Successful Performercast by Kris Sheppard | Successful Performer Cast | Weekly Interviews with Professional Entertainers | Show Business, Showbiz, Performer, Magic, Magician, Juggler, Comedian, Musician - Best of Episodes - Casino Comedy & Magic with Mark Kornhauser

Best of Episodes - Casino Comedy & Magic with Mark Kornhauser

12/25/15 • 59 min

Successful Performercast by Kris Sheppard | Successful Performer Cast | Weekly Interviews with Professional Entertainers | Show Business, Showbiz, Performer, Magic, Magician, Juggler, Comedian, Musician

I'm currently taking a holiday break from my regularly scheduled episodes, so for the next few weeks, I'm running my six most downloaded episodes. I'll be back on the first of the year with brand new episodes! In the mean time, enjoy these "Best of" episodes.

Mark Kornhauser's interview is my most downloaded episode of all time! In this episode, we talk about his career in magic, what it takes to perform in casino showrooms, his successes, challenges, and how hard work really pays off.

Mark Kornhauser is one of the most successful comedy acts in the world boasting 25 years plus, consistently performing in and producing shows in the most prestigious casinos in Vegas, Reno, Lake Tahoe, and Atlantic City. We’re talkin’ Harrahs, Planet Hollywood, Mandalay Bay, Flamingo, Tropicana, and Hilton, just to name a few.

He’s opened for more than a few top name entertainers like Tom Jones, Elvis Costello, Frankie Valli, Terry Fator, David Letterman, and Tim Allen.

He’s also been featured on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Masters of Illusion, NBC, FOX, Comedy Central, and HBO.

Success Mantra:

Hard work, clean living.

Working in Casinos:

• Fitting into a time slot

• How the casino venue has changed: catering more toward headliners than variety entertainers

• How he stays in the game: develops and grows new material • Mistakes he sees people make in the casino market

• What he sees as the future of performing in casinos

Failure Moment:

Did a Le Pétomane (flatulence) act that initially bombed.

Favorite Success:

His current act with his dog Zsa Zsa.

How Does Mark Differentiate Himself?

Makes his act vastly different from anyone else.

What's Worked Well for Mark's Business?

Maintaining relationships with clients.

Interesting Story from His Career

Listen in to what happened when Mark ran into James Brown at a bathroom sink.

What's Been Mark's Biggest Professional Challenge?

Staying through the difficult times

Previous Episode

Best of Episodes - Lou Serrano: The Magician Who's Always Working

In this episode, we talk about Lou's career, how he's always working, and we also talk a little about his public speaking ventures and his thoughts on that.

Lou Serrano is a professional magician and a frequent performer at the Hollywood magic castle, a corporate entertainer, keynote speaker, and author, Lou is also a marketing expert and consultant who has helped countless other magicians and entertainers go after their chosen markets and kill it! It’s certainly no question as to why he’s been referred to as “the magician who is always working.” Success Quote:

A lobster, when left high and dry among the rock, does not have the sense enough to work his way back to the sea, but waits for the sea to come to him. If it does not come, he remains where he is and dies, although the slightest effort would enable him to reach the waves, which are perhaps within a yard of him. The world is full of human lobsters; people stranded on the rocks of indecision and procrastination, who, instead of putting forth their own energies, are waiting for some grand billow of good fortune to set them afloat. — Orison Swett Marden

Lou on Public Speaking

Lou is currently working on stepping into public and keynote speaking. He gives some of his insights on breaking into this market.

• Talks about the two ways to approach public speaking

• Tells about his topic, The Magic of Communication or How to Command the Attention of an Audience, and how he decided upon that topic.

• Talks about some of the lessons he's learned so far in this journey.

• Tells how he connects a topic points to a magical effects and gives an example.

A Moment of Failure:

A $9,000 infomercial that ultimately flopped. It yielded absolutely no results. Find out what he learned.

Biggest success:

Releasing his Steel Ball Routine which sold like hot cakes and ultimately helped him get through The Great Recession.

How does he differentiate himself?

Lou differentiates himself from others in his genre by how he performs and how he does business. He ultimately wats his clients to get the best, even if that means he needs to hire someone else to fill their needs.

Has he "made it?"

Yes. He "made it" the moment he started moving toward his goal of becoming a professional magician.

What's working for him business-wise?

Keeping a database of clients & prospects and keeping in touch with them. Answers the question: "What if I only have a handful of people on my list?"

Is there anything he would have done differently up to this point?

He would have been wiser with money early on. He wouldn't have been as careless with it as he had been at the beginning.

Next Episode

S8E4: Kenton Knepper - The Magic of Words & Communication

In this interview, Kenton Knepper talks all about nonverbal communication as well as the real power of words when it pertains to performing and doing business.

Kenton Knepper is a mentalist who specializes in nonverbal communication, suggestion, and NLP. He’s one of the most prolific creators in the world of magic and mentalism, and has influenced notable names in the industry like Banachek, David Blaine, Derren Brown, Richard Osterlind, and the living legend Johnny Thompson, just to name a few.

Through his company Wonder Wizards, he teaches his methods through seemingly countless products, courses, and private coaching sessions. A couple of his more widely known products are his Wonder Words course, and one of my favorites, Kolossal Killer.

In my opinion, Kenton is the closest thing you’ll find to a modern day Jedi.

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Interview with Kenton Knepper: Success Mantra

Keep going, keep doing! One thing that people who fail always do is they stop doing what they were doing.

The Power of Words and Nonverbal Communication

• The importance of words.

• Gives examples of phrases that can help to make our presentations more impressive.

• Reversing what people say to change the meaning.

• Changing a word or two in certain phrases to change how people react to what you’re saying.

• How being authentic helps your nonverbal communication.

• Learning principles that help you to integrate nonverbal tactics.

• Helps to amplify what you already are.

• Connecting with your audience and leaving them better off than they were before they met you.

• Communicating on multiple levels, double entendres, etc.

• Building people up with what you say.

• Shining the spotlight on the people you’re interacting with rather than yourself.

• Connecting other people with each other.

• "Do your good where it does the most.” - Wavy Gravy

• Having a set of tools or principles to be able to use in the right instances.

• Having an “out” for when things don’t go as planned.

• How to “read people” and better connect with them.

• How nonverbal can help out in business situations.

• Best place to start learning nonverbal communication is Kenton’s Wonder Words.

Failure Moment

Talks about a close-call underwater escape attempt. He learned the importance of rehearsing in the actual setting you’ll be performing in.

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