Desert Island Tricks
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Desert Island Tricks
Richard Young | Young & Strange Part One
How did Richard Young and his partner manage to fool magic legends Penn & Teller using a rather unconventional trick? Richard Young, from the dynamic magician duo Young and Strange, shares his journey from their unique audition for "Penn & Teller: Fool Us" to performing on grand stages and intimate settings alike. The insight into their creative brainstorming sessions and the remarkable tricks they've pulled off will leave you amazed.
Discover the secrets behind some of the most iconic stage illusions and card tricks. We explore the allure of David Copperfield's theatrical magic and the practical wonders of Michael Vincent's "Intuitive Speller." We also celebrate the silent brilliance of Teller's Miser's Dream and the intricate challenge of Homer Liwag's "Coin One," illustrating why coin magic continues to mesmerise audiences.
This episode isn't just about tricks; it's about the heart and soul of magic. We discuss the importance of connecting with your audience, sharing touching moments from Richard's interview with the inspirational Derren Brown. Get a behind-the-scenes look at the Magician's Podcast Network and learn about the creative bond between Young and Strange, likened to legendary duos like Penn & Teller. Packed with stories, tips, and heartfelt reflections, this episode is a treasure trove for magic enthusiasts and aspiring performers. Tune in for a magical journey you won't forget!
Young's Desert Island Tricks:
1) Portal Vanish
2) Intuitive Speller
3) Leviosa
4) Teller's Miser's Dream
5) Coin One
6) Bottle Through Table
7) Bureau De Change
8) Flying
Book) Notes From a Fellow Traveller
Item) Framed Photo of Sam Strange
A podcast about being an artist from a practical perspective. The series will...
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Find out more about the creators of this Podcast at www.alakazam.co.uk
What I'm going to do every single day, and I'm on that island and it's tough, I'm struggling to find food and it's really hot and I don't have any suntan lotion, and I've made friends with a football named it Wilson. I want to take a photo frame and in it it's going to be a single photo, just one person. I want to be able to look at that photo and think thank you, lucky stars, at least you don't have to spend time anymore hello and welcome to another episode of desert island tricks.
Speaker 3:Today we have another guest waiting in the wings. Now it feels weird having this guest, just as a one person, um, and the reason is normally he is with a second person, um, but we decided to have them apart, uh, for one particular reason. We're going to try and find out if each of them can work out the other person's list. So we're going to find out if them, working so close together for so many years, if they will be able to work out what the other person is going to select. Now, this is young and strange. Now, if you have listened to podcasts, there's one podcast that everyone, every magician should have listened to, and that is the magicianians podcast. It's the the one that started it all. Let's all be honest. It's the one that paved the way for the rest of us. Um, and the guests over the years on that podcast have been absolutely incredible. Um, today's guest is probably the closest that we're going to get to a real journalist in magic. That's what I'm putting it down to. Today's guest is the wonderful Mr Richard Young. Hello, richard.
Speaker 1:Well, I've never had an introduction as good as that. Jamie, I mean I cannot thank you enough. Yeah, thank you. That was better than any intro I've ever given anybody. I mean that was almost Craig Petty level intro, wasn't it? It was that good. I'm very excited to be here. I'm very excited to be here, without Strange. I'm sure you got the emails where I refused to take part in one with him because we've been working together now for 14 years. We can't stand each other. So any opportunity to do things individually we always take. So make your life a bit easier.
Speaker 3:Well, I have a story for you that I've told others but I've never spoken to you about, and this was a time that I saw you and strange perform.
Speaker 3:Um, we were in a little church hall or town hall I think it was a either a town hall, church hall and you were trying out for a tv show that was going to be on, and I was in the room with angelo carbone, uh, alan roverson, myself and, and you guys and you did this incredible trick where you transposed and then one of you ended up in a completely different place. Now, we've all seen those tricks in a big theatre, but there was a wonderful experience that I'll probably never have again, so thank you for this Of seeing it in that little room, not being aware of what was going on and everyone in that room being absolutely stumped as to how it happened, because when you're in that little area, it doesn't feel like anyone could have gone anywhere. It was so well constructed that no one in that room. I remember looking over at alan rorison and we were sure that there was twins involved. That's how good it was and it was such a good performance.
Speaker 1:I loved it well, there was, and there's not a big secret anymore. But, um, I know, I know exactly when you talk about. When we auditioned for full us in like 2011 and was any of the third, third or fourth time strange I'd ever performed with her together. We were both working as close-up magicians, but we'd only just started dabbling with stage stuff and we heard, well, we saw the pilot with, obviously, john archer and ben earl, and I said I think we should audition for that, because if we use barney, your twin brother, I think they'll really like that as a secret. And so we talked barney into it strangers twin and, uh, rocked down to I think it was hammersmith, it was and, um, yeah, it was great because there were magicians in the room that knew Strange, but they did not know that he had a twin. So I think they did get a moment of astonishment from it, and I remember my main memory of that actually was the producers taking us into a little room at the back saying so how is it done? And we went and got Barney out of the van and came in and they just that was exactly what they were looking for at that point. You know this new tv show pen and tell a fool us and they, you know it was exactly the kind of secret that they, I guess, were hoping was going to fall in their lap. So, yeah, we were absolute nobodies at the time. A lot of people didn't know us, but we, we got on the show and, uh, and had an absolutely amazing experience.
Speaker 1:I will go as far as to say, actually, actually, we, I don't think we would, um, I don't think we'd have probably ever become young and strange without that first little breakthrough and it's been amazing. I don't I'm allowed to say this, but in the last few months we've just gone back to Vegas and we've just filmed Fool Us for the third time. Um, and the premise of our trick, uh on this upcoming season is that we're the first act to ever come back on the show with the same trick again. But we've changed the method and we are doing that same trick again, but strange, gets signed by pen. So you know it's not his twin brother. So, um, it's going to be uh. My understanding is that pen and teller are together for 50 years. Um, uh, next year, and we've been told, obviously things could change, we could end up on the editing room floor, but what we've been told is that we'll be part of the 50th anniversary uh, special Fool Us episode that will go out early next year. So there you go, really looking forward to it.
Speaker 3:Well, I'm really looking forward to seeing that, looking forward to it. Well, I'm really looking forward to seeing that. Um, but it does mean that we can now discuss what you could. Obviously, you've both worked together for so long now, and one would presume that you both have similar interests, so we may see some crossover in your lists. But if you were to guess his list, what would you go for?
Speaker 1:um, he loves carbonips, so he's going to take he's going to take a set of manipulation cards. I think that will keep his brain, uh, his brain, going. Um, I think he's going to want to take some big grand illusions just to play with and I don't imagine you've had many people say that on this. But uh, uh, yeah, I think he's going to want some bigger toys to play with. He's absolutely obsessed by the plot of Object to Impossible Location. If you ever see Sam Strange's close-up set, he does that trick about five times in different ways. Whether it's Ring Fly or Bill and Lime or Destination Box, they're all in the same set. It's an absolute disaster, to be honest, and I've been telling him to change it for about a decade. But he loves that plot. It's his absolute favorite.
Speaker 3:So there will definitely be some objects impossible locations in there, no doubt about that and yeah, you're right, we haven't had many grand illusions and normally I have a little guess of what the guests are going to say. I reckon we have to have some sort of bigger, larger tricks with you yeah, I'm just looking at my.
