Professional Comedy Magician » Max’s Stories

Baltimore Magic Seminar

admin — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 16:21:28 +0000

Ice McDonald and Eric Anderson are 2 very good veteran magicians. They both have different styles but both are professional, elegant and very magical. They are friends, both very successful and wanted to “give back” to the magic community. They decided to do an all day super seminar for magicians and present everything a magician could possibly need to know to be a success. A seminar like this would take many hours, so rather than spread it out over several days they decided to squeeze it all into one day.

The amazing part was they said it would be free. What? Nothing is free. They explained that they wanted to video the entire day and edit it into a commercial program that they would market. So money would be made, but the best audience for something like this would be a group of magicians that got in for free. A $50 deposit was required that was to be refunded when you got there.

They emailed me in December with the details, and I was very intrigued. The date was set for January 10, Saturday in Baltimore. I haven’t been back East for a while and it sounded like a worth while trip. So I flew out Friday and enjoyed a nice flight. Got my rental car and stayed in a hotel near the airport.

The seminar was great. It was in the “magic room” in the back of Denny & Lee’s (Denny Haney) magic shop, starting time was 8:00 AM sharp. There were about 50 magicians there eating donuts and soft pretzels; I had forgotten that soft pretzels were a staple of the diet back east. Everyone checked in and received a name badge and personalized packet of information and CDs. We were all wondering why the $50 deposit wasn’t mentioned, and Eric announced that it was all refunded into our credit cards the night before. So it started out classy.

The seminar went from 8:00 in the morning till about midnight with meal breaks and a couple of other short breaks. So very intense. Eric and Ice (Kendrick) covered Performance, Presentation, Marketing and Business. I especially liked the marketing and business segments with their advice on contracts, talent agencies, music copyright laws, insurance, promotional DVDs, managers, and even things like international travel, travel with animals, what you do if your show luggage gets lost by the airlines, etc.

At the end of the evening they offered a discount to anyone at the seminar for the 17 DVD set when it’s finished, and a number of the participants reserved a set. I didn’t as I took good notes and felt like a lot of the information was for things I am already doing. I did a video testimonial for them to use, and I hope they do well selling the 17 DVD set. I highly recommend it for any magician that’s serious about stepping it up.

Sunday morning I decided to drive down to Washington DC and see the national monuments. It’s only a 45 minute drive from Baltimore but when I got there I was met with major traffic gridlock. This surprised me especially for a Sunday morning. When I got within a block of the national mall I looked down the block and saw a major parade going. Bands, cheerleaders, motorcycle police, the whole parade thing. I asked a person what was going on, and he said it was a dress rehearsal parade for the inauguration the next week.

Apparently they even had stand-in people and vehicles for the President and others so everyone knows where they go and what they are supposed to do. And I would guess it’s a good time for the secret service and police to figure out the security issues. Anyway, I got to see part of the inaugural parade in DC and it was cool. Got lost on the way out of town and got a major headache and it was a relief to sleep on the plane ride home.

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Eagle Quest of Nevada

admin — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 18:06:42 +0000

I had 22 shows in July, it was a very busy month. 4 shows stood out as quite an experience. They were all for the same company, Eagle Quest of Nevada based in Las Vegas. Here is an excerpt from their web site:
Eagle Quest opened its doors to Las Vegas’ at-risk youth in July of 2003. For the first couple of months, Eagle Quest consisted of less than fifteen youth. During the first year, we implemented a high-adventure outdoor skills and Boy Scout program. This program, in combination with our scrap-booking program for our female clientele would soon set Eagle Quest apart from our competitors and define our future.

Today, our non-profit corporation serves over 85 youth, who have been physically, sexually, and/or mentally abused. We offer our clients opportunities that have never been offered to them before, such as annual whitewater rafting trips in Moab, Utah, and week-long high adventure camps, which consist of mountain climbing, biking, and hiking.

In 2006, Eagle Quest was fortunate enough to purchase a recreation center for Las Vegas’ foster children. Our future vision is to have a spacious swimming pool, full size basketball court, and pool tables, where youth cam come together to congregate free of society’s life stressors (gangs, drugs, prostitution, etc.) This recreation center will provide twenty-four hour supervision and an atmosphere that is structured and therapeutic.

Recently, Eagle Quest also acquired one hundred sixty acres in central Utah. This land will be developed as a high adventure camp for foster youth throughout the Las Vegas Community. At-risk youth will be able to experience the wonders of the great outdoors.

The future camp will also serve as a retreat for foster parents who work so hard to help troubled youth. By Christmas of this year, Eagle Quest hopes to serve over one hundred foster children in the valley.

With donators such as Rhodes Homes and Money Tree, Eagle Quest has the ability to provide more services to these greatly disadvantaged youth. We are always looking for other local business and individuals to help us in our quest to better the lives of at-risk children in the Las Vegas community.

