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Scott F. Guinn Inner circle "Great Scott!" aka "Palms of Putty" & "Poof Daddy G" 6586 Posts |
"Love God, laugh more, spend more time with the ones you love, play with children, do good to those in need, and eat more ice cream. There is more to life than magic tricks." - Scott F. Guinn
My Lybrary Page |
tommy Eternal Order Devil's Island 16544 Posts |
One book that explains nicely the artistic principles that you raise is Our Magic. Chapter XI Speed in presentation for example covers what you call Overextenders and opposite and all of that. If one reads that chapter one can see that it is not necessarily wrong either way. With respect its not as black and white as you seem to paint it. Have you read this chapter I am referring to?
If there is a single truth about Magic, it is that nothing on earth so efficiently evades it.
Tommy |
Ray Pierce Inner circle Los Angeles, CA 2607 Posts |
Great artical, Scott!
Yeah, it's a pain as there are examples we all know of people who are brilliant in each category but it's rare. I agree with you that if you just focused on making great magic with a sense of pacing, rising interest, build, climax, etc. things would be better off. I've always said that great magic is like a great murder mystery, a great roller coaster, a great relationship, etc. They all have a hidden structure that makes things work. When these are at their best, you never notice the structure but it is the foundation that everything else is hinged on. I've spent equally as much time studying structure and form in shows and acts as I have on effects. I think it's a great way to approach the craft.
Ray Pierce
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George Ledo Magic Café Columnist SF Bay Area 3042 Posts |
Good article, Scott. As I read your list of definitions, I saw myself when I was starting out umpteen years ago, being in just about each of those categories at one time or another. Slapper? Oh yeah. Themer? Yep, but thankfully not as bad as you describe. Overextender and all-emcompasser? Guilty. Ad-libber? I remember this one: it happened when I got overconfident and complacent with my magic, right at about the age of sixteen or seventeen.
It took years of learning and work to get over all this. And thankfully I did... just in time to go in other directions and quit performing. Ahhh, the irony! But, having said all that, I have to wonder if what you describe is just part of the learning curve for a lot of people who want to do magic. Something we go through at one point or another, and either get to the top of the curve or not get to the top of the curve. Magic takes a lot of work, just like playing an instrument. Some people are willing to do the work and others are not. And some of them lose their interest before they get over the learning curve. What may be happening now is that there are so many people out there involved in magic that we're seeing that learning curve in action over and over again. Maybe we need to make some heavy-duty offerings to the God of Attrition.
That's our departed buddy Burt, aka The Great Burtini, doing his famous Cups and Mice routine
www.georgefledo.net Latest column: "Sorry about the photos in my posts here" |
Darkwing Inner circle Nashville Tn 1850 Posts |
Scott,
You have addressed an issue that is very near and dear to my heart. I really don't have any problem learning the moves, sleights, tricks, etc. The biggest problem and stumbling block I run into is routining. What makes sense? Am I doing every sleight I know just to impress myself? Is it magical mast**b****n? Is it entertaining to the audience? Does it flow? I used to chastise myself for not coming out with as much new material as the other guys in the club. Now, I'm not so sure I should be that hard on myself because I want the end result to be routined well. I do understand you can overanalyze anything into oblivion and have to move forward so finding a happy medium is also an important part of the process. Your article is very well done and thought provoking. Well Done! David |
Scott F. Guinn Inner circle "Great Scott!" aka "Palms of Putty" & "Poof Daddy G" 6586 Posts |
I certainly agree that part of the process may very well (and of necessity, probably SHOULD) involve some or even all of these categories. I'm not talking here, though, about developing magicians. The guys I'm refering to in each of these categories call themselves "pros" and charge money for shows and have been doing so for years. The people in these examples have stopped thinking about their magic, as they feel it is perfect just as it is. To paraphase Vernon, "Magicians stop thinking WAY too soon!"
I'm sure you've met people like this. They will tell you that they've been doing magic for 20 years, when in reality they've been doing magic for one year twenty times!