Speaker 1:I've spent a lot of time on it. First of all, let me just congratulate you and alakazam. This is a brilliant format for a podcast and I'm absolutely furious. I didn't think of it myself. Um, it's very, very good, very thought-provoking. I've spent more time thinking about the answers to these than I than I spent on the sam strange episode of the magicians podcast. Um so, and I've had a real tough, uh, tough time with that last question about a non-magic object that we'll get to that. But yes, I do have some, uh, some grand illusions which I think are going to keep me sane on the desert island. I don't know where you want to start. Really, we could start with that if you like well, let's, let's let the guys know.
Speaker 3:So if you've not listened to this podcast before, the idea is that we are about to maroon Richard on his very own desert island. When he's there, he's only allowed to take eight tricks, one book and one non-magic item that he uses for magic. Now, particulars like who's there, what audience are there, the size of the island, stuff like that we really don't mind. The idea is that these are the tricks that if richard could only perform these for forever, that's what he would perform. So, with that being said, let's go to your desert island right now, and find out what you put in position one.
Speaker 1:Well, I think this is absolutely fitting because we're going to go to the desert island using the illusion that david copperfield uses to go to the desert island. So, if you've not seen it, the portal vanish, which is, uh, an illusion that ended copperfield show for about a decade in the, in the early 2000s, is all about him going to a desert island and he goes with a member of member of the audience and, uh, he signed and he takes a, uh, a polaroid photo with him and they go off to jamaica or wherever it is on that particular night. But the, the, the convincers and the things that prove he's really there are good. I don't think they would stand the test of time in today's technological world. If you ever watch it on youtube, you have to remember that it was the early 2000s and he was, as is always the case with illusionists, he was ahead of, ahead of the curve of using some technology which is now quite commonplace. However, the bit of the illusion that I want to take to the desert island, I want to perform myself, is the vanish of that illusion. If you've never seen it, it is, I mean, almost certainly the most stunning vanish of of a human being or, in this case, two human beings that was ever created. Um, it was, uh, obviously invented by david and his team. It was built by a man called david mendoza. Uh and uh. He, he famously in the in the 80s, he built a lot of the impaled illusions with. You know where the magicians are? On a sword and they fall through it. Um and uh, I had a most amazing experience with this, this vanish.
Speaker 1:Actually, in 2006, I made my first ever trip to las vegas and I could not wait to see copperfield show and I booked the front row. And this vanish, basically, is a long arm that comes out over the heads of the audience and on the end of it, like out over the audience, it's almost like a shower cubicle that's the best way I can describe it, albeit without the glass, and Copperfield and this guy stand on it and they pull a curtain around. There's a light inside and in a few seconds they're gone. Now, the secret to any vanish. It's really easy to figure out vanish If, whenever you watch a stage show, it went one of these ways it went up, down, left, right, forwards or backwards. You just have to figure out which way it went right, or it was never there in the first place and it was a hologram or something. Um, well, when I saw this, I was in the front row, so I had to turn around and look at the back of it and there were people to the sides and there were people in front of it and they vanished. It blew that theory out of the water and I absolutely if you'd have put a gun to my head at that moment said how is it done? I would have had absolutely no idea. Two fully grown men, one of which at the time was in his early 50s, vanished in the blink of an eye. You know, behind me on a crane arm.
Speaker 1:I've subsequently found out the method to it and I know we don't talk about methods on this, your podcast but I will just say that is one of those tricks when you find out how it's done, it's even more impressive. Um, I met someone we tour around in America strange and I were in a show called champions of magic and we often go to a lot of venues where Copperfield used to perform many years ago, and I got chatting to a guy in Atlantic city once. He remembered that illusion and I said oh is it? Is this how it's done? You know I was being nosy and he, he, it was very.
Speaker 1:He signed an NDA, so he wouldn't tell me exactly, but he did say this. He said he said it's effing dangerous. That was what he said is effing dangerous. So if you've got an idea how it works and remember I talked about how fast they disappear you might be able to do some of the maths yourself. So I want to take that allusion to the desert island. It's a teleporter. Maybe, jamie, it might be my way off of the island, I'm not sure, but that's the first one I'm taking.
Speaker 3:Well, that's a very practical way of looking at it. I like that very much. Yeah, it's a wonderful trick and I mean I've seen lots of and you'll have to forgive me, I know very, very little about stage illusions and and how they work.
Speaker 1:Same as strange. Don't worry, I've carried him with it.
Speaker 3:So you have to worry and carry you for an hour um, but watching david copperfield's vanishes over the years and just admiring them just for their pieces of theatre, each vanish that he does I'm sure there was another one with it may have been twins or something like that and the woman sort of disappears underneath this cloth and there's obviously wind billowing up and it's almost like her form vanishes as he grabs the cloth. It's such a beautiful moment, that's.
Speaker 1:That's that's called the voyeur and that is a two, two, two women actually at the same time. Again, and, um, yeah, absolutely stunning again. You can look that up. It was on his. The last tv special we made in 2001 called tornado of fire. Um, it's a bit of a weird scene where he's like watching two women make love through a window. It doesn't stand the test of time from that point of view, but, my God, the illusion does it still to this day. Looks absolutely stunning.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it really does. Well, it's a great choice and quite a big. It's a heavy hitter of a routine to go for in your opening position, so interested to see where this is going to go. So what did you put in your second position?
Speaker 1:so my second thought was that ultimately, I'm gonna have a lot of spare time on this desert island and I started to think about tricks that I do when I'm bored, or tricks I love to play with. And this is going to sound like a plug for alakazam, but it's really truly not. It's just a coincidence. There is a trick that alakazam put out years ago on uh well, it wasn't alakazam strip, but they put out a set of dvds with michael vincent and they are absolutely incredible. I'm not sure if you can still get them maybe you can buy them on demand now on the alakazam website but they're absolutely brilliant and they're multiple, uh, multiple versions of this. These dvds is ones where michael's doing coin tricks, card tricks and on I believe it's the first one.
Speaker 1:There is a trick called the intuitive speller and it is so much fun to perform. I it is the trick I go to when I'm at the magic circle and I want to fool a magician. Um, it's uh, effectively, uh, borrowed. You can borrow a deck of cards off of anybody at any time and you can say to them my favorite playing card is the, and you say whatever card, and then you go and I can just spell to it whenever I like, and so you you've taken back from them a shuffled deck of cards. You don't change the order and you spell down q, u, e, e, n, o, f, h, e-t-s, and there is the queen of hearts.
Speaker 1:It's absolutely brilliant and it's unbelievably fun to learn. It's, um, a bit like card on ceiling, in that you don't know it's worked until the last moment. It's not a trick where all the dirty work's done at the beginning and you know you're safe. Quite the opposite you are flying by the seat of your pants with it, um, right up until the moment you turn the card over. But it's, it's just so much fun to do. You can get really really good at it. I don't really want to tip any more what the method is, but it's just. It's unlike anything else in card magic I've ever learned and it's just fun. Just to keep what I often do when we're in an airport and our flight's delayed or something just to sit there with a deck of cards and shuffle it and then do the moves and then just spell to these random cards and see if you can hit it spot on. It's a brilliant, brilliant trick and it will absolutely burn a lot of time for me on the desert island.
