Discourse in Magic

With Toronto’s annual magic convention, The Browser’s Bash, right around the corner, Jonah sits down for episode 157 to give you ten tips on maximizing your magic convention experience. Ten Things to Remember for Magic Conventions 1. Relationships Over Advice Whether the convention is one day or three, you will probably have the opportunity to interact with multiple magicians during your time there. While you may be getting good advice from one person, you may be missing out on the chance to develop meaningful relationships with other magicians. 2. Do Your Research Before you attend the convention, you will want to conduct research on the performers and lecturers–they’ve been asked to headline the convention for a reason, after all. If you decided to skip a lecture or performance because you don’t know who they are, then you may miss out on valuable information. 3. Seek First to Understand, and Then to be Understood Taken from Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, you should try to understand who the other person is before you try to help yourself. By having someone show you something, you can get a sense of who they are and then decide if they can help you improve yourself. 4. What are you working on? Don’t ask “What can I help you with?” because it doesn’t signal that you’re paying attention to what they’re doing. Similarly, “Show me something” may result in them showing you a gag trick or something that doesn’t show who they are as a performer. By asking “What are you working on?” or “What are you currently playing with?”, you get the best sense of who they are as it’s the effect that is currently occupying their time. 5. How to Give Advice First of all, you should only give advice if you’re asked. You can offer to give them advice, but launching in to a criticism of their work will only come across as a hostile rather than helpful or supportive. When you are giving advice, give them a compliment sandwich. Say something nice, give the negative and how they may go about fixing it, and then say something nice again so you finish on a positive. 6. Tricks to Bring When preparing for a convention, magicians often prepare for magic conventions by bringing a technically challenging, deceptive trick that doesn’t necessarily show who they are. Instead of that, Jonah recommends bringing: A trick that he wants help with A trick he is confident in fully performing A magician fooler 7. How to Ask for Help and How to Ask for Advice When you’re at the convention, you want people to know that you want their advice. So, ask them. But, tell them why you want their advice so that they know why they are super valuable to you. If they’re really good at a certain type of trick that relates to what you’re working on, then let them know that’s why you’re seeking out their advice. 8. Little Wins Because the goal of the convention is to make relationships, you want to leave each person you meet with some sort of little win. Whether this be giving them the advice they need, directing them to a book that will help them improve, or connecting them with a person who may have the solution they need, you can leave them with a little win that will have them remembering you helped make them stronger. 9. Bathroom & Food There may be a moment where you find yourself talking to someone that you just don’t want to be talking to. Or perhaps you want to move on to the next person but you find yourself trapped in conversation. Either way, if you need to slip away, tell them you need to use the washroom or grab a bite to eat. Just remember to grab a piece of contact info. 10. The Followup After the convention, you need to follow up with the people you met if you want to keep those connections. Did you promise someone you’d send them relevant information? Send the information! Did somebody give you some valuable information at the convention? Thank them! By reaching out, you can show you’re a valuable resource which will help cement the relationship as most people don’t followup nowadays. Questions for the Conventions Who has impressed you so far at this convention? What are you trying to get out of this convention? Now that you’ve seen what I do, who do you think I should meet? If we were to meet a year from now, and you were celebrating something in magic, what would you be celebrating?

For episode 156, Brent Braun sits down with Jonah to discuss what you need to do to improve your magic. Co-founder of the Magic Firm, Brent is regarded as one of the top behind-the-scenes magic consultants, helping magicians move beyond simply thinking about tricks and methods. Brent’s interest in magic started later in life. As a single father at the age of twenty, Brent would often find himself with nothing to do once he put his son to bed at 8pm. Never being big sleeper, he soon began to find himself shuffling cards to pass the hours. When he would go out to bars and resturants, magic became a way to communicate and meet new people. At the time, Brent was working in a factory making products that he was unfamiliar with. It wasn’t until a client asked what the product was that Brent sought out the VP to help him learn what exactly the factory was making. From there, he was fast tracked to sales and magic now became a way for him to entertain his sales clients. Eventually, he recieved a break from a sales rep who invited him to perform at an event that they hired a magician for every year. A few years later, Brent wandered into his local magic shop to learn that someone made off with the money and that it would probably be closing down. For fifty dollars a week, Brent offered to take over the store. Three years later, Brent started his own store in a mall which he ran for 6-8 years. During his time running his store, Brent was also performing and working on other magic related projects. Magic Firm The purpose of the Magic Firm is to make better magic by working with performers to develop all aspects of their acts. The Magic Firm came about as a bit of a mistake, Brent explains. At the end of the day, he is a problem solver who likes to assess and reasses situations to understand why something does or doesn’t work. In the back of the magic store he owned, was a small theatre where magicians would come to perform. After the show, Brent would sit down with them to discuss their shows and why they were doing certain things. A lot of the perfomers often wouldn’t be asking these questions, so this reflection period would often help them become noticeably stronger performers. The creation of the Magic Firm allowed Brent to uitlize his ability to workshop with people, allow him to embrace his passion for business, and, most importantly, help make better magic. When magicians come to the Magic Firm, Brent won’t be writing out their scripts and putting together the entire show for them. What he does is sit down with the performers and discuss why they’re doing certain effects, what does and doesn’t work for them, and understanding who they are as a person. Brent wants to help magicians find their brand and help them put together a cohesive show that has their voice behind it — not his. Improving Your