Price$49.95
Media TypeDVD
CategoryGeneral, Close Up, Stage
Date AddedJul 16, 2015
Bring It! - Black Rabbit Series Issue #6
Fern, Will
Anthony Asimov Magic
(Based on 3 reviews)
Over 6 hours of content on 3 DVD's! Includes: 2 live shows filmed at The Magic Castle 4 Roving Performances 6 Performance Commentaries 10 Professional Routines & Explanations 4 Bonus Tricks (including "It's a Pig!") 30-Minute interview DVD Downloads"Shock & Awww" - A powerful memorized deck opener that wins the room instantly.
"Through & Through" - Will's baffling handling of the timeless coins-through-table effect.
"Over & Under" - The most magical 5-phase coins across routine you'll likely ever see.
"Superhero Selections" - Eight chosen cards are revealed using superhero powers!
"The Full Cut Palm" - Invisibly palm off the top card of a deck right under their noses.
"Chan To Chanel" - A complete act where a card jumps from shoe to forehead to necklace!
"The Sentinel" - Load a signed card on a spectator's seat... easy, clean and powerful!
"World's Toughest Card Trick" - Learn a behind-the-back trick that fools magicians!
"Drop Box" - A spectator uses his intuition to find his card... ends with a powerful twist.
"Chicago Times" - Will's handling of the Chicago Opener is great for table-hopping.
"Bunny Blast" - This 6-phase sponge bunny routine is Will's time-tested crowd-pleaser!
"Will Fern lights up a room even before he enters it. He's the total package: high-energy personality, hysterical comedy, great audience interaction, phenomenal chops and highly original thinking. Add to that the fact that he is a really fine teacher and communicates his points extremely well."
Marc DeSouza
"He performs with such contagious great energy... and all of his creations have that quality built into them."
Asi Wind
"Anyone that performs strongly and prolifically is someone I listen to when they speak. The best advice comes from real world workers like them, and Will Fern is one of those guys. Magicians... pay attention."
Jon Armstrong
"I know Will's work intimately. His card behind the back will fool you badly, and his memorized deck work is first rate. Will is a thoughtful and uber-experienced worker. All of his friends are students. I'm happy to be one of them."
Bob Sheets
"This is not pie in the sky stuff. This is stuff that will uses all the time (and now, so do I), and so will you."
Rich Bloch
"I've personally seen Will fool, entertain and completely destroy both top notch magicians and laymen. He's a real worker that knows how to perform the right material in close-up situations. Highly recommended!"
Karl Hein
"I met Will Fern and saw his magic. I became his friend to learn the secrets of his magic. Now he is just giving these amazing secrets away to anyone that will shell out a few bucks. I feel ripped off. Go buy the DVDs. There is great material for real practical working conditions."
John George
"Will Fern is an exceptional performer. I have rarely seen a magician be able to entertain a crowd like him. His energy is as high as his talent. On top of being an amazing technician, Will also has a true sense of what is magical and entertaining for an audience. So listen to him, watch him closely and get ready to laugh as much as you will be fooled!"
Boris Wild
"After seeing Will in action, you'll be inspired by his innovative approach to magic. He absolutely loves what he does for a living, and his enthusiasm rubs off in spades!"
Anthony Asimov
"Will Fern: Bring It!" is ISSUE #6 in the Black Rabbit Series, which features outstanding professional magicians from around the world who perform full shows for live un-coached audiences.
Reviews
(Top ▲)
Random I-Tunes Song of The Moment: You Give Love a Bad Name (Re Mix) by Bon Jovi
Bring It Review
Three DVDs, 3 PDFs, $50 bucks and one Bring It Review. Is it gem or is it rubble? Stay tuned to find out.
Bring It Review: Effect
This being a compilation set, it's hard to narrow down effect. Take a peek at the ad copy. It outlines the effects pretty well. When reading it, however, you may feel that it sounds like a bunch of "standard" effects. However, Will Fern brings a little something to each of these effects that makes them (probably) different from what you're used to.
For example — this is the only one (of many) that I'll give — take the effect, World's Toughest Card Trick. The spectator shuffles the deck as much as she wants while your back is turned. She hands you the deck behind your back. You never see the cards. See selects one, puts it back and shuffles it again. Yet even after all that, you find her card. The entire trick is done with your back turned. There are many effects with this kind of impossible feeling plot and presentation.
You'll find mostly card effects, however, there are a few coin routines, a bill in fruit effect and sponge bunnies as well. The majority of the material is meant for close up or small groups (20 ish).
