A few years ago I decided to branch out the type of venues I perform at. I was, previously, strictly
close up strolling. I wanted to break into the stand up scene. A friend of mine, Jim Spinnato, said
that although there are a lot of mentalists, there aren't too many comedy mentalists. He suggested I
build a comedy mentalism routine.
He then turned me on to John Archer's DVD as an example
of a killer comedy mentalism act. It's true. John Archer is an absolute showman, an incredible
entertainer, and extremely funny. His act completely inspired me. In fact his Komedy Killer is now
in my stand up act.
There is so much to be learned from this two DVD set (performance on
one disk, exp on the other). Even if you are a close up magician, there are a couple of great close
up effects as well. He has an incredibly funny torn and restored card effect along with a do as I do
close up card effect. Both are excellent.
His take on the Koran Medallion is brilliant.
Many of the effects on here are modifications that fit John's personality. That's one of the big
lessons from this set that you can learn. Take an effect and make it your own. Man if John doesn't
do that, then nobody does! The guy is clearly a thinker and a definite pro.
Seriously, if
you are not laughing your butt off while watching this, then you're dead. Secondly, if you don't
learn something from this DVD that justifies paying double the retail price, then you watched a
different DVD than I did. I've made enough money performing Komedy Killer to pay for a whole year's
worth of DVD purchases and then some.
There are also some excellent interview pieces and
discussions about how he developed some of the routines, how he got gigs, how he evolved as a
performer, etc. This DVD is bar far the best DVD of the four being reviewed this month. Total GEM!
Must have for stand up performers
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