LIT from Dan White and Dan Hauss

What The Audience Sees:

"Okay, so Jamie says he's going to start doing two tricks every Friday now! We've won the magic lottery! And he doesn't perform any of this magic stuff like my neighbour does. Nunh unh. This guy's the real deal. No kidding. If you don't believe me, you only needed to be there this Friday and you'd be a believer too, man.

He took this matchbook, right. And he pulled out a match and gave me the matchbook to hold. Well, he lit the match he was holding and then he swallowed it! %$^% &#^&@^. He swallowed a ^@&^@in lit match. But then? Then it reappeared in the matchbook I was holding! We went crazy! But that's not all. Nunh unh. The Jamie D. Grant religion meeting was still in session yo! He told me to keep holding onto the matchbook because he wanted to show us a card trick. Well, he had us pick a card and it vanished from the pack. Crazy enough, right? Not even close! Because it reappeared again. You know where?! In the matchbook I WAS HOLDING! It became printed onto the @%&@8(*@ matchbook! Suzie asked him if he could heal her sick cat! I went home immediately and started making Jamie dolls that I can sell on Ebay. We're going to make a killing once the world sees what this guy can do!"

How It Went:

Lol. I don't even know where to start. I've been lucky enough to buy enough magic, or have it sent in for review, that I'm able to show only solid gold to my clients on Friday. And sometimes something comes across my desk (well, it's more of a table really) that shines even brighter than all the rest. And LIT is one of those effects. It's weird but I'm sure you'll know what I mean when I say that there are some effects that are straight up workers, there's some that make people laugh and applaud, and then there are some that make people think that you really have special powers. LIT is one of those tricks where people don't think "How did he do that?" but rather, "How did he get to be the way he is."

I also actually used the floating match that's included in the Extras to make it a three phaser for certain clients as well. They see me light a match, float it, eat it, have it reappear in the matchbook they're holding, and then the card portion. All in all, an amazing routine that can take a few minutes. A few minutes to change a life. An absolute steal.

Best Lines:

"Noway. Noway. Noway.Noway."
-This person started rocking back and forth, lol.

"Where do I build my altar?!"
-Tooooo funny.

Angry Bob Rating:

For those of you reading this article for the first time, Angry Bob is a co-worker who has an understanding of some magic because his uncle was a magician. Angry Bob knows that TT’s exist, for example, but he has no desire to become a magician himself. He also has an anger management problem that can be experienced first hand if he can’t figure out how a trick is done. A high rating means he has no idea.

Here's the thing. When I swallowed the match, Angry Bob immediately said, "It's still in the matchbook @^%% @^%^%@!" so I guess 1/5. I think for someone who knows magic a bit, he might not know how to do it, but he can guess the result. However, that only made the ending more spectacular. When I brought out the cards he thought I was going to move into a card trick because he ruined the match trick. When he opened the matchbook and saw his card? I think I may have made Angry Bob a believer!

"Jamie. I don't know what to say. That's amazing man."
- I think that's the first time Angry Bob used my real name and not "*&@%%#&)$". 5/5.

My Rating:

10/10. I should really start a Magic Monday column that only reviews bad magic so everyone can see that I don't love everything. It is nice to only write positive reviews though. But man, you should see some of the horrors that I see. Thankfully, LIT is nowhere near that category. Not even close. It's an amazing effect that I think will make a lot of people very happy with their purchase. My only comment is to Dan Hauss, who I've become a big fan of. Keep the "Teaching Hannah" segment that you had in Flow. It's a brilliant idea and, if you're going to be be putting out more material, will really help keep differentiating you from the rest. Other than that- awesome with a capital "A". Great work Dans!

The JDG Tip:

Know your audience. This is the kind of trick that plays waaaaaay stronger than you might think and I'm not even sure I can explain why. I remember one time I did a stage show and I brought out a flaming wallet and you can clearly hear on the tape someone yelling "Yaaaay! FIRE!" so maybe that has something to do with it. By the way, I changed up vanishing the lit match into a TT later in the day. So don't use this as a throw away type effect. Go out and start changing lives, for the better.

One more idea I had was, when levitating the match, to ask the spectators to imagine that it was a person. If you can make a matchstick man, this looks all the better.

Closing Thoughts:

Well, in my opinion, Dan White and Dan Hauss killed it with this DVD. So let me say a big "Thanks" for giving me such an easy review to write and for such an enjoyable effect to perform.

HAVE A GREAT WEEK EVERYONE!

Jamie D. Grant
Vancouver Magician
www.jamiedgrant.com

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