A special episode recorded during the 2018 Edinburgh Festival, Richard revisits six previous guests who are all performing at the festival with their own shows for a catch up. Featuring Piff The Magic Dragon, Ben Hart, Ben Hanlin, Harry De Cruz, John Lenahan and Pete Firman.
TIME STAMPS:
PIFF THE MAGIC DRAGON (17:21)
BEN HART (45.42)
BEN HANLIN (1:05.11)
HARRY DE CRUZ (1:27.40)
JOHN LENAHAN (1:53.06)
PETE FIRMAN (2:17.30)
One of the world's greatest living magicians takes to my hot seat for the series finale. Derren Brown has changed mentalism in our industry forever and become a household name in the process. He has produced more television content over the last 15 years than any other British magician and also produced seven full evening stage shows full of original presentations, methods and thinking. An unexpected part of Derren's incredible success has been the spawning of an entire generation of magicians who rip of his psychological presentations and material, what does the man himself really think of the Derren clones? His answer may surprise you.
Stuart MacLeod is one half of the double act Barry & Stuart. I would recommend you listen to Barry's episode first (episode 70) before you listen to this one as it follows on perfectly. In this interview Stuart discusses their influences, why commercial success was never their plan, why they decided to expose all of the secrets to the tricks in one of their Edinburgh shows, his solo projects including the soon to open Band of Magicians show on the Las Vegas strip. Stuart also explains how they are able to continue as a double act today despite the fact that they live on different continents.
Barry Jones is half of the double act Barry & Stuart, they are without question two of the most creative and innovative magicians in the world today and over the last 15 years they have produced an incredible body of original work. In this interview Barry discusses their journey from rural Scotland to the bright lights of London where they made their own TV series for Channel 4 in their early twenties called Magick, he also talks about their time as featured performers on the BBC1 show 'The Magicians' including the night The Slicer illusion they were performing went wrong on Live TV. I also ask Barry about their Live shows, their upcoming appearance on ITV1's 'The Next Great Magician' featuring the incredible 'Barry's Belly' trick and how he and Stuart have kept their double act going strong despite Stuart moving to America.
It is always great to hear an enthusiastic young magician talk about the magic world and how they view its past, present and future. This week Harry De Cruz takes to my hot seat, he is the youngest magician to ever do so. Harry is only 22 however for the last 4 years he has worked in the very heart of team DYNAMO and has been at Steven Frayne's side throughout the TV shows, national arena tours and publicity stunts, Harry has also recently been working alongside Paul Kieve and has some big plans for his own performing future. This episode also features the first ever pair of magicians to gate crash a podcast recording, Alan Hudson and Tom Elderfield add in their 2 cents.
The lovely Debbie McGee takes to my hot seat this week to discuss her incredible life and career as both a ballet dancer and also as one half of the most famous magic double act in the UK over the last 30 years. Debbie talks about her marriage to Paul Daniels, the TV shows, the West End run, the live shows, the Louis Theroux and 'Wife Swap' documentaries, as well as sitting on Mrs Merton's sofa when she asked that very famous question. Debbie also talks about her future plans and your host points out an amazing potential new avenue that Debbie could go down in the world of magic at the end of the interview.
This is possibly the most thought provoking episode I have released in a long time. I have tried to convince Ben to be a guest on the podcast since the very beginning and today is the day he finally sits and talks to me about his incredible approach to magic. Ben doesn't do interviews for magicians, so I am honoured that he choose to speak to you via this podcast. We go right back to the start of his professional career to discuss his DVD Past Midnight, we talk about why he decided to try and fool Penn & Teller rather than the how he fooled them. Ben also talks candidly about his Channel 4 series Trick Artist. Did he really ask security to eject the magicians he spotted in the studio audience? He answers that question in this podcast with 100% honesty. Ben is just beginning the start of a new journey for him and his magic, a project he calls Neo-Movement which is an approach to magic which makes sleights invisible and magic look purer than ever before.
