In my show, what used to be the second routine was a really long routine. It was also a long time before it got to the payout of the trick. It was a 6-8 minute routine with one magic effect. It’s a funny routine, but too long for the second trick.
What I did was cut out a chunk of the routine that was funny, but compared to the rest of the routine felt less spontaneous. I was guiding the person onstage into a funny situation. While funny and the person on stage was genuinely reacting, my responses were too canned. There was a time when I was figuring out the routine and my responses were much more genuine. Now I’m just going joke to joke.
I needed to get out of this. I cut that whole section, and the routine is playing a lot better. I also moved this trick to the third spot in the show. The routine that is now in the second spot has three effects in it, with the first one happening immediately, and the second one pretty quick. They are all good tricks and keep the momentum going.
Just because you can get 8 or 10 mins out of a routine doesn’t mean you should. Shortening the trick for me is getting a better reaction than the longer version.
Prune Your Hedges…
In my show, what used to be the second routine was a really long routine. It was also a long time before it got to the payout of the trick. It was a 6-8 minute routine with one magic effect. It’s a funny routine, but too long for the second trick. What I did was … Continue reading “Prune Your Hedges…”