Gig stories from our listeners! #223

Guys, they do magic. They are the Magic Guys.

Ladies and gentlemen, let me start that again. Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, welcome to the Magic Guys. I'm Josh Norbedo, but to my left we have... I'm Nick Kay, and below me is the effervescent... Hey, I'm Doug Conn, and self-working magic is my kryptonite. What's happening? Nice. Nice. Self-working magic is... I did it wrong. Is it a problem? Give me a pass. Give me a side steal. I'm good. Give me a button to push. I'll screw it up every time.

Yeah. Well, technology is bad. I hate relying on tech, like, you know, an electronic gimmick or something to work. That'll mess me up most times.

Yeah look i think that electronics should be more like an icing on the cake as opposed to the entire method like for me one of the most terrifying routines is a color match i mean when that doesn't work totally there is no there is no safety net no parachute you just plow into the earth and it is over and that's what happens when you perform live like this show Magic Guys Live.

Yeah, like us right now. Like my laptop crashing last week and luckily Nick and Doug saved the day and ended the episode. So if you were listening to that on Spotify and were like, why did that end so abruptly? That's why. It's because it's live and the audio is gone. But because we do it live, we have friends live watching in the chat. I can see we've got Scott Link, Thomas Conger, Dragoteer, Gary Davis. These are the OGs. Scotty P. We go back even further OG than that. We also got Caden. Look,

this is great. Everyone's showing up. Adonis. Ah, I love it. So today I put out a call, a prompt for voice messages, your speak pipes to bring in. Tell us some gig stories. You know, you're out there in the trenches we want to hear how it's going and because also sometimes we're able to like save some of the best stories and relive them through telling them telling them on the pod right because. Oh, shit. Well, they...

How did that even happen? It's live. What were you saying about it being live? They started a coup and they took me off the podcast for a second. But we're back. Enough out of you, Josh Nibito. Gone.

I'm going to shut up. That's right. So, guys, gig stories is a segment of the show we kind of used to do on a regular basis in which we like to share stories either while performing or just our day-to-day life. And it's been a while since we've done them. And we have basically so many cool stories to tell. And so we put the call out to you guys on our socials going, hey, if you guys have cool gig stories, we want to hear all about it as well. And we have a whole bunch which you guys sent in.

Hopefully there's enough time to get through all of them as well as sharing the ones that we've been up to this week. So Josh, should we line up our first speak pipe and gig story? Hell yeah. And can I also just set a prompt for the next weeks? Don't wait until I put a prompt out. Just send us in a speak pipe. We love hearing from you, and you can do that through the link below where you're listening to this, or just go to themagicguysshow.com, and you'll see the button to leave a recording.

Our first speak pipe comes from Tim Raymond. Now, I haven't heard the full story, but I've heard the prompt, and I'm excited already. So let's hear what Tim got up to at his gig. So basically, I had a gig at Retirement Village on the weekend. And through email, we'd agreed it would be an hour of roving. So I assumed they would have tables set up and I would just move around between different groups and do some close-up effects with all of the residents.

But upon arriving, they had it set up with rows of chairs and a space at the front, and I only had my close-up stuff with me, so I quickly had to figure out how I could make some of that play for a larger audience. So I did that, and then just spent 20 minutes at the end just kind of going from row to row, doing some different close-up stuff. All in all, it did go quite well, just threw me for a bit of a loop,

but they said they'd have me back again. So, had a happy ending, albeit a bit of a stressful beginning. All right. Love the podcast, guys.

Well, Tim. That was even in his recording. That wasn't me. Yeah. What happens with assumptions, Tim, is that assumptions make an ass out of you and me. And when we assume they're going to be doing things a certain way, it does turn out like that. That's why it's always important that when you ask about the location of it, you say, are you looking for a walk around? Is it going to be table seating?

Ask those sorts of questions when you do that next inquiry. I do it all the time because I can't tell you how many times I've rocked up to gigs and they've gone like, oh, no, it's going to be like a seated thing. It's like, okay, well, you don't want roving.

You want this. you know so it's like make sure that in the future that you find out all the details with regards locations i can't tell you how many times people have gone oh i got this gig yeah it's like 600 bucks blah blah can you do it for me i i can't do it i'm like sure and they go oh it's three hours out of town i'm like the fuck yeah it happens it's yeah yeah it's earlier on in your career you know

yeah that's that's how you learn later i actually i have a relatable gig story a Vegas gig story. For me, I was going to work as a Las Vegas magic open mic. And my goal here was to film a performance for a Sponge Bunny release, which we had with Trick Supply. This was about two months ago or a month ago. So I made an agreement with the producer. They do a close-up set before the stage set, which is open mic, but the close-up set is formal.

And that's what we agreed that I would be working and filming the Sponge Bunnies.

Well, first of all, I get to the gig and realize I forgot the Sponge Bunnies at the house. So I send the wife back to get the purpose of being at this venue. Of course, see all the magic is fun. But then I get there and the guy's like, oh no, man, it's not close up. That's just for this guy. He's doing 30 minutes. You're going to need to put your name in the hat and be on stage. So boy, talk about flipping the tables. And especially when I'd planned to do a professional shoot of this product.

But yeah, you learn as time goes on how to adapt your close-up routines to play bigger, right? So as opposed to, you know, having that formal close-up stage with everyone close, I brought a committee on stage with me and we performed our close-up magic for them and let the audience, you know, enjoy the magic. And it turned out pretty good, you know? We had some great audience reactions and everything worked out, but yeah. Yeah.

And that's what I want to commend Tim for as well. The fact that you were able to pivot and work through that, that's the workings of a pro, man.

