Just bought these, anyone have any good routines or ideas for them, apart from the usual?

Cheers

Shaky

I've never had mush success with this with just kids. I don't think kids quite understand what's puzzling about them -- they don't have the logical thinking patterns down yet. I get great response with family and adult audiences, however.

I have a Pom-Pom Stick which I don't use very much either, but I came up with a routine for it. It goes something like this:

I invite up a spectator with a dollar bill.
When they hand the bill to me, I let it fall to the ground.
If she doesn't pick it up, then I glance at it and at her. She will eventually pick up the bill.

I say: "Ah Ha, I knew it!!" as if I have found the secret to the universe.

When she hands me the bill again, I drop it again.
She picks it up again and I motion for her to keep the bill, I thank her and send her back to her seat.

I say something like: "Let me explain the phenomenon that we have all witnessed thanks to <specs name>. I was reading about the sub-scientific law of Anti-Gravity from the Magicians textbook of scientific misinformation. It quotes the law from the famous writings of Sir Fig Newton: “What goes DOWN, must come back UP.” I admit that I didn’t believe it at first, but after a few experiments, I admit that I am becoming convinced. Let me demonstrate what I have found.”

I pull out the Pom-Pom stick and pull down a pom-pom. Then every time I pull down another one, I note that the original pom-pom went back up. I have some fun with this for a minute; let some spectators pull on the pom-poms, and then pull the stick apart, showing that the two sides are not connected.
The punch line goes something like. “I can’t explain it either. But you have to admit that Sir Fig Newton had a point.”

Enjoy!!

Mike

Hi Shaky:

I use the Pom Pom pole in every show I do - preschool to adult. I do the basic Ali Bongo routine that comes with the pole (Kovari version). Adults and older children are amazed when the pole is opened up and shown to have no attachments. The little ones like the fast, confusing talk and repeated use of "Pom Pom".

Mark Strivings uses the basic Ali Bongo routine too. He has a couple of twists in the routine; his routine is in his book, Anatomy of a Successful Show.

Ron

I have used Hank Moorehouse's routine about a "nothing machine" for years. It plays for kids or adults. It gets me a solid 2 1/2 to 3 minutes. I think it was in one of Hank's lectures or published in MUM.

I do think that facial expressions will help sell this effect.