San Francisco Magic Show

“Magic of the Hands : Magic of the Mind” is San Francisco’s only double feature of modern sleight-of-hand and mind-reading. Ryan Horsfall, 2012 San Francisco Magic Champion, and David Gerard, renowned mind-reader, each bring their unique disciplines to the stage this June at San Francisco’s Exit Theater. The show is one of the most dynamic and entertaining magic shows in the Bay Area.

Daniel Garcia’s “Greed” is an excellent trick with one major flaw. But man is there a lot we can learn from its construction and concept. Here are some good tidbits:

Logical and Emotional Hook: “Greed” is the most requested trick by our audience. “Turn by dollar into a hundred,” is a challenge every magician has heard countless times. Offering to perform such a feat immediately grabs the attention of your audience and appeals to their intelligence and emotion. This is exactly what they would do if they were a magician!

A Twist: But Daniel Garcia doesn’t just take their bill and turn it into a hundred. No, he takes this standard plot and gives a twist- making it a sequential change from a one, to a five, to a ten, and so on. Garcia isn’t the first to do this, but it something we can take away from “Greed.” See if there is something else you can do with a plot: can you shorten it, lengthen it, etc?

Visual: One of the selling points of “Greed” is how visual it is. The changes do look like camera tricks, and is what helps set it apart from similar tricks. “Greed” appears very streamline and appeals to the audience which it is designed for.

Finale: The best part of “Greed” is the ending, where the twenty dollar bill turns into a fifty cent coin. It is logical yet surprising. It is also more amazing than the bill turning into a fifty dollar bill. The construction also leaves the magician “cleaner” than he was a second ago. All heat is on the coin, which can be examined or even kept by the audience member.

Lesson: “Greed” has a moral- a lesson to teach. “Don’t get greedy,” is an awesome way to end the routine! If played right, the audience is edging the magician on and on, to make more money and to do more and more impossible magic. Finally he ends with a visual and startling transformation of a bill into a coin, exceeding all expectations for magic- while also pointing out the greed of the audience. I think this is an incredible moment for close-up magic. Can we give other routines similar commentary?

The Problem: As great as “Greed” is, it has a major problem as I alluded to earlier. It is constructed backwards! The first color change of the bill is the best. Each fold makes each transformation less and less impressive. You can barely see the change from the ten to the twenty on camera! This is an unfortunate side effet of not being a “real” magician. However, it is important as a magician to be aware of the weaknesses of our tricks so we can attempt to fix the routine, strengthen the weak parts, or cut the whole thing from our repertoire. You can’t have everything in your show. Don’t get greedy!

6 Things Magicians Should Stop Doing

Laughing at Our Audiences

Unless there is a clearly understood reason, driven by either plot or character, to make fun of a spectator then we shouldn’t be doing it. It is cruel and unnecessary.

Insulting Our Audience’s Intelligence

Why do magician’s think that pretending there are sky hooks in the air is even remotely a compelling presentation? How come we get upset with our audiences when they don’t instantly accept that these sky hooks exist? Even children get annoyed by such presentations which treat them so condescendingly.

Creating Unnecessarily Awkward Situations

Would you enjoy it if a grown man (who you’ve never met) dragged you up on stage unexpectedly, stuck you in a silly outfit, stood behind you, and put his arms beneath yours so that your friends, peers and coworkers could have come cheap, yet undoubtedly uncomfortable, laughs? This lies somewhere between a lame high school comedy skit and full blown sexual harassment. The “audience magician” trick which I refer to here is perhaps the most despicable magic trick we magicians have forced upon our audiences and I am continually awestruck by the performers I’ve seen feature it.

Asking Patronizing Questions

Why do we grab “nothing” out of the air and then ask our audiences if they can see the “nothing?” Why do we introduce a foreign object such as sponge ball and then ask them if they know what it is? Why do we introduce a common object such as a silver dollar and ask them if they can identify it? Why do we ask them “did you see it go,” when we already know that there was nothing to see? These questions are filler and add nothing to our performances. Let’s purge them.

Doing Experiments

Your card trick isn’t an “experiment,” and saying that it is just makes you sound pompous and scientifically ignorant. Equally, we magicians shouldn’t ever offer to “try something” in professional situations- particularly onstage. Nobody is convinced of this weak presentation premise- so find a better one.

Lacking Intellectual Honesty

If you feature ESP as a premise in your show, and if you personally do not believe in ESP (or haven’t taken the time to research ESP), and after your performance the audience leaves with the impression that you do believe in ESP then you have failed as a performer. Don’t feature premises you know nothing about, and don’t ignore your own convictions about a subject for the sake of “presentation.” Have more intellectual honesty than that.

