dgmagic - UK magic blog by magician Dan Gifford

The Christmas Party season is almost over for me. Just a couple more this weekend and then that’s it, I can have a rest.

Not that I don’t like the work, it’s just that after a while one raucous company Christmas do is much like another. There have been a few interesting moments this year though.

There was the lady who swore blind that the card I’d made appear between her hands was hers even though I’d mucked it up and found the wrong one (it does happen, rarely, of course). I found the right one folded up in my wallet - my standard ‘oh bugger I need to rescue the situation quickly with something good before they realize I actually have made a mistake’ effect - which impressed everyone except the lady who’s card it was. Even though it was the one she’d signed at the start. I think the drink had been flowing.

One of the things I love about close-up magic is the unscripted interaction with the audience. It can lead to some sublime moments. I perform the Kaps money effect quite a lot (a wad of paper turning into a wad of money), and I was just introducing myself at a table with the paper in hand when a gentleman said ‘If you were a real magician you’d turn them into money!’.

‘Oh. Well, I suppose you are right there sir.’

Boom!

Now that was an easy table.

The UK Entertainer Directory is a new site I have set up (with some technical help!) for entertainers and performers to advertise their services. There is a big demand for entertainment at weddings, parties and corporate events, and these days many people go direct to the performer via a website rather than through agents.

Being a magician, I use sites like this to advertise myself but I often find they are complicated, won’t let you link to your website or are too expensive and require subscriptions. Other, more general web directories often don’t have relevant categories or they also list low quality sites that you don’t want to be associated with.

So I thought I’d create my own web directory which only has categories relevant to entertainment, is simple to use and cheap. Best of all, I have control over the sites that are admitted, so I can make sure they are good quality sites.

Entertainers and performers provide a link to their site, a short description of the entertainment service they offer and optional contact information. They can choose to place their listing in a variety of categories, including one for magicians (with sub categories for close-up, cabaret and stage magicians, and illusionists), a massive one for musicians (big because of the number of different styles of music and bands), and ones for more unusual entertainers like drag acts, after dinner speakers and living statues.

From the point of view of people looking to book an entertainer, the site is pretty easy to use. All the categories are listed on the front page, so users can click on them to browse whatever type of performer they are after. There is also a search function for finding specific listings and an option to find entertainers in a particular region.

The site is gradually filling up with listings and gradually getting more and more visitors. I’m hoping it will prove to be a useful resource for entertainers and bookers alike.

The Christmas Party season is now upon us.

You tend to get a slightly rowdy audience at work Christmas parties. Maybe it’s something to do with releasing all the pent up frustrations of the nine to five routine and the formal work environment.

You need a thick skin when you’re performing close-up magic and interacting so closely with the audience. So far I’ve had a couple of people trying to pickpocket me (they’d had a few and it wasn’t particularly subtle) and quite a few just too sloshed to care (’I don’t like magishms, hic’).

The way I deal with it is to try and remember the great reactions, visualize them afterwards instead of dwelling on the few bad ones. Thankfully, really bad behaviour is rare and usually it’s just a bit of banter and people trying to challenge you - par for the course if you’re a magician.

And a high blood alcohol level in your audience isn’t all bad, you can get away with magic you’d never normally try.

Anyway, Christmas is a busy time for most magicians and I’m performing magic almost every night through December. So this will probably be my last post for a couple of weeks - I’ll be out performing magic for pissed people!

I’ve finally got around to posting a couple more pictures on Flickr.

They are from a gig I did a couple of weeks ago for Leonard Simmonds Associates in Worcester. It was their company Birthday party and I performed close-up magic and my stand-up magic act at the end of the night.

A magical night was had by all!

Last weekend I had a bit of a nightmare gig, but last night’s was exactly the opposite.

It was a private party where I was booked to perform my small party close-up magic show (close-up magic performed to the whole audience together instead of mix and mingle style) and it went really well.

They were a very receptive audience and up for a good time. They even laughed at all my jokes!