I have been studying up on restaurants and I was wondering what do you think of my routine. By the way I would be working in the outside atmosphere. (they have an inside but thats usually for romanceand they dont wanna see any of that stuff

Ambitious card routine
Quarter thru soda can
Killer key (depending on angles)
vanishing napkin

One other thing the restaurant has a nice gazebo so I was thinking of doing a stand up comedy stage show with some tricks like Bisectionand finally theres one problem im not 16 but have read and developed a good sense of picking spectators. and what bites even more is they serve whine . Its a great routine except age gets in my way any advice ???

Yes. Wait.


You have 1 routine, which doesn't seem to be very solid anyway(it's 1 card trick, 2 impromptu, and one angle sensitive). It wouldn't flow very well, and and you can never use anything angle sensitive in a restaurant.

You need atleast 3-5 good routines, 3 effects each, and be able to start and stop at any time(incase the food comes early, or you're requested by someone). Everything has to reset automaticly.

Don't think that you're going to get hired by the first restaurant you talk to(which seems to be what you're thinking), and don't go to that one first. If you have one you really want to work for, forget about it. Contact other ones which are more likely to hire you, you don't want to get turned down by your #1 choice automaticly, leave it as something to work for.

Pick up some books, The Restaurant Worker's Handbook, Making A Living Entertaining In Restaurants, and even read Steve Guinn's articles at Visions. If you're not 16, don't expect to get hired AT ALL. If you're not old enough to even be on the pay roll, then chances are they're not going to give you a chance. Even at the age of 18, they'll still treat you like a kid.

I'd recomend, you get alot of good solid routines, and start doing free closeup performances. Go to children's hospitals and perform there for free, in closeup situations. This will improve your ability and performances. Go to old age homes, perform there in closeup situations, anything to strengthen yourself. After you've been doing this for a while, you will likely start getting asked to do private gigs(if you're good), and edited after you've started getting private gigs, you may not even want to work at a restaurant anymore. But from all this, you'll gain experience, knowledge, and ability, so that after a year or 2, you can confidently walk into that restaurant that you've been hoping to work for, blow their mind, and get the gig.

Good luck.

I see what you mean by saying that my routine needs a little repairs and thanks for bringing up the angle sensitive trick. although I was planning on watching the angles and surroundings of the spectators. Bisection can be performed surrounded. I have been to some nursing homes before and got great complimetns while doing it for free of course. what is a website that sells those books the cheapest.

Who cares. Books are AN INVESTMENT, yep an investment in YOU and in your education. Just get the info and don't worry about the price. I have one book I bought written by Jim Cellini on Street magic. It is 180 pages and I paid US$50 for it. Best money I ever spent. I use the knowledge I gained from it in street, restaurant and kid show magic.

Never worry about price, worry about if the material is good and can you change the material to fit your personality.

Peter

Quater thru soda can would not work good in a resteraunt because you would need a new can every time you do the trick

P.S. 400 posts

That is not the strongest routine in the world.

Although its not the worst.

But word of advice, dont just tie together a bunch of tricks.

That doesnt make it a routine it just makes it a bunch of tricks.

get your routine to flow, each trick should lead to another

Just a minute...your good at picking a spectator..i'm sorry but you don't pick and choose in a resturaunt gig..if they request you they request you. Try to get as many tables as you can..if you pick and choose during this type of gig you won't go anywhere.

That is true, especially as a working professional. But when you're younger it is tough to save that kind of money. I used to have to perform for awhile, and reinvest all my money back into magic if I wanted any new material, or any material at all. I started at the public library, so that helped. But it was a good thing, because this made me work on the material I already had even longer.

Eventually I was starting to see a profit, and I began doing my routines longer, and buying less stuff. Before you know it I had a couple thousand in my magic bank account, and I was able to treat myself to some classic books, and DVD sets. There is nothing better than magic paying for itself, provided you are willing to do the work.