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I'm working on a stand up routine at the moment and was wondering if you knowledgeable souls could give me some advice on a part of it.

Now this is what I've got at the moment,

I start off with a silent sponge ball routine to music which lasts about 3 minutes.

Then I introduce myself

Now I was planning here to go into a variation on Tabary's rope routine.

Now my boyfriend's opinion here was that the rope routine was a bit too dull and lifeless compared to the sponges that I started with. He's suggested doing Tabary to music too which I've done quite nicely but am not sure that it fits in after the natural drop in pace when I introduce myself. Another option would be to go into Tabary to music straight after the sponges with no introduction. I personally didn't like this idea as it'd mean quite a long intro with me not saying anything.

The rest of the routine is going to be based around my story of a highwayman called Balck Bob, which starts off quite light and fun but will gradually grow darker as the routine goes on.

Does that make any sense to anyone?

Well I wouldnt come out all light hearted and then end up being the black widow at the end. Of course one need a crescendo but it must be in context. You have little dancing balls and rope. Then you talk about a dead high way man. It just doesn’t flow to my mind. Each thing should really lead in to another in this kind of routine until we get the conclusion,

personally, i'd say drop the black bob one, and add another one that you can also do to music...

maybe even think about one long piece of music - that would link all three together? so that would suggest to me, a classical piece? quite elegant and flowing...

i'd also say maybe tinker with some linking rings for the music set? you're using some classics...or maybe cup and balls? though thats usually packed full of banter isnt it...might make a change though?

balls with words on it instead? or, stick with the music for it, but lower the volume? a slow fade out, intime with the silence at the end for the applause?

infact, start off with the sponge balls, vanish one, look under the cup, and it's there, and go into the cup and balls! then as a final vanish, have the ball dissapear, and the final load could be a ring?

as for black bob, use it for a completely different set...a kind of darker after hours type thing, a book test, your tarot and black bob...candle light, maybe one use of flash paper too?

just some initial thoughts anyway...

How About

Sponges

Cups and balls with sponges

Final load under the cups some rope.

rope routine .

then some thing classical...

yeah, good shout with the final load being a coil of rope...

do you have to introduce yourself at all? you are the Lady of Mystery afterall?

makes people ask questions then, who was that then? what was her name? then you're going to get people come up and ask more then...

possibly dress as a swan too

Didnt Courtney love or some do that?

actually if you have the rope in a card case. you have a 1 then 2 punch.

Maybe end on some card manipulations.

I would also say not to go with sponges then something dark and mysterious. To me if I was a spec that wouldn't feel right or natural. One minute you will seem like a light hearted magician then the next you will seem like a really spooky sort of magician with supernatural powers. To me they don't go I would stick to either light hearted stuff or scary mentalism style stuff but that's just my opinion. I think it's backe to that old magic/mentalism stuff again. I would personally involve cards in a mentalism act but not sponges or bright colourful visual things.

UNLESS you use black sponges and dark music.. then the rope routine with a murder plot.. that would lead in nicely into pycho bob and they wouldnt be happy happy with the intro..

otherwise, go with these guys.. keep it light hearted.

hmmm some really nice ideas there, thanks guys.

I like the idea of keeping the whole thing silent, I hadn't really considered that before.

I was going to do cups and balls and vanishing the balls under the cups is a lovely idea and the load with the rope makes a really nice link.

You're right, I'll drop Black Bob for this one. I've got plans for Black Bob to be a whole routine on hiss own so perhaps I'll keep him purely for that.

This is totally uncharted waters for me, I can routine 10 minutes of close up stuff no problems, trying to get the pacing and linking right for standup is proving alot more difficult.

Some good ideas to think about there, thanks

...just keep it simple...

though saying that! if you were playing for laughs or just something slightly left of centre:

sponge balls routine
balls combine into a big one and vanish, which then
re-appear under chop cup
ball changes to egg
egg is smashed in hand, or
egg changes into small toy swan
swan keeps moving under chop cup as you try and tame it
(quite possibly, you could drill into the swan and plant a magnet too)
find swan
smash swan, which in turn changes into length of rope
(rope could be folded/knotted to resemble swan?)
rope routine starts...dropped in chop cup at end...
changes back into swan, then egg, then cracked to reveal silk with THE END on it...

hmmmmmmmm.....remind me tommorrow Lady of Mystery and i'll send you a pm with an idea for black bob....

some nice ideas Abraxus, thanks. You've got me thinking now

im going to recommend jay scott berrys ring and ribbon routine again.. done silently to music and a thing of pure beauty... i sat transfixed by it for the whole routine which felt like it was about 7 minutes!

Thanks for the tips everyone, I've been working on choreographing Tabary to some Ska music. I think it's working really well, should be ready for the boyfriend test soon.

How long would you is the longest that a routine like this should go on for?

Lady check out this ring and ribbon routine..


http://www.vigilstudios.com/vsn/ then click on videos... then 9-14 then symphony of ring and ribbon... pure class!

Thanks Mog, the site isn't working at the moment but I'll check back latter.

This routine is comming along really nicely at the moment, sponge ball part is looking really good and the choreography on the rope routine is nearly done, just need to get a couple more cues right. I've dug my cups out of the drawer and found a good track for that so will start working on that part soon.