Well.. I started working in a very elegant, fine Italian Restaurant. The owner was playing poker with some friends, asked me if I played cards.. I said "sort of" and we talked a bit. Basically explained that I was in to magic.. I showed them an ambitious card routine, though my patter was horrible and nervous, the trick went well and I got a great reaction. Now, starting next week, he wants me to table hop in the restaurant on Saturday nights, every weekend. He is INSISTING even though I tell him that I don't think I'm ready.. So I'm deciding to take a leap of faith and just go for it. He is going to give me 50$ each time and ask customers to tip me.. I told him that tipping me wasn't necessary but he insists.. I think it's a very good first gig.. I'm excited a bit for the tips.. A lot of very rich people eat in the restaurant in which waitresses sometimes get $100.00 tips. Perhaps a twenty for the magician? aha. I know it's not normally ethical to ask for tips while table hopping.. but the owner is a very insisting man.

Any how.. I don't have but 7 days to practice for my first ever set time to perform. I haven't really worked on patter yet at all.. Just the tricks in which still aren't perfect..

In my line up..
Red hot mama
Ambitious card
Hand Sandwich (here then there)
2 card monte
8 Card Brain Wave


I would use coins as well, but I'm not confident enough with coins yet.

Any how.. The purpose of this post is just to ask.. What do you wish someone told you before your first table hopping gig? Any advice for me? Any self working, in the hands, impressive tricks I could learn? Or even just.. overall, very quick to master tricks like Red Hot Mama.. In fact.. I'd love any suggestions on tricks just as powerful yet as easy as red hot mama.

I wanted to try and buy hopping halves before my first gig.. but there's no time now-- I hear that it's not very good to open with a "pick a card" trick while table hopping.. That coins can ease them in to it.

Any how.. Any tips on comebacks, things to do when you make a mistake, introducing myself, or anything you can think of would be great. I know there's a lot of info in the forums about this, and I've read through a lot of it. I'd just still like some more direct questions answered towards me.

Thanks for reading!


Oh! And.. Some of the things I've come up with so far to say (tell me if you think it's bad to say any of it and why, etc)

If someone asks how the trick was done.. Reply with, "Can you keep a secret? ... So can I."

If someone is grabbing at the cards or doing something I don't want them to do that would expose the trick.. I may say "Watch it! I don't want to have to make you disappear." I've been pretty sketchy with the way that I'd use this one but.. Perhaps you guys could help me fix it up.

I figure, I'll introduce myself to each table something along the lines of this? (Please state better suggestions, pros and cons, etc if you will, thanks)

"Hello, my name is Harley, I'm the house Magician for tonight. Would you guys be interested in a little entertainment while you wait for your food?"

Also.. some tips on when to approach people would be great.. I hear the best time is right after they order their meals and end right before their appetizers come out or after you've done 3 or 4 tricks at most.

Thanks for reading!

I'll try to help you out on what I personally do.
I'll start with your last section.

By saying the "Can you keep a secret? ... So can I." That just implies you're being rude and cheeky (unless that is your persona) but I'd rather say something like "Magic of course." (Give an innocent looks here instead of a sneer!)

The make you disappear thing just make it seems even more obvious that you're hiding something. (Again, its rude) and some people may not like this kind of humour either. If you want to be polite perhaps something like "Oh, you're interested in cards? Do you play poker often?" A bit of interaction shows that you actually care about them. but if you feel that they are just to embarrass you then give as genuine of a smile as you can fake and say "Hey look! It seems that he wants to perform something for you guys!" He will naturally feel awkward and return you.

Open by asking them of their day. Imagine you sitting at the table and someone comes up "Oh god, is he gonna promote me something?" You wouldn;t want to make your audience feel negative before you even start. So ask about their day, if they are enjoying the ambience or the food. Then ease in "Would you like to see something cool?" Personally, I don't like putting my name in though, since if I can't remember the name of the spectator after I do a trick with them, I doubt they can remember mine...

HOWEVER, instead of worrying about your lines, if you don't have a working set it's just going to make you look bad. You cannot repeat the same effect for every table you meet. (Being honest here, if I were you I would quickly admit to the owner that I just cant life up to it) but if you want to "man up" then the first night will be brutal - You must be prepared for that.
You only have about a few days so getting anything new is not going to reach in time. I would suggest you to list down whatever you can do (I'll confess here that self working tricks that relies on mathematical principle is not going to be entertaining).

