I just got a latex mask of Mr. Bean. I was thinking of doing a 3 to 5 minute silent act for kid shows using this mask. What would you think would be a good trick(s) to show if you wore this mask. Perhaps an effect with his Teddy Bear or something else. Any suggestions.

Do you think kids will know who Mr. Bean is?

On our local TV station, the cartoon character, Mr.Bean is played weekdays daily here with different episodes. So I presume he is a popular figure among the kids here.

Copyright owners will nail you for this sort of thing.

Sorry

Be careful. Adults maybe.

Masks can scare the lights out of children.

Not the mask itself but the fact they know there is someone hiding behind it who can see them, but they can't see you.

Did yoiu need a mask???

Hi lou,

Just watch all the cartoons of mr Bean so you can see which type of comedy (and situations) will be recornized by the kids. Maybe you can somewhere observe kids if they watch these cartoons so you can see what make them laugh about mr bean.

I guess that number 1 laugh about mr bean is that he screw everything up and if he try to recover his faults that it will be more screwed up.

Like Tony also said masks can scare children. Children under the age of 6 think that if you dress with other clothes and cover yourself with a mask (in front of them!) that you are really another person.

True, many character masks and costumes are licensed for personal use only. General stuff like a vampire costume or clown mask is fine.

Why were a mask? You could still use the funny style antics Mr Bean uses, but with your own style as well. Just be yourself. A mask will hide your facial expressions, which is the main thing that makes Mr Bean so funny. He wouldn't be the same with the same expression throughout his show.

I agree, don't try to be Mr Bean, but use some of his gags if they'll work. Develop a unique character for yourself, it will be much funnier, you'll find it much easier in the long run, and it makes far more sense commercially.

In addition to the above comments, think about how much you are going to SWEAT! Wearing a mask (especially latex) greatly restricts the release of heat from your head. Incidentally, this is where most of your body heat usually escapes from. Given the adrenaline and engergy that most people put into a show, I couldn't imagine wearing such a mask.

Kent

Here's one of the things I've come to loathe about this site...we all jump on the bandwagon where we become judge, jury and executioner. If the person wants to sweat and wear a mask...let him...if he wants to break copy right rules...that's his perogative.

He's asking for help with a routine. Let's give him some suggestions!

I'd go for a sucker a effect. Possibly the sucker egg since you might be able to get away with doing it completely silent. It would also lend itself to some physical comedy a la Bean, always fearing that the egg will break...

That's my two cents...

--Jon

I am not so familiar with the cartoon, but I loved the live action BBC series.

Mr. Bean is a hapless sort, and things are always going wrong for him.

I think that a modified comedy card in balloon would be good for him. It can even be low tech.

Have a member of the sudience pick a card -- this can be a from a set of picture cards of animals, or places. Mr. Bean can imitate the animal to get across what the selection is to everyone in the audience. (If it is a card of a place, say France, Mr. Bean can act as a snobbish French person).

Mr. Bean then has the selection replaced in the deck, and shows that it is gone. He indicates in pantomine that it will be in a balloon he blows up. He blows up a baloon, holds is, and it flies away (it had not been tied). He tries another balloon, makes a great deal of tying it, but it slowly deflates. He takes a third balloon, blows it up, ties it tight and it pops. He searches his pockets (all of them) for another balloon, but finds none. He continues to search about, and in the course of searching turns around and the card is seen hanging on his back.

I would also suggest that you could do a great vanishing bandana routine as the Bean character. He could have a posted package arrive -- "Be a GREAT Magician" -- and he could start pulling things out of the box. A top hat, a cape, a wand. He should deal with each of these in Mr. Bean fashion. Then he could find the routine and play it while trying to follow along.

0pus

So, in other words, if a person wants to break the law, we should stand by silently? Or worse, actively encourage it? If we feel that a person is about to make a HUGE mistake, we should let him do so without even a word of caution?

How do such actions or inactions promote/preserve the art of magic? How do such actions or inactions promote/preserve the goals of the Magic Café where magicians help magicians. Sometimes help means receiving advice that you may not necessarily want to hear.

Kent

Kent:

About some of that you may be right. However, I think folks on the Café get too used to stand on that soapbox they keep in their closets, and often ignore the advice that was originally asked for. In fact, anyone who has ever worked on a routine knows that you may start working on a routine with one idea...and the routine may end up completely different from the way you conceived it. So who's to say whether the orginal poster wouldn't have ended up with something completely different given some real routine advice.

People are getting entirely too hung up on the minutae and often completely ignore what the original question is.

That's my response. From my end I'm not going to inflate this into another "Café debate." So...respond if you want...I won't regarding this subject. I think that we just need to answer the question that's been asked.

--Jon