Desert Island Tricks
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Desert Island Tricks
Tom Wright
*A quick note to our younger listeners. There is a bit of bad language in this episode to listen with caution*
One of the UK's premier performing magicians Tom Wright graces the Alakazam Island and share with us his ultimate collection of tricks! From selecting between his own meticulously crafted routines and renowned tricks by other magicians, Tom shares how his list transformed from a standard performance set to a collection of personal favourites. Hear about the one book and non-magic item he deems essential, providing a unique glimpse into his artistic thought process.
Prepare for laughter and astonishment as Tom walks us through some of his signature routines, like the crowd-pleasing "Bottle Through Table" and the thrilling "Epic Phone Smash Routine" that wowed audiences at the Blackpool Magic Convention. Experience the blend of humour and suspense in his performances, from the hilarious fruit pastels gag to the nail-biting moments leading up to dramatic reveals. Additionally, we uncover the versatility of the ITR and its spontaneous magical moments that leave audiences spellbound.
Don’t miss our deep dive into the world of haunted decks, particularly Tom's favourite, "Chill," a standout in the magic community. Plus, gain insights into the creative process behind complex comedy routines and how nostalgia, timing, and presentation play pivotal roles in captivating an audience. Whether you're a seasoned magician or a magic enthusiast, this episode promises valuable insights and inspiration from one of the best in the business, Tom Wright.
Tom's Desert Island List:
1) Chop cup
2) Bottle through table
3) ITR (PK Touches)
4) Tom's Phone Smash Routine
5) Chill Haunted Deck
6) Tom's Comedy Smash and Stab
7) Cell by David Stone
8) Tom's Mind reading Goose Routine
Book) Mike Caveney's Wonders & The Conference Illusions
Item) Acoustic Guitar
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 didn't tell you is at some point I tried to kill him. And the reason why I tried to kill him is because I there's a spare of the moment thing that happens, and it happens where I just literally think of it and my character goes how can I get out of this situation? I've smashed his phone, it's all gone wrong. Oh, hang on a minute. What happened if I killed him? Okay, that didn't work, let's try something else. So what happened if I killed him? Okay, that didn't work, let's try something else. So that's what happened to that moment. There was a bit of a psychotic character on stage, for sure, maybe.
Speaker 1:Dr, Jekyll and Mr Hyde, maybe a little bit.
Speaker 4:Hello and welcome to another episode of Desert Island Tricks. We have another guest waiting in the virtual wings, ready to come onto our little Alakazam island. Now, before we start today's episode, I just want to remind you about our new midweek episode. So in our midweek episode it's called Stranded with a Stranger and it's your chance to have your list read out on one of our midweek episodes. So all you need to do to take part is to send in your list of eight tricks, one book and one non-magic item that you use for magic to sales at alakazamcouk. Please put in the subject line my desert island tricks. That way it comes along to me and I can filter through them. That episode goes out every monday and then, of course, this episode goes out every friday. And don't forget, if you're an alakazam unlimited member, this episode goes out earlier for everyone, so you have early access if you're an unlimited member. Um, so, with that little bit of housekeeping said, let's get in today's episode.
Speaker 4:I I'm super excited about this guest. He is an absolute Alakazam favorite. He is an all-round performer as well. So today's list is going to be a really interesting one. I think it's going to be really, really diverse and I think there's going to be a good mix of different things. I do believe that he does stage and close-up and parlor and corporate and literally an all-round performer. He is an absolute professional in every sense of the word, and I'm sure today's episode is going to be super interesting. So today's guest of course you've seen it by the title is mr tom wright.
Speaker 1:Hello, tom hey how you doing well um, I haven't asked the team.
Speaker 4:I should have asked the team what tricks they thought you were going to put put in there, but you got.
Speaker 1:Have you written down a list yourself?
Speaker 4:I haven't. No, I don't, I've got, I've got no idea for this one. That's good. My, my guess was a good mixture of sort of stand-up, maybe parlery bits and maybe some sort of more intricate close-up stuff. That was my.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you pretty much spot on there. It is a bit of a mix and it was quite. It was very.
Speaker 1:I found it very difficult because I first of all started picking a lot of other people's tricks. First of all because I was thinking that I was sort of picking eight tricks that not necessarily I could live without. But I'm thinking I was thinking of picking eight tricks that, uh, not necessarily I could live without, but I'm thinking I was thinking of it as like a set. If I was going to perform eight tricks to a group of people, I want every trick to be different and diverse. I don't want it to be all the same stuff. But then I started thinking, hang on. I then started to pick my own stuff because I thought, well, I've put so much effort into all these tricks and I've been doing these tricks for years. It'd be a shame not to ever do them again with all the effort I've done. Then I started picking my own stuff. So it's difficult because I still don't know the order. I've got down a lot I'm looking at. So, yeah, well, you'll find out in a second.
Speaker 4:Well, don't forget, you do have as many honourable mentions as you'd like as well, so you can always slip one or two sneaky ones in.
Speaker 1:That hasn't made the list, basically, but kind of on the sideline. Is that what you mean Basically?
Speaker 4:that yeah.
Speaker 1:That's fine. Okay, well, all right, is that what you mean?
Speaker 4:basically that, yeah, that's fine okay, well, all right, well, sit back and relax. Okay, here we go. So everyone's sort of gone at this from a different point of view. So what's interesting there is, you've gone, gone at it from a. Um, if I was to do a set to people, so if I was to do a group, which I don't think we've had so far I don't think anyone's approached that but then it changed.
Speaker 1:That was it was originally. That's how I uh had it down, but then it's. It has changed now to just tricks that uh, I you know that I've put a lot of effort in over the years. I couldn't live without so it's. It's a mixture. It's a mixture wicked.
Speaker 4:I can't wait to hear it. Um, so, if this is your first time listening to the podcast, the idea is that we're about to maroon tom on our very own alakazam island. When he's there, he's allowed to take eight tricks, one book and one non-magic item that he uses for magic. Now, things like who's there? Is there an audience there? Are there animals there? All of that sort of stuff, we do not mind, it's all in tom's imagination. The idea is that if tom could only perform these tricks for the rest of his life, this is what he would perform.
Speaker 1:So, with that being said, we're gonna jump on our yacht and we're gonna go to tom's uh, super secret island and find out what he put in position number one I've probably probably put the most effort into this one out of all of them and I've been doing this one since I was around about I don't know, maybe 20, 22, 23, so around that age, um, and it's, it is chop cup, absolutely chop cup. Um, I love chop up, so it is absolutely brilliant. And it's changed so many times and it's just got better and better and better. And now I'm doing it on stage, which I didn't think I'd be able to do, chalk Up on stage and I tried it a few times when I sort of had a stab at stage when I was around about maybe 28 and I just I just died on my ass, um, and chop cup just did not go down well at all, um, but since then it's, it's now it's, it's just getting better and better and better.
Speaker 1:But Chocobit's such a crowd pleaser because it just ticks every single box. It's got everything in it it's got comedy, it's got misdirection, it's got magic, it's got final loads where you know, you produce a tennis ball. Well, I produce a tennis ball, then I bounce it, catch it and then, and then boom, you've got an orange there. It's got so many different beats, it's got so much comedy. You know, uh, you know I'm sort of talking to the audience. It gets the audience involved, it gets the audience excited and it's so it's such a great trick for close-up and if you can take it to the stage which I would say is very difficult and you've got to find a way to get it on stage but if you can, then you know you can do it to a massive theater and I do on the cruise ships and it's going that it's getting better and better.
