The Insider

To celebrate the launch of 52 Explorations, Andi Gladwin remembers his friend, Jack Parker. 

A fascinating chat with the incredible Richard Turner. Find out about how he got started, how he met The Professor, sessioning with Jennings, Cervon, Charlie Miller and more. We discuss practising, performing and of course, playing cards. 

Kyle Purnell joins us to chat about creativity, his process for working, his new release, and we test how quickly the mythical George responds to email. 

Welcome to part two of our amazing podcast with Marc Paul. We chat about the impact Covid had on his work and how he used it to his advantage creating brand new acts, that famous Parkinson appearance, mentalism things he would banish to Room 101 and more. 

We chat about how Marc got started, the London scene in the 90s, his friendship with Andy Nyman, a very honest story about pretending to be a "real" psychic and what books he'd recommend. 

Part Two of the amazing Andy Nyman. As with part one, there are swears, so parental guidance if listening around small children!

To start Rune Klan week, here's a revisit of the amazing live interview he kindly gave at The Session 2020. In it, he talks about creativity, tricks, and his show Barnløs, which we have just realised as a digital download: https://www.vanishingincmagic.com/stage-and-parlor-magic/barnlos/

We'll be doing The Insider live at The Session 2022. Who will be the guest? Come and be part of the live audience this July: https://www.vanishingincmagic.com/magic-conventions/the-session/

It's Andy Nyman! What else do you need to know? 

This is part one of two, and this is marked as explicit because there are plenty of swears in it. Do not listen if small kids are around!

Stephen and I discuss: Pitching Sven decks at Thorpe Park, how he met and started working with Derren Brown, their writing process, the history of Hector Chadwick book, Equivoque, what’s the most useful piece of advice in the book, what from mentalism he’d put into Room 101, the three things he’s most proud of and more. 

https://www.vanishingincmagic.com/mentalism/the-definitive-mental-mysteries-of-hector-chadwick/

Yigal very rarely does interviews, and we're honored he agreed to do our podcast. 

Come for the tips on thread work, stay for the insights into Spider Pen X, his beginnings and the real history of Loops. 

https://yigalmesika.com

Roberto Giobbi stops by to talk about Card College, note-keeping and so much more.  

Justin Willman stops by to chat about Magic For Humans, people guessing methods on the internet, his mysterious twin brother and more. 

What a treat! The producers of Fool Us drop by to talk about how the show started, what they are looking for in acts, how to apply and some incredible, specific advice on increasing your chances of selection. 

And here's how to apply: 

Final Call for season 9.  Casting deadline Feb 28.

Send submissions to [email protected]

Also some announcements and a little bit of behind the scenes on instagram - @ptfoolus

And here are the submission guidelines:

Submission guidelines:

- Please submit a recording of your routine as you would perform it on our show. Unlisted links to vimeo or youtube are preferred.
- We don't require a live audience or a stage, but record the video as if you were performing in front of Penn and Teller / or via remote to our studio.
- Professional video is not necessary. Cell phone video is fine with clean picture and sound.

- We love original magical acts with novel and clever methods and/or presentation.
- Routines should be 3-5 minutes in length.
- Videos should be unedited.
- Please make sure we can see your face in the video, even for close up routines.
- For close up/card tricks, be sure the camera is close enough to read the cards.

- Send your trick to [email protected]

- Production May 2-11.

- EXTENDED DEADLINE February 28, 2022

Vanishing Inc. Cofounder, Andi Gladwin was just on Fool Us. Join us for a special edition before the next season starts to go Inside Baseball for Andi’s recent appearance on Penn and Teller’s Fool Us.

We chat about getting to America during a pandemic, mysterious George, practise, method, history and much more.

We're going to take a short break for a few weeks and come back in 2022 for Season Eight. You look after yourselves out there. And Happy Holidays. 

John Graham joins me to discuss moving your show from close-up to stage or parlour in this fascinating chat. 

Ahead of his upcoming appearance at The Session in a few weeks, I grab some Tobias Time to talk light, shadows, creativity, art and more. 

And as promised, here's the link to Josh's podcast: https://www.audioup.com/shows/howmagiciansthink

Oh my! 

Jeki and I talk about creativity in captivity, crafting, gimmicks, being married to a magician and more. 

Jon Allen and I chat about his book, [Experience: The Magic Of Jon Allen](https://www.vanishingincmagic.com/stage-and-parlor-magic/experience-softback/), about creating magic, about solving problems and about how Jason Alexander was surprised he was good. 

Jon will be appearing at The Session 2022. 

Book your ticket here. 

Dr Matt Pritchard is a scientist and a magician. In this very interesting chat, we discuss how to make magic more surprising, inclusion, delaying the how and prolonging the wow and of course, his amazing small scale illusions on social media.

Matt wants more Instagram followers, so be sure to check him out at www.instagram.com/sciencemagician

David Copperfield has a new book out, written with Richard Wiseman and David Britland. And it is excellent. In this special, extended episode, David and Richard join me to chat about piracy, Houdin and technology, women in magic, Malini and methods to improve every aspect of your own magic. 

Order your copy of the book here: https://www.vanishingincmagic.com/magic-books/david-copperfields-history-of-magic/

Mat and I chat about how to make intimate magic play on a big stage, creativity, luck, the college circuit and the story behind who really came up with the idea of Mel B's phone being in a seat cover!

