To all of those who do a monte routine, but do not use cards, shells, those rubber discs or matchboxes.... how is that doing for you?I'm talking about sponge squeeker monte, frog squeeker monte, LED color monte, that brass tube monte. Do audiences buy that shit? Is it even entertaining?
With the right routining and personality, anything can be entertaining, interesting, and fun to watch. "It's not what you do; it's how you do it."
ReplyDeleteSort of related: someday, I'd like to get ahold of the first magic-set I received as a child, and - using only the props in that kit - write a funny and entertaining show. Just for kicks & giggles. But also to show the young'ns that they don't need the "latest and greatest" to be an entertaining magician... To prove that it is, in fact, not what you do, but how you do it.
Have any magicians done that before?
David Regal uses the little plastic cups from those cups and ball sets in his normal Cups and balls. It's in one of his books.
ReplyDeleteI can do something you can't is often a tough sell. The imp bottle, ten card poker deal, the bottles and tubes and so forth. It becomes even tougher when the audience knows you got something special that makes you successful and them failures. These things do work when the audience understands that the routine is headed toward a bigger joke or some kind of payoff. Sort of like Woody Aragon's finger trick (Woodyland) where everybody knows the thing is a mathematical abomination until they realize that at the end everyone's gonna give him the finger. The math is forgiven because they appreciate the rude ending.
ReplyDeleteNot an answer to the question posed Roland, but I just this week watched Daryl's "Full Monte" DVD and (having not seen much of his stuff before) was very pleased at the extent of the material covered. Yes, it's all cards - but if there was any variation/twist/extra that he could include, he did. Nice product.
ReplyDeleteMy cups has a shell game lead-in with a sponge ball. It seems to go over most of the time.
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