Just a few thoughts on restaurant residencies and my personal routine:
A while ago I got a restaurant residency. I've learnt an awful lot of un-teachable stuff just from getting out there and doing it. The first night I was understandably nervous. However, I've just got back from my latest residency gig and I think I've turned a corner. I got lots of gasps, rounds of applause, several "no ways!" and most importantly of all - 2 confirmed bookings, one for a wedding anniversary in two weeks. That's not happened before and I was thinking why all the way home??? I think I have the answer......
When I first started I was loading my pockets with so many effects, gimmicks and gaffs that if someone would have bumped into me I'd have exploded. As time has gone on I've taken less and less and less. I said to my wife before I left this evening, "I'm going to take a risk tonight. I'm only leaving the house with THREE items/effects. I'll take another three for backup but I have no intention of performing them." This actually made me more confident because I knew exactly what I had, the order in which I was going to do them in etc. Rather than thinking of which of the hundred effects on me I should perform, I already knew. That seems like such an obvious statement to make but the temptation to load pockets with tonnes of magic is sometimes immeasurable.
The routine that got gasps and two bookings:
1 - A basic card force, I always force a joker. This sets you up as a magician within 5 seconds of approaching a table
2 - I then hand them the deck and perform signed CTW. Gets amazing results every time.
3 - Coinvexed 3. (I use pure smoke with this effect. I can't emphasise enough how much the appearance of smoke improves coinvexed!!!)
If the reception is ok at this point, I hand them a business card and bu**er off. If the reception is good/enthusiastic I perform 'nest of wallets' with the unbent coin. I then hand out my business card and walk away. (Point of order - a waiter came up to me at the end of the night and said he'd been watching me constantly and he still couldn't work out how I get the coin in the wallet.) You can reset the nest as you walk away in your own sweet time!
I think you start to outstay your welcome if you do any more.That was it. Simple. However, a young lady came up to me after I'd performed the above effects and asked if I would come back and perform some more. I took that as a compliment and gladly returned. I performed:
1 - The Ghost. Simple drawing dupe. Went down fantastic.
2 - My version of Red Hot Mamma, a nice card transpo. Got a 'no way!!!'
3 - Ring flight revolution - got gasps and a nice round of applause. I then went on my merry way.
I left the restaurant feeling quite elated. One thing I have noticed though is that my reception is always greater at tables where there are families with children. I don't know why???
Anyway, just a few thoughts. Simple direct visual effects and as Cliff Richard once sang - 'Travelling Light' Clearly a man of some intelligence.
EDIT: I think there's a good diversity of effects above. There's card magic, transpos, coin stuff, ring stuff, impossible locations, mind reading etc. Above all, it's simple, direct and visual. You're not asking a lot of the specs, and most importantly, the majority of the effects happen in their hands. I'm just working on the perfect routine for flash paper and then I'll be happy. Visual visual visual sayeth the preacher.
Pip-pip
K
