Reflections from Last Night's Gig

[RickEverhart]

My strolling gig last night was for a benefit fund raiser for an Association of Citizens with Physical and Mental Disabilities. Dave Kaplan was the headliner, Tim Wright "SkillDini" was also performing as well Mike Bishop "Comedy Hypnotist". My strolling was during the cocktail hour for people who were eating and mingling prior to going into the actual theater.

I had taken the following strolling items: deck of cards for sloppy triumph and biddle. I took Free Will, Ultra Telethought Wallet 2, rubber bands for CMH, Twistration, and Star Gazer by Alan Wong. I also had a mismade bill and a book test.

I used Benji Bruce's approach that he had just sent out yesterday about approaching tables but I used his line of "Have you ever seen me perform before?" and it went over perfect. I would walk up to each group of people whether they were talking, eating, etc. and with great confidence introduced myself and followed with the question.

I was really having a great time and so were my spectators and then...."I had a shocker..." I approached two women who appeared to be a mother and a daughter. They seemed to be keeping to themselves over in the corner of the lobby and so I wanted to go create some excitement for them. I opened with my mismade bill that always hits hard. I always follow that with CMH on their thumbs. Well, when I asked the daughter to please hold out her hands with the thumbs up, I noticed something was wrong. Her entire right hand was deformed and there wasn't a thumb to attach it to. I felt so horrible and didn't even know what to say. I tried to put the rubber band on one thumb (left hand) and then said, "Oh, we can just put the other end around your wrist." She had a hard time keep that hand still and the rubber band wouldn't stay in place. I could clearly see that she was embarrassed and the effect was not going to work so I just nicely said, "It's ok we will use your mom's thumbs and I'll use your ring in my next effect."
She was nice and I proceeded to blow them away and did a few more effects for them. They were REALLY happy and so excited that I had picked them to come perform for. I felt sad and great at the same time because I had sort of called attention to her handicap by not being able to complete CMH on her.

Have any of you had a similar experience?

Later on in the night I decided to go perform for a group of people who looked like they were "better" than everyone else and off in their own little stuck up world. I thought, "Why not..? Let's give it a go." They turned out to be my best audience last night, screaming with reactions, high fives, asked for business cards, and many many compliments. I guess what I am trying to say is, never judge spectators until you actually "get in the mix" with them and start the magic. I would have never predicted them to be like that.

Just thought I'd share my experience. Ended up handing out 25 business cards in an hour to people who actually asked for them. Not me just shoving them in their hands.

Afterwards I went out to eat with some of the stage performers. Best piece of advice I received from Dave Kaplan was he says that you should always, audio record your show and disect it once you get home. After doing this many times he was able to take his 14 page script and narrow it down to just 9 pages of the most important words / script. This in turn allowed him to fit more effects into his show.

If you made it this far, thanks for reading and I hope you got something out of this post.

 

[Chris W]

I love hearing about stuff like this. While I don't perform professionally/get paid in any way, I might one day. So hearing this stuff will certainly help.

As a teacher, I have to make sure I don't assume anything about my students, because I have found that the "bad" kids end of being the most fun to work with. Your story reminds me of the same thing. Thanks for sharing Rick.

 

[LBarnes]

Great post, Rick. I too, also find that the crowd that I think is gonna be the hardest to work, often turns out to be the best.

I think you handled the girl with the disability well also. I've been in a similar situation when I performed card to shoe with a guy who had a false leg. When he took he shoe off it was a moment of "Whaa?!" then he explained and I went on with the effect. He was a really, really good sport though and we ended up bouncing jokes off each other, I even managed to slip in "Shazam... I made your leg disappear" He laughed his head off but I only cracked that one when I got to know him a bit better.

Thanks for sharing the helpful advice about audio recording gigs, I've been wanting to get myself performing live on camera to review my performance for some time and never even considered just having an audio recorder in my pocket. This will work wicked for me.

Cheers Rick,

Lloyd

 

[Jacob L]

Great post Rick, thanks for sharing! I've been watching Benji's videos as well and can't wait to put some things learned into effect tomorrow. As for your CMH situation, I had a girl who had toe thumbs, and couldn't bend them, so I just used her index fingers instead and had her make "guns".

