Desert Island Tricks
Episodes are uploaded every Friday and are available via all Podcast service providers!
To find out more about the team behind Desert Island Tricks, please visit: www.alakazam.co.uk
Desert Island Tricks
Mike Sullivan
This episode is your backstage pass to the fascinating Desert Island Tricks of one of the UK's best magic demonstrators as we chat with the charismatic Mike Sullivan, a beloved figure in the magic community. Join us as Mike unveils his "Desert Island Tricks," featuring must-have magic items and his favourite pieces from Wayne Dobson's collection, setting the stage for an exciting exploration of the essentials in a magician's toolkit.
Magic is not just about collecting tricks; it's about mastering routines and understanding audience psychology. We discuss the versatility of a deck of cards and delve into the nuances of "coins across", revealing how the choice of coin size can impact audience perception. Mike and I share insights on the importance of personalising routines and maintaining confidence to captivate audiences, even touching upon the magician's fear of prop examination with humour and relatability.
Mike highlights some of his favourite tricks and magical tools, from Ring Flight Revolution to the captivating "Snooker Sorcery". Discover the artistry behind magic performances and how these tricks can leave a lasting impression. We also celebrate Wayne Dobson's legacy and discuss the value of his work in shaping the craft. Whether you're a seasoned magician or just a curious listener, this episode promises to be both entertaining and enlightening, offering a window into the magical world we've grown to love.
Mike's Desert Island Tricks:
- A Deck of Cards (Card to Pocket)
- Blank Faced Deck
- Coins Across
- Back to the Future
- Legacy Thread Emergency Kit
- Turbo Stick
- Ring Flight Revolution
- Snooker Sorcery
Book. Legacy by Wayne Dobson
Item. Wayne Dobson
Find out more about the creators of this Podcast at www.alakazam.co.uk
So when I first got together with Wayne, he invited me to his house in Surrey and I was so excited, I was like a kid in a sweet shop and I went down and obviously went into the house. We went into his office at the time. He said open that cupboard. So I opened the cupboard and it was just full of all the latest releases that he had. And he said right, so you're going to help me demonstrate these tricks at the magic circle dealers. I said, okay, cool. He said take one of each and and learn them. You got about two and a half weeks and I'm sitting there going this is fantastic, you know. And then sitting there going oh my god, I've got two and a half weeks to learn all these and learn them. Well, to get magicians to buy them, I took them home. I learned every single one. I spent hours every day learning these, mastered them.
Speaker 1:Obviously, the Magic Circle dealer day came. I got to the stand he's not there. Richard Pinner walked up to me and he went show my mate Lucky Card. And I'm like in my head what the is Lucky Card? Anyway, at that moment, wayne's come in. I've gone. Where the bloody hell have you been? I've been at the bar. I said, what about this lucky card? And he just looked at me and he goes, I forgot, and then starts bursting out laughing. I just look, a complete pillock now in front of all these magicians that are wanting to see this trick.
Speaker 3:Hello and welcome to another episode of Desert Island Tricks. We have a guest. Today's guest is someone who I know Pete has known for a very, very long time. In fact, a few days ago I was going back in Pete's picture role to try and find a picture to superimpose him as Santa, and there are pictures of Mike going back years and years and years Now. I've only known Mike for maybe I want to say five or six years now, and Mike is not only one of the nicest people that you'll meet in our industry. He really is a very, very lovely person. He'll always go out of his way to try and help everyone, but he's also an incredible demo. If you ever go to a convention, you'll always see Mike just going for the demo, and he's so engaging, he's so much fun, he's so funny, but it's also his enthusiasm for magic. Now you'll probably know that he works a lot with wayne dobson and hopefully we're going to get wayne on one of these one day soon uh, with mike's help, of course, and hopefully it'll be interesting to see if mike can guess what wayne's list is going to. Maybe that's what we'll do. We'll play a little game. So I'm going to stop babbling.
Speaker 3:Today's guest is the wonderful Mike Sullivan. Hi Mike, hello mate, how are you? I'm very well. Thank you, how are you? I'm good. I'm good, excited this is good.
Speaker 1:Well, we've been trying to get you on here for ages and ages and ages. Yes, I know, I know it's so busy at the moment.
Speaker 3:It's good to be here and, yes, we'll have some fun. Yeah, well, I'm really interested to see what your list comprises of now. The regular listeners know that I tend to have a guess at what I think people are going to pick. My guess is there has to be at least one dobson trick in here. At least one. There's two, oh, there's two, okay, right. So if you're listening to this which you are, because that's what this is why don't we all have a guess?
Speaker 3:So why don't we guess what two Dobson tricks you would have put on there?
Speaker 1:Should we leave them till the last, then?
Speaker 3:Yeah, leave those till the last. I think. See, oh yeah, there's just so many good Wayne Dobson tricks as well. Have a think what you think Mike is going to put in there. So we're going to give everyone a little synopsis.
Speaker 3:So if this is your first time joining us, the idea is that we're about to maroon Mike on his own island when he's there, he's allowed to take 8 tricks, 1 book and 1 non-magic item that he uses for magic particulars, like if there are sea turtles there, or whatever weird things he wants to put on his island. It's all in his own imagination. Uh, it's basically the list of tricks that he could not live without. So, with that being said, mike, let's whisk you away to your island and find out what you put in your first position a, a pack of cards. Everyone knows what I'm about to do. I'm about to be devil's advocate, but why a deck of cards first?
