The Perfect Magic Trick Opener

For more than a decade, I have written on projects for TV magicians.

Few magic shows were made during the pandemic, which led to the founding of this newsletter and consulting work on non-TV projects for the first time.

Some magicians had cleverly pivoted to virtual shows and made more money in the pandemic than ever before. Large companies booked those magicians to perform Zoom magic shows for hundreds of their teams. I, too, was now providing my services via online 1:1 consultancy calls, rather than in person.

TV magic still existed in the form of talent shows due to their stable foundations. An early consulting client was Savio Joseph. He booked a call to get advice on his application and story for Got Talent. We worked together on every act as he got onto the show and even reached the finals. I'm particularly proud of his first audition's story-driven performance.

Since then, I've worked with many performers who primarily perform at corporate events. One question repeatedly arises: What's the perfect opener?

The challenge of finding the perfect answer to this question began to take hold last year, when I first wrote about the topic for One Ahead.

A question as simple as this would have a universal solution when working on television projects. Every TV magic consultant would give the same answer to something as consistently necessary as this–a perfect opener. Why was there no obvious answer for the non-TV scenario?

Again and again, the performers I worked with did not have a unanimous answer. So I decided (well, it bugged me enough that I felt I had no choice) to try to solve the question: what is the perfect magic trick opener? The goal was to come up with something that ticks all the boxes to be a universal opener for any magician.

The Requirements

A challenge is not a challenge without some strict definitions. An opener will be qualified as the first trick a magician performs on stage. We are going to focus on "stage" performances in circumstances under which the audience is unfamiliar with the performer. Perhaps they booked tickets to the event you're performing at, but not to a show explicitly billed as yours. You might be performing at a corporate party or awards show, or maybe you are competing in a local talent contest.

Now it's time to define "perfect."

Based on hundreds of hours consulting for corporate magicians, we'll set out five clear checkboxes.

• Packs Flat: It's the biggest roadblock I encounter in consulting sessions, so let's get this one out of the way. If a trick fits inside a carry-on suitcase (and is allowed to be taken onto a plane), then it ticks a big checkbox. Yes, it sucks that this is the case, but I trust my clients when they say this is due to costs and confidence that your props make it to the event with you.

• Builds Communal Energy: There's a reason Derren Brown spent so many of his early years opening his theatre shows with games. A good corporate opener also needs to create energy and bring an audience together as one–that's the goal. Going into this, it's clear that any routine that involves the audience participating as a whole will easily check this box.

• Sets Shared Expectations: Everyone in the audience comes in with different expectations. Your first trick should get the entire audience's expectations to the same level. Sync them up. Comedy (specifically to deflate pressure) is usually the best way to do this–more on this soon.

• Tick the "Magic" Box: There's a significant benefit to your first trick being stereotypically magic-related. Without this, an audience will spend ten times as long trying to figure out what they've come to see. They'll have some idea of "magic" in their mind, and it's best to get it out of the way fast. Strongly consider using a typical magic prop and performing a prediction, vanish, appearance, or a similar plot associated with magic.

• Fast and Direct: The next time you see a magic show, look around at how tense everyone gets with every passing minute that there has not been a first trick. You must, please, I beg you, perform your first trick in the first three minutes of your show at an absolute maximum. Imagine if a band made you wait ten minutes to hear them play, or if a comedian told their first joke seven minutes into their act–madness.

It goes without saying that the trick also needs to be impressive and fooling–anything that doesn't meet that mark shouldn't be in the show, let alone an opener.

Finally, I am constantly reminded of something Luis De Matos said when I worked with him. He was obsessed with "The Lion King Moment," which he coined as the way in which the Lion King musical was able to give audiences the entire value of the ticket in the first five minutes. This does not really apply to the scenario we are using for this perfect opener challenge. Still, it is worth keeping in mind for instances when an audience has paid to see you by name. Satisfy the price of the ticket as quickly as possible.

Oh, and why is comedy used to deflate pressure a great way to sync up an audience's expectations? Well, it's secretly a lot easier to lower everyone's expectations to the same level than to raise them all to the highest in the room.

Comedy is a great way to do this, as you are part of the joke and in control.

By lowering everyone's expectations in a humorous way, the audience suddenly becomes on the same level, operating as a collective. The pesky skeptics no longer need to double down to defy the magic lovers around them–we've lowered everyone's expectations with comedy to the same level, and now it's 100x easier to raise everyone as one quickly.

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