Home Party!

Saturday Night Magic Show for a home party was a bit different than Friday's show. Why? I am not sure, but I never got comfortable in my role as a magician for this group. I think it stems from the fact that the man that hired me wanted to introduce me as his friend. I had never met him before. He found me on the internet and hired me to perform for his group over two other magicians. He is tha manager at a Costco Company around here. He has many employees beneath him. This was not a business or corporate event as all this was set up at his home by him and his wife. I arrived about 50 minutes early per our plan to set up etc. Roland wanted me to magically produce and hand out the twelve or so Christmas/bonus gifts. I had planned to produce them in a dove pan while saying I was going to magically bake a cake. I wanted to have them all in the bottom of the dove pan under the cake, wrapped in zip lock bags of course. When Roland gave me the "cards" I realized they were really long. I asked if I could fold them a bit. He said no, they are all hand made cards. Now I had a dilemma. His wife said, "oh, just hand them out, they'll all be happy to get them. (She was right of course, maybe because by then most of them had a few drinks in em..) At any rate, this was the beginning of my frustration. I was set up and ready to go way ahead of time, the guests began arriving and true to his word, Roland introduced me to his co workers and their guests as his friend Tim. I waited semi patiently as more people arrived, trying to remember names and find an opportunity to begin performing close up magic. Roland gave me a nudge and I noticed a nice pool table in the family room with which to use as a close up table. First I struck up a conversation with a woman and of course she asked me what I do... I told her that I am an entertainer and that is why I am here, I led her to a group of other ladies and did Crazy Man's hand Cuffs for them, it went really well, and I was off and running... I went to the pool table and removed two decks of playing cards and performed Do As I Do for a woman and others began inching nearer. I only did a set of three effects after that... Something I call Prestidigitation, followed by Search & Destroy, and then Zingone 12 card mental Problem. This really "slayed" those watching. The host, Roland asked me if I could do something to embarrass him... I thought for a minute and decided that I would do Ambitious Card with Card on Forehead, and maybe end that with Card on Ceiling. I had looked at the ceiling earlier and noticed it was a slanted ceiling.... Hadn't done Card on Ceiling to a slanted Ceiling but felt it possible if I threw the deck at the right angle. So that is what I did... it all went perfectly, including Card on Fore head which is one I rarely do...(Thank you Steve Dobson for helping me understand and use my tool box!) Roland just looked at me with a deer in headlights look when the cards came back down from his ceiling. He had not realized that HIS signed card was stuck up there. He was waiting for something, looking at me, Because of the slanted angle of his ceiling the cards came back down with the rubber band still around them, but I missed catching the pack and they exploded when they hit the floor. I slowly raised my eyes to the ceiling, he didn't understand, I nodded up... up... finally he looked up and began laughing out loud... his wife screamed "is that your card?" Roland could only reply, "It has my name on it." And then , "How the ...? " This basically concluded my close up time as it was time for everyone to eat. I was invited to eat as well, and so I did. After dinner, I performed a stand up show for them. It went very well too, although I didn't feel I made a connection. After analyzing the show in my mind, I realize that maybe it went much better than I think and that I am mis-reading people a lot. Sometimes as my friend Tom Frank would say, they are just stunned into silence. I think this happens way more than I realize. The audience does not know how to react. They are so amazed, they have never experienced magic sitting this close in someones living room, they had no idea what to expect, what was going to happen... they are lost as to how to react. Maybe because I didn't open my stand up show with 1 finger clap, instead I opened with Three Signed Cards Rise From a sealed envelope... Maybe... it was way better than I think. Dai Vernon said, "how do you go into it, How do you come out of it? When talking about how to share a magic trick. I think this holds true on a larger scale too. Not only each effect, but also for your whole show.