"for me, magic is a tiny grain of deception" "Wrapped in this world of truth." "It gives you that visceral feeling" "That we don't know everything." "Just to have this possibility of something that's boundless That's what I want people to feel." "when I was a kid," "I used to read about the magic castle A place where people went to see magic." "oh!" "You see some of the best magicians in the world" "Showing you things that you've never seen before." " No!" "this place is an epicenter of magic." "As a layperson, you come to see greatness And as a magician, you come and be great." "And I wanted to be here." "Early in my career, I would do a show, people would say to me" ""oh, that's so great." "So what do you do for a living?"" "Oh!" "Argh." "Gut wrenching." "It was really important for me to always seem like" "I was a professional magician." "So how do you come across in a way that's engaging," "So when people walk out of the showroom," "They want to hang out with me?" "They want to be my friend." "ladies and gentlemen," "This performer that you are about to meet" "One of our favorites here at the magic castle" "Please put your hands together for mr." "Jon armstrong." "thank you." "We'll do a matching trick." "So just touch a card." "All right." "That one there?" "Yeah." " You're gonna say "stop" quick." " -stop." "I'll put this down, okay." "That's one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine." "That's nine, so the number here is nine," "That means that that would have to be a nine for it to match." "Could you turn that over?" "Okay, good." "Shut up!" "Ah, that worked out." "I looked in the mirror" "I'm pale and doughy and I'm really into comic books," "And I'm essentially just a big geek." "And I decided that I'm gonna apply all that stuff to who I am on stage." "I bring this with me wherever I go." "because you never know." "Go ahead, and show the card now to everybody." "Everybody see it?" "what?" "I know, I'm really good at this." "So this one here?" "Yeah." "Okay, so we'll leave that on the table, good?" "You want to change your mind, or-- -nope." "good, okay." "stop." "Were you here earlier by any chance?" "11, 12, 13, 14, 15." "See, the idea is that the number of cards" "Has to match the number here, that's 15." "Well, it's a good thing I have one of those." "Uh, it's a 15." "No!" "on the card..." "These are hilarious at blackjack, by the way." "I never wanted anything out of magic." "I just wanted to do my good magic." "Made myself bulletproof from anything" "That anyone could have said from any audience." "so that whenever I did it," "I knew I was in control." "the magic castle's a pretty important place to me," "So I decided to get my own." "It's a perfect magician house." "I've got gags all over the house that make it pretty entertaining." "Over here we have our wall of fame" "And celebrities we performed for," "Like stevie wonder, paul mccartney, johnny depp, harrison ford." "As far as anybody's concerned, these are all my best friends." "This is sisuepahn's room." "We were boyfriend and girlfriend for eight years." "We've been broken up for seven years now." "She lives here, I live in the other room." "And she's got a boyfriend and I've got a girlfriend, you know." "When we first broke up there was some turbulence" "And you know, we weren't sure if we were gonna" "Keep the act together or whatever," "But we did." "We didn't tell any agents or anything" "That we were broken up, 'cause they would've stopped booking us." "And, uh..." "we, uh..." "And so now we're great friends" "And performing partners, so everything works out." "Since the recession, things have been kind of tough," "And I've got a big nut." "I've got this castle I have to pay for." "It's a little bit distressing." "So I've just gotta kind of concentrate on booking the gigs" "And paying the bills." "Yeah, and you-- don't interrupt me." "No, my lips are sealed." "I started magic at the age of six," "I got a magic set, and that's typically how every magician starts" "I met frank, and that was basically" "He brought it to a, you know..." "A professional level." "To a professional level," "And I was 18." "It was the smurfs on tour." "You shouldn't mention that one." "And I did the major part." "No, it's my life." "Yeah, it's your life." "It's true." "I was in a touring show..." "He was the magician in the smurf musical, fabulous." "Do you want to make it a short overview about my" "No, okay." "Go on." "I first came to vegas when I was 18 years old." "I decided, "okay, one day you're going to work here."" "Here I am." "It was like "alice in wonderland."" "The first time in vegas, so..." "But it's true." "For a boy who wants to be a magician," "It's still-- vegas is-- that's the place to be." "But here he's not so well known as he was in germany." "Oh!" "here he had to start from zero." "And everybody here from the business," "They told us, "oh, you know what?" "Don't do vegas." "You're going to lose all your money."" "He's in a meeting?" "Everybody in america" "Is in a meeting, all the time." "Can you tell him that frank called, from illusions?" "All right." "Okay, bye bye." "People always still think that the casino or the hotel books the show." "In 95%, it's not like that." "It's-- for example, even copperfield books his own theater." "He's not booked." "So you see, they don't approach him" "And pay him money." "It's his own business." "So what do you-- what did you want to ask?" "what was the purpose of your call?" "It sounds a little bit arrogant, but it's true." "He has all the potential to be a real big star in vegas," "But you have to work on your luck, you have to force it." "So I want him on the strip." "There's like a metaphor for me personally with magic," "And the possibilities that it represents." "thank you." "Think of the card." "If it was a red card," "You might notice your hand getting warmer," "And I think it was a red card." "If something seems impossible, I want it to happen even more." "Audience:" "Whoa!" "Do you have a driver's license or something with your photo on it?" "Watch." "I'm like the stepchild of magic." "I'm not going through the normal channels." "I'm not trying to get to vegas." "But I want to reach more people," "I want to continue to create new magic that's never been seen." "And this year I'd love to have my own tv show." "You know, we've had these, like, street magicians for the last ten years," "That have been really great, but that has been done," "And so now it's time to sort of bring it into a new era." "It's a lot different to perform magic on television," "Because people have more scrutiny." "And