James Diamond time travelling Magician #209

They're guys they do magic they are the magic guys.

Oh ladies and gentlemen welcome to episode 209 of the magic guys to my left we've got nick k welcome to the show friends and to my right i have the amazing josh nabito who's high and dry uh thank you my friend yes we uh we did have some weird cyclone-age uh here in brisbane Australia. My fellow Australian podcast listeners will know all about that, but we're fine. Look, the studio is still here and all things are all well.

It's nothing like a Doug Conn cyclone because that's who I went to the moment I knew we might have an issue here in Brisbane. We haven't had one here in 50 years. So I hit up Daddy Doug and I'm like, Doug, give me the 411. What am I in four. I sent him the info and he's like, oh yeah, a hundred kilometer winds. You're fine. We normally just have a party when it's a work shutdown for that kind of cyclone. Yeah. He actually said, oh, wait till this category three, then get back to

me. But he did have really good advice. Things like fill up the bathtub with water. So you have fresh water and have reserves and so forth. So thank you, Daddy Doug, for the good advice.

Unfortunately, he is not joining us on this episode this week because he's currently in transit he's as you guys know he's making the big move to vegas and basically doing the last of his bits going from new orleans all the way to vegas so he should be joining us very soon poor guy's been flat out trying to organize everything.

He was saying how fun it's going to be to travel with the three cats uh stuck in a car for several hours across the country so when all those exploits are done i'm sure he'll tell us all about it but in the meantime we've got someone else to come and join us on today's episode yeah and unlike yeah tell us about i guess unlike doug this guy has so much hair and so you know he's really going to put him to shame on that front

but this guy look i've been a professional magician now in brisbane for i don't know over a decade and although i've never met this gentleman in person i've always seen him on the forefront of events and gigs in his hometown in perth in Australia, which is just on the other side of the country. And both myself and Nick have chatted with this guy a lot, but he's just like sort of head down doing his thing, just owning that part of Australia.

This is a rare time that we all are free to actually chat and catch up in person. So get ready to hear some professional tips and some interesting stories, no doubt. I can't wait to hear what gig stories are like in Perth. So, ladies and gentlemen, please help me in welcoming the magician and occasional time traveller, James Diamonds. I don't know. You took me on. In Perth. I think, Josh, I was joking before, it's been a while of us trying to put this

together. I think I was saying Nick before, I think we've loosely discussed that for a good three years, perhaps. And then life gets in the way. And I keep saying, I think you've sent me that calendar invite nine times. I think after nine, which is good. Well, it's good to have you, buddy. So for those who don't know who you are, James, for those that don't know who you are, buddy, please tell us who you are. Tell us what you do. Yes, I'm James Diamond. I'm a Perth-based magician.

I've been doing this professionally for about 15, 16 years, and yeah, that's it it's a small pool here but it's a rewarding pool it's a great pool and without getting all kind of soppy and cliche it's just the people I've been able to meet along the way and the doors that this has opened and everything that goes with it it's incredible I couldn't see things any other way it's the best we're just so lucky to be doing what we're doing,

Well, one of the things we should probably explain to the visitors here as far as locale goes, Perth is a very different place, I feel, compared to most other places in Australia. There is, let's just say, there's almost like a semi-very big abundance of wealth because there is such a large portion of it as well as the mining industry and so forth. The cash flow game there is very interesting. Perth in itself, as far as a city goes, is quite large, but not a very tall

city. Like the tallest building you have is like six stories, but it's long and vast and wide. So it's a very interesting town. And I'm curious, in a town that's built like that, which is so beautiful, it's kind of by the east. Yes. No, west. West of Australia. It is in Western Australia. It's by the shore. It's beautiful. It's sunny. The weather is fantastic. It's almost like the sister of Queensland in a sense.

You know like as far as climate goes minus the cyclones what's it like navigating through that realm what clientele do you perform for and what do you enjoy like most as far as all the gigs go yeah yeah so funnily enough there was you know like everyone else we're slogging it out we're doing our thing we're grinding over years and you don't really have your niche you're doing everything from the 18th to the 70th to the library show to the whatever yeah.

Every time a magician comes to our club, our WOSM, the West Australian Society of Magicians, for me, it's never about the tricks. It's chatting to them afterwards and getting those little nuggets of info that, you know, help get to that next level. And one of them just said, you just can't be the best at every demographic. You just, eventually, you have to maybe focus fire. And for me, that happened maybe, it was just prior COVID.

In the grand scheme of 15 years, I'm talking only five years ago, I had an event for a certain plastic surgeon in Perth. I haven't gone there, but he exists. Well, you look great. This webcam, everything looks good in 720p bitrate on this laptop. It was the first event I had to sign an NDA for. It was a pretty big deal. Anyway, long story short, but none of my stories are short.

So I got to this event and it was clearly all the wealthiest of wealthiest of Perth, all the personalities, all the kind of, and by luck, maybe, it was just such a well-received gig. Like for the first time ever, I'm not reaching out to people. They're all just adding me the next day on Instagram or just like, it was big, you know. As I'm leaving the party, one of the wealthiest of wealthiest people in Perth rocks up with his Miss Universe kind of fiancé.

And everyone had already seen something. And I'm like, oh, what do I? And she's like, oh, you've got to show them something. She had her hand on her other hand kind of on her lap. And I'm like, well, let's just do a quick little ring flight. And then I'm on my way out now. And she lifts up her hand. And this nugget was so big. It's basically because half the building's in Perth, you know. So I was just like, I freaked out. And I've got another ring flight story later. But I freaked out.

But I'm just like, I have to do it now. because everybody's filming. There's just TV names here. Everyone's here. This is the place. We're on a rooftop overlook. It's just, it's insane. Like the views are insane. Everything's, this is the moment now. I've done the ring flight. Everybody loved it. Next day, just the amount of story shares and Insta ads and everyone's just like, you know, they referred to me as the big man loved it yesterday.

And I was just like, long story short, that became the niche. That became the angle. And so my niche is kind of, you know, kind of in and around what they call the golden triangle of Perth, which is like along the water, the very kind of, you know, high disposable income. And it's got its benefits. I mean, you're not back and forthing on price and having to prove your worth and they're not...

