I say, "What would a magic show be without a rope trick? ........probably a lot better! and then I proceed to open a jumbo card box and pull out a rope.
A rope has two ends just like you do. One end you put your hat on and the other end , you.....well you know!(gesture to you rear end as you say this.
As you to hand a child the scissors pull them back to explain where to cut it, etc. You can repeat this three or four times.
Got any good rope gags? Send em in! Thanks!
Darryl the Wizard

Showing a white rope, you say: "If this were green, it could be a viper.
"If it were black, it could be a vindshield viper!"
Bad -- but it gets a laugh!
cheers,
Peter Marucci

A piece of rope walks into a bar and asks for a beer.
The barman says " get out your a piece of rope, we don´t serve pieces of rope.

So the rope leaves.

The next piece of rope goes in and asks for a beer.
The barman says " get out your a piece of rope, we don´t serve pieces of rope.

The third piece of rope ties its self into a knot and frays both ends goes in and asks for a beer.

The barman says "are you another piece of rope?"

The rope replies "I´m afraid not" ( a frayed knot)


Well I didn´t say it was funny

Hi Daryl,

If you will forgive the plug... my new video is a comedy rope routine called "Loose Ends". About four minutes of solid comedy and magic. You can find a bit more info on my web page at http://www.zandermagic.com/products.html and it is available from your favorite dealer.

Thanks!
John Zander

Congratulations on the new video Mr. Z

Perhaps you would like to send me a copy to review


I hope you sell a million copies.

I do the rope though the body effect...It kills people...Bad jokes and puns included. "I tried this trick on my dog, you have heard of a half breed...I have a half dog." Etc... Gets tons of laughs. I my adult shows I have an official looking form from the law office of Copperfield,Houdini and Burton. It is blank. I tell them "Don't worry I will fill in the insurance info later, Just sign the bottom (I learned this from my Brother in law, the used car sales man..." ETC...
Most magically yours,
WR

Here is my opening for my version of the Professor's Nightmare.

"I'd love to show you this rope trick, but I'm tied up at the moment...but wait I'm "Knot" going to let that stop me. Even though I am a little "frayed, I am not going to let that throw me for a "loop." So, here is my famous rope trick,"The rope with two ends...or whatever.."

If they have not given you the hook by this time, proceed with your favorite rope trick. Now, everyone will know why I am a mentalist.

[quote]On 2002-04-07 17:46, DarryltheWizard wrote:
I say, "What would a magic show be without a rope trick? ........probably a lot better! and then I proceed to open a jumbo card box and pull out a rope.
]

Darryl,

You lose the suprise of producing the rope from a card box instead of cards when you word your patter that way. You tip the punch line.

Producing a rope from a card box goes back a long way. I was watching a collection of the amazing comic actor, Sid Caesar, in shows from the early days of TV. In 1951 he did a sketch as Professor Houdini von Hoffmeyer performing for the United Society of Amateur Magicians Convention-- Richard Himber, President.

After some very funny bits with Carl Reiner, he picks up a card case and says, "Here is an ordinary..." and pulls out a rope, "Piece of rope." When the rope comes out he get a laugh, because people expect a deck of cards. He then does another great rope routine with Carl Reiner as the straight man.

If I were to do it, I might say as I picked up the card case, "And now for the part of the program you have all been waiting for...[pause and pull out the rope] the rope trick." Then I would go into George Sands wonderful "Sandsational Rope", which I have been doing since George put it out in 1949.

I just went downstairs to try it out, and I got seven feet of quarter inch "Magician's Rope" with the core in a poker card case. (I don't like to work with rope without the core.)

Seven feet should be enough for most cut and restored rope routine -- even the Sands routine that uses up a lot of rope, although I like to use nine feet.

When I was starting out, I produced the rope from a cigarette box. I would pull out a little rope as if it were a cigarette, grab it with my lips and pull the box down a foot or so. "I've head of King Sized, but this is ridiculous." Although I think the line was mine, I believe the idea of having rope in a cigarette box was from Milbourne Christopher, probably in his Hugard Monthly column.

In any case, don't tip the punch line (or punch move) until the end.

Hal

"There's nothing like a good rope trick to really get a magic show going, and that's just what this is--NOTHING like a good rope trick."

"I didn't used to do rope magic, but then every time I did a show, some one in the audience would yell, 'GET A ROPE!' So I did!"

"I brought this tonight because I heard Bill (name of manager or company president) was here, and word is, he LOVES to tie one on!"

"Yeah, I got roped into doing this trick, but..."

