617: U.K. Kid Show Magicians

Kids are kids the world over and they all love magic. But there are some subtle differences in how and where magic is presented to children in the U.S. versus how it's done in the U.K. This week we chat with family and children show entertainers from the U.K. about these differences and some of their challenges (i.e. taking the tube and/or train in London between shows) and how they brand themselves by using memorable names for their characters.

Listen this week to our chat with Martin "Mr. Biscuit" Cox, Dave "Magic Dave" Allen and Paul "Colonel Custard" Megram as we hear how it's done "across the pond."

This week’s podcast episode on YouTube.

This week, Paul Megram, Dave Allen and Martin Cox represent a small sample of the complex and multi-levels of children’s show magicians in England. Someone could easily make a podcast devoted to just the kid show industry in the U.K. by featuring a different entertainer each week, but that’s not what The Magic Word Podcast is about. So please enjoy this 35,000 foot (or 10,668 meters) overview of this lucrative industry and accept our apologies if we have left out you as a guest or topics that you think we should have discussed.

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608- Jeff Bibik - Bar Magician Extraordinaire

Jeff Bibik is a Chicago comedian and a magician. Originally from the Detroit, Michigan, area, he regularly performed magic in local restaurants and comedy clubs until 1985 when he moved to Chicago where he continued as a comedy magician in close-up and stage for the public and corporate audiences and he also performs a hypnosis act. Over the years he developed a large repertoire of jokes and gags that serves him well today as the house magician at the Chicago Magic Lounge.

Jeff Bibik pulls no punches this week in sharing the secrets behind getting work in restaurants performing magic, plus he tells lots of stories about working in bars and restaurants with a liberal sprinkling of funny gags, jokes and puns. This was recorded using StreamYard with Jeff joining us from the bar in his basement in his Chicago home. A video of our chat was also recorded and posted to YouTube. To view that video, please click on the video link below in this blog.

567: David Kaye - The Method Behind His Silliness

In response to listeners’ requests for more content and conversations with children and family show entertainer, this week we go to the “top” and visit with David “Silly Billy” Kaye who is regarded by many as one of the best known kid show entertainers in the world today.

Before the Magic Word Podcast became a reality, I was part of a podcast produced by Dodd Vickers called “Magic Newswire”. For quite some time on Sunday evenings, Dodd put together a small band of us, each with specific backgrounds and skill sets, to talk with some of the biggest names in magic (like Johnny Thompson, Mac King, Jamy Ian Swiss, and others). One of the other “co-hosts” with me was David Kaye. Though we had known each other from our times together at various magic conventions, we got to know each other better through our Sunday evening gatherings online from our respective homes before that was a “thing”.

This is a performance of the magic trick called Princess In A Pickle, created by Silly Billy. It was shot at the Magic Castle in Hollywood. A great routine for your show. Packs really flat and plays big and funny for 7 minutes. Buy Princess in a Pickle at https://www.sillymagic.com/product/pr... Silly Billy performs children’s magic for kids in New York.

David gives us a mini-lecture on the differences in “appreciation” of magic for children of different ages. This is a wonderful, insightful and educational episode for anyone interested in performing for children, regardless if you are just getting started or if you have been entertaining children for years.