it doesn't matter how amazing what you're doing is." "I mean, I could fly around this room right now and you would freak out." "Here, let's, uh..." "Let's just..." "Grab something." "So if I did something on television," "And you were watching," "You would maybe be a little skeptical," "But because it's right here" "And because I'm about to do this for you in person," "You know that what you're seeing is actually real," "Because you're seeing it with your own eyes." "that is awesome." "you're never gonna get the same experience" "If you watch it on television." "But it's fun to try." "Here you go." "Good-looking guy, huh?" "You like really good close-up magic, and I love it," "We have a young man tonight from the magic castle, brian gillis." "Magician brian gillis." "Brian gillis." "A very clever magician, brian gillis is here tonight." "Brian gillis." "Brian?" "my favorite performance that I've ever done" "Was performing for johnny carson on "the tonight show."" "I think johnny's favorite trick that I did" "Was one that I invented, the sweet 'n' low trick." "It involves somebody taking a bill and tearing off the serial number" "So they can identify it later." "And then I light the bill on fire," " ay, yi, yi." "Went in the sugar bowl." "And it ends up inside a sealed sweet 'n' low packet" "That's been on their table the entire time." " can't be done." " there's no way." "it's a trick, I tell you." "there is a bill in here." "match the number." "Make sure it's the same." "I do not believe what I'm seeing." "Are you guys ready for some magic?" "Of course." "Can I scoot in here, so you can all have a good vantage point?" "Somebody have a bill, like a 20, a 50, a 100?" "Write your initials on jackson's forehead," "So now I can't switch the bill." "You guys may have seen me do this one on "the tonight show."" "I did it on "the tonight show," both for johnny and for jay." "We're gonna fold this back into itself, light it." "It's a bill inside, slightly burned." "Got your initials." "is that cool?" "Want me to take this home and dispose of it?" "Appreciate that." "Thank you." "Did you have a dog when you were little?" " I did." "Okay, think of it." "When I came over here, I brought a little dog with me." "It's a little stuffed dog, and the collar of the dog," "In little beads, it spells out a name." "If it matches the name of the dog you're thinking of" "It'd be pretty impressive, right?" "Yeah." "What was the name of the dog?" "Snorky." "Oh my--!" "It's a miracle!" "you get to keep that." "Oh, my god, thank you!" "I'm gonna cry!" "Oh, my gosh." " snorky!" " -snorky." "That's unbelievable." "I have two gifts for you." "You get the free dog." "You also get the free watch." "You get the free watch." "The free watch." "Huh?" "Ah!" "I love doing it, but it's exhausting." "Every time I perform at a table, I have to be totally aware" "Of where everybody's looking," "What they're doing with their hands." "Everything takes a lot of concentration." "Did you see what happened?" "See, this floats up instead of down." "Thank you, sir." "I think of what I want now." "I think of where I want to go with my career." "Over the years, I've been copied a lot by other magicians," "So my style and everything is not as unique as it was 20 years ago." "I think there's ageism in the business, you know." "I'm getting older." "They want younger guys or whatever." "I would like to be comfortable and not have to" "Hustle as much as I used to have to hustle," "But, um, from here I don't really know where I'm heading," "So it's a little disconcerting." "so it must be great to be at the riviera." "yeah, frank sinatra and liberace," "And they all were on this stage, all the big stars." "Did you hear we just got voted best magic show?" "That was gonna be my next question, actually." "the best of vegas." "There are some big names in vegas." "Yeah, absolutely." "So this is a good-- yeah." "And I think the other magicians-- how you say?" "They are okay with it." "can you hear me?" "yes, I can hear you, frank." "Can you give us, in general," "Just a little bit more light backstage, something?" "direct from germany," "Master illusionist jan rouven." "thank you very much for your applause." "My name is jan rouven, and I came all the way" "From germany to be here for you tonight." "What you are about to see tonight," "It's dangerous." "For this show, for "illusions,"" "I wanted to bring something you never, ever saw before" "In other magic shows." "Great job!" "Thank you!" "I signed that for you." " Thanks for coming." " -thank you." "All the best." "Au revoir." "I'm soaking wet, jump out of my cloth." "I blow-dry my hair all in three and a half minutes." "That's my biggest miracle." "Good night!" "Amazing as always." " Ah, yes, this is good." "It's not real." "Yeah, it is." "Touch it." "It's a real tattoo." " How cool is that?" "See, that's a true fan." "if I do any sort of marketing," "I sell me and not magic." "There's this sort of geek chic-ness now, right?" "'cause it's cool to be this way?" "It wasn't always cool." "I've been this way my whole life," "But now it's cool to be this way." "So-- and now that it's cool to be this way," "I think it's totally fair that I can be" "I'm cool, and so I'm going to put that out there" "And be-- look, hey, I'm a geek but whatever." "You're supposed to love me anyway." "I've been coming to comic-con as a fan" "For many, many, many years." "Because of this comic book that I helped create" "That does magic and is about magic," "I get to be on the other side of the table," "Taking people who might not like magic" "And then make fans out of them." "Comics is an amazing medium in which you can direct" "Someone exactly the way you want them to go." "The author is in complete control of what they're seeing." "You just tell me when we see the two of hearts." "And magic's the same way." "I'm in control" "Of what you see and what you won't see," "And give you the experience that I want you to have." "I am sitting here right now with mike costa and jon armstrong," "Creators of "smoke and mirrors."" "It's an amazing book that actually does magic for you" "As you read it." "It's incredible." "You see these cards here?" "All right, so just think of one." "Got one?" "All right." "So now as you turn the page and you read along in the story," "He's gonna tell you that your card is gone, and look, your card is gone." "Yeah, yeah, okay." "Well." "Yeah." "And how did you do that?" "It's magic." "Look at that." "There'll be a qa at the panel." "By all means, ask at the panel." "Thank you." " We do "smoke and mirrors." " " -we love "smoke and