First, let me say something – When I got to the Manchester Airport Sunday, John McCain’s “Straight Talk Express” was there. I didn’t take a photo because my camera was put away in my bag. Apparently he was christening a Nascar race or a gun rally or something. In any case – everyone made a big deal about Barack Obama’s plane because he took the American flag off the tail when he repainted it with his campaign colors (red, white and blue). If that’s such an issue why isn’t anyone pointing out that McCain’s plane is blue and yellow? No American flag, no red white and blue. Just sayin:

Anyway, I drove about an hour to New London, NH. I wanted to grab a bite to eat when I got there, so I used the “Food” option on my Garmin. The only places that came up were Mom and Pop joints, so I instantly knew I was in a small town. I was craving some Applebees or maybe Red Lobster. The only thing on the map I’d ever heard of before was Subway and it was closed on Sunday! So I headed to “Pizza Chef” and had a hot sub. It was actually pretty good. The girls behind the counter were nice and made a joke about how they accept every kind of currency except IOU’s.

Then I arrived at my motel. The Fairway Motel. I walked into the office (which was really just a hallway in someone’s house), and got the key to my room (which was a real key) and proceeded to room #5 at the creepy Bates Motel like place. It was actually really nice and clean and had TV and wireless Internet, so I was fine. Really, if ANYWHERE has TV and wireless Internet, I’m pretty much set. That said, the place was rather quaint:

I got to Colby Sawyer and was shown around by Megan and Noah. The teaser went really well – lots of interest in the show already. Colby Sawyer only has about 1,000 students, so the expected crowd was somewhere around 100-150. At 5 minutes until showtime, the room was FULL and they had to put more chairs out until they ran out of chairs. In total, about 248 students came to the show and they were an awesome crowd. Super excited. Here are some photos from the show:

There are more photos HERE.

Apparently while I was performing in New Hampshire, they were having 75 mph winds back home in Ohio. My friend who works in the energy industry said that 60% of Ohio was without power on Monday. Flying into Columbus at night, it was interesting to see all the dark spots. You couldn’t really tell where the highways were like you usually can. You could only see the cars themselves. Getting home wasn’t too difficult although there were several traffic lights out along the way. I was happy to see that my house didn’t lose power. My patio furniture is ruined, but we’ve got power and hot water, and for that I feel grateful (and like a spoiled brat). Most of our electricity crews are in Texas helping with the the Hurricane Ike damage down there, so many places in Columbus won’t regain power until as late as Thursday! I really hope people don’t eat spoiled food. Also glad it’s not 100 degrees out – I can’t imagine not having AC!

My next show is at Shepherd University in Shepherdstown, WV. Shepherdstown is a neat little eclectic town near Washington DC with a rich civil war history. I remember having a blast there last year – can’t wait to go back. I’m really flattered that so many of the schools are re-booking me year to year. I try my best to constantly improve the show so even if some of the bits are the same, they’re funnier and better.

Also just announced is an Oct. 21 performance at Eastern Carolina University in Greenville, NC. Check out my performance calendar for more dates.

peace, love and tree limbs in the road,
mk

Turns out I contracted some sort of foodbourne illness from the last string of shows. Who knows where it came from – could be the raw oysters or the snapper or the Philly Cheesesteak for all I know. I got pretty sick – the kind of sick that makes you ache from head to toe and makes your mouth go numb. Went to the Dr. and his guess was that I was suffering from an illness that…well I won’t get into the gross details, but the nickname of it is “The Beaver Fever.” Pretty funny. I’m feeling much better now (still not 100%) and back on my feet. Oh wait, I was never off my feet. Let’s see – what all did I do during the time I was sick?

Last Friday I performed at Ohio University’s Baker Center Theater. This was my second performance in this room, as I performed there for the ACUI conference earlier this year. The new Baker Center is an amazing building. Anyone visiting OU should see it to see what a campus center should look like. State-of-the-art EVERYTHING. The turnout was phenomenal. I think we had between 175 and 200 (full house) with students standing on the sides of the auditorium. They promoted the show really well:

A local stand-up from Athens, Matt Karp, opened the show. Funny guy. Takes a lot of flack from his folks about impersonating a vagina onstage.

After the show, despite having a fever and sweating bullets, I drove back to Columbus so I could go to the Buckeye game the next day and kick OU’s butt again!

Sunday was a fun day – performed at an outdoor wedding reception for a really fun couple. They wanted something eclectic for their wedding reception (they had gotten married in a helicopter in Vegas two days prior) and my show was perfect for it. I had a lot of fun with their friends and family performing. Again, after the show went home and tried to sleep and feel better.

Tuesday I had to get a fill in for a two-man strolling gig that I was scheduled to do. Hated to do that, but it was for the best – I was a mess. But that ended up being the worst of it.

Wednesday was a performance at St. Anselm College in Manchester, NH. I’ve performed at St. Anselm quite a bit in the last couple years. GREAT folks there. Laura, who is the new agent working with Big Name Entertainment, lives in Manchester so she picked me up at the airport and took me to lunch before heading to the college. She also showed me the world’s largest LEGO display, which was just a display of a bunch of old factories in Manchester.

The show at St. A’s was great despite it being really HOT in the room. The crowd was excellent (more guys than I remember at St. A’s) and the students took me to the pub that is in the middle of the campus. This is a popular spot for St. A’s students and you’ll regularly see the monks and priests from the college indulging after a hard day of teaching.

sidenote: I really like the Hampton Inn in Bedford, NH where St. A’s puts me up. It’s always really clean and nice. But outside of my window, I saw this:

A little scary, but I didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. Maybe the rodent catchers just needed a place to stay for the night?

