Shawn Preston SHAWN PRESTON MAGICIAN · MENTALIST · NINJA

THE SEATED SHOW.

Thirty to forty-five minutes of comedy, sleight of hand, and mind-reading, built for a room where everybody sits down and watches.

WHEN THE ENTERTAINMENT IS THE EVENT.

Some events have a natural moment where everyone is already seated and facing the same direction — after dinner, before the awards, at the end of a long day of sessions. That’s what this is for.
It’s a full show with a shape to it: an open that gets the room on side, a middle that builds, and a close people are still talking about at the bar. It’s funny first — the astonishment lands harder when a room is already laughing — and it’s clean throughout.

Twenty-five years in, the tricks are the easy part. What takes that long is knowing exactly when to shut up and let a room react.

shawn preston

THE PRACTICAL STUFF

Stage show

What it is
A seated show — comedy, sleight of hand, and mentalism
Length
30 to 45 minutes
Audience size
10 to several hundred
Stage
A riser helps but isn’t required — works on a ballroom floor
Sound
Microphone and a house PA
Timeline
Runs to the minute; hard stops are fine
Volunteers
Yes — nobody is embarrassed or pulled up unwilling
Best for
After dinner, awards nights, conference closers