mirrors."" "You love "smoke and mirrors"?" "They love "smoke and mirrors"!" "That one there?" "All right, take it out." "You can look at it but don't show me." "Just say-- just say "stop."" "Stop." "Okay, good." "There you go." "Put it back in." "Upside down." "There you go." "We have one left of our exclusive con-- issue one," "But I'm sold out of issue twos and threes and fours." " that's good." "Sold out of everything." "Now this is very, very important." "This card here..." "Is that your card?" "No?" "All right, do me a favor." "Go on the card." "Yeah?" "Okay, good." "That's it?" "Thank you very much." "All right." "No problem, man." "When you ask me what it feels like," "I am giving them something special and memorable," "But it's also scary to me." "True, hard-hitting, emotional things," "Something that magic can really do," "Something that magic can really bring out," "That is way too much pure emotion" "That I don't want to deal with and I don't want to feel." "So I have to keep it happy and humorous," "To make me feel better about having that kind of impact on somebody." "It's hard to stop myself from not just making the next joke," "To not just say the next sarcastic comment," "Which is how I've always sort of pushed people away from me." "All right." " ready?" "Yeah, let's rock." "ladies and gentlemen," "Are you ready to transcend reality?" "Let's hear it for david minkin!" "we'll start with something really simple." "You probably wouldn't even have noticed this" "If I hadn't pointed that out." "Audience:" "Whoa!" "I could distract you just by doing that, right?" "Oh, my god!" "now that I have your attention." " oh, my god!" "You know what?" "I'm losing them." "What's going on?" "are you not watching this?" "You guys are so distracted." "This is short attention span theater going on right here," "So, um, I gotta keep it simple," "Simple it down for this group a little bit," "Because the artistic, deeper stuff," "Is not gonna flow." "People always think that I use sleight of hand to do this stuff," "And I just" " I think I get a little insulted" "When people accuse me of sleight of hand, you know?" " honestly?" " -oh, my god." "where does it go?" "We want to know where it goes." "So don't be too impressed." "That was just 13 years of college down the drain." "Give it up for michelle, the bachelorette." "Watch closely." "Four coins." "mm-hmm." "From this hand..." "Mm-hmm." "What the fuck--?" "wait, wait, david." "Can you do this if you're naked, though?" " That's the real question." " -yeah, naked." " What's this?" " -naked, naked!" "naked!" "Naked!" "That's a whole other price of a ticket." "in your little skimmies." "wear your little skimmies!" "You guys don't even need me to be doing magic up here." "Right?" "I should just-- here." "You know what?" "Here." "I'm just gonna take her seat." "Entertain them." "There's like 15 bachelorettes yelling my name right now," "And I have no interest in going in there." "There's actually a girl passed out in the front row." "Physically unconscious in the front row." "That was a first." "That was actually a first." "I've never had someone pass out in my show before." "so we decided that I would move out." "I went from a 4,000 square foot castle" "To a 300 square foot studio apartment." "It's great." "I love it, yeah." "I looked for a aaa battery the other day," "And I just opened the drawers right there, you know?" "And I open the refrigerator, and everything in the refrigerator" "Is stuff that I like." "It's kind of tight." "My routine is I have certain clothes that I wear," "So I put on pants and shirt." "I always wear short-sleeved shirts 'cause I do sleight of hand." "I get a lot of mileage out of that." "And uh, and a vest." "And I have 13 pockets in this vest." "Deck of cards, extra deck of cards." "An extra wallet." "Business cards." "Do you want to see humpty dumpty's card trick?" "Can you take a card?" "Don't let humpty dumpty see it." "Just pull one out." " You got one?" " -yep, okay." "Okay, know what it is?" "Put it back." "Here you go." "Humpty, humpty." "Humpty dumpty." "Take a card." "Take a card." "He-- he picked up this card." "What was your card?" "Seven of hearts." "What a good boy!" "There's a smart doggie." "Who knew?" "That's a good boy." "we just moved into this new house." "This is perfect." "I have gates." "It's great." "You don't even have a bell." "of course it's great." "There's an office building in the front," "Warehouse in the back." "A pool house." "We can basically tour the bathrooms." "The americans love bathrooms." "We have 12, I think." "And if there is an emergency, there's another bathroom." "It's enough, basically." "And if I don't want to see jan," "I'm just staying in the west wing" "And he stays in the east wing, so it's easy." "I never, ever went into a bar and did magic." ""hey, how's it going?" "Buy you a drink?" "Pick a card."" "It's stupid." "But being a magician and doing all this" "Has definitely allowed me to date far more" "Than a guy who looks like me should." "I mean, I always used to say that I'm married to the magic and that's it." "But I met rachel and I decided that I wanted to be with her." "She's pretty awesome." "When I said that to my mom, "oh, I'm dating a magician,"" "She was like, "did you say musician?"" "And I had to explain to her that no, it was magician." "And it took my mom and my family a little bit of time" "To, like, wrap their heads around how someone could do it professionally." "And I mean-- -it takes everybody a long time" "To wrap their heads around that." "The wedding actually causes quite a lot of agita." "It really does." "If I had it my way, it'd be drive-thru in vegas." "But my mom, actually, when she rsvped wrote" ""thank you for not doing the drive-thru in vegas."" "But between jon, who is actually a sentimental romantic" "Who wanted to have a wedding," "And my mom who wanted to have a wedding," "I am now having a wedding." "It's gonna be a good time." "It's gonna be a good party." "I've convinced her of that much, so we're good." "We have open bar, so it will be fine." "Yes." "Ready?" "Okay." "Come on, open your mouth." "I got cosmo from a german shepherd rescue." "Come here, come here." "He was jumping up on the counter and knocking things over," "And completely insane, out-of-control dog," "But he's mellowed out a little over the last 14 years." "This is my best friend." "You're my best buddy." "He's, as you can see, a little bit" "You know, he's in his golden years here." "So while this-- while this tv thing is coming together," "I have to stay close to home," "And I just basically have to