Would You Rather.. Magic Edition #217

They're guys they do magic they are the magic guys, well tip top tap to the morning to you my friends i'm josh norbedo and to my left i've got nick k that's right friends i'm nick k and i used to play in a band.

Whoops i said your name by accident i got a little too ahead of myself but this is the magic guys podcast episode 217 where we as professional magicians talk about our lives the gig life the shenanigans that go with it interview cool guests and we chat live with our fellow listeners on youtube because we you know nick we have just as many listeners if not maybe more now in audio land as we do watching on youtube so it's kind of funny we have like a demographic

we we rock with and we chat live who are basically part of the show then we have the people that watch it afterwards and then there are some people that don't even know that we're bald, so it's quite a funny listenership that we have collected i wonder i wonder what people think we actually look like you know what i mean like if you didn't know what we looked like what would josh nabito i think you look exactly what you sound like personally but if someone were to be like i've never seen nick k

and i don't know what he looks like and tell you what if you are one of those listeners who has heard our voices and does not know what we look like maybe other than the actual you know the the the logo that we have where we've been turned into cartoons send us a speak pipe and let us know what you think we actually look like that'd be really funny you.

Because that's happened to me so many times where before people were doing video podcasts, I would listen to podcasts and just imagine what those people looked like. And then most of the time, it's always underwhelming when you do, like, it never seems to match their voice when I would see people. And I wonder if, yeah, if that exists to someone else. So that's pretty cool. 100%, yeah. And of course, you know, the guys who are here in the chat,

great to see you. Let's give you guys a quick shout out. We have Thomas Conger, Tim Askin, Scotty Link, Scotty P. And we have Jesse Chapman. Thanks for coming in. And of course, our good friend, Alex Lamb. How are you, handsome friend? Oh, yeah. Like we said, guys, we do love it when you send in some speak pipes. And we actually got one this morning that's kind of a heavy one. We were debating whether or not we share it in the spirit of today because today is going to be a fun one.

But I said that in the spirit of what Magic Guys is, is that we are there as a community and we are there for each other. So I said, let's line it up. Let's see what the community has to say about this big pipe. It's a heavy one. So open your ears and open your hearts to what needs to be said. Go for it, Josh.

Hey y'all, hope you're doing well. So I am currently on my way to a gig and yesterday I found out that my father passed away from cancer and I thought I would be okay to go do this gig and as I am driving there, I am having a more difficult time than I had imagined.

And you know obviously this episode would come out after today but you know i'm just curious if anybody ever you know unfortunately finds themselves in a similar situation if you have any words of advice or words of encouragement or anything of the sorts yeah cheers so that was from our friend seth i think seth's in the chat if i've got the right seth i hope you're doing well my friend and we're going to send you a speak pipe back to you as well off air but

first and foremost we hope you're doing well my friend and thank you for being vulnerable and sending it in because it is something that uh entertainers go through which is not that specific situation but like you know having shitty things in our lives happen but we still have to light up the room and entertain an audience it's a weird by play so nick first what's it's it's unfortunate that Doug is in here today because he has probably experienced more of that just having lived a longer life.

He might have had more perspective. But, yeah, we'll start with you, Nick. Yeah, yeah. But before I say anything, again, condolences, buddy. I mean, as well as everyone in the chat, the chat is lighting up, sending their love to you, buddy. And our hearts go out to you. And I'm terribly sorry for your loss. And, you know, as we said, Doug has been in the game a lot longer than ourselves because he's, you know, 6,000 years old.

And we suspect he might be Santa Claus. but for myself who's been in the game for currently 17 going on 18 years i have experienced things of this nature okay and it is is it is an experience let's just acknowledge that good or bad it is an experience i will i'm gonna i'm gonna tear off the band-aid and just share a very very personal experience of mine i was booked to do a show after a serious breakup with my fiance say. Okay. Not my girlfriend, not my, I bet like fiance.

We were to get married. This was a long time ago now because she was ill and like your father kind of on her way out. And she didn't want me to stick around for it and was like, I'm leaving you now. I'm going to run away and die effectively. Okay. I've never told anyone this story, but I think in the spirit of what's going on, I'm going to bear my soul because you need to hear this. That morning I woke up and I didn't want to exist. I didn't want to get up and I didn't want to do anything. Okay.

But I had a show that day and I mustered the strength to do it. I did the show and not only did I did the show, I crushed it. And what I took away from it is a couple of things that I want to share with you. The first thing is that like, regardless of whether or not you're at your highest or your lowest, it's the type of thing that when you approach an audience that you have a job and your job is to make them happy and to make others smile.

It's a very selfless act, I think is the right word I'm looking for, where you put your own ambitions aside and your own feelings because you're there to give. It is a gift and you give and you give. So if you went forward with it and you did do the gig, power to you, buddy, like that is exactly what it's about. And it is a challenge, okay? And it's not supposed to be easy, but if you get through it, power to you, okay?

Second thing I'll make mention to synopsisize that is do not bleed on anyone who didn't cut you. You could be having a bad day, but it's not your right to take your day out on anyone because you've had a bad day. That's not only while you're performing, that's just in life, okay? You can't go and kick in the teeth of someone who's ruined your coffee order, for example, you know, nor can you get to a gig and be like, stop heckling me, you prick, my dad just died.

