Discourse In Magic

We're have a really special guest this week. He runs Ellusionist and made waves with his viral performance on Fool Us. Adam Wilber also produced the best selling trick pyro and we're really excited to have him in the show. Wilber was six years old when he stole a prop from a friend for a trick. He mastered that trick, fooled his dad and never looked back.  Adam studied education in college and thought he was going to become a PE teacher.  He started supplementing his income as a walk-around magician but it took another decade before he managed to make a living at it. The post Behind the Scenes at Ellusionist with Adam Wilber appeared first on Discourse in Magic.

Our guest this week is a brilliant mind in the community. He's a magician, a priest and a raconteur – we're really excited to have Jared Kopf. Every child is born with a sense of wonder that gradually dwindles. For Jared it never dwindled. He doesn't remember a specific moment when he fell in love with the art form. But by the time he was a young kid he had become totally obsessed. By 14 he was making pretty good money doing walk-around magic in restaurants. By the time he returned to magic after university he was much more interested in the art of magic rather than just fooling people. The post Real Magic with Jared Kopf appeared first on Discourse in Magic.

We made it! 100 episodes is a milestone we never expected to reach. Well, Jonah did. It's why he started the numbering with 001. Even still, we're super excited to have gotten this far. In this episode we reflect on how important the podcast has been on their own magic careers. The post Is Discourse in Magic Ending? appeared first on Discourse in Magic.

You know him from his Workers project, his book Paradigm Shift and his work as a consulting producer on Fool Us. In this episode you're going to learn all about how to have a good presentation, how to have an act worthy of television, and how to make your magic better! The post Get on Penn and Teller Fool Us with Michael Close appeared first on Discourse in Magic.

Mario Lopez was just a kid when a friend put a lit cigarette into his fist and made it disappear. He learned how it was done and from that moment on he was in love with magic. He moved to Granada in his native Spain when he was 18 where he trained with one of the countries top magicians. He was taught the art of performance and how to create the magical moment. He didn't teach young Luis any tricks specifically. It was all about how to perform on stage. Mario is incredibly dramatic on-stage which he says is a product of his environment. Clowns, actors and musicians are everywhere in Granada and they have all had an impact on his magic. The post Using Your Face with Mario Lopez appeared first on Discourse in Magic.

Lloyd Barnes grandfather became a travelling magician shortly after the war. He developed many tricks over the years and passed those onto Lloyd. His focus was much more on sport as a teenager – especially boxing and gymnastics. His university career was less than successful – he was thrown out in his final year. But that ignited his interest in magic and soon he was selling tricks and illusions that he developed himself. He was broke and homeless for a time and slept on many friends and families couches over the next few years. Lloyd now works with Ellusionist. He scouts tricks from other performers and from submissions to the company. He helps to make them more practical and performable. When you send a trick to the company, he's the guy that reads the email. The other part of his job is to shoot and edit the trailers for the new effects. Along with his own performing career that keeps him incredibly busy. The post Visual Magic and Ellusionist Secrets with Lloyd Barnes appeared first on Discourse in Magic.

It's episode 96 and time for another solo episode with Jonah and Tyler. We start the episode talking about what we should do to celebrate our upcoming 100th episode. We have had some pretty dumb ideas in the past like listening to all 100 episodes in a row. We need your ideas on this one. Hit us up on Instagram! The post Look How Far We’ve Come appeared first on Discourse in Magic.

He is Blue Crown Magic, he is Alex Pandrea. He first got into magic when he was five years old.  A clown came to his birthday party and did tricks like disappearing silk or sponge balls.  But his interest continued into young adulthood.  He grew up in New York City and it was through the local magic shops in Queens like Tannens that he discovered more magic.  He created some new effects as a teenager.  The post Making Magic and the Playing Card Revolution with Alex Pandrea appeared first on Discourse in Magic.

David Williamson is an incredible comedy magician and sleight-of-hand master. He feels that he was bitten by the bug early and he had no other choice but to follow his passion.  He was totally obsessed with it from a very early age. David was painfully shy.  But he forced himself to get up on open stages at bars at the age of 15, and look at him now! The post Becoming an Entertainer with David Williamson appeared first on Discourse in Magic.

Our guest this week came across our Instagram feed a few months ago and we knew we had to have him on the podcast.  His work as a cardist is truly awe-inspiring.  John first got into magic after his family got him a magic kit when he was 8 years old.  He learned the boomerang card throw at age eleven and from that point on cardistry became his obsession.  Finding tricks was difficult as he fell into the generation where magic stores started to close but online stores were not yet common.  That forced him to develop his own magic and his own style. The post Cardistry, Magic, and Getting Noticed with John Stessel appeared first on Discourse in Magic.

