Thirty-five years, more than ten thousand shows, three books, and a fair number of school gyms.
I am a full-time comedy magician based in Columbus, and I have been doing this for over thirty-five years and more than ten thousand shows. Most of that has been in front of adults who were quite sure they could not be fooled.
What that buys a school is not a longer list of tricks. It is knowing how to hold a room. A gym of four hundred children with the sun coming through the windows and lunch in twenty minutes is a genuinely hard room, and reading it is the entire job.
Children in a school setting is not occasional work for me. I have been the magic teacher at four Upper Arlington elementary schools for over twenty-eight years, and at Columbus Academy in Gahanna I run the after-school magic classes, have taught the summer camps for around twenty-one years, and have performed there many times.
It appears in testimonial after testimonial, unprompted, from schools and PTOs alike. Reliability is the first fear anyone has when hiring an entertainer. Most performers claim it. Being able to point at clients saying it is a different thing.
The other thing schools mention without being asked. Children come up and help, and they are treated as though they are the important one standing there. Nobody is made the butt of the joke and nobody is put on the spot.
I am not only an assembly performer who visits once. I have been the magic teacher at four Upper Arlington elementary schools for more than twenty-eight years, and Wickliffe has had me back for events many times over on top of that.
That is worth knowing when you are deciding whether to put a stranger in front of your whole student body. Schools do not renew someone for twenty-eight years out of politeness. Every one of these buildings knows exactly what they are getting, and any of them will tell you.
And it is not only Upper Arlington. At Columbus Academy in Gahanna I run the after-school magic classes, I have taught the summer camps for around twenty-one years, and I have performed there many times over.
A teacher at St Agatha School, talking about what the show was actually like in her building.
St Agatha School · “The kids thoroughly enjoyed it and had a wonderful time.”
“Carroll Baker was so amazing with our first graders! They were excited and enthralled with his every move. He kept their attention and included them throughout the entire show. Thank you so much, Carroll! We hope to have you back again next year!!”
Ellen HarphamBeacon Elementary School, Hilliard City Schools
“Carroll Baker came to Taylor Road Elementary and performed a magic show for the whole school during an assembly. Students and staff alike had a wonderful time and appreciated both his magic and his humor. The rabbit trick was a favorite! Thanks, Mr. Baker!”
Amy R.Taylor Road Elementary, Reynoldsburg
“We loved having Mr. Baker at our school program. His magic show was astounding, age appropriate, silly, and entertaining. Our students were engaged and impressed!”
Colonial Hills SchoolWorthington City Schools
Worthington, Westerville, Hilliard, Reynoldsburg, Pickerington, Bexley, Upper Arlington, Columbus City and Gahanna, plus Columbus Academy in Gahanna, where I have run the after-school magic classes and taught the summer camps for around twenty-one years. If you would like to speak to somebody before you book, ask me and I will tell you who to call.
Your date, your grades and roughly how many students. I will come straight back with whether I am free and what it costs. Most schools hear back the same day. Spring dates go earliest, so it is worth asking sooner rather than later.
Would you rather talk it through? Call or text 614-800-8909.
