Desert Island Tricks
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To find out more about the team behind Desert Island Tricks, please visit: www.alakazam.co.uk
Desert Island Tricks
John Morton
Step into the incredible mind of our special guest, the brilliant magician John Morton, who shares his innovative approach to creating captivating illusions. Discover the philosophy behind his celebrated trick "Impostor," a masterpiece that took over a year and a half to perfect, and learn how John’s commitment to simplicity and accessibility shapes his performance style. As a testament to his creative genius, John even invites you to unlock hidden secrets with the code word "matchbox," hinting at an exclusive new trick that promises to leave audiences spellbound.
Join us as we explore the art of mentalism, highlighting the versatile charm of "Inside Out" by Pro Mystic. This episode shines a light on the strategic nuances of audience engagement, especially in lively settings like weddings. Through entertaining anecdotes, we reveal how a unique Lego deck mentalism trick, involving delightful Mini-Figure cards, transforms mind reading into a memorable experience for participants and spectators alike. Our discussion underscores the importance of presentation, ensuring each performance leaves a lasting impression that resonates with audiences long after the final applause.
Finally, be inspired by tales of John's creative journey with tricks like the visually stunning "Love Ritual" and the evolution of the renowned "21st Century Phantom." We also delve into the impact of magic literature on performance techniques, sharing recommendations like Derren Brown's “Notes of a Fellow Traveller" and Henning Nelms' "Magic and Showmanship." Whether you're a seasoned magician or a curious newcomer, this episode promises to enrich your understanding of the enchanting art of magic, blending innovation with timeless tradition.
John’s Desert Island List:
- Inside Out (with TOXIC Ending)
- Business Card Peek
- That Figures
- 21st Century Phantom
- Love Ritual
- Stand up Monte
- Imposter
- The Red Ball
Book. Notes from a Fellow Traveller
Item. Dungeons and Dragons Dice Bag
Find out more about the creators of this Podcast at www.alakazam.co.uk
a few years back now, just before lockdown, I think it was the father of the groom wanted me to do this trick for him. So I'm like, okay, yeah, fair enough, right on. Then blah, blah, blah, usual sort of thing and I named the name of the dog that was his dog and he burst into tears. I mean, this was a guy that towered over me. He must have been six foot four, something like that, and probably nearly as wide as well, the as well. The guy was huge and he just burst into tears and gave me the biggest hug in the world, nearly crushed me, and the reason for it is because I'd named the name of this dog that he had as a kid. So to him it was a really special moment and I think if you're doing mentalism, if you can make it personal, you can't beat it. It's just an amazing reaction you get from people. You know anything that can do, a personal moment is important.
Speaker 3:Hello and welcome to another episode of Desert Island Tricks. A guest is waiting to be marooned on his island. Now. Today's guest is sort of a prolific creator of magic at this point. He's created some really clever pieces of magic over the past couple of years. Now, if you see the quality of his effects as well, he really does put an awful lot of time and respect into the effects that he creates.
Speaker 3:Most recently, impostor was a really, really clever way to do a Karasuke style routine, and I know that he builds and creates so many different tricks. He's also a Penn and Teller fooler with his wonderful trick, which is in my close-up case. He knows it's in my close-up case. I have both versions of his book as well, called the Baby Book. I cannot praise him highly enough. Not only that, but he's super, super lovely. He's one of the nicest people that you'll meet in our industry, and if you get the chance to see him at a convention or book him for a lecture or any of the other places you can find him, make sure you go up to him because you will not be disappointed. So of course, today's guest, by looking at the title, is Mr John Morton. Hello, john.
Speaker 1:Hello, that was an amazing intro. Checks in the post, mate.
Speaker 3:I'd be rich now if everyone paid me for the introduction. That's good, but it's all very, very true. Obviously, everyone knows you for your incredible creations, but more the quality that you put into your routines as well.
Speaker 1:Yeah, the thing is, I think, because I set myself certain rules, for everything I release has to be simple, has to be beginner up to pro level, but still strong enough for a pro to work, and I put lots of constraints on how it has to be. No memory work almost self-working, means it's open for everybody. And no electronics too, which is sort of another thing I've kind of added into the list, um, which is why imposter was a year and a half in the making of ready, to be honest, to get to level it with that and it was wonderful, though, because it's such a good quality effect uh, wait till blackball well, I've seen a prototype of another trick that you know I love as well.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's the one that's going to be under the table, that not many people know about. That's the one they have to come and ask me what's under the table.