I am not going to limit my suggestions to "posh, high class routines" and will leave it to you to filter or adapt the routine, fair enough?
Also, I'll try not to list card effects so you have some variations.

Sponge balls will be a good routine that is interactive.
A rope routine - Fiber Optics or Fiber Optics extended. Does not use any gimmicks and very good eye candy.
Linking rings (if you have them) - isn't hard to learn, but audience management is hard since they WILL want to see all the rings.
(If you have the linking rings you can consider a ring and rope routine)
what else... if you're not comfortable with coins then don't bother, its really hard (for me at least) when I'm trembling or sweating due to nervousness.
Perhaps a paddle trick? Flash by chad long and Turbo stick comes to mind. You can use the turbo stick to lead into sponge balls.
Fractalicious is a great set of packet tricks. Best part the colour burst at the end. (took me around 2 evenings for this)

You will have to think this through though. If your most comfortable trick (the ambitious) and performing for a casual person when you're relaxed is "horrible and nervous", I really fear that you will embarrass you and make a bad impression on the restaurant. I remembered I could barely squeeze a professor's nightmare when I was given a month to prepare for a school event back when I was newer and table hopping is a lot harder and mentally taxing.

Here I'll end off and wish you good luck on your first gig.

Be confident and go for it - everyone has to start somewhere. Airztonne has a lot of good advice. I've found that sponge bunnies go over much better than sponge balls. Never, never ask for a tip. If you get one fine, of not don't worry about it. Some people will watch you and then find you later after they eat and give you a tip as they are leaving. If they have kids you need to have something to do for the kids - silk and thumb tip or whatever - the parents will give the tip to the kids and they will tip you.

Just my 2 cents.

Jim

Be nice to people. You are one of the restaurant's hosts, you just happen to make their stay a little more enjoyable with magic. Think about when you have guests over and your Mother opens the door -- "Hi, come on in. How was your day? Would you like a glass of water?"

Not much different. "Hi, my name is Harley, I hope you are having a nice evening here at Joe's Café." I am the entertainment tonight, would you like to see something interesting while you wait for your meal?"

Forget all the comeback lines you ever heard. Be nice. Be engaging. They are not there for magic. They are their for a meal and you are going to help them enjoyably pass the time while they wait for the first course to arrive. It just happens that your primary tool is magic, but just talking is fine too.

Now, get off the Café and practice the routines you know. Do your best ones. If you don't have variety, so what. Eugene Burger started out with only six tricks... I think he ended up okay.

Best of luck.
Hudson

Thanks for the great replies-- Hudson, I'm going to use the opener you mentioned! I like it. That way they aren't expecting MAGIC and that way I have more of an element of suprise. Thank you!

My routine will goes as follows..

I will start after introducing myself;
I'll have a single penny in my left hand.. Say something along the lines of,
"Here, I'll make it a little easier for you to see." and then I'll transform the penny in to a jumbo penny. (which is quite visual)

I'll then do sort of a hopping half routine with the jumbo penny. (just f***e transfers in to tenkai and put it in my pocket, continuing to reproduce the coin.. Then I'll transform the penny back to being small again and put the coins away. I hear it's a good idea to start with something other than "pick a card."

I'll then perform here then there (hand sandwich), and after that, transition in to red hot mama. I know red hot mama is normally an opener, but I can prepare the deck for both tricks and perform both of them back to back if I do the hand sandwich first.

I'll then finish with an ACR and bid them a good meal and night.

Think there should be any changes? Is it too much or not enough tricks?

I was thinking about professor's nightmare as well.. But the restaurant is normally very packed and the tables are very close together. There's not much space for anything that should be done with a little bit of distance. Only reason I say that, is because I use very long ropes for professor's nightmare and I basically need an eagle's wingspan for my performance

As far as children's tricks-- I'm not going to worry about it too much. There are NEVER any very small children (under 5) in the restaurant and it's rare to have anyone under 13 or 14. Either way, I think my trick selection isn't too complicated and the concept of cards jumping to the top, changing colors and transporting is enough.

Thanks!

