magic trick – Page 11 – MagicShow.Tips

Fantastic Book!

One of the best books I’ve read about comedy magic (i’m still reading it) is Be More Funny by Christopher Barnes. This book is a solid book on techniques to create comedy magic, and probably the best that breaks it down into different types of comedy. His examples of the routines to illustrate the comedy … Continue reading “Fantastic Book!”

His examples of the routines to illustrate the comedy principles are great and all of the tricks are unique. He doesn’t just take a basic trick and make it funny, he builds a whole unique routine. He’s not just doing funny patter with Hippity Hop Rabbits, but creating an original ride to take the audience on in each trick.

While reading this book I came up with the idea of a card trick with crackers. The trick is coming along, it still has a way to go. I can’t think of the last time I read a magic book and ended up with a unique routine out of it. Honestly, I think this book is one of the best $50 you can spend on a magic book. I think that even if you aren’t a comedy magician you’ll learn something out of it because it teaches you how to create your own routines, not just make existing ones funnier!

Always Tweaking…

In my show yesterday I did the Object in Ball of Yarn with the fishing pole using a different switch than I had previously used. The switch worked, however I wasn’t 100% happy with it. I felt like it was a little too dirty. Sure the audience didn’t know, but I think it could be … Continue reading “Always Tweaking…”

In my show yesterday I did the Object in Ball of Yarn with the fishing pole using a different switch than I had previously used. The switch worked, however I wasn’t 100% happy with it. I felt like it was a little too dirty. Sure the audience didn’t know, but I think it could be cleaner.

The audience knows when something is not quite right. They may not know what happened, or even really consciously know that something isn’t right, but they can sense it. Like when you go into your case to grab something , but you are also doing something else secret and that grab takes a second longer than it should. The audience feels that. If you have too many of those moments, they’ll start to add up.

I think recognizing that you have moments that aren’t quite right and fixing separates the good acts from the just okay acts. It’s that little bit of care that that helps move your magic to the next level.

Audience Getting Ahead of You…

Sometimes in comedy the audience gets to the punchline before the comedian says it. When the audience gets ahead of in magic, it can really build a finish for the trick because they have time to process the trick. This shortens or eliminates the lag that happens after the Ta-Dah and before the applause.

The Object in Ball of Yarn that I’m working on right now, when the revelation happens, I think the audience already knows what’s in the ball of yarn. From watching the audience and the person onstage, when the paper is revealed tied to the end, the know it’s the drawing from earlier. Frequently the person will say, “it’s my drawing” before it’s untied from the end of the yarn and I have to prod them to unfold it. At that point we’re just confirming what they already know.

With the audience so far ahead of the trick, it can do a switch of the paper at a time where there’d be too much heat in other tricks. This opens up the technical side of the trick to using bigger paper, which will make it much more visible!

Another Idea Becomes Reality…

There are magic tricks that I’ve always been fascinated by and wanted to do in my show. Over the years some of these tricks have been in a version of my show and having done them, I don’t need to do them again. There are other tricks that I keep revisiting, trying to find a … Continue reading “Another Idea Becomes Reality…”

There are magic tricks that I’ve always been fascinated by and wanted to do in my show. Over the years some of these tricks have been in a version of my show and having done them, I don’t need to do them again. There are other tricks that I keep revisiting, trying to find a way to make them work for me. One of those tricks is Coin in Ball of Yarn.

The basic effect is that a borrowed or marked item disappears and reappears inside of a ball of yarn. There are a lot of ways to do this effect, and a lot of ways to present it. Usually the method dictates whether the ball of yarn can be shown before the trick has started or not, which will affect how the trick is presented.

Years ago I was working on an Object in Ball of Yarn and wanted a fishing pole for the person to be able to reel in the yarn. Unfortunately commercially made fishing pole reels aren’t designed to handle yarn. A fly fishing reel almost works, but they are too small to hold a meaningful quantity of yarn. I hand built a contraption on a vintage hand drill that reeled in yarn, but was super heavy, hard to work (for someone in the audience) and ugly as heck.

About a month ago I started working on a new version of Object in Ball of Yarn and a friend of mine suggested that I use a fishing pole. I told him that they don’t work for yarn. He suggested I make one using old movie film reels. Then it hit me, I have a 3D Printer, why not just print it out and it will be exactly how I want it to be. Here’s what I printed out yesterday:

It finished printing out last night and I tried it out this morning and I’m happy to report it works great! The nice thing is that the fishing pole is made from a “travel fishing pole”, so it collapses and easily fits in my luggage. Another prop that I have for this trick is bowl to hold the yarn, and this bowl has a fitting on it to screw into a mic stand. Between the fishing pole that collapses and not having to travel with a stand for the bowl, this is becoming a pack medium, play big routine!