Like, that's not really something you can do. Like you grace the stage. You don't even tell people that your life sucks or that you're struggling in that moment. You get up and you do your job and then you go and you deal with that later. And again, it's not an easy thing to do, but it is something you do. And I'll finish what I have to say by saying that after that set, right, that I had done, this was very early in my career.

I went there, I did my set and I crushed it. And then I was offered... I was offered my first Melbourne Magic Festival show from that. They said, this was amazing. Will you come and please do a show? We're going to give you a discount on five nights to do a whole week of shows. We think you're brilliant. What I took away from it was that even at my lowest, even at my all-time low, I was still brilliant and I was still able to make others smile.

It was through that that I learned what my personal purpose was and what the the purpose of being a magician was. And it's also a good way to keep marching forward, you know, and having that strength, that personal strength, and also doing it in honor of the person you might've lost or whatever's going through your life. It's all character building in the end. Okay. I've also had to do this when my grandmother passed away, who was my like best friend in the whole world.

You know what I mean? And like, you can, I was never going to be prepared for when that, when she was going to leave the earth and she didn't leave in a bad way. She just literally fell asleep. Didn't wake up again. No one was expecting it. You know what I mean? But it happens and you keep it together until you can have an opportunity to lose it. And I hope that's a good enough advice for what you're taking away. But like you got through it, it's character building.

No one can tell you how to mourn. It's okay to hold it in for a moment to get through a situation and then mourn when you have the moment. It's not as if people might say, you can't be doing that. You need to this. It's like, no, no, no. You don't know how I mourn. I will mourn how I need to mourn.

So I think those are enough sort of dot points that I have to say, but again, sorry for your loss and power to you for getting through it as well. And that's our episode. We've been the magic guys. Make sure you check out our website, buy our merch. Yeah, that's right. Yeah, buy your merch. Yeah, Nick said it well. I don't, like, I won't sit here and pretend like that I have a similar story to compare it to. I just know that that's, no one knows what you're going through except you.

I mean, looking at our comments here, Seth gave us an update. He's live in the chat, which all of you should be. He said, the magic, it's a huge testament to the power of magic because I was able to put everything aside for 45 minutes and be fully present. Kids and parents enjoyed the show. And that particular comment, yeah, that's amazing. Do we have some applause? You should applaud that. Matt, you're so proud of you, brother.

Yeah, like that's that feeling, like being able to table your feelings and make everyone enjoy a show, like Nick said, be giving.

The only thing I can liken this to and it's completely separate to what Seth has gone through but a lot of listeners who've been listening for a while know that I live with Crohn's disease which doesn't affect me day to day now because it is controlled with medication so every month I get like an infusion and anyone else with going through this kind of thing reach out if you're ever like struggling or don't know what to do because as a performer like it's

it can when it's affecting you dramatically affects your energy levels and when it was first flaring up and not controlled and I didn't know what was going on it was sort of around the time that I was doing Australia's Got Talent actually but that first corporate December season where you're doing like multiple gigs every single day and I was like losing weight and didn't know what was going on and I had zero energy and when I mean zero I mean if I sit down on a couch too long

like I'm I'm out. I'm asleep. So there was like a day where I had to do four gigs and I was just like. For some reason, the moment I start doing the gig, I could table aside all of that shit and no energy and still give everyone a great time. And I felt great and I had all this energy. And then for some reason, magic would like allow that to, it almost like pauses what's going on in your life and lets you do this thing that you love and this art and perform for everyone.

And then I would get in my car and just be like, oh my God, I'm like, I can't do anything else. And then I would have a Red Bull, I'd sit in my car, I'd be like, I don't know where this energy is going to pull from but let's see what happens and I get out and then all of a sudden it would be a great time and I do the gig and everything like that and I'd worry about my life afterwards so yeah magic like so don't let what you're going through necessarily.

Stop you from going out to perform is what I would say but also don't feel like you can 100% tell a client like hey something's come up and I won't be able to do your event and then you just find someone else to get it be in their place and stuff never feel like you have to commit to that still the do the thing because you think you'll never get another gig again if people know you've canceled on one don't let that be a thing but yeah if you it will be a positive outcome is i guess what we're

saying and yeah let's all uh share some love to seth and look thanks for uh thanks for sharing man really appreciate it absolutely man we are here for you we are here for you all again. So if you, again, you know, you guys are always welcome to send in your speak pipes with any questions. We love getting those.

We try to address them as quickly as we can to make sure we can help you guys in any way, getting you through whatever situation you're going through in this life or in the magic one. Yeah. I like Tim's just put a comment, sharing some, some, uh, some fun on this.

I see a new podcast for you guys, the magic guys support group, man.