Scott,
Absolutely LOVE the 'get a rope' line!

cheers,
Peter Marucci

I was looking through The Impromptu Encyclopedia of Magic and put together a quick necktie routine. All are old rope tricks, just with a little twist.
1.Tie unfolds with pull of short end.(Sight gag)
2.Necktie is then pulled through neck.
3.Throw knot in Necktie.
4.Have knot slide on tie.
5.Slide Knot off of tie and toss it into audience.

Table hopping, I've tried handing out a length of rope to be examined and taken it back with the line, "An ordinary piece of bedroom quality rope...."

I've tried it a dozen or so times... and have never got any response to it yet!!!

What's wrong with it? I think it's a funny line!

"I will now do The upside down indian rope trick! I might be the only magician stupd enough to invent this trick but I did".

I use a similar line and it gets a chuckle but not a belly laugh - "Here's a piece of rope" (then as an afterthought) "Like the kind you'd find under most couples' beds.

Could just be that its a bit too shocking a line

Sounds like the line I use

Please examine this rope. Make sure there are no zipers, mirrors, trap doors or elephants inside the rope and that it is indeed the ordinary type of rope that you can find under this gentleman's bed (pointing to a gentleman).

Mike

The best laugh I ever got with my rope routine was at a convention competition years ago here in Florida. I came on 'stage' (close up) with the rope wrapped around my index finger. It looked like a cast. As I held it up to the puzzled audience I commented " Be careful folks....there's a typo on page 216 in the book The Joy Of Lovemaking." Credit to Mr. Steve Bedwell for giving me the line-gag.

This is good one.

Magic John: I like that line you said "bedroom quality rope".

I love those lines that are good, but for some reason, it doesn't exactly "hit" most of the audience. It gives you the opportunity to do something that puts you ahead of the audience. What I mean is - you can use this situation to cause the audience to "look" for your jokes and they will start laughing more than before.

Now that I've learned this line from you, I think I'll use it. When I say it, and if I get no reaction, I'm going to keep moving the rope around, but say nothing for about 3 seconds. Then, I'll stop moving, look up at the audience, and say slowly "bedroom quality roww - freeze pause - shake my head with eyes shut for a split second - then IMMEDIATELY go on with my patter confidently as though nothing just happened.
Some will laugh a little and while you talk from then on, the audience (mentally) will go back and figure out that they "missed it". I find that this kind of thing "whips" the audience into shape and turns things around so that they think that THEY are the ones not getting the jokes and that the problem is not YOU the performer. You could even use this as a running gag, in the middle of the show after another "missed" joke, you can say "bedroom quality rope" and give them a good stare for a few seconds.

Also, some audiences don't have that one or two people that initiate the "laughing". So everyone just sits there and doesn't want to be the first one. Of course, better jokes and deliver takes care of this problem - right?

I think I starting doing things like this after watching Stars of Magic - Comedy Magic. Michael Finney does a great job at "calling down the audience" for being so unresponsive. It's bold, funny, and audience liked him the best of all the performers - I think. They "wanted" to laugh at his jokes for being so bold.

I have used a similar line in my "Mongolian Pop-Knot Routine" for thirty years. The line needs to end on the word "bedroom" for the surprise value--"Just a piece of rope--like you'd find in any bedroom."

The line is not funny in itself. It is the revelation of the character that makes it funny.

What do you mean when you say a line like this?

The role I play in my stage act is of a substitute teacher teaching a subject for which he is not qualified--magic--with an unruly class. The character is a bit stuffy and formal, and oblivious to the self-revelatory things he says.

In my character the line is delivered innocently, as if everyone would accept the statement at face value.

Doesn't everyone keep rope in the bedroom? My followup line is really the funniest part of the joke.

When people laugh at the first line I look up confused, as if not understanding what could possibly be funny about what I had just said and I say, "What?" This usually gets--not a bigger laugh--but the one from the smartest people in the crowd.

Humor comes out of character. You have to know what the line means to your character, and what about your character is being revealed to your audience.

Lines like this when delivered as a "joke" and not a line revealing character just seem sleasy, not funny.

When the performer cocks an eyebrow and grins knowingly at the audience as he delivers such a line, it is like a punch in the ribs from the obnoxious character Terry Gilliam sometimes played in Monty Python, "Nudge, nudge. Wink, wink. Know what I mean? Know what I mean?"

>>The line is not funny in itself. It is the revelation of the character that makes it funny. <<

That, Whit, is a very astute observation! Your whole message is really to the point. I hope the people that read it take it to heart. Observations of this kind make coming to the Café so valuable. Thanks!