Thumbs Down, Daniel Martin

Following Homecoming Coronation on the evening of Mon, Sept 24, magician Daniel Martin performed a magic show…the only true illusion, though, was his own assumption that he was actually a good entertainer.

Daniel’s show enlisted tons of forced laughter and faked amazement from the crowd. This was largely due to the fact that he performed many of the same magic tricks as the magicians who came to DSU last year. One such trick was a mind-reading/vanishing act he did. He had two people from the crowd sitting on-stage. He then gave one the ability to “read the other’s mind”, proven by their correct guessing how the other person answered questions, such as what their dream car is and where they’d want to go for vacation. The crowd “went berzerk” for this! He then covered both helpers in sheets, and when he lifted the sheets off, they had “both disappeared”. However, a magician last year performed the exact same trick. Seeing someone “disappear” from the stage is only cool the first time, Mr. Martin.

Like most performers, Daniel did have one thing going for him: self-assurance. Confidence is key, yes, but confidence in something that doesn’t exist is simply delusional. This is the relationship between Mr. Martin and his ability as an entertainer. Perhaps a more humble and authentic approach to comedy would provide the improvement to his show that is necessary for it to become worth spending time and money on. If nothing else, though, Daniel Martin did make DSU appreciate past magic performances just a tad bit more, even The Maze and all the advertisement leading up to it. At least all that hype led up to something decent.