Magic Tricks

Tommy was a shrewd comedic master of premise and presentation. Dan Harlan appears to have wrung out most of what was great about Tamed Card, arguably the pinnacle of all Wild Card routines. The premise that Wonder mined to glorious effect in his original has been discarded based on an apparent misunderstanding of where the original's power lay. Premise, script, method, presentation, performance and effect are inextricably linked. In an apparent effort to open the routine up to everybody, Harlan strips away essential factors in the original's success. Change the premise and you change the heart of the trick. What you end up with is a tame imitation completely lacking the original's comedic wonder.