It's there's meat on the bone it's actually and that and that just became my so that organically just because of one event kind of has become my niche now so i'm very happy to you know again it just we're a small pool i refer that the events that aren't quite my fit and likewise you know fellow magicians that i'm close with pierre so on they do the same and it's just that that's become my niche now it's just the kind of the kind of personality kind of

the launch parties the brand launches the the billionaire parties that's that's become the thing and it's i guess in a way the marketing and the branding has slowly adjusted in the last four or five years to adapt to that i will say that's one of the strongest things you have as far as a performer goes you are someone that our agency omegan and and i've put a few things through over the years that we've we've known each

other and funny enough this is the first time i've actually had a proper hangout, Because I've only ever known you by reputation, and it's because your marketing really does solidify the strength you are as a person.

Through what knowledge are you so good at this? How did you learn to be so good at this marketing realm? Yeah, I mean, look, I don't actually think I am good at it, but I did have a previous role doing some marketing work in other industries. That kind of helped. And I think one of the big things was the very first, whilst in the Society of Intervention, the very first meeting I went to, was because Oz Perlman was attending. This was in 2006.

Hell yeah. I had been lurking the society for years like a creep from afar and then – because it was really far from home from where I was living at the time. Oz came. I joined the society that month. Long story short, I caught up with Oz afterwards. I had the benefit of driving Oz to the hotel and airport. That's just like, man, I couldn't believe it. Those moments were invaluable. They really are.

And the big thing I asked him in the car was, you know, I just said to him, like, you're in your most isolated city right now in Perth, but you come from a city with 30 million people. Like, there must just be magicians on every block. I know you've got more population, but you've also got more of you. And it's just how do you stand out in a city of 30 million people? And his big thing was you have to have them love the magician before they love

the magic, and that all comes down to marketing. It's all landing. Best advice.

Best advice. Yes. Best one. Even back then like young 24 year old james was like it's true in a way like because we hate to admit it sometimes perhaps but to a lot of people there's no difference between us and maybe getting a plumber or an electrician or or anything else it's just like they go to google there's 12 on the maps or 15 on the maps or whatever it is for that area and they just start they just start texting

and it's just a price game or it's just a whatever game so eventually you know and pricing Seems a whole separate thing, but like... I never do Google sponsored posts. I never do Google. I never do Instagram. I never sponsor my posts or go for Google AdWords. I don't even worry about the SEO because that's what people are looking for a magician. Yeah. And based on what Oz told me, it's like, you don't want people looking for a magician.

You want people looking for, oh, you know, you always say that to me. And I'm like, oh, man, this is, but it's true. It's just like, because if you're looking for a magician, that's going to be a hard sell because my quote's probably going to be, it's just, it's just tough. It's just everyone's doing their own thing and that's okay. But it's, it's a really tough game to win.

But if you've already got them in, you're there. you know definitely you know the way i sort of word it and i'm happy to say like i would love to know your thoughts on this josh like my mentality is like you can get a cover band you can get someone who sings songs but if you want pink you have to hire pink if you want bruno mars if you want britney spears there is no there's no substitute like if you want a singer we'll get you a singer no problem if you want nick k there's only one if you

want to there's only josh nabito but if you want a magician then there's a price that does kind of reflect that which is not always about the money but it's just one of those things you need to sort of keep in mind you can price yourself at a point like if you want a magician i'm a magician here's my magician price point if you want josh nabito i'm josh nabito here is my price point way up here so it's that type of thing josh what do you don't

do you think there's a lot of strength in that Oh, of course. I mean, two things come to mind. Number one is I was just reading this book. I think it's The Diary of a CEO, Stephen Bartlett's latest book. And he basically says like, people want the best...

Service for what they can afford so if their budget is whatever or they the other problem we have as magicians is no one knows like there's no framework for what a magician is or an hourly rate so they just kind of pick an amount they think is what they would pay for a magician and then they just try to find a magician like the best one at that price and then so that's where like our problems start because they're just looking for

someone who has the title of a magician and fits within, you know, that price they've just made up in their head that maybe has the most Google reviews. And so that's where that game that we're all talking about doesn't really work for us that have been in the game for a long time.

The other thing I'm reminded of is in one of Steve Collins books, he says, if you want to get the $20,000 gigs, you'll never get them if you can't let go of the two thousand dollar gigs yeah it's big which is i mean twenty thousand dollar gigs come on that's insane but but but the principle the principle of it yeah absolutely if you can't let go of that game you're not going to get to the the real game and so yeah it's it's it's tough absolutely you

have to sell the person right let me throw this out there boys let me throw this out there how many okay just just take a quick mental reference of what the experiences were like for your personal enjoyment for entertaining a group the group that you were charging 600 bucks or a thousand bucks for versus the ones you were charging three thousand dollars for i don't sometimes i think we could for me i'll speak

only on my behalf a three thousand dollar gig doesn't make it better than a six hundred dollar gig. Usually, they're a better client to deal with, first of all, and typically, they enjoy the magic better because there's a more perceived value of what's going on as well. I think the perceived value and the perceived worth is a big, because they've put more, I mean, you look at the ultra elite and the wealthy, like their Rolex doesn't actually tell the time better than my iPhone.

And for day-to-day use, the Ferrari in the garage isn't that much better than my 15-year-old Beaver and Selper, but it's that perceived, you know, so it's just like, yeah. I mean, they'll talk you up to the clients when you come in and you arrive at the house because they've paid that outlay, you know. Do they enjoy it more? Did they actually enjoy it more than the person who spent $500 on a midweek last-minute filler job?

Not necessarily but the perceived you know is a pretty big it's all perception it's all yeah I think it's it's the same reason why there's a clip of David Blaine performing ambitious card to Jeff Bezos yeah and he's losing his mind because it's David it's um David Blaine performing ambitious card as opposed to the million other magicians they could have had in that room doing it Yeah. And I just had something else on my brain as you were talking,

James, and now it's gone from my head. So I'm going to wait for that to pop back in. Another one that's become quite big, and this is actually just only happened in the last few months, which is really strange. You know, I remember listening to a lecture from John Archer and he said, you should be able to put all your props away and just talk to people for five minutes. And if they're still hanging on every word you say, that's when you've made

it. Long story short, the last few months, not many, at least maybe five or six in the last five months, they've paid me to just be there because I'm James and we're not even doing magic. And that's a great spot. I had a rooftop party for, you know, I won't mention names because Perth's tiny. There's only nine people that live here. But we had a rooftop party for a certain person that had about 250,000 followers on Insta. And we changed it up that night. That night, I'm just there as James.

