Discourse in Magic

Steve Reynolds is a renowned New Orlean’s card magician who is obsessed with keeping the history of magic alive.  Steve first got into magic as a kid growing up outside of Philadelphia.  He was about seven years old when he wrote a book report on Houdini.  Later, someone gave him the book How to Do Tricks with Cards which fit perfectly for him because he was already fascinated by cards.  When he was 15, he got a subscription to Genii Magazine and through that he bought a Brother John Hamman tape.  From that moment on he became obsessed. It was when Steve performed “The Twins” trick for his father and grandfather that he understood the power of magic.  Because the reaction from his family was so powerful he began to dissect the psychology of that trick.  He couldn’t understand why people reacted the way they did. The phrase “the magic happens in minds of the observer” really hit home for him.  Eventually, he began to experiment with how far he could go with subtlety. It was then that he began to fuse together his ideas into what became The Monks Way.  Steve has managed to integrate the psychology of the audience into the methodology of his magic.  Moreover, Steve believes that a lot of magicians treat technique as the effect.  In Steve’s opinion, the technique is there to service the effect. Steve realized early that he wasn’t going to be able to learn everything. John Hamman became a mentor to him as a young person and Steve feels strongly that he wants to continue what his predecessors originated.  He wants to share that material with as many people as possible. Steve was once asked, “how long does it take you to learn a trick”.  He answered that it could take as much as ten years.  You have to be willing to put the time in. For example, look at Ed Marlo.  He had a full-time job, a wife, and kids and was still able to revolutionize 20th-century card magic.  But if you say you don’t have the time to learn, Steve isn’t buying it.  He adds that young magicians need to recognize that it’s going to take a long time.  You have to be happy doing it by yourself.  Don’t be so over eager to share it with other people.  Be happy learning it. But Steve doesn’t have a step-by-step advice about how to become a magician.  He just did it.  He was full of passion and obsessed with learning.  Steve remembers how difficult it was to find information when he was younger.  Steve finds that there are a lot of young magicians that have the right attitude about magic.  But many people are stuck in a bubble of performing only for their friends.  In fact, Steve thinks that if they step out of that bubble and perform for a real audience they are going to be in for a rude awakening. What did you learn this episode? Jonah learned that you have to pick something and really focus on something.  He really wants to focus on particular influences and to totally understand the magicians that really resonate with him. Tyler learned that he is thankful for the mentors that have shaped him.  You have to love every aspect of magic.  And you have to love the practice. Steve encourages everyone to remember that magic is about the audience and creating relationships. Who should we have on next? John Racherbaumer What do magicians need to know? This is about the audience. Moves are not tricks.  They are tools. Listen to your audience. Plugs Steve is beginning to compile Marlow material that was unpublished.  He is working on a book called Marlo Speaks.  The book will be based on audio tapes of Marlow explaining six tricks. SteveReynoldsMagic.com

