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Hey Forum

First of, allow me to introduce myself here as I have only just created an account; I'm Danny Joseph and I am a 17 year old close-up magician & hypnotist with two years experience in the field.

I enjoy performing in public venues such as bars and clubs for my own entertainment and that of others.

I consider myself to be very self-conscious and I worry allot about my image as a magician.

I like to entertain people, and at the moment, developing my stage presence is a much higher priority than that of developing my card tricks themselves, as for me, the magic is in the presentation, not the cards. ( Not to say I do not know card magic, I have my tricks down to second nature, but I am not currently looking to expand upon them just yet)

One very big problem I have when performing, so big that it sometimes prevents me from wanting to go out to do magic; Is with living in a small town, there are no other magicians in the area. Meaning if I venture out to perform, (which I do regularly) I feel I develop a image of `The lonely guy with no friends who's in the bar every week`. This, understandably really downgrades my self-esteem, especially when I like to see myself as being `the cool guy` at the party.

Would anyone have any advice to donate to this situation?

Any replies are much appreciated, & I hope to be seeing you all allot more as I develop my presence here on the forum

Danny J',

Danny Joseph wrote:Hey Forum

especially when I like to see myself as being `the cool guy` at the party.

Stop trying to look like the cool guy, it is conformist, unnecessary and will olnly lead to your own unhappiness. Develop your own image that disregards society's usual norms. Wear clothes that make you look unique, not the same fashions as others, wear some make-up if you feel unsure about yourself and need a mask to hide behind. Someone who is truly magic does not need to look cool to win friends and appear attractive to women. In the long run people will respect you much more if you set your own trends and develop your own image, rather than the image that peer pressure attempts to force upon you.

Or Danny-- Invent a personna--a character till you are more experienced then bring out the real you.
If you ever work on stage nothing you do is ever the real You. It may have certain aspects of your character but everything has to be, subtlety, over emphasised. This due to the distance between you and your audience.

Even in Close Up there are times when a subtle exaggeration is necessary.

READ:
Maximum Entertainment by Ken Weber. This will give you a PRACTICAL view and help with performance techniques & that elusive Showmanship. Cost is around £27 but is so practical.

A look at the first book on practical Showmanship published in the UK will open your eyes to some of the techniques.
Showmanship & Presentation by Edward Maurice.

First published by Goodliffe Publications (Abra) then the rights were sold to Edwin of Supreme Magic. Costs of this one is about £6 but you may have to check second hand books at the dealers.
IGNORE the chapter on Stage Makeup as this is more than dated.

Some people will advise Strong Magic by D Ortiz but this is a difficult book except for the experienced and needs a lot of study.

Others will tell you--' Magic & Showmanship' by Henning Nelms--an amateur magican who happened to be a lawyer to a theatre director--but it is interesting reading and gets to its main points in a round about--lawyer--way. Read it sometime but for more instant practical help go with the Weber & Maurice books.

Allen Tipton

Allen Tipton

Every town in America has it's own Toastmasters International public speaking club. Join your local club and your showmanship skills will shoot through the roof very quickly.

Like you are thinking of doing, I spent my formative years working hard on presentation rather than magic. It paid off big time, as I am a far more confident and entertaining performer than many very skilled magicians I know. The audience wants to be entertained, not impressed.

Two things helped; saying yes to every opportunity to perform, even if it was not something I was comfortable with (especially, as that pushed me out of my comfort zone); and joining Toastmasters.

Don't get stuck in the rut of always performing close-up in a bar. Push the boat out a bit, and it will pay dividends.

Best of luck on the journey.

If you are a cool guy then you won't need to try too hard, your performance character could be just yourself but amplified slightly for performance.

I wouldn't worry about coming across as the lonely guy - try to find the persona you want to be, stick to that and then perform as that person you want to be as much as possible.

...but if you are saying you are actually short of friends and would like to get some. Leave the cards and stuff at home, head out and meet people. Whether it's at bars, places you'd do other hobbies or whatever.

On the showmanship front, try videoing what you do (both "performing" at home and when out and about) and be businesslike in analysing it. Look at everything from posture and tone of voice through to the movements and reveals. Be prepared for an unpleasant shock at first as if you've not seen/heard yourself on tape before there's a chance you won't like what you see - but if you can do it without getting down about it and instead use it as a tool to carry yourself in the way you want to be seen, it'll work wonders.

A huge part of performance is the small, almost unnoticed subtleties like your if your head is straight up or hunched forwards a bit - or if you shift your weight from foot to foot without noticing, for example; both make you look nervous whether you are or not.

Thank you everyone for your replies and tips

To Allen Tipton) I actually got Maximum Entertainment today - it is FANTASTIC! unfortunately I'm only 21 pages into it but I've been reading it straight from page 1 since I got it and that includes continuing to read it now

Thanks again everyone, I will try and put your advice into practice

Danny J',

Common advice given within the community is to stop looking at tricks with magician's eyes and see what the laymen see.

If we apply that to appearance, you are likely way ahead of the curve. Despite the image being dated, the average Joe Blow usually thinks of two things when mentally picturing a magacian: A.) Long fluffy mullet full of hairspray, clothes that are a decade behind in fashion- if they were ever in fashion to begin with. A.k.a 70s-80s era stage shows. And B.) Well there are many stereotypes for this one but they all boil down to a dissmissive view of children's magicians from birthday parties.