Guinea pigs, the origin of The Cloak Of Invisibilty, and so much more.

As promised, here's Mac King Part Two. Guinea pigs, the origin of The Cloak Of Invisibilty, how to move from a middle act to a headline slot, what Mac finds exciting about magic today and so much more.

And here's the link for Josh's new podcast: How Magicians Think

I was never here... OK?

In part one of this interview, Mac discusses his early days at Mr Caufield’s store and magic club, his new theater, who has been in the bear suit, making bits play for adults and kids, how to keep your show fresh, and changing up methods.

Ahead of his Masterclass: Live in October, Jason joins us to chat about prop bets, why winning all the time is OK, and more.

Join us for his Masterclass: Live: https://www.vanishingincmagic.com/masterclass/

Or, for the same price, join VI+ and get his Masterclass, access to the new streaming library and free shipping with no minimum spend: https://www.vanishingincmagic.com/vanishing-inc-plus/

Josh is back on the show to chat about Magifest and his new book, How Magicians Think. 

If you pre-order the book from us, you get an exclusive free deck of cards and a signed bookplate. At the time of writing this (9.13.21) there are just 50 of those decks left (out of 2,000). So act quickly!

Pre-order here https://www.vanishingincmagic.com/magic-books/how-magicians-think/

Christian joins us on episode two to talk about Switch One, Level One, jazz, prototyping and fooling the pants off Andy Nyman. 

Christian runs a fantastic monthly membership program where you pay a very small amount and get a WHOLE LOAD of amazing magic. You can find out more about that here: https://christiangracemagic.gumroad.com/membership

A fascinating start to season six. We discuss Dani's seemingly informal approach to performance, The Spanish School, a lesson from Juan, how to improve your force, the importance of copying your heroes, and what to expect from his upcoming Masterclass: Live which starts this Sunday. (September 5th, 2021).

https://www.vanishingincmagic.com/masterclass/dani-daortiz-masterclass-live/

Welcome to part two of the interview with Jason England. We discuss Vernon’s Fingerprint Trick, an amazing lesson for us all from Steve Forte, how to practise, how to improve your second deal and what he’ll be covering during his month’s residency for Masterclass: Live.

Jason England joins us to talk Erdnase, Ricky Jay, his amazing collection of gambling devices and the importance of lists. Part two next Monday.

Jason's Masterclass: Live starts this Sunday, August 1st. If you want to learn from a master on how to do seconds, bottoms, crimps and shuffles and how to apply them to magic, you need to be part of this! You can just buy this month, but for the best pricing, you should subscribe. And with Dani DaOrtiz, Jason Ladanye, Kainoa Harbottle and Mike Piascotta coming up next, it's a no-brainer really.

https://www.vanishingincmagic.com/masterclass/jason-england-masterclass-live/

Steve Cohen joins us for a second go on the podcast. 

Join us for a fascinating chat about starting up his show again, practise, Max Malini, why he doesn’t do “big prop” tricks, and his rare, upcoming appearance at Magifest.

And as promised, the link to the violin player he recommended is: https://www.anne-sophie-mutter.de

In the second part of this interview, we discuss hiding the moves you spend so long working on, how to make your magic better, stories about Gabi and tips from The Jerx.

I know, it's not a Monday, but this is a special treat! Here's an hour of Chris Kenner!

Ahead of the start of his Masterclass: Live on Sunday July 4th, here's a special, hour-long episode of The Insider where I talk with Chris about why he doesn't do anything flashy anymore, why he thinks helping the youth is so important, how magicians dress, how movies influence his magic and what part he thinks storytelling has in magic. 

He also briefly touches on what he's going to be teaching this month in this rare chance to see him lecture. 

Get your ticket for the Masterclass: Live here: https://www.vanishingincmagic.com/masterclass/chris-kenner-masterclass-live

It's #TonyChangWeek

Double VI Points on the downloads we'll be featuring on our socials on #MoveMonday, #TrickyTuesday and #FullPerformanceFriday. 

In this first part of the interview, we discuss why on earth he works so hard on perfection, the NYC magic scene and angles. 

Derek and I continue our discussion about AGT, we discuss how to be funny and how to add humour to your magic and his pivot into virtual magic.

Derek will be performing his virtual show for us on July 7th. Get your ticket here: https://www.vanishingincmagic.com/showtime/derek-hughes-vanishing-inc-showtime/

Derek Hughes and I have a great chat about acting and the hugely important lesson the learned from some young teenagers at a restaurant gig, connecting with an audience, scripting and how to make it feel like your show isn’t really that scripted, advice from Eugene and AGT. This is part one of a two part interview. Tune in next Monday for more.

Derek will be performing his virtual show as part of our Showtime series on July 7th. Book your ticket now: https://www.vanishingincmagic.com/showtime/derek-hughes-vanishing-inc-showtime/

Oh yes, and our Summer Sale is now on. Save 25% on almost every VI product: https://www.vanishingincmagic.com/sale

We talk about his new book, his philosphies about magic,  continual refinement and improvement, what excites and concerns him about magic today, exploring potential, magicians he wished he’d had the chance to see. 