That’s all I got for now. OH – two more things! The new routine is coming together! I won’t say too much until it’s completed, but here’s a sneak preview:

The other thing. My good friend Leah Cunningham has been working on posters for my show. I’ve got a rough draft of the new poster and because you’re nice enough to be reading my blog, here’s a sneak preview of that:

Let me know what you think! I’d love your input! That’s all for now I believe!

peace, love, and a healthy beaver community,
MK

Back to school!  That’s been the theme of the week as I ended my string of corporate shows in St. Louis, MO on Monday and started the fall college tour.  St. Louis was great.  I performed for a Forbes Top 50 company and the previous week, a billion dollar IT dept. for another Fortune 500 company.  I got some time while in St. Louis to visit the famous Gateway Arch.  I took some photos (see them on the “Photos from the Road” Flickr set) and had some time to visit Gibbol’s, a really nice Juggling/Clown/Magic/Costume shop at the Landing.

This is the view looking straight down from the top of the St. Louis Gateway Arch

Thursday brought me to Capital University in Bexley, OH for their Orientation/Welcome Week.  I really like the kids at Cap.  Many of the Orientation staff were also current or former University Programming students, so I knew many of them.  I think we had somewhere between 300-400 in Mees Auditorium for the show.  I have video from the show, but I haven’t grabbed it out of the camera yet. I was humbled by a standing ovation from the audience.

On Friday, I visited Clarion University in Clarion, PA.  Jamie at Clarion is a good friend of mine (and fellow OSUMB alum!) and she had me in for Clarion’s Welcome Week.  I hung out at a BBQ outside talking to people about the show for awhile.  It was there that I performed for the entire Clarion Football team (it’s okay guys, it’s not always about winning) and the Clarion International Students Club (who politely applauded after every move I made).  The show was in Gemmel Student center, which I’ve compared in the past to the typical gymnasium from Back to the Future’s “Enchantment Under the Sea” Dance.

I think we got several hundred students out to the show in Clarion, and went to Eat n’ Park afterward where I predicted the time set on a watch in the kitchen and we cried laughing at a drunk patron of the restaurant.

The next morning, I drove to the Cleveland Airport to fly to Colorado for a performance at the University of Northern Colorado. I had a layover in Chicago as Barack Obama was flying out to meet Joe Biden in Springfield, IL. I caught his plane taking off!

Click the photo to enlarge it and see the flag talked about here.  It was really exciting at Chicago Midway, as everyone on my flight to Denver was on their way to the Democratic National Convention, including a State Senator from Louisiana Chicago Tribune Jounralists, and several Obama staffers. Whether you’re a Republican or a Democrat, it was really exciting as the plane was buzzing with energy and friendliness.  The flight attendant sang to us.

The show at th University of Northern Colorado was great.  The town smells like cow-poop, but other than that, it’s a really nice city.  Very modern feeling for being out amongst so many ranches.  I was surprised to arrive to 1,000 chairs set up!

The UNC Program Council (which was AWESOME, btw), told me that their events so far had been very heavily attended so they were expecting a full house. And BOY did they deliver! By 8pm, the seats were filled will more standing in the back!

The show went very well and the crowd was very enthusiastic and fun. I was once again humbled by a standing ovation of the more than 1,000 students in attendance. I really appreciate it. It makes me happy that people enjoy what I do. It makes all this travel worth it for sure. PLUS – UNC gave me a scarf and a football hackey sack!

That’s all for right now. I’m exhausted, but I finally get to head home today and will be home for 3 days! Next week, I travel to Kokomo, Indiana, Paxton, MA, Cleveland, OH and then its off to West Palm Beach, FL then Philly!

Peace, love and Obama,
MK

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For me, summer means that my schedule slows down a bit from touring colleges and I performing a slightly less rigorous schedule of private performances for corporations and what not. My last performance was for the Ohio Clerk of Courts Education Committee which turned out to get a little crazy. There was drunken heckling involved and we all had fun.

I got a very exciting phone call this week for a future performance. Here’s a hint, the person/people I’ll be performing for are a household name and are seen by 15 million people a year.

The Fall College Tour is really shaping up, but there are still some available dates if your college or university is interested! We’re also booking into Spring 09. Here’s a preliminary Fall Schedule:

FALL 08 SCHEDULE (all dates subject to change)
Jul 17, 2008 Columbus, OH Private Corporate Event
Aug 17, 2008 St. Louis, MO Private Corporate Event
Aug 18, 2008 St. Louis, MO Private Corporate Event
Aug 22, 2008 Clarion, PA Clarion University
Aug 23, 2008 Greeley, CO University of Northern Colorado
Aug 25, 2008 Bexley, OH Capital University
Aug 29, 2008 Kokomo, IN Indiana University – Kokomo
Aug 30, 2008 Cleveland, OH Private Special Event
Sep 01, 2008 West Palm Beach, FL Northwood University
Sep 04, 2008 Philadelphia, PA Penn State University – Abington
Sep 07, 2008 Hilliard, OH Private Event
Sep 10, 2008 Manchester, NH St. Anselm College
Sep 14, 2008 New London, NH Colby-Sawyer College
Sep 27, 2008 Rindge, NH Franklin Pierce University
Oct 02, 2008 Chattanooga, TN NACA South
Oct 03, 2008 Erie, PA Mercyhurst College
Oct 04, 2008 Chattanooga, TN NACA South
Oct 09, 2008 Edinburg, TX Univ. Texas-Pan Am
Oct 23, 2008 Lyndonville, VT Lyndon State College
Oct 24, 2008 Lancaster, PA NACA MidAtlantic
Oct 25, 2008 Lancaster, PA NACA MidAtlantic
Oct 30, 2008 Peoria, IL NACA MidAmerica
Oct 31, 2008 Peoria, IL NACA MidAmerica
Nov 1, 2008 Peoria, IL NACA MidAmerica
Nov 6, 2008 Hartford, CT NACA Northeast
Nov 7, 2008 Hartford, CT NACA Northeast
Nov 8, 2008 Hartford, CT NACA Northeast
Dec 06, 2008 Celina, OH Private Corporate Event
Dec 12, 2008 Pensacola, FL Private Special Event
Dec 13, 2008 Zanesville, OH Private Corporate Event

Let me know if I’ll be in your town & I’ll make sure you can come to the show if possible!

