magic show – Page 36 – MagicShow.Tips

One thing you have to do is address the “elephant in the room” when there is one. Last night I did a show with light attendance, which was due to an unusual situation. The show was in a big theater, and it was obvious that it was a light turn out.

I opened the show with a joke about it and it went over well and the show proceeded to do great. I think that when everyone notices something, you need to say something about it, you can’t pretend it doesn’t exist.

A good example was many years ago I saw the Amazing Kreskin perform. He had a light turn out, and he came out before the show, mentioned it, and invited the balcony to move to the floor. That gave him a more tightly packed audience, and really made the show better for him and the audience.

Whether it’s a light turn out, someone having a heart attack, whatever, if it’s on the audience’s mind, you need to address it.

Doing the Work…

This week I’m trying to be good about actually working on my show. What I’m doing is watching video of my show and writing notes on the video. I’m writing down what I don’t like, and ideas to improve it. When I do this, I write down the time code on the video that the … Continue reading “Doing the Work…”

When I do this, I write down the time code on the video that the note is relevant to. This really helps if I am trying to make sense of it later. When writing notes you also need to be brutally honest, if you can’t say it to yourself, no one can.

I had one bit in the show where I don’t think the ending got the payoff it deserved. After watching it, I think I figured out why. It needed a music change at the end. I added some “stinger” music and we’ll see how it plays tonight!

New Tricks in the Show…

Every summer for about the last decade I do a library tour and this summer is no different. This year I’m only doing about a dozen library shows. In the past I think I’ve done 70ish some years. Each summer the library tour gets a show written for it. Usually this is based on the … Continue reading “New Tricks in the Show…”

One of the tricks in the show is a trick I’ve wanted to do for a while, but doesn’t fit my style is the Gypsy Thread. I think it’s a good trick, however my show lacks what it needs to play larger, and that’s good lighting at many venues. Generally if a trick is something I can’t do virtually everywhere, I don’t put it in my main show.

That’s the beauty of the library shows, I can do a trick that I normally wouldn’t. If for some reason I fall in love with it, then I can work to move it into the main show. The huge thing it’s got going for it is that it’s a pack small trick. It takes up virtually no space in my case, so if I can come up with at least a decent presentation, it could be a great emergency trick.

When I’m planning on attending local magicians shows I frequently ask them if they’d like me to record their show for them. One response I get a lot is, “I don’t like to watch myself on video”. This response surprises me, especially now when so much of the live entertainment industry is video related with social media, etc.

I always wonder why people don’t like watching their shows on video? Is it because they aren’t proud of it? I think this probably the reason. It’s hard to watch your show early on when you aren’t good. You’ll notice everything that’s wrong or that you don’t like. This is where you grow, by watching those things and eliminating them so your show is watchable by you. If you can’t stand to watch your show, how do you expect your audience to watch it?

With video being so cheap and easy to get compared to when I started, it’s really a wonder why people are opposed to getting video and watching it. Personally I think good video is worth it’s weight in gold. Whether it’s for use in a promo video, a social media clip, or to improve your show.

Go out there are record your shows…but more importantly, watch the video!

Big Stages

The variety show that I was in last night was a lot of fun. A couple of the acts were thrown off by how wide the stage was. The stage was probably 24 feet wide and 8 feet deep. I personally don’t mind a wide stage, but work on them fairly frequently. The picture above … Continue reading “Big Stages”

The picture above is form the venue last night. You’ll notice one of the things that I do is “define my area” on the stage. My case and table create the edges of where I work. This keeps me from wandering the stage to get props if my case or table were at either end of the stage.

Having a wider stage is way better than a narrow stage where you are crammed into. Currently I’m working hard on my show to play larger. I’m not a pack small, play big person. I prefer to use props that fit what I want to do…but hopefully make it play large!

Learn To Play With Others…

Later today I’m performing in a magic show with three other magicians. Personally I like performing in shows that aren’t solo shows. However I’m amazed at how many magicians say that they don’t perform with other magicians. Honestly, I’m shocked that a magician wouldn’t be in a show with other magicians. I think there are … Continue reading “Learn To Play With Others…”

Honestly, I’m shocked that a magician wouldn’t be in a show with other magicians. I think there are a few reasons for this, the main one being ego. A magician doesn’t want to be on a bill with someone better than them. To grow as a performer it really helps to work with other acts, especially ones better than you and get their feedback.

