When you are a performer you have to live by the Boy Scout motto: Be Prepared I’m flying out today for a corporate gig and I have a strange feeling that they venue’s sound system won’t work. What I mean by that is that it won’t work for my show’s needs. In banquet halls … Continue reading “You Gotta be a Boy Scout”
When you are a performer you have to live by the Boy Scout motto: Be Prepared
I’m flying out today for a corporate gig and I have a strange feeling that they venue’s sound system won’t work. What I mean by that is that it won’t work for my show’s needs.
In banquet halls there are tons of reasons why the system won’t work. Sometimes they have systems that you can’t plug into. The speakers in the ceiling sound like a tin can or make it so you can’t move around without getting feedback.
Honestly I don’t know why I have this feeling about the sound system, but my “spidey sense” is tingling.
So what do I am I doing?
I’m packing my street show PA in my suitcase:
Since I’m only away a short period of time, I don’t have a lot to pack, so the speaker fits easily in the in my suitcase.
The PA I’m using is the Roland Street Cube EX. The great thing about this is it’s small enough to put in the overhead bin on the plane but has enough power for a gym. I’ve got the proper cords with me to use this as a mixer and/or monitor if they have a system I can plug into.
Hopefully I won’t need it, but in case I do, I’ve got it!
When you’ve been performing long enough, you will get requests for things outside of your normal show. These can be simple things like “can you use the CEO in a trick” to more complex things like can you write a whole show on a specific theme/topic. I’m not going to really talk about the … Continue reading “Special Requests at a Gig…”
When you’ve been performing long enough, you will get requests for things outside of your normal show. These can be simple things like “can you use the CEO in a trick” to more complex things like can you write a whole show on a specific theme/topic.
I’m not going to really talk about the writing a whole show, as that’s really a specialized thing and either you do it or you don’t. I don’t.
I’m going to talk about smaller requests. Recently I had an request at a corporate gig where they asked me to make a small gift appear and give it to someone. I could do that, however I talked them out of it.
Why?
Simple, the gift will have more meaning from someone the recipient knows than from me. I could make the gift appear while doing a trick with the event organizer, then present it to the recipient, which would have a lot more meaning. However that ends up being the end of the show, I don’t want to follow that.
I want the show to end strong, not on something I really have no control over. If the person who is helping me with the trick where the gift appears is a clunker on stage, then it drags my ending down.
The way I see it, for a corporate gig I’m hired to do the show I’ve done a thousand times (and my pricing reflects that), not to do a something I’ve never done before. I just don’t get enough of these requests to make it worthwhile to having as a part of my show.
Probably the number one request I get has to do with costuming. The organizer will call and say, “our event is yellow themed, can you wear all yellow?” My response is to explain to them that, “I wear certain things because it makes things more visible, so if I use a yellow handkerchief in the show, you won’t be able to see it if I wear yellow.” However I ‘ll gladly wear it, if they provide the clothes (the must meet certain requirements like pocket space, etc), the tailoring, and I must have them a month before the gig so that I can practice in them. Also there additional practice time is billable, and if something doesn’t work with the provided clothes (like yellow on yellow) then we can either drop it from the show (shortening the show) or they can pay for a new prop in a different color.
I’ve never had anyone agree to the paragraph above, however if they did, I would gladly make it work. I think that people who aren’t performers don’t realize how much effort goes into something as simple as wearing a different pair of pants. If a pocket is too narrow, or the cut wrong, I can’t sneak something into or out of my pocket smoothly. Then I may stumble on it, drop it and people think I’m not a good magician, when the reality is that it’s not me, it’s the costume.
So the moral of this post is: Do your show the best you can!
Recently I did a gig where I MC’d a bar comedy show. Normally I’m the feature or headline act. It was fun, however as the first act, it’s really had to “crush it”. There are a few reasons for this. First, as host, it’s not your show. It’s your show, but it’s not your … Continue reading “The Curse of the Opening Act…”
Recently I did a gig where I MC’d a bar comedy show. Normally I’m the feature or headline act. It was fun, however as the first act, it’s really had to “crush it”. There are a few reasons for this.
First, as host, it’s not your show. It’s your show, but it’s not your show. Second, the audience is COLD and you need to really get them to switch from hang out mode to show mode. This is made harder by the fact that the room doesn’t change into show mode (i.e. lights don’t dim, etc). The final thing is that everyone is still eating, so it’s harder to get them to laugh with food in their mouths.
Add the normal first act in a bar show challenges to the place having a PA set up horribly and the stage in the darkest spot of the room. All of this made it a challenging room.
I opened with a verbal bit that’s goal it to unite the room, it did it OK, then moved on. This is one of those gigs where as the first act you really have to just keep moving forward until they finish their dinner. That’s what I did. And about minute 11 of 15 I finally got them warmed up and they were a great audience for the next two acts.
I guess the lesson here is don’t bail on your audience, always give it 100%. Eventually they’ll come around…
rganizer, then present it to the recipient, which would have a lot more meaning. However that ends up being the end of the show, I don’t want to follow that.