Ed Sumner
15 Years Experience
Staffordshire, UK
Male, 28
I perform close up magic and stand up magic. I also run a children's magic company called Ready Steady Magic. You can find out more about me on YouTube! =P
As a professional magician and Member of the Magic Circle, I work hard to create incredible events.
Feel free to ask me whatever you wish and let me reveal the secrets of what I do (but not those secrets!)
Well any trick no matter how 'hack' it might can be turned around and made presentable. It just needs a new idea. For example, there's a trick called Six Card Repeat - every magician does it at the start of their show! Most magicians just do it the same way, "I have one, two, three, four, five, six cards and I threw one, two, three away and I still had one, two, three, four, five, six, so I said, NO WAY! How can I have one, two, three, four, five, six cards, throw one, two, three away and still have one, two, three, four, five, six." etc... It's boring!! But others have created something new from it - Tim Ellis has a great rap version, Joshua Jay does a version with credit cards instead of playing cards. And I have a parody version for magicians!
The defining thing about hacks is that they don't have any creativity or originality of their own, so they just copy others, use lines that weren't funny the first time round, "Hold your hand out, no the clean one." etc... That's part of the reason why in my children's show, I don't use a magic wand, even though it's expected. I haven't found a way to make it novel for me, yet.
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Both! I think of it a little bit like cooking. Once you know the basics eg. how to saute, whisk, and fold etc... and how different flavours combine, then you can put down the recipe books and start making up your own meals.It's similar with magic. I can still learn from a book, but because I know how to control, misdirect, ditch and ring in, etc... I can make up my own routines, which is all the better as they are uniquely mine, and a display of my personality. That's important as I think people are more interested in other people than they are magic tricks!
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That's very unspecific, but why not have a look at Don Alan's Magic Ranch? That's the right sort of era and was a show where Don performed close up magic to a group of celebrity guests.
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Sorry, I don't reveal secrets. If you seriously want to learn magic, then I suggest you buy a book and learn it the same way everyone else did. As with anything, it takes time and effort to master it.
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I answered a question similar to this previously. In short, we use those animals because they will sit quietly whilst waiting to appear. I don't use animals in my shows because I travel a lot and I don't think that stress would be fair on the animal. If I had a static show in a venue, or I could use an animal for a one off performance for a large group or for TV then I would consider it.
As for breeds, I can't say for sure as I don't use them, but I imagine so. Flemish Giant Rabbits would need a much bigger hat!
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I would say that copying other magicians should be something that should be a big NO-NO, in the same way that stand up comedians are protective about their material, because it's so personal to them.
Unfortunately, it's not like that though and there are hack magicians who just copy off others, and use lines that weren't funny the first times round. That's upsetting.
One thing that people in the magic community do get annoyed about is people copying without crediting others. It seems almost like it's all right to copy as long as you don't pass it off as your own to other magicians. So you might say, "This trick isn't mine, I learnt it from..."
But if you try to sell a trick or routine that you've blatantly copied and not credited, then we really don't like that, and it happens.
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Well card flourishes are not magic, but they can be magical. They tend to work better on video than live, but I do know of magicians that have a lot of flourishes within their close up magic routines.
The best route for you is to work on anything that you enjoy and can be passionate about. If you enjoy it, you can find someone else who enjoys it too. Start with your personality and your character not the tricks.
For example, I have a lot of self-deprecating humour in my show (I mean it's only magic tricks, right). Occasionally I come up against people who hate what I do (with a passion) but I'm OK with that because last week I met someone who said I had the exact same sense of humour as them. I like that challenge of risking the polar opposite, win or fail scenario, but others might want to play it a little safer. What on earth is my mo?
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