I just got booked to work a hospitality suite at the Wynn next month. All of the guests will be Medical Doctors attending a conference. Does anyone have experience working with this type of audience, or have any suggestions? Right now, I do not plan to stray from my usual routines.

Perfect plan.

Search the web for "doctor humor". You might be able to add a line or two to one of your effects.

I would do nothing new, but you could perhaps come up with a doctor presentation for something you currently do. I don't find that to be a very difficult thing to do.

The doctor field seems ripe with possibilities.

I've performed for physicians before. They put on their pants one leg at a time, like everyone else. Just do your regular stuff and you'll be fine.

As Frank said, if you can modify a presentation for something, it will make it seem like you did a bit of customizing for them.

Do you have a "doctors" bag for your props? That might generate some conversation.

Yes, Doug, a doctors bag makes a great close-up case.

If you do any mentalism, you could pull out a stethoscope and use it to divine some information...with the ends touching only your temples of course. Could be funny if it fits your character.

Rich

Just be careful if someone asks you to "turn your head and cough."

I don't change the act for anyone. I never understood guys who do. Maybe research doctor jokes or medical jokes, but to change sets, no need.

At their core, they are people. THAT is who you are entertaining.

It always makes me wonder why guys abandon years of scripting and rehearsal and show history for making new scripts the week before. It never struck me as a smart thing to do. If you can do the show right, it always looks "off the cuff" anyhow.

Sorry for the rant.

Thanks for everyone's help. I found a few good jokes that I will use as openers. Other than that, I am going to keep everything the same.

Last year, I performed at an American Society of Civil Engineers event. Those guys over-analyzed every effect so much that they were very easy. I suspect that the doctors will not be much different.

What KIND of doctors are you working for? That can make a world of difference. Opthamologists are easier to work for than psychiatrists - trust me on that one. In fact, shrinks, in my experience, NOT psychologists but psychiatrists, can be really tough as they do NOT want to "break their professional distance and diffidence" in a whole lot of cases.

Remember, in many of the really esoteric specialties, these guys are used to being treated as Gods, and anything that brings them down to the mundane level will earn you some seriously negative feedback.

Others, of course, will eat your act up with a fork and come back for seconds.

The real key, as with any group, is the development of initial rapport.

Depending on the situation, you may be viewed as something on the level of the bus staff - beneath their notice. Ask the banquet bartenders who work these events at the major hotels - they uniformly HATE working them as the docs are excessively fussy, gripe about the least little thing, demand instant service (especially when he's fifteenth in line - he wants his cocktail NOW, darn-it, because he's a DOCTOR and he's ENTITLED to preferential treatment! - or so he believes!), and don't tip worth squat.

And that's straight from my wife, who has worked in banquet bar tending at one of the largest hotels in Chicago for well over a decade (and at other major Chicago hotels in the same capacity for well beyond that!).

So, scan the group carefully and pick your initial targets with care. If you get your first bunch laughing, the rest will gather because they will want to know what's going on (lemming effect). At THAT point, you are on your way. My only suggestion - NO sucker tricks. Or, if you do any, make the sting come back on YOU. Do that and they'll be eating out of your chop cup.

Lee Darrow, C.H.

Isn't that the way to do hospitality suites in general, or am I misinformed?

By the way, lemmings do not follow the leader off a cliff as most think, Ostriches do not bury their heads in the sand, and so forth.

A funny line I use whenever the opportunity arises is when someone signs a card with an illegible signature...

"Wow, you must be a doctor."

Rick

Thanks, Lee, for your insight. I believe that there will be a variety of different types of doctors there.

Rick, I will use your joke about the signature.

You can do a cut and restored stethoscope you can do by going to Radio Shack or Home Depot and getting some heat shrink tubing. You might get lucky and someone happens to have a stethoscope on them, and you can use theirs. Otherwise, buy a cheap scope at a nursing supply store (usually listed under uniforms in the yellow pages) near you or on eBay.
The method would be very similar to a common rope C&R with the extra piece on a p**l. Email me for more details, if you need.

Hi Lee,

I'm glad you liked the signed card (or bill) gag. You mentioned you're going to keep with your original material, but here's another stethoscope idea you may want to play with.

A card is selected, signed and returned to the deck. After failing to find the card, you mention that the cards haven't been feeling well lately. With this, you scatter the cards out onto the table face-down, then take your stethoscope out to listen to the backs of a few cards. When you come across their card (either marked or simply pushed into a known location), the stethoscope sticks to it (shim or just plain tape), whereas you can reveal it in a humorous way (they see it sticking, but you don't) or a little more serious ("Hmm, this card is trying to tell me something, etc").

Have fun,

Rick Mearns

Just a word of encouragement...

It has been my experience that a significant percentage of doctors have bought magic tricks. For some reason many, many doctors I know are into magic, but don't have the time to really know anything.

There is a very good chance that they will be on your side from the beginning, even more so than a random group might be.

Keep the act the same.

We all know how we receive magician jokes from laymen - they come across as really lame. The same thing goes if we try to tell doctor jokes. They've heard them all a million times, already! Don't try to be campy - just treat them like regular people.

If they are OBGYN's, I wouldn't do any "Ace in the hole" tricks! (Hello! Is this thing on? Am I going to hell for that one?)

Excellent points on the issue of doctor jokes not playing well. One thing I will note, though - if the event is being sponsored by one of the pharmaceutical companies, as these things often are, then USE some of their materials in your routine, if possible.

When I did a hospitality suite for the makers of Prevacid, I did a mini-cups and balls routine using Prevacid capsules (partly because I am a user of this prescription medication and am delighted with it), and the reaction from both the doctors present and the sales reps was, uniformly: "HOW COOL is THAT!? He's using OUR product!" and an instant crowd, much applause and business cards handed out (for the agency that I was working through, of course).

The main thing is to approach the doctors as a fellow professional in YOUR field, and then show that you ARE one. As well as by making their event fun.

Lee Darrow, C.H.

Thanks for all of the information. These are great ideas.

Posted: Oct 25, 2006 11:11am
I just had this gig last night and it went very well and it was lots of fun. The client actually hired me on the spot for similar events that they are doing next month in Orlando and Atlanta.

What I found was that most of the Doctors had very little interest in watching me perform. They were too busy drinking and talking business with my client. However, their spouses and girlfriends were very interested. The client thought this was great.

Thanks again for everyone's help.

Lee

Thanks for the update Lee. Glad everything worked out for you.

That's interesting that the doctors were not that interested, but a good lesson in that there is always an audience around who will appreciate your efforts. I'll bet it was a great diversion for those that got drug along (pun NOT intended!) to that event.

Good luck with the future work you'll be getting from this one.

Mark.

Sounds like a great gig!

Maybe you should forget the doctor jokes and go for lawyer jokes, their nemesis.
Save the doctor jokes for a lawyer's convention.

JMK