"Love God, laugh more, spend more time with the ones you love, play with children, do good to those in need, and eat more ice cream. There is more to life than magic tricks." - Scott F. Guinn
My Lybrary Page |
Donal Chayce Inner circle 1770 Posts |
Another terrific, thought provoking essay. Thanks, Scott!
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George Ledo Magic Café Columnist SF Bay Area 3042 Posts |
Quote:
On 2009-04-25 14:09, Scott F. Guinn wrote: Got it. Thanks for the clarification.
That's our departed buddy Burt, aka The Great Burtini, doing his famous Cups and Mice routine
www.georgefledo.net Latest column: "Sorry about the photos in my posts here" |
Scott F. Guinn Inner circle "Great Scott!" aka "Palms of Putty" & "Poof Daddy G" 6586 Posts |
Quote:
On 2009-04-25 08:36, tommy wrote: Many, many times. Again, as in all of my articles where I am giving a negative opinion of magicians (unless otherwise specified), I am referring to actual guys I have known who bill themselves as pros and charge money for their shows to clients who have expressed to me that they are not satisfied with their purchase. I am NOT saying, for example, that every overextender stinks or that it is not acceptable to go through stages in the growth process. I AM saying that, when it is obvious to me, the audience, and the client that the show has glaring flaws that need to be addressed but the performer is oblivious to it, that is not good for magic!
"Love God, laugh more, spend more time with the ones you love, play with children, do good to those in need, and eat more ice cream. There is more to life than magic tricks." - Scott F. Guinn
My Lybrary Page |
msmaster Special user 522 Posts |
Congratulations Scott, nice essay.
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tommy Eternal Order Devil's Island 16544 Posts |
Thanks Scott. It was cool thanks but I just wanted to mention that we have play to our strengths so to speak. Through lake of experience or whaever I personally am not best at adressing the audience and so try to make up for it with a bit more action than the ideal.
If there is a single truth about Magic, it is that nothing on earth so efficiently evades it.
Tommy |
Scott F. Guinn Inner circle "Great Scott!" aka "Palms of Putty" & "Poof Daddy G" 6586 Posts |
Thanks.
I do want to say that I appreciate the comments that refer to the article as "thought-provoking." That is my goal, to try to provoke my readers to THINK about their magic and their business practices. I do NOT expect everyone to just follow me like sheep. I do not think "my" way is the "only" way. rational, logical, intelligent, successful people may well disagree with me. And that's OK with me, as I hope it is OK with them. Nothing on my blog was written by the finger of God, nor is intended to be followed as if it were. I wouldn't think I should have to keep saying this, but judging by some of the messages I get, it seems that I do. So, for the record, I'm not holding a gun to anyone's head, and it doesn't bother me or hurt my feelings if you think I'm wrong or off-base. In fact, I encourage you to voice WHERE you disagree with me, and more importantly WHY. If I respond with an opposing view, that doesn't mean I think you're stupid or your opinion is worthless. Just means I enjoy and feel that we can all learn from some gentlemanly, rational debate. BTW, these comments are not necessarily intended for the people who've posted here, but more for the ones who write me with the "who do you think you are" kinda stuff.
"Love God, laugh more, spend more time with the ones you love, play with children, do good to those in need, and eat more ice cream. There is more to life than magic tricks." - Scott F. Guinn
My Lybrary Page |
slyhand Inner circle Good ole Virginia 1908 Posts |
I can not find anything wrong you said in your article. You did not point fingers at anyone in particular so I can't see why anyone would write you to "tell you off".
Unless maybe they saw themselves in one or more of your examples. I know I fall into a combo of a couple, though not to any extreme. Routining is the hardest part to magic in my opinion which is why I always put off doing that. I have been getting books and asking others opinions on how to routine well. It's going to be a long process but I am determined to be the best I can. Thanks for the article, maybe I wont ad-lib as much.
I am getting so tired of slitting the throats of people who say that I am a violent psychopath.