I'm still dressed in black, but not necessarily the velvet blazer and the whole thing. Just well-dressed. I'm literally just there talking and networking for about, an hour, an hour and a half, which is what they paid for. And then I just said to him, at one point in the night, because I know all your people there have all got hundreds of thousands of followers, it's just that little niche of Perth, I said, we're going to do one spot that makes it look impromptu,

but this is the moment that everyone's going to come and film. And so we had everybody. It was honestly, it was the most simplest thing ever. It was invisible deck, but I've got it in a sealed bag. I've got certain jokes I won't get into which work with that crowd. I had someone ring someone up who's on the other side of Australia to get the card detail, like name the card and this and that. Everybody's pulled out their phone and filmed.

And that was the moment. And the guy whose birthday was just nodded. He was just like, when I left, he's just like, dude, that's exactly what I wanted to not like. And that's it. So you're there for an hour. You're literally just networking. You're not even there being like trick boy. You're like, that extreme bird. And he's like, just, you just sit back. Like, I've got a glass of drink in my hand. I don't even drink, but I'm just there trying to look cool.

I'm just holding that the whole time, chatting, and then one trick, and that's it. We've been doing that a little bit lately, and that's been quite good. It's just that whole thing of like, again, it's not the magician now. It's just a brand. It's just like... People say, oh, are you performing tonight? And I'll say, I mean, not officially, but we'll see how it goes, you know. And then they're waiting for it. They're waiting. And then you wait for the right moment.

The DJ's kind of turning their music down a little bit and you just create what they think is, I shouldn't even be doing this right now, but should we just try something real quick before I go?

And everyone's, hey, guys, can you pull your phones out for a second? Everyone's pulling their phones out. I think we've done like a group Toxic as well.

And that's it. And it's just, and I give the birthday boy a big hug, shake his hand and just leave on that high note just leave you know and that's that's the moment that's what they paid for you know so you've made it exclusive like an exclusive moment that they shouldn't have seen almost yeah you know and I think that perception thing as well is it's like sometimes it goes the other way I felt bad the other day I had I had someone ring up for a birthday and it's just

like oh James look I know it's probably not the type of event you do it's probably not and I'm thinking you know it actually is but i just don't brand that you know because work leads to work and so even if i did do a public show at the library that's not going to make the wall because that's not jump pushing but but it's a bit hard when you hear it sometimes you know you hear them oh it's probably it's probably not in your league or it's probably just a little thing but you think no that

there's still people that there's still everyone's like it's not even that it's just sometimes maybe the. You know, but again, work leads to work, you know. So it's just like that branding is that look. But, yeah, for every glitzy kind of personality party you see on Insta, hey, don't get me wrong.

We've got to eat food. We've got to pay our mortgage. There's still two or three on the back burner that you're in the little, the windy little alfresco area like an hour from Perth in the backyard and the music's loud and it's dark and the dogs walk around everywhere. And, you know, people are stopping you're ambitious to pat the dog. And, you know, we're still doing that. Yeah. Was there a, was it a conscious choice to, in amongst your branding, to not have video of your work?

Is that part of the birth analogy, as you call it? Yeah, it's two things. One is, look, one is I just don't have that much material, especially in the close-up. It's like the same eight tricks again and again. You know, the Parlour stuff's got its own stuff as well. But sometimes when you put the video there, it's just you ruin that element of surprise, perhaps. Or perhaps ideas might get lifted or borrowed perhaps or just a number of things.

I just thought, you know what, less is more sometimes. Just keep it to a minimal. I mean, it's sort of as played. I mean, I'm on obviously the other extreme.

I'm putting out somewhat too much video, but it definitely works in your realm because I guess if those people that want to feel exclusive, feel elite or whatever, people can only see what you do if they come to your their party and see james they can't look up your show anywhere else yes super interesting yeah does that ever put you in spots where you don't have work for a while because there just aren't those parties happening

but like you know the other magician game is running yeah things definitely come in waves and especially in winter in perth everyone just uh stays home and watches netflix and youtube and I get it, you then have to take on work you normally wouldn't take on. And it's as simple as that. Whether it's a residency, whether it's whatever it is, you know, and there's nothing wrong with residences.

I still believe, you know, I was telling some of the guys here, like Pierre, like Paul, Robbie, back in the day, we all said, like any new person that joins society here, I always, all the young guys, you know, I was telling like Dom and all these guys, I say, I actually believe everybody should do a six-month residency, even if it's like free. Just load the ropes because it's invaluable.

Like I've lucked out a little bit. I've got a beachfront. It's called the Left Bank down in Fremantle, like palm trees looking over the water, incredible, awesome aesthetic. You know, I do it at a really cheap rate, but it's invaluable to bring in new material, to keep the chops fresh. Like, you have to have, like, just working that noisy environment, hearing people that are a little bit on the drink. It's just a numbers game. You do that thing a hundred times, you can...

Yeah. There is a question here with regards to price point from Tim Askin, and it says, do you only put half the effort in for cheaper shows? No, absolutely not. Absolutely not. No. Absolutely not. Yeah. We just switched to the queen slipper cards. That's all. Instead of the symbols. Yeah. It's just little things like that that I tend to make an adjustment for. I have several suits.

I might wear an older suit as opposed to one of my more newer suits because every time i perform at 36 in dry cleaning for example i might go i might you know i might not wear the tailored pants i might just put chino pants on instead you don't have to worry about the dry cleaning bill like there's my there's little things like that that i might do but ultimately as far as what i give i pretty much give.