Vote for Ryan Horsfall

As a finalist in last summer’s Walk-the-Plank Comedy Competition, Ryan Horsfall was entered as a contestant in the upcoming Arizona Comedy Festival. However, we need your votes to send Ryan to this festival!

Thank you!

This past Wednesday, Ryan Horsfall competed against 13 other comedians at Rooster T Feathers for their 10th annual comedy competition. Ryan advanced, along with 3 other professional funny people- and will be competing in the semi finals in the next few months. More info to come.

Ryan’s first performance at a comedy club was as a part of this same competition last year. Ryan’s magic and comedy brought took him all the way to the finals. Since then, he has also been a finalist in the Wharf Room comedy competition, and took first prize in the 2012 San Francisco Magic Competition.

Thank you to everyone who turned out to support! We will see you in the semi’s!

So why is the typical ambitious card routine 5-7 phases long? I think it is three main reasons:

1) We don’t listen to our audience enough to realize that the trick has become redundant.
You can tell when the plot has run thin. When they lean back and take disinterest, when you sense that forced politeness in response of you offering to show them “one more time,” or when they say something even more overt, such as “Why, I’m not going to catch you!” These are signals that it is time to move onto the next miracle.

2) We become enamored by new phases which disprove methods only magicians would suspect.
This is where a lot of the extra fat comes from. I’m going to push it into the middle, this time you push it into the middle, this time we will put it even deeper in the middle, this time I’ll show you I’m not switching the card, this time I will do it without looking, etc. These phases and methods are useful to have in your repertoire, however they shouldn’t be a standard part of the routine. If no body says “Wait, I think you switched the card,” don’t perform a phase where you clearly debunk this theory. Don’t run when you’re not being chased.

3) We insert unnecessarily weak phases up front.
A lot of routines are structured to begin with less convincing phases in order to build up to, and highlight, the absolute “killer” phase(s) at the end. To defend this structure is to argue in favor of wasting your audiences’ time with poor magic. Do only the best phases.

My full ambitious card routine is 4 phases (technically 3 &1/2). The card rises twice face down, and then twice face up. However, half of the time I find myself omitting the face-up phases due to waining interest.

The strongest phase is the second one by far. The subsequent face-up rises are mere eye candy by comparison, which is why I have no problem cutting them if I feel that the audience is satisfied.

Cutting out excess fat from multiphase routines is an ongoing process. Currently I am reintroducing a ring-and-string routine into my work. I’ll let you know when I’ve figured out exactly how many phases that one should be for me!

(FROM SOMEONE WHO WAS THERE 5 YEARS AGO)

In 2007 I graduated high school. By 2008 I was performing magic and comedy at grad nights throughout California. I have the unique perspective of being a professional with a big hand in making grad night special, while still having recent and vivid memories of what it was like to attend a grad night myself.

Coming from that background, here are my 5 Tips on Planning a Successful Grad Night (From Someone Who Was There 5 Years Ago).

1) Give Them Choices!

A typical grad night lasts all night and well into the morning. It is the ultimate sober party- however without a wealth of enticing things to do it may feel more like a prison for your new grads. The key to keeping this from happening is to provide guests with many activities and entertainment options to take part in throughout the night. There should be a featured event (usually some sort of stage performance with a strong comedic element) for the guests to look forward to, but there need to be plenty of other things to do. Remember, the grads are there all night and cannot leave! Here are few tried and tested ideas to get you started:

• Casino Tables
• Henna Tattoos
• Close-up Walk-around magician
• Yearbook signing table
• Memory wall
• Dancing
• Caricature Artist
• Face-painting
• Photo-boothes
• Inflatables (sumo wrestling, boxing rings, obstacle courses, slides, even bounce houses)
• Mechanical bull
• Arcade
• Games (Apples to Apples and Catch Phrase are very popular)
• Pie-A-Teacher (Or other faculty member)
• Bowling
• Laser Tag

2) Plan Ahead!

Professionals who specialize in grad nights (venues, entertainers, equipment rental) are often booked upwards of 9 months prior to the event! To be sure that your grads don’t miss out, be sure to start planning and booking the necessary professionals early! Contact they with any questions and get your grad night on their calendar!

3) Promote Early and Often

My grad night was a lot of fun, but to be honest- I wasn’t at all looking forward to it. In fact, I only decided to go at the last moment due to the persuasive urging of my friend who pointed out, “Well, there’s nothing else to do.” My school did a terrible job of promoting this event to the seniors as an essential and unforgettable end to the school year- a party to look forward to. Which it was! I wish I had known earlier! The lesson to be learned is that you really need to make a priority of getting the word out early about how fun and exciting this event will be for your grads. This goes along with booking your entertainment early so that you can let the student body know exactly what to look forward to. Use the channels already in place at your school to get the word out, such as morning bulletins (especially if it is a video broadcast), posters in the halls, rallies, etc.

