Do you know what’s a great way to whet your audience’s appetite for your show? A magic warmup that features physical comedy. And in this post, we give you not one but three simple, no-sweat physical comedy tricks that will warm up your audience in no time.

Now before you shake your head and mutter, “Nope, that’s not for me,” I ask you not to dismiss the idea so quickly. I’m not very good at physical comedy, but I do it and I love it—and so does my audience.

And you know what? Well-known magicians and kids entertainers the world over also use physical comedy.

Like Charlie Frye. I use his stretching the thumb gag to start many of my shows, and it never fails to win people’s attention. Watch the video above and see how easy it is to master the trick.

Need more ideas on how to warm up the crowd with some easy-to-do physical comedy gags?

If you wear a hat, you can do some simple hat rolls and tosses. (People rarely see those these days.)

You can also check out Pat Page’s Book of Visual Comedy. It contains all sorts of gags employed by vaudeville performers.

You can also go to YouTube and search for George Carl. He has these hilarious acts that you can adapt to warm up your own audience. Like his harmonica gag. In this act, the more George tries to untangle himself from the microphone cord, the more tangled he gets. The best part of the gag comes at the end, when George walks away—but on shorter and shorter legs. The illusion is just brilliant, and it’s a blast with the audience.

There are a lot of comedy gags out there that you can try to start your show at the right foot. They don’t have to be complex. (Just look at the three tricks I demonstrated in the video—easy-peasy!) They just have to be fun.

So with that said, I hope you go a bit out of your comfort zone and give physical comedy a try. Good luck!