When I was stage hosting, I noticed a lot of things that I do that I don’t know many people do. For example when I write the introductions for acts, I spell out hard to pronounce things phonetically.
I didn’t realize I did this until I had someone tell me I was spelling something wrong. I asked them what’s more important, me spelling it correctly, or me saying it correctly?
That’s a little handy trick for writing out introductions.
-Louie
When I was stage hosting a couple of weeks ago, one of the things that I was asked to do was a contest for the sponsor on the mainstage at the event. One day’s entertainment was geared towards a Spanish speaking audience, and I don’t really speak Spanish, but wanted to try.
I had one of the people on the catering staff who was from Mexico help me translate the beginning of my script.
That’s the opening of the script, but then I needed to figure out how to transition into English. So we wrote a little joke:
That was a great little transition joke, and the first joke I’ve written in another language.
The lady helping write it also helped me with my pronunciation. I think people really appreciate when you make at attempt to communicate with them in their native language.
It was fun to do, and I’m glad I tried!
-Louie
A couple of weeks ago I was doing some stage hosting. My job was to announce bands and do some time between the bands. One of the bands had a very difficult name Etaoin Shrdlu.
This is intentionally a difficult name, as it’s not someone’s name or something in another language, but and old version of placeholder text, like Lorem Ipsum. I wasn’t given a phonetic pronunciation by the band before time. I had to guess, and found several different ways to pronounce it online.
Here’s tip, if you want your name to be pronounced correctly, go over it with the MC before the show…especially if it’s an intentionally difficult name!
-Louie
Last week I was doing a stage hosting gig, and I’m amazed at how many acts don’t know the difference between an introduction and a bio. I was frequently handed introductions that were a half of page, or more!
Here’s an example of something I was handed to read:
I had to do some editing to the intro, and it was still a lot longer than it needed to be!
An introduction should be a few bullet points, the idea is to put a little bit of context into what people are about to see…not tell the whole story. You’re going to tell the full story onstage with whatever your act is.
A simple formula for writing an intro is three bullet points:
That is then followed by your name. It’s pretty simple. Sure there are reasons to do longer introductions, or more complex ones, however the majority of shows don’t need those.
Also giving tips on how to say uncommon names is super handy for the host/MC.
-Louie
Last week I performed in the Moisture Festival in Seattle and had a blast. One of the acts that I worked with was Paul Draper. I didn’t know a ton about him, I think we both did a virtual magic convention together a couple of year ago.
It was a blast seeing him, he’s got a lot of energy onstage and is very likable! Being likeable is 99% of the game!
One night Paul hosted the show I was in and he’s also a solid host, who kept the show moving. This is an important skill when the show has 9 acts plus the emcee!
If Paul is performing near you, check him out, you can learn a lot by watching him!
-Louie
PS I did interview Paul Draper for the Moisture Festival Podcast and you can listen to his episode here:
http://www.magicshow.tips/moisture-festival-podcast/the-moisture-festival-podcast-paul-draper/
Last week I was at an event an MC’d one of their shows. When I’m an MC, my goal is to keep the show moving and not do time myself…but to be memorable. This is different from the advice I frequently be hear which is, “an MC should be invisible.” I think the MC should be the host at the party, and you should know the host if you’re attending the party!
When I MC, I have an opening warm up bit, a few bits for emergencies, and notes, lots of notes. I have the introduction for the act and ideas for jokes based on watching video or my past experience with their act. Then during their act I will write jokes based on what I see.
As I use up a note or joke, I crumble it up and leave it on the table.
The reason I leave them on the table is sometimes I need to reference something I’ve written before. By leaving a messy table, it gives me access to everything I’ve written.
At the end of the show, I have a table of crumpled up papers. I really enjoy working as an MC, however it’s a lot of work compared to just being an act in the show.
I think the key is to not make the show about you, but at the same time it’s your show!
-Louie
Last week while performing at the Moisture Festival, I hosted one show. One of your jobs as MC is to read their announcements, which is a pretty long list that has to happen up front before you introduce the first act. The announcements are things like fire exit instructions.
During my MC spot, I took those on right away and did those the first thing out. It really fell flat, and I had to dig out of a hole.
After the show Jamy Ian Swiss pulled me aside and reminded me of something I already knew, but didn’t do. He said, “Never start the show with announcements“. He’s right, and I’m glad he mentioned it to me. It’s something I know, put didn’t put into practice. I’m 1000% glad he mentioned that to me, otherwise this could have been the beginning of starting a bad habit while MCing.
-Louie
One thing I hate when performing is forgetting or mispronouncing an act’s name if I have to introduce them. Recently a show I was performing on had an performer whose stage name wasn’t the name I knew them by, and the stage name was unusual.
To make it easy, I put a cheat sheet on my table:
You’ll notice the name is spelled out phonetically. That helps me read it at a glance. It really makes a difference, rather than seeing how they spell it and trying to figure it out.
A couple of nights ago I performed at the Mostly Magicians Virtual Open Mic. It was a lot of fun and Ryan Kane is a great host for it. It’s an open mic, so a great place to work things out.
I was second to last in the show, and I brought two tricks, one that was pretty solid and one that I was working on. Unfortunately I only got to do one trick which wasn’t the one I was working on as I ran out of time.
It wasn’t a total loss as far as working on material goes. I did something I haven’t done in while…wrote some jokes about the other acts. When I MC in person shows I would write jokes about the acts and use them in the transition between acts. I didn’t plan on doing this, it’s something I just did.
One of the interesting things about doing jokes about things happening NOW instead of prepared material is that the audience is aware of that. Your joke doesn’t need to be the best joke, they will give you a lot of leeway. They can instantly relate to your joke, you don’t need to set up a backstory. I think any of the jokes I told, if you took out of context of the show would fall flat…even if you described the act before the joke.
The first half of my show was a stand up set about the show. It was fun, and good to flex that creative muscle.
Many years ago I started adding rules to what I do in my show. Sometimes I break these rule, but when I do it’s intentional. Usually these come about by me seeing something I don’t like in someone else’s show and want to make sure I don’t do it in my show.
One of the rules I have is that I don’t use the names of other magicians in my show. There’s a simple reason for that, I don’t want people thinking of other shows they could be seeing. Why would I talk about David Blaine in my show, the audience will immediately compare me to him.
Also when you mention another magician, you run the risk of people not knowing who the person is. I recently watched a show where someone mentioned Jeff McBride and I’m guessing most of the people had no idea who Jeff is. That just confuses people, unless you then explain who the person is, which in most cases.
Not too long ago I was in a variety show and provided an introduction to an MC. They didn’t use what I provided and used a “stock joke” intro that went something like, “you’ve heard of David Copperfield, David Blaine, Doug Henning…well so has he…” This is a bad intro. First of all it’s selfish for the MC to not use the provided intro without asking me. Second, that joke doesn’t move the show forward or provide any info on the act they are about to see. The intro I provided does.
What you do in your show is up to you, but is it really necessary to mention Houdini’s name or are you just being lazy?
