i am in need.i need to no how to chose a character for magic.i know i want to a funny character,but i am not sure witch funny character.should i be jeff hobson funny or a david willamson funny(or any other comedy character that you know of.)

You cannot let yourself fall into imitating other magicians. First I need to ask how old you are...If you are under the age of say 20, then you have not done enough soul searching to really find out who you are...You may not have given your own personality enough time to fully develop. You will develop your own style and persona through time and great care has to be taken to stay true to yourself. Imitations are AT BEST a dull copy of the original. If you try and act crazy like Williamson or Mullica, when that is not your natural self, the audience will pick up on it and resent it. I've had the pleasure of meeting Dave Williamson and he is EXACTLY the same as when he is performing! The most memorable magicians are the most facinating people whether they are performing or not.

The only thing I can recommend is take some time to fully develop who you are. If you are not an interesting person to be around when you're not performing magic, you'll merely become an uninteresting person who does perform magic. Things I would recommend would be to read books, study art, study music, watch movies, go to a play, travel, or in short, give yourself other things to talk about.

I apologize if this post was a little harsh, but encouraging you to just mimic the style of another performer is not only unethical but ineffective.

cardshark is right. It will take many years for you to find out what makes you tick. At that point you will know what will work for you as a entertainer. Study other things and become well rounded, then apply that to your act.

tpdmagic

With most professionals, you find that their on-stage character is really an extension of themselves. For instance, if you're not funny to begin with, a comedic character would likely be a bad choice. As Dai Vernon said, "Be Natural".

What you should do is perform for a number of people and then ask them to describe your character. You will find that there can be quite a difference between how you view yourself and how others view you. Draw on those positive traits that others see in you when you are performing to help guide and develop your character.

In Magic, like in life, you don't choose a character, you BUILD a character. Good luck building yours !

I'm sorry, but I slightly dissagree with most of these posts. This guy wants a character, and i find myself at a simular stage. I'm only 14 ( and i know i'm obviously a cocky kid) but I'm questionening the character thing. You are all saying you will grow into your charater. Well I myself feel i'm a lively character, and most magicians are characters. You can't make them. Thats what I'v realised. You have all mentioned it but not quite noticed, these people are the same in real life. You don't NEED to have traveled, or have more to talk about, you are a magician. But your also a person who has friends. I know i'm a laugh, i'v got to much confidence, so much so im sure it makes me fatter. My charictor is me, jay sankeys is his, blaines phyco thing is his, tommy cooper has his and so on and so on. They didn't invent it, they didn't really exagerate it. They are themselves.
However,,,,, in all these cases they are not them selves, because of one clear point. They are performing. We all got a bit crazy when we perform, I get very sarcasticy. And others do other things. I now find myself disagreeing with the almighty dai vernon in a way now. Because you cannot possibly be natural when performing, it is a made up word. No-one is natural. What he means is

Be your self.

But your self in front of an audience. Which is in effect a better you.


Denny

Take after a magician's character and then improvise, but don't be them. You want to put your own touch into it and that comes with time and experience.

Creating a character for close up is not something you do. I do an act with a partner in which he starts out serious, but gets increasingly wacko as the show progresses. This is not something scripted or planned. It just happens. I end up playing the straight man, even though I'm scripted with most of the jokes. It's really whatever works for you. But in all cases, a performance personality should never be more than an extension of who you already are. But the best way for you to figure it out is to perform impromptu, and see where that leads you.