Zack Mirza has created a remarkable career both as a professional animator and a magician.  He has animated a variety of children’s programs and his magic career was featured in the OLN series Illusion of Grandeur.  He has combined both those passions in a Kickstarter campaign to create his own unique deck of cards featuring characters based on Arabic folklore.  In this episode we discussed Zack’s unique creative process and his love of the art of magic. Zack first got into magic when he was a young child.  He saw a magician perform at a carnival in London, Ontario and he quickly became obsessed.  It was his grandfather was someone that loved magic and pranks.  That attitude to life became deeply ingrained in Zack.  Zack is a natural introvert and he kept his magic practice mostly to himself.  His coming out began when famous football player Pinball Clemmons saw him performing some tricks on a basketball court.  Pinball took Zack with him to a variety of school presentations and that was the start of his career. Magic is always at the forefront of Zack’s life.  Zack has spent much of the last year performing as much as possible.  He was the resident magician at The Drake Hotel.  He has taken some time off to get back to the nitty gritty of learning and mastering new tricks.  For Zack magic is not just magic, there’s an art to it.  He works as a professional animator and he finds that there is a lot of overlap between the two fields.  Animation is the illusion of life and magic is almost exactly the same thing.  It’s a natural parallel because you’re crafting your own reality. His TV show Illusions of Grandeur was a perfect example of right place and right time.  He had met a few people in the television industry that liked his online videos.  Zack emphasized that his success didn’t happen overnight.  There were many years of working on his material and being very proactive.  Once you’re doing something that you feel very strongly about the right pathways are going to open up for you.  Illusions of Grandeur is a very real magic reality show.  The show went to the core of someone trying to achieve a goal.  What drives a person to master their craft? Zack has just Kickstarted his deck, The Jinni Deck.  Zack got the idea for the deck because he wanted to translate his love of art into a deck.  He wanted to create something that had a demonic bent to it.  But Zack loves the film Aladdin and was inspired to model his deck on the folklore of the traditional Jinn.  He took the Arabian folklore and turned it into a whole fictional world. Zack thinks the exposure of magic right now has made magic trendy once again.  But he thinks that being passionate about the art is what makes it appealing to people.  He also thinks that being honest and authentic is the only way to be successful. Zack’s advice to younger magicians is that you have to be in love with what you do in order for it be successful.  He thinks a lot of people have a convoluted idea about what they want to accomplish.  And a great work ethic is hugely importantly.  Zack believes you have to be OK with baby steps.  Setting yourself realistic goals is also very important. What do you want to tell the magic world? Be authentic.  That’s the name of the game.  Be you. What’s the one question you have for the audience? Do you prefer the TV magician or the social media magician? What did you learn? Jonah liked was how chill Zack was about his failures. Tyler really appreciated hearing about the design and creation about the Jinni deck. Zack loves the creative process and where it can take you. Recommended guest Dan White Plugs Jinni Deck ZackMirza.com @ZackMirza Snapchat and Instagram

Harrison Greenbaum is the hardest working man in comedy and magic.  His unique act has landed him slots on Last Comic Standing and America’s Got Talent.  His career started early first as a stand-up comic who occasionally used magic in his sets when the jokes weren’t landing.  He was encouraged to focus just on the comedy but by the time he graduated college he decided that he wanted to combine the two.  Harrison just completed his first tour with The Illusionists one of the largest magic promotions in the world.  That success coincided with his appearance in the current season of AGT.  He is also obsessed with getting a Netflix special which he is relentlessly promoting with his I Want a Netflix Special website. Harrison is now performing as many as 700 shows a years, which is an astonishing number.  He admits to us that many of those shows are sometimes just fifteen minute sets at a comedy club – which allows him to do three or four shows a night.  Harrison also does a large number of shows in the independent circuit including a recent show that took place in the middle of Central Park in New York.  He is a firm believe that young comedians and magicians should do as many shows as possible.  Failing is the most important part of getting good.  He has been lucky enough to work with some of his comedic heroes like Louis C.K.  He was particularly inspired when he watched Louis work out his latest MSG special night after night at the Comedy Cellar. America’s Got Talent is a huge platform and Harrison found the experience extremely difficult.  The audition process included waiting for up to twelve hours before performing.  In subsequent rounds the wait was just as long with the added stress of having cameras constantly filming.  The one frustrating thing is having your performance heavily edited before it made it to air. The old joke is that if you do comedy magic you’re probably not that good at either.  Harrison totally recognises that a huge amount of comedy magic is brutal.  Harrison has some pretty firm ideas about how to perform magic.  Most people go to the magic store, buy a trick and then figure out some way to jam it into an act.  Harrison does it exactly the opposite.  He comes up with an idea first then develops a trick. There are certain rote jokes that every magician does in every set.  We discuss the problem of people following tends or even stealing material form one another.  Harrison recognizes that people can come up with the same idea independently.  Nevertheless, he is a firm believer that performers should focus on material that is truly surprising and original. We love to discuss the creative process. Harrison’s process is all about output.  He tries to come up with as many crazy ideas as possible and then follows through on them.  Sometimes that doesn’t work but when they do click it becomes a truly original idea.  Over time the audience is always going to tell what is working and what isn’t.  If your joke isn’t working it’s because the comparison isn’t right.  Comparing apples to apples isn’t funny but comparing apples to pirates is. Recommendations When Harrison was in collegein Boston he loved to attend the Mystery Lounge.  One of the performers there is Mike Bent who is also a professor of comedy at Emerson.  Bent famously had a prop-off between himself and Carrot Top. Lessons My big takeaway is Harrison’s advice to develop material premise first.  Tyler loved Harrison’s focus and drive.  Harrison’s main takeaway is that he needs a Netflix special.  Harrison says it’s hugely important to go break stuff – be willing to fail. Plugs http://HarrisonGreenbaum.com http://www.harrisonmagic.com/ http://iwantanetflixspecial.com/