It my all and i might i might save a couple of things that do require a bit of effort there are some effects that you do that do cost you money to perform it might be like it might be something like like a perishable like a card that you have to tear up and destroy or or give something away you might save those for the higher end stuff i i've mentioned this in podcast prior i say to people when i give them the price i say here is my normal robe or my premium robe is

what it's interesting a little bit more for you sort of cut out the premium stuff is is what i would do but just always keep in mind that no matter what the price point is every performance is an audition pro tip wow that's good yeah 100% yeah 100% you're always there auditioning as to why you should be booked again or by someone else yes there I mean that's the name of our game right yeah the other thing is and the other

thing that's real quick is that you not that it should matter but you at that 500 gig there might be that 500 gig might be best mates for the ceo of the 500 million dollar oil and gas company Yeah. And he's there as well. Yeah. And so. And then he'll want to book you for the 500 bucks as well. Yeah. Yeah. 500 yen, even going further. But yeah, it's just never. And every show, you just give it your all because you just don't.

But there's ways to cut elsewhere. Like you said, some of the stuff that's perishable. I've been doing Revive a lot lately. I don't remember like Revive, Illusionist Revive, which is like a stapled, torn and restored. That then – Ooh, fancy. Yeah. It's such – the gimmicks – you make the gimmicks yourself, but they're so time-consuming. You've literally got to like peel the cards, then you get a Stanley card, you're scraping the pulp off the cards. Yeah. You put that – You can do this thing.

I nearly had a heart attack because the shoebox that I have scraped maybe like a year's worth of pulp into nearly tipped onto the carpet the other day. But that's okay. Long story short, those things take so long to make. So whether it's a financial gimmick like a cube in bottle or whether it's a time gimmick, you know, on the cheap ones you go, we might not do that tonight. We might just go for cards. It might just be ambitious and invisible.

For phones, it might be this, this, this. For the palace stuff. And, you know, because likewise, in terms of the energy and the effort I put in, it's still 100%. Strong material is strong material. That's the most important lesson about that. It doesn't always have to be perishable, you know. Now, we talked a couple of weeks ago, James, about the importance of following your clients back on social media.

Because it's not normally been a thing that you would keep in contact like that, you know, normally separated by an agent or by emails or they would just follow you. But it sounds like you've definitely gone down that path, like you're pretty in touch with. You have to. Yeah. It's a little bit like, you know, back then I was just like, I spent months designing a business card, you know, months overanalyzing every font.

You know, even Canvas said, dude, you must pick now. Just save that pen year for it. You're done. And then I realized it's not about giving the business card. It's about getting one back, you know, because if I give that card. It might go on the fridge. It might go in the door seal in the car and the next car clean, that goes into the bin. It might, anyway, like it's, I realized the real importance was sometimes I literally just go, actually, I've got no, I've actually run out of cards.

So have you got a, and sometimes I'll joke and say, my last show was really popular. I've run out of cards. Have you got a card by the way? And the real thing is, and of course these days, that's maybe been replaced with Insta.

It's like hey you know are you on insta the whole point there is that it's not just you know it's one thing for them to follow me or have my card but there's an art in very delicately being top of mind by sprinkling stuff back their way you know it's not it's just a simple like of a photo and wow looks great that's it you know a month later they're down at a winery they're over in Tasmania, awesome, looks so good, super jealous, you know, or, you know,

might have to time travel my way over there. It's just a super light sprinkle. It just, before you know it, you know, it's just how it is. It's just the amount of times I then get a DM, like, hey, actually I was just talking to my hubby, we were just talking about the other, like, it's that, it's so crucial.

It's the new email marketing list. Yeah, yep, yep. To me it's just like, and look, I still do my MailChimp, I still do that every month and you check this and then, but it's just that. And not to come across as salesy, I mean, as soon as there's that whiff of desperation or he's trying to sell something or he's trying to spruik his thing, literally just show interest in people. You know, if you want to go further down that rabbit hole, I've got notes.

I mean, on your contacts, on your phone, every contact, you can go to the notes section of that contact. Put those notes in, you know. Last we spoke, he said he was looking to get a new boat. It's not here till November. His daughter has just started playing for the local whatever team.

Because you see them again you just dial it up you're like it's they're talking points they're points of interest it's it's makes all the difference you know it's and and just never push just so as far as it goes is if i see they've got an event coming up i wind it up a little bit more like if i see them like oh we're planning whatever whatever then you can wind up a little bit more and like you know you know as a time traveler i've looked to the future turns out it was great having me there but

um message me so you know kind of and the amount of time it's and they'll just chime in oh and how much was it again refresh my memory and you're just like hey and that's it it's just an in but yeah it's so crucial to follow back respect that these people.

They're still professionals they're busy we're just a magician at the end of the day don't overstep your mark don't keep sliding into dms and sending reels and trying to be be a friend just but a short little just just tap it in something if i'm ever at a cafe or whatever whatever i always stop and make sure i say hi and you know just just let that happen it's so it's so crucial to well that's that's like we said before the

difference between being james diamond and being a magician like they want james diamond there because james diamond is the type of guy that'll just call and say how's it going or drop into a cafe to be like i was just passing through? I had two minutes. You good? Good. Yeah, look, I'll come by for a proper dinner sometime. We'll catch up then, but hope you're well. Yeah, it's a proper thing sometime. Glad to hear the shop's doing well. Glad to hear this. And that's it.

Just leave it and then move on. But yeah, it's really crucial. We're so lucky with... I sometimes wonder, like, magicians in the 90s. They had it real good. How are they doing it? Outside of that ad in the yellow pages, what was going on? They had it so good back in the 90s. I can say that much. Oh, I've heard the stories. Anyone who's hung out with the Duck Camerons, the Tim Ellisers, or the, what's his name, Phil Cassers of the world. The Holy Grail.

I hear so much about Expo 88. I keep hearing so much about that era, how much they made back when that was happening. They used to print money. Like, it's just, oh, they had it so good. And cats was a thing, you know, cocaine was a thing. Like, it was just nuts, you know? There is a question here in the chat, my friend. The question is, why is he the time-traveling magician? Most things, it just kind of came organically, you know?