Magic It is hard to fix something when you’re at the centre of it; you cannot objectively evalute your performance which is why it helps to bring in someone else to assess your act. Whether it’s the Magic Firm or asking a director to watch one of your performances, Brent recommends bringing somebody in who will give you honest critism. Second, you need to learn how to take and apply critism. People have a tendency to shrug off notes refusing to change–until they fly Brent out and pay his fee. If you can’t afford the Magic Firm, then work, Brent says. The best way to learn is to perform and then reflect on your performance. Overtime, you will naturally begin to understand what is and isn’t working for you. While you may be against the concept of it, taking on some exposure gigs is the best way to get your name out there and get the performance hours in. Overall, you need to understand what you’re doing and why you’re doing something so that you can assess your performance. While you can read a book or watch a DVD, you won’t be able to fix the issues without knowing what exactly it is that needs to be fixed. The Magic Firm will take a look at you as an individual and tell you the exact issue so that you can directly address it. However, Brent does recommend that everyone should read Maximum Entertainmnet by Ken Weber. J&B Magic Shop and Theatre Brent was looking for a place where he could host and help block out the magicians coming to the Magic Firm. Looking at the numbers, Brent realized it didn’t necessarily make financial sense to just rent a place, so he began to look for a location to buy. While he was looking, the downtown space was being revitalized so the prospect of a magic theatre excited the mayor and the realtor he was speaking to. Unsure, Brent sat down to write out a business plan only to discover that he could finanically open a magic shop and public theatre. When the idea wouldn’t go away, Brent looked at buildings and found a few places that could work. After speaking to a friend about it, Brent launched an Indigogo campaign which was, to his surprise, fully funded by a community that wanted it to happen. Making Magic Better If we want to say magic is an art, then we should be looking for every opportunity to help elevate it in the eyes of the general public. Magic is at a highpoint and we should be taking this time to show why magic is relevant and important in people’s lives. Brent goes on to say that we shouldn’t be putting other magicians down, especially the younger magicians who are up and coming. If you see someone post something online and they flash or mess up a move, you should privately reach out to them to give them advice. Don’t shame them and tell them they’re exposing magic. If you have a grievance with another magician, call or message them. The magic community is insular enough that we can easily contact other performers; you shouldn’t be airing out magic’s dirty laundry for the general public to see. We need to be elevating each other. Brent truly believes that the more magicians and the more magic enthusiats that there are, the more shows he can personally book. By doing amazing things in one city, it will eventually impact the view of magic in another city. We are helping each other by performing better and stronger magic that leaves an impact on the audience. Wrap-Up Endless Chain Nate Staniforth What do you love about magic in 2019? What do you hate? Brent likes the resurgence of theatres and the Brent hates the online bullying and the drama. He would prefer that people reach out to each other and just discuss the issue. It’s a tight knit community, so if you need to clear up a misunderstanding, it’s simple to reach out. We don’t need to be airing out dirty laundry as It doesn’t help to build magic up. Take Home Point Jonah loved the thought of just focusing on your magic and what you want to do with it, not just accepting complacency. Brent believes finding your voice is the most important aspect. It’s what a lot of people miss. Plugs The Magic Firm Brent Braun on Facebook

On episode 155, Kainoa Harbottle sits down with Jonah to discuss coin magic, educating your audience on magic, and magic in the 19th century. Kainoa is known for his extensive work on coins and his ability to bring theatrical techniques into his performances to elevate magic for his audience.  Kainoa has always been a performer, often finding himself playing the eccentric villain characters in his school drama classes. His journey into magic, however, didn’t begin until eighth grade. During a free day at school, Kainoa learned a trick to attend a magic session with his friends. Alongside these friends, Kainoa started a group that worked children’s birthdays At the time, Kainoa wasn’t doing sleight of hand. It wasn’t until he met Curtis Kam that he began his journey into coin magic. He began to table-hop before Curtis’ show where he quickly learned the basics of table hopping like don’t’ perform while they’re eating and that self-working tricks weren’t enough anymore.   Why Coin Magic is Daunting Acting as a confessional of sorts, Kainoa often has magicians approach him to tell him that they don’t perform coin magic because they’re afraid. He, of course, understands that there is pressure as, unlike card magic where you can put a hot card back on the deck, you can’t put a coin back on a deck when you’re feeling heat. However, going on to quote Curtis Kam, Kainoa says that you just need to palm the coin. You’re not going to learn how to do coin magic unless you practice doing coin magic. For those who want to get into coin magic but find the process too daunting, Kainoa reminds people that it’s about learning in steps. When most people started out with card magic, they most likely didn’t learn how to keep a break. They learned key cards and self-working tricks. With coins, you need to start with palming one coin and build from there. Kainoa goes on to explain that most people don’t know the most important part of Bobo’s Modern Coin Magic: the last section with the routines. By learning routines, you can begin to understand the routines and structure of coin plots, moving your coin magic beyond just vanishing a coin. Naturalness as a Construct You don’t need to be natural to do card magic, but coin magic relies on an understanding of how your own body moves. For example, if you try to teach a person how to vanish a coin, they often can’t grasp the concept of acting like they’re doing something. If you take a coin and put it in your hand, and then you take a coin and pretend to put it in your hand, it should look the same. Kainoa goes on to explain that there is no such thing as a general naturalism as everyone moves differently. Because naturalism is a construct, you have the opportunity to construct how you move. This has led to Kainoa making two major decisions with his coin work. The first decision he made was to teach himself his major material with his left hand so that his dominant hand was free to shake the spectator’s hand. The second decision he made was gesturing as if he was finger palming coins all the time. By palming coins all the time, he was able to build this as a natural way to move. Advice for Table Hopping One of the first nights Kainoa was table hopping, he had a table that just kept talking to him. After the show, he spoke to Curtis saying that he was trying to get through the magic but people kept talking to him. Curtis told him that that’s his job; you’re there to make people happy, you’re not there to sell them magic. Kainoa goes on to explain that this realization changed the way he approaches table hopping. You have to learn how to listen to people, and you need to learn how to authentically interact with the people you’re performing for. If you’re making the magic about yourself, you’re not making them comfortable and you’re intruding into their space.  