John Archer Lecture
The Order of The Magi
April 2017

Reviewed by Geoffrey Newton PRO

I last saw John at South Tyneside a few weeks ago as a performer and it was great then to see a lecture where he showed not only how his effects were achieved, but how to and where to obtain the laughs. By the use of a deck switch he illustrated how a 'magician screws up' can be turned into a positive result, with hilarious consequences.

He went on to show the envelope routine that fooled Penn and Teller and brought him a trip to Las Vegas. It was indeed clever thinking and one can understand why they were fooled!


His coincidence routine with a very attention grabbing story was simplicity in modus operandi, but needed presentation work to achieve the right angle. Apart from two decks of cards all it needed was some Muffles (you can buy them from Boots) and you were off.

His dog pet name was a much improved and simplified working of an effect he has demonstrated at a previous lecture and now a lot stronger.

A mind reading routine of a chosen celebrity went down well and again the method was very simple, as long as to narrow the options down you could handle a little ‘fishing’.

A Rough and Smooth routine with ESP cards was another hit. All his routines were described in great detail with all the pauses and asides clearly shown. Yes, I can understand why this man fooled Penn and Teller!

© Geoffrey Newton PRO, April 2017

 

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