Making Children Laugh? How?

Nov 27, 2010
134
0
Hey guys!!!

I am currently preparing for my first birthday party performance, and I have all my effects lined up. However, I feel like comedy is very important in a kids party and the script I made for myself has like 2 points where I think I would get a laugh...

To all my Birthday Party magicians: How do I make the kids laugh more in my presentation??? I don't usually perform for kids, and I am pretty nervous about it...

Some Effects I will be doing is: 50ft mouth coils from paper...
Rising Card Trick With Jumbo playing cards...
Sponge Ball Routine...
Vanishing Cane & Appearing Canes x4...
Hydrostatic...
color changing silk...
Thumb tip silk vanish...
Snowstorm...

Almost all the effects require me to ask for volunteers...
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Jun 22, 2013
59
0
New York
children remains innocent by heart and love to enjoy even smallest moment too... so in my opinion keep the things as simple as possible as they don't like any fancy or complications ..
 

RickEverhart

forum moderator / t11
Elite Member
Sep 14, 2008
3,637
471
46
Louisville, OH
I apologize for the brevity of this, however, I'm slammed with school lesson plans and could probably write you an entire 10 page response but I simply don't have time right now. Reality One from E may chime in here as well because he is a great children's performer.

Your set looks great. Keep it very visual and simple. Kids love to be volunteers, but be mindful during the selection process. One bad volunteer without proper audience management can turn a show quickly. Remember that you are the one in control not them. Also, don't be afraid to be silly and laugh WITH the kids not at the kids. If you have any specific questions feel free to ask and I'll try to get back to you by tomorrow evening.

I hope that you have some type of story / patter to go with each effect otherwise it will look like you are just performing effect after effect and there won't be any "glue" holding the show together.
 
May 15, 2012
17
0
Malaysia
this is a very nice topic and question , for me i will try to do something hilarious things ,
Children is like a plain paper , they are very pure , even you do something very simple , they still happy and laugh :D
 

RickEverhart

forum moderator / t11
Elite Member
Sep 14, 2008
3,637
471
46
Louisville, OH
Qs....apparently you haven't done too many children's shows because I have seen children eat magicians who "thought" they knew what they were doing alive. Children audiences can be some of most grueling, demanding, nerve racking, types of crowds to entertain. Yes, you are indeed correct that children do enjoy humor; however, many children's magicians just stand up there and do gag after gag after gag. This is very poor showmanship. Silly Billy and David Ginn both do a nice job but many other magicians try to over do it and it falls flat for both the children and the adults. Not all children are pure. You could do a simple effect and two of the boys could yell out, "You suck magic man..." Entertaining children is an art in itself that needs to be learned over the course of numerous shows. I'm not trying to sound like a know it all even though I do come across like one.
 
May 15, 2012
17
0
Malaysia
Qs....apparently you haven't done too many children's shows because I have seen children eat magicians who "thought" they knew what they were doing alive. Children audiences can be some of most grueling, demanding, nerve racking, types of crowds to entertain. Yes, you are indeed correct that children do enjoy humor; however, many children's magicians just stand up there and do gag after gag after gag. This is very poor showmanship. Silly Billy and David Ginn both do a nice job but many other magicians try to over do it and it falls flat for both the children and the adults. Not all children are pure. You could do a simple effect and two of the boys could yell out, "You suck magic man..." Entertaining children is an art in itself that needs to be learned over the course of numerous shows. I'm not trying to sound like a know it all even though I do come across like one.


Yes , thx for your mention , I still a teenager , you r right , I seldom do commercial show even magic performance to children .
My reply just give him a example , a clue or a tip . For me , my "simple" 's definition is not like , easy or "stupid" , it means direct and without a lot of phrase or too much talking and some very difficult sleight of hand . The point is need to use your "presentation" to entertain your spectator or Children ,not the trick itself :D
By the way , thx for your reply too , give me something I never heard it before
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Jul 22, 2013
222
1
California
I can't get over how difficult it is to perform for kids. The other day I was doing Recoil by Ollie Mealing (3 card monte) and a 7 year old just crawled under the glass table to look up and see the queen. I'm not saying that learning how to crowd control kids and entertain them wouldn't be rewarding, it's just that they seem to be very relentless when trying to understand what you are doing. Like when they go for two hours simply asking 'why'.
 
