stage magic – Page 5 – MagicShow.Tips

Make it Happen Every Time!

I’m working on a trick where a glass of water vanishes. The premise of the routine is that the water will change into a named drink, and the surprise is that ultimately the glass vanishes.

I quickly learned that it gets a huge laugh when I ask the person from the audience to name a drink, and they say, “water,” and then I tell them that I’ll change the water into water.

The challenge is how to get them to say “water” every time.

Originally, I was asking them, “What’s your favorite drink?” and I changed that to: “If you could drink one drink for the rest of your life, what would it be?”

Changing that question now gets the person to say, “water” about 8 out of 10 times! The laugh that water gets as an answer is a great laugh because it feels spontaneous. Obviously, you have to sell it as a performer as if it’s never happened before for it to work.

Look for things in your show that happen spontaneously and get a laugh or reaction, and then try to figure out ways to make them happen every show!

-Louie
PS: you can learn more about my process for creating magic and developing routines here!

Library Magic Show Props

We’re at the end of the summer and the Summer Reading Library shows are done. Here’s look at the props that I have on my person during the non-themed library magic show:

And here are the props in my prop bin:

This show had a pretty simple set up, it took about 15 mins to set and strike the show. The non-themed show had elements of other shows that I do, so it was like a “greatest hits” and was fun to do!

-Louie

Vintage Magic Box for $30

Magicians frequently ask me where I get my vintage magic tricks. Well, there’s not one source; this one kinda happened out of the blue. Basically, someone at a show told me they had an old box of magic tricks. We negotiated a price at the show, and I bought the box without knowing what was in it!

Here’s the saga:

There are some winners in that box!

-Louie

The Magic Garage!

Whenever I’m in the San Francisco area, I pop by the Magic Garage! It’s a great hangout with a bunch of magicians.

While I was there I did my Nest of Envelopes trick that I’m working on and got some great feedback!

Having a room full of magicians to give you ideas, or tell you that something doesn’t look right, is worth its weight in gold!

Things like this or magic clubs are great ways to get feedback on things you’re working on. I’m a huge fan of magic clubs, and I think everyone should go to them. They helped me out a lot when I was younger!

-Louie

Vanishing Birdcage!

Here’s the newest addition to my vanishing birdcage collection.

This is the first vanishing birdcage in my collection that has the perch go the long way across the cage. This vanishing birdcage has the spoon (sleeve guard) still attached, that’s something that’s frequently broken off of these older cages.

This one had been damages and had a repair:

Unfortunately this cage’s repair is bent, so it’s currently an non-functional cage. I’m scared to try to bend it back. I don’t want to undo the repair and end up with a broken cage.

This is a great addition to the collection!

-Louie

Out of Town Shipping Notice

**The daily blog will continue to be updated below this notice**

I will be out of town performing at the San Diego County Fair in San Diego, CA from June 22nd to July 6th, 2026. That means no orders of physical items will ship until I return on July 7th, 2026.

Digital items will still be emailed during this time!

You can also get many of my magic products from TrickSupply.com in Las Vegas. You can order my magic from them at:
https://tricksupply.com/product-category/louie-foxx/

**The daily blog will continue to be updated below this notice**

Film Can Refurbishing

The film cans that I use for my Film Can Dice Force aren’t made anymore. They still make film cans, but the ones currently made don’t work for the gimmick. I have to source mine on the “used film can market”.

The last batch that I got were super beat up and I had to refurbish(?) them. The can on the left is what they look like when I got them:

The middle can is after I gave them a wipe down, and the can on the right is after I buffed them with my Dremel! The amount of labor that goes into making the Film Can Dice Forces is way too much for what I charge for them!

-Louie

Vanishing Birdcages – Don’t Buy The Hype!

Vanishing Birdcages from India have been popping up on eBay with way too high prices and descriptions. Here’s the image on one that recently popped up:

Let’s take a closer look at what those instructions say:

There’s so much wrong with that ad copy!
1: That cage isn’t a “Lindhorst Style”
2: That cage hasn’t been used thousands of times
3: Gene Anderson has never really been associated with the vanishing birdcage trick
4: Highly unlikely that this cage belonged to Gene Anderson
5: How has it been used by Gene thousands of times, if it’s “never used”

Then the red flag is the $110 price point, those cages are less than $50 new and still being made and easily available!

If you’re looking to buy a vanishing birdcage and aren’t sure if it’s a good one, feel free to contact me and I can give you my opinion on the one you’re thinking of.

-Louie

Strait Jacket Escape Routine

I was driving home the other day, and I was thinking about the strait jacket escape. In the past I’ve done the Strait Jacket Escape with 50 Feet of Chain. Many routines are done against a clock but I like the idea of doing it against someone else doing something (completing a task). It sets up a head to head sort of challenge. My buddies Scotty Walsh and Steve The Pretty Good both did that in their routines.

The routine I was thinking about would be:

There’s a box or container of some sort that has a lock in it.
$100 is put into the container and locked.
The key is mixed with other non-working keys.
I’m put into the strait jacket.
I have to get out before someone from the audience find the correct key and opens the box.
I get out when there it one key left.
The final key that they didn’t try opens the box, and I get to keep the $100
I offer them a 2nd place prize, which is another box with a lock.
They pick any key they already tried and it opens that box, inside is $5 that they can keep!

I think it reads a bit more convoluted than it flows, or how I think it will flow.

I need to go out and try it out and start figuring out if it works or doesn’t.

-Louie
PS: There’s an essay in one of my older lecture notes about how I created my comedy escape The Straight Suit.

Have Fun Onstage!

One of the things that I see a lot in magic shows is a performer who doesn’t look like they’re having a good time. I get that there are some characters where this makes sense; however, I frequently see it in comedy magic. You absolutely should look like you’re having fun if you’re a standard comedy magician.

The other night I saw The Return of Jackie and Judy, which is a Ramones cover band that’s made up of Fred Armisen and most of the band Sleater-Kinney. One of the things about this show was everyone onstage looked like they were having a blast!

the Return of jackie and judy - fred armisen and sleater kinney

When you’re onstage, in most cases, you should look like you’re having fun! It shouldn’t look like a chore; even doing openly difficult things can look fun, or at least like you enjoy what you’re doing.

A few years ago I wrote a blog post about The Secret to Likability, which is worth a read.

-Louie