MagicShow.Tips – Page 208 – A daily blog about magic by Louie Foxx

Preshow Warm Up…

Before a show, I try to warm up…but what does that mean for a comedy magician? I’ll get to that in a minute. I got started warming up many years ago when I started working in variety shows with other acts. All of the physical acts like trapeze act, or dancers warm up a lot before the show, where the magicians just hung out.

I had a friend Noelle Wood who does an amazing pole dance act, she’d warm up for an hour to do an 8 minute act. One day before a show while she was warming up, she asked me what I did to warm up. My response was, “try to not get too drunk”. This joke answer, was the answer.

Before a show, I like to joke around and be playful, it gets me into the performing mindset of having fun on stage, but also gets my “comedy brain” warmed up. Here’s a quick example of something that happened before a show that helped me warm up:

It’s this playfulness that gets me into “character” and ready for the show. Sure, if I’ve got something new, I’ll run lines before the show, but it’s important for me to play before the show whenever possible.

People Love Magic…

There’s a stereotype that people think magic is for kids, or magicians are nerdy. That’s an older stereotype, and not a modern look at magic at all. David Blaine changed all of that, then people like Cris Angel and shows like America’s Got Talent cemented the idea that magic is good.

Here’s my proof. Frequently when I travel, I try to initially tell people that I meet that I’m a magician. I tell them I’m a performer, or variety act. When they want more specifics, I tell them I juggle, tell some jokes, magic tricks, balance things… They always stop me at magic tricks and ask more about that. That’s how you know the public is interested in it. Not the juggling, not the jokes, the magic.

Your job comes in here. When you show someone a magic trick, or perform, you need to be able to deliver. You should do good magic that’s not cheesy. Give the people a reason to continue to enjoy magic!

Sketch Money…

Right now I’m on the road performing in Alaska and I tend to practice more when I travel than when at home. There are a few reasons for this, but the big one is that I think I just have less distractions. All of the things that I can use to put off practicing at … Continue reading “Sketch Money…”

For my summer show I needed a way to produce a dollar bill and I remember seeing a review of this trick. This is follow up to the trick Sketch, which was a similar production of a card. The one with the dollar bill was also very poorly reviewed, where the card got good reviews.

I think the main reason for the difference in reviews was that the card one was better for close up where the dollar one has a problem, that can really only be solved by distance between you and the audience. I think most of the people that bought it were looking for a close up trick and that’s the why no one liked it.

The solution on the instructional video was for you to simply step back 6 feet from the audience. That’s a horrible solution to the problem, as it’s strange if you are table hopping and doing stuff under the audience’s noses, then step back two meters. This is a platform trick, not a close up.

I did some reworking of the gimmick to make it slimmer, and I’ve got some ideas to improve it even more, however they were beyond what I could make in a hotel room. The gimmick supplied could be made better, however I understand why it is the way it is. It’s got to be made to hit a price point, and make it reasonably easy for the average person to be able to make.

This is where being willing to rebuild something you paid for is a good trait. You can take something and make it better than the mass market version. Your custom version will be better 99% of the time!

Coin Size…

Recently someone asked me about what size coins I use. Personally I use silver dollar size coins, and I believe you should too. The reason is simple, they are bigger and more visible. There’s really no reason to use anything smaller. Sure some things are easier with smaller coins, but if you take that argument … Continue reading “Coin Size…”

Sure some things are easier with smaller coins, but if you take that argument to cards you’ll see it wrong. Poker sized cards are what 99% of magicians use, however there are bridge size cards which hardly anyone uses for magic. These cards are smaller making a lot of card magic easier with them.

Currently it’s easier than ever to get gimmicked coins custom made and they aren’t that much more expensive than standard gimmicked coins. If you wanted a larger size gimmicked coin you can do that. You’re no longer limited to what’s a stock item.

You owe it to yourself and your audience to use dollar sized coins…Unless you are making an artistic choice to use a smaller coin. For example my coin in bottle routine uses a half dollar, but there is a reason I’m using that coin in the presentation. This also doesn’t apply if you are using a borrowed coin for something like coin in ball of yarn.

Borrowed Item Production Before the Item Vanishes…

There’s a trick I’ve always wanted to do, but it’s never played how I want it to. The trick is object in ball of yarn. Over the years I’ve done it in various form, like coin or dollar bill. I know why it doesn’t play (for me) is that once the coin is gone, it’s … Continue reading “Borrowed Item Production Before the Item Vanishes…”

There’s a trick I’ve always wanted to do, but it’s never played how I want it to. The trick is object in ball of yarn. Over the years I’ve done it in various form, like coin or dollar bill. I know why it doesn’t play (for me) is that once the coin is gone, it’s not a surprise where it will reappear when the ball of yarn comes out.

About a year ago I thought, what if the ball of yarn is being unraveled before the dollar disappears? Would that make it more of a mystery when the dollar is on the end? I think it does.

One hurdle I’ve hit is a presentation one, why are they unraveling the yarn in the first place? I played with it being a race, if they could unravel the yarn before I completed a task, they got the dollar. This felt too manufactured.

Another hurdle is how to make the dollar disappear. I don’t use fire, so burning isn’t an option. I dislike the idea of a shredder because the item doesn’t disappear. Ideally the vanish would be subtle. Like the bill is folded up and dropped in a glass, then after the dollar reappears in the yarn, it’s gone from the glass.

I’m not sure the direction this will take, but I think it’s a great idea.

The Dollar Dilemma…

It’s been years since I really borrowed anything from the audience to use in my show. The reason for that is simple, it’s a huge time suck, with no guarantee. Sure you can ask to borrow a dollar, but that does mean you aren’t going to spend three minutes asking for one and never get one. I wrote about one solution to this the other day and you can read that here.

