I just recently had the strangest gig. I had a youth group leader who had some young men who were “believers” of Criss Angel. This may sound harmless at first, and maybe it is. However, the concern that this leader had was that these young men really believed that Criss Angel had real power and could do real “magic.”

If you’re a fan of Angel’s, you’ll note that he himself admits that he has no real power. So this youth group leader hired me to do a show/lecture to prove that Criss Angel does not have real power. Of course, I didn’t want to come across as an Angel-hater, so I structured the show to have three main phases:

1. Magic isn’t real
2. A mentalist Show
3. Brief lecture about magic not being real

Phase 2:

The show was pretty much my standard show with a few modifications. I tried out a couple of new effects from Sankey’s DVD, Hemispheres. Here are some of the effects:

• Lee Earle and Larry Becker’s “Ace Revisited.” – A book test with a dictionary
• John Archer’s Komedy Killer (my own modification of it)
• Finding Your Inner Superhero – An effect I created – basically a prediction of a chosen superhero

I did a few other effects, but they are ones I’m keeping to myself for now. Anyway, I usually do a different book test, but at this gig, I tried Larry Becker’s Ace Revisited and it killed. After the show everyone was talking about it.

The Archer thing I’ve been doing for years now, and this show, was the last show I’ll ever do it. I love the effect, but it’s just not playing the way I want it to, so until I can come up with a better presentation, it’s out.

The superhero bit has been a staple in my stand up act forever, and this particular show it played better than it ever has. The reason being is that I worked with a script/presentation consultant to improve the performance.

The Sankey effects that I did played well also. I just wanted to comment on the idea of constantly monitoring your show. This particular gig was a turning point for my show. There are new effects in and old effects out.

Phase 3:

In the final phase, I briefly talked about how many of the things I just did, as impossible, as they seemed, there was some trick to it. In addition to the practice, I used psychology, sleight of hand, gimmicks, etc. I then spent some time talking about the fact that even Criss Angel himself admits that he has no power. Part of the presentation included an interview with Criss on the Penn and Teller show.

So the point of all my ranting is that by taking this particular gig, my show was taken to the next level. First of all, I was able to get a new introduction to my show that has now served me well for a couple of shows. Time will tell if it will hold out, but I think it will.

Secondly, I gained a new trick-set that is better than my previous show. I was able to test some new patter that worked well and thus improved my show.

Finally, as much as I’m not really an Angel fan, I gained a new level of respect for him after listening to the interview. So keep on giggin’ and keep on trying new ideas, and constantly improve your show. What did you learn?

Keepin’ it Professional

Love ’em or hate ’em, you cannot criticize Angel, Blaine, Dynamo, Darren Brown, etc. Remember, you are representing your brand: you. Is your brand someone who is petty and rude about other magicians? Or is your brand someone who is courteous and professional? Most non-magicians love these guys. If you insult them (the magicians), then you’re insulting the audience member (fellow bus goer) who asked about them. Everyone is a potential client. Don’t forget that.

Answering the Question

So what is the correct way to answer that question? In my opinion, you need to compliment them. Regardless of how you feel about them, there’s got to be at least one good thing to say. Pick one good show, trick, episode that you liked and just talk about that. Don’t be afraid to ask the spectator what they think about Blaine (or whoever). Turn it into a conversation and an opportunity to get to know the person. Just remember that small minds talk [negatively] about people.

Until Next Month . . .

NO SPECTATORS

One of the maxims I live by is “People support what they help create.”  This holds true in just about any organization, political movement, internet group, club and yes, even in the theatre or at a magic show.   I currently feel that the more audience participation there is in a show, the more successful that show becomes.  If you look at current Las Vegas shows, the ones that have lasted have a lot of audience participation:  Penn & Teller, Mac King, Amazing Jonathan.  Even Criss Angel has taken out most of the Le Cirque music and dance numbers, and replaced them with audience participation routines.