Speaker 1:Now I've kind of I started. I've kind of I started. I I've sort of, uh, I worked in so many other routines with my stage routines and now I've kind of gone back to chop cup and now I'm starting to improve the chop cup and it's just, it's getting really funny now and I've added so much to it. And if you have seen me lecture on it, every time you see the lecture it will be different, um, because it's evolved so many times. If you watch me forming and lecturing on my stand-up magic dvd, that's different. It's a completely different teaching to penguin um. Then that's to my penguin lecture and that's completely different to the one that I did on Alakazam and on another DVD, because it's just changed so much, so definitely that has to be number one.
Speaker 4:Because I think, with your Alakazam one you did Chop Glass, didn't you?
Speaker 1:Yeah, that was invented by Alan Hudson. But what I mean how it's changed is it's not so much, it's not so much the routine, it's how I'm, you know, because I used to have like an extra ball, which now there's not an extra ball. There used to be a holder that I used to, that used to hold the balls, and that's now gone and the pattern slightly changed and the timing and and things like that. So that is improved along the way and I've recently just changed it again. After all these years the beginning is completely different. Now I've changed it and now I've just added a bit in it where I steal a guy's wallet on stage and it's just getting screams of laughter. So I'm getting excited again. You know it's been and it's such a joy to learn. You know because and again, I love doing the vanish.
Speaker 1:When I do the vanish in the, I don't know if I can say top it. I don't know I can do a vanish in the top it I mean that is such a strong bit. I mean I don't know anyone who does a vanishing the topic with Chop Cup, I don't know. But that's such a great moment when it literally vanishes. You show your hands empty and it's back underneath the cup and I love putting the ball on top of the cup. And if you can put the ball on top of the cup and get everyone who's on stage and not see you do do it. And then you've got an audience of 500 or more don't see you put that ball on top of the cup. Such an amazing feeling. So you've got so many different things. I say misdirection, slight offhand comedy, it's everything, it's all there and I think Chop Cup's better than Cups and Balls as well. Controversial, but it is. Chop Cup is cups and balls, um yeah, absolutely chop cup.
Speaker 4:number one waffled on a bit too much about this chop cup no, I think your your point of view on that is interesting, because I think what chop cup does over cups and balls is it just simplifies the process and it makes it more direct. It makes it so it's easily understood by the audience much more. There's not loads going on and their attention is directed in one place, in one position, which I do think makes it probably easier from an audience's perspective as well yeah, I totally agree.
Speaker 1:Um, doing around cups and balls is obviously amazing, but, um, you know you, you can do everything that you can do with cups and balls with Chuck Copp, and I say it's more direct. So, yeah, I totally agree with what you're saying there.
Speaker 4:Excellent. So we've gone straight in with a stand-up stash, parlor stash.
Speaker 1:Yeah, because you can do it close-up, you can do it at a wedding, you can do it parlor and you can do it on stage. It's all three.
Speaker 4:Yep, I think that's a great choice and it leads us nicely onto your second choice. So what did you put in your second position?
Speaker 1:Right, well, this has changed. I'm going to switch this up. I'm going to say I'm going to have to say bottle, and I know this. You've had this on your podcast already. I think Paul Martin mentioned it. It's bottle through table. It's gotta be a bottle through table.
Speaker 1:Um, I wouldn't do this on stage. Uh, I tried it on stage, didn't really work, um, but it's definitely. It's again. It's another crowd pleaser, like shot cup.
Speaker 1:Um, I love when I perform at tables, like a wedding, I love getting not just that table involved but other tables involved where they'll stand around that table. So you've got this huge crowd and Chop Cup just delivers and so does Bottle 3 Table. But I've added so much. It's not just. You know, before I do it, what I normally do is I get everyone's hands to put in the air and I say literally what you're about to see is not a magic trick, it's more of a circus skill. I say there's not many people in the world who can do this. I am not one of them, but hopefully by the end of this, everything shall still be standing and I literally pick up the cloth, the table, and everyone starts screaming because they think oh no, he's gonna, he's gonna do the table cloth trick where he pulls all the and everyone starts grabbing the drinks and starts grabbing the mobile phones. And I go one, two and then I go three and I just fold that right. Which fold that there, that's great. And everyone start, and, and then people just start, you know, pissing themselves, laughing themselves, and they realize it's a joke. So that's the first thing that happens with bottle fruit tables. You're straight in and you've got I mean, I always try to put as much interaction, but comedy interaction as possible and then you know, know, you've got the.
Speaker 1:I do this thing by, uh, steve rogue called the fruit pastels. You've seen this before the fruit pastels gag. Wow, that is so funny. I've had people crying with laughter on that. Literally, carol, I mean I do that with um another routine, actually for stage um, so the fruit pastels. It won't sound funny on here on the podcast, but because you're just going what? But when you do it, people, I've had people book me for a wedding just because of this gag. I'm not even joking, um.
Speaker 1:So as I'm wrapping up the bottle with a napkin, I say um, I say to the guy we need a coin and we need to get it signed. In fact. Take these fruit pastels what are they called Fruit pastels? Great, put your name on there. While you're signing that coin, I'll be wrapping this bottle up. So you just put your name on there with the fruit pastels and he's looking at you thinking what? Put my name on a coin with a packet of fruit pastels and a coin with a packet of fruit pastels. And I'm like, yeah, mate, it's a simple task what you do. And then and he sort of looks, you know, bewildered, anyway, he starts to mind doing it like he's going along with it, and then I look at him like he's, you know, a bit weird and he's looking back at me.
Speaker 1:And then you can I've played it so many different ways. Sometimes it's quite good if you do it silently. You take the fruit pastels, you look at him gone out, and then you just take the lid off and the fruit pastels is a pen and people literally cry with laughter. It reminds me such of like a school boy trick. It's something you would do at school to your teachers. It's such a immature joke, but it gets literally people crying. So you've got that.
Speaker 1:And then you know, I get everyone involved with the bottle food table. I mean I do a joke where I go it doesn't go through, first of all, and then I say, let's make sure it's solid. I says the lady, just make sure it's a solid table. And she puts her hand underneath the table. I'm like, and I go make sure it's solid. I go, no, no, the table, the table. And then again obviously that gets a massive laugh because people think that she's grabbed, obviously, my crutch. But they know that she hasn't really done that. They know that I'm just, you know, acting.
Speaker 1:Um, so yeah, and then you know the bottle goes through and uh, when you put that bottle for the table, it's such a shock. They have no idea. They think the coin's gonna go through. But when you put that ball through, it gets such a shock. Um, and I've done it a few different ways. I've done it fast, where I put it straight through. I've done it slow and I've done it sort of like. I've done it where I do it midway and then go slow. And I've done it all the ways and to be honest, I don't know which way to do it best. I mix it up every time I do it, but I normally sort of I tend to go halfway and then do it again. So it's like a jolt and uh, yeah, you literally, uh, people can't believe it. It's uh, absolutely shocked.
Speaker 1:And it's the one thing that when you go to another table, uh, you can do your whole set and then you can keep going around tables, but as soon as you, as soon as you start wrapping up the bottle, all the other tables get up, and I mean, this happens every time. The other tables get up because they know that you're doing the bottle through table and they want to see it again because they're in disbelief of what they saw the first time. So they literally get up, walk over and you can hear them saying he's doing it, he's doing it now. And they literally get up, walk over and you can hear them saying he's doing it, he's doing it now, and they literally run over. And then you're thinking, oh shit, now everyone's watching. You know they're watching again. So now you've got to put the bottle through the table again without getting cut, which you do, and they see it. You know it's great, and that's the only trick I've ever known when people get up and move to watch you do it again.