Speaker 3:Well, anything by michael vincent's incredible uh, he's just such a wonderful performer and the sets you're on about, I think there was like rhapsodies and silver, um, elegant deceptions. All of those box sets were phenomenal. But you might not be aware of this, but a lot of our listeners will be we have a streaming platform now. I did know about this.
Speaker 1:Yes, yes, it's on there, is it?
Speaker 3:Well, I have the power to put it on there and, since you've just mentioned it, by the time this podcast goes out. If you guys want to check out Richard's second choice, then head to Alakazam Unlimited, and it will be on there by the time that this goes out.
Speaker 1:Well, that's amazing that you can do that, because I mean legit. I mean it's part of a dvd set which I think was about 50 or 60 pounds to buy. So if you're just going to stick that and it is, in my opinion, the best trick on the dvd set and it's right at the very beginning um, if you're able to just get that now through the subscription, that's a, that's a real. But you, you will absolutely love it. You don't have to be great at card magic, you don't have to really know any slights, it is just something completely unique that you can learn and I promise you you will fall magicians with it if you spend an hour or so learning it. It's brilliant, absolutely brilliant.
Speaker 3:Well, I'm looking forward to rediscovering that one. And we've gone opposite ends of the spectrum here. We've gone for the Portal Vanish, portal vanish, quite large, with a crane arm down to a deck of cards, in in a, an airport, as as you're, yes, um, so that leads us onto your third position. What did you put in your third spot?
Speaker 1:well. So my first thought was, you know, getting on the island, getting off the island. My second was boredom. My third thought was actually what would make me really really happy? So I'm going with emotions here and then finding the tricks from that and I'll tell you a trick that makes me really really happy and I put a big beaming smile across my face is uh, wow, miranda's leviosa. I absolutely love this little technological marvel trick. I love everything about it.
Speaker 1:I know I've heard all the criticisms. I've heard the magicians don't like it. I've heard why they don't like it. For me, it's just so much fun to do. It's naughty. You press a button and it does everything for you, but the deck flies like a bird and their card goes flying out. I mean, it's just every now and again.
Speaker 1:I know there's purists out there who you know like to read the books and learn the slides, but every now and again we do need to take a second just to marvel at the the tech side of magic. And I know we can look at like mark kirstein's apps and stuff like that. But for me, leviosa this unbelievable thing built into this little tiny block that looks like a deck of cards, that does so much and it's set ready to go when you take it out the pack. But also, if you want to, you can program it and change how long the delay is and all that kind of stuff. I just for me.
Speaker 1:The minute I saw it, I fell in love with it. The minute I saw it, I bought it. I own three of them now because I'm terrified that it's going to go discontinued and I'll be without it. And every time I perform it I I feel very, very naughty and very, very cheeky and I have a big smile across my face.
Speaker 1:Also, there's another reason why I've chose this, which is if I'm on this desert Island, I'm obviously going to hope at some point I'm going to be found right and rescued. And I think if I'm on the island with a Leviosa, there is a possibility Michael J Fitch might come and find me, because I am the only person who is able to fix his broken Leviosa. He is incapable of fixing the broken thread and he always. A month, month or so ago he drove an hour and a half to my house because he had an important gig and I fixed his leviosa for him because he wasn't able to do it. So I reckon, if it's, you know, if I've got this leviosa and you know people can hear the noise from a bit of a distance fitchy might, uh, he might find me and I might end up being rescued yeah, great.
Speaker 3:uh, well, he's lined up to come on this podcast, so I'll let him know that you've just mentioned that and we'll see if Leviosa's on his list. It's a great trick. I know that Harry in the shop dems it constantly and as soon as people see that deck, fly up. And it's one of those weird tricks where I genuinely, genuinely mean this. It's so much better in real life than on video. Video does not do that trick justice, even a tiny bit, I think also, jamie.
Speaker 1:It truly does have that moment of astonishment. It doesn't last for long, but they don't see that coming. I did a gig on Saturday and it doesn't last for long. Like I said, I think they do go. Oh, it's probably on a bloody string or something right, but the moment when it flies up I've seen it, I've done it hundreds of times now you do see people's jaws drop open. They look to the person next to them to go. Did you just see what I saw?
Speaker 1:And so bottle through table is an amazing trick. You know every worker out there knows that it can get you booked and it has that moment of astonishment as well, right, when the bottle goes through the table. But they can still see the top of the bottle and I think Leviosa is underrated. Actually, I think that you know Paul Harris wrote about astonishment and I think I'd fight, I'd debate that with anybody that I believe Leviosa has a true moment of astonishment, as strong as bottle through table. Uh, again, it doesn't last forever, but I've seen it with my own eyes. It is absolutely one of the greatest tricks that's come out in the last 10 years, without a question, the best trick of last year, um, and I. I think it'll be around.
Speaker 1:Also, it allowed me to get rid of omni deck at the end of my ambitious card routine, which I've been trying to do forever. We've all done close-up jobs and put that block of plastic in their hands and they go oh, another guy did this to me, or um, I remember, was it somebody, maybe? It was strange. You said he won christmas, he did omni deck and it was in the middle of London and some guy said to him you're the third person to do that trick to me this month. So yeah, being able, and it's exactly the same process In the way you switch in the Omnideck, you switch in the Leviosa deck and you know, on the fly, and then you're able to do. You know you're doing something that most likely they haven't seen before, whereas every time I put that block of plastic in someone's hand there's a side to me going. I hope they haven't seen this before.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's a superb trick and I think there are levels of methods being discounted in that, because the cards cut themselves, so it almost feels like there couldn't be anything attached to that deck. And then I've seen different people perform it different ways, but most people tend to step away from the deck as they're displaying something before then, moving back to the deck, it doesn't feel like anything could be attached to that deck and the distance away that you are from that deck of cards I I cannot imagine that, even like people may go maybe it's wires or strings or anything but there's no conceivable way that they could think that that could be attached to that deck. In in, in any circumstance yeah, I mean also've.
Speaker 1:If you've done it where you've had the deck of cards, a real deck of cards in play, you know, if you've done ambitious, you shouldn't do Leviosa just by itself. It should be, it should be a finish to a routine, I think. And so if you've had that normal deck of cards in play when you switch it in, well, think about it. A normal deck of cards couldn't be lifted up on an invisible string, right? It wouldn't, it would break um. So again, that that helps with it is, and I definitely would say it's every magician should have it, every magician should play with it and at least if it works for them in a, in a performance setting, um, but you've got to absolutely do another trick first and then switch it in on the offbeat, and if they've seen a real deck of cards, it will have twice the impact, I believe yep, superb.
Speaker 3:And it brings us to your fourth position. I'm not going to say halfway, because there's some debate at the moment online as to what the halfway point of this list is. So the one before the fifth, we'll go for that uh, this is just nothing more than well.
Speaker 1:I'm thinking about food, obviously. That's my next thought process. Right? My next thought process is food, and it's uh tellers miser's dream. Uh is uh, because there's a big bowl of fish at the end that I'd be able to eat. So, um, so yeah, not just for that reason, obviously I I watched that trick and wish I could perform it.