take local gigs right now." "Mmm." "Magic for me is my life." "It always was, and it always will be." "As a kid, I always combined magic and business." "I always was a magician," "But in germany you couldn't make money with magic." "I always loved the big shows in america." "So I always said, "that's what I want to do."" "When I see him on stage, I'm really proud." "He's performing a show on the las vegas strip" "And he does that with so much passion and the people love him" "And he's funny." "That's quite something." "Sometimes I miss performing," "But I'm still living this magic dream." "I'm living the magic life within jan." " you nervous yet?" "" "I'm completely nervous." "I love you so much." "Sorry, I'm really stressed out." "I know, sweetie." "Don't be." "Take a drink." "Take a breath." "Everything is gonna be fine." "Oh, boy." "All right, let's-- places, people, places." "Rachel, I'm not a perfect person," "But you see through my faults and you love me anyway." "I promise to love you, to care for you," "To make you laugh every day." "No matter what happens, it will always be me and you" "Against the world." "I now pronounce you husband and wife." "I love you." "Ladies and gentlemen, mr." "And mrs." "Jon armstrong." "magic is a men's world." "My friend and I came up with a theory" "Why there aren't that many female magicians." "A man does not like to be fooled by a woman." "And also, we don't have to pick up chicks." " hello." " -hi." "How are you?" "Fine, how are you?" "I was on one too, and I" "She would get a date every day." "I'm just-- I'm just joking." "Okay." "I'm just joking." "You look handsome." "Isn't he handsome?" "Brian is 80 years old." "Look at him." "Shut up." "There's no wrinkle at all!" "Tell people why you look so young." "'cause I use oil of delay." "why is it that you couldn't stay together" "As a couple, do you think?" " Um... 'cause she had sex with my best friend?" "What?" "No, you can't say that to them!" "No, that's not true." "We're just kidding." "and-- okay." "Well, he's just joking." "But anyway, we" "No, no, no, no." "We broke up." "one of my concerns was," "You know, I'm signing off on the house," "She might end up making like $200,000 in equity" "When she finally sells the house." "Well, if I have a date or something," "I can't take a date to my tiny little closet-sized apartment" "With my three dogs, you know." "I can take her over here, we can have a glass of wine," "And, you know, and hang out." "This is your concern, not getting laid?" "I'm concerned about children starving" "Oh, come on." "You're concerned about making a lot of money." "Well, then I'm gonna donate" "I don't see any starving children around here." "Not around here, but all over the world." "But you know what?" "You can't take your money with you." "I'm not gonna keep any, so I'm gonna give it to the kids." "Just give me some so I can take it with me." " Okay?" "in the next few minutes..." "I told you it's dangerous!" "The bed of death." "Here we have five swords, connected to these strings." "If she pulls any string, it releases a sword." "The sword falls down into the tabletop" "And that's how the bed of death works." "The interesting part:" "She doesn't know" "Which string will release exactly which sword." "Four of them, if released, they fall down." "It looks scary, it looks dangerous" "But they wouldn't hit me." "They'd fall down really close to my body" "But they wouldn't hit me." "But holly, there is one sword which is extremely dangerous," "This one right here in the middle." "It would hit me right here." "We don't want to see that happen tonight, holly." "And therefore I need your help." "And now holly, please start to mix up the strings." "Put one string at each number." "When you're ready." "On my command," "Three, two," "One," "Pull!" "Pull!" "Pull." "Two strings remaining." "One safe, one dangerous." "Three, two," "One, pull!" "It was safe." "Now I would like to show to the audience what would have happened" "If you would have pulled the last one." "Pull!" "You saved me!" "Mike weatherford, the entertainment reporter," "He called me and he said criss angel's filming" "For his new tv series, doing a new stunt." "The press release sounded like my bed of death," "Like exactly the same concept." "And criss saw the show twice here." "I can't believe that it's really the same" "Because he would have called me probably." "Barbara will release each of those pins" "Releasing their swords," "And hopefully not penetrating my heart." "So, we've got a lady inside." "Okay." "And she's gonna pull," "But he says you the audience will choose which pin she pulls," "And he says, "literally, my life is in your hands."" "So that's" "So, sounds pretty similar to me." "Yeah, to me, too." "Pull one." "Pull it and drop it on the ground." "the only thing I would have appreciated is a call," "To say "listen, jan, I'm working on something." "I do it a little bit different," "But it's falling swords, and I saw your show." "Just be prepared, people might call you." "This is what I do." and then I'm prepared." "take your hand off five." "Take it" " Oh!" "Holy." "people, when they are all racing towards the same goal," "And their goal is to be noted and respected and make money" "And have fame in this profession," "They are going to not like the competition." "For years, I had a rival." "I had somebody who I hated," "So much." "Hated him..." "So I considered him my arch-nemesis." "Like, so it's like a comic book type of thing." "I hated him." "We've since patched it up," "And it was the worst decision I ever made," "Because I have been incredibly unmotivated" "After I patched up with him." "That wand up on that shelf," "That "close magician of the year" wand?" "That was a direct result of me hating that guy." "I worked so hard to get that." "As a-- that wand" "That wand sticks right here." "Right-- right there." "That's where that wand goes." "That's not the best reason to get that wand." "That's a lot of hate." "I'm glad I don't have somebody else to fill that role." "I'm a far better person for it." "Just might not be as productive." "My parents sometimes are a little, like, subdued" "In their response to good news," "And so I've sort of become accustomed to the fact" "That, like, don't expect them to go crazy." "hey, david, what's going on?" "How are you, dad?" "Good." "Honey?" "Hi, how are you?" "I was in the running for a show on travel channel." "There was eight magicians being considered for, like, this show." "What, just doing magic like" "You're on "candid camera" kind of thing?" "Yeah, like, locational magic." "They had