February 3 2005 - John Archer
There are one or two magical lecturers, of the standard of Bob Read, who are truly hilarious – with his first magic lecture John Archer joins that group. His impressive record as a compere and comedy magician is well known and now his new Handy Lecture demonstrated, if you needed to be told, that he also thinks deeply about his art. His lecture showed parts of routines, and how and why they have evolved from the original routine to a more effective one. All the ideas and routines that John showed had a transferable skill and amongst the brilliantly funny gags and ad libs they were explained clearly and in a way that did not invite mere copying but application of the ideas to the performance of each magician present.
He used Hoy’s Tossed out Deck to demonstrate the way to avoid problems, with a clever switch. Next was a Ring Vanish with his own version of a handkerchief which solved a number of problems. Then came a well thought out attack on the Magic Square, with several ideas to make it simple. To end the first half he showed his version of Spoon Bending.
The second half started with Komedy Killer, based on Kenton Knepper’s Kolossal Killer. John explained his thinking and how he presents this effect. The next of John’s ideas was a book test without a book. With a thought of word being ‘read’ by John, and finally revealed inside a wallet. The clever routining evolved from John’s creation of an ‘out’. Chinese Choice involved three members choosing cards from a shuffled deck to represent a sum of money, and an item on a Chinese menu. The resulting money matched the cost of the menu item. Again a clever switch was used. Next came Dodeckadeal, which found three freely stopped at cards next to their mates. Finally Collard was John’s variation of Don Wayne’s Room Service making effective use of a stuffed dog.
John believed you must justify what you are doing in your head. Only by this approach could your belief be communicated to the audience. We were privileged to be the ‘pilot’ evening for John’s lecture tour (promoted by HMC’s Alan Hudson) taking in societies from Edinburgh to Watford including a visit to The Magic Circle. In thanking John Archer, Eddie Dawes said that the audience’s reaction had shown that we had enjoyed a wonderful lecture with great fun and strong magic from such a busy professional, and a member of HMC. The audience’s appreciation was also shown when John sold his last set of lecture notes, published and illustrated by himself.
He used Hoy’s Tossed out Deck to demonstrate the way to avoid problems, with a clever switch. Next was a Ring Vanish with his own version of a handkerchief which solved a number of problems. Then came a well thought out attack on the Magic Square, with several ideas to make it simple. To end the first half he showed his version of Spoon Bending.
The second half started with Komedy Killer, based on Kenton Knepper’s Kolossal Killer. John explained his thinking and how he presents this effect. The next of John’s ideas was a book test without a book. With a thought of word being ‘read’ by John, and finally revealed inside a wallet. The clever routining evolved from John’s creation of an ‘out’. Chinese Choice involved three members choosing cards from a shuffled deck to represent a sum of money, and an item on a Chinese menu. The resulting money matched the cost of the menu item. Again a clever switch was used. Next came Dodeckadeal, which found three freely stopped at cards next to their mates. Finally Collard was John’s variation of Don Wayne’s Room Service making effective use of a stuffed dog.
John believed you must justify what you are doing in your head. Only by this approach could your belief be communicated to the audience. We were privileged to be the ‘pilot’ evening for John’s lecture tour (promoted by HMC’s Alan Hudson) taking in societies from Edinburgh to Watford including a visit to The Magic Circle. In thanking John Archer, Eddie Dawes said that the audience’s reaction had shown that we had enjoyed a wonderful lecture with great fun and strong magic from such a busy professional, and a member of HMC. The audience’s appreciation was also shown when John sold his last set of lecture notes, published and illustrated by himself.
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