Hey everyone, as a courtesy to you all, I am posting the times at which I will be away from my computer for performing shows. I promise to be deligent and post again once I am home from these shows. I appreciate all the questions and please keep em coming. I am having a blast.

I will generally post 8 - 10 times daily and right up until midnight every night.

Here are the times I will be unable to post:

Thursday, Feb. 23 6:00 - 9:00 p.m. Magic Kids Show

Friday, Feb. 24 Evening show from 7 - 10 p.m.

Saturday, Feb 25, 2 - 4 p.m. Kids Show

Sunday, Feb, 26 11:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. two kids shows

Thanks.

O.K.

Back now. That was a toughy. Cub scout banquet including cubs, beavers, scouts, pathfinders and about 100 adults. Mix that with 60 kids ages 4 - 16 and you have one hard fought battle.

How did you manage to perform for an audience with members of such varying age?

It was a banquet and some sort of new members ceremony for cub scouts, Beavers, Scouts and Pathfinders. I have done about a dozen of these in my times. Generally they have a big ceremony once a year where they celebrate their new members but to save money I guess they have all of the organizations at once to share the costs and they always seem to be on a weeknight cause its cheaper to rent a hall or restaurant then. It was at a restaurant this time in the upstairs part. They originally had a different magician booked but I guess he bailed out on them last minute. They called me about 4 days ago and I took the gig. They are definitely the more difficult ones to perform, but I have been doing this a long time (over 20 years) so I know how to plan for them. They are still a little stressful though as I don't generally do a lot of shows for such varying age groups. I always have a tiny bit of nerves just before going on for these types of shows. They are not that easy to do but as a full timer, I take every show I can get these days, especially weekday shows as they are gravy for me. 90% of all my shows fall on Saturdays and Sundays and a few Fridays. Weekday shows Monday - Thursdays are a bonus! I don't do restaurant gigs anymore so weekday shows are far and few between for me.

They are a challenge but I always know that I have to pack a custom show for these types of events. It is tricky to say the least because a 5 year old and a 15 year old are poles apart in what they would find entertaining. Then throw in all those adults into the mix and it is enough to scare some guys away. I think that is what happened with the other magician. I can't say for sure, but I think he may have got the last minute jitters for this one as they scout leader who hired me said the other dude had "double booked"! Maybe he did but in my opinion, it isn't very often that I can think of that I was booked on a Thursday night for two gigs. I think he just got overwhelmed and bailed out. I know several guys who have done this and I will not say another word about that!

Here is what I did in the show.

Opener: Appearing cane from silk - very visual opener
Balloon effect: Don't pick the Pink Balloon gag. - brought up a 6 year old for this one.
My version of a cut and restored rope routine with one of 14 year olds.
Visual mesh egg bag routine with three kids of different ages. 5 year old, 8 year old and 10 year old approximately
Vanishing Beer Bottle routine with a don't drink alcohol message overtone. Plays well for all ages and I keep it politically correct with my addition of the don't drink booze theme.
Axtell's Magic Drawing Board - Very comedic routine for all ages. Lots of laughs here. I do it as a vent routine and not with the pre-recorded tracks.
Change bag with silks routine - more for the younger kids. Brought up one of the younger ones. Around 5 years old for this one.
My Mental Hippo Comedy mentalism effect for the adults. Used one of the moms. Some good laughs there too.
Ended with the Vanishing chocolate Milk in newspaper trick, performed with Dan Harlan's The Jug. I play this one kind of dramatically and with cool background music. The theme from 2001, A space Odyssey. If you know the song, you know how it builds up and ends with a final crash!

Total show is about 50 minutes.

It went well but as I said, was a tough gig.

Mental Hippo Comedy routine? That sounds hysterical. Oh, I just googled it and see you sell the routine: http://www.tonychris.com/hippo.html. Looks like a lot of fun!

Thanks Curtnelson. I use it in my adult comedy shows and older children shows too.