stage magic – Page 35 – MagicShow.Tips

Snake Wand Surprise – Comedy Magic Wand

The magic show that I do for summer camps and libraries changes and material cycles in and out. I try to cycle material out and back in about every three years, especially for things that are memorable. One of those things is my Snake Wand Surprise. It’s something the kids remember, and doing it every year would lessen it’s impact. If the kids are anticipating the ending, it’s not as much fun.

Here’s what the routine looks like:

I’m making a batch of them right now so that I have ones for my show and some in stock for sale. One of the things that I do with my personal set is make three sets of “double snakes”. I take two snakes and sew them together and do this with a total of six snakes, giving me three snakes that are double long.

This makes clean up slightly faster as there are only 11 individual snakes to pick up instead of 14. I can repack the fourteen snakes into the wand in less than 2 minutes, so the time saving is negligible. It also gives the snakes more visual “texture” as they fly out.

I don’t do this for the ones that I sell as many people like the individual snakes. This is something that’s really easy to do and you can hand sew them together really quickly if you wanted your set like that.

The batch of Snake Wand Surprises that I’m working on will be ready and available for sale later today. I’m trying to have a bunch ready for this summer as my travel schedule won’t allow me time to make them once my summer performing schedule gets busy in a about a week.

If you want a Snake Wand Surprise, put your order in NOW!

-Louie

The Mobius Rising Card – Review

Last October I started working on a rising card routine for stage and it’s coming along. The routine is that two cards are selected, returned to the pack and the deck is put into a glass. The spectator holds the glass and the first card appears on the top of the deck in the glass, then the second card rises out of the deck.

One of the challenges is that when I’m out performing at fairs the traditional rising card weight method gimmicks doesn’t last long. I think the heat and dust are what make them less reliable after about a week. In my search for a better way to do it as I like the trick, I came across The Mobius Rising Card.

This is essentially the same as the weight gimmick, with a few improvements…but I think that’s what has fixed the gimmick for how I work it. First the weight is heavier, which will help the cards to keep rising after there’s a bit of gunk in it. Then the “string” which pulls the card has been replaced by something else, and I think this is a BIG improvement as it distributes the weight better and allows the gimmick to be thinner. They are selling the trick on the gimmick being only six cards thick, and for my routine that’s not something I need. I’m not complaining that the gimmick is thin, but since this isn’t a close up routine I’m working on, it’s not something that’s a huge factor for me.

I’ve only used The Mobius Rising Card for a handful of gigs so far and I really like it over the classic construction of the weight version of the rising cards. It’s actually an improvement, and not just another way to make the weight work.

If you do the rising cards, and are looking for a more reliable version of the weight, I like this one!

-Louie

Another Visit to the Magic Garage!

When I’m in the bay area, or near it I always try to visit the Magic Garage! It’s always the great to visit and chat with Will Chandler and he also makes an amazing Old Fashioned!

What’s fun about the Magic Garage is that it’s got magicians who hang out there who do all sorts of magic. From close up to parlor to illusions and magicians of every skill level!

I love hanging out here and chatting magic! It’s one of my favorite spots that I pop into!

-Louie

Wireless Mic Dropping Out…

Last week at the fair my good wireless mic system stopped working and I was using my back up wireless mic system. When I used it the first day it was intermittently cutting out, so I switched to the sound company’s wireless handheld and that was doing the same thing. That told me it wasn’t a hardware issue and I finished the day using their wired handheld mic.

Overnight the sound tech did some research and learned that vertical metal poles (especially aluminum poles) can affect how wireless mics work. At the stage the wireless receivers were on the other side of a stage wall that was made up of vertical poles!

We moved my wireless receiver to the stage side of the poles and everything worked perfectly! I’m glad that he did some extra research to figure out why it was doing that and now we both know how to solve the problem in the future!

-Louie

Wireless Mics

Well, after about a decade my Sennheiser EW 100 G3 mic packs stopped working properly. Over the last 10 years I have sent them back to Sennheiser to be repaired and repaired them once myself.

