Creating a magic routine

Nov 28, 2009
43
0
Hey everyone, I have been asked by multiple people in my area to come do "gigs" for their resturaunts and partys. Now I am at heart a card magician. That is all I work on, now from time to time I will mess around with coins. The reason why I am typing this is because I know I cant just do a "gig" with card magic, I need to mix it up from time to time. So im asking the community what you guys think would be a good routine, what would get me going? All responses are appreciated.



All the best

-Mike
 
Nov 28, 2009
43
0
Oh I know, im just saying that there should be some variety in each gig. If I keep going back to that place I should try different genres of magic if that makes sense.
 
Feb 4, 2008
959
3
I feel your pain. I to am a card magician at heart but over the years I have branched out to add variety to my routines. Here is what I would suggest for walkaround/close up guys....at least this is what I did. Think about what you have on you at all times, pens, keys, coins, rings....stuff like that. Then start searching magic forums under those items you most commonly have on you besides cards. There is a gaff or a routine for each of those. Gradually you will start finding some stuff you like and start collecting either routines with those items or gaffs made to look like those items.

Here is an example from current memory. I recently took advantage of a Promo at another web site. By accident I was sent Jay Sankey's "SpooKey" instead of what I ordered. The company made good on their mistake but as part of it I was allowed to keep spookey. I started playing around with it and realized it would go well with Sankey's Three Ring Circus(an effect I got about a year ago). Anyways I am kind of running with it and I have Craig Petty's KeyMaster on order and a key bending routine on back order. So completely by accident I have sort have formulated a little 5 minute key routine and in the comming months I may even expand upon that.

I would also suggest checking out Greg Wilson's "On The Spot." It is a great DVD that teaches several routines with everyday objects. Many of these routines can be combined with various gaffs on the market as well...Ie. Recap Revisited goes well with pen-through-dollar, there is a fun little ring gag that goes well with Mercuring, Florida Keys goes well with any key routine. So basically the routines in there will be great starter material for a card guy branching out.

Good luck, Have fun!
 
The reason why I am typing this is because I know I cant just do a "gig" with card magic, I need to mix it up from time to time.


All the best

-Mike

Why not? Paul Gordon is a working pro who only does card magic. Guy Hollingworth also does little else. So in my mind you could easily do a gig with just card magic. Bear in mind you will only be at table in a restaurant for a few minutes, so a couple of card trciks should be fine.

The point of view that just doing card tricks is bad is such a magician centered point of view. I think it al stems from the fact that as magic enthusiasts we see A LOT of card magic and as a result do get quite bored at seeing it (especially with the amount of sh*t that is on youtube). But most lay audience have never seen any really good card magic, and will appreciate it if you do it well.

By all means, don't let me discourage you from learning other types of magic (if you want a good suggestion, go with sponge balls, people love 'em!), but don't feel you have to if your passion lies with cards. I myself quite recently made the conscious decision to focus only on cards. The reason being that over the years I have bought so much stuff in an effort to 'branch out', only to find that anytime I feel like doing some magic all I ever use is a regular deck of cards! So I decided to stop wasting my time with the other stuff and just work on my sleight of hand card magic. Plenty of people past and present have been (pretty much) exclusively card magicians: Paul Gordon, Ed Marlo, Harry Lorayne (mostly), Nick Trost, John Bannon (my magical hero!), Guy Hollingworth, Ricky Jay (mostly), Lennart Green and I'm sure there are others but you get the point. Even Harry Houdini focussed on card tricks at the start of his career.

So don't let anyone discourage you from focussing on cards. Any magician out there who tells you 'card tricks are boring' is either a dullard themselves or is just trying to look cool because they 'don't do cards'.

Rev
 

Ashrei

Elite Member
Sep 1, 2007
350
2
I couldn't agree with Rev anymore than I am right now even if I tried to...

Magic in general is boring, unless you put effort to entertain the audience. That's short and sweet 2 cents of mine.
 
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