Speaker 1:I can't think of any other trick that does that, apart from the bottle fruit table. It happens every time. So yeah, there we go. That is my second one. I waffled on again.
Speaker 4:No, I think it's perfect. There's some really, really interesting points there. It's one of those tricks that we've had quite a few times now. I think we must have had it four or five times. I actually recorded an episode a few days ago with another person, which I'm not going to mention their name because the order of these are going out differently, but he said the exact same thing. So his perspective was when you're doing a gig, you want the photographs to be interesting, and it's the one photograph where he tips off the photographer and because everyone's honed in, everyone stood around you, and then they get that open-faced moment and as soon as the photographer gets that moment, he said he thinks people, think, think that those photos are staged because they're so perfect at that moment.
Speaker 1:But he said it's just, it's just testament to that trick, it's testament to that effect there is something that I'm working on with someone else and we're trying to get it made. I can't tell you what it is, but what I'll say to you is that if it works which we well, we we've got a prototype, but but it might be another year until this comes out, but it could totally revolutionize Butterfly Table and make it so well, not improve it, just make it like 10 times more better. I don't want to even say any more in case someone thinks of it, um, but it's, yeah, it could. It could be like wow, uh, but we're, we're in there, we're trying to get it made, but, sorry, I can't really tell you more.
Speaker 4:That's a bit teasing you there yeah, that is a bit of a teaser, but it's a nice thing for everyone to look out for. So, uh, let's move, we can all look out for. And that brings us on to your third item. So what did you put in your third position?
Speaker 1:okay, um, I'm gonna put uh again, the again. The reason why I put chalk up is because, obviously, the effort I've put into it, the bottle through table, all the comedy and the gags that I've put into it, I'm going to say I'm going to mix it up, I'm going to say an ITR and obviously with an ITR I can do my coin spin, oblivion, where you know you make it fly and it drops to the floor and shoots back up. But I think if I had to choose one, I'd probably choose psychic switching, because so I do psychic switching with an ITR and I, that's, I think, my method. Well've, not that's, I've sort of claimed it is um, and I saw, I think I, I, I uh taught that on the last balakazam live actually, um and uh, what's great is you. You end completely clean and there's nothing on your wrists or anything like that. Um, but the reason I'm putting psychic touching is because it's completely different to everything else and uh, it's, I know I actually end on.
Speaker 1:When I do weddings and things, I normally end on psychic touching and I just do it where you know, when you see a second touching and you, there's loads of people, you know the touch goes back and forth loads between them. You touch them in the back and then they feel it, and then you touch them on the ear and then they feel it and they touch them on the nose. I actually just do it once, so literally there's only one touch that actually goes across and it's their nose. And I just do it once, so it literally there's only one touch. It goes across and it's their nose, and I just do it twice on their nose and that's it.
Speaker 1:But it's this huge buildup before you do it and people are just in absolute disbelief. They cannot, and you get a mixture of reactions. Sometimes people are. You get that silent reaction, which I don't like because people are in shock, and then sometimes you get that crazy scream reaction where it's like a cork has just gone off, which is the, that's what, that's the one you want, um, but it's such a great so it blows people's minds and they just can't believe it, um, and they have no explanation for it and they all think it's to do with hypnotism or suggestion, or which is great, you know, uh, but they love it and it's the one that they really, really remember. So, yeah, psychic trition, I think with an iti great, really interesting choice.
Speaker 4:It's one of my absolute favorite effects, um, and just like you, I use it as a closer, and for a couple of different reasons. Number one it allows for them to just talk. So as soon as you walk away from that table, you don't have to get the you know the round of applause and stuff like that. You just get these people freaking out and by the time you're the round of applause and stuff like that, you just get these people freaking out and by the time you're at the next table, they are listening to the table next to them freaking out over something that you've just done, which then gets them excited and intrigued. But I truly believe, controversially, I don't think you'll get a stronger reaction from an effect. I just think it's one of those effects where people don't know what it is.
Speaker 1:They think it is real magic, it does get a really crazy strong reaction and again, that's why I end on it and it's I end on it as well, because it's completely different to everything that you've done. You know, you've done all this comedy magic and then you just end with that and I was just like what? Um, I mean, I don't do that on stage. Uh, I have done it on stage, but, um, it doesn't work on stage for me because if I'm doing loads of comedy magic, it's so jarring to do, um, psychic touching, because I I, when I did stage, I wanted to, I wanted, I wanted to emulate what I do close up, but it just doesn't work. You can't do it because it confuses the audience so much because all they're thinking is all right, where's the joke, where's the punchline? He's going to do something funny in a minute because they've been literally barely laughing all the way through your act. And then you end on psychic touching. It's just not going to work. But in a close-up environment you could do what you want. You could do what you want at a wedding, you could do all the best miracles, and so, no, it's great and I again, it's another focal point light chocolate and butterfruit table and again.
Speaker 1:I would say psychic touching is one of those where people would get up and come over and watch it again. Definitely, and it's, it will stop. It will literally make the audience stop talking and go. What's happening over there? Especially if you're doing it near the top table and you've got the groom and the father or whatever and everyone just stops and just watches and then you can get the whole room literally to scream when it happens. So yeah, again, it's another focal point. Like shot cup, like butterfruit table, like second switching they're all routines that can play massive to a room.
Speaker 4:What I love about the idea there as well is that you're using an ITR, which I think is great because it's just a clip on and go. There's no prep.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I have it in my inside pocket and I and you can get. You know you can get. Really, what is great about it is, without tipping anything, um, you can get a massive distance with your hands, width wise. So it looks like you're nowhere near their face at all and it looks I'm joking, it's like that far apart. I know you can't see that, but yeah whereas if you use something else that rhymes with hoops, you're a lot, lot closer to their, to their face yeah, it's a great choice, excellent, excellent choice.
Speaker 4:And again, so far, chop cup, bottle, fruit table, and then psychic touching, pk touches. Yeah, really, uh, diverse list. And that brings us on to your fourth position. So what did you put in your fourth spot?
Speaker 1:you know, as I, as I, as I'm looking at this, I'm literally changing it like on the spot, because I'm thinking, oh no, I might change this. All right, I'm going to say these are in no particular order. I'm not saying that you know one's better than the other. I'm literally it's all random. I'm going to say this is one of my newest effects that I've been doing on stage and it closes my show. It actually closed the show that I did at Blackpool and it's my phone smash and I know you had a phone smash. You've already had a phone, so I'm showing you from uh, matthew, right, another, another right, uh, but yeah, so the phone smash. I've had this idea for so long, well before I even started doing stage, because I've actually only been doing stage not that long, to be honest. Um, I mean, I've always done, uh, you know I did drama at college and you know I've been in comedy, plays and things like that. But I died on stage for so many years, so many years, and it mainly it came down to because I wasn't being me and I was trying to be someone else. And then, as soon as I realized that if I'm just myself and do what I find funny, the audience will love it. And that's basically what happened. But it took me a long time, literally a long time, to figure that out. But no, the phone smash. I had this idea for years, well before I started doing stage.