Speaker 1:It is, it's perfect. I saw it last week. It was very lucky. It was in las vegas last week and I saw pen and teller's show and they got loads and loads of new things in the show and all the old golden stuff is gone, but that is still in the show.
Speaker 1:And it gets a reaction unlike anything else in their show when he drops those coins in and all those goldfish appear. Um, it's one of the best moments in magic. I'm not exaggerating it is. It connects with. It connects with everybody in the room, young, old, any nationality, any you know and any any type of human being like. If they can see it, it's going to connect with them. They don't see it coming.
Speaker 1:They're seeing a coin trick that is brilliantly done, by the way, and I for a few years didn't quite understand where the coins were coming from when you watch it. It's an overlooked point of Teller's Miser's Dream that if you watch it, actually try and figure out where the coins are coming from, because there's a lot going on there. He's not just doing the traditional dropping one in, but he's retaining it and he's got a load in the other hand. He's not doing that, he is legitimately dropping them in the glass bowl. It's absolutely perfect. Every time I see Penn and Teller I hope they're going to do it, and you know if I see the show and you know my girlfriend or something, it's the bit when I go watch this, watch this, it's. I get excited. It's perfect, absolutely perfect and some would say delicious on a desert Island.
Speaker 3:Uh, again, absolutely agree. Agree with you. It's such a wonderful piece. I'm not sure if they still do it this way. I'm fairly sure they used to do it in pretty much pure silence. Um, it used to just be. This thing was just happening in front of everyone. They didn't. It doesn't need any punctuation. There's no music that really needed to to happen with it.
Speaker 1:It was just beautiful as it was yeah, I mean, the only sounds are the sounds of the coins and I think you know we've done it where we, you know, you think it's by default. You do something. We look, let's look for the music that's going to match this, this trick, this illusion, this piece of theater. Um, richard mcdougall was the first one I heard talk about the power of silence. It's brave. It's brave to do it, not something you can probably do in your first year or two of performing it with the silence would be terrifying. But it's particularly like in the Penn and Teller show where Penn just talks constantly.
Speaker 1:That silence is appreciated. I don't mean to be rude, like it just is. It's intense listening to pen talking 100 miles an hour for 90 minutes. So that bit when he shuts up and he walks off and walks off stage and teller is left by himself in silence with the, with the fish tank, it's no, like I said, it's perfect. I bet they did try music. I bet they did, probably. I'd love to know actually, I did interview Teller once. It didn't occur to me at the time. That's a question I'd love to ask him Did he, did they play with music initially, or did they always understand it was going to be most powerful in silence? I don't know.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's a wonderful trick. If people haven't seen it, I think there are videos of it online, so do you go check it out? It's beautiful, it really is. It's just incredible. It's literally magic. Poetry is the best way of putting it, but it does bring us to your fifth position. So what did you put in your fifth spot?
Speaker 1:So I've run out of. I've run out of Desert Island connections. Now really. Now I'm just on to tricks that I love. There's a trick that I've played with for best part of 20 years now and I'm still absolutely shit at it, but I I love it and it's called coin one. It's by Homer Luwag, who is one of um David Copperfield's like key collaborators and he put this trick out in the early 2000s and it's a coins across routine with four coins, four silver Morgan dollars. You can also do it with half dollars and it's a real knuckle busting trick. Actually, it's quite difficult to do. It uses some very odd slights. I've never seen anywhere else before, including this kind of move where you've got a coin clipped between your fingers and you're moving your hand in a downward motion to bring the coin through your fingers. It's quite difficult to do, um, it's also got. It's got to see absolutely incredible moment.
Speaker 1:For me, the best moment in coin magic which is there is this moment where you have two coins in each hand, so you're halfway through the routine and they know by now what's what you're doing. And there this is my we have two coins in each hand and you go, uh, the third coin and you point with your thumb because it's like they're both, they're all laid on your hands. The third coin, this coin. If you watch closely you'll see it jump into my right hand. And they see the coin jump. Literally you throw it from your left hand to your right and you catch it and you go. Did you it go? And it's like a joke, right, they go, haha, yeah, I saw it. And then you go. Nothing happened. And they look at your hands a bit more closely and actually you still have two coins in each hand. So the coin they saw jump across was it an illusion? Did it not go? Did it quickly go back again, like and um, it's I, I think, one of the best moments in coin magic. It's the reason I learned it and I've played with it forever.
Speaker 1:I have quite small hands, so I learned it with American half dollars and a few years ago I did treat myself to a set of Jamie Schoolcraft Precision Morgan dollars and it was about $600. I paid for these coins and, uh, they're beautiful but too big for my hands. I can't do the trick, so they just sort of sit upstairs. Um, interesting thing with them. Actually I don't know whether people ever talk about this. Really it's quite a niche thing, but those really beautiful silver Morgan dollars that you see where they're black around the edge. So the process of getting them to look like that is that you put them in bleach. You drop them in bleach and then they'd have to be in there very long a few minutes. You take them out and then you clean them and you get this beautiful contrast between the polished silver and the black that the bleach has caused. If you're not sure what I'm talking about, have a look at the Schoolcraft website and you'll see these beautiful coins.
Speaker 1:So I bought a set of these coins and they arrived and they didn't look like that. They were just bright silver. So I emailed the guy, jamie, and said, oh, I thought they were going to look black and he said we don't do that anymore because they're real coins and they don't always come out looking right. So if you choose to do it, do it at your own risk, very, very fair. So I did it. I dropped these four coins and a shell into some bleach and there were five of them in total and four of them look absolutely perfect and one of them is a disaster. And, as jamie said, you just never know.
Speaker 1:These coins are from the 1800s. You never know what they've been through. You never know whether somebody else messed with them at some point. Did they get polished? Did they get sanded, like? There are all of these things. So, yeah, I have this set of, uh, six hundred dollar coins and one of them doesn't look great. So I learned my lesson. He did warn me, but, uh, yeah, coin one is a beautiful trick. If you've never seen it, um, it's. It's, in my opinion, the best coin trick, and the reason I want to take it to the desert island with me is it's a bit like the intuitive speller that I mentioned earlier. I think I could practice it forever, and, uh, it would. It would remain interesting to practice. I would probably stay pretty shit at it, so it would give me a reason to pick it up again tomorrow and try again I think that's a really interesting point and it's one that we we had actually with Chris Harding, who mentioned.
Speaker 3:He has practiced the floating cane for years and he spent more and more hours on that than any other trick, but he's not at a stage where he feels like he would go and perform it. It's not so much about the performance of it, it's just about the process and the enjoyment of learning it. It it's just about the process and the enjoyment of learning it. And I think, um, not everyone's really thought about that with their, their, their list. Is this just a trick that I enjoy practicing? Is it just something that I I'm not necessarily going to show anyone, it's just for me, it's just something that I enjoy doing it. So, yeah, it's a really interesting way of thinking when it comes to a list, I think.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I just think that, yeah, there are these tricks I think we probably all have where we've just spent an awful lot of time on them. I mean, I very rarely perform it, actually, it's interesting I've just jogged my own memory so Strange and I obviously make our living in Champions of Magic, but in that show we only really do about 30 or 40 minutes because there's lots of magicians in the show. Uh, last year we started doing our own shows in america, um, and so we had to find more material and I do this little close-up set in the audience and, uh, I can do anything in it really, and so I play around with it and I've tried everything from, you know, mark kirstein's app tricks to the architect of predictions. I've done digital force bag, I've tried ambitious card, I've done leviosa and I did try coins across. Uh, and um, man, that trick coin one.