Speaker 1:Well, first of all, deck of cards allows you to do hundreds, if not thousands, of tricks, which sort of goes against the grain of Desert Island Discs 8 Tricks Only. But I think a deck of cards is the epitome of a magician. I mean, if a magician turned up without a deck of cards, you'd think they're saying it wrong. Even if they have them in their pocket and they just do iPad magic or Rubik's Cube magic, they will always have a deck of cards. I mean, as I grew up as a, as a kid and certainly into teenage years, uh, the amount of magicians that would say always carry a deck of cards. Not so much nowadays. People have different ways of showing magic, but um it, my first thing would be to carry a deck of cards. There's one trick I would always do with that deck of cards. The one routine would I would do and this will surprise you is etienne predier's card to pocket routine. I saw him literally, oh, 20 years ago, at least 20 years ago and I was so taken back by the amount of magic content that it had in just one card trick, which was basically, you know, a version of ambitious card, if you like, where it just kept coming back and it disappeared. And it came back and it disappeared. So I bought his lecture notes, I learned the moves and I've been doing it ever since and it is one of those tricks that I think personally has got me more bookings, and the structure of the trick itself itself, if you really study his manuscript. And then obviously he bought it out on video later on.
Speaker 1:Um, there's so much misdirection in there, it doesn't matter if people see it two or three times. They still can't understand how the card gets in the pocket, how the deck ends up in the pocket. There's some great moves in it, one of them being the Bernard Billis watch still, and that is I mean that alone. If you was to do that move alone, that's brilliant, yeah. But to incorporate it into a whole routine that Etienne has obviously sat down and thought about, I've added my take to it as well. There's certain things that didn't work for me that Etienne did and I've shown Etienne and he loves it. He thinks it's great. But you know you have to put your mark on all the magic you do. You can't just do what the instructions say. So that would be the one trick that I would always do Great choice.
Speaker 3:I love the card under watch move. It's just brilliant. It's such a good move. Yeah, it's a great opening gambit there, and it does take us on to number two. So what did you put in your second position?
Speaker 1:My second position can a blank face deck of cards count as a trick?
Speaker 3:It can, as long as you give us a routine with it.
Speaker 1:So we'll go to another great magician and demonstrator, mark Mason. And the reason I always use a blank face deck of cards is I never get a card signed out of a deck of cards. So I my my opening line and I'm sure if people want to use it, they can use it. I have no issue is? I walk up to people and you know they say how do you introduce yourself? So I walk up with a deck of cards in my hands and I say hi, I'm Mike, I'm a magician. I was booked by science, scienceo to come and entertain you for two minutes.
Speaker 1:I have a deck of cards here I would like most magicians would ask you to pick one. I don't want you to pick one, I want you to make me one. And then I say I pull out a blank faced card and I say I know the guy who makes these cards. The backs are the same but the front is blank. Give them a pen and say I want you to draw anything you like, make it as unique as possible and that's what I use in etienne's routine.
Speaker 1:So it's not a regular card. Um, I do use the aces a lot for certain tricks, um, so I don't want them to pick an ace, for instance, and then that buggers it up. Yes, I could use the kings or the queens or whatever, but inevitably when you ask someone to pick a card, they always pick the best ones and you've got no control over it. So using a blank face card is actually keeping the deck in order and I can use it for other tricks. So that's why I would also then take a blank face deck of cards. Mind you, that only gives me 104 goes at the trick, because 52 will be blank deck and then 52 would have to be signed. So it's not many, um hey ho, it's a.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's great. Do you get them to? So you get them to draw the design of a playing card onto the blank face definitely not.
Speaker 1:That is the one thing I try them. I try to get them not to do because inevitably they will say to me oh, do you want me to draw the four spades or something? And I go, no, no, no, I want you to draw something that you want to draw. So you could draw this guy standing here look, with his glass. You can draw those flowers over there. You can draw absolutely anything you want. Keep it clean, sir. It's a familyably.
Speaker 1:If I'm doing a late night gig, we get all sorts, but then I've got two of those cards, or you want me to pick that card? You know, people aren't stupid anymore, they've. They watch youtube and stuff like that. So getting them to draw me something that is totally unique and on the spot at that present moment means there's no way on this earth that I could duplicate it or I could force them it and it makes the magic that much stronger. When it goes in my pocket, comes out my pocket, the deck disappears, all it goes under. My watch does this, does that and it. It just makes it stronger, and so that's why I would take a blank face deck of cards with me as well.
Speaker 3:Okay, great, and would you use a normal deck but then put a blank card in there, or would you use the entire blank deck?
Speaker 1:Yeah, so I introduce the blank card, explain to them that the backs are exactly the same, so I wouldn't know the difference between their card and the cards in the deck. If they want to examine them, let them do it. I mean, it's completely examinable. They can check to make sure there's no marks on it, but the face will never be seen, so it'll only be seen at the reveal times. But they will know it's their card. They will know 100% without any doubt that it's their card and nobody else's. I've not used the duplicate, I've not forced the card onto them or anything like that. They know it's theirs. So that does make the magic so much more stronger. And then obviously, they get to keep it at the end.
Speaker 1:And that was all inspired by Mark Mason. He always used to carry a few blank face cards in his top pocket for that reason and that reason alone. And that was to say look, you know, most tech magicians will ask you to pick a card. I'm not going to do that. I want you to make me a card. I mean, it's a great line and they do get taken aback by it. They're like what? And it makes it interesting as well. You've got to make your magic interesting, especially when you're doing it live, not on TikTok or anything like that. You've got to engage with the audience. The first rule of thumb is to connect.
Speaker 3:If you don't connect, they don't care. Yeah, that's great, great second choice, and it leads us nicely into number three. So what did you put in your third position? Coins across.
Speaker 1:So obviously it'll be four coins and, um, I love coins across. Um, so I do a version that uses, uh, a gimmick, but it's not the usual gimmick, so one of the coins is a backflip. The reason I I love coins across issues is done in the spectators and it goes from my hand to the spectators and, and because of the gimmick that one of the phases is visual, so they see the coin disappear and appear on the spectators hands, you can't pay for that kind of reaction. I mean, people lose their minds. Yeah, they try to. They try to dissemble it and work out how it's done. Well, you're so skillful with coins, you must have flicked it across really fast. Well, no, I didn't flicked it across really fast. Well, no, I didn't. Um, I've had people ask me to take my jacket off because they think it goes up up my arm, across my manly chest, down the other arm. You know all that sort of stuff. And it's the third phase, so it's the second to last, the penultimate phase.