If there was a support group for magicians, there is one actually it's called magicians only on facebook it's a bunch of whinging performers that all wants you know to be told that they're doing something good but anyway i digress we have an episode today called would you rather and we thought we'd put each other in funny situations where both outcomes are bad but you have to pick one and we're going to go back to back nick's going to start with the first one

and we're going to just see yeah what would we choose we want to see in the chat what you would choose as well let's have some fun okay question number one would you rather flash your double lift in the first five seconds of every single gig you do for the rest of your life or have a kind of tick where you accidentally say ta-da after every trick so you're doing a multi let's say that you're doing, like like an ambitious card routine which is like seven phases and you're like

oh and i go this i snap my fingers and it comes to the top ta-da and then you just keep every single phase.

Holy crap or okay so i need to just ask the double lift exposing it's only happening for the first phase at a gig or just what just for the first five seconds of that gig, just the gig or every set you're doing just just the gig roving oh okay so only one person sees you do something terrible well depends what if you get on stage and you've got to execute a double lift and you've got you know you get on you know stray's got talent or something and

you've got millions of people watching you you've got to execute one double lift and it's like ah. Look, there's some caveats to that because exposing videos do great views online. So that video will actually do well. But then, yeah, you are having to always know that your art form is going to look. Yeah. Look, why am I messing around? I'm going to take the ta-da because I'm hoping people will find it endearing and the magic is still going to be great because you're not exposing anything.

Yeah and in the chat people are saying scott's saying oh my god that's a nightmare, tim's saying i'll take the ta-da gutbuster mike saying i'll take the ta-da jesse champlin saying wait aren't we meant to say ta-da anyway, alex is saying to that yeah i think it's gonna be ta-da because oh my god that's that's so crazy i i i'm gonna push back fellas i will i would take a flash because i would rather i would rather structure every single trick

I do and never use a double lift for the rest of my life than have to do that after every trick. But what if it means you can do whatever slights you want and they'll always be perfect? You can do the crazy, you can do Blaise Sierra level stuff, perfection, but you will say ta-da after every revelation. Then what? Would you take that? I could have Blaise Sierra skill set in exchange for having a Tourette style tick in which I say ta-da.

You can take a shuffle deck and in one spread, it's a new deck order. But you say ta-da every time that happens. Damn it. You're taking that, right? That's a good deal. I would take that. That's a very good deal. Yeah, I think I would take that. That's what I'm talking about. You're our wins. All right, number two. This is for you, Nick, in the chat. Would you rather perform a kid's party with only mentalism or do your stage dove act at a vegan wedding. Jeez. So this is a one-off scenario.

So there's a gig. You've got to do a gig today. Are you doing a mentalism kids party or are you doing a dove act at a vegan wedding? Oh, man. I...

Okay that's a good one that's a good one i'm thinking okay i'm thinking that a mentalist show for kids could be pretty fun um like okay but hear me out you know what's gonna happen nick what let's let's pretend we're doing a mentalist show right now you're the mentalist and you're asking me to like name a number or something like that and i'm a kid okay, All right. Hello, child. Focus. I know ADHD is a thing. Hi, Nick. Hey. Hi. What's that in your pocket? It's a gun. Behave yourself.

Yeah, my dad's got one of those. Name your favorite Pokemon. Banana! Oh, that's a good Pokemon. Okay. Underneath these four buckets is one Pokemon. Wait, I got some Peter Tartus in my pocket. One sec. There better be enough for everyone Okay, underneath this bucket Is your favorite Pokemon My mom hangs out with my uncle a lot I hang out with your mom too She's great So underneath these four buckets, One, two, three, and four Choose one,

Wait, can I only have one of them? You can have as many as you like. Okay, I'll take these two. Great. All right, and then why don't you take one more? Oh, what's this flap in here do?

Beep! Ah! There's a spike in there! Fuck it, I'm doing the dumb act.

I reckon man i think it could be fun to do a kid's show where it's like you ask them questions and you have two options like you know i think it could be fun like i think it would work you know, yeah yeah but it's like you got to choose the right one otherwise i'm gonna i'm gonna like you don't get your dog back or something like that you know what i mean or you get a puppy at the end of it like it could be all right kid now i'm all the way over here but point to

where you felt i touched you and nick's about to spit up his coffee yeah and also alex alex lamb just commented saying congrats gentlemen you've just encapsulated what it's like to be a teacher because he's our teacher magician advocate here but he's still picking the kids show i don't do kids shows either but i would probably choose that over having to upset a bunch of think the reason being is this right like a kid's party is a kid's party and they are important but,

how many kid how many parties you're going to have in your life a hundred if you live to a hundred maybe even more right but a wedding how many of those you're going to have in your lifetime, you know how many do you want to have like some people don't even want to have one and i think that if you was to upset someone on their wedding day i would find that harder to live with personally So I'm going to go a kid's show because I think that I could make that rock.

So I'm going to settle on kids show. What is your choice? I think the wrath of the kids is going to be worse than the wrath of angry wedding people. Because the kids are going to grow up and they'll be around longer. I don't know. They're not writing Google reviews. Kids aren't writing Google reviews. Who cares? Yeah, that's true. Look, I'm not doing kids shows anyway, but I am doing wedding gigs.

