magician – MagicShow.Tips

Why You Should Visit Your Magic Club

Whenever I travel, if the local magic club is meeting, I do my best to swing by and visit. Last week, I was in the area when the Northwest Ring of Fire magic club had their meeting. I think the last time I visited this magic club was about three years ago.

Magic clubs are a great way to speed up learning magic, because you can ask questions, get answers, and see things that you can’t over the internet.

When I was a kid getting seriously into magic, the local magic club was a HUGE resource for me and really helped me grow, being able to see things performed with my own eyes! It helped me learn what styles of performing magic I liked and didn’t like. That’s something that’s hard to do if you want to do a long form, in person show by just watching internet videos.

Go out and visit your local magic club!

-Louie

Easy Magic Trick Prop Management

One of the things that I think is interesting is how different magicians keep their props in their prop cases. I’m not referring to how they are in the case when set for the show, but for traveling in between shows.

Years ago, I heard about how Billy McComb had a different Ziploc bag for each routine.

A Better System for Storing Magic Tricks

I’ve used Ziploc bags, but recently found these hard sided cases. I think they’re sold as make up cases.

I bought them as a prop for a routine idea that I have, but realized the other day that they’d be perfect for travelling with props. They’ll protect the props a little bit, but I can see into them, so I know exactly what’s in each case.

I just did my first week with these, and I’m really liking them. The next thing will be to make a list of what goes into each box and write it on the box.

Here’s another example prop management from a vintage magic box that I found!

I’m a big fan of these cases and they’re cheap!

-Louie

The Nest of Envelopes – More Work!!

I’m wrapping up two weeks of performing at the San Diego County Fair and I’m learning a lot about the Nest of Envelopes routine. This is a trick that I started working on a little bit ago. It started as an routine idea as a running gag in the show, with not specific trick attached to it.

You can read about it’s journey in these posts:
https://www.magicshow.tips/magic-show-tips/magic-show-running-gag/

https://www.magicshow.tips/magic-show-tips/the-nest-of-envelopes-trick/

https://www.magicshow.tips/magic-show-tips/nest-of-envelopes-as-a-running-gag/

https://www.magicshow.tips/uncategorized/the-nest-of-envelopes-update/

https://www.magicshow.tips/magic-show-tips/ditching-the-invisible-deck/

https://www.magicshow.tips/magic-show-tips/nest-of-envelopes-single-spot/

I think I’ve finally figured out what I don’t like about the routine, and that’s the use of physical props aside from the envelopes. The challenge is coming up with a method that allows me to do that in a manner that I like.

One of the bonuses of trying different methods is that each has things that are positive and could be used in different situations. For example, the method that I was using for most of the two week run of shows I did in San Diego would be great if I were in a situation where access to the audience was challenging. Like stairs to the stage that are behind the stage.

The current method I’m really liking because it’s visually cleaner, it just uses the envelopes, and I like that! I think an important thing to do when creating magic is to try your best not to settle for what just works if it doesn’t align with your vision. Keep trying new things!

-Louie

Library Magic Show Props

We’re at the end of the summer and the Summer Reading Library shows are done. Here’s look at the props that I have on my person during the non-themed library magic show:

And here are the props in my prop bin:

This show had a pretty simple set up, it took about 15 mins to set and strike the show. The non-themed show had elements of other shows that I do, so it was like a “greatest hits” and was fun to do!

-Louie

The Magic Garage!

Whenever I’m in the San Francisco area, I pop by the Magic Garage! It’s a great hangout with a bunch of magicians.

While I was there I did my Nest of Envelopes trick that I’m working on and got some great feedback!

Having a room full of magicians to give you ideas, or tell you that something doesn’t look right, is worth its weight in gold!

Things like this or magic clubs are great ways to get feedback on things you’re working on. I’m a huge fan of magic clubs, and I think everyone should go to them. They helped me out a lot when I was younger!

