talkmagic.co.uk

Hey,
Feeling like i wasn't worth much, i decided i would try my very best punish my nasty self, by trying my hand at stand-up comedy.

I have booked a few open spots and competetions and i have written my sets for these. I have also learnt about stage presence and performance of comedy form a book by 'little known comic' - Jay Sankey (or something like that?? )

However, if all goes well - i would also try to get some magic in there in the future. My question is do you think you have to complete degrade the magic to the extent where there is no trick, in order for the audience to find it funny? - like what Joe Pasquale does with some of his shows.

I know of the Vanishing Bandanna and i don't really want to perform this, i also don't want to it to seem like a magic show with jokes in, as these can be funny but is not really suited to stand up. It has to be a comedy show, with magic - if you see the difference.

I would be grateful of your thoughts on this, and i look forward to reading them,
Ed.

I've seen several different comedy magicians and basically there are no 'rules' about how you present the magic element.

e.g. Pete Firman is a magician doing stand up, Jerry Sadowitz does a show which is stand up with some magic thrown in.

Tommy Cooper used to undercut the magic he was doing - and he seemed to do all right!

So the straight answer is there is no straight answer! Which isn't the answer you probably wanted to hear!

I would say the most important thing is for you to find your own take on it based upon your own persona. What sort of performer are you?

Have you written stand up? You could record it (video or audio) and post it here and we could offer you advice.

I love comedy magic and i would encourage you to keep it up.

Must say Tommy cooper - although i've never seen him live - I've watched videos and he is hillarious.

Joe pasquali is my comedy hero. I love is magic acts although they are more based around the comedy etc.
His vanishing bandanna was fab.

Also - if you saw the variety performance he did an hillarious rouitne with torn and restored.

Where he did nothing magical. He ripped them up. Ate the ripped up pieces. Pulled a restored version. Then fooled everyone as they applauded by coughing up the ripped up pieces. His facial expressions were SPOT ON! Thats what comedy magic is about. Its more about performance i think than the actual magic.
I am not saying if you perform COMEDY magic you are not a magician. It still takes alot of magicians skill in able to perform it. But the acting of it also plays a HUGE part.

You can just make the magic funny. Watch some Gregory Wilson demos of his DVDs.

I think his magic is excellent, and a little bit of light humour goes perfectly with the effects he performs

I think you are very brave

In my opinion stand-up comedy is the hardest thing you could attempt. You need to be original, fast paced & need to know your routine off by heart. You will get heckled & if you are no good the crowd will be merciless.

If you want to use gimmicks such as magic, vent dolls, visual props etc. you have to be very original.

I suggest you go to as many comedy clubs and see as many of these type of acts as you can.

In my opinion you should stick with magic & leave the comedy clubs to the comedians unless you have VERY thick skin & no ego to be damaged.

Jing asks: ". . . do you think you have to complete degrade the magic to the extent where there is no trick, in order for the audience to find it funny?"

Not at all.

The comedy should come FROM the magic, not be BECAUSE of it.

For example, I have done the Professor's Nightmare more than 7,000 times, mostly on the basis of my fictional Uncle Linguini and his troubles trying to hold a job.

The comedy is in his difficulties; the magic simply illustrates those difficulties.

My only "caveat" might be (well, two) that comedy clubs (at least in North America) are not overly keen on performers using props; and that magic, while hard, is nowhere near as hard as comedy so, if you are already doing magic, you might want to stick with that.

comedy magic is great, i think comedy and magic work well together. stand up comedy is like a win win situation. Anything that isn't funny, you could say is the magic part, and anything that is funny is the comedy part! lol btw i got that line from a stand up comedy performer, sorry to say i forgot the name. The strange thing is, you can go to some sites ( i dont really want to name and shame) where they sell stuff for comedians but im talking about stupid stuff like books on how to be funny. now i know ive probly spent alot of money on some stuff but i really dont see how you can buy stuff to make you funny, you can learn magic, but can you really learn how to be funny? who knows i aint gonna be buying the book lol

Thanks for all the advice so far - i agree that you can't learn to be funny (i hope i am already) although you can learn how to do stand-up instead of just wit.

I am very brave and i am just going to give the stand-up my best shot - if i bomb, then i guess i won't see those people again, so i won't care.

I shall try to work some magic in at a later date, and i think it will a bit of comedy, then some magic (with comedy) then a bit more comedy...

I can hopefully also relate some of this with comedy ABOUT magic - it's always good to talk about things you know.
Ed.

I love doing comedy magic. At the hospital i do it all the time. One of the secrets is don't take it that seriously. Have fun. One of my personal favorites is The Great Zucchini (only in the US)

Well, I had my first stand-up show yesterday, so at least i've done it now.
I didn't kill (do really well) - but i didn't bomb (do really badly either).
It was just ok, and i kinda learnt a few things from it too (like be less nervous) - i have the tape aswell, but i hate listening to my own voice on tape.

The next one is Valentine's night, so that should be fun...
anyway, so far there is no magic in it, but hopefully there will be soon, even if i just tell the jokes, whilst flourishing the cards - not everyone would see, but hey it would calm me down.
Ed.