Speaker 3:Wait there. We should give them a little code word so that they know they've listened to this and that's why they've come to the table. What?
Speaker 1:code word can we give them?
Speaker 3:Let's just, say matchbox, matchbox, all right. Uh, let's just, they can say matchbox, matchbox, all right.
Speaker 1:so if you've listened to this and you want to see the trick. John's only going to have them under the table and I'm I'm taking one. John knows I'm going straight yes, you've got one mate, don't worry, the balls out um it's great.
Speaker 3:so, uh, with that being said, let's get into the concept of the podcast, if this is your first time listening. The idea is that we're about to maroon John onto his own island. When he's there, he's allowed to take eight tricks, one book and one non-magic item that he uses for magic Particulars like who's there? Are there animals there? Is there an audience? Is there a boat? All of that good stuff, we do not mind. It is all in John's imagination. It is all in John's imagination. With that being said, let's find out what he has in his list. He's reassured me that he has some very, very good tricks in there, so let's find out what's in his first position, right?
Speaker 1:I didn't think this was going to be hard to organize this list, and I bet everybody says this. It's funny, everybody should do this as a sort of process is go through and look at all the different things that they have, and I realized I have certain plots that I fall into. Um, where I do the same trick, well, essentially, but in a different style. Um, I'm kind of obsessed with different plots, so I'm not going to start with any of those plots first. I'm going to start with my favorite trick, the one trick I could not live without, and that is Inside Out by Pro Mystic. But because it's hollow, it has toxic as a reveal in the end. So I actually get two tricks out of one there. So you're going to kind of sneak one in already before you even start.
Speaker 1:So basically, the way I have it, it can be set up with different size. It's basically a cube. It's like a small cube. It's about I don't know an inch by inch. I suppose you can have different color size on it or different images, whatever you want on the sides. I have colors on the side of it, so I always joke that it's the smallest and easiest Rubik's Cube in the world and essentially it's one of those ones where they can place it in their hands or they put whatever colour they want on top of the cube. They cover it over and I can read their minds and tell them what the colour on top of the cube is. The nice thing, particularly with the inside-out cube, is you can open one side up and show that there's nothing inside. It's just a hollow plastic square cube thing, basically. So inside there, like I said, I normally have a piece of paper that has a reveal in it, which normally has the date on it, which is yeah, that's essentially what Inside Out is, and I get so much mileage out of this.
Speaker 1:It's my opener on every single table. It's probably my favorite trick that I own, and I own two of them because I never want to be without it, so if one literally got stood on or whatever, I could just walk to my car and pick the other one up and carry on. It's also I know we're not allowed to start methods here it's not rechargeable. It's the other way you could do these things, which means if it does go down you in the middle of a gig and you know it's going to because it has a strange kind of you get a strange vibration that something's wrong. You can then fix it there and then, basically, I hope that kind of codes it. Penn has a good job on Penn and Stella Fuller's doesn't he? He has to do this stuff off the cuff.
Speaker 3:Yeah, primistic stuff is great. Now, earlier on you mentioned that one of the criterias in creating new magic is to not make it electronic, so it's interesting that your first choice is an electronic item.
Speaker 1:Yes, I used to be king of electronics. I had so many gizmos and gadgets on me. I was like batman, um. But what I found is, um, I didn't feel like a magician, not even in the slightest, because it was um, it was just. It did everything for me and I didn't like that, um. So over the years I've literally got rid of everything apart from the inside out, and the only reason I've got that still is because it's fully examinable. You can see inside and out. Literally there's nothing to find, there's nothing to see. It's just a cube that's hollow, basically, which is why and it's never, ever let me down In 20 years, it's never let me down once, never, ever let me down in 20 years it's never let me down once. You know, um, if it's gone down mid-gig, it's gone down because I haven't charged, well, I haven't put a new battery in it, and he's new actually in it. So, basically, I've literally just gone to the toilet, let's put one in and I'm back again. So, yeah, um, it is, it's 100 reliable.