Our guest this week is Glenn West.  Glenn is a fantastic magician who started his love affair with magic after being introduced to the craft by his father.  Magic is constant presence in his life though he is not a working magician. Instead, he works as an animator in film and television.  Glenn’s magic is very visual and in your face and has a huge ‘wow’ factor.  His love of magic is directly related to his passion for film. In this episode Glenn, Tyler and I talk about the morality of magic. Specifically, whether its right to lie to a crowd.  Glenn alludes to the Penn and Teller school of thought on this question.  The audience should never leave a show believing in something about the world that isn’t true.  The difference between creating illusions on screen and illusions in a magic performance is that there is a willing suspension of disbelief in the cinema that may not exist in a magic show.   Glenn believes that magic occurs in the mind of the audience. Glenn thinks that magic is a free market and protecting tricks is difficult when it takes tons of money to protect your intellectual property.  That impulse to protect our IP contrasts markedly with cardistry which is very open source. Our chat shifted to a conversation about how the coming automation revolution is going to wipe out large sectors of the economy.  I talked about the example of Wolfram Alpha, a computational search engine that has become so good it has rendered computational mathematicians largely obsolete.  Glenn believes that careers based on artistry and creativity will be among the few that will survive in the future.  Magic being one of them. (So long as society doesn’t collapse) Technology has also changed the way young people are learning magic.  Most of us saw a trick when we were young and then went out and bought a magic book.  Now younger magicians go straight to YouTube.  This has presented a huge opportunity for magicians.  I think there is a new land grab underway in spaces like Instagram Stories and Snapchat.  Whoever gets there first is going to create an entirely new and very different career.   But does that mean you have to focus more on quantity over quality? Recommendations We have had most of Glenn’s friends on the podcast already but after pressing him he suggested we reach out Xavier Spade who we all agree has been doing some really interesting stuff. Lessons I continue to rant about the importance of creating as much content on as many platforms as possible.  Tyler thinks the conversation about the suspension of disbelief in film as compared to stage magic was particularly compelling.  Glenn, meanwhile, found the conversation about Instagram Stories and other social media inspiring Plugs Glenn’s passion project A Series of Unfortunate Effects combined his love of filmmaking and magic.  He demands that you all watch it immediately. facebook.com/MagicByWest twitter.com/MagicByWest

In episode 69 we sit down with cardist Anna DeGuzman to talk magic, cardistry, content creation and much much more! Anna knows a TON about cardsitry and it’s place online. Cardistry seems to have grown alongside the growth of social media in the past few years. It was massive on Youtube (it still is), but then with the eruption of Instagram, that’s where many cardists live in a 2017 space. Cardistry is visual, short, doesn’t requite audio, looks just as good for a camera as it does live (if not better. I think the growth of cardsitry is very tightly linked with how we consume on social media.) Of course when we chat about magicians and social media the obvious topic of theft and crediting comes up. In this episode Anna walks us through what crediting is like in cardistry, and why it’s not frowned upon to do someones move before they released it Cardistry is an open source art form, which allows it to grow much faster than magic. In magic there are secrets, so it grows slowly, in the backs of magic stores and pizza places. Which is what led us to talk about content creation. Today it’s a MUST! Especially if you want to amass a following, or reap benefits in the online world. Right now, so many people have sharability and virality to thank for their success. If you want to jump into the world of cardistry check out Annas Page Do yourself a favour and START MAKING CONTENT Contact Instagram Youtube Twitter

