I would like your opinions on something I am facing with choosing a character.

Say, for example, there was already a magician in my city who played the part of a high energy Game Show Host.
And I too, wanted to become a Game Show Host. In fact, in my search for a character, I was totally inspired by this magician. This style would totally work for me too.

The difference is that I would completely change the whole content of the show to suit my own. The jokes, lines, patter & effects would all be different.

But is this still going too far with being a copy-cat?

In my opinion, yes.

Tony

This stuff is really tricky. Yes, it's copy cat. No that wouldn't be illegal.Yes it would be unethical. The concept sounds pretty unique to me, and if it is, in any way, a selling point, then it really should be his selling point (as the creator of the concept). That being said, you might want to talk to him about a possible franchise concept. Don't push the point, just throw it out like an idea, to which you are not exceptionally attached.

It would be in bad taste and would reflect poorly on you.

Ask yourself why you like this character so much. What traits are you drawn towards? Then use those traits and your own unique style to create a totally new character that is yours.

Thankyou all for your comments. I will move along with coming up with a totally original character.

Much appreciated!

All good advice, above! Good sense on you, to decide to "move along" and work on being totally original. The neat thing is, you don't really have to be totally original, just original to magic in your area. That leaves a broad field.

Jusr letting our minds wander we come up with: weatherman/politician/sponge bob/teacher/car salesman/huckster/amway representative/tax collector/ex con/out-of-work swami/bar tender etc.

Please, add to the list...

Jim

Thanks for making suggestions for characters mandarin.
It would be great to keep the list going for further ideas!

Scottds,

My character is "lovable fat guy." Which is really just an exaggeration of my true self. I've got a few friends who are Cowboy magicians and a few other characters, and it was never quite my style to "become" someone else.

So consider being just you or an exaggerated version of you. Having said that, however, consider this... read the November 2007 issue of Genii magazine. It's the one with Max Maven on the cover. You will find, in the article about Max, that he shaved his head into the shape of his very well known widow's peak because he saw Annemann do it. Is that copy cat?

One further thing, if you are still looking for a list of character ideas, try some of these:

Geek(and I don't mean geek magic)
Mafia hit man
A Scientist
A Skeptic

I've considered the skeptic angle myself... the idea would be that everything I'm trying to do on stage is an attempt to disprove some concept or principle, but I keep proving it to be true.

For example, if you were to apply this to some sort of levitation, you would be out to prove that you cannot defy gravity, but no matter how much you try to disprove it, you end up proving that one can indeed defy gravity.

Hope this helps.

I just remembered that I have an article about that in my newsletter. Sign up for my newsletter (it's free), and you'll have access to past articles.

The one you're looking for is the October 2007 issue. The article is called "Know Thyself!".

Anyway, you can sign up for the newsletter here:
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