While I was running at the gym I had an idea for an interactive “touch the screen” style trick for this new year. It’s pretty simple, you’re going use 2025 and New Year
2 0 2 5
The audience touches any one of the numbers in 2025. They are going to jump the number they are touching. The rules are you can go left or right, from block they are on is touching to the block next to it. If they are on the 0, they don’t move.
After they finish moving, they stay on the number they ended on. You will remove the 5 as they’re not on it and it’s no longer in play. What’s left is:
202
They will then spell NEW jumping one space per letter, going back and forth for each letter. You now eliminate the the one of the 2’s (could be either). What’s left is:
20 or 02
They then spell YEAR jumping one space per letter like before. Now you eliminate the O and all that’s left is the 2 which they should be on.
There you go, an easy little interactive math trick!
Last month I was out in Wisconsin performing at the comedy club in Appleton. It was a fun gig, and on my way back to the airport in Milwaukee I stopped by Big Guy’s Magic.
I’ve heard a lot about this magic show, so I was excited to stop by. However the guy working (who wasn’t “Big Guy”) was really disappointing. He kept telling me how nothing new was in magic (which I totally disagree with) and how live shows don’t hold audience’s attention and that no magicians tour anymore because no one wants to see a magic show. He never asked why I was in town… I was a magician ON TOUR and had about 150 people at my show at the comedy club the night before. Of all the places where someone should be enthusiastic about magic should be the person working at a magic shop.
When I travel I try to support magic shops by spending money at them. Normally I try to make a meaningful purchase, not just a deck of cards, but a book or some antique prop if they have one. I really didn’t want to spend any money here based on how the guy was bad mouthing magic, but I did make a small purchase.
I do understand that sometimes a “warm body” is needed to run the magic shop when the owner can’t be there. I hope that was the situation, and I’ll probably give the magic shop another chance next time I’m in Milwaukee.
Now for what’s good about the magic shop, it was really well stocked!
They had a ton of current magic as well as vintage magic! They also had some of the world’s largest mouth coil!
It’s always good to see an older style magic show that has a lot of stuff in stock!
One of the questions that I get asked a lot by magician who see my show is “how much does it cost you to do your show?” My show has a lot of disposables, here’s what is thrown away after the show:
When I do my full show, it cost me about $10 to do my show. Sure that adds up over time, but at $10 it’s not that much when you consider everything else it costs to do a show, like travel or hotel.
If your vision for your show costs money each show, but it will help you achieve your artistic vision for the show, then $10 is nothing. If it cost me hundreds each show I may reconsider some stuff, but ten bucks I’m totally fine with.
Last week my wife and I went to see a show called Liberace and Liza, Holiday at the Mansion. The premise of the show is that the audience are guests at Liberace’s house at a Chirstmas party that’s hosted by him and Liza Minnelli.
I really had no idea what to expect when I showed up. It was a fun show, and I didn’t expect as much audience involvement as there was in the show. What made it great was there was no “fourth wall” the performers were talking to you, not each other within a scene. This is what a magic show is like, there is no fourth wall (usually) and you are talking directly to the audience.
One of the great things was there were a lot of “call backs” to things that people in the audience did. This makes the show special and unique to the audience at that show. In my magic show, I look for things that I can comment on, then refer back to later in the show. It’s a great technique to create a unique show!
If you’re curious about the show, here’s the promo video for the show:
It was a fun show, and if you pay attention you can learn a lot that will apply to a magic show!
A couple of weeks ago I performed in a show at the All American Magic Theater in Portland OR. It’s a fun little theater in a magic shop inside of a mall.
It’s always fun to perform in a variety show! One of the challenges for me since I’m used to doing 45-70 mins is doing a shorter 15 min set. A 15 min set is structured very differently than a longer full show. As an act, your opener is less of a “warm up” and you kinda need to get right into the act.
It’s fun to flex that different show length muscle! -Louie
Last night I got home from another booking conference and saw some amazing acts!
One of the helpful things about going to these conferences and seeing all the other acts showcase is that you kinda know where you are in the pack. You can gauge whether you’re a top tier act, or whatever.
It’s also inspiring to see people do their best 15 minutes of material! I totally recommend checking one of these out if you get a chance, even if it’s just to watch acts!
A couple of months ago I was contacted by a state run veterans home to perform for their group. They were super upfront with a very low budget, and for veterans, I’m OK with that. I consider this type of gig “volunteering”, however every time you volunteer, there has to be an exchange of some sort. Otherwise you’ll frequently be treated as a volunteer and not talent. They’ll change dates or times or scope of work on you at the last minute or worse without letting you know! Once they are invested in the show, they stop treating you like a volunteer.
