Magicians Week on Letterman

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George Olson
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Magicians Week on Letterman

Postby George Olson » May 3rd, 2008, 5:10 pm

I saw a teaser on Letterman last night about Magicians Week next week. A quick search found this:

Comedian Magician Mac King to Appear on The Late Show with David Letterman
Source: Mac King
May 1, 2008 - 2:44:02 PM


LAS VEGAS April 30, 2008 Las Vegas headlining comedian magician Mac King will make a guest appearance on the Late Show with David Letterman, Tuesday, May 6. King will perform as part of Magic Week, which will feature a different magic act each night of the week beginning Monday, May 5.

GO

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John M. Dale
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Re: Magicians Week on Letterman

Postby John M. Dale » May 3rd, 2008, 9:50 pm

From the Letterman Show website:

Monday, May 5
Jimmy Kimmel (Jimmy Kimmel Live!)
Magician Lance Burton
Jimmy Eat World (CD, "Chase This Light")

Tuesday, May 6
Ashton Kutcher (What Happens In Vegas)
Magician Mac King
Steve Winwood (CD, "Nine Lives")

Wednesday, May 7
Emile Hirsch (Speed Racer)
Comedian Tom Dreesen
Magician Dirk Arthur

Thursday, May 8
Paris Hilton
Magician Steve Wyrick
Panic at the Disco (CD, "Pretty")

Friday, May 9
Barbara Walters (Memoir, "Audition")
Magicians Penn & Teller


JMD

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Michael Kamen
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Re: Magicians Week on Letterman

Postby Michael Kamen » May 4th, 2008, 12:16 am

Well this is a treat -- thanks for posting the info!
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Doug Thornton
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Re: Magicians Week on Letterman

Postby Doug Thornton » May 6th, 2008, 2:48 pm

Lance Burton was absolutely great last night on Letterman.
His performance of his "Backstage" illusion was terrific.
In his opening remarks he was relaxed and funny, as he is when you see him live. The audience responded fantastically, and even Letterman was effusive. It took me back to the night a number of years ago when Lance did the same act on Johnny Carson's Tonight Show. Well done, Lance!
Tonight - Mac King - yes, truly one of the funniest acts.

Justin Fraser
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Magicians Week on Letterman

Postby Justin Fraser » May 6th, 2008, 11:05 pm

This week is Magicians week on Letterman, Tonight Mac King performs. Missed last night with Lance Burton. Below is a link to see who's appering for the rest of the week.

http://www.cbs.com/latenight/lateshow/show_info/pants/

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Re: Magicians Week on Letterman

Postby fredreisz » May 7th, 2008, 12:43 am

And Mac King was Mac King. Terrific, funny, inventive, and charming! He walked up to gross out with fish eating and turned it into OK. PETA didn't have time to react. He even showed a fig newton (Trademark) and then walked away from it. I wondered if his time got cut. The last "stunt" I felt was a little weak but it did not matter...they loved him...as I did. Peace...Fred Reisz
"The art of magic is the magic of art."

JimChristianson
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Re: Magicians Week on Letterman

Postby JimChristianson » May 7th, 2008, 4:22 am

Thursday, May 8
Paris Hilton
Magician Steve Wyrick

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Ahhhh, the deliciousness of the irony!

On the bright side, Mac killed, and deservedly so.

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Re: Magicians Week on Letterman

Postby Jim Maloney » May 7th, 2008, 11:04 am

Mac King:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yOHXuaiUYak

JimChristianson wrote:Thursday, May 8
Paris Hilton
Magician Steve Wyrick

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Ahhhh, the deliciousness of the irony!


What am I missing?

-Jim
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LaMont
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Re: Magicians Week on Letterman

Postby LaMont » May 7th, 2008, 11:57 am

Watched Mac King on Letterman last night. Great performance.

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Re: Magicians Week on Letterman

Postby JimChristianson » May 7th, 2008, 4:26 pm

Paris Hilton/Steve Wyrick, Jim. It could only have been funnier if the bookings had also been Meryl Streep/Lance Burton, and Tina Fey/Mac King. See?

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Re: Magicians Week on Letterman

Postby JimChristianson » May 7th, 2008, 4:29 pm

Mac's set was a sterling example of how terrific magic on TV can be without any enhancement in post, super-restrictive camera angles, or stooges.

And Criss Angel gets the mega-Cirque show? Bah!

Jim Martin
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Re: Magicians Week on Letterman

Postby Jim Martin » May 7th, 2008, 8:46 pm

It's great to see someone at the top of their game 'hit it out of the park'. Unforced, effortless, smooth - very enjoyable.

(Little things: Watching the experience with which he bounced out into the crowd and size up which person would make the 5 minutes pop, all in a few seconds. His cool demeanor showed the many thousands of times that he had done that same thing.)

Her reaction on the first fish was outstanding.

Great job, Mac!
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Dustin Stinett
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Re: Magicians Week on Letterman

Postby Dustin Stinett » May 7th, 2008, 10:19 pm

JimChristianson wrote:And Criss Angel gets the mega-Cirque show? Bah!


I know for a fact that Mac King knows that he has the best gig in Vegas and wouldn't change a thing.

