One of the cool things about having a 3D printer is it helps me make my ideas a reality, and do it fairly easily. Last week I got the idea in my head of having a remote control party popper. If you don’t know what a party popper is, it’s a little tube with a string. You pull the string, there’s a bang and and little streamers shoot out.
The mechanism is pretty simple, it’s going to be a motor on a remote control. The party popper needs something to hole it in place, so I designed a little holder for it, with a hole in the back:
The plan is to attach this to a board with the battery, remote receiver and motor. To load it, you’ll put in the party popper, tie the string to the motor and when you’re ready, simply push the on button on the remote.
We’ll see if this actually works once I put it together later today… -Louie
The easiest step to being likable onstage is smiling. That’s it. If you can do that you’re soo much closer to the audience liking you.
Smiling makes you look like you want to be there and you are having fun. Yes, there are times you don’t want to smile, and those times should be well thought out. Your default should be a smile.
Many years ago I heard an interview with comedian Neal Brennan on Tom Papa’s podcast Come to Papa. He mentioned that he thought he was smiling onstage, but realized he wasn’t. Onstage you need to smile bigger than you think you need to for it to play to the audience. Hearing that interview really helped my show! -Louie
One of the tricks that I do in my show is the Hoop and Glass juggling stunt, I don’t know it’s official name. Last week on my facebook page I posted a gif that I made of pics by John Cornicello that he took at the Moisture Festival.
I had a several performers contact me asking me where to get the hoop. I called my “hoop guy” and had got some extra ones and making them available. You get a hoop and a (plastic) glass for $75 with USA shipping included!
Click here to order the Hoop and Glass props! currently unavailable
If you’re unfamiliar with the Hoop and Glass juggling trick, it’s a classic juggling trick and it’s been in my show for over a decade! The trick is you balance a glass of water on a wooden hoop and then you shake it, spin it and throw it in the air…all without spilling any water.
Photo by John Cornicello
Photo by John Cornicello
What I love about this trick is that it plays really big, however the props since it’s a hoop and glass (which are hollow), they don’t take up much space in my case. It’s also a nice break from the magic in my show.
The new season of The CW’s Masters of Illusion starts tonight!
I should be in an episode or two later this season. I recorded 4 or 5 bits for the show about a year ago. I’m betting that I’ll end up with two routines in the show this season.
This show is a blast to work on. You get to hang out with tons of really talented magicians backstage and in the dressing rooms. If you ever get a chance to do it, I highly recommend it! -Louie
One of the great things about performing at fairs is you get to work with all sorts of acts. Not just various styles of acts, but act all from different points or their careers. Sometimes you’ll get a newer local act, and huge, international headliners and sometimes you’ll get an amazing act that’s retired, but lives in town and that’s the one gig a year they do…and everything in between.
When I’m at the fair, I try to watch everyone’s show. There’s so much to learn from the any act you watch.
I’ve written about this before, but I got reminded of why having a “high” show is important and why you need to keep all the action in your show (in most venues) above your belly button.
The importance of having some sort of music in the background (in most routines).
Why to keep backups of props that could break…because they will!
And finally to play every gig like it’s a sold out show…even if it’s raining and the bleachers are uncovered and virtually empty.
All four of these things are things that I already know, but it’s a good reminder to see them and having them moved to the front of my brain! -Louie
About a hundred years ago, there were a lot of tricks where objects when through a hat. Stanley Collins had several giant dice through hat methods, and I think P & L made a dice thru hat as well. Then there’s glass through hat. I have one that’s about 100 years old, and while I think it’s over engineered for the effect, it is fun to do.
Here’s my first time trying it out:
From a method standpoint, it’s an interesting solution to making a glass penetrate a hat. I don’t think it’s the best solution and I would never do it in a show, however it is fun to practice! That the thing with magic is that you have to have fun, I still love magic. It’s not just my job, I love learning about it, I love playing with it and I love performing it.
Over the pandemic I got to know Franz Harary a bit when I helped him out with a project. I’ve always admired what he does with his mega illusions and how he thinks really big. He recently posted a video of his show in Macu, and it’s pretty cool:
It’s crazy how big the show looks as he uses the entire theater. Every trick has a background that’s for it. Before you mention is too flashy or busy, you have to remember that this show is being done in China where their taste may be different that in the USA. I think it’s a great lesson, that using video elements can make things play a lot bigger. Even smaller tricks with a video could play bigger.
When you get into comedy, one of the things that you need to get out of the way is your first experience of “bombing” onstage. Once you do that and realize it’s not soo bad, it’s much easier.
Doing the Vanishing Birdcage, I’ve had a fear of it not going up my sleeve all the way ever since I started doing the trick. It’s not something you can really have an out for…you can’t tap dance around a cage hanging out of your sleeve.
Last night at the fair on my last show of the day, I went to vanish the cage, and it got stuck, with about a quarter of the cage hanging out. Honestly in retrospect, I don’t think the audience really noticed it. In the moment it was a scary moment as a performer.
What did I do?
I pushed the cage all the way up my sleeve, then pulled the bird out of my pocket. It got applause. However the bigger lesson was seeing peoples faces, they seemed to still be amazed by the trick. I think if I had more of the cage hanging out it may have been a much bigger deal.
I feel good that I finally got my first vanishing birdcage failure out of the way and it’s no longer something I’m scared of!
The estate sale that I picked up magic from last week had a lot of magic from the 1930’s. It’s really interesting how magic changes over time and the trends seem to stick for a long time. The 1930’s was the era of everything being nickel / chrome plated!
Not too long after this era, we entered the brightly colored boxes with Asian characters on them. Currently we’re in the time of “everyday props” or props that pretend to be everyday items. However there is some movement to using props that don’t resemble everyday items as a “special” moment in the show.
There are soo many crazy methods to these tricks and soo many of them are over engineered by today’s standards on how to accomplish things. For example this table was used to make glass disappear!
The crazy thing is that the glass isn’t that big, it’s maybe 8-10 ounces! There are better ways to do it…but they’re a little bit harder and not as fun to play with! -Louie
A while ago I bought Measure for Measure by Iain Bailey which is a prediction using a tape measure. You pull out the tape and someone says stop and you’ve predicted where they say stop. Here’s the promo video for it:
I think it’s a great trick, but the method didn’t really work for me. There’s a move that needs to happen, and it’s not hard to do, but the move just didn’t work for me. I’m not saying it’s bad, because it’s not, it’s a great trick. The method didn’t work for me.
I ordered a few tape measures and got to playing around with altering Iain’s gimmick.
What I ended up with is a tape measure that starts legitimately closed, ends legitimately closed and is 100% self working, there’s no move. I also upped the width of the tape to the Stanley Fat Max tape measure, so it’ll play a little bit bigger. As a bonus, you can see the prediction retract with the tape as you close it.
Here’s a quick demo of what my solution looks like:
I want to be clear that I’m not knocking Iain’s release, it’s a great trick and I think it would work for most people out of the box. Also, the hard part of creating magic is the first 90%, from the initial idea to a finished product for how the creator wants it to work. The final 10% is easy, and my “improvement” was the easy part, since the idea and gimmick already existed.
Also when it comes to marketing magic, there are a lot of choices that have to be made. Sometimes a method won’t be the best, but more accessible to the majority of magicians, or something that may seem like a small, insignificant tweak will triple the cost per unit.
I’m heading out on the road in about a week, I’m excited to give my version of Measure for Measure a try in front of real audiences! -Louie