Professor Richard Wiseman takes to my hot seat this week to discuss his incredible (and often magical) viral videos, he shares an amazing insight into the success of his YouTube channel Quirkology. He also talks about the framing of magic, being a guest at EMC, the new Quirkology Marvin's Magic set and his fantastic books. This is also the very first episode ever to feature an unexpected (and unwelcome) co-host.
On the eve of his 90th birthday the living legend and International Man of Mystery David Berglas takes to The Magicians' Podcast hot seat to discuss his incredible life and career. He shares the story of how he secured his own television series on the BBC in the most unusual way, the cabaret scene in the 50's and 60's an amazing effect which he created where a real pear appears inside a milk bottle (he shares the secret too). David also discusses The Berglas Effect, his time as President of The Magic Circle and his thoughts on his son Marvin running for President.
Katherine Mills is the first female magician in the UK to secure her own TV Series, the show called 'Mind Games' was commissioned and broadcast on the same channel Dynamo found fame on and in this interview she shares the 'ups' of securing the series and the 'downs' of its demise after one series. We also discuss Help! My Supply Teacher is Magic both the TV version and Live show and also her very brief time in the West End show Impossible. Katherine also shares some great tips and advice from many years working as a gigging female magician that any budding female performer should hear.
Epistemic paradigms? Peddling epistemological agendas? I don't know what they mean either, but Max Somerset does, a man who a decade ago was doing more magic on television than anyone else. He was Max in Max Magic on Sky, The Sorcerer on The Sorcerer's Apprentice on BBC1 and then he was mugged and left in a bad way in a brutal unprovoked attack in the street in which he lives. He tells the story of that attack and how it made him re-evaluate his outlook on life in this weeks podcast. Max also talks in detail about his chance encounter with the 1992 Formula 1 World Champion Nigel Mansell who he has helped to recover from a major accident in a racing car by helping him learn magic.
Canadian born Billy Kidd started life as a child actor and didn't find magic until her twenties. She now lives in Bath and has done it all including street performing, close-up, stage and a ton of television, later this year you will see her on ITV1 attempting to become 'The Next Great Magician' too. In this interview Billy gives us an incredible insight in to what it's like to be a female in our male dominated industry.
Guy Hollingworth is a Barrister and one of the most influential card magicians of the last twenty years. This week he takes to my hot seat to discuss his book, the torn and restored card effect, his new stage act and also provides the greatest ever answer during the word association part of the show.
Bruce Smith has worked for Marvin's Magic since day one at ground zero on the shop floor in Hamleys of Regent's Street. In this interview he talks about the art of the magic demonstration, shares his stories of performing for Michael Jackson after closing time and also discusses the amazing list of magicians who have worked for the company over the past 30 years and shares some anecdotes of some of the big names including Stephen Mulhern, Marc Paul and Andy Nyman.
Derren Brown's BAFTA and Olivier award winning co-writers join me to discuss the incredible projects they have worked on and provide an incredible insight into the man himself. They also provide a fascinating insight in to the writing process they go through together.
A former investment analyst who went on to become The President of The Magic Circle, Scott Penrose takes to my hot seat to discuss his love of illusions, what he hates about bird acts, his consultancy work, and the club which he now represents as President.
How hard can it really be to get a famous magician to say his catchphrase? You are about to find out! Geoffrey needs no introduction, he is a legend in our industry and during his career he performed on television over 700 times. In this interview he discusses why he quit performing, his thoughts on the magic world today and why you absolutely should have a trick with liquid in your show.
This is the first podcast ever recorded outside of the UK and comes to you from the bright lights of Las Vegas! A few years ago John Van Der Put was a jobbing Close-Up Magician in London, he now has his own show at The Flamingo on The Strip in Las Vegas alongside Mr Piffles as Piff The Magic Dragon. This interview covers his extraordinary journey.
Mike Caveney was passing through the UK for just over a week to perform in The Magic Circle Christmas Show. He managed to find some time to have a fantastic chat with me about his amazing act, his books, the history of magic, his incredible historical magic collection, the conference on magic history which he organises and also the future of the history of magic.
