From the last season alone, Fool Us is a show that creates high expectations, with great talent given the space to show Penn and Teller, as well as the world, what they can do. Happily, last night’s season premiere did not disappoint. In fact, I could not wish for a better selection of performances to demonstrate the various attributes that make for great magic.
Jon Armstrong: Let’s call his routine “delight.” His little magical plunger was a masterpiece of whimsy, and beautifully deceptive. It may not have fooled Teller, but it certainly fooled me. Most important of all, it felt so marvelous that the fact that it fooled me did not matter – by the time the trick was halfway done, I had stopped caring about the method and just wanted to see more of the little plunger. I feel like my life is a bit richer for having seen it, and that’s something the best magic will do. Read more…
(Thanks to Mel Kientz at MAGICIAN’S LIFE for the link.
The excerpt below comes from Forbes/Wolfe Emerging Technology Report’s recent full-length interview with Marco Tempest, a Swiss magician based in New York who is known for his use of multimedia and interactive technology. A Director’s Fellow at the MIT Media Lab, Marco travels the world astonishing audiences with his “technoillusions” and shares with us the cutting-edge techniques that he uses to continually push the boundaries of his craft.
Tell us a bit about your background and how you first became passionate about magic.
I grew up in Switzerland and I did what all Swiss kids did: I spent a lot of time in school and a little bit on my hobby – trying to become a magician. During my vacation time, I was part of a circus that was made for children by children, and would tour Switzerland. When I was 10, I had an audience of 3,000 kids watching me perform magic. When I was 12, I saw a magician at a street fair and I went back stage and said “Hey! I’m a magician, too! We should work together.” This was my way of asking “Can you teach me?” Fortunately he agreed, and he came to my house and taught me the basics of magic every two weeks.
Magician Michael Grandinetti, who has performed his magic at NFL halftime shows while surrounded by 70,000 people; with Oscar-winning composer Marvin Hamlisch and symphony orchestras; in theaters, casinos, and arenas around the country and even at The White House, talked to us about the second season ofMasters of Illusion, which features Michael and a number of other world-famous magicians and celebrity guest stars.
You became a successful magician at a pretty young age. Have you ever had another job besides magic? You know, magic has always been the focus of my life. I’m one of those really lucky people who found what they love to do early. It was just a driving force in my life, so I’m very lucky that I get to wake up every day and do what I love.
How do you learn to do the amazing tricks that you perform now? Well, it takes a lot of time and study to really understand the art of magic. For me and I think for most people, you start small, with the tricks you get in the magic sets. My dad would take me to the magic store in downtown Pittsburgh where I’m from every couple of weeks, and I’d use my allowance to buy little magic effects.
It’s a growing process. You learn from everything you do. For me, I was very much a student of magic, I tried to read everything I could about it and watch everything I could about it. The other thing is, I always wanted to go beyond what somebody my own age was doing. When I was 12, I didn’t want to look like a 12-year-old magician. When I was 16, I didn’t want to look like a 16-year-old magician. It was fun for me to set goals to try and go beyond what the norm may have been. I’m very lucky that I come from a very supportive family and community who gave me a lot of opportunities from a young age to do shows. They would hire me at 12 and 13 to do company events and different things. It gave me a lot of experience to do magic.
Can you tell us about Masters of Illusion for people who didn’t see season 1? Masters of Illusion is a really interesting show. The producers searched the world for the best magicians they could find. And I’m definitely honored to be part of that group. They invited everyone to come to Hollywood and bring their best stuff and show off their best illusions. So when people tune in to Masters of Illusion, they’re going to see magic from around the world.
In season 1, we did several of my favorite illusions from my touring show. I levitated 10 feet in the air, I shrunk a girl to the size of a basketball, I walked through a seven-foot tall steel wall that was examined by the audience. I borrowed three finger rings from members of the audience and they disappeared and ended baked inside a size of a loaf of bread, so we had a lot of fun with it and I’m so glad the show was well received. You know I think as a performer, it makes me most happy when I hear people enjoy my work. We’re excited to be back for a second season.