So I would like to continue doing wedding gigs. I probably don't care if I fluff up one kids show, but still, like, that's going to be brutal no props mentalism show or some props whatever your charisma will get you through it it's not a good choice but um yeah it's just all not good i mean at least a dove act is quick like it's five minutes yeah well i'm just gonna i'm just gonna say dove act okay i'm just gonna i'll just go with that and and we'll

move on all right well gut buster says kids act tim masculine says the kids act oh that could be cool seth's saying you could do like a book test with go dog go that's a great idea yeah that's that's a fun one yeah i i would go for that okay my turn for a question all right now here we go would you rather be heckled by a drunk uncle for 20 minutes or have a child call out the force right mid show with like a constant i

know you did that I know you did that I know this one and they're gauging like they're actually yelling out the method like that's a shell there's it's string it's string it's string and is that correct or is he just like being a shit yeah he's correct he's a hundred percent correct. Or a or the drunk uncle is heckling did you say or you're having a conversation many minutes of your act is just this uncle just right yeah, the The first 20 minutes, how much of a show is this? I know,

right? It'd be a big show. Oh, that's bad. Oh, my God. What is the chat thing? Drunk uncle, heckled, imagine the views. You know what? Yeah. Crowdwork, heckling video would be pretty great. Mm-hmm. Yeah, I mean, look, they're both terrible, but I guess...

I don't know what they're supposed to be. I guess you're picking the uncle because at least the uncle isn't exposing the methods, he's just being a drunk, annoying mess, whereas the person correctly shouting out the methods to what you're doing or about to do is... Is very bad for us. Right. If someone's saying, you know, I come out on stage and they're like, why is there a bulge in your jacket? Is there a wine bottle in there? Drunkle.

The drunkle. That's a good word. I like it. That's a great word. We've invented a few words in this podcast. Before you were on, Nick, we invented this word called liquid fluel. And then, yeah, now drunkle. I'm sure there's another one somewhere, but I like what's happening.

Okay, I'm going to go. what are you picking oh dude i'm gonna i'm gonna go the drunkle because if anyone if anyone was at the last theater or magic show that i did which was i don't know to my knowledge one of the worst heckling crowds that theater has ever seen i can handle it i can yeah we've had we we've had there's been three times that we have had to firmly warn people that that we asked to leave if they don't stop, but it's always been an individual person.

This is the first time that you had like four people. And an army of assholes. Yeah. And AA, yeah. All right, let's go number four. Would you rather have to use a Sphingali deck for every card trick, oh God, or be forced to perform everything gimmick-free for the rest of your life, what would you choose? I mean, that doesn't seem so bad. Okay, hang on a second. When you say gimmick-free, we're talking like no double-crossed, no shells, no flaps. No holders for things. No holdouts.

Yeah, it's got to be just whatever organically you would purchase something as. No flash paper? No. I guess that would be a gimmick. That would be a gimmick. No indexes. Oh, my God. A life without indexes. I'd be miserable. No indexes. No toppits. Just the straight. No need for sleeve. Could I sleeve? Only you can't have an altered suit. But you can sleeve as a board suit. That goes my career. Yeah. If I can't alter a suit, I don't even have a career. Shit.

Or you can have all your gimmicks. But anytime you use a deck of cards, it's got to be a Spengali.

Oh that's bad man that's let me okay i'm gonna i'm walking you through my thought process right i'm gonna verbalize what my brain is i mean so basically you have to become gregory wilson, because he just tends to just borrow stuff and have some coins on him and yeah take in the full spirit of melini look the spangali deck is awesome you could do some very cool stuff with it you could probably do the best akon in the most easy fashion

you could still do really cool stuff like card in the box you could still do really cool things like that having cards signed would probably be a little more difficult you just never have any respect from magicians.

I think i think because i've spent so much of my past being entirely gimmickless prior to you know naturally stepping into that realm in which you start using shells and this and that to elevate your magic and implementing gimmicks into your into your notion yeah yeah okay i'm going to say i'm gonna say entirely gimmickless wow yeah damn yeah like as in like walk into a room of magicians and borrow stuff and blow their minds like i i could survive like that and i could also push

myself further to to to keep being awesome so that's my choice does gimmicks also mean i can't use a stack a stacked deck is that does that count as gimmicked i'm gonna say no. No because if i can if you're saying i can still use a stack deck i can still do all my coin magic essentially except for the the wine bottle and i can still do rubber bands because i just buy normal rubber bands i think i would be okay with doing just gimmickless magic forever yeah yeah i think i'm gonna go with

that too gutbuster mike also makes a good point who who needs magician's respect anyway yeah they're not gonna hire us anyway those guys just yeah that's a tough one man that is tough all right okay let's carry on all right this was this was a i wasn't really sure how to word this one but this is my thought it was would you rather, have to open every show with cups and balls using plastic cups or close every show, with sponge balls to music.

Well, that's going to be hard to close. Well, there is a Spanish magician who does a very good Spongeball act to music. And it is very impressive. Gaston is amazing. Yeah. Gaston is his name. Is it? And yeah, he said he recently sent me one of his videos to react to.

