Comedy Magic - Putting Comedy in Your Magic Act

Comedy Magic - Putting Comedy in Your Magic Act Without any doubt, comedy is the one ingredient which appeals most to an audience and supplies the greatest possibility for an entertainer who uses magic as his material. Just look at who are the highest paid entertainers on film and television - the majority are comedians! So how does a magician add comedy to his shows?

Most magician's start out doing straight performing, either close up, stage or illusions and do not consider themselves comedians, but magicians. That is fine, but you know that getting a few laughs in your show helps the audience relax and lightens the mood. Many magicians will actually get so good at adding comedy, that they will switch their performing style to comedy. IF you decide you want to perform comedy magic - you should forget you are a magician and think like a comedian and then add the magic into your act to support the comedy. A perfect example of this is The Amazing Jonathan. His act is pure "comedian" with lots of magic on top of his act. When you watch people like John Ferrentino do his comedy magic act, he focuses more on the comedy than the magic. This may not be want you are aiming for - maybe you just want to add a bit of comedy to enhance your act. To do act, you should first study as many comedy magicians as you can and see how they use comedy. Facial expressions, jokes, ad-libs, gestures and by-play with an audience. Watch Mel Mellers, who is a modern-day version of Don Rickles and Dame Edna doing magic. His comedy is "in your face", but like Don he can pull it off due to his personality. This may not be your style of comedy, but studying his work can give you ideas. These type of performers should be your MODELS, but that does not mean you should be doing THEIR material. You should also listen to old radio programs that had some of the great comedians - like Jack Benny, Bob Hope, Fred Allen, Sid Caesar and many more. Even modern day radio programs like Click and Clack are a great place to study audience interaction; Garrison Keillor has a superb radio program with more subtle humor. Study books on comedy, read joke books, watch sitcoms on TV and even cartoons. Start to add a few jokes or ad libs to your act. When you read joke books, if a joke pertains to a trick or routine you do, write it down and try to work it into your act. For example the joke is: What do you call a rabbit on your head? A hairpiece! Not a great joke, but what if you walked out on stage - took off your hat and a rabbit (fake one would be best) was sitting on your head and you ask the audience, "What do you think of my new hairpiece?" If you delivery is right - it will get a laugh. How about pretending to remove a hair from your head and ask the audience if they can see a rabbit? Oh it is just a little hair! Now roll it up and produce a sponge rabbit or real live rabbit! Try using funny props. If performing for children - large, oversized props are funny to them or if you use a prop for something it shouldn't be used for. Example: I use a toilet brush instead of a magic wand! And do a secret move, which gets a riotous laugh! Want to more... read on. For adults, think of props similar to those that comedians like Carrot Top and Gallagher use in their acts. Maybe not quite that large, but watch their acts and see how you can maybe add funny props to your act. Small ad libs are probably the easiest things to add to your act, just to get used to getting a few laughs. There are lots of books with these types of ad libs available at your local magic stop or online. Example: Turn to a person, who is not smiling, in your audience and just say, "You look very sad." (pause) Are you married?" or "How old are you?" Whatever the answer respond with "Is that Celsius or Fahrenheit" None of these will gets large laughs, but it adds a bit of fun and you will get some chuckles from your audience. You should only drop a few of these type lines into your show sparingly or you will start sounding like you are sprouting lines from a book. You should always make your quips sound spontaneous and off the cuff. I often get people come up to me after my show and say how spontaneous I am with my one liners. What they don't realize is that I have probably said those exact same lines in the previous show and will use them again in my next show. But they sound spontaneous. Example: In my children's show I use an old classic magicians line. When a girl says her name, I respond with "that was my name too when I was a little girl". I have heard this line used by thousand of magicians and it is rarely funny. It falls flat! Why does it work when I use it? Because I act totally surprised at the revelation of her name and I prefix it a little too. "Oh MY! (pause) You wont believe this! (get excited) I LOVE THAT NAME! (act like it is just your most favorite thing in the world) You know why? (pause and wait for the audience to say Why?) Because that was my name (pause and look around) when I was a little girl! (When I say that I point to the girl and then back to myself and nod my head like isn't that the coolest thing in the world). You have to tell the line like it was unique, the first time you said it and the audience will laugh. You would not believe how many girl names I have had in my youth! Comedy Magic - Putting Comedy in Your Magic Act