I wrapped up twelve days of performing my Vintage Organ at a state fair. This is very different than performing magic. The booker didn’t want a show, but something more ambient, like a stilt walker. You have interactions with people, but you’re there to create a vibe, not do a show.
When I started doing the Vintage Organ, my costume (outdoors) had me wearing sunglasses. That was intentional; it was so that I could look around and not look bored or distracted.
The sunglasses do their job of making it harder to tell how mentally engaged you are. However, the drawback is that people don’t want to engage you as eagerly as if they could see your eyes. You lose how you initially connect with people. If I took my sunglasses off and just wore my normal glasses, the percentage of people who would approach me versus me calling out to them was higher.
Whenever I see stage magicians or jugglers wear sunglasses, I always wonder why they’re wearing them. They are cutting off how humans initially connect with each other…eye contact!
A few days ago I had an idea for a magic routine, and in that routine there is a juggling element. I can juggle, but am not a juggler and needed to work out a sequence. Luckily, in the performer house that I’m at, there are two jugglers and a physical comedian there. Last night we had a little workshop on the routine!
I’m a huge fan of workshopping with other performers. It’s a way to get a lot of ideas quickly, or to get expertise that you don’t have. I can juggle, but I don’t know the best way to put together a juggling sequence.
Workshopping with performers who don’t just do magic brings in a lot of different thinking and ideas than just magicians.
Whenever I’m performing at a multi-day event with other variety acts, I try to put together a workshop night. This is where performers try something new, talk about an idea, or do some troubleshooting about a problem. Then we all brainstorm ideas or solutions for them!
These are a great way to get thinking that’s outside your normal box. It’s even better when you have acts that aren’t all magicians, or whatever you are. Everyone brings a different experience and backstory which will give you ideas that you may not have thought of.
Sometimes there are stages that are more challenging to work than other stages. This stage and audience configuration is a good example of that.
First, let’s tackle the obvious: there’s a walkway between the benches and the bleachers. Unfortunately, that’s just how it is, and there’s not really anything you can do about that.
The bigger issue is getting on and off stage; it’s a high stage, so a lot of stairs, and the stairs are off to the side. It’s good that they are on the side; if they were on the front of the stage, the handrails would be a visual distraction. It just takes a lot of time for me or someone from the audience to get on and off stage.
I have a spot in the show, right after my introduction, where I need to hand something to someone in the audience. That’s dead time while I walk on and off stage.
Here’s what I did:
Opening bit, then walk into the audience to give the thing to someone in the audience.
2nd trick happens on the floor in front of the stage.
After the second trick, I bring someone from the audience to the stage with me for the third trick.
For the fourth trick, it happens on the floor in front of the stage. This trick needs access to people so they can hold things at different points.
When the fourth trick is done, I bring someone from the audience back to the stage with me and send them back to their seat when the fifth trick is done.
The final trick happens with me solo onstage.
There are a lot of ways to deal with the “long walk to the stage“, however for this situation, moving my show between the floor and stage worked great; it reduced the dead time a lot. This makes the show feel tighter!
One of the things that I try to do when creating magic routines is to think about what they look like. This is important when you perform at places like state and county fairs, where you have a transient audience. Having strong visual hooks that will stop someone that’s walking by is important in that market.
Here’s an example of a visual hook, it’s part of my Body Language Book Test which is in my 2025 PCAM Lecture notes.
In the routine, a guy ends up hitting me in the belly with a tube. It’s a great bit, but more importantly, the routine is visually interesting virtually the whole time!
Three Easy Way To Adding Visual Appeal To Magic Routines
Here are three common, and easy ways to add visuals to magic routines: 1: Props – If you have an interesting prop, that is obviously visually interesting, and of course, the bigger the better! People need to see it from a distance, or they won’t stop. 2: People – More people onstage can create drama. You’ve changed your show from monologue to dialogue. 3: Action – Having motion onstage makes people stop to watch. A bad dance troupe will having an easier time getting a crowd than an amazing stand up comedian.
Ultimately, most things will use more than one of the things above to draw attention.
Also keep in mind that not every single routine needs to be a giant thing, for texture in your show, you should vary things. A great example is Franz Harary in one of his MEGA illusion shows also does silk to egg.
One of the things that I do to work on my show is record them. Nothing fancy, just a camera in the back of the room. I have a bad habit of almost forgetting to take my camera, so what I do is put a note in my case that simply says “camera now”.
When I’m packing up and I get to the note, I stop everything and go grab the camera. It’s a simple little thing that has saved me forgetting my camera many, many times!
On Monday I popped by Magic Monday in Seattle. This monthly magic show has been running for over twenty years! The show is currently run by Jim Earnshaw, and it usually features 3-5 magicians each month. Then in August, they do magic show that’s all young magicians performing.
This week it was Jim Earnshaw, Sven “The World’s Tallest Magician”, Monty Reed, Me and Master Payne.
This is a fun show to do because it’s a fun hangout…and because it’s a fun crowd! Here’s a table of magicians in the back watching the show:
Then after the show we go downstairs to pub and hang out.
Whenever I’m in Seattle and this show is happening, I always pop by!
Recently, I was the headline act for a stand up comedy show at a casino. The show had three acts, and an MC who did 15 minutes, a feature act that did 30 minutes, and then the headliner (me) who did 60 minutes.
One of the things that many magicians don’t understand is how to be a good opening act when you’re in a show like this. Magicians think they need to go out there and DESTROY an audience almost with a “try to follow that” attitude, and there are places for that, but as an opener in a comedy show, that’s not your job.
The MC’s job is to warm up the crowd, not to crush. The Opener’s job is to keep the energy going so that the headliner has a hot crowd when they step onstage.
I’m not saying you should intentionally be bad, or not give it your all. The thing is that you’re working within a show and the whole show needs to be successful. If you’re constantly blowing the headliner out of the water, and you’re not moving up to that position, you should look at why you aren’t moving up.
Do you have enough A material to fill the 60 mins?
If not, you should be working on that, and not necessarily doing the stuff you know crushes every time.
Are your first 25 minutes any good?
I’ve worked with tons of acts that have an amazing 5-10 minutes, and they close with that. However, everything before that is pretty bad. They close strong, but don’t move up to headliner because the rest of the show sucks.
Is there some other reason?
Are you hard to work with offstage? Do you follow the rules of the venue? These are all things that can keep you from moving up the ladder to the headline position.
How I Learned The Opener’s Job
Many, many years ago, I had a closing bit that crushed. One day, I was on the phone with my stand up agent, and they told me that they didn’t want me doing that bit as the opening act. It really changed the energy in the room and made it hard for the headliner to follow. The agent then explained to me my role, and once I understood that, it made me work harder as a performer to figure out a more appropriate ending to my show for that venue. More importantly, it made me look at my show and really start working on the steps to move up to the headliner spot.
I should point out that you absolutely should do your best, but sometimes a choice of material that’s better for the show as a whole is the right choice.
On my trip to the Bay Area a couple weeks ago, I ended up picking up a great vintage magic prop! It was Buried Treasure Bean Box by Arturo. Here’s what the original ads looked like:
And here’s what mine looks like:
This is a prop that I do plan to use in my show. I have an idea for it, so when the opportunity to buy it popped up, I jumped on it!
I really like the idea of the item being buried in beans (or whatever). The problem with this is visually it’s hard for an audience to see what’s going on because you have to see the beans from the top. With a camera, this would work great!
