How to actually get things done PART VII

The first part of the show had this running gag of a bill getting bigger and bigger. That was a trick that connected the tricks. In the second part of the show the running theme is the supposed selling of a new magic prop, called "The Thing".

The Thing is great. It can teleport, copy, transmogrify and all sorts of things. It is made up of a phoenix feather, parts of the true death star, was forged in Mount Doom and runs on three triple A batteries.

I tell the story of the four stages of magic. It starts with the magic kit stage. Then follows the library stage (nowadays substituted by the YouTube stage), then the actual practice stage, followed by the oh so esoteric mentalism stage. (thereby foreshadowing the end of the show) But now we can go back to the magic kit stage as The Thing does all the work. What work? let me show you!

Then I move into my sponge ball routine. Which is very basic actually. It ends in a classic way. A ball travels from one hand to the spectators hand. The only difference... the hand that the ball vanishes from is NOT my own hand. It's a spectator's hand. Yes, after I placed "ONE" ball in the spectators hand I pick up the remaining ball and fake placing it into another spectators hand, who is instant stooged to play along. That stooge still gets a magic moment as he/she has no idea how the ball ends up in the second spectators hand. I've never seen anybody do that and I claim ownership of that with the end of this sentence. *insertevillaughhere*

The actual magic phase is done using TheThing. Which is hilarious. The fart sounds bring down the level so low, that the actual magic hits so much harder in contrast. People dig that. This just highlights the before mentioned "teleportation" function. "And you can get that too, for just 24,95 €"

Next would be the "copy" function... which leads into the Ring in the box routine. It has all sorts of jokes, but the basic premise is, that I borrow a ring claiming I can make a copy of it. And it works, but in the process the original ring gets lost. The spectator gets to choose between the cheap copy or the box "that contains the wonders of the universe" Once they go for the box, the ring transforms into the key, that is needed to open the box. Inside they find the ring. It's a solid routine that I have done for many, many years. "Mind you that the copy function worked perfectly, it is that the original got lost. So you can get The Thing for just 24,95 € we sell then after the show!" That last line, aside from being serves a purpose, which will become clear in a moment.

Then the card trick. I won't go into detail, as it is not my routine, but here is premise. The Thing can actually prep a spectator to not being able to do a mistake. To proof that wondrous claim a card trick is done. Card is picked, then lost. The spectator himself find the card using dice. It is an extremely powerful routine and it is self working yeah.... after that trick I do that line "Now imagine we use The Thing in the context of getting lottery numbers.... Oh yeah we sell this.... for 24,95 €.... as well as gift certificates." Now you see what this has been leading up to. Some advertisement, reminding the audience that they could actually buy gift certificates for friends and family. It's a pretty cheesy reminder, but in a funny context. And why not? People are having fun at that point... and now they mentally connect the idea of a possible gift certificate with the fun they are having. As a matter of fact we do sell gift certificates after the show and we sell way more than the time I didn't use the line.

Following, the Cups and Balls, as a final proof of The Thing. This time teleportation, copying and transmogrification will be combined in one great demonstration. I do the entire routine, ending with four steel balls from two cups and close with the following line: "I told you in the beginning that this trick is old. And in the past it used to be done on the street. Right after the show the performer would go through the crowd selling all sorts of wondrous gadgets for the cheap, cheap price of 24,95!" which gets a laugh "Not today, you get a fifth ball" as I lift the cup again and reveal yet another load, but way to big to actually fit in the cup. This feels like whipping up the applause even more.

Now we are moving closer and closer to the end!

More in Part VIII