Derek Lever is the organiser of the world's largest magic convention in Blackpool, in this episode he gives us the story of how he came to be involved in the convention, why he often bans people from the event and also what it's like to book acts from all over the world. Derek also shares with us what he would still dearly love to see happen on the Opera House stage, a hand shake between two living magical legends.
Noel Qualter has won the prize for originality for the last 3 years in a row at The Magic Circle Close-Up Magician of the Year Competition. He is a working professional, consultant and has also had a close call with some big time television success. This is perhaps the most gut wrenching story on the podcast to date, as Noel explains how he was cut from a major prime time TV magic show not once, but twice.
This week I speak to one of the most creative magicians on the planet about his incredible body of work, Kevin James. He talks about his experience on America's Got Talent and being in the world's largest touring magic show The Illusionists. Kevin also talks openly about the creation of his incredible Sawing in Half Illusion: The Operation.
Simon Painter is the producer of the biggest touring magic show on the planet The Illusionists. In this episode he discusses how the show came to be, why he books the acts he does, the death of one of the cast members and the incredible West End and Broadway runs that happened simultaneously in December 2015.
Canadian born Darcy Oake takes to my hot seat in the season 3 double bill launch to address his critics in this controversial episode.
Season 3 begins with Sam Strange who is half of the double act Young & Strange (the other half being your host) to celebrate the fact Strange is finally on the show your host decides to introduce a bowl and some pieces of paper to keep the interviewing flowing nicely.
This is the series finale with the biggest star in UK magic today. This incredible insight into the world and mind of Steven Frayne was recorded a few days before the start of his nationwide theatre and arena tour.
The series reaches it's conclusion with a double bill of episodes with the two guys behind the biggest brand in UK magic today.
Andrew O'Connor was The Young Magician of the Year in 1981 and had a successful career in television as a presenter, in the early 90's he co-founded Objective Productions with Michael Vine (See episode 45 for his side of the story) and together they discovered Derren Brown. They sold the business in the mid 2000's for millions of pounds after which Andrew moved to L.A to make movies.
This episode is the first ever podcast recorded in front of a Live audience at The Magic Circle Headquarters. A Live audience calls for a lively guest and Michael Vine is exactly that in this extraordinary interview. He is one of the cofounders of Objective Productions which is responsible for most of the magic you have seen on TV over the last 15 years. He also manages the career of Derren Brown and provides an incredible insight in to his amazing world.
The legendary Paul Daniels takes to my hot seat to discuss his incredible career in this epic 2 hour interview. We discuss his rise to fame, the TV show, his West End run and his thoughts on the magic world today. Paul also answers the questions you left on our Facebook page and Twitter feed.
Michael Vincent is without question one of the finest sleight of hand magicians the UK has to offer and he is in my hot seat this week to share stories of his mentors, his amazing card magic, appearing twice on Penn & Teller: Fool Us and the DVD sets he released a few years ago with Alakazam.
The incredible Jonathan Goodwin talks to me in this episode about his amazing stunts and television appearances. He shares the story of what it is like to hang upside down in a straight jacket from a burning rope on the London Eye. I also ask Jonathan what the difference is between the West End show Impossible and the Broadway spectacular The Illusionists (he stars in both).
This week Paul Gordon joins me to discuss the new DVD set of his work which he is releasing through Alakazam shortly. Paul also shares some funny stories from gigs, lecturing for magicians at conventions and magic clubs, his favourite magic books and discusses some of his own creations.
In this episode I talk to Marc Kerstein, a young London based magician who has been creating innovative and original magic in the last couple of years which has got him noticed by the likes of David Blaine and Derren Brown (he has actually worked for both already). Marc also tells me why he doesn't like doing gigs and why he left a career with a major bank to chase his dream of being a professional magician.
Marc Paul is a really interesting magician because he was right in the middle of the magic world when there was a search for a new star after the end of the Paul Daniels era. We also discuss his appearance on the Parkinson TV show, the sale of one of his effects to David Copperfield and the benefit of a period of time in your life where you have a fully immersive experience.