narrowed us down to, like, you know, three or whatever." "And uh, I got it." "Oh, you did?" "Oh, you just casually" "Dad swore he wouldn't tell you." "You knew?" "Why wouldn't you tell me?" "'cause I made him promise that he wouldn't." "Why?" "'cause I wanted to, you know." "He wanted to surprise you." "Yeah." "Did I not tell you about the travel-- -you did not tell me." "I didn't tell you that I was even up for it?" "You did not tell me." "We need to talk more often, you know?" "Yeah, dave, okay." "So you want something to eat?" "We don't have anything to eat." "oh, this is my agent calling." "Hey, how's it going, andy?" "One little tiny thing in there is that" "If I bring my ideas to the table that I've worked 13 years on," "That they remain, you know, intellectual property of me" "And that I can perform them elsewhere," "And that they're not gonna use another magician" "To perform the effects that I created." "Okay, cool." "Perfect, man!" "Let's get it going." "Okay, man." "Talk to you tomorrow." "there was an article today" "On "bild"'s site?" "It's a german gossip newspaper." "It's the german-- the biggest." "The german gossip newspaper." "So it's a story about me and criss angel, about the bed of death." ""who owns the bed of death?"" ""who owns the bed of death?"" "It goes a little bit on-- not just on my nerves," "It makes me a little stomach pain, that whole thing." "I don't want to have this." "It should be all positive." "Yeah, but you know, positive." "If it would be positive, nobody would write anything." "And they spelled your name right." "It's the most important thing." "For me it seems like he tried to get away with it," "Doing it, and thinking I'm not important enough anyways," "Nobody will jump on that." "But of course everybody jumped on it" "Because they said, "jan, we saw you performing it." "It's a very magic thing, magic business thing." "They pretend to be each other's best friends-- they are not." "They just pretend." "It's just because you're here, performing in vegas," "You're younger, you're good looking," "You still have your hair, you're not too fat." "You can't be everybody's friend." "I don't know, it's not possible." "It's just not possible." "It's sad, but you can't." "It's not possible." "mm-hmm." "We have a meeting with mark." "okay, go ahead and have a seat," "I'll let her know that you're here." "Over there?" "I see siegfried and roy." "hello." " hi." "I'm mark travis." "Hi mark, I'm jan." "Jan, nice to meet you." "Hi, frank." "Hi, nice to meet you." "Very nice to meet you." "How are you guys?" "Now how are you two related?" " He's my manager." " -he's your manager, okay." "And he's your manager." "No, he's-- he's my" "He's my dear colleague, peter." "Okay, hi." "It is different in europe." "Here in america, it seems like everybody's suing each other" "And by getting more successful, I think there are more people who want something." "There are multiple levels of protection to shows." "But if I see a magic trick somebody else invented, 99.9% I know anyway how it works, and vice versa." "It's not about the secret, it's about the idea, the basic concept." "The people in the audience, they don't care how you do it." "Perhaps you have the idea to make this flower appear," "And then, another magician sees that and says," ""okay, I make a flower appear, too." "I do it in a different way," but for the people," "You know, that's not a difference." "They just see that "oh, he makes a flower appear."" "So could you protect a visual..." "An idea?" "..." "What people see?" "The basic concept?" "If it's really nothing simple," "If it's something really never has been seen," "And you make a little drawing of what the spectator sees," "Without explaining the secret, to protect it" "Even though someone else in a couple of years steals it?" "Can a trick become so well-identified" "With one individual, so clearly associated with him," "That any time someone sees that trick," "They think of a particular magician?" "Hmm." "And the answer is yes." "That becomes their trademark." "when you go out and you see a bad singer," "You think, "well, that's a bad singer."" "And if you go out and you see a bad actor," "You go, "well, that's a bad actor."" "But if you see a bad magician, you go, "oh, magic sucks."" "You don't blame the one guy." "You think of the entire thing." "And I don't know why that is that way." "I lecture all across the country," "Doing magic and also teaching magic." "If I can help these amateur performers, magic enthusiasts." "Hobbyists, whatever they might be," "Make their own magic better," "That makes magic better." "How many times have you gone up to a group of people," "Spread a deck of cards" "And they say, "I've seen this before"?" "Card magic is wonderful, and I've made my living" "As a card magician." "95% of the material that I perform" "On a regular basis is with a deck of playing cards." "Thus, if people really don't like card tricks," "Then for the last 20 years, everyone's been very nice to me." "Tell you what." "Let's do a little experiment." "Think of a card, any card in a deck of cards." "Got one?" "Okay." "Go through the cards, take out the card you're thinking of." "Hold on to that card." "Give me back the rest of them." "And look where I am, guys." "I'm in the part I would be if I would have said" ""here, pick a card."" "This is a tiny plunger," "The newest member of the show," "And uh, he's about a year and a half old." "I love this thing." "got it?" "Young man." "Give me a number between one and ten." "Eight." "Eight." "Any particular reason why "eight"?" "No." "Just liked eight, okay." "The plunger has heard you say "eight."" "One, two, three, four," "Five, six, seven, eight." "Perfect, okay." "Tiny plunger." "So, um-- so yeah." "Did I mention I'm selling them?" " And..." "Yeah, so there's that." "So, uh, thank you very much." "It was a pleasure meeting all of you." "$40.00, sir." "There." "Four bucks, sir." "$45.00." "Yes!" "in order to buy..." "The plunger you have to buy a cd?" "Yeah." "can you show me something?" "Yeah." "A magician always should find where he puts the aces," "So could you cut the deck into four spots?" "Now, um, put one there." "Put one there." "And that should..." "Very nice." "Thanks, buddy." "Good work." " See you guys." " -take care." "Here, let me see what I got in my trunk." "All right, you, sir, are a proud owner" "Of a light blue plunger." "Cool." "Thank you so much." "You're welcome." "I would hug you, but I'm a guy." "It's okay." "Guys can still hug," "But it's okay, you don't have to." "Thank you." "No problem, man." "that must make you