In my next post I will talk about the 4 shows I did for Eagle Quest and the foster children.

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The “Skunk Show”

admin — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 15:42:24 +0000

I was watching TV on a Saturday afternoon one time years ago and there was a “Skunk Show” on. I don’t mean a nature show about skunks, I mean like a dog show where they judge dogs and walk them around on a leash and stuff except it was for skunks. I kid you not there were 50 skunks of every color entered in this show, competing for the “best skunk of the show” prize. I didn’t know they came in different colors but they do. Black and white of course, blond, cinnamon, brown, whatever. They interviewed some of the owners and they said skunks were the best pets they ever had. There were kids there playing with their skunks. Sooo – I thought wow how great would that be for a magic show! I’ve never seen a skunk in a show before. So I found a good breeder on the internet and ordered a baby skunk. $350. They sent my check back and politely said I couldn’t own a skunk in my state, thanks anyway. I checked into it and they are right – it’s illegal to own a skunk in my state. I called the wildlife people and they said I could apply for a special permit for a $200 non-refundable fee. It would take a couple of months to go through the process, and if they denied the permit I still lose the $200. What the heck. So I sent money and the forms, they responded that I needed to prove I was a professional magician and get a letter from a local veterinarian etc., etc. So I did all that, but by now it was too late in the year to get a baby skunk because they are only born in the spring. Even in captivity. I was slowly becoming a skunk expert. Ask me anything. Finally they sent a letter saying I could have a skunk with a list of conditions like semi-annual exams etc. I waited till the next spring and ordered my baby skunk,(they come de-scented by the way – I know you were wondering).

So 2 years since I first had the idea. They flew it to the Vegas airport and I picked it up at the cargo hanger. Wow a baby skunk. I named it Squirt and it became part of the family. It loved to play all day and would paw at your legs incessantly if you didn’t. I found that it liked playing with 1 or 2 people, but if there was a crowd of 4 or 5 or more it got real grumpy real fast. The internet says that’s a normal trait with skunks. Kind of a bummer for magic shows.

Anyway – when Squirt was about 6 months old he got another round of shots from the veterinarian, and he started sleeping more and more, being grumpy more and more and quit eating. I think he got distemper from his distemper inoculation shot at the vets. You know how sometimes people get the flu from a flu shot – same thing. Well distemper is fatal for animals. Squirt died when he was 8 or 9 months old, I was holding him and stoking his fur, sad night. My daughter (Squirt’s favorite human) was there too. I cried a little. So that’s the cute, sweet sad story of Squirt, now comes the part where you’ll think I’m a freak. My son does taxidermy (oh don’t tell me – please don’t tell me) yep! I want him to stuff Squirt. I would like to give Squirt a special place in my magic room because I don’t think there are very many magic skunks around. So – Ben (my son) has Squirt’s hide in the freezer downstairs (told you – freak) and he will taxidermy him when he comes home from Alaska in the fall. Kind of has a cute “Psycho” twist to it. Oh well. I don’t think I will get another skunk – it’s out of my system. It was a lot of work and they don’t like crowds. Rabbits do, so I’ll immortalize Squirt in my magic room and call it good.

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Fly Away Dove

admin — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 15:37:32 +0000

Once when I was younger (I guess any story I tell would be about me when I was younger…) I had a show outside in a park. I always enjoy doing a full show whenever I can and I took the doves with me. I don’t clip my doves’ wings because I talked with Channing Pollock once in Las Vegas, (he basically invented dove magic in the 50’s), and he said he never clipped his doves. Just trim the tails a little and they look better if they have full wings. So that’s what I do. Plus I have a pretty good size cage for my birds and I like the fact that they can fly around if they want. So I don’t clip them. And I handle them a lot so they won’t fly away during performances.

Anyway back to the park. I produced a dove at the beginning of the show, and put her in the cage. A little later I was going to vanish the dove and have her re-appear somewhere else, so I got her out of the cage and presented her (very professionally) to the audience. The dove then simply took off. Split. Flew the coop. I just stood there watching her fly away. What to do now? I smiled and waved goodbye to the bird and took a small bow and the audience clapped. I then went on with the next part of the show. I guess they thought it was cool that I would give a nice dove its freedom. That’s the great thing about comedy magic – when stuff goes wrong you can laugh it off and move on. I now don’t take birds to outdoor shows. The rabbit is fine, but not the birds. I’ve had doves fly away a couple of times indoors but I always get them back. I never saw the dove in the park again and I hope she is OK.

