I agree with Dave on the torn and restored. Since I have or still perform many of the effects you have listed let me give you my two cents.

Personally given the effects you wish to use I would put them in this order.

1. Torn & Restored Newspaper (Gene Anderson or Alex Hecklau's version)
2. Professor's Nightmare & Jumping Knot of Pakistan
3. Budweiser Bottle Vanish/Glass of Water Production - Fielding West
4. Silk to Egg
5. Cereal Killer - Nick Lakin
6. Smart-Ass Bill Abbott

My thoughts on the above line up and the context I would present them in.
Torn and restored newspaper is very flashy it makes a great opener. The context I would present this in would be, “I know you came here to see magic but let me first show you a review of my last night’s show.” For the comedic actions you could pretend to be reading a bad review. Rip it up, then on second thought was that your show or Copperfield. Restore the news paper, well you get the idea.
Professors Nightmare and jumping knot, I would use the primes that it was the very first magic trick you ever saw but could never figure out quite how it was done because it does not make sense. (Again your comedy scripting will drive this effect) It is nice to do this as your second effect because now you are establishing a rapore with the audience and they will see you as someone who learned magic at a young age. Making a nice little connection with them.
Vanishing Bottle I would not use Fielding’s handling personally, if you’re going for comedy do this as a teach a trick.
Silk to egg – A classic and one that can play real well as a magician in trouble you messed up the trick, but in the end it is a real egg!
Now you move to your mind reading Cereal Kill. To transcend into this you can talk about going to school to be a mind reader and how you got so good at it you brought along a prediction.
Smart Ass Deck has a lot of routines you can pick from that are of the mind reading type. This can be your closer to your show and ending on a very comedic note. Get Smart Ideas if you need some good routines for this deck.
By blocking out your performance in this manner the whole act will flow you will have your connections with the audience along the way and establish yourself as an entertainer that is not just doing tricks but more so taking the audience on a little journey of laughter and magic.
The comedy of the whole show will depend on your style and personality. Personally I recommend you re-script every effect to fit you and your style and make sure to bookend your show so the ending has just as much of a logical reason as the opening of your show. Given the effects you wish to perform the above line up will do just that for you with the right scripting.
--Floyd

It all depends on your performing character, but if you are a speaking performer, which from your choice of effects, it looks like you are, I would:

Close with silk to egg. There is something about the breaking of an egg that gets immediate applause from the audience. Have some music cued up for when you break the egg, take a bow and make your exit. It is a solo effect, so you finish on stage by yourself and you will get applause, what a great way to finish your show!

I would order them like this:

Have someone introduce you, and have some music play as you walk on.
1. Open with a rope routine. Talk to your audience, let them know who you are. (Hey, it works for Mac King!)
2. Torn and Restored Newspaper (Perhaps with some music and lighting if possible, wow them!)
3. Smart Ass, (Get someone on stage with you, have some music play as you have the spectator join you on stage and as they leave, treat them well and have the audience applaud them )
4. Bottle vanish/ glass production (toast your audience)
5. Cereal Killer (Get everyone involved and laughing)
6. Silk to egg (End by yourself and with applause.) music enters when you break the egg! Signaling the end of your show. Here, use the glass that you produced in the glass production earlier to break the egg in.

There are no rules, but this is how I would order those effects. Try it a few different ways and you will find what works for you.
Best of luck!

I agree with Aussie, Silk to Egg makes a nice little closer. Yet I would for sure keep Cereal Killer and Smart Ass back to back.

I would like to thank everyone for the great suggestions. There have been several changes. My time frame has changed. The Casino is behind schedule. The venue will not be complete until March of next year. I have more time to put this together. To aussiemagic, Yes, I'm a speaker. It's very easy for me. I've made several changes since my original posting. I have added Bill Abbott's Five Card Opener and dropped the idea of using Smart-Ass. I would assume the Five Card Opener will become my opener. Here is my set so far:

1. Five Card Opener - Bill Abbott
2. Cereal killer - Nick Lakin
3. Professor's Nightmare & Jumping Knot of Pakistan - my handling
4. Bottle Vanish - Snacks Alive by Martin Lewis or Fielding West's handling
5. Silk to Egg - my handling
6. Torn & Restored Newspaper - Alex Hecklau's version

I have pretty much decided on the above for my first venture on stage. But this of course, can change if needed. With the changes I've made, still uncertain as to the best order.