feel good, though." "It does." "It does." "It works." "hello?" "Hey, it's david minkin." "Come on in." "Thanks." "there's all this good stuff going on," "But my dog is basically, you know..." "I have to put him down, so..." "Aah." "Yeah, this is, uh..." "I can't fucking do this, man." "This is..." "He's still got his dog smile once in a while," "But it's-- he's not" "I don't think he wants to be around anymore, so..." "Hey dr." "Holmes." "It's david minkin calling." "Just wanted to go ahead and schedule" "Uh, that appointment with you for cosmo." "And if you're back in town on Sunday" "That might be a good day, so..." "Uh, whenever you have a moment, just give me a call back." "Okay, thanks." "Bye bye." "Yeah." "All right, I'm gonna..." "I'm gonna go roll." "I'll be back." "So you're gonna take your coin," "And you're gonna put it into the bottom of this bottle." "Not through the top." "Actually, you can't even get it in that way, either." "But through the bottom, so take the coin." "Think of a goal in your life that you're trying to reach" "That feels like there's an obstacle in front of you." "Now imagine just going through that obstacle," "Take the coin-- you're gonna hit it into the bottom of the bottle." "Great." "Whoops, oh!" "That's awesome." "let's run one through," "And just kind of review as we go." "You're gonna take your coin and you're gonna put it in this" "Into this." "How about this, right here?" "So..." "All right, good." "Think of a goal, think of blah, blah, blah, blah, blah," "Now think of a goal, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah," "The goal thing..." "Shit." "Okay, take that one more time." "Maybe if you got a little higher and were shooting more down on it." "Are you good?" "Okay..." "Fuck." "It's just knacky, you know?" "It's one of those things that's like," "We might have to shoot it a few times to get it right." "Not through the top to the..." "Grr." "I don't like it." " I get it." "Now I need to be here, and I'm protecting here." "And it's-- you know, it's all..." "And every time we-- -can't let that get out of shot." "When I first did it in there, the first time I ever tried it," "It went perfectly." "Nice." "And I was like "holy shit!"" "Like, "all right, this is good." -yeah." "getting on television is very important." "If you can get a national program," "It's gonna do great things for your career." "But if you don't really hustle and sell yourself," "Then you're not gonna make a living." "Fine, how are you?" "So it's all up to you." "I do close up magic, and I do, like, some mentalism stuff." "I have a couple tricks that I invented" "That are my thing that you'll never see anybody else do." "And I do a lot of sleight of hand, and..." "My show's, like, real fast paced and I have a lot of comedy," "And pretty strong magic." "Yeah." "Well, if you want I can meet you at the magic castle" "And have a drink or something." "I've said this to my wife a jillion times:" "We hit the lottery." "I have $15 million." "My life does not change." "The $15 million goes in the bank." "I'm still doing the restaurant on Sunday." "Nothing changes." "Not because of some sort of frugalness," "But because I still like doing magic." "do you think you've made progress" "Or headway or whatever?" "I've made headway" "That-- that is such a" "I have achieved everything I've ever set out to do." "Everything." "Absol-- here." "Look at this." "This is a list" "That I imported into my-- into this one day," "And this is a list of every goal I ever had as a child." "Okay, here we go:" ""have my own show at walt disney world." "Become a member of the magic castle" "Become a member of the magic castle" "Win close-up magician of the year," "Travel out of the country, lecture to magicians," "Have a dvd set," "Work in film and tv as a magic advisor," "Make my sole living in magic," "Do something in comics," "Write a magic book for the public--"" "That's the only one I haven't done, really" ""write a magic book for magicians--"" "Kind of." ""perform on national television," "Create magic for other performers," "Create a theater show." I've done every single one of those" "Except for write a book for the public." "Though, if you-- I did do a comic book," "And that is for the public, so..." "So, yeah, of course." "I've achieved everything." "Everything I've ever wanted." "I have no-- I have nothing." "I have no other goals." "To stay fresh in magic is like anything in business nowadays." "If you rest, you're lost." "You can't just play around, you just can't..." "Do magic." ""show business" is two words, and "business" is the longer word." "You know, I decided, we're not gonna sue criss." "We're gonna move forward." "And we're gonna beat him." "Simple." "You're gonna design something new, better, bigger." "We're about here." "He's gonna be right here." "Yeah." "It has to look scary." "I don't want to do it." "It's too scary." "I just closed the book on bed of death," "And look forward into bright future." "Has to be detailed, it has to be" "It has to be sexy." "It has to be..." "A design, yeah." "It's possible." "Get your checkbook." "Yeah, yeah, yeah." "Oh, that looks great." "Nothing can happen now, but still, if you go here, like..." "Oh." "This is a very physical show," "So he really has to stay in shape." "I appreciate." "I love it." "But you have to keep an eye on him because we see" "So many magicians who put on weight." "He can't eat noodles, he can't eat potatoes in the middle of the night." "It's not possible." " hey, jan rouven?" " -yeah!" "I got my first billboard, see?" "We have to check it." "Wow!" "Where's your presentation, riviera?" "Riviera, yeah!" "You can walk." "Okay." "Hey man, you like tacos?" "Come on." "Yes, yes, yes." "You all can come and see the show." "You come in for free, but your guests, you know what I mean?" "Your customers." "Your customers." "Okay." "Thank you very much." "I have to write it down here, give me" "I always come and watch this and have a taco." "Oh, thank you." "Is this pineapple?" "Yeah." "You all set?" "Test, test, test, test, test-- ahem." "Catch a cacophonic cornucopia of curious and cryptesthetic conjuring." "I love corporate gigs." "They're usually real appreciative and real fun." "Pays the kind of money I used to get a few years ago" "Before the-- you know, the market went down." "we have a gentleman, brian gillis, with us." "Johnny carson's favorite magician." "my name is brian gillis" "I'm a trained practitioner in the ancient art of prestidigitation." "That's sleight of hand magic." "I'm gonna flash through the cards." "As they go by, you look at them," "Pick