If you’re working in a restaurant, you want the people to leave and want to come back for the magician. You need to provide them with that moment of hospitality. Be playful, interact with what they’re doing, you’ll have your moment to blow them away. Audience Perception of Magic Most people come in with the perception that magic is meant for clowns and children’s birthday parties. When you perform magic for these people, you are most likely defining magic for them. Which is why if you’re doing to mess with the perception of reality, you better be performing the best magic you know. When Kainoa performs and his audience says they’ve “seen a trick before,” Kainoa takes the moment to educate his audience on magic. He wants a smart audience that he can still fool, so his patter focuses on defining magic and helping the spectator understand what is happening. He is taking the moment to build the world of magic in front of them by breaking down their concept of magic and showing them the difference between a trick, an illusion, and magic. Magic in the 19th Century Alongside being a skilled sleight-of-hand magician, Kainoa is also a Professor of English with his Ph.D. dissertation focusing on magic in Victorian England. When conducting his research in 19th-century magic, he discovered that there was a lot of material reminiscing about the time period. Several people would write pieces about missing the magical spaces of the Victorian era. Based on his research, Kainoa discovered that there were three acceptable forms of entertainment a person could see: Madame Tussaud’s waxworks, magic, and Minstrelsy. Theatre and music halls were too risque at the time period. Kainoa realized that all of these are constructs. Magic is a construct of power, waxworks is a construct of a person, and minstrelsy is a construct of race. While we don’t think about the other two, we still think of magic. Why? Why was magic the one survived? Kainoa believes it survived because you’re altering reality in front of somebody. They can see things on TV or online, but when they witness magic in real life, their perception of reality is being altered in front of them. Magic challenges the augmented reality that has taken over today. Our job as magicians is to show them there is another way to look at life. Wrap-up Endless chain Curtis Kam John Bourne What do you like about 2019 magic? What do you hate? Kainoa likes that magic is moving towards an audience-centered approach. Kainoa doesn’t like Rubik’s cube magic as too many people are doing it and it doesn’t necessarily require skill. Favourite part Jonah liked talking about coins as a plot as it may be where a lot of the discomfortable feeling comes from not having great plots. He also loved the idea that magic is the anti-technology mean to pull people into this reality. Kainoa wants you to be responsible for your magic because you are creating their definition of magic. Be the good 10% to get people to love magic. Plugs Kainoa’s Website Reel Magic Magazine Instagram

Alan Alfredo Marchese joins Jonah for episode 154 to discuss choosing effects, creating emotion, and the Spanish School of Magic. Originally from Argentina, Alan now lives in Spain where he has earned a reputation for taking effects and turning them into powerful moments for his audience. In 1972, growing up in Buenos Aires, a 12-year-old Alan saw his friend performing Professor’s Nightmare which was the intial spark for his journey into magic. His friend introduced him to the man who would become his magic teacher. His teacher owned a magic store where Alan would help demonstrate and build tricks every day after school. Alan went off to study at University, where he proceeded to work as a Merchant Marine Officer and Professor of Physical Education. He left both these jobs behind when he started to perform magic, primarily doing kid’s birthday parties. His views on magic changed when he attended the FISM hosted in Madrid where he met and fell in love with a girl; he moved to Spain when he was 27 to be with her. After struggling to find a job in Spain, he attended a magic convention where he competed in a gala show. From there he received his first contracts and people began to recognize him as a professional. Moving to Madrid also allowed him to travel back and forth to Barcelona where he worked alongside Juan Tamariz to develop magic. Juan Tamariz’s Influence Alan credits Juan for having the biggest impact on his magic. Since he was 14, Alan has known Juan. Alongside Alan’s teacher, Juan and Aan would stay up late at a bar discussing magic until 6 am when the rest of the magicians had gone off to bed. Where he admits he’s not skilled in coming up with ideas, Alan is extremely skilled at taking concepts and building on them, finding the changes that need to be made, which is an important skill to Juan. Juan’s influence taught Alan that you need a solid foundation in your magic if you wish to perform great magic. When you analyze Juan’s teachings, you realize that he has compiled the theory of the greatest thinkers, like Vernon and Ascanio, and put them together to create a fundamental basis for his magic. Choosing Effects If you want to perform quality material, you need to read books, Alan says. Every effect he performs was pulled from a book because the newer material isn’t very strong compared to the classics. While Alan may put his own twist on the details of an effect, the underlying methods and principles remain the same. When he’s choosing effects, he tries to think like a layperson to find tricks that will make the spectator say “oh, what?”