Speaker 1:It's literally a workhorse for me, every single person, every single table. It's my opener, because the way I use inside out or the way I use the cube is essentially, I will give it to people and I'll say to them I need to test it back and read or get into your head, basically. So this is what I use to sort of tell if I can get into your head or not. So put it on your hand, put the company water on top, cover it over and then essentially read them and then, if I can get into their heads, I'll be able to tell them what the colour is. And if I can't get into their head, then I won't tell them what the colour is. I'll get it wrong. Simplifies it. Sometimes I will get it wrong, sometimes on. It's as simple as that. Sometimes I will get it wrong, sometimes on purpose. So it just works really well.
Speaker 1:And the nice thing with it on a round table if I'm doing this on a round table because it goes round the people, it's the opener to it, it gets everybody watching. So anybody that was chatting I don't have to interrupt them. The person next to them will tap and go yeah, do this, do this and explain to them what they've got to do, and then now they're paying attention without me going. You stop talking, kind of you know so, because I'm not. It's funny, because I'm not one of these guys that likes to interrupt people when they're talking, because I think it's rude.
Speaker 1:But essentially that's our job as a callistic magician. We have to go and sort of barge away into a table and sort of take over, as it were. So it's a difficult thing to do, but with this Inside Out Cube I've found that that's a nice subtle way to do it. You only need one person to pay attention and then somebody else will see what I'm doing and go. Oh, I want to go with that. And before you know it it's going around the table. Now everyone's paying attention. I'm good to go, and I've already figured out by going around who the alpha male is, who's going to try and catch me out, all that kind of stuff. So by one circuit around the table I know who's the person to avoid, who's the person that's going to love it, who's the person that's a true believer, all that kind of stuff.
Speaker 1:And then follow on with Toxic. At the end of it you've got like a hell of a closer. It's almost like a master prediction thing at the end of it. It was much easier when Toxic was just the old way, but Toxic Plus now, I think, is my go-to on this kind of thing. But those two sort of effects essentially they're really one thing in my book because they're all collected. That's a hell of an opener. It's really strong. You know, you read everybody and then you predict something that everybody's doing on their phone. You can't beat it as an opener. You really can't.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's a great choice and Pro Mystic really are a reliable resource for that kind of trick and those who worry about that style of trick and stay away from it because they're worried about it going down or whatever. Um, all you do have to do is listen to the full-time working pros who are out there using these day in, day out, table at table at table, to know how reliable they are. They really are a very reliable uh routine. Uh, but it does bring us on to number two. So what did you put in your second position?
Speaker 1:Okay. So two is it's a peak In particular the business card peak that's on my lecture available. In fact, if you watch my ArcaZam lecture you'll notice most of these tricks are probably in my lecture at some point, because I do do it through my working set and these are genuinely things I go out with. So this is the second trick I do on the table and it's a thing where I just have a stack of business cards and I get somebody to write down the name of their first pet and then they show everybody on the card who the first pet is. That's the reason they've written it down. It gets just thrown into the middle of my business card stack, so it's gone, and then I basically, using like a psychic hangman kind of scenario on a blank business card, work out what the name of the pet is essentially, and usually I can tell them roughly what color it is and what breed it is. If it's a dog or whatever, I usually get a rough idea of what the actual animal looks like too, which, if you get that, as all those are hit, it's incredibly strong. The nice thing with it and you'll know it's stupid. As I go down my list, most of it's sort of mentalism orientated, I think anything, any effect that's like this, where it's something that's very, very personal to them, um is really, really strong. I mean to give you um.
Speaker 1:To give you an example I did a wedding a few years back now, just before lockdown I think it was, and the it was the father of the groom, father of the groom, father of the groom wanted me to do this trick for him. So I'm like, okay, yeah, fair enough, right on the name blah, blah, blah, usual sort of thing. And I named the name of the dog. That was his dog and I guess it was like a it was like a black sheep dog type thing and he burst into tears. I mean, this was a guy that towered over me. He must have been six foot four or something like that, and probably nearly as wide as well. It must have been like Jurassic Park. When he's walking through into a room You'll see the rings of the coffee cup kind of appear, because the guy was huge and he just burst into tears and gave me the biggest hug in the world, nearly crushed me, and the reason for it is because I'd named the name of this dog that he had as a kid and everybody hated this dog.