Speaker 1:Um, people have said to me that have seen it, said why don't you do it as a last phase? I want them to be, I want the third phase is the last phase is weaker always has been in coins across. But I don't want them to remember the last phase. I want them to remember the routine as a whole and that bit where that coin just disappeared out of his hand and appeared in my hand and um, and I should say hand, sorry it's my uh, my uh, south london accent, but um, I love it, I love it. I love it to bits.
Speaker 1:It's great. It's got a bit of david roff in it, obviously. Um, craig petty did a great dvd called flipped, so it's got a bit of that in it. It all culminates into one routine and, uh, people, people lose their mind over it. It is literally, you know, spectacular. It's like camera trickery. It's the nearest and closest you're going to get to actual special effects without using special effects. I love it to bits. I can't recommend it enough. A lot of people don't get on with the gimmick. Eric jones has done some great stuff with it. So, yeah, coins across is my third choice.
Speaker 3:Great. Now one of the biggest debates when it comes to coins across, which sounds really sad, but you know we're magicians. Um, what, what coin do you prefer to use? Do you prefer to go for a larger coin when using coins across? So, because some people think it's more visual using a larger coin, whereas some people think that it brings focus on a coin if it's slightly smaller. So what's your view on that?
Speaker 1:I'll let you into a little secret. With coins I practice the routine with every shape and size. So it doesn't matter what coin I've got, I'll use it. So I've gone from dollars to half dollars, I'll use it. So I've gone from dollars to half dollars. I've got 50 P's, 10 P's, two pound coins. I've done them all. If the gimmick is made in that particular coin, I've got it and I've practiced it with it. So it just goes it. Just I don't know how to explain it.
Speaker 1:I'm a bit anal when it comes to things like learning a routine. If a routine goes into my repertoire, I would like to think that I am good at all aspects of it. So if there are versions of it, I will get as many versions as I think I need to be good at it. I've had, I've had things where people have gone I mean Gary Jones has got a fantastic, fantastic switch where you think you've you've examined all the coins, ok, and I learned that from his free fly routine. You've examined all the coins, okay, and I learned that from his free fly routine, and I use that for coins across. And I've had people actually say use my two pound coin, use my 50 P, use my 10 P and rather than go oh no, it's okay, you know you can only see a trick once, that sort of trick Use my 10p and rather than go oh no, it's okay, you know you can only see a trick once, that sort of trick you can show over and over again, they will never get it. I take the coins so I'm covering my bases. That's what I'm doing.
Speaker 1:Being a salesman, growing up as a salesman, uh, talking to people all my life, uh, and interacting with people, I've I've taken those skills and put them into magic and I think, you know, sometimes people worry too much about what ifs, what ifs don't exist, so don't worry about them. You know that, that you know what if. What if? I mean? Um, recently, uh, wayne and I had a debate about people, um, examining props and he made a very good uh point about that and he said the only people that ask to examine props, or can it be examined, are magicians. Yeah, not spectators, standard lay people. They don't ask it. If you do the trick right and you've put in all the steps before you do the trick, you will not be asked. Nobody asked to examine the coins. Nobody ever does.
Speaker 1:You know I'm not talking about coins that given to me. I'm talking about my coins. I have a line. Can you tell me what these are? They're four, two pound coins. That's my preferred coin of choice.
Speaker 1:If, if you want to um a coin cause we live in the uk and if you bring out half dollars, people go half dollars. What are they? Um, and most people haven't been to america. But, um, if, if you bring out for two pound coins and I go uh, can you tell me what they are? For two pound coins, eight pounds, yes, that's my kebab money for when I leave here. You know, you put a little laugh on the end of it.
Speaker 1:Uh, everybody says, oh, I collect two pounds, can I keep them? And I go no, I've got another hundred times to do this point to the rest of the venue. Um, so again, it's another thing that stops them in their tracks. But they've, they've seen the coins. They haven't touched them. They're on the table. If I haven't got a table, I'll put them in their hands. I mean, they don't sit there and go oh, they are two-pound coins. They use them every day. They've seen them every single day. They don't need to look into them. They don't even know what I'm going to do with them yet.
Speaker 1:So why would they need to look at them? And by the time I finish the trick, they think they've seen them, they think they've examined them. They won't ask me to examine them again. It's, it's psychology, it is psychology, it's psychology yourselves, if you, if you can uh make people, if you think that they're gimmicked it's the only way I can think, uh explaining this they're gonna pick that up. If, if you don't, if you think they're two pound coins, they're two pound coins, you know, and they're not going to question you any other way. And so this idea of, oh, can it be examined? And I get this all the time when I'm dealing them in um, my question. Then I hit back with a question say why? Why does it need to be examined? But it's a thing that people have, it's a psyche that the magic community have picked up and they can't shake it off. I wish they could, because you don't need to examine stuff. I mean, how many times when you perform do you get someone saying can I have a look at that?
Speaker 3:Very, very rarely yeah.
Speaker 1:Very rarely. So if, if you do get that a lot, then you need to look at your performance and the way you introduce the trick, because that's where the weakness is, in my opinion I'm not saying this is gospel, but in my opinion and in Wayne's, wayne's got the same thing If you've not sold the trick or the props before you started, then that's where the weakness lies and that's what you've got to do. Obviously, there are tricks that you buy that can be examined, but you treat them exactly the same as tricks that can't be examined and therefore, when they say can I examine them, you go yeah, sure, but I'm a risk taker as well. I give them gimmicks and I've never been caught. Never been caught, and I think that's because of the foundation I've set before I do the trick, because you know if they think there's a trapdoor, they'll look for one.
