magic show – Page 39 – MagicShow.Tips

Old Style Magic…

I’m a huge supporter of magic clubs. They are very useful for learning magic, as well and giving a sense of community. I made a couple of comments about a few things being an “older style of magic“, unfortunately I don’t recall the specific things I referred to. We also had someone new to magic … Continue reading “Old Style Magic…”

I’m a huge supporter of magic clubs. They are very useful for learning magic, as well and giving a sense of community. I made a couple of comments about a few things being an “older style of magic“, unfortunately I don’t recall the specific things I referred to. We also had someone new to magic at the magic club and they asked what I meant by “older style of magic“.

Like anything people change the way they do things and there are trends that come and go. An example of this is card tricks. More modern card tricks have less work that is tabled, however that’s changing due to the popularity of close up acts for TV. Modern card tricks also tend to have a lot less procedure and higher payoffs than the card tricks in Tarbell.

Stylistically what people are doing is more in your face than it was 20 years ago. I’m not saying that it’s good or bad, but different. Being aware of the styles and trends will keep your magic feeling up to date and fresh.

Character Mash Up…

Right now I’m reading the book Be More Funny by Christoper T. Magician. When it arrived, I was amazed at how thick of a book it is, most comedy magic books aren’t nearly this heavy. Currently I’m about a hundred pages into it and am liking it! One of the things he says in the … Continue reading “Character Mash Up…”

One of the things he says in the beginning is to find a character, you take two things and put them together. Essentially it’s magician plus something else, so basically a charcater mash up. Once you have that angle everything else starts to get easier.

This got me thinking a little bit about character and one thing that has grown in my performing persona is travelling. I talk a lot more about travelling, so what if my performing character was magician PLUS travel show host? I already talk about many of my adventures in my preshow, and it’s part of the hook in many of my routines, so why not dig deeper?

Travel is something I’m personally very passionate about…I love finding strange things in off the beaten path places. For example a couple weeks ago I was performing in Menlo, WA, and that town has a pioneer buried there under very interesting circumstances. That person is Willie Keil, also known as the “Pickled Pioneer“. Essentially his body was moved cross country in a coffin filled with wiskey to preserve it.

When I travel for shows, I always find things like this and am surprised at how many locals are unaware of it. In my shows try to write little jokes about them. After I told the story about Willie, the joke went:

“Do you know what they call a modern day person that crosses the country full of whiskey? A Delta Airline Pilot!”

It’s great that this book made me realize that this is something that my character on stage has grown into, and I’m going to explore it a little bit more and start seeing what turns up!

Stuck in 1990…

I think that a lot of the way that illusions are presented by magicians are stuck in the 1990’s. The magician’s assistant isn’t much more than a prop and not a personality. Yes, there are assistants that are personalities, however most of the ones that I see are simply someone that’s pretty and willing to … Continue reading “Stuck in 1990…”

I think that a lot of the way that illusions are presented by magicians are stuck in the 1990’s. The magician’s assistant isn’t much more than a prop and not a personality. Yes, there are assistants that are personalities, however most of the ones that I see are simply someone that’s pretty and willing to fit into the box.

Recently I saw a magic show where the illusionist had three assistants. Only one had a personality, and it was pretty limited based on what I saw, however they were an act within the show and not the whole show, so she may have had a bigger role. The other two were simply stagehands with fake eyelashes and gowns.

This is where I think magic is stuck 20+ years in the past. The magician is the dominate one over everyone else on the stage, and not everyone is equal. Why not have a female assistant that looks like the theater’s stage crew, but has dialogue with the performer? Do they have to wear a bikini? I think we’ve grown past the magic show having to have “sex appeal” for people to watch. People watch all sorts of theatrical shows without scantily clad ladies…why not a magic show?

Yesterday there was a folk duo at the fair I’m performing at, and we are on the same stage. In between shows, the lady commented that she likes how I ” randomly make fun of people“. I had to correct her, because that’s not what I do. Yes, I do make fun of people, but … Continue reading “”

Yesterday there was a folk duo at the fair I’m performing at, and we are on the same stage. In between shows, the lady commented that she likes how I ” randomly make fun of people“. I had to correct her, because that’s not what I do. Yes, I do make fun of people, but it’s not random.

I make fun of peoples actions, never on how they look or what they wear, and never out of the blue. There is always some choice that the person has made that will cause me to comment. It could be a teen texting in the audience, or whatever, but there’s always an action that causes it.

Currently our society really looks down on bullying, and randomly picking on people in a Don Rickles sort of way is a great way to alienate yourself from your audience.

Here’s an example of what I don’t do. Recently I saw the Lance Burton and Friends tour and Fielding West does a bit where he scares someone from the audience by asking them to touch something, then making a sudden loud noise and startling them. In my mind that’s an old school thing, that I think works with his character, but not some much with younger people. That sort of thing is considered inappropriate by most modern performers.

What I’m trying to convey is that it’s OK to comment and play, but not okay to bully.

Being In the Moment at Dinner…

Last night, I had dinner with a musical comedy act named Joe Stoddard. Joe plays guitar and sings original and parody songs. One thing that Joe does really well, is being in the moment and looking like he’s having fun. This is something I used to be really good at. And I’ve been struggling with lately.

I think I’ve written about this before, but trying to be present in the show, not just hopping joke joke is something I’m trying to be very conscious about. This year I’m doing pretty good at it.

