Discourse in Magic

In this episode we sit down with Canadian Comedy Magic Icon Matt Disero. Matt is a hilarious Canadian comedy magician, who has made his way up through the comedy circuit. Sitting down with Matt in person it gave us an opportunity to really interact, dig deep, and touch on some of the important nuances of comedy magic. I first found Matt when he was part of James Alan’s Toronto show: “Magic Tonight” Little did I know that Matt’s a Toronto Magic Comedy Icon! In the episode we got advice in both the performance and technical aspects of comedy magic, as well as some more business related aspects. For example Matt gives us clear instructions on how to deliver a joke: Stop all movement on the punch line. You may want to repeat the set-up or the premise multiple times (like Chris Rock is known for) to make sure everyone is on the same page. The punchline however, needs to be delivered at a stop point. In terms of business we also learned a ton from Matt! Being a magician in the stand-up comedy is tough. I’m not referring to writing jokes, I’m talking about the cut throat industry. Sometimes magicians are told that this specific comedy show does not bring magicians on. That can be incredibly unfortunate. However, Matt Disero is a pro performer who does not get bogged down my sour comedy establishments. He’s performed at corporate events, cruises, private events all over! Plus he’s going to be performing at the magic castle in LA! Check out this clip of Matt! One of the best parts of chatting with Matt is he’s someone who’s been through the comedy and magic circuit in Toronto. He’s been a part of institutions such as Yuk Yuks, Harper’s and other important staples for Comedy and Magic in Toronto! If you want all the goodies from the episode, the best way to do it is to listen to it! If you want to catch more Matt Disero you can either find out where to catch him on tour, or check out some of his social medias to keep up to date! Contact Facebook Twitter Instagram Website

We brought on expert mentalist, hypnotist and rockstar entertainer Spidey. If you haven’t seen Spidey on Youtube, Facebook, or on TV you might have seen him at your local theatre. Guzzo Cinemas in Montreal to be exact. That’s how Spidey got his first pocket of fame. After many years of performing Spidey spun a deal with the theatre owner that he would make videos that play before the movies (instead of those quiz shows). The videos would always be changing, and continue to drive people to the movie theatre. It turned out to be a great success. Not only did Spidey become an icon of Montreal, but his reach started to spread. Wizard Wars, Americas Got Talent, Penn and Teller Fool Us, and other major Television shows. Check out this cool spider: Having Spidey on the podcast was fun for me (Jonah) since every time I performed in his city, people would mention him by name and that he was at the movie theatre. It wasn’t until recording this episode that I fully understand what everyone meant. Spidey gives us the exact approach he’s used to get to where he is. Everything from having a manager to having great material, Spidey puts it all on the table. He seems to work with the best in the business at some of the best events in the world. Now is the time to find out how he did it (and how you can do it too) If you know who Spidey is, this episode will help you understand how he got to all of the amazing places he is today. If you don’t know who Spidey is, it’s time to tune in, and find out. Either way, you’re going to learn a thing or two from this episode Enjoy Contact Facebook Twitter Instagram Website