Speaker 1:I've produced a bot there's an easel on stage. I've produced a ball there's an easel on stage and I take this pad of paper off the easel, a huge pad of paper right at the beginning, and this happens near the beginning of the show and I produce a big ball-on-ball. The ball-on-ball drops on the stage, which you know what the name of that is and then I put the pad back on the easel and I pick up the ball and ball. I kind of look around, going, you know where should I put this ball and ball? And I go, do you know what? There's like a shelf behind the easel which makes kind of no sense really, but just say it kind of works on stage. And I go do you know what? We'll put this ball and ball on top of this easel. I mean, you know, I'm sure it'll be fine. I mean, hey, what's the worst that could happen, right? And I sort of jump up and down and make sure the ball and ball doesn't move and it wobbles. I'm like, yeah, it'll be all right, and then it's set there for ages. Now, next to the easel is a huge um bucket, a huge, uh big, a big book. I can build this bucket. It's huge, and that's there and that's the setup for the trick. So that happens at the beginning, near the beginning of the show, and the audience is kind of thinking something's going to happen to that bowling ball. I don't know what's going to happen, or is it, or I don't know. So you kind of leave them in limbo and then you carry on with the whole set and right towards the end I, um, I borrow a mobile phone from the audience, um, and I won't go through all the jokes and things, there's lots of different gags that I use.
Speaker 1:I take the mobile phone, uh, and I've got two envelopes, two gold envelopes, and I go. One of these gold envelopes is a chocolate bar which the is the same size as your mobile phone. It's one of those, you know, the Cadbury's big square ones. And so the chocolate bar goes in one, the mobile phone goes in the other, and I'm explaining to the audience that this is. You know, this is a game that everyone's doing on TikTok, it's the latest craze, and obviously that's all. You know. A load of shit.
Speaker 1:And you know we mix them up and then I go, and then I put them on stands and I go. One of these envelopes is a chocolate bar and the other envelope is your mobile phone. I go, let's pick one, let's pick this one right here now. Do you want to keep it or get rid of it? Do you want to get rid of it? Do you want to keep it? Do you want to keep it or do you want to get? Take your time, but do you want to get rid of it or do you want to keep it? And then, no matter what they say they normally. Well, if they say keep it, I go, great, we'll get rid of it.
Speaker 1:So you know, it's a little funny thing I bring out. I then say all we need now is a chopping board and a hammer, and then a little change in music and this death metal music comes on. I start smashing it, you know going crazy with a hammer, and then I discard the envelope in the bucket. Now, obviously, the bucket is next to the easel with the ball and ball on top, and I go ladies and gentlemen, this other music, dramatic music, comes on and I say, ladies and gentlemen, if this has worked, inside of this envelope will be your mobile phone. And as I tip it out, the chocolate bar comes out of the envelope, which now means that I've obviously just smashed it up and it's in the bucket which is next to the easel, which is on the bowling ball, you know, and you've got this huge laugh.
Speaker 1:And then I start looking at the bucket and I say, um, don't worry, I wasn't really, I wasn't really hitting it that hard with a hammer, and obviously I was. I was going mental at it. I said I didn't really hit it that hard, you know, it's probably fine. Um, you know, uh, you know, it would probably be worse if I was stamping on it. And as I imitate stamping on it, and as I imitate stamping on it, the bowling ball rolls off the easel and goes bang into the bucket. Then there's a big pyro of smoke and I say you know, so, did you have a screen protector on it? Which, again, that's.
Speaker 1:I wrote that joke. Um, and then there's some. There's loads of other stuff that happens. I won't go, I don't want to go into it all, but in case you see it, uh, but anyway, the phone ends up inside of a scroll that's in a box that's been in the audience from the whole entire show and you know, and there's more jokes, there's more gags that I'm not telling yet, uh, because you know I'll, in case you, in case you see it, uh. But yeah, I've worked on that for years and I worked on that well before I even did, even after I did stage, and it's got so many more jokes and loads of it goes even crazier with all this 1950s shopping. Music comes on and there's loads of callbacks to earlier, before you know. So, yeah, it's definitely my phone smash.
Speaker 4:Yeah, it sounds so good. Even that one gag of the, did you put a screen protector on it? Excellent, that's great. Do you use that as like a big closing routine, because it sounds quite epic.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, what happens is actually, once, um, I've done the routine, um, the guy goes back to his seat without his mobile phone, and there's some other jokes of how I send him back to his seat. Then I do another routine that I finish on um, and then, as I'm getting around, applause for that. I then jump into the audience, get in the box, and in the box, in a scroll is their mobile phone. So you get this double whammy. So, yeah, they're sort of left in limbo of like where's my phone, just for, like, the next routine.
Speaker 4:It sounds like a really cool piece of theatre as well. It's really really funny.
Speaker 1:It's taken me a long time to get it together and yeah, I'm really proud of that. And yeah, I did that at Blackpool the Blackpool Magic Convention, and it went down so well.
Speaker 4:That's great. So that brings us on to number five. What's in your fifth position?
Speaker 1:I want to say my first ever release, actually, which was Chill, which is the haunted deck. Again, it's another thread based fact, um, just to just to mix it up and again, because this was such a when I, when I first came up with it, I honestly thought that this must have been done. Someone must have thought of this, and it doesn't. I went, I researched, research and research and I couldn't find anything on it. Um, and I had other people researching it and we went wow, this, this is original. And I thought, well, it has to be original because this is so good that this wouldn't have been lost. People would be doing this, so you know. And then so, yeah, so what's great about this haunted deck is that you know it's in the hands of the spectator first of all. The first thing is in their hands. You know, there's so many great things about this.
Speaker 1:The deck is. There's no gimmicks in the deck, there's nothing attached to your hands. You, the cards can be examined at the beginning, the cards can be examined at the end. The cards cut by themselves and the card sort of creeps out, and then you can literally leave the whole pack of cards in their hands and you can walk away and it doesn't take up any pocket space and you can literally do it in your swimming shorts. So I mean, it's just got everything and it.
Speaker 1:People just can't believe it. People proper freak out. So I've got to say that because, again, it was my first ever released, first ever sort of invention and yeah, it just gets incredible reactions every single time you do it and it just totally changes. It's one of those tricks where it sets you apart from everyone else. When you're at a gig and you do all this stuff and, yeah, people are really impressed, but when you do that, they just oh, right, okay, so you're, you're the best magician in the world. They don't say that, but you know, that's what it makes you feel like, um, but no, yeah, so it sets you apart, I think, um, but yes, I've got, yes, I've got to say that.
Speaker 4:Yeah, great choice. It's a really interesting one. I would have said sort of early, maybe 2010s, 2012,. Around that time there were loads of 40 decks that came out. It was the plot.
Speaker 1:It was, and I think actually mine came out about the same time and Chill got really lost amongst all the other big names. So there was quite a lot that came out. I can think of like four or five that came out and Chill got really sort of just got lost. But then over the years it's just got this cult following that. Everyone who has done it or does it knows how good it is and I think it stayed just steadily selling and all the other haunted decks kind of fell away, you know, by the wayside a little bit, or they just disappeared a little bit, whereas chills are solid just in the background just chipping away.
Speaker 4:And yeah, so yeah, I've got to say Chill. Yeah, it's a great, great choice. Haunted Deck is such a wonderful trick. I mean, the one that we've had the most of is Joe Miranda's Leviosa, which seems to be the one that is popping up. But I do think that people who are interested in animation effects really should look at some of the older versions that are out there, because they are phenomenal. They're so well thought out, um, and one of the advantage, like you just said, is the opportunity to distance yourself from the deck, and the interesting thing with each haunted deck is everyone is going to have something that falls down in some way, because a method has to be achieved. So it really depends what you want from it. If you want distance and you want to be able to step away, then look for one that does that. If you want one where the deck levitates up to your hand, then obviously Leviosa.