a card in your mind." "Did you pick one out?" "I did." "Did you pick one out?" "Occasionally kids will actually try to mess up the magician." " I-- I hate kids." "As they go by, just pick one in your mind." "Did you pick one out?" "So concentrate on the value of the card." "Yours was lower than a seven?" "It was a four?" "Yep." "Four of clubs?" "Have a seat." "Six?" "Six of diamonds?" "Yep." "Have a seat." "Jack of spades?" "Have a seat." "You had a king?" "King of diamonds." " All right!" "Thank you, appreciate it, and let's have a round of applause" "For sisuepahn." "What's your name?" "Pam." "Pam, do you remember the first name of the first boy you ever kissed?" "Nobody saw what you wrote?" "Nope." "And nobody knows this, right?" "Okay." "Sisuepahn is actually a sketch artist." "She's actually sketching what she thinks the person looks like." "Pam, did he look anything like this?" " no!" " -what was his name?" "Steve." "Steve?" "Oh, yes." "Here he is." "Oh, yes." "there is steve for you." "Take steve home with you." "Sir, open this book, any part of any page." "Pick out any word." "Make it an interesting word,." "Three or four syllables." "Can you see the page he stopped me at?" "Mm-hmm." "Turn to the same page in that book," "And look at the very top word," "Very first word on the page." "s-- scaffolding?" "That's correct." ""scaffolding" is your word." "Thank you very much." "Scott, does your word start with an "s"?" "No." "No, no." "But it's got an "s" in there, correct?" "No." "No." "Because I thought the word would start-- was like, "smashing."" "What is your word?" ""jackhammer."" ""jackhammer."" " Somewhat close." " -thank you guys." "If you enjoyed the show, remember it's brian gillis" "And sisuepahn." "Thank you." "Thank you." "You didn't know what the word was?" "I thought it was the letter "s."" "Right, you'd said "smashing,"" "But why didn't you say, "okay, you're thinking of 'jackhammer'"?" "Why did you say, "what's your word?"" "I don't know." "You know, I get really close to "smashing"" "And he said "jackhammer."" "Like, I got really close to it." "No, you didn't get close." ""smashing" is not close to "jackhammer."" "So why would the book" "You have to tell him "jackhammer."" "Okay, I got it." "I went on this long lecture tour." "I was gone almost two months." "And that was the beginning of the end of my relationship." "I mean, look, the times in my life" "Where someone has actually just seen me," "Talked to me, and then been interested in me" "Are very few and far between." "She never really saw me do my show until much later on," "When we were dating." "So magic wasn't really what made us meet." "She recognized me as me." "Well, I really wanted-- I mean, I was there to make it work." "I tried to-- I mean..." "I, uh..." "At least I really thought I was trying to make it work." "And-- and be there, and do everything." "I really, like..." "I really liked the idea of being married, and being married to her." "I gotta take these wedding photos down." "this dog has never been up here." "He just never came up before." "He didn't like stairs." "And now he's like friggin' hanging out." "My little buddy." "in my life, I've experienced a lot of ups and downs." "I've had relationship problems." "I've had financial problems." "I've had all the problems that everybody has." "But I haven't felt that magic has ever let me down." "This is my new little two-bedroom house." "It's a guest house in the back of a bigger house." "Nice big refrigerator, stove and dishwasher" "And everything, so it's great, 'cause I was in that little tiny apartment." "I just had, like, a little hot plate and that was it." "Getting out of there really did a lot for my psyche." "I had to wake up every morning thinking "oh, my god, I'm a failure," "Living in this little tiny place and owing all this money." "Now I feel a hundred times better." "I've got a nice place to live and I've got two gigs this weekend." "I'm starting to travel a little bit with it again." "You know, I wasn't traveling very much before." "So it's-- it's looking up." "I'm just happy having a huge impact on an audience." "That's the most rewarding part." "They have stories to tell and it's nice being part of that." "I'm a prime example of somebody" "Knowing a couple tricks and doing them my entire life," "My entire career." "I don't do very many conventions." "I don't do very much lecturing or anything." "I've always felt that I don't have much of a repertoire," "So what am I gonna lecture on?" "I realized I can just tell you some of my act." "As they go by, pick one in your mind." "Did you pick one out?" "Not the end card." "Pick one in your mind." "Did you pick one out?" "As they go by, pick a card in your mind." "Did you pick one out?" "Roy, yours was lower than a seven?" "It was a five?" "Five of hearts?" "Have a seat." "King of diamonds?" "Yep." "Have a seat." "Eight of clubs?" "Yes." " All right." "I developed this a long time ago." "I think it's a great opener and it's an opener I've used for years." "I do three over here, and then I just do a quick fan," "And then I do the other three." "And I've got 'em." "And the fact that everybody's picking a different card" "Belies the theory that I'm showing everybody the same card over and over." "Spongy ball." "Squeeze it tight in your left hand." "Are you ready?" "Yep." "Hold this tight." "All right." "Did you" "Did you feel anything happen?" "Yeah." "No, for real." "No." "Oh, good." "A lot of times when I get somebody up to help me," "I like to give them a little gift." "You're such a nice guy you get the free watch." "Stealing a watch is always fun," "Because people remember it forever." "I have people come up to me and say," ""you know, you stole my watch 15 years ago."" "You know, they don't forget it." "This one, you've got like a little lock here," "So you have to undo that," "And you're gonna concentrate on that hand." "While you're doing that, I'm loosening this up" "And I'm pulling it off the end like that." "I'll be stealing watches," "And I'll go up to a small group and somebody'll say," ""you're not getting this watch."" "I'll say, "no, you know about it." "I can't steal a watch now because you know I'm doing it."" "And then I would steal his watch." "I've got the watch steal dvd." "It tells how to get every kind of watch." "But when I'm doing it..." "I flash and you'll see the king." "I love being part of the magic community" "And I love having an influence on that magic community." "It's a wonderful feeling." "Oh, yeah, it's great." "People remember it forever." "Magic is my home." "That's never gonna