And even what one of the phases he can do in his act is take the sponge ball and he goes like this and almost like a card spring the sponge ball separates in midair into portions, and then he grabs it all again and it goes back into the sponge ball so stuff like that is very creative and and that's i would be happy doing that doing cups let me just reiterate reiterate we're talking about every show every show yeah yeah i guess the thing with yeah it's plastic cups and balls why

am i trying to talk up sponge balls it's all terrible but at least like you've got the rest of the show to build on after you show a kid's plastic cups and balls like at least you can say something like this is how i got started in magic or whatever well well jesse jesse's saying that like that that there's a really good options as far as he's concerned well you know they may have just described many magicians shows yes they open with cups and balls they bought from yeah a box

and then they end with audience participation and the balls end up in their hand yes yeah yeah but if i had to yeah what are you choosing look i'm thinking look i love the cups and balls and i i used to close my shows with it but i'd be more than happy to open with it like it's a very strong opener.

And if I was going to do it with plastic cups, I would just do it with like the really cool, like the ones like the red with the white rim, like the ones you see in those like sorority type movies and stuff, you know, like with the, you know, the keggers, like I would use those. And I think that would look cool. And you could do, you could really take it to like that. Is it David Regal that does something like that where like he produces little

shot glasses in between stuff? You could probably do like smaller ones beyond that. Or is it Sean Farnham who does like a routine like that, you know?

Well, there is. And someone in the chat will mention it. there is a magician who does an amazing sequence of cups and balls where they start with the kids cups and balls move to the pro ones and then the ending is everything like the the kids ones ends up underneath the pro ones that's right load and that's such and such that's so that yeah very creative thinking i've similarly been thinking about like these rubik's cubes i picked up recently they i found these in a in a toy store and they

move very well they only cost me 50 cents per cube which is insane dude i was trying to find them online i actually think that they made a mistake because when i checked online you can only buy the two by two cubes for 50 cents and those ones actually know so i think that that store specifically made a big mistake and you've just really yeah yeah because i was like i'm gonna buy some because i've always wanted to do the artwork that people do with those ones but i

didn't want to spend the cube to do like a two thousand dollar piece of artwork you know and customize it and put like a portion there or something like that you know what i mean so all right now jesse is asking what what cubit is so it's called a the actual branding on the box says it's a three five seven. Speed Up is what they called it. Three, five, seven, Speed Up is like the brand on the box. It doesn't even say the word Rubik's Cube.

And so I can do all the normal stuff that I would with a cube I buy from Henry Harrius, but it's so much cheaper, which makes me think like ideally great. Then I can use these in shows, give them away. I'm spending less money.

But when I showed this to the amazing Nigel at Theater of Magic, he's like, the thing is with this one though it does look a lot more kitty than the ones i'm using so then the question because when you when you're actually here feeling this it does feel a lot more plasticky you can hear it dude it literally sounds like that's like yeah like although it but the thing is i can i can do all of the normal ungimmicked magic that i would with another cube with this one.

Like you would have no problem using it. But yeah. So the question is kind of like with the cups and balls, like, could I get away with using this in a show? And my thought is maybe I use it as a, a building upon thing where I use this first. And I say, this is the first kind of cube I ever got as a kid. And then I move into like the more, I don't want to say adults looking ones. Cause they're still like a puzzle, but then I move into the nicer looking ones, you know, I don't know.

So, cups and balls is what we're agreeing on. I'm going with cups, man. Yeah. Yeah, I'm going with the cups. Yeah. All right. Hell yeah. Okay. Here we go. Number six. Would you rather accidentally leave your thumbtip on the dinner table or drop your invisible thread loop while shaking a booker's hand?

I'm thinking. would you rather lose your thumb tip so is it basically saying at a gig would you rather lose your thumb tip or lose your invisible thread i think i'd rather lose my thread because no one's going to see that i've lost my thread as it is invisible but i think losing a thumb tip or something of that nature would be tough i was reminded of a story recently about, darren brown doing a show and him having a particular type of gimmick on his

thumb it could have been something to the effect of like a nail writer or, or some sort of thumb tip of, of that nature. And what happened was in the middle of the show, it, it come off and it fell and like went on the stage and it was kind of like, everyone was like, kind of, oh, what was that? And the way he played it off was genius. Cause he just like grabbed it and was like, oh, and then walked over to a table.

Like it was a bolt that had come off a prop and then just like pretended to fix the prop while putting it back on his thumb and then just sort of like went back. But I was like, that is very clever thinking, you know? Yeah. Yeah, so I think that I would rather lose something invisible so that no one sees I've lost it than losing a thumbtip where everyone's like, what's this thumb doing here? The annoying thing with loops is I always break them not when I'm performing.

It's always when I reach into my pocket and it gets snagged on something or. Yeah, or I don't think I've gotten it caught on shaking someone's hand. But it's always not when I'm performing.

It always breaks from just trivial stuff. and i'm like god damn it that's yeah and only when you're gigging like you wear it on their day-to-day you go to the gym you sit in the sauna you have a shower you literally have balls of lint gathering around this thing and you're looking at your wrist being like i can see.

