Distortion: the CGI-like pip morph

A brass cap on a table. A ring hovering between hands. A deck that turns to glass. From a childhood trip to Hamleys to late‑night jams at Blackpool, we sit down with Chris Webb to map the eight routines he’d keep for life and the trend he’d bury in the sand.

Chris is a working magician who splits time between gigs and releases, so every choice has to earn its pocket space. We start with coin powerhouses, Garrett Thomas’s Imagination Coins for clean, spectator‑in‑hand moments and the engineering elegance of Dynamic Coins that sparked Chris’s journey. Then we pivot to card thinking that invites conversation rather than eye‑rolls: Omni Deck as a closer framed as solidity, not vanishing, and Director’s Cut, a stack of film cards that turns tables into instant movie clubs while the method hums beneath the chatter.

The visuals get bolder without getting fragile. Distortion by Wayne Houchin delivers a pip migration that feels like analog CGI, and Chris’s own Flash bill change turns receipts and doodles into spendable currency with a reliable, no‑fuss gimmick you can keep in your wallet or phone case. Thread work widens the texture: Venom’s dual system powers a ring sequence where time literally pauses mid‑drop. For stand‑up or family crowds, Fibre Optics by Richard Sanders adds rope momentum, snapping from unequal to equal lengths with the kind of rhythm that photographs well and resets even better.

We talk taste and boundaries too. Chris banishes Rubik’s Cube magic presented as speed‑solving skill, arguing for plots that feel impossible rather than merely practiced. His book pick, Jay Sankey’s Unleashed, explains the eclecticism: practical, quirky, audience‑tested ideas across coins, cards, keys, and everyday objects. Even his “non‑magic” item, a screen-less, disposable‑style camera, echoes a core value: be present, capture honest moments, and let artefacts tell the story later, exactly what strong routines do after you leave the table.

If you want a set that plays at weddings, restaurants, and corporate walk‑around, clear, commercial, and photogenic, this conversation is a blueprint.

Chris’ Desert Island Tricks: 

1. Imagination Coins

2. Omni Deck

3. Directors Cut

4. Venom Reel 

5. Distortion 

6. Dynamic Coins 

7. FLASH

8. Fibre Optics 

Banishment. Rubik’s Cube Magic as a Skill 

Book. Unleashed 

Item. Disposable Camera 

Find out more about the creators of this Podcast at www.alakazam.co.uk