And the fact that you were able to do that on the fly, you got to give yourself a pat on the back, brother, man. Take a lesson from this, everyone listening. If you do close up magic, think about at least a couple of routines that you can make play bigger than you generally do. If you're not sure how to go about that, let me recommend Stage by Stage by John Graham.

This is one of my favorite books of the last decade he explains the process quite clearly there's some other good ones but uh yeah try and think how you can make your small tricks play this way if nothing else for when you find yourself in that situation i mean talking about small tricks playing big did you guys watch wilman's new special like we don't have to make an episode about it but wilman put out a magic lover, Netflix special. And it's very much shot like a standup special.

And the thing that's most notable is almost all of the magic is super small magic, but just his delivery and writing gets all the laughs from the audience. But it's very much like a camera on him and he's borrowing someone's bill. You know, it's a lot of stuff like that throughout the whole thing. There's no illusions On stage Like. Well, that zip code routine is just verbiage, right? The whole zip code segment, which is a lot, and freaking unbelievable, is just words.

And that's the thing. Yeah, when it comes to, like, the good thing about mentalism is that you don't have to be seen on a projector screen or whatever. Like, you can do that on a stage.

And so yeah i encourage not that to say you're going to have a camera projecting you on screen at every gig that asks you to randomly get on stage but it's good to think in the way that you don't have to have these massive props if the client says at the very end oh do you mind doing one thing on stage to say goodbye to everyone or whatever these are common things that they'll throw in there you know okay right willman's

out there killing it filling up these high-end theaters with this one-man low-tech show let me tell you i think he's not thankful, he's so good for magic he really is yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah that's gonna be good for magic what's the next speak pipe friends all right speak pipe speaking of speak pipe our next one is from adonis who's in the chat shout out the live chat let's go adonis now i gotta bring the volume down because

his voice is so deep i love it here we go too low josh too low josh nope.

Welcome to magic guys live that's right live on the internet that's that's actually my fault because i had him on mute the whole time so i've been listening to his sweet sweet nectar of a voice that whole time so i'm just gonna reopen up that speak pipe this is what i'm talking about tech okay imagine we're doing this live or something with people watching this to be horrible all right here we go hey guys adonis here a little a story about a gig that i had a couple weeks ago it was

a community event i decided to test a couple new routines i've been working on one of them was a half-dye color-changing silk. Two things happened. First, the first transformation, the first color change, I messed up. Let the silk hanging before revealing the whole thing. So. There is more. Why is it not? After that, I'm explaining, I'm using the concept of I'm going to teach the trick. I'm teaching, I said I hide the red handkerchief in the hand and reveal there's nothing on it. It's vanished.

Probably 10, 20 seconds later, one of the kids just have the reaction, the realization that the handkerchief was missing. I had to point it out. I basically look at the kid and say, I guess somebody's catching up. Thank you for the opportunity. Kids, huh? Kids, huh? They're the worst type of humans. Those mini humans? Yeah. They're like short guy syndrome, but worse. So he was doing the effect and he did the effect and the kids just didn't register that magic had happened.

That's what I'm reading from this. You know what? depending on the age of the kid yeah well you know what it's like for me when it comes to kids the six-year-old brain is is like the perfect age and i think that anything below that can be a bit of a oh that's just how things work you know what i mean like everything's that's the issue right there yeah like everything's magical when you're a kid like you use a remote control whoa doing

the tv on without having to get up and push a button you know what i mean like that sort of thing, that's where I feel it can kind of happen so there is a probably a level of conditioning and call and response that could combat that but hey like you made it through Adonis power to you yeah man what about adults like I'm sure we do stuff and every now and then you're like, Just so you know, that is impossible. It reminds me of the Ben Seidman opener, how he does the silk through microphone stand.

And he's like, hello, this should not be able to go through this. Let me do it again. It's a funny bit, but in real life that can happen. Well, just further to your point, it says here that she was at least 10. And strangely, I think kids get dumber as they go towards their teens. And not because they are dumb, but because they become apathetic.

By nature they get this attitude that like i'm a queen i'm a boss bitch i'm a this or that you know what i mean and it's sort of like what like and and i see it so regularly as i'm performing for for younger girls like it's insane and this happens and i'm just going to share this i know this sounds like really kind of awful but this is purely a report of what i experienced but it's like if i'm having someone choose a playing card if i say red or black no problem if i say let's So they say red.

If I say heart or diamond, two options, no problem. I turn to the third person and say, there's 13 values. Choose a value, ace through 10, jack, queen, or king. They go, what? Like if it's too many options, they just go, ugh, and their brain shuts off. It is one of those things that is happening. So when what? When the brain shuts off? I make fun. And then I make it very simple and go, choose a number between one and 13.

And they go that's what i do as well just pick a number just you know yeah and so yeah and i can't say many times i've said choosing between 10 and 35 7 10 and 35 clever kid let's try it again, You know, like I've, I've, I've had moments like that with, with, with adult, man, adults do it too. Like, especially when you put them on the spot, I'll be like, yeah, I mean, the worst is like, name a number up to 10, 16.

Great. Now let's try again where you think about it or like, you know, like it, it's everyone, but definitely the age younger and younger don't play with cars that much.

Right. When we're young, I've mentioned this before. i'm sure i like to ask the child how old they are and use that as the number to represent the card if we're doing something like that any trick any card trick that involves a child you can use their age to represent the child themselves have them write on it it's now super uh you know identifiable.

Yeah i would say what when um when the pandemic hit and school formals in australia started booking magicians or at least in queensland because they were allowed to have their formal but they couldn't have a dance floor so they booked magicians for almost every formal to fill that time and my god if there is a harder audience than 17 year olds that are dressed up which they've never been dressed up like before and they're trying to impress the

date they're with and everything is about them and the whole time the girls and guys are taking selfies of themselves and then you're thrown in there to try and impress them. That, my friends, was the hardest lesson to learn back in 2020. I very quickly realized not a single thing can be about me or skill or watch this. It has to be, let's use your phone. Oh, should I know your pin code? Think of the first person you dated or it had to all purely be about them or you got like zero attention.

