I live in a not-so-magic-rich area of Kentucky. My only access to the Global, National & Regional magic scene is by taking a trip down to Nashville, up to Louisville or social media/podcast and the monthly trades. This isolation is a good thing and a bad thing – bad because I am often times BEHIND the time and trends in magic. I came to this conclusion after my first round of shows in Indianapolis in 2023. I was having a post-show lunch/dinner with my friends in Indy and my girlfriend who was visiting. We ate and dissected my performance. It dawned on me that I was “old school”. It was, except a few routines – all classic. I was in a way – a cover magician, but with my own uniquely scripted routines.
It was a good show, my friends in the Indy magic scene had nothing terrible to say, it was just an observation that the only thing unique in the show was my quirkiness and the script. The magic had already been done by thousands before me. Deep down I always felt this. I had tried for years to come up with new magic + new presentations but I had never been satisfied. So I just stuck to the trail most traveled.
So what’s the problem?
In magic, there is a myth that goes: ” everyone loves magic.” A sweeping overgeneralized statement of the human population which has peaked over 8 billion needs to be met with great criticism. There are small pockets of the human population that despise magic and magicians. Earlier I covered the main reason why magicians get a bad rep. It has nothing to do with the magician as a person – it’s primarily about repetition.
Creatively, most magicians are lazy. There are a LOT of copycats. This is a disaster. Now everyone in magic stands on the shoulders of someone else that came before, but every great magician ventured off and created their own magic. Unlike music or dramatic theatre/cinema – there is no room in magic for tributes or covers. Magic, much like a good joke cannot be repeated twice. I covered the relationship between comedy and magic too because magic and comedy work on identical neural pathways in the brain. Old jokes become bad after repetition, same for magic.
There is a parallel between magic, music & comedy
Every great artist attempts to express their unique story into their art. That is why there will only be one Johnny Cash, only one George Carlin & only one Thomas Nelson Downs (or any other magician in the past). You can get started on your artistic journey by imitating but you will NEVER be a carbon copy of the one you copy.
The economy of originality
Being an artist doesn’t automatically generate any cash. Choosing to be a starving artist is not a way to live nor is it a good image for the arts. When you figure out who you are, you will be able to figure out the material that’s appropriate for you – in doing so you will find your niche. This requires a great deal of self-awareness. An artist that tries to be whatever the client wants is not going to thrive, because they’re not serving an ideal client. Part of growing up is losing people in your life and FINDING people that better align with you.
Originality triumphs over copycats in the marketplace.
It is a fatal mistake to think that you can do the classics of magic with little personal input and still get booking agents, managers, and corporate or theatre clients. Booking agents, corporate executives, theatre managers, etc have seen it all. Long gone are the days that you can get away with copying someone (if you could ever get away with it in the long run). If it came from a magic store with the name “Walter Gibson” printed anywhere on it – you can bet its been done before. Now some utility magic props are permissible if redressed and altered to look novel but let’s face it – the days of box-jumping Grand Illusions are over. Originality rules and its extra bonus points if its a new magic and a new script that FITS you.
If you are truly growing in magic and as a person, you will find some routines are not a good fit for you.
Part of moving the perception of magic forward is to move the perception people have about you as a performer. If you do magic with spongeballs – chances are you will be perceived as a children’s magician. If you perform almost exclusively with playing cards – it can go many ways; a dork, someone’s uncle or a proficient professional magician. People have heuristics that dictate how they perceive magicians and it is your job to break any expectations.
For most of my career, up until 2023 – I used sponge balls. I stopped doing it when I realized that I may be playing to the negative heuristics some people have about magicians and I could not break out of the pattern of doing the all too predictable transposition of one ball in my hand invisibly to the volunteers. It gets a reaction but so many magicians do it there are better ways of getting that reaction than using sponge balls – which by the way can carry bacteria and other pathogens……
If the classic works for you and you can adapt it to your personal story – go for it.
IF there is a classic in your show and you love it and it fits with you – I don’t see the harm in keeping it. We all have that one routine that we learned that just sticks with us. If it works for you, if it brings you joy – keep it. That emotion transmutes to the audience. I would not, however, make it the first thing people see nor the last. You don’t want that to be the thing people remember you by. I love the Cups & Balls but in my professional stand up show – I keep it towards the end but NOT as a finale. It hits hard and I feel that there is a good time to move to the finale.
Jordan Allen 