See, when I’m providing corporate entertainment at a banquet or hospitality suite or a private show in someone’s home, the guests usually aren’t expecting a magician.  They have the usual preconceived notions about what a magic show is, and many times this isn’t a positive notion.  I can always overcome it, but it takes a few minutes to show them I’m not what they expected.  I enjoy the challenge, but sometimes it can be frustrating.

But with a public magic show the audience has an entirely different attitude.  Not only did they explicitly come to see  magic, they paid for it!   They are there for a show and don’t need to be convinced to watch.   They are invested (literally) in the show being funny, amazing and entertaining.  It’s a qualitatively different experience performing for this type of audience than for the other.

Bottom line, look for more more public magic shows from yours truly in the near future!

Tip 1: Try something new, a bit, a line or a gag, in every show

The value of this idea is tremendous. First, it forces you to try new things. And while it’s predictable that many ideas will not turn out, if you have any talent, some ideas will, and you’ll automatically not only improve, but build and expand your act. This tip is particularly valuable for me in that I hate trying out new material that might not be as well received as my bread and butter magic. A better way of thinking about it is, if I’m just trying a new bit here and there, the magic will suffer minimally, and, honestly, the audience I’m performing for tonight doesn’t know that last night’s magic show was incrementally better than tonight’s. Lastly, the effectiveness of a bit can seldom be predicted after one performance.  You have to try something at least 1o times (though some say 100) before you can really know if it’ll work.  And, of course, after 100 attempts, not only will the bit also improve, but more than likely, it’ll have evolved into something not only wildly different, but ultimately better than what you started with.

Tip 2: The most important thing you can do is connect with the audience, and you HAVE to do it before you do ANYTHING else when you come out on stage

While I know the importance of making a connection with the audience and I’m aware that having them like me is critical to the success of my magic show, I don’t always stop to make sure that the connection is made after I come onstage.  Honestly, I rely on it to happen naturally, and more often than not it does, but sometimes it doesn’t.  While my performance tonight was fine, there was something missing, and in speaking with Keith I realized what it was: I didn’t forge a connection with the audience and I moved on prior to doing so.  And I paid the price.  Yes, they laughed.  And yes, they were fooled.  But the potential of the performance was not fulfilled.  Learning this revealed some problems with how my show starts.  First, it’s inflexible, so I can’t adapt if I need to work harder to connect to the audience.  And second, I get to the magic too quickly.  It would make a difference just to take a moment to connect, and make sure I connect, to the audience, before diving into the magic.  Luckily, I love solving magic problems.

This is what I get to think about and work on as a professional Chicago magician.

Man, I love my job.

Not to be too grandiose, but a magic performance, distinct from other art forms, has a particular ability to be transcendant.  Specifically, an excellent magic effect allows the audience to transcend the mundane reality of everyday life.  While I don’t believe the audience really leaves the show believing actual magic occurred, there is a moment during performance, when they suspend their disbelief, that they can recapture that moment, as a child, when the world was truly magical, surprising, and unexpected, when each day occurred as a discovery.  Magic is uniquely qualified to create this experience, because magic, at its essence, is about creating the appearance of the impossible, and when staged and performed well, can pierce through the layers of  hum drum reality that build from childhood to adulthood.

To be sure, this is a difficult effect to achieve.  Simply finding a selected card lost in the deck will not necessarily create the experience of the impossible (not that finding a card can’t be entertaining.)  And a show filled, start to finish, with this level of impossibility would be overwhelming for the audience.  Beyond that, it’s difficult to create this type of experience when performing at a restaurant table or cocktail party in downtown Chicago, where there are distractions galore and the audience isn’t expecting a show.  Add to this the difficulty of presenting the effect, maintaining the balance between gravity and melodrama, taking into account preconceived notions of what “magic” is to the audience, and creating the experience of the impossible becomes a challenge indeed.

Still, to be a Chicago magician and not to at least attempt to give the audience the chance to experience the impossible would be a missed opportunity.  And, like many goals in life, I may never attain this goal, but the attempts that fall short will certainly be worth the effort.  This isn’t to say I don’t already work towards this goal in my shows, but sometimes the desire to be “commercially accessible” and “entertaining” eclipses my focus on magic.  Which is why I’m grateful for this reminder.

What reminder?  Ironically, what got me started on this train of thought wasn’t a magic show, but a theatrical performance a friend of mine pointed out to me.  While there is no “trick,” per se, in the performance, it is quite magical.  And despite what I said about magic being uniquely qualified to produce this effect on an audience, this theatrical piece comes closer than many magic shows I’ve seen.

Enjoy.  And let me know what you think.

The icing on the cake was actual before the magic show even started.  They were having me pose somberly for photos, and being a ham I was happy to oblige.  I noticed them giggling and assumed there was something I didn’t know.  When I turned around I saw they were taking pictures of me in front of a huge portrait of Spock.  The whole thing was hysterical and provided much fodder for humor throughout the show.  The host later told me the pictures were hysterical and that he would forward me copies.

I had no idea.

Steve, in addition to traveling around, sharing his message of frugality, also is a talented “photoshopper.”  Please enjoy his work…

Oh, and I love my job.

Here’s the first lesson:

DOG VERSION:  You can’t expect a dog to do something they’ve never been taught to do.  So when I’m walking our dogs and they don’t “come” to me when I tell them to, I can’t get mad at them.  They aren’t ignoring me.  They literally don’t know what I’m talking about.  I have to teach the command to them before I can possibly expect them to listen.

HUMAN VERSION:  As a Chicago magician, and more importantly, an entreprenuer, when I try something new and am horrible at it, it doesn’t mean I’m a failure.  It just means I haven’t done it before.  Any expectation of mastery is ridiculous.  This applies equally as well to new close up magic I’m performing, as it does to new business strategies I’m trying out.  Ultimately, there’s no reason for me to be good at something I’ve never done, even if I think I “should” be good at it because “I should be able to do this by now!” or whatever else I tell myself.

This may seem like an obvious observation, but emotionally I get hooked when I fail at something I think I should be good at.  However, when I look at it through the simplified world of dog behavior it becomes black and white.  Whatever my opinion, if I’ve never done something I have absolutely no reason to be good at it.  So any time spent worrying about it is silly.  All there is to do is to isolate what works, do more of that, and discard whatever doesn’t.

It’s a very simple, easy to excute on and freeing point of view.

I’m sure as we continue training the dogs I’ll notice more and more, so stay tuned…

All without performing a single magic trick!

(OK, just one.)

But I only performed it once.

(OK, twice.)

I’m excited because, while I love performing my children’s magic show, I’m looking for more opportunities to perform close up magic and my stage comedy magic show.  The market for this type of performance is mostly at corporate events, where word of mouth is king.  And one way to get the right kind of word to spread is to know people who are spreading the word.

By networking.

The event was also fun because they showcased some great entertainment, including two outstanding magicians, Ryan Oakes and David & Dania.  (I also had the chance to meet Ryan, who is also a really great guy.  If you’re in New York and he’s got a public appearance, you should check him out.)

What’s even better, of the four entertainers at the event, 2 of them were magicians.

Looks like I picked the right job.

I can’t wait!