Fixing problems on tour

Thoughts from week 1

As you’re reading this, I’m on a plane from Boston to Chicago. I’m performing in five cities in one week, which has been, let’s just say, excessive.

In Denver, I played back to back nights at Meow Wolf. Afterwards, on my flight to Washington, D.C., I wrote notes for myself on how to improve. I thought it would be valuable for you to see the process. Here we go:

The Memory Box

Before the show, audience members are asked to think of a memory, write it down, and slide it into a black box on stage. In the past, I tried to get the entire audience to do this. This is completely unnecessary, because at maximum, I’m only going to reveal ten memories.

So, in an effort to save people time, and save myself paper, I put 20 papers on stage, and the first 20 people who would like to think of a memory can do so (this is an idea from Luke Jermay—limit the papers, increase the people who really want to participate. Supply and demand).

Last night, a group of eight people all filled out a memory card. I’m thrilled that they all wanted to participate, but that meant that because there were only 20 cards, a disproportionate amount of the information I revealed came from one table in the back. This isn’t bad, but it could be better—the idea of the trick is that the memories are widespread throughout the audience, so that everyone feels involved. If I keep going back to one table, it just looks fishy, even though that’s how it shook out.

The fix, I think, is quite simple. I just added a phrase to the pre-show slide: “Maximum 3 cards per group, please,” which means that I will have, at minimum, 7 groups of people filling out cards, who will hopefully be evenly spread throughout the room. We’ll see how it goes.

Jelly Beans

The opening of the show is dynamic—I have slides on the screen instructing an audience member to stand on stage alone and figure out how many jelly beans are in a jar. For this presentation to work, I can’t be on stage, and I can’t be talking to the participant. They have to figure it out on their own.

In order to (seemingly) make my life easier, I put the slides on an auto-trigger, meaning that every few seconds, it would automatically switch to the next instruction.

What I failed to consider is that the person on stage won’t be reading the slides. Last night, the gentleman picked up the jelly bean jar, started shaking it, and completely missed everything on the slides. It was not controlled in any way. While the trick worked, it wasn’t tight or precise, and the opening MUST be tight.

Again, the fix for this is quite easy. I’m taking the slides off auto-trigger, so that I can stand backstage, make sure they answer each question, and only then, move onto the next slide.

Another very simple fix, but one I can only learn from experience.

I misplaced a prop

There’s an envelope that must be handed out to an audience member fairly early in the show. During the second Meow Wolf show, I realized that that envelope was nowhere to be found.

After the show, I learned that it ended up inside the ballot box where the audience puts their memories. One of two things happened: I put it there before the show during an absolute brain fart or, because the envelope was next to the memory cards, and audience member mistakenly put it in the box.

It meant that I had to cut that section from the show, because I literally had no idea where the envelope was. Despite doing that trick well over 100 times, I simply misplaced a critical piece of it. I was still able to do most of the trick, but that part was lost. First time for everything. I’ll be setting that prop in a new place this time.

Should I memorize names?

Without getting too into the weeds, when I toured with Tess and Jason, I used the time that they were on stage to accomplish some of my methods.

When I perform solo, I need to do everything myself before the show starts.

Which means, I’ve been having to make a judgement call: Do I spend time memorizing names, or do I spend that time backstage prepping to make one of the tricks in the show slightly better?

Right now, I’m leaning toward memorizing names. I have a version of the other trick that I can do with absolutely no preparation. It’s very solid, and arguably better than the version where I prepare with extra time, because it’s well-paced. It’s a good reminder that more is not always better.

Meanwhile, memorizing names in this capacity is my unique offering. It’s something that, especially on this scale (65+ names every night) very few entertainers can offer in combination with the show I have.

Additionally, memorizing names allows me to warm up the audience and figure out who I want to use for certain effects.

There’s so many added benefits to memorizing names beyond the actual effect, I think it’s a no-brainer that this, not the other trick, has to be the priority.

Again—I wrote that thought on the plane to DC. After doing exactly that in DC and Philadelphia, I learned that the thought was correct.

Bring myself down

One of my big misses over the last few months, I think, was not talking about running on stage. I joke with people that I have two skills—magic and running, and everything else pretty much falls by the wayside.

Running is a huge part of my life, makes me who I am, and in an autobiographical show, deserves to be on stage.

So, a large part of the ending ties into a real run that I do either the day of the show, or the day before.

The morning of the Meow Wolf show, I did a decently long run—14 miles, and I ran it pretty fast. The issue, I realized after the show, was that it kind of just seemed like I was bragging.

I want people to know who I am, but bragging will alienate people, not bring them into my world. I feel strongly that the run should be real and within the last few days, but if I go particularly fast, I need to be self-deprecating to bring the audience in.

In D.C., Philly, and Boston, I brought myself down before revealing the run, and it landed much better. It no longer seemed like I was bragging—it felt like the audience got a little peek into my world.

It’s amazing how you can reveal the exact same information but with different framing and get an entirely different response.

Moving forward

This leg of the tour will finish tonight in Chicago. Then I’m off for two weeks, before doing LA, San Diego, and San Francisco in two weeks. You can get tickets to everything (including further shows in NYC and Denver), right here.