Want to learn a HUGE secret for entertaining audiences?
Make them laugh!
Here’s the cold, hard truth for most magicians: Most of us will never have our own TV show or Las Vegas stage show, so we’ll never become household names like David Copperfield, Doug Henning or Harry Blackstone.
Most of us will have to make our money the old-fashioned way; by earning it!
Unless you are a household name, you can’t afford to let your audience’s attention wander for even an instant or else you’ve lost them.
I’m Cris Johnson, host of the Professional Magician Podcast, listen to by magicians worldwide. For the last 20 years, I’ve performed hundreds of times a year in front of audiences all across the United States and Canada from coast to coast. Quite frankly, after performing for thousands of audiences, I’ve found that the EASIEST and most EFFECTIVE way to hold everyone’s attention during my show is to fill the show with as much comedy as possible!
People want to be entertained and people want to laugh. It feels good and most importantly, it’s good FOR you.
If you can combine strong magic with laugh-out humor, you’ve created a winning combination that’s going to get you more bookings, more money, and more financial stability!
Here’s the problem…writing comedy is TOUGH. I should know, as it’s sometimes taken me up to 10 years to fine-tune and fully develop a script for a single 5-minute routine!
After the success of the first “Cause & Effects” book of effects and routines, I’ve decided to release Volume 2 which contains six more fully developed routines right out of my current performing set lists.
These routines have been fine-tuned over hundreds or even THOUSANDS of performances and they now are guaranteed laugh-getters. Let me clarify one thing: With these routines, I’m not doing stand-up comedy where I poke fun at the latest Hollywood gossip as a stand-up comic might do.
The comedy from these routines is situational, meaning the laughter springs from the magic. In other words, the humor of each routine compliments and enhances the magic rather than detracts from it.
Here’s what’s in this volume:
“Cuddles” The Magic Snake! – This is my presentation for the Pro Viper prop, the effect where a spring snake jumps out of the basket and finds a selected card in its mouth. The effect is incredible, but quite frankly, after watching the creator’s routine on the instructional DVD, I thought his routine was lacking. He burned through the routine in around 2 minutes, and didn’t really take full advantage of this wonderful prop. This routine is packed with laughs from beginning to end and best of all, it’s suspenseful, not shocking, meaning you won’t come off as “cruel” presenting this kind of effect.
The Very Funny Tossed Out Deck - The Tossed Out Deck is a classic in Mentalism, but like any Mentalism or magic effect, without a good routine, a good hook or SOMETHING, it’s just another card trick. The key to making a routine like this play is to realize one thing: Its not about the cards. No one cares about cards. The journey leading up to the reveal better be interesting or else your whole audience will be thinking, “Yup, a card trick. Zzzzzzzzz….” This is a very funny way to present virtually ANY Tossed Out Deck routine out there. In my routine, you’re not doing the mind reading. Your “assistant” is going to read minds…and your audience won’t believe who your assistant is!
Opening A Mental Corridor – This is my presentation for Banachek’s wonderful (and severely under-priced) Psychokinetic Touches. The routine in Banachek’s booklet was something I could never imagine myself performing. In Banachek’s own words, he never intended that routine to be the ‘end all, be all’ of PK Touches. After working with the effect, I’ve come up with a funny, engaging stage routine that plays just as well for middle and high school students, family audiences, and of course, corporate audiences. It’s fast, fun, and easy to follow! (NOTE: Banachek’s method is NOT taught here, but the original manuscript is available from Banachek.)
Balloon Animal Psychology – This is based on Marin Lewis’ wonderful Technicolor Prediction, which has always been a fun effect, but I always felt that the two gag predictions were not enough humor, so I crafted this routine, which adds three colored balloon animals (that match the envelopes) to the mix. After three funny psychological quick ‘readings,’ we continue on with the prediction. This is VERY funny, adds a LOT more laughter and length to the routine, and gives three audience members some silly keepsakes of your show!
Teaching Someone to Read Minds – The old “split deck” has been around forever. You know the trick: a deck of cards has been sliced in half. Two people each pick half of a card. Both halves match. It’s a decent trick you can do anywhere, but without a good ‘hook’ it’s dry as dirt! What I’ve done here is create a routine where I’m teaching one person how to read minds. By copying my actions, I claim the volunteer will be able to successfully pull off an amazing psychic feat. Sight gags galore make this a hilarious interactive routine that I’ve fine-tuned over 10 years!
The Funniest Arm Chopper Routine Ever Created – This is the one item on this list I debated about releasing. This is another routine (it plays great for ANY arm chopper or even Disecto) that took me 10 years to finish. Most arm chopper routines use the same tired bits of business; the bloody newspaper, the fake hand, etc. but this routine doesn’t use those things. There are about two dozen specific laugh-moments in this routine, and here’s the amazing part: 10 of those laughs come BEFORE the prop is even introduced! I generate belly-rolling laughs with a carrot that play wonderfully for family audiences, kids’ shows and even the hard-to-please middle school age kids. This is NOT B.S. or hype – this is so hilarious and original that the only reason I’m releasing it is because I want the credit before someone else takes it!
The Dream Letter – I’ve always been fascinated by the Confabulation plot, but I always thought that pulling the prediction out of a wallet that you’ve been holding onto was a little weak. In this routine, the prediction is in a sealed FedEx envelope that’s out in the audience before the routine starts! The plot is simple: one person from this group will be receiving a letter of appreciation for all of their hard work…and the audience gets to decide on the details of the letter, from the salary she’ll receive, names of famous clients and much more – 8 items predicted total! Later, after she opens the letter herself, there’s a note card inside that reads like a letter and yes, the 8 suggestions made moments ago are incorporated seamlessly throughout the letter! I paid $1,000 as part of another package to learn the physical handling. I then modified it, added some psychological convincing, created a compelling plot, and Voila! It’s been a corporate closer for me for over 10 years! All of the gimmicks, physical handling and construction is covered in incredible detail. A quick trip to your local office supply store and after spending around $10 or so, and you’ll have everything you need to perform a miracle that people WILL talk about for years!
None of these routines were created just to put into a book. EVERYTHING is straight out of my current performances and I use them hundreds of times a year to make a very nice $100,000+ per year salary.
Cris Johnson, Inc.
8310 Lockport Rd.
Niagara Falls, NY 14304
PH: (716) 940-8963
Email: crisjohnsoninfo@verizon.net
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