Sep 1, 2007
3,786
15
Children audiences can be some of most grueling, demanding, nerve racking, types of crowds to entertain.

Seconded. There are three major reasons for this.

1. Children don't have the focus to follow complex plots yet. That's not to say that they can't follow at all, but they need to be more engaged because they haven't had the time to learn patience yet. You don't do a complicated, involved, multi-phase routine for kids for the same reason you don't ask those same kids to sit down and try to watch a Bergman film.

2. Children tend to be more outspoken and don't have as good a grasp on etiquette when it comes to entertainers and speakers yet. For the most part, they don't quite get what is inappropriate to do during someone's act and why that's bad.

3. They don't take things for granted the way adults do. People say that kids are simple and pure. Wrong. They're not half-formed adults. They're thinking, sentient beings for whom the impossible is strictly a matter of patience. The ideas they come up with may be outlandish to adults, but the child is following their own consistent internal logic, even if the rules they establish seem to be vague at best to everyone else.

All this adds up to the inescapable truth that kids can be very difficult to manage because they don't have enough social experience to understand how to be courteous to a performer the way adults are (or at least should be) and the explanations they come up with for magic are almost certainly going to be more inventive than yours.

I'm not saying that learning how to crowd control kids and entertain them wouldn't be rewarding, it's just that they seem to be very relentless when trying to understand what you are doing. Like when they go for two hours simply asking 'why'.

That's what they're neurologically programmed to do. Human beings spend the first quarter of our lives trying to vacuum in as much knowledge as possible. In the span of 18 years we're expected to learn not only our motor skills, but also written and spoken language, social dynamics, how our society functions, abstract concepts of philosophy and art, and so and so forth. This is why kids' imaginations are so vivid. They have to be to facilitate that much learning in less than 2 decades.

Now to answer the question. Laughter as a biological mechanism is about relieving tension. When you laugh, it releases endorphins that soothe and relax you. After you get a huge scare or are startled, you usually laugh it off after the tension has passed specifically because you're trying to calm yourself. Laughter is also the response to a pattern break. A well-timed, well-executed non sequitur makes us laugh because pattern breaks are typically cause for alarm or a sign that something is wrong. We laugh reflexively to keep from getting freaked out.* Think about it, what is the most basic structure of a joke? Setup, setup, punchline.

On top of that, a lot of humor stems from misfortune. Someone else's. A children's performer has to be completely unafraid to make himself the butt of his own jokes every now and again. Reality1 comes around here sometimes and is an experienced children's magician. Look up some of his anecdotes. There are times when he structures the show so that the kids see what's going on, but he appears oblivious. Children are shouting at him and he keeps going on. The kids think it's hilarious.

The point is that the jokes have to be unpretentious and uncomplicated, take time to build up the suspense, then hit them with the punchline. The timing is the hardest part and that comes mainly with practice and experience. You build up your sense of timing through intuition. Don't be afraid to make yourself look foolish now and again. It's not like the parents hiring you are actually going to think you're an idiot, they know it's an act you put on to make the kids happy.

And on top of all that, the jokes have to allow interaction with the audience. There has to be room for the kids to shout at you. Because they will. You have to be prepared for one or more of them to rush your "stage" thinking they can either catch a mistake or help you. Because they will. Your job is to keep them entertained and engaged. Don't offer explanations. Let them shout their theories. Stick to your structure, but pay attention to their reactions to see if you need to speed things up or just cut to the punchline.



*Do not mistake this to be an endorsement of "random" humor, because that is never funny. It's just lazy.
 
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