Michael Close. Magic Magazine
‘…If you perform in front of an audience of strangers, it is likely that, at some point in your career, you will be heckled. How you handle this situation will, in some degree, determine your success as a performer. Conventional wisdom says to fire back with your best heckler stopper. The brilliance of Mr Fields book is that this is not his suggested course of action. In fact, he offers several strategies, the first of which is: ignore and carry on.
Not every heckler situation is the same and Mr Fields analyzes many different ones. Studying these scenarios will provide a performer with many more tools for their audience-interaction toolbox. Remember: If your only tool is the hammer (the heckle stopper), then you will see every problem as a nail. And there are many times that bringing down that big hammer is not the judicious thing to do.
…you should buy this book because it contains some of the best advice ever offered on audience control and management’
Duncan Trillo –
Duncan Trillo http://www.magicweek.co.uk
‘Since turning professional 25 years ago Keith Fields has worked more comedy clubs than just about any other magician in the country, with hundreds and hundreds of performances at the Comedy Store in London’s West End, Jongleurs night clubs across the UK, and perhaps the toughest club of them all, the infamous Tunnel Palladium.
How to Handle Hecklers takes all that hard-won audience experience and packs it into 120 brilliant pages of solid advice, notes, and killer put-downs (over 200!). You’ll learn how to turn imminent disaster into instant success.’
120 pages, 25 years of experience, over 200 put down lines and why you should be very careful about using them!
A wonderful tool for the mind reader…
You will wonder how you managed without it! One example of the many possible routines with this book…
A volunteer is asked to stop you at a random page as you flick through the book. They then look at the page number and remember it. This is repeated with 2 more volunteers. They are all thinking of different numbers. You ask them to stand and you point to each volunteer in turn and name a number and say ‘If I correctly named your number will you please sit down now’ The 3 volunteers sitting down simultaneously is an instant cue for thunderous applause!
This presentation is similar to the Hoy tossed out deck routine only with a book but there are many more possible routines with this well produced book.
Keith’s signature routine “Spot Paddles” has been called “The best Paddle trick in the World!” This routine alone is worth the price and will quickly become one of your favorite close-up tricks. Easy to do and brilliantly routined to provide over a dozen eye-popping magical moments from the simplest of props. Paddle Magic contains the special props needed for Keith’s Spot Paddles routine.
The 40 minute on line video tutorial also teaches Keith’s Money Knife routine, and a brand new paddle trick based on a long forgotten prop. AND just for fun we have included some hilarious bloopers.
These are replacement paddles for Paddle Magic. 2 sets of paddles. We sell replacement paddles separately without the instruction link and routine as people actually do this trick so often the paddles get lost!
This is my current favorite gag and I use it almost everywhere because of the surprised reaction that it gets from audience members!
In cabaret shows I use the Magic Marker early on, and then I use Wand2Canejust before the end. There is something about that moment when people jump, and then they realize what just happened and gasp and laugh at the same time. And the noise of the appearing cane in this instant adds to it and actually improves the effect!
For family shows… It could be another gag wand, and they are always good value in a show. Or it could be a running gag. I use 3 of these!! Each time I pick up a magic wand it changes into a cane and frightens the life out of me! So next time I am scared to go to my wand box (draw box) but it is empty, then I open it again and the snake flies out! (supply your own snake box).
I’m sure there is a great routine here for a wand that turns into a cane and then the cane vanishes followed by the wand turning up on my back! (Yes I will soon have matching appearing and vanishing canes also available).
I have recently found a new supplier of canes which are of superior quality and the fastest plastic canes I have ever used.
Anyway cut to the chase Keith… How much for this little beauty?
Michael Close –
Michael Close. Magic Magazine
‘…If you perform in front of an audience of strangers, it is likely that, at some point in your career, you will be heckled. How you handle this situation will, in some degree, determine your success as a performer. Conventional wisdom says to fire back with your best heckler stopper. The brilliance of Mr Fields book is that this is not his suggested course of action. In fact, he offers several strategies, the first of which is: ignore and carry on.
Not every heckler situation is the same and Mr Fields analyzes many different ones. Studying these scenarios will provide a performer with many more tools for their audience-interaction toolbox. Remember: If your only tool is the hammer (the heckle stopper), then you will see every problem as a nail. And there are many times that bringing down that big hammer is not the judicious thing to do.
…you should buy this book because it contains some of the best advice ever offered on audience control and management’
Duncan Trillo –
Duncan Trillo http://www.magicweek.co.uk
‘Since turning professional 25 years ago Keith Fields has worked more comedy clubs than just about any other magician in the country, with hundreds and hundreds of performances at the Comedy Store in London’s West End, Jongleurs night clubs across the UK, and perhaps the toughest club of them all, the infamous Tunnel Palladium.
How to Handle Hecklers takes all that hard-won audience experience and packs it into 120 brilliant pages of solid advice, notes, and killer put-downs (over 200!). You’ll learn how to turn imminent disaster into instant success.’
120 pages, 25 years of experience, over 200 put down lines and why you should be very careful about using them!