Random I-Tunes Song of The Moment: Father Time by Richie Sambora

A few years ago I decided to branch out the type of venues I perform at. I was, previously, strictly close up strolling. I wanted to break into the stand up scene. A friend of mine, Jim Spinnato, said that although there are a lot of mentalists, there aren't too many comedy mentalists. He suggested I build a comedy mentalism routine.

He then turned me on to John Archer's DVD as an example of a killer comedy mentalism act. It's true. John Archer is an absolute showman, an incredible entertainer, and extremely funny. His act completely inspired me. In fact his Komedy Killer (a modification of it) is now in my stand up act.

There is so much to be learned from this two DVD set (performance on one disk, exp on the other). Even if you are a close up magician, there are a couple of great close up effects as well. He has an incredibly funny torn and restored card effect along with a do as I do close up card effect. Both are excellent.

His take on the Koran Medallion is brilliant. Many of the effects on here are modifications that fit John's personality. That's one of the big lessons from this set that you can learn. Take an effect and make it your own. Man if John doesn't do that, then nobody does! The guy is clearly a thinker and a definite pro.

Seriously, if you are not laughing your butt off while watching this, then you're dead. Secondly, if you don't learn something from this DVD that justifies paying double the retail price, then you watched a different DVD than I did. I've made enough money performing Komedy Killer to pay for a whole year's worth of DVD purchases and then some.

There are also some excellent interview pieces and discussions about how he developed some of the routines, how he got gigs, how he evolved as a performer, etc. This DVD is by far one of the best DVDs I've reviewed. Lost .5 point for some areas of poor lighting and sound.

Final Verdict:
4.5 Stars with a Stone Status of Total GEM!