Price$35.00
Media TypeDVD
CategoryClose Up
Date AddedFeb 12, 2014
Totally Whacked
Mayhew, Steve
The Magic Bakery - Steve Brooks
(Based on 2 reviews)
He's Erdnase with an arrow-through-the-head.
You'll enjoy Steve's entire show, with real laughs and real astonishment from a real audience. Learn how a master mixes magic with mayhem. But it's not just laughs...
Freedom (aka The Mayhew Poker Deal), is the ultimate demonstration of false dealing, in which you appear to deal from random positions throughout the deck; 3rd, 7th, 35th, 42nd or whatever.
And for the working pros there's Full Frontal Conus, in which Steve steals the aces out from under a spectator's hand. Teasing the audience mercilessly, while everyone is burning the cards placed fairly under a spectator's hand - Steve steals aces back again!
The Conus Aces - a routine revered by generations of performers. While most accomplished magicians can handle the moves, only an elite few know how to manipulate the audience, culminating in this hands-off miracle. Steve handles this with charm, and teaches you how he gains the trust of the audience, even after they've been repeatedly punk'd.
And if that's not enough, Steve tips four more commercial routines from his working repertoire: Three by Three (aka A Balloon, a Cartwheel, and a Pony Ride), the James Brown Aces, Delores in the Meadow, and the Sanborn Switch. We've also included a bonus interview with Steve, along with outrageous outtakes!
Reviews
(Top ▲)
Overview
WHAT YOU GETYou get a DVD with a video of a full performance and explanation of the entire routine.
WHAT IS COOL
Steve is not only a skilled magician, he is also extremely funny. He does an entire routine with just a deck of cards. His humor isn’t the stereotypical hack lines, it is humor that is engaging with the audience and designed for each move in each phase of his routine.
THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY
What I REALLY love about this DVD is this is a REALLY good example of structuring a humorous performance that engages the audience. It’s not just a series of tricks and some random comedy. He doesn’t use hack lines, his comedy is perfectly interwoven in the routine and the interaction with the audience.
I really liked that he used “out-of-the-box” thinking to create more entertaining premises. For example, one of his routines involves turning a stack of twenty dollar bills into a stack of one dollar bills. I have never seen a magician do that, but in the context of his routine, it creates a hilarious series of events where several times bills are changing denomination and changing hands. At the end of the routine, a twenty from a male audience member ends up in the hands of a female audience member and the magician comes out like he also lost money when his stack of twenties turned into a stack of ones… the whole thing is hilarious!
I really like this DVD, but I took away one star from my rating because I would have liked for him to explain every move. He explained most moves, but for example, he didn’t explain the second deal he used. I understand that many magicians feel like it is not the place to go into a thorough explanation of a move where there is another source where just that move is covered on an entire DVD or streaming video. However, he should have taken a couple minutes to give a brief overview of how he does the move.
AT A GLANCE
Skill level required: 4 of 5. The moves aren’t knuckle busters, but he isn’t using gimmicks. He is using sleight of hand.
Audience management skill required: 4 of 5. His routine involves very careful audience management.
Performance angles: 360 degrees
Reset time required: You can reset in front of your audience.
DIY time involved in advance: None.
Effect
This is not a single effect. It is a DVD of his entire parlor show in front of a live audience. That is followed by explanations for each of the routines he performed. The effects are card and bill routines. There is a bill change routine where bills change from one denomination to another three times. There are gambling related routines and other card routines. I don’t think the routines are earthshattering, the value of this DVD is more about how he structures routines and comedy scripting into a show.Method
Various rather basic sleights are used. None of them are particularly difficult, but some of them aren’t explained at all. For example, one of the routines involves multiple second deals and there is no explanation for his second deal. This DVD is not a good source to learn how to do sleights. You must already know how to do some basic sleights before watching this DVD.Product Quality
The production quality of the video recording is just ok. Perhaps this was recorded quite a while ago, the quality is not great. However, I found it satisfactory to see what he was doing. He didn’t go into very good detail in his explanations of the various moves, but the video quality was not a significant issue.Ad Copy Integrity
The ad copy has some issues. I would not say that this is even CLOSE to the ultimate second deal routine. It is an interesting routine, but I wouldn’t claim it is any sort of holy grail.In spite of or given the ad copy, I would say that if you are new to magic, this may not be a good choice. If you are an amateur magician, this may not be a great choice for you. However, If you are a professional magician and you would like to see a very funny and entertaining show to perhaps inspire changes in your own show, this would be a good resource for you.
Final Thoughts
This is a great video for someone who is putting together a show or wants to make their show better. For an amateur magician who is just looking for a cool new trick, this probably isn’t the best DVD.Suggestions
Definitely get this DVD as inspiration if you are looking to put together a show or want to take your show to the next level. If your show is a series of tricks and some random comedy lines, you will want to watch this DVD to see an example of how a show can flow smoothly and be very entertaining.(Top ▲)
There are not a lot of things to say about this DVD except that you will either like this or you will hate it.
