Making The Audience Laugh...

[Luis Vega]

Or Not..

Hello everyone!!

So...I am part of the magic circle here in my city...I am indeed one of the founders, and we have almost a year of being together and doing shows together (Journal pretty soon!!) and while I really enjoy it...there is something I have noticed...let me expose the situation

Everyone wants to be a friggin clown!!!...I mean...they all want to make the audience laugh...let me clarify

They want to do a routine in the show...and talk...and talk...and talk... and make the audience laugh...

I agree that laughing is a powerfull way to conect with people...but...I know is not the only one...I don´t like the lack of musical performances or serious performances in the show (except for mine)...anyway I don´t like because I feel they are more focused on making the audience laugh...that doing magic...and they seem to not try another way...

Also...there is a foreigner magician...who all love..but to me is a friggin disgrace to magic...he humilliates spectators that come to front...and I mean it...like using a guillotine trick and making them put their heads on it...scaring them by giving them a wallet that explodes...making fun of their manliness or stuff like that...but since they think is funny...they love him (the magicians...not the espectators) and everyone wants be like him...it´s disgusting...

Any thoughts? I really nedded to took this out of my system...with you guys...

 

[Steerpike]

Insult comedy is one of the most difficult styles in the world to pull off because it's very easy to cross a line. In fact, I would say the reason you're frustrated is because these guys don't understand that comedy itself is very difficult. There are no shortcuts. References to violence, excessive use of profanity, histrionics, insults... they're all tools in the comedian's toolbox, but they're not shortcuts.

I would recommend that any magician who wants to do comedy should do stand-up first. No magic. Just jokes and performing prowess. After they're done having their ego devastated by hecklers, booing crowds, and people laughing only out of courtesy, they'll see that this is not easy to do.

For the sake of discussion, I touched on this in an old blog post, but I just want to take a minute to develop that.

I think your buddies here really want to be comedians and see magic as a shortcut. It's not. And the guy who does a guillotine illusion with the spectators is really playing with fire. You don't want to do illusions like that for an audience that did not specifically pay for this stuff. You don't stage a performance meant for the Grand Guignol at a Christmas pageant.

It sounds like what's going on, at least to me, is that these guys saw performances by people like The Amazing Jonathon, Don Rickles, Lewis Black, etc... and missed why it's funny. When Lewis Black curses a mile a minute describing how miserable the 22-hour flight to New Zealand was, it's funny because the profanity communicates the sheer level of aggravation one feels breathing dry, recycled air, sitting for a whole day in an uncomfortable chair, and getting massive headaches from a pressurized cabin, none of which you can escape from until the plane lands. Same goes with the shouting. After 22 hours of that condition, anyone is going to be upset, so seeing Lewis shouting about it is cathartic. It's an exaggeration of what our reactions would be like.

Of course, this is speculation on my part. Could you give us more details on what they try to do so I can get a clearer picture?