Another concern is the running time of my set. I've been give a performance time between 30 to 45 minutes. I think it would be a stretch shooting for the 45 minutes. Suggestions?

Again, I would like to thank everyone for all the great suggestions.

The Five Card opener is awesome and is now my opener for both my large stage show and my parlor show. Good idea to go with that, it is a killer way to get them going.

I still agree with Aussie I think Silk to Egg makes a very nice closer for parlor.

Adding another 15 min to a 30 min act can at first seem like no big deal, but trust me 15 min can be a life time. I would suggest you build your act for 45 min. Knowing that you can strip out effects in the middle if need be to shorten the act. Another way to handle this is to add more comedy to the middle by doing some stand up or have some site gags handy if your running short. The best thing to do is rehearse your full act and get your timing down and go from there.

Floyd

My only concern with your set list is that you don't have any audience participation effects with a audience member on stage with you. For a talking performer, I think audience participaion is crucial. Interaction with audience members is where you will get a lots of laughs.

You have taken out "smart ass" which is ok, but you have taken out the only audience participation effect you had in your set. I would seriously consider having one or probably two routines in your show that have audience members on stage with you. You could do one routine with one audience member and another routine that involves two or more people on stage with you.

I think that the five card opener, silk to egg, torn and restored newspaper, four nightmares are all good routines and worthy of a spot in your show if you give them the work they deserve. The other routines, I am not so sure about. I would highly recommend you check out the McCombical Deck, and perhaps something like Duke's Dye Version. How about customizing a trick to promote the casino?

By the way, have you seen Jeff Hobson perform the egg bag?

Just a few suggestions. Best of luck to you.

I too would strongly advise not doing the T&R newspaper as your closer. While it's a very impressive piece, I don't think it makes a strong closer. I actually open my show with Newsflash and it always gets a great reaction as an opener. I wouldn't recommend closing with it.

Technically Cereal killer does have audience participation. I have also PMed him my Vanishing bottle routine that has audience participation in it as well. Silk to Egg can be performed as a do as I do trick with an audience member on stage with you. My opinion is this, for a 30 min parlor you really don’t need to bring someone up on stage you can still get the audience participation working them from their seats. I would however agree, I would keep Smart Ass in for sure. I would not do T&R as a closer!!

Wow, you guys are great. So much information to think about. I will review everything that has been presented to me. Again thanks to everyone.

You have one month remaining.

j

I don't understand why anyone would say this. I have closed my stage act with the Gene Anderson Tear for more than thirty years. If you do a newspaper tear early in your show, you will have newsprint all over your hands for the rest of the show. I have found very few tricks strong enough to follow the torn and restored newspaper.

Are you guys not getting a very powerful response from the Gene Anderson Tear? There must be something wrong with your presentation.

What is the reasoning behind all these people saying the torn and restored newspaper isn't strong enough to close? I fail to see it.

This is the ending to my Teaching Act:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIzHb2zTW44

In general, sucker effects like sucker silk to egg should not be used for openers or closers.

They should be fairly early in the act, usually second or third.

I use the Sucker Silk to Egg as an opener, but it is very risky if you don't know what you are doing. It is a very weak opener. The audience will give you all three X's buzzers in their heads before you get a chance to break the egg. You have to know how to hold the audience and keep them from forming a decision about you all the way to the point the egg cracks.

As a closer, sucker effects leave the audience not with a feeling of completion and excitement, but with a little slap and a sting. They are better for waking them up and getting them to pay close attention than for "blowing them away."

Johncesta,

The Casino is behind schedule and I now have until March of next year.

I'm stoked. Whit Hayden chiming in on my humble post.

I am not Whit is a good man!