4) Have Plenty of Food

This is a problem I’ve run into at some of the grad nights which I have performed at. That is, there isn’t enough food or, even worse, the food is taken away too early. I tell my clients all the time, you cannot hope to entertain anybody until they have been fed and are comfortable. Have plenty of food, snacks and drinks available throughout the night and early morning for your grads. Many grad nights serve a full breakfast!

5) Provide a Community

Here’s a tip which you don’t read very often: keep the sense of community and togetherness going throughout the night. In fact, make it a focus. Begin strong, and end the night together. This is the last time all of the grads will be together in the same place at the same time, so make sure they enjoy that fellowship. Yearbooks, memory walls and other nostalgic activities help with this. At the end, don’t just wish everyone a safe trip home, plan a speech or a final activity. A senior sunrise is perfect for this, where everyone gathers to watch the sun rise up- a great symbol for the new chapter each of the grads is just beginning.

For more information on my services for grad nights throughout California, please visit here or give me a call at 916-524-1692.

Ah yes, the heckler.

According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary a heckler is defined as:

Heckler: (n) An immoral, humorless and boisterous beast masquerading as a human being. Some surviving magicians report it to be an elusive, solitary monster- a rare encounter better left unprovoked. To others, the vermin are rampant, swiftly infesting the show of any magician who’s close-up mat’s scent has attracted such vultures. The best defense against such horrific onslaughts are increasingly rapid and desperate one-liners intended to lower the creature’s self esteem below that of the magician’s.

Hyperbole aside, I think many magicians are far too presumptuous and discriminatory of the heckler- a prejudice which leads, as it often does, to an unwarranted and excessive fear.

To many, any person who interrupts the performance at any time (except when called up, of course- but even then it must go exactly as the magician intended) for any reason is a “heckler.”

To me, none of the typical interruptions a spectator might say/do would warrant being classified as a heckle. They are just that, interruptions. By definition, they are often undesirable, but to instantly assume that the interrupter is a “heckler,” and thereby intent on destroying your show is absurd. Simply assess why they are saying what they are saying, and address it accordingly. Remain in control, but in a smart way.

SO WHAT IS A TRUE HECKLER?

The real Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines a heckle as: “to harass and try to disconcert with questions, challenges or gibes.” I think this definition is a little too broad for our use in magic (remember, the term heckler is most often utilized in relation to politicians). However, it is definitely more on par than what many magician’s would use as a definition.

For myself, I would say that a heckler is someone who acts with the direct and unprovoked intent of harming your performance and/or your character. Note the words “direct and unprovoked,” for they make all the difference. If I offend someone in the audience, and they (or anybody else) feels the need to lash out at me- they are not a heckler. If somebody is not convinced that the card I give them is indeed the card it is supposed to be and so decides to turns it over- they are not a heckler. Neither is the kid who doesn’t understand my instructions, or the frat guy who blurts out “that’s what she said” after my poorly considered word choice.

These are all indirect ways of intentionally harming my show. Some won’t realize their interruptions were detrimental to the performance; many spectators who upstage the magician by making jokes often feel as if they are helping the show! Other actions are entirely provoked. If you have offended your audience, then your audience is merely reacting to you harming them first!

As for spectators who turn over cards too soon, say it went up the sleeve, ask to examine props, etc.- this is not heckling my friend, this is feedback! It is direct and important feedback that your technique and/or presentation require mending. Maybe they require replacement. Our craft is a two way street. We must match and overcome our audiences’ natural skepticism and intelligence with convincing technique and performance in order to create magic. They must be convinced of the situation at the start before they will be convinced of the impossible. So if they speak up, don’t be upset that they messed up the trick- be upset you didn’t know about this weak point until now! Think of all the people you’ve showed this trick to before who didn’t speak up and probably weren’t convinced of your little miracle!

SO IS THERE A TRUE HECKLER

Of course, but they are incredibly rare and rather easy to avoid. Overly insecure audience members may lash out, as will drunken spectators. In close-up situations just leave em alone. I find you will rarely encounter such people at more formal shows- and even if you do, you have the microphone!

I hope I have impacted your view of hecklers. I feel that magicians need to be less quick to classify audience initiated interaction as heckling. Most magic performances break the 4th wall immediately, and there is absolutely no 4th wall in close-up. To expect the audience to instinctively understand when the 4th wall is okay to cross and when it is not is pretentious and delusional in such circumstances.

