Source
r/Magic•
kangamata

Pick 3 tricks for open mic

Someone challenged me recently to do some magic for a local open mic at a brewery. I'm tempted, and I don't know if I can work up the nerves to do it. All the magic I've done before has been in front of friends hanging out and never in that type of setting. But they said to just come up with 3 tricks to do. And im really interested in pushing myself passed my social anxieties to do this. So my question is what 3 tricks would you choose for an open mic setting? I have a few things in mind, but wanted to get new ideas. Especially tricks with a big wow factor.

Posted Sep 2, 2018, 3:18 PM UTC

833
TheClouse•

The perfect easy 10 min comedy set:

  1. Find a pretty woman near the front. Hand an ID in a wine glass to her then cover it with a cloth napkin. Ask her to "keep an eye on that for the rest of the show".

  2. Do a fun opener... Something flashy, but short. Introduce yourself then say, "I know you're not suppose to have your phones out right now, but everyone get your phone out....Text a friend and ask them to send you the name of a card. I'll give you a second... (wait 30 seconds, do something funny to kill time. Trim your nails, tell a dad joke, ask an audience member where they're from...). Alright. Everyone done?"

  3. Bring the "big fun guy" on stage and do Paper Balls over the head with a toiler paper roll.

  4. Throw out a beach ball or large nerf ball and ask people to toss it around. Countdown from 10 then say STOP. Ask if anyone at that table has had a response to the text they sent out.

  5. Have them join you on stage. Ask where their friend lives. (Canada)

  6. Look at the pretty woman with the ID and say... "You've been holding on to that glass, right? Nobody's touched it, correct?"

  7. Tell them. "Last night I had a dream. One card was so clear in my mind that I knew it was destiny. In this glass is a deck of cards. I've taken one of those cards, pulled it out of the deck, turned it around, and placed it back inside. Then I sealed it in this wine glass and gave it to you to hold."

  8. Take the deck from her, leave the glass.... "What was the card your friend in Canada picked?" (Nine of hearts). Fan out the deck and ID reveal the nine of hearts.

Everyone goes nuts. You look like a baller. Lastly, take off your jacket have pull a full tall glass of booze out of it before you say goodbye and walk off the stage. Bang everyone at the show.

17
Bwob•

It took me way too long to realize that ID was an abbreviation. I kept trying to figure out how having a wine glass with a driver's license or passport in it would help, and where the 9 of hearts came from! ("So wait, is the 9 printed on the back of the driver's license? How does he do the force then, on a whole crowd, with that selection method?")

It's very possible that I need more sleep.

Fantastic routine description though!

11
TheClouse•

I use and ID comprised completely of fake IDs.

8
ipcoffeepot•

This guy magics

2
TheClouse•

The name's Jack. Jack Ofclubs.

3
mfarokl•

you are not alone. I don't think I realized it until I saw your post and then OH YEAH. Nice routine. Sounds like fun.

Has anyone actually done the toilet paper ball one? I've seen it, but it is hard for me to believe it actually works.

2
TheClouse•

it works.

Steve Spill has the best performance of this I've ever seen. There's not a video from his current show available (Magicopolis, Santa Monica California) but here's a super old vid of it. This one's great too, but his modern version has evolved so much.

1
KingKongDuck•

Yeah that's what I thought too at first.

1
TheClouse•

typically abbreviations are used for that at TT so that casuals don't get new terms to google. It's part of the exposure sidebar rule.

1
KingKongDuck•

Yes, understood. Edited my earlier post.

I will also work out what TT, without posting here :D

1
kangamataOP•

I thought the same thing with ID.

1
lasemoco•

Have you every worked an open mic?

No way is a newbie getting 10 mins. It'll most likely be 3 mins.

1
TheClouse•

He asked for three tricks. Do it faster.

2
lasemoco•

and have a trash performance..?

1
TheClouse•

Fast no equal trash

1
kangamataOP•

It's a small brewery. And the owner is one of the people trying to convince me so I might be able to do 10min.