In this episode we sit down with Marc Kerstein. If you haven’t used, or been fooled by one of Marcs magic apps, you’ve missed out. Marc is THE iphone magic app guy, and has been brought on to consult on multiple TV series including David Blaine’s most recent special. This is what I’m talking about: How did the effect work? Marc did it. YUP. So now it’s time to tune into the episode. ….. How do you make a magic app? I don’t know. But we asked Marc in the episode, and he walked us through what his creative process is like, which was pretty helpful. I mean, I didn’t expect to know after he told me. You need to know how to code, which I do not. Marc does it by drawing inspiration from the worlds of magic and the worlds of technology. It’s sort of obvious when you think about it, but it’s important. It’s important that he stands out because he’s combining his interests. The things that are going to make our magic different are the same things that make us different. If you have an interest in VR, try to pair that with magic. Maybe you have an interest in theatre, pair that with magic. If you love charities, pair that with magic. Using magic + your talent or magic + your interest is a great basis for uniqueness and originality. One of the most exciting aspects of the episode is we touch on some of the difficulties of technology magic. There are some apps that are basically card tricks in the app, which is backwards. There are some apps, where it’s obvious that technology is behind the work. Just because you’re using technology doesn’t mean you abandon all of the important psychology that usually goes into magic tricks. For example everyone thinks every single app magic trick is done with voice recognition. As an app creator you have to make sure people don’t thing that it’s voice recognition. Even when it isn’t voice recognition. There’s so much that goes into making these apps. It takes the ideas, the creation, the design, the coding and the scaling to hundreds of users.  All of which Marc does on his own. 1000 True Fans I mentioned a concept in the article that I think is supper important for magicians, artists or entrepreneurs. It’s written by a man named Kevin Kelly. It’s very short read (3 min) that will change the wya you think about being an artist. 1000 True Fans Where Can I Find Marc’s apps If you do magic, enjoy mentalism, and own an Iphone WHAT ARE YOU DOING NOW OWNING ANY OF MARCS APPS! Click here and start exploring You’re welcome Contact Website  

In this episode we had the pleasure of interviewing our friend Suzanne. We met Suzanne at Sorcerers Safari (RIP) last summer!  Suzanne is an expert restaurant magician. To be a great restaurant magician you have to be good at more than just magic. You need to be able to work well with people. Be a part of team. And make sure your spectators are both seen and heard. Suzanne taught us a thing or two about compassion. Let’s start with when you’re actually getting the restaurant gig. She teaches us not to promise that we’re going to bring in people. But to let our actions speak for themselves! It’s important to find a venue that truly understands the value of regular magic. Whether that’s because they’ve worked with a performer before, or because you can convince them the value. It’s important that you both know why you’re there. For us as magicians it’s important that we remember we’re not there to show off our own ability. We need to be a valuable part of the team, and we need to be a chameleon when it comes to helping the restaurant in the waitstaff If that means we have to run to table 6 to perform for 10 minutes to stall the drink order coming out, then that is what we have to do to be most valuable. Maybe it means we have to stand by the front and performance for the guests who are waiting for their reservation and getting antsy. Magic is such a fascinating and valuable tool in a restaurant. Treat it like one! We are there to make sure the guests have a great time and return. But we’re also there to help the restaurant bring people in,  order food and drinks, and turn over the tables. Then Suzanne teaches us how to work with the audience. Suzanne’s style is with caring. Just like before, performing is not all about us. We need to be able to feel the vibes of the table. Anything from the table who’s there to party, to the one there to grab a bite to eat after their mother’s funeral. It is our job to make sure that the customers are seen and heard. Sometimes that means hearing them say that they do not want to see us perform. But sometimes, it means they should have the starring role in your magic. The dining experience is all about being served: You’re served food made specifically for you. From a waiter that was designated to serve you. Then the magician comes over to your table and explains how he’s the most magical person in the world??????????? Something doesn’t fit!!!!! How about this: The magician comes to your table and shows you why YOU are the most magical person the world, or this is the most magical evening in the world! Anything but being all about the magician!! As Suzanne puts it, it’s all about caring. Actually listening to others.  Hearing them. Actually paying attention to what they say. And responding accordingly I thought this was a fantastic episode.It was full of love and full of compassion. The way to Magic should be! Contact Website Facebook Twitter  

