"Hey Clown Do That Again!"

There is an old old rule of magic. Don't ever repeat a trick. There is an old saying for performers...leave them wanting more.

Toss those out the window. You want big laughs with kids? Repeat repeat and dare I say repeat some more.

Children's minds work in a layering way. Think Old McDonald. A chick chick here and an oink oink there. There's a hole in the bottom of the sea. There's a frog on the bump on the log etc.

Kid's love repetition. If you know this, you can have fun with it and the laughs don't die down they grow on each successive misstep.

Toward the end of my show, I try to blow up a balloon. I snap myself in the face. This is a pretty generic trick for balloon makers. Here's the fun. I do it again, in a slightly different way (maybe step on the balloon to stretch it out). It snaps me again. Then I have a kid hold it, it snaps me again. This can build and build and build, kids will laugh so hard they will wet themselves.

Here's the caveat. I've watched these kind of routines umpteen times and found them frustrating when not done properly. I remember watching a clown try to pack his suitcase and I was sitting in the audience frustrated, saying in my head, just put the clothes in there.

These routines go back to the fundamentals. Understand kids development, so build. Understand your character, don't do this routine because I get laughs, it has to come from you.

Here are things I ad. I am confused why it didn't work. I am angry at the balloon. Knowing my character, nothing is my fault. Getting overly hurt so no one thinks I'm ever actually hurt. Varying things slightly because as a character I want to find a way to do this, even though it's the very definition of insanity (trying the same thing over and over expecting different results).

Varying it is very important. Just like Old McDonald, essentially it's all the same. But you ad a pig, a goat, a duck etc.

A blowing up a balloon routine is all the same, I can't blow up the balloon, so I stretch it. I find different ways to stretch it. I find different body parts to hit.

Don't be afraid of repetition. Use it, use it....use it.