1
lasemoco•

I don't know if I can work up the nerves to do it

Sounds to me like you aren't even ready for 10 mins. Why not start with a 3 minute spot and see how it goes? Get some feedback and adjust accordingly.

If you bomb and it sucks (don't ask your friends they won't honestly tell you)... then keep working on that 3 minutes.

If it goes great, (don't ask your friends as they will most likely lie to you)... then maybe work on a 5 minute set and so on.

This is the same way that standup comedians work and polish their acts and it should be the same for a magician.

2
kangamataOP•

This sounds like a good one.

1
williebobbie•

Wut the fook

0
Blindside785•

Cardiographic would be awesome to place here if you are to do one card trick

Either Cody Fishers Comedy Book Test or Shawn Farquhar's Sheer Luck

4th Dimensional Telepathy by Bob Cassidy

Perfect Square

Baby Gag

3
RyanJ7786•

I second Sheer Luck!

1
LarperPro•

When's the deadline?

I'd say ignore them and pick one trick that you like and milk it for up to 10 minutes. Avoid any sleight of hand stuff. Invisible deck is a great one. Any simple mentalism routine is great for stage.

If you're keen on something with sleight of hand then you can combine a simple sponge ball routine with Professor's nightmare and you have a great short show.

2
kangamataOP•

No deadline. I can do it whenever. No pressure.

I was thinking mentalism would be good too. And it's one of my favorite styles of magic. I was thinking mentalism or comedy. Cause with comedy even if the magic is bad you can still be funny and entertaining. There isn't any good comedy mentalism, is there? I guess the comedy kills the mystic of the mentalism.

2
LarperPro•

There is absolutely good comedy mentalism. Check out this TED talk given by Vinh Giang, an amazing Australian magician and keynote speaker. At the end, you'll find a great comedy mentalism routine. You can watch it immediately without watching through the video but I wouldn't recommend it. The build up to that trick is really important because it shows how he set up the audience to laugh with him, even though he's speaking about serious things.

Also, there's Eric Leclerc in this video. Watch from the time I linked until 1:25.

In case you understand, great. But it might be hard to understand what happened if you don't have a lot of experience in magic. He pulled 4 women to the stage and then he predicted what underwear they're wearing. If that's not comedy mentalism then nothing is :P

Clouse's comment is a great short routine which has comedy but also mentalism. It uses 2 tricks and I believe it's perfect for you. Go for it!

2
aghawa•

If you present it properly, the Carlyle’s Card to Pocket is an awesome routine for an open mic setting, can have a great wow factor (also, look up Pop Haydn’s version), you really just need to be comfortable with basic sleights, you’ve got yourself a talker for the rest of the night. One of my favourites, and go-to. I’d just do a fancy production of a deck from nothing, followed by that. It can be a good 7-8 minutes bit if you structure it properly. You really need to have a grown up kind of pattern though, avoid the trite magician style of patter in a setting like that. Be a responsive, organic character. Make them remember you, and good luck!

2
tiw•

FYI this is a perfect opportunity for doing some pre-show! Why not do one of the following:

  • Direct mind-reading or a drawing duplication
  • Psudo psychometry
  • PK touches (might not be suitable for the venue)

Any one of these done well would be more than enough.

2
Ebackes88•

How much time do you have?

2
kangamataOP•

I'm not sure if you mean to prepare, or to do the routine.

I have as much time as I want to practice and prepare. Open mic is once a week and I can get on any of them.

As far as for the routine, I'd imagine I could go 10 min or less. Anything over seems like too much.

1
Ebackes88•

Interesting, usually with open mics (in my experience) they give you a time slot. Not just as much time as you want. If you want to do 10 minutes I would aim for that, instead of worrying about the number of tricks you're doing. Check out Daryl's rope routine. 10 minutes of comedy magic with nothing but three pieces of rope.

2