Favorite Magicians

[Josh Redstone]

You can't have a forum about magic without asking about everyone's favorite magicians :D

More and more I find myself drawn to the work of Cyril. He'll take something that's already really cool on it's own and put a spin on it, like a card through window routine into a card through aquarium routine.


So how about everyone else's favorite magicians?

[firecoins]

David Williamson
Ricky Jay who was directed by David Mamet
David Roth
David Regal

It seems I have a predispostion to people named David.

[Kullervo]

Ricky Jay not only for his magic itself but for books like Learned Pigs and Fireproof Women, and Cards as Weapons. And his work with Mamet.

[Zygar]

I have to agree about Cyril Takayama. Amazing stuff.

[Cain]

I'm keepin' it contemporary.

David Williamson is funny and amazing. Just yesterday I caught this clip of him: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCzTYrnOg-8
Pick up Magic Farm if you can!

Bill Malone
Tommy Wonder (recently deceased :( )
Simon Aronson (a lawyer by profession)
John Bannon (friend of Aronson, also a lawyer by profession)
Ricky Jay

[firecoins]

Steve Cohen

[CFLarsen]

Two of my favorites are Randi and Jamy Ian Swiss.

Randi, because...well, just don't ever give Randi a $20 bill, because you will immediately get a $1 bill back. I swear to whatever deity of your fancy, he doesn't do anything - he just hands it back to you.

Swiss? He fooled 20-odd skeptics, up close and personal (any closer, and the vice squad would have been called in), at TAM2, who were just dying to catch him. He can do it again, at will. The swine.

Don't ever think you can't be fooled, especially if you are a skeptic.

[firecoins]

Two of my favorites are Randi and Jamy Ian Swiss.

Randi, because...well, just don't ever give Randi a $20 bill, because you will immediately get a $1 bill back. I swear to whatever deity of your fancy, he doesn't do anything - he just hands it back to you.

Swiss? He fooled 20-odd skeptics, up close and personal (any closer, and the vice squad would have been called in), at TAM2, who were just dying to catch him. He can do it again, at will. The swine.

Don't ever think you can't be fooled, especially if you are a skeptic.
were these skeptics, magicians?

[Josh Redstone]

Speaking of fooling, Banachek actually managed to fool a bunch of scientists (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Alpha) in one of Randi's hoaxes.....I think that's awesome, so he'd probably be a potential fav. (I say potential because I'm not really that familiar with his work outside of that project)

[Cain]

Gross oversight on my part. I need to add one more: Lennart Green. (I'm basically a card guy.)

[CFLarsen]

were these skeptics, magicians?

Randi and Swiss? Very skeptic.

[HarryKeogh]

My favorite magician is David Blaine. David has dated Madonna, Fiona Apple, and models Josie Moran and Manon von Gerkan.

Yes, he's the greatest magician ever.

[Azrael 5]

My favorite magician is David Blaine. David has dated Madonna, Fiona Apple, and models Josie Moran and Manon von Gerkan.

Yes, he's the greatest magician ever.

Where was the ironic smiley?
You were being ironic werenri't you?

I second Magic farm.The trick and anecdotes are first rate.:)

[firecoins]

Randi and Swiss? Very skeptic.
but were they magicians? Skeptic, as skeptical as they are, are not fluent in the methods & can still be fooled.

[rebecca]

but were they magicians? Skeptic, as skeptical as they are, are not fluent in the methods & can still be fooled.

You're not from around here, are you?

edited to add: I just reread the back and forth and I see it's just a slight problem with writing skills . . . I'm guessing you actually meant to ask if Jami was fooling skeptics or skeptical magicians, so never mind.

[Raphael]

Yes, he's the greatest magician ever.

His conjuring skills are ok, but to date that collection of women (with a face like his)...yeah he's the greatest magician ever. Although Copperfield married that German model, who's name I forget.


Edit: I forgot to add my favourite magicians. When I was a kid Doug Henning really appealed to me. Maybe because he seemed like such a nice guy. Too bad he went woo with the TM crowd.

[Bob Klase]

Although Copperfield married that German model, who's name I forget.

They were engaged, but they never got married.

[Bob Klase]

but were they magicians? Skeptic, as skeptical as they are, are not fluent in the methods & can still be fooled.

It's not even that difficult to fool most people who claim to be magicians. But the average magician is not really fluent in methods.

