More Asians - 12-8-08

More than once I’ve been the token comedy magician in a big magical revue show. That’s because the headliners are illusionists, and for the most part illusionists are silent performers who use music and choreography as their main form of presentation. Producers like to have a comedy act for variety, and to fill some time in front of the curtain while the big stuff is being set behind it.

As would become something of a recurring theme in my career, I was following close on the heels of the departed token comedy magician – who’d turned out, it was said, to be an alcoholic psychopath, a compulsive liar, and a thief.

The show is called Kazzamm, we liked to call it Kablamm. The star is Brett Daniels, and he’s very good at what he does. The year is 1990, the place is the Normandie Casino in Gardena, California. The Normandie is, and was, a poker club. There aren’t any slots, roulette, or craps… it’s pretty much just poker.

And this is before poker was a hot TV sport, and before the California invasion of the Indian casinos that have a smorgasbord of games. Besides the ponies and the lottery, this is one of a handful of places in the entire state that you can legally gamble.

But wait, there’s more… the Normandie Casino also offers a crazy poker game called pai gow. After a while I notice that, day in and day out, half the gamblers in the casino are Asian… and they’re all playing pai gow.

One of the things I am most proud of is my ability to stay employed. It can be difficult to make a living in the arts. Whether you are a painter, actor, magician, whatever. Sometimes you need to create work for yourself. Over the years I’ve pitched all kinds of ideas, most of them never amounted to anything.

Win or lose… I always get off on walking into some corporate office or conference room, to present one of my own personal dreams. At this point Kablamm is in the recent past, but I’m well connected at the Normandie, and I’m thinking about the Asians.

Mariana Tilton is the Normandie entertainment director, Ken Joyce is the Normandie publicist. They’re on my team, and through them I get five minutes with the big shots at the weekly meeting. My pitch is a target marketing plan, here’s the proposal. As a goodwill gesture, the casino sponsors me to go out to various Asian organizations each week and perform my one-man comedy magic show.

Audience members get a voucher redeemable for chips in the casino and free tickets to the Incredible Acrobats of China in the casino showroom. Through my friend, famous 60’s TV magician Mark Wilson, I can book the acrobats. This is a sweet deal. The Normandie gets a fresh supply of Asians, I get a commission on the acrobats and a bunch of decent pay one-nighters. It’s a classic win/win.

They go for an eight week test. Seven weeks on the road for me, one week in the showroom for the acrobats. A very cool full color mailer is printed with great artwork, my bio, and details about both my one-man show, which we’re calling Night Magic, and the upcoming acrobat show at the Normandie.

Here’s an excerpt from the mailer: Need something fresh, unique and exciting for your next corporate function, association event or banquet entertainment? The answer is Night Magic with Steve Spill! Whether Spill makes a brief appearance or presents a full length show, he always leaves them laughing.

As part of the Normandie’s efforts to introduce ourselves to groups like yours, Night Magic will be provided absolutely free of charge. Contact Kenneth Joyce, Normandie publicity director, for details at 800 555 5555. Don’t miss the Incredible Acrobats of China the week of June 7th in our new multi-million dollar showroom! Contact Fern at 800 555 5555 for very special dinner/show group rates.

Of course, you can’t tell from the mailer that it’s only sent to Asian organizations, but it is. The mailing is followed by phone calls from Ken, and the response is good. Suddenly I have four gigs a week for the next seven weeks. The Korean Ski Club, Chinese Chamber of Commerce, National Karate Alliance, Thai Herbalist Conclave, and so on.

I even get a big 500 person gig at the Beverly Wilshire for March Fong Eu’s birthday bash – she’s the Secretary of State in California. The shows are going great, casino executives monitor what I do and they seem to like what they see. The seven weeks fly by and thousands of acrobat show tickets and casino vouchers have been distributed.

All the while, my head fills with ideas on how to expand the More Asians program… I can parlay the Normandie success into more gigs at other casinos. No, that’s not enough. I can hire magicians across the country and franchise the plan to casinos nationwide, maybe worldwide… those were heady days of happy delusion and grandiose dreams of glory and riches.

Here are some facts regarding the Incredible Acrobats of China engagement at the Normandie Casino in Gardena, California. Nine of the tickets distributed at my shows were used. Three vouchers were redeemed for casino chips. The More Asians program was a complete failure.

The casino didn’t get too upset… so I came up with a new target marketing plan, here’s the proposal. As a goodwill gesture, the casino sponsors me to perform for Latino organizations, audiences get free tickets to a show called Battle of the Mariachi Bands.

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