Comedy and Magic

[Guardian452]

im going to write an essay on how comedy helps youre magic performance, so check up now and then. but while i type it, what do you guys think about having comedy in magic, how important is it? How does it affect it?

ready
set
DISCUSS

 

[Squirrel_Magix]

Laughter, or Comedy to me in magic means alot. Not only the shocking stuff that magic can bring to people, it also may bring laughter to people that may not laugh much and even to people that laugh way to much. Sure magic can be overwhelming to alot of people, and some can you look at you like, "WTF are you the F'ing Devil?". But in a few experiences with the "Devil" people laughter has changed the preformance from them being scared, to them haveing a GREAT time. Comedy has saved me from complete failure preformances. As i stated I believe comedy is something that goes great with magic.

-SM

 

[Magic Man4293]

Comedy is great but in most cases it takes away from the power of magic. Imagine Derren Brown doing a cheesy knock knock joke in undertakers trick Blasphemy!!!

 

[Squirrel_Magix]

Comedy is great but in most cases it takes away from the power of magic. Imagine Derren Brown doing a cheesy knock knock joke in undertakers trick Blasphemy!!!

That... would be halarious. = p

-SM

 

[Michael Kras]

Comedy, next to magic, is one of my greatest passions. I love studying it, comsidering the psychology behind it, and finding out what is funny and what isn't, and what type of people find specific things funny. I use comedy all of the time in my magic.... most of the time it is very Sankey-influenced off-the-cuff humour which goes over very well or sometimes it's written into my patter.... example, I wrote a comedy presentation for Wayne Houchin's Stigmata effect.
'

 

[Nate Malini]

forget the word comedy it some how strikes an image of a Mic stand and yes knock knock jokes. instead lets call it humor.

its a personality trait and if your not a "funny go lucky" kind of guy naturally then don't try to be funny please. it will come off as phony and just plain corny.

It gos back to the term "Make the magic your own". are you funny in the first place?
it does not take away from magic performance at all.(Only if you think your funny when in fact your not)

On that same subject I think 15 year old magicians should stop wearing T shirts with a suite blazer with the blue jeans and sneakers.http://www.shoppingblog.com/pics/miamivicefashion.gif

 

[OwnerM]

Comedy is also a good "out" if a trick goes wrong.

I know when I messed up a trick, I make a joke out of it and pretend it was supposed to go wrong. Then go on to something else.

The audience never knows, they think it's part of the act...

 

[Dylan P.]

magic and comedy go together hand in hand. Just like:

Mike Tyson and Ears

Ozzy Ozbourne and bats

Anthony Kiedis (lead singer of the red hot chili peppers) and heroine.

chuck Norris and beards

and cars and oil ( although I hear they might be getting a break up if oil becomes to expensive to take out.)

but comedy is very important in magic. It holds together an entire act and makes sure that it's not going to fall apart.

 

[Guardian452]

this is great guys

with me it goes hand in hand, with me, im a flirtateous magician. not as a creepy he's hitting on me thing, but its obvious that im joking, hell, ill make a crack or about about some of the guys. getting comedy into magic helps PEOPLE get into magic.

still working on the essay, keep it up guys.

 

[L-Train]

Last months issue of Magic Magazine was entirely devoted to comedy magic. It was interesting to read what some of the greats had to say about mixing comedy and magic. If you haven't read it, I would highly recommend picking it up.