And that's just what's going to happen when you meet certain audiences. But like, it's the same reason why it's so important to be dynamic because the way you talk to a six-year-old kid is going to be totally different to the way you talk to a 33-year-old person and everything in between. So it's so important to be dynamic in that sense and trying to get the focus of kids nowadays as well.

You know what I mean? Like, I can't tell you how many folks are sitting there with whatever sensory overload things, they're chewing stuff. It's, it does become an issue, you know, and finding a way, a medium to connect to them and make sure that there is a communication transpiring between the two of you, you've got to be dynamic, man. It's a tough one.

But I think that you handled it pretty well, Adonis, and you made your way out. But it is kind of fun when sometimes it doesn't hit. And it's not always going to be on you. Not always, but you've got to take some responsibility and do the best you can to make sure it lands. Yeah. All right. Our next one is from Aziz Magic. I'm not sure if he's in the chat, but he's definitely on the speak pipes. So let's hear what Adonis, Aziz Magic.

Has gone in store for us. Okay, so I have to record this again. Hi, everyone. It's too long to record, like one minute. So, hi, my name is Aziz. I do magic. Since I was 14, I am in Saudi Arabia Riyadh. So, the long story short, I did a gig. Not a gig, actually. I do state magic, regardless of if it's paid or not. Just for fun. So, this was a big convention on our week.

We had a lot of visitors coming from all over the country. Here in Saudi Arabia So I did the double cross You know double cross You are familiar with the principle Amazing amazing trick And this is the best time I build this trick I already mark the hand Everyone is anticipating The X moving from my hand Disappear in the thin air It will appear in her hand I build it up for five minutes I've been building this trick up At the end Everyone is silent Everyone is waiting

For this to happen And when she opened her hand, Her hand was so clean, like a baby ass. I swear to God, I don't know what happened. After I went back home, I figured out that the mark or the stamp has been broken or dropped or whatever. Like I have the cover, I have the lid, but not the stamp. This is like a really fucked up situation, and how do you cover from it, guys? Tell me, how do you cover from this?

Oh wow that is going to be hard to beat in terms of speed pipes because that was a very well told story the speed pipe ever, and i can have you guys done that yet because i have the the stamper has fallen out of the cap i managed to do it to myself i bought double cross and broke it immediately and never replaced it and so that that was my experience with it similar to this gentleman's what's the what the what the fuck yeah i mean i've done it on on live tv like i had i was on was it studio

10 or something and and i thought i'd be fancy and i would i would do i would do the stamping as pre-show so that in real time it just looked like real magic and I was very excited for that to happen, and then but the reveal there was still some ink like thank god there was some ink so there was like a little bit but it just hadn't worked or her hands had been cleaned in between sets or whatever.

And the only thing I could do was like point at it and like just long enough for her to go, oh, that's weird. And I'll go, no, let's keep going with the ink. I'm going to get you to actually sign a whole card this time. And I brought out the blank deck and you just, you have to keep like moving through it. And then they forget that it happens. Except for magicians. I had like three magicians message me being like, oh, that's stuffed up, didn't it? I'm like, thanks, mate.

But yeah, that's, that's tricky. You have to have something to go into if that happens, right? So like, Nick, what comes to mind if you are him, if you're Aziz, you've built up this thing for five minutes and the X has gone somewhere, but it's not in the hand. What do you do? Okay, this is, I just thought of this. Awesome. Purely for redundancy purposes, put an X somewhere on your person. My thought was this. I would probably just pull back my ear and I would put an X behind my ear.

And if it ever didn't work i would do a thing where i would go like open your hand and it leaves and it goes behind your ear have a look is it is it not there crap is it let me check yours wait and then you go like it should and you and you show it should it should have been behind your ear just there and then it's behind your ear and you wouldn't use that as a reveal but i think an effect versus no effect works a bit better well if you're doing double cross you need to go get that tat

go get that x tat right here you're ready to go commit maybe maybe what about what about what about a coin i used to for a while back in the day i used to i used to with sharpie write a reveal like a six and a heart or something and then i would sit the coin so if it's written here, I would put it in their hand this way, so when they close it now, it'll reveal when they open their hand. But maybe there's a way on the fly. On the fly, you could even do it, but I guess...

What if you had a coin with an X on it? So you say, oh, it's not in your hand yet. Okay, let's put something in your hand.

And you do like a little fake kind of a display, close your hand, and then try again. Is that going to maybe provoke some kind of magical? Yeah. I don't know. It's tough. It's a tough move when you build it up that much. Scott Link says, I've seen a Waldo tattooed behind an ear.

Maybe that'll be fun, holding an X, you know? that's yeah i'm just i'm just half thinking like what would be your backup situation where it's like you go for the miracle miracle fails but you still have an effect and that is the best i can kind of think of where it just it appears somewhere maybe under your watch or like you know like i'm just trying to think where you could put it that would be i actually love that idea any random x ready to go in case

of emergency if you're doing a high-end situation or any gig where you need to look smart every time that's a smart out takes one second to make a little x somewhere and if you need it there and for me the type of thing where it's like oh so i go i messed that one up that was supposed to go behind your ear not my ear you know like my bad okay and then they go whoops okay let's move on to the next one and they go that's funny i didn't even see that there and move on yeah

yeah it's also a good point to mention that we maybe shouldn't rely on double cross that heavily but what have we got oh look it's behind you run yeah you know what i'm thinking about right now is watching bob sheets perform the hiba haba al sugar trick you guys know what the sugar trick is no what's that as in like sugar cube the one where you rub it comes up here's the deal you take a sugar cube you get someone's initials you ask them what their initials are you write

it on the sugar cube you drop the sugar cube in a glass of water and have them put their your hand on top. When they lift their hand, their initials are now in their hand. And then you say, look at the back of your hand and the initials are there. Look at the back of your other hand and the initials are there. Sir, you think that's funny? Look at your hand. You got them too. And so now you, so I don't want to give the whole thing, but you're able to take the impression from the sugar cube.