Hey!

Just did a photoshoot with Michelle Black.

See the whole shoot here!

So the spring college tour is finished! I’ve been very fortunate – this was the busiest spring I’ve ever had and I’m enjoying some extra free time now!

My last two college shows were great times. The first was Miami University of Ohio in Oxford. It was an outdoor carnival-type event and the show was held on the back steps of the union building there. Here’s a shot of the stage:

It was a really great crowd and everyone was in the mood to have a good time.

The following Monday night, I performed at The Ohio State University, my alma mater! It POURED that night, so thanks to all the folks who still came out despite the rain! It really means a lot for you to make that commitment! The next morning, this happened:

I made the front page of The Lantern, OSU’s newspaper with a readership of 75,000! Pretty sweet!

A couple other notes:

- We’ve updated the Michael Kent Store so in addition to the t-shirts and what not, you can also get the same buttons and stickers that are available at my show!

- Be sure to join my Facebook Fan Page. I plan on posting new videos there first – before you can see them anywhere else!

- Fall Dates – We’re still booking fall 08 dates and Welcome Week performances. If you’re interested in having me at your school for the fall, let me know ASAP and we’ll get you on the calendar! Newly booked dates:

Clarion, PA – Aug. 22
Bexley, OH – Aug. 25
Kokomo, IN – Aug. 28
West Palm Beach, FL – Sep. 1
Manchester, NH – Sep. 10
New London, NH – Sep. 14

Other than that, it’s time for me to relax a bit! I’ll be performing throughout the summer, doing private shows and corporate performances, but for the most part I plan on using this summer to relax, vacation, hang out with friends and family, and work on new material!

peace, love and flip flops,
MK

Magicians like to accuse each other of stealing their ideas. I’ve seen it in other industries as well. Comedians do it too, but a comedian telling someone else’s joke is never as funny than a comedian telling their own joke. So there’s kind of a built in originality police there. Magicians perform each other’s tricks without permission all the time. Then they claim it’s original because they added their own personality to it. Professional Speakers do it too. I’ve seen 4 professional speakers all tell the same personal story about something that happened to them in their life.

I’ve personally had my original ideas ripped off. Some people tell me I should be flattered. But when you spend months writing and refining a script and find out someone else has done it verbatim without your permission, it’s irritating to say the least.

The “Stars” is a pet routine of mine that I enjoyed writing with the help of Michael Hitchcock and I’ve been told other entertainers have stolen.

I’ve been working hard lately to try to remove all the stock material from my act (stock material is a term that usually refers to jokes/gags that are so old they have no clear point of origin and are generally considered “fair game” for use. The result is that everyone uses them!). The difficult part of this, and the ultimate dilemma is that stock lines work! Some of them get an awesome reaction, and that’s why they became stock lines in the first place! Here’s one that I don’t personally use, but I’ve heard MANY magicians use:

Magician: Where are you from?

Volunteer: Texas.

Magician: I’m sorry?

Volunteer: Tex-

Magician: No, I heard you, I’m just sorry.

Now that’s a particularly shitty and insulting version of a stock line and they’re not all that bad. But that one makes me cringe. Another is a moment that happens in most straight jacket escapes in which the performer is being put into the straight jacket and creates a joke out of the fact that the middle strap has to be pulled tightly across the crotch. Usually this is accompanied by a stock line like “You sure you’ve never done this before?” or the performer subsequently talking with a high-pitched voice. I don’t mean to be condescending – I still have stock lines in my act.

So one of the things I’ve been trying hard to do is to replace any and all stock material in my act with material that I’ve written for myself. Not only does this make me feel better about the act and myself, but it usually results in better material! There is no better material than that which is created specifically for you.

At times, there’s a place for using others’ material with permission. This is common in magic. Many times a magician will sell the “performance rights” to a particular idea. In this instance, sure – its ethically fine to use the material. But many times, this “store bought” material isn’t nearly as powerful as it could be if you find a way to really make it “you.” This is difficult sometimes. Take the Multiplying Bottles routine that I perform. The routine that I regularly perform is very very close to the original Ken Brooke routine from 50 years ago. I have written at least two other routines and performed them, but neither has gotten the reaction from the audience as the original Ken Brooke routine. It seems to simply be the perfect application for that particular prop. I someday hope to write a routine that is more original, but until then, I plan to continue to use the performance as it is.

To use another example from my own act, let’s talk about “The Yellow Trick.” This is a comedy gag I had used in my act since I was a teenager. At some point, I put it together and it got a laugh, so I used it all the time. Here’s the premise:

I display an envelope. As I ask for an audience member to think of a color – any color (“and don’t let me influence which color you’re thinking of”), I remove a bright yellow sign from the envelope. I turn over the envelope which says “The Yellow Trick.” “Now don’t YELL-OWT the color until I ask,” I would say. They name the color. “Red,” they say. Then I turn over the sign and it says “Red” in bold letters. As I take my applause and turn to put it away, a flap falls down where the word “Red” was written and the audience sees a dozen other colors written behind the word “Red.”

A photo of me performing “The Yellow Trick”

It was a goofy gag, got a huge laugh and if you ever saw David Copperfield in the early 90′s, it may seem familiar. I didn’t realize until later that I had ripped off Chris Kenner’s “Texas Trick.” A hilarious comedy gag with the same premise. Kenner used to do the intermission show for David Copperfield and now acts as the Main Man Behind the Scenes (official title) for Copperfield. Kenner’s trick as I remember it, was as follows:

Chris displays an envelope. He asks for an audience member to think of a state – any state (“and don’t let me influence which state you’re thinking of”), he removes a Texas-shaped sign from the envelope. He turns over the envelope which says “The Texas Trick.” After talking for a bit in a thick Texas accent, he asks them to name the state. “Alabama,” they say. Then he turns over the sign and it says “Alabama” in bold letters. As he takes his applause and turns to put it away, a flap falls down where the word “Alabama” was written and the audience sees a dozen other states written behind the word “Alabama.”

