The Penultimate Shell Game download video has been on sale for less than 12 hours and just let me say, “Wow.” Thank you.
With that in mind, let me give you a little peek into what is covered in the video. It’s more than just “here’s how to do the routine.” It also includes ten+ years of, for lack of a better term, experience based opinions.
Who are you going to be?
This is common with the shell game: The performer is doing his show, then when shell game time comes up he suddenly assumes a collection of affectations that were non-existent up until that moment. It’s like he’s channeling Foghorn Leghorn.
Listen, I’m not saying there aren’t exceptions to this being a bad choice, but I can’t help but think of the way the great Denny Haney performed illusions, like Canvas Covered Trunk and the Hindu Sword Basket. Denny’s character as an illusionist was …the same as the rest of the show. I wish I had a Bitcoin for how many times I’ve seen an act be happy, clappy, funny, then shift gears to a hyper dramatic tone.
Even if you think that shift works on stage (and I concede there are successful acts that do it), I’d contend the more intimate nature of close make that shift awkward at best.
Don’t be in a hurry
The fun is between the mixing. Don’t rush that fun.
You cover up the pea with a shell. You mix the shells. Now slow the heck down. Sit back. This is where the sweetness lives. Hold court in this moment. In 99.99% of performances you don’t have the tough time constraints that are present on, say a TV spot. Have fun with it. Play with their level of conviction. The playfulness in this moment is the sweet nectar of the routine. (Yeah, I know “sweet nectar” is kind of artsy fartsy hyperbolic, but work with me people!)
Don’t over or under mix the shells
If the viewer would have a hard time following the right shell if you never did a steal, you’re over mixing.
If you move them so little that it screams “he must have moved it from one shell to another,” it screams method. Of course, there are exceptions to this. The segments of the game where the shell is marked or distinguished in some way, like the classic final phase of covering up the shell with a shot glass, work well, but these phases should occur later in the routine, not early.
The sweet spot lives in the level of mixing that leaves a small amount of doubt in the viewer’s mind.
OK, so that’s an Penultimate peek into the Penultimate Shell Game.
To learn the routine, go here:
