Close-up on Letterman

[DannyT]

John Carney did a great job!
Unfortunately the camera angles were a bit telling for the loads, but his presentation was good enough the my wife didn't notice the flashes, and she gasped when the glass appeared. He played well off Dave too.

The only real flashes I saw was the load of the orange and when the one tip on the wand disappeared.

Since this show was aired a few nights ago, I would think the producer would be decent to the performers and edit these exposed angles out just by cutting to a different camera angle showing Dave and John instead of just John's hands.
Oh well. . . What can you do.

 

[Brad Henderson]

I think WOW is one of the worst effects you can do. You have to have a pretty damn good reason to use the card sleeve for the spectators to belive that the plastic thing you put the card in has nothing to do with the effect that just happend. Even then i still think that they will have some doubt about it in their mind.

They might be fooled by it but they will also suspect that something is going on.

Letterman even got the method right before the trick started, and asked a very obvious question that i think most spectators would have in their mind.

just feel compelled to write this:

I have been performing a routine which employs the wow device for over 3 years. I have had the sleeve questioned exactly twice and instantly squelched their suspicion.

Using a gimmick is not 'asking for it'.

Using a poorly developed routine wherein the method is the effect IS asking for it.

Don't blame a prop for a magician's weaknesses.

 

[James Smith]

I watched Jason's performance, thought it was good, he seemed a bit nervous which was odd for a guy who's been performing for so long. I think Dave added some good and some bad to the performance, he interrupted a lot and slowed things down, but he also voiced what every spectator was probably thinking. I've got John Carney's performance queued up on DVR, so I'm going to watch it. I can't wait for Johnny Palmer and Stone Temple Pilots tonight. By the way, there's a full schedule here:

http://forums.theory11.com/showthread.php?t=27184

 

[DannyT]

Last nights show was very cool.
Johnny Ace Palmer did a great job.
I loved how he used Letterman in his cups and balls routine. I think that reduced the heckling level a bit.
His routine for cups and balls was great too. He even messed up at one point where a ball fell on the floor, but it didn't diminish the trick because he recovered pretty well with a small joke or 2.

The ending was perfect and got me smiling. (I wont spoil it)
He did a great job.

I can't dissect it right now cause it was late and I was very tired from studying for finals to remember every detail.
I don't know if there's a video up yet of last night, but I'll post it if I find one.

After commercial however, Letterman made a statement that degraded Johnny after his performance, which I thought was pretty rude. Funny, but degrading.

EDIT:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xW0j2EqVoHc

 

[Justin.Morris]

Palmer did awesome! Someone was just telling me about that routine. Great to see it. I started laughing when I heard the final load. Very well done.

I'm really looking forward to watching Steve tonight. We just picked up tickets for his 9 pm show on June 18th. Super pumped.

 

[worldwideme]

i think the final load and the coin manipulations were the highlights of his routines.

 

[j.bayme]

Just got back from the set - Steve NAILED it. Perfect. Great performance. He only performed one effect, but it was simple, direct, powerful, and memorable. He worked hard all week in preparation for it, and all went off without a hitch. Be sure to watch it tonight on CBS. Very excited and happy for him.

 

[Justin.Morris]

It's on soon. Very excited.

 

[Justin.Morris]

It was flawless! Nice work to Steve! Great idea and well executed.

 

[j.bayme]

Just posted a video with Steve Cohen in the media section discussing his performance on tonight's show: http://media.theory11.com/3361

 

[Chrisfecto]

Just got back from the set - Steve NAILED it. Perfect. Great performance. He only performed one effect, but it was simple, direct, powerful, and memorable. He worked hard all week in preparation for it, and all went off without a hitch. Be sure to watch it tonight on CBS. Very excited and happy for him.

One could definitely argue there were quite a few small effects that blended seamlessly into one ;-)

My impressions of each performers:
Jason Randall- I'm sure he knows what he's talking about but the wow aside the 2nd trick was downright incoherent.

John Carney- I thought the whole performance was great. A true lesson in performance.

Johnny Ace Palmer- I loved all of the effects. His character was a little off-putting for me. It just seemed a little "show offish" and he seemed to distant himself almost condescending.

Steve Cohen was just awesome. The way he contextualized the effect and established a rhythm between each smaller effect blended it perfectly within the whole effect.

Can't wait until Ammar...

I do have to say i think when people call out letterman for being a "heckler" i think people are missing a few things. One, he's not heckling at all. Certainly the out bursts of lines are a bit out of line but technically he's the only spectator that can interact with the magician- he has to speak for everyone. The other thing is ITS HIS SHOW! He needs to be an integral part of the act not just a side show. People don't turn on the show to see the guest they watch to see him interact with the guests.