Alan is originally from Hull and moved to London to chase his dream. He's done everything including prime time national television, thousands of real world gigs, kids magic and several runs at The Edinburgh Fringe. Oh and he's also done the KFC Christmas party too.
Comedy magician and author Ian Keable is in my hot seat in this episode to discuss why after graduating from Oxford University and landing a stable job as an accountant he decided to quit and become a magician. We also talk about his appearance on New Faces, his three amazing books and his thoughts on reviews in the magic world, from both a reviewers perspective and the subjects.
This week I speak to Jez Rose about his various careers in magic to date. He shares with us his time at Marvin's Magic, the controversy he caused when he entered The Young Magician of the Year (for not doing enough magic) and his experience making a TV special for ITV.
To coincide with the opening of the West End's new magic show Impossible I sit down with one of the stars of the show Chris Cox.
The big fish I have been trying to catch for the podcast since the beginning of the project is finally in my hot seat! This is an amazingly open and candid interview about Andy Nyman's life and career.
The Vice President of The Magic Circle Richard Pinner takes to my hot seat to answer my questions regarding the past, present and future of the Club. We also discuss close-up magic, working cruises, children's entertainment and his theatre consultancy work.
The first double act to appear on The Magicians' Podcast and what a cracking episode this is! Morgan & West have an incredibly strong work ethic and have come up with hours of original material for their Edinburgh shows, they have also got their foot in the door with Electric Talent Management and reveal in this episode how they did it. We also discuss how they fooled Penn & Teller and the public's reaction to the way it was edited.
This is a fantastic episode! Richard Cadell has had an amazing life and he shares it all here. We discuss Richard winning The Young Magician of the Year, working as an illusionist and how/why his illusion career ended. Richard is also very open about how the move to hosting Sooty came about and how he ended up owning the brand.
This week we discuss the world of children's magic with Paul Megram (aka Colonel Custard). We discuss his background, how he built up his business and the way he keeps his clients re-booking year after year. Paul is an amazing businessman and his techniques and approaches could easily be applied to any branch of magic. This episode also contains one of the funniest stories of the series so far, when (much to Paul's horror) all the kids decided to drop their trousers during the middle of his show.
Alex's mum died when he was 14, at around the same time he discovered Derren Brown and his journey to becoming a Champion of Magic had begun. In this interview we discuss Alex's incredible mentalism set in the Champions of Magic touring show, the Gossamer Thread Vaudville Company which he runs with his partner Daisy and what it is like to perform only mentalism at gigs.
Perhaps the best dressed, busiest and funniest working Close-Up Magician in the UK, French magician Etienne Pradier shares his life story on this weeks Podcast. How did he end up in the UK? How did he fool Penn & Teller? How did he escape being thrown out of The Magic Circle? It is all here. Etienne also shares his thoughts on the best tricks to do at gigs.
Jamie Raven has been one of the UK's top working professional magicians for many years, working at top end corporate and private events. In early 2015 Jamie took an enormous risk when he decided to appear on Britain's Got Talent, a risk which paid off massively, Jamie came second and missed out on victory by just 2% of the public vote. This podcast is his story of that incredible journey. www.jamieraven.co.uk
According to his Twitter bio he is 'of little mainstream interest' however after seeing his full evening show I couldn't possibly disagree more! Luke is an incredible raw talent and brilliant thinker, in this interview he is incredibly open and candid about his career to date and his sensational new stage show: Sixth Sense.
Series 2 begins with a bright young talent! Ben Hart was The Young Magician of the Year and was recently one of the featured performers on the BBC3 series Killer Magic. Ben is also one of the most creative minds in magic and no doubt has a bright future ahead of him, in this episode we discuss his past, present and very bright future.
Nick Einhorn is unquestionably one of the highest profile close-up workers in the country, with top end clients and the highest fees, in this Podcast he gives us an insight in to how he got to where he is today. We also discuss magic competitions, his successful fooling of Penn & Teller on ITV1 and his fantastic products including Spooked, The Nest of Wallets and In-Flight.