Alec |
Scott F. Guinn Inner circle "Great Scott!" aka "Palms of Putty" & "Poof Daddy G" 6586 Posts |
Nothing wrong with ad libbing. In fact, done well it is a very GOOD thing. Much better than the guy who just keeps charging full-steam ahead with his rehearsed patter, ignoring any attempts by the audience to interact. Some of my best material came from ad libs--either my own or the audiences. And some guys (Eric Meade, Simon Lovell) are great at "jazz" magic--but look at the foundation they have both in technique and performing experience. Not everyone can do that, not even WITH all that experience.
"Love God, laugh more, spend more time with the ones you love, play with children, do good to those in need, and eat more ice cream. There is more to life than magic tricks." - Scott F. Guinn
My Lybrary Page |
Lawrence O Inner circle French Riviera 6811 Posts |
The risk of ad libs is to become sarcastic with the audience when, in my opinion, kindness is part of the entertainment by magicians. If we share something (in our case called magic), we cannot make fun of the people we are sharing with. One could only be sarcastic if he demonstrates or shows them. I detest sarcasm because it took me almost 15 years to quit this habit that quick minds easily delve into.
Your listing of the temptations embushing magicians concerned with routining is very well coined. I had to get around all of these over the years. I'm sorry to tell Tommy as I defended my point with another Tommy (Wonder) that there are a lot of points that Maskelyne and Devant missed in "Our Magic". Namely their system even though it includes some very intelligent points from successful performers, are concerned with stage magic: they show magic more than they share it. Thus their advice apply well to stage magic (that I don't do) and less well to close up that most of the people in the café perform. Naturally I'm not saying that their experience is worthless. I'm saying that one should read it over and over again with some reconsideration linked to close up. Also they are very poor on scripting which Scott touches with very sound advice. For a positive system of routining, I found that Boris Wild lecture notes Card Remix p 41 on, which serve as a base to a new lecture he is writing on the subject of routining technique, is the most inspiring text for this thread. It is unfortunately in French but hopefully his new lecture will be in English. This is the technique Boris used to create his FISM winning act. Darwin Ortiz Designing Miracles is for me the best book on the routining subject even if it doesn't cover scripting. Combined with Arturo Ascanio's first book in the Magic of Ascanio series (the three pages on In Transit Actions is a major contribution). I found very strong insights in the times when I was a pupil from Tony Slydini and these can be found in the first chapters of Karl Fulves' The Magic Of Slydini and More and in Denis Barlotta's Slydini master of misdirection. Juan Tamariz The Magic Way (Canceling out techniques were inspirational to Michael Ammar's magic and other foremost performer's as well) and The Five Points In Magic cannot be ignored. Henning Nelms: Magic and showmanship and Gary Kurtz's Leading with your Head, a booklet that every performing magician should know by heart as well (when his Misdirection booklet is, in my opinion, considerably inferior). Peter Samelson also made an essay covering three types of justification for secret moves (physical, logical, and emotional) which is a great help in routining. Scripting is probably the most difficult step in the routining process. Darwin Ortiz Strong Magic is definitely of some help here. Robert Neal, Eugene Burger, Jeff McBride are extremely valuable source for giving meaning to what we do: this is what makes it magic. Eugene's Audience Involvement, a lecture (1983) & with Robert Neale Magic and Meaning and Magic Mirror (by Robert Neale and David Parr) were the most useful to me. The strongest author in the psychology of words is clearly Kenton Knepper with his incredible Wonder Words, Rants into Raves, Secrets of indirection, Art of suggestion, Q book, Creating Material and Making Your Performances Memorable. One cannot pass by René Lavand's initial pages from his Magic from the Soul. Andrew J Pinard: Serious Bizness. Incorporating Humor into your Performance is also