Speaker 1:They're all good in their own different ways. Like I would say, spooks is really great by Nick Hainan, because you can really step away and they all do different things. Like Spooks is great. You know the card's caught and then it flies out across the carpet. That's brilliant, isn't it? Leviosa, like you say, is amazing. It levitates to your. It's not actually. I would say leviosa, it's not really a haunted deck. It's not really because the haunted part happens so fast. It's not. You're not buying leviosa because it cuts in half and distributes the card, because if, because you're buying it, because it's levitating to your hand, so I wouldn't say, I wouldn't even say it's a haunted deck, I would actually put leviosa in its own category. As in it stands alone, it's a levitating deck. It's not a haunted deck, it's a levitating. So you are buying a levitating pack of cards. You're not buying a haunted pack. Didn't you have one now?
Speaker 4:yeah, it came out about the same time as all the other ones. It was literally within sort of four or five years. There were just loads and loads of yeah, they were the other thing with a haunted deck is a haunted deck sort of by definition, is supposed to be slow, yes, and drawn out, and I think it's. It's an interesting thing that performers are quite scared of silence and they're scared of things taking time.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. And chill is really slow as well. I mean even to the point that the card flinches before it moves. The deck flinches, then it creeps back and then it's a very slow effect. But that's better because you get maximum reaction from it. It's not over and done within a second, Like Leviosa is brilliant, but it's over very quickly. But again, it's not a haunted deck. I mean, what is brilliant is what I've done is I would do chill. But then if someone said to me, hey, can you do that haunted deck? I would then do Leviosa. It'd be great to have three different haunted decks. You know, you know, like like chill, spooks and leviosa, you can really mess people's minds because every time they're seeing you do it, it's acting in a completely different way, and that's probably the best way to do it yeah, that's a really interesting idea.
Speaker 4:I think that's really cool, the idea way to do it. Yeah, that's a really interesting idea. I think that's really cool. The idea that each time it can be done differently is really smart.
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Speaker 4:Cheers. And that brings us on to your sixth one. So we've had a really really diverse list so far, so I'm really interested to see where this is going to go. So what did you put in your sixth position?
Speaker 1:All right, so gonna, this is okay, we're getting near the end. Now it's getting. It's getting difficult. Um, I'm gonna have to say this because, um, I've put so much into it.
Speaker 1:It's not your regular routine that everyone sees and it's not really about the trick at all. It's about the journey and the thread of comedy that runs through it. It's the music and everything that runs through the trick. It's not the trick at all, it's the presentation that I'm putting into the position. In fact, a lot of my tricks are like that. A lot of my tricks is not about the trick at all. It's actually I'd rather put the presentation in the list than the actual trick itself. But it's my comedy smash and stab spike routine. Now, it's not a normal spike routine. It's not really about the spike routine at all. It's like you say, it's the comedy that runs through it. There's this I don't really give anything away too much because, in case you see it, but it's got this. There's this thing that I do and I don't if I I mean I didn't invent it, but I don't know anyone else who does it um, I guess it is my thing. I mean you might not notice it, you know, when you're watching the show, or maybe you would, I don't know.
Speaker 1:So when I first started doing stage, I, um, I wanted to start doing my own music and, um, I, for the spike routine, I had this really dark music, uh, and it's actually off a film, but I won't see what the film is. Um and uh, I was thinking and I just bought myself a little controller that was Bluetooth to my mobile phone, because this was in the early days, when I was literally just getting into stage magic, and I thought how am I going to operate the music without anyone seeing me actually do it? Because? And then I thought, hang on a minute. I thought I'm a comedy performer, so I'll just let the audience know I've got a controller. And I thought, actually that's really funny. And then it went great, if they know I've got a controller and they can see that I've got a controller and they can see me playing the music or pause the music, then I can use it as a comedy tool, because I can start getting the tracks wrong. And then, ultimately, it was born and that's how. That's how a lot of my first 45 minute shows done is that I'm using controller. The audience knows I've got the controller and I keep f***ing up the tracks and it's, but it's all done on purpose and it's done to precision.
Speaker 1:So and I? But then I realized that I thought and this is where the smash and stab comes in I realized that when I, if I deliver a gag, if I pause the music and deliver the joke, it gets a massive, massive laugh, a bigger laugh than if you didn't pause the music. The music was playing and I did the gag. It would be okay, than if you didn't pause the music. The music was playing and I did the gag. It would be okay If I didn't have the music, you know, it'd be okay, but with the music.
Speaker 1:And then you I know it sounds such a simple thing, but if you imagine you've got this big dark music, it's dead loud, it's in your face, you're doing a spike routine and then you just you're about to say you say something to the audience. They think you're going to say something serious the music literally just stops. Not a needle scratch, just a pause. And then you deliver the punch line bang, it's the timing. So what I'm putting in the list is my comedy timing with the music, with smash and stab. That's what's going in. It's not the actual trick. The trick is actually not important. You could do that trick with anything. It could be with a staple guns or blah, blah, blah, but it's the smash and stab. There we go, there, we go, there we go.
Speaker 4:Great, really interesting choice. I love the idea of doing smash and stab as a comedy routine as well.
Speaker 1:Oh it is so good. It's so good, I mean, it's better, it's so better. But what is great is it's not comedy. Even though it's comedy, people are still really scared that it's going to go wrong and it still has a serious. Well, it doesn't have a serious. It literally it's like my spike routine is light and shade. It goes comedy, dark, comedy, dark, comedy, dark. It doesn't really go dark, dark, but it just goes darker.
Speaker 1:And when, basically, you've got the punchline with the pause of the music, then the dark music starts again, which also gets a laugh because the dark music comes back on. And it's a lot of my facial expressions that makes the comedy. It's the facial expressions, the timing, the way you deliver everything and yeah, I love it. Um, and it's enduring my spike routine. I've got a barry white that comes on halfway through, which, again, I don't want to tell you. I go in and there's so much that I put into it. Where I go into the audience and I stroke this lady's hair, something happens with her hair. I won't tell you what happens, in case you see it. I don't want to put any spoilers, really, and that's really funny and, again, when you do the pausing of the music, it just hits. So yeah, it just hits hard, but there we go.
Speaker 4:Great. Well, it's another one, like your phone effect, that we can all look out for. It'll be a great one to look for, and it does bring us to the tail end of your eight tricks. So we're on number seven. What did you put in your seventh position?
Speaker 1:and I'm just thinking, should I put something in? I mean, again, there's so many things that I've worked on and I'm like, do I put that in or not, or lose it? But then again I'm just thinking, tom, you're not really going to a desert island. It's not happening. I'm thinking I'll put my bags, and it's not happening. I'm thinking.
Speaker 1:I'll pop my bags. I would say let's do something different. I'm going to say somebody else's trick. Actually I don't know why, but we're going to go on this one. I'm going to say Cell by David Stone. I'm just mixing it up. I was going to say another one of my stage routines, but let's just mix it up. Let's say sell by david stone. Um, for those who don't know what sell is uh, it's an impossible location. Card location, uh, and the card goes to in the back of an old mobile phone. In fact, it goes back to. It goes in the back of a. Well, it mines an old mobile phone. In fact it goes back to. It goes in the back of a. Well, mine's an old Nokia phone and I love it, it's still brilliant.
Speaker 1:The reactions are insane still to this day, and a lot of people say people, well, this is people who don't do it, they don't understand it. They go how can you bring out a Nokia phone? And it's like, it's such a simple, easy way around it. I mean, it's just all you got to do is think of what can I say? What patter can I use to bring out this Nokia phone? And it's so simple, so well. First of all, when I first started. This is how long I've been doing cell. This is how long I've been doing cell.
