Favorite Joker Routines

[Sam Kesler]

What are your favorite card routines using a joker? One of mine is Christian Steizel's routine of Surprising Jokers in Card Cavalcade by Jrerry Mentzer. The performer removes a red backed deck of cards from its case and shuffles it. From the pack he removes four jokers which have red backs too. One after the other the jokers change from red backed to blue backed until all four have been shown to have blue backs. The deck is then turned face down and all the cards of the pack also have changed to blue. Killer effect. Another favorite is John Bannon's Masquerade from Smoke and Mirrors.

[Sean Piper]

Have always liked:

Exitwist - Goldstein
Point of Departure - Elmsley
Joker Works Overtime - Regal

[Roy McIlwee]

There's a nice little gem in Golsteins "Focus" using the jokers called "A Fine Mesh".

[Jonathan Townsend]

Originally posted by Sam Kesler:
What are your favorite card routines using a joker?

Did Dingle's trick with a packet; two jokers and ends with the kings ever see the light of print? He visited the Governor a LONG time ago and it was a nice routine.

[Mike Powers]

Dave Neighbors had a nice item out called Joker Monte. I'm not sure if it's still available.

Mike

[Roy McIlwee]

Jonathan, A great Dingle packet trick using a joker is his "DD on LJ's Wild Card" on page 40 of "The Complete Works of Derek Dingle" Any info on the packet trick of Dingles that you mentioned would be greatly appreciated. Dingle lectured today at Magic on Manhattan and would have loved to have seen him but had to work. Anyone out there get to see the lecture? Roy McIlwee.

[Rafael Benatar]

LArry Jennings' Mystery Card

[Curtis Kam]

When he was here in Hawaii, I think it was the mid-90's, Larry Jennings was working on tricks using two identical jokers. He showed us a terrific little routine in which two signed selections each jump from between to on top of the two jokers, and then tanspose with the jokers in two separate pockets.

Does anyone know if he ever published this routine?

I once put together a routine using two jokers, in which a signed selection vanished from between them ala Elmsley's "Point of Departure", briefly reappeared between them courtesy of Larry Jennings' "The Visitor" and then turned out to be the card laying on the table (ala Hamman's "Signed Card")

But I have since seen the light and only work this hard on coin tricks.

[Guest]

J.C. Wagner has identical Jokers used as feints and assistants in "Whispering Wager," a great effect from Commercial Magic.

Steve Beam has a nice treatment of Steve Pressley's "W.A.D." which requires 50 cards, easily achieved by saying "I need to remove the Jokers for this trick to work," and plopping two cards as if they were Jokers to the table.

And I believe Simon Aronson's effect "Prior Commitment" from Try the Impossible relies on different Jokers.

My favorite is "Pass on Red" by Roy Walton, somewhat popularized by R.Paul Wilson from his Little Black Book lecture notes, which requires identical Jokers.

My second favorite would be setting up the deck while "looking" for stray Jokers.

--Randy Campbell

[Guest]

An improvement, I think, of Hamman's "Signed Card" using matching jokers is the R.Paul Wilson's handling called "The Miracle Card" from Ego. It is very nice.

[Jonathan Levey]

Joking Around, by Jay Sankey....

[Pete Biro]

In "Trick you can count on" there is a great routine where you show four cards, all seemingly the SAME Jack... In the end you show four jokers and the Jacks are in your pocket (children's jacks) with a tie in ball vanish.

I've probably done it 4,999 times. :rolleyes:

[Guest]

Originally posted by Sam Kesler:
What are your favorite card routines using a joker?

Doug Brewer has a great joker routine that I've never forgotten. I don't use it, but I could.

Magician lays down one card face-down on top of a card box and says it's a prediction. He places another card face-down below the card box.

"Just in case I get it wrong the first time," he says.

Magicians asks spectator to name any card, and spectator names a card: say, four of spades.

Prediction card is turned over and it's a joker.

"Jokers are wild," the magician jokes.

But then the magician turns over the insurance card below the box. It turns out to be the named card.

Self-contained, no special cards required, can be done on someone's hand, not hard, a good restaurant trick, really nice.

Doug, what's the name of that trick? And in which lecture notes is it?

[Charlie Chang]

Years ago I played with a simple idea using a Joker.

A card is placed face down on the table and I stand back and ask someone to name any card. They do so and I say, would you be amazed if I turned that over and it was your card? Flipping it over it proves to be a Joker. A speech balloon coming from the Joker says "Hey, I'm YOUR CARD".

Commenting on the Joker's lame sense of humour I invite the spectator to cover the card with his hand and concentrate on his card. I ask them to name the card they're thinking of and turn the joker over again - it's thier named card.

The method was simple - a pocket index. I took the joker out of my wallet and tabled it then stood back and casually placed my hands in my pockets. I retrieved and then palmed the card in the appropriate hand as the other flipped the joker face up.

The switch may interest you because it is very very easy but quite deceptive. I toyed with many other methods, including a top change out of my palm but this is by far the simplest:

Pick up the joker with the free hand (either the left or right hand has a card palmed). Cover the free hand (holding the joker) and apparently cover the card with BOTH hands, the hand with the palmed card going on top of the other hand. The free hand PALMS the Joker as you say "it is important to completely cover the card". As this is said the upper hand (with the other palemed card) withdraws sightly then returns going UNDER the other hand. This is done as casually as possible. Release the card they named from the hand and withdraw carrying the Joker away.

