Hey guys, im doing a kids show in about 3 months, and i already have a list of tricks i am going to do. The only problem is, is that most of them are about 2 minutes in lenght, really stretched out. I hear you guys talking about how you perform a half an hour show with 5 tricks. Right now i have 20 minutes with 12 tricks. Any advice on patter and how to make these longer? Am i doing something wrong?

You could develop the patter of a few of your effects, maybe with a few jokes between each one. Keep playing around with the audience. Try to get them involved, remember if you use a bit of audience participation the length of the trick will increase by quite a bit. Then you can decide wether or not you need all of them effects.

TWELVE tricks in 20 minutes!!! Write patter or steal it from the instructions in the tricks but do something! You will be doing tricks so fast that the audience will get lost and confused. That will give YOU a bad name. Even a simple thing like the colouring book that any idiot can do should take a MINIMUM of 5 minutes to perform. I have seen kids go thru that one in 1 minute. Magic is NOT doing tricks!!! Doing tricks is for dogs and other things. Magic is story telling, weaving tricks into the storyline as we go.

You could take the story of Little Red Riding Hood, start to tell that and weave in some tricks during the story. i.e. Red is walking to Gradma's house thru the woods carrying a basket of food (suddenly some food comes out of your hat or from a basket that you just show empty. Or use some silk effects for the story as in Suddenly a red silk appears from youy empty hands, then a green silk to show the woods.

At the end of the story you have taken 20 minutes and done maybe 4 to 5 effects and you LOOK PROFESSIONAL.

wow... when i saw the title of this topic... i was like WHOA!!! but forget about it...

lol

and i couldnt help sorry... i dont do kids shows
-vinnie

Good thing you posted that Vinnie

I had the same problem for a while, but I checked around the boards some and I've gotten my show down some, but I'm still working on it. The main two things I've found out so far:

Slow Down: Go really, really, really..., slow. I did a show once at 'normal' speed, and I lost the audience from the beginning. I slowed down and it got better. I slowed down some more and it got even better.

Warm Up: This was sluggo's tip for me. Don't start with saying "Ok here's my first trick..." Warm up the audience some. Joke around with the kids, get them intested in you before the magic starts. You should talk with sluggo for some more on this, he really helped me out!

I still don't perform for money, I do shows at elementary schools on reading nights and such, plus for churches, and it's getting better with each show. Don't rush into getting paid, because then you have to be GREAT. Have fun with it at first, the money will come later when you aren't all that concerned with it I bet.

how do i go about writing patter? I have your advice on making a story, and i will work on that. The only thing is like how do i tie in my tricks into a story. Heres what i have that i am comfortable doing:

B2 Bomber
2 in the hand One in the pocket
DLItes
bite out of quarter
scotch and soda
coloring book
vanish a silk
magic mints
salt vanish
2 dollar window
kiler key
peanut butter and jelly illusion

Do you have any patter what's so ever? what are your transitions? It look like you're just doing random tricks. write patter and transitions and stuff like that so your show will actually flow and last and keep thm interested. It doesn't seem like you're ready to do kids shows yet.

Let me use the coloring book for instance. After a good warm up the kids are now on my side, they see that I am fun and when they go along with me (control) they have fun.
I ask if anyone likes to color, of course they all do. I tell them that I was at a party earlier and the kids were coloring and accidently got some cake and ice cream on the book. So I went to wipe it off so it'll be nice and neat for them and I did something really goofy.
I wiped off all the pictures, I then open the book to show them. I ask do we have any good 'drawers' or artists, hands go up. I pick one of them and you bring them up with applause. I ask their name and age, if they happen to say six, I always say sixty my gosh that's amazing. ALL the kids will scream no! no! six. (Me) oh my gosh I need to check her temperature she's sick (six). Of course the kids will once again scream NO! six. This is patter, this is interacting with them and they are responding to you. I then give them one of those artists boards with various colors on them (can't think of it's name) and a magic brush. I tell them (him/her) I am giving them a special magic wand, one that has been in my family for many years, it's an antique, do you know what that is..usually a blank stare, "It's very expensive junk," usually laughs from the parents. So don't bump it on anything because it's fragile and when I give it to her it's a break away wand. Of course I have turned away and have not seen it fall apart, while the kids are howling!
When I do look you do the "Oh my gosh what happened bit." I take the wand and spin it twice to 'fix' it. When I give it back it crumbles. Do you get the picture? You have fun with them at every chance, you have to remember these are children, that love goofyness, slapstick and clumsiness. After I get her to rub the brush on the black 'dry eraser' paint I have them scribble all over the coloring book. I now give her a good wand and as they wave it you have the others in the audience do something like raise their hands and wiggle their fingers while everyone says the magic words "liver peanut butter." Of course she puts the pics back in. Then I pick another helper to come up and color it in. Have a variety of dry eraser colors on the board.
As you can see this one trick has now taken several minutes to do and everybody was somehow involved.
After about two or three tricks I tell them that magic really makes me hungry. I then pull out a can of jelly beans and I tell them that if there's anything left I'll share it with them. Of course when I open the can several spring snakes come flying out.."on me" not them, as I attempt to fight them off.
Just slow down and have fun, joke with them. Usually they will come up with things to ad lib off of. Act stunned when the magic actually works, give them credit for it, that makes them feel special and more willing to work with you. Every kid loves to get the credit for something neat.
best of luck! Sorry so long.

Great advice!nice routine

Sluggo- Your really a helping hand in this forum.Thanks alot.I bet others will feel the same. That was a very nice routine

Thank you Lax, that's nice of you to say that. I by no means claim to be an expert kid performer, but if I see something that works I am more than happy to pass it on. Because I had to learn it from someone. You just have to take a routine you've heard,seen or been taught and tweak it to your personnality.
Add or subtract to it and over time you will throw in some of your own patter. Once you've seen other routines and you change them to your liking, next you will find yourself making up your own from scratch.

thank you so much sluggo. Now i have an idea of what to do. Thanks alot.
what would be a good closer? Like should i leave them hungry for more? Or vice versa? What would you do?

Your best trick for last, keep em wanting more! If you all are wanting to really spice up your show look into music during your show.
Duane Laflin(sp) did a class on this. He did a trick with no music and then did the same one with music. Seemed like a completely different act.

DJ,
Your first trick should be your second best..first impression and the last trick should be your best one..last impression.
Just remember DJ, it's not about the magic, it's about the performance. That is why we use the breakaway wands, spring wands, spring snakes. Sometime during the show I accidentally slam my thumb in my magic table doors. As I pull it out I have this huge rubber thumb on it. I am hopping around blowing on it yelping.
' Entertainer in trouble syndrome' The kids love to see you mess up sooooo! give them what they want. As I am putting a trick away I'll pull out this huge tooth brush, look at it a second then ask no one in particular. "Ever wonder why they call it a TOOTH brush?..don't you brush all your teeth with it!"
As I put it away I mumble to myself " Should be TEETH brush!" This will get chuckles from the parents as well. I have an Axtell's drawing board, I Start to draw a picture of something and they are to guess what it is. I give them clues. He has a friend named Patrick.etc. "SpongeBob" they scream. As I finish drawing him I then ask" Now what else can you tell me about sponge BoB?" All of a sudden his eyes start moving. The kids are going ape poop over it. Of course I am clueless, and telling them this is only a picture, there's no way his eyes can move. When I look of course his eyes stop. When I look away....... In the end I ask Sponge Bob if his eyes move, then his mouth opens and says yes. You can imagine the carnage that causes.
I have this oversized sponge camera that actually flashes. I'll take one of my assistance picture. The kids are saying "That camera isn't real." When they see it flash, they are shocked. Then When I pull the picture out of the back of camera (it's an Instamatic camera) I give them a gloosy picture of a close up of ..say.. a cow's face wearing sunglasses.
They all want a picture now.
What i am getting at Dj, it's the performance that makes your show successful..not the magic. Using all this and a good warm up..now you can see how we can do a forty minute show with just five maybe six tricks. I hope this makes sense cause my fingers are sore from typing..ha

lol. Thank you so much for your advice. YOu helped me so much making this performance. I really appreciate you taking your time to help me out