Speaker 1:It was so evil they had to leave it in the shed. It didn't live in the house, they couldn't have it in the shed. It was too vicious. It lived in the shed and the only person that would go anybody go near it would be him. It protected him as a kid. So for him he had this special bond with this dog and it was like the two of them were just connected, whereas everybody else was sort of wasn't included in that little circle. So to him it was a really special moment and I think if you're doing mentalism, if you can make it personal, um, especially something as strong as that, you can't beat it. It's just an amazing reaction you get from people. You know anything that can do a personal moment is important.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think it breaks the boundaries between believability right, because if a card comes to the top of the deck, then one would say that that's quite clearly not magic, albeit still amazing and incredibly clever but the idea of you being able to pluck a thought from someone or read someone's body language, there's like a believability there that that could be a real thing yeah, I mean, I did a wedding fair yesterday and I had a lady who was convinced I was psychic and I always shy away from that kind of conversation.
Speaker 1:But she was like no, you're definitely psychic. I'm like, no, I'm not. I'm using statistics, I'm using psychology and I'm using a lot of perceptions to try and sort of figure out what it is and make it look like I can read minds. No, you're definitely psychic. 100% Wouldn't believe me. So I was like right, fair enough, whatever. So there's some people you just that you can't convince them. The more you deny it, the more they believe you are. So I don't know, it's a funny thing.
Speaker 1:When I first started out going down the Methodism line, I wanted to have this sort of backstory that was never told to anybody, never written. But in my head the backstory was if I could do this stuff for real, people would be scared of me. So how would I hide that? But use it to make money to live, basically. So you'd hide it behind the sort of cover of being a magician. So the sort of untold story backstory line of my character I guess is is he can do this stuff for real, but he hides behind the image of a magician to, so people don't freak out and think he's a weirdo.
Speaker 1:Basically, um, and I think the tricks I've picked over the years and the way that I present things sort of tells that, without actually saying it. If you know what I mean, it's the conclusion they seem to come to a lot of the time and that's the difference between, I think, magic and mentalism. It's a funny one with it. I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm not one of these guys that thinks mentalism is different to magic. We're using the same methods, we're using the same techniques. It's just presented in a different way. You know it's a difficult one. I don't do disclaimers, um, but if somebody does ask, push me on the psychic thing, I'll say that I'm using psychology and statistics and perception, things like that. You know that's, that's my sort of thing. Like it's one of those subjects that divides a lot of magicians that one I know well, it's a great opening gambit.
Speaker 3:So we've got pro mystic and now a sort of a name reveal or business card peak. So that, what does that bring us?
Speaker 1:uh, in your third spot, so my third spot is one of my own and it's the Lego deck. That figures is the trick, but it's the deck of Lego minifigure cards and it's one of those tricks I created. It was probably because of Craig Kressy and Ryland more than anything. Well, ryland in particular. Craig asked me to create something for Ryland and I created this. It was based on my Icon lottery trick, but it was done with Lego minifigures and it was a case of they picked three figures out and one was going to be the head, one was going to be the body, one was going to be the legs and essentially I had a prediction that it was the Lego minifigure. Basically, that was it. It was a mixed-up Lego figure and it was a stage piece and I wanted to do it close-up. So I created the Lego deck.
Speaker 1:So basically, it's a load of Lego cards that has a few secrets built into it, particularly around the back, that enables you to very, very easily guess who the Lego minifigures they're thinking of. And I do it with three people at once, so I get three people to just grab the deck, do what I want with it. They can shuffle it, do whatever they want. They each take out a figure that they like the look of. So there's some really wonderful ones in there. And then there's some like superheroes in there, there's like Star Wars characters in there, there's Muppets in there, there's Star Wars characters in there, there's Muppets in there, you name it. There's all kinds of wonderful Lego figures and then from that I guess what colour their character is and then I guess what their character is and it gets that reaction that you see on trailers that you always think sometimes is fake, where they run around screaming and they do that David Blaine kind of moment, which I always think, yeah, but surely that doesn't really work in the real world. It's the only trick I think that I've ever done that creates that. I'm certainly that I've created, where people literally jump up and run around screaming and want to run away and stuff. It's that strong, it's a weird one.