After years of study and professional training,  my personal magic style has evolved to include much more audience participation.  When I first started in magic, I didn’t have good role models.  Many of the magicians that I saw interacting with their audience members made jokes at their participant’s expense.  It was very typical to see magicians using “insult humor” to get quick and easy laughs.   I did not feel comfortable doing this type of comedy; in fact, I wanted to perform dramatic magic, without all the cheap comedy bits.

“Stand on the trap door.”

“Show me your hand, no the clean one.”

“Show the card to your friends… if you have any.”

This kind of humor simply was not what I was looking for.

MODELS AND MENTORS

Early in my career, I did not have teachers to coach me through the process of creating an effective magic show, or to help me design interactive audience participation segments for my show.  It was challenging enough to rehearse and control my own movements and choreography.  The addition of having to manage audience participants on stage was beyond my ability at that time.

Many of the most successful magicians utilize audience participation in their shows.  Before I go any further, I must really differentiate “magic acts” from “magic shows.”  The typical magic act, the kind we see on variety shows, on television or at magic conventions, are very often music-driven and highly visual in nature.  They are usually short, three to twelve minutes—acts like Rudy Coby, Kevin James, and Jerome Murat all come to mind in this category.  Many magicians start with an act, and then develop more repetoire, to create a full “magic show.”

MAGIC ACT OR MAGIC SHOW?

A “magic show” differs from a magic act, in that it is longer, often a full evening experience.  There are usually different styles of magic: dramatic, comedic, solo effects,  grand illusions, smaller close-up effects with video support, and yes, audience participation routines.

SPECTATORS VS. PARTICIPANTS

There is a huge difference between a spectator and a participant.  A spectator spectates, merely watching, witnessing without being directly involved.  A participant is co-creating the experience, and has a role to play in the production of the magic.

When I hear a magician say: “I have the spectator select a card,” I cringe inside.  I am aware that they are not conscious of the words they are using.  The more conscious we are of our words, the more conscious we can become as performers.  Spectators do not pick cards; they watch cards being picked.  Participants pick cards.

A MAGICAL FORMULA: TRANSFORMING LOOKERS INTO DOERS

When designing your show, try to find the times where you can move your audience from being objective witnesses into subjective participants.  Objective witnesses have less responsibility, and do not participate in the action.  A subjective participant is actively engaged in the magic experience.  They support the show by not only applauding at appropriate moments, but also by selecting cards, helping the magician with various tasks and activities like holding ropes or other props on-stage with the performer.

WARNING!

Not everyone wants to participate by coming on-stage!  I have seen many acts get into embarrassing situations by forcing an audience member to come to the stage.  An audience member doesn’t have to come to the stage to participate in the show.  There are many ways to transform individual objective witnesses into a collective of subjective participants.   Even getting the entire audience clapping rhythmically, to the beat of the music, transforms single individual objective witnesses into a group of subjective participants.  When an audience is all clapping rhythmically, you have given them the temporary role of “the drum section,” in the musical accompaniment, and they are helping to create the experience.

MICRO AND MACRO PARTICIPATION

My good friend and mentor, Bob Cassidy, taught me the difference between solo audience participation and mass audience participation.  Micro-participation is when one participant is involved with an effect, such as a book test or a billet reading.  A macro-participation effect is where the entire audience gets to play.  The classic “question and answer act” is a good example; everyone gets a pencil, a question card, and an envelope.  Many magicians have had good success with micro-participation.  The Amazing Jonathan has one person from the audience on stage for much of the show.  Mac King utilizes five or six people during the show, yet, at the end of his show, he has the entire audience chant his name: “Mac King!  Mac King!”  This is an example of macro-participation.

AUDIENCE ENGAGEMENT TECHNIQUES

You can create subjective participants in the audience by having them involved, for instance, by:

• Saying “ladies and gentlemen, by a show of hands, how many people have traveled to Asia?”  Audience members raise their hands, participating in answering the question.  Another way to have people answer a question is by saying, “ladies and gentlemen, by a round of applause, who has traveled to Asia?”  Both ways work to not only create energy and movement in the audience, but also to give them another place to applaud, other than just the ending of an effect.
• Asking everyone in the audience to think of the first person they ever kissed for a prediction effect, and then tossing a ball out into the audience to select a participant is better than getting one person up onstage and then asking them to think of a person’s name.  Simply, more people get to play the “think of a name” game.

