Price$24.95
Media TypeVideo Download
CategoryClose Up
Date AddedJul 28, 2014
At the Table Live Lecture - Rick Merrill 7/16/2014
Merrill, Rick
Murphys Magic Supplies
(Based on 2 reviews)
You will learn about:
Rick's Stand Up Opener: A multiple selection card routine filled with unique and entertaining revelations, original comedy, and great thinking. This is the routine Rick has used to open his stand up show for more than 10 years. It's filled with laughs and magical moments - and just wait until you see the method!
Rick's Close Up Opener: After cutting his teeth in restaurants for more than 7 years, Rick tips his opening close up routine along with all his lines and gags. He also explains the psychology behind his patter and why it works for him.
Three Change: A three coin routine where the coins change but do not "fly". Visual coin magic in Rick's off-beat style.
Royal Cut Flush: An amazing display of card skill without the hours of practice. The method is almost as amazing as the effect!
Coin and Marker: The basis for Rick's Grand Prix FISM act involves a sharpie marker and a Morgan silver dollar. With these two items, Rick will show you how you can perform mind-blowing magic that's both visual and entertaining!
Sleeving: Rick shares his work on this useful and secret technique.
Empty Hand Vanish: Learn how to vanish a pen, pencil, or marker - with your sleeves rolled up! Pure sneakiness!
Plus Rick will share stories from FISM, his travels abroad, his feelings on magic competition, and useful thoughts on creating original magic! You're guaranteed to laugh and have a great time!
Reviews
(Top ▲)
This was an interesting lecture in and of itself. Here you have a FISM champion that essentially teaches you his FISM act with all the little bits and pieces of information to make things easier to understand and learn.
The problem with these types of lectures (where a winning FISM act is divulged) is not the quality of the material taught - it is the fact that most magicians misunderstand the underlying intent or they end up taking away the wrong lessons. The material is great, though some of it may be a bit mediocre, but the point is that it is WINNING material. It is in the routining, the delivery and the personality of the performer that wins the competitions - not the effects. Rick mentions that. In fact as he points out, his FISM act opener was based on an "out" of another magician - something that they (in this case, Rune Klan) came up with on a whim as a backup for his "Plan B".
Rick does not tell you what the judges look for in a FISM competition act, but he does tell you how he came up with his ideas and his act, what inspired him and each piece in his act, etc. He takes you through his own creative process, his personal development process and tells you about how his passion for magic came about.
The whole lecture is very funny to watch because Rick is a funny guy without having to try. There was one moment where cards end up all over the floor (intentionally) and Mike (the host) offers to help pick them up. He hands them back to Rick after squaring them up and Rick goes, "Thanks." as he throws them over his shoulder to the floor again!
One particular piece that stood out for me in this lecture was in fact his opener with the coin and the marker. He has done some very good work with the piece and teaches it very clearly, though it is a bit angle-y, and he does address that issue in various ways.
On the whole, if you ever wanted to see what a winning FISM act looks like, this lecture is for you. Everything is very clearly explained and Rick is a good teacher, but this lecture will not be for everyone. You can take some of the lessons and apply them to your everyday working sets and situations, but this lecture is, in my humble opinion, better suited to those looking to compete on any level, not just FISM level.
The problem with these types of lectures (where a winning FISM act is divulged) is not the quality of the material taught - it is the fact that most magicians misunderstand the underlying intent or they end up taking away the wrong lessons. The material is great, though some of it may be a bit mediocre, but the point is that it is WINNING material. It is in the routining, the delivery and the personality of the performer that wins the competitions - not the effects. Rick mentions that. In fact as he points out, his FISM act opener was based on an "out" of another magician - something that they (in this case, Rune Klan) came up with on a whim as a backup for his "Plan B".
Rick does not tell you what the judges look for in a FISM competition act, but he does tell you how he came up with his ideas and his act, what inspired him and each piece in his act, etc. He takes you through his own creative process, his personal development process and tells you about how his passion for magic came about.
The whole lecture is very funny to watch because Rick is a funny guy without having to try. There was one moment where cards end up all over the floor (intentionally) and Mike (the host) offers to help pick them up. He hands them back to Rick after squaring them up and Rick goes, "Thanks." as he throws them over his shoulder to the floor again!
One particular piece that stood out for me in this lecture was in fact his opener with the coin and the marker. He has done some very good work with the piece and teaches it very clearly, though it is a bit angle-y, and he does address that issue in various ways.
On the whole, if you ever wanted to see what a winning FISM act looks like, this lecture is for you. Everything is very clearly explained and Rick is a good teacher, but this lecture will not be for everyone. You can take some of the lessons and apply them to your everyday working sets and situations, but this lecture is, in my humble opinion, better suited to those looking to compete on any level, not just FISM level.
(Top ▲)
Rick Merrill is a FISM champ and in this lecture you learn a lot of what it took to make his act and what his perspective is on competition magic.
Fism Performance: You get to see a big chunk of his FISM act here. If you’d like to see it entirely you can check it out on Youtube. Basically a marker and coin change places again and again in a very visual way.
Multiple Selection: 6 cards are selected and found in 6 different ways. This is fun to watch, his routine is very entertaining. He touches on the classic force here as well as a very cool gaffed card called a double agent. He has some interesting work on card in mouth as well. The only thing he glazed over here was the control he used.
Ricks Restaurant Opener: This is a routine with a gimmicked deck. It is a way to routine an ambitious card and a triumph. So a card comes to the top of the deck repeatedly as if my magic and then the cards are shuffled face up into face down and they magically right themselves. With this deck the spectator can shuffle it a couple times if you wish. For me I didn’t feel like this really added to either routine. His ideas on restaurant magic were sound and helpful.