Speaker 1:The Nokia phone that I'm using was my actual frigging phone when I started doing the trick. That's not a joke. In fact, I'll show you the phone right now. It was a 6500 Nokia and it's that bad. It's now broken. I've got an elastic band around it which actually even adds more to it, so that this, that is my Nokia. It's a 6500. It slides. It actually slides like a Star Trek clock. It's got actual buttons. It's got fucking. It's got buttons, actual buttons, and on the back of it it's got an orange Orange it's not a sticker.
Speaker 4:Orange.
Speaker 1:This was my actual. It had snake. It had snake on this. This was my actual phone. So that's how long I've been doing it, which is mental, by the way. And then so when I first started doing it, this phone looked great when I pulled it out and I didn't have to have an excuse of why I've got a Nokia phone. It was everyone had a Nokia phone. Then it got to the point when, um, iphone started coming out and I was still bringing out a Nokia phone and my pattern changed again.
Speaker 1:But now what I say is great, because now you've got nostalgia. So you literally just say, uh, inside my pocket I've got a really old mobile phone. It's, it's about 15 years old. It's not the phone I obviously use, but I've kept it all these years and it's. It was my phone back in the day and you guess of what the phone is. And they always go knock it and I go, yeah, can you remember one of these? And then you've got and then like, oh, wow, I remember I had that phone. Boom, you're in.
Speaker 1:And then you explain to them I've kept this phone all these years because it does something insane. In fact, I want to hold on to it, don't let go of this mobile phone. It's going to blow your mind and then that's it. You're in, that's it. You know so, and I would say it is one of the best cards to any locations. What's great about it is it's tiny. This phone is tiny, it's dead slim, takes up zero pocket space. Really, I put it in my trouser pocket to the side of my deck of cards, and I know a lot of people who still use cell to this day. So, yeah, I would say David Stone's cell. Shout out to David Stone there.
Speaker 4:Yeah, it's a wonderful routine. I do believe, if I remember rightly, we've had it before. Oh, really, on the podcast, yeah, we have. So, yeah, I remember when this came out as well, this was again. It was quite an old trick now. Um, and I believe it's the the battery, if I remember rightly, it is inside the battery compartment.
Speaker 1:What is good about this one is you can, but I think I think this is the best. I mean, I I I think this one of the best one. Well, I say it's the one I use, but I think what is good about this different to the other nokia phones is that when you take it back, this button's broke now, but you would press that button it would open up. But you can do this and they can literally look into the phone. So that's the first thing is, can you see the folded up card in there? And you can, and then I've got it here and I take that off and then you're, you know, literally tipping it out like that. So but yeah, so there we go. Anyway, caroling, what was your saying?
Speaker 4:that was a great, great, great choice. Yeah, excellent effect. Um, and I love the idea of using the old nokia still as well. I think that's a really lovely moment and when you pull it out, it must be such a great. Just just the reaction from pulling out the phone, I mean, oh my god, I remember that.
Speaker 1:But you again, you can, you can, you again, you've got. Well, there's a new joke I've added. But again, um, and this is a joke, I'd say you probably do this yourself. You get your best jokes from the spectators. The spectators will say the joke and you'll think I love it now. And then you start putting it in your act, like I can remember. What I say now is I'll walk up to a group of people and I'll make sure, well, if there's an older person there, you know mid-60s or something, I'll go. Hey, I'll pull out the Nokia phone and I go hey, you remember one of these. And then I point to the old guy. You know, he's still got one. You know. And that gets a good laugh because that's what the spectators used to say. You know, he's still got one. You know what I mean.
Speaker 4:So you might as well just put it in yeah, so that brings us on to the onto the last item. What did you put in your final position and did you have any honourable mentions?
Speaker 1:I'm going to put this in and I have got some honourable the things that didn't make it to the cut. Okay. So this is one that I do like a lot and I think it's come under the radar of a lot of people. I'm not sure it's called Instagrab. What I love about it is that it's not a card out of just a mobile phone, it's a card out of the spectator's phone. So that's just another level.
Speaker 1:It's a thought of so what you do if you don't know what this is, and it's a great way to get followers on Instagram. So, the very first, you don't even need your phone, you can just carry this in your pocket and it's tiny. So the first thing is you go, have you got Instagram? They go. Yes, you go, let's search for my profile I'm not trying to get likes or anything like that and I'll put in TomWrightMagiciancom. And then I go and follow. I just follow straight away or you can do it later on and then you've got a picture on your Instagram which is on their mobile phone. It's a picture of a folded up red card and then, um, you, they pick any card kind of the pick of any card, but it is a free choice once they get down to the picture cards. Once they get to the picture cards, they can have any card that they want. But what is cool about what I love about the routine is that you're ahead once you know of which court card it is, regardless if it's a heart or a diamond. So just when you've got your hand on their phone and they've named the red queen, and then you can say do you want it to be a queen of hearts or do you want it to be the queen of diamonds? You know what? Don't even tell me. Make your mind up in a minute. Then you pull the card out of their mobile phone, out of their phone. You instantly give them the phone back and as you're opening up the card, you could say now, what did you think of? Was it the Queen of Arts, the Queen of Diamonds? They say the Queen of Diamonds. You turn over, it's the Queen of Diamonds. Literally a miracle.
Speaker 1:And then you can go look, if we look on the Instagram, there's no card, the picture is completely gone and that deserves a follow. And then you click follow and they never unfollow you, ever. Why would they um and uh? And then sometimes, if they were your, if they were friends, the friends will follow you as well, because they'll go on instagram and they'll follow you. So you might get three or four followers every time you do the trick.
Speaker 1:And if you did this I mean I've never done it on stage, but I've often thought about doing on stage to a camera if you borrowed someone's mobile phone, took it, put it on a camera, did it and then at the end got a whole audience to follow you on instagram, you're like 500 followers, like straight away, that's, I mean. So a little good, little tip. I mean I might even do that on a cruise ship one day. I don't know so, but yeah, instagram, I don't know. But yeah, instagram, I don't know. I mean technically. I have named two card tricks, although this doesn't make the cut, does it? No, this is an honorary.
Speaker 4:Entirely up to you. It's your list.
Speaker 1:No, no, this is just an honorary mention, isn't it? Yes, that was just an honorary mention. That is not in the list. Nearly made the list, um. So there's that um and my.
Speaker 1:I would say it's difficult. I would say my bill and orange nearly made the cut. I absolutely love my bill and orange. Uh, again, it's difficult not to put that in it again. It's not really again the same thing. It's not really about the bill and the orange. It's not really again the same thing. It's not really about the Bill and the Orange, it's the journey getting to the Bill and the Orange. That's what makes it so funny. It's all the comedy in there that I love and it's all the music. Again, bill and Orange gets some.
Speaker 1:It's actually one of the routines that gets such a strong. In fact it's probably one of the strongest things I do in the show. It's the one thing they remember is how did that note get in the orange? But the routine I do is the orange is in the bag and it's in the audience from the very beginning. So you go nowhere near the bag, then you put the bag up and inside is a knife, just an ordinary dinner knife, and in the orange is their note and it's been in the audience for the whole time and it's such a killer routine, um, but what I'm gonna put in is because the reason why I'm putting this one in is because I've worked on this. I've rewritten this routine about 10 times, so I've probably worked on this routine more than anything and I've got to put it in, uh, because it was so frustrating. And that's Bob the Mind Reading Duck. You've probably not seen me do Bob the Mind Reading Duck.