As the hands withdraw, pull up your sleeve with the dirty hand. When covering the card with both hands (after the switch is made), expose the card under the hands as you say "don't let me see even a little bit of the card - it must be completely covered". Then withdraw. This is a small but important point.

They mimic your actions and you now build the effect a little. Let them turn over the card to conclude.

Note that I used an OLD deck for this so that the joker was old and worn, as was the card switched in later. I carried it in my wallet so it would be slightly bent (the card from my index would also be slightly bent after palming).

Nothing groundbreaking but it was a good use of the index I had!

The reason this discussion reminded me of this is because regulars at the Restaurant I worked for over eight years called it "the Joker Trick".

This was not just because I used a Joker but because the Joker seemed to be so special when it was introduced. A lot of tricks simply begin with "Here's a Joker". Not necessarily a bad think but, when the Joker is presented as a VERY special card, the effect has a little more impact.

[Guest]

Thank you for that Mr. Wilson

Noah Levine

[Pete Biro]

Ken Brooke's "It's a Joker" was one I used for awhile, then lost the deck when I moved (It is probably in one of those "famed Biro boxes in the garage"---Easy to do... check it out.

Oh, entire deck, after being spread to show all different faces, changes to all Jokers at the death (Death in Ken's words = Climax to trick). :rolleyes:

[Guest]

There is an effect in Focus called "Masque" that uses a joker. It is a great routine.

[Gary Freed]

Bill Goldman's "Monkey in the Middle" has,for me,the most astonishing moment in card magic. Am also partial to NFW, but that's hardly objective. :D

[Sam Kesler]

Thanks, Gary, I love NFW too! Available at your favorite magic shop as they say. Also, Monkey in the Middle can be purchased for $10. at Bill's site www.bkmagic.com.

[NCMarsh]

RP -- really enjoyed the index effect, thanks for sharing

all -- There are some WONDERFUL effects with Jokers in David Regal's Constant Fooling, particularly in the "One Secret" section of Vol. II

regards,
nate.

[Guest]

For years i've been doing a colour change approach, with Bicycle jokers - where one has the guarantee printed on the bottom, the other doesn't. Put them both on the face of the pack, with the 'guarntee' joker on the face. Read out the guarantee - and talk about how you have to send back the Ace of Spades. Look up, say, "Do you know why it has to be the Ace?". Palm the top joker, take the next joker and throw it face up on the table without attention, while you begin to fan through the pack, looking for the ace of spades. When you find it, say - "Because as soon as you get it out, the guarantee disappears". They look down at the joker and see the guarantee has gone.
Its a weird moment - almost like using trick cards, because most people don't know about the guarantee/no guarantee joker. Plus - they'll never catch the switch, the misdirection is too strong.

[luigimar]

Down here in Mexico it's very difficult to get good tricks like the ones you already mentioned but once I read about a trick called 'Guarantee' which is about a prediction you put on the table, ask a spectator to pick a card and tell them to turn your prediction and they see a joker. But when they look closely and read the fine print that is under the joker (supposedly the guarantee that the USPCC gives you to change your pack of cards should you ever find any defect) and right there instead of the guarantee there is the name of the card you forc... I mean asked your spectator to choose.

Another trick I once saw performed by David Hira (from Texas) is about a deck of cards from which you remove the 2 jokers from the deck, then ask a person to choose a card. You 'lose' the card in the pack, shuffle and find another joker. Mix some more and find another joker and you keep removing jokers until you are left with one card, which is the one the person chose and the audience sees that the deck was made out of jokers and only one 'regular' card, the chosen one.

Nice and funny effects with good impact on audiences. :)

luigimar

[mike cookman]

I like Darwin Ortiz' joker assembly in Darwin Ortiz at the Card Table. I forgot the name of it, though. I, too, like Masque from Focus.

[Guest]

The routine from At The Card Table is called "Deja Vu Jokers".

I came up with a version where I use duplicates of the 9 of clubs instead of the joker and red back cards (Darwin uses blue backed cards). Then as a kicker, they all turn to Kings and the deck vanishes.

This will be in my lecture notes under the title "Deja Vu Red Backed Nines".

[ori ashkenazy]

The Hypnotic Power of the Jokers from Sonata by Tamariz.
Also, I don't think anybody mentioned The Joker Trick from Ultar Cervon. I used it many times to great results.

[Danny Archer]

I really like Red Blue Mama Fooler by Michael Close. It uses two decks and a joker and even though the Joker is never seen, it does all the work. Also like Ton Onasaka's packet trick called A Bicycle Built for Five. Very strong effect where the kings riding there bicycles vanish and all appear riding the same bike!

[Guest]

Return to St. Nicholas

[Sam Kesler]

Sound interesting. Where can I check it out?

[Larry Horowitz]

Blatant advertisment.

Please check out Joker,Joker. It is now in the stores. A great opening effect, by Gordon Bean.

After you pull out the first Joker, the spectator is asked to find the second Joker in a face down deck. No problem, the spectator gets it right every time.

You can look for other Gordon Bean effects at;
magiclaboratory.com

[Sam Kesler]

I like Gordon's Los Angeles Open even better, which comes with Joker Joker. Such a clever routine and use of the gaff, I can't believe I didn't think of it. Maybe it's staring me in the face somewhere in all those solutions to the Stewart James challenge. :eek: