Educating Archer

THE BLURB:
What can I say about John that you don't already know? John
is one of the funniest entertainers I have ever seen! His
comedy is funny and his magic is strong. What more could you
possibly want from a performer?

On this DVD you will learn some of John's favorite routines
that have made him one of the busiest magicians in the UK.

If you like good, strong, entertaining and funny
presentations accompanied by strong magic and mentalism, you
will absolutely love this DVD.

Here are some of the routines performed and explained on
this DVD:

John's Tossed Out Deck

This is John's comedy take on a classic plot with one big
difference: the deck is completely examined and shuffled by
a spectator before the effect! The chosen opener for many
mentalists has now got a whole lot better!

Tragic Square

John's opening effect. Under the guise of a record-breaking
attempt, John rushes through a magic square at lightning
speed (with a lot of humor along the way!) This really gets
the crowd going!

Spelling Test (No Book Book-Test)

Wow!!! This is something really special. Comedy mentalism at
its best! Your spectator merely thinks of a word (no force
of any kind, no pre-show, your spectator never writes
anything down or tells anyone the word that they have in
their mind). Yet you have predicted in advance which word
they will think of! This is a fun-packed routine with one
heck of a killer ending!

Komedy Killer

This is John's famous presentation for the Kenton Knepper
classic. John's story will have you in stitches. This is the
ideal trick to have on you all the time. A 10 min routine
you can do anywhere!

Collared

The ultimate comedy presentation for the Koran Medallion.
This routine is worth the price of the entire DVD. A lot of
the magicians that were present at the filming of this DVD
have put this straight into their professional act! (Works
well for parlor, cabaret, stage, or kids).

If the above routines are not enough to wet your appetite,
this DVD also includes the following gems: Dodeckadeal: a
great coincidence effect using a pack of cards; Spoon River:
a great comedy spoon bending routine which gets people
involved; Stapled: John's fantastic comedy torn and restored
card routine; Chinese Choice: a fun-packed routine using 3
spectators and a night out at a Chinese restaurant, and A
Clean Ring Vanish: if you need to vanish a ring at any part
of your act, then this is the cleanest method you will find!

Disc One Running Time Approximately 1hr 49min
Disc Two Running Time Approximately 2hr 7min

Additional Image(s)

MY COMMENTS:
Somehow, mentalists seem to feel that mentalism and comedy
don't mix. Well, John Archer breathes a welcome and
refreshing argument that this just isn't true. The catch is
that the comedy must come out of the situation and be a
result of one's interaction with the audience or from the
performer's self-deprecation. The ability being shown,
though, is taken seriously. It's a balance that must be
fully understood and many performers don't understand this.
Which may explain why the humor is absent in many
performers' repertoire. They know that it's best to leave
it out unless you know how to use it effectively.

This DVD set, then, is a primer on how to put comedy into
mentalism. Even if that's not quite your style, most
mentalists should be using some comedy into their routines,
just to lighten things up a bit. And I must say, John
Archer's Kolossal Killer routine is one of the most
impressive, and funniest, mentalism routines I've ever
watched. He gets a good ten minutes of laughter from this
absolutely brilliant take on this classic.

There are a few important points about this DVD. First, the
point of these DVDs are to show you how to infuse comedy
into your mentalism routines. Please don't make the heinous
mistake of simply doing John's routines. They are original
and they work for him. Second, the video records John
performing for a bunch of magicians. His actual
performance, by his and others admissions on the DVD, is
quite different and allegedly much funnier. Third, John
takes his mentalism seriously but does mix magic and
mentalism together. He does it because he's just having fun
and he treats mentalism as being tricks, despite the fact he
performs mentalism effectively. His fusion of comedy and
mentalism is balanced just right.

And I must also point this out: There are different types
of humor and all types of humor do not appeal to everyone.
Therefore, there is a chance that you may not like John's
humor. That, of course, doesn't invalidate John Archer's
techniques for fusing comedy and mentalism. It just
means that you would use whatever comedy style is
comfortable for you instead.

That said, the DVD set is divided into the performances on
disc one and the explanations on disc two. Disc one also
contains an interview with Mark Elsdon. Unfortunately, the
sound isn't quite right on this interview (at least when I
played mine) and it's quite annoying, but everything can be
heard. I think that most experienced mentalists won't be
learning any new effects from this, since most are simply
John's variations of well-known mentalism effects. But he
does have some nice touches. As I said from the start, what
makes this DVD set worthwhile is the instructional aspect of
blending humor and mentalism. And knowing how to inject
humor and keeping the audience entertained without
sacrificing the integrity of the demonstrations are skills
that many mentalists really need to understand.

On the blurb for John Archer's other DVD, BLINDFOLD TIPS,
Banachek states John's comedy is "brilliant, fresh and fast,
yet it takes absolutely nothing away from the serious
mystery of what it is he is performing...John is a must see
for those who are looking for their own character and what
the limitations are not." I certainly agree.