John's book is available exclusively from carneymagic.com

John Carney and I sit down to discuss old magic books, the advantages of doing sleights left-handed, John Ramsay, Charlie Miller and Mr Mysto. 

Part two will drop next Monday. 

New York-based Vinny DePonto and I chat about mentalism, the analogue of art and magic, must-read mentalism books (and he doesn't even mention 13 Steps!), pivoting to virtual shows and of course, his incredible new series of fine art prints, "Icons" available on the new section of our site: Wonders

Vinny's Site: https://www.vinnydeponto.com/home

Today's guest has written a wonderful book on bringing card magic to a parlor setting. We talk about that. 

Naypes is available here: https://www.vanishingincmagic.com/stage-and-parlor-magic/naypes/

Siegfried Tieber has appeared on Fool Us not once, but twice! And, because we're very lucky, he's performing her amazing virtual show for us this Wednesday (May 5th). 

Get the best seat in your house right here.

We're super excited to introduce you to a new podcast of interactive magic! Instead of the usual interview, this week you're getting a sneak peak of a new show that starts officially on Sunday. This is an amazing podcast of interactive magic we know you'll love. It will have its own feed on Apple Podcasts, Spotify etc which you can grab on Sunday when the show launches officially. For now, enjoy this trick. You'll need a hand and your imagination. 

Your regularly scheduled Insider will return next Monday. 

--

In the debut episode of Homemade Trickery, Self-Inflicted Magic For The Bored Soul, you’ll find a game using only your fingers and your imagination. Join in!

Special thanks to Juan Estaban Varela for giving permission to share this and to my friend Daniel Guedes for the ending thing.

Credits:
VARELA, Juan Estaban, “El Anillo Imaginario”, MAGIOGRAFÍA, Espacio

Vernet, 2008, pp. 11-12.

VARELA, Juan Estaban, “El Anillo Imaginario”, ZERO ELEMENTS, Vernet, 2014.

Further Readings:
STEINMEYER, Jim, “Fives Cards On the March”, FURTHER IMPUZZIBILITIES - Still More Strangely Self-Working Conjuring,

Hahne, 2006, pp. 10-11.

Also check: “A Bird in The Hand”, by Steve Mayhew, “Cursed by an Evil Spell”, by Martin Kane and “Fingered”, by Steve Beam.

Welcome to the second part of Jamy Ian Swiss' time on The Insider. The skepticism continues. 

Here's some useful links for Jamy's material:

Jamy's Astonishing Essay

The Works Trilogy

Cups and Balls Masterclass

Card On Ceiling

To celebrate the launch of his Astonishing Essay, Jamy Ian Swiss joined me for his second appearance on the show. We talked about skepticism, a subject he is very passionate about. It was impossible to keep him to 30 minutes, so I split the show into two parts. Tune in next week for part 2.

These Terms and Conditions apply to your use of Vanishing Inc. Magic LLC's YouTube channel and podcast (“YouTube Channel and Podcast”). Your use of the YouTube Channel and Podcast is governed by these Terms and Conditions. If you do not agree with these Terms and Conditions, please do not access the YouTube Channel and Podcast. These Terms and Conditions are the standard terms for the provision of services by Vanishing Inc. Magic LLC.  The Owners shall not have to bear any personal responsibility in relation to the YouTube Channel and Podcast whatsoever.

Where guests appear on the YouTube Channel and Podcast, the views of those guests are solely their views, and the Company does not accept responsibility for them. Such views are the views of guests, and not the Company. The Company does not verify the accuracy of the information contained in the YouTube Channel and Podcast, and the Company is not responsible for this information. The Company assumes no responsibility or liability for any errors or omissions in the content of the YouTube Channel and Podcast. The information contained on the YouTube Channel and Podcast is provided on an “as is” basis with no guarantees of completeness, accuracy, usefulness or timeliness.

When the pandemic broke, Will Houstoun and Steve Thompson set up a project called Video Chat Magic where users would pay a monthly fee and get access to incredible magic designed for video chat software such as Zoom. It caught fire, and they ended up getting contributions from Richard Wiseman, Max Maven, Larry Fong, Pete McCabe, Jim Steinmeyer, Marc Kerstein and many others. 

In this episode, Steve and Will talk about the project, how it got started, what problems they faced and the charitable angle which really made the whole thing incredible. 

The book is available today at https://www.vanishingincmagic.com/magic-books/video-chat-magic/ but if you want the physical copy, act quickly, there are very few available. 

Part 2 of our interview with Carisa Hendrix where we talk about Lucy Darling's first ever time on stage, material selection, and more. 

Part 1 of a very interesting interview with Carisa Hendrix. This week, we talk about her start in performing. Aged 16, doing what she needed to do in order to pay rent. We then move on to the birth of Lucy Darling and Carisa's relationship with crowd work. Part 2 next Monday. 

The delightful Chris Power joins me to chat about Coins Through Silk, Vernon, Opus, Williamson and The Amateur Magician's Handbook. 

My guest today is a real worker. He has 20 years of experience, does 350 plus shows a year and performs regularly at the magic castle and has performed at the white house multiple times.

We talk about his convention, comedy, process, virtual shows, marketing and how to avoid burnout.  And I do an ad read that is timed so well, I even impressed myself!

