us.

Creative Funk…

Creativity isn’t something you can force, but there are things you can do to stimulate it. Lately I’ve felt pretty uncreative, however I’ve had a tough performing schedule which didn’t leave a lot of time to play with ideas. Then somehow like magic, the last couple of days I’ve had some great ideas.

The main thing that changed in the last few days was that I opened myself up to new ideas. I starting looking for them, not waiting for them to pop into my head. Taking control of creativity is the first step to being creative.

Another big change was that I was playing with things a bit more. I’m back to working through card tricks at night while sitting on the couch while my wife watches TV. Sure going through a book on card tricks isn’t exactly creative, but it’s making my brain learn new things, and that opens up my brain to forming new ideas.

Visiting Old Friends…

Every now and then taking the time to revisit tricks that you like, but couldn’t get them to work in your show can be productive. One trick that I’ve been working on is my Silk Thru Coat Hanger routine. The trick is good, but I’m having trouble making it work in my show. Last night … Continue reading “Visiting Old Friends…”

Every now and then taking the time to revisit tricks that you like, but couldn’t get them to work in your show can be productive. One trick that I’ve been working on is my Silk Thru Coat Hanger routine. The trick is good, but I’m having trouble making it work in my show.

Last night I was experimenting with different flows of the routine. I think that by rearranging the order of the tricks that happen, I can have a sense of build to the routine.

Right now the routine gets “stunned silence” which is good, but not what I’m after. The challenge I’m having it letting the audience get caught up with the magic. The trick is very visual and very impossible, so there’s a long moment of people processing what just happened. That makes me think that this routine needs to be music driven.

The next challenge is to find some music that fits the routine!

Simple Step To Creativity

One of the easiest ways to create things is to put conditions onto what you want to do. For example, I’ve always loved the Three Ball Routine or Balls in Net. What I didn’t like is having to bring two people onto the stage to hold the net. I felt it added blocking issues and … Continue reading “Simple Step To Creativity”

One of the easiest ways to create things is to put conditions onto what you want to do. For example, I’ve always loved the Three Ball Routine or Balls in Net. What I didn’t like is having to bring two people onto the stage to hold the net. I felt it added blocking issues and a lot of wasted time bringing the people onto the stage.

The condition I added to the Three Ball Routine was that it needed to be done with just me onstage. With that condition in place, it created a lot of challenges, like where to put the balls. John Rogers has an interesting solution to this in his The Walrus Three Ball Routine, however that wasn’t what I was going for. Some options were having the net hung between two mic stands like a hammock or simply setting them halfway into your top jacket pocket.

I wanted the whole routine being done in the hand as the cleanest way to do it. It got me thinking of Coins Across routines that are done entirely in the hands, specifically Jay Sankey’s Mexican Jumping Coins. With Jay’s routine in mind, I got to work on putting together my routine with balls.

Here’s what I came up with:

By putting in the condition of having no one from the audience onstage, it made the routine much easier to build. I think if I had initially added a “no net” condition I may have gotten to the solution much faster. Honestly I want the net from the beginning, but figured I may need it to hold the balls.

Look at the tricks that you do, and figure out what you don’t like about them. Add removing that as a condition and you’ll be on your way to creating something new!

As You Wish…

One of the most common joke questions people ask is if you can turn a one dollar bill into a hundred dollar bill. When people ask things like this they think they are the first person to every ask you that. There are three ways to deal with it. First you can laugh with them, next you can try to one up them with a joke, and finally you can do what they ask.

Of the three reactions to the joke, the only one I don’t recommend is the second one. Let the person have their moment, they are going to allow you many more. Now as for the first and third option, I prefer being able to comply, but that’s not always possible with the “make my wife disappear” jokes, so then you have to laugh it off with them.

For something like turn my dollar bill into a hundred dollar bill, you can comply. You can keep a hundred dollar bill in a thumb tip and do a bill switch, however if you do this you have to give them the hundred dollar bill. It’ll cost you ninety nine bucks, but you’ll have created a miracle that they’ll talk about forever.

Another way would to be to take their dollar and switch it for a bill that has the serial number altered. The serial number reads “A 00000100 S”, so it’s a hundred dollar bill. You could also have the serial number read “1 HUNDRED”. Either way you’ve turned their bill into a hundred. Changing the serial number takes a bit of work, but it’s a lot cheaper than spending $99!!!

Holiday Parties and Newer Acts…

Earlier today I was thinking about performing at corporate holiday events. Mainly I was thinking about how every magician that wants work will get some in December. It’s a time where the gig isn’t really based on merit, but on someone’s boss telling them to get a magician, so they get the first magician that’s … Continue reading “Holiday Parties and Newer Acts…”

Earlier today I was thinking about performing at corporate holiday events. Mainly I was thinking about how every magician that wants work will get some in December. It’s a time where the gig isn’t really based on merit, but on someone’s boss telling them to get a magician, so they get the first magician that’s available.

It’s good that everyone is working, however a lot of the conditions for the shows aren’t “entry level” magic shows. First of all you typically have poor audience layout, were some of the audience may be behind you. Lighting is horrible and sound often in through the DJ’s mix which typically is insanely bass heavy.

All of the above adds up to a show that’s going to be hard for someone starting out. This year I feel like I’ve finally hit my stride with these shows and was very comfortable doing them. Personally I hope that newer performers look at how their shows went (honestly) and how they can improve them.