Norm Nielsen's VANISHING KETCHUP BOTTLE

What The Audience Sees:

'Today Jamie actually brought a Ketchup bottle with him. That was pretty funny, in itself. He then put it in a paper bag and said he was going to make it disappear but he just turned the bag upside down and held onto the bottle. We all groaned, to which he replied, "Yeah, sorry. It's not really a very good trick..." and he CRUSHED THE PAPER BAG with the bottle inside! It was freakin' hilarious! Where did it go?'

How It Went:

I'm starting to put my stage show together and since it's been a little slow at work lately, I thought I'd try a few things out that I plan on using. Wow, the ketchup bottle just killed people. Actually, I don't know if that's entirely true. People were shocked initially and then they would just start laughing like crazy. I had one group of 5 that screamed then fell into fits of laughter. I felt like Seinfield...So, to be honest, I have no idea if it actually fooled people. I'm almost positive it did because I had a couple of people ask, 'Where did it go?!' but maybe the others were laughing because it was just funny. Or it could have been the heat. Regardless, I like it and I'm going to put it in the show. A success.

Best Lines:

'HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA'-it's hard to convey over the net how hard some people were laughing. I almost laughed 'till I cried simply because they were laughing so hard. Maybe I'll go into standup comedy on the side: "Hey, have you heard the one about the ketchup bottle?..."

Angry Bob Rating:

I have a co-worker (Bob) whose uncle was a magician and thereby has a good working knowledge of how magic works. He's pretty grumpy but likes Magic Friday's because he can tell me how he figured out how the effect is done... A high rating means he'll never figure it out.

I actually have no idea. He said, 'That's a funny f$%^&$^$ trick.' but I didn't ask him what that meant. It's so rare to see Angry Bob smile that I didn't want to spoil it. It fools me when I see it, though.

My Rating:

Since I'm going to use it in the show, I should probably give it a high rating. Heck, how about a 9/10. Why not? Close up magic is definitely more my area so I'm not positive how stage stuff should be graded-but people were obviously entertained by it.

The JDG Tip:

This is a pretty powerful illusion but you have to keep an eye out for the TOO PERFECT THEORY. I would give the bag a suspicious shake and some magical hand gestures just to keep them thinking a little bit. I also don't want to treat this like a throwaway effect so I'm going to work on the presentation some more...

Closing Thoughts:

I've decided I'm actually going to take August off from writing and take the month to work on the show, learn some new effects I've been working on, and generally recharge my Magic Batteries. I would love to get some PM's about any effects that you would like to see take place in the fall. I'm open for suggestions!
HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND EVERYONE!

Jamie D. Grant
www.whatizit.net

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