I've written on TV magic shows for over a decade now, as well as live theatre shows and all sorts of projects for big-name magicians. Occasionally, and far less often than some might expect, we'll use a secret magic principle called "pre-show."
Pre-show is a magic technique which relies on part of the routine taking place before the trick for the larger audience begins. The main audience, be that one in a theatre or perhaps watching at home has no idea that something took place earlier, usually involving the hero spectator that's influencing the routine.
Let's look at three ways you can incorporate the infamous pre-show technique into your existing magic tricks to make them more fooling.
Let me note two things quickly:
- Some magic consultants view pre-show as simply anything that happens before the show or before the camera starts rolling. I find this a rather lazy definition that can lead to lazy execution. If you're performing solo, you should never view your routine as simply having a pre-show, beginning, middle and end. Instead, I recommend you view any routine that is improved with pre-show as having two timelines, both with beginnings, middles and ends. The hero spectator who takes part in the pre-show simply has an earlier start point on the timeline than the broader audience who joins it later.
- Pre-show is totally different if you have an accomplice or confederate do it for you. This might be someone pretending to work at the theatre or on your production crew, or perhaps it's your partner pretending to be overprotective before you perform your trick for friends – in all scenarios, you must be mindful of your motivation. You need a good reason for the pre-show in the eyes of the spectator – perhaps it's to save them from embarrassment, save time, help them, etc. If your pre-show involves a magic element like a trick, then it should always be carried out by the main magician, in my opinion.
Pre-show has become a bit of a fad amongst magicians in recent years. I have a theory on why this is the case, but some magicians are not going to like it:
Pre-show is an easy thing many magicians can use to dismiss tricks that fool them on television. If they're fooled by visual magic on a TV show, they'll blame a camera trick. When non-visual magic tricks fool them, they'll blame pre-show.
I can tell you that when I worked for Dynamo, many magicians would dismiss the show in conversations because they believed he used too much pre-show. Then they'd tell me a specific example of a trick, and because of my NDA, I had to stop myself from laughing because the example actually involved zero pre-show.