Speaker 1:The nice thing with it is, I mean, when we brought it out, it came with like a big long tutorial. Craig did it like well, you know what Craig's like. It was a massive tutorial at the end of it with Ryland, so it wasn't important for me that Ryland was on it as well, and one of the tricks that's not on there do if I'm going to do it on stage and I've never told anybody this, I don't think, but you can do guess who with it. So what you can do is, essentially, you can get three people up on stage. This only works if you've got a camera, really. But three people up on stage, they each take a character, they pick one out that they like the look of you, dribble the deck down, they put the card in each time and you spread the cards all over the table face up, and essentially you can do a plot line similar to what Darren did when he did Guess Whom. Essentially, by asking a few questions, you can narrow it down very, very quickly to what the mega figure is, because by the time they put it back into the deck, you already know what it is anyway. So you're so far ahead.
Speaker 1:It's all about the presentation, which most of my tricks, to be honest, are. Um, I don't want convoluted methods that I've got to try and remember how to knuckle busting, do some crazy move. I just want to concentrate on presentation, because that's the bit that people remember. Nobody's going to go. Compliment you how good your double lift is, or um, oh, that was brilliant. Diagonal pass from the middle or whatever. They're not going to do that. Magicians might, but lay people aren't. Lay people are going to go. Well, I don't know how he did it, he just somehow read my mind and you know, if the presentation is engaging and fun, then it's a win-win.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, lego Deck would be the one. That's on my third position, which is interesting because those three items do actually have a plot line and that's the mind reading plot, I guess, because all three of those are essentially you choose something or name something and I guess what it is. So, which is pure mentalism, I suppose.
Speaker 3:Well, that's where they come in yeah, it's great and it's nice that it's just a bit quirkier as well. Obviously, inside out is quirky, depending on what presentation. The business card peak is quite direct, but I guess this would level the amount of shock, maybe maybe after the business card peak, if you're doing this as part of the set. So yeah, and it's great how you can get so much out of it. You can get close-up and parlor pieces from that deck as well.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well most of the things that I've got on this list, and here's an idea for a future podcast for you. You should have a list for close-up and a list for stage, because I could have easily made you two lists here, one that covers stage and one that covers close-up. And there is a lot of tricks that blur the lines, and some of my tricks on this list very much blur the lines. You could do both. You could do stage or close-up with them, and I like tricks like that because I think if you're going to do a trick and work it enough so you really know it well, it's it's helpful if that trick's able to sort of scale up. If you know, I mean if you were having to do like a cabaret piece or something which you could definitely do with these well, it's a great opening three effects, but it does bring us nicely into number four.
Speaker 3:So what did you put in your fourth position?
Speaker 1:so my fourth position is the probably the trick I'm best known for, certainly in the magic community anyway, and that's 21st century phantom. Um, that trick. I owe a lot for. This trick, um is the trick again is want to do every single table a different person each time. I can cut probably about 350 different people now over the years. Oh, that reminds me. Oh, we're not on camera, are we? That's such a shame because I've cut one of you. I'll send you a picture of it later. I have a 21st century Phantom of yours. I was going to surprise you with it someone knocking around behind me. I'll dig it out and send you a picture later, mate, we'll put it on social media somewhere.
Speaker 1:But yeah, 21st Century Phantom, the biggest problem with it, I mean, if anyone doesn't know what it is. Essentially this is an old trick by Anneman years and years ago called the President's Trick, where essentially he would get somebody to name a president and he would essentially cut a side silhouette out of that person. It was later done in the 1980s by Paul Daniels. He did Elvis on his Paul Daniels magic show in an A4 size and then later on Oz Perlman made it famous via Penguin Magic and now through Alakazam. It's owned by Alakazam, I believe, now the writers of 31st Century Phantom, partly due to a conversation with Peter a few years back, and it's. It's an amazing trick where, with the, with the new version of it, the sort of 21st side of it, I suppose, is that rather than it being a side profile portrait, it's actually like a face on silhouette of the person, so it actually looks like their face. Um, I do this with a um, a blank face deck that every card is different, it's got a different name on it and essentially, um. I riffle down the deck and they just choose one. Essentially they say stop, and that's the card they've gone, the person they've gone for. Having a little bit of reading from that, I have a load of patter for them and then I divide who it is and then essentially cut the silhouettes out and they get to keep it. And the biggest problem when it first came out, when I was brought out, was the silhouettes were a pain to cut, really hard. It really really hard to came out, and I solved that problem a few years back with the help of a friend of mine called um jason, who's a kid's insane, mr shiny, for anybody that knows mr shiny um and with the help of him we solved that problem and luckily for me.