Welcome everyone to Episode 92 – our first episode of 2018! We both had a good New Year's Eve. We relaxed with friends, some hors d'oeuvres and champagne. Last New Year's we challenged ourselves to come up with some magical resolutions. Jonah resolved to work more on scripting his magic performances in 2017 – something he managed to achieve. Tyler, meanwhile, can't remember what his resolution was. Though, he may have promised himself that he was going to perform more. The post New Year, New Magic appeared first on Discourse in Magic.

Felix Bodden has appeared on Fool Us and has created a really popular Instagram feed.  He first became interested when he was eight years old in 2001 – the same year that the first Harry Potter movie came out.  But Felix became frustrated when he realized there was no such thing as real magic.  His Mom took pity on him and bought Felix his first magic kit.  When you’re a kid everything is magical.  The post Inner Secrets of Instagram Magic with Felix Bodden appeared first on Discourse in Magic.

We’ve been trying to get Tony Chang on the podcast for a long time and it’s finally happened!  Jonah and Tony spent some time together and NYC recently.  But this is the first time we have had the chance to talk to him about his history.  Tony first fell in love with magic when he saw a clown magician as a kid.  He got curious and he went to the public library in Idaho, where he grew up and found some books.  They were incredibly discouraging.  So he turned to some magic rooms on IRC in the early days of the internet.  He ordered a Hank Lee book and read it repeatedly.  His goal with magic is to create something incredible with imperfect means.  You can create an illusion using blunt mechanics to achieve something impossible.  The post Making Good Magic Great with Tony Chang appeared first on Discourse in Magic.

Geraint’s advice for a magician who wants to begin to sell illusions depends on what you want to accomplish.  Some people just want to make as much as possible.  But others want to be known and respected for creating quality magic.  Networking with the magic community to create something of value is hugely important.  But, he advises that once you conceive of a trick you should sit on it for a while.  Geraint has created tricks that he perfected over years before bringing to market. The post What Makes a Great Magic Product with Geraint Clarke appeared first on Discourse in Magic.

This episode is packed full of questions that we want YOU to answer! Join in the fun, leave a comment and let us know what you feel about these deep philosophical magic questions! The post Questions for Your Magic Mind appeared first on Discourse in Magic.

Sean O is a master of cardistry and has achieved a lot at a very young age.  Sean is only twenty years old but has been honing his skill since he was in grade school. He did his first paying gig was when he was nine.  He performed at a five year olds birthday party.  He first saw card magic when he was given The Trilogy by Dan and Dave.   He would also watch XCM battles and was obsessed with it.  Both of Sean’s parents worked in IT and he had many computers in his house growing up.  He has combined his interest in the web and magic from the very beginning. The post Instagram and the Cardistry Subculture with Sean O appeared first on Discourse in Magic.

Xavior Spade is making waves as one of the highest profile YouTube magicians.  He is using live streaming to connect with an every-growing audience.  Xavior found magic as a young person while growing up in Jamaica, Queens in New York City.  But it was magic that helped him to escape the ghetto.  It was incredible eye-opening experience to be treated as an equal in the magic community.  Eventually, Xavior gravitated to new platforms like Twitch and Discord as a gamer.  Some magic discussions took place on those video streaming services and eventually ended up on YouTube.  The post Modern Magic and Why it Lives Online with Xavior Spade appeared first on Discourse in Magic.

Garrett Thomas is an incredible magician, an opinion that was confirmed recently when Jonah saw him perform at the Buffalo 52 magic convention.  Garrett first fell in love with magic because of his father.  His dad was a huge fan of magic and was friends with the bar magician Eddie Fechter. Who had a brilliant way of teaching people.  Fechter taught Garret’s dad a few tricks which were then passed on to young Garrett.  That instilled an obsession in him at a very young age.  His family has a history of addiction and Garrett feels that he funneled that addictive personality into magic.   The post Understanding Magic with Garrett Thomas appeared first on Discourse in Magic.

Allan thinks that young magicians should start out by learning from the masters.  It would be foolish to ignore the classics.  Work your way through Card College.  There is enough knowledge there to last a lifetime.  Eventually you will discover two or three pieces that resonate with you.  That will then help you discover what your strengths are. The post Presentation, Effect Selection, and How to Practice with Allan Hagen appeared first on Discourse in Magic.

Demian Aditya has become world famous because of his insane escape acts.  Demian first became interested in magic because of David Copperfield who was on TV regularly in his native Indonesia.  The post Becoming a Death Defying Escape Artist with Demian Aditya appeared first on Discourse in Magic.