. To do this, you need to have a criteria for what makes a good trick. Alan goes on to explain that his criteria is based around the Carlyle Principle: When Vernon and friends were at the Magic Castle, they were trying to decide on which magician to see. Carlyle recommended standing at the exit and asking the audience to describe the effects they saw. If the description was simple, that was the magician they saw. If the effect cannot be explained with simple language, then Alan feels like it’s not a memorable effect. Above all else, Alan wants his spectators to remember the magic. Card Magic on the Stage You only need a regular deck of cards to perform on stage. To make card tricks work on stage, however, you need to rely on the audience at the front to signal to the audience at the back that magic is happening even if they can’t see the pips on the cards. If the performer has done enough to bring out the reactions in the crowd, the people at the back won’t remember they couldn’t see the card. The second option is, when doing table work, projecting the performance on a screen. However, Alan warns that you shouldn’t place the screen behind the performer and project the performer; the audience’s attention will be pulled away from the performance and you will lose your connection with them. Highlighting Juan as an example, Alan recommends have a screen that only projects what is on the table placed directly beside the performer. This allows the audience to keep their attention on the magician while being able to see the moves being done on the table. Adding Emotion There are a variety of emotions you can add inside a show, Alan explains. However, to bring your audience through these emotions, you need to be aware of what you want the audience to feel. This requires analyzing what you want them to feel at specific parts in the show; looking at the emotions inherent in the effects you perform; and studying emotions as a whole. If you can understand how an audience is feeling, you can make the necessary changes to improve your overall set. It is necessary to change the emotions people are feeling or your audience will get bored. This is why when your choosing your effects you should be viewing them as almost bare bones, waiting for a shell to be put over top. Spanish School of Magic The Spanish School of Magic focuses primarily on strong card effects. Alan credits Juan Tamariz for this due to his strong influence on the current generation of Spanish magicians, like Woody Aragon and Dani Daortiz. Juan took Ascanio’s and Vernon’s teachings, and used them to push magic to another level. He was considering methods, symbolism, effects, presentation and structure in a conscious way, rather than the intuitive way most professionals were following. Juan put all of this together in his Five Points of Magic. However, Alan highlights that the Spanish School of Magic is really about improving magic. Every year, Spanish magicians come together to share their methods and theories, rather than keep their creations secret. Wrap-Up Endless Chain Juan Tamariz Woody Aragon Dani Daortiz Roberto Giobi Juan Rubiales What do you love about 2019 magic? What do you hate? Alan likes that manipulation has changed over the years. Where before it was seen as juggling, modern performers have been able to move it into the magic world. Alan dislikes the current state of TV magic as the effects often being done on the show couldn’t be done in a traditional setting. Take Home Point Jonah liked the idea of adding variety to an act and in the tricks themselves to create a variety of emotions. Alan reminds magicians not to be afraid to do card tricks on stage. You don’t need big illusions to be memorable. Plugs Alan’s Penguin Live Lecture Alan will be performing at the Magic Castle June 24th-30th.

This episode the interviewer becomes the interviewee. Jonah sits down with Brian Miller on his podcast, One New Person, to discuss his identity as a magician, copywriting and a chance encounter with one person that had a ripple effect on his life. Brian is a magician turned speaker with the goal of helping people feel heard and valued in our disconnected world. You may remember Brian from his Discourse in Magic episode, Episode 54 – Networking for Magicians. or you may have heard about his book, Three New People, which advocates for a change in how we approach interacting with each other. One New Person is Brian’s new podcast. His intention is to highlight ordinary people who are doing meaningful work and shaping the world around them. Believing that every interaction you have and every person you meet is important, Brian has his guests discuss an interaction that had a ripple effect in their life. Jonah’s Episode Identifying as a Magician It wasn’t until recently that Jonah began to feel confident in telling people that he was a magician. Before, he would find himself telling people it was alright to laugh, almost as a defense mechanism for how absurd the concept could be to most people. However, between producing so many shows and his podcast, Jonah now feels like he has the ability to say he is a magician without feeling like an impostor. Marketing, Business & Copywriting While Jonah likes the creative side of magic, he does find himself drawn towards the advertising and marketing side of magic. He feels that if his marketing is better than his show, then his show needs to get better, and vice versa. It becomes a tug-of-war, constantly pushing him to better his understanding of marketing and to better his magic. Jonah goes on to highlight how the structure and intention of copywriting is similar to performing magic on stage. The goal of both are to communicate an idea from one person to the next in the clearest way possible. A Chance Encounter When Jonah was in elementary school, he was known as the person who did magic. When he was heading off to summer camp, he opted to leave behind his tricks, bringing only a single deck of cards from the dollar store with him; he was on his way out of magic. Or, he was, until he met Ben Train who was working in the tuck shop at the camp. Ben reignited Jonah’s interest in magic after showing him a seemingly impossible card trick. From there, Ben acted as Jonah’s magic teacher, his co-councilor at Sorcerer’s Safari, and, now, as his business partner with the Toronto Magic Company. All of this came from meeting at a summer camp with Ben showing Jonah a card trick. Brian’s Plugs Three New People One New Person Brian’s Website

For episode 162, Jonah sits down with Dan White to discuss working with a team, creating a show, and performing on television. Dan has appeared on the Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon ten times, has an on running show at the Nomad, and has consulted for people like David Blaine, David Copperfield and Kanye West. When Dan was a boy, his father gave him a magic kit, sparking his interest in magic. Growing up in Philadelphia, Dan had access to a magic store where he was able to go to learn and share magic. Eventually, Dan began to work there which allowed him to repeatedly perform tricks and polish his style during his eight years at the shop. While Dan attended University full-time, he was still performing magic. During this time, Dan moved to New York to further his education and his magic career. By living in New York, Dan was able to perform gigs at nightclubs and bars. New York also gave him the opportunity to meet magicians and give him access to the real inner world of magic. Soon, Dan met David Blaine and eventually stated working with him. After working with Blaine on his show, Dan was given the chance to consult for David Copperfield which led to him working with Robert Smith, Blake Vogt, Patrick Kun, Homer Liwag and Chris Kenner. After working with Copperfield, the restaurant 11 Madison Park approached Dan wanting to create a deck of playing cards for the restaurant and a trick that they could incorporate into their dessert course. When they completed this project, they