Not to get off the topic of the playing cards, but… didn’t someone do basically that same magic box trick on a previous season of AGT?
Piff was also on AGT and did more or less the same routine.
Holy crap - THE Piff the Magic Dragon is on BB?
I saw him on Penn and Teller’s Fool Us in the UK several years ago. He was absolutely brilliant. I love magic comedy - which is one reason Penn and Teller is so good. And I also LOVE The Amazing Johnathan, though he is more of a comedian who does some magic, vs a magician who does comedy.
Piff is great magician, but his comedy and delivery make him heads and shoulder above his peers. He did essentially the same trick the other guy did with putting objects in sealed cans, but Piff’s blew the other guy out of the water.
Good luck on the show! I hope even if you don’t win your exposure brings you good things.
As I understand it, there are really only a dozen or so different magic tricks out there, and then an endless variation of how your present them. Two people can do the same “trick” in the same way technically, but the way they perform it can make it seem like a completely new trick.
I started to study magic for like a week. And then I stopped because I love magic so much I don’t want to know how the hard tricks are done.
Learn to juggle first then. Jugglers are very open and sharing about how to do things and even when we know how something is done, cause really anybody with a small amount of practice can do most juggling tricks and you learn what it takes to make it look good and will always be in awe of someone who does the exact same thing as everyone else but makes it smooth and beautiful. So for magic even when I know that hey he is putting that coin/cigarette/card in a pocket I can still be amazed at the fact it was done so well I missed it. This kind of outlook is what Penn brought to their act and I think it has been good for magic. It isn’t the trick itself but the skill and presentation that make it good.
Well there is the issue. My manual dexterity is shit. I also didn’t think I had the raw ability to pull off slight of hand.
On that Penn and Teller’s Fool Us - there was a black British slight of hand artist (for give me, I don’t know his name.) Who was an absolute master of the art. He didn’t technically win because Penn and Teller knew how he did his tricks, but they wanted to stress to the audience that his technique was flawless and they had never seen someone so skilled. They actually had him on the show twice. I was doing just card tricks, with a normal deck, and it was just mesmerizing. He would totally have been burned at the stake a few hundred years ago.
Practice, practice, practice. When I went to festivals and such regularly the magicians were ALWAYS messing with cards, coins, or something in their hands. It does take a certain amount of dedication… on the other hand with juggling you can do all kinds of fun stuff with friends and it won’t take a huge amount of practice time to be decent at it. Club passing is the great fun of juggling.
Of course, this is part of the illusion, many times over. I remember counting at least four decks in that act.
Well I assumed it was standard. But it has been awhile since I’ve seen the show. Still he was incredibly talented.
I know you probably already saw this a couple weeks ago when it was on the front page, but watch it again for the deck changes:
Just for kicks. Here there be spoilers! There’s lots of other stuff you can see not directly related to deck changes:
1:06 Two decks presented as one, one in hand, one in box
1:18 Poker shuffle deck change to gimmick deck
1:39 Deck change while he hands the girl the marker…watch his hand come up with the new one
2:08 Mouth effect drop from back of deck
2:56 Super obvious deck change under the table
3:36 Palmed deck changeout
4:03 Vanish folding gimmick deck
4:06 Introduce deck that’s been sitting there in the box the whole time
4:38 Another folding gimmick vanish, sets a new deck on the table
5:03-20 Various tomfoolery with the vest front and back for mouth plant, card hand gimmick, etc
6:52 Final deck change behind hand to crumple/smoke gimmick deck
It isn’t really that many decks, he has three or four gimmick decks that he changes out for different effects. At no time is there a normal deck of cards on the table.
And even knowing that, it was still an amazing and jaw dropping performance.
It’s a gorgeous performance. He’s really, really good.
I can critique him all day, but there’s no way I can come close short of a couple years’ dedication starting now.
I didn’t realize Fool Us was made into another season.
This is the guy I was thinking of Michael Vincent. Now maybe it is a trick deck, but I think he’s only using one. (Penn said there was no trick deck.) I think it’s all slight of hand - but wow is he good. It’s simple tricks, but done impeccably.
He’s an excellent palmer. No wonder he won that Close-Up award.
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