Speaker 1:I did this at Blackpool and it's it's the Mind Reading Goose by by Steve Spill, which I bought, which is really hard to get hold of. Now they're not made anymore and they're extremely expensive and it's basically just a stuffed duck puppet but it costs a lot to get, even second hand. They're worth a lot, which is mental. But if you buy it, then you've got the rights to perform it. And I think I went I'm not even joking.
Speaker 1:I went from 10 different rewrites of this routine. When I first wrote it, it was like 13 minutes long and then it involved a gun with the table that collapses you know with the flower and what's it called and it collapses and the card is on there and then you shoot. The spade comes off. That was with Bob, the Mime Ring, duck, and then he went through so many rewrites, anyway, it's now only. And then he used to wee and now he doesn't wee, and now it's a six minute solid routine and it's got, uh, the blues brothers track in it where we both wear the shades. It's got the countdown music in it, uh, which looks really funny when he's writing down on a pad of paper Um, it got some great.
Speaker 1:It's got a great line in it that my friend actually wrote Um, just brilliant, um, um. So yeah, I've got to put bob and ryan and duck. I'm not gonna say too much because hopefully you'll see me do it and I don't want to. You know you, I don't, I don't want to give all the gags away, um, but yeah, I'd have to say that because it's it's been painful writing that routine, so I've got to put it in great, really interesting one.
Speaker 4:To close on, um, would you say that that is like out of this list of tricks, because you've mentioned quite a few times that you've taken a lot of time to develop some of these routines yes which one of those routines would you say would be synonymous with you? So when people see Tom Wright, they think of that routine. Which one would you like it to be I?
Speaker 1:think it's the phone smash. Phone smash definitely because, yeah, it's just. I'm really proud of that because it's that, out of everything, out of all the stage stuff, I would say that's probably the one that's truly original, apart from it being, you know, a phone smash, but the actual routine with the ball and ball and it blowing up and the gun there's a gun involved and all of the stuff, the jokes, and ball and it blowing up and the gun there's a gun involved and all of the stuff, the jokes and everything. I would say that's truly kind of original and it's great ending when it's in the in the box. There's another routine that didn't make the cut, which is my giraffe routine, where the drafts it's again. I've put a lot of effort into that and that that is the trick before phone smash, which is called stretching the truth by uh for his name now. But I've, um again, I've, I've put all my own spin on all these things and I've made it my own. Um and uh, that happens just before the reveal the phone in the box. Um, but uh, the reveal the phone in the box. Um, but uh, yeah. So that's my list.
Speaker 1:I, I don't think I've oh again. Yeah, I mean I look my, my card out of mouth always gets a massive reaction, because the deck of cards never goes in my mouth and I've always. I don't like it when people put the deck in their mouth because I'm like well you, that's the method. I mean, everyone knows everyone's. You gotta think when you're performing. People go away thinking how did he do that? And then they retrace their steps. If you've put a deck in your mouth, they're gonna go right. How did he get that folded card in his mouth? Well, he did put a deck in his mouth for one put right. So he did it and that's how he did do it. So I did the read the way I do it. In fact, I'm teaching it at alakazam, at my alakazam live lecture. I'll show you how to get the folded card in the mouth without even putting the deck anywhere near you. So that's the way I do it. So, yeah, that nearly made also my bottle production. Again, the bottle production gets such a reaction. You walk up to a table, you produce a bottle of wine from nowhere. I've just recently changed that. I've realised that if I wait a few seconds before I drop the silk down, you get a bigger reaction. I used to rush it. I think it's always good after so many years.
Speaker 1:What happens when us magicians, what we do is we do a routine over and over and over and over again and we lose of what was good about it in the first place. And somewhere along the line, the routine that you're doing isn't getting the best reaction that it used to get. Like I used to bottle production. When I first started doing, I had screams and then, and then over the years, it stopped getting the big reactions and it's because I just basically forgot how to do it because I was going through the motions.
Speaker 1:So it's always good to either put it down, not do it for a while, revisit and go what? Or or maybe go how can I change this or mix it up? Because what you've done is, you've done it that many times, you've done it a thousand times, you've got actually bored of doing it, and then you then you've let slip of what was good about it and, uh, the reactions aren't as good as what they used to be. And then you're getting confused and going well, what am I doing wrong? This used to get killer reactions. Now it's not, and it's because you're either rushing it or you're not you. So it's best to put it down, revisit it and uh, yeah, now I'm doing the bottle production again. It's getting killer reactions because of just that one change. Just before I drop the silk, I blow on the silk and I look at the silk and then I go watch and I go bang and then there's a bottle and the reactions people jump out the seat. So, yeah, I don't know why. I just told you that.
Speaker 4:It's great. Yeah, lots of great honourable mentions. Even your honourable mentions are really interesting, and what I love about your list is there's a really lovely mixture of dark and light. So you've got some really lovely comedy routines, but amongst those comedy routines there's quite a bit of darkness. You've got the phone smash, which is a bit of conflict with you and a spectator.
Speaker 1:It's very dark as well, and the fact that, during the phone smash, what I didn't tell you is at some point I tried to kill him okay um, and the reason why I tried to kill him is because I it's a spirit of the moment I won't say how.
Speaker 1:There's a spirit of the moment thing that happens and it happens where I just literally think of it and my character goes how can I get out of this situation? I've smashed his phone, it's all gone wrong. Oh, hang on a minute. What happened if I killed him? Okay, that didn't work, let's try something else, you know. So that's what happens at that moment. So, yeah, it is quite dark. There is a bit of a psychotic character on stage, for sure, a little bit. I'm not Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, maybe A little bit.
Speaker 4:Well, that brings us on to your two curveball items. So you were allowed eight of everything else. Now you're only allowed one each of these, so you can have a book and an item that you use for magic that isn't inherently magical. So what did you go for? Your book?
Speaker 1:okay. So I thought long and hard about this and obviously there's many, many books out there, um, and I thought I'd pick a book that I've still not read, or picked a book that I've half read and or I'm still reading it, um, and a book that I could go back to time and time again. I don't want to go for a book that I've read three million times. What's the point in that? I'm not going to read it, am I? I'm going to. I want a book that I've read it, still going back to it, still reading it, still enjoying it, and something that is really heavy in content that I can go back to again and again and again. That makes more sense to me. So I picked this and I've got it here. It's a huge double book and I'm still reading. I've still not got through it, but there's amazing ideas in this and it's really heavy and it's Mike's mike cavendish. Have you seen this? Mike cavendish wonders and conference conference illusions, and I'm telling you now, they're massive. Uh, there are so many great ideas in here by mike cavendish, so you've got some.
Speaker 1:What I love about Mike Caveney he's got some great. He's got great ideas, even if you know, and it just gets you thinking. So he's got his. He's got this routine where he produces loads and loads. I mean, some of the stuff that he's created is mental. You're thinking, my god, I can't believe you even did that. But it's interesting to read it where he produces all these spoons from this uh person's jacket and then, like a big saucepan comes out and then he produces a live chicken and you're like what and uh, when you look at how it's done, you're like, oh, my god, it's mental, uh, but it's, it's insane, uh, but it really gets you thinking and there's loads of uh pictures and illustrations. He's got some great gadgets in here, like the chinese pipes are great. He's got the bow and arrow thing. Uh, he's got the. You know.
Speaker 1:He's got the coat hangers, the powers of darkness such a great routine. You've seen that routine with the two coat hangers. The person's got the eyes closed and he hooks the coat hanger off them. But the audience sees how it's done. Obviously, the powers of darkness is brilliant and I think Penn and Teller did a version of that. I think, yeah, they do. They basically do the powers of darkness, but they're both doing it together.
