Prom · The evening itself
I move through your room table to table while the night carries on around me. Your DJ keeps going, dinner keeps going, the photo line keeps going. No stage, no microphone, no soundcheck, and nothing for your committee to set up or tear down.
Why this works when a show does not
Here is the problem with booking a stage act for a prom. You have to stop everything, get four hundred teenagers to sit still and face one direction, and hope they play along. If it does not land in the first minute, everybody in that room knows it.
Close-up magic does not ask for any of that. Small groups, four or five at a time, a few feet away. Nobody is put on the spot in front of the whole school, so nobody has to protect their dignity, which is the real reason teenagers resist being entertained.
What happens instead is that they pull their friends over. That is the tell that it is working, and it is what a prom committee is actually buying: something happening in the room that people choose to walk toward.
What a prom booking is
The evening itself
An honest answer, not an upsell
Columbus and all over Ohio. Travel is built in within about fifty miles of Columbus. Further out, tell me where you are and I will give you one number with everything in it.
In their words
“Carroll was an incredible, unique addition to our high school gala! He blended in so seamlessly, got started engaging kids without any prompting, and immediately entertained our guests. He absolutely wowed both the students and adult chaperones with the variety and scope of his tricks. It was great to watch kids light up as he moved through the room, from table to table. Beyond his talent, he was friendly, down-to-earth, personable, and so easy to work with. He brought a fun, engaging energy to the evening and truly helped make our gala memorable experience!”
Abby P. Worthington Christian School
“This is the 2nd time in 5 months that I’ve hired Carroll Baker to do WALK AROUND magic! He performed at my company Christmas party, and just this past weekend for a graduating class of high school seniors. He can mesmerize anyone of ANY age!”
Candida P. Booked him for a graduating class
“He kept even our most challenging guests engaged! Children, teens, and adults all loved him. I received many compliments on how fun and different it was to have him at the party.”
Hope B. Roving magic at a large event
Who you are booking
I have been a full-time professional magician since 1991 and I have performed more than ten thousand shows. For close to thirty of those years I worked restaurants in Columbus, most weeks seven nights a week, going table to table to people who were mid-meal and mid-conversation and had not asked for a magician.
That is the same job as a prom, in a nicer outfit. You get about five seconds to read a table and decide what they will give you, and about ninety more to earn the rest of it. Doing that a few thousand times is the only training that matters for a room like yours.
The part that should matter to a committee
Every booking carries the same promise, and it is not a gimmick. Somebody on your committee has to stand up afterward and own the choice of entertainment. That risk should be mine, not theirs. In thirty-five years nobody has ever claimed it.
What prom committees ask me
No. Nothing at all. I am completely self-contained, I bring everything I use, and I work standing among your guests. There is no soundcheck, no lighting request and no setup time to build into your schedule. I arrive about twenty minutes before I start and I am packed up in about ten.
Never. That is the main reason this format suits a prom. Your night runs exactly as planned and I work around it. Your DJ keeps going, dinner keeps going, the photo line keeps going, and I move through the room while it all happens.
Yes, and you do not have to take my word for it. I teach after-school magic classes in Ohio elementary schools and perform school assemblies, so school-appropriate is simply how I work. Nothing in a prom set would give a principal or a parent a moment of worry.
That is the right question to ask, and it is the one most entertainers dodge. Teenagers are the hardest audience there is, because looking entertained can cost them something in front of their friends. Working small groups a few feet away solves that: nobody is performing for the whole room, so nobody has to defend themselves. What usually happens is that they start bringing their friends over.
Tell me your run of show and I will tell you where I would put it. The dinner hour is often the easiest, because everybody is seated and I can reach every table. If your prom does not have a seated meal, the stretch before the crowning usually works well, since people are milling about and looking for something to do.
All over Ohio. Travel is built into the price within about fifty miles of Columbus. Beyond that, tell me where you are and I will quote you one number with everything included, so there is nothing to add on later.
Get in touch as early as you can, because prom season is concentrated into a few weekends in the spring and those dates go first. Once you are ready, a signed agreement holds it. If your school works through a purchase order, that is no problem at all.
Often, yes, and it is worth asking early. Say so on the form below or when you call, and I will quote the two together rather than as separate bookings.
Check your date
Send me your date, your school and roughly how many students you expect, and I will come straight back to you with availability and a number.
Would you rather just talk it through? Call or text 614-800-8909.
Planning the after prom instead?
It is a different night and a different price, so it has its own page.