Dustin

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Re: Magicians Week on Letterman

Postby JimChristianson » May 8th, 2008, 4:29 am

Agreed, Dustin. I was commenting more on the poor taste and shortsightedness of Cirque.

Any gig where you can leave for work at 12:15-ish, be home by 5:00PM if traffic is with you, and make a zillion dollars yearly is a gig to hang onto!

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Tom Frame
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Re: Magicians Week on Letterman

Postby Tom Frame » May 9th, 2008, 9:00 am

Dirk Arthur appeared on Wednesday. I thought his performance was the weakest of the lot so far. His execution was slow, hesitant and rather fumbly. He didn't seem to connect well with the crowd. My wife thought he was drunk. Maybe just an off night?

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Re: Magicians Week on Letterman

Postby flynn » May 9th, 2008, 10:50 pm

Im definately watching tonight. Only one I caught this week was Mac King. The first fish transformation fooled me. I didnt get to see Lance Burton monday I was hoping i would catch it on youtube but haven't looked for it lately. Last time I checked I hadn't found it yet.

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Re: Magicians Week on Letterman

Postby Richard Kaufman » May 9th, 2008, 11:21 pm

Did anyone see Wyrick?
Subscribe today to Genii Magazine

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Tom Frame
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Re: Magicians Week on Letterman

Postby Tom Frame » May 9th, 2008, 11:54 pm

Wyrick's opening patter was too long and rather boring.

After he was shackled to the table of the Blades of Death, a shadow box cover was constructed around the table. But you couldn't immediately see his shadow behind the cover. You initially saw a red-lighted abstract pattern of shadows. It took over 10 seconds before his "form" appeared in shadow through the cover, to ultimately get sliced/vanished. That's way too much time.

He asked his complete stranger volunteer to kiss him on his cheek, and, likely in an effort to avoid further embarrassment, she did so.

I think Dave's crowd may have been a bit too hip for his hip persona.

Wyrick's performance was better than Dirk Arthur's, but no where near the caliber of Lance's and Mac's.

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Re: Magicians Week on Letterman

Postby Jim Maloney » May 10th, 2008, 12:01 am

flynn wrote:I didnt get to see Lance Burton monday I was hoping i would catch it on youtube but haven't looked for it lately. Last time I checked I hadn't found it yet.

Lance

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Mark Paulson
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Re: Magicians Week on Letterman

Postby Mark Paulson » May 10th, 2008, 1:55 am

Wyrick was explaining his blades of death for about 2 minutes before he finally found his volunteer. He was on for 5 minutes before the saw blades were turned on. A lot of build up, which dragged on. It wasn't bad, but not great.

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Re: Magicians Week on Letterman

Postby Mike Applegate » May 10th, 2008, 4:42 am

You can see Lance Burton's performance on this link:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Qir0JDprjys

I was so excited about Letterman's Magic Week that I'm making a DVD of all five of the shows for posterity.

flynn
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Re: Magicians Week on Letterman

Postby flynn » May 10th, 2008, 8:49 pm

Thanks for the link Mr. Applegate

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Tom Frame
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Re: Magicians Week on Letterman

Postby Tom Frame » May 11th, 2008, 9:54 am

On Friday, Penn & Teller appeared on stage, with Teller sporting a "concrete" box around his head. Penn borrowed Paul Schaffer's glasses and put them in the breast pocket of his jacket. He did a nice little "vanishing" wand bit with Schaffer, and Schaffer played his part well. After some more byplay, Penn whipped out a hammer and destroyed the concrete box, revealing Teller wearing a hard hat with face guard, and Shaffer's glasses!

This was the first time that I'd seen that effect. I thought it was quite cool!

Bill Duncan
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Re: Magicians Week on Letterman

Postby Bill Duncan » May 11th, 2008, 2:37 pm

I thought Penn and Teller's trick suffered from Paul being the person who provided the glasses. Given how Paul conducts himself in the show (his on screen character) I suspect regular viewers would assume he's a plant and the glasses were duplicates. Don't most folks have a second pair of glasses?

Assuming what I think was the method, is correct, it could easily be done with a spectator from the audience, which makes me wonder why they used Paul. I'm assuming the producer told them to...

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Dave V
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Re: Magicians Week on Letterman

Postby Dave V » May 11th, 2008, 3:20 pm

I immediately thought "second pair." I think most of the viewers probably thought so too.
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Re: Magicians Week on Letterman

Postby amp » May 11th, 2008, 7:40 pm

I think everyone did very well.

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Mark Paulson
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Re: Magicians Week on Letterman

Postby Mark Paulson » May 11th, 2008, 8:45 pm

I've seen Penn and Teller do this effect in their act with a spectator from the audience. It played out the same way. Very entertaining.

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Re: Magicians Week on Letterman

Postby Richard Perrin » May 13th, 2008, 12:58 am

It would be better to use a small sticker signed by an audience and place it on Paul's glasses (not on the lens). That way it would be the same eye glass. I knew how they did but not telling you in this forum! A great misdirection! Love it!

