Well, as always, good things come to those who weight.

How about a magic ironing routine? A silly iron, collapsing ironing board, a crumpled shirt, loads of gags (burn the shirt), and at the end, pull out a lovely, ironed shirt.

Seems like a lot of potential here, not to mention the gags.

Has this ever been done before? I don't think it has, but I'm sure folks will enlighten me, if I'm wrong.

Of course, it could be a hanky, or some other item, doesn't have to be a shirt.

Ideas?

The ironing board would be a huge prop, but the legs not holding so it would collapse on your foot (like Dwight Damon's Comedy Chair) could be very funny. If you could get the front and back legs to move independently, you could fix one and the other collapses, and back and forth. The iron cord should roll up or get tangled around you while you set the shirt or hanky on the board. How about 2 bill snatchers attached to the corners of the hanky so you could move it to one end of the board and it would fly back to the other side.
A zombie iron perhaps behind the shirt? You could weight the cord of the iron so it would slide to the other side of the board while you weren't looking. Squirting the kids with the steam iron? (Obviously not hot water ) You could gimmick the board to switch the shirt like a dove tray?
There are a few off the top of my head...let me think some more.
Jef

Steampunk steam engine steam iron.

"Chopped" iron with maybe a pull cord start, like a lawn mower.

Left-handed iron (you figure that one out).

Battery or solar-powered iron.

Iron the wrinkles out of a prune.

Use iron to cook bacon.

Use starch to make something stiff (like rope??)

Scorched and restored hanky, or similar for version of Sun & Moon handkerchiefs.

Find one of those slap braclets and sew it into a long cloth (tie?). Iron it flat only to have it roll back up again... over and over.

Burn your thumb and come up with one of those huge comedy thumbs, maybe pulsing with a red light inside.

Use Geoff Williams' gag where he draws an outlet onto a notepad and then plugs something into it, which works.

Cord on iron gets longer or shorter in response to something else doing the opposite (ala Chinese Sticks).

Toss a towel over your head, iron your face and when you take towel away you have a flat face.

@ Jef... LOVE the Zombie iron idea!!

Tell the kids to remind you to stay away from the iron because it is very hot and will not turn off. Each time you go near it the kids yell to stay away, but you still get burned by bumping into it giving a funny expression. You finally decide to take the iron apart to keep it from working. But several spring snakes fly out once opened.

Cut and restored cord.
optional use of spark gimmick.

Old joke, my parents were into the iron and "steel" industry.

U can call yrself the IronMan

Bad idea all around.

Woodfield

So many great ideas, thanks to all you guys. I see a great routine coming...

Sorry, Woodfield, but you're a party-pooper. All those creative comments, and you can't see it? Time for you to take up stamp collecting....

What I can see is a child wondering if that iron that's plugged in does all that neat stuff like the one they saw at the magic show.

I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest that the majority of American kids don't even know what an iron and ironing board are. Might be different in the U.K. I don't think a lot of people iron clothes anymore, at least the ones I see at WalMart. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got to work on my "magic phonograph" routine.

Like any routine that involves cooking, washing machines, etc, of course, it's important to add a message to the kids that they should never try this at home, without adult supervision. and, to explain very clearly that this is a MAGIC iron, and playing with the one at home is very different, and dangerous.

As to folks not ironing - admittedly far fewer folks do so much as in the past, but I'd suggest that every household in Britain has an iron and board, and similarly, everyone I've ever visited in the USA. They may not be used as much, but are you really suggesting, that folks go to the theatre, weddings, funerals, corporate events, etc, in crumpled clothes?

What's a U.K.?

I hope that's a joke Mike.

I was kidding. It is not UnKnown to me.

Hey Potty,
You would be surprised at how people dress in the US. The standard mode of dress for men is cargo shorts, a tee shirt (not tucked in,) a baseball cap, and sneakers.
Most of those items have never seen an iron.
This is just my observation.

I know that, it's similar in the UK. But, every now and then, folks dress up for a special occasion. And then, they get out the iron! can you honestly think of anyone you know, who doesn't own one?