It was common to see Jokes and Novelties sold in the same stores as Magic Tricks. In the in the ads novelties were mixed in with the magic tricks.
I always enjoyed looking and sometime buying novelties. Sometimes I mixed them in with my magic. It adds diversity and humor to my show.
When I began to perform as a professional magician, I attempted to be a serious magician, suave and debonair, but that didn’t work for me. I noticed that people would laugh during my performance. Then one day I was watching a video of my show and I noticed I was being funny. I just didn’t think I was. So I shifted my thinking, my style of magic was now comedy magic. At that point my career really began to take off.
But adding comedy to your performance is always a risk. You never really know what one person thinks is funny, another would not. So using your better judgement is must when choosing to add comedy to your show. I found it was best for me to define my character as a comedy magician. That means I learned how to created boundaries that would fit my on stage personality. Just because one comic could make people laugh with a joke, gag, or novelty, it didn’t mean it would be fitting for me. I may think it is funny but that does not mean it would be funny when I put into my show. I must say, I learned the hard way. It is always a risk.
Some examples are Spring Snakes, Rubber Chicken, Foam Props, Balloons, Puppets, Clown Squeaker, No Tear Paper and so on…