magic show tips – Page 46

Walnuts to Glass Magic Routine: UPDATE

I’ve been working on a walnut to glass routine for a little while and there’s one challenge I keep hitting: Why walnuts?

Using balls with cups and balls makes sense as it looks like the shell game which people are aware of. Even though it’s cups and balls and the shell game visually are very different to people who do them, to the general public who have never seen them in real life, it’s appears to be the same.

The challenge with using nuts is basically I’m fighting the whole routine being a testicle joke. I can’t call them “nuts” in the routine, they have to be walnuts. However every time I handle them, I think I’m going to be fighting people in the audience making their own jokes. I really just don’t want that.

I’m switching over to using my Cee Lo dice and cup routine and doing the hat load of the giant metal nut. I’m also using a devils hank for a vanish of all three dice instead of doing a two in the one in the pocket sequence. The bits I have planned for the devil’s hank before the vanish will hopefully help the routine play larger!

I’m hitting the road in a few days and I’ll know if it plays or not soon!

-Louie

My Injury Story LIVE

About a week ago I attended a magic and hypnosis show and got injured by the hypnotist.
You can read about it here.
Last night I was a guest on on Hypno News Live and got to share my experience.

You can watch it here:

I really hope that my story highlights the need not only for you to have insurance, but to show some compassion for people you use onstage. The people you bring are stage are people and not props. If something goes wrong, don’t get defensive, show compassion. In my situation, while I’m going to live and be OK, if I wasn’t a performer who knows what it’s like out there, I’d probably be way less sympathetic and also come at this from an adversarial way.

-Louie

Straight Suit – Comedy Escape

It brings me soo much joy to see other people use the tricks that I’ve released. Here’s Todd Bogue’s promo video and my Straight Suit makes an appearance!

Todd does the Straight Suit better than anyone (including me) and I’m honored that he uses it in his show!

Also his promo video is a good example of how using high def video and clear audio makes him look super professional!

-Louie

Spirit Rapping Hand

Awhile ago I made an ungimmicked spirit hand for someone in Arkansas. They then added the gimmick to the hand and decorated it so that it looks old and cool and here’s what it looks like:

I was chatting with the guy who gimmicked the hand and he’s willing to make more. If you’ve been wanting a gimmicked spirit hand, shoot me a note and we can get you pricing options for one!

-Louie

New Magic Trick by Louie Foxx

I’m excited to release my first card trick in a long time, this is called Placeholder!

Effect: You show a deck of cards that’s in new deck order. A card is selected, but kept in place in the deck of cards, so the whole deck stays in order. Now the spectator spreads the cards and their card is now blank card in its place in the deck that’s in new deck order!

One of the the things that this routine solves when using a special deck is how to get that deck in play without. In this routine the deck of cards is in order and stays in order throughout the trick, so you can openly take out the deck and there’s a reason why it’s not used for everything else and that it’s in order and you need to keep it that way.

Here’s a demo of the Placeholder routine:

Right now I’m having an introductory sale on Placeholder. It will retail for $20, however now through May 31, 2024 you can get it for only $15 with USA shipping included!

For more information or to order Placeholder visit:
https://www.magicshow.tips/placeholder/

-Louie

Walnut Routine

One of my the routines that I’m working on is a Walnut to Glass routine. My starting point is Pete Biro’s Nutty Surprise. I’ve added a devils hank for one phase and a hat load for the finale.

Here’s a picture of the end of the routine on my normal table:

Working the routine on that table is hard because there’s not a lot of workable space due to the trim on the table. After working on it a few times, I remembered I had a larger table that I could use. And here’s what the end looks like on that table:

The second table is about the same width as the first one, but without the trim, it has more usable space. The second table is also deeper allowing more room once the hat is on the table.

The next challenge or decision I need to make for the routine is whether to use a bottomless glass for the routine, or just a regular glass. I like Mariano Goni‘s version of the bottomless glass in his trick Nut Waltz. I won’t be doing this close up with people on top of the cup, but still a little bit worried about people being able to see it. I guess it’s something I’m going to have to actually try for people and either have it pass or get busted.

-Louie

Wayne Dobson’s Legacy

The new addition to my library is Wayne Dobson’s Legacy. I’ve been a fan of Wayne’s ever since I saw him at the Desert Magic Seminar (It may have changed the name to the World Magic Summit at that point) in Las Vegas.

A while ago I got the book Wayne Dobson – The Definitive Collection. This was most of the stuff that Wayne had put out, plus a few interviews and unpublished things. It’s a great book, but then Wayne Dobson’s Legacy came out, so I figured I should get it.

I suspected when I ordered the new book was that the tricks included were going to be what was in the Definitive Collection book and based on a quick flip through the book, it appears that’s correct. There may be an additional bit here or there or a trick could be completely rewritten, but at a glance the material looks the same. I didn’t buy the book for the descriptions of the tricks, I got it for the biography which is book one of the set.

I’m only about 40 pages into the book so far and enjoying it, and if you’re a fan of Wayne’s I think you will too! If you’re just looking for the tricks, it looks like you can get Wayne Dobson – The Definitive Collection for about $25 as an ebook and I’d suggest you go that route. Either way, Wayne’s material is solid!

-Louie

Playing to a Slow Room

Last week I drove out to watch my buddy play guitar at a casino. There’s a lot that you can learn by watching people who perform things that aren’t magic. Joe plays guitar, but he also does an act with comedy songs. In this venue he does a mix of the two. He plays cover songs, and throws in a comedy song here and there.

It was a slow night in the casino restaurant that he was playing in. He easily could have phoned it in and played some ambient cover songs and got his check and everyone would be happy. That’s not what he did. He played with energy, talked to the crowd, did bits and played a couple of comedy songs. And over the course of the hour I watched him play, I saw him win over the tables that weren’t initially watching.

The huge take away is to never phone it in. That doesn’t mean necessarily doing your show as planned, as sometimes that’s not what the audience needs. However no matter what you do, give them 100%!

-Louie