Once I agreed to the show they emailed me a lot of paperwork to do to get paid a fraction of the fee that I would normally get. One of these things involved me setting up an account as a vendor, waiting 7-10 business days to get a vendor number, then once I get that number I need to send it into the veterans home. This wasn’t simply a fill out paper work and send it in. It was send it in, then wait and follow up about the status of my vendor number, then I needed to forward that. Sure that doesn’t sound like a lot, but it’s work that takes place over multiple days…and that’s assuming they are no delays or problems with my paper work. All of the following up is on ME to do. I have to remember to check the status in a week, I need to make calls if there’s a delay.
Oh, then they say that I submit an invoice the day of the show and they mail me a check. So for me when that happens, they get moved into my “payments not made” system and I automatically have points in time that I follow up to figure out the status of the payment.
In my experience the only payments that are mailed to me that I need to chase are from low paying gig. Rarely (I can only think of once, and it was a crazy circumstance with the organization) do I ever have to hunt down a check 30 days after a gig at my normal rate.
I was told that all of this was mandatory. The paper work, the sending of the check after the gig. Here’s what I emailed them:
Within an hour after sending that email they replied stating that they would like to book the show and they’ll have cash waiting for me.
It’s crazy how mandatory, and the only way we do it can change.
Here’s advice to anyone who is trying to get a performer for lower than their normal rate or a charity, or whatever: Make it easy for the performer! I’m not going to do more work for less money…and the more work which isn’t even the fun part of the gig!
Oh and in a fun side note, in the time between when I sent the above email and when they replied, I booked a gig for another date at my full rate. This communication was that I answered an incoming email with a price quote and needed info to book the gig. They replied with the info. I replied with a square link and they paid it! It took about 10 minutes start to finish to book and get paid for a gig at literally 10 times what I was getting paid for the veterans home!
Don’t let people make it hard for you do be nice to them. Once they make it more work for you to do a discounted show, lay out what you’re willing to do and be willing to walk away from the gig!
Last week I went to a booking conference to work on filling up my summer schedule. One of the things that that happens besides a trade show where different acts have booths are showcases. The showcase is one of the best ways to schedule work as you can actually show potential bookers what you actually do!
This one had some awesome acts!
Depending on the rules where you’re showcasing, your showcase set can be between 10-20 minutes, with most being about 15 minutes.
My showcase at this conference was with my crank organ.
Honestly, I was super nervous. The organ is newer to me and I don’t know it inside and out like I do my show. With my magic show almost everything that could possibly go wrong has gone wrong. That means I know how to deal with problems if they occur in my magic show. With the organ I’m positive that there’s a lot that can go wrong that I haven’t encountered. And of course problems tend to appear when there’s a lot riding on that show. Luckily nothing went wrong and I had a good showcase set!
I personally think that going to showcases is one of the best ways to book work. You can book a lot of work in a short amount of time. Most industries have some sort of showcase.
I think this is a fantastic book, and as someone who has a done a ton of school assemblies, I learned a lot from the book!
Here’s the blurb I wrote for the book:
Holy cow, I wish I had this book when I started doing school assemblies a couple of decades ago! It would have knocked off about 3+ years from the learning curve.
The book reveals one of the biggest mysteries of school assemblies, “What is a teachers guide and how to I create one”. Then John also covers the nuts and bolts of actually doing the gig from when you wake up to the marketing calendar after the gig is completed.
One huge thing for me, which I’ve never read about is how to deal with “burn out” when you’ve done a ton of shows, and he give you some great strategies to keep it fresh! If you’ve ever thought of going into the school assembly market, this book will take you from 0-60 in no time!
If you are interested in performing in schools, or doing some sort of educational or themed program for kids, this book is a will help you a ton! Even if you’ve already done hundreds of school shows, this book will have a few things or approaches you didn’t think of or don’t do.
Over the summer I did something in a show I regretted. I was performing at a fair and there was a kid that kept coming to the show and was being a distraction. I can handle the 4H kids that come to the show everyday, but this kid would walk up to the front of the stage and block the audience and say things to me. Not things that were remotely relevant, but like, “use my pen” as he tried to hand me one of the novelty shocking pens that a booth at the fair was selling.
After numerous times telling him to “No” and to step away from the stage, it was being a huge distraction for the audiences over multiple shows. One show I took the clock that I use for a trick out of my case as asked him if he could read a clock like this. He said “yes”, and I asked him what time it showed. He told me and I said, “No, it’s time to sit down and shut up”! It got a huge laugh, and worked, the kid sat down and didn’t talk the rest of the show.
The laugh told me that the audience was on my side, but I didn’t feel good about it. The laugh didn’t move the show forward, sure it eliminated a speed bump. On stage that’s not my character, sure I’m edgy and snarky, but not mean. I honestly felt bad about it. However the kid showed up to my shows the rest of the week and sat through them quietly and enjoyed them.
I’m sure there would be a better way to get the kid to behave and in the moment I had to make a choice. I’m not sure what I would do in the future. If I waited till after the show and talked to the kid, the whole audience suffers for that show. The kid was making the show unwatchable.
Maybe that was the only solution? I don’t know. I still feel bad.
