magic show – Page 38 – MagicShow.Tips

Be Unusual…

One of the types of shows I really like performing in are variety shows. Where I’m an act working with a lot of other acts of all different skills. I’m very fortunate that in Seattle we have the Moisture Festival. This is a variety arts festival that runs for about a month and brings in … Continue reading “Be Unusual…”

Frequently I’m asked by performers to “get them into the festival” as an act. I tell them they have to get themselves into the festival, I can’t do it for them. What I mean by that is that they need to go out and put the work in on their act.

Any producer of a variety show doesn’t want to deal with duplicate material. If you do standard stuff in the standard way, it’s hard for a producer to put you in an show with another act of the same skill.

Once you start having something unique, or at least unusual now it’s much easier to get into better variety shows. A couple times a year I write out my set list and next to each routine I put a “C”, a “U”, or an “O”. Here’s what they mean:

C: Common – so the trick is a common trick. An example of this would be Linking Rings

U: Unusual – The trick is less common. An example of this would be a trick you found buried in a book no one remembers. Unusual tricks can become common, so this designation may change.

O: Original – The trick is an original routine. A good example of this would be my marshmallow card trick.

The long term goal with this is to have a show that is all U’s and O’s. How you get there is by knowing where the C’s are and trying to eliminate them.

Change It Up!!!

Today I’m working on a prop that I love, but is a pain to build. I build a new one every now and then as it can take a beating on the road. What I don’t like about building a new one is that for part of it I take something and alter it to do what I want it to do.

It’s a pain to take apart something that’s not designed to be taken apart. Then it hit me, why not just 3d print the part? I’m amazed at the results, I get a better functioning trick because the part is designed to do what I want it to do, not altered to do what I want it to do.

A nice side effect is that the trick looks better because I’m making the part the size I want it to be, not what it is on the shelf.

I guess what I’m saying, is every now and then you need to look at your props and instead of maintaining them how you always have, you need think about how you can make them better!

Clean Up Your Act…

The last couple of weeks I’ve not had much work as far as show go. This is a good thing, as I do hundreds of shows a year, it’s nice to have some down time. One thing I’ve been doing with my free time is that I’m giving my props some repairs and updates.

One of the things that I noticed was how dirty my handkerchiefs get. I use a yellow one in the show and it was filthy. It tried washing it, and that barely made a difference. I then went to my back up and it was dirty! A quick trip to the magic shop to pick up a couple yellow silk handkerchiefs and that really cleaned up the look of the show!

Take a look at your props, what’s dirty? What can you replace, or touch up? These things slowly wear down, and you don’t notice it until things get pretty gross.

Can’t Stop the Hustle, But Maybe You Should…

Oh man, so recently in an Facebook group for magicians someone posted a news report about them with a streaming TV deal. The problem with post it in a magicians group was mainly that it really served no purpose for that group. It was a “Look at how great I am” sort of post, but … Continue reading “Can’t Stop the Hustle, But Maybe You Should…”

Oh man, so recently in an Facebook group for magicians someone posted a news report about them with a streaming TV deal. The problem with post it in a magicians group was mainly that it really served no purpose for that group. It was a “Look at how great I am” sort of post, but more that, in my opinion it’s all smoke and no fire.

I’ll let you watch it and decide for yourself:

So, do you think it’s relevant in a magicians group? I personally don’t and it’s someone trying to inflate their ego and I’m not a fan.

Here’s the nuts and bolts of this. In my opinion he hired someone to do a news report, as there’s no news company’s logo on the video. So far that’s fine, it’s a promo video. Second the news stories is that he’s “shopping” a show to the major streaming sites, which really isn’t news, but still in some sort of promo that’s fine. Next he tagged all three streaming services on it, which is unusual. I’m not an expert in pitching TV shows, but I’ve heard that once you get to the actual pitch, usually things go on lock down so no one swipes your idea. Once it’s out there, someone with a higher profile, more money or connections can steal your idea and get it made.

The big one is that he’s saying he has almost 40K views, which I’m sure he does. This is what he’s selling hard, that he has 40K views in the post. However personally I’d guess he bought those views. Here’s why I think this, the post only has 70 likes/hearts/etc and 5 comments. His rate of engagement is insanely low for having 40K legit views. With my high school math the rate of engagement from the video is something like 0.0018%! That’s not a good rate.

Maybe in May 2019 when this is on Netflix I’ll be eating my words, and I hope I do.

How is this relevant to being a magician? Pretty simple, if we are supposed to be good at the art of deception, at least think about what you are doing. Look at it from all angles. Don’t just buy views, buy likes and comments. Now look at your tricks from all angles, what do you need to cover? Is there a bad angle to that palm? Can you fix it?

Make your magic better than just “good enough”!

Mic Technique…

Last night I went out and saw a mentalist perform, and one of the things that stood out to me was how much audio can affect a show. I guess what I mean is that audio problems can really affect the show in a negative way. When sound works correctly, you don’t notice it as an audience member, however when it fails it’s very obvious.