Speaker 1:I'd been making silhouettes since I was 16. I just didn't realize how friendly they would come in. So for me to make these silhouettes it's been second nature. It's very, very easy to make them. So I sometimes use several filters to get the image right.
Speaker 1:I sometimes literally go back to pen and paper and do it old school. I had to do that for um, for elton john, for a thing for him um, there's a name drop for your clang. Uh for a magician, to uh present to elton john. That took a week to do and that was that I literally had to go back to pen and paper and do it proper old school for that one.
Speaker 1:But it's a brilliant trick and since then I've worked with several magicians around the world on on different silhouette projects where it's not necessarily 21st century phantom but it's a project where they need a phantom type silhouette. So it's a project where they need a phantom type silhouette. So it's built me a reputation with lay people and it's kind of built me a reputation in the magic community as well, I guess, because whenever anybody mentions on any of the Facebook groups that they need a silhouette of somebody. My name seems to pop up about three or four times and then I get a phone call. So yeah, it's a brilliant trick. Everybody should well. No, I don't want anybody else to do, actually, just leave it for me. I'll be the only one that does it, yeah it's a great, great choice.
Speaker 3:It's one that we've had before and no doubt we will have again. It's a great effect and it's one that when you do it certainly I used do it at weddings and it just gets a phenomenal reaction unlike anything really before it.
Speaker 1:It is. It's just incredible and it's probably the ultimate giveaway, because you're giving away a piece of art and it's amazing how many people that I've been to like months or even years ahead of time and they bring out their phone and it's in the back of their phone case. I get that all the time, you know. Um, it's surprising. So it's the best advert for yourself you could do, especially if you make sure there's a business card with it when I perform at gigs, I look at effects that tick these three boxes.
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Speaker 3:Check out now, guys, the liquid forks. Yeah, it's a great, great choice, and it does bring us to your halfway line, which is number five. So what's in your fifth position? So?
Speaker 1:um, this is a tricky one now for me. Let me think Okay, so I'm going to go for one. I was literally doing all that yesterday at the wedding fair and we made a right mess, but we had a really good laugh, and that's Woody Aragon's Love Ritual. I absolutely love this trick and I've got a shortened version of this, so if anybody doesn't know what, it is essentially everybody in the group. So yesterday I was at the wedding fair and we had probably about 15 people around me in a massive crowd around us, because we'd built up this crowd and I thought what the hell will do, woody Arrogant?
Speaker 1:So I doled out four cards to everybody that were stood around and you, essentially, you rip the cards up, you mix them up in various different ways, which is lots of humour with it. They're throwing cards in the air, so there's cards flying everywhere and at the end they're left with one card and one half that they've already put away at the start and the card and two halves much, and the magic's done in their hands, which is always the best kind of magic if it's something that they do themselves but they don't know how. I think it's just incredibly strong, and I do this close-up at tables and I do it stage, and I've done it literally for a whole wedding party before, which goes really, really well. If you do this at a wedding, I mean the venue hate you because there's cards everywhere. But, um, you should have seen the mess at the wedding fair last night. I did take a picture of it, actually, at the end of the day. It was really tidy at the start. By the end of it, there was silhouette cuttings everywhere and half cards all around my area.
Speaker 1:But I'll tell you one thing, though, and this was a learning fair, because I did the Woody Arrogant trick halfway through the day, and then we kept getting groups coming up to us going, what's this, what's this? And they were asking what the cards were on the floor, and that got me instantly straight into a in, straight into doing some more magic and getting bigger crowds. Um, and then we do Woody Arrogant at the end of it, which brought even more people in because they saw all these cards flying everywhere. Um, I never thought doing that at a wedding fair was a good idea, but it's going to be something I'll carry on doing from now on because, yeah, it makes a hell of a mess. I might have to take a sweeping brush with me from now on for the end, but it was worth it. It really was. The crowds were massive and the response was phenomenal. And off the back of it, we got five bookings on the day straight away, and I've already had more inquiries coming through on my email.