Speaker 1:Yeah, if they think there's a wire, they'll look for one. But if you, um, if you treat it that there isn't a wire or there isn't a trap door, they're not going to look for it. They only take off what's coming from you, not from anybody else. Um, you have one or two exceptions, people that just don't like to be fooled because it interferes with their intelligence or whatever. But, um again, you can deal with those by making them part of your act. It's just life experience, to be honest with you, that's all it is. Anyway, I've waffled on far too long on that, but Coins Across is my fourth choice.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's a great choice. And yeah, you made some really, really interesting points there, especially when it comes to handing gaffes to the general public. If they're assuming something is normal, then to them it's normal. They don't know what they're looking for. So that brings us on to number four. What's in your fourth position?
Speaker 1:Fourth choice is a trick called Back to the Future by Wayne Dobson. Now, nobody will know what it is because it hasn't been released yet. It's going to be released at Blackpool. I've been road testing this trick for the best part of 15 months now, of 15 months now, and it's one of those tricks that has all the elements.
Speaker 1:It's a card trick. It is a card trick and could have been my choice with the deck of cards, but it does have a gimmick. So, basically, you will spread out a deck of cards and they're in a new deck order, yeah, and you will say picture this moment. This is your future. Yeah, uh, the cards are then shuffled by the spectator spanned out and, uh, you have two spectators involved in this, uh, and they both pick a card, but they don't look at them quite yet. You then gather the cards up, uh, you ask the spectator to look at their card and remember it, and then show one another's card to one another so that, if you do forget, the other person will remember it. Show the audience whatever they want to do. The cards are then put back into the deck by the spectator and the magician then shows that there's nothing wrong with the box. Well, they handle everything. So you take the cards, you spread them out in front of you, you remove two cards and they match the spectators cards. You then ribbon, spread the cards again and they're all in new deck order. So that's why you go back to the future.
Speaker 1:Do you get it? Do you get it? It's good. Uh, I love the trick. It blows lay people away. They just don't understand because you show them a deck of cards that are in new deck order. You explain what new deck order is Ace to king, ace to king, ace to king, ace to king and then you get them to shuffle them, pick a card, and they can literally pick a card that they like, or they can randomly pick one out it's entirely up to them that they like or they can randomly pick one out, it's entirely up to them. Um, and then, um, uh, you, uh, you get them to put them back in the deck and then, yeah, you find the cards and then, when you spread it again, it's all back in new deck order.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, showed a few magicians. They're like wow, it's fantastic. I mean, this is Wayne's creative imagination and it started off as a completely different trick. It was completely different, but it's, I love it. So it's gone in my repertoire. It does mean you need a table and I do obviously pick my moments. You know, sometimes when someone asks me at the end of the night, oh, show us one more, and I've got, you know, a few people around and I want to sit down. Let me show you this. That's that kind of trick when I'm with family and friends and they want to see a trick, that's the trick I'll do, because there's no way of working out how it's done when I'm with family and friends and they want to see a trick.
Speaker 3:that's the trick I'll do, Because there's no way of working out how it's done. It's just that really special trick for that intimate group of people at the end of the night, something that will really play on their memory.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I've got a lot of them, but this one stands out. It was a eureka moment for Wayne and and I when we uh, when we sort of like messed about with the method. As I said before, it was a completely different trick before and, um, you know, again it's got that kind of like um camera trickery edge to it where you're sitting at a table and everything in. Well, how the hell has he done that, you know? And, um, yeah, it's brilliant, it's brilliant. So that that is my fourth choice. I love it. I'm not going to speak too much about it because we want to do a big thing for Blackpool, but if you're in Blackpool, come to the stand and I'll damn it for you and you'll see how good it is. And then, obviously, the trailer will come out, and so on and so forth for people that can't get to Blackpool, but it will come out on the same day so they won't miss out.
Speaker 3:Yeah, nice. It's always nice when we have one to look forward to. I know, on Darren's episode he mentioned a book that isn't out yet. Um, yeah, we had lots of messages of people saying you know who's bringing the book out, where's it coming out. So, yeah, it's always really nice to anticipate something coming out so we can look forward to it, uh, but that does bring us over your halfway point. So now we're on number five uh, number five.
Speaker 1:Uh might not be known by a lot of people. It's called the Legacy Fred Emergency Kit. This is by a guy called Sebastian with an H and he runs a magic company called Subdivided Studios in the States. Now, I met Sebastian at Magic Live live and he showed me this kit and I've used it ever since. It's a thread system that allows you to make your own loops, so I will have an infinite supply of loops, which means I have an infinite supply of magic. So I use loops all the time, I use invisible thread all the time and I do all sorts of things with it. Did you want a list?
Speaker 3:of stuff, so let's have one. So give us one. Your your main routine with loops, pk touch love it, especially at weddings.
Speaker 1:Um, you ask if the bride and groom are connected, you know, are they spiritual? You know, are they, uh, life partners? Are they? You know all that sort of stuff. And then you say, well, I'm just going to try a little experiment and I'll just do a standard pk chuck, touch where you know you, you touch them on the nose or whatever, or on the forehead, and, um, obviously get their permission first. You know, times have changed. Now you can't just go in and touch people's noses. You've got to ask them if it's okay. But again, the reaction I mean it's not so much the bride and groom. Well, the groom sees it, but the bride doesn't see anything. So she just feeds off of the reaction of everybody else. They're all going he didn't touch you.
Speaker 1:He didn't do this, he did it, and they're going absolutely mad. So it's a fantastic little routine. There's so many different versions out there. Um, there are versions without the use of gimmicks, there are versions with the use of gimmick. I know you do a version without gimmicks, but when you're, it's really difficult, because I've tried to do the non-gimmick version and I panicked. I don't know why, but I did and it just put me off it. Maybe I should talk to you about it, we should have a chat. And then I saw Magic Ballet. I think it's in his penguin lecture, if anybody wants a reference, and, uh, check out his penguin lecture. It's fantastic. Anyway, he's another dem god and I've been doing that routine ever since. Obviously, again, I've put my touch and twist to it, but it is predominantly mostly magic ballets stuff. So, uh, I love it. So that's what I would take as my fifth choice is the emergency kit.