Mike and I discuss The Long Island Mystics, Owen's, his constant refinement of tricks, why his tricks are all so long and there's a great story about Copperfield too.

Remember, sign up for MIke's Masterclass: Live right here: https://www.vanishingincmagic.com/masterclass/mike-caveney-masterclass-live/ it starts this Sunday, March 6th 2021. 

I carry on my conversation with Doug Dyment. We touch on essential mentalism books, readings, magic squares and stacks. 

As promised, here's a link to Doug's site: https://www.deceptionary.com which is full of useful resources. 

Hello and welcome back to The Insider! Nice to be here. 

I think this episode is a rarity. It's the first of a 2-part interview with the amazing mentalist Doug Dyment. When I was researching him for the show, there's very little online to go on. He keeps himself to himself. So I hope you enjoy spending some time in his company. 

As promised in the show, here's a link to his site: https://www.deceptionary.com and here is the link to the questions to ask yourself about your character: https://www.deceptionary.com/performance.html

If you'd not noticed, we're also trying video of the show now, so the video of this will be on the VI blog and on our YouTube channel. Let me know if you like the video, or if you prefer just the audio. You can drop me a line at [email protected]

Here's a little treat for you. A throwback episode way back to the 4th show! We had Ben Seidman on then, and he was inspiring, funny and smart. 

Which is exactly what he will be on Wednesday January 6th when he shares his amazing virtual show "Camera Tricks" with hundreds of magicians around the world.

Plus, afterwards, there's an exclusive 60 minute Q&A. 

It's like a gala show at a convention, but you don't have to leave your home. 

Come join in the fun and get the best seat for the show vanishingincmagic.com/showtime

Michael and I continue our conversation from last week. 

In the first of a two-part episode, Michael Close and I talk about memdeck work, an incredible video from the 90s of him performing what clearly is the best card trick ever seen on TV, how to get on Fool Us, mistakes people make when applying to be on the show and the thing about the ring…

And sorry, I accidentally recorded using the in-built mic on my laptop rather than my lovely one. But, Mike sounds great, so hope that makes up for it. 

Links:

Demystifying The Memdeck - https://www.michaelclose.com/pages/demystifying-the-memdeck-targeted-training

Best card trick ever seen on television - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zYLyjFwagk

Garret Ring Situation explained in detail - https://www.patreon.com/posts/43691718

Ever wondered what Andi's first magic book was?

What Josh's favorite book that VI published is?

What George thinks is the most challenging book to produce was?

All this and more will be answered in this episode. 

Sorry about George and Joshua's audio. I tidied it up as best I could. 

Jack shares half an hour of his time in a rare interview to talk about gambling, angles, using gaffs, and a hilarious tale about a money game...

Jonathan Levit joins us today and we talk about Ricky Jay, tips for virtual shows, teaching magic for movies and more.

As promised in the show, here is a link to Jonathan's favorite musician, his ladyfriend, Kasey Lansdale: https://open.spotify.com/artist/3TEsJcvC1ratvxRrXYEcg8?autoplay=true

Welcome to this special episode of the show. Recorded live, yesterday evening. This was live streamed out to Facebook and YouTube and is an AMA with Andi and Josh. They were asked from really genuinely tough questions and some really interesting ones too. Oh, and I clicked the wrong button in the software at one point.

Please let us know if you enjoyed this and if you'd like them to do it again. We really had so many more questions that we had time for. So let us know!

My guest today burst onto the magic scene with smash hit releases like Dress Code, had a huge magic prank show and then went on to consult for the biggest magicians and tv shows in the world. I hope you enjoy listening to our conversation. 

Muti-award winning magician, creator and author Nick Einhorn is my guest this week. We talk about how a product gets released, why entering competitions can be good for you, how being nice is useful and the good old days demming for Marvin's Magic. 

He's annoyingly talented and really nice too. I hate him. It's Andrew Frost (Instagram's @sleightlyobsessed). We chit chat about magic books, dead magicians and sleight of hand. I think you'll enjoy it. 

Welcome to the brand new season of The Insider. And I gotta tell you, it's a big season. Some amazing names lined up. 

Very happy to be starting episode one with none other than Shin Lim! 

A million subs on YouTube. 830,000 followers on Instagram. Won IBM after doing magic for 3 years, then went on to win FISM, then went on to win AGT. Then win AGT The finalists.  He also has amazing hair.

Join Shin, along with Allan Ackerman, Jason England and Josh and Andi on the 25th of October for an online event devoted to card magic. Details here: https://www.vanishingincmagic.com/magic-conventions/experts-at-the-card-table/

Our interview with Teller continues from last week. And there is some fantastic news right at the very end for everyone wondering if Teller would every write a book of his material...

It's Teller. That's all you need to know. Tune in next week for part two. 

Ricky Smith has some chops. From creating the Cherry Control to the classic Any Card At Any Vowel, Ricky is super talented, but doesn't come into the spotlight much, preferring his underground bunker. 

To celebrate the release of two sets of notes, we persuaded him to chat with us. Enjoy. 

Today's guest started off as a street performing mime and ended up as one of the most-loved stage magicians in the world. Find out how Tina Lenart went from a raggedy ann doll to where she is today. Along the way we talk about creativity, character, the time she spent with Andy Kaufman and so much more. 