change." " hey!" "Hello." "Hi." "Hey, how are you?" "Thanks for coming." "Is there an extra chair here?" "Yeah?" "Okay, dad." "Hey dad." "Here, have a seat." "All right, go ahead." "Right, on the count of three?" "Firmly into the bottle, go for it." "oh, my god!" "No way." "Oh, my god." "It was so much fun to work with these guys," "And with mike and the rest of the crew, and like" "Really it was all a whole team coming together," "So hopefully we'll get picked up and there'll be more episodes" "Congratulations." "We're really excited." "it was nice to see people enjoy it." "Thanks for being here." "I'm very proud of him." "Our sons are-- are just our love." "my mom..." "Told me she has like five tvs on at home right now," "Hoping to get my ratings up." "My only son!" "I'm super, super grateful" "For the opportunity to have done magic on television," "But I know I can do even better than that." "Really?" "Okay." "And that's what drives me right now." "Magic can open up a door for people to possibilities," "Make them feel like there's more than what we think we know about everything." "It was great." "Very proud." "Thank you, dad." "Good job." "Just like I taught you." "that's a rare feeling." "The owner of the tropicana was looking for a new show," "And he came and bought a ticket." "Which I appreciate, by the way." "To my show at the riviera," "And first question was, "do you want to stay in vegas" "Or do you want to go back to germany in a couple of years?"" "To make a long story short, he offered us the theater." "Siegfried and roy started their career at the tropicana" "When they first came to vegas." "It's a piece of history so now, we have jan rouven here," "We have david copperfield across the street," "And you have my favorite friend on the other side." "It's the magic triangle." "It's a beautiful theater, huge stage." "It's one of the biggest stages in vegas." "it has all those chairs." "I said, "oh, my gosh." "This is not a step, this is a leap."" "No, I don't think that success changes me." "I hope not." "What?" "No, I wasn't going to say anything." "Welcome, america!" "Yeah!" "Good evening!" "you know, sometimes," "I'm sitting in the audience, I directed it." "It's all good." "He's on stage and I can't do anything anymore," "He just talks and talks and talks." "Drives me crazy." "You like it." "No, you talk too much." "Yeah, larger than you expected, huh, christie?" "Is that your wife?" "Is she handy?" "What's your favorite one?" "You mix up all the stands." "When you're finished, you scream out loud," ""I'm finished!"" "Just like that." "By the way, I'm looking for new management." "Aah!" "to see jan on that stage at the tropicana," "I'm really proud." "You know, it's very obvious that we're living together" "Nearly 20 years-- I shouldn't even mention that." "But it's true." "In germany we had a big article in a very serious magazine" "And they mentioned that we are living together, we are partners," "And it's so funny, because my mother, she's 86," "And she called me and said, "you know, son, I'm really proud" "That it's finally, eventually they mentioned it."" "And I was totally surprised because she was proud about that fact." "I always dreamed about having my own show in las vegas." "When you actually have it," "It creates a kind of emptiness not having a next goal" "Because you made it." "sometimes you just have to realize" "That happiness comes with things you do have" "And not things you want to have." " hello!" " -hey, mom." "Hi." "Hey." "You all right?" "Jon was always gonna be the next houdini or david copperfield," "And as long as he had a deck of cards in his hands," "He was in his glory." "This is what I call my "wall of jon."" "This was one of the write ups that he had in the "orlando sentinel."" "This is where he was at the rose and crown pub at epcot." "This was in boca raton." "This was his life." "He studied to do what he really wanted to do" "To fulfill his dream." "That's the whole trip that I took to california with you." "He didn't really think I supported him, but I did." "I was the one who took him to a lot of his meetings and programs" "And drove him back and forth until he finally got his license." "And 'course it was rough when he said he was leaving and going to california," "But I'm real proud of him." "Real proud." "Mr. Bedwell, how are you?" "Good to see you." "Good to see you." "Remember chris?" "You're welcome to bring in a refreshment." "Tonight we have jon armstrong, a local favorite," "One of the best card magicians in the world today." "This town goes nuts every time jon's in town," "We know that we're gonna sell out every seat." "I mean, to have a winner of "close up magician of the year,"" "Right from orlando florida, to come back and do my little theater" "Is pretty cool." "There's been a few greats in magic." "Right now you guys are lucky to see the future of card magic." "Put your hands together for mr." "Jon armstrong, everybody." "See?" "All right, before the show, did we meet?" "Do I know you?" "Okay, you're not the guy." "concentrate." " Got it?" "Show the people." "I'm gonna scream and run away." "My husband's convinced it's voodoo." "Yes." "Yes, that's what I did." "I sold my soul for card tricks." "My name is jon armstrong." "It was a pleasure seeing you all." " Jon armstrong, everybody!" " Thank you." "Stop that." " Ah, ha, ha!" "I feel a lot of support from those guys." "Two, three, smile." " there you go." "Thank you." "they look at me like proud papa." "For you." "That's for you, my friend." "Oh, look at this!" "You don't have that picture, 'cause I took that one." "Look at that!" "How old were you then?" "Uh..." "Out of diapers yet?" "Uh, I'm in my 20s, man." "I'm 20, 21." "They made me the magician I am today." "I am in awe." "Oh, that's so nice of you to say." "And you know, I've never said that to anybody before." "Oh, I don't believe that, but thank you." "No, no, I haven't." "and being able to go back and do my show" "And everybody excited about seeing this kid that they knew" "Who was 14 and couldn't look at people in the eye..." "It's just a good feeling." "I mean, hang out, man." "Yeah, let's do it." "I really want to." "You're gonna come too?" "You should come hang out with us, too." "Come hang with us." "This relationship not working out," "It was really tough," "But at least I knew I always had magic to be there." "I have no idea what I would do with myself if I wasn't a magician." "For the last 30 years, this has been what I care about the most." "I've given up a normal life," "A regular paycheck and security," "But every day, I get to do what I love."