Cribs

Nifty ways to hide the stuff you need to know

I’m working on a couple new routines and both of them have just enough info I need to know that I don’t want to memorize it. Don’t get me wrong, I can memorize anything, of just about any length — but there are two reasons I don’t want to memorize these:

1. I probably won’t perform these often enough to make sure I remember everything without needing to refresh those every once in a while. That’s just kind of a hassle.

2. In the middle of a performance when the adrenaline is pumping is not the time I want to rely on memory alone for multiple pieces of info, no matter how good my memory may be.

To be honest, I’ll often make cribs just because of #2 there — if I have something memorized and don’t *need* a crib, I often have one anyway, just because it’s one less thing to worry about. I don’t need the crib, but if I ever do, it’s there.

Some might say that’s me being a coward — I say it’s me being experienced.

But to be even more honest, another reason I crib is now that I’m older than 60, I’ve noticed my mind doesn’t hang on to stuff as quickly and easily as before. It sucks, but it is what it is.

Back to the two new routines. One of them I just ended up putting the crib sheet on the barrel of a Magnum Sharpie, so as I’m writing down the word I’m receiving from my helper, I can see the info I need right there. I think I first heard of putting the crib on your writing instrument from John Archer, but I think the idea has been around for a long time.

The second routine has more info than will reasonably fit on the barrel of the largest Sharpie, so I had to come up with a different idea. Here’s the original crib sheet:

Way too much info to tape onto a pen. So then I decided to put the info on SIX pens. For example, here’s what it looks like in my jacket pocket:

Those numbers match the “Left Over” column from that cheat sheet above, so as soon as I know which two numbers are the key, I can reach into my pocket and grab the correct pen. And on the side of the pen cap is the crib that matches the key:

I ran into Michael’s this evening and bought a white fine point Sharpie and put the correct crib on all the pen caps. So now when I take the cap off and put it on the end of the pen and get set to write, the info I need is right there.

Update One Month Later — Looking through some Bob Cassidy stuff last night and came across this paragraph:
”And remember, if you have a container that will hold several pens in a known position in your pocket you can easily locate any of up to ten or more different crib pens.”
My awesome idea was Cassidy’s awesome idea, who knows how many years ago! At least I am in good company…?

Six Pens? What the Heck?!

You are correct. I’m not a fan of filling my jacket pocket with pens. I like the idea a lot, it feels nice and sneaky. But…

…that’s why I kept thinking of another way and came up with what’s probably a better idea.

In the past I’ve written crib info lightly at the bottom of an art pad, then can look at it while I’m writing. (Note: cribs on a pen is generally better because then pen is right in your eyeline as you’re writing. You don’t have to glance somewhere else.)

Here’s a picture of a crib as I often create them…look down at the bottom of that page:

I can naturally block that with my forearm when I turn the page to the audience. Plus, from anywhere more than 6-8 feet it’s pretty much unnoticeable.

That right there is a lot of info, and it’s more than what I need available, so I came up with the idea of putting one part of the crib on each of six pages of the pad, and then use tabs on the edge of the pages with the keys written on them. So if I need the 3/5 crib, I pick up the notebook, put my thumb on the 3/5 tab, and then flip the pad open to that page, and the only thing on that “blank” page (lightly at the bottom) is the crib.

Pad when closed with the tabs showing.

Flipped open to the 4 & 5 tab shows me just the crib for that key.

Since it’s much less info than the original crib with everything, I no longer need to abbreviate things — I can just spell it out.

To keep from having to re-tab everything after a performance, I glue a blank page on each tabbed page using repositionable glue and write on that. (The page I write on is just a little shorter so the crib is visible below it.) After the show I just pull the written piece off and put a new blank page on there and am ready to go again.

That’s It — For Now

Coming up with a way to crib something is kind of fun. In some cases it’s just finding an out-of-the-way place to hide a slip of paper, but other times it takes a bit of creativity and gives one a sense of satisfaction when you hit the right combo of ideas.

If you have some good ways to crib effects, feel free to post them in the comments.