I have a routine early in the show that lets me play with the audience. And that’s great and really helps out with all of that. One of the things Joe and I talked about last night was how he stays in the moment. He says he always tries to be aware of things happening in the audience, so he can comment on it, and work it out into the show where he calls attention to it. That’s something I’ve been doing a lot lately is looking for opportunities to bring up real things that are happening. I had a kid yesterday in the show who was chewing gum, and I’m pointed out that he was chewing gum, and the kid wouldn’t stop laughing.

It was a very real moment and he started offering people gum. Then someone else is pretending to chew gum but they didn’t have gum. It was a great, real moment that I expanded upon, because I noticed it was there and got a lot of mileage out of it. So being present in the show is something that is very, very important.

It’s The Little Things…

There are some tricks that I like, but never work for me. One of these tricks is the Slydini Silks. This is the trick where people tie two handkerchiefs together and they magically untie. It’s a trick that’s always fallen flat for me when I’ve done it. Recently I came across a video of Slydini … Continue reading “It’s The Little Things…”

There are some tricks that I like, but never work for me. One of these tricks is the Slydini Silks. This is the trick where people tie two handkerchiefs together and they magically untie. It’s a trick that’s always fallen flat for me when I’ve done it.

Recently I came across a video of Slydini doing it:

One thing I learned from watching the video was that he used a cup to put the handkerchiefs into. I wasn’t using the cup, so I added that the other day. I was amazed at the difference adding a prop that made no difference in the trick made! All of the sudden people were responding positively to the trick.

The small things make a difference. Sometimes the most insignificant addition or change can make at trick!

Well, That Worked…

One of the great things about performing at fairs is that you have a lot chances to work on new material. A couple of days ago I mentioned an idea for quickly getting a borrowed dollar bill (you can read it here). I tried it at two of my three shows yesterday and it played a lot better than I thought it would.

Basically a kid draws a picture and it turns into a dollar bill, and I will borrow that dollar bill in the next trick of the show. Later the picture reappears in an impossible location.

Here’s what I learned yesterday. The first show I asked a kid to draw a picture and the girl drew a heart. As far as giving me material to work with, the heart didn’t give me much. The second show the kid drew a picture of me and this gave me a lot to work with! Today when doing the trick I’m going to ask the kid to draw a picture of me and I’ll make jokes about it.

With a drawing of ME it’s easier for me to make fun of the drawing without it feeling like I’m crapping on the kid, because I’ll be making fun of me. This is a huge distinction in how the audience could possibly form impressions of me.

How To Be a Good Guest…

Recently I was interviewed by The Variety Artist podcast and that interview comes out tomorrow! If you don’t listen to it, it’s got tons of tips from people way smarter than me. In my episode we talk about creating original material, and some fun stories from my life. One thing that’s important when being a … Continue reading “How To Be a Good Guest…”

One thing that’s important when being a guest on podcast, or at a TV spot is to plan what you are going to do. Don’t come in with and just “wing it”. One this. A few days before the show I wrote down things that I wanted to talk about and my responses to what I thought John would ask me. During the podcast I kept my notes nearby and referenced them during the podcast.

The key is having thought about what you’re going to say. This doesn’t guarantee you’ll talk about those things, but having thought about it makes you a stronger guest. The majority of things that I talk about on the podcast had a note of some sort written on a legal pad in my hotel room.

Preparation is 80% of the key of being a great guest!

Bonus Tricks…

A year or so ago I published a trick in Vanish Magazine that used a Sharpie Marker as a prediction. How it went was someone picked a card and drew picture on it. I then told them to look a the pen they are holding and it said, “you will draw a smiley face” which was exactly what they drew. This was playing the odds. I noticed that most people when asked to draw a pic on a card will draw a smiley face. If they don’t draw it I don’t tell them to look at the pen.

I call things like that bonus tricks. Tricks that when they happen are amazing, but don’t always happen.

In my close up card set I force the same card over and over again. Finally they get a different card. I top change it for a similar card. If the initial forced card was a 7 of Diamonds, the different card will be something like a 9 of Hearts. They remember the 9 of Hearts, and I top change it for the 7 of Diamonds and ask them to sign it. At this point one of two things will happen, they will either notice the card had changed or they won’t. If they don’t notice the change, then I get a bonus trick once they are done signing it!

The bonus trick is that I take the card back face down and top change it for the 9 of Hearts, which is what they think they signed and set it face down on the table. I do a pass to bring the signed 7 of Diamonds to the center of the deck. I ask them if they remember the card that they signed and they’ll say the 9 of Hearts. I then rub it on the table and show that their signature has disappeared. For the finale of the bonus trick I spread the deck and show that their signature is now on the 7 of Diamonds!

This is a really amazing trick and hits hard! Being on the lookout for bonus tricks in what you already do, you can do some real miracles!

You Gotta Change…

In the last few weeks Holland America Line has implemented a ban on using balloons on their ships. This isn’t just for decorations, but also for use in shows. Here’s what’s making the rounds on social media: It’s interesting what magicians have to say about it. Most are asking questions about latex products. These magicians … Continue reading “You Gotta Change…”

It’s interesting what magicians have to say about it. Most are asking questions about latex products. These magicians are idiots, clearly this is specifically balloons, and not just latex balloons, but all balloons (so this includes mylar).

I perform on Holland America Line and I use a balloon in my show. I got this notice a few weeks ago, and I’ve dropped the trick that uses the balloon from my show, not just for that line, but all shows.

Why all shows?

Simple, it will keep my show tight. My muscle memory isn’t going to start doing that bit, then I have to back track.

Keeping up with the times is important, whether it’s using preferred pronouns, or not using a balloon. It also forces you to grow as a performer. People who cannot innovate will be left behind, where people who can will rise.