Reviews of products by Larry Brodahl
1 ★★★★★ reviews
1 ★★★★★ reviews
Scripted #4: The 21 Card Trick
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Jason Connolly (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Monday 19 May, 2025)
This is great. Mr. Brodahl has taken one of the most boring tricks in magic and made it entertaining and deceptive by adding some smoke to the procedure and a lot of cleverness to the presentation.
Will I perform it? Probably not, but it's well worth a read as a model of how good scripting can elevate even the lowliest trick, and for this price, it can't be beaten.
Hints and Tips 3
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Brad Smithart (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Thursday 30 January, 2025)
The third volume of this collection contains a plethora of small, yet helpful suggestions, including various DIY holdouts for bills and billets. I'll definitely be using one or more of Larry's ideas.
Scripted #15: cut and restored ribbon
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Brad Smithart (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Saturday 14 December, 2024)
The "cut and restored ribbon" (originally done on a smaller scale with a straw and string) is a standard beginner magic trick. The author extends the handling with some new approaches to deal with the larger tube, and provides a full script to provide cover for the idiosyncrasies in the inherent handling of the effect and the his specific approach.
One of the most interesting things in this "Scripted" series is the author's detailed explanation of the thinking behind the creation of the script. His clever solution wraps the performance around the story of the classic "sawing a lady in half" trick.
This is another excellent release in this consistently excellent series.
Scripted #25: Hofzinser Card
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Brad Smithart (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Wednesday 11 December, 2024)
I wasn't familiar with this effect, but the author does a good job of explaining it, critiquing the normal handling, and providing a routine -- with detailed patter -- to overcome the limitations.
I definitely want to play with this idea.
Counts with Jumbo Cards
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Brad Smithart (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Saturday 07 December, 2024)
I haven't had a chance to practice these moves yet, but they seem like a practical approach. I want to see how well they work with regular-size cards as well.
I suspect using these methods as a casual display (rather than as a strict count) will be very effective.
The explanations and the illustrations are excellent, and the included video is a nice bonus.
Hints and Tips
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Brad Smithart (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Wednesday 04 December, 2024)
None of the tips included are earth-shattering, but I suspect that most people will find at least one or two ideas in this short collection. The tips cover a variety of topics, including improvements to specific effects and storage/transport of equipment.
Scripted #4: The 21 Card Trick
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Brad Smithart (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Monday 02 December, 2024)
This is the first of the "Scripted" e-pamphlets I've read. The patter is humorous, and the inventive plot does a great job of disguising the simplicity of this standard trick. I will definitely incorporate some of these ideas in a performance.
I look forward to reading the other issues of "Scripted."
Scripted #4: The 21 Card Trick
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Kakas Etterem (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Friday 11 November, 2022)
Funny variation of this standard routine!
Scripted #33: Ring and Rope
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Karsten Meyerhoff (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Monday 26 October, 2020)
I have fiddled with the Ring&Rope-concept for quite a while, but it never made it into my repertoire as I couldn't find a story that I thought was interesting enough for the audience and that fit my style. So, I was pleasantly surprised to find a routine that comes with 'a killer script' by the author of 'How to write a script' - or so the ad goes. Ordinary, examinable props, nothing to bring in or out, simple, clear moves: That ticked all the boxes for me.
I will have to say that personally I am rather disappointed. Without giving too much away, I will say that the script is of the type: 'I once saw a magician do this ... and then this ... and then this ...'. Sure, it comes with: 'That's what got me hooked on magic as a child.' and that does add an emotional layer, but I am sorry: That's not a 'killer script' in my book. The story doesn't justify the props at all: The ring is a ring and the rope is a rope. It doesn't give meaning to the threading and unthreading of the rope: It just happens. Yes, it is interesting to read in the script where the author got the moves and the other inspirations from and how he made them 'his own', but that still doesn't make for a killer script. I am stressing all this, since the scripting is presented as the unique selling point of the routine.
Having said that: It is a nice routine that does everything else it claims to do and to be. The props are simple and examinable (at any time), no additional gimmicks are necessary, nothing has to be rung in or out and the moves are simple and clear for both, the magician and the audience. There is no endless fiddling with the rope or the ring, no handing stuff from one hand to the other and back again. The moves flow nicely into one another giving the routine a good flow and a clear structure and the angles are really good on this one. The routine is short and sweet, too: Many Ring&Rope-routines are too long for my taste, so that's another plus.
I wish I could give this two marks: For the script and for the routine as such, because that way I could say that I like the handling and the 'technical' aspects of the routine, but don't care much for the script - which is emphasized so much in the ad.
Hints and Tips 2
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Ferry Gerats (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Friday 09 October, 2020)
These are clearly tips from a performer who has got lots of experience under his belt. There are commercial tips, performing tips and tips on the handling and maintenance of props. It is amazing that he offers more than 20 tips all for free!
P.S. For the card guys, he describes a way to make a slick card.
Scripted #16: Zodiac and Mom's Favorite
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Steven Beckley (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Thursday 04 June, 2020)
Very Nice ideas. I saw this concept used once in a semi close up routine and really liked it a lot. It's just so devious and sneaky! I don't know why but it never occurred to me that this could be "upsized" to play beautifully for a parlor/cabaret setting for a bigger audience. (head slap) The thing I like most is that the first routine can be customized to pretty much any theme or selections that fit your performance style, it's easy to do, and very fooling. You also have the flexibility to play this any way you like.... Prediction, influence, mind reading... whatever floats your psychic boat. I could see this working really well as a good opener to a mentalism set and as we all know good mentalism openers are difficult to find. Well worth the money!
