Jim Bevan

I perform Barrie Richardson’s “One in a Half Million”

As I mention in my opening bit, I do have a collection of classic magic books, and there are sadly a number of routines in them that you really can’t do anymore given how things have changed over the decades. But when I saw the business directory in my mailbox after work one day I took it as a sign. I’d actually be able to do a phone book prediction in 2023. I admit my handling was a little rusty, and I fell into a blunder that many before me have (asking a volunteer with poor vision to read something when they don’t have their glasses), but I’ll try to recover from these mistakes and refine it into something better for the future.

I do a variation on the classic “Memory Thief” routine

This is a trick I’ve actually done several times before at open mics and a few shows, but I’ve never been able to share a successful version until now. The reason actually pertains to the joke I make during the set-up: I tried it with audience members who HAD drank too much and weren’t able to remember any of the symbols. And when I saw Donald coming up with his beer bottle I was worried this would lead to another incident like those. Thankfully my fears were unfounded, and this turned out to be the best attempt so far.

I perform the original routine “Psychic Detective”

This is a bit I’ve wanted to do for a while, but I had to wait until a night when we had a good crowd and enough people whose acts/personalities I was familiar with. So I kept bringing the props with me until the time came when I could do it, and I got lucky.

I played this one up more for laughs rather than any attempts to mystify or astound. There really isn’t much to the trick. I just wanted to have some fun with the absurd premise of a murder mystery where the victim is clearly still alive, and try out some improv when thinking up motives for why each of the suspects would want him dead. And I think it paid off; everyone seemed to enjoy it.

I perform Timon Krause’s “Mental Pickpocket” routine.

There are a lot of techniques that I learned about when I first started practicing that I didn’t pursue seriously for the rather embarrassing reason that I wasn’t very good at them (I still can’t pull off a great center tear, to my chagrin). So I ended up falling back on a lot of tricks that didn’t require a lot of skill on my part or where a prop could do the difficult part for me. But when I was trying to think of a good effect for this week’s performance I checked out Timon Krause’s Penguin lecture (which I purchased a while ago but hadn’t watched until now), saw the premise for an intriguing routine, and as he was going through the set-up I recognized the technique being used as one I had already learned. So I went back to practicing it until I felt I had it down, and luckily it paid off. It’s true what they say – put in the effort and you will be rewarded.

BTW, the opening story about the book of pickpocketing techniques – didn’t make that up. It really is for sale. I’m sure no one will use it for any purposes other than entertainment (sarcasm).

I perform a variation of James Randi’s magazine test.

Last June I decided to mark Pride Month by doing a trick James Randi made popular and it went over well, so I chose to repeat the theme this year. He really was an incredible magician and a champion of reason, and his presence is sadly missed when we have so many more frauds and charlatans taking advantage of the gullible.

This trick also gave me a chance to practice my preshow work. I’d say it was mostly successful, but there are some areas to improve on.

I do a lie detection routine.

During the summer it’s hard to tell how many people will be at an open-mic due to other events happening, so I’m trying to hedge my bets by preparing two tricks for every one I go to; one that works for a small crowd, and one for a larger audience. We actually had a pretty good attendance at this show, but it was mostly newcomers and the bigger trick I had planned would’ve worked better with people I’m more familiar with. So I put that on the backburner and went with the simpler one, which still thankfully went over well.

I perform “Color Psychology.”

I’ve wanted to do a color match routine for a while, but wasn’t able to before now due to the simple reason that a lot of the props required to do one successfully are, let’s just say, out of my price range. Thankfully I found a good workaround so I was finally able to take a crack at it, and I’m happy it went over well. It was fun coming up with some of the psychological profiling questions – I tried to make them strange without being too overtly funny (except for the slam at the late night hosts). Might switch them up for some others if I do this again.

I perform my drawing duplication routine “Reverse Art Analysis.”

When I started to get serious about performing I knew I wanted to have a good book test and drawing duplication in my act. The first one I managed to achieve pretty easily (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMo1OgJW7-Y) while the latter took some significant trial and error. A lot of routines I studied had moments where it would be pretty clear that you peeked if someone thought hard enough, and I had to eliminate that as a possibility. I also tried quite a few props that also didn’t cover for a peek, or were to difficult to handle without my accidentally revealing the secret. Finally I managed to find one that covered all my bases and lets me do the trick clean while still entertaining the audience. It was a big hit at paid shows, but this is the first time I’ve recorded it, and I hope you all enjoy it as well.