While the ad copy does not lie, I do not think the material on the video lives up to the hype.
The production quality was mediocre - the lighting and video quality were okay but the sound was low at times, making certain things difficult to understand. The menu was wonky. If you push the Play button, it takes you directly to the performances and plays all the way through the show. At the end you see the rolling credits before returning to the menu. To get to the explanations you have to click on the Chapter button. Here is where I thought it was a bit strange: There is no "play all" button for the chapters, but if you choose any one of them, it plays all the way through the rest of the remaining explanations after that one without going back to the menu.
This was shot in front of a live audience and there was a woman that was brought up to help for most of the show. Except for one other person during the performances, she was the only "on-stage" assistant. Steve had this running joke with her that was funny at first, but after the fourth or fifth time it got old - and it just kept going. And going. And going.
There were some pretty good jokes on the disc and while it is always best to come up with your own jokes/lines/scripts, if you were to use some of the ones on here you must realize that they are not necessarily suitable for all venues and/or audiences.
The effects for the most part were decent enough, but forgettable. One thing that you cannot deny is that Steve Mayhew does have some great card skill - he displays that in some of the effects very nicely.
Freedom is the Mayhew Poker Deal, which they claim is the ultimate demonstration in false dealing. It requires one technique that many find difficult and if you know how to do it, it will be easy. It is, however, far from being the "ultimate demonstration in false dealing."
For me the highlight of the entire disc are the demonstration and the explanation for both the "Conus Aces" and "Full Frontal Conus". These are items that I learned from other sources and use a lot because they are strong pieces of magic if you do them correctly. Steve does a great job in both performing them and explaining them.
There is an interview with Steve in which he basically tells the history of how he got started in magic, where and how he learned his craft and things like that.
The outtake reel was not a gut-buster. One of the outtakes shows them inviting the lady up to the table and having to stop and start over because Steve could not remember how to get into the effect. Personally I would have liked to have seen how he would have handled that in a real-world performance situation, but instead they edited it out.
There are a lot of ads for the other videos produced by The Magic Bakery.
There are some good tips, a few nice ideas and some good sleights/moves taught on this disc and the material is all doable, but you will have to judge whether or not you might get anything out of it.
You get a wooden nickel inside the DVD case which and if it has a particular purpose other than being a wooden nickel, I do not know.
While the ad copy does not lie, I do not think the material on the video lives up to the hype.
The production quality was mediocre - the lighting and video quality were okay but the sound was low at times, making certain things difficult to understand. The menu was wonky. If you push the Play button, it takes you directly to the performances and plays all the way through the show. At the end you see the rolling credits before returning to the menu. To get to the explanations you have to click on the Chapter button. Here is where I thought it was a bit strange: There is no "play all" button for the chapters, but if you choose any one of them, it plays all the way through the rest of the remaining explanations after that one without going back to the menu.
This was shot in front of a live audience and there was a woman that was brought up to help for most of the show. Except for one other person during the performances, she was the only "on-stage" assistant. Steve had this running joke with her that was funny at first, but after the fourth or fifth time it got old - and it just kept going. And going. And going.
There were some pretty good jokes on the disc and while it is always best to come up with your own jokes/lines/scripts, if you were to use some of the ones on here you must realize that they are not necessarily suitable for all venues and/or audiences.
The effects for the most part were decent enough, but forgettable. One thing that you cannot deny is that Steve Mayhew does have some great card skill - he displays that in some of the effects very nicely.
Freedom is the Mayhew Poker Deal, which they claim is the ultimate demonstration in false dealing. It requires one technique that many find difficult and if you know how to do it, it will be easy. It is, however, far from being the "ultimate demonstration in false dealing."
For me the highlight of the entire disc are the demonstration and the explanation for both the "Conus Aces" and "Full Frontal Conus". These are items that I learned from other sources and use a lot because they are strong pieces of magic if you do them correctly. Steve does a great job in both performing them and explaining them.
There is an interview with Steve in which he basically tells the history of how he got started in magic, where and how he learned his craft and things like that.
The outtake reel was not a gut-buster. One of the outtakes shows them inviting the lady up to the table and having to stop and start over because Steve could not remember how to get into the effect. Personally I would have liked to have seen how he would have handled that in a real-world performance situation, but instead they edited it out.
There are a lot of ads for the other videos produced by The Magic Bakery.
There are some good tips, a few nice ideas and some good sleights/moves taught on this disc and the material is all doable, but you will have to judge whether or not you might get anything out of it.
You get a wooden nickel inside the DVD case which and if it has a particular purpose other than being a wooden nickel, I do not know.