3 Change: 3 coins are produced and slowly changed into a chinese coin, an english penny and a mexican centavo and then change back. This is a coin routine that with time became part of his FISM act. This looks very nice but it is very gaff heavy. There may be some magicians out there who already own the gaffs needed but for most of us we’d have to invest in some new gaffed coins. Coin gaffs can be really expensive so I’m not sure how practical this routine would be for the average magician.
A Trick for Your Magic Buddies: 4 Cards are produced, they happen to be the aces, you then perform a sybil cut and produce a royal flush in spades. The set up for this is hilarious and it makes it easy to do a sybil cut as well. I will never use this in the real world but it is a nice way to practice some card moves.
Rune Klan’s Coin Routine: In this routine you wave your pen over a coin and it vanishes. The coin comes back, and you change it into the marker. Man this is gold! So many magicians could easily put this into their repertoire and it plays fairly big depending on the size of the coin. All you need is a pen and a coin, you don’t need any clothing requirements or a table and it’s not terribly difficult either.
Sleeving: Rick touches on his thoughts for sleeving. He goes over what shirts are best for him as well as various other tips and tricks that he uses.
Kick Back: This is an extra kicker to Rune Klan’s routine. The marker turns into the coin and teleports under the magicians arm. This is a good addition to Rune’s original routine. The clothing requirements are the same, you don’t need any!
Convincing Vanish: This Ricks take on a Gregory Wilson idea. It uses a small hand washing sequence and a sleeveless complete vanish of a marker. This has some clear angle restrictions but it is a fairly creative take.
Pencil Change: Without going to your pockets you can vanish a marker and make a pencil apear in its place. This is completely surprising, and it is very creative. The way it meshes with the marker vanish is brilliant.
Marker From Coin: He reaches into the coin and pulls out the marker, giving the impression that the coin slowly dissolves leaving a marker in its place. This is another slow magical moment.
Knee Tap: At this point he throws the maker at his knee kicking it in the air, it then changes into the coin, giving the impression that it changes in mid air. He then repeats it turning it back. This is tough but it looks great for sure. This is another place where Rune Klan inspired a sequence. To perform Merrill's version you do need to be wearing a shirt similar to what he is wearing.
A good chunk of the FISM routine could be done by just about anyone to great effect, the other magic is fine but I think the real gold in this is the coin and pen magic.
Fism Performance: You get to see a big chunk of his FISM act here. If you’d like to see it entirely you can check it out on Youtube. Basically a marker and coin change places again and again in a very visual way.
Multiple Selection: 6 cards are selected and found in 6 different ways. This is fun to watch, his routine is very entertaining. He touches on the classic force here as well as a very cool gaffed card called a double agent. He has some interesting work on card in mouth as well. The only thing he glazed over here was the control he used.
Ricks Restaurant Opener: This is a routine with a gimmicked deck. It is a way to routine an ambitious card and a triumph. So a card comes to the top of the deck repeatedly as if my magic and then the cards are shuffled face up into face down and they magically right themselves. With this deck the spectator can shuffle it a couple times if you wish. For me I didn’t feel like this really added to either routine. His ideas on restaurant magic were sound and helpful.
3 Change: 3 coins are produced and slowly changed into a chinese coin, an english penny and a mexican centavo and then change back. This is a coin routine that with time became part of his FISM act. This looks very nice but it is very gaff heavy. There may be some magicians out there who already own the gaffs needed but for most of us we’d have to invest in some new gaffed coins. Coin gaffs can be really expensive so I’m not sure how practical this routine would be for the average magician.
A Trick for Your Magic Buddies: 4 Cards are produced, they happen to be the aces, you then perform a sybil cut and produce a royal flush in spades. The set up for this is hilarious and it makes it easy to do a sybil cut as well. I will never use this in the real world but it is a nice way to practice some card moves.
Rune Klan’s Coin Routine: In this routine you wave your pen over a coin and it vanishes. The coin comes back, and you change it into the marker. Man this is gold! So many magicians could easily put this into their repertoire and it plays fairly big depending on the size of the coin. All you need is a pen and a coin, you don’t need any clothing requirements or a table and it’s not terribly difficult either.
Sleeving: Rick touches on his thoughts for sleeving. He goes over what shirts are best for him as well as various other tips and tricks that he uses.
Kick Back: This is an extra kicker to Rune Klan’s routine. The marker turns into the coin and teleports under the magicians arm. This is a good addition to Rune’s original routine. The clothing requirements are the same, you don’t need any!
Convincing Vanish: This Ricks take on a Gregory Wilson idea. It uses a small hand washing sequence and a sleeveless complete vanish of a marker. This has some clear angle restrictions but it is a fairly creative take.
Pencil Change: Without going to your pockets you can vanish a marker and make a pencil apear in its place. This is completely surprising, and it is very creative. The way it meshes with the marker vanish is brilliant.
Marker From Coin: He reaches into the coin and pulls out the marker, giving the impression that the coin slowly dissolves leaving a marker in its place. This is another slow magical moment.
Knee Tap: At this point he throws the maker at his knee kicking it in the air, it then changes into the coin, giving the impression that it changes in mid air. He then repeats it turning it back. This is tough but it looks great for sure. This is another place where Rune Klan inspired a sequence. To perform Merrill's version you do need to be wearing a shirt similar to what he is wearing.
A good chunk of the FISM routine could be done by just about anyone to great effect, the other magic is fine but I think the real gold in this is the coin and pen magic.