You use a lead pencil and with some moisture, you can dab it onto your finger and start tagging people in different places i saw bob sheets perform this routine slayed with it when you say one he finishes the routine by saying you think that's funny lady you got one on your leg come with me and he runs with her to the bathroom and she starts screaming from the bathroom and, That's great version of, yeah, you, you would have to do it in reverse because

it's a stamp as well, which is really quite a, quite a skill set to practice. That is very impressive. And I don't know if you've seen Bob sheets perform, but let me tell you, he is powerhouse. Yeah. And this routine, I don't know, it can get much stronger than that. You know, you have six or seven people have these random initials appear upon them.

Damn yeah so that's the hibahaba al sugar trick it's a killer well i'll tell you what guys we, like aziz we've offered a solution with regards to an out if anyone else listening has a better idea we do have a discord where we do share magic and we share ideas there is a hashtag called the the podcast and you just say hey idea for aziz share your thoughts we are a community we do take care of each other so if you have any ideas please

scope out our discord share your thoughts in there as well i'm saying we've on to the next one absolutely because no doubt after the pod the three of us will be like oh yeah that's what we should do in that situation it's so hard to think about anything when we're trying to think of this machine not blowing up midstream so let's carry on our next speak pipe is from nicholas aka dragoteer who's in the chat dragoteer let's hear what you've been up to my friend here

we go this is more of a gig that never happens story, Me and a couple of other magician friends were wanting to get together and put on a show for the community. And I noticed on my local city website that they had outside stage that you can rent out. It was like a $500 security deposit. So I went up to my parks and rec after my day job and cash in hand. They started to take my information and they said, okay, so what's your band's

name? And I'm like, oh, we're not a band. We're just some magicians wanting to put on a magic show. And they go oh well this stage is concerts only so we had to go back to the drawing board for that one yeah and i was just wondering if anything like that has ever happened to you guys that is crazy, you know what that's never happened to me but i've had situations where they go what do you do for a living i go magician and they go oh what instrument do you play i'm just like banjo.

And you just go with it yeah yeah yeah the age-old confusion i would just pull out my nose flute and get busy wow that's a tough one nick yeah you're not alone we all get mixed confused with with magicians and musicians but yeah you know that's unfortunate that they because you would think that a magician using the stage is way less of an issue or you know risk than a band how many times have you done a corporate where there's been a band and they're like

oh you're gonna do your stage portion up there and you're like the amount of equipment tables microphones foldback speakers drum kit amplifiers there is zero real estate for a magic show here like what the how how did you think it's a good idea and why did you make what did you order the world's shortest stage you know when yeah normally a corporate stage show i always plan to do my routine where i do a backflip on stage and stuff but it always depends on

actually when i get there is there a low ceiling compared to the stage i can't do it and has the band freaking taken over the stage if they have i can't do it and i never know until i get there And sometimes, like you're saying, Nick, they're like, oh, yeah, we've left you like a one meter by one meter spot for you to stand. Like, is that enough? I'm like, sure. You know, by that stage, it's too late. And you're like, sure.

But yeah, it's crazy how much room and also how much like rehearsal time before the show starts bands will take, which I get it. And it's just, you know, our lives. Every time I do a stage show, which I've done just in the past few months, I'll say for most recent purposes, I'm there. I've done my tech. I've done everything I need to. Doors, normally when I do an event of this nature, it's like a very large scale ballroom with several hundred seats.

And there's a foyer in which everyone sits out there. What I tend to do is once I've done my bit, I'll go into the foyer and I'll rock everyone's world. I can't tell you how many times I've gone like, oh, people are starting to arrive. I'm going to go in the foyer. Band isn't even done setting up, nor have they done soundcheck. Yeah. And I'm treating myself like. True. You know what I want to know? I want to hear from musicians out there that get

confused as magicians. Are there any of them out there? Is there a dude with like long hair and like, you know, a clean cut beard? And when he's like, oh, I'm a musician. They're like, oh, like, you should go and follow us. He puts his guitar down. That's never happened in the history of man. I'll put my guitar down and grab a Sharpie marker and be like, what's this X on my hand? Yes. Nick, you saying you never got confused as a magician when you were in a band? Never when I was in a band.

Fair enough no no thankfully not but yeah i think the way you pivot that i mean you know what i would do i would talk it like so what i'm curious is like the outcome of the gig did they just say like you're not doing the gig or get the hell out of here or what are we supposed to do now like was it like hey man let us do the gig i promise you it's going to be an absolute banger like how did it work out in the end like what was the outcome yeah i

think they just tried to book the space and they couldn't book it that's what i got like they couldn't even book it because they're magic dorks yeah learning magic jeez jeez i'm you know my first ever stage show that i put on myself was at a scout hall famously for any of my friends who i made come and watch me it was at the nanda scout hall and it was like you know this dingy two-story what probably used to be a house that they converted into a scout hall i went up there and it kind of

looked like a church setup They cleared all the big long chairs away for me and put out normal seats for people to sit on. It was like a dingy wooden stage and some curtains we had to manually pull back and stuff. But sometimes that's just what you do. You just find somewhere else. You make it work. And then the next time you do a show, you just try and find a little bit of a better place. But in the beginning, you just want to do magic, right? So you almost don't care where you do it.

