talkmagic.co.uk

Oh dear oh dear oh dear......... Back to the drawring board methinks..........

Poor Dennis - I laughed at him though .

It's funny watching it again because the woman just yanks away the chair!

I believe that was on purpose... I've not seen a set of chairs sturdy enough to hold up that much... aaaaa... yeah... you know

I've seen some great "deliberate" levi jokes over the years and even had one of my own for a while. Carl Balentine's were always classic... frequently when he told the girl to rise, he'd start floating up. At PCAM one year however, the sensation was quite strange... everyone's head started tilting back more and more in that the entire stage was raising up off the ground

Marcy and I experimented with a comedy Illusion act at one point, in which she was the fat B*tch in the audience giving me c*** (not the best) for using the cute "well endowed" girl on stage (her daughter, in fact) and challenged me to use her instead... Now Marcy was all of 5 foot 6 inches tall and weighs in at well over 300 pounds... you have to picture this...

There is a board sat across two short ladders... she situates herself upon said board as the audience begins to howl... seems the legs to the ladders are starting to bow and buckle... you can hear the not so subtle creaking of things.

I move to her feet and pull out the first ladder (actually, it was me and her two boys tugging on it, to pull it out from under her)... needless to say the lower body drops down (similar to what you see in that video) but then, just as the laughter subsides, the lone little ladder at her head collapses, sending here to the stage floor.

At this point I offer her the opportunity to "not suffer an further embarrassment" to which she refuses to leave, claiming that I'm the one that's getting embarrassed because I can't float her into the air.

The Gauntlet is thrown!

I remove my sport coat as the lights lower and dramatic music begins to play. I begin making the magical gestures in her direction, my body obviously exerting a great deal of energy as my shirt becomes rather pooled by perspiration, my brow and forehead likewise damp.

She suddenly begins to raise as I am seen straining, my face turning red... and...

BURRRRIP! I (seemingly) let loose with one hell of a fart. (The boys and their sister give me a seriously hard time at this point; one of them entering with a roll of toilet tissue... however, said "charm" seems to have put the fat lady to sleep... she's finally quiet)

We regain our composure and proceed... slowly but surely she is seen to raise inch by inch as my body becomes obviously soaked... in fact, the sweat is literally pouring from my forehead like a cascading water fall...

When we get her to about waist level we go to pass the hoop... which gets stuck!

I ultimately give up, lowering her back to the stage floor, where she lands with a quite audible thud.


I so miss that act, it was hilarious (the entire fat lady show, that is). We only performed if about half a dozen times but god was it fun.

Craig Browning wrote:When we get her to about waist level we go to pass the hoop... which gets stuck!

That's... that's just cheating!

These sort of videos make me cringe making me wonder how many laymen actually see us as clowns-I do feel sorry for the guy though

Ky1eNewton wrote:These sort of videos make me cringe making me wonder how many laymen actually see us as clowns-I do feel sorry for the guy though

Trust me, the general population views people that do magic tricks as being little more than another aspect to Geekdom. In their mind, the majority of us are buffoons that do really bad card tricks and even worse jokes. Mainly (like everything) they tend to remember the negative stereo types over the more "normal" folk in our world

Craig Browning wrote:

Ky1eNewton wrote:Trust me, the general population views people that do magic tricks as being little more than another aspect to Geekdom. In their mind, the majority of us are buffoons that do really bad card tricks and even worse jokes. Mainly (like everything) they tend to remember the negative stereo types over the more "normal" folk in our world

I look forward to the day when people may realise that magic is an art and not just a geeky hobby-if that day ever comes of course

Magic isn't an art, it's a craft.

Well, mostly. I believe it can, or rather could be an art - it's a question of application.

Before we can convince people to treat magic as an art, we need to stop raping the poor girl and trivialising her memory.

Surely it is a performance art?

Dominic is correct in his assessment, the "art" potential for magic is based on who is doing the presentation and how. Sorry, but driving a nail into your nose isn't "art", not by any stretch of the imagination. I can say the same thing about 90% of the magic out there with a straight face and without hesitation in that very, very few magicians strive to create "Art, they would much rather go for the cheap laughs most of the time. Worse yet, it's what "we" do off stage that hurts magic the most; few of us acting like true "ladies" or "gentlemen" while many of us act like drunks and sexual obsessed schmucks (just look at how many threads you find on all the different forums that deal with "picking up girls" through magic/mentalism)

I've seen Magic presented in some very artistic modes by some of the world's foremost names within the craft; nothing can compare to Billy McComb's slow motion Bird Cage Vanish or Richard Ross's Linking Rings & Watch Manip act. Then too, few can compare to Norm Neilson's mastery of slights with sophistication. Even with all their boisterous ugliness at times, even Penn & Teller have had their moments of creating "enchantment" more than a few times, in the course of their career. So yes, ART is a reality to what we do but like any true Art Form, half-measures get you nowhere.

In order for magic to regain the respect and public accolades it once knew, those that claim to love it need to start respecting it and thus, protecting it. We need to stop misusing it for sake of sexual conquests and thus, trade-in that now extant used car salesman cheapness so many superimposed upon us as the result of our public actions and oft times, arrogant attitudes.

"Performance Art" is an invented concept give us by long gone Surrealists in an era long past. It was a justification for presenting abstract C*R*A*P under the ruse of it being "Theater" or some other "more legitimate" arena. All in all the majority of Performance Art stinks and the idea thereof stands more as a placebo for the less disciplined hacks of the world seeking justification for what they do without being tormented by the reality that they stink and what they have "created" hosts little to no "substance". I'm not saying this as an "across the board" fact, only that it tends to be the case a good 99% of the time.

Magic is part of the Variety Arts, I'll give you that. It is part of the world of Mystery Entertainment or Mystery Theater in some cases. Then again, it can find roost within the auspices of the Circus and Sideshow arenas just as easily in that it is not something readily set and defined; it is fluid and it is up to the artist (performer) to give it solidity. It's an effort that takes time and a most unique sense of venture. Too, it is the kind of things that demands some rather specific qualities in those it blesses; she is a harsh mistress that is not so kind to fools.

The moral of the story is, if you believe magic to be an "Art" then strive to make what you do "artistic" and thus, a pleasure for ALL, not just an activity that allows you to get kudos and ego boosts or, as the case might be, some cash in hand.

Anywho... it's late and I'm just ranting