One of the things that always makes me nervous is when I see a review of one of my products pop up. Recently Magic Orthodoxy did a review of my Take Out Box, you can watch it below:
I’m glad he like it!
You can get on here: http://www.magicshow.tips/take-out-box/
-Louioe
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
One thing I’ve noticed that I do is over write my patter for my tricks. The early versions of the tricks are full of stuff that ultimately will be cut. I do think that’s a good way to do it, over write and figure out what’s good and what isn’t. I try to initially fill a lot of verbal space, then cut out what doesn’t work, leaving only the best parts.
The trick I’m working on that’s essentially a clock prediction:
The presentation hook is about my cat, and that seems to be something that people really connect with!
I think that another huge part of putting together routines is finding some sort of presentation hook that people can relate to. There are definitely people who are a lot better at this than me, but I’m trying…
-Louie
When I was in the Bay Area recently I swung by Magic Garage! It’s soo much fun and Will Chandler is a fantastic host! There are really two parts to the magic garage, there’s the theater and the bar area which is where everyone hangs out and there are two close up tables.
They do shows in the theater, but when I was there one of the magicians was working on their act for a TV appearance. We all watched and gave feedback.
Will has made the Magic Garage more than a hangout, but a valuable resource for magicians!
-Louie
An idea for a presentation of The (W)hole Thing by Daryl came up in my daily writing a bit ago. I managed to fill out the idea a bit and do some writing. While I was in the Bay Area, I had Joe and Misdirections Magic Shop order me a set of the cards in.
One thing I found interesting was that there’s no mention of Emerson and West in the ad copy for the trick. This is essentially Daryl’s routine for the original trick. I’m guessing this is a Murphy’s Magic copywriting thing, as Daryl was pretty good about crediting things.
Here’s Daryl doing the routine:
For the routine that I want to do, I will need to make some custom cards. For now I’m working out the muscle memory for the routine!
-Louie
Last week at the fair I was performing at, I decided to to carry my vanishing birdcage on my walk from the dressing room to the stage I was on. Whenever anyone asked me about it, I made it disappear!
@louiefoxx Taking my bird out for a walk between shows at the San Mateo County Fair! #sanmateocountyfair #countyfair #sanmateo @SanMateoCountyFair #magic #magician #birdtrick #louiefoxx #magictrick #parakeet ♬ Stolen Dance (Instrumental)
It was a fun thing to go to give fair goers a special moment…and something that made my daily commute to the stage a little more fun!
-Louie
When I fly to gigs there’s always a little bit of a shopping list of things that I need to get for my show.
It is inconvenient to have to try to find these things sometimes, however it’s better than packing them for travel. I can fly with all the thing above, as I only need the matchboxes, not the actual matches. However the boxes can sometimes trigger a search and I want to reduce that chances that someone will go through my gear.
The things like the paper plates and the wipes are just dead weight and nothing specialized. I’d rather simply buy them when I arrive than have them make my bags overweight.
One thing I don’t do is ask the booker to provide these and there’s a simple reason why I don’t. That’s because just because you ask for something specific doesn’t mean you’ll get exactly what you need. For example the bananas need to be yellow, so that they open easily. If they provide me a banana that’s too green it makes the trick not play as well as it’s a struggle to open it.
It adds a bit of time to my day, but for me totally worth it!
-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
For some reason I’ve never really liked the Assistant’s Revenge Illusion. I think that from a method standpoint, it works exactly how anyone would think it does. If you’re not familiar with the trick, here’s what it looks like:
What the trick has going for it is that it has a nice surprise, where the audience is expecting the magician to escape, but it’s a substitution. I’m going to imagine it packs pretty flat and it plays big. I’m not knocking anyone that does the trick, I just think the trick is just “meh”.
Recently this one popped up for sale:
This pic is what got me thinking about why I don’t like the trick. The chains end up soo loose on usually the female “assistant” that there’s really no reason why the person couldn’t just slip out. If you watch the video above, you can see how loose they are at the end. I do understand that at the beginning they are tight, but that’s not the final image the audience is left with.
The trick would be greatly improved with some sort of handcuff type restraint, but I also think that would make the switch much slower.
-Louie
One thing I love it how other magicians have their props onstage. Not what the audience sees, but the magician’s view. A couple of weeks ago when I was doing my Incredible Idiom show, this is what the inside of my prop case looks like.
All of my props are easily grabbed and put away. There’s no fumbling, I’ve cut out all the dead time of bringing props into view.
I’m still amazed at how many magic shows I see where the performer ducks out of view behind their case looking for a prop. This is usually done by magicians who don’t have a firm set list, and simply chose the next trick on the fly and their show’s flow is different every time.
Having a set list will make your show better! You can see mine on the inside of the case!
-Louie