It’s been a long time coming to get my good friend Morgan Pierce to join us on the podcast. Morgan is a wildly talented magician turned financial advisor from Kingston, Ontario who joined us to chat about finances and limiting beliefs. If you want to better understand what you’re worth, listen to Morgan talk. He’s one of the only guys who can QUICKLY put things in a way that changes the way you think about yourself. Here’s an example from the episode. When Morgan was explaining how to price yourself he asked us: “How much would you charge to stand there and do nothing for an hour”. That question itself made me think about raising my price, since I deliver much more value performing than I do standing there doing nothing. Using the example that I would need to be payed at least $100/ hour to absolutely nothing, how much does that mean I’m worth to do something great!! All of a sudden my worth just went up, because of a change in my own mindset! The other fantastic thing about Morgan is he’s obsessed with how we think. Which means he’s often talking about limiting beliefs instead of tactics, mindsets instead of “hacks”. Since everything we do flows from the inside out, making sure you have a positive outlook, and setting  yourself up for success are really important. Like anything difficult, you have to go into it with the right mindset. In Episode 55 we finally dove into talking about money. Since Morgan is a financial advisor, I thought asking him for some standard financial advice for a magician would be helpful. It turns out, it was VERY helpful. Things like insurance for what we do is incredibly important which I wouldn’t have thought of. But also he gave us tips as to how to track what you do, and why that makes such a difference. Most importantly when chatting about money, one of the important themes is tracking. Having a metric to track, allows you to really understand where you’re at, where you were, and where you’re headed. If you know how much money you NEED to make, how much you usually make, and what your expenses are. Its much easier to make more, than if you’re purely guessing everything. Find a way to track your income, and expenses to make sure you’re paying yourself first, putting the right amount of money into savings, back into your business, and making sure you are being responsible! While the episode was mostly about money and limiting beliefs we did touch on a few other ideas that are worth mentioning. The first is a New York Times article about recognizing patterns. Since so much of what we do is pattern recognition. I really love the article since it demonstrates the only way to learn a pattern.  https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/07/03/upshot/a-quick-puzzle-to-test-your-problem-solving.html (Do what I do and send it to girls when they say they don’t want to go out with you) Another thing that we spoke about is engaging with your audience and performing the magic that they asks for. As a performer it’s our job to serve our audience best. Which is what will allow us to charge what we’re worth. As Pat Flynn says: your income is the metric which measures how well you serve your audience. If we can learn over time what it is that our audience wants, then we should make magic that fulfills what they ask for (I wouldn’t want to play cards with you, can you make my wife disappear, etc…). The better you get at serving your audience the more income you can expect. It’s a equal balance of impact and income. Overall, if you’ve ever had trouble with pricing yourself, it’s worth listening to the episode, even just for a philosophical reboot. Lastly, our free course “Fantastic Gigs and Where to Find Them” starts May 1st. If you cares about getting booked more be a part of our free 5 day course. If you want to get involved head to ****{COURSE CLOSED} Contact Facebook Linkedin Twitter Instagram

In episode 52 we chat with our first guest of “motivation month”. The point of the month is to give you the motivation you need to get off of your ass and start fighting gigs. They’re out there, you just have to find them. In thus episode we interview Brian Miller, who snaps us back to reality to explain hot to book some gigs: Website Business Card Google Thats it! But it  takes days of hard work. He also gave us a fantastic tip for people starting out Restaurants As Brian put it, lets say you want to advertise on google. You have to pay money for a dozens of people to see you every day. With restaurant magic they pay you for dozens of people to see you every day! It’s a no brainer. With a good website, a good business card, and a constant flow of fresh leads (restaurants, google, email lists, phone numbers) there is no reason why you shouldn’t have gigs rolling in! If you enjoyed Brian’s interview you might also enjoy his vlogs! Here’s the most recent video about his upcoming tour: Otherwise all of the gems are in the episode! Brian packs it full of tips for magicians at many levels in their careers from those who are just starting out, to those who need just a few more gigs. The last thing that Brian spoke about is finding your market. I think this is such an important point that magicians seem to thing doesn’t apply to them. PICK A MARKET AND OWN IT!!! If you want to contact Bryan check out any of his social medias below Contact Website Facebook Twitter Youtube Instagram

