Switching Gears

Now that school assembly season is over, I am right in the thick of library season. This past winter, I showcased for about 40 librarians in a New York library system, and apparently they liked me, as well over three-quarters of them booked me for at least one performance this summer. Many of my summer library shows involve kicking off the "Summer Reading Club", and doing a brief pitch encouraging kids to sign up for the reading program. For me, this is terrific, as it ties in with my school year assembly, "The Magic of Reading". Surprisingly, most of the libraries don't actually book the reading motivation show, they book my "Comedy Magic Show", which is a non-education, "just-for-fun" magic show. For me, I enjoy this show, as it lets me cut loose a bit more than in schools. My humor can be a little closer to my actual personality, and the uninhibitedness (?) of the kids in this environment provides me more material for ad-libbing. This spontaneity makes these shows more unpredictable, and consequently, more fun in some ways than my school-year shows.

The flip side of this is that in school assembly work, you know in advance nearly every detail of your upcoming performance. You know the size of the group, the age range of the audience, and as such, you can tailor your material very specifically to your crowd prior to arriving. Indeed, I have several versions of my school assembly program, each one aimed at a specific audience demographic.

With libraries, though, you never know what you're going to get until the audience is in front of you. While many libraries have some system for signing up for programs in advance, many people who sign up don't show, and many people who find themselves at the library on show day will want to come in when they find out there's a free magic show in the next room. What this means for me is that I must bring an overabundance of material in my show case, and make a few subtle changes as the audience drifts in. Today, for example, my audience initially looked like it was going to be predominantly young, with most kids 7 and under. Just before I stepped onstage, though, there was a surge of 8-12 year old kids who came in. This necessitated some quick revising of my act to account for the older kids. A lot of the tricks and routines that just kill for younger audience leave you looking like a complete fool in front of older kids. To work well for a mixed group, you need enough silly stuff to keep the little kids laughing and quiet, and enough material for the older kids to keep them from turning on you like a pack of wolverines. Today, I believe I accomplished that goal. Everyone looked happy, my librarian seemed thrilled, and it sounds like I'll be invited back. That's a good show in my book.