Sp00ky Magic

Sp00ky is my little ghost companion who performed with me in my presentation of “The Library is Haunted” at local libraries several years ago.  I was introduced to Spooky by Don Bothwell, a fellow magician, and Spooky took over the show.  He made his entry early to do some acrobatic tricks for the kids, then refused to go to bed (in spite of my kissing him goodnight! Ew!) and snuck back into the show again and again.

What  surprised me was how the kids bonded with Sp00ky.  They adored him.  They laughed at his antics, like when I put him to bed in a silk hank and then he kept sitting back up.  Or when  he planted a rubber chicken in one of my boxes, with a note in it’s mouth!  They anticipated his return throughout the show, and shrieked at the final illusion when he swooped down at them.

After one performance, I was asked where Sp00ky was and I said he was back in the stacks of books. The kids went looking for him around the library.  Another time, one of my audience asked me if I could tell Sp00ky something, I suggested that he could hear them as well as me, and that he was around in the library somewhere, so they set off looking for him!

So Sp00ky not only became a co-performer (and very nearly the star, at that!), he became my teacher.   I have been told how much kids enjoy puppets, and that some magicians are regularly asked to bring their co-entertainer puppet back with them.  But Sp00ky taught me that young audiences like not just puppets, but a magician’s sidekick in general.  They enjoy the quirky, surprising antics and personality of the co-entertainer.

I suspect that the problems and complications this co-entertainer gives the magician adds to the interest.  Sp00ky planting things in my equipment, stealing the milk right out of my glass, leaving a note with a list of his favorite ghost jokes all added to the fun.

I suppose any “co-entertainer” needs to do that, whether that sidekick entertainer is Sp00ky or a leprechaun or an elf or a dragon….

Sp00ky has recently returned to perform with me for a recent Halloween show. He is always ready to join me in a special themed performance! The name of this themed show? Why, “Sp00ky Magic,” of course!