Speaker 1:There's a big difference between practicing it and doing it 35 minutes into a stage show when you're a bit hot, and uh, it was. I survived, but I knew immediately when I started that the coins were not gonna flip through my fingers in the way they would. They would when I'm sat, like I'm now in my living room, if I sat here doing it now it would be fine, but that extra, just little bit of heat and that clamminess that came from being on stage doing the couple box trip was strange, etc. Uh, made it really really difficult. And I thought the first night I did I thought, oh, maybe it was just a warm venue. I'll try it again tomorrow and it was exactly the same thing.
Speaker 1:So I did like a kind of a bodged up version of it. Really is the reality. Um, because it's, it's yeah, it's hard, it's hard to do, and so bear that in mind. If you ever, if you ever going doing something, taking it from close up to doing it in a stage setting, like, if it's true, knuckle busting slight hand, be ready and give thought to the, you know, give consideration to the possibility that your hands and fingers might not be in the show as they are when you're practicing at two o'clock that afternoon backstage.
Speaker 3:Be ready for that, because you could end up in all sorts of trouble have you found a trick for that section now, or is it something that you just put different things in to keep it different?
Speaker 1:so this is it me talking about. On a deeper level. I I I've started to wonder whether I'll get used to it, so I've kept it in and I did it every show we did. I think we've done 10 10 of thoseusion young and strange delusion shows now, and the last one we did, which we did four. I did it every night in the kind of hope that maybe I'll get a bit less sweaty, maybe my fingers will get used to it, you know and but yeah, it hasn't happened yet and I didn't get a chance to do it every single night. But yeah, I'd really love to find a way to to make that.
Speaker 1:It was amazing. Actually I've done it in close-up for people, but it's normally because it's a bit angly. I've done it for one or two people at a time. I did it in close-up gigs for a while, but actually some I haven't said is that doing that moment where you've got the two in each hand and you throw one across and then they look again, you've still got two in each hand. Doing that in front of a theater audience was an amazing experience for me, because a thousand people went, oh, and so that was cool. That was really cool, because I've always thought it was a really cool moment and seeing that it worked, even on a screen, and that actually that moment isn't very hard to do. You're not doing much technical stuff at that exact moment. There are other bits in coin one which are more difficult. So, yeah, that was a really cool experience doing it, going to keep trying.
Speaker 3:Well, I bet that was an amazing moment to hear everyone react to that coin going across. And yeah, I remember when this came out. Actually, I want to say maybe it was Theory. And yeah, I remember when this came out. Actually I want to say maybe it was theory 11 or someone like that put it out. I remember the trailer being very cool, um for it, uh, and I remember just being absolutely dumbfounded by it. It just looks incredible. It really is a wonderful, wonderful trick.
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Speaker 3:And it does lead us onto your sixth position. So what did you put into your sixth spot?
Speaker 1:you know what, if you're on a desert island, I think that, uh, there's a possibility at some point that a bottle is going to wash up on the shore right and bottle through table is a trick that I would really miss doing. I don't, you know, we, I know there's maybe not anybody else on this island, or maybe maybe I've been, you know, maybe it's like lost and it's a plane crash and there's maybe not anybody else on this island. Or maybe maybe I've been, you know, maybe it's like lost and it's a plane crash and there's 30 other people. That is a trick. I, I, I'm not a performer who really needs to be in front of an audience. I've learned that I've gone on long, long tours with champs of magic and then I have long periods off and of course, we all had a lot of time off in COVID. I realized was actually I don't need an audience. I'm not a performer like that, where I, I need it. But if there is one trick I miss performing sometimes, it is bottle through table. When I go to a close-up job and they don't have bottles on the table, I'm annoyed because I know it's such a good trick and, um, you know it like, like I talked about earlier. It's got that moment of astonishment with it. Uh, and yeah, it's just that moment of astonishment with it. Uh and yeah, it's just brilliant.
Speaker 1:Obviously, there's a various different versions. There's Faye Presto's version where she does it and it goes through the table slowly. You should pick up Faye's lecture notes If you haven't. They're absolutely brilliant and she talks about all of her material in it. They're they. Yeah, faye's version is incredible.
Speaker 1:I don't do Faye's version, frankly, because I'm not brave enough. She holds that bottle there for a long time when it's not what it seems to be anymore. It's very, very brave and I've watched her do it and she just has a commanding presence when she performs. I think even if somebody does see something, they're not going to say anything. Also, critical detail, faye she wraps it with two napkins, which is very, very important if you're going to do her version. Uh, again, won't say why. Pretty obvious if you know the method. But two napkins really helps making sure nobody notices what's happened. Um, I do etienne pradier's version with the coin. Dragging the coin backwards and forwards across the table. Uh, getting much harder to get hold of coins from people. I have to have a coin in my pocket now when I do it. Um, but just a brilliant trick.
Speaker 1:Some of the best photos of me that have ever been taken at weddings, if you, if you perform at weddings and you do bottle fruit table, tell the photographer what that trick is and what happens, because it has that moment of astonishment which I know I mentioned earlier. If the photographer knows what's coming, they can get the most incredible photo. If they put their camera onto a burst mode, you know, if you give them a queue line, they will get that moment when everybody goes Holy, you know. Uh. So yeah, I, one of the best photos of me that was ever taken at a wedding was as I did bottle fruit table and again, I tipped off the photographer and they followed me around the tables and they got it, they got the, they got them.
Speaker 1:You know the perfect shot. It looks staged, it literally looks staged, because everybody's eyes are wide and their jaws are open. It's a real photograph, um, so yeah, and and again, if I've got this bottle, maybe I'll be able to put a note in the bottle and send it off and let somebody know that I'm stuck on this bloody Island in the bottle.
Speaker 3:And send it off and let somebody know that I'm stuck on this bloody island. Yeah, bottle through table is one that obviously we were going to have before, and it's funny how the same names come up, so Etienne Pradier and Faye Presto. But it does bring us to the tail end of your eight tricks. So we are now on number seven. What did you put in your seventh position?
Speaker 1:So this actually links quite nicely to Etienne because it's a. It's a thing I do in close-up and I nearly released it a few years ago but we couldn't, we couldn't, uh, we couldn't figure out a way to make it work, for for the reasons I'm about to explain. So about 20 years ago I saw etienne lecture and he he does a trick with a index in his pocket of bills, of banknotes, and effectively it's a bill switch and he will say to the spectator name a country, and he takes that bill, folds it, unfolds it, doing the bill switch with the thumb tip, and changes it sometimes into the country that they named. And Etienne will be the first to tell you this, that it's a bit of a blag, his version of it, and it's kind of a gag really. I always loved it, I loved it and I could see it was. You know there was more and I think Etienne has in his pocket about eight, maybe eight different currencies and he kind of groups together places that look similar with banknotes et cetera, like you know. I'm sure you can imagine about wanting to sound like a bit of casual racism, but you know there are certain places in the world where there are bills that look. You know, ethically they look like they're from certain places, and so Etienne used that to his advantage.
