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I begin this routine by putting on my Lab Coat and Mad Scientist Goggles as I begin to tell the story.
"When I was a kid I loved to watch scary monster movies. I would stay up late every Saturday night watching them on TV until I fell asleep. But the ones that I loved most of all were the really bad ones. The cheesier the better! And my all time favorite bad horror movie, was Bride of The Mummy!"
At this point I ask two male volunteers to come up on stage. If I am doing this for kids, I usually look for two boys about 12 years old, or older. I just need to know the boys are old enough to follow directions, learn quickly, and take a little ribbing. A good sense of humor is key for your helpers.
"Bride of The Mummy was about a Mad Scientist, that.s me, who tries to turn young girls into brides for the Mummy! Hence the name. Now in all of these cheesy old movies, the mad scientist had a couple of henchmen. That's were you two come in. Of course the henchmen were usually some of the Doctor's own hideous creations. That is why I brought these."
I pull out a balloon Frankenstein Mask and a balloon Werewolf Mask and place them onto my henchmen.
"Then, the Mad Scientist would send his lackeys out into the night to capture his innocent young victims, like those two!"
I point out two young ladies in the audience and send Frank and Wolfy out to fetch them and bring them up on stage. Meanwhile I retrieve my basket that contains a couple dozen fully inflated white 160's and two Mummy Masks.
"So, now that we have our cast, we are going to play a little game. Wolfy, you and your victim stand over on that side of the stage. And Frank, you and your victim stand on the other side over here. Now I am going to hand each of you one of these long skinny white balloons to wrap around your victim and lock the ends together like this." I demonstrate how to lock the ends of the balloon together.
"The goal is to wrap ten balloons around your victim, and then put the mummy mask on them. The first one to build a Mummy wins. Ready? And. GO!"
The music starts and so does the mayhem. I stand in the center of the stage with each of the girls about ten feet away from me, so that the guys have to run back and forth between us. In most cases your volunteers will have little or no balloon twisting experience leading to much fumbling and hilarity as they try to put the balloons around their Mummy. This is pretty funny by itself, but it can be funnier.
Several of the balloons have been tied with slip knots so that as I hand it to them I can tug on the knot and release the air. What makes it funny is that he is usually half way back to the girl before he realizes it. I also pop a few as I hand them over, and rocket a few just as they reach for it. My goal is to keep the race tied. Who ever is in the lead will fall victim to a couple gags while the other contestant catches up so that the race ends up in a dead heat.
Finally, I enthusiastically announce the winner, and the crowd goes wild! Then I pause for a moment and say, "You know, that really was close. And since I am such a nice guy, I am going to let you both keep your balloons."
The crowd goes wild again! "And since you girls were such good sports, you get to keep yours too!"
This gets a big laugh as the girls head back to their seats wrapped in balloons.
The monster masks in question can be found on my Things That Go POP In The Night video. Or you can use the spider costume on John "The Balloon Man" Holmes' Halloween video and have it be a movie about giant spiders, wrapping up their victims.
Or even better, create your own monstrous balloon costumes for your contestants.
I love to use this for all of my Halloween shows, but find that it also plays really well with teenagers at my Prom Night and Grad Night bookings. I also like the fact that I have been able to take a simple party and picnic game, and with a little re-theming, turn it into a featured part of my stage show.
If you are looking for more Halloween routines for your balloon shows you may want to check out.
Forgetful Frankie by Mike Bent is a beautiful prop. A flat wooden Frankenstein is displayed and you remove his head. The head is placed into a bag for safe keeping, but then vanishes!
You attempt to find a suitable replacement for Frankie's head, but all you have is a balloon. You place the balloon where Frankie's head used to be and draw a face on it, (I like to use a Qualatex Mickey Mouse Shaped balloon) but it still does not look right. Then with a little magic from the audience, the balloon Pops and Forgetful Frankie's head is back! Comes complete with instructions, patter, and all of the necessary props. This is a really nice looking prop and very well made. If you do magic in your show, this is a great addition. Forgetful Frankie can be ordered through most magic shops. Or just Google Forgetful Frankie, to find a magic dealer who sells it.
See you next month,
Don Caldwell
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