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cinemagician Inner circle Phila Metro Area 1094 Posts |
Hello, Richard
First of all thanks for your many great contributions to magic. Right now I am working o Fiber Optics and Interlace. Your material is kick ass! I wondered if you wanted to shed some light on how you go about incorporating comedy into your presentations. Are you naturally a "funny guy" who comes about this cerebrally, or do you make a conscious, planned effort to incorporate comedy into your magic? I have seen a lot of magicians who bill themselves as "comedy magicians" more often that not this is double speak for "my magic sucks so, I'll imbue it with "comedy". I personally find your presentations very funny, but your humor in no way takes away from the magic effect. Your sense of humor adds to the magic rather than detracts from it. In real life I am really funny, (Readers Digest is considering publishing three of my jokes) but I make no conscious attempt to add humor to my magic, it just happens when the situation calls for it. Where do you draw the line between comedy that adds to the magic and comedy that detracts or distracts the audience from the magic effect? Any thoughts would be appreciated. ---BTW thanks for being so kind to Jimmy Ray at M.A.E.S. convention in August you made him feel like a million bucks- Mark Walsh
...The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity...
William Butler Yeats |
Richard Sanders V.I.P. Sanders FX 174 Posts |
Hi Mark,
First let me say that IT WAS AN HONOR to meet Jimmy Ray. It was certainly my pleasure to say hi and spend a few moments with him. I am so happy that it was a nice experience for him. "Where do you draw the line between comedy that adds to the magic and comedy that detracts or distracts the audience from the magic effect?" What a great question! My rule, be funny right until the moment of the climax, then say whatever you need to in order to let the spectators know that this is the moment of amazement. Let's take the Invisible Deck as an example. You can do all your zany bits of business, jokes, etc during the shuffling and selection process but when it comes time to end the effect, you then switch gears and say something like, "Okay we have had some fun, but think about this, you chose any card in your mind, placed it face down in an imaginary pack and now this imaginary pack is real...if this is really the same pack that you had in your hands a second ago, there should be one card that is turned over in this pack right now…right?” “For the first time what is the card you turned over in your imaginary deck...(ex. the three of hearts) Look, this pack has only one card face down card in it...pause...the three of hearts!" The presentation might be hilarious at the beginning and yet, at the moment of the climax, it stresses what it needs to in order to make the effect register strongly. Also, regarding whether or not I am naturally funny is another good question because according to some people I might be hilarious and according to others I might be a dud. Here’s the $22,000.00 answer, "BE YOURSELF." This is not as easy as it sounds. It took me 15 or more years to do it but now when I walk on stage people see Richard Sanders and not a thousand other perfomers that I used to try to be. This honesty is contagious, people sense it and the reactions are much more generous because of it. If there are any magicians out there that are looking to put together a routine, forget about copying the exact presentation that you saw David Copperfield or Chris Angel performing. Instead, chill out, cut out the corny lines and have the trust to be yourself, I guarantee that people will like you and your magic much more. If I had to say it in two words...HAVE FUN! When you're having fun your audince can't help but join in on it! I’m not even sure if I answered your question at this point but I hope it helped in some small way |
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