With the CupsCon coming fast and a set of silver and gold cups up for grabs. I thought it would be good to talk about routines.

So, I would like to know what is you favorite Cups and Balls routine and why?

Sean

I know there are a lot of "knucklebuster" routines out there, but for me Gazzo's is still my favorite. He's taken a proven routine (Vernon/Malini) and pared it down to remove any extraneous handling. This leaves plenty of room for the performer to perform rather than simply be doing "moves."

To quote one of his lines, "Remember, the show is about me,..."

My two favorite routines are Michael Ammar's and Tommy Wonder's routines. Both are very well constructed because a lot of stuff happens in each one, but the routines still are easy for spectators to follow. I think for laymen, the most magical routines are the most visual ones, not the ones that are most puzzling or difficult to perform.

My favorite is Gazzo's. I got to see him once live. He was inside with a huge room full of people. It was the single greatest perfomance of magic I have ever witnessed. I'd rather watch Gazzo do the cups and balls than . . . darned near anything. When he hands the kid the plastic bag and tells him it's an astronaut helmet I almost cried, I was laughing so hard. He balances the edginess with charm to a degree I didn't know existed until I saw him live.
KG

My favorite has got to be John Mendoza's Combo routine. It has been the backbone of my CB.  How can I not have the great Tommy Wonder's 2 cup routine on my list. I had the great pleasure of meeting Tommy a few months before he passed away. It was great to see him do the routine live...front row...directly in front of him and still got fooled even if I know the routine by heart.
Vernon's routine simply paved so many avenues for me as a cup worker. From there I have developed several favorites. I guess having an absolute favorite FOR ME is impossible.

Best from Manila!

Rannie

After seeing Ricky Jay's masterful presentation, I'm considering a combo set. I hope Jake has one of his Mendoza sets left by the time I get the money together. 

I like my routine at the moment. But it's still a works in progress.

EVILDAN.

I saw a really interesting routine at the IBM-SAM convention last week. Two of my friends, Michael Tallon and Doug Gorman of San Antonio did their "dueling cups and balls" routine. They were finalists in the close up competition. I was very impressed with the routine.

I had a similar idea a few years ago when I was trying to get my stepson interested in magic. Now that he's a teenager, other things occupy his time...

Anyway, I like a "Dueling Cups" concept. The only one I've seen so far is Duvivier's contest with his daughter using a shared set of cups. I'll have to keep my eyes open for these two, sounds like fun!

David Williamson and Tommy Wonder. Those two are the most creative routines I've seen. They also happen to be two of my all time favorite magicians, and their cups and balls routines just sort of embodies what I love about them as performers.

On a good day Gazzo wins for me with ease. I prefer funny to magic everytime . I also think the cups can get a bit boring of the lay audience . Lets be honest folks know one cares where the ball is, how it got there or where it is going. The want to forget their troubles and be entertained for a while.  I hate to say this but I find much magic tedious . Really without a skilled and charismatic performer magic is basically someone going look how clever I am.
That is a turn off and the performer needs to be good to sell this to the audience. That by the way is why I suck and now live in the middle of nowhere, where I cannot any longer embarrass myself.

Johnny Paul's with the sponge balls and, of course Gazzo.
JP's routine takes the best of two and comes up with something brilliant and new.  Gazzo is hands down, the best street man I've ever seen.

I hear a lot of people saying they like Gazzo's routine.

Which routine would that be? I've seen him perform the cups live and on DVD many times and he changes it up from time to time. The beginning and the end are always the same, but the middle is what varies.

I think as a street performer, Gazzo is continueing to draw a crowd and hold the crowd. That why the middle seem to change. He add that special humor of his and build upon it with the crowd.

Hi folk, my favorite is Rafael Benatar.

very interesting would be see that routine in spanish language because i think Rafael woul be also more convinciing