[firecoins]

It's not even that difficult to fool most people who claim to be magicians. But the average magician is not really fluent in methods.
I bring up the issue not to debate what the average magician or skeptic knows. Non magicans including skeptics may be fooled by stuff magicans won't be.

[BPScooter]

Well, in that case my very favorite magicians, and just about the only ones I've seen while I'm alert and they're alive, are Max Maven (closeup) and Penn and Teller (big show). I saw Paul Daniels on a cruise ship as a little kid and it was total entertainment sho-biz and complete fun. I'm so amazingly gullible when it comes to the art form of magic illusion. Anybody can get me going. I tend to analyze it all only later when I get a chance.

[thinking back, Daniels probably wasn't on the cruise ship, saw him in London]

[Azrael 5]

Paul Daniels gets more entertainment out of a cup and a ball than most magicians can dream of.
I don't think it's an over exaggeration to say he is one of the best entertainers.

[Windom]

Penn and Teller :) I love gory tricks & dark humor ;)

[firecoins]

Paul Daniels gets more entertainment out of a cup and a ball than most magicians can dream of.
I don't think it's an over exaggeration to say he is one of the best entertainers.
ill second that.

[JollyRoger]

any body who's tricks I can not figure out.

I always enjoyed a good magic show, but I am usually the quiet one in the corner who enjoys thinking up ways to explain what I just saw. I have gotten some strange looks from magicians as if their saying "why do I get the feeling you know my trick" its almost as if they are waiting for me to expose them. I figure its just a good show why should I ruin it, he claims to be an illusionist and I enjoy a good illusion just as much as the next guy. So I just smile back and quietly enjoy the show.

as for my favorite magicians, who ever fools me the best

[firecoins]

as for my favorite magicians, who ever fools me the best
the magician who fools you or the one who fools you best? Who would like a magician who does not fool you at all?

[Larry Lovage]

David Williamson
Ricky Jay who was directed by David Mamet
David Roth
David Regal

It seems I have a predispostion to people named David.
And bizarrely you didn't even include David Blaine or David Copperfield. What is it with magical Davids? (I grew up on David Nixon).

Surprised only one person mentioned Penn and Teller. They are the masters of the "reveal", looking at old tricks in a new way, and just being completely entertaining. What David Blaine thought he was doing hanging over the River Thames, I don't know, but I certainly wasn't exactly engaged. Nor did I give a monkeys when he came out, since that was what he was always going to do.

[Larry Lovage]

but were they magicians? Skeptic, as skeptical as they are, are not fluent in the methods & can still be fooled.
firecoins, the point was that nobody could see how it was done. They were skeptics who were "fooled", but they weren't "fooled" to the extent of really believing that real magic was involved, whether they were magicians or not.

[firecoins]

firecoins, the point was that nobody could see how it was done. They were skeptics who were "fooled", but they weren't "fooled" to the extent of really believing that real magic was involved, whether they were magicians or not.
my point being skeptics are in no way harder to fool by good magicians.

[BPScooter]

Ricky Jay's books cover stunts, I used inter-library loan from my local college to get his book on the fire-eaters, etc. I think his point is clear, that "stunt-craft" sometimes relies on amazing physique, sometimes Trickery. Some tricks are easier than others, at some times in history, with certain belief structures shared and played upon by the Tricker.

Is anybody using a cell phone as a prop in a demonstration of psychic ability? What activities/behaviors would freak people out? "Put your phone in the lead box, it rings by itself... or "here's an unprogrammed phone, it will now call your number"... if you can freak anyone out with a cell phone, without detection of method, you will be a Freak Master.

Problem with that is that everybody is so used to having these things that nothing too weird seems "magic" any more. Action at a distance is commonplace, now. Some bitchin' magician will figure out something, though.

[firecoins]

Is anybody using a cell phone as a prop in a demonstration of psychic ability? What activities/behaviors would freak people out? "Put your phone in the lead box, it rings by itself... or "here's an unprogrammed phone, it will now call your number"... if you can freak anyone out with a cell phone, without detection of method, you will be a Freak Master.

Problem with that is that everybody is so used to having these things that nothing too weird seems "magic" any more. Action at a distance is commonplace, now. Some bitchin' magician will figure out something, though.
It already has. Magicians use cell phones in tricks, to reveal things like selected cards.