Speaker 2:Hello guys, I'm here to talk to you about Alakazam Unlimited. This is the best streaming platform in the world, I'm telling you now. With Alakazam Unlimited, you get access to over 150 magic routines this is video performances and explanations. We have card magic, coin magic, kids, magic rope, magic, mentalism, stage parlor, impromptu. We've got you covered. All of this for the low price of just £4.99 a month, and you can cancel at any time. Perfect if you've got commitment issues. Yes, I'm talking to you, Guys. You are going to absolutely love it. If you haven't joined the platform already, what the heck are you doing? Alakazam Unlimited is a streaming platform that you need to be a part of. Not only that, there is also exclusive content only available on the platform. Check it out now.
Speaker 3:Alakazamcouk cheers great well, that's a great number five as well. It's one that we've not had before. So if anyone does use loops, that's a really good one for people to go and check out, if if that's something that they think See.
Speaker 1:I thought, being on a desert island yeah, I don't know if they'll have any natives or anything it would be. You know you could be the. You'll either be burnt or worshipped, yeah, so it's sort of like. It's sort of like covers both bases, so you don't have to be on it too long or you live like a god Happy days, great choice.
Speaker 3:So that does bring us to number six. So what's in your sixth position?
Speaker 1:My sixth position is Turbo Stick and all its incarnations. I suppose, like you know the move. But Turbo Stick is great. I've again, I've used it for years. I actually broke down the belief system of a room of surgeons with that trick and they were meant to be you know, they're meant to be the most sort of like cleverest people on the planet. It was at Twickenham Stadium and they had this get together surgeons from all over the world, all into heart surgery and, yeah, one of the biggest round of applause I've got, they actually believed I did magic with TurboStick.
Speaker 1:And going back I mean it goes back to you, you know, can it be examined before and after? Yeah, if they are, and they did ask to examine it because that's the kind of people they are. They want answers to the the problem of how the hell's he doing it. And you go, yeah, have a look. And then looking for trapdoors and all sorts of things, but they're not there.
Speaker 1:But turbo stick is a staple of mine that I've used. Um, well, in a dare came up with a version of it using a dry white marker. Uh, with um supreme magic, many, many years ago. Obviously it's been refined and Richard Sanders and Leo came up with a great routine and handling and that's the handling I use. My reveal is not the sort of like sponge ball or you know another trick. It's the pen that I used at the very beginning. So you know, I say to them, how's it done? It's all done with the pen, and they're like how the hell did the pen come out the back? But yeah, I've been using that. So that is. I love that trick and there's so many gags. I mean the gags you can do during the performances is unbelievable. So love, love, turbo Stick, love it.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's a great choice. It's one that I think we've had a couple of times now. Certainly, I think we've even had it on the smaller version of this, which is Stranded with a Stranger. I think we've had it mentioned on there as well. Yeah, it's a superb trick. It's just a. I mean really it's quite an alien prop, but how it's being used is quite normal, if that makes sense.
Speaker 1:So it sort of normalizes the prop yeah, well, I have a few lines, I won't give them all away. But, um, you know, I ask people what they think it is and, um, I say it's a, an imac stick, for you know, taking the hair off your legs quick, it's a little cricket bat for me, little cricket bat set, um, there's all sorts of it. You can pee on it. It tells you if you're pregnant or not. I mean all those, all those gags, um, but then I say it's a plastic, it's a plastic paddle, and give it to them to look at. You know, it is what it is and this is a pen. It is what it is, which, uh, one of the biggest additions I made to turbo stick, which, um, might be of interest to people, is dave bonzel makes um dry white markers into Sharpies and that was the best addition I made to it because obviously I'm using Sharpies all the time. So I bring out a Sharpie pen but they don't know it's a dry white marker. They think it's the same pen I've been using all the time. I'll do the gag about the permanent ink. It says permanent ink. Oh no, that's rubbed out. You know, you've got all the gag.
Speaker 1:They sound hack to us but lay, people love them. You never underestimate the hack gag. It is very strong and, again, it allows you to connect. You get people laughing. Wayne has always said to me you get people laughing at the beginning and you walk away with them laughing. You can do anything because they love it. They love, they love that, that thing, and you are there primarily to entertain.
Speaker 1:You're a magician second. Yeah, so you know to entertain. You're a magician second. Yeah, so you know, using those mantras and that trick, it's happy days. You get. You know you get what you need and come up with your own gags as well. It's not difficult. I'm no comedy genius. I mean Wayne and Michael Fitch make a joke about me being a comedy genius. I'm no comedy genius. I mean. Wayne and Michael Fitch make a joke about me being a comedy genius. I'm no comedy genius, but every now and then I have my moments. So it's. I leave the comedy to them, to mostly Wayne, because he's obviously the comedy genius. But yeah, yeah, it's turbo stick Brilliant, brilliant, little effect. Carry it in your pocket, doesn't take up any pocket space, great stuff.
Speaker 3:Great choice, and it brings us to the tail end of your eight trick. So we're on number seven.
Speaker 1:Seven, seven. Here we go. So number seven is Ring Flight Revolution by Dave Bonzo, because it's such a good effect I can't remember when I started using it. I mean it's a blur, but I still have the same prop I bought from Dave all those years ago when he first started, before Blackpool. Before you know, he'd walk around with it in his pocket and he'd show a few of. Before you know, you'd walk around with it in his pocket and he'd show a few of us. And we go, we want one.
Speaker 1:And I don't know how many thousands of pounds I paid for it and that probably it wasn't that much. But, um, I've used it ever since and it's never, ever let me down. I've got a El Duco reel and it's broke, yeah, but this has never, ever let me down. Never let me down. You oil it, you give it a bit of maintenance every now and again and it will never let you down. And I think he even does a refurbishment. And I know for a fact that when you buy a refurbishment you're actually buying a new ring flight, because I worked with him a few years before he closed the shop down.