You're just whatever. I remember doing letterbox drops for that show, like in, in the surrounding neighborhood. I would never do that now, but, um, in the beginning, you just do find where you can to perform. So you gotta. Yep. I agree with that. And so. Yeah. So we have one more speak pipe from Alex Lam, who just made it in the chat. Shout out, Alex.

Alex is only, I feel like he's really ramped up his gigging ability, him and Scotty P, sort of since January this year. And so in the last couple of months. So really interested to hear what conundrums he's getting himself into. Alex Lam, let's hear what you got, buddy. Alright so not the craziest gig story but something just happened at my last one and it's one of those things where just the stars align and you're just like yes something that wouldn't happen.

Naturally and it just totally works out so I say pick a card to this guy and I've got two duplicates on top ready for the two card transpo, he's not trying to be a jerk he's just trying to be a bit cheeky and he says I want this one and he takes the second card from the top which is a duplicate and I'm like are you sure you want that one he's like yeah yeah yeah i want this one so i'm like yes in my mind i'm like yes yes yes so he shows his card is one of the jack of diamonds he

shows it to his friend i palm the other jack i just do card to pocket right there and i palm palm it pull it out of my pocket and he's like what the hell and he starts freaking out and i say look i'll show you how i do it and i pick up a double and i palm the double and i show him my hands and i've got two cards as one in my hand. I say, look, your Jack of Diamonds gets palmed off. I pull it out of my pocket, and then I've ditched the second duplicate.

And I say, look, here, take it back, shuffle, shuffle, shuffle. And I say, look, watch. Empty hand, reach into the pocket, pull out his card again. And he just goes dead silent for like 30 seconds. So it's one of those things where people freak out, and they're like, oh my god, how you do that? And then they go silent, and you just know that their brain is not computing what they just saw. And yeah, it was just one of those fun things that just works out for you.

That's great. A duplicate card to pocket sequence. I wonder if you could make that happen on purpose where you have a second one in your pocket already and it is signed enough within like a 10 of clubs that when you flash it, it could be the same one. Let me speak on the original Carlisle homing card routine, which used a pocket switch for that ruse to get one ahead.

He would force the three of diamonds, and then after doing the pocket switch, switch it for an ace of diamonds, so that as he inserts the card, he could use this ruse as the card goes in, creating an impromptu duplicate from a force. That's great. And that was the original homing card routine. Stars of magic is your reference. Ooh, that's awesome. I think. I learned my homing card from Michael Vincent's work, and I imagine he probably learned it from there, from Stars of Magic. No doubt.

That's a great idea to show the Ace of Diamonds as a three. Or any pseudo-duplicate. Maybe it's better with more pips on the card. But Carlisle's original, he might not have had that touch in Stars of Magic. It might be in the Magic of Francis Carlisle, but I'm pretty sure it's in there.

For sure, homing cards in Stars of Magic, though. Wow.

There's there's one other duplicate story that comes to mind from pasha our buddy pasha magic, he was doing an ambitious card routine and he would actually sign his duplicates so it looked like a real duplicate like a real exact so he would pretend like it was signed from someone else and he got the guy to pick one out he picks it he's like oh i don't want that one it's already signed and the guy throws it away and pasha's like all right and just by chance he goes right

take another one he just so happens to grab the exact same duplicate that looks signed looks at it and goes what the f and it was for him the like the best miracle ever because it was so fair like shuffle shuffle shuffle just take one you gotta you gotta save those moments they're the best.

Yeah the best is like when you tell someone to name a card okay i'll share one little quick gig story that only magicians will appreciate but so i'm doing my my normal shtick of mnemonicosis right so the deck's in their hand i'm like the groups crowded around like name any card and in this case it was the eight of hearts so i'm like all right spell your name out she spells her name out boom eight of hearts right amazing miracle

great then the group's like holy crap And they're trying to dissect it because they're med students. They're like, what would have happened if she had said a different card? Like, would her name have spelt to a different card? Or like, what if her name was a different spelling? Like, I just can't, like, you just let her do all that. How would that have played out in another reality? I'm like, that's the question. And I don't know why. I don't know why I decided to do it again,

but they were just a fun group. And I was like, would you like to see it again, though? Normally I wouldn't. And they're like, yeah. So we give the deck to a different person. And I'm like, all right, name a card. And she just so happens to name the card that's the next one in the deck, the six of spades. So now they themselves have lined up that her card is sitting right underneath her new names card. So when she spells her name out, she spells it out to the eight of hearts.

And I'm like, that's so weird that you did that because I thought this might happen. And that's why I put one card right beneath it, check it out, which just solidified that I'd done that on purpose, if that makes sense. And it was like, it was actually too much for them. And it was fantastic. Yeah, that's literally too perfect. Like, oh man. Yeah. And sometimes you just gotta, you just gotta go with it.

You're pretty remarkable when you get challenged a lot while you're performing. that happens more times than not especially with the ego that comes along with performing for high-end events you know i'm the rich guy i've got all this ego vibrato it becomes a very much a thing i remember i was performing in a high-end nightclub in our sort of fancier part of town and i'm doing my thing in the club i was on the rooftop because that's where

the all the smokers were and everyone's having a great time and this and this i don't know i'm going to do my best to describe it but just imagine like the alpha of the group is then addressed that's like you've got to get blah and then he sees mr alpha and goes you gotta see this guy's amazing and as he walks over he just goes he can't be that good i've still got my watch and i'm like this motherfucker so so naturally i stole the watch.

