The Genii Forum

The MAGIC e-update reports:

The Ellen Degeneres Show
Thursday, October 23rd, 3:00 PM ET/PT, CBS
Keith Barry, who bills himself as a hypnomagician, blending magic, illusions, and hypnosis, makes his second appearance on The Ellen Degeneres Show, Thursday, October 23rd. Barry performs October 28 through November 27 at the Planet Hollywood Showroom in Las Vegas.

Ellen must be the most magic friendly TV show on right now.

Maybe her booker is a magician?

Ill be interested to hear what he did.Keith has been doing the chat show rounds here in the uk too.

http://ellen.warnerbros.com/2008/10/kei ... e_card.php

Phantom artist.....kinda (!) lol

We have a clip of his appearance on MagicNewswire.com for your viewing pleasure.

Ryan Matney wrote:Ellen must be the most magic friendly TV show on right now.

She exposed The Guiltone trick to everybody too that one time Neil Patrick Harris was on.

Keith will be interviewed at the upcoming MINDvention in Las Vegas...

So...he read her body language WHILE cutting? Uh, wouldn't he have had to have known who it was from the first cut in order to make all the cuts come out correctly?

I HATE logical disconnects that ruin the plot.

And please, enough with the pseudo-psycho-kinesthetic nonsense. It's been done to DEATH.

The audience sure seemed to have enjoyed it.

Absolutely, Mark! Ultimately, that's what matters most.

Mark Paulson wrote:The audience sure seemed to have enjoyed it.

(Some) audiences also enjoyed Mission Impossible III

Brad Henderson wrote:(Some) audiences also enjoyed Mission Impossible III

Hey! I liked MI:III!

-Jim

Why the sour grapes? The guy has almost no time to do two or more tricks, which he did successfully, and the host loved it (while she was positively promoting magic once again.)

Why the (predictable) negativity? Sheesh.............

I do not think "the audience liked it" is always the litmus test of success. I did not see the performance, he may have been great. But there are many things that large numbers of people like that still are not the bar to aim for.

McDonald's is loved by many. But if I were a chef, would they be the model to hold up for emulation? For some people - who are targeting that market - yes. For everyone, no.

Personally I would rather listen to the Montreal Symphony or Oscar Peterson over Brittany Spears or Milli Vanilli any day. Simply because large numbers of people like something does not make it good.

That was my point.

Brad Henderson

Ellen IS the McDonald's of TV. That being the case, Keith's performance was perfectly targeted.

Sadly, the TV equivalent of le Cirque does not jump immediately to mind as I try to stretch the analogy.

Ellen is one of the funniest people around today. I would hardly call her the "McDonald's of TV".

-Jim

There was a tricky moment when she took the mini deck of cards out of the box and she had to put them back.

Mind you, it's a fine looking box and an excellent effect! :-)

Ellen is a daytime chat show. It's funny, sure, and entertaining. But of COURSE it's the McDonald's of TV. It's tasty, inoffensive, and designed to appeal to as many viewers as possbile.'

As opposed to, say, "The Daily Show", which is also funny, but not aimed as as wide an audience. Or, Neil Cavuto, just to keep the politics even.

Keith's effect was perfect for the venue and the audience.

Ive not watched the clip yet, but it sounds like he did the same as he did on the paul o'grady show here in the u.k.

I only hope that he has managed to cut down the amount of stuff he does, because in the show here, he managed to stuff 4 effects into 6 minutes.
Those effects including the phantom artist, a multi headline newspaper prediction, and The late Ted Leselys sough of horses wings book page transportation effect. and brainwave.

each of these effects, could be played out over 5 minutes, with no problems, in order to perform them well. rushed and squeezed into the short time given, removed any impact.

the audience reaction was poor,thought the host,Paul OGrady, and other guests, ( Jackie Collins, and Scarry Spice Mell B) was predictably over the top, thanks to the cameras.

lots of" OH MY GOD HOW DID YOU DO THAT"s.

This reaction is becoming the televisual equivelant of cooker shows " MMMMM, That's delicious"

It's probably a stupid argument to have, but I still take issue with Ellen being compared to McDonald's. Yes, they both have wide appeal. McDonald's, however, has managed to bring sub-par food (which I still find to be pretty tasty on occasion) to the masses. I don't see anything sub-par about Ellen or her show.

-Jim

Jim...in the spirit of bipartisanship, can we agree that Ellen is, say, the Outback Steakhouse of TV?