Tag: be more funny

Fantastic Book!

One of the best books I’ve read about comedy magic (i’m still reading it) is Be More Funny by Christopher Barnes. This book is a solid book on techniques to create comedy magic, and probably the best that breaks it down into different types of comedy. His examples of the routines to illustrate the comedy … Continue reading “Fantastic Book!”

One of the best books I’ve read about comedy magic (i’m still reading it) is Be More Funny by Christopher Barnes. This book is a solid book on techniques to create comedy magic, and probably the best that breaks it down into different types of comedy.


His examples of the routines to illustrate the comedy principles are great and all of the tricks are unique. He doesn’t just take a basic trick and make it funny, he builds a whole unique routine. He’s not just doing funny patter with Hippity Hop Rabbits, but creating an original ride to take the audience on in each trick.


While reading this book I came up with the idea of a card trick with crackers. The trick is coming along, it still has a way to go. I can’t think of the last time I read a magic book and ended up with a unique routine out of it. Honestly, I think this book is one of the best $50 you can spend on a magic book. I think that even if you aren’t a comedy magician you’ll learn something out of it because it teaches you how to create your own routines, not just make existing ones funnier!

Unusual Props…

I’m still reading the fantastic book Be More Funny by Christopher Barnes.  One of the things he writes about is using an odd prop on place of a normal one.  His example uses sliced cheese in place of cards for a card trick.   His routine is great and really well thought out. It got me thinking of a … Continue reading “Unusual Props…”

I’m still reading the fantastic book Be More Funny by Christopher Barnes.  One of the things he writes about is using an odd prop on place of a normal one.  His example uses sliced cheese in place of cards for a card trick.   His routine is great and really well thought out.

It got me thinking of a trick that could be done with something unusual.  How about using a cracker in place of the coin for coin in ball of yarn?   They’d sign the cracker.  Then you do the old gag where you do a false transfer and reach into your pocket for magic dust to sprinkle over your hand.  The dust is the smashed cracker. This is played for laughs.  Then later the signed cracker reappears in the ball of yarn, or impossible location.

I like the idea of this trick because the cracker is destroyed in a gag and people will forget about it.   When it reappears, hopefully it will actually be a surprise.

Another idea would be to openly smach and restore it, then eat it before the signature verification as a gag.  

Character Mash Up…

Right now I’m reading the book Be More Funny by Christoper T. Magician. When it arrived, I was amazed at how thick of a book it is, most comedy magic books aren’t nearly this heavy. Currently I’m about a hundred pages into it and am liking it! One of the things he says in the … Continue reading “Character Mash Up…”

Right now I’m reading the book Be More Funny by Christoper T. Magician. When it arrived, I was amazed at how thick of a book it is, most comedy magic books aren’t nearly this heavy. Currently I’m about a hundred pages into it and am liking it!


One of the things he says in the beginning is to find a character, you take two things and put them together. Essentially it’s magician plus something else, so basically a charcater mash up. Once you have that angle everything else starts to get easier.


This got me thinking a little bit about character and one thing that has grown in my performing persona is travelling. I talk a lot more about travelling, so what if my performing character was magician PLUS travel show host? I already talk about many of my adventures in my preshow, and it’s part of the hook in many of my routines, so why not dig deeper?


Travel is something I’m personally very passionate about…I love finding strange things in off the beaten path places. For example a couple weeks ago I was performing in Menlo, WA, and that town has a pioneer buried there under very interesting circumstances. That person is Willie Keil, also known as the “Pickled Pioneer“. Essentially his body was moved cross country in a coffin filled with wiskey to preserve it.


When I travel for shows, I always find things like this and am surprised at how many locals are unaware of it. In my shows try to write little jokes about them. After I told the story about Willie, the joke went:


“Do you know what they call a modern day person that crosses the country full of whiskey? A Delta Airline Pilot!”


It’s great that this book made me realize that this is something that my character on stage has grown into, and I’m going to explore it a little bit more and start seeing what turns up!