card stab – MagicShow.Tips

Masters of Illusion!

It’s official, I’ll be on The CW’s Masters of Illusion on Saturday July 16th! Here’s the teaser video of what I’ll be doing:

This is the cracker card trick that I starting doing in 2019 (I think). I was performing in Arizona at a fair and didn’t take any cards with me, thinking I could buy them in the town I was performing in. Unfortunately it was a smaller town and I couldn’t find anywhere that sold cards in town and the closest city was over an hour away!

At that time I did a card stab style trick, so I tried to figure out what other object I could substitute for cards and essentially the same jokes and routine structure. I decided on Ritz Crackers and worked out a routine for it. Over the course of the week I was performing the routine started to take shape. It’s different from the original routine enough, that they could be done in back to back shows, the only prop they share is the drop cloth.

I always love it when something created out of necessity becomes something bigger than what it was a placeholder for!

-Louie

You Gotta Have Fun!

In a few days on 10/23/20 at 8pm I’ll be performing on The CW’s Masters of Illusion television show. When I had the opportunity to pitch them some routines, I chose things that had some unique visuals. Tricks that weren’t just a card or coin trick, but offered something more.

One of the tricks that I pitched to the producers of the show was the card trick that I do with a dinosaur costume! It’s a very unique trick visually, and it’s just a fun routine.

Look at the picture above, look at my face inside the costume. I’m having a blast! That’s something that I think is important, even though no one can really see me, I’m performing as if they can see me. More importantly, I’m having fun! That fun is project to the audience, even though they can’t see me!

Whatever you do, have fun. Fun is the secret sauce that makes or breaks most performers.

Dino Card Trick!

Sometimes things pop up on my Facebook Memories and I forget how long ago they happened. I just had this picture show up:

This was from the debut of a new trick. Essentially it’s a card sword, but instead of using a sword, it uses an inflatable dinosaur costume! This picture was taken 3 years ago, it doesn’t feel like I started doing it that long ago. I created this trick for a library tour and did it over a hundred times that summer. Then the trick made it into my school assembly show, and I’ve even done it on TV!

This particular trick is a great example of taking an existing trick and altering it soo much that it’s no longer recognizable. I could do this trick in the same show that someone does a tradition card sword in without a feeling of duplication.

That’s my end goal, to be able to be in any show with other magicians and not have to worry about duplication. Sure a vanish is a vanish, but they don’t have to be done the same way.

Unique Visuals…

One of the things that I try to do with my show is to give it unique visuals. I think I’m starting to really achieve that in my show. It’s a lot of work, and commitment, but in the long run it’s the way to go. When someone describes my show to another magician, I want the magician to know it’s me by the description.

Sure a card trick looks like a card trick, however there are some ways to make them look different. For example the Card Stab trick. In my main show I use a Rat Trap, this is a less common version of the trick. I also do a unique card stab using a dinosaur costume!

In my local market, if someone describes either of these version of the card stab to a magician, they will know it’s me. I wouldn’t say either is my “signature” trick, but both are associated with me locally.

What tricks are associated with you? Are they tricks that no one else can buy? That’s the goal with the dinosaur card stab, it’s something I created, you can’t buy it, it’s 100% mine.