-Louie

Magic Poster Museum in Everett, WA

There’s a restaurant in Everett, WA that has a magic poster mini museum! Here’s a quick tour of it at Shawn O’Donnells!

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A post shared by Louie Foxx | Comedy Magician (@louiefoxx)

Here’s a close up of a few of the pics:

If you’re in the Everett, WA area, swing by and check it out! Also, Shawn (the owner) is a magician, so you’re supporting magic!

-Louie

Close Up Pads as a Disposable Item

Close up pads used to last me for years, now not so much. The difference is that I use them frequently for roving magic, not just practicing at home. That means they have to look clean or at least not gross.

Between replacing these for my close up/roving magic and my stage magic show’s consumables, my show generates a lot of trash. I wish it was less, but that’s how it is.

I’m really liking the economy close up pads. They’re not the best, but for an item that I replace sometimes after a single gig, I’m willing to compromise for the price. Also they’re slightly lighter than the nice close up magic pads, so that’s handy if I’m flying to a gig.

If you use a close up pad in your work, really look at it closely and see how clean it is. Sometimes comparing it next to a new one will show you how beat up your old one really is!

-Louie

Strait Jacket Escape Routine

I was driving home the other day, and I was thinking about the strait jacket escape. In the past I’ve done the Strait Jacket Escape with 50 Feet of Chain. Many routines are done against a clock but I like the idea of doing it against someone else doing something (completing a task). It sets up a head to head sort of challenge. My buddies Scotty Walsh and Steve The Pretty Good both did that in their routines.

The routine I was thinking about would be:

There’s a box or container of some sort that has a lock in it.
$100 is put into the container and locked.
The key is mixed with other non-working keys.
I’m put into the strait jacket.
I have to get out before someone from the audience find the correct key and opens the box.
I get out when there it one key left.
The final key that they didn’t try opens the box, and I get to keep the $100
I offer them a 2nd place prize, which is another box with a lock.
They pick any key they already tried and it opens that box, inside is $5 that they can keep!

I think it reads a bit more convoluted than it flows, or how I think it will flow.

I need to go out and try it out and start figuring out if it works or doesn’t.

-Louie
PS: There’s an essay in one of my older lecture notes about how I created my comedy escape The Straight Suit.

Chopped Weed Nugs

Yesterday I wrote a post about doing a Chop Cup with a film can and “weed nugs”. What I was using for fake weed looked really green. It’s probably been over two decades since I’ve seen what they look like in real life, so I had to consult a friend of mine who partakes in that marijuana. He agreed and sent me some pictures of what they should look like.

The one on the right is the bright green one, and the one on the left is one after I gave it a dusting of a couple of colors of paint.

I think the one on the left looks way better, not perfect, but good enough to sell the premise to an audience. Things like getting the color of a nugget of weed is one of the challenges of magic prop building that magicians don’t normally think about. I don’t want the chopped weed nugs to look so bad that it takes people mentally out of the presentation hook of the routine.

I’m not sure where I’ll ever do this routine. I have an idea for the presentation that I think works. I personally don’t smoke marijuana, and am not involved in that culture. When performing, my persona is more clean cut, so pretending this is mine doesn’t work. I needed to come up with a routine that doesn’t feel fake. I’ll probably write a blog post about how I intend to present this sometime in the future.

-Louie

Weed Chop Cup

Since I released my Film Can Dice Force, I have a ton of film cans kicking around and have been playing on a chop cup with a film can and “weed nugs”.

I’m trying to work out the most efficient way to arrange everything for what I want to do:
1: The magnet is in the film can, and the weed nug has a shim
2: The film can has a shim, and a magnet is in the weed nug
3: The film can and nug both have a magnet

These props are kinda unique, as the fake weed nugs have really no weight to them. So it’s hard to build inertia to dislodge them. The little bit of weight that a traditional ball has really makes a huge difference in how hard you have to set down the film can.

These little challenges make prop building much harder than people think.

-Louie