Hey everyone!

There has been a while since I last was here in the forums, and that saddens me.
I have the last year worked a lot with my acting and stand-up career, while doing some magic/mentalism here and there.

Here and there is what I want to change into a lot, all the time!
My love for performing magic and mentalism is blossoming again, and I am making this thread to see if any of you great people want to help me maintain it.

A little info about me and what I am thinking of:

I am a 22 year old, part time entertainer from Norway, trying to work more and more into getting it to work full-time.
I do a lot of comedy and acting, and also quite a bit of magic.
In my stand-up magic show I do as of now, one mentalism effect, but in the new show I am writing I want to do more or all mentalism (comedy mentalism)

I love mentalism, and I really want to put my comedy into it, to make it someting I love even more.

The thing I am looking for, is someone to share ideas with, someone to talk with, someone to keep me motivated and help me. Preferably over Skype!
Because as much as I love to work and perform, I have som big troubles actually doing what I love.

This is a really serious thing for me, so please take this request serious.
And if you think that you would be able to help me, talk to me once in a while, and somehow mentor me a bit, I would be madly grateful!

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this.
-Johannes

For me Johannes the comedy comes from the spectators that come on stage. It's situational. If you are funny without knowing it in person within a group of people then you will be funny on stage. Or at least your show will have a bit of comedy within it just by your nature. You don't have to make fun of people on stage either to be funny just set up funny situations.

I've found over the past that people may laugh at something I say when I had no intention of them laughing so I run with it.

J

Hello, Johannes. I’m interested in seeing the responses you get. There are varied opinions here on whether magic and mentalism should be performed together, with many valid points on all sides.

I don’t have Skype, so can’t do everything you’d like, but can offer some suggestions here. I’ve been doing mentalism (semi-pro) for about two years, acting, directing and playwriting for more than 10, and magic off and on since 1973.

One thing I would suggest (This is my opinion only, and I’m one of those who doesn’t mix magic and mental) is that “real” mentalism doesn’t lend itself to comedy; the comedy comes from the performer. I do mentalism “straight”, but my own personality makes people comfortable and engaged, and yes, I look for “laughable” situations.

Here’s an recent example. Jay Sankey offers an effect called “Elimination”, which uses Scrabble tiles. I performed this recently at a Christmas party. (This is not part of my regular show, so I’ll share it here.) I had a boxed Scrabble set purchased from a GoodWill store (a thrift/resell chain). I left all the tape and stickers on the box, which was torn at one corner.

My patter (I apologize to the purists for the term) was about how I got it from GoodWill. I went through the contents of the box, which included “instructions printed in SIX languages, which is STUPID, because all the letters ARE IN ENGLISH!” (laugh point)

I mentioned briefly the odds of various dice and card combinations, then went to Scrabble tiles (6 versus 36 versus 52 versus 100), but in this box were only 96 tiles, “Which is probably WHY it was at GoodWill!” (small laugh)

Also, sometimes people leave private things inside books and boxes they donate. Here I found a prescription-drug information sheet, the type many pharmacies give out with medications. I read the warning list (almost verbatim), including nervousness, euphoria, paranoia, etc. I stopped and looked at the audience, “Doesn’t that sound like WEED?!?” (laugh point)

I also took a dig at one of the honorees, mentioning that people should be more careful when they donate, to remove any personal items. For example, if you “donate a computer, you want to delete any personal data, clean out financial records, or like Jack, delete those pictures!” (BIG laugh)

I did the actual routine (sans coffee grounds on the arm), calling up a spectator to shake the tiles, then another spec to help him. It took a couple minutes to eliminate all the tiles, so I led the audience in humming the “Jeopardy theme”.

When we got to the final tile, I cleared my throat and properly announced, “Ladies and Gentleman, this program was brought to you by the letter T!” (a popular Sesame Street phrase), and then as “remembered afterthought” I quickly added, “which is a good thing because it matches this!” as I turned around a large board which had been in view the entire time, showing a large drawn “T” tile, complete with the little “1” in the corner. (laughter and much applause) (I think that if I do this again, I’ll find a way to affix a large T inside the folded board, further eliminating the idea of a M******* O**.)

In this example, comedy was absolutely a driving force, but the mental effect itself was done straight. My philosophy is that it’s ME they’re coming to see. The mystery, the comedy, the “morality play”, the whatever, those are just my tools. Modesty notwithstanding, I am the show.

No doubt you’ll get many ideas and opinions to follow, but my best advice is to let YOU be the show. Everything else is just props.

Reading John Cs post, I'd agree with him completely. Comedy can come from your audience as well, but be sure they don't feel belittled in any way. (The difference between laughing with you and laughing at you.) I took a lesson from Blackstone; when there has to be a "fall guy", let it be me, not my guest. If you've got somebody who's a natural "card" (AND you can do proper audience management), let him roll, he might make your job a lot easier!