Scripted #19: Sidewalk Shuffle
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by James Wood (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Thursday 05 March, 2020)
Larry Brodahl's presentation of how to perform the Sidewalk Shuffle is very helpful. He has made two innovations. First, he has changed the script so that the magician, rather than the spectator, is the naive victim who gets fooled by the Three-Card Monte. In my opinion, this is a genuine improvement because it removes any "sting" in the presentation and makes the routine even more humorous than the original. Second, Larry explains how to perform the slights while keeping the cards vertical at all times. This is also an improvement over the original version where the cards are held horizontally for some of the shuffling/mixing. I slightly modified Larry's script and presented it to a group of about 100 retired people. It went over extremely well. It's very fooling and very humorous. Larry's routine is now a regular part of my adult act. I recommend it highly.
Scripted #25: Hofzinser Card
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Dave Arch (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Tuesday 19 March, 2019)
Larry's done it. As intriguing as the Hofzinser card might be, the on-going question has consistently been "What do you do with it." I like how someone said it, "When the method is more interesting than the effect, build on the method." That's exactly what Larry has done here in an admirable manner. If you have a Hofzinser card laying around in a drawer entertaining no one, I encourage you to download this now.
Scripted #6: Lie Detector with 4 Objects
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Dave Arch (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Tuesday 12 February, 2019)
Four items with three spectators I believe puts this Liar/Truthteller routine in a class by itself let alone the fact that Mr. Brodahl gives you a solid premise for why a magician would even care about being able to tell a lie from the truth. If you've read any of his other offerings, you know that the author's attention to detail is second to none. This is no exception. And as I get older, I appreciate more and more that he also figured out a way to minimize any memory work. Thank you Larry.
Scripted #15: cut and restored ribbon
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Ferry Gerats (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Monday 04 December, 2017)
With Scripted #15: cut and restored ribbon Larry Brodahl describes meticulously all the evolving steps he took to ensure a flawless and entertaining performance of the trick.
Within this process it becomes abundantly clear how competent scripting of the handling and presentation of the trick turns steps, which stem from a technical need and which could be perceived as illogical and therefore suspect to an audience into logical steps that do not arouse suspicion as they have been given a plausible reason.
So for anyone, who wants to acquire the skill of scripting there is a valuable lesson to be learned here, as with all other Larry’s publications.
Hints and Tips
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by James Wood (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Wednesday 12 July, 2017)
Hints and Tips is a wonderful gift from Larry Brogdahl and Lybrary.com. It is the equivalent of attending a Magic Club meeting where a highly experienced magician shares his hard won knowledge of how to deal with common problems encountered by every magician. For instance, this little book gives very useful tips for how to keep the balloon from popping in Needle Through Balloon (Brogdahl's solutions is NOT scotch tape), how to simplify the handling for Sidewalk Shuffle, and how to improve the Surprising Dots trick (the trick in which the number of dots on two sides of a large card keep changing). Hints are also given for how to transport props to a magic show, how to handle dry hands, and many other common problems. Every working magician is sure to find several hints in this book that will make life easier. Thanks, Mr. Brogdahl!
Scripted #6: Lie Detector with 4 Objects
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Ferry Gerats (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Monday 29 August, 2016)
If you love hearing your audience laugh you sure will enjoy this presentation of the lie-detectors plot.
Scripted #4: The 21 Card Trick
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Alfred Dowaliby (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Sunday 10 July, 2016)
Today I acquired "Scripted #4: The 21 Card Trick. As a professional magician for over 20 years who believes that patter (aka script) and presentation are the most important component of selling a routine to the audience, I was delighted. Mr. Brodahl has combined and incorporated elements of deception, psychology, comedy, and what Dai Vernon called an "emotional hook," into this very cleverly devised routine. The 21 Card Trick is a very old trick and quite likely the first card trick learned by the overwhelming majority of people who try their hand at doing a card trick. In its original incarnation, it is still a baffling effect: After all, when asked in an interview how he got into magic, Ed Marlo said [paraphrased], "I saw the 21 Card trick and that was it; I never turned back."
Mr. Brodahl has cleverly camouflaged the fact that, in essence, the trick is the 21 Card Trick. The hook is a test of the spectator's psychic abilities which from the outset, diverts the focus upon it being a hackneyed mechanical/mathematical card trick. I am sure that, at least laymen, will not recognize it as the trick they themselves learned. Without the necessity for difficult or complex sleights, there are a number of ruses and deviations from the classic handling that create impermeable layers of disguise that will not be seen through by any but perhaps the most ingenious of observers - and that's what this script and routine created by Larry is: ingenious.
Postscript: Despite my many years in magic, I had never come across the Jay Ose false cut, which is utilized to great advantage in the routine. It is amazing and ironic to me that if the cards were cut into three piles (as in the initial part of the cut) and then reassembled "fairly," i.e., in a manner that would result in the cards being truly cut, it would look like a false cut, whereas when the procedure of the Jay Ose false cut is followed in the reassembly of the three piles, it looks like a real cut. I will be definitely using the cut in my card magic.
Scripted #4: The 21 Card Trick
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Ferry Gerats (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Saturday 09 July, 2016)
Very good publication. Amazing that it is free. Mr. Brodahl shows you how to turn the old hackneyed 21 cardtrick into entertainment. At the same time the given presentation obscures the fact that a mathematical procedure is the modus operandi for locating the chosen card. On top of that Mr. Brodahl also gives you an insight how the presentation came about. So if you want to acquire the skill to make your own presentations there is a wonderful lesson to be learned here!
Scripted #4: The 21 Card Trick
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Dave Arch (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Saturday 09 July, 2016)
Who can make the 21 Card Trick entertaining? Larry Brodahl and does in his Scripted #4 manuscript. In addition, I found several of his script ideas immediately applicable to other routines I currently perform. The greatest mystery of all is why it's free. Some very fresh thinking.