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Re: Magicians Week on Letterman

Postby Henley » May 13th, 2008, 7:58 am

Over on Crackle Penn is kind of kicking himself for forgetting a subtlety that might have helped draw spectators away from the idea of duplicate glasses.
He also explains why they used Paul.
http://www.crackle.com/c/pennsays

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NCMarsh
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Re: Magicians Week on Letterman

Postby NCMarsh » May 13th, 2008, 9:00 am

Henley,

Appreciated the link...

N.

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Dave V
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Re: Magicians Week on Letterman

Postby Dave V » May 13th, 2008, 12:25 pm

Henley, thanks for the link. I think Penn is right. That little subtlety would have made a world of difference, not to the trick itself, but to our perception of it.
"I still play with a full deck, I just shuffle slower"

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Re: Magicians Week on Letterman

Postby Carlo Morpurgo » May 13th, 2008, 4:26 pm

Wow, I tip my hat to Penn for his honesty....to be honest myself though, I don't really think that slapping the pocket would have done it. The "smart" spectator could still think of a duplicate pair and that the glasses were either removed from the pocket or never put there to begin with. I don't know how they do this in their show, but I doubt that this is what he does, it does not sound right to me. I can see though how he was making the point that the glasses were Paul's.

As for me, I never thought of duplicates for one moment, until I read this forum...

Carlo

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AJM
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Re: Magicians Week on Letterman

Postby AJM » May 13th, 2008, 5:31 pm

That effect is, or at least was until recently, the opening effect of P&T's show at the Rio.
An audience member is selected to provide the glasses.

Cheers

Andrew

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Re: Magicians Week on Letterman

Postby Randy » May 13th, 2008, 6:26 pm

Having never had the pleasure of seeing P&T live, I find it interesting that this has been the "opening effect" in their show. Interesting not from the effect standpoint (good effect) but from a "textbook performance" standpoint. As magicians, should we not come out and do a strong effect alone (or in P&T's case together) before asking a spectator to come on stage. It just seems like a strange idea to come out after intro and then immediately come to a halt & have to go into the audience to pick a volunteer for your first effect. Again, I have not seen the opening or any of their show live but it was just a thought.

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Re: Magicians Week on Letterman

Postby Donal Chayce » May 14th, 2008, 9:50 am

Randy wrote:Having never had the pleasure of seeing P&T live, I find it interesting that this has been the "opening effect" in their show. Interesting not from the effect standpoint (good effect) but from a "textbook performance" standpoint. As magicians, should we not come out and do a strong effect alone (or in P&T's case together) before asking a spectator to come on stage. It just seems like a strange idea to come out after intro and then immediately come to a halt & have to go into the audience to pick a volunteer for your first effect. Again, I have not seen the opening or any of their show live but it was just a thought.


I guess that's why they're the bad boys of magic.
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Re: Magicians Week on Letterman

Postby Henley » May 14th, 2008, 10:14 am

Joe Pecore wrote:Penn talks about his performance on his video blog at http://crackle.com/c/Penn_Says/Penn_Say ... ck/2280582


That's the clip that I linked to earlier. Thanks for putting this URL up, as the clip seems to have disappeared from the main PennSays page that I linked to.

By the way Joe, I really liked your "Magic Timelines" page that fizzled out c.2006.

http://www.geocities.com/jpecore/Magic.html

Oh wait, the Penn post is still there in the thumbnails under the video.

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Joe Pecore
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Re: Magicians Week on Letterman

Postby Joe Pecore » May 14th, 2008, 10:18 am

Oh! I deleted that Penn link just now, because I didn't see the original one.

You want to help me add some more entries to the Magic Timeline? :-)
Share your knowledge on the MagicPedia wiki.

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Re: Magicians Week on Letterman

Postby Jim Riser » May 14th, 2008, 12:03 pm

Randy;
I see nothing strange about opening with a spectator on stage.

For 30 years I opened with the vanishing bird cage using two spectators to "hold" the cage (cage vanished only once). From the cage vanish, I went right in to the egg bag routine. This always worked well as I felt the spectators needed more to do since they were on stage anyway. Having an opening with spectators on stage quickly established that we were going to have a fun time with surprises and laughts. For me it was a good way to set the "climate" of the show. Throughout the act I used additional spectators and never had a problem getting volunteers as how they would be treated was established early in the act. We would have fun together and no one would be made to look the fool. As a matter of fact, I like this type of magical entertainment so much so that several spectator involved items are the current focus of a few new items that are in the development stage.

I would not put too much stock in the rules for routining a show. Do what works for you.
Jim

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Re: Magicians Week on Letterman

Postby amp » May 14th, 2008, 12:11 pm

Here's what Dai Vernon says about this subject. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSvcqeOrDw0

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Re: Magicians Week on Letterman

Postby Randy » May 14th, 2008, 1:23 pm

Well if Dai Vernon and Jim Riser say it, enough said. I've always just heard the thought that a magician should come on stage and do a nice, strong solo effect to establish him or herself before "going into the crowd". Same with the finale, that you should end your show solo on stage to reaffirm that YOU are the magic, not the props, volunteers, etc. I would not expect anything from P&T other than thinking "outside of the box"...no pun really intended in regards to the glasses trick but, hey, why not.


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