What can we look forward to in season 2? I can give you a couple of examples: we taped six new illusions for the new season of Masters and most of them have never been on television. One piece is a six-foot tall painting of a girl and I literally pull the girl visibly from the painting and she becomes real. She dances onstage and just as she gets close to me, she instantly disappears, and reappears back in the painting. I’m very proud of that illusion.
There’s another piece we did, where for years, magicians have made ladies float in the air. What I wanted to do is I wanted to use television to our advantage. A lot of times people sit at home and go, well that’s television; if I were there, I might see something different. What we did was invite the audience up onstage to surround me while I made a girl float in the air. We gave everybody these super bright flashlights to shine above, below and around the girl while she was floating. That way, if there was anything hidden, any strings, wires, anything at all, the audience members with these bright flashlights would certainly show that. The other thing we did was we had the camera move 360 degrees around the magic while the girl was floating. So the home viewer is really getting an experience, even more than they would have had, had they been there live with us in Hollywood.
Which celebrities are going to be making guest appearances? In this show, Masters of Illusion Dean Cain is the host. He does a tremendous job, he’s a fan of magic. You can tell by the way he introduces us and by the way he watches the magic. In some cases he participates in the magic and he has has a definite genuine enthusiasm for it. There are also some other guest stars in the show; they haven’t actually let me finalize who’s going to be on it yet so I don’t have the final information, but there were definitely some exciting people who were there for the taping.
When David Hersh arrives to a party, he’s decked out in plaid pants, a sparkly vest and probably a crazy hat.
He has all sorts of tricks up his sleeves – quite literally – but what makes him different from most entertainers or magicians is that what pops out of thin air is often alive.
Will it be a monkey? A bunny? A bird? In his case, it could be any of the above, and even a few surprises among the total half-dozen animals he incorporates into his “Magic by David”shows.
“I like to tell customers, you hire me, and it’s like a magic shop comes to your house and explodes,” Hersh said.
Not only might confetti fall from the sky, or some small bursts of fire – “we have a lot of pyrotechnics,” Hersh said – but sugar gliders could appear out of a sugar jar. After a flash of fire in a cage, a monkey might suddenly be inside. Even a small, green parrot can act like a bat.
Hersh, one of the most popular magicians in eastern North Carolina, has been practicing magic since he was 11-years-old. His first animal was a dove.
“My sister had a birthday party and they hired a magician – and that was it,” he said. “My mom would take me around from show to show.”
Magic shows put him through college in New York, and after school, it took him about three years to build up his business through word-of-mouth.
Sometimes, he’ll do special tricks on request – like helping the star of a Sweet 16 party make a grand entrance, or help a model at a catwalk in Raleigh have a dove appear in her birdcage hat.
Fifteen years ago, he upgraded to training Einstein, a service Capuchin monkey – yes, he can retrieve cell phones, flip on lights and complete other services – who is often the star of his show. He’s worked at retirement communities and can even change the battery out of a wheelchair.
“He’s a member of the family,” Hersh said of Einstein. “I’m his daddy monkey.”
Einstein will hop onto Hersh’s arm, curl around his neck, and smile on command.
While his shows range all over Johnston County, Wake County and beyond, Hersh’s weekends are often booked, up to a month in advance. The hour-long shows start at $250, but keep even parents riveted as he launches from one trick to the next.
He totes around three trunks, full of illusions, gimmicks and tricks. For adult shows, he focuses on mind-reading and extra-sensory perceptions. Unlike many magicians, he avoids slight-of-hand tricks and instead focuses on tricks that engage the audience or interact with children.
Recently, business has grown so much that he has hired 11 employees for face painting and creating 3-D balloon animals, like unicorns or parrots that can sit on your shoulder, at parties.