With the help of Mark (the sound tech at my stage this week) I managed to diagnose the problem, it’s my 1/8 audio input that needs to be replaced. If I send it to Sennheiser to be repaired, it’ll cost about $250 or more. I’m thinking that money would be better put into a new wireless system, than into a 10 year old system.

While at the event I luckily had a back up wireless set with me!

These aren’t as nice as the Sennheiser ones, but they are helping me get through the gig. I don’t normally carry a back up wireless set, but for some reason I threw them in with my gear for this gig. I can use a handheld to do my show in an emergency, but prefer not to.

-Louie

Linking Pins and Thumb Tie

I’m still working on the Linking Pin and Thumb Tie routine and it’s slowly making progress. I started this in mid-February, however I’ve only done it about 30 times. For me that’s a pretty fresh routine. I haven’t figured out where all the moments are.

I wrote a couple of new jokes and changed it so there were three magic effects in the routine instead of three and took it out to an open mic the other night. It can be challenging at a bar open mic when it’s in a big room and there are 13 people there and only two of them are actual audience members, the rest are comics waiting to do there time onstage. In my opinion most bar open mics are to figure out how to do something onstage and just work that part out, you’re not there to try to have your set crush. Yes, you should try and ideally it’ll crush, but you should be bringing things that need work, not polished material.

Here’s bad video with bad audio of the trick:

The trick went well, but more importantly the new jokes worked and I added another penetration, so there are four instead of three in the in the routine. There’s actually normally one more at the end that I didn’t do because I “got the light” and had to wrap up.

The intro to the trick I think needs to be tightened up and be a bit more clear. That comes with time and rewriting and reworking. I think by the end of the summer this will be a strong piece in the show!

-Louie
PS If you want to learn more about how I work on my shows, check out my download The 6 R’s To Working On Your Show!

Escapes for the Circus

Next month my daughter graduates from College. She had an opportunity pop up to work in a circus this summer where she’ll be doing a 4-7 min act. She’s done solo stuff in my show and she has two different escape acts that she can do. The circus will be fairs and festivals, so she’ll be typically doing three shows a day. We’re working on adding a third escape act so that she can do a different act each show. That will solve the problem of repeating the same act all day. She can do that if she wants, but she’ll have options.

One of the important things is that all of the escapes feel different. They all have a different texture, it’s not just three comedy “in and out” escapes or first she escapes from rope, then the next show chain and the final show handcuffs.

I just finished up making all of the props that she didn’t have her own dedicated set for.

Now the next step is rehearsing it and writing some new jokes.

– Louie

Music Remote Holder

Once again my 3d printer saves me a big headache in getting something made! I need a holder for two Flic Buttons that someone from the audience will use to run a music cue for me during a comedy escape. I spent about 5 minutes designing a simple holder and then hit print!

Here’s what the finished prop looks like:

The piece on the left is the cover, however after putting the Flic Buttons into it, they pressure fit into it, so I don’t need the cover as they won’t fall out.

It’s really worth your time to learn to use basic 3d design software like TinkerCad even if you don’t have a 3d printer. You can design things and then email the file to someone else to print.

-Louie
Click here to learn more about building your own magic props!

What’s In Your Pockets?

I was setting up a school assembly show and was about to put all of the props that I have in my pockets or hidden on my person and decided to take a pic of it!

Here’s the prop list:

Mic pack and microphone
Media Star Remote
Remote control for alarm clock
two sponge ball droppers
two sponge tennis balls
mic holder
silk parakeet
Take up reel

A lot of magicians are afriad of using their costumes for stealing or vanishing props. I use my costume for both! When you start to consider your costume a prop, it opens up a lot of things you can do!

-Louie

Straight Suit – Comedy Escape

It brings me soo much joy to see other people use the tricks that I’ve released. Here’s Todd Bogue’s promo video and my Straight Suit makes an appearance!

Todd does the Straight Suit better than anyone (including me) and I’m honored that he uses it in his show!

Also his promo video is a good example of how using high def video and clear audio makes him look super professional!

-Louie