Quality Wind Up Prude.

You forgot to mention that Children should not be allowed to get overexcited or express any human emotion.

And my point is reinforced: You believe vulgarity makes for a poor performer; Hence many master magicians use vulgarity..... Therefore the only conclusion you can reach is that many master magicians are poor performers. I disagree, every individual must make his own decision on how he acts in all facets of his or her life.
Take a look at reality T.V. It is based on the lowest form of humanity in my own unbiased opinion, and very popular. Have you ever seen ren and stimpy? In fact have you ever read any old fairy tales? what about "ring around the rosy", which of course the children love.... and also a short version of the effects and cures of the time for the black plague. Whats your definition of vulgarity? I think if were gonna be sticklers we better start a commune. Because people aren't getting any more pure. and right now it's you against the world.

Now as a side note, I do not use profanity any more than I can help it around children, old folks, inside churches, with my mother, etc. But I gotta say sometimes, especially after a few beers when I do my magic for the guy's I'd probably make your ears burst into flames.

For children's magic one must use a modicum of self control. But so far I have not seen where anyone here doesn't agree. he said arse... heh, heh, heh, heh

There seems to be a dichotomy in how some people view the art of Magic. Is Magic to be a medium of mass entertainment, or is it to be some higher form of Art? Prude has some very specific expectations of magic suggestiong that it should strive towards the latter of these two views.

I have no problem with that. I respect the opera as a high form of entertainment and I know that many people throughout the world enjoy performances of this type. But I would NEVER pay money to go to one. And I would never hire an opera singer to come into my home and entertain at a party.

You see, the problem here is that not everyone ascribes to the same type of entertainment. As such, no one magician or style can be successful in entertaining everyone. To serve the entertainment needs of everyone we need magicians who can cater to differing needs. I know of some magicians who specialize in gothic themes, while others specialize in shock effects. They can be very entertaining in front of the right audience.

When you are dealing with children, it is a little more complicated because you are dealing with two different groups. You have to entertain the children while also respecting the needs and expectations of the parent who hired you.

But, when you think about it, this is not that different from when you do a stage show and you ask the owner if you can use fire or other pyrotechnics. If the owner says no, you would be foolish to proceed.

So, if in doubt, ask. The only concern that I have is when humor (even potty humor), music, dance, etc. overshadow the magic. As magicians, I believe that the primary tool for entertainment should always be the magic itself. Everything else just comes along for the ride.

Kent

I do have to take issue with Prude's suggestion that Canadians should not partake in offensive magic. Remember, we are the only country named after BEER!

If its okay with whoevers booking you I'd say go for it

Tom

Magic man,
I agree with you last post we are all looking for different things when we book entertainment and it is strange as to what people want/dont want there is someone in my area who does a very squeaky clean act though I know from people tellling me that they do not like the fact that he uses (what most magicians might consider good or helpfull) some routines which promote stranger danger/self esteem ext. for whatever reason many people do not like this in birthday party shows.
Phillip

Dang nab it. I tried to PM prude and I found out he has been banned. Prude is like one of those superheros who leads a double life. His secret identity is kept that way until he manifests himself under a different guise. I would like to profess here and now that I am not "prude" just an admirer of his wit and turn of a phrase.

I do believe I know who he is and if so (I'm certain I know who he is) we have been had by his wonderful sense of humour. He is provocative for entertainment's sake. Ladies and Gentlemen, we have been honoured and I for one await anxiously his next reincarnation!

Rob

I love prude (aka Mark Lewis)!

The idea of high vs low comedy and art is an outdated idea created by those in power who wish to seperate 'their' art for the rest of the great unwashed. So we have opera, shakespeare and ballet which are all high art. But really, all of these art forms can and do contain some the most silly toilet humour you can imagine! Shakespeare stole his ideas from commedia delarte, which contains the most obscene humour you are ever likely to see.

