Threads

So . . . one day, I was Bill Malone. Don’t ask me how it happened. It just did. The mushrooms on the pizza I had eaten have nothing to do with it. Why does every ask me that!? Anyway, there I was performing my signature effect, Sam the Bellhop and the 654 Club when I felt a rumbling sensation in my gut . . . then in my chest . . . then throat . . . my mouth . . . suddenly there were playing cards spewing, uncontrollably, from my mouth. It was incredible. It happened several times throughout the show. It was a running gag, literally . . . a gag. Then I realized a secret. Bill Malone really eats playing cards, and he really does regurgitate them. It’s not sleight of hand.

Alright folks, ridiculous story aside, you have to admit that when Mr. Malone does cards from mouth, that’s what it looks like. It looks like they really came from his mouth, like he really must have them inside of himself somehow. We all know of course that this is not the case, but the illusion is beautiful. I love the running gag of it all. Throughout the show Malone will do cards from mouth as a “lull-squasher.” He’s mentioned in interviews that many times he would do this gag just to lighten the mood of the crowd or to deal with awkward silences, etc.

I love that idea, but alas, it’s Malone’s and I don’t want to steal it. However, I’ve had several ideas over the years, some more practical than others, for a running gag that fit me and my style. One of which is this month’s free trick of the month. But before we get to that, I’ll share one of my less practical running gags with you. I have a method for you, but as I said, it’s not the most practical. But I will not be sharing the method. I want you to think through it and come up with your own method. Feel free to post it below in the comments section. If I get enough activity and request below, I’ll share my method.

Anyway, the running gag is meant for a stage set or maybe parlor setting. The basic idea is that many times throughout the show, I will “feel something in my shoe.” Then I will take off my shoe and dump out a whole ton of sand . . . more sand than the shoe can hold. By the end of the show there would be a pile of sand on the floor that’s about the equivalent of a 5 pound bag of sugar. But there will still be “something” in my shoe. This time when I take it out, there will be a huge rock in my shoe that I drop onto the stage. Enjoy the idea, and let me know if you want me to share my rough (untested) method.

The Real Trick of the Month

Throughout the show, you “notice” a loose thread on your jacket. You pull the thread out and cut it/break it. However, by the end of the show you’ve accumulated a pile of thread on the table. That’s the basic idea. I’ll give you some details in the sections below. The basic method is that you have a spool of thread in your pocket. Before the show starts, you thread a needle and poke it through your coat and under your lapel. Leave a good 3 inches of loose thread behind your lapel. Before that, however, there is a little bit of prep needed on the spool. It needs to be able to freely spin. So basically, you’re going to make a simple make shift spool holder. Something like a wooden matchstick (one that’s a little bit longer than the height of the spool) would do fine. Feed the matchstick through the spool.

However, before feeding through the spool, feed the end without the head through the hold of a safety pin. Then feed the spool through. Then feed the end through a second safety pin. Put a little bit of tape on each end of the match stick is just to prevent the safety pins from sliding off. You now have a spool of thread trapped between two safety pins on a matchstick. Pin the safety pins to your shirt or the inside of your coat. Make sure that the spool is hanging basically in a straight line to the place where the thread is poked through your jacket. Lastly, make sure that the spool hangs in such a way that the thread goes over the top of the spool (not under it) and through the jacket.

One last tip: you may want to consider gluing the safety pins in place on the matchstick. This will prevent them from sliding up against the spool and possible pinching the spool and making it spin less freely. Though a matchstick will work fine, something a bit more round and less square-ish than a matchstick may work better. I’ve just not really found anything that fits as well as a matchstick. Feel free to sand the matchstick a bit to get it more round. Once the spool is done and in place, thread it through the coat and under the lapel; cut the needle free, and you’re set.

Thread Ideas

If you want this to be a lull-squasher like Malone’s cards to mouth, then save it for those moments. Each time you sense a lull or need to lighten the mood, “notice” a loose thread. Then reach over to the edge of your lapel where you’ve conveniently tucked the 3 or so inches of thread. Grab it and (moving your lapel out of the way) pull the thread. Pull a good foot or two of thread making all the faces of incredulity needed to pull of such a stunt. Then break the thread off leaving 3 or 4 inches for the next round. Repeat as needed throughout the show leaving a pile of thread on the table.

If you’re looking for a one time gag that’s sure to get ’em laughin’, just pull the whole spool out in one go. It’s a sort of mini mouth coil bit. Of course if you’re more clever than I am (i.e., all of you – i.e., both of you), then you can rig up a way to make it look as if you’ve un-threaded a whole patch of your jacket or pants. If this were done as a stand up piece, the way I’d do it would be as an opener. I’d walk on stage facing the audience. Then start to do my first trick, but get distracted by the thread, and start pulling. About half way through, I’d start to get all tangled up in the thread . . . a bit of minor flailing and flopping . . . I’d end up turning around, back to the audience, where they notice my exposed polka-dot boxers because there’s a bit hole in the back of my pants ostensibly from the thread I’ve pulled out.

Follow that up by either running off stage to change . . . or calling my assistant out to bring me a longer coat. Or . . . most likely, I’d remove the coat, and un-tuck my shirt taking me from a formal dress to a casual dress all through the comedic tie in of a piece of loose thread. The rest of the show would be much more casual than they expected when I first walked out on stage with my stuffy suit and personality that was distracted by the lack of perfection in my “uniform.” Imagine transforming from Steve Cohen to David Blaine. That’s a bit of an extreme, but it demonstrates the transformation/effect that I’d be going for.

Lastly, in a close up show, I would likely use this as the eventual segue into Gypsy Thread. Throughout the show as I “noticed” a loose thread, I would give a piece to a spectator to hold. I would insist that they keep it because I’ll want it back at the end of the show. By the end of the show I would have handed out several pieces of thread to several members of the audience. As I asked for them back I would secretly get my hands on the prepared piece of thread (if you know the method to this effect, you’ll know what I’m talking about). The secret piece and the loose pieces from the audience would all blend together, and I’m ready to perform the effect.

As a back up plan for those audience members who decided to conveniently loose their piece of thread, you simply give them another one right before performing the effect. It would got something like this: “Bill, can you hand me that thread I gave you earlier? You lost it? Okay (pluck another one from my jacket). Here. Hold this one and don’t loose it. Becky do you have yours? Thank you. Bill, can you hand me that thread I gave you earlier?” Something like that . . . it allows for a bit of byplay and fun with the audience.

Of course, you could just do it all at once. Notice the loose thread. Pull it. Break it. Notice that more is still hanging out. Pull it. Break it. Notice More. Pull, break, etc. until you have enough to perform Gypsy Thread as you mention something about needing it all in one piece so you can sew it back up later, etc.

Commentary

Hopefully you’ll find some value and use for this in your own show and within the bounds of your own personality. Please take a moment to post a comment below about the effect (both the thread and the sand) and let us know what you think, how you would do it, etc.