You will find your identity as a performer. At your age, you are likely starting to seek your identity as a man. Do not confuse the two as one. It's ok if either or both take years to truly figure out.

I predict that Danny will one day become a great magician. I am very impressed by his early realisation that showmanship is more important than mere tricks. In fact it is the be all and end all of magic.

Many magicians (in fact most) go through their whole lives not realising this basic fact. Sure, they often pay lip service to the concept but don't act on it. The fact that Danny at a young age realises the key to magic impresses me tremendously.

I have no time now but perhaps later I will pontificate on this matter.

mark lewis wrote:I predict that Danny will one day become a great magician. I am very impressed by his early realisation that showmanship is more important than mere tricks. In fact it is the be all and end all of magic.

Many magicians (in fact most) go through their whole lives not realising this basic fact. Sure, they often pay lip service to the concept but don't act on it. The fact that Danny at a young age realises the key to magic impresses me tremendously.

I have no time now but perhaps later I will pontificate on this matter.

Eagerly awaits the pontification.

As Alan, Tony B and others have already said, you simply need to work "the stuff that's you" as Chris Carey said long ago (he has a book entitled "Do the Stuff That's You")

I "wasted" 15+ years of my life trying to be the next hip & slick Illusion act in the vein of Copperfield, Blackstone Jr and Richiardi... while the dark-air of the Richiardi style worked quite well, it was more of a prelude to where I've ended up as a mystery entertainer (Mentalist/Bizzarist) . My droll sense of humor and general propensities as well as elements of my life outside of the stage, all support this kind of and style of work for me... it only took 20 years of running into block walls before figuring it out.

Understand, there are times when "LIFE" is the director, I've seen it on the personal scale and likewise seen it happen in the lives of others... a client of Creative Illusions some years ago, ordered a very heavy piece from us which, when he was unloading it from the truck, the weight shifted and pinned him against his garage wall... long story short, he ended up paralyzed from the waist down. Yet, he didn't give up on the show, he merely adjusted to the situation and now tours with a massive illusion show, featuring that same piece that "crippled" him, inspiring others... he's doing the stuff that him but using circumstance from life as the tool that helped mold him into the roll.

We ALL come into those life situations that can force us into making major adjustments but there are dozens of "little things" that can do the same thing that we are rarely aware of. For example, my personal spiritual/religious beliefs have always leaned more on the mystical side than what might be deemed as "contemporary/orthodox" view or those of the rationalist (though I do incorporate critical thought into things as well... not a new age air head, I promise!)

The point is, I've been published in several New Age/Pagan type publications since the latter 70's and am quite established with such groups and events as well as bookstores, libraries, and so forth that pander to this world. I was well into my latter 20's before I realized how much I'd contributed in that world, and that was actually something pointed out to me by a friend who was "there" one evening, as I was trying to figure out what to do (one more time)... his encouragement being echoed by New Age guru Louise Hay, who challenged me to create a show that allowed me to share my spiritual/"Psychic" perspectives with the public. It took a bit of time but the big props started getting sold off, donated to non-profit groups and even given to friends as I moved deeper and deeper into the world of things bizarre, freakish and fun.

While my style of doing things and my personal philosophies tend to disturb many in the magic world I'm not alone... many a noted mentalist come from the very same mold -- the Older way of doing things vs. today's meshing of things... but this brings us to the last tid-bit I think you should, at minimum, weigh... Create a DEFINED sense of persona and don't strive to be someone else. If you chase after all the Derren Brown or Criss Angels type "stuff" then you will be counted as yet one more dime a dozen clone act that can be booked for cheap (a.k.a. a low end filler act). BUT, when you create something that is at least 85% unique and "yours", YOU will be an actual product that agents & talent buyers want to promote and garner the better deals for.

Best of luck!

Oh and I may add when I said "I like to see myself as the 'cool guy' at the party." This is not me trying to be someone else, but, instead a slightly exaggerated me (as I am naturally more open and confident when performing) - I understand the mistake of taking on a role of someone else when performing magic - especially roles like Blaine and criss.

Danny thanks for starting this great post. Everyone should read this when they start learning magic, some that have practiced for years have not realised or learned what has been said in this thread.

There is very little that can be added to these words of wisdom that have been shared by the magicians here. It is something I see many people over look when they are performing or developing their act, the importance or the presentation/performance. There are two things that I would like to add. (They have probably been discussed previously) Be what you feel comfortable with and enjoy yourself.

As I said there is a lot of excellent advice but my favourite post is by V.E. Day

Stop trying to look like the cool guy, it is conformist, unnecessary and will olnly lead to your own unhappiness. Develop your own image that disregards society's usual norms. Wear clothes that make you look unique, not the same fashions as others, wear some make-up if you feel unsure about yourself and need a mask to hide behind. Someone who is truly magic does not need to look cool to win friends and appear attractive to women. In the long run people will respect you much more if you set your own trends and develop your own image, rather than the image that peer pressure attempts to force upon you.

imagine seeing yourself perform a little something somewhere - what how you act and treat other people...

notice how you stand, and act, and what you say and how you do what you do...

if you were another person, would you feel inclined to move away or towards "you"?

I am not too sure about the "wearing make up" bit. Especially if Danny lives in a small town.