[Zygar]

It already has. Magicians use cell phones in tricks, to reveal things like selected cards.

In his show Criss Angel did a segment where he took someone's cell phone and put it in a beer bottle. He then had someone call it to prove that it was the correct cell phone.

[BPScooter]

OK, sounds like we're on the right track. I sometimes start with the exercise of imagining the seemingly impossible, and then figuring out what combination of preparation, presentation, and maybe luck would make it seem like it was really happening. I brought up cell phones because now everyone is used to the idea of multiple communicators on private frequencies, so stuff like Popoff's act wouldn't be so likely to work. Man, a couple of cell phones could have looked like miracles not so long ago, kind of like Twain's knights on bicycles in Connecticut Yankee.

We don't need to continue the idea, but it is fun to think about. What could a magician have an unprepared cell phone "do" that would seem magic? Maybe have the person set it on to 'vibrate' mode and then hold it over cards (or pictures of dead people, or whatever) and then have it vibrate in the person's own hand to select. How one would do that might be difficult. maybe have a prepared jiggly table and put the phone down, like a ouija pointer. Somehow just sending or recieving a message doesn't feel likely to fool anyone, to me. Seems like all of it would take some cleverness, preparation, and luck.

[firecoins]

I am adding Banacheck to the list. He is a top notch mentalist, fooled scientists into believing he was real, designed P&T's bullet catching effect and most importantly, I am learning his metal bending material.

[joesixpack]

the magician who fools you or the one who fools you best? Who would like a magician who does not fool you at all?

I enjoy any well done magic act, even the guy that does the linking rings at a kids birthday party. Yeah, I know how it's done, but good stagecraft, engaging and original patter, and the indefinable ability to pull an audience along is very entertaining to watch, and even get caught up in.

[firecoins]

I enjoy any well done magic act, even the guy that does the linking rings at a kids birthday party. Yeah, I know how it's done, but good stagecraft, engaging and original patter, and the indefinable ability to pull an audience along is very entertaining to watch, and even get caught up in.
yes. that is certainly true.

[BPScooter]

Agreed, conjuring is more than a method, it's a real-time (phenomenological, socially constructed) experience. None of its elements are more important than the other, but like a three-legged stool stands sturdily on all.

I didn't know Banachek worked out the bullet catch for/with P&T. It's damned impressive, mystifying, scary, but still safe (I told myself, why have these guys done this happily 6 shows a week and no end in sight, if it was so darned "iffy"???). But the magic stool held, I found myself squinting and cringing as they were about to pull triggers.

[firecoins]

Agreed, conjuring is more than a method, it's a real-time (phenomenological, socially constructed) experience. None of its elements are more important than the other, but like a three-legged stool stands sturdily on all.

I didn't know Banachek worked out the bullet catch for/with P&T. It's damned impressive, mystifying, scary, but still safe (I told myself, why have these guys done this happily 6 shows a week and no end in sight, if it was so darned "iffy"???). But the magic stool held, I found myself squinting and cringing as they were about to pull triggers.
Banachek came up with P&T's method which they used with his permission. It was originally something he was doing. P&T came up with their own presentation.

[Unalienable]

Lance Burton ... PURE CLASS!!

[Sugriva]

Phil Goldstein is not only a talented inventor/refiner of effects but his stage presence straddles that thin line between campy silliness and the mysterious mage. Wonderfully talented guy.
Eugene Burger is another great magician. He can take old timey classics like the rising card, cut and restored string, or three card monte and hone them into performance art.
And Ricky Jay of course!

....there are tons of others....

[Corpse Cruncher]

I prefer the old magicians like Tommy cooper, Paul Daniels and James Freedman. Might not be up to the standard today but still entertaining to watch the old re-runs.

[deBergerac]

I really like mentalism so on my list I would put up:

Banachek
Derren Brown
Luke Jermay
Andy Nyman

(Two of these were at TAM5 and it would be good if more of them could be more involved in scepticism. Andy has been taking a lot of heat because he has very strong ideas about psychics. Derren is also open with that he thinks people should think more critical concerning "paranormal" stuff. Luke does things you would not believe.)

[KingMerv00]

Richard Pitchford (AKA Cardini).

He wore gloves. Nuff eaid.

[Brown]

Richard Pitchford (AKA Cardini).

He wore gloves. Nuff [said].Although he's not my favorite, I cannot help but marvel when I see films of him working in gloves. Darn, I wish there was some really clear footage of him; most of it seems grainy. There are some performers (I won't name names) who actually rely upon the "grainy-ness" of film and television to hide their dirty work, but I understand Cardini was not one of them.

[aofl]

Let's see...

Tommy Wonder. I own his video set and watching him destroy an audience with his Ambitious Card routine gave me goose-bumps.

David Roth. Attended a lecture of his. Very patient, very good teacher. Awesome chops.

Jeff McBride. I'm not into all the dance and costume stuff, but I am a total sucker for card manipulation.

David Copperfield blew me away when he came through my home town when I was a kid.

Penn & Teller of course.

Mac King. Hilarious.

Ricky Jay.

A

[Bob Klase]

I like all the good ones. It's almost impossible to pick just one- even difficult to pick the top 10.

But I'll add a few that I like who haven't shown up in this thread:

Fred Kaps (all round incredible magician and the only one to ever win 3 times at FISM)
Garrett Thomas- even watching him live you'd almost swear that some of his stuff must be trick photography
Michael Close
Del Ray

[QueigBladecaster]

The problem is that I appreiciate different things from different acts, so picking a favorite is very tough. but any list would have to include....

Penn & Teller
Jeff McBride
The Pendragons
Derren Brown
Harry Eng (stretching a point maybe but incredible just the same)
Max Maven

Better stop now or I could be here all night :)

[firecoins]

the late Billy McComb
the late Jay Marshall

Jeremy Meadows
Magik Bailey - former Marlborogh magician
Joel Bauer - trade magician
Steve Cohen - the millionaire's magician
Eugene Burger - a real wizard
Eric Mead - top, top, top card guy
Ted Lesley - German mentalist

[BPScooter]

Thanks for all these names! I found these nice quotes from Eric Mead's writeup in the Aspen Times. I think they sum up some of the gist of the biscuit as I've seen it expressed here:

"Mead says that the oft-repeated phrase of "the hand being quicker than the eye" is not, in fact, the essence of magic.

"Speed is not it," he said. "What it is, is consciously manipulating the way people see and experience events. It's like a puzzle where pieces are withheld. You're being prevented from seeing something, or you're forced to interpret it incorrectly. That makes the magic seem to be in violation of natural law."

The term "misdirection" - distracting the viewer's attention from the actual trick - is likewise inapt. "What you're really doing is directing their attention, keeping it exactly where you want it at all times," said Mead. "If people were made to feel like they looked in the wrong place, the illusion works. But the experience of mystery is gone."

[firecoins]

I just want to mention Eric Mead again.

also
mentalist Marc Salem
David Regal

2 mentalists & a.k.a's
Max Maven/Phil Goldstein
Banachek/ Steve Shaw
Jas Jakutch/Gary Kurtz

Michael Ammar
Persi Diaconis
Jason Born
Joshua Jay
Mike Close
Doc Eason
Homer Liwag/Chris Kenner

Alan "Ace" Greenburg

[Unalienable]

David Blaine is worth mentioning. That boy has skills.

From his first TV special he does the trick that goes by several names, usually "Two card monte" (I think it has origins in a trick called "What is it, really?"), he does this trick to a black guy who must weigh 300 pounds. Now this guy was NOT going to be fooled. He was ready to cross Blaine up at the first opportunity, you could tell he had a real chip on his shoulder. He wanted to show Blaine and all his "homies" that he's not one to be fooled.

I love that trick to death but I choose my spectators very carefully. I would go for a women every time with that one, preferably a timid lamb of a spectator. You don't want to do this to somebody who is trying to turn cards over at the wrong time and cross you up while you do it, because while they won't uncover the secret they'll certainly ruin the effect.

Going into the heart of Compton and picking a guy who looks like a linebacker with a bad attitude ... that's just insane!! The spectator control he exerted over this guy was a psychological display of brilliance. They way he waited for him to turn a card over when he wasn't supposed to, to drive home the idea that nothing fishy was going on, the way he says "Now hold tight!!" to prevent him from turning over later, he even had to fight the guy at one point to wrestle a card out of his hand, but in the end everything worked out perfectly.

