Advice Please

Dec 23, 2007
55
0
Florida :[
Ok well I was at the eye doctors today because my eyes suck horribly :[ and I was waiting for my glasses so i started doing magic to people while i was waiting. I ended up doing it to this guy who is supposed to be this big time comedian or something. I did Daniel Madison's outlaw to him ( I didn't know he was "famous/important") And to my huge surprise, he told me he wants me to do stage magic at his next show on a comedy club. I know absolutely nothing about stage magic, im a close up magician at heart. But i couldn't turn the offer down. So he handed me his card and started telling me about all his accomplishments. It just sounded to good to be true for me. He told me to call him in 3 or 4 weeks to talk about it. Now im just thinking about it and don't know if i should because
1. Ive never been on stage and don't do stage magic
2. I googled this guys name (Alex Monday) cuz he said hes been on tv and all this stuff, nothing came up.
3. The trick I did wasn't that amazing to me
4. Im pretty nervous when it comes to preforming and I shake sometimes

Any thoughts or advice?
 
Oct 28, 2007
875
0
30
if i were you i wouldn't do it yet. if you say you have never done stage magic before and you still get a little nervous in front of a big crowd i think this would be a bad idea.

tell him no FOR NOW ask him if you can just stay in touch and maybe you can work on your stage magic and when your ready contact him again and see how it goes.
 

Jack

Elite Member
Sep 5, 2007
268
0
Decatur, GA
I looked around for this guy "Alex Monday" and couldn't find anything either. The only thing I found was that "Alex Monday" was a character's name from Scary Movie 2. Sounds to me like this guy talks a bigger game than he plays.

If that is the case then I wouldn't feel too nervous about it. Also, most comedy clubs are small and would be great for any table work you could do. The atmosphere and size is similar to a close-up room at a Magic Castle maybe a little bigger. If you have a good routine this might be a good time to get your feet wet.

Call the guy back. BE HONEST ABOUT YOUR ABILITY! Don't talk a big game like this guy only to turn out to be a chump like him. Use this situation to your advantage. Let him know what his expectations should be. Find out how long he expects you to perform and see if you have enough material to fill it.

As far as not thinking that your tricks are all that impressive... you have seen yourself perform those tricks over and over. They may seem old to you but remeber that your audience probably hasn't seen them and will be just as amazed as you were the first time you saw someone esle perform them. Even something like a simple color change, when utilized in the right way, can blow people away.

Good luck either way.
Cheers!
 
Aug 27, 2008
283
0
Tijuana bC
Ok well I was at the eye doctors today because my eyes suck horribly :[ and I was waiting for my glasses so i started doing magic to people while i was waiting. I ended up doing it to this guy who is supposed to be this big time comedian or something. I did Daniel Madison's outlaw to him ( I didn't know he was "famous/important") And to my huge surprise, he told me he wants me to do stage magic at his next show on a comedy club. I know absolutely nothing about stage magic, im a close up magician at heart. But i couldn't turn the offer down. So he handed me his card and started telling me about all his accomplishments. It just sounded to good to be true for me. He told me to call him in 3 or 4 weeks to talk about it. Now im just thinking about it and don't know if i should because
1. Ive never been on stage and don't do stage magic
2. I googled this guys name (Alex Monday) cuz he said hes been on tv and all this stuff, nothing came up.
3. The trick I did wasn't that amazing to me
4. Im pretty nervous when it comes to preforming and I shake sometimes

Any thoughts or advice?

to answer # 3 your tricks are never going to be as amazing to you as they are to a layman so keep that in mind...
and I suggest you start looking up stage magic up at penguin and form a good routine! do the routine to family members until you have studied it and until you know you have juiced all the astonishment you can get from each and every effect.
 
Jan 21, 2009
82
0
your tricks are never going to be as amazing to you as they are to a layman so keep that in mind...

Hmmm?

I rather think it's the opposite, being that if your tricks aren't amazing to you they will not be to your audience.

The community comes to mind at times like these.

*sigh*
 
Dec 29, 2008
183
0
GA
"If its to good to be true....then it isn't"... You googled him and found nothing. that seems weird to me.
 
Dec 23, 2007
55
0
Florida :[
I looked around for this guy "Alex Monday" and couldn't find anything either. The only thing I found was that "Alex Monday" was a character's name from Scary Movie 2. Sounds to me like this guy talks a bigger game than he plays.

If that is the case then I wouldn't feel too nervous about it. Also, most comedy clubs are small and would be great for any table work you could do. The atmosphere and size is similar to a close-up room at a Magic Castle maybe a little bigger. If you have a good routine this might be a good time to get your feet wet.

Call the guy back. BE HONEST ABOUT YOUR ABILITY! Don't talk a big game like this guy only to turn out to be a chump like him. Use this situation to your advantage. Let him know what his expectations should be. Find out how long he expects you to perform and see if you have enough material to fill it.

As far as not thinking that your tricks are all that impressive... you have seen yourself perform those tricks over and over. They may seem old to you but remeber that your audience probably hasn't seen them and will be just as amazed as you were the first time you saw someone esle perform them. Even something like a simple color change, when utilized in the right way, can blow people away.