Another popular way is to have the audience all do the well-known “arm twist” illusion.  Penn & Teller, at the beginning of their shows, often invite members of the audience to come onstage and sign a special prediction envelope. When a magic theatre-goer steps onto the stage, they are no longer a spectator, they are an involved participant.  In many cases, these participants play the role of the Judge and Jury, to make sure that all the procedures look fair.

I encourage you to study great performers and how they generate excitement, mystery and fun by utilizing effecting audience participation techniques.  Explore ways you can welcome your audience into your magic world, and participate in the magic.  People support what they help create!  If you have ideas to share with me on ways that you engage your participants, email me and let me know!

GC: What are the difficulties you see with making a living in magic today?

JS: Making a living as a magician today is really no different from making a living as a magician in the past. If you’re going to have a sustainable business, you’re going to have to book enough shows at high enough fees so that after you take away and deduct all your business expenses, there’s enough money left over so you can support your desired lifestyle. It’s pretty straightforward. Book enough shows at high enough fees so that after the expenses you’ve got enough left over to pay all the bills.

GC: So that’s basically what it all comes down to? It may be an art, but there’s a segment which is a commodity?

JS: In some ways, if you look at it in terms of “commodity.” I mean, what are you selling? You’re selling dates on a calendar. You have so many dates on the calendar you can work – where you’re out there producing your income. If your income is solely from performance fees… I mean, there are other streams of income you – sell products, that sort of thing. But if you’re looking at performance fees, you only have a certain limited number of days in a year or a month or whatever, that you can perform. And, honestly, the magic number is 150, I’ve always said. Believe it or not, Jay Leno still books 150 days of comedy stand-up days a year. Can you believe that?

GC: Well since you said it, I’ll believe it. [Aside: Jim’s a truthful kinda guy.]

JS: No, I saw him on the Actors’ Studio. When he was asked why, he said “My craft is comedy and the only way to stay sharp at your craft is to do it. Besides if this TV thing doesn’t work out..” But it’s 150 dates a year; that’s your commodity. That’s what you’re selling and you’ve got to fill those dates. Now, some performers do less and some do more. When I was performing magic full-time, I was doing more like 170 dates a year. Once I shifted into the motivational speaking business, my rates went up and now I do like 100 dates a year.

GC: I’m glad to hear it. Listening to (your CDs) about your early years, working a 200-mile radius – I got tired just hearing it.

JS: Yeah, Chet – some things never change. Where I used to get up at 3 a.m. and drive to Long Island to do a school assembly program at 8 o’clock, now I get up at 3 a.m. to get to the airport to catch a 6 a.m. flight to somewhere! Things never change!

GC: You really do know what difficulties they (our readers) are facing. (Sometimes) young people say “you know those old people, they’re trying to keep us from coming in with our new brand of magic and they don’t know what we’re going through!” You really do know what they’re going through; you pretty much gained your experience the hard way, haven’t you?

JS: Well yeah! I did street performing many times. I figured out really quickly that there were better venues to work! When I first started out, I did street performing in New York City, I did street performing in Boston and Miami. I used to work festivals as a street performer.

And there are things I absolutely love about street performing. You develop your skills at drawing a crowd and stopping and holding people. Your performance has to be totally spontaneous, you have to be totally active. You’re at the mercy of the elements.

You control nothing. Almost nothing! You know, a drunk can walk in front of you, you really have to be quick on your feet. I love good street performers! And if I see a street performer, if they have a good act, I always throw money in their hat. I mean, always.