Not seen in magic for about ten years, this is the first interview in, well, a very long time with the amazing Ben Harris. We discuss piracy, his love of levitations, his sometimes controversial marketing and his new book, Machinations. 

OK, yes, it's slightly shorter than the usual 30 minutes. But that's just the way it goes with a 2 parter. 

It's part 2 of the interview with Piff. It's Piff. It's hilarious. That's all you need to know. 

The single most chaotic and hilarious episode of the show yet. The initial recording ran for almost an hour, so rather than cut out any, I've decided to break tradition and make this a two parter. Tune in next week for part two. 

My guest today has done it all. Won The Magic Circle’s close up magician of the year not once, but three times, Fool Us twice, lots of other TV appearances including Paul Daniels’ show. He’s put out many amazing DVDs including Tapestry of Deception and the Classic Magic of Michael Vincent. It is, of course, Mike Vincent.

We chat about his incredible mentors, Alan Alan flying him to New York to meet Slydini, why the Classics of magic work today, how magic stopped him being bullied at school, how he nearly gave up magic altogether and more. 

As promised, here's a link to his Instagram: Fuji Warrior

Today's guest is probably your favorite magician's favorite magician. 

He’s considered one of the most influential thinkers in the world of magic.  He’s performed at The Magic Castle, every major Las Vegas casino and elite private parties and high end corporate dos. Penn & Teller refer to his performance as one of the most subtle and diabolical in the world of magic. It’s none other than Mr Paul Vigil.

Paul and I chat about his time at The Retreat, a lecture for 3 people in a Las Vegas hotel bedroom (yes, really), he shares a Johnny Thompson story, a Channing Pollock story and talks about what it means to be "fooled by a gentleman". 

John Lovick is my guest today. We talk about what a director brings to a magic performance, what good magic looks like, his Penn and Teller memorabilia collection, why being limited by a character is good for creativity and The Magic Castle. 

Ryan Plunkett, a Founding Ensemble Member and Regular Performer at the Chicago Magic Lounge takes some time to talk with us about how limiting yourself increases your creativity, Chicago, his first book, his new book and lots more besides. 

Distilled

A New Angle

Today's guest is a actual real-life professor. An academic. A magician. A skeptic. A viral video creator. An author of best-selling books and proper scientific papers. It’s the one and only Professor Richard Wiseman.

In this episode we talk about skepticism, viral videos, his early days in magic and books, a magic show with no performer, his appearance in a Queen video and the best hack you'll ever hear for checking your presentation software is working properly. 

Here's the video he's in. Can you spot his arm?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0AIlz08fZos

Today, David Kaye and I talk about his philosophy for kids’ magic, why many magicians look down upon people that do magic for children, how to construct a “good” routine for kids, who he rates and what “adult” magicians can learn from kids’ magician.

Here are the people he mentions that he rates:

Mike bent

http://www.mikebentmagic.com

John kimmonds

https://kimmomagic.com

And here are his social links. He’s only just started this, so show him some love and give him a follow:

https://www.instagram.com/silly_billy_magic

https://www.facebook.com/DavidKayeMagic/

And here is where you can buy his stuff:

www.sillymagic.com

My guest today was born and raised in Tel Aviv and now lives in New York. 

He is one of magic’s most influential thinkers and performers.  

He’s David Blaine’s favourite magician. 

It’s the one and only, Asi Wind. 

Follow him on the Instagrams: https://www.instagram.com/asiwind/

Welcome to Season 3!

If I listed all of my guest’s accomplishments now, we wouldn’t have time for any questions. He won young magician of the year and  is now a gold star member of the inner magic circle. Along with huge success performing on stage and television, he also invents and creates magic for stage, film and television. He’s made cars appear and also made flies appear. He’s done BGT, AGT The Champions, performed as part of the Impossible ensemble in the west end, dubai, singapore and the philippines, his act has also graced the royal albert hall, the london palladium and wembley arena. His creations have been seen in dozens of West End plays. He taught magic to Gandalf.

David Walliams described him as the “living embodiment of magic”. 

https://twitter.com/itsbenhart

https://www.instagram.com/itsbenhart/

https://www.facebook.com/itsbenhart

Buy The Darkest Corners here: https://www.vanishingincmagic.com/magic-books/the-darkest-corners/

Morgan And West are back on the show. And the world is a better place for it. We chat about their science show, material selection, how to find the one special trick that defines who you are going to be and of course, their new book "Parlour Tricks" which is being released tomorrow, March 10th 2020. 

Underground card legend Shane Cobalt is my guest on this week's episode. We chat about bad magic, good books and brutal feedback. 

It's Karl Hein! Hugely busy worker, creator, founding father of modern Rubik's Cube magic, regular at The Magic Castle. 

If you want to save $200 on his exclusive download bundle, act quickly, the saving is only valid for a week. Normal price will be $300. This week only, you can grab over 11 hours of real world worker material for just $99. Right here: https://www.vanishingincmagic.com/card-magic-downloads/karl-hein-download-bundle/

Tom Crosbie has done many Edinburgh shows with pun-tastic titles such as Nerd World Problems, You Can’t Polish A Nerd, and Nerd Do Well where he was nominated as 'Act Most Likely to Make a Million Quid' in the Malcolm Hardee Awards! He got his flight time out in Europe working for Rodney James Piper, then Matt Wright. He’s successfully transitioned to close up nerdy magician to a busy professional stage worker, where he not only embraces his inner nerd, it is his whole act. It's Tom Crosbie!