asked if Dan would be interested in performing a show at their hotel. Since then, Dan has been performing The Magician at the Nomad Hotel in New York. Working with a Team Whether he’s consulting for a show or creating his own material, Dan is often working with his fellow magicians and peers to develop ideas. Often, everything starts as a spark, a seed of an idea that comes while he and his friends are talking. When they come together to share their ideas, it gives then a chance to discuss the concepts and develop them further. Dan highlights that by working with others, you have the chance to utilize their expertise to better execute your vision. Creating a Show When Dan was crating his show for The Nomad, he knew he wanted it to be more than an open mic format or a standard show. At the beginning, it was primarily him developing a narrative that would be the through line for the show. Nailing down his narrative was the most important part as it gave the show more than just a series of tricks. Dan also knew that he would have the audience’s attention when they entered the room, so it became a process of how to give the audience the best overall experience. In terms of effects, Dan often asks what would be cool or interesting to do on stage that would fit into the narrative. While he isn’t switching in and out new effects constantly, he is ways creating new effects as he sees no reason not to be. Performing for Fallon Jimmy Fallon discovered Dan after seeing the second half of Dan’s first ever show at the Nomad. Enjoying what he saw, Jimmy invited Dan onto the show to perform. There’s a different between performing on television and performing on The Tonight Show, Dan explains. On The Tonight Show, Dan is trying to cater to Jimmy’s brand while also performing effects that interest him and allow the most amount of people to participate. Dan also believes that a television show appearance shouldn’t be a one and done moment; the effect you decide to do should have multiple hits and moments that get the spectators involved in the magic rather than as passive observers. Built in Experiences Dan wants to be like a musician but with magic. Like music, he wants magic to consistently deliver an impact moment that can be experienced over and over again by lay people. He wants people to watch a trick and get chills from the presentation. You can of course deliver an experience through magic by focusing on building peaks and valleys into the show. Give your audience the ups and downs they want. Have the gruesome and sexy moments mixed into the hard hitting and calm moments. Dan points to Copperfield as an example of someone who truly understands how to take the audience on an experience. To help build this experience, Dan highlights that you need to connect with your audience on a real person level. You can see different results when you interact with people in certain ways. You first need to recognize there is an antagonistic side to a magic show, and that you need to defuse that atmosphere to help bring up the energy to a place where the audience can relax and be entertained by the performance. Wrap-Up What do you like about 2018/2019 magic? What do you hate? There is nothing major that Dan hates in the current magic period as even when he is presented with something he doesn’t like or disagrees with, he still appreciates that it has him thinking and that it is clearly pushing a boundary. If anything, the only thing he doesn’t like is people still releasing DVDs instead of downloads, and how people do interviews before explanations for their tricks. What Dan likes about the current state of magic is the fact that we’re living in a new period of magic that has seen Instagram magicians rise. It is a different direction for magic, and he is interested to see how it plays out. Take Home Point Jonah liked the idea regarding sharing information because you’re passionate about magic and want the community to grow; we should be focsing on making connections, not being competitive. Dan believes the most important part is the idea of peaks and valleys in your act. You need to push that idea hard because you need to get the emotions to bring people into your show. Endless Chain B. Smith Blake Vogt Plugs Instagram Twitter The Magician Lit

Jonah is joined by Manuel Llaser for episode 151 to discuss emotion in magic, learning from teachers, and analyzing your approach to magic. Manuel is an Argentinian magician who developed his deep appreciation for magic under the guidance of Juan Tamariz. Manuel comes from a family of artists. His uncle, Alan Marchese, started him on the path of magic when he was five years old. Under his mentor, Manuel developed a deep love for the craft. In 1992, Manuel met Juan Tamariz and they immediately connected. In 1998, Juan invited Manuel to come work with him. Leaving law school, Manuel went to help Juan with writing and archiving his ideas. Teachers and Mentors With his background in Eastern philosophy, Manuel has always understood that to truly learn and develop in a craft, you need to learn from a teacher or guru. In the East, knowledge being passed from the teacher to the student is a normal tradition. Not only does it help one improve their skills, but it helps the student develop humility, listening and analytical skills, and a sense of what they actually want to accomplish within their chosen craft. A teacher, Manuel emphasizes, is meant to guide you through the basic principles and how to apply them. Nowadays, there is a tendency of people telling you to branch out and follow your own path to understand the craft. While it is important to stay true to you, Manuel says, you need to be aware of the fundamentals before you can actually go deeper into the world of magic. By learning the theories under his mentors, he was able to decide which areas were and weren’t for him, and why he was making these decisions. Manuel emphasizes how important it is to pay respect to the people in the past and to appreciate the magicians who are teaching you. By simply learning the latest method for an effect, you are losing out on the deeper theory behind why and how that effect was created. Performing Around the World During his time performing in different countries, Manuel has been able to develop his approach to communicating through magic. In Spain, Manuel had the best experience as people had been regularly exposed to magic and had an understanding of what magic can be. Similarly, Manuel enjoyed performing in India as they were like children experiencing magic. There were times where he was performing for thousands of people at one time. Contrasting this experience was his time in Malaysia. There was no community of magicians there and the public had very limited knowledge of magic – Criss Angel, Copperfield and Derren Brown was generally the extent of their exposure. Manuel was also dealing with a language barrier; he suddenly had to rework his approach and the magic he was actually performing. He ended up talking less, fully scripting out his routine rather than improvising, and presenting more visual effects. During his time in Russia, Manuel worked with a translator