there. For the anecdote, I loved your “There was no silverware in medieval times, therefore there is no silverware at Medieval Times! More Pepsi?” It really made me laugh. The problem in routining is that it involves a character and an act designed for certain sets of circumstances. For example, I have an act for "After the dessert" and two for corporate venues. If I was doing restaurant magic I would have at least one act for restaurant performances. I know this thing seems a lot of work but who said that being a real magician was easy? It definitely takes much much more than doing (even difficult) sleights. If the list of pages within these books to study seems long, it should be realized that it is a skeletton list. I didn't list here some extremely valuable books that I respect a lot such as: Wonder, Tommy: The books of Wonder Weber, Ken: Maximum Entertainment Wardell, Peter Crowdpuller DVD. Peter Wardell who has spent more than 15 years performing on the streets in London teaches what he learned about getting and keeping crowds, pre-show preparation, and much more and as a bonus learn how to apply all these skills to tradeshow work. Tennace, Richard. Acting for magicians. Swiss, Jamy Ian: Jamy Ian Swiss Lecture Video. In this lecture video, Jamy Ian Swiss gives an insight into the 'world of professional close up magic'. Stone, David. Secrets of table hopping. Stockman, Avo. Poetry reading Stanislavski, Constantin. An Actor Prepares. Theatre Arts Books, 1970 Spina, Joanie. Get Your Act Together! The "Real" Secrets of Magic from Joanie Spina DVD Simon, Bill: Effective card magic (the introduction is very interesting for presenting card magic) Sharpe, Samuel H.: Great Magic & Neomagic. Booklets. Art and Magic, 2003. Art and Magic combines three profound works by S. H. Sharpe - author of Neo-Magic Artistry and other classics: the much-anticipated 1000 Thoughts on Art and Magic, Sharpe's revised text of the scarce Words on Wonder, and his serialized "Through Magic-Coloured Spectacles: A Sequel to Neo-Magic." Sharpe blows our mind with his insights. His Conjuror's Psychological Secrets presents next to the effects' classifications, principles and examples of important psychological techniques every magician should know about. He identified four fundamental Principles (Objective Illusions, Subjective Illusions, Influence by Suggestion, and Intellectual), with fifteen Specific Principles as sub-topics within the major classes. Schneider, Albert: Description of The Theory and Practice of Magic Deception. a major work as well. Sankey, Jay. Beyond Secrets Riese, Eberhard. Foundations, the Art of Staging Magic Reynolds, Quentin. Perform like a pro DVD. Reneaux, James. Professional Technique for Magicians. Routining; Stage Waits; Staging; Getting On and Off (Entrances and Exits); Confidence; Make-up; Dress; Ethics; Tempo; Pacing; Timing; Rehearsing... Ramsay John: a lesson in misdirection. The Gen Vol 13 Number 7 November 1957 p 199. Pyka, John. Theatrical Magic. Pittman, Woody. The Big Picture : Character development for magicians. Parrish, Robert: The Magician's Handbook (the first 20 pages is all on our topic) Ouellet, Gary. Magic on TV - Performance Secrets. Osterlind, Richard. Principles of Magic. Why can two performers do the same piece of material yet one consistently gets much more enthusiastic audience responses? Muerte, Manuel. Done by Misdrection MacGregor, Jerry: Real World Magic. p 7 What are we doing? Part One: Reasons 1. Stepping into the Real World - A Routine, Not Tricks - Establish a Character - Keep Your Magic Visual - Have a Direct Opener - Choose Winning Effects - Involve the Audience's Emotions - Keep it Simple - Build Toward a Climax - Have a Clear Ending - Help Them Like You; 2. Learning to Entertain - The Audience Must Like Me - I Always Use Ordinary Props - I Work Standing Up - I Have to Like It - I've Got to Fool Them Badly; 3. The Meaning of Your Magic - Have a Strategy - Establish Your Personality - Choose Your Words Carefully - Reveal Your Wonder - Practice Your Timing - Create Excitement - Demonstrate Relaxation - Practice Everything; 4. Magic Words - What Do I Say? - How Do I Say It? - How Can I Use Words Effectively? - Do I Have to Be Funny? - What Do I Not Say? 5. Hocus Pocus and Sim Sala Bim - The Introduction - The Conclusion - The Transition; 6. The Magician on Stage; 