Stand up show help

Can't find a suitable category? Post it here!!

Moderators: nickj, Lady of Mystery, Mandrake, bananafish, support

Stand up show help

Postby taneous » Jan 29th, '07, 15:01



I've been working on a stand up (parlour) show for a little while now and one of the things I've been trying to do is watch as many stand-up shows as possible. What I'm looking for is dvd's/videos of various performers doing this kind of show - no methods or anything necessary, I just want to watch how they structure it, how they interact with the audience, what works for them etc.
I'm not too worried about the genre for now
Any suggestions would be helpful.

The secret to a succesful rain dance is all about timing
User avatar
taneous
Senior Member
 
Posts: 913
Joined: Jan 14th, '04, 15:53
Location: Cape Town, South Africa (34:SH)

Postby IAIN » Jan 29th, '07, 15:09

the only ones that i can think of at the moment, are the dodgy L&L dvds...so do they really count?

And the only one i can think of for a full act, is the first lennart green dvd, it has his FISM winning close-up show on it...

the maven dvd, parlour mentalism, is ok, but its hard to say if its structured as such cos each effect is clearly split up from the next...

maybe the osterlind dvds instead? thats the whole show with no breaks...the first one is very good if you can put up with the guy in the mullet and moustache at the front of house...

and Eugene Burger's spirit magic dvd has his entire little 20 minute show on there...

i think the best one, would be to get Get Nyman by our very own Andy Nyman...£35 for 3 discs worth of his work, mainly from his original "kosher" lecture notes...

IAIN
 

Postby taneous » Jan 29th, '07, 15:36

Yep - the L & L stuff isn't really what I'm looking for - mainly real world stuff for real audiences - but thanks ;)

The secret to a succesful rain dance is all about timing
User avatar
taneous
Senior Member
 
Posts: 913
Joined: Jan 14th, '04, 15:53
Location: Cape Town, South Africa (34:SH)

Postby resdog » Jan 29th, '07, 15:49

There is a DVD of Jeff McBride's (part of a series) called "The Commando Act". That could help, maybe? Although I think it was produced by L&L, so not sure if it's "dodgey" or not.

resdog
Full Member
 
Posts: 59
Joined: Nov 30th, '06, 22:21
Location: Texas, USA 29/SH(Former WP)

Postby Lord Freddie » Jan 29th, '07, 18:16

'The Amazing Kreskin' DVD, though not his best, is worth watching as it covers a variety of things from mentalism, cards, pseudo-hypnosis, table lifting and using a lie detector as a pendulum.
He does seem rather past his prime in this DVD but it's worth watching.
I got mine from www.magicshop.co.uk for about fifteen quid (and a pendulum comes with it!)

User avatar
Lord Freddie
Elite Member
 
Posts: 3657
Joined: Oct 8th, '06, 15:23
Location: Berkshire

Postby iummydd » Jan 29th, '07, 19:23

Want kind of show do you plan on performing? A metal bending/PK show? mentalism? Plain magic? It really does make a difference.
When I started out performing mentalism on stage not so long ago, what I did was to just scan YouTube for any piece of video I could find, and not only it gave me ideas for patter, gags, approaches to effect, and actual effects ideas, but it also gave me confidence that "I can do that..".

So if you are looking for inspiration from performers just scan YouTube and other websites that have videos of magicians performing (I remember someone here gave an address for a website that is specially made for hosting magicians videos, but I seem to have lost it).
If you are looking more into full routines and effect ideas with methodology you can buy a good book or DVD that is made mostly out of effects for stage/stand-up.

The most important thing people that move from close-up and table hopping to stand-up and stage should remember is that when you perform on a stage your whole body is your tool, and you should use it in the space given to you. Also you must remember that attention is harder to obtain and easier to lose when your on stage so keep it alive make sure things happen all the time, but not too much so the audience wont get tired in the middle of the performance. Use interesting patter between effects that will make the spectators wonder "What is he going to do next?" and look forward to it, take Derren Brown's stage show for example, how he makes the people cling to their seats waiting to see what he is going to do next, and he does that with charisma, showmanship, and a well written script.
This is the most important thing to learn, not the effects but whets between them and how you present them, I'm sure we all know our routines and all have our personal presentations that make us going, but what doesn't get enough emphasis a lot of times is how you connect them, how you draw the audience into your performance and making them look forward for the next effect. And this is so important when it comes to performing stand-up to a full room, and not intimately to a couple or a table of 5 people.

Hope I gave you some things to think about. :)

User avatar
iummydd
Preferred Member
 
Posts: 218
Joined: Oct 27th, '05, 06:06
Location: Israel

Postby dracven » Jan 30th, '07, 09:26

Have a look for Bob Cassidy's video/dvd. It shows his full act in front of a real audience and then later in the same hotel he explains methods. There's no breaks between illusions just one continuous flow for his whole act.

dracven
Full Member
 
Posts: 51
Joined: Mar 9th, '06, 14:38
Location: Chesterfield, Derbyshire 36:SH

Postby lozey » Jan 31st, '07, 01:47

Banacheks Psi series are filmed with an audience

(C, AH)
If you have a quality,let it define you no matter what it is-Doug Bradley
User avatar
lozey
Advanced Member
 
Posts: 1002
Joined: Mar 9th, '06, 23:59
Location: West Yorkshire (27,AH, C)

Postby MagicIain » Jan 31st, '07, 12:12

Taneous, I rekon your best bet would be to email the usual online magic shops - if anyone has access to magic shows on DVD or video it'll be them. Otherwise, I reckon it's going to be youtube and all the demo vids at the e-shops.

User avatar
MagicIain
Advanced Member
 
Posts: 1438
Joined: Feb 11th, '04, 14:53
Location: Colchester, Essex (30:WP)


Return to Miscellaneous

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Google [Bot] and 9 guests

cron