marketdoctor August 10, 2014 Share August 10, 2014 I like comedy magic, so in addition to Penn and Teller, I like The Amazing Jonathan (he at least to have a special on Netflix; it might still be there). I like the work that James Randi has done exposing fakes, and I give him credit that Syvia Browne predicted he would die within three years--twenty years ago. Using your own lifespan as a "suck it, fraud" is awesome. Houdini also used to do that; "Houdini on Magic" had some Mythbusting qualities a century before mythbusting. I like magicians that respect the art, but expose fraud when it needs to be exposed. I'm split on the Masked Magician; some of the tricks he exposed were known in the community (so fair game) and some were camera trickery (which is just tacky and should also be exposed), but sometimes he took the skill out of it. Mostly I'll give him credit, though I'd like to have seen him focus more on fake mind reading. 1 Link to comment
SomethingClever August 13, 2014 Share August 13, 2014 My favorite magician from the show is probably John Archer, whose whole persona I just find utterly delightful. Funny, relaxed, and gets away with making fun of the audience a bit because he's willing to make fun of himself. I also have a lot of love for Michael Vincent and the upcoming Piff the Magic Dragon (keep an eye out for him in a future episode, he's fantastic). For magicians in general, I have a lot of favorites. There aren't a lot of venues for magicians to be really showcased these days, and there are a ton of incredible magicians who most people would never know about unless they were studying magic or happened to live near the Magic Castle. I kind of hate that the face of magic has become David Blaine (meh) and Criss Angel (ugh), so I try to share great performers whenever I can (and one of the reasons I love this show). Anyway, I'll limit myself to a couple favorites. Ricky Jay is a guy who people know because he's been around for a long time and has done a lot of work in movies. He's also probably one of the 3 greatest living card magicians. Not just the consummate professional whose technical skills are flawless, but a fantastic storyteller even outside of the magic. There's a great documentary about him on Netflix right now, and if you've never watched his show "Ricky Jay and his 52 Assistants", you should do so. It's wonderful. Another favorite is much lesser known magician named Hannibal, who I had the opportunity to see in person earlier this year. Like Jay, he's a storyteller who doesn't just do great tricks, he does meaningful magic. This trick of his is one of my favorites: Link to comment
SVNBob August 13, 2014 Share August 13, 2014 Some people might remember Ricky Jay from an episode of The X-Files. He played a magician that, for a special live performance, rotated his own head 360 degrees without an apparatus. He was later found dead; decapitated. He also guested on an episode of Mythbusters helping Jaime and Adam with a myth about using playing cards as lethal projectiles. 1 Link to comment
SomethingClever August 19, 2014 Share August 19, 2014 Some people might remember Ricky Jay from an episode of The X-Files. He played a magician that, for a special live performance, rotated his own head 360 degrees without an apparatus. He was later found dead; decapitated. He also guested on an episode of Mythbusters helping Jaime and Adam with a myth about using playing cards as lethal projectiles. He's also had small parts in several Mamet and PTA films, as well as being the narrator for the opening to The Brothers Bloom, which is my favorite part of one of my favorite films. 2 Link to comment
marketdoctor August 22, 2014 Share August 22, 2014 Penn & Teller gave the ice bucket challenge to Mac King, David Copperfield, and Piff the Magic Dragon. Two of them have already responded: 1 Link to comment
Kromm August 25, 2014 Share August 25, 2014 Penn & Teller gave the ice bucket challenge to Mac King, David Copperfield, and Piff the Magic Dragon. Two of them have already responded: I dunno. There's no Mr. Piffles in that. It feels incomplete without him. Although I suppose Piff "challenging" Mr. Piffles means there could be a follow-up video with him. 1 Link to comment
SomethingClever October 1, 2015 Share October 1, 2015 I mentioned in one of the other threads that I've got a whole long list of magic videos I've bookmarked over the years that I love sharing with people. This thread seems a pretty good place to share those, so I'll just periodically drop some videos of great magic in here. We'll start with a series of videos from Derek DelGaudio. You might have heard of Derek, since he and a magician named Helder Guimaraes (we'll get to him in a later post) put on an incredibly well received theater show in the last few years (directed by Neil Patrick Harris) called Nothing to Hide. Derek is one of the best card guys on the planet, absolutely as good as it gets. Here, he does a series of appearances on a Spanish talk show, and they're all incredible. Don't worry if you don't speak Spanish. I don't either, and it's still pretty easy to follow everything. First, there's this video of a dazzling display of gambling sleights and card control: Next, there is a series of 5 appearances that all build to a pretty spectacular finish. I'll just link the first one here (where he dazzles Daniel Radcliffe), but the others in the series are easy to find from that one 2 Link to comment