Blaine also gets a lot of flack for his "deadpan" patter, like he's stoned or something, but if you notice Blaine knows when and how to turn the volume up. When the magic starts happening he goes from deadpan zombie to animated and hyper, and you can't help but to get caught up in the moment. His presentation is all about contrasts and I think he does it brilliantly.

A lot of magicians, including pros, put David Blaine down--usually for stupid technical reasons. Yeah, so maybe his double lift isn't worn smooth after decades of practice, but I think he's got a class-A act going. I just wish he'd give up all these Houdini death-defying endurance stunts and get back to the cards and coins that made him famous.

[Bob Klase]

From his first TV special he does the trick that goes by several names, usually "Two card monte" (I think it has origins in a trick called "What is it, really?"),

The name of the trick is "Be Honest- What Is It?" by Eddie Fechter. Blaine's "Two card monte" doesn't just have origins in Fechter's trick- it is "Be Honest- What Is It?".

A lot of magicians, including pros, put David Blaine down--usually for stupid technical reasons.

And a lot of magicians have valid reasons for not liking Blaine (and an inability to do basic sleights well can be a good reason). At the same time, a lot of people build Blaine up for the simple reason that they haven't seen any good magicians to compare him to. Makes no difference- everybody's entitled to their opinion.

[fredcarr]

Darwin Ortiz - His books brought me up to a respectable level.

Tommy Wonder - His stuff showed me a level I'll never attain.

Swain - Great routines

[kinkymagic]

Tommy Wonder - His stuff showed me a level I'll never attain.

Did somebody say 'Wonder'?

http://img260.imageshack.us/img260/8721/tonywonder195x300fc3.jpg

Truly the greatest magician to ever live, how he baked himself into that loaf of bread I'll never know. Jerry Sadowitz is also pretty good.

[Unalienable]

Richard Pitchford (AKA Cardini).
I have endless respect for him but the problem is, that I've only seen one sample of footage to prove his skills. AND WHAT FOOTAGE IT IS!!! There's nobody alive who can match what I saw on some grainy old television broadcast.

I think what I like most about him is not the technical skills, which are obviously impeccable, but his entire attitude. He never presented himself as superior to the audience, the classic "Look at me, I am a super man, I can do things you cannot do." Instead he presented a world haunted by magical demons that would taunt and torment him. He really wanted to get rid of those damn cigarettes but they just kept multiplying and reappearing in his hand, his mouth, etc.

It's a little bit like the sorcerer's apprentice scene from Fantasia: the magician who was in over his head, trying to fight off the forces of magic that had slipped beyond his control.

[BPScooter]

I'm really fascinated by Cardini, too--he came up on another thread in this corner a year ago or so. I did some web clicking and found out some neat stuff, his son I think has a good tribute site that I learned a lot from. I believe he would entertain himself in the trenches of WWI by practicing sleights with a deck of cards, hour after hour, with gloves on because it was cold! He was wounded, and in the hospital (I can only imagine in what kind of physical and mental pain) asked for a deck of cards when he recovered sufficiently. Maybe I'm romanticizing it a bit, and most of you probably know more of the story than that, but I find that really moving. Just the general sense of futility I associate with the tedious trench warfare, and the image of a wounded soldier in a hospital bed asking for a deck of cards, seem rather surreal to me.

[CB1]

Best magicain has got to be Dean Tavaloris. His rountine with the camera is brilliant!

CB

[DeVega]

Wow! So many great names I've never yet heard off, for me to explore! Thanks!

I have to say, I'm a complete sucker for magic & I don't think I've ever seen a live magic performance I didn't enjoy...

I saw Siegfried & Roy at the Mirage - shortly before the whole unfortunate tiger incident - I know they were OTT but I loved 'em & all that razzle dazzle! They made a freakin' elephant vanish! How cool is that? (Yeah, even though the dammed 'Masked Magician' ruined it for me before I could switch over)
Also in Vegas - saw the Pendragons, who were fabulous, in the (sadly now defunct, Ceasar's Magical Empire - that place was awesome!) I saw a close-up Israeli spoon-bender magician too on the same evening...

More recently, have come to admire Derren Brown - although he's definately going to lose me as a viewer if he keeps doing that freaky clown act... [shudder]

And, don't hate me, but I actually like Criss Angel & I imagine he's bringing a younger crowd to magic (even if he IS older than he looks! ;-)