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Review: Undiscovered Wonder by Mel Mellers

About.com Rating 4

By Wayne Kawamoto, About.com Guide

Murphy's Magic
I first discovered the hilarious and immensely entertaining Mel Mellers, an accomplished British comedy magician, on his DVD set, "Tickling the Mind" (please click here to read my review). Mellers follows this with a new DVD, "Undiscovered Wonder," which teaches six routines that have potential in any stand-up act and are not difficult to perform.

For Starters

With Interactive Production, Mellers teaches his easy opener, a flower production. Before you move on, this is not just a basic flower production, it's Mellers way of introducing himself to the audience and acclimating himself to the performance venue. I'm not fond of stage flower productions, but the important aspect here is the way that Mellers handles himself on stage.

Thoughts in a Hat is a mind-reading routine where despite the fact that you are wearing a blindfold, you are able to read the minds of three audience members who have written information on cards that are folded and inserted into a hat.

Mental Floss

Mellers delves into more mentalism with a routine where he demonstrates that he has memorized the first phone number on every page of a thick phone book. This one relies on an intriguing force. There’s also a clever book test that relies on a lightly gimmicked and easily handled book.

Less of a routine and more of a throw-away in between segment, Sounds You Don't Like offers a short bit where you perform a well known gag that causes the audience to squirm. Mellers uses this routine when he feels the audience’s attention is straying.

I now understand that an Agony Aunt is a writer who answers questions in an “agony column” (must be a UK tradition). This routine offers a hilarious prediction with an irreverent theme.

Audience members contribute to a "condition" and then you pull out a letter that you've written to an advice columnist and resides inside of a wallet, and all of the audience’s contributions are reflected in the letter.

Something Ducky

Mellers presents a mind-reading duck routine that is similar to one that I had seen performed by Steven Spill years ago. A duck puppet writes a prediction on a notepad, a question is asked of an audience member and the duck's prediction is found to be correct.

Something of a stage version of "Sam the Bellhop," in Flags, you tell a story using the names of countries and display their flags on laminated cards. Indeed, Mellers provides a clever and funny story that plays well. By the way, unlike "Sam the Bellhop," this one is all about the storytelling and not the sleights.

On "Undiscovered Wonder," Mel Mellers offers a collection of great stand-up routines. While these routines aren’t for everyone's stage persona, it's always a pleasure to watch Mellers entertain.

MSRP: (US) $45

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