Good luck either way.
Cheers!
Yeah when i searched it up im like scary movie 2?????? But your probably right. Im just worried about them not being able to see my cards, and that i might shake to much. I have a lot of good routines, but none for going on stage. Maybe like up to ten people in a circle or at a table but thats it, thats my target audience. But mainly im worried about nervousness in front of an audience. I just did some tricks today to my teacher and i saw my hands shaking, so i dont know about a whole crowd. Thanks for your post though, it made me think.
 
To address the question of performance soley. I say do it.
You will learn a lot. You will get exposure. And it's always good to try something new.

I've seen magicians do a full 45 minute stage act with a normal deck of cards. Just think it through.

I personally wouldn't turn down an opertunity. Just seems like bad business.

Now with that said there is certainly something to be given to your credit if you tell him flat out: "Look, I don't do stage. I never have." I'd tell him you focus on close up. See if he'd be willing to let you warm up the audience doing walk around. Or if you have to do stage do a warm up act. (iE: 10 to 20 minutes which is usually about 3 tricks.)

Trust me, if he's the real deal he'll respect that a lot. If he still wants to use your talent then he'll also work with you.

But it would be a silly thing to just toss away an oppertunity. After all it only knocks once.
 
Nov 20, 2007
4,410
6
Sydney, Australia
Ok well I was at the eye doctors today because my eyes suck horribly :[ and I was waiting for my glasses so i started doing magic to people while i was waiting. I ended up doing it to this guy who is supposed to be this big time comedian or something. I did Daniel Madison's outlaw to him ( I didn't know he was "famous/important") And to my huge surprise, he told me he wants me to do stage magic at his next show on a comedy club. I know absolutely nothing about stage magic, im a close up magician at heart. But i couldn't turn the offer down. So he handed me his card and started telling me about all his accomplishments. It just sounded to good to be true for me. He told me to call him in 3 or 4 weeks to talk about it. Now im just thinking about it and don't know if i should because
1. Ive never been on stage and don't do stage magic
2. I googled this guys name (Alex Monday) cuz he said hes been on tv and all this stuff, nothing came up.
3. The trick I did wasn't that amazing to me
4. Im pretty nervous when it comes to preforming and I shake sometimes

Any thoughts or advice?

Hmm, ok, a few thoughts. It really doesn't matter how famous he is (unless he's famous famous). Firstly, I say go for it. It doesn't matter, as I said, who he really is, how big he really is, etc. It's an opportunity to perform, and one a lot of people never get.

If you perform for one night in a bar, you'll learn more than you will performing for a week at friends' partires.

I say that if you've been given the opportunity, take it. If you bomb, it doesn't matter, though I'm sure you won't. Either way you'll get to learn so much from it. It's a good opportunity to explore stage magic too, where presentation and routining is really important, because they've come to see you (as opposed to you stopping them). In essence it's more about the opportunity, the experience, and the lessons you'll learn. I don't know if you review performances, but if you review this one you will learn new things.

It doesn't matter if you don't think your own trick was great, or whether or not he's actually famous or not. And if you're nervous - it's good that you're nervous. Nerves are good. The only way to get better at shaky hands though is to just perform more. Try and enjoy it. And some advice given to me by an excellent magician I hold in very high esteem - if you're particularly nervous, and especially if you're new, open with something very simple, even self-working. The first trick is the one people really try and catch you on; after that, they relax much more.

So yeah. I really think you should accept. If you want advice, that's for another thread but I'm sure people will be more than happy to help you out some more too.
 
May 3, 2008
1,146
4
Hong Kong
Well
If this is a paid gig, i wouldnt really suggest that you do it as you said you have no experience on stage and still have problems being 100% confident even in close up.
As for this Alex Monday guy, if you dont find anything, I wouldnt really trust him either. What if hes some weird pedofile guy... doubt it, but yea you cant really trust him.
 
Dec 23, 2007
55
0
Florida :[
Hmm, ok, a few thoughts. It really doesn't matter how famous he is (unless he's famous famous). Firstly, I say go for it. It doesn't matter, as I said, who he really is, how big he really is, etc. It's an opportunity to perform, and one a lot of people never get.

If you perform for one night in a bar, you'll learn more than you will performing for a week at friends' partires.

I say that if you've been given the opportunity, take it. If you bomb, it doesn't matter, though I'm sure you won't. Either way you'll get to learn so much from it. It's a good opportunity to explore stage magic too, where presentation and routining is really important, because they've come to see you (as opposed to you stopping them). In essence it's more about the opportunity, the experience, and the lessons you'll learn. I don't know if you review performances, but if you review this one you will learn new things.

It doesn't matter if you don't think your own trick was great, or whether or not he's actually famous or not. And if you're nervous - it's good that you're nervous. Nerves are good. The only way to get better at shaky hands though is to just perform more. Try and enjoy it. And some advice given to me by an excellent magician I hold in very high esteem - if you're particularly nervous, and especially if you're new, open with something very simple, even self-working. The first trick is the one people really try and catch you on; after that, they relax much more.

So yeah. I really think you should accept. If you want advice, that's for another thread but I'm sure people will be more than happy to help you out some more too.
Thank you...

I found out what im going to do. Ill call him in about 3 or 4 weeks and tell him straight up i dont do stage magic and never have, ill definitely stress the walk around table to table, and if that doesnt work ill get some stage magic. As you guys said this is a great opportunity to practice and learn, and get money :], so im not going to turn it down. ill keep you guys updated
 
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