which resulted in his performance completely being lost. He now had to consider the effects he was performing and how he could take advantage of having a translator. He had to learn to adapt and move outside of his comfort zone to be able to perform strong magic for the audience. From his travels has come Manuel’s ability to adapt his magic for a small audience who has a minimal understanding of magic to an audience of thousands who don’t share his language. Spanish vs North American Magic The Spanish school was born out of a need for change, Manuel explains. There were seven magicians who were on a mission to move magic forward because it had stagnated after Vernon’s death. The younger generation saw it as their responsibility to move magic forward so it can have the shock and impact they desired. They took the torch and went deeper into the study of magic by deeply analyzing the theories behind magic and practice; they looked at the symbolism and the structure; they examined the symbolism behind magic and how magic interacted with cinema and theatre. The Spanish school is primarily an approach to how to study magic from a deeper, critical perspective. Manuel goes on to highlight that North America has its own schools that take a similar approach, pointing primarily to Vernon and Marlo and how they developed their own different approaches to magic. Manuel goes on to explain that to actually follow a school, you need to look at the references that the school is based on. By studying the cultural moments and theories from these older schools, you can adapt these concepts to a newer generation, pushing magic further. Emotional Effects Emotion is what hooks people to a moment. When we reflect on a memory, we tend to have an emotional reaction. Magic, Manuel explains, is a concert of emotions. By being conscious of what your audience is feeling during any given moment in your performance, you can increase the impact of your overall effect. You have to find a way to create emotion in your audience through the language of magic. Juan Tamariz has forced Manuel to think about the effect now when approaching magic. The method doesn’t matter as much as the effect, as the effect is where the sense of magic comes from. If you become married to a method, you are potentially preventing yourself from creating a stronger effect for the audience. Manuel recommends training your mind to be attracted to the effect rather than the method. Tamariz Treatment While he spent many years studying under Tamariz and is a close friend, Manuel explains that he was not a special chosen one, Tamariz was just very kind to associate with him. All of Tamariz’s teachings are available in print; you can experience and understand his teachings through text because his spirit is behind every book. When you show Tamariz an effect, you have to open your mind to new possibilities to improve the overall effect. Tamariz will ask you about the conditions, potentially forcing you to detach yourself from the method to find a better way to complete the effect. Criticism It is important to learn how to take criticism and to have arguments about why you’re doing what you’re doing. When you are given criticism, you need to analyze what is being said and how it applies to you. Is the mistake you’re making an absolute mistake like everyone can see the move? Then you’re doing it wrong. Are you being critiqued on your approach to the effect? Then it’s relative criticism that you may or may not find use in. You have to be mature enough to understand where the criticism is coming from. In some cases, people will try to place their preferences on you. Wrap-Up Memorable Moment Jonah resonated with the idea of being detached from the method, and the concept that magic is a concert of emotion. Manuel liked the overall idea of living magic as a passion. You have to put your passion into it and see through the point of view of your predecessors. And, the most important part, be happy when you perform. What do you love about 2019 magic? What do you hate about 2019 magic? Manuel likes the newest style of magic being on people’s phones. Through one minute clips, people are able to create a sense of magic through another person’s phone. It is getting magic everywhere and opening it up to a wider audience. People are consuming magic content and this is a positive for the future. Manuel doesn’t like how easy it is to obtain information. All you need to do now is type what you want into YouTube and learn the moves. There is no depth to the magic and people aren’t necessarily appreciating where the effect came from. Manuel believes you need to grow and evolve with the effect, not simply learn it. Endless Chain Juan Tamariz Michel Clavello Alan Marchese Plugs Instagram YouTube Website Penguin Lecture References The Magic of Ascanio – the Structural Conception of Magic The Magic Way The Five Points in Magic Mnemonica Verbal Magic

For episode 150, Jonah would like to thank the listeners for accompanying him on this journey. To do so, he has sat down to reflect on a trick he has been performing for a while now to see how it has changed with him. Alongside the audio, there is a video component to accompany Jonah’s reflection. Thank you to Jacque Swan for cutting together the video. A Trick in Review For the past few years, Jonah has been performing the balloon sword swallow trick in his stage act. What started off as an awkward experience for him and the audience, slowly developed into a fun, scripted trick that ends his set and gets the audience ready for the next performer. This performance has undergone major changes in presentation, and Jonah thought he would sit down to see how and why these changes happened. The First Performance Jonah’s first performance of the balloon swallow on stage was rough. There is no music, no scripting or blocking, and he struggles to do the trick smoothly. Additionally, he performs the trick  at the beginning of his act, which doesn’t necessarily setup the atmosphere he wants for the rest of his set. However, he has jokes that land and the audience is attentive, so there is a foundation for a performance to develop out of overtime. The Middle Performance With the addition of music, a script and some practice, his balloon swallow developed into a trick that made the routine more than just  a man eating a balloon on stage. He now has a character and specific beats he is hitting during the performance. The trick, however, is still at the beginning of his set, making it difficult for him to bring the audience back in for the rest of his performance. The Recent Performance Between music that suits his goal, a script with specific beats, blocking, and moving the trick to the end of the act, Jonah has greatly improved his presentation for the balloon swallow. While there are still aspects he would like to change, he has managed to get the balloon swallow to a place where he feels that it’s a strong act.   Thank You Once more, Jonah would like to thank everyone who has gone on this journey with him. His hope is that as he’s grown over the 150 episodes, you have too, and he hopes that you’ll continue this journey with him.

