Close Up Magic in Reno

I was at a conference in Reno last week, and the hotel/casino had a magic theater in it! The first night a few of us went to check out Phil Ackerly do some bar magic. Phil makes the boxes for my Applause Please 2.0 trick, but we’d never met in person, so it was great to see him in real life!

phil ackerly magic

The next night I snuck down again to watch Phil for a little bit.

phil ackerly magic

It was cool to watch how Phil handled a guy who was one of the “can I shuffle those cards” types. He did it without belittling the person or with a lame hack quip. He did it in an honest, heartfelt way. It was so effective that when the guy tried to do it again, all his friends told him to shut up so they could enjoy the show.

It was fun to meet Phil and see the show!

-Louie

Applause Please 2: The Encore

applause please magic trick

Another batch of Applause Please 2: The Encore will be ready soon! This is the prop that I use for the object in light bulb effect. Traditionally this effect uses a lamp onstage, but I’ve changed that lamp to an applause sign!

I don’t have these in stock all the time as the outer applause box I don’t make, Phil over at Ackerly Builds currently makes them for me. That means that I get them in batches of about a dozen and those are then all gimmicked at the same time and offered for sale at the same time and usually sell out pretty quickly.

The current batch of Applause Please 2: The Encore can be preordered at:
https://www.magicshow.tips/applause-please-2-the-encore/
The estimated ship date is March 3rd, 2025.

-Louie