Speaker 1:So if you want to, if you want a ring flight, I can't highly recommend a ring flight revolution. It's brilliant. I think it's because of its reliability, more than anything. I mean ring flight is ring flight is ring flight. You know it's the. More than anything. I mean ring flight is ring flight is ring flight. You know it's the same thing. But it's the quality of the props and they look so natural and so organic.
Speaker 1:Everybody carries keys, so to get into ring flight and do a simple trick that lasts 30 seconds, I mean I don't do, uh, dave's full routine. He does the full routine where it goes into his wallet and, you know, little hand comes out and nicks it and all that, which is fabulous, it's fantastic. I love it. I love watching it and it's a great routine. It's online, you can watch it. But, um, I just do the the ring fly.
Speaker 1:I do segue into another trick, obviously not part of my list. Um, uh, the key by wayne dobson. Um, I mean, that trick as well is a astounding. You know, again, camera tricker I'm. I'm starting to realize that, uh, something that gives me sort of like camera trickery type reveals is the way it go. You know where's the cameras there in here. I'm not on tv, I'm right in front of you it? You know, um, so yeah, I segue into the key. Um, because I've got the ring, so why not? You know, you've lent me the ring and I don't go for diamond rings or anything like that. I go for bands because, you know, you hear all these horror stories of people saying that had a 29 carat diamond stone in it. He's like, yeah, did it. And then you've got to prove that it didn't. So, nah, keep away from stones.
Speaker 3:Ask for a wedding band. So yeah, ring flight revolution by dave bonzel is my number seven. Yep, so that brings us to your, your number eight. But I'm gonna. I'm gonna have a guess about who created this one. Ready, I think this is wayne dobson can you see through it or something?
Speaker 1:it's one of his latest ones, funnily enough. I say I don't change my repertoire very often, but when I do, it has to be a good trick, and the one I do, and I usually finish a close-up session. You know, doing the different groups. I finished a group on this. I used to use the Chop Cup for anybody who's interested, great effect. But now I use snooker sorcery.
Speaker 1:Um, it has all the elements to wrap up, uh, a set. You know whether it's 15 minutes or 20 minutes, parlor or 40-minute show on stage. You've got five, potentially six, spectators involved, four with choosing the balls, one actually doing all the administration for you, so you're not even involved in it at all. You know, and it's a very simple trick, if you't know it, check out the trailers but, um, you know, four colored balls are chosen. They're put into small bags. The small bags are put into a big bag. The administrator, the person that you've got helping you, then chooses one of the uh little bags at random. Uh, you then, um, take the ball out and, using the power of nlp or or, you know, being a psychic, whatever you, whatever you want to put your twist on you, can you're able to work out which ball belongs to which person, and it is a simple trick.
Speaker 1:But it doesn't use electronics, so it will never, ever go wrong. The only time it will go wrong is if you muck it up as a performer and there's an added bonus that you can instant stooge someone to actually hand the balls out. Can instant stooge someone to actually hand the balls out. They won't know how you know, and the people whose balls they belong, who whose balls they belong to, don't know how the spectator knows, and even if they have a chat at the end, they still won't be able to work out how it works. So that is now my closer or close up parlor and stage when I do the odd stage show. Um, it's, it's just um genius in its method and um, yeah, so check it out.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's great and you raised the the point that first came to my mind, that for I mean there there's lots of versions of this. I remember there was a very nice wooden version that wasn't electronic and then that sort of inspired an electronic version of of it. Um, but what I like about snooker sorcery more is actually the props. To an extent, it allows the audience to follow what's happening, so the audience can see that it's going into the smaller bag and then going into the larger bag, which really helps with the impossibility of the routine, as opposed to just take a ball off of this stand and put it in your pocket yeah.
Speaker 1:And then the spec. I mean I mean we've, we've, um, as time goes on, and obviously we road test them like I'm road testing back to the future, we wrote I road test everything before we release it, uh, hence we don't release very much over a course of a year and there's a reason for that. We want to make sure that we've covered all bases. It's quite funny because you get the odd email when somebody's bought like saying like snooker sorcery, and and the email says I bought snooker sorcery, I love it to bits, but have you thought about dot, dot, dot, dot, dot and you go and you just want to write back and go yep, we thought about it. There's a reason why we're not doing it. Um, but it's um, it's one of those trips where, see I, it's, it's wayne's mantra, it's been my mantra since I've been with wayne. And you know, for those people that don't know, I used to actually actively perform Wayne's magic when I went out gigging and that is the reason we got together because he said oh, you use my magic and I go, do I? I mean I buy everything you bring out, and it's because it's.
Speaker 1:The method is easy. I've said this a million times the method is easy. The routines are simple so people can follow them. Because if, if they can't follow a routine, like you pointed out, what's the point? I mean, they're gonna go. Yeah, that was good, but I don't get it. But don't mix them up with simplicity in method. You need to practice the routines and the method just as much as anything else.
Speaker 1:But once you've got that, I mean yes, snooker sorcery, it just ticks every single box, every single box, and it will never fail. You, you're the only one who can fail. So, with that kind of like onus, you know that you're going to perform it and it will be correct. Yeah, I've never got it wrong. Well, that's a lie. I've never got it wrong. The only time I get it wrong is when I am performing in front of a bloody camera. I don't know why. I hate cameras. I hate having a camera, I hate things being pointed at me, but in front of spectators, never. So I don't know. Don't know what it is. Maybe it's just. I've got this aversion to plastic. I don't know. It doesn't breathe, it doesn't. You know what it probably is. It doesn't interact. You get interaction from people and you get sort of like little lines that come out and you think I'll keep that and I'll choreograph. I'll choreograph it into, uh, into the next performance, because that was funny or whatever. But yeah, so snooker sorcery is my eighth one.