So as a quick side note, like even the hair thing, the hair thing became a joke because I was at a party about 12 years ago and the hair was nowhere near this height. It was just like a little kind of like 2008 kind of tin tin kind of special, just that little bit of, well, that little ledge. Yeah. And we're at this party and I made something disappear and I said, nothing on my hands, nothing in my hands, nothing under my watch, nothing up my sleeves.

More importantly, my hands haven't left your sight. You know, that was the thing. And then this kind of, I guess you'd call him a boomer before we knew they were boomers, kind of just said, it's probably in your hair, mate. And everybody laughed and not even just laughed, like a real boomery belly laugh. Like this guy, it was like the, can you make my wife disappear version 2.0? Like, it was just like everybody loved him saying that.

And I thought, so again, it's just like, you know, when you get a funny line from a spectator, you're like, how do I fish for that end without making it looking like I'm fishing for that? You do it the way Shen Lim does, where he constantly puts his hand through his head. Yeah, those wide fingers. Yeah. This way of saying nothing in my hair, nothing in my hair. Yeah, yeah.

So, for example, that's how that was born, you know. So, it got a little bit higher, got a little bit more, you know, it's obviously not a full thing now. And when I do the handshake, I go, nothing on my hands, I keep them here, so it's framed. And eventually people, I mean, now it's a bit on the nose now. It's the cats out of the bag. They know that's a thing. You know, you get to an event, like, oh, the hair's looking. You know, it's just become a joke. It's a running joke.

And so the time travel was similar. It was just like, I was at an event and someone said, it was back when every third magician was predicting lotto numbers and I was one of them. And there was a phase there where there were so many magicians predicting lotto numbers that we could have actually technically won the lotto by now. One of us should have actually won it organically. That's a lot of numbers.

And then again, someone came up, came up on like a parlor show thing, about 40, 50 people and someone came up and the person who came up, this was back in the old CUPP days, the old, you know, we're waiting for that ticket to print and stressing out if it doesn't print and someone came up and said something like, oh, like, something like, I can't remember where it was but someone like, you just time travelled back and da-da-da.

And again, it's not even funny but, Everyone laughed at that. And I'm like, okay. And so the ongoing running gag, which I close most routines with is, you know, so the whole thing of like, you know, I don't normally get into this, but I'll be honest, out of all the groups this month, you're by far the most recent. Here's the thing. I'm not even actually a magician. It's a front for tax. What I am is I'm actually a time traveler.

And I just, that's just become a thing, you know, it's just become a thing. So it's just. It's really nice. Yeah. And then you've got things with like, so when I do Revive, for example. I have a line where I say, you know, as a time-travelling magician, not only can I travel back in time, but I can actually pause and rewind time right in front of your eyes. It looks like this. And that's when I restore. So it gives you, you know, same thing with the group.

Toxic, there's ways to – you just shoehorn. So when I do toxic, for example, you know, I say, you know, as a time-traveller, blah, blah, blah, I say, you know, numbers are endless. They're like the stars in the universe. You could count forever, you'd get nowhere. And time, even as a time-traveller, time goes so far back that we didn't even know when it truly started. And so if you think of it in that book, and so you've got all these moments,

you're just shoehorning that. And then when it gets a bit heavy, then you go back to a joke. The time, it's just a nice little side avenue. It kind of rope, same with ambitious. It's got this thing about time. Every trick, you know, but it's just based on someone coming up when I've done a lot of prediction and someone says something about the time travel. Like, you could just be a time traveler and make millions. And I'm like, that's great. Like, we'll use that, you know?

Yeah. I mean, it's just such a, we all want to believe in time travel too. Like it's such a great concept. Also helps people anchor to remember who you are. Like who's that, you know, that time traveler guy. Yeah. And the business card has that. It's actually says magician and time traveler, you know, and that's the amount of people, by the way, that are like, oh, it actually says time traveler. I'm thinking, turns out I can get whatever I want printed on those cards.

No Yeah, yeah. But, yeah, both of those things derived from, they weren't technically my idea. They were just someone. But, again, even with the hair thing, it was just like, I only do this because I can't grow one of these, by the way. I've been growing that stubble for about nine years. Must be nice. Must be nice. I would do anything for a beard. But something's just like, someone come up with the idea and I'll just take it.

I remember, again, even just describing people, no one remembers who we are.

Oh we had a magician oh who was it sometimes when i go oh we had a magician two years ago actually oh who and you know eventually fish out oh i had a bit of a french accent oh it's pierre i was a really tall guy ah robbie or you know you can kind of but again this is really this is this is really fascinating like i've i've really been discovering that as well like we at the theater of magic will have repeat customers and sometimes i'm like oh i i remember that couple i like they

were in my video for example so i'm like okay i'm gonna change up this this and this and it it happened one particular day and i was like this this was like a month ago i was like so happy with myself i'm like okay great i've changed like 60 of the show and when they got here i'm like hey guys, how are you? Welcome back, blah, blah, blah. And she's like, oh yeah, you're funny. You did the cheese trick last time. I'm like, nope, that wasn't me. That was the amazing Nigel.

What? They're like, yeah, we loved you. I'm like, oh, cool, cool. What do you remember? Like, what was your favorite thing? And they're like...

Oh it was so good you my phone vanished I'm like nope that was Nick I'm like oh I didn't have to change a thing like yeah they, liked the magic but they yeah they don't remember they, remember how you made them feel right that's the important thing but they could not by the way how awkward is it when someone's like you arrive to an event they're like oh don't you yeah we had we had him we've seen him before We had him before, so he's brilliant. You're thinking, she wasn't me.

And then you're like, do I agree with how brilliant I supposedly was? Or do I just cop up and go, actually, it was something like that? It's a weird thing, man. I've done that before. They're like, yeah, we had you two years ago. And you're thinking, no, it was literally, it was Robbie. But I'll, you know, all of a sudden my posture is really good. I'm trying to pretend I'm Robbie and trying to be tall.

But you're just like, no, it's just not me. And so, although we blow their minds in the moment, like they, we have to stay on top of mind with them. Like we have to get their business card. We have to follow them because they aren't going to remember, oh, let's get Josh again. Because they might even. The other thing is where you can cheekily throw. So obviously you've got the time traveler thing and then the hair thing. But then sometimes you just blatantly throw your name in the gig.

