Yeah, MagicSanta, some people do get burnout regardless of their professions. So, it's time to take some time off...

Hard to take time off if you depend on the income . . .

Some people like kids, but in doing a show, they want them sitting down, quiet and listening to instructions.

I had a video by a big name and he wanted the kids quiet, etc. He was quite stern with them and it turned me off as I don't want to babysit.

What I got from Capehart is he wants them loud and jumping up and down ( no chaos with him-he's controlling these very actions ).

I haven't seen Chris Capehart's DVD, but I agree 100% with what Chris Kavanagh just posted.

When I was a kid myself (between the ages of 11 and 16), I did kid shows, and I frequently got discouraged because I couldn't get the kids to be still and keep quiet while I performed. It wasn't until I was in my 20's that I first witnessed a master at kid shows, John Ekin, whose performance made me realize that if the magician tries to stifle kids' energy, he's fighting a losing battle, and that the path to success is to harness and direct kids' energy. The day I saw John perform I had an epiphany, and laughed at how stupid I was for not figuring it out myself.

Larry, take a look at the DVD - it is worth it

I had the pleasure of seeing Chris perform last Saturday in West Chester, PA as part of a charity show. He was great! I found myself laughing out loud several times during the performance. Just picked up these DVDs and can't wait to dig in!

Also saw Jason Bishop as part of the show and he was terrific as well.

I respect Capehart, having seen him perform in front of a live kids audience and a lecture at KIDabra 2007. His schtick obviously works for him, but I couldn't imagine using those tactics myself. I get the kids loud, jumping up and down, laughing, screaming, pointing.....many time to the point the parents are trying to quiet the kids down. I bring them back down to a reasonable and manageble level during the closing of the show, but in reality, my kid show audiences have a lot more fun and make a lot more noise than both the live Capehart show I saw, as well as the show on his DVD set. Some interesting ideas for sure, but once again, nothing that I feel I could use to improve my shows. Actually, I'm disapointed in the set and would only give it 2 stars out of 5 based primarily on my respect for his originality and cajones to put the kids through the very false hopes he offers up in his bits. Works very well for him, obviously, but nothing I'd ever consider for my shows. And, I'm a long way from being a "Sunday School Kids Magician" Just an honest opinion and no disrespect intended what-so-ever.

I have the Capehart dvs's and I would title them how not to treat a volunteer. I have performed many kid shows and have watched many kid show dvd's and this is not one I would recommend. Kids have names, You always ask names and not refer to them as kids. The false promising of prizes is unfair, he even shows one video game but no one wins it. Left hand,right hand, how may times? Kids are insulted when he asks whose kid is this. It is past the kidding stage. I may not be the best kid show magician, but my after my show the kids go away feeling good about the experience they just had. I refuse to belittle any of the children.

I’m watching it now. It’s not a show. It’s just him mucking around, yelling at children and calling everyone “kid”.

I’m eighteen minutes in and all he’s done are a bunch of card tricks (one with a prediction changing on a card box that no one could even see) then he pulled out a rabbit (literally, he pulled it out from behind his table and dumped it on the table) and now he’s gone back to card tricks.

Everything is setup to be a sucker bit to get kids yelling and screaming and then they’re wrong and he tells him he’s never wrong because he’s a “master magician”. This is a fine approach for a section of a show, but he’s doing it over and over and over again.

It reminds me of Jerry Seinfeld’s routine about magicians - “pick a card, here it is, you’re an idiot”. There is no nuance or theatricality to this, it’s the same thing over and over again, all done in an aggressive style.

Maybe this approach works in Philadelphia or for street shows.

Miser’s Dream is excellent, it’s not taught on the DVD.

Bizarre coloring book routine where it supposedly goes wrong and he tells the child to “walk away in shame” three times. And he keeps holding the book upside down when he’s flicking through the pages. This is the routine discussed above where he promises to give away prizes like Playstations and of course they don’t win anything.

Puts a naked doll on a lota vase so it’s like it keeps urinating into the lota vase. His lota vase has a massive dent in it like it’s been run over by a car.

Sponge ball routine that looks like it was cobbled together from whatever spares he had in a drawer. The balls don’t match, they’re different colors and different sizes, for no reason. The routine consisted of one thing - both balls appear in the child’s hand. That’s it.

What’s Next. He keeps dipping the board behind his table which is an odd choice. He didn’t explain the logic of the routine, ie the explanation of looking like three when his hand is over an empty space etc, it was just showing random dots on every side. A confusing mess. Perhaps he should have read the instructions. We’re 40 minutes in.

A bizarre botania routine where the majority of it is having a child put their hand on a board and threatening to stab a sharp point into their hand. Just weird. His botania looks like it’s been run over by the same car that ran over his lota vase.

Three Ring Routine : his signature routine. Excellent. Not explained.

Torn and restored paper in a massive 1950s style change bag which is half ripped off from the handle. His props are just embarrassing.

He did do a funny bit where he put something into the change bag and it went straight through the zipper on the bottom and he put it into his pocket, that was actually funny.

Finish is the ripped paper turns into a dollar and the kid keeps it. Okay.

Now he’s mucking around with the same antiquated ripped change bag with two kids and some lollipops have appeared. 54 minutes in.

He’s telling them they can win an X-Box or PlayStation. Based on the terrible condition of his props the audience should know that no one is going to win anything.

Fraidy Cat Rabbit with the old artwork style straight out of the 1940s. Routine is fine, as far as screaming and shouting and getting the kids to all go nuts until they stand up goes.

“Okay I gotta go now bye bye” when he’s still holding the last prop. LOL, that was the most abrupt ending to a performance I’ve ever seen in my life. End of show.

What an odd performance. The fact that he took a rabbit purely to pull it out from behind his table then dump it on the table and supposedly have it whisper in his ear what card someone took. That’s some Andy Kaufmanesque stuff. Why take a rabbit to a show just to do that?

Yeah, I've seen him perform for family shows around 2 times, and seen his DVD. Some of it is very good, but yeah, he's rude to kids as part of his style of comedy, not cool at all. Yes, the audience does laugh at his rude comedy, and I'm guessing he would say it works cause people laugh, maybe he doesn't get complaints, but for kids, just, no, don't use that part of his style. If you want to get laughs at kid/family shows and you can't do it without making kids feel stupid, you need to go back to the drawing board.
For adult shows, maybe that's OK if you do it carefully. His show for adults was pretty good at the Castle.
I do use a modified version of his Miser's, so that can work out great if done well.