Speaker 3:Yes yeah, I got that right and what. What I really like is, um, you mentioned the trailer, so there are sort of two trailers that you can see. One is filmed impeccably.
Speaker 1:I don't know who filmed that, but it's great um the the other trailer which I really like is you can actually see wayne performing it on his tv show yeah, so he performed it on his uh, a kind of magic tv show which, incidentally, is on unlimited uh with alex iggins. Now alex iggins was instant stooged for that performance, but he still didn't know how Wayne knew and Wayne never told him. So you know, it's got that dual layer, if you like as well, and it's such a lovely piece of magic, you know it's. It is simple, but don't overlook its simplicity. But it's for what you get from it. I mean it. You know people have no idea yeah, that's a great choice.
Speaker 3:It's a. It's such a superb trick. I do urge everyone to check it out. It is a wonderful routine, but it does bring us onto your two curveball items. So obviously you've had eight items that you could choose from. Now you only have two one book and one non-magic item. Now I'm going to have a guess that the book that you're going to choose happens to be purple, but you know, I'm just guessing. So what did you put in your book position, wayne?
Speaker 1:Dobson's legacy. I have to. It's not because he's my mate and business partner, but there is a lifetime of magic in it. A lifetime, I mean, if I was to scrap everything tomorrow. And that includes every book I've got on the shelf, every trick I've ever bought, everything that I ever do, including what I've just mentioned in the um desert island discs. I I've got enough magic there to last me 20 magicians lives, um and um.
Speaker 1:It's not just the magic, it's the methodology behind the magic, it's the psychology behind the performances, it's his life story. I mean I've got a bit of entertainment while I'm on the uh desert island. I can read his life story and it is funny. There is some sad bits in it, but you know there's loads of anecdotes, there's loads of um. You know things he got up to when he was younger. It's all fun. So that's me entertainment covered. And then I've got the magic itself. In fact snooker sorcery is in the book. If you want to make it yourself, so that's worth the book straight away. But I know magicians are inherently lazy so they always buy the book and then buy the props for snooker sorcery because they can't be bothered to source them. And snooker balls, funnily enough are really expensive at the moment. So but yeah, so that would be the book of choice. Definitely 100, but I know you're going to come up with a curveball for me, aren't you?
Speaker 3:yeah. So everyone who listens to this knows that there's a caveat that you can only take one book. So the easiest way that we've worked out to do this is to think of a volume where maybe a particular trick stands out to you and take that one volume. So what's the one volume from Wayne's books would you take?
Speaker 1:I would take Wayne's Defin collection, which is, uh, the next one, which was the book that was previously released before legacy. Now, obviously, I will lose things like snooker, sorcery and stuff like that and all the new stuff, but, um, I will be able to keep the one trick I would perform out of, uh, the definitive collection that's also in legacy. And, um, although the legacy version has an updated the definitive collection, that's also in Legacy, and although the Legacy version has an updated, improved version. I keep my brain as well, don't I? So I've already got that in my head, but I will be able to use the trick that I would perform all the time out of the definitive collection. So I've curveballed you. So what is that? One routine, though, lucky card all the time out of the definitive collection.
Speaker 3:So I've curveballed you. So what is that? One routine though. Lucky card, yeah. So you showed me this last weekend. I did. Yeah, it's phenomenal, it's absolutely phenomenal, it's phenomenal.
Speaker 1:I mean the synopsis is very simple. You have a card on the table, so you have an open prediction. You ask the spectator if they've got a deck of cards or they're happy to use yours. It doesn't matter, but I prefer this is a magician's trick as much as it is a layperson's trick. But if they've got a deck of cards on them, you use their deck of cards. You don't touch the cards, you get them to shuffle them. They spread out on the table to show how well they're mixed, take out jokers, anything like that. You then ask them to spell lucky card and the cards match. I mean you can't get any better than that.
Speaker 1:Richard Young, bless him, did it. We showed him on the podcast, the Magician's Podcast Live. I'm talking about your rivals now and it's the only trick he ever recommended and he does it all the time. Now. It takes a little while, a bit of practice. It's not a trick that you're going to do immediately and you do need to practice it a bit. There are subtleties that you need to master, but once you've got it down, wow, what a trick. It is fantastic. We bought our DVD. Well, we filmed it at Alakazam, actually with Dave Loosely, and that was the first time he saw the trick and we filmed his reaction. He swore we had to take, take it out, he swore. So. It is a very powerful trick and it's been Wayne's signature trick for I don't know how long it's. It's, it's something and there's a funny anecdote.
Speaker 1:So when I first got uh together with, he invited me to his house in Surrey and I was so excited, I was like a kid in a sweet shop and I went down and obviously went into the house. We went into his office at the time and he said open that cupboard. So I opened the cupboard and it was just full of all the latest releases that he had. And he said right, so you're going to help me demonstrate these tricks at the magic circle dealers day you know the one that used to be in the hotel in Houston and I said, okay, cool. He said, take one of each and and and learn them. You've got about two and a half weeks and I'm sitting there going this is fantastic, you know. And then sitting there going oh, my god, I've got two and a half weeks to learn all these and learn them. Well, to get magicians to buy them, right. So no pressure way, but thanks anyway. Um, I took them home.
Speaker 1:I, every single one, I spent hours every day learning these, mastered them, and then, obviously, the Magic Circle dealer day came. I went there, got to the stand and he's not there His ex-wife's there and I said to her where's Wayne? And she went oh, he's in the bar with a load of magicians. So I went oh, okay, cool, I'll set up here. And I set up all my props, got ready and stuff like that.
Speaker 1:And then Richard I remember it as if it was yesterday Richard Pinner walked up to me and he went show my mate Lucky Card. And I'm like in my head, head, what the is lucky card? Um, and I went I'm sorry, I've no idea. And he went oh, he's been showing it all morning. It's phenomenal. Bloody hell, you know. And uh, we're not going to be here much longer.