It from here like it's gathered so much dust and moss and then you put a fresh one for a gig and then you high five someone and it snaps like it's just like why yeah you know gets caught on their watch or you know i always do you do this i always know now to take my jackets off while like stretching my fingers out so that when the sleeves come off it can't pull the loop the loop off my hand because so many times it would just take it off with my jacket and i'd be like god damn it yeah yeah yeah

i'm gonna break some i'm gonna break some i think the guys the thumb chip is deeper than the loops that's a good point there that is true yeah you know what would be funnier if a thumb tip was shaped like a dick and and so like because you would be on your thumb and now i'm supposed to see the thumb tip anyway but if it ever did get left behind it's like what's this dick doing here and that'd be weird that'd be a little weird man yeah yeah okay on to the next one you ready

I'm ready Would you rather Only be able to perform card tricks Or Never touch playing cards again So I'll just reiterate. Card tricks and only card tricks For the rest of your days Or Be able to do everything in the world Except Card tricks Hmm This does require some thought It's a tough one, i'm gonna need to see what the chat thinks about that one because boy do i love me some card magic can you use other cards you like okay index cards is that what you're sort of meaning like.

Yeah coin magic is superior i would break my heart to let go of coin magic which is as it's my favorite discipline in magic as as it is alex's as well but coin tricks can't play as big as cards just because the prop themselves aren't as big. Yeah. Eric Jones once talked about him trying to put on a coin show. He's like... I'm going to put on a show that's purely coin magic. And then afterwards he said, it turned out that was a terrible idea.

And there's only so much you can do with coins, even how amazing they are. Yeah. And if Jonesy struggles to do it, what help do us mere mortals have? You know? I definitely believe you can do, I mean, you can do exceptional shows without having to bring out a deck of cards.

But are you really fulfilled as a, in your life well so what we ball makes a good point here saying that darren brown stopped doing cards yeah yeah god i hate mentalism so i mean i don't hate it it's just that like you know i'm just i get tired of tricks that take three seconds but you cram it into 30 minutes that's all you know all this stuff yeah damn it that's so tough think about it okay alex just said it well we're talking no loops, no book tests,

no coin magic, no sponges, no cubes, no cups and balls, nothing, no double cross. All right. Oh my word. Yeah. Yeah. But then cards are just, I feel so at home with cards, you know, like even not performing, you know, just, just, just having them, having a pack nearby, you know what I mean? And just having that deck with you is fantastic. If I wasn't a professional performer, I would happily just stick to only ever touching cards again because they're just such a fun thing.

But yeah, doing it professionally, I would have to give up my love and send the cards away, I think. Yeah. I'm thinking to last night, I did a corporate show and my first corporate show for the year, actually. And I'm only bringing out cards in the last eight minutes of a 30-minute show.

And I could have put something in its place instead. But if I'd come on that stage and tried to do 30 minutes of just cards, I would have a lot of fun, but it wouldn't have the same dynamics and fun, I think, as the other options. I'll tell you what, I wasn't thinking this at first. But after what you just said, I'm going to say this, I would give up cards so long as I can keep my index. I'll let you have that. All right. Then that's what I would do.

Because I would probably have to just change a discipline from a card trick to, like, there's no replacement for a card trick, right? Like, it's not like, well, instead of cards, it's like, okay, so for example, well, don't use coins, use poker chips. Like, you could substitute something. There truly is, to my knowledge, no substitute for a card trick. Yeah, well, some would say you use cheese instead.

But imagine roving with cheese i mean i would love that yeah oh this is a good one what about lucky ladybug is that a card trick yeah shout out to buck he sent me a message i'm sure he sent you one too thank you and ask for mentioning lucky ladybug on the pod and we are big advocates of it it's great people don't really see it it's not a card trick because people don't remember.

The cards they remember a ladybug disappearing from the magician and appearing on them okay i think that's still okay okay yeah so figuring out what the index would be would be another conversation i guess as long as i keep the index i'm going to go everything else because i would probably just walk around i'd probably start walking around with a rubik's cube all the time and just like do nothing but rubik's cube magic and then coins and then this and then that you

know what i mean so yeah yeah yeah all right excellent yeah all right let's carry on very good all right next one would you rather forget the method mid-performance or forget the presentation and end up silently doing the trick like a confused robot so you forget the method or you forget the presentation the method forget the method or forget the presentation crap if you forget the method aren't you dead in the water either way because then you can't do the presentation because you don't you

can't get to that but okay i i have had i have definitely had moments where it's been so long since i've done a trick that i've have forgotten like i have had to really think about it mid-show I'm like oh god this normally happens automatically but I I can't remember what I do in this moment that has happened to me but forgetting a presentation of why you do a thing. Here's where my head's at. Yeah. The method for something doesn't have to be amazing in order for it to be a good presentation.

Like you can see someone do a trick, right? And the presentation is so nice. It's so nice. But like the method, nothing mind blowing. It's, you know, oh, he used a biddle count and, you know, and a, and a pinky break. Like that's not anything that's going to change the world.

Right. And you could your way through something if it's piss piddly small trick or whatever it might be, you know, just, just in this example, but where my head is that if you did the most perfect execution of method and, and second deals and whatever it might be, but your presentation is porridge, that's a crap trick.