So, for example, when I do the mine, yours, the mystery, you know. Jamie Raven and, you know, basically just some double-sided Tybuck envelopes. And it's, you know, just, but when I do the, like, one envelope says mine, the next envelope says yours, the next person, you know, got the question mark. When I get to that point, I say, so the first envelope's called mine, you know, would your $5 be in the envelope called mine? After all, it's mine, you know, or is it in the one called yours?

Even though it's mine, I hand on how it wanted to be yours. But when I get to that third envelope, I say, well, perhaps would it be in the third envelope, the mysterious James Diamond patent pending envelope of mystery. And again, but every time I introduce that envelope, which is about eight times in the routine, it's the James Diamond patent pending envelope, you know, because it's that naming thing.

You know, when I do ambitious card, I say, you know, by the way, guys, I hear the whispers, the murmurs, the chit chat. People say, James, I bet you got trick cards or James, you got duplicates or James, I can't believe we're in your 40s. your hair's so thick. But again, it's just like, that's the gag. But the idea is I've said James four times. You know, there's this little...

There's this little thing you can do to make sure your name, it's still not going to mean anything, like it might not convert, but it's just where you can throw that name in your patter. Even on stage, like I like to have, whenever I'm writing on something, it's branded on the back and it'll say Nick K. So that as I'm writing, I'm actually holding up something that has my name on it and then I turn it around for the revelation.

So little things like that where your name can be seen as much as possible is good. I have thought about doing, this is purely a thought, Because we have these residences here that we perform in like four times a week. A name tag. I feel like it's almost semi-degrading. I've thought about it. It was in Jamie Allen's book, The Approach. And great book. Great book. That was just like, when I flew back to Magic Live, I literally read the whole book twice in the plane.

I was just like, this is just a bit, you know. And some little nuggets there. He recommended getting, like, those event lanyards.

With literally just having like with your photo like or or not whatever you want to but just like james diamond magician and just having that and it's just like the idea as well so it gave you a bit of like a vip kind of like for people that had like i think one of these things a lot of people with i remember simon coronal had the best thing when he just said roving's tough sometimes because we're basically just professional interrupters yeah

and that can be tough so when you got that lanyard it's just like i'm not just some dude who's walking up to the little table of three like that's my in but indirectly like you're saying because it's like but it's also just got your name on there the whole times everybody you know and you bring the height up to like chest height you've got this your name's there for a whole hour you know god damn it that's so good that's so good and also credit to jackson aces i

saw he was just doing that over the last uh december period too so i'm not going to pretend like this is the first time i'm hearing of it but, But I still have never done it. But at corporate events, like, God damn it, that is so smart. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yep. Wow. Are you working with agents as well or mainly directly? I am, yeah. So we've got a few here in Perth.

I think ultimately, the really big events always have, the agents will always have their place, like getting the big ones together, the really big ones. Perth's got a bit of a FIFO scene as well, where people go to mine sites and do bits and that. Not really my jam, but I'm probably going to be part of my plan for next year is to start doing those, just to keep the quiet season of work not so quiet. But I think in general, again, with social media, people just reach out direct.

They just, it's a 24-7 business card. It's your highlight reel of all your best stuff. And it's, yeah, the agents always have their place, especially around Christmas. They just fill those gaps, don't they? They're just kind of like, you do your own, and then you're like, hey, Samsung, quick party here. And then, da-da-da, yeah, KPMG. They just fill these gaps. And you're like, this is great. But I do wonder if maybe the writing's on the wall, perhaps. Maybe like in five years or ten.

Things are changing all the time. And I wonder if, short of the big, big ones, like the casino and the big stuff, the big, like Rio's got their big whatever, whatever, maybe. But I think. Well, I think AI is going to mess with a lot of this kind of stuff.

Like you know a lot of agencies are already automated right it's like an automated directory like crowd pleaser or bark there's there's a car there's one flare all this yep it's all automated, and you know there's no human interaction so like why even use them right because they're not really helping you just they just put all the people you could have found on the internet sort of into a smaller place but you know.

Already people are talking to their phones to look up stuff and it's such a short jump before they're just like you know i don't want to say my phone's name because it's going to pop off but like hey phone show me five magicians in brisbane and it's going to go boop boop boop boop this one has this many reviews here's their instagram would you like to call them like that's it and then.

Game over you're probably saying would you like me to send a message to all five who compare their prices and you're like oh okay yeah yeah it's getting that way so yeah i think like you can already obsolete they'll get shake the tree will get shaken quite a bit with how they with how they handle going forward yeah i think i mean and we don't know what will happen in that essence but the thing that will make them valuable again is if they are a human helping another human

back to that human element yep yeah because i can already ask chat gbt i mean i do it selfishly all the time to see what comes up like show me the top three magicians in brisbane i just want to see what it shows up with or in australia or in the world or right and it already gives you that list straight away and that's just going to happen you know more and more yeah all right i'm i'm so intrigued to hear some gig stories about perth time traveling magic we'll all sort of share one

as well but let me let me uh introduce the segment yeah great so gig stories is a segment of the show where we talk about performances either from our day-to-day life or whilst doing events starting this week with our good guest james diamond. I've got a recent one that happened, and it's best I don't use names because every single person in WA wouldn't know who this person is, and I'll just leave it at that. Ooh, okay. The nature of the beast, every single person would know who this is.

Anyway, so I'm at an apartment launch for a certain company that does all these big apartment complexes, and I see this person from afar near the pool area.

So we were doing a launch party it was a two night party one was for the residents, who bought who bought and the next one was for all the people that help invest and get this off the ground and so on and I saw that a certain person and I'm like, okay they have to see something I don't I never I never, just broach them and start putting magic in their face they're not there for that but I just I always just go to the group next to them and start doing something so go to the group next to them,

do something and then straight away he's turned around, and it's just like, oh, you're a magician. I said, hey, nice to, you know. Anyway, we've done one trick, and he really liked it. It was extreme burn for those playing along, and that was good. And then we done another trick, which was ambitious, and he goes, all right, go on then, go one more. And I thought, okay.