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Robert Peterson

admin — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 15:36:02 +0000

When I was a teenager my mom dragged me to see “Man of LaMancha” because Robert Peterson was in town and he apparently was the “Man”. I couldn’t have cared less but the show was OK and mom never could stop talking about Robert Peterson. I was able to see him in man of LaMancha after I became an adult, and holy cow when he sings “The Impossible Dream” it’ll drop you to your knees. He got a standing ovation right in the middle of the show. He played Lancelot on Broadway when Julie Andrews and Richard Burton were the king and queen in Camelot.

Now many years later I moved into my new house with my family and guess who lives right across the street but Robert Peterson and his sweet wife Lois. I mean right across the street – my address is 1810 and his is 1811. So we got to be pretty good friends and would sit next to each other in church choir and stuff. I asked him one time if singing in church choir for him was like Charlton Heston doing a scout skit. He laughed and said no, its all great fun. My mom passed away several years before I built this house, but I swear she arranged in heaven that I would live by Bob. I know she loved my dad dearly but whoo boy did she ever have a crush on that guy with the voice.

Bob (oh yeah – I called him Broadway Bob) was at our house one time and I had him record an introduction for me that I could use in my shows. I have used his recorded intro for just about every show I have ever done since then and I plan to use it forever more. He says “ladies and gentlemen, we proudly present the world’s greatest comedy magician, (in his price range), Max the Magician!” It sounds great with his booming voice and he got a kick out of doing it for me. We did it in one take. What a nice guy. This was 4 or 5 years ago towards the fall of 2003.

Shortly after this, Bob was playing handball with a friend and had a major heart attack. They say he died before he hit the court. December 1, 2003. Very sad time for everyone. There is a large festival (Dickens Festival) that runs every Christmas season in the Convention Center, they had hired me to do a show. It was a Saturday and coincidentally the same day as Bob’s funeral. So I went to his funeral and left straight from there to the show. I was all set and standing behind the curtain when all of a sudden Bob’s voice came over the speakers announcing me with the recorded intro we had done. I hadn’t thought about the recording that day and having just come from the man’s funeral it really freaked me out. I was literally in tears when I came on stage and it took a lot of effort to get into the show. The show went fine but I will never forget my good friend. Mom’s probably got him singing in heaven’s choir now and she’s on the front row.

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Fake Funeral Joke

admin — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 15:34:00 +0000

The most bizarre venue I did a show for was a fake funeral practical joke. This husband and wife were into playing practical jokes on each other and I guess the wife had gotten the husband real good with something. So to get even he set up this funeral. Actually a fake “wake” or viewing or whatever. There were quite a number of people involved in the prank, starting with the location. It was a very pricey large house on the hill, nice view and plenty of parking. One of the local funeral homes had a beautiful carved wooden coffin that looked like it was from the old western movies. But for a rich guy – like maybe the town mayor. Anyway it was cool. One of the funeral home employees was there complete with suit and name tag. Flowers, soft funeral music, the works. There were probably 20 or 30 people all dressed for a funeral, some of the ladies even cried at the right time. A makeup artist worked on the “dead” guy and he really looked dead.

So all this was set up before the husband and wife showed up, and I had my show set up in an adjacent room. The husband told his wife it was a friend from work or something that died, they showed up and stood in line to look at the dead guy. Like I said some of the ladies were crying and hugging their guys when they were at the coffin. When the husband and wife got to the coffin they paid respects for a few moments and the dead guy came to life with a scream. The wife about lost her cookies. Then everyone burst out laughing and the party began. They had me wheel my stuff out in front of the coffin and I did my show. Everyone was in a great mood (even the wife) and it was a very fun evening. I wonder what she did to get even…

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Sawing a lady in half!

admin — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 15:31:46 +0000

Many years ago when I was first getting serious about performing professionally I built a “saw a lady in half” trick. It’s kind of cheesy and not really that much of a trick because I don’t even pull the lady apart. Just run the saw through her and she magically gets restored. But there’s a lot of comedy and I can use a lady from the audience that has no idea what’s going on.

One of the first times I did it a guy hired me to do a dinner show at the Bloomington Country Club. He asked about the tricks I was going to do and I mentioned the sawing trick. He said “oh man what if you sawed me in half and I pretended that you really hurt me! That could be a blast!” I wasn’t too thrilled about using a guy, or trying to make this look real, but he was the guy writing the check so I said OK. When the time came I had him come up and did the normal jokes and stuff, then sawed him in half. He had some kind of fake blood pill in his mouth that he bit and made blood come out of his mouth. I swear there was a lady on the front row that about passed out, and another one next to her that almost barfed. This guy thought it would be a real joke but it was a little too real for a few moments.

So I never will do that again. Not a great reputation builder for a comedy magician when you kill a guy. Although a few years later I performed in a “dinner mystery theatre” show at the Bumbleberry playhouse and they had me “kill” a girl with my sawing trick as part of the mystery for the evening. Worked great in this setting, someone was supposed to die. Just not at a nice dinner at the country club.

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