First up, the Corinda Opener (er...uhm…a la Banchek)
Try as I might, I’m not gaining any ground in working the NW. (I seriously don’t want to “give away” secrets, but those who have read the “13 Steps” will know exactly what is meant!) My penmanship is just not acceptable.
So I fell back to Banachek’s short pencil. The effect is very much the same from the audience’s perspective, and still a very eye opening entrance.
The setup is to have my dry erase marker set in plain sight on the tray of the white board, with a folded 3x5 index visible before the show begins (actually throughout dinner, if anyone notices.)
At show-time, the effect begins before anyone has become aware that “we’re rolling”.
When the marker is uncapped, there is a very brief show of “fumbling” with the paper switching hands with the marker so that, without mentioning it, I have made everyone aware of the paper.
Now I simply ask in an “impromptu” manner for three people to call out a number. This has worked (or not worked) in different ways.
The first performance had people who were there for reasons other than to simply enjoy a show. It happens; it’s part of the deal. How one handles it determines how far one can go in the art.
As soon as I said, “…give me a number b…”, I was interrupted by a voice from the back calling, “FIVE SEVENTY EIGHT!”, to much laughter. It wasn’t directed at me so I simply continued “BETWEEN 1 and 10”.
The voice called “FOUR!” and I used that as my first digit. (The second show saw no such unexpected events, but to make sure, I asked for three people to THINK of a number, then pointed to them.)
Now most people don’t know that I am left handed, and this worked to an advantage here. The short pencil was in my left hand, and the marker was in my right. Most people are awkward at writing on a white board, and I have practiced sufficiently to make any number with my right hand without too much hesitation. It worked well.
One more thing; the paper displayed was a duplicate of the one already on the hard surface. (Banachek’s lecture notes have a full description.) This didn’t need to be the case, as it’s completely possible to open the paper and “do the deed” without anyone catching on.
But I decided to keep it simple, and had a duplicate paper already folded (creased), and opened out on the writing surface. Then I only needed to ditch the first one and proceed with the second already in place. Refolding was accomplished as the paper was brought back into sight, with no discernable delay.
My line here is, “It took three people to make up this number (pointing at the board), but it took an eight year old boy (referring to Banachek’s excuse for sloppy writing) about three seconds to give me this number." (Showing the paper, still folded) "He asked me if I could somehow work it into the show, and I thank you for helping me to do that!” I hand the paper to the closest spectator and ask them to read it. Of course it matches and the people are awed.
The first show (remember the heckler?) I heard, “LEMME SEE THAT PAPER!” I hadn’t planned on doing that, but a quick glance at the note reassured me that it was safe to do so. (The handwriting was crude but legible; like an eight year old!) so I walked the paper back to the person, who made a “face” as he studied it. The people on both sides of him agreed “That’s what it says!”, and he had no choice to accept. (And he was much quieter for the rest of the show!)
The one change I’m planning before the next show is a way to keep the paper from sliding around as the short pencil does its work. I believe that a post-it note, glued face down to the hard surface (so that the sticky patch is face up), should hold the paper just securely enough to accomplish what needs to be done.
More tomorrow…