Bring It Review: Method
The methods employed are standard, classic, test of time approved methods that simply work. Nothing here is a pipe dream. It will take some practice, and one routine relies on a memorized deck, but the rest of it stuff that can be learned relatively quickly. I'd say that the effects and methods here are for intermediate level magicians, and possibly for beginners who are ready to move on to becoming an intermediate magician.
There are many little subtleties and nuances and "things" that Will Fern brings to the methods that make them much more deceptive. For example, the Full Cut Palm was used in many routines. Before he taught it, I really expected that it was going to be super difficult to pull off. However within seconds of seeing the method taught I was able to do it. It's totally invisible, easy to do, and an extremely deceptive way to get a card out of the deck right under their noses. Over and over again, he had little touches that really added to the level of deception.
Bring It Review: Ad Copy Integrity
The ad copy is totally accurate. Watch the video trailer. It gives a fair, accurate and honest representation of the material on the DVD set. The only thing that bugs me a little bit is the DVD photo cover. It shows a picture of Will Fern with a card stabbed on the end of a large knife. It would appear that maybe there's a card stab routine on the DVD, but there is not.
Granted, Black Rabbit has a reputation for quality and integrity, so I'm willing to mark this up to just using a bad promo picture. By "bad" I don't mean "unflattering" I just mean that it's a little misleading. However, it's the kind of picture that I imagine Will Fern has used on some of his marketing material etc., so, likely it was just a poor choice of images rather than an intentional deception.
Bring It Review: Product Quality
Let's get the only real negative out of the way first. Will Fern will be the first to admit that he talks waaaaaaaaaaay too fast. That being the case, some of the instructions were a little rushed through and a little hard to follow. It's nothing a little rewinding won't cure. During the commentary of the second Castle show, often times, the volume of the show was too loud and/or the volume of the voice over was too low making it a bit difficult to hear him at times.
The DVD is relatively well produced. The lighting, however, was a bit off on a fair bit of the shots. Also, no play all button . . . ARGH! The teaching segments were overall very solid.
Within this set you'll find 2 Magic Castle shows and four strolling set performances. Each of those 6 performances can be watched with or without commentary. You also get three PDFs. One is a print-able prop for one of the effects. One is a detail treatise on his sponge bunny routine, and the last one is a detailed write up of one of the effects on the DVD (his superhero multiple revelations effect).
Additionally, you get a 30 minute interview and a whole bunch of real world tips from a real world working pro. This set is loaded with excellent ideas and tips and pointers and games and thoughts and experience on how to handle gigs with mixed audiences (i.e., kids, teens and adults mixed together). He has some extremely clever ideas that anyone who works in family parties will, likely, find worth the price of the set. Further, he had several anecdotes that were very moving and emotional and powerful stories of how some of these tips and ideas paid off for his audiences in huge ways. There's a great little simple idea on how to turn "a bunch of tricks" into a "show" that is extremely clever and very easy to implement.
There are a ton of great pointers on doing mem-deck work. This set, though it could have been only 2 DVDs, is loaded with real world tips from a pro who is in the trenches. You'll learn just about everything you need to know about working your venue/environment. For those looking for tips on professional gigin', this is a very powerful resource.
Bring It Review: Final Thoughts
As with all of the Black Rabbit series products, this is a solid product through and through. The only real disappointment I had was that his opening effect was a routine that he did not teach because it's not his. It's a routine from Ponta The Smith. It was a very visual and beautiful 3 coin production, change and vanish. So if you can overlook that, and you're a close up worker looking to take things to that all too coveted proverbial next level, I'm positive that you'll find this very much worth the asking price.
Final Verdict:
4.5 Stars with a Stone Status of Gem.
Available at your Favorite Magic Dealer. Dealer's see Murphy's Magic for details.
(Top ▲)
PROS
This is an awesome set of three DVDs.
It starts with his Magic Castle Routine. The routine is astounding! The routine is an escalation of participant names any random card and it appears magically, culminating in an awesome ACAAN.
In the instruction for this set, he really goes through how he built up to this point and why he selects the effects and how he performs them. He said that he virtually never gets hecklers because of the way he structures his effects and how he involves participants and audience members in the routine.
There is a ton of wisdom in the DVDs, like this one: “People don’t want tricks, they want climaxes.”
His coins through the table and coins across routines are really nice.
On the second DVD, he shows another Magic Castle live performance with coins through table and coins across and an awesome card production of several participant selected cards.
He follows it up with a little encore with several quick but strong card effects.
In the explanation of the coins across, he talks about how he learned the routine from Dean Dill from Glendale CA. I had to get that plug in because that is where my daughter was born. Not at Deans place, but in Glendale. He teaches every move and sublety.
In the third DVD, he shows several of his walk around routines. His final walk around routine is for a couple young girls and their family. Very funny kid stuff.
CONS
Will is a serious magician who has worked these effects every day for decades. These routines are for serious workers and to pull off magic like Will does, you will need to practice a lot. On the other hand, if you get a few good ideas from this, then it was worth every penny.
VERDICT
Excellent example of world class close up magic! I would have given this a five star, but the routines will really take a lot of practice, so this stuff is not easy to master the way Will does.
This is an awesome set of three DVDs.
It starts with his Magic Castle Routine. The routine is astounding! The routine is an escalation of participant names any random card and it appears magically, culminating in an awesome ACAAN.
In the instruction for this set, he really goes through how he built up to this point and why he selects the effects and how he performs them. He said that he virtually never gets hecklers because of the way he structures his effects and how he involves participants and audience members in the routine.
There is a ton of wisdom in the DVDs, like this one: “People don’t want tricks, they want climaxes.”
His coins through the table and coins across routines are really nice.
On the second DVD, he shows another Magic Castle live performance with coins through table and coins across and an awesome card production of several participant selected cards.
He follows it up with a little encore with several quick but strong card effects.
In the explanation of the coins across, he talks about how he learned the routine from Dean Dill from Glendale CA. I had to get that plug in because that is where my daughter was born. Not at Deans place, but in Glendale. He teaches every move and sublety.
In the third DVD, he shows several of his walk around routines. His final walk around routine is for a couple young girls and their family. Very funny kid stuff.
CONS
Will is a serious magician who has worked these effects every day for decades. These routines are for serious workers and to pull off magic like Will does, you will need to practice a lot. On the other hand, if you get a few good ideas from this, then it was worth every penny.
VERDICT
Excellent example of world class close up magic! I would have given this a five star, but the routines will really take a lot of practice, so this stuff is not easy to master the way Will does.
(Top ▲)
Will Fern is a full time magician, having performed in restaurants for 20 years, as well as at private and corporate events all over New York. In his 3 DVD set, “Bring It,” he teaches several formal performance pieces, as well as the strolling material he performs in the real world. “Bring It” refers to the attitude Mr. Fern brings to his performances, which is that it’s his job to bring not just magic, but fun and a good time. While he does perform strong material, the primary goal is to insure the viewers enjoys themselves. He doesn’t sacrifice the quality of the magic to do so, but he does make sure the magic is a vehicle for entertainment, not just deception.
Disc one begins with a formal show performed at the Magic Castle. The set includes a three coin routine, credited to Ponta the Smith, a show-stopping multi phased named card routine, a coins through the table, a coins across, the chop cup and he closes with bill in lemon. An audio commentary is also provided, during which Mr. Fern touches on show construction, audience psychology, and being likeable, among other topics.
The explanation section begins with his named card routine. It’s an extremely powerful effect, but does require the performer be very familiar with a full deck stack (i.e. Aronson or Mnemonica.) It’s a flexible routine, and Mr. Fern covers the main effects he includes, as well as strategies, tips and resources for “jazzing” with a stack, why he uses this effect and what purpose it achieves with an audience. The tips are useful and practical, clearly coming from his having performed the effect professionally for thousands of audiences. And while it’s understandable that one can’t delineate the exact procedure used in a routine like this, it would have been nice had Mr. Fern discussed a way to ease in to performing an effect requiring this much improvisation and thinking on one’s feet.
Next is his explanation for the coins through table, a solid and effective routine. It uses what is probably the second most popular coin gimmick available. The method isn’t particularly subtle or ground breaking, but it is deceptive and practical, with each phase being strong on its own, a factor Mr. Fern looks for in the material he performs. John George ably assists him in these segments, clarifying the content and asking useful questions. (For the record, the opening 3 coin routine, the chop cup and bill in lemon are not taught.)
The disc concludes with an interview between Mr. Fern and Anthony Asimov. Topics include the idea of “bringing it” to one’s shows, promoting oneself during a performance, changing one’s approach based on the audience, as well as a number of tips for performing in restaurants, surviving strolling gigs, as well as practical tips garnered from working in the trenches.
Disc two begins with a second formal show performed at the Magic Castle. It opens with the same three coin routine, coins through table and coins across, then follows with a multiple selection routine and lastly the ambitious card. As with disc one, an audio commentary is included, though this one was a bit less insightful than the first. This is followed by an explanation of the coins across and multiple selection routines, with the ambitious card being taught on disc three.
The coins across routine is based on an effect of Dean Dill’s wherein the coins travel from the hand to under a napkin on the table. The effect is strong, surprising, different from most coin routines and ends with an astonishing phase created by Mr. Fern. This is a beautiful routine. And while it does require a flat surface to perform on, it is practical and can be performed in a variety of venues and situations. It also requires a gimmick, different from the one used in his coins through table, but one that is probably THE most popular coin gimmick available.
The multiple selection routine is fairly standard. However, the methods, subtleties and revelations he uses show excellent taste, and there are some ideas he shares that will be of use to even those who already perform a version of the routine. Mr. Fern’s main personal contributions are his presentation and his final revelation, which allows the performer to reveal the final signed selection has appeared under the label of an aerosol can. This fooled me badly. And while it isn’t practical for walk around (obviously), for a formal performance this will devastate an audience. The disc also contains two PDF files, one containing a template for the aerosol can label and the other being a walkthrough of the revelations used in the multiple selection routine.
The final disc is devoted to walk around magic and begins with footage of four strolling sets filmed for the public. Each set includes an audio commentary that, while mostly descriptive, does offer some good tips for strolling magic performers. The tricks performed in the various sets include his ambitious card, card under spectator, card to card box, an entertaining and impossible card location, a version of the Chicago opener and sponge bunnies. His ambitious card and handling of the Chicago opener have some nice variations and subtleties, but the highlight is his card location. In the routine a card is selected while the deck is behind the magician’s back. The card is returned by the spectator, the deck is handed to the spectator who shuffles it (while the magician’s back is turned!) and yet the magician can still find it. The one drawback to this effect (as well as the card to box routine) is that the method is not perfect. While Mr. Fern does suggest a great out, if you need 100% sure-fire material, this isn’t for you. In this section he also teaches a practical action top palm that can be performed surrounded.
The final routine taught is Mr. Fern’s approach to the classic sponge bunnies. He doesn’t teach it, so much yell from the rooftops, touting all it can accomplish in performance. And, as any working professional who performs sponge bunnies can attest, he is right. Beyond listing the benefits, though, he also offers a template for guaranteeing huge amounts of entertainment any time one performs for a family. His presentation is delightful and his approach is powerful. In his hands the trick is extremely magical, which grabs any adult’s attention, but the entertainment really comes from the interaction, not just between the performer and the audience, but also between the kids and their parents. He includes a PDF that not only describes his method and technique, but also breaks down the seventeen things his routine accomplishes in performance. Anyone who frowns at the idea of performing the “Bunnies” will be a convert after watching Mr. Fern perform, teach and discuss the effect.
Instruction is complete throughout, though at times a bit rushed. Mr. Fern could have slowed down, as well as given more thought as to how to explain the material. At the same time, a great deal of extremely valuable information was imparted, not just regarding the material on the set, but also related to entertaining people in the real world. The practice of including not just actual performances for real people, but also an audio commentary, is a welcome one that other magic video producers should incorporate in their releases.
Will Fern is a bold and fun entertainer. He doesn’t have the most sophisticated or refined sleight of hand, but his material, whether he chooses classics or routines of his own devising, is practical, powerful and entertaining. The new material on this DVD will be of interest to workers, and his take and ideas with the classics will be as well. If you want to learn practical, powerful, audience tested routines that can be used any time and anywhere, as well as see the routines performed for real people, this DVD is for you.
Disc one begins with a formal show performed at the Magic Castle. The set includes a three coin routine, credited to Ponta the Smith, a show-stopping multi phased named card routine, a coins through the table, a coins across, the chop cup and he closes with bill in lemon. An audio commentary is also provided, during which Mr. Fern touches on show construction, audience psychology, and being likeable, among other topics.
The explanation section begins with his named card routine. It’s an extremely powerful effect, but does require the performer be very familiar with a full deck stack (i.e. Aronson or Mnemonica.) It’s a flexible routine, and Mr. Fern covers the main effects he includes, as well as strategies, tips and resources for “jazzing” with a stack, why he uses this effect and what purpose it achieves with an audience. The tips are useful and practical, clearly coming from his having performed the effect professionally for thousands of audiences. And while it’s understandable that one can’t delineate the exact procedure used in a routine like this, it would have been nice had Mr. Fern discussed a way to ease in to performing an effect requiring this much improvisation and thinking on one’s feet.