I'm prepping the ring flight in my back pocket. I'm pulling that clasp, and I always triple check the clasp nonchalantly just to, by the way, I've had, yeah, when ring fright snaps, it's debilitating, but we're all ready to go. I borrow his ring. I vanish his ring. Now, because of who this person is, there's maybe about 30 people around us with their phones filming. So this was just in like November. There's about 30 people that are all filming because of this person. Everybody knows who he is.

I vanish it and that was fine and i brought it back and that was fine and then i do the next phase in the wallet in the sealed envelope with the jol wallet and the bonzalopes and all that stuff and i give him back the ring and i said an absolute pleasure you know until next time you know which is my kind of thing and then he looks me in the eye and he goes that was bloody brilliant.

But it's but that's not my ring though and you know first you laugh it off because, sometimes like when you know sometimes you do invisible deck and you you'll be like and is that your card and like no i'm kidding it was never in cheers or you know what were you thinking of was that your drawing no yes it was never laughs and so i just laughed and i said oh yeah if only and i give him back the ring again and then kind of just grit my my wrist and said,

no no that's not my ring and so it just kind of went in slow-mo went look i just i felt the room go quiet and by the way it has gone a little bit quiet now because everyone's like what, and then the lady he was with said listen here darling i'm not sure what you're trying to pull here but we're not leaving until he gets his ring back this point it just you know when the tone changes. It's like witnessing a fight or a brawl. You know, it just happens.

You go gradually, then suddenly. There's always that thing, gradually, gradually, then suddenly. It just, it just turned. It just, the night turned. And I said, hey, in all due respect. I don't carry like 15 rings, wallets, and mobile phones on the hope that it matches one of the two and a half million people that live in Perth. I can assure you that's your ring. There's no duplicates. Anyway, the way it got really weird was when I'm looking at the ring again. I'm like, wait a minute.

It's engraved on the inside. There's initials here. And I said to him, but it's engraved. And then this is when I realized that perhaps maybe they're on on some special vitamins or something where I just looked me in the eye and he said but you've only showed me it's engraved now, I don't know if it was engraved before and just with a straight face like this is like.

Wow yeah at this point security's come and the security guys I always here's a little pro tip I always show someone to security on the way in. Great idea. You need to get them on side later on. And so there was one of these huge guys who was loving this site. No, no, he'd done this last night. It was killer. He's trying to defuse it, but this person still wouldn't believe it. The owner of the whole company who does all this, he's come.

Thankfully, I'd done it to his wife the night before, also with the nuggets, all nuggets. Anyway, everything left. They just left. I'm just like, I'm not sure what happened. They all left. I'm literally now sitting down near the pool. I'm finished now, but I'm just like distraught. And then the guy who owns the whole company said, buddy, killer job tonight, just like last night.

I'm not sure what happened before. And he just said to me, at some point, I won't mention his name, we'll wake up tomorrow morning and say, of course, that's my bloody week. And we left it at that. Anyway, next day, I've got a birthday party. And this is where the story wraps up. I've got a birthday party the next day. I do a little thing now with the birthday card. In the greeting of the birthday card, I put a couple of the forces and outcomes

from the show. So it's just like, here's the thing with the money. The money starts to extreme burn. And then in the car, I ran out of birthday cards. I've gone to the newsagent the next day. And that person's there. And yeah, and I just said, hey, how's things? And I just said, still got your ring? And he left the newsagent so quick that the girl working at the newsagent was like, Like, oh, sir, you haven't taken your – he just walked out and left. Wow.

I've since seen him at another party, and it's water under the bridge and everything's fine. But boy, oh, boy, like I had security come. I had the hot – and then 30 people. I'm just like, I've heard so small. I just need like, you know, this will be the work in my favor. I'll be like, you know, local magician, da-da-da. And then just – but no one really – like a few people shared it, I didn't really, thankfully, you know, there was no kind of TMZ soul expose, but it was so stressful.

I literally felt ill. Next day, I opened with Ringfly at that party because I'm like, I need to, before the trauma sets in, you know, I've only just like, I've only just read again. That took 14 years of trauma for when that's at. I had to face the beast straight on, but yeah, it was so weird. It was so weird. Wow. What a testament to how good your magic is, that he just was convinced there's no possible way that that could be the same one.

I mean, yeah, if you look at that, it's pretty cool. All props to Dave Bontal and all the stuff he puts together. But yeah, it was just so freaky. It was so... And for the wife... It just shifted. Just the room went silent. The bouncers came. Security came. The owner of the car. It's just a lot. It's just... Yeah, I was – maybe the first time I've been shaken up in maybe five years. I'm literally just sitting down in a deck chair near the pool, just like a little bit shaky as well.

Like you're running on that kind of – Adrenaline. Adrenaline, yeah. It's really weird. Adrenaline. I got into the car tonight. I'm like, what just happened tonight? Like what? And thankfully it was at the end of the night. Like you know these people that just come right at the end of the party, that kind of – because I don't know if I'd be able to continue that gig. It's a lot.

So that's that one. That's my story. You literally, his ring was literally signed and upon giving it to him, he still didn't. And for the wife to get into it and be like, listen here, dear, I don't know what you're playing at. Like, that's crazy. You know what? Thank God that happened to you now in your career and not like at the start. Cause imagine that happening to a newbie and they're like, oh my God, anytime you borrow something, they're going to think that it's now a fake, a phony.

I spoke to a magician the other day, Toby, Toby Z, and his fringe show, he borrows the ring. I think that's like the David Regal, like the three rings and that kind of thing. He's finished his fringe show. Everyone's walking out of the tent. This is fucking January. And then she just said the same thing. Like, but that's not my ring though. But it's a cool trick, but that's not my. And even her boyfriend was like, babe, like I'm short.

Like he was trying to just like pacify and she's like no no don't don't it's it's not my and even toby was just like he's not doing it now he's just like i need a break from rings it was just it's i need to jump in i need to jump in for a second because i've experienced this before.

And i just i need to share this because i can't tell you many times i've done something like a ring flight borrowed a ring whatever it might be and they go that's not my ring and i just go oh it must be mine then and i just put it in my pocket and they go no no no no no and immediately.

