Make it Yours…

One of the new tricks I added to my kid show this summer was the Gypsy Yarn (this is Nick Lewin’s version of the Gypsy Thread). I’m using his method for the set up / handling, and string/yarn. Whenever there’s a trick I want to do, if Nick Lewin has a routine for it, I’ll … Continue reading “Make it Yours…”

One of the new tricks I added to my kid show this summer was the Gypsy Yarn (this is Nick Lewin’s version of the Gypsy Thread). I’m using his method for the set up / handling, and string/yarn. Whenever there’s a trick I want to do, if Nick Lewin has a routine for it, I’ll always use his as my starting point.


Here’s my final routine:

In the video I should have paused a bit longer at the end of the trick showing the string restored.


If you are familiar with Nick Lewin’s routine, you’ll see that while I use the foundation of his, the routine is 100% different. I think the only thing the same is we both reference a spit ball. This is a good example of taking an existing routine and making it yours. It takes more than simply filtering someone else’s script through your mouth.


You need to actually put yourself into the routine. In the video above while you don’t learn “facts” about me, you get a peek into my personality with how I interact with the kid.


You’ll also notice there are no standard “kid show” bits. It doesn’t feel like a “kid show” magic routine. Yes it’s silly with the counting bit, but there’s no Look, but don’t see, or sucker magic. It’s a fun original routine for a standard trick…and the trick is good!

Sucker Tricks are for Sucka’s

In my show I don’t do sucker tricks, and haven’t since I was a kid. A sucker trick is an easy way to get a reaction to a trick. It’s plug and play “comedy” except most people don’t think about what it does beyond the initial reaction. Here’s an example, let’s say you are doing the … Continue reading “Sucker Tricks are for Sucka’s”

In my show I don’t do sucker tricks, and haven’t since I was a kid. A sucker trick is an easy way to get a reaction to a trick. It’s plug and play “comedy” except most people don’t think about what it does beyond the initial reaction.


Here’s an example, let’s say you are doing the Egg Bag and you do the bit where you pretend to put the egg under your armpit, but it’s really somewhere else. For this bit to work you need someone in the audience to yell you how they think you did the trick. Someone has to say, “it’s under your arm”, if they don’t, the bit falls completely flat.


If everything is working correctly, the audience needs to heckle you, and you need to encourage it for the bits to work. Then you do the under the arm bits, and you continue to encourage the audience to heckle you for the next two minutes.


Guess what? You’ve just trained a room full of people to call you out when they think they know how you are doing a trick. This will be a problem later in your show. Is it worth the two minutes of “comedy”? Notice I put quotes around the word comedy, because the audience, isn’t laughing, they are heckling you.


Before you do a sucker trick, think of the larger implications in your show. Here’s a different example: You are working for an agent at an event. The only watch 2 minutes of your show and it’s when the audience is heckling you and telling you how the trick works. Do you think the agent will think you are worth big bucks on the next gig? Probably not.