Mr. Randi to speak on KMOX radio - today

[Minadin]

I just heard in the intro to Paul Harris's show on KMOX radio in St. Louis that Mr. James Randi will be a guest on the show later this afternoon, to discuss some new NBC show featuring Uri Geller and Chris Angel.

I'm not sure what time he's scheduled to be on, but I thought people might want to know about it - I didn't see anything posted about it yet.

If you're not near St. Louis and can't listen on the radio, I know that KMOX has a "listen live" feature on their website:

http://www.kmox.com/pages/2615.php

And if you miss it, Paul usually puts audio up on his own website later, which is:

http://www.harrisonline.com (http://www.harrisonline.com)

[steve s]

It's on right now. They're talking about Chris Angel and Uri Gellar.

Steve S.

[MWare]

Good show. I'm glad to hear Randi and Chris Angel have spoken about the Uri show. Unfortunately, I find it hard to believe that Uri will allow Chris or anyone state publicly that Uri is just doing tricks.

[Kilgore Trout]

Thanks for the heads up. Only caught the last half or so, but still quite nice.

[Minadin]

If you go to the KMOX website - the first linked in my post above - the show is still up on the right-hand side as the top (most recent) recent highlights, in case you missed it, or missed part of it.

[Brown]

Some good points: Magicians mislead people the way actors do, says Mr. Randi. Actors try to convince you that they are things they are not, but off screen, you know that they really aren't the characters they portrayed.

I confess I never really thought of it that way, since magicians project abilities, while actors project personas. But I suppose the comparison has some merit. I note there are some actors who try to convince people that they actually are the heroic folks they see on the screen--but such actors are prime targets for ridicule. Such actors are either blasted as bad actors (they are the character they play because they can only play themselves) or they are ego freaks with an exaggerated view of their own abilities.

Those who hold their trickery out as genuine should be targets as ridicule for the same reason. There is, however, a problem. An actor who thinks he's pretty hot stuff as a boxer or kung fu fighter would get his butt kicked by someone who could really do it. (Sylvester Stallone has acknowledged that he thought he was a pretty good boxer until he went into the ring with a pro, and he left the ring with a major dose of humility.) With a charlatan, however, there is no one that we know of who could be held up as being the real deal. As far as we can tell, they're all phonies, so you can never have a genuine miracle worker who shows the charlatan for what he is. And professional magicians might be able to perform the stunts better, but they come across as being hesitant to expose charlatans because doing so would give away trade secrets.

Anyway, Randi offers some good food for thought.

Also good: Randi defines "mentalism."

[RSLancastr]

I confess I never really thought of it that way, since magicians project abilities, while actors project personas.

I don't think I agree with you here, as actors also project abilities, and magicians definitely also project personas.

Both are performers relying on your willing suspension of disbelief.

[Minadin]

And professional magicians might be able to perform the stunts better, but they come across as being hesitant to expose charlatans because doing so would give away trade secrets.

Also, Randi is a professional magician and has not been hesitant to expose charlatans. Similarly, Houdini also spent a lot of time, as I understand, showing psychic mediums and the like to be frauds, in his day.

ETA: I thought that Randi's analogy of magicians to actors was very apt in this context. I hadn't thought of it that way before, but it made a lot of sense.

[Questioninggeller]

Great interview. Thanks for the link. I didn't realize Steve Shaw/Banachek (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Shaw) worked with Criss Angel.

My favorite bits:

Randi: "Criss called me the other day and we spent about an hour and a quarter on the phone. I hadn't spoken to him in quite some time. I knew him back when he was really getting started. I was the one who designed his first business card for him as a matter of fact. So we go way back, Criss and I.

Criss wanted to call to assure me that he wasn't going to let Geller get away with any of his supernatural claims nonsense. That he was going to come down on him and say "no" its a trick. I don't know if that's going happen. I certainly might hope it happens."
...
Mentalist in the trade . . . recognize the word as meaning a magician who appears to work with mental powers.
...
I hope someone teaches a good card trick to Geller because he knows nothing else. He moves a compass, reads the contents of a sealed envelope, and bends spoons. Duh. He's a three trick pony. For 35 years he's done the same old nonsense. . ."