And then i give it back to him being like i guess i'm not good day that and i gave him a business card. I think I did one event for him in the future, but it was just one of those things where you do get challenged and it's like, what are you thinking? You know, like, yeah, And it's funny because sometimes there's always like one, it's either, it's remarkable, either like the alpha or the shit kicker of the company, the guy who like sweeps the floors and cleans the toilets and is like,

well, no, no, come on, mate, you can't let that go. Oh, you can't fool me. It's like, bro, you can barely string together a sentence. You're challenging me. I'm like, I'm blowing sleight of hand. Sure. Let's do this. It's, it's a fun thing. It's a fun place to dance where people come at you with challenging. Well, if you could do this, I was performing another event just a couple of weeks ago.

Go and this there was a group of guys they were part of this company and every and it was just remarkable because every time they said something it was literally the next phase of the routine i was going to do anyway yes it will do something with three do something with with one coin all right i'll put these two away look at this one here do something with a pen oh and i changed the into a pen boom do something with the balloon fuck this is too good what's that behind your ear boom balloon

put a phone in a balloon break the balloon but you can't fix the balloon but you fucking can fix the balloon do the thing hold the balloon but you can't put a card in there i'm like are you have you seen my act have you seen my act like the guy just called out every phase of my thing and then i had the ceo come across sign a card put that card inside the balloon i And I was just like, and then he was like, do something with a knife. And I was like, I left my knife in my bag.

And that was it. I go, but I can. But he just, everything he said, I was just like, I got this. Like, it was so fun to just be walked down this garden path. You know? That's so good.

Yeah yeah and the reactions are so much higher too because they they feel like it's unprepared because they they're the ones that have said it yeah so it's like just so much stronger one time, one time i was doing a show and i was doing my cups and balls and the cups and balls is entirely reminiscent of gazo's cups and balls but the difference between my cups and balls is i would i bring the table out my three cups and i explain

this is like the oldest trick in the book blah blah, blah, blah. And I explained that. I go, so the story of this is quite unique. You see, my real name isn't Nick K. It's Cassidus. It's a Greek name. And I'm first generation born in this country. Now, many years ago, my grandfather migrated here and we had a family business, a fruit shop. And we all used to work in a fruit shop. And people would come from all around to see me do this routine because I didn't want to be like a fruiterer.

I wanted to be a magician. and so i used to have to tell my audience hey if my granddad is that a thing yeah yeah it's here it's it's a it's a common thing in fact there was a very popular comedian called con the fruiterer okay which was a greek yeah it's a in australian culture just so you're aware melbourne especially it's the largest greek settlement outside of greece which my background is harden my interruption fruiter not at all not at all but i'm happy

to educate but what i would do is i would i would do this bit where i'd say like i used to people would come from all around and see me perform this very routine and i just have to say hey if my granddad comes this isn't a magic show it's a fruit shop okay and everyone goes okay so i do my cups and balls routine and then i start producing all the fruits from underneath the cups and i do six pieces of fruit and two coconuts that's that's Those are my loads on this big table. Right?

So I do the whole routine with the six. Now, what I like to do is... I always do this. You shouldn't feel, I go, don't feel bad. You should have been paying attention over here under this cup. Cause you know what, you know, what's under there. And they go orange and I go orange and they go, you should be paying attention over here. And do you know why? And they go, apple. I go, absolutely. Apple, every single fruit they called fruit, veg, you name it was revealed except for the last two.

It's because I'm doing six of them. Right. And so I go like, you should be paying attention over here.

And do you know why? He goes, onion. I go, no, no, no. The onions on this side. and then I reveal the onion on that side and then I go but what's on this side and he was like potato and I went potato it is he called all six of the fruit so it was like he just named so so for everyone watching my show it was like the guy just named a fruit and it was under the cup he just named the fruit and it was under the cup like it was the best thing I've ever seen and that was

such a fun fun thing to do and then I finished the show where I produce a coconut I got I was like you should be paying attention as to what's under the hat. And everyone yells out things like this and that, the three bowls. And I go, no one ever says coconut. And I drop a coconut and then a second one. And then I say, oh, by the way, this wasn't a magic show. And then I hit a kabuki drop and from the front of the table unravels a thing that says Nick's fruit shop.

And I go, it wasn't a magic show. It's a fruit shop. And so you've got this table covered in fruit and a sign that says Nick's fruit shop. So it leans back into that thing where if anyone, my granddad comes, this isn't a magic show, I'm just selling fruit. I'm just selling fruit. Man, what a great premise for a magic show to have happen in a fruit shop. Like you got cuffs and balls, you got card to orange, you got the vanishing bandana. Like you could have so much.

Multiplying bananas yeah i i did a lot of stuff for woolworth's which is our supermarkets on this side of the planet and yeah i did stuff all over the country for these guys like i was driving all the way i was like five hours away in the middle of nowhere and i was doing shows out there i was working in their bakery even you know what i mean like i was doing stuff in their bakery with bread and like just performing these these shows like it was great it was a great little life

and so i really had fun creating that sort of thing but it's such a rarity coconuts what do you have the world's largest pouch that thing are you wearing a pouch when you do this routine or what i have it here if you give me half a sec yeah i want to see this thing how the hell do you hide six oranges and two coconuts that's heavy that's a lot a lot of it's a lot of business going on, so that's a lot of strain on your back if it is going into the pouch this is a custom made pouch oh

as per the way i do things this is my one this was actually a gift from my mentor doc andrews made from a beautiful red gum like this will never ever break which i absolutely love and it's beautifully weighted as well you can see like it's yeah and it's proper like with a handle like yeah i used to just use a stick like a tombali stick because i could use that joke where it's like it's a stick it's not a wand i'm not a fairy you would

make those jokes but it's got a good sound to it as well you know what i mean like it's really it's really good this is my pouch.