In episode 68 we sit down with long time friend Jason Dean. We’ve known Jason since back in the Sorcerers Safari days, and have been pumped to get him on the show. Jason is a rockstar magician. He is a rockstar – The drummer for Sidewise; a crazy metal band, as well as an accomplished and creative magician. Jason dives in with us to ways that you can benefit as a magician even if it isn’t your career. It’s so important that we get value out of magic, instead of magic getting the value out of us (being exploited by the magic retailers of the world). In this episode Jason walks us through some stories from the road, and how he’s used magic to his benefit. You can use it to meet important people, get invited to high profile events, and eventually work with your heros. One of the major themes in the episode is to remember how amazing what we do is, and to not forget that what we do is a real gift We also talk about the value of failure, the overlap of being in a band and being a working magician, and the question: is it harder to make it as a band or as a magician. Jason seems to think that it’s a band, and I totally agree. My reasoning was the volume of the competition out there. His argument was it’s 6x as hard to work with a team of 6 than a team of 1. Then we get really deep. Have you ever struggled with multiple passions? Jason walks us through what it’s like to pick one passion over another. Sometimes it’s difficult when other people identify you as something that you stop identifying with. “Jason the Magician” was gone, but “Jason the Drummer” was here to stay. It was nice to talk to someone who still benefits from magic without being a full time performer. Jason Dean is someone who makes magic cool, he makes it accessible, and he wants to make a massive impact with his work. If you haven’t yet check out his penguin Live Lecture Or feel free to reach out on social media. Leave a comment with what you thought (especially of the Juan Tamariz story at the end) Contact Website – Sidewise Facebook – Jason Dean Twitter – Jason Dean Instagram

In episode 67 we sat down with the very brilliant Michael Feldman. Michael is a full time Lawyer as well as a recognized magician. He performs and creates fantastic magic that’s as knuckle-busting as it is baffling. We spoke to Michael about his journey in magic, specifically his unlikely path the Lawyer/ magician. With a love for creating and being on stage, and a slow reduction of free time. He decided that the best most enjoyable way to spend his few non law focused hours on magic. First we spoke about giving and taking advice. Michael like many magicians believes it is our duty to help bad performers become better performers. It is however important that we make sure they want our feedback and criticism before we give it to them. The more bad magic we remove from this world the better all of magic becomes. Sometimes, there are sensitive topics for magicians that might be hard to help them get better. A fun example is magicians shuffling cards during a magic show. A BIG HUGE NO-NO No shuffling, no holding, no anything. You’re an audience member, we get that it’s your fidget spinner, but it’s just not the time. Then we dove into the land of magic law. [cue the Law and Order music] To make a long story short: magic may very well be copywritable…. but you wouldn’t want to be in court trying to prove it. Which means it’s up to us magicians to self police theft at our discretion (You can go as crazy as the Jerx protecting his book) Finally we spoke about Michaels New book: “A New Angle” It’s available, its beautiful, and I’m going to get one. For more info about Michael hit up his website or Social Below Contact Website Facebook Twitter Instagram

In episode 65 of Discourse in Magic we sit down with old friend Ryan Edwards. We’ve known Ryan from once again, Sorcerers Safari, but we wanted to introduce him to all of you and give you a chance to get TOP NOTCH magic tools! Ryan does it all! He’s written and performed two of his own magic shows. He’s advised and built props for top magicians around the world, and he most importantly  he handcrafts tools (wallets, card clips, close up pads) for magicians looking to up their magic style at REhandcraftered.com  We started by chatting with him about his alternate path into magic. Ryan had an interest in magic, but the thing that helped get him noticed was his crafting skills. He was found on the scene because of a custom card clip that he made for himself. After attending a large magic convention it all started. Endless demands from the magic community; an inbox full of request for their own hand crafter products. With that, he launched his very successful business. Here’s the twist. He’s not just a great craftsman. He’s a fantastic magician too! Probably because he brings the same dedication to his show as he does his craftsmanship. All to help him craft an amazing show! Just hearing him chat about the steps he took to have a successful show, makes it clear that he’s amongst the pros. We discuss the importance of scripting, show design, and how to make sure that you’re doing a great job. If you’re in the process of making your own show you’ll like this episode. If you want to be inspired to do something different with your magic, you’ll really like this episode. Ryan has worked with friend of the podcast Patrick Kun, as well as advising for Steven Brundage during his run on AGT. Ryan’s one of the guys who’s spent his years behind the scenes, crafting materials and sharing his ideas. Now that he’s been creating and producing his own shows, I think we’re going to see much more of him on the scene. Let’s chat about what Ryan is known best for: His hand crafted materials. Ryan makes Close-up pads, card clips and everything in between for close up magicians looking to up the style of their most important tools. He’s created things for Teller, for David Copperfield, and he’s even made a close-up pad for me…. AND I LOVE IT! There’s very few people that do what he does…. and boy does he do a great job! If you’re looking for a handcrafted close-up pad, card clip, wallet, or ANYTHING. Ryan is your guy. You can check it out at : REhandcrafted.com I usually put contact info…. But just Go to the website. They’re gorgeous!!!!!

