Leveling Up Your Shows

“Wait….what?” the sarcastic kid said.

This was the fourth or fifth such response from him since my show started.

I’d heard similar comments from the other older boys, too. Things like:

“Wait a minute!”

Or

“How the…?”

I loved it because when the show began, they all let me know in no uncertain terms what they thought of the show they were going to see.

I even nicknamed the sarcastic kid “Mr. Sarcastic” because of how he, well, sarcastically said he knew it was going to be a GREAT show.

This show was a birthday party for a little girl turning six. She and her friends were adorable. The older 15-year-old boys? Not so much.

Yet as the show went on, their snide comments dissipated and finally stopped completely.

And of course, after I floated the birthday girl in the air, everyone’s jaws were on the floor.

Another successful show in the books.

This show was significant for me in several ways.

First, it was my first birthday show of the year. I don’t do many birthdays anymore, but when I do, I like to take the approach I’m going to talk about in this issue.

Second, the responses of the older kids perfectly illustrate my philosophy on performing for kids.

It’s simply this: Level up the kids.

This philosophy is particularly useful when you know you’re going to have a room full of kids of various ages.

Many kid show entertainers take the stance that when performing for mixed ages, aim the content of your show toward the younger kids.

They say the adults will get a kick out of watching the young kids react and the older kids will come along for the ride.

Some of the folks who share this view are performers I deeply admire and respect. I would never be so arrogant as to say they’re wrong.

I’m simply going to share a different point of view, one that’s worked for me. It’s up to you to decide which path to follow.

I feel that presenting more challenging material better entertains the older kids and the younger kids will rise to their level.

I’m not saying you should bust out hardcore mentalism or Bizarre magic for younger kids, but I do think they can accept more advanced magic…especially if your presentations are funny and/or easy to follow.

When I’m booked to perform a K-5 school assembly, I simply perform my 3-5 assembly.

I have two versions of every program I do: one for K-2 and one for grades 3-5. I used to try to combine the two if the school only wanted one show.

These days, I no longer do it. It’s easier on me, and the teachers are always more impressed when I can hold the attention of the older kids anyway.

I’ve lost count of how many times I’ll be at a school and just finished the K-2 group. The principal will say, “Hey that was great! But now the older kids are coming. Good luck!”

They know older kids are harder to captivate. And having just seen my goofy, silly younger version of the show, they wonder if I’m going to be eaten alive.

Nope. I just level up my performing.

‘Leveling up’ can mean a lot of stuff. It may mean altering my character so I’m not quite so goofy for the older kids.

But most of the time, I’ll present more advanced material, things I’ve found through trial and error that appeal to older kids.

For me, that means no change bags, no silks, no hibbity hop rabbits, no blooming bouquets. Just hard-hitting magic that makes even the adults say “Wow.”

To be sure, if I’m booked for an event where it’s all one age group, like preschoolers for instance, I’ll just perform goofy silly magic.

I believe in catering the show to one age group if that’s all I have to worry about.

If that’s younger kids, so be it. If it’s older kids, that’s fine too.

And even in my goofiest of shows for little kids, I’ll always include at least one effect or routine that just fries grownups. I don’t want the grownups to think that I’m just a clown without makeup.

So including at least one trick that fries their brains makes them sit up and take notice.

I do this in my Summer Reading Program library shows too.

Here’s an example to illustrate how a routine can appeal to little kids, grownups, and everyone in between.

Last year I had several good effects in my show. The one that fried the adults watching was my Signed Bill to a Sealed Can of Potato Chips. (There’s probably a better, more elegant title than that.)

The big reveal was my very last effect. Earlier in the show, I had borrowed a bill, had a grownup sign it, and seemingly placed it inside a donation jar for the “wild animal” we were going to train.

In exchange I gave the adult a sealed can of chips, saying it was the animal’s favorite food.

The chips, I explained, would be the animal’s treat for performing a stunt.

But what kind of “wild animal?” I had a cardboard box on display throughout the show with caution signs and warnings all over it.

I explained the animal was inside and we’d find out what it was very soon.

I then had a girl come up and pick a card from a deck of flashcards with dangerous animals on it. Snake, scorpion, boar, you get the idea.

The selection process was very fair – I used Bill Abbott’s wonderful Smart Ass deck to customize the cards just for this routine.

If you don’t own a Smart Ass deck, you’re missing out. It looks like the cleanest selection of a card ever invented.

The selection is so fair that the revelation always fries older kids and adults.

The “wild animal” is revealed to be a chicken. A rubber chicken.

Big laugh, which little kids really loved.

From there I performed Wolf Magic’s Chicken Sword.

It was goofy, silly, visual, and a lot of fun. Everyone loved it.

Then came the ultimate brain fry for the older kids and adults.

I asked the adult who had given me the signed bill to bring the chips up.

She opened up the can, removed the factory seal, and poured the chips onto my table to give to the chicken for a job well done.

Except no chips came out. Just a folded bill. You know the rest.

This entire sequence played incredibly well and balanced my show for all ages.

The best part? After seeing this show at one library, one guy contacted me later and hired me to perform for his corporate group in November.

If you perform for groups of mixed-age children, consider adding plenty of material that appeals to older kids and adults.

You’ll impress them and maybe even get other gigs out of it.

Have a great week!

--Cris

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