Whit, I am getting a very good response from my T&R news paper routine. I have done it for many many years as an opener with much success. Following it with other effects is never an issue when I perform T&R and I perform it early on in my shows, this does not mean I don’t perform it very well at all. In the context of my show it fits very nicely in the start of my show given my other effects that follow.

I have also used it for a closer, never really liked to close with it as much as the impact of opening with it has with my audience. The context that I deliver T&R is one that allows me to open with a situation that I relate back to my audience during the middle and end of my show. I don’t think anyone said you can’t close with it, just personal preference of opening with T&R then closing. Is it strong, you bet and I agree with you there. I just don't think it makes as good of a closer for me as it would/does for you.

-Floyd

Aceofharts.

Of course you all. In fact, you have been more than helpful and I apprecate your PM. Still going all the info you have provided me. You have been one of the more positive people who have responded and I'm grateful for that.

I said it because it's a personal preference. I don't particularly enjoy the newspaper as a closer. Nothing wrong with my presentation of it - it gets "wows" from the people that I perform it for. I just don't like it as a closer. That's my opinion on the matter - I'm not too crazy about having opinions attacked. I never stated it as a fact.

Well, I didn't attack your opinion. You "strongly advised" someone against using it as a closer. I said that I didn't understand why you would say this.

I thought maybe you had a reason other than you "just liked it that way." Personal preferences can't be attacked, because they don't have any reasoning behind them. If that is just a personal preference, why would you "strongly advise" someone to share it?

I don't see how it is helpful to just state personal preferences without stating the thinking and theory behind them.

They are not a very useful kind of advice. When you say you don't particularly "enjoy" the newspaper tear as a closer, I would still want to know "why?" Do you not enjoy doing it as a closer, or watching it as a closer? What is it that bothers you?

I have given my why’s and feel very confident in my picks of effect I do for my shows. Some would argue that no one should do a whole show as teach a trick. Yet Whit has done so very well I might add.
Some would say never close with a sucker trick, others will say leave them wanting more, and others will add in you can’t close as strong as you open and while we are at it, I have had some say don’t open with your strongest trick you can’t follow it.
Advice is just that advice, from past experience each person giving their advice to help him is doing just that giving advice based from past experience. As you have said closing with T&R works great for you and I think you have performed it well on you video. I would however say your advice is yours and no one should argue it nor does it make it right or wrong.
The great thing about the café is you get to see everyone’s point of view, from the working pros to the hobbyists everyone has the freedom to give thoughts and ideas. What it comes down to is this; your effects must fit you as a performer and how you perform them can greatly change the impact of the effect. There are many great rules to magic and showmanship, once you have performed over 100 shows your rules change along with your thoughts on placement, scripting and performance style. While some will perform each trick in a story like manner building from one trick to the next others will perform them as individual feats of magic. With all these different performance styles and rules not one person here will give 100% the advice that is needed, it will be up to NonVpro to decipher what works for him and what will not work.

This thread is very thought provoking and shows a lot of different views on effect placement, I think this is awesome. But let’s try and not take it personal for all we are giving is our personal experience nothing more nothing less.

--Floyd

In the many presentations I've seen of the T&R effect, it's always been a shorter presentation, and I like the quickness of the effect because it shows my audience right away that kind of thing I'm doing. I've also found that it can make a nice segue into other routines. I can certainly see how it would work for some as a closing piece, and a closer certainly can be quick - Lance Burton closes his show by doing a "hat trick" where he throws the hat into the audience and it comes back to him, and that's the last bit of the show. I just speak from the presentations I've seen in the past. While I've enjoyed most of them, and I LOVE performing Newsflash, I felt like they left something more to be desired. I like to be surprised at the end; the T&R has a fairly predictable ending to me. One of the downfalls of watching so much magic I suppose

Gotta say Pop, I wish I could master the handling of the silk to egg that you do. I've watched the video a thousand times and still get scared when I'm attempting to pull it off the way you do it. Tony Clark worked with me on my handling of it, but I still find yours to be a thing of beauty.

Lance Burton closes one of his tv specials with the Torn & restored newspaper...And works well!
With respect,
Hansel!