Speaker 1:But Mike Cave in his version of the Kurt Hangers is brilliant. It's got. It's got his bow and arrow routine in there. It's so much. It's got. It's got his bow and arrow routine in there. There's so much. It's nuts. And he's just got some really, really clever ideas and he goes really in depth. And he's also got his hoop, glass and hoop, although the glass and hoop doesn't really give you much information on that. I mean, if you was going to learn that, you definitely get to Paul Martin because he goes through everything. So if you want to learn the hoop and glass, paul Martin's your man. But no, it's got some amazing routines in it and I'm still reading through it. I mean, it's a huge, it's a massive book, so that's the one.
Speaker 4:Excellent choice. It's one that we've not had before as well, so that's really really nice to see. Fantastic, and that brings us to your item. So what did you put in your item position?
Speaker 1:um, I don't know if this is something I use for magic, I mean, I've often thought about putting it in, uh, but it's got to be my guitar. So I play acoustic and electric and I think I'd take my electric acoustic, just because you can play that anywhere. I would definitely miss playing the electric because I would want to do all the blues licks and rock out. But the acoustic, you know, yeah, if you're on a desert island, it's got to be an acoustic, hasn't it?
Speaker 4:It would be interesting to see how you would use it in a routine, especially a comedy routine.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I've often thought about putting it in and I thought it's got to be funny, though it's got to be comical. I mean, I did think one point where I keep picking up the guitar and I can't get the song right, what they're thinking. And then right at the end I say, alright, I give up, what was you thinking? And they go Johnny be good. And all the way through it you think I can't play or I'm not very good, and I go Johnny be good, I go hang on a minute, I reckon I can play that. Or I'm not very good and I go Johnny B Goode, I go hang on a minute, I reckon I could play that. And then I just start playing it. But then it's obvious that I knew that the song was, because the curtains drop and I've got a full house band doing Johnny B Goode and I go in and singing it and doing Johnny B Goode, and that would be a great way to do it, although it just, I don't know, it wouldn't fit my style really, but that's all I don't know. I did have another comedy idea where someone says they're thinking Elvis and I thought this would be quite good. Someone's thinking Elvis. I predict it. I bring out a guitar. I do like a quick change and I'm wearing the full white Elvis costume with the hair, and I'm doing the guitar and I start doing the whole number and I go, ladies and gentlemen, for the first time, what are you thinking, elvis? And they go. They no, it was Elvis Costello. I'm just doing this whole number and I've gone up to town, I've got Elvis, I've got the guitar, I've got the music, I've got the shades and it's Elvis Costello, not Elvis. And it's like, for fuck's sake and I thought that would be hilarious like you've just totally got it wrong, uh, and then, but maybe when I turn around I'll get elvis costello written on the back. I don't know, but that was an idea. Someone's probably gonna nick it now. I've just said it. Um, but that's an idea that's in my head. I may do that one day. It is in my mind, it's just there I've got.
Speaker 1:I've got so many different ideas like are on the shelf that I've had for years. And then eventually I do this thing where I'll think of a routine. It stays in the head for about two years or or more and then eventually I'll pick it off that imaginary shelf and it'll come to life, but it's sometimes. I do that with tricks as well. I do this weird thing. I don't know if you do this or all the other magicians do this right, I do it all the time. I'll buy a trick, not do it for two years, and then do it. It's like I don't want to do that. I'll buy it all like a stage piece. It'll just sit there for two years literally two years and I go I'm gonna learn that, I'm gonna learn it. So why have you not done it? And it's great, and it's brilliant, gets great reactions and then why have I left it for two years? I don't know.
Speaker 4:Weird, weirdo well, it's a great list, excellent list, uh, and I, yeah, the idea of the elvis costello is great. I thought, um, a breakaway guitar might be interesting as well. So you're playing this guitar and then you hand it to someone, but it just falls to pieces, which is quite funny as well.
Speaker 1:Yeah I like that. Oh yeah, um, yeah, that would be good. Or you could do it where? Uh, you could have it where. Imagine if you talked about this guitar and it was passed down from your granddad or whatever, and then you give it to. You remember that old trick where it was by uh, forgot the not viking, uh, it's a viking. Where it's a trophy and it collapses and the trophy drops on the floor. You could have that. Imagine like a big version. You hand in the guitar but then the tray that they're holding or whatever they're holding a guitar holder collapses and the guitar drops and it smashes into pieces. That'd be quite good, that'd be quite funny well, it's a great list.
Speaker 4:Lots of really interesting, diverse uh effects there. Lots for people to go into research as well, which I think is really really cool. Um, but if people do want to find out more about you, tom, where can they go?
Speaker 1:Probably Facebook, instagram or my I would say maybe not my website. I mean, you could go on the website if you want, but I probably post most on Facebook and I post a lot of videos on Facebook of me performing on stage and things. So just put in Tom Wright Magician and you'll find me. Send me a friend request, or go to Tom Wright Magician on Instagram and check out there. Or you could have a look on YouTube Again. Just put in Tom Wright Magician, you'll find me.
Speaker 4:And you're coming back to the Academy. By the time this goes out, your Academy will probably have been out already, but you've already done an Academy as well, so do you want to tell us about both of those?
Speaker 1:Yeah, so my original academy. I'm trying to remember why I teach, but I think I'm pretty sure I do like you say. I do chalk cup or chalk glass. I do the psychic touching with the ITR that I was telling you about. I do oblivion with the ITR, and what's good about I do oblivion with the ITR, and what's good about that is it's in the exact same position to do both tricks. Then I do I think I can't remember what else I do. Yeah, just go check it out. Oh, I do a two-card sign transfer where the cards keep swapping places. That's a really good routine, and there are some other things on there as well. But yeah, come and check out the new one. It's going to be good. I'm really looking forward to it. And yeah, it's going to be good. I'm really looking forward to it. And yeah, it's going to be fantastic.
Speaker 4:Excellent. Well, thank you so much for sharing your list with us, Tom.
Speaker 1:No, it was my pleasure. I really enjoyed it and it was nervous. Nervous putting it together because there's loads more stuff that I could put down, but it would be forever.
Speaker 4:Yep, 100%. It's a really, really difficult thing. It's more interesting seeing how people are approaching it. So everyone seems to be approaching it from a completely different angle, which, when we started putting the podcast together, we didn't anticipate that. We kind of thought that everyone would do the same sort of thing. But lots of people have gone from a you know, their top 10 list of all time, top eight list of all time. Sorry, some people have gone. For if they were an audience member, what would they enjoy watching? Um, some people have gone. What would I enjoy practicing and enjoyment for themselves. And you've sort of touched on the fact that you pick some of them for the presentation aspect of it as well. So lots of different ways of going with it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think mine's more of a performing way. These are the things that I want to perform to an audience. I'm thinking it. I'm thinking on this island there's a theater and every night I'm performing on that theater and I'm doing close-up after the theater. So I'm thinking I need some, I need some stuff for the theater, I need some stuff for close up. That's one thing. I'm thinking of it like that. So it's like, yeah, I'm there to perform, so there we go.
Speaker 4:Excellent. Well, thank you once more, tom, and we are looking forward to seeing you next week at the time of recording. We're going to see you next week for your Academy as well.
Speaker 1:Fantastic. Thank you for having me. I loved it.
Speaker 4:And thank you all for listening. Remember, if you do want to be a part of Stranded with a Stranger, our midweek episode, do send in your lists. And, with that being said, thank you again for listening and we will see you again next week on another episode of Desert Island Tricks. Goodbye.
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.