Lead, listen, and react- but don’t be prejudice.

WOULD YOU LIKE TO LEARN MORE?

For further thinking on how to understand and deal with unwanted interruptions, please read my other post “We Want to Be Fooled.”

THE THINKING BEHIND THE ACT

I am very honored to have taken first prize in the 2012 San Francisco State Magic Competition. All of my other competitors were fantastic to watch, and joys to spend the afternoon/evening with.

What follows is some of my thinking behind the act- why I made the decisions I did concerning material, scripting and character. Hopefully these words will be helpful to those out there preparing for a competition themselves!

Here we go!

Do What’s Comfortable

Historically, a manipulation act set to music is the proven formula for winning magic competitions. This is great… if you are silent manipulation act! When planning for the San Francisco competition, I greatly considered putting together a silent act which fit this proven mold. It seemed like the natural thing to do.

In the end I chose to go with what I knew best- a talking comedy act. I wanted something which I would feel confident with onstage. I feel that this choice was a major part of my success in the competition. Some of the other magicians had put together brand new acts which stepped away from their usual personas. They spent the hours before the competition nervous not only about debuting new magic, but also a new character!

I admire these performers greatly for their courage. Experimentation is great and needed in our field. However, creativity and daring often come at the cost of confidence. In a competition you want to be as confident in your act as possible. Therefore, my advice would be to stick to what you know works best for you!

Stand out

In the 2012 competition, four magicians presented extensive card production sequences. The year before that was billiard balls. Before that, it was snowstorms. You must agree that any magician performing the same trick after another (even if they are separated by multiple other acts) pays a price for going second. Furthermore, if 4 magicians present linking rings, I would argue that every performer of the rings is paying a price. The effect becomes less magical for the audience, less original to the judges, and less memorable for the individual performer.

From the start I did know one thing; whatever my act as going to be, it needed to stand out. I avoided any tricks which I suspected other competitors might be doing. Luckily, since I am a talking act there aren’t too many crossover effects. Even still, Cups and Balls, Professors Nightmare, Bill in Lemon (all audience tested pieces in my repertoire) were out simply because I didn’t want to risk being blurred together with another magician doing the same effect. This would keep me from avoiding the judges’ subconscious penalty for performing the same trick as another competitor.

In the end, every act that placed stood out for some reason. It is hard to pinpoint this as the exact cause for their success, but it is important to note. Big Al Catraz was the only escape act, Alex Wu as the only CD manipulator, and my act was the only nest of boxes. Do material which will make you stand out and not be blurred away as another card act, or ring act!

Shelf the Stock

I was terrified of the judges. Lay audiences don’t have the background knowledge to piece apart your act. They don’t recognize that McBride sequence or that Sankey line. Gazzo’s Cups and Balls sequence would surely get a rousing response from the audience, but the judges would be unimpressed. They’d recognize the source material. I felt that a good way to impress the judges was to perform an act in which they couldn’t piece apart. An act which the would be forced to call “original.”

I performed three “tricks” as a part of my competition act. The bottle production sequence and script at the start is mine. The ending nest of boxes concept and script is also mine (with some invaluable direction from Big Al Catraz). The method is an extension of an old concept- however it’s use here is original to my knowledge. Between those are Daniel Garcia’s “Pressure” (though performed as an “aside” and with a unique script) and an obscure trick in an obscure book by an obscure magician- Rune Klan’s “Say it Right” (a trick which I modified heavily as well).

Because so much of this act was unique to me, I felt confident (there’s that word again!) that the judges would be impressed by the originality of it.

The final thing I did was purge any and all “stock” lines from the performance. Again, this was a great tip from my friend Big Al Catraz.

Try to be as original as you can! We don’t create in a vacuum, so don’t try to deny your influences- but do attempt to bring something new to the table to impress the jaded judges.

This past week, Ryan Horsfall competed in the 2012 San Francisco Magic Competition, hosted by Joe Pon of Misdirections Magic Shop. 10 incredibly talented magicians from San Francisco and the greater Bay Area competed for the 1st prize trophy, and the title “Best Magician in San Francisco.”

The results were:

• 1st Prize – Ryan Horsfall
• 2nd Prize – Alex Wu
• 3rd Prize – Big Al Catraz

And we shouldn’t overlook the other great competitors, all of whom performed great magic:

• Ray Andrews
• Captain Red Aye
• Doug Hofkins (The Surfing Magician)
• Heather Rogers
• George Winters
• Xander
• Perry Yan

Congratulations to the other winners, and everybody who competed! It was a fantastic show, and a great opportunity!