Man that's pretty unassuming to hold all that stuff yep uh this is this is a pouch to keep all your money in oh i love that there's a zippered compartment on the back of this pouch i don't think i've ever seen this before yeah money money in it there's a few hundred bucks in there i didn't realize yeah so you just you know i usually put your weaver belt through it put the belt around your waist i have these rings and things street cups

absolutely enormous there's a beautiful dent in this one from a guy who doesn't know how to throw um yeah but you know the these these paid off my first house like these are amazing so wow but inside you can see like i've In this very moment, I've got one, two, three...

All six yeah is that narrow enough to wear your side pockets when wearing that pouch i have side pockets here okay yeah for the viewers he actually nick actually has two coconuts just chilling in there right now with with four four to six oranges yeah just on the whim who made that thing ah god i wish i could remember i did it online with all my custom colors there's so so i've got i've got stuff here on the sides i've got like thumb a couple of thumb tips in

there and what if it's for bill change whatever else i got a couple of bits here i got some stuff on the design then for the pouch did you design did you design the pouch no no it's it's based off an existing design but i wanted to custom colors and stuff they make them out of like brown and i was like i'm not doing that so yeah you know squeakers for doing the gag with the ball you know you get a lot of stuff out of that there's another one yeah the the of the the there's a pouch inside of this

couch so i could go my three balls with it you know what i mean like three wink wink balls with it yeah and there's even a little portion on top of that in front of it where like individual little pockets just for the balls just for the ball so yeah but that and this is this is what a fruiter i would ordinarily have like when you go to a fruit market But especially where I grew up, this is what a fruiter I would have. Yeah, all right. That makes sense, actually.

Yeah. And so I would wear this fruiter a bag, if you will. Yeah. And just exchange money and this and that and change things and load things. And, you know, so, yeah. No, I don't wear it over the neck. I was just doing it so I can hold it in frame for the camera. But this goes around my waist. Are the oranges real oranges or do you have fake oranges? No, these are 100% real oranges. I had to buy a whole bag of them for like three bucks. I ate four of them last night.

Why do you have part of your repertoire then organic fruit in your bag? Cause that shit. Yeah. I got these, I was doing a public show and I just wanted something robust. The, the oranges, naval oranges specifically have a thicker skin and they, they can take a bit of a beating. Yeah. That's good. Yeah. Whereas otherwise what I do is I literally go to the fruit shop to the point that like I go to the fruit shop with this and they look at me like show

tonight. I'm like, yeah, show tonight. I've been there. Yeah. And then I just, I just try to find the biggest, like, I guess I'll find the biggest capsicum and I'll be like, yeah. Yeah. And if it goes and it stays for a sec, I'm like, even better. If I have to like, if I have to like.

Bang the cup out like to get they're just like oh my god it's like it was growing out of there yeah and so and that's what i do i just go there i find individual pieces you know so typically it's always like the two types of apples you know red and green i always try to get a big size onion try get a big ass orange i love to get a capsicum if i can you know like a bell pepper if you will.

Yeah so try to use something like that and then i'll turn up with that micah mar line you never know what might turn up yeah yeah turnips there yeah and so yeah and that's it's a good little back and it's a good little routine yep that's cool are you bringing that to brisbane this weekend is that happening by the way it is i will be in brisbane in in towumba i don't even know where that is but i'm coming and yeah it's i was gonna do the like the close-up

set if you will i know we don't really do close-up sets anymore but i was gonna focus on doing close-up and then allowing carrie to the amazing nigel rather to do his larger scale thing so i've got some really gnarly stuff that i'm bringing nice pretty cool like magic theater yeah yeah the theater of magic We once a month also have an extended version of the show that happens in Toowoomba, which is about an hour away from Brisbane City.

There's a beautiful theatre there, which has, yeah, hired the show every month for this year, like once a month. And yeah, this time Nick will be going up there with the amazing Nigel. And yeah, the Empire Theatre is beautiful. But the actual room we use is not the theatre. It's like a side venue function room. But it turns out really nice. So, yeah, Toowoomba is not going to know what hits you, man, because Toowoomba is like a pretty chilled sort of like retirement styled town.

And yeah, that's going to be good. They get a lot of great acts going through there, but they'll love you. Yeah. Like, should I keep away from the close up stuff because they're old and can't see? Is that what you're sort of leaning into? Oh, no. I mean, I would plan. This is funny. We're just saying this on the air because, I mean, this is good advice for anyone, I guess.

But I would definitely plan to do close up but still standing so almost like parlor close up if that makes sense so like you know your car to box work you just I mean I've seen you do it standing up anyway so like, sitting down on a chair seems to not work as well with this audience is what I'm getting at but you can do whatever you want but that would be my advice I kind of pack the chairs in like pretty tight there's a few rows so like anything standing up is perfect,

and Yeah, you'll have fun. Yeah. I was performing last week. We had a jam session on our Discord, and I was showing the guys the routines that I've been working on with my coin stuff. And yeah, they were...

Impressed i hope i don't want to be self-proclaimed but yeah it was just some pretty pretty cool stuff i'd love to show you guys because i was actually going to jam this with one of our previous guests called tim ellis who's the you know the the president of the what's it called melbourne magic festival that's going to be starting up in a couple of weeks where eric leclerc is going to be coming down along with tobias dostell here in melbourne for the

magic festival and yeah he was been sweating me for a while to be like come on let's go work on this routine of yours and uh we're supposed to hang out today but due to some meetings and.