Yep. Same damn trick. I was a thief. Why did I steal the gag and think I hadn’t? Well, as a young magician learning the ropes, I probably didn’t realize the value of original material. And by changing it to a color instead of a state, I probably thought I had made it mine.

I did the right thing. I spent a few hours locked in my office determined to write a better opener. The result became what is now my favorite part of the show. I won’t get into what it is exactly, but it’s much better because it’s me. And it’s not the intellectual property of someone else!

A photo of the routine that replaced “The Yellow Trick”

Striving for originality is a fun adventure for me, and in a profession with so many copy-cats, it makes me feel genuinely proud to replace something in my show with something that’s original. The entire hour-long show isn’t 100% original yet – there’s still some hard-to-let-go stock material here and there – but it will be. And there’s no better feeling than having people enjoy a creation that came from your experiences and your imagination.

I had a fun noon show yesterday at Mohwak Valley Community College in Utica, NY. I was warned ahead of time that noon shows in that perticular venue can be rough (lack of audience, lack of interest), but I was pleasantly surprised to perform for a full room! The people there were very receptive and despite listing my name as “Mike Kent” on the posters and promo (I perform professionally as Michael), it was a blast!

I decided not to do the broken bottle routine yesterday because 12pm is too early to be wetting my pants. I’m considering taking it out of the show altogether. It was nice not having to travel with a hammer and glass bottle for a change. What are your thoughts?

After the show, a man came up to me and said, “Michael Kent, eh? Didn’t you escape from a strait jacket at a monster truck rally?” Wow. Here’s what he’s referring to. It’s a video from another magician named Michael Kent in the early 80’s. The reruns of this appear on ESPN every once in awhile and this guy had obviously seen it. He was rattling off the name of the truck, the date, the city it took place in. Kinda strange! I told him, no that wasn’t me, but told him the story of me posting that video and people taking it seriously.

Just finished reading Steve Martin’s book, “Born Standing Up.” It was an awesome read. I brought it along yesterday knowing I’d be spending most of the day in airports. The beginning of the book where Steve is describing some of the things he experienced in his early career came me some comfort in things that I feel or experience. But mostly, it made me want to work on my act – Great inspiration!

This weekend, I’m getting together with a bunch of college buddies and going on a road trip to our Nation’s capitol. It should be a blast! it’s been awhile since I’ve been able to travel with no shows!

Next shows are Miami University of Ohio and Ohio State University. I’ll provide details soon!

MK

So last week took me to Philadelphia, PA. No problems getting into the PHL airport this time! I got the airport and shuttled it to my hotel with no issues. I was ultra super hungry and couldn’t wait to get to the hotel to eat, but they didn’t start serving food until after I had to leave for my show, so I just ate some cookies instead. The Internet at the hotel was down too, which was a bummer. Give me food and Internet and I can live happy for quite awhile.

The weather was dreary – rainy and cold. Just like it has been here in Ohio.

Neumann College’s Campus Safety picked me up at the hotel and took me to the show. That was kind of interesting. Lots of kind of interesting things happened at Neumann, but for the most part I had a good time and had a good turnout at the show. Neumann College is the second campus I’ve been to this year with a cemetery literally ON campus. And the building I was performing in was called Learning Center 1. With all those dead people right there on campus, they couldn’t name the building after one of them? Oh well!

Next it was back home for a night to perform at Wilmington College in Wilmington, OH. The folks there were awesome – super nice. I was performing as part of a Siblings Weekend Program. Right before my show, they were doing a talent show for all the little kids and one boy told me he didn’t have a talent after he unsuccessfully tried to hypnotize his mother. I taught him a card trick and gave him a deck of cards so he could be in the show. He won a prize! woo hoo for magic!

The show went really well and I was happy to get to drive home and sleep in my own bed after the show. Oh yeah, here’s one of my photos from the road of the stage at Wilmington:

Today I’m relaxing and finishing up taxes (nothing like procrastination). Then I’m going to go look at cars!

Next up is Mohawk Valley Community College in Utica, NY. On Tuesday, I fly in early morning, drive from Syracuse, do the show in Utica, drive back and fly home all in the same day! Wish me luck!

ANNOUNCEMENT:
I will be performing at The Ohio State University on April 28th at 7pm in Hagerty Hall 180! See the facebook event HERE. Bring your friends!

peace, love and little siblings,
MK

Source: http://www.cm-life.com

Kent entertains with magical comedy

By: Robert D. Pore

Issue date: 3/31/08 Section: News

The night ended with a story about childhood misery, a shower of confetti and applause.

Comedian and magician Michael Kent finished his Friday act at Moore Hall’s Townsend Kiva by telling a story about how his dad had ruined his childhood with his explanation of where stars came from.

As he finished, confetti magically appeared from his hand.

Kent parodied fellow magician David Copperfield’s habit of telling sad stories about his childhood.

“You don’t see magicians who make fun of magic very often, so I’m glad we could bring someone like Michael to CMU,” said Christa Smalligan, Fremont senior and Program Board member.

Smalligan’s favorite part of the act was the finale.

“I really enjoyed the confetti – I think because of the way he was poking fun at everyone who’s so serious about it,” Smalligan said.

Media Credit: John Ehlke
Comedian and magician Michael Kent begins the show with a quick card trick in Moore Hall’s Townsend Kiva on Friday night. Kent asked audience members to look at a card and he would tell the members of the audience which card they looked at in the deck.
[Click to Enlarge]

Midland freshman Cody J. Bartow also enjoyed the end of the show.

“I liked the last one,” Bartow said. “This show exceeded expectations.”

In addition to telling stories, Kent also involved the audience in his act.