One thing I don't really understand that Benji and you brought up is video testimonials/audio recordings. How do I do that without it seeming awkward? It just seems unnatural to finish up and then pull out a video camera, you know? Also, how do you audio record your performances? Do you place the recorder out before hand and then perform? It all just seems confusing to me and puts unneeded nervousness on the audience.

I need to take the "don't judge spectators by looks" approach more. I'm just so used to doing balloon animals for the kids, I forget about a table of teens/adults who could use some entertainment. What's the worst that can happen? They say no or act uninterested, and they are the ones missing out on a great time.

Thanks again for posting!

 

[RickEverhart]

I'm not so sure on the audio recording but I"m assuming you could put the little recorder in your free pocket so that you can go back and listen to your patter later on at home, or if it is a parlor or stage show you just leave it sitting behind your table or something and it will pick up your entire show's audio. This really allows the magician to hear themselves and get rid of the extra words that we sometimes throw out there.

As far as the video recording, I had all the intentions in the world but the strolling gig I did was weird in that people were continually eating and mingling and I would have had to carry my own video camera around with me and set it down. I didn't have tables so everything I had was mostly in my hands effects or occasionally in theirs. I also felt it would be awkward to perform a routine and then pull out a camcorder 1 sec. later and get reactions / testimonial. I could see how after you would perform a "show" and recording people after the show but after little sets during strolling seemed odd and I wanted to hear more from Benji first so I didn't
do it.

As far as using the girls index fingers, she didn't have any on that hand either. It was more of a deformed ball on the end of her wrist.
Next time I ever run into that I will try to have two people hold the rubber band that way the handicapped spectator still gets to hold one end. Didn't "dawn" on me until minutes later to do that. Oh well. Live and learn.

 

[D@n]

I agree with your statement about not judging a potential audience before meeting them, one of the first things I've learned is that one group can look like the best possible audience you could think of but they will shoot you down before you can even begin an effect, and another group looks like the worst possible group of people, but you still approach them and you both end up having a great time, and hopefully some business cards or money passes hands.

 

[ReservoirRed]

Man, I know how you felt.

I had a similar experience, but not at a gig. I dont usually whip out cards in general, almost never unless im performing,but I was helping a friend paint his house recently so i was staying with him for a few days, so the cards came out while i was in his sitting room one of the evenings,just because i had the itch really. He has an 8 year old daughter who noticed some flourishes i was doing and became very interested. She said she wished she could do it. So i said, "well it takes time but ill show you where to start". I had it in my head that i would teach her an overhand shuffle. So i started to show her but then suddenly she said no no i cant do that. I said anyone ccan do it if they try, she said no i cant do things with both hands. Snap. I nearly died when i found out. She has cerebral palsy and doesn't have the use of her left hand. She didn't seem embarrassed by her handicap at the time, but looking back i dont know how she felt, it really makes me feel like hell every time i go over it in my mind. Im glad this thread gave me the chance to get it off my chest.

Thanks Rick.

 

[Justin.Morris]

I just read the first post so far, but as usual, thanks so much for sharing your thoughts. I'll read more and respond later (just had a baby, so schedule is crazy again!)

 

[RickEverhart]

Thanks for all of the feedback guys and I'm glad others have had some similar experiences so I can relate.

Congrats Justin...kids are awesome. Good luck getting sleep for the next month....ha ha.

 

[MattTarrant]

Hate to be a pain,

But I really could not continue reading after the term "Mentally Retarded" was used. Not sure how common it is used in America, but for someone who has worked with, cared for and has lived and supported for many years children and adults with physical and/or mental disabilities its seen as somewhat of an offensive term.

"Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities" or just "Physical and Mentally Disabilities" is generally used and more accepted.

Will read the post later, and im sure it is a great story besides the terminology.

 

[RickEverhart]

My apologies Matt. That happens to be the actual name of the association in my location "THE ARC". I changed it in my post so that it may not offend anyone else. Again, sorry.