-Harley

Congratulations on the gig Zephury. I don't have much experience with table hopping I'm sorry to say, but if I can pop in with my two cents about a general point, I would love it if magicians would stop recycling lines like "Can you keep a secret? So can I." Or even worse, "let me see your left hand - no, the other left hand," etc, etc. I don't know if these lines were ever funny, witty, whatever to begin with, but they come across as very hackneyed now. I think the answer to 'how do you do it' should be totally dependent on your own individual character. You could say "I use the ancient secrets of the swamis, passed down to me from my great grandfather," or you could say "if I told you that, I'd have to take you to the kitchen to wash dishes," or you could say "I've created a three-dimensional hologram that temporarily creates an alternate reality." OK - to tell you the truth these are not such brilliant examples - but I just wanted to illustrate the point. It may take a good deal of time to come up with better responses that work for you, but I feel that magicians should strive to create their own individual personas. It not only helps make the individual magician more entertaining but it helps create a better impression of magic overall.

I'd start showing the tricks you plan to do to people you don't know as much as possible. Do it on the street for random people where it won't matter if you mess up. The best thing you can have is confidence and running into as many obstacles before you do the gig would be invaluable. Remember while working there you are an ambassador to the restaurant and need to be as professional and polished as you can be. If you've heard every line a spec can give you'll be able to concentrate on performance and not what happens after.

Spec: "How did you DO that??"
Me: "Very well, I think...yes?"

Doug

I am hopeless with coins myself, but I have splurged on not one but THREE of Roy Kuepper's "bitten" coins (Canadian quarter, loonie, and twonie) and am glad I did. I have no confidence with my efforts at coin work, but even I can pull off a Bobo switch and back between gaffed and borrowed coin. A really neat close up effect that freaks people out so much that the misdirection is perfect and no one seems to care if you've switched the coin or where the borrowed one is--good relatively easy magic, as the effect itself is so distracting that misdirection is built in, which with coins is a lovely thing.

I also just acquired Magic Makers' Triumph Deck and DVD. I know now that one can easily construct such a deck oneself, but I didn't know the secret or history of the trick before. But Simon Lovell's DVD is actually pretty good and I learned enough new to more than justify the modest cost. I mention this because I wonder how people feel about using trick decks in table hopping. I think a trick deck Triumph could be powerful closer--you wrap up, but cards in pocket, say "Wait, I have time for just one more," produce identical appearing trick deck from same pocket, do trick. Of course, resetting the deck between tables takes a minute but is easy. I know that purists advise eschewing trick decks, but I have to admit I really like this one a lot and it would be neat to sneak it into a short routine.

Les

I am one of those resourceful beginners who has been checking out stuff of dubious origin (something not encouraged officially around here), but I have fallen in love with some gems and here are some other suggestions. (I don't suggest you change your line up--I mention these simply to stimulate discussion around what people think of the tricks.)

21st Century 21-Card Trick--ETMCM Vol 9 (I think), a really easy stunner. The main sleight is simple to master and undetectable.
Diamond Cut Diamond--Malone Meets Marlo Vol 1, a little tougher (requires palming which always gives me the willies), and a little complex (multiple specs involved, three cards chosen), but still so neat.
Dunbury Aces--ETMCM, can't remember which volume, a modern redux of my boyhood fave. Fooled and impressed my sceptical wife who doesn't care for card magic and indeed glazes over when I walk into room with a deck of Bikes.
Acrobatic Aces--ETMCM Vol 1, a quick and cute colour change that's pretty easy.
A Poker Deal--I really like the one on ETMCM Vol 1, but Ammar mentions it is covered in Royal Road.

Three of these do require a simple set-up. How do table hopper do this, I wonder? Maybe more than one deck on the go, or quick strip and cull while chatting between tricks?

Thank you very much for the suggestions! I'll be checking all of them out in a little bit here. I had been hoping to get a reply like this with just a list of suggestions to add to it.

Boy, are you missing out!

Boy, are you missing out!

Don't be a tease, Mr. Lorayne--tell us more!

Awesome! I still am curious how one pulls off even short set-ups during a table set, or any impromptu work for that matter. A couple for sure in your original list need set ups so I am wondering how you and others negotiate it.

And guys, you've been complaining that Harry's Lorayne: The Classic Collection is too expensive...his e-Book versions are $50! Almost half off! Look at his other e-Books. You CAN afford these. No excuse now!

Doug

Here are some more suggestions:

Oz Pearlman's Blindsided (needs setup, resets quickly)
In-the-hand Triumph using a slop shuffle (probably the easiest Triumph to do, no set-up)
Oz Pearlman's Clutch (no setup)
Two-Shuffle Harry (from ETMCM someplace)
Harry Lorayne's Aces Wild

and many more!

All this, and nothing about how it all turned out and what you've learned since. Do tell.