MagicShow.Tips – Page 232 – A daily blog about magic by Louie Foxx

Road Work Ahead…

Later today I’m heading out to perform for a week in California. I’m using this week to get some work in on my show. In stand up comedy you go on the road to work on your act and less desirable venues so that you are good when you perform in good venues. Magicians seem … Continue reading “Road Work Ahead…”

Magicians seem to lack having “a place to be bad”. Well, these venues do exist, I think that most magician’s egos have a hard time letting them “be bad”. They are afraid to try new things, to push the envelope. Instead they do safe, hack tricks and that’s why magicians aren’t considered artists. It’s like they are a cover band of a cover band of a cover band.

My advice is to go out on the road, leave half of your A-show at home and bring some wacky ideas and force yourself to try them out. Out a few years ago I did a long tour in the midwest and my goal was to come up with a new 45 minute school assembly. By the end of the tour I had one and it was SOLID, but it took guts to leave my normal show at home and hit the road with a trunk full of ideas.

Deck Ripping Routine…

A while ago on this blog I wrote up my deck ripping routine. Basically it’s the split deck trick, but instead of a factory made deck, you are using a deck that you rip in half with your bare hands. One of the things I like about doing this trick is the “barrier to entry”, you have to put in the time to be able to do the trick.

The other day during my preshow at a library gig I had a kid helping me and I just kept classic forcing the two of hearts to him. I was playing around and would top change the two for another card, then rip it in half and throw it away. Then the kid would pick the two of hearts that I just torn up. I did this a couple times. Finally I turned the deck face up and had him pick a card that wasn’t the two and I had him stand on it (after I switched it). I then ripped the deck in half so he couldn’t pick the two. Once the deck was ripped the kid (on his own) reached down to look at the card he was standing on and was very much amazed that the card had changed into the two of hearts!

This is a decent ending to a multiple force routine. You really can’t do anymore, the deck is destroy and the card has changed one last time. Structurally and logically, I need to work on it, but for this “improv” situation it was fun.

While I will probably never do this routine again, it got me thinking about it. What if I used a flap card with a lock. The person picks a card that’s not the force and you set it facing the audience. You rip the deck, and then the card visually changes into the force card. I’m not sure this is better than the kid reaching for the card he’s standing on, because his reaction really sold the trick.

New 45 Min Show…

My big project this summer is to work on a new 45 minute show. To be completely honest, it’s not 100% new, as some of the material is stuff I’ve done before. The goal at the end of the summer is to have a second show that’s an A show, or at least a strong B show.

Currently I’ve done the show two times, and hitting the road next week, so I’ll get a ton of chances to work on it. There are some things in the show that I like, and some that I don’t. This is one of those things that over time, I think will start to fit together.

Having only done the show a couple of times, I realized I use the fake explanation of the trick three times. I need to cut out at least one of them, and space out the remaining two. Ideally, I’d cut two of the fake explanations and have only one.

It’s time to put the work in….

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!

Working Slow…

In my continuing quest to be a better performer, I’m still trying to slow down while I perform. Personally I’ve always had a fast rate of speech, I remember that was always a note on the presentations I gave in elementary school. During my shows I have to make a conscious effort to not talk … Continue reading “Working Slow…”

In my continuing quest to be a better performer, I’m still trying to slow down while I perform. Personally I’ve always had a fast rate of speech, I remember that was always a note on the presentations I gave in elementary school. During my shows I have to make a conscious effort to not talk fast, it’s rough.

What I try to do is to put out the verbal information in chunks. I say a bit, then I take a slight pause to let what I just said sink in with the audience, then continue talking. This seems to work. I’m not just throwing information at people and not giving them time to process it.

Working slower applies not only to verbal but to physical things as well. I’m taking more pauses to display things.

I’m happy with the results of doing it this way. It still takes a effort on my part to do. I think it’s easier with newer routines as I’m learning them this way, where older routines I learned them and have done them too fast for years and need to break that muscle memory.

Never Restore It!

One of the “impromptu” tricks that I do is the mismade bill. It’s an amazing trick, and I’ve got a great routine for it. The flow of the trick is that I borrow a dollar, rip it up and it ends up mismade. I leave the dollar bill with them and don’t restore it. When … Continue reading “Never Restore It!”

Mismade dollar bill magic trick — image from www.mismadebill.com

When I do the trick I normally don’t turn it back, I offer to buy the dollar bill back. It’s a much stronger trick to leave it messed up and give them the option to keep the bill. If they want a dollar back, I simply give them a fresh dollar out of my wallet.

Here’s why I never turn it back. People at that point try to bust you. They’ll remember the condition of the bill, or serial number and call you out on the switch. You are in a much better position buying back the bill with a separate dollar or ideally letting them keep it.

Instagram Force…

A few days ago I wrote about using the Predict n’ Grab trick to force an image on Instagram. I was thinking this morning if it’s better than using flash cards. Everyone can relate to flash cards…but also with Instagram.

Flash cards are a tangible thing which is nice, however so is my phone and it’s larger. For the trick I’m doing, on the person on stage can see the forced animal. The reason for that is simple, since I’m doing this for kids, I don’t want another kid to say what it is. If they say what I’ve forced outloud, I can’t got back and redo the selection because of what I’m revealing.

Instagram also feels “cooler” for older kids in the audience than flash cards do. When performing for kids, I always try to play up to the older kids, than play down to the younger ones. I’ve found that works better for my style of performing.

More Gypsy Thread Progress…

The Gypsy Thread trick is officially in my library show this summer. I’m still having problems with selling the ending. I think the main problem for a child watching the trick, is the restoration feels like it’s something that should happen. Almost like it’s a child’s novelty toy.

What I’m thinking I’m going to do is have two pieces of string. A kid and I will both tear them up and my string won’t restore, however the kids will. Then the kid might make mine restore for the kicker. This lengthens the routine, and highlights the fact that the pieces don’t just go back together automatically.

Adding the second person to the show also makes the trick play larger and opens it up to some bits that don’t exist when you do it as a solo. I’ll need to play with the method a little bit to be able to get the two balls of string (one restored and one not) to look the same. I think this change will really help sell the effect.

Silk Thru Coat Hanger…

After much experimentation, I’ve landed on using the Tango Ultimate Reel (T.U.R.) for the Silk Thru Coat Hanger trick. I’ve played with most of the major reels and ended up on this Tango reel. There are some things I don’t like about it, but so far it’s the most reliable. The T.U.R. has the smoothest … Continue reading “Silk Thru Coat Hanger…”

Tango ultimate reel magic — Image from www.StevensMagic.com

The T.U.R. has the smoothest pull and one thing that I noticed was that the spring is rolled in a different way than I’ve seen in any other “magic reel”, or commercially sold badge / key ring reel. I’m not positive that rolling the spring this way contributes to the smoothness, but that’s the big difference between this and other reels.

I’m glad I kept searching around for a reel, this one makes me feel more secure when doing the trick. Having a bit of piece of mind when doing something mechanical, that’s a bit knacky is bonus!