Let’s start with one of the things that I hate, and that’s starting a show by saying, “can you hear me?”. That’s the worst opening line ever. You should just start talking and the sound guy, or audience will let you know if that can’t hear you.

The next thing is to be aware of your mic. The mentalist last night wore lapel mic clipped to his shirt (not jacket) at right in the middle of his chest. It was much lower than most people would wear it on their jacket. During the show he kept reaching into his inner jacket pocket and rubbing his arm across it making a loud scratching noise. For people in the audience, this is not comfortable on the ears.

The moral of the story is if you are doing a real show, and charging real admission, then get a real mic and learn to use it. The audience will never notice this, and that’s a good thing!

Magicy Week!

This week has been a very magicy week for me. With going to see Michael Carbonaro, to my friend from Ireland, and tonight I’m going to see a mentalist named Eran Raven. One of the pieces of advice I tell magicians is to go out and see all the shows that you can see. Being … Continue reading “Magicy Week!”

Being exposed to what is out there really contributes to your growth as a performer. You will notice trends, then its up to you to either embrace the trend, or stay away from it. Either way you know what the herd of magicians is doing.

For example one of the big trends in magic right now is having a prediction reveal on a scroll that you unroll. It something that plays really big and is typically referenced during the show. Darren Brown, Penn and Teller, and tons of other magicians use this. Normally it’s used for a confabulation type routine.

Personally I’ve always liked the confabulation premise, but wanted mine to look different. Knowing the scroll reveal is popular, I looked for another way to do it. I ended up with doing an audio reveal from a recording. It’s got a different feel for the audience, so if they’ve seen someone do the scroll reveal, it’s a different trick!

Upgrade Your Show!

This morning I upgraded a prop that I’ve been using for years. Current technology allows me to make part of the gimmick smaller, lighter and slightly more durable. The prop was working just fine, so why upgrade it? Simple, by upgrading now when I’m not in a time crunch, like it broke while I’m on … Continue reading “Upgrade Your Show!”

This morning I upgraded a prop that I’ve been using for years. Current technology allows me to make part of the gimmick smaller, lighter and slightly more durable. The prop was working just fine, so why upgrade it?

Simple, by upgrading now when I’m not in a time crunch, like it broke while I’m on tour allows me to make sure I get it right. I’m making a lateral replacement, it’s an actual upgrade.

As a general rule, upgrading before replacement is required will get you better results. Upgrading along with proper maintenance of your props is essential to avoid them failing during your show.

Modern Manipulation Act

The other day I was taking a shower and it hit me that with the success of Shin Lim on America’s Got Talent the traditional “manipulation act has changed. It’s no longer split fans and billiard balls, it’s at a table, with a video camera and projection to a screen. The new stage manipulator won’t … Continue reading “Modern Manipulation Act”

The new stage manipulator won’t be loading up a jacket with doves, they’ll be loading up a table. I think this a step forward for magic. The last time I saw a manipulation act was on the Illusionists tour and he was good, but producing cards really felt dated. We’ve done this before, and the audience has seen it before.

While I personally don’t do a traditional stage manipulation act (I did do a manip act when I was younger), this still does affect me. Every magician needs to be aware of the changing times. If you choose to not keep up with the times, you need to be aware of that you aren’t.

Also being aware of the how magic is changing even if you choose to not change with it, keeps it in your head. From a creativity standpoint you may see something a year from now that will spark an idea for a modern manipulation act.

Michael Carbonaro LIVE

Last night I went out and saw Michael Carbonaro at the Moore Theater in Seattle. It was a great show, and I highly recommend checking it out. The show was a great showcase for his personality, and all of the tricks were solid! I’ve always said one of the things that takes you up a … Continue reading “Michael Carbonaro LIVE”

I’ve always said one of the things that takes you up a level as a performer is tightness. How you get from one thing to another, and Michael did it expertly. There were no slow spots in the show, or down time.

Eliminating downtime between tricks makes your show a show, and not a collection of acts. It’s not easy to come up with transitions that make sense, but the work is worth it!

Ripping Routine Part II

In yesterday’s post I got started with working on a routine for my version of the Split Deck trick. Right now we have the presentation hook for the trick and need to get into writing some jokes for the routine. There are several ways that I typically do this.

1. Write random jokes: This is basically just doing some research on the props and the skill and writing jokes about what turns up.

2. Punch up a basic script: This is where you write a narrative script saying what you have to say, then go back and write jokes to make it funny.

3. Improv it: For this you go out and just do the trick an see what comes up.

4. Workshop it: This is where you get together with a group and brainstorm ideas.

Usually I will use all four of the above methods. I don’t do them in any particular order, I probably should have a system that I follow every time, but I don’t.

One thing that is important for me early on in the process is just to go out and do the trick to see if there’s anything there. You’ll learn a lot by doing the trick once or twice without devoting a ton of time to writing. You may learn that your method doesn’t feel right, or people don’t give a crap about the trick. If you are lucky something major will present it self that will become an anchor for the routine.

Alright, so those are the methods for writing the routine. Tomorrow I’ll start the actual writing (hopefully).