7. Selecting Tricks for the Real Worl - Read Widely - Make Sure It Grabs You - Choose Visual Effects - Prefer Direct Effects - Prefer Normal Props - Prefect Practical Applications - Use Audience Participation - Think "Simple" - Know Your Audience - Know Your Limits; 8. Preparation and Practice - Walk Through It - Envision It - Get Comfortable With It - Have Someone Evaluate It - Repeat It - Set the Timing - Look for Naturalness - Focus on Misdirection - Check Your Reaction - Study the Situation; 9. Routining Your Show - The Notion of the "Show" - The Beginning: Start Fast - The Middle: Use Variety - The End: A Slam-Bang Finish – Crescendos - The Themed Act - The Basic Five - Tricks as Tools - Varied Venues - What Do People Like? 10. The Biggest Secret in Magic - The Big Goal - The Little Goals - The Biggest Secret McCabe, Pete. Scripting Magic. Maven, Max: Verbal Control. Maurice, Edward: Showmanship and presentation. Martyn, Topper. Topper's Mad, Mad, Magic by Gene Anderson (includes p 29 How to Make People Laugh...Without Really Trying: an essay on comedy) Martinez, Daryl: Scratching the Surface” Lecture Notes to Convention session No.1 Lowe, Fred: Slow Magic Leech, Al: Don’t look now, the smart slant of misdirection. Booklet where the notions of time misdirection and negative misdirectios were revealed. Lamont, Peter & Wiseman, Richard. Magic in Theory. Keable, Ian. Stand Up: A Professional Guide To Comedy Magic Jay, Joshua. Methods in Magic DVD Hunt, Douglas & Cary: Pantomine, The silent theater. includes a chapter on pantomime as used by magicians. Hull, Burling: Magical Showmanship and Stage Craft Hugard Jean & Braüe, Frederic: Expert Card Technique. Very good comments in the chapter 6 on misdirection and presentation at the end of the book. Hoffmann, Professor [Angelo Lewis] in The Magician Annual 1910-1911 by Will Goldston p 12: The Magic of Suggestion Hildebrandt, Dale: Hypnohole & Other Absurdities. Dale A Hildebrandt walks a different path from most magicians. His knowledge of Neurolinguistic programming (NLP), hypnosis, Wonder Words, and spectators' psychology is obvious throughout the book. Hass, Larry. Transformations: Creating Magic Out of Tricks. Hall, Trevor H.: The card magic of Edgar G. Brown. Book. In the second part the six lectures printed during the 40s on the magic for magicians and magic for lay-people. Hahne, Nelson. The Sphinx July 1929. XXVIII N° 5. Deceptive Psychology. An interesting work predating the discovery of modern psychology and really covering Magic. Haydn, Whit: His posts in the Magic Café on the Cognitive dissonance, a concept he had already developed in his book on the Chicago opener. Goldman, Bill The little book of big secrets. This manuscript shows how to investigate how some Magician attained prominence and how you can follow their example to gain more success. Bill maintains that it is not the effects or the routines, but the way a performer affects the audience that makes a Lance Burton or a David Copperfield. In the book Bill strives to give practical, real world tips and techniques that will allow you to win the hearts, minds, and imaginations of paying crowds. Bill tells you in plain and simple terms how to become the great magician and performer you have always wanted to be & Confessions of a corporate warrior DVD set: important reference for trade show magicians. Germay, Luke. Building Blocks. blending up-to-the-minute psychological techniques with some classic conjuring methodology Hustle, Danny. Art of Krowd Keeping. Hustle details the strategies and routines that Gazzo uses to keep the attention of a crowd, and to persuade them to part with their money Ganson, Lewis. The Art of Close Up Magic Volume 1: Foreword by Fred Lowe. p 1 Chapter 1 - The Presentation of Close-Up Magic: essay on the presentation of magic Fitzkee, Dariel: Magic by misdirection & Showmanship for magicians. Evans, Eric & Craver, Nowlin The Secret Art of Magic Elmsley, Alex. Collected Works by Stephen Minch 1991. Vol 1: a ground-breaking essay by Alex Elmsley on presentation, psychology and misdirection Edmundson, Gerald: The Ostrich Factor How to practice an effect, rehearsing sleights, attention control, misdirection, movements, and patter… and applying these concepts. Dexter, Will: Plotting Magic The Magic Wand Vol 43 # 241 Mch 1954 p 8. & Vol 43 # 242 June 1954 p 53 Devant, David: Lessons in conjuring. Darwin, Gary: Reaction Ad-Libs (DVD Download) Penguin Magic; The ultimate Course in Situational One-Liners for Magicians includes outs when things go wrong. Paul Daniels "Masterclass" 7 CD set Recorded during the Masterclass tour of the USA, UK, Australia and New Zealand, Paul Daniels reveals the secrets of how to succeed and profit in the world of show-business. "Highlights of Paul Daniels' Masterclass 2003 DVD" Cuthbertson, Rod. How to make a magician of yourself. Chowdhury, Deepak Roy. Magic and story. Curcillo III, Esq, Joseph A. Performance on Trial: the case for better performance Crum, Thomas F.: The Magic of Conflict. Crone, Tom: Misdirection for Close-up Magicians. Conn, Doug. Conn-Juring Notes Prestidigitation, Legerdemain, & Other Unique Entertainments ©2004 Doug Conn. p 18 Plausible Presentations: Essay. Magic can have more impact if there is a plausible explanation. Explores some approaches & Connsolidated Connundrums ©2006 Doug Conn; p 28 Believe: work with your audience, not "for" them Cohen, Steve: Win the Crowd. Publishers Weekly Steve Cohen's new book reveals the secrets of all great showmen - how to persuade, influence, and charm, and ultimately accomplish the things you've always wanted to do. Close, Michael: Closely Guarded Secret. Christopher, Milbourne: Milbourne Christopher's Magic Book Tricks for the Living Room, Dinner Table, or Stage ©1977 p 1 Magic and Magicians: essay on patter, preparation, recovery from mistakes and surprises, difficult audiences, pre-show prepration, originality, and deception & illusion; p 28 Ch 1: Direction and Misdirection Christian, Brad. Inside Magic DVD 2. Cellini, Jim. The Royal Touch; The art of street magic. Carney, John: Carney on Ramsay. DVD Carey, Chris. Do the stuff that’s you. Buffaloe, Jimmy: Buffaloed. ©1998 Jim Buffaloe. Edited by Dan Garrett and Phil Willmarth; p 155 One for the Experts - A Four Postulate Analysis: Short essay summarizing the conditioning, routine, clean effect, and ending aspects of the previous effect; p 156 A Perverse (But Effective) Way of Thinking: why the brethren are fooled. Section 2 - General Magic Part 5 – Essays p 158 The Magic In Your Voice: Discussion on rate of speed, controlled breathing, natural resonance, orchestrating your voice, exercises, and being distinct; p 168 The Love Connection: making your show more personable. Buckley, Arthur: Principles and Deceptions ©1948 Arthur Buckley: 222 pages; p 22 The Principles of Magic; p 25 Manipulation; Substitution; Duplication; Camouflage; p 26 Imitation; False Partition; Concealed Mechanism; Falsification; p 27 Arrangement; Preparation; Misdirection; p 28 Concealment; p 30 The Entertainment Value; p 33 Showmanship; Sleight of Hand; p 34 Something New; p 35 Invention; p 37 Talking Acts Versus Silent Acts, and Pantomine; p 37 The Practice of Leaving the Stage Unattended; p 38 Assistants from the Audience; Fakes and Accessories; p 39 Gimacs; p 40 The Plot; Timing, Rhythm and Pace; p 42 Footwork; p 43 Presenting the Act in Public Brown, Derren: Pure Effect & Absolute Magic. Booth, John: Extending Magic Beyond Credibility. Blosser, P. (1973). Principles of Gestalt psychology and their application to teaching junior high school science. Science Education. 1973. This is how to understand how our audiences think. Beckwith, Tobias. Beyond Deception. Tobias Beckwith offers ideas and techniques which performers at all levels can use to create truly original and personalized magic. Bannon, John. John Bannon's Smoke and Mirrors. p 11 Thought provoking comments in the foreword about the surprise element in magic Banacheck. Psychological Subtleties Vol 1 & 2 Ammar, Michael. The Magic of Michael Ammar. Chapter 3: Psychology (8 essays): In the Men's Hut (the inner circle); SuperGroup: brainstorming sessions; I've Got Rhythm; The Unspoken Performance (with the Action Zone); Lying: Magic and the art of deception; Get More Rubals from Your Magic; I'm In Training - practice vs. training; Have No Mercy: Push the limits & How to make your magic memorable Audio CD transcribed on chapter 11 of The Magic of Michael Ammar Alber, Le prestidigitateur. De L’Illusion – Son Mécanisme Psycho Social. Librairie Bloud & Cie, Paris 1909. A strong accent is placed on the psychology of spectators and audiences and the need for performers to take it into consideration.