Immediately it flips on its head and i'm just wondering like why isn't anyone else going oh it must be mine then i'll keep it and that's brilliant i i i hope that i we shared a scary story if you approach it the nick k way which might be the wrong way but i think that's the, it's not mine oh it must be mine then I'll keep it and they go no no no no they'll push back every time and shut on her that's great.

Love that it does happen as Josh mentioned earlier I do a thing where I vanish a phone and I can't tell you how many times, there's been a handful of times some which involve police reports where they've gone he skimmed my phone like he skimmed my credit card, And it's happened quite a few times. One time, I was just like, yeah, good on you, mate. That was really good. Good. And I'm like, thanks. And he was, nah, nah, good. Good on you. Like, I saw what you did there.

And I was like, thank you. And then he brought out his phone on the app and held up a phone. And there was like an amount for like $68 and something cents. And he was like, yeah, good on you. And I was like, I don't understand what you're saying. And he was like, you skim like 60 bucks off me. And I'm like, why would I skim $68 exactly? I go, and when was this? And I'm like, this was three minutes ago when you ordered the round of drinks at the Muppet.

I was just like, brother, careful what you say. One, you're going to ruin my reputation. Number two, you're going to look really stupid. So it depends how you want to do this. And he was just like, yeah, yeah, no. and shut his mouth. Another cat, like he was saying that like, oh, you know, there was suspicious behavior on my credit card and I think that he did it and I was just like, prove it, show me where it is, blah, wouldn't do it. I lost three weeks of worth. I lost thousands of dollars.

Yep. And I was like, like we can't employ you until this like police report's gone and I'm like, where's the report? Where's the report? Find me the, get the police report right now. I'll take it straight to my brother-in-law who's a detective and go, all right, run what you need to run. They were just talking crap the whole time. And then I said to him, I go, FYI, it's been three weeks. I'm three grand in the hole.

If you don't produce what I want in the next three days, I'm going to sue you for loss of wages. And now like, Oh, we never, we never said he did that. We never said that he did that. We just thought he did. We just thought he was like suspicious. And I was like. I don't know what you think, bro, but this guy who's a bit like that, oh, my gangster, what do you know? I'm like, I'm not going to try and target someone wearing filler tracksuit pants

and go, oh, he must have some money. Let's try and scam him. It's just funny that that's the outcome they're going with. So the reason part goes like this, and if that's and that, and if that's and that, and they go, And so the logical conclusion is you've skimmed $68 off that. Oh, bro. I've been at gigs where the power went out and 200 eyes look at me like I did it. Yeah. I mean, that's when you can take your credit. Yeah.

That's my final life. That's called Nick K's Lights Out. I'll see you guys next time. You're really good. Yeah. That's how I know my time's up. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah. So these things are going to happen, but yeah.

It's incredible. thing where you know you need the insurance and a lot of times i take a ring and i'll go and you know so if it looks expensive i go is it less than 20 million they go yeah good then i'm insured, yeah yeah that's what i say you know what i mean and if they gotta go like well he's a pro he knows what's going on blah blah blah and sometimes i actually have a very very little knowledge of rings and i'll take it and i might say

something about i'm like you know the shape of this ring what it actually means and they go no and i go oh if you wear it this way it means you found love If you're at the other way, it means you're looking for love and like, you're serious. And I'm like, yeah. And sometimes I just make the shit up. But the point is, so the point is, is that like, I'm someone who knows rings and knows this and knows what wealth looks like.

And because I know wealth, I treat it with respect the same way that I would look at a wealthy person's sports collection of watches and cars and go, is that a nine 30 or is that the nine, nine six? He's like, that's a nine, nine six. And I'm like, that's my dream car. I go, can I just poke my head in? I go, sit in it. I don't want to sit in it. I don't want to sit. It's pretty nice to sit in, but I would love to just poke my head in. By the way, you make a really good point about...

Knowing it's really important to know just enough about all those things. That can be a talking point when you're with those clients because that's what they're into. It might not be my jam, but if they're into crypto and they're into investments and they're into trading and they're into, then, yeah, I'm going to start reading up about lithium and I'm going to start reading up about whatever.

And I can't afford the Rolex, but I'm going to go, okay, so that's the Submariner 2 and it's just talking points.

Well, here's one last thing I'll share about the ring that that'll give you some some safety as well when you go to borrow a ring you say if anything happens to it i'll gift you the keys to my car and then i show the keys to my car and in the action of putting it back in my pocket i hook up so the notion is that i've set a precedent now that if anything happens to your ring you take the keys to my car and they go well that's a fair deal so there's an exchange here of like yeah it's

my ring not my ring and the thing is they're so dumb they'll say like when it's hanging back on the actual key chain itself they'll go that's not my ring i go it must be mine then i'll just keep it no no no so you've got all these yeah and if they say that's not my ring give me the keys to your car you go take it it's 150 gimmick you go buy another one yeah you know what i mean and thank you and keep the ring which is probably.

So those are little things you can do to combat the scariness of that and but and As far as the presentation goes, it goes in full circle. We should also point out for a magician listening to this, this is like the 0.005% of the time. This is the 0.005%. Where there'll be this pressure moment. Like that's just because James has done such a good job that this guy has just believed that he's trying to steal his ring. But that's not something you're really going to have to worry about.

But we bring it up because one day... Happen 10 years later james it's been so great having you here thanks guys likewise this chat we would have had we would have all had this exact same chat even if we weren't live so we're just going to have to make a point to have more of these because this is some real juicy stuff and thank you so much for sharing a lot of except the way that you sort of operate and things like that look you can find james everywhere but nowhere at the same

time his website is in the description of where you're listening to this podcast. And we want to end with giving you the final word. So I'm going to play a little stinger, scope out James's socials, hire him for your personality party. And we look forward to seeing you guys next week. We have another guest. We'll announce him in a couple of days, but James, we're going to leave you with The final word, let me play this and we'll see you guys next week.

The final word, not too much to say. Just, yeah, thanks for having me on. Keep in touch on socials. I'm always happy to meet up with other magicians, catch up, jam over DMs, share ideas. I think through sharing ideas is how we all grow. Thanks for having me on and I hope we can do it again real soon. 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.