Not all hero’s wear capes, and not all magicians live on the stage. Some can be found sitting at the table at the magic shop, shuffling cards, or creating some new magic. Jeff was an important character in the Toronto magic scene who had an impact on the on two young budding Toronto magicians (Tyler and I). He was at the magic store, at magic camp, and in all of the big time Toronto magic circles. One day we found out that Jeff quit magic. I know… I performed tricks that he had invented. Had been inspired watching him lecture, jammed alongside him, and now he was quitting magic? It didn’t make sense. Well since then 3 great things happen. Jeff Came back to magic after many years of separation. The Toronto magic community rejoiced. He started working at the magic store again, bringing all that is right back to the universe He joined us to talk about his expirience on episode 64 of the podcast. If you’ve ever experienced falling out of love with magic, this episode might strike a chord with you, and might help you fall back into love We walk through the reasons why he left, why he’s back, and what you can take from that. All artists have experienced some distaste for what they do at some point in their careers and I thought it would be interesting to address those emotions and experiences dead on. When you fall in love with magic, your whole life becomes magic. While I don’t know what you personally might struggle with, I know that everyone struggles with something. If what you need it a break from magic, take it. If what you need is more inspiration, FIND IT! Whatever you need, you can take something valuable from Jeff in this episode. Another reason why I loved this episode was because Jef walked us through aspects of Toronto’s magic scene that he admired before, and that brought him back, more recently. Things like the Browsers Den and Sorcerers Safari, which come up on the podcast often have had a huge roll in the development of magicians in Toronto. It was nice to once again dive in deep with a local magician, and give listeners an opportunity to get a taste of what it’s like to be a young magician in Toronto. At the end of the episode we tackle a more hard hitting issue: Why does Jeff like “Oil and Water” so much? He walks us through why he thinks it’s great. Let me know what you think of the episode, it would mean the world. If you’re looking for something to do next time you’re in Toronto why not head to the Browsers Den of Magic to go see Jeff!

In episode 63 of the podcast we sit down wit Mark Calabrese to talk about what it takes to make it in magic. Mark is an incredibly accomplished performer. With multiple baffling card effects released on the magic market, as well as appearances on Wizard Wars and Penn and Teller Fool us. In this episode we broke down just that. We broke down his journey into full time magic, and his journey on those fantastic magic shows. We started with his Penn and Teller Fool Us performance. What looked like a really cool act was secretly a directional nightmare. Without spoiling what happens all I can say is the finished product on video is NOTHING like what actually happened in the studio that day. We’ve had a few guests walk us through the behind the scenes of some of the shows that they’ve been on but this was probably the most surprising. He also walked us through his Wizard Wars performance. We learned once again that there’s more than what we see on the final product. Mark wasn’t entirely pleased with what happened behind the curtain and you can hear all about it in the episode. Finally we chat about what it takes to make it as a magician through word of mouth. It takes quality, it takes not cutting corners, it takes being awesome, and going the extra mile. As a magician it’s not that hard to go the extra mile. Stay an extra hour at the event you’re performing at, or make sure that every last table sees you do magic. It’s little things like that which go a long way. Anyways, I’m not going to spoil the whole episode. You have to listen to it to find out! If you do, let me know what you think about it in the comments below!