Tag: magic

Be Your Worst Critic!

The first magic book I ever got was The Amateur Magician’s Handbook written by Henry Hay. The title is a little bit misleading as this really isn’t a good book for beginners. This book teaches you some pretty hard stuff . It also teaches some pretty old techniques that aren’t really used anymore. Things like … Continue reading “Be Your Worst Critic!”

The first magic book I ever got was The Amateur Magician’s Handbook written by Henry Hay. The title is a little bit misleading as this really isn’t a good book for beginners. This book teaches you some pretty hard stuff .


It also teaches some pretty old techniques that aren’t really used anymore. Things like back palming multiple coins, or using edge grip to produce multiple coins. It’s not that these are bad techniques it’s just that they aren’t modern.


One of the chapters in later editions of this book is on using video to practice. I was talking to a magician friend and he mentioned one of his mentors told him he was practicing in the mirror too much. He needed to not watch himself practice. He learned to work to himself in the mirror, but he needed to be able to do without seeing himself.


That’s where video comes in, you can see what you are doing, but not in real time. Mirror work has a time, but watching and taking notes in video is a helpful step. I’m working on something new and it looks great in the mirror. Take me away from the mirror and my right arm is stiff, and unnatural. The problem was in the mirror I’m reacting to what I’m seeing and making my right arm natural. Without the mirror, I wasn’t getting the feedback, and the result was a unnatural movement.


TLDR: step away from the mirror and watch yourself practice on video.

Do It Backwards!

When I was about 15 years old, I saw John Carney lecture in Minneapolis. One of the things he talked about was doing the pass. He said the best way to create a new pass was to do an existing one backwards. For example a Herman Pass is essentially a Classic Pass Backwards. Occasionally when … Continue reading “Do It Backwards!”

When I was about 15 years old, I saw John Carney lecture in Minneapolis. One of the things he talked about was doing the pass. He said the best way to create a new pass was to do an existing one backwards. For example a Herman Pass is essentially a Classic Pass Backwards.



Occasionally when I’m jamming with magicians I’ll start to play with a move or an idea backwards and it will yield interesting results. Recently I was talking to a mentalist and the subject of spoon bending came up. I asked him if anyone had done it backwards. What I mean by that is bending the spoon towards the bowl, instead of away from it.


He mentioned that a lot of the optical illusion parts of bends may not work. He then demonstrated the spoon bends that he does, and he was right about them not working with the bend going the opposite direction. However, this playing around with flipping the bend backwards led me to come up with what I think is a new spoon bend!

TLDR: Try doing it backwards!

Always Be Amazing…

Last year at the Southern Sideshow Hootenanny in New Orleans, I saw legendary showman Aye Jaye speak. Aye Jaye has been around circuses and carnivals his whole life and is a fun guy to hang around! He always has a trick on him, and he’s always ready to do it. He has a name for … Continue reading “Always Be Amazing…”

Last year at the Southern Sideshow Hootenanny in New Orleans, I saw legendary showman Aye Jaye speak. Aye Jaye has been around circuses and carnivals his whole life and is a fun guy to hang around!


He always has a trick on him, and he’s always ready to do it. He has a name for this, which I don’t remember, but it’s essentially a “gift” he gives people. For the longest time I hated the idea of always having a trick on me. I used to think there was no good reason for it, besides “dancing” like a trained monkey.


As I’ve gotten older, I have had many doors open and opportunities present themselves simple because I could do a magic trick. I don’t force magic tricks on people, but having something you can do is frequently beneficial!


A good example of this was I as having a drink with some performers after a trade show. We ended up chatting with a group that was in a position to book a couple of us performers. Of the magicians I was the only one that could do a trick on the spot. I did my three trick set that lives in my wallet.


Guess what?


I got the gig. I’m not saying that to brag, but when you are in a formal networking situation you 100% should have a trick ready to go. This goes for informal networking, which is pretty much all day, every day.


Think about it, let’s say you randomly meet someone and they learn you are a magician and they mention they need a magician for an event. What do you think will leave a bigger impression, if you hand them your card, or do a trick, then hand them your card?

TLDR: Always be ready to do a magic trick

Fantastic Information!

