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Harry Anderson: Wise Guy

Caveney, Mike

Magic Words

(Based on 1 review)
Here at last, is the whole story behind America's most successful comedy magician. From his early days in the street, to head-lining in night clubs and casino showrooms, to the starring role on TV's hit series, Night Court.

Wise Guy begins with hilarious stories from Harry's apprenticeship as a street entertainer. Watch his character 'Harry the Hat' slowly evolve over years of performing.

Wise Guy includes a wide array of close-up effects, sight-gags, mentalism and virtually all of the stand-up routines that made Harry Anderson a headline act including The Needle thru Arm, Linking Finger Rings, Handcuffs, 3-Card Monarch Monte, and many, many more!

Drawing from years of friendship and hours of video and audio recordings, Mike Caveney reveals just how wise a guy Harry Anderson really is.

Pages: 167 - 8.5" x 9" - Hardcover with dust jacket - Black and white illustrations and photos

A PEEK INSIDE HARRY ANDERSON: WISE GUY
[Here is a perfect example of how Harry could take a standard magic prop, one that most magicians wouldn't give a second thought to, and turn it into a memorable piece of theater that encompassed humor, tension, shock value and of course mystery.]

THE FINGER CHOPPER
Harry used to do the finger chopper in the close-up room at the Magic Castle. When I commented on his hilarious routine he just shook his head and sort of brushed off the compliment. Years later I realized that mentioning the Finger Chopper to Harry caused his mind to drift back to the days when he really did the Finger Chopper and really got a reaction. It was back when Harry worked with his girlfriend Alison. She was a normal and pretty girl in every way... except one. Half of her little finger was missing. Now don't get ahead of me.

Harry had one of those little wooden finger choppers that Micky Hades used to sell. The kind where the blade could be removed and clearly shown. It was a very convincing little guillotine that did not look like a novelty store toy. Harry would get a guy to examine the chopper and then cut a cigarette in half. Then he held the guy's hand up and told this silly story. Pointing to the first finger he began: "This is the King, this is the Queen and oops, this is the evil Duke. We're going to have to behead the evil Duke." He slid the guy's finger into the hole and then held tightly onto his fingertip... uncomfortably so.

Now Harry looked at the audience and changed the subject completely. "Isn't it strange how cooperative a person will be with a magician. I mean this guy doesn't know who the hell I am." (This was long before Night Court.) "I come out all dressed up. I do a couple of card tricks, so he jumps to the conclusion that I've been hired by this establishment. Then I come up with this line about an evil Duke. Evil Duke? What the hell is that supposed to mean? I bring out this device and demonstrate exactly what it does and what does he do? He puts his finger in it. How many of you in the audience have ever seen one of those little finger choppers made by the Adams Novelty Company? The little one with the trick blade?" (Two or three people always raised their hands.) "That is what we in the business would call a trick finger chopper. How many of you ever owned one of them? A couple of you. Is this one of those trick finger choppers? No! This is what we in the business call a professional finger chopper."

Harry just kept on talking and squeezing. Pretty soon a little bead of sweat would start to form on the guy's forehead.

"You look a little nervous. That's because you know what's gonna happen, you just don't know when. That's what gets people. Not that it's gonna happen, but when. That's why people can deal better with a hurricane than they can with an earthquake. You can see a hurricane coming and get ready for it. But with an earthquake... POW! Right out of nowhere. It's Mother Nature gone psycho. People hate that. So in order to put you at ease, let's make Alison the clock. We'll pick a number like three. No, that's too common. How 'bout four... and a half. Yeah. That's good. At the count of four and a half it will happen. Now you can relax. You know what's gonna happen and exactly when it's coming. Ready Alison? One, two, three, four and a half."

At the count of four and a half, Alison extended her half finger. It looked exactly like the old gag where you bend your finger over. Then three things happened at once. Alison turned her hand around revealing that she had indeed lost half her finger. A look of terror gripped the spectator's face. And Harry slammed down the blade. As Harry tells it, there were wet seats every time.

This is a fine example of exploiting your resources, using what you have at your disposal, or in this case, using what you don't have.

Reviews

Jeff Stone

Official Reviewer

Jan 26, 2010

Harry Anderson, the man who sat and judged small claims court as the honorable Judge Stone, the Man who ate a guinea pig wrapped in newspaper on live television, the man who cut his girlfriend's finger off (sort of), so which one is he?

All of the above. With a character name like Judge Stone, how can I give this book a bad review. All rock (and paper and scissors) jokes aside, this is one of the best magic books I've ever read. First, it's written by Mike Caveney. That's enough right there for most people in the know. However, if you're not convinced, fear not, for you will be in the next three hundred words.

This book was originally published back in 1993, and I bought a brand new copy when it first came out. Somewhere over the years, I lost my copy (we moved a lot). When I did own the book, I read it multiple times. I recently reordered the book which is now in its 6th or so printing. It actually arrived this morning, so I decided to read it again. I've already re-read 1/3 of the book today, so let me remind you of what I was reminded today.

This book is one of the best magic books I've ever read. I think I mentioned that at the beginning. It's written sort of as a biography of Harry Anderson, yet at the same time it covers just about every effect that ever was in his working arsenal. You learn more than just the "secrets" to the tricks. You learn how the tricks came to be, when they came to be, and even why they came to be. You'll live through, with Harry the Hat, his rise to fame. It's brilliantly written (go figure - it was written by Mike Caveney). It's got great photographs and drawings.

Most of all, it's very inspirational. It's not so much a "how to become famous like Harry Anderson" book, but it certainly is the story of how it happened. Seeing someone else's story is always inspirational to me. Even if you weren't interested in learning the tricks, buy this book for the biography. Buy this book to learn how to develop routines. Buy this book so that you'll have something to do when you visit the porcelain. Buy this book to learn about one of the greatest comedy magicians of our time . . . Buy this book because it's about Harry Anderson. ABSOLUTE GEM!!
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