By Tom Scanlon
While Justin Willman might have a dual show-business career, he has no illusions — so to speak.
Not even a field of gold, let alone a field of copper, could make him a “straight” magician.
“Would I ever do comedy without magic? Yes,” he says, answering his own question (self mind-reader?). “Would I ever do magic without comedy? No.
“It’s always going to be about the comedy. I would be comfortable not always doing magic. But I don’t know if I could never not go for the laugh.”
Which is a good thing, his growing fanbase will tell you. Willman might not be the most blow-your-mind magician going, but he’s probably the funniest.
This rising star will swing through Pittsburgh from June 11 to 14, playing the Improv in Homestead.
He just did a “Sleight of Mouth” special that aired on Comedy Central. If you missed it and you can use a good laugh or 50, check it out at justinwillman.com.
He opens the special doing stand-up in front of an audience, taking some shots at boring technology.
“The worst thing you can say to a magician is, ‘I’m going to Google that,‘” he says.
Willman is casually hilarious in filmed bits. He goes to Denver, where he amazes the easily fooled gang at a marijuana dispensary (“stupid stoner tricks”).
And he challenges a wiz-kid to a creativity battle, matching his magic skills against the kid’s 3-D printer.
Willman says he is obsessed with the idea of comedy vs. technology.
“I think there’s a lot to play with there,” he says. “These days, technology is so amazing, we stopped asking ‘How does this work? How does that happen?’ These days, there’s no way to wrap your head around Bluetooth or WiFi — it just works. To me, that is so close to magic.”
His career is rising like a card out of a deck: Willman has been on most of the big talk shows and is talking to Comedy Central about a series.
Despite being on the upswing, he doesn’t come off as a snobby star. Indeed, he is so down-to-earth that if a little girl asked how he did a trick while he was giving autographs, he would drop his pen and tell her.
Cracking jokes while doing magic tricks might sound like trying to bike and skate simultaneously — which is what got Willman into performing. He was 12 in St. Louis when he wiped out, breaking both arms. “I was bicycle riding and rollerblading at the same time,” he says.
An orthopedic doctor suggested young Justin try learning card tricks to help regain his hand coordination.
The kid started on card sleight of hand, and kept going. Comedy followed, naturally.
“I’m never comfortable wearing just one hat,” Willman says.
But what if he could be really funny or really magical?
“If I was really magical,” he ponders with a sigh, “I guess I could set aside being a comedy-club headliner and use my powers to better humanity.”
Tom Scanlon is a contributing writer for Trib Total Media.
http://triblive.com/aande/moreaande/8480191-74/willman-comedy-magic
