Magic, irrespective of whether it’s card magic, illusions or sleight of hand, can be very funny. In some ways, a good comedy magician can be just as funny as a stand-up comedian. No matter how verbose, sharp and quick-witted a comedian might be, you would have to go a long way to be funnier than comedy magician Tommy Cooper.

I was recently watching some tv re-runs of comedy shows from the 70’s and 80’s. Tommy Cooper was featured in one show and stand-up comedian Les Dawson in another. After watching them I realised how different they were in the way they delivered comedy and yet how similar they were in the cleverness of their delivery.

Here’s what I mean ….

More often than not Tommy Cooper would begin performing a magic trick or card trick only for it to go terribly wrong or he would simply stop half-way through because of a lack of enthusiasm with that ‘Oh I can’t be bothered’ look he delivered so well. Classic! Sometimes however he would deliver a trick perfectly with a totally unexpected and magical ending, showing in truth what an accomplished magician he really was. (Tommy was a member of the Magic Circle). Only someone with a real skill can make it look like they don’t know what they’re doing!

There’s an analogy here I think with music and this is where Les Dawson comes into the picture. Only an accomplished musician can actually play an instrument so as to deliberately make it sound out of tune. Les, whom I once had the pleasure of meeting, was a master of this on the piano; a regular feature of his tv shows would be him sat at the piano, looking very serious, and playing well for a several bars, then suddenly and radically he would start playing a semi-tone out. The comic effect was brilliant and one of the highlights of his act.

So whilst Tommy and Les might have been worlds apart in their style of comedy, it was their real skills - one with magic and one with music - that enabled them both to make people laugh.

Video: Tommy Cooper Tribute - YouTube

Video: Les Dawson Playing Piano - YouTube

Card tricks can often be fraught with difficulty and the better you get at performing them, naturally the more ambitious your card tricks become.  I’m reminded of one of the earliest card tricks that I ever performed which is known by many titles but which I will call The Vanishing Ace.  It truly is quite impressive but is so simple to perform that even a beginner is not likely to go wrong with this one. 

Basically the effect is that the audience or spectator is shown three aces fanned out in the magician’s hand.  The ace of diamonds is clearly to be seen nestling between the two black aces: the ace of spades and the ace of clubs. The magician closes the fan of three cards and places the three aces into the pack.  Magically in this most easy of card tricks, the magician is able to make the ace of diamonds disappear from the pack and appear from one of his pockets or indeed from anywhere that he chooses.

If you’re really serious about starting out doing card tricks than this is possibly the one card trick that you are never likely to get wrong and it is therefore worth checking out.  It is also a surprisingly visual card trick which makes it even more impressive.  If you would like to learn this nice and easy card trick then visit my Vanishing Ace page where you will find clear concise instructions as to how to perform the trick along with a couple of diagrams just to make it extra easy to learn.

This trick is in my category of unusual card tricks.