If you know me, you know I’m a huge fan of comedy magician Nick Lewin. He was one of the magicians that I saw as a teenager and his style shaped how I perform. He’s someone that had pretty much done it all as a magician. Recently he was on the The Variety Artist Podcast … Continue reading “Fantastic Information!”

If you know me, you know I’m a huge fan of comedy magician Nick Lewin. He was one of the magicians that I saw as a teenager and his style shaped how I perform. He’s someone that had pretty much done it all as a magician.

Recently he was on the The Variety Artist Podcast and it’s a great interview!

He gives a ton of great advice on all aspects of your show. One of the things that I really liked is he mentioned that comedians and comedy magicians have a different definition of what performing “comedy” means.



Most comedy magicians thing performing comedy in a comedy club means being dirty. That’s couldn’t be further from the truth. Performing comedy in a comedy club should mean you have original material. Jokes that move a plot forward. Yes, you can have limited success doing store bought tricks, but at some point to really progress you need to write material!


TLDR: Listen to Nick Lewin’s interveiw

Collecting Magic…

Do you collect magic? Many magicians are hoarders and have boxes of stuff that they buy and almost immediately gets put away. Personally I actively try to not have too much magic kicking around. This is partially because of space, and partially because when I die, it simply becomes garbage. I do collect things, however … Continue reading “Collecting Magic…”

Do you collect magic? Many magicians are hoarders and have boxes of stuff that they buy and almost immediately gets put away. Personally I actively try to not have too much magic kicking around. This is partially because of space, and partially because when I die, it simply becomes garbage.


I do collect things, however it’s a little different than “hoarding” as it’s fairly specific. I collect three shell game sets. Here’s the current collection:

You’ll notice in the bottom center there is a space with no shells. That’s the shell game set that use when I’m out performing. I use Leo Smester’s shell game, and I highly recommend it. The only thing I changed was I don’t use his peas, I use the Perfect Pea made by School For Scoundrels.



Personally I prefer the “bowl” type sets. I had been doing the shells for a little while and found some little bowls in Chinatown when I was a teenager and started doing the shell game with them. Those bowls broke a long time ago, however ever since then I’ve preferred the bowl style.



Suspension of Disbelief…

Performing magic requires the audience stop believing what they know. A magic show is a world where anything can happen…but there are limits. If they can see the ball palmed in your hand, you break that suspension. If an effect lasts too long and give them time to leave the magical world and into an … Continue reading “Suspension of Disbelief…”

Performing magic requires the audience stop believing what they know. A magic show is a world where anything can happen…but there are limits. If they can see the ball palmed in your hand, you break that suspension. If an effect lasts too long and give them time to leave the magical world and into an analytical world, you’ve also lost the suspension of disbelief.


Here’s an example, let’s say you are floating a lady and she just levitates for a minute. Just static in the air without moving, and nothing else happens. The audience gets over the shock of them floating and no shifts to why is she floating mode. Odds are within the remaining 40 seconds they’ll figure it out. That’s why you add things like motion. She floats up or around you. You pass a hoop over her. These things keep your mind from becoming bored and stop suspending disbelief.


The suspension of disbelief goes beyond magic, it goes into puppetry, physical comedy, story telling, and even juggling. The audience doesn’t really believe it’s the juggler’s first time doing a trick, or that you and the puppet are having a spontaneous conversation. You need to keep adding things to prolong the suspension of disbelief, like the juggler dropping on his first attempt.


With your magic, how are you keeping people’s minds in your world?

Sometimes You Need To Take the Long Road…

Magicians love to take short cuts and be lazy. Here’s an example, I’m doing a trick where loose rubber bands turn into a rubber band ball. The easy way would simply be to do a shuttle pass during a hand to hand transfer. However I had some conditions that I wanted for the trick: 1: The … Continue reading “Sometimes You Need To Take the Long Road…”

Magicians love to take short cuts and be lazy. Here’s an example, I’m doing a trick where loose rubber bands turn into a rubber band ball. The easy way would simply be to do a shuttle pass during a hand to hand transfer. However I had some conditions that I wanted for the trick:


1: The change had to feel like it was a visual change
2: I needed to end with my hands empty
3: The trick needed to be able to happen at anytime in my show
4: The ball had to be able to bounce


The first and second conditions made something simple like a shuttle pass not the solution for me.