The final of our special live show recording at The Session 2020. 

The second of three podcasts recorded live at The Session 2020, in London. 

Rune Klan is an incredible performer and in this episode we talk about honesty, creativity, improvisation, openers, and his new show about to tour his native Denmark. 

I mentioned I'd post a link to his amazing YouTube mini series: TrickyLeaks. So I have. 

This episode was recorded live at The Session in London. 

Winner of the Hong Kong Close Up Magic Open, Asia Magic Association Close Up Magic Content, FISM Asia winner, FISM Italy winner, TV star and hugely successful corporate entertainer as well as the person responsible for kick starting the entire genre of rubik’s cube magic, it’s Henry Harrius!

Henry tips in some detail what he'll be lecturing about this coming weekend at The Session as well as discusses how to improve your magic, how piracy has impacted him, and once or twice we talk about cubes. 

Follow Henry on Instagram. 

Here it is. Our Holiday Special. Yes, it's over 30 minutes, but you listen to it and tell me what I should have cut out? :)

What you are here for, in these show notes, is the video of the race. 

Here it is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bW7rraZfFc

Suck it up, George. LOOOOOOSER.

Hope you enjoy it as much as we enjoyed recording it.

If I get time, I will drop the rap onto a beat. 

Magician, creator, consultant, director, winner of the AMA Close up magician of the year and the man who brought the world tiny plunger, it’s Jon Armstrong.

This show has a lot of insights, but one REALLY useful bit of information about making a commercial comedy magic prop your own. Worth the price of admission just for that. 

Marlo, Marlo, Marlo, and a bit of Marlo on the side. Zarrow shuffles. And more. 

Magician, author, creator,  TV presenter, performer, producer, film maker, it’s Paul Wilson. We chat about Tamariz, TV Magic and a prank he pulled on our very own Joshua Jay...

Please also see the accompanying blog post for your free copy of the notes referred to in the show. 

It's episode 50! 

Today I'm joined by Simon Coronel and Nick Paul, the hosts Two Magicians. One Mic. Between them, they’ve been on Conan, Netflix’s Magic for Humans, won FISM, Fooled Penn and Teller and are awfully, awfully existential.

"Hey Dawg, I heard you like magic podcasts, so I put a magic podcast inside your magic podcast."

Enjoy.  

Harrison is funny and does magic. What more do you need to know?

We have a chat about shoving nails up your nose, AGT, Conan, developing original material and roasts. Enjoy. 

In this week’s episode Scott Robinson talks with us about his creative process, a soft touch, TRICS, Sleight Club, how to make a move your own and - of course - his new book “Pure Imagination”. Launched last weekend at TRICS, the book sold out immediately. It officially hits the magic stores tomorrow (12th November 2019). 

Scott's Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/scottroms

TRICS : https://www.facebook.com/tricsconvention/

Nikola Arkane is best known in her native Northern Ireland as a children's magician. Indeed, she is the only professional female magician there. She also is a close up performer and has recently won two IBM competitions and recently performed for a week in the close up room at The Magic Castle. 

We chat about her first and worst ever gig, the issues she had performing close up initially, her love of music and her new book all about the practical side of running a children's magic business. 

And Sweden. 

This is an amazing episode. You'll learn so much about performance. How important a breath is. Why being interested is better than being interesting. Why clowns have red noses.

Avner started learning his art in the 70s, in Paris, and kindly shares a great deal of what he has learned over the years. 

If you enjoy the show, we'd love it if you told a magician friend or two. 

A huge star in his homeland, Wolfgang Moser talks with us about Fool Us, Think A Drink and his process for creating unique magic. Enjoy. 

Today, we have the creator of "Socks" and "Priceless", Michel Hout. Michel is a busy corporate magician and offers some amazing insights into that world in this episode. Also, the story about the creation of "Priceless" is worth the price of admission alone. Enjoy. 

(There were a couple of technical issues with this week's show - some stray pops and clicks and weirdness. I fixed them as best I could - hope it doesn't interfere with your enjoyment of the show). 

He's tall. He's Scottish. He's done Edinburgh Fringe for 28 consecutive years and made a profit each year. That's remarkable. In this episode, Ian shares all he has learnt from doing oh so many Fringe shows. You'd do well to listen when Ian speaks. You're likely to learn something. 

Here's his Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iankendallmagic/

Oh, and in the show he mentions Isis. That is my daughter, not the terrorist organisation - just to avoid confusion. 

Eric and I talk about making magic videos every day for a year, how YouTube landed him not one, but two highly successful TV gigs, the crossover between adult and kid magic, and a whole load more besides. 

This is just a super short PSA to let you know we're taking a summer break, but will be back in September with a whole boatload of amazing guests. Stay tuned. 

Yup. Him David Regal. And in this episode we talk about secrets, interpreting magic, rug rats, the hot rod force, his new book and of course, The Carbanaro Effect.

Mike Pisciotta has won Close-Up Magician of the Year in the AMAs not once but twice. Then, he went and won Parlor Magician of the Year. He estimates he's done 10,000 shows as The Magic Castle's resident bar magician down in The Hat and Hare. 

