I’VE ALWAYS BEEN AN ADVOCATE  of working an act regularly until it goes like clockwork so that all your energy goes into the presentation. Many professionals have worked this way – Eddie Tulloch the king of the trade shows in the U.S. I’m told performed all his life with just a pack of cards, a pack of envelopes, some rubber bands and a pencil. Channing Pollock once he had the dove act, rarely changed; every move, every expression beautifully timed to fill the seven minute act so that it became a world beating thing of beauty.

I have a stage act which varies little and in fact uses some effects(and patter!) that I first performed half a century ago. Just an odd tweak here and there to heighten something but that’s about all. Close-up the same. The same half dozen effects that I know are solid, get an excellent response together with funnies where I know when to expect a laugh in varying situations. Also the 60 minute show “Behind the Doors of The Magic Circle” which I’ve presented to scores of groups over the last four years stepping out and knowing exactly what I was going to do and what kind of response to expect.

But I’ve recently done a show for a club for the third time this year – and they’ve just booked me for another in December, with the same audience!  It’s very flattering to  know that they like you enough to re-book the act but wow! I repeated the same act for the second time and for the third appearance I made up a programme of mental items but with different laugh lines. It went well but it didn’t flow and was a bit staccato due to lack of use. So how do I face the fourth appearance?

Well I regard it as a challenge, will seek out items that I’ve played with over the years but never adopted into the act and work on the jokes of which I have hundreds written in many books. But I’m rather pleased in a way  that this has forced me out of my lethargic attitude and made me work on a strong, second programme that with time and usage could be perhaps as successful and reliable as the No.1 act. And I’m finding that I’m quite enjoying it and re-discovering effects that once appealed to me but were passed over for one reason or another. Plus hopefully with the accrued performing experience of the past years I may be able to create something that gives me (and hopefully the audience) real pleasure and satisfaction. Let you know more later – after the December show!

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