Ending clean made things a bit more complicated. An early idea was to use a gimmicked rubber band ball that was similar to a Silk to Ball Gimmick. However making one that could bounce and not look strange is something I have yet to figure out.


Here’s what I ended up coming up with:



What I ended up doing from a “method” standpoint was a lot more complicated than a shuttle pass, but I think it fulfilled my artistic vision better than a shuttle pass would have.


P.S. The method for this will be in an upcoming issue of Vanish Magazine

Not Everything Is Easy…

Every time I hear magicians complain that tricks are too hard, it drives me nuts. Why wouldn’t you try to learn something difficult? If you are an artist, you should be pushing yourself to learn to do difficult techniques. Here’s what Kennedy thinks about it: A great example is I’ve been working on a false … Continue reading “Not Everything Is Easy…”

Every time I hear magicians complain that tricks are too hard, it drives me nuts. Why wouldn’t you try to learn something difficult? If you are an artist, you should be pushing yourself to learn to do difficult techniques.


Here’s what Kennedy thinks about it:



A great example is I’ve been working on a false shuffle for about a year now. It’s not quite right, and I’m still practicing it. Should I give up?


No, and here’s why: It’s the best looking false shuffle I have ever seen. Sure I could stick to something that looks good enough, and that’s fine, but why wouldn’t I go all the way, make my art the best it can be? I do it because that’s what separates me from 80% of other magicians, and I do it because I take pride in my work.


Go out and learn to do something difficult!

Do It Right!

Over the weekend I got to watch many performers showcase their acts to a room full of people who book entertainment. I got to watch one magician, who I’ve known for years and he did everything right when doing the cups and balls on stage! Here’s the problem with the cups and balls, it’s not … Continue reading “Do It Right!”

Over the weekend I got to watch many performers showcase their acts to a room full of people who book entertainment. I got to watch one magician, who I’ve known for years and he did everything right when doing the cups and balls on stage!


Here’s the problem with the cups and balls, it’s not a stage trick. It’s a close up trick that takes up a lot of space. This makes a lot of performers think they can do it on a stage. Unfortunately, you cannot just put it on stage and have it work for 300 people without solving a couple of problems.


The first problem is the table top. If you are on a raised stage, the audience’s vision of the table top can be blocked because they have to look up at this. Years ago when I used to do the cups and balls in my show, I solved this by having my table sit at an angle, this is the same solution that I saw over the weekend. As a bonus it puts motion into the balls when you lift the cups and they roll, making the trick play a little bit larger.


The second problem with doing cups on stage is the balls most magicians use are very small, and usually a dull color. The ones with the crocheted covers don’t reflect light, this makes them appear smaller onstage. If they were glossy, they’d appear slightly larger as they reflect light. The magician I saw used glossy, bright red balls that were very big, at least an inch in diameter. You could see them from the back of the large banquet hall.


Take a look at your show, how can you make it play bigger, especially if you are moving from close up to stage.

When a Magic Trick Stops Becoming a Magic Trick…

It always cracks me up when magicians complain about a magic trick becoming too mainstream. Certain magic tricks become “pitch” items for magic shops. They become pitch items for several reasons, the mains ones being that they are visual and easy to do. Most of the tricks pitched magic shops are things like Svengali Decks or Scotch … Continue reading “When a Magic Trick Stops Becoming a Magic Trick…”

It always cracks me up when magicians complain about a magic trick becoming too mainstream. Certain magic tricks become “pitch” items for magic shops. They become pitch items for several reasons, the mains ones being that they are visual and easy to do.


Most of the tricks pitched magic shops are things like Svengali Decks or Scotch and Soda, both easy tricks and fairly visual when done correctly. Then there are tricks that are just visual, but have a high profit margin, like the UFO Floating Card. This is not easy to do, but the profit margin is soo high, even if you get a few returns it’s no big deal.


Then there are tricks like D’lites, which are visual, and easy to do. They took off, and there were pitch carts in malls selling them. They’re a great trick…but not longer a great magic trick. They’ve become just another toy, here’s a version being sold for a few bucks:


Every kid has seen these, and guess what, so have parents. If you have a D’lite in your show and aren’t using it in some very unusual way, you are just showing your audience a toy. Essentially you are up there playing with a GI JOE.


This is not magic.


TLDR: Be better than every 8 year old in your audience and drop your D’lite routine.