Magic is the art of emotionally sharing live impossible situations
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slyhand Inner circle Good ole Virginia 1908 Posts |
Dude, I wont have time for anything else!
Thanks for the list. I don't know how you got this list together but I will use it. I have Strong Magic, Maximum Entertainment, Scripting Magic and Cocktail Card Magic on the way to me now. I hope they will help make me more entertaining. I am good at Ad-Libbing. But you are right when sometimes it can easily get away from you and it starts to become Don Rickles-like. When I see that as an easy way to go I pull back and go in a different direction. Or maybe I should just go full blown and be the Angry Magician. If the whole routine is geared that way and you are not just picking on one person, couldn't that work? (I am thinking out loud here) Rickles did it, Sam Kinison did it, even Lewis Black seems angry to me all the time but I find them all very entertaining. Wow, an angry Ambitious Card. "Get back in the deck!" Hmmm, it's a thought. Of course I'm half mad you know.
I am getting so tired of slitting the throats of people who say that I am a violent psychopath.
Alec |
Lawrence O Inner circle French Riviera 6811 Posts |
Quote:
On 2009-04-26 08:08, slyhand wrote: I made it by reading these books and others in English or other languages that I discarded from the list. Being older doesn't have only drawbacks... Of course I'm the other half, you know. :)
Magic is the art of emotionally sharing live impossible situations
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Scott F. Guinn Inner circle "Great Scott!" aka "Palms of Putty" & "Poof Daddy G" 6586 Posts |
In most of my ad libs, I am the butt of my own jokes, or they are just quips or wordplay. For example, one line in my sponge routine. The first ball is produced, and I tell them his name is peanut. When it multiplies to two, I say the seond ball is butter. Then I say, "Peanut Butter--get it, Skippy? (Pause) Hey, I'll be done in a Jiff!"
Now for our non-American friends, Skippy and Jiff are the two most popular brands of peanut butter. Also, we sometimes jokingly refer to people as Skippy ("Way to go, Skippy!" or "You dang Skippy!"), and if you're not gonna make someone wait long on you, you tell them you'll be done in a jif--short for jiffy, meaning very quickly. I just ad libbed these lines one night and everyone laughed, so it became a part of the act, and everyone laughs every time. That's how most of my patter evolved over the years.
"Love God, laugh more, spend more time with the ones you love, play with children, do good to those in need, and eat more ice cream. There is more to life than magic tricks." - Scott F. Guinn
My Lybrary Page |
Lawrence O Inner circle French Riviera 6811 Posts |
As I mentioned in other threads, Boris Wild is touring Canada and the USA with a lecture on "Creativity & Impact" which has a lot to do with routining.
I know for a fact that Boris has been working extensively to offer a very precise strategy for building an act properly. In Canada he received a standing ovation for his lecture which he didn't present in Europe as yet. Maybe some of you may want to take advantage of this in English language. His previous work on the subject appeared briefly in his "Card Remix" lecture p 41 on, which unfortunately was only published in French. If you can attend, don't save the money, the lecture is worth the most expensive prop we could figure out purchasing as Boris is an extremely intelligent performer and lecturer.
Magic is the art of emotionally sharing live impossible situations
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