Speaker 1:Well, so there were two things that happened. I saw Etienne lecture it and then I also saw Tom Peterson the late, great Tom Peterson lecture. And Tom Peterson taught a bill switch which did not use a thumbtip and it was brilliant and he was very passionate about the fact that the bill switch does not need a thumbtip. In fact there are disadvantages to the thumbtip that actually, if you get rid of it, you can more freely show the bill. And yes, you have to steal it away at the end, but you've got more freedom. You've got more freedom there.
Speaker 1:And anyway, when I was gigging a lot, when I was doing a lot of close-up jobs, I thought about combining these two ideas and I rang Etienne and I said your index thing has spaces for thumb tips. If I don't use a thumb tip anymore, in theory I've now got more room in my pocket for bills, right folded up bills. And he said yes, and he said you should, you should pursue that. He said I'll make you a gimmick. And he did. A couple of days later this little gimmick arrived at my house and it's an index, basically that sits in my pocket.
Speaker 1:And for the next two years I went on a little bit of a mission to find a way to make this trick work. Every single time. So every table I walk up to, I borrow a bill and I ask them a question about country, and it works. And after about two years I managed to get it to a point where not only was it working once but it would work twice. I could say to them well, where else? Cause they would always go a bit like brainwave deck. Well, everybody must say the Seychelles or whatever. And um, I'll tell you how I did. I'm very happy to share it. If you've listened this far into a podcast, I'm sure you don't mind if I share a little bit of the workings behind it.
Speaker 1:What I did was I changed the question. That was the game changer. I suddenly realized one night that as, rather than what Etienne was doing, where he was saying name a country, actually there was a way to change the question and look for a certain type of person to ask the question to. That would give you a much more narrowed down answer. So I would always look for a woman aged between 25 and 50 and a question I would ask was do you have a dream holiday destination? Now, if you ask that question, I guarantee you you're going to get about 20 answers, no more, no less. But, and you can work it all the time and you're going to get about 20 places and they're all very warm places and they're lots of little islands, and that's what I've been doing for years.
Speaker 1:And, um, it's the trick that in my close-up set that I'm most proud of, I uh, I've worked it myself. I, you know it's thanks to etienne and tom peets and they're putting their two things together. But I now have an index in my pocket which is, um, like I said, I end, I know it and I've got about 20 bills in my pocket and it's done under the motion. They sign the bill and then I say to them do you have a dream holiday destination? And, and, as they say, as I'm putting away the Sharpie pen is. Then, when I copy it from the index and then I do Tom Peterson's, uh, well, I then listen. At the end people will always say, well, I would have said Barbados, I would have said this, and so I just pretend I haven't heard that. And then I listen for places that I know I've also got, and then I'll go. Where would you have said, and they'll go? Well, I would have said, barbace, I'll go right, watch again and I do it again.
Speaker 1:Um, it's, uh, it's a really strong piece of magic. I'm heartbroken that it's getting harder and harder to get cash off people and I know one day I am going to have to say goodbye to this trick which I worked on so hard. Um, but it is something that I do, that's unique and, like I said, we did look at. I spoke to uh Vanishing Inc a few years ago about putting it out as a product and it just got complicated because it is. You do have to get all these different bills from all these different and they are the real bills. So you know, um, I know the right, the right countries that you need and you know, I know that what the little thing is that sits in your pocket. But it just was uneconomical to make um, because there are some countries where you can get a denomination of bill and it's going to cost you 20p, but unfortunately, like japan, their lowest denomination is about 12 pounds. So it doesn't quite work as a magic product. In a way, it was COVID when we were talking about putting it out and I was a little bit I don't mind saying this.
Speaker 1:It was a tough time for everybody. I was keen to do something and keen to maybe make some money doing it and actually, on reflection, I'm kind of pleased I didn't put it out. I'm kind of pleased that, like the gig I did last saturday, I did it and people said to me I've never seen anybody else do that. I've seen loads of magicians. I've never seen that. Um, we do a version of it in champions of magic. Um, uh and yeah, we, we, uh, it's a stage version of it, so my hands are very free. Um and uh. Yeah, we've got many more options. It's a stage version of it, so my hands are very free. Um and uh, yeah, we've got many more options cause it's a stage show and we've had, we had an amazing night I put it on the young and strange Instagram where I I said to somebody we throw out a ball, so I can't be sure it's going to land with a woman.
Speaker 1:So, sure enough, we, we threw out this ball one night and it landed with a guy and I said do you have a dream holiday destination? And him, trying to be funny. He said Antarctica, and thank God we had that currency in our index it. You know it wasn't as great a moment as I thought it was going to be. Really I was impressed. I was impressed. All the magicians on stage were impressed because they knew it was in the index and we've been waiting for a couple of years for someone to finally say it. But actually it was one of those moments where I think people just thought is this a setup? Or something like how did they throw that ball to that guy? Your tricks can be too good sometimes, can't they?
Speaker 3:yeah, it's great, it's. Uh, I've seen etienne do that trick and every time it's absolutely phenomenal to watch. It's because he's so quick and snappy and, like you say, he sort of blags his way around certain scenarios and situations, but he's just so quick and fast paced he gets away with it. So seeing your version would be even more incredible, because we're not relying by the sounds of it, I'm not relying on watching him try and get himself out of certain situations. So, yeah, that's really really clever it is. Did you say it's on your instagram so people can see a version of it?
Speaker 1:um, yeah, yeah, there's. There's the stage version of it is on the and it's the antarctica clip actually, because we had an ipad at the back of the room that night and, um, it's the. So the antar of it is on the and it's the Antarctica clip actually, cause we had an iPad at the back of the room that night and, um, it's the. So the Antarctica version is on the young and strange Instagram. Uh, if you look up my terrible closeup magic show reel from about 10 years ago, that's still on YouTube somewhere. If you put Richard Young closeup magician into YouTube, you'll find this really bad old show reel and I think there's a couple of clips of me doing it in that. But it's like all I've done really is I've done the.
Speaker 1:I went through the pain with it. There was a lot of embarrassment is the reality. There were a lot of times I, you know, figuring out what that index was, going through the process. Every time, places would keep coming up, not having it going right. I need to add that to this. It was fascinating. I remember, actually, that there was a year where Croatia kept coming up. It was a really weird place, and I found out that Croatia had spent something like 50 million euros on marketing themselves as a vacation destination, so like there's like things like that that were there. But yeah, I went through a lot of pain with it, a lot of embarrassment, to get it to the point where it is today, where I don't even think about it now.
Speaker 3:I just know that it's gonna work well, I'm sure it's a phenomenal uh effect and hopefully we'll get to see a version of it one day, but it does bring us onto your final choice. So what did you put into your eighth position?
Speaker 1:I'm thinking, by now I'm all magic, I've got to get off, got to get off this island. Right, got to get off, got to get off this island. And uh, so I'm, I'm gonna, I'm gonna bring a flying rig with me. Um, you know what? I've been into? Magic my whole life. It's a long time now, over 30 years and I've played with every trick. I've liked every stage illusion that I fell in love with was a kid.
