How to Become a Shock Magician

While other magicians may make us laugh or amaze us, shock magicians use fear and surprise to entertain their audiences. If you want to use the weird, shocking and just plain scary in your magic performances, you might just want to become a shock magician.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Professional shock trick equipment
• Hat
• Costume

1. Learn several magic tricks that are easy to perform, such as ones using cards or coins. Although these types of tricks are not usually associated with shock magicians, you may be able to incorporate them into your routine later by adding elements of gore. They also make excellent warm-up tricks and can help relax your audience so you can catch them off guard with your real show.

2. Add shocking techniques to otherwise run-of-the-mill tricks. For example, if performing the sawing-a-woman-in-half trick, instruct the woman to scream throughout the sawing, use an electric saw or send fake blood and guts spewing when you begin to saw. Fake blood can be used in a number of tricks to fool the audience into believing what they are seeing.

3. Perform your tricks in front of people with whom you are comfortable. This will help you to build your skills in interacting with and responding to a group of people in a public setting.

4. Learn shock magic tricks, such as passing a knife or pen through your arm or hand or tying razor blades onto string using only your tongue. Follow the instructions carefully, as they are developed to prevent magicians from being injured.

5. Prepare your shock magician costume for your performances. Create a dark, solid-colored outfit that matches the show's tone of mystery.

6. Pick a spot to perform your shock magician routine. You can either put on a show like a street magician and find a busy pedestrian street to perform on or find a place to hold a traditional magic show and advertise. The former is best for beginners, as traditional magic shows require a long program of tricks, while a street performer can entertain with only a few.

7. Develop a signature trick. The more shocking you make it, the more likely people will be to remember your name. When performing your signature move, be sure all of the mood-enhancing elements, such as creepy music, remain the same so that the audience knows to expect your infamous trick.

Tips & Warnings

• Since shock magic uses a lot of potentially dangerous equipment, such as knives and razor blades, be very careful when performing the tricks. Never perform them for an audience without having mastered them in practice.
• Don't perform this type of magic when young children are in attendance.