In this episode we talk about flight time, what's important in Mike's magic, how he selects material, and there's even a saucy celeb story. Enjoy. 

He owns a lot of suits. He likes card tricks. He is German. That's right, you guessed it, it's Pit Hartling. 

Daniel Prado is a professional musician by day, and amazing magician by night. He's created some stunning effects, including BURN. In this podcast we chat about invisibility, practise, table faros, making your own peanut butter and being a control freak. 

He's got big hands. He's tall. He bakes very impressive cake-related things. Oh, and he does the odd card trick too. It's Denis Behr!

As promised, the links to his crediting projects:

https://www.conjuringarchive.com

https://www.conjuringcredits.com/doku.php

and Herbert's fan page: 

https://www.facebook.com/herbertrubberband/

You may well not know his name. But Peter Clifford is an actor, director, writer and magician. He's consulted for years for Derren Brown, has consulted for David Blaine, for Morgan and West and now, for you. In this podcast, if you listen, he tells you exactly how to elevate you magic from the run of the mill magicians. It's fascinating stuff. Not easy, no shortcuts, but he gives you the formula and methodology for how you can make you magic better. Much, much better. I hope you enjoy this as much as I did recording it. 

Peter has some notes available for a crisp British tenner. You can get them by emailing him and asking nicely.   [email protected]

An unusual episode. Today, the show is an interview Joshua Jay did with an incredible magician called Werner Reich. 

Mr Reich survived the Nazi concentration camps - through magic. His story is fascinating and is brought to you to help promote our charity ShareMagic. You can find out more about the good work we do here: https://www.vanishingincmagic.com/charity/

One of the things the charity does is a Youth Scholarship to Magifest. If you'd like to help send a young magician to the convention, please visit the link about - every cent helps. Or, you could also help by sending any young magicians you know the link to apply for the scholarship. There's more information about that here: https://www.vanishingincmagic.com/blog/magifest-2020-youth-scholarship

Tom Elderfield. Magician. Creator. Consultant. Actor.

Tom shares a lot in this episode. He explains his whole game plan for Instagram. He explains how to be creative. He explains how to get your work in front of the people you want to see it. And he changed my mind on the use of gimmicks.

He's one smart cookie and I know you'll enjoy the show. 

Follow him here: https://www.instagram.com/tomelderfield/

In this week's episode, the mystery of why 8 faros returns the deck to original order is explained. As well as other interesting math(s) things. And magic. And jazz. And of course Matt's excellent book The Buena Vista Shuffle Club. 

Well. What can I say. It's Williamson.

I broke my 30 minute rule for this one, as I couldn't find 9 minutes to cut out of this. I didn't think you'd all mind, well, because, Williamson. 

David was up at 8.30am to share some stories, offer advice and we get insight into how he Williamson-ises a trick. I know you're going to enjoy listening to this as much as I enjoyed recording it. 

In the show we break some important news about The Session and Magifest. To book your tickets (and it WILL sell out), get in now: https://www.vanishingincmagic.com/magic-conventions/

Welcome to this week's episode of The Insider. This week we interview magician, academic and author of Experiencing the Impossible: The Science of Magic. 

Despite Steinmeyer saying we're guarding an empty safe, some magicians feel that the book is an outrage because some very basic and widely known magic principles (ie, misdirection) are discussed in the book and his wider work in science. We hear from the horse's mouth what his views on this are. It's an interesting chat. 

Not many in our field can really be called legendary. Max Maven can. So, I'm honoured to share with you a 30 minute chat I had with Max. We talk about what he thinks about current mentalism, the heydays of The Magic Castle, and his opinion on performers that claim they have real powers. Oh and his favourite pizza topping. Enjoy. 

It's Monday. It's time for The Insider. Indianapolis' own Caleb Wiles joins me to chat about magic. 

Caleb created the very first trick VI released. We talk about that, how he met Josh, his time on Fool Us and of course, his smash hit trick FACT. Enjoy.

We're 10 years old! So this is a special episode where Andi interviews Josh, then Josh interviews Andi. 

There's 10% off everything on site. And a free download bundle with 10 tricks that span our history. Thank you for your support. https://www.vanishingincmagic.com/sales/2019-ten-years/

Guy takes time out of his busy lawyer-ing to talk to me about magic. How he got started. His latest stage act. And much more. Enjoy!

Fool Us, Ted, Yale, Vegas. Jen Kramer has done so much. Hear her chat about all that and her favourite pizza topping in this week's The Insider. 

Here's a link to Magicians Without Borders that Jen mentioned in the show. 

As I imagine most of you know, Anthony Owen tragically died last Friday. In the episode, Anthony himself says that when you have a deadline, you deliver what you need to deliver. Be it a TV show, book or podcast. Andi and the rest of the team were sure this was the right thing to do.

So, here is a thirty minute chat with Anthony. About his book, his life, his work, and, sadly, the things he was looking forward to.

Hope this serves as a suitable bookmark for his life. 

In this episode, the delightful Chris Rawlins talks to me about his memory act, how he hates admin, speeding tickets and he gets really surprised to hear a seagull. Enjoy. 

