NBC's The Office: Exposure!

For those long-time readers of the blog, you may know that I'm a fan of NBC's "The Office." The annoying boss, played by Steve Carell, is alluded to in the show as being a magician. One scene even featured him attempting a straitjacket escape ending, predictably, in failure.

But was I shocked when I happened to glance at a few of the Web Exclusives from a recent episode, and saw flagrant exposure of the Thumb Tip! Warning: Some of you may cringe while viewing this. Not just because of the exposure, but because you probably know someone who actually performs it like this!



If only he had our Thumb Tip DVD or our 101 Tricks with a Thumb Tip booklet, this could have been avoided.

"He Knows What I'm Thinking!"

For a happy Thursday morning at the Fun Inc offices, I generously donated a dozen donuts for the collective fueling of our creative minds. That, and I am hoping to get a little longer lunch period today.

My colleague, Gabe Fajuri, performed an effect for me this morning that I admit I had never experienced before. Since mentalism is all the rage these days (what with Phenomenon and all), Gabe had me think of a number, then matched that to a list of words. Merely thinking of the randomly chosen word, he correctly told me what word I was thinking of.

The brevity of my description emphasizes the simplicity of the effect: A word is thought of, then revealed by the wonder-worker. How much more pure could a mind-reading effect be?

Mental Yarn is suitable for your strolling restaurant magicians, stage magicians, and yes, can even be done over the phone, on the radio, or even via Instant Message. Watch your friends mind explode when you invade his brain and pry thoughts his thoughts out.

Dealers: Easy-to-demo, no reset. Magicians: If you wonder what pure mind-reading looks like, look no further.

Fun Inc. in the Chicago Tribune and on TV

A few weeks ago, our esteemed president, Graham Putnam, was featured in an article in The Chicago Tribune. The article focused on our line of gags and novelties, in particular, Whoops.

Whoops is the official name for our fake vomit. We've been hand-brewing vomit for your entertainment pleasure for many years. While the exact recipe is a trade secret (they still haven't told me), you can still learn what goes into the powerful puke by reading the article here: The ultimate in gag gifts.

Graham's appearance in the newspaper flooded the Fun Inc. switchboard with calls from nostalgic parents wanting to buy a little childishness for their kids and fellow adults for Christmas. Since we're a wholesaler, not a retailer, we just had to point them in the direction of their local Fun Inc. dealer.

In addition to Whoops, I was particularly excited to discover that we own the U.S. Patent on Talking Teeth, the wind-up chattering teeth that I know you've seen on television! While enjoying an episode of NBC's The Office (I borrowed Season 3 from a friend), I noticed Michael Scott (played by Steve Carrell) was playing with some Talking Teeth on his desk while trying to procrastinate. I was so excited that I noticed our product on TV, I pretty much forgot about the rest of the episode. If I remember the which episode it was, I'll have to make another post later.

I like to think I know a lot about the magic business, but after 7 weeks at this company, I am smart enough to know that I don't know very much. Everyday I learn something fascinating, which makes me excited to come to work every morning. It may be cliche, but it really is fun to be at Fun.