DVD Review: Jigger Not! by Randi Rain

In “Jigger Not!” Randi Rain teaches a chop cup routine that employs a mixing jigger. In the routine, Rain employs a PK ring that results in some clean handling and a few moves that would be impossible without the use of the gimmick.

Of course, taking and altering the name of Mark Jenest’s well known “Jiggernaut” routine is either a homage or a rip off that implies a superior effect. Here’s my take on the routine.

Like Jenest’s “Jiggernaut,” Rain offers a cups and ball routine that employs a bartender’s mixing jigger. Jenest’s routine, which is purchased as a kit, employs rubber martini olives, which fit the bar theme. Jenest also offers fun patter that talks about the effects of alcohol on one’s perception of reality.

Rain’s routine employs standard chop balls, the crocheted kind. In the performance segment, she uses chopped fake eyeballs, but in the explanation, says that these are too noisy for actual performing. With Rain’s routine, you’ll have to go out and purchase the props. For theme, I vote for Jenest.

Jenest offers a series of clever moves that secretly load one end of the jigger while displaying the other. With her use of the PK ring, Rain offers a few moves that can’t be performed with sleight of hand alone.

Particularly interesting is a “Charlie Miller”-style sequence where a ball is placed into the top cup of the jigger and appears to pass below to the bottom cup. And then the process is reversed. Pretty cool. I give points to Rain for this innovation.

However, when performing for lay people, I’m not sure that the clever “pass throughs” will be any more impressive than the usual transpositions, vanishes and productions. A major drawback, Rain’s routine lacks large loads at the end (Genest’s routine produces large corks). While you can easily add your own large loads, this is an oversight.

The DVD comes with an adequate bonus effect that shows how to float a fork under the cover of a napkin. Of course, the PK ring again plays a key role.

While the use of the PK ring does allow for some particularly clean handling and a few intriguing moves, I feel that a close-up trick with a mixing jigger will never be as strong as a good chop cup routine. I’ve performed Jenest’s routine and gotten good reactions. But I get far stronger reactions with a chop cup.

I think the problem lies in the fact that spectators always suspect that the jigger is somehow gimmicked when it’s not, even after examining the perfectly normal jigger. And when I perform with a simple and seemingly normal cup, there’s no conceivable way that I’m making those balls appear. I’m sticking with my chop cup.

-Wayne N. Kawamoto

MSRP: (US) $15

Dealers can purchase from Murphy's Magic Supplies, Inc.