For episode 149, Jonah sits down with his roommate and business partner, Ben Train, to take a critical look at their own approach to magic and their performances. Approaching the Shows Each month, the two perform approximately 22 public shows under the Toronto Magic Company branch. These shows break down to their show at Dave & Buster’s, Newest Trick in the Book, and Art of Magic. Each show has the two taking a different approach to what they’re trying to accomplish: Newest Trick To Ben, The Newest Trick in the Book is meant to provide magicians a platform to gain performance experience and showcase their new material. While he would like to have a new trick each week, he’s focused on making the experience a resource for other magicians. However, when speaking on what he would like to do at the show, Ben highlights what Harrison Greenbaum said during his episode: You should be focused on breaking everything you’re doing down in order to figure out how you actually want to perform the trick. Newest Trick should be his opportunity to break down his tricks, but he doesn’t always feel like he’s taking advantage of that opportunity.   Jonah shares a similar view to Ben, but he adds on that because they are often the hosts, they need to start the show off with effects they know will work to get the audience ready. He goes on to say that, while they may not necessarily be trying out new tricks they do get the opportunity to try out different presentations and build on what they learned for their future shows. Art of Magic While the Newest Trick is about the magic community, the Art of Magic is for the audience in Ben’s mind. At every show, his focus is on casting magic in a positive light and giving the audience the best overall experience. He isn’t worried about the lineup in this case as the lineup has strong, professional performers each month, allowing him to focus on performing his best material. Agreeing with Ben, Jonah adds that this is the show he invites his friends to come watch as it’s where he’s performing his best work. Dave & Buster’s For the past 2 ½ years, Ben has been performing his show at Dave & Buster’s. Out of his three regular public shows, this is the one that Ben finds himself anxious about. It’s a challenging show due to the unknown factor of his audience; these are primarily people who came to Dave & Buster’s to play games but now find themselves attending a magic show. While he wants to create a better show, he needs to focus on providing an experience that everyone can enjoy. Ben goes on to say that you need to learn to adapt your performance to the audience. If you want to have that impact on your audience, you need to connect with them and make it seem like you’re not reciting a script. To improve how you interact with people, Ben recommends reading Three New People by Brian Miller.   Jonah worries less about this show as he’s the opener. However, taking the advice of Dave Curran, Jonah has slowly created an act that isn’t mentalism due to the headliners generally performing mentalism. Recently, Jonah realized that the character he’s become has been because of Dave & Busters. When a Show Goes Bad To put it bluntly, Ben feels like shit. When the performance goes bad, it sticks with him. He has his wins and his losses, which both stack up, but he never forgets his losses as his show is supposed to represent the culmination of his life’s work: if a show goes South, his life’s work is a waste. Ben lets the wins build him up and takes away lessons from his bad shows. He goes on to say that because he has been performing his show for so long, the worst he can do is okay. The Artist’s Plight As you get better at your craft, you will look back and say “I was bad.” With every new project you take on, you will make mistakes but you will learn from them. By the end of the project, you will look back and see everything you would like to change. In future projects, you can apply these learnings but there will always be something else that you want to change because it could be done better. As you continue to learn and apply what you learned, you will keep seeing your previous work as bad. This, Ben says, means you’re fine and that you’re growing. You look back and think your work is bad because you’re better. At his best, Ben admits that he’s not as good as some of the greats at their worst. While there is a danger to comparing yourself to other people, Ben asks why wouldn’t you want to do that? Yes, be the best you that you can be, but Ben wants to be able to affect people and perform like the greats; he doesn’t want to go on stage and be the weakest link in the show. Being Original If you create a new presentation for an existing effect, then is it original, Jonah asks. Over time, he finds himself looking at his magic and thinking that he shouldn’t be doing certain tricks as the effect exists. He would like to get to a point where he is creating and performing magic that nobody else is doing or has done. Ben, like Jonah, wants to perform his own effects, but he admits he hasn’t had the energy to create the things he’s dreamed of performing. He wants to put the work in and find a way to actually express himself through his magic. Closing Points There are tons of positives to doing magic. Yes, you can get down on yourself after a bad show, but you can go home and feel relief. When Ben had a horrible audience, he felt proud that he was able to handle it; he had learned from the past. He loves what he does and he feels great that he’s able to perform. If he hated doing magic, he wouldn’t be doing it. All the negatives he highlighted this episode are learning blocks–they are things that can be worked on and changed. Magic is in your hands. You have the ability to create your own magic, and nobody is stopping you.

