Magic Roadshow

Known primarily as the silent partner in magic’s most unorthodox act, Raymond Joseph Teller doesn’t have to be as concerned about maintaining his mute persona—apart from onstage and on Penn & Teller’s television show Fool Us—as he used to. He spoke with Las Vegas Magazine’s Matt Kelemen about the direction he and Penn Jillette’s long-running show at the Rio has taken lately, and new elements that rekindle the joy of discovering magic for both Penn & Teller and their audience.

The addition of new bits such as the participatory “Love Ritual” card trick and “King of the Animal Traps” closer make the show seem fresh. Have you been consciously moving it in a new direction?

This show has a slightly different feel from previous shows, and the sense that I have is that it’s a little more sort of totally inclusive of everybody. Everybody gets to participate in the “Love Ritual” card trick, and then right after that we invite everyone onstage and surround our African spotted pygmy elephant Elsie before she disappears. And so there’s a sense towards the end of the show, everybody is really part of the gang, and it feels really friendly and happy and generous and sort of innocent to me. And I like that feeling a lot. The closing bit in the show, instead of being about the risk of death, which is always fun, is a sort of a sweet reminiscence of childhood, albeit completely fraudulent. Read the whole interview at:

https://lasvegasmagazine.com/interviews/qa/2017/jan/13/qa-teller-rio-penn-jillette-magic-fool-us/#/0

The son of the late magician Paul Daniels was arrested after police reportedly found a cannabis factory in his home.

Paul Jnr is understood to have been arrested on suspicion of producing cannabis and abstracting electricity at his property in Wigan.

In recent months the 56-year-old has been embroiled in a bitter war of words with his father’s widow Debbie McGee, who was handed his £1.5 million estate when the magician died last March.

Paul Jnr has now been released on bail, alongside two other people, according to The Mirror.

A source told The Mirror: ‘Police attended the house and found a cannabis factory.  Read more…

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4120474/Paul-Daniels-s-son-56-written-magician-s-1-5million-arrested-police-cannabis-factory-home.html

David Blaine is running into some serious competition as the most viewed street magician on YouTube with Saint-Sauveur’s Chris Ramsay edging his way into top spots.

Ramsay said his love of magic started as a child and blossomed when he noticed he could make extra tips performing tricks while he worked as a bartender.

Now, he performs bigger and better tricks for millions of YouTube viewers.

It all started with a street magic video shot in 2014 with the help of a friend, much like Blaine’s, but “in my own way, with my own flare, and obviously my own budget,” Ramsay told CBC Montreal’s Homerun.

The video took off, and what was at first a “mildly viral” YouTube channel turned into a go-to resource for wannabe magicians and up-and-comers alike.

“It’s become everything from vlogs, to teaching, to a little of everything,” he said.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/chris-ramsay-magician-youtube-montreal-1.3935619