Tenyo Magic Forum

So far I've just been doing one-off tricks for friends and family but yesterday I did a complete (albeit short) show for my nephew's birthday party for about 20 people (kids and adults). It went over really well! The kids and adults kept talking about it for hours after it was over.

Not that anybody really cares, but here's the set I did (but I *DO* think my Phantoma routine is novel so at least check that out):

I started off by "apologizing" to my nephew and telling him I forgot to get him a birthday card this year. Then I whipped-out my "magic printer" (4-D Printer), showed the empty cards and loaded them into the apparatus. I then set the printer on a ledge behind me so that it was plainly visible for the remainder of the show...

Then I moved-on to a routine I created by combining Phantoma with Ghost Lamp. I've seen a LOT of Phantoma -> Ghost Pet but never Ghost Lamp. I think this was by far the crowd pleaser, and an awesome routine. I do Phantoma, and after making the ghost go into the hanky and dance around a bit I go straight into Ghost Lamp since it requires a hanky anyway. I have a spectator choose the card, introduce the light bulb and make the "ghost" find the spectator's card. The spectator can even hold the hanky without fear of exposure since the corners are all bunched-up at the top and the spectator is holding it further down. After the card is found I turn the lamp off with the scissors and then "toss" the ghost back into the Phantoma house. The combination of these two tricks was seamless, to me hey just feel like they were meant to go together. If you have those two tricks I highly recommend at least TRYING them together...

After that I did Balloon Illusion cuz hey, it was a birthday party! I told my nephew I was going to make him a balloon animal. He could choose any animal as long as it was a snake or a worm (trollface!). I then did the trick without actually popping the balloon (but held it REALLY far-out pretending to be afraid it was going to pop at any second). Here's a really blurry photo of that trick taken by my sister-in-law (apparently with a potato):

As you can see, the dog was really into that trick...

And finally, I did The Third Eye, saying that since it was my nephew's birthday he had special powers for one day only. I let a spectator choose a card and gave him the eye. He was able to find the card but being only 7, he was REALLY confused by the whole thing. That was the "weakest" trick despite me being really excited and hopeful to perform it. I'll have to try it on friends, I think it will go over better with an older crowd...

And of course for the finale I pulled the now-printed cards out of the 4-D printer that had been in plain view the whole time. I did the "Happy Birthday" presentation that comes with the trick and I taped an iTunes card to the last/blank card. You can see it sitting on the ledge in the photo above. I know people say that 4-D Printer is a bad trick (mostly because it's made of cardboard) but honestly I got asked THE MOST about that trick after the show by the adults. Everyone wanted to know how it was done! I think leaving the whole thing visible throughout the show and then pulling the cards out at the end gave it more impact than the standard performance.

All in all it was a good performance, and a TON of fun!

Thanks for the story Mike, much appreciated! I really like your routine with Ghost Lamp and Phantoma by the way, it is definately something I will try out
The last time I performed Ballon Illusion the balloon popped by the way, I must have done something wrong or the ballons have perhaps oxidized a bit making them easier to pop.

mike thanks for the routine, i think it's really useful to hear how these tricks play out to an audience, especially of that size and mix of spectators. I usually perform to one person at a time (and more often tha. not that's either my wife, my baby, my cat or myself).
I think leaving the 4D printer out in view for a while must have given it more impact and given the routine a nice bit of continuity.

+10,000 uncle points
+500 bonus dog entertainment points

Thanks for sharing Mike. It's always good to here how Tenyo tricks go over in real world performances.
I never thought of using Phantoma and Ghost Lamp together but now that you mentioned it it makes a lot of sense. I will definitely have to try that out as well.
I've tried out Third Eye on slightly older kids and it also didn't go over that well. They just looked at it as a light shining on the cards and didn't really "get" it. Although in my case it could just be my presentation wasn't that great.

Wow...you rock Mike !! Happy to hear how creative you are by combining tenyo props become a whole magic act. Good opening, good routine, good ending !!

Mike H wrote: I started off by "apologizing" to my nephew and telling him I forgot to get him a birthday card this year. Then I whipped-out my "magic printer" (4-D Printer), showed the empty cards and loaded them into the apparatus. I then set the printer on a ledge behind me so that it was plainly visible for the remainder of the show...

And of course for the finale I pulled the now-printed cards out of the 4-D printer that had been in plain view the whole time. I did the "Happy Birthday" presentation that comes with the trick and I taped an iTunes card to the last/blank card. You can see it sitting on the ledge in the photo above. I know people say that 4-D Printer is a bad trick (mostly because it's made of cardboard) but honestly I got asked THE MOST about that trick after the show by the adults. Everyone wanted to know how it was done! I think leaving the whole thing visible throughout the show and then pulling the cards out at the end gave it more impact than the standard performance.

This was a proof that THE MAGIC IS YOU, MIKE !!

(Kudos on the minecraft bunting btw, that's one cool 'phew you've got)

Awesome stuff mike,looks like you had a real blast!!

Thanks for all the nice words, guys! It was a lot of fun (and good eye there, Simon! He turned 7 yesterday and Minecraft is his favorite thing in the whole world).

wow good job!!! thankks for sharing, always good to know how people perform tenyo!!!

Bravo on an all Tenyo act. Great selection and awesome integration of Phantoma and Ghost Lamp--especially being able to incorporate the Glorpy hanky! Absolutely brilliant. That got me to look up Ghost Lamp on Youtube and, man; Why do you guys show me all this new stuff to bankrupt me on Tenyo! Now I have to put Ghost Lamp on my radar!

Balloon Illusion: Great selection! I live in a house where everyone has a latex allergy, so I've never really considered the trick. But it looks like it plays big

After I read that you did Third Eye I was surprised. I'm sorry it didn't play as big as it should.
I would have thought Third Eye would have worked because Ghost Lamp was such a huge hit!

And the ending was a real knockout with 4D printer. I almost threw my laptop in excitement.
'That's how you do a birthday!'

But man, that's an awesome all Tenyo birthday performance. I'd thrilled you shared it.

How long was your performance?

Thanks, Brett! I'm new to all this but I feel like building a good show is a bit like making a mixtape. Thinking about your audience and having a solid opener, entertaining middle section and ending that will leave them with something to talk about is key!

The whole thing was somewhere between 15 and 20 minutes.

Mike H wrote:Thanks, Brett! I'm new to all this but I feel like building a good show is a bit like making a mixtape. Thinking about your audience and having a solid opener, entertaining middle section and ending that will leave them with something to talk about is key!

The whole thing was somewhere between 15 and 20 minutes

I agree with building a routine the way you structured it. But do you put your strongest tricks at te beginning to get your foot in the door?

I'm trying to build 2 small Tenyo routines and I'm close to finalizing the sets. So I'm all gabby. I hope I'm not being a nutter.

We're there any tricks that you considered that didn't make the cut?

Thanks for sharing! Congrats.

Great Mike! That's the real fun, performing for your family, only then you can experience how good the effects are and how good you can perform!

Wow impressive performance Mike and nice combination of routine. Additional headache for me because i have to haunt the ghost from the lamp...i don't own yet this item Ghost Lamp

It was funny to see the dog joined one of your audience...and it seems he/she want to bite the balloon thinking it is a BIG JUMBO HOTDDOG