Speaker 1:Anyway, at that moment wayne's come, come in and I've gone. Where the bloody hell have you been? I've been at the bar, you know, drinking I don't know, bacardi or something, or vodka they're his favourite tipples, and Amaretto Sour, that's another one. And I said what about this lucky card? And he just looked at me and he goes, I forgot, and then starts bursting out laughing and I'm like I just look a complete pill up now in front of all these magicians that are wanting to see this trick and, um, yeah, so he gave me, uh, he gave me the manuscript and said learn it.
Speaker 1:And, uh, it, I won't lie, it took me about six months to get it down to perfection. I added a few little extra bits that we included in the marketed version, the DVD that allows me to do, to take my time and a beginner to take their time. And uh, yeah, we released it and I think we've been chatting about maybe re-releasing it, uh, as a download on alakazam at some point. So, yeah, if you haven't got it, if you haven't seen it, just look at the dave loosely trailer on alakazam site it, it's awesome, it is awesome. So that is the book I would take, the definitive collection because you won't let me take legacy, which is what I really wanted. Um, because you're asking me to choose throughout the books. And um, yeah, so I can keep lucky card great choice.
Speaker 3:And it does bring us on to your curveball curveball item, which is your non-magic item that you use for magic. Um, I'm really worried what this one's going to be when it comes to you. Uh, so what did you go for?
Speaker 1:I had to think hard and fast about this because it's really difficult and, like I said, most of my props that I tend to use are non-ical and you won't allow me to use them. So I'm going to take Wayne Dobson so he can suffer being on the desert island with me and I've got the most prolific, most. He's a legend, he's a living legend most prolific person by my side as a tap into anything. I mean, if all we're surrounded by is coconut trees, he will come up with a trick with coconuts, you know. So that's who I would take with me. I know it's very cliche, but there's no other choice. There's no other choice.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you're absolutely allowed to take wayne, so people can take other people. My only thing is and this is down to the listeners, right? The question is that you can take something that's not magic, yeah, that you use for magic. I think wayne is about as magic as you can get, so it's down to listeners.
Speaker 3:Do we think that that's allowed or not? You'll have to let me know, but it's a great, great choice. Uh, it's a great list of tricks as well. Um, and, like I said, do go check out wayne's performance of snooker sorcerer as well on the show it's really well, join unlimited and just watch the whole lot, and it's like watching it weekly I'm.
Speaker 1:People came up to me last week and said it's great because it's like, you know, saturday night I can sit and watch it and it's like takes me back to my childhood and things like that. And I'm going yeah, that's exactly why we did it like that is because it is, you know, once a week. It's not like netflix where you binge, watch it for until four o'clock in the morning and it's something to look forward to, you know. So it was yeah, yeah, it's great, great idea by you to do it once a week.
Speaker 3:Well, if people want to find out more about you and Wayne, where can they go to?
Speaker 1:They can go to D-Trick their websites and that's wwwdtrickcom and that's with no, so d-t-r-i-kcom.
Speaker 1:I have to say that because everybody puts detrick with a, c and um.
Speaker 1:Yeah, there's a, there's a bio of all of us and but if you want to know more about wayne, which you know he's the main man, buy Legacy because his autobiography is in there up to date and it's got everything in it so you can learn about his life as a jobbing magician who went on to the clubs in the north, who then went on to appear on the odd guest show, then went to the Palladium guest show, then got his, went to the Palladium and then went and got his own show and the rest of it and all all that, and then the MS and how it's affected him and uh, he's uh, uh synopsis of his marriages. Oh, all good, it's all in there, uh. And also a lot a lot of people don't know is that the second book, a kind of magic, has a complete chronological um listing of every trick he did on all these a kind of magic series and why he did it and what was involved and sometimes the odd price, how much it cost. So that's really interesting to read, especially for magicians.
Speaker 1:And of course you're always at conventions as well. I don't know if we're doing the session as a dealer, but we'll be at Blackpool, obviously. And yeah, it'll be great, it'll be great, it'll be great, we'll catch up again. We was next to one another last week as well, weren't we?
Speaker 3:yeah it was good fun, great well. Thank you so much for coming along and sharing your list at long last thank you for inviting me.
Speaker 1:It's been an absolute pleasure and really fun.
Speaker 3:But if you guys want to be a part of one of these, don't forget we do have Stranded with a Stranger, so you can send in your list. Send it in to sales at alakazamcouk. Please, in the subject line put my desert island tricks. That way it comes through to me. Do give us a little bio and, of course, why you chose those tricks. With that being said, we're going to main podcast next Friday. So thank you all for listening and we'll see you again next week. Goodbye.
Speaker 2:When I perform at gigs, I look at effects that tick these three boxes. Is it super strong and powerful? Yes, will it last with your spectators for a lifetime? Absolutely, and does it leave them with a souvenir that perfectly captures the moment of magic? If that all sounds exactly what you're after, look no further than the liquid forks. These forks have been custom designed to be able to bend right in front of your spectators eyes. It's so easy to perform, it's so visual and, trust me, they will honestly keep this impossible object because they've seen it morph in front of their eyes. It literally does the impossible.
Speaker 2:Not only that Liquid Forks comes with 50 of these forks in each pack and it comes with the full liquid forks routine taught by the world famous David Penn. Not only that, we have a subscription service. If you guys love these forks and you get through them at your gigs, we now offer a monthly subscription where you get sent a box through every single month at a 10% reduced fee. Like I said, you guys are going to be loving these. You're going to be performing them every chance you can. Trust me, the reactions are second to none. So, guys, head over to anikazamcouk, pick up a set of liquid thoughts you will not regret it. Easy to do, leaves them with a killer souvenir. And, to be honest with you, it's not cards, it's not coins, it's not mentalism, it's something beyond belief. Check out now, guys, the Liquid Forks.