For one trick, Kent brought Macomb freshman Joseph Dombrowski and asked for a $20 bill, which he then put in an envelope and shredded it.

“I was actually kind of mad, because I saw pieces of my 20 come out of the shredder,” Dombrowski said.

But Dombrowski’s worries were premature.

After initially pretending he had made a mistake, Kent then opened a series of boxes within boxes and revealed the $20 bill, intact and complete with Dombrowski’s handwriting on it from before it had gone through the shredder.

“It was weird, because it was my same exact writing,” Dombrowski said.

After getting his money back, Dombrowski held no grudges.

Kent says this is part of why he does his magic as a comedy act.

“The way that I feel about it is that some people don’t like to be fooled, and the way I do magic helps people to forget they’re being fooled,” Kent said. “I just wanted to be myself onstage because I’m not a dramatic person.”

news@cm-life.com

Well, someone finally youtubed an old video – and the only video – of my former career as an escape artist in the 80s. The secret’s out. And here’s the video:

..

UPDATE

For those of you who are good with math, you may realize that I couldn’t have been more than 4 years old in 1983, when this video was taken. The magician/escape artist you’re seeing is Michael Kent, a magician from Kansas (now residing in Sarasota, Florida) who performed a series of these stunts in the 80’s for monster truck shows. For those of you who knew it wasn’t me, great job. For those who really believed it was me – April Fools!

Last week brought me to a couple more schools in Michigan. Driving toward Mt. Pleasant, MI was slightly eventful, as I hit a nasty patch of snow on the way there. It was pretty fierce, but only for about 20 minutes. Then it was sunny and nice out. Central Michigan is one of my favorite places to perform. The people are great there and the hotel has a jacuzzi in the room. And by “in the room” I mean literally right next to the bed. Slightly sketchy perhaps, but very awesome to relax and watch a movie while chilling in the jacuzzi.

I did a noon teaser to promote the show in a couple different venues and that went very well. Here’s a creepy bird made out of hands outside one of the venues:

Central did a good job of promoting the show. After censoring me, however, the newspaper article about me called me “Comic, Magician, Smarta.” I’m not lying – read it here:

The posters that they had made for the event were great!

The show took place at 9pm in a round room with awesome acoustics. Good crowd, great sound crew, and HUGE program board. I don’t have any photos from the show yet, but keep checking my Flickr Page for photos. I’m always adding new photos to it! The mascot for Central Michigan is the “Chips” – short for Chippewas. It’s cool and everything, but in Ohio we have/had the Shawnee Indians. I can’t imagine the Michigan Wolverines playing the Ohio State Shawns. On one side of the field you have a foul smelling nasty little dangerous rodent. On the other, some dude named Shawn. “What’s up…I’m Shawn.”

After the show, the program board people took me out to Bennigans – great times. Lots of laughing and I got to try out a thing using a borrowed watch that I don’t get to do very often.

Saturday brought me about 20 minutes away from Mt. Pleasant to Alma College in Alma, MI. I performed at Alma’s Sibs Weekend last year and they asked me back to perform again this year. The show took place in a chapel, which was kinda cool. I think I opened the show by saying “welcome to this holy place.”

My Little Sibs show is a bit different than the normal show in that it’s slightly cleaner. I don’t swear or anything in the show. But let’s face it – if hearing a magician say “shit” or “dick” is the worst thing a little kid sees on a college campus in 3 days, we’re doing pretty good.

Also notable – a group of students from Grand Valley State University drove an hour and a half to see my show at Alma! That’s dedication! I really appreciate that.

The people at Alma were super nice. I’ve had a great time there both times I’ve visited and can’t wait to come back again. Willard and Jake and the others made me feel at home! Also at the show were students from Hope College, Central Michigan and Adrian College as I found out after the show. That’s crazy. I appreciate it so much that people want to see the show. You have no idea.

This week I’ll be traveling to Philadelphia to perform at Neumann College on Thursday night, then back to Ohio to perform at Wilmington College in Wilmington, OH on Saturday.

peace, love and fan clubs,
mk

I took the stage in Allendale, MI (right outside of Grand Rapids) in front of 400-500 students last Wednesday for an awesome show at Grand Valley State University. The programming board there, Spotlight Productions, does a hell of a job. They even had “I <3 Michael Kent” signs.

The show went well – nothing scary or out of place. The room where they have their events is really cool. Couldn’t do the wallpaper thing because there was only brick and curtains, but that’s fine. Here are some shots from the show!

After the show, some of the Spotlight members took me out to dinner and I laughed a lot. Great times.

This coming Friday and Saturday, I’ll be in the Central Michigan area. Friday is Mt. Pleasant, MI for a show at Central Michigan University and Saturday is Alma, MI for a sibs weekend show at Alma College.

That’s all for now!

Seacrest out

Good Morning,

I’m finally caught up on rest after last weekend’s exciting trip to Atlanta, GA for the APCA National Conference. I was there to promote the show in the Big Name Entertainment booth along with the Showoff Show and the USA BreakDancers. All three of us also had showcases.

On Friday, I had my showcase at about 9:30pm. I had a couple new jokes and they went over really well. As a result, guess what? Now everyone else gets to laugh at them! Here’s a photo of my showcase, courtesy of Tifton University’s CAB.

When I was exiting the stage, the Stage Manager said to me “Don’t go outside, there’s a tornado – they’re locking us all in the hotel.” I honestly thought they were putting me on. Little did I know, this was going on outside:

Pretty scary. The hotel we were in was about 4 or 5 blocks from some of the hotels that got it really bad. Check out some photos that Evan took here. Pretty scary! And it’s not the first time I’ve had a run in with a tornado while on the road!

The conference resulted in some tour dates that will be added to the Southern U.S. in the Fall of 08 and Spring of 09.

Tomorrow, I travel to Allendale, MI to perform at Grand Valley State University. The folks there are way cool. I met them at a NACA conference last fall.

Can’t wait!

Peace, love, and boarded-up windows,
MK

Last week, we saw some beautiful weather in my hometown of Columbus, Ohio. Early in the week temperatures neared 60 degrees and the sun felt amazing. It cooled down a little just in time for my friends Jonathan and Evan from the Showoff Show to fly in on Thursday.

I had a show Thursday night for the Ohio Intercourt Conference. When they called a few months ago and scheduled the show and told me who it was for, I thought “Alright! Finally – this is going to be AWESOME.”

Then they said “No, Michael. I said InterCOURT.” Damn. Maybe next time.

The Showoffs came with me to help out with that gig and it went well. It was a drinking crowd full of P.O.’s, Judges and Magistrates. Great times and a standing ovation at the end! (although I’m suspicious that they just were getting a head-start to the bar)

..

The snow started coming in Friday morning. It was bad, but we weren’t worried until it took us more than an hour to pick up our rental car that was only 5 miles away. The Showoffs and I had a pow-wow and decided to brave the elements and drive up to our gig that was scheduled at Ohio Northern University in Ada, OH (2 hours north of Columbus). The drive wasn’t too bad, thanks to Evan’s advanced driving skills, and we made it to the show in time.

I can’t say enough about how much I enjoyed performing at Ohio Northern. They brought out an AWESOME crowd of more than 280 people! I lost one of my contacts before the show, so explained to the audience that I couldn’t see shit. This made for a funny moment early in the show when I accidentally called a guy “she.” But to my defense, he had long hair and was about 50 yards away from me. haha Here’s a shot of the audience from the back!

Thanks to Jonathan for taking some photos during the show of the crowd. Also thanks to Levi Good, an Ohio Northern Student who used Evan’s camera to take a TON of hi-res photos. I’ll post a few here, but check them out for yourself on my Flickr Account.

View the rest Here.

After my show, I introduced the Showoff Show, a show who, according to their Mad Libs-style Introduction:
…has been performing 17 years, originated in Russia, and has been described as Chartreuse and Hairy.

They put on a hell of a show and everyone loved their comedy, contortionism, juggling and stunts.

The storm started up again about the time that we headed home. We finally made it back to Columbus around 2am and the Showoffs’ 8am flight got cancelled. Due to the record 20″ snowfall, they ended up spending the weekend at the Kent house, which was great, because we hung out and had time to go over show tapes and do some writing!

Thanks to Evan and Jonathan for a fun weekend and to Ohio Northern and the Ohio Intercourt Conference for some fun audiences!

Next up, I was selected to perform in a Showcase at the National Conference for APCA in Atlanta, GA. I fly to Atlanta on Thursday and spend the rest of the weekend at that conference. Should be a GREAT time!

Peace, love and snow shovels,
MK

Wow – another busy week! I’ve really gotta thank everyone for making this year so great so far. It’s been two months and already I feel like I’ve been on a freaking U.S. Tour.

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Someone pointed out a funny thing to me today. Take a look at Jim Gaffigan’s latest concerts schedule promo:

Look familiar?

Hahaha. How honored I am that Jim Gaffigan would copy my style. Next thing you know he’ll start ripping off my routine about Hot Pockets.

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So I started out last week flying into Philadelphia to perform at Rutgers University in Camden, NJ. Rutgers has a cool multi-purpose room with lots of space. I was still pretty sick when I got there and so my hosts were so kind as to keep me topped off with hot tea the entire time. So awesome! Here are some photos from Rutgers:

Setting Up

Some of my posters on a bulletin board.

Programming Info Board

The stage before lights and sound were set up.

Pretty neat poster they made for the event. How cool! They are the first ones to use this photo for promotion. I put it up in the Promo section to see if anyone would use it. I personally think it looks alot like the infamous “Bat Boy Found In Cave Photo.” You be the judge:

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Friday’s show was at Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois which was not anywhere near Camden, NJ. I had been to Peoria once before for a NACA conference, so the area was somewhat familiar. Bradley’s campus was pretty cool. The folks there were super kind. I’m sorry I don’t have any photos to upload (my mobile upload link from Flickr.com isn’t working). I can say that when I showed up, Bradley told me that they were expecting around 30 people to the event. They drew a curtain to separate the room and make it smaller. By showtime, there were more than 125 people and they had to open the curtain back up and add a lot more chairs! Always great to see a nice turnout! I was still under the weather, but feeling slightly better, so the show went well! It was a great time and the nice folks at Bradley took me out to an AWESOME restaurant after the show!

There was an old vaudeville saying “If it plays in Peoria, it will play anywhere!” This was because Peoria, IL was said to be a representative population of the country, so if the people there liked it, they would like it anywhere else in the country. I guess that’s great news for my act!

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The WVKO Party was a blast. I took a couple photos of the audience, but it was pretty crazy in there and I haven’t uploaded them yet. I was expecting a crowd of a couple hundred. It ended up being MUCH larger. Can’t say for sure – but definitely between 600-800 people! I got bumped from my original spot of going on right before Stephanie Miller. They decided instead to put on a myriad of politicians, each giving a 2-3 minute speech. After two or three, the crowd was sick of them and wanting Stephanie. I would have been the better choice to go on right before, but hey – you have to give the politicians their opportunity to be heard I suppose. Met some awesome folks, including Donna Mogavero, The Ukelele Man, Dan Dougan, and others. If anyone has photos, let me know!

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This week is going to be a fun one. On Thursday, the Showoff Show flies in and comes with me to a private event I’ve got going on at Deer Creek State Park. Then Friday, we perform together at Ohio Northern University! I can’t wait!

Peace, Love, and Gaffigan,

MK

Source: Northeastern News
By Sean Leviashvili

Michael Kent worked his magic as he performed a stand-up routine at afterHOURS Wednesday.