But if your presentation is good and your method kind of sucks, then the trick, in my opinion, still, that's the lesser of the evils is what i what i'm thinking so i'm gonna go with with muffing up the method because you can jazz through something like yeah i'm gonna go with that okay and i to play the advocate will go with forgetting your script because then you've still got a strong method but you can as jesse's saying you can trailblaze and go off script and improv

around it both are not ideal but those are our answers in the chat everyone's saying like so ifu just saying that's why you only do self-working tricks scott saying both are a fatal flaw absolutely alex saying he'd take the option b because presentations can evolve in the moment all the time yeah jesse off script baby trailblazing.

Tim's agreeing with Jesse. Yeah. So they're saying they'd rather not have presentation, but in the moment, it really does make you look slow and uncalculated and messy when you're mumbling your way through a performance with no presentation. Both are terrible. Anyway, that sucks. Okay, I got one. Are you ready? Hang on.

Ready. Would you rather have your most embarrassing gig go viral or have your best performance mistaken for a cgi camera trick and everyone in the world calls you fake oh then i mean so both videos are going viral but for different different reasons well they're both going viral for crappy reasons yeah yeah so one is it's a shitty performance but goes viral or second one is good performance that goes viral because everyone's saying it's fake yeah you know what i'm reminded

of remember that trick that a what was his name i forget his name who did it but he produced the bread he like did this and then just like produced like a roll of bread that was like six feet long yes yes yes but that was actually cgi was it not he has done it live and it was like they have built a whole set and it was black art and they kind of flashed it as the trick ended, like there was like his box, you know, like a blackout box that he kind of did a thing.

But yeah, I, there's somewhat of a compliment in people saying that your trick is fake. I've had not viral tricks, but definitely on a daily basis, people are saying that.

Audiences that i'm using are stooges or plants or the audience the whole audience is in on it it's all fake it's a fake video yeah and i like kind of find a bit of gratification in that because i'm like well if that's all your brain can conclude to being the method fantastic yeah i mean let's not let's not mistake you know lennox green who had to compete twice at fism to win his award because the first time it happened they believed that the person

shuffling the deck in his routine was a confederate and then and then the next time he competed he actually got the judges to participate in his routine to which they had nothing to say except for you're brilliant here's your award so and that that also happened to helder gameras he got accused of having a stooge duplicate the same signature he had prepared or whatever because there was a sign card folded up predicted under a wine glass yeah and it was it was too perfect him being

able to remove the wine glass take that card show that it was her signed card yeah and i think he didn't what i think he had to show the judges the method or something like that yeah for them to actually consider him in the competition yeah i think i would like to be accused of cgi because then at least you can be like well come and see me live and then you can still do it you know yeah great crap a crappy gig going viral like.

I mean, sometimes it is a matter of perspective and you may think it's a crappy gig, but there might be elements that is the reason why it's viral and people like that in some way. And so sometimes it's in our own heads a little bit, but yeah, I think I'd take the CGI.

Yeah, I agree. I'm going to go CGI. Okay. We got time for a couple more before we wrap up. Why don't you press on with the next one?

Yeah. All right. I, I've got one on my end, but would you rather be for, oh no, would you rather be forced to wear a glittery cape for all future gigs or or introduce yourself at every show as the great norbedo in a dramatic voice bit as in like the great and then say your name oh i'm the great nick coon yeah at every show or wear a glittery cape okay wait wait can we make it worse by saying like every time you approach a table hi guys how are you doing my name is the great nick k and

it's my job to show you magic this evening is now a good time i'm interrupting conversation yeah and and you've even got a little speaker on you so it's like i am the great norbedo would you like to pick a phone or is now a good time or should i come back later You get this megaphone out and you've got to do the whole thing. Yeah. My name is The Great Norbedo. Would you like to see my card stuff, my coin stuff, or my award-winning stuff?

Okay. The glittery cape actually low-key could work because people would remember that. Like, I love the guy who wore the glittery cape. For all future gigs, the glittery? Oh, my God. I mean, we're talking Piff the Magic Dragon, you know? We're talking like maybe it's a thing that's stupid and for no reason, but it does allow people to remember you as a brand. Man. I have performed in a cape before. I'll be, just to be clear, I have performed in a cape before. It was, it was fun. It was good.

But man, if you were going to use a cape, you'd have to like really use the cape. You would have to like produce a lamb or something. You know what I mean? Like you would have to just really take it somewhere, you know? Yeah. You have to own it basically. you have to take it you take it somewhere like really gnarly you know what i mean but.

I'm gonna probably announce my name because i would rather people remember who i am, than remember like it was this guy in a cape i don't know his name though you know who we should ask is bob possible because i'm pretty sure he does wear a cape in at his gigs oh i'll be honest But I actually did, after doing gigs in a cape for a couple of events, talk to my tailor about making one. So you can't knock a few times. Here's the thing.

Is there a way to make wearing a cape cool? If it is made with flattering material to fit your suit. But this has to be glittery, just to be clear. This has to be glittery. Oh, fuck. That's right. It has to be. I don't disagree with the cape. It's the glitter that puts me off. Like the glitter. Yeah, it's messed up, isn't it? Yeah. You know what would be funny is to do a serious show and just not address it, the fact that you're wearing it. That is pretty funny.