SomethingClever October 3, 2015 Share October 3, 2015 This is Yu Ho Jin. He was the 2012 grand prix winner at FISM (basically the olympics of magic). I'm not really one for card manipulation acts most of the time, but this one really is perfect. 2 Link to comment
SomethingClever October 5, 2015 Share October 5, 2015 For today, we're gonna move away from cards. Here's a quick video of an immensely talented magician named Ponta the Smith. He does ridiculously challenging coin material, and he does it as smoothly as it can possibly be done. Oh yeah, and he doesn't use gimmicks. Everything you see in this video is just normal coins and pure sleight of hand. Link to comment
SomethingClever October 7, 2015 Share October 7, 2015 Moving away from close up today, here's a stage act that I really love. It's a really elegantly done piece of storytelling Link to comment
SomethingClever October 10, 2015 Share October 10, 2015 Returning to cards, here's a great little act that won the close-up category at FISM a few years ago. There are a few annoying and unnecessary cuts in the video, but the act is so good it's still worth it. 1 Link to comment
Christina October 10, 2015 Share October 10, 2015 @SomethingClever Thank you for taking the time to post these videos; I am really enjoying them. 1 Link to comment
SomethingClever October 12, 2015 Share October 12, 2015 @SomethingClever Thank you for taking the time to post these videos; I am really enjoying them. You're very welcome. I'm glad you like them. Today, lets make it a 2-for-1 of cigarette magic. The first is this staggeringly good illusion by Akira Fujii. If you remember Eric Jones from Fool Us a couple weeks ago (who fooled Penn and Teller with a coin trick), he's the one taking the video, and he can't stop cursing because of how stupid good it looks. Second, the routine that Steve Fearson is famous (in the magic world) for. I love watching this one because I ostensibly know what's going on, but damn if it doesn't look like real magic anyway. Link to comment
SomethingClever October 15, 2015 Share October 15, 2015 I'll be interested to see what people think about this one. It's unusual, it's long, and it really only has one moment of magic, and yet I think it's absolutely wonderful. 1 Link to comment
SomethingClever October 16, 2015 Share October 16, 2015 Here's another video of the coin guy I posted earlier, Ponta the Smith. This one might be even better than the last one. Again I'll remind you, he's not using a trick coin. Link to comment
SomethingClever October 16, 2015 Share October 16, 2015 (edited) whoops, double post. In that case, I'll throw one more Ponta video out there. Edited October 16, 2015 by SomethingClever 1 Link to comment
SomethingClever October 19, 2015 Share October 19, 2015 For today, I've got a clip from the Dick Cavett show of the famous magician Tony Slydini. Cavett so admired Slydini that he twice had him on the show to do a 30 minute magic show. Slydini is a legend who brought a unique style to the magic of the time. If you don't have time to watch the whole clip, I suggest checking out the trick at about 13:20, when he does a series of tricks with tied handkerchiefs that are truly baffling. 2 Link to comment
Taeolas November 9, 2015 Share November 9, 2015 Piff is probably one of my favs now that I've seen him around a lot lately. My sister saw him in Edmonton this past weekend. Haven't heard how the show was (Other than a "Great Show!", but she has a FB photo that makes me EXTREMELY jealous. She got her picture taken with Piff, and she's holding Mr. Piffles! 3 Link to comment
Kromm August 10, 2016 Share August 10, 2016 Wow this Jibrizy knows how to promote himself: Link to comment
atlantaloves August 3, 2018 Share August 3, 2018 Without a shadow of a doubt, Shin Lin. WOW. He has fooled them twice. Link to comment
Kromm August 26, 2019 Share August 26, 2019 On 8/3/2018 at 7:00 PM, atlantaloves said: Without a shadow of a doubt, Shin Lin. WOW. He has fooled them twice. And THEN won AGT. Not once, but twice! Plus apparently his Vegas show is a success too. Piff is the only other contestant I know for sure who carved permanent success in Vegas out of that combination of Fool Us and AGT (even though he didn't fool anyone or win anything). Link to comment
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