As part of BananAwareness Week, Travis Weisberger, showcases chair for the Council for University Programs, arranged for Kent to perform at Northeastern. Kent is known for putting his own spin on a series of magic tricks by interacting with the audience and treating his act as a comedy routine, a task he admits can be a challenge.

“I started doing comedy in college,” Kent said. “It is the most difficult thing I’ve ever done. A comic only has his personality to use [on stage], and I try to bring it to the magic tricks and give them personality.”

Performing in front a crowd of about 200 people, Kent brought forth a series of magic tricks that made audience members like Yuliya Sysevich, a sophomore marketing major, wonder what his secret was.

Syesevich was initially called to the stage when Kent asked for an audience member with “excellent intuition.” To assist Kent with a trick involving a broken glass bottle, four inflated paper bags and Kent’s left hand, Syesevich had to guide him through a step-by-step process in eliminating the bags. One contained the glass bottle with the sharp side up.

With each elimination, Kent crushed the bag with his hand.

“Remember, I’m using my hands here,” Kent said to Syesevich. “If you screw this up, it’s the end of my career and social life as well.”

The only bag Syesevich did not select concealed the jagged glass bottle.

“All of his tricks were really surprising,” Syesevich said. “With each one I was like ‘Wow, how did he do that?’”

Syesevich had an intuitive hunch that everything would turn out all right, but other students, including Grace Turnbull, a middler behavioral neuroscience major, were not as confident.

“I was terrified when he was smashing those glasses,” Turnbull said.

The tricks, along with the jokes and sarcasm, continued for about an hour as Kent brought Nani Stoick, a middler music industry major, to the stage, only to have her volunteer her $100 bill for a trick. After writing her name on the bill, Stoick placed it in an envelope and left the rest up to Kent and his magic. She watched as Kent pretended to shred the bill.

After five minutes of brewing curiosity, Kent returned Stoick’s money to her, retrieving it from a small metal box.

“For a split second I was worried,” Stoick said. “I had a feeling it would be in the box but I have no idea how it got there. I was impressed.”

As Kent’s routine continued, he left the audience pondering the question: what came first, the chicken or the egg? In this case, it was the chicken – a rubber one. With a volunteer from the audience, Kent conducted a card trick in which he managed to transfer a card selected by the audience member to a plastic egg inside a rubber chicken.

When Weisberger first saw this trick performed at the National Association for Campus Activities conference in November, he knew Kent would draw attention at Northeastern and arranged for him to perform.

“It was the chicken trick that sold us,” Weisberger said, “and his smart-ass personality.”

Prior to his performance, Kent eased audience members into his techniques by speaking with them at afterHOURS and promoting the event at the dining halls during the day. Making the audience comfortable and entertaining them is the priority, Kent said.

Whether it involves a rubber chicken, the chance of a bleeding palm or the money to pay for it, Kent said the most important thing is giving people a chance to enjoy themselves, rather than get frustrated, which Kent said is often the result of magic tricks.

“As a kid,” Kent said, “I was interested in magic and used it to compensate for my lack of a social life. I did magic in college to meet girls, and now I do it to pay the bills.”

Last week, despite having a nasty cold, I traveled to Boston for a show at Northeastern University. My show was part of Bananawareness week. The CUP at Northeastern had a week of events dedicated to the theory that bananas are going extinct. Not sure how I fit into it (they scheduled me for that week anyway, haha) but I played along.

I appreciate the 220-some folks who came out to the show, including the 20 or so local friends that stopped by to see me! Very nice of everyone to come out. The NU “AfterHours” venue is really awesome for a show like mine. Here’s a snapshot of the venue:

Went out with some friends after the show and then woke up for what proved to be a really scary day!

Woke up with the sensation that an elephant was sitting on my chest and my heart thumping so hard I thought it was going to bust through the skin. I showered and drive to Manchester, New Hampshire despite the fact that I was now sweating bullets and couldn’t feel my fingers. I was supposed to be at St. Anselm College for a promo at noon and a 7pm show on Thursday. I showed up at St. Anselm at noon and walked into the Student Activities office not feeling the best (and according to them, not looking the best either!). By now I couldn’t speak two sentences without being out of breath. Kristen, a student and Arlene, the director, insisted that I see the nurses down the hall at the health center. My blood pressure and pulse were up and so we decided to go to the hospital.

I have to say thanks SO MUCH to Kristen, who stayed with me all day at the Emergency Room. It was a scary day and I’m lucky someone was nice enough to stay there with me. At one point, the Doc told me I might be in the risk category for a pulmonary embolism (blood clot in the lungs) due to flying! They tested my blood for that (6 freaking vials of blood) and it was negative. An EKG showed that my heart wasn’t experiencing any serious cardiac conditions. Turns out that they thought maybe I had a bad reaction to medicine (I’ve been on a lot of cold medicines all week) possibly combined with chest muscle spasms from coughing and over exerting myself. Maybe a touch of anxiety/exhaustion involved too – which is weird because I really didn’t feel anxious about anything.

Needless to say – we had to cancel Thursday’s show (to be made up at a later date) and I felt awful about it. Sorry to everyone. I was actually sitting in the E.R. yelling at Kristen that I wanted to do the show (while simultaneously clutching my chest).

I made it home Friday and am home now resting up until I leave again to perform at Rutgers University in Camden, NJ on Wednesday, Bradley University in Peoria, IL on Friday and the WVKO Democratic “Party” with Stephanie Miller on Saturday.

Thanks so much to those of you who kept up with status messages on Facebook and Myspace and were concerned. I appreciate your messages.

Peace, Love and Doctor Bills,
MK

Hey! Just found out I’m doing a show at WVKO 1580 AM’s Democratic “Party” featuring Nationally Syndicated Radio Show Host, Stephanie Miller!

Tickets are still available! The event also will have free pizza, a cash bar, a 50/50 raffle, WVKO promotional items and more! (Adults only please!) Entertainment provided by The Spikedrivers, Donna Mogavero Michael Kent and the Ukulele Man.