Recorded live at The Session 2019, Dominic Twose, A.I.M.C, is my guest this week. Yes, you may not know his name. But, this episode is well worth listening too. Dominic was one of Fred Robinson's only pupils and Dom talks about how they met, what lessons were like with Fred and what it was like in the London magic scene at that time. Hanging out with Pat Page, Alex Elmsley, Gordon Bruce and more. He shares a great story about Gordon too. We go on to discuss how he got to write the indices for the Cervon Notebooks and be asked to write a brand new book of Cervon material. Finally we chat about his first magic book, Impromptu Secrets and how that came about. Enjoy. 

He's really polite. He does amazing dove magic. He's won IBM Stage Magician of the Year. The Magic Circle's Stage Magician of the Year. And he's been part of a hugely successful magic touring show, The Masters of Illusion. 

Join us as Edward talks about doves, meeting your heroes and sitting on the floor with Chris Kenner doing a coins across routine. 

This week, I get the chance to chat with an actual Viking. Caroline Ravn. She does sell out tours, TED talks, and makes her own decks of custom cards. 

Here's some links to keep up with her work:

https://www.instagram.com/ravnmagic/

https://www.facebook.com/ravnmagic/

https://twitter.com/ravnmagic

Oh, and if you want a chance to win a custom, possibly signed deck of Caroline's cards, just post #IWannaWinARavnDeck on the post on our social media announcing this episode. Caroline will pick a winner in 48 hours. Only one deck is available. Caroline will decide the winner. No cash substitute and all that jazz. 

Seems fitting that after the passing of Johnny Thompson over the weekend I put out this episode of The Insider with Jamy Ian Swiss. Jamy literally wrote the book on Thompson and talks about him briefly in this week's show. 

We also cover why magic sucks, the importance of your feet, American Gods and the Chicago Magic scene. 

Welcome. Another Monday, another edition of The Insider. 

This week our guest is Brad Henderson. A person that gets annoyed a lot on the internet. And someone that actually *thinks* about magic. A magician, hypnotist, mentalist and collector of really weird "stuff". 

You can keep up with Brad on his Instagram page.

The audio is a bit different this week because this episode was recorded live at Magifest 2019. I let Brad have my nice mic. Hope it still sounds OK!

Steve Cohen, the millionaire's magician, joins us on the line this week from New York where his show Chamber Magic has been running for over 20 years.

Steve talks with us about his graphic novel , lasagne, and his Astonishing Essay "Evergreen".

During the chat, Steve mentions a book that I said I would drop a link in the shownotes. So here it is: The Music Lesson.

Steve Faulkner. Dad, juggler, escapologist, magician, trainer, reviewer and all round good bloke has a chat with us about why he is so tired, dealing with haters and what is important in a magic review show.

Oh, and there is a bit of a bombshell in here too, but you have to listen to find out what that is.

Links:

http://www.cardmagiccourse.com

Zabrecky is the first magician that made me cry with laughter when I saw him at the first Genii Bash.

I'd never seen magic presented like that.

In this episode of the show, I talk with Rob about all sorts of things. His character, what's inside the box, the importance of acting in magic and his new book, The A to Zs of Magic. The book is part of Vanishing Inc.'s Astonishing Essays series which drops on the 15th of February. 

Buckle up, you're in for a treat. 

A special episode of the show with Vanishing Inc. co-founder, Andi Gladwin. 

In the show, Andi talks all about Edward G. Brown. A magician that has sadly been almost forgotten about despite Vernon saying he "the finest sleight of hand magician in the country."

Andi tells me about the man, his magic and why he thinks the material is so worthy of study today. He bought the rights to the book from The Magic Circle and Vanishing Inc. have released it, along with Andi's notes in the form of a Study Guide to accompany the book. (Which has an unpublished Vernon trick in). 

The books will be available here: https://www.vanishingincmagic.com/magic/magic-books/the-card-magic-of-edward-g-brown/ after 8pm GMT on the 4th of February. 

In this week's show we talk about magic and marketing, magic and business, magic and music and, of course, magic. With none other than John Guastaferro.

If you don't have his amazing One Degree book you can get a free samplers of it here: https://www.vanishingincmagic.com/magic-downloads/ebooks/one-degree-sampler/

And you can follow John on the social things here: 

Twitter

Instagram

Youtube

Sarah and David Trustman, creators of The Memory Arts, talk about how easy they've made it to memorize a stack. They even convinced me to finally learn a stack!

Their brand new expansion pack for poker hands is out today. Check it out here: https://www.vanishingincmagic.com/magic-downloads/ebooks/the-memory-arts-expansion-pack-3/

Get the original here: https://www.vanishingincmagic.com/magic-downloads/mentalism-downloads/the-memory-arts/

And keep up with what this amazing duo are up to: www.trustmancreations.com

In this week's episode, we chat with DMC about his hit series Death By Magic on Netflix, how he feels about "the internet's" claims on his reliance on actors, how his own brand of cards came about and his early days as a jobbing close-up magician.

He's worked with Blaine, Brown, Troy and others. He makes the best iOS apps. And, he's really really nice. Listen to this short chat with Marc and find out about his views on piracy, borrowing his ideas, challenging customer service and The Session. 

A festive and happy John Archer chats with us his Christmas organisational skills, Fool Us, comedy, touring with Tim Vine, his soon to be released Collared 2.0 and his love of The Session. And some strange beeping.