Feedback…

Marketing a magic trick is something that’s a long road, if you want it to have staying power. It’s a short road if you are just doing a money grab. It seems that a lot of what’s put out is simply to get an idea onto the market before someone else does, and it’s not a finished idea. Yes, there are things that are well thought out and have been used “in the trenches” for read audiences, but somehow those seem few and far between.

Right now I’m working on a project that’s a utility prop and I got it working for me and how I work. Then I sent some out to people who actually do the trick and apparently I’m the only one who used the trick the way that I do! Getting feedback from people while a huge pain in the butt, as I’ve had to do several major redesigns, will make this something that has much more staying power than in it’s original “final” form.

One of the things about how this project has evolved is something fairly simple has gotten a lot more complex to build. The nice thing about it being less simple, is that it’ll be harder to rip off by other people and there are a lot of small details in it now that really make it more unique than in its original form and a much more well thought out device.

Unusual Props…

I’m still reading the fantastic book Be More Funny by Christopher Barnes. One of the things he writes about is using an odd prop on place of a normal one. His example uses sliced cheese in place of cards for a card trick. His routine is great and really well thought out. It got me thinking of a … Continue reading “Unusual Props…”

It got me thinking of a trick that could be done with something unusual. How about using a cracker in place of the coin for coin in ball of yarn? They’d sign the cracker. Then you do the old gag where you do a false transfer and reach into your pocket for magic dust to sprinkle over your hand. The dust is the smashed cracker. This is played for laughs. Then later the signed cracker reappears in the ball of yarn, or impossible location.

I like the idea of this trick because the cracker is destroyed in a gag and people will forget about it. When it reappears, hopefully it will actually be a surprise.

Another idea would be to openly smach and restore it, then eat it before the signature verification as a gag.

Building a Better Mouse Trap…

One of my current projects is a utility device for magic. I had a version that worked for me, then I sent out some to other magicians and am learning that not everyone works like I work. That means that I need tweaking the design further than how I’d do it.

That led me to a challenge this week. I hit a roadblock that I didn’t think I’d be able to overcome. I kept thinking about it, and it hit me yesterday while driving, “a mouse trap”! I needed a spring, and the spring in a mousetrap was almost exactly what I needed.

I bought a mousetrap took it apart and it worked perfectly! The next challenge was figuring out how to integrate that spring into the prop. I sat down at the computer and this is what I came up with:

The picture above was used in the first version of the big redesign. In less than 18 hours I’m on design number four and it’s all little things I’m tweaking to make it more efficient and elegant! We’ll see what today has in store for redesigning…

Great Effect for a Bad Trick…

Right now I’m a couple days deep into over a week off, no shows until next Wednesday! While enjoying my time off, I came across a video of Doc Docherty‘s routine for the Gozinta Boxes. The Gozinta Boxes were created by Lubor Fielder and the effect is a red box fits inside a black box, … Continue reading “Great Effect for a Bad Trick…”

Right now I’m a couple days deep into over a week off, no shows until next Wednesday! While enjoying my time off, I came across a video of Doc Docherty‘s routine for the Gozinta Boxes. The Gozinta Boxes were created by Lubor Fielder and the effect is a red box fits inside a black box, then the black box fits inside the red box.

Here’s a video of David Ginn doing the Gozinta Box:

What I don’t like about the trick in it’s purest form, is that it’s more of a puzzle than a magic trick and really lacks a magic moment. Then I think Tenyo put out ParaBox which had the production of sponge balls, which I think took the trick from a puzzle to a magical puzzle!

Here’s Paul Daniels doing Parabox:

Comparing the Parabox to the Gozinta Box, I feel it’s a huge leap. The thing that’s lacking with the Parabox is producing sponge balls isn’t a huge production. You are making something that can be squished down appear. A sponge ball is better than no production, but something solid would be much better. Let’s get back to Doc Docherty, and his version called In Through the Outbox, which you can watch below:

The productions of the solid pieces of metal are great and takes the routine to an impossible level. I think it’s a great addition to the trick and really cool! One thing that I’d change with it is the pacing of the productions and do them one at a time. I think it’s be stronger to produce one block get the reaction, prove it’s solid and then produce the second one. Once you’ve established what the first one is, you don’t need to prove the second one is solid. However as is I think it’s a great magic trick.

If my roving consisted of more than an deck of cards, a few coins and the shell game, this is a trick that I’d do!

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.

Slow It Down…

One of the things that I’ve been trying to do lately is slow down a lot more. This is something that I’ve struggled with my whole life, however in the last few years I’ve gotten a lot better at slowing down. This is something that makes my show better and I know it, but still struggle with it.

This summer letting things marinade, or waiting for the laugh to start dying off before I keep talking is making noticable differences in my show. It make what I’m doing or saying feel much more real, and in the moment when it’s scripted stuff. Rushing to get to the next punchline makes it feel more scripted.

I’m a big fan of letting the show breathe, and it’s something that physical comedians do all of the time. They let the audience get caught up with them, instead of constantly being ahead of the audience. Once you get too far ahead of them, it’s hard for them to catch up.