Another solution that I came up with is to have a two dollar bill. I know what you are thinking, “aren’t those rare?”. The government still makes two dollar bills, I get them at my bank, just ask for them. You are going to set up the borrow a dollar that’s sort of like preshow, but doing it openly in the routine before the one where you need to borrow a dollar, so it’s pre-routine.

The trick before the trick where you need to borrow a dollar bill you need to tell the audience that in about five minutes you are going to do a trick with a dollar bill. If you use your own dollar bill, everyone will think it’s a trick dollar, so you’d like to buy a dollar bill off of someone for two dollar. Bring out the two dollar bill and tell them the first person to offer you a dollar bill when you ask in a few minutes gets the genuine two dollar bill.

Offering to buy the dollar bill I think takes away the fear that you will destroy or somehow ruin their money. Giving someone in the audience something more interesting that a dollar bill and an immediate profit should motivate them to give you a buck.

Mentioning you need to borrow the bill before you actually need it gives people time to dig it up. Also the idea that it someone else could get the two dollar bill gives people incentive to get the money out sooner. You could ask to borrow the bill within the same routine that you need it as long as there’s some set up that gives you something to do while people are getting out the dollar bill.

The big problem I think that magicians have is that they don’t realize how long it takes to actually borrow a dollar bill. They then end up with a dead spot in the show, that’s not just a dead spot, but an uncomfortable dead spot.

Promotional Tricks…

Every now and then I get asked by bookers if I can make a promotional video for their event. Usually it’s me saying hi and doing a quick trick. This works fine, however I’m playing with doing slightly more informational promo tricks. Here’s one I did the other day: It’s decent, it has a little … Continue reading “Promotional Tricks…”

It’s decent, it has a little bit of a surprise and has all of the information. The next one I do, I think it’ll have a trick and have the information text cards as a kicker to it. Maybe something like a four ace production, then the text cards.

I think getting requests for promotional videos specific to an event are going to be more common in the future with pretty much every public event doing promo on social media. I think having a generic sequence you do, but having custom information cards would be the best way to do it.

PreShow for Non Mentalists…

There is nothing worse than a magician asking to borrow money from the audience and then waiting. I’ve experienced this from the stage as the performer and from the audience watching a show, it’s rarely ever fun to watch.

The problem with borrowing money is that it takes forever, and sometimes it looks like someone else is going to do it so you don’t dig. In the best case scenario the performer asks for to borrow a dollar. Someone immediately takes out their wallet, finds the appropriate bill, holds it up and volunteers it. In this scenario it’ll take 8-10 seconds.

In a more common scenario the performer will ask to borrow money. There will be a pause while everyone looks around to see if someone else is offering it. Finally someone will say they have it, then take out their purse and start digging for their wallet. Once they find the wallet, they’ll start digging for a bill. In this more common scenario it’s 90+ seconds to get the borrowed bill. That’s a lot of dead time!

Until recently I didn’t do magic with borrowed money because there’s too much dead time. Now what I do is I put a dollar in my pocket and go out into the audience before the show. I introduce myself to someone in the audience and I tell explain that I need to borrow a dollar from someone in the show, and ask if they have a dollar. I then explain how big of a time suck it is to borrow money, so if they have a dollar can the take it out now and keep it somewhere accessible and to offer it when I ask. If they do not have a dollar bill, I give them the one in my pocket.

Setting up that person to give me the dollar bill really makes a huge difference in the flow of the show.

Production Value

Working more and more in theaters, it has me paying attention to the things that really aren’t possible in non theater shows. I remember when sound became a thing for me, and that was a game changer in my show. Now being able to play with video projection, video and lighting is opening a whole … Continue reading “Production Value”

I really want to add a video element to the show, where I play a video at some point. I’m not sure what, I think I want to do something with my daughter where I talk to her on the screen. I think this would be fun, but it’ll take some work for it to not come off as cheesy. Currently I call my daughter in the show and that works well, but that has a “live” feeling, where with a video I’d be worried it would feel canned.

Having these options opens a world of possibilities for my show. Like being able to do a few smaller tricks for larger audiences. I’ve been doing my mismade bill routine, which isn’t for 500 + people, however it works with the projection screen and plays well.

Working Slow…

Recently I watched Anthony Jeselnik’s stand up comedy special on Netflix. In it he works really slow and really takes his time. I had also recently watched David Hira’s Penguin Live Lecture and on it he talks about using pauses. Last night on stage I decided to experiment and really take my time. I went … Continue reading “Working Slow…”

Recently I watched Anthony Jeselnik’s stand up comedy special on Netflix. In it he works really slow and really takes his time.

I had also recently watched David Hira’s Penguin Live Lecture and on it he talks about using pauses.

Last night on stage I decided to experiment and really take my time. I went at a what felt like a snails pace on stage, in real time it wasn’t nearly that slow.

It really took me out of my comfort zone, but well worth it. I got a lot more applause in the show and better laughs. For me, it’s mentally really hard to pause and wait for a laugh that may not be coming. Waiting for applause is easier, but the waiting for the laugh stresses me out onstage. Waiting is the better choice than just plowing through it and stepping on it.

Unfortunately bad gigs make it hard to do good gigs as they give you bad habits. Things like stepping on a laugh when you are really just trying to get through a rough gig. I think that I need to work bad gigs like they are good gigs and just do everything the way I normally would and almost treat them like rehearsal, and not like trying bail water out of a sinking ship. If I know it’s the gig (and not me), like a horrible set up, or whatever, then just treat it like a rehearsal.