Boo Ya everybody! We made it to Episode 52! To celebrate we invited over four of our closest Toronto magic friends to talk about the Toronto magic community. Before I dive into the content of the episode I just want to thank you at home for being with us for 52 episodes! No matter if you’ve been with us for a little bit or a while, you’re part of the Discourse in Magic community and I want to thank you. Feel free to check out the video! In this episode we started by finding out what our guests have been up to for the past year, and what’s going on in their lives. No surprise, it seems like everyone is in the world of performing magic, or teaching magic, or both. Let’s just say. They’re all “Making It” with magic! Pretty cool! Mark Corriea is honing his own shows by performing non-stop, all over town. Rosemary Ried is performing, as well as teaching/directing at Conjurer Community. Chris Mayhew  just got back from a UK lecture tour, and is working on starting his show fresh, and Ben Train is working with me (Jonah) and a few others on producing TONS of shows in Toronto. Toronto is becoming a POWERHOUSE for magic (if it wasn’t already) For me, the Browser Bash acts as a “New Years” of sorts for Discourse in Magic. So with that we were able to chat with our friends about whats coming in the next magic year for them. We were able to get a peek into peoples heads about some crazy things coming up in the future.We also all took a moment to chat about what we’ve been up to in the last year in terms of magic. It’s important to make sure that you are always progressing and developing. What have you done in terms of magic in the last year? At the end of the day if this episode is going to celebrate anything let it be a celebration of the talent in this city. Toronto is quickly becoming a hotspot for magic. If you were looking for a place to come visit, jam out, and learn something. Now is the time! Once again, big thanks for staying with us for 52 episodes! Here’s to 52 more! Every person that was on the episode has another episode with us. If you liked them, go check out their episode, they are some of the most downloaded episodes we have! Ben Train Chris Mayhew Rosemary Reid Mark Correia PS. let me know if we should print the inspirational shirts that say “Be the magic podcast that you want to see in the world”

Episode 51…. we’re almost there! If you’re talking about comedy magic, there are just a few names that automatically come to mind. John Archer is one of them. Not only is his magic baffling, but he’s also absolutely hilarious. He’s known for whipping up his audience, and getting incredible moments out of the magic and the punchlines!  We decided to break it all down and get advice from the expert about all of the parts of the comedy magic that we need help with. There’s advice for beginners, intermediate, and even advice for the experts looking to make their shows better. Here’s a small summary of some of the points for whomever it might help. For beginners: It’s okay to use peoples published material! You’re starting out. You aren’t going to “make it” with that material, but you need to learn your own cadence and rhythm. You need to find the timing in which you deliver punchlines, and not take that from other comedians. It’s totally okay to take solace in the fact that you know the routines are going to work so all you have to do is be fun. Just make sure you’re using that time to also develop and try out other things For Intermediate performers: Listen to your audience. We’re not talking about the advice they give after the show, but how they respond during it. The best way to know if a line or idea works is to use it in an act. That’s the best way to understand exactly how to be best. Being intermediate is one of the safest places to be. You know the strong parts of your show already, and you can play with the other parts until they’re good enough to stick! For Advanced Performers: FIRE… The equation for editing your show. F- Funny, I-Interesting, R-Relevant, E-Entertaining. That is exactly how you edit your show. Make sure that every single moment checks at least one of these boxes. If it isn’t funny, interesting, relevant, or entertaining then you can cut it out of your show. Don’t take it from me, all of this is straight from John Archer! We tried to do our best to steer John away from using the classic response of “performing more”. It’s obvious that performing a ton makes you better, we tried to dive into the real things that you can use to make sure that if you want to be funny on stage you have some of the tools to make that possible, and not just betting on time. If you want to get a taste of John Archer’s magic check out his spot on Penn and Teller. While he was obviously well known before that, it was a perfect moment for him to share his magic with a massive audience, and might just be where we discovered him! Since he’s a real performer, its worth looking though some of his other videos and promo materials to get a feel for what the pro’s are doing. Contact Website Facebook Twitter