Just my two cents or so...haha

 

[i.am.infamous]

I do have to say i think when people call out letterman for being a "heckler" i think people are missing a few things. One, he's not heckling at all. Certainly the out bursts of lines are a bit out of line but technically he's the only spectator that can interact with the magician- he has to speak for everyone. The other thing is ITS HIS SHOW! He needs to be an integral part of the act not just a side show. People don't turn on the show to see the guest they watch to see him interact with the guests.

Yeah - I agree.

Also, I really wouldn't call him a heckler, especially if he's asking if he can help with the effect.

 

[Liderc]

the first night he was way worse..

but then again the performance wasn't all that great

 

[WilliamMckeehan]

David is rude.

 

[j.bayme]

David is rude.

I wouldn't consider it rude - that was not the feeling that Steve got nor Ammar when I was there earlier this week. When people ask me if I thought Dave sounded sarcastic or if he tried to have a witty response to everything - I would say hell yes! That's who Letterman is. He's not just a spectator in this case - he is the host of the show. As such, he remains active and involved. If anything, he's a sort of co-participant in the performance. Does that mean he is rude? I don't think so. It certainly doesn't make him an easy audience, but as Steve demonstrated last night, those factors can be overcome to achieve a memorable, powerful, fun performance. I thought Steve knocked it out of the park.

On Ammar's performance tonight, you'll see him perform Pressure and two other short effects. I thought Ammar did a great job. Even Ashton Kutcher was still going on about Pressure 5 minutes after the performance ended. That is a good sign - it was memorable and unique. And I think it was good, fun TV.

We'll be posting the extended interview (10 minutes long) with Ammar tonight right after the broadcast.

 

[Magic Newswire]

Dan Jonathan & David Kay Chat

In addition to the great video that Jonathan posted with Steve, he and Dan joined David Kaye and I for a chat about the challenges that performing for Letterman presented.
You can listen to that here www.bit.ly/MWLETTERC

In addition, Dan, Jonathan & Steve will be our guests on the next episode of the Magic Newswire's "This Week in Magic" podcast which will be posted on Monday.

If you've missed any of the other performances, and want to see them, here are the links:

Jason Randal: www.bit.ly/RandalLetterman
John Carney: www.bit.ly/CarneyLN
Johnny Ace Palmer: www.bit.ly/CohenLetterman
Steve Cohen: www.bit.ly/CohenLetterman

Michael Ammar wraps it up the week tonight.

 

[worldwideme]

steve cohen was amazing!

 

[Mat La Vore]

I agree.

But i think he handled it pretty poorly. If you know a effect has a "weak" spot or something that is questionable and you know that someone might say something about it, you better have a strong line to comeback with when that problems comes up.

Now he just ended up looking a bit stupid, because HE knew that the audience and letterman understood that it was that gimmicked card sleeve that did the magic.


If i were to go on a tv show i would do something that is impossible to mess up, where the method itself is done way before the effect itself starts so you can focus 100% on the pressentations and no matter how nervous you get you can still pull it of without any problems.

I agree. The answer to "can you do that without the card sleeve?" was simple: do a color change. Prove it.

Honestly, the only performance this week I've actually liked was Steve Cohen's. He was awesome. I hate to say it, but the other three have come across like hacks. I'm not saying they are hacks, but the material they're choosing to perform I just find to be very questionable. The Wow gimmick? Cups and balls? Pulling a coin out behind someone's ear? Packet tricks? A magic wand? Ugh. The overall picture is just bad.

Also, Steve Cohen is also the only one so far who hasn't been intimidated by Letterman, which was expected--Cohen is used to performing for rich alpha male types. That's his regular audience. He handled Letterman well and he did good magic. He really set himself apart from the others.

Looking forward to seeing Ammar on tonight. Ammar is great and always comes across well, and it seems like he chose a good effect to perform.

 

[scarecrow1]

Honestly, the only performance this week I've actually liked was Steve Cohen's. He was awesome. I hate to say it, but the other three have come across like hacks. I'm not saying they are hacks, but the material they're choosing to perform I just find to be very questionable. The Wow gimmick? Pulling a coin out behind someone's ear? A magic wand? Ugh. The overall picture is just bad.

I actually thought Carney did amazing. The wand wasn't corny in the sense that he used it. The coin behind the ear that Johnny did was a little corny, but overall, he did well too.

The worst was Jason Randal.

But Carney did the best out of those three I think. He didn't seem intimidated at all, and was hilarious (as usual). Good stuff.

Cheers

 

[i.am.infamous]

The worst was Jason Randal.

I wouldn't say the worst. Maybe "the least interesting" - although, it was understandable, but I didn't agree with the effects he decided to use. When using WOW you HAVE to take the heat off the gimmick and the aces effect he did... well, it involved too many sleights that could go wrong live, especially when you're nervous like him.