But the thing is, even when you're sitting down, you toss it behind you, right? And the one that I wore was heavy. It was like a quilt, man. And it's choking me the whole time because you've got to tie it around your neck. So it wasn't awesome, you know? But yeah. If it wasn't glittery, I would be more inclined to do it. Especially cause I love the idea of like taking it off and then putting it over a table and producing a vase or something like that. Like, yes, yes, yes, yes. Yeah.

That's like going against my swagger and my image. I wonder if I could, I wonder if I was saying was the Cape era while you were in a band. I was in a band. Yeah. I'm going to go, I'm going to go with announcing myself done. Okay. Wait, we got you weirdo. Yeah. Yeah. I remember Derrick Brown. Okay. If you have one, I do do it. Okay. No. Would you rather perform your best trick? Okay. But forget to zip up your fly or perform your worst trick perfectly, but you can't stop sweating. Whoa.

Right. So like you have a, like a trick that you do perfect, but the whole time you're doing it, you're just sweating profusely. Or you've just done the best trick in the world and your fly's open and you don't wear underwear. Well, you do wear underwear. Yeah, we can't make it a felony. What's worse? I mean, sweating is terrible because people can't concentrate on the trick because they just see you sweating and they know you're not.

A good state and you need to cool down, the fly, they also can't concentrate. Like if it gives sweating on your side of the planet, you're like a quarter mile from the sun, you know, in sunny coast. So like it's hot where you at. So yeah, it's terrible. I mean, look, I have been in situations where I'm sweating. I have not been, I don't think in a situation where my fly is down.

I had been in situations where my fly wasn't down, but I'd gone out and bought some new pants and they were snug where the junk is and all the pants i've bought from there since i like them for for magic but i have to actually cut this one bit that's where the fly is i have to cut it so that it loosens up to make more space where the cash and good for you but yeah where the price cash and prizes goes but i remember doing my trick and a lady going your fly

is undone and to look down and go, no, it's zipped up. I'm just, I'm just Nick K. Wow. What a flex. Yeah. It was a good time. That's, it reminds me of that clip where the policeman is patting down that man and he's like, what's this? And the guy's like, that's my dick. Oh yeah. That's my penis. And the guy's like, oh, okay. Okay. Keeps, keeps patting him down. Nice. Yeah, I guess I go sweating only because that's what I'm used to.

I have been in that position before and it's not an embarrassing thing. It's just unfortunate. Okay, what about this? What about a similar scenario that you can... Would you take this? So you have the ability... To, would you take this power? So you have the ability to have anyone shuffle a deck of cards, all hands off, they sit the deck in their hands, and you can do the perfect A-Carn every time.

Hands off, they shuffle, they can name a card, name a number, it's there, but you always have a half booger at your nostril during that performance. Would you take that power? What color is the booger?

Is it proper green? it's it's it's yeah it's not a healthy clear yellow it's like a green like, almost like house for a like a kryptonite rock like a kryptonite rock sitting there like just right there on your beard and there's like a bit of crust around it because it's been there for a while but you can absolutely nail this acorn that will fool the entire world but you've got the booger. Left nostril or right nostril? I mean, you can pick the nostril. Right nostril. Okay.

Because then I would... Sure. This is my good side, my left. So if I just turn my head to the left, someone sits there.

If you don't think people aren't going to see that booger, you're poorly mistaken. The booger is that big? No, no. It's just like, it's at least like, you know, it's at least like... Half, it's like, you know, it's like to here, it's like to your mustache, where your mustache starts. It's sitting on your mustache. It's like at least, you know, just kissing the top of it. But it's like, it's noticeably there where someone wants to just grab it and flick it away.

But it just appears every time you do this acorn, because the acorn is so perfect and impossible and hands off. And every time you remove it, what happens? Another one takes its place? Exactly, yeah. Oh, that's the worst. But only while you're doing that a can shit that's a that sucks you'd almost want to be like i'm gonna wear a mask i'm gonna wear a mask for this one.

And then you take the mask off and a thousand boogers fall out like that's that's gnarly hey literally pick a card, okay you know what alex slam is saying a kind is boring no deal i'll die on that hill well i don't know man if you got hecklers that's a pretty great way to to kill a heckler or a skeptic because it think about it you ask them to bring a deck from home they shuffle it they name a card and the number and it's there every time it's just

that you got a little show and tell each time as well wow imagine doing this on the radio like imagine doing this on the radio where you like every single person grab a deck right now give it a shuffle name any playing card yeah count down to that and then you and then someone's like radio presenter and then and it's just like oh imagine yeah that's that's massive area i'll take i would take dude i would if okay if you did for one person, a booger happens.

If you do it for an audience, you shit your pants. Would you still do it? Yeah. Well, I have Crohn's as I said. So sometimes when you flare up, that's very possible that that could happen. I'm going to end on this. I'm going to end the show. Like if I could do a trick so great that I walked into a theater with 4,000 people, whatever it is, you walk into Rod Laver arena, everyone reach under your chair, everyone grab a deck of playing cards.

Shuffle a deck. Name a card. One person names a card. You name a number. They name a number. You count down to that number. Everyone turns around and every single person has that card.

But then you shit your pants. I'll tell you right now, I'm shitting my pants. Thanks for listening. It's time for us to disappear now. But we'll see you again on the next episode of The Magic Guys.