Looking for a good Closer

May 21, 2014
127
6
Staunton, VA

I tend to close with my Cups and Balls routine, which finishes with the production of a pumpkin or other large item under an only slightly larger bucket. It's old-school, but that's how I roll.

Your closer should be what's called a "reputation-maker," which is an effect so airtight and so memorable that if nobody remembers anything but that last trick, they'll still want to book you from it. Examples from my sets include Serial Biller by Rich Ferguson, A Single Needle by Wayne Houchin, and Signed Card In Bottle by Laura London. Those are just a few. They were all used as closers by their creators for a number of years before hitting the market.

Without knowing anything else about your show, though, it's hard to give you very much advice.
 

RealityOne

Elite Member
Nov 1, 2009
3,744
4,076
New Jersey
We want something that hits hard. Any ideas?? :)

Baseball bats typically hit very hard. However, the impact on the audience doesn't always leave a favorable impression.;) See what I did there? OK, my point is not to buy into all the magic marketing lingo. Really, nobody would market an effect saying "Puts them to sleep" "Bores them like they've never been bored before..."

Our job is to entertain. Tricks don't entertain, magicians do. Think about that for a couple of minutes.

Asking other people for this sort of advice, without anything else, is like askng them to tell you what clothes you should buy to wear next Friday. I can tell you what I would wear, but I'm pretty sure that black dress pants and a french blue button down oxford with black dress shoes wouldn't necesarily work for you.

Each of us gravatates toward certain effects and presentations. I like classic magic with meaningful presentations. I like to use quality props that give off a sense of professionalism. I like my magic to have a unique feel to it, to be different than anything else people have seen. That being said, I could take any effect and make it a closer. How? Through scripting the presentation of the effect to make it entertaining beyond merely doing a "trick."

Ultimately, the best closer is you.
 
Dec 29, 2011
703
17
Baseball bats typically hit very hard. However, the impact on the audience doesn't always leave a favorable impression.;) See what I did there? OK, my point is not to buy into all the magic marketing lingo. Really, nobody would market an effect saying "Puts them to sleep" "Bores them like they've never been bored before..."

Our job is to entertain. Tricks don't entertain, magicians do. Think about that for a couple of minutes.

Asking other people for this sort of advice, without anything else, is like askng them to tell you what clothes you should buy to wear next Friday. I can tell you what I would wear, but I'm pretty sure that black dress pants and a french blue button down oxford with black dress shoes wouldn't necesarily work for you.

Each of us gravatates toward certain effects and presentations. I like classic magic with meaningful presentations. I like to use quality props that give off a sense of professionalism. I like my magic to have a unique feel to it, to be different than anything else people have seen. That being said, I could take any effect and make it a closer. How? Through scripting the presentation of the effect to make it entertaining beyond merely doing a "trick."

Ultimately, the best closer is you.

BOOM!

With that being said I think there is a good piece of universal advice for this, in addition to what RealityOne has said. that is make it tie up the routine somehow, perhaps part of the finishing routine should reference back to other performance elements you used earlier, whether it be an overall theme or even just a recurring joke, depends on what you are doing to begin with.
Perhaps we could provide some better, more specific advice with a few more details about your show, what are you thinking you want to put in it?
 
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