Speaker 1:At some point I've been really lucky to have either seen the prop in person or we've owned one, or I know someone that owned one. There's one, there's one piece of magic apparatus I've never, never been able to play with, and it's that of a flying rig. Uh, you know a really good one. You know, without naming names, the ones that the grand illusionists in las vegas and the ones that do world tours uh, always end up going towards because they know it's an absolute showstopper. Um, the technology of it is just absolutely amazing. I've heard so many stories about it over the years. Uh, you know of people falling and you know, it's just, it's the one trick I've never played with. So I guess if I'm going to this island, I would love to take something that I know I would find endlessly fascinating. And yeah, I can fly like a bird. That'd be good, wouldn't?
Speaker 3:it. Can I ask why is it the trick that you haven't ever played with?
Speaker 1:It's really expensive, incredibly expensive, and it's also very impractical. The only way really you could ever tour with it is you'd have to. You've got to be at the very top of the tree, right. You've got to be Copperfield Criss Angel, Rick Thomas, the Elick Brothers. You've got to have money behind you, not just to acquire the thing in the first place but to be able to tour with it, to have great lighting. You're probably going to spend as much on the lighting as you have on the actual trick itself. Um, same goes for the backdrop, right, Like it's. Uh, yeah, it's just not. It's just not within my, my grasp in terms of where we are.
Speaker 1:I've always said strange and I, if we ever did it, we couldn't look looking at the pair of us, we could never fly like superman, like we'd look stupid. I always remember the scene in willy wonka where they drink the fizzy lifting drinks and they just take off and they can't get down. I always thought that would be a really fun way for young and strange to do it to take off and not be able to get down. I think no one's ever done it that way. But whether we'll ever get to play with it or not, I don't know. The apparatus alone is about 100 grand. And then you know you can probably double or triple that by the time you've taken into account all the other stuff you're going to need Costuming. Double or triple that by the time you've taken into account all the other stuff you're going to need costuming lighting, backdrops, hoops, whatever you're going to do like it's gonna, it's gonna rack up. It's probably half a million by the time you're done. I reckon I probably underestimated it initially.
Speaker 3:Probably about half a million wow, yep, absolutely great choice, though, and it sort of brings your list full circle, because we started with that grand illusion portal and we're ending on a flying rig, and it does lead us very nicely into your two curveball items. So these are the two items that you're only allowed one of. So what did you go for? Your book?
Speaker 1:so the book's really interesting. I want to go for a big book and the book I. I've read two books in the last year that were long, and the one I've decided to go with is Derren Brown's Note from a Fellow Traveller Notes from a Fellow Traveller. Um, I was very lucky to do the book launch with Derren when he launched this book at the Magic Circle. I got to interview him the night that it was released and we did a lovely signing with it. But he sent me the book about three months before the night and it's a long book. It's like 600 pages and I truly did.
Speaker 1:I consumed it from the first page to the last and I haven't read enough magic books to say it's the greatest magic book ever written. It would not be right for me to say that, because I haven't read enough magic books to say it's the greatest magic book ever written. It would not be right for me to say that because I haven't read enough. But I think it's quite clear to me that this point in time it's possibly the most important magic book that's out there. It's relevant to a lot of performers right now. It's it's all of his own experience and, um, some amazing tips and some great stories that will make you realize that even the very greatest you know, which he is, fucks up sometimes and has to get out of trouble, and all the rest of it. I just I just found it endlessly inspiring and and there's a quote in it which I genuinely have thought about having tattooed albeit I've never had a tattoo, so I'll probably never do it. But of all the 600 pages I read in the book, there was this one bit and it's quite near the beginning actually where he's he's taught I can't remember specifically what it is he's talking about, but there's this bit at the end where he says and I haven't got this exactly right because I couldn't find it in the book, I should have photographed it or something. But the quote is it is in truth, a human relationship which they seek.
Speaker 1:Our job is always to connect, and for me that's everything. That is everything. That doesn't matter whether you're Chris Angel, you're Chris Harding doing a wedding, you're Paul Megram doing another brilliant kid show, you're Luke Jermay with a brand new show, every single magician. That is it right there. That is everything. Forget whatever you think magic's about. Forget whatever you, whatever you're doing it, for you know, we do it, especially in the early days. We do things where we we do it for our own gratification. Right, we like to show the things we've worked on that right. There is Derren Brown in his fifties, with all of his experience, with all the millions in the bank, with all the tv shows that quote. Right, there is everything that any magician needs to know, and if you always have that in the back of your mind, it is, in truth, a human relationship which they seek. Our job is always to connect. You won't go far wrong yeah, very true.
Speaker 3:I know that it was years ago now, hearing deron talk about, um, it should never really be about the performer, and he said that there was a point in his, uh, career where, you know, it was about him and it was him doing these clever things and he realized that it should be about their experience and what they were going through, and sometimes the enjoyment of someone else is watching someone else's transformation and seeing them experience something. It should never really be about us. We are just the people that are allowing these things to happen so that other people can have these incredible experiences and hopefully, you know, in some cases it really does change people for the better. Um, so, yeah, it's.
Speaker 3:It's such a wonderful book and I was there the night that you did the podcast, the recording in the theater and a pin could have dropped in the Magic Circle Theatre, which never happens um, you, a pin could have dropped. It was so well put together, it was so well run and listening to Darren talk about those stories, it was really an incredible thing to to witness and see come to fruition, really yeah, I was really lucky that that night came out of nowhere, really.
Speaker 1:I went to his show and, uh, I went to see it in Dartford it's a long way from where I live and, um, I went with my girlfriend and it was three hours from home and I knew the show wouldn't finish till 10 o'clock, so I booked a hotel for the night and, uh, after the show, we, um, we went to the hotel and it was just by a genuinely complete coincidence, it was the hotel Darren was staying in and he saw us checking in and he came over and it was really weird because we just watched him for three hours and he said oh, we're having a drink in the bar, come and join us. We went up to the room, dropped the bags and came downstairs and, um, he, he mentioned. Then. He said I've written a book for magicians. It's nearly finished it. I'd love to come on your podcast and talk about it. And I, at that point actually, I hadn't made a podcast for a few years, I don't think he knew I'd sort of stopped, but I heard myself going, oh yeah, definitely we should do that, cause you know.
Speaker 1:And then, and then he, he got back in touch when the book was finished and then it just went backwards and forwards like table tennis over emails where basically it turned from we should do a podcast to maybe we should get a little live audience, maybe we should hire the circle. Why don't we do like a book launch? Why don't we do a little meeting greet at the end and I'll sign all the you know. And it just turned into this. It turned into a really nice evening and I think every magician had a great time. Uh, darren was amazing and he was brilliant in the interview and it was right in the thick of when they were working on unbelievable as well. They were really crazy working hard. And the fact that he found that evening to come in and uh and do it, you know, spend the time and then stay till it was 11 o'clock. It was nearly 11 o'clock at night when he signed the last book. He was there for hours. He made time to talk to everybody. It was incredible.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it was an amazing night, so you know. Thank you for putting that on, uh, on behalf of everyone. Um, but it does bring us onto your final item, and you alluded at the very beginning of the podcast that you had difficulty with this one, so I'm interested to see where it goes.
