Gardyloo #71
/For a long time now, there's been a great concern in our art that magic is not homogenized enough. There are just too many great magicians coming up with too much original material and couching it in really compelling, unique presentations. Yes this is clearly magic's biggest problem.
But don't worry, Ellusionist is here to combat that issue.
Ellusionist has determined the tricks for you to do and fully scripted an hour-long show for you too.
This presupposes a world where someone wants to perform an hour-long professional magic show for people, but doesn't want to, you know, figure out what tricks to do and come up with the words to say and all that junk. And the fact is, Ellusionist is going to sell a million of these things. They know their audience. Hell, most people got started in magic to take credit for something they can't really do. You think those people are going to have any issue with going up on stage and presenting someone else's routines and using someone else's jokes and passing it all off as their own? No! That's the whole reason they got into magic.
Trust me, the "Just Add Personality" box will remain unchecked.
And the worst thing is, I just heard Derek Delgaudio's next Broadway show is going to just be him going through this set. So it's going to be way overexposed.
But don't worry, my loves. I have something for you. It's an entire magic show that fits in a single-serving box of Stouffer's spaghetti with meatballs. Fully scripted and fully routined. It's $179.
It's a DVD copy of Tom Mullica's An Evening at the Tom-Foolery. All you need to do is get a projection system set up to broadcast it to the crowd. No need to make any decisions on your own. You don't have to pick the tricks, routine them together, or write a word of patter. Ellusionist's Show-To-Go only allows you to sleepwalk through the performance. But mine allows you to actually sleep through it.
Here's an email I got from Justin Flom in regards to last Friday's post, The Magic "Magic Bucket List" List.
Thank you! Thank you for such a simple premise with a wonderful surprise ending.
My wife couldn’t stop giggling after the surprise of seeing her name in print. She hasn’t responded to a trick like that in a year! She’s jaded enough and well versed in method so that she was only fooled for a minute, but even after assuming the method, she was still laughing so hard her side hurt.
Yeah, the MMBLL is a good one. In my opinion it's just about the ideal quick and fun trick to have ready to go at any time.
Speaking of magic guys named Justin that you're constantly confusing in your head, Justin Willman has a show on Netflix called Magic for Humans. I have not seen it, but based on the number of emails I've gotten asking: "Did you work on this show?" "Did you see they stole this idea from you?" "Are you Justin Willman?" It leads me to believe that people who like this site might find the show interesting.
Do I think he—or someone working with him—was influenced by this site? Sure, probably. This site is the best thing going on in magic these days. Only a knucklehead wouldn't be influenced by it. It doesn't bother me. I'm never going to pursue a tv show. I believe in any professional performing situation (tv show, theater show, table-hopping, whatever) there is a ceiling to the impact a magic effect can have that isn't there when the trick is a more organic moment in someone's life. That's the thing that interests me and what I want to write about here. To whatever extent people performing professionally can get value from these ideas too, I'm cool with that.
Also, I just saw the trailer for Magic for Humans Season 2 and it was pretty disappointing. It's just Justin doing Ellusionist's Show-To-Go for people.
What is this thing?
At first I thought it was a thumbtip with a vagina on it. But, after indulging in all the erotic fantasies that would imply, I realized it's a thumbtip with lips on it. I guess so maybe you can stamp lips on someone without them knowing? I have no idea how I acquired this thing. If you know what trick it's from, let me know.
I will never not post someone destroying a copy of Expert at the Card Table. Here is Chris Combs attempting to destroy an "indestructible Erdnase." And, I've got to hand it to Conjuring Arts who made the book, the thing actually holds together pretty well. Thank god. Now people can be bored to tears by this book for centuries to come.