Whatever else and he's got to do stuff with visas to get people to come yeah but i would love to share this routine with with you guys so you get your thoughts maybe i'll do it on the show but i've got i got a quick um doctor's appointment when we wrap up in five minutes so nice well let me think let me think quickly so the the gigs that i did on the weekend i'm just thinking of any notable stories i mean a video i just put up yesterday was because it

was a casino event they had these giant jumbo cards in the room like giant like one story tall playing cards so the obvious thing for me to do was to to force the two cards that were directly behind the spectators i was performing for so that was a bit of fun so every time i'd go to a different corner of the room i just look at oh what are the two cards leaning against the wall great that's that effect and look i'll share something i'll share a stuff up with you guys well

not a stuff up just i'm learning since we're there's no way a layman's listening 56 minutes into this i bought the latest henry harry's tobias dostell vanishing phone you know what do we call it optic yeah something like that i've got one as well oh my god why am i not someone will put it in the chat anyway great setup great methods fantastic. I got caught I got caught in the first sequence I'm like alright I'm going to turn the light on they're like,

you're holding two phones. I'm like, God damn it. And I just vanished the extra piece. And then they were like, no, no, it's just your phone. They're like, what? And then that weirdly became the effect was what they thought the extra thing I was holding is now gone because you can just instantly make it vanish. Optics Pro. Thank you, Caden. So I thought I had done enough practicing to give it a try.

And I waited till like the end of the gig when I'd shown this group a bunch of stuff and they seem pretty chill. And I was like, can I show you one more that I'm kind of working on? It's like, yeah. Like, all right, let me borrow your phone. Oh, there's two phones. Great. So I got to practice that more. I feel like it's also because I didn't take off their phone cover, but I thought with my hand being there, it wouldn't be a thing to notice.

But anyway, just to let you know, we're not all, we're not perfect and, uh, learning new stuff still, still takes time well when you got you know when you borrow someone's phone the heat's going to be on double time so you gotta really get get that misdirection working strong yeah so there's certain things i feel that hold a lot of value that we that we use as borrowed objects i think the finger rings can be one of them depending on which fingering you get some of them are

just like a little two dollar thing that somebody bought while they're away in the caribbean or whatever it might be. But phones are like your life. You've got entire photo albums in there. Everything that you hold dear is in there. And it's also now your credit card in a sense. So that's also a very scary thing. And I've had situations where I've been performing where I vanish a phone, as you know.

And I had people put police reports on me because they believe that I skimmed the credit card off their phone. And I've had to deal with police reports in that fashion. I've just been like prove it and how much is it they're like oh it was like $43.74 I'm like I would steal that much money from you $43 absolutely and what was it charged to you know.

And I missed out on three weeks worth of work because this guy who's an absolute tool just assumed or forgot that he was too pissed to remember that he like bought a round of drinks or whatever the hell it might be. It's just the dumbest things can happen in that sense. I have an effect, which I'm working on, a good friend, David Regal, who we had on the show not too long ago.

I've been going through his book, Interpreting Magic, and he's got an amazing routine called Fiscal Waste where credit cards appear in a nest of bins and so forth. I have a whole premise with, with a, I want to use someone's ID instead of, because there was a thing for a while, and this is for me customizing it for a client who specializes in security. And we're talking about how security, like, you know, the security and ID and identity theft can be a thing.

And there was for a time people were going through your trash, stealing, you know, let's say you had like some bank statements, for example, you read them and put them in the bin.

If someone goes through your trash they can then take those bank statements and basically falsify along with a few other documents and falsify that like no i'm josh nabito you know what i mean so yeah so i had this whole premise of like people going through your trash and people stealing your identity and the idea would be that like your identity is gone your identity must be in the trash let's go through the trash and then we would find your id in there

and i feel like the id is a very good thing to use because if they ever go like it's probably a duplicate credit card it's probably a made up one it's probably not even a real one you can't really fake your id man you know what i mean it's just your id and everyone should help you know yeah it might have something to do with you like the the time you've served in jail or your criminal record or your house arrest anklet that's making them seem like maybe you did something dodgy.

To the credit card but you know that's how you learn the best sleight of hand in jail so much downtime it is look guys we've pretty much hit an hour this is this has been a very enlightening, episode to hear what you're up to in the trenches keep them coming because the we'll sort of bank them up and then when we hit you know a certain amount of speak pipes we'll unleash more gig stories doug and what's up for you this week in vegas what is happening in vegas right now.

Yikes thanks for bringing this up like when would podcast is over oh well you know what no no well don't say that bit. We can say that bit next week, but like, you know, we're busy building the magic empire over here. Had a good time seeing some Vegas luminaries in the shop. Nick defod hung out with Alan new this week. That was cool. Some of the buskers were in last weekend, Victor diamond. He's a hot cat. And Jeremy Jackson, and,

Man, I mean, so many magicians in Vegas. Caleb Alexander, he's opening a new show at the Griffin here, taking over Dan Sperry's spot. Oh, wow. Like, cool shit. Like, Nick Defaut's in the shop and needs a ride over to the Mandalay Bay. So, you know, I get to, like, chill with the Vegas hotshots on the down low. I do like seeing your photos show up from Trick Supply of just the...

Yeah, and I don't take half of them because I'm self-conscious about asking these pros if i can like blast them out on social media so really you know like well ken axel he does ghost stories at the mandalay bay he was in last week he is a banger let me tell you go see that show you'll be happy we should get him on here actually ken would be we have we've had ken axel on here before oh that's right that's right yeah but it was so long ago that that would be why you don't remember but he is such

a strong performer right anyway yeah shit like that You didn't see Ken Axtell on the webpage because I can't ask everybody. Yeah. Well, when Josh and I come to visit, we'll be cool about it. And you can take a photo with us. It's not a big deal. Nice. And that's it for the Magic Guys. We'll see you next week with a guest. So stay tuned for more. Thanks for listening. It's time for us to disappear now. Disappear now. But we'll see you again on the next episode of the Magic Guys. You.