Speaker 1:It's going to take this podcast full circle, right back to the very beginning, what you talked about at the very beginning, what I'm going to do I want to take a photo frame, a photo frame, and in it it's going to be a single photo, just one person. That person is Sam Strange, and it is so every single day and I'm on that island and it's tough and I'm struggling to find food and it's really hot and I don't have any suntan lotion and you know, I've, you know, made friends with a football named it wilson. But I'm on about the days when it's really tough, when I've not been able to shave for months. I want to be able to look at that photo of sam strange in the frame and think, thank you, lucky stars, at least you don't have to spend time with that dickhead anymore.
Speaker 3:I don't even know where to go after this one.
Speaker 1:What is more interesting, Jamie, I can't wait for you to tell Strange that that's what I said.
Speaker 3:Yeah well, so we've had a couple of people say photos of other people, but I have sort of reminded them that if you wanted him there even though you you've said that you're going to take the picture so that you don't have to spend time with him if you did want to take him, he could be your item that you take with you we can't stand each other.
Speaker 1:We it's. You know, it's been a long time. It's interesting, is it? Pen and teller? 50 years together and pen quite often says, oh, we're not friends. And you know we just I don't believe it. I said this recently on another podcast there's no way those two have been together for 50 years, the things they've shared, the millions of dollars they've made, the TV shows, broadway, australia, the West End there's no way they're not friends.
Speaker 1:There is a deep bond between Penn and Teller that is like family and for Strange and I it's like similar. We're brothers, right, we fight like brothers and we don't always get on. We've got better. We give each other space and actually we work well together quite often. We've just done some things in the last few weeks that we worked on, and it was just sort of me and him and a couple of close friends, sort of you know, threw in a few little bits here and there to kind of complete the picture. We've got so many amazing friends who help us um, three in particular actually, it was, uh, rob james um, andy nyman and alex jarrett, who is the producer of champions of magic. All three of them, just they.
Speaker 1:I don't know what it is. Sometimes it's you know the saying. It's hard to see the. It's quite, quite fitting. It's sometimes hard to see the picture when you're in the frame. Um, yeah, it is. Sometimes you just need that, that extra, those extra voices to go. I mean, andy nyman made a suggestion to us recently that I never forget. He said it and he went well, obviously it's this. It was not obvious. He's just got this brain that just works in this particular way. You know, that is just he's Andy effing Nyman, like it's obvious to him, it's, not to to anybody else. So, yeah, we've been really lucky, but we actually we get on, we get on well and we give each other space and yeah, and we've shared some amazing experiences together. But even with all of that said, there is absolutely no way I'm going to listen to his podcast. So not a chance.
Speaker 3:Well, thank you so much for sharing your list. We will be getting him on, so the way that I'm going to put these podcasts out is it's going to be yours one week, followed by his. So it's still young and strange.
Speaker 1:You're going to be side by side and can you tell me, like a month later, which ones had the most downloads? Because that's really all I care about. I'm interested to know where we sit in the food chain of you know magicians listening to Alakazam podcasts. You know, I just let me know deal.
Speaker 3:Uh, if people want to find out more about you, richard, where can they go to? Um?
Speaker 1:so we have our own podcast. Obviously, this is, uh, I've been really genuinely enjoying listening to your podcast, jamie, and really love the simon lipkin episode in particular. I really enjoyed that. Um and uh, yeah, but our podcast is called the Magician's Podcast Network. It's not free, unlike your one, and it's a part of the subscription service, but people will get 10 magic podcasts a month and we have lots of different contributors to it, different guests every week Alan Hudson, alex McAleer and Neb and Harry and we have everything from nostalgia-based podcasts where we go back and watch old tv shows.
Speaker 1:We, we, uh, cover events as and when they happen. So we just did three podcasts last week, uh, or a few weeks ago, all about magic live. Um and yeah, we have, uh, nev and harry get set little challenges every week. Uh, hudson, I always talk to a special guest, so it's a lot of fun, it's a great little community. And, yeah, if you've, you can try it for free on Apple Podcasts. Genuinely, there is a free three day, a three day free trial. Hard to get those three and threes right and we've got 230 podcasts that we've made. So you can just sign up, binge it all and just remember to cancel it as soon as you subscribe, and you won't get charged a penny, but I'm pretty sure you'll love what you hear if you're listening to this podcast. You'll love the magician's podcast network, I think, so you could give us a try there and if they want to see you in a show.
Speaker 3:Have you got any coming up?
Speaker 1:yep, so, uh, young and strange uh, you can find us on instagram. We obviously work in champions of Magic, which is touring the US again from November, running all the way through to June next year, and also in January we're doing three more Young and Strange shows as well, on the East Coast of America. So best just to follow us on Instagram and you'll pick us up from time to time when we're in different places.
Speaker 3:Amazing and I have to say I was recently on one of Alex McAleer's episodes. If you're a fan of concept podcasts which I certainly am a concept podcast in the idea that there is a more of a purpose or a theme to that podcast I loved it. I think it was such a great idea and it's one of those things where you really do go back to your childhood. We went all the way back and relived everything.
Speaker 1:You chatted about Max Magic, didn't you? I remember listening to it, yeah. So Alex McAleer's podcast is called Through the Magic of Television, and every week, with a special guest, he revisits an old Magic TV special from years gone by. So like you, for example, jamie, obviously you're, you are a fan of Max Magic, but we've also had a lot of podcasts where people are not just fans, but that they were actually involved in the making of the show. So at Christmas time we did a double bill special with John Lenehan, all about Stuff the White Rabbit. We've had the Secret Cabaret covered by Simon who made that. We've had interesting ones, like Michael J Fitch did one. He attended the recording of a Paul Daniels Christmas special years ago, and so there's some interesting stories about what really happened when it was all filmed. We've had Ali Cook on talking about the secret world of magic that he made with Pete Furman.
Speaker 1:Back again, another sky, one series. Around the time max magic was on. Um, so, yeah, like, if there's some magic from your past that you've watched and enjoyed, uh, almost certainly. Um, alex has now made like 50 episodes. There'll be something on it that you'll you'll be able to go through the feed and I remember watching that and also you get a link to the actual tv show as well. So, even if you never saw it, if you click on it, if you like the sound of it and you like the guest, you click on it, but if you never saw it, you don't know what they're talking about. There's a link, and we call it the empty safe, where you can actually go on and and watch it while you're listening to people talking about it.
Speaker 3:Superb. Well, thank you so much again for giving us your time and giving us your list, Richard.
Speaker 1:Thanks for having me on. It's been great fun. Great to be on the other side of the fence. I've really enjoyed it.
Speaker 3:And thank you all for listening. Remember we do have a new midweek episode as well. If you want to be a part of that, then simply send us in your list of eight tricks, one book and one item, send it to sales at alakazamcouk and with the subject line my desert island list. That will come through to me and then we will do a midweek episode. So send those in and, yeah, we can get you on the podcast. So thank you all for listening again. Thank you once again to Richard and do go check out everything with him and his podcast. It's phenomenal and we will hear from you all again next week. Goodbye for now.
Speaker 2:Hi, Peter Nardi here and I really hope you enjoyed that podcast. I just wanted to make you know that Alakazam have their own app. You can download it from the App Store or the Google Play Store. By downloading the app, it will make your shopping experience even slicker. At Alakazam, You'll also get exclusive in-app offers and in-app live streams. So go download it now and we'll see you on the next podcast.