The “Millionaire’s Magician” Steve Cohen joins Jonah on Episode 148 to discuss branding, developing a show, and how to shape a career. Steve is best known for his long-running weekly show, Chamber Magic, but has also appeared on numerous television shows, produced a sold-out show at Carnegie Hall, and has performed all over the world for esteemed audiences. Ever since he was six years old, Steve’s life has been driven by magic. As an eight year old boy, he was attending school dressed in a three-piece corudroy suit because he was convinced he was meant to be a magician. Doug Henning was his inspriation, and he wanted to give that magical feeling to others. Throughout elementary and highschool, Steve would perform at birthday parties. He continued to perform during his time at Cornell University, performing for the likes of Carl Sagan and the Board of Trustees. Eventually, he decided he needed to put on his show, so he rented out the Black Box Theatre and put ads in the college paper. The shows sold out and this was his first taste of the entrepreneur side of magic which made him realize it was all worthwhile. Finding your Brand Steve wants to capture the elegant side of magic, with the hopes that he can elevate it beyond a comedy bar act. With this desire in mind, when he was searching for venues, he knew he had to find a place that would emulate the feeling of an old-style, salon show.  The National Arts Club, the Waldorf, the Lotte New York Palace Hotel are all venues that have captured the feeling of the show that Steve wanted. After finding the venue, it became a matter of meshing the show to the environment by changing the clothes he wore, building props with the room in mind, choosing the right colours. These little touches all highlight Steve’s belief that you are trying to deliver the audience an experience. His tagline “Millionaire’s Magician” was a phrase that he worried about using, believing it would isolate people even though he was already performing for millionaires. However, his friend assured him that it would benefit him, and he was correct. As he used this handle for his shows in London, the media started running with it, which eventually led to the media in New York covering it. The press continued to feed into this, making it a reality. Steve says that he won’t turn away people who aren’t millionaires because his purpose is to give people the experience of the 19th-century drawing room; he wants his audience to feel like the elite. Giving an Experience People will only talk about the experience of the show, so your show needs to be solid. Last October, Steve passed his 5000 performance of his show Chamber Magic. However, it has evolved over the years with his audience and his goals.  While his goal is to melt the audience’s brains, he primarily wants them to leave to tell their friends and family about the experience. When you’re putting together a show, you need to consider the material you’re putting into it. If you simply do the material everyone else is doing, you’ll become an interchangeable performer. People come to a show expecting to see something they’ve never seen before, so it is your job to deliver that experience. With this in mind, Steve often searches old publications for tricks that haven’t been seen in decades; he’ll then adapt them to his style by updating the methods and techniques. Maxims In Steve’s book Win the Crowd, he covers the idea of maxims in magic, simple rules you can apply to take control of any situation. When writing the book, he wanted to remain true to what magicians are doing without tipping off non-magicians to the secrets. This led to him creating chapters around key concepts in magic, using magicians as examples of how these concepts can be applied. These maxims are: Be Bold Expect SuccessDon’t State, Suggest Practice, Practice, PracticeBe prepared Steve applies these concepts not only to his magic but to any venture he approaches. Going on to quote Daniel Burnham, the chief architect of the Chicago’s World Fair, Steve says he follows the motto “Make no little plans; they have no magic to stir men’s blood.” Steve views his career as one large experiment which he has the ability to shape. From his book, to his graphic novel, to the shows he puts on, every project he does is meant to shape a career that he can proudly look back on in his old age. Max Malini Steve first came across Max Malini when he was a young teenager reading Learned Pigs & Fireproof Women by Ricky Jay. The chapter dedicated to stories about Max Malini was a revelatory moment for young Steve. The primary appeal of Max was that he didn’t travel with a lot of equipment; he took a minimalisitc, almost improtpu approach, to his performances, which added more to the magic due to the seemingly unprepared nature of the effects. Steve highlights that Malini had a balance betwen planning and spur of the moment inspriation; by having an understanding of effects in his toolbox, Malini was able to make magic happen whenever he was presented with a situation. Approaching Performing When you do the same show over and over again, it can begin to feel stale or repetitive. To Steve, however, each show is a chance for him to improve and put on the best show of his life. Additionally, while it may be his 5000th performance of the show, it’s the first time for somebody in the audience; if he were to go on stage and blow off the performance, he is potentially crushing somebody’s excitement in the audience. Every show is a chance to make it fresh for yourself and the audience. In terms of creating and scripting the show, Steve lays out his process in two layers: the procedure and the emotional hook. While the procedure is the instructions necessary for the specators, the emotional hook needs to be there so he can connect with the audience and leave them with something memorable. He doesn’t necessarily have a formula for creating hooks; he just free writes for three minutes and then chooses concepts and ideas that resonate with him. His major goal is to make it seem like he isn’t just reading a script on stage, so he carefully selects the words he uses on stage, knowing that certain language suits him and his show best. Wrap Up What do you love about 2018 magic? What do you hate about 2018 magic? Steve likes that people are attending magic shows and that there are more going on around the country. He notes that several performers have taken inspiration from his show, and he is glad that he has inspired so many people. Steve is not a fan of videos that are made just for the sake of showing off moves. As a performer, he sees magic as being an interplay with the audience. He encourages people to still learn sleights, but to also look down the line of how you could apply these sleights to a performance. Take Home Point Jonah liked the idea of trying to make everything feel fresh and putting on your best show each time. Steve likes the encompassing idea of just doing your best magic because people are interested in magic now. They find joy in it so if you can do the best magic possibly, you can bring them that joy. Plugs Evergreen by Steve Cohen is a book that will be released by Vanishing Inc. in the coming yearMillionaires’ Magician Win the Crowd Chamber Magic Instagram