Next is his explanation for the coins through table, a solid and effective routine. It uses what is probably the second most popular coin gimmick available. The method isn’t particularly subtle or ground breaking, but it is deceptive and practical, with each phase being strong on its own, a factor Mr. Fern looks for in the material he performs. John George ably assists him in these segments, clarifying the content and asking useful questions. (For the record, the opening 3 coin routine, the chop cup and bill in lemon are not taught.)
The disc concludes with an interview between Mr. Fern and Anthony Asimov. Topics include the idea of “bringing it” to one’s shows, promoting oneself during a performance, changing one’s approach based on the audience, as well as a number of tips for performing in restaurants, surviving strolling gigs, as well as practical tips garnered from working in the trenches.
Disc two begins with a second formal show performed at the Magic Castle. It opens with the same three coin routine, coins through table and coins across, then follows with a multiple selection routine and lastly the ambitious card. As with disc one, an audio commentary is included, though this one was a bit less insightful than the first. This is followed by an explanation of the coins across and multiple selection routines, with the ambitious card being taught on disc three.
The coins across routine is based on an effect of Dean Dill’s wherein the coins travel from the hand to under a napkin on the table. The effect is strong, surprising, different from most coin routines and ends with an astonishing phase created by Mr. Fern. This is a beautiful routine. And while it does require a flat surface to perform on, it is practical and can be performed in a variety of venues and situations. It also requires a gimmick, different from the one used in his coins through table, but one that is probably THE most popular coin gimmick available.
The multiple selection routine is fairly standard. However, the methods, subtleties and revelations he uses show excellent taste, and there are some ideas he shares that will be of use to even those who already perform a version of the routine. Mr. Fern’s main personal contributions are his presentation and his final revelation, which allows the performer to reveal the final signed selection has appeared under the label of an aerosol can. This fooled me badly. And while it isn’t practical for walk around (obviously), for a formal performance this will devastate an audience. The disc also contains two PDF files, one containing a template for the aerosol can label and the other being a walkthrough of the revelations used in the multiple selection routine.
The final disc is devoted to walk around magic and begins with footage of four strolling sets filmed for the public. Each set includes an audio commentary that, while mostly descriptive, does offer some good tips for strolling magic performers. The tricks performed in the various sets include his ambitious card, card under spectator, card to card box, an entertaining and impossible card location, a version of the Chicago opener and sponge bunnies. His ambitious card and handling of the Chicago opener have some nice variations and subtleties, but the highlight is his card location. In the routine a card is selected while the deck is behind the magician’s back. The card is returned by the spectator, the deck is handed to the spectator who shuffles it (while the magician’s back is turned!) and yet the magician can still find it. The one drawback to this effect (as well as the card to box routine) is that the method is not perfect. While Mr. Fern does suggest a great out, if you need 100% sure-fire material, this isn’t for you. In this section he also teaches a practical action top palm that can be performed surrounded.
The final routine taught is Mr. Fern’s approach to the classic sponge bunnies. He doesn’t teach it, so much yell from the rooftops, touting all it can accomplish in performance. And, as any working professional who performs sponge bunnies can attest, he is right. Beyond listing the benefits, though, he also offers a template for guaranteeing huge amounts of entertainment any time one performs for a family. His presentation is delightful and his approach is powerful. In his hands the trick is extremely magical, which grabs any adult’s attention, but the entertainment really comes from the interaction, not just between the performer and the audience, but also between the kids and their parents. He includes a PDF that not only describes his method and technique, but also breaks down the seventeen things his routine accomplishes in performance. Anyone who frowns at the idea of performing the “Bunnies” will be a convert after watching Mr. Fern perform, teach and discuss the effect.
Instruction is complete throughout, though at times a bit rushed. Mr. Fern could have slowed down, as well as given more thought as to how to explain the material. At the same time, a great deal of extremely valuable information was imparted, not just regarding the material on the set, but also related to entertaining people in the real world. The practice of including not just actual performances for real people, but also an audio commentary, is a welcome one that other magic video producers should incorporate in their releases.
Will Fern is a bold and fun entertainer. He doesn’t have the most sophisticated or refined sleight of hand, but his material, whether he chooses classics or routines of his own devising, is practical, powerful and entertaining. The new material on this DVD will be of interest to workers, and his take and ideas with the classics will be as well. If you want to learn practical, powerful, audience tested routines that can be used any time and anywhere, as well as see the routines performed for real people, this DVD is for you.