There is absolutely no question in my mind that you’ve heard of Gazzo. Maybe you’ve seen his Fool Us performance. It’s possible you’ve seen another clip from Youtube. Or equally likely, you could have seen him busking in your city! Gazzo is what we call an “Old School” performer. He does his tricks, and he does them well. In this episode Gazzo basically argues that’s the way it should be, and needs to be if you’re going to spend your life entertaining people. Most importantly he explains how you can do it. One thing you might notice is some controversial thoughts. He thinks magic is easy, he thinks magic is pathetic, and he makes some interesting comparisons with juggling. I would be curious to know what YOU think. There’s something in me that knows it really is difficult to turn a magic trick, as it exists in todays form and make sure it’s an entertaining expirience. Most of the time, it’s just an annoying person showing you a puzzle. If you’re hoping to be an awesome entertainer, then you might want to start in the place which Gazzo recommends: busking on the street. Going into this I thought that busking on the street was a great way to learn because you would know if you were good based on whether or not people paid you afterwards. He explains, the way that you know that you’re good is by paying attention to the ways that people react to you when they react. Notice if people walk away in the first 5 to 10 minutes of your set or if they stay there and more people come. It’s also important to point out the difference between street magic and busking. Street magic is bothering people with magic who are walking on the street. Busking is entertaining audiences who are interested in participating in street entertainment often in exchange for money at the end. It’s of course no surprise that the secret to being great is by performing a lot. But to be incredibly specific as Gazzo was: do three tricks well. You basically need to make sure that you have set, or an act. Then you have to make sure that you’re an excellent performer. If you’re looking good for the name of the book or DVD set that has well tailored material for you that’s already polished and has outs and jokes built into it……… I have terrible news. That’s impossible! You need to make your affect work! By putting in the work If you want more tips though, just listen to the god damn episode. And leave a comment if you’re a human with a face and any opinions you wanna share (about this episode) Contact Website Facebook

If you saw them walking down the block you would stop dead in your tracks. A haunted couple just walked out of a catalogue from the 1930s. Mysterion, a fast talking Dracula looking gentleman with a white streak through his hair and a fitted Jacket with a leopard print neck and the matching pants. And Steffi Kay. A dapper young lady dressed in vintage clothing with bright red lips. If I didn’t know better I’d bet a months salary that she is from a Time Machine. This duo walks on stage with a twinkle in their eyes. Sometimes I think it’s because they can read minds, but other times I think it’s because they’re secretly from another universe. We decided to sit to talk to them about exactly that impression that they seem to make on people! Why it’s so important to think about what you’re wearing and when you’re wearing it? Most importantly exactly how you can get noticed and to “get yourself out there”. Mysterion welcomed us into his home to see his incredible (and creepy collection of things). Mysterions advice on getting out there is simple: you need to spend time with the crowds of performers in your city. Hang with the musicians. Hang with the artists. Hang with the theatre kids. It’s the only way to start meeting the right people and making mega connections. His awesome example was the fact that he made the front of a magazine for a music project that he undertook which of course gave him more clout in the world of magic. He also explains his tactics towards looking different and being present in public looking different.It attracts a lot of questions and that of course translate into more business. It’s so much easier to tell someone that you think you bumped into Dracula on the street, then it is to tell them that you met a magician. If what we’re doing is truly impossible why not bet on it as our entire character. Steffi on the other hand discusses her approach with fashion. Her advice for a young magician like us is that more than half of the battle to is just finding clothes that fit and having good posture. With a little bit of help from a friend, googling, or just some good old fashion research you can come up with some great fashion advice for yourself. It’s up to you to take action, and stand out from the crowd, while wearing clothes that fit ( and of course having good posture). When approaching magic from the perspective of building a character both your mannerisms and your attire create the full picture. These two both have it down pat. Mysterion and Steffi have reached great heights of success in Toronto and now they are starting to travel all over the US. If you want to catch them and you live near Toronto check out the Dave and busters in Oakville where you can find them, Ben Train,  Dave Curran, Mark Korea, and myself [Jonah] come Friday and Saturday nights. Shows are at 8:30 and 10:30. Otherwise follow them up on social media below and try to see when they’re going to come to your city. I have a feeling it’s going to be sooner than you think. Will see you at our favourite place…THE FUTURE Contact Website Facebook Instagram