There is no such thing as low and high art. Just people who like to consider THEMSELVES low and high. Don't turn art into a class war.

Sure, there are those who will poo-poo you for making toilet humour but wee in Australia believe from the heart of our bottoms that if people laugh, the something is funny and if they don't then it isn't.

I guarantee noone will ever poo-poo me. I'm a pretty big guy, and there is not enough fiber in the world.

In that case wee are in agreement. Onward and downward for the arts!!! Mark where are you????

I like the bit where Mark said "Australia is one of the most vulgar and improper places on the face of the earth."

hehehe!

This thread looks even funnier from down here in Spain than it would do in the UK!!

?¿ (there that proved it was a Spanish keyboard!)

Yep, you go ahead using these words at parties, it makes less serious competition for the rest of us!

Ok for a headline grabber in the Café though!

Ha!

Rudy.

When introducing my hanky, I will occasionally use the old joke - "do you know how to make a hanky dance? Put a little boogie in it". That's as far as I go, when it comes to "potty" humor, although I don't really have anything against other jokes of this nature. I think a lot of it depends on the personality and delivery of the performer.

Actually there might be a great deal of truth in this statement. When the Jim Rose Circus Sideshow toured the world in the mid Nineties they got responses of revulsion and disgust from the audience pretty much everywhere they went except Australia. There the reaction was pretty much "So?" or "I can do better than that watch this".
The land down under is a different world from most places and the words Bum, Poo and Wee most likely get used in polite conversation. After all isn't this the country that gave us Puppetry of the Pen*s?
America on the other hand has failed to shake of it's perceived Puritanical Roots. It's even getting worse here under the recently empowered neoconservative movement.
People who think that Sponge Bob Square Pants and Tinky Winky are gay are not going to take kindly to a performer who references bodily functions in their performances.
Sort of sad when you consider that this country was once thought of as Home of the Free.

Some jokes are there strickly for the grown-up. We should be entertaining them too. Like this one: After making a balloon dog for someone say "this is Pierre...because that's what he does..." Goes over the kids heads but the grown-ups laugh.

How about Winnie the Pooh? Is this bad for kids? Are we sending a wrong message here? Has the word Pooh in it. Might want to censor it.

Danny boogie seems fine to me provided it is not a production item in your change bag and then flinging it at the kids lol

funemagic Winne the pooh is a far cry from a dog puppet urinating on a room full of 5 year olds or producing rubber poop from your change bag for them

as far as Disney using this sort of material, these movies are rated Shrek holds a PG rating alerting parents to be watchful of questionable material

let me restate my position here, we all know this stuff can be funny, hek this thread has been a riot but do we just spring it on parents and kids mid show where it is out of there control. I don't

Topper

Oh no politics at the magic Café

Four pages all about poopin' and a peein'.

Actually there's not much more to add to this subject that hasn't already been said. Those who feel that there is nothing wrong about refering to various bodily functions in what they feel to be an amusing way during their performance will continue to do so content in the feeling that there is no harm to themselves, their audiences or the craft of magic to do so.
Those who believe that there perhaps is a higher path for them to take will continue to look ascance upon those mentioned above.
Meanwhile the majority of us will continue on doing our magic as best we canand hopefully stop reading the posts of those who need to find validation in a public forum for what one secretly thinks might be questionable behaviour.

Oh I disagree!

A subject like this can be look at from a hundred different angles! The point is not to convince others that your point of view is RIGHT but to create a rich taperstry of thoughts and ideas that others can read, think about and build upon!

For example, you mentioned a 'higher path'. Why would a non bodily function show be higher? Perhaps an acceptance of bodily functions as normal and an ability to see humour them without shame is a higher path!

To each their own.

Payne, at last a sensible comment in what seems to have been a sanctimonious and hypocritical opportunity for magicians to bash magicians. Guys, come on! Lets work together to bring unity to an art we all love, lets not waste such a worthy and useful resource like the Café on senseless bickering. Please.

Jon