I’m fairly certain this is going to be an AWESOME time!

Tickets and Information HERE.

Had a great trip up to Bangor, ME this week. it’s pronounced Bang-gore, the locals will tell you. But it’s fun to hear them say in a thick New England accent “Bangah? Hahdly Know Eh!”

I performed at Husson College. Husson sits right next to the Bangor airport, so I didn’t get to see a great deal of Bangor, but flying in, it was beautiful. I’d never seen so many pine trees! I hope I get to go back sometime and see a bit more of the area.

Bangor is the hometown of Stephen King. My host at Bangor kindly took me by the house!

He had a pretty cheesy yet slightly spooky gate.

My hotel was connected to the airport, which was kind of funny considering the hotel was larger than the airport! Here’s the view out of my window:

At Husson, the crowd was excellent! Huge turnout and very receptive, warm people. They laughed at all the right stuff and stayed with me on a couple new things!

Thanks to everyone in Maine for a great show. They were so hospitable there! I’m lucky I got back through all the nasty winter weather. Yesterday was a LONG travel day.

Coming up, I’ve got Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts. My show there is dedicated to Banana Awareness Week. Then its off to perform for my great friends at St. Anselm College in Manchester, New Hampshire.

I’m having a blast this spring performing and I think it really shows in my act. I hope so, anyway.

Peace, love and baggage claims,

MK

This last week of shows brought me to Fairfield Career Center. It’s a vocational-type school for Juniors and Seniors in high school. They had me come in and do my normal hour long show as the end to a day full of special events.

At first, I didn’t know what to expect. I don’t perform for high school students very often. My relaxed attitude and laid-back style of performing is understood by college students, but I never know if high schoolers are going to “get it.” They totally did. There were something like 350 students in there and they were actually a really great crowd!

Then Friday I performed at Seton Hill University in Greensburg, PA. Greensburg is about the hilliest city I’ve ever seen. Beautiful old buildings, though, and a magic shop (although it was closed). Seton Hill lies just outside of town and was founded by some Catholic Sisters of Something in the 1800′s. Driving into the campus is a bit creepy. My agent told me it was like going to Hogwarts and he was totally right.

There was a cemetery in the middle of the campus, which was set up on a big hill. All of the buildings felt super old. I’m fairly certain at least 80% of them are haunted.

The show went well. I didn’t get any photos of the room I played, but it was a lecture hall and very steep seating. They could totally see my bald spot. Near the end of the show, one girl was laughing so hard, I had trouble keeping it together for the closer.

All in all, a good week of shows. This week takes me to Bangor, Maine, where I will perform at Husson College. Should be a great time. I have to fly through Philly, though – and you all know how I feel about the Philadelphia Airport.

Peace, love and flight delays,

MK

So I just got done performing at Illinois College and Valparaiso University before that. Had a great time at both.

Valpo was a sibs weekend. Those are always fun and unpredictable. It’s amazing to me how much kids like my act, especially since I don’t do your typical magic act. In this particular show, I asked for a $20 from the audience and a 11 or 12 year old girl, Serenity, had one and wanted to be part of the show. Her reactions were PRICELESS and had the entire audience rolling. I had to stop for a moment to keep my composure I was laughing so hard.

I’m trying out a couple new tables/ stage layouts for my act. Here’s a photo of the stage at Valpo:

The roads in Illinois and Indiana in the winter are really straight and really boring. Nothing against those states – it’s just that they’re so flat. Ohio’s flat — but Indiana and Illinois are moreso. I got bored on the drive:

I got to Illinois College in Jacksonville, IL a little early the next day so I stopped by the local Wal Mart. Never before have I felt so out of place in a Wal Mart. I really felt like I was the only one there not wearing camo. Also I noticed an abundance of bearded folk.

I got to the school and there was a really crazy stage built on top of the normal stage that extended the front out over the first few rows of the audience:

It didn’t matter to me. But I used some of my day-glo spiking tape on the edges to make sure I didn’t trip during the show (ended up only tripping once).

The show went well. The auditorium was HOT (broken thermostat?) but we got through it and on to the next show.

Sidenote: Sometimes I get sidetracked in my show. So here’s how I cheat:

Peace, love, and set lists,

Michael

Hey! I haven’t written anything in awhile, so let me just tell you about some of the things going on lately.

The month of December was great – lots of fun corporate gigs. Sorry I don’t put more info about corporate gigs on my site. It’s just kind of my policy to not disclose the names of the corporations when they book me for a gig. Had another great one last weekend in Columbus.

Before that gig, I met with Slapstik Magazine for a quick interview. We had a good time laughing and talking before my show and you’ll be able to read that piece in Slapstick’s February Newsletter.

Had the opportunity to perform for Penn State University in Abington this week. My trip to Philadelphia went a bit better this time than in November (I won’t get into it, but let’s just say I had an unpleasant experience at the Philly Airport). The crowd at PSU Abington was AWESOME and according to them one of the largest they’ve had. Kudos to the gang there for putting on a good event!

One funny thing to note. I once created a goofy “thank you” graphic to post as a myspace comment when people added me. It was me holding a sign that says “Thanks for not being a douchebag!” Well the PSU Abington people thought it would hilarious to use that on the posters! haha. I can’t believe they did that. But I secretly loved it.

As you can see from my schedule – I’ve got a busy Spring ahead! I think something like 8 or 9 states in February alone — pretty crazy. But I love it! Can’t wait to see all of you at the upcoming shows!

I’d love to show you more photos of my last few shows, but I dropped my camera after the last show and I’m taking advantage of my MacGruber-like instinct and I’m repairing it myself. Hopefully I’ll be able to update here soon! Until then – check out the “Photos from the Road” section of my Flickr account to see LIVE uploads from my cell phone.

Peace, Love and Electronics Repair,
MK

My Flickr Account: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kentmagic/sets/