One of the top reasons that magicians say they don’t perform with other magicians when they post about it on the internet is they don’t want their material stolen. This cracks me up. It’s very rare that the people that say this have anything worth protecting from being stolen. I think they say that as a cover for their insecurities about their show.

My advice is to go out and perform, make friends with performers, get feedback, your show will grow because of it.

Advice from Billy McComb

Frequently I end up driving several hours to gigs. Last night I had a gig at a casino that was only 90 minutes away, but quickly ended up being a 3 hour drive due to unusually bad traffic for the time of the day that I was travelling. I always give myself plenty of time … Continue reading “Advice from Billy McComb”

This CD set is amazing, there are three CD’s and every few minutes there’s great advice. One of the things that Billy McComb talks about is the advice that is giving to magicians to have a “flash” opening. A quick, visual trick you can do right off the bat to establish yourself as a magician. Billy doesn’t agree with this.

Billy thinks you need to establish YOU first and that he starts his show with a monologue. He bases this on the theory that if they like you, they’ll like your magic. I agree with this theory.

Last night at the casino I started started my show with jokes that I normally do elsewhere in the show and front loaded my show with jokes. My opening was just a series of jokes about me and my life. The audience was very receptive to that and I’m glad I made the change!

Ten Card Deal…

I’m very luck that have places to “work out” routines, not a lot of magicians have that. Personally I prefer to work out stuff in a real show over an open mic. With an open mic typcially the audience isn’t invested in the show like they would normally be in a show that they paid a ticket to see.

Last night I hosted a show and as host, not the feature or headline act, I can play a bit more with new stuff. Currently I’m working on a stage version of the 10 Card Poker Deal. It ended well, but was a hot mess up until the ending.

In my stage poker deal, it uses jumbo cards and ends with a prediction. Somehow I wasn’t paying attention and ended up having the wrong prediction after the first deal. Luckily I know a lot of poker deal variations and was able to do a second deal and end up with the prediction that matched the one I had on the table.

This is where it’s important to know more than just the routine you do. Whenever possible I try to have a deeper knowledge of the concept or the trick. Knowing more that just what’s required for the routine bailed me out of the situation last night.

Mentalism’s Biggest Challenge…

Mentalism is huge right now, unfortunately most mentalism isn’t huge. That’s the biggest challenge with mentalism, isn’t making it interesting. The biggest challenge is making it play big!

I think that’s why there are certain plots that are popular, like a chair test. A chair test uses 4 people, large props and can easily be seen from a distance. Where something like a lottery prediction is good if you have video projection, it won’t play nearly as well without projection.

Doing things like having someone roll a die is very small, and even if you use a two foot die, most of the audience cannot see the top side. Having something like a word picked from a magazine is small. This is why I think most mentalism is basically a close up trick that is performed for one person while a group watches. Where with a magic trick like the egg bag, we still see it happen, the part that the person does on stage is fairly “mechanical”. Even a card trick, we all know the card if they show it to the audience. But remembering a word, that’s something only one person knows.

I’ve been working on a trick that’s normally a close up trick, but trying to make it play big. I think I’m onto something….more later…

No Bad Ideas…

One of the things I try to do is act on most of my ideas. No matter how bad, impractical, or not my style it is. Just working them out is a good exercise for my brain. Most of these ideas will never make it into my show. Here’s an idea I’ve had in my … Continue reading “No Bad Ideas…”

Here’s an idea I’ve had in my head for a little while:

I’ve come up with several methods for it, all of which are very impractical. This one is probably the most usable version of the trick.

The downfall is that the trick isn’t how unpractical the method is, it’s that it’s a small trick. Visually it’s hard to see, and it’s got a very specific spot in a show that at can be. This trick has to be the opening of a card set, or when you introduce an additional deck of cards into a card set.

I’m glad I worked through the methods and got to work out my creativity muscles.