It’s funny; I got approached at the Union Train Station in Washington D.C. a couple weeks ago. A woman came up to me, panhandling, asking for money. And I said “Is that your whole act?” She looked at me kind of crazy. I said, “Look – I’m sorry. But I only give money to street performers. You’re gonna need a better act than that.” She walked away and I turned to the woman sitting next to me and I said “I only give money to street performers.”

And this woman got very indignant. She turned around and said to me “I’m not a street performer!”

And I said, “You’re a couple of notches below a street performer. You don’t even have an act. Go get an act and you might get some money from me.” I’ve been there! I paid my dues. For the first fifteen years – since 1979 – as a family entertainer working within a 200-mile radius of my home – that was the basis for my Success-in-Magic course.

What I didn’t know (at first) is there’s all kinds of venues. And then another five years after that, transitioning my business to the speaking and training field where I’ve spent the last nine years – and that was really based upon my desire to do more teaching. But yeah, I’ve really done it all. I’ve worked in Atlantic City casinos and church basements – you name it!

GC: I don’t want to give away anything in your course, but –

JS: Give it all away! I don’t care.

GC: You really opened yourself up (in the course). “Here’s a bunch of things I did – Don’t Do This!”

JS: Really, one of the mistakes I made along the way is not being focused enough in my career. Because I was a generalist, working in a limited geographic area, I took any booking that came my way. You read Volume Two of my course…that was basically me writing up all the strange bookings I ever had. How ’bout the time I got hired to do magic on a bus full rolling down the North Way?

GC: That’s what I was just thinking. The book is worth buying just for that story!

JS: Y’know, I had this agent who would book me in the strangest gigs, and then he’d tell me how much money it was. And I said “Well I can do that.” That was actually a pretty good booking.

I admire people like Criss Angel, people who really know what they want and what venues they want to work. I mean, Criss probably never did a school assembly program in his life…Maybe in Long Island when he first started out. Early on he realized he wanted to do the media stuff.My goal is always to make a lot of money and walk down the street and have nobody know who I am. -I got that from Michael Davis, the juggler.

GC: I had a friend who was in a popular grunge band (Does anyone do grunge any more?) who told me he’d brush his hair, put on a clean shirt, then go to the store and nobody would recognize him!

JS: Appearances are extremely important. Last weekend was my wife’s birthday and I had to fly down to Baltimore. Very often on a weekend, I’ll wear blue jeans and a cap, sneakers and just a shirt. At the Baltimore airport, there’s a very fine jewelry store called “Fire & Ice.” And I’m telling you, I didn’t get the time of day from the clerk – just because I was in jeans.

The next day, I’d done my program and I came back to the airport. Now I was in a business suit. The woman came right up to me, sold the earrings. And I’m chatting with her about things, and she says “You’re exactly the demographic we’re looking for in this jewelry store: the travelling businessman.” And I kind of laughed (to myself) “How come you didn’t give me the time of day yesterday?” She didn’t even recognize me!

GC: I have a friend – he was a private investigator and was interviewing for an assistant. And this one guy came in with a tie. Nobody else came in with a tie. And he (my friend) thought “Now he’s trying to impress me and I’m not going to fall for it. But – boy, it’s working!!”

JS: Y’know, I’m rewriting “Showmanship for Magicians” – (to be called) “How to Be an Outstanding Performer.” And the secret is – to stand out. You want to be outstanding? You gotta stand out. And how do you stand out? You look different. If everybody else is wearing a tie, don’t wear a tie. Make sure that what you’re wearing has contrasting colours to the backdrop you’re standing against. If there’s a black backdrop, for goodness’ sake don’t wear a black suit, or you’re going to be looking like a disembodied head floating across the stage.

GC: That might work for a seance.

JS: Just do something different. (Jim relates a valuable story in which he chooses to be the only speaker at an event who DIDN’T use Powerpoint slides – and stood out as significantly different.)

GC: That is a very valuable secret you’ve just given out for free. You realize that, don’t you?

JS: You want to be an outstanding performer? Stand out!

GC: Which brings up – your course isn’t just about marketing. Your course is about building your business until you’re a full-time professional.