Speaker 1:So yeah, I think it showed that you can do something bigger than just the small close-up stuff as well. So, yeah, definitely Woody Aragon's Love Ritual. It's by far one of the best strips out there that covers both close-up and stage. But you do need to cut it down. Don't make it so complicated. Work on work on the um, on simplifying it, because when the drunk at a wedding they won't follow all the rules that willie harrigan puts into it. The phases I've got down quite a lot yeah, it's a great choice.
Speaker 3:I mean any trick that pet and teller put into their stage show, like they did, uh, several years ago. You know it was a standout moment. But what was lovely is, if you do that sort of effect in a large room, like you just mentioned, a wedding room or even a small theater, seeing all of those cards throw up in the air. It was one of the tricks as well that got me through the pandemic doing virtual shows.
Speaker 3:I did it with um I had like a pack that I sent out to all of the guests and they had really beautiful postcards which they tore up um, and then, of course, one matched. So yeah, it's such a wonderful, wonderful trick, it's such a great routine, and your idea of doing it at a, you know, in a wedding room, with lots of people throwing it over their head like almost like confetti, I guess I think it'd look great it does.
Speaker 1:It's got that, you know, like when the singing waiters do that thing where they wave serviette over your heads, it's got that kind of thing about. If they film it, there's all these cards going up every time like confetti. It's got a really good visual moment for the sort of video guys to capture, you know, and if the photographer's there, obviously we catch all the cards up there. It just looks great. And the weird thing with it is um, it's such a hard thing to follow because the moment it goes right, everybody instantly starts talking to everybody. You can't shut them up for about five minutes. So in in my stage show, I do this in my stage show and it's the end of my acts in my stage show because you can't follow it afterwards, because they just won't show. Feel like me on this podcast yeah, it's great.
Speaker 3:It's such a good trick and a great choice, but it does bring us to number six. What did you put in your sixth position?
Speaker 1:Right. Sixth position Okay. So I think what should we do for the sixth one? I've got these. These are not necessarily in the order, apart from inside out and stuff. I'll go for one that's a bit predictable. It's been named 100 times already it's probably number one on your list I'm getting up my way and that's Stand Up Monty by Garrett Thomas.
Speaker 1:It's a three card Monty plot. It's done in the hand, except I don't do it in the hand. I mix it with a traditional Monty plot on the table. So it looks very different to Stand Up Monty. Lots of interaction, lots of comedy in it and it's an absolute gold mine for me. That trick. When in Fern I've built a crowd.
Speaker 1:I'll do a stand up Monty after I've already done the mind reading tricks. I'll go into this because it shows I can do cards. I explain that this is a con. Don't ever play this game. If you see it on the streets, I'm going to lie and shoot all the way through it, which is a lovely moment. I really like that plot that Darren does in one of his shows where he says where he's doing mediumship and he's going so your grandma's here and she's telling me this and she isn't because I'm lying to you and I like that contrast where he's sort of saying the performance but then explain that he's lying and it's all rubbish. So I do the same with this. I explain I'm playing this game, but I'm lying to you, I'm cheating all the way through it. Don't trust me. You know, I like that contrast of really messing with their heads a bit.
Speaker 1:So yeah, stand-up, monty Garrett Thomas. I know he's been named a hundred times, which is quite boring because it's got to be. Everybody should learn it. It took me a month to learn and it's still one of the sort of go-to tricks I always do in my set. If I've got a table, I'll do it. I don't tend to do it in the hand. I've seen people do it in the hand do it a lot better than I do. I know that's traditional way, but for me I like it on the table Just because it's got such amazing moments of magic in it. It really has, and I've got lots of comedy bits I've added into it at the start which I've thrown for a loop at the start as well, so they never quite know what's happening. So yeah, stand-up Monty it's just brilliant.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it has been named quite a few times at this point, but you were the first person to say that they do it on the table.
Speaker 1:Well, that's good, at least I've got something new to it then well, I think that's a really interesting thought.
Speaker 3:Uh, because of course it is a routine. The whole point of the routine, I presume, was it was created to be an in the hands version of the monty, but that doesn't mean that it won't be brilliant for a more formal parloury sort of situation as well. So I think that's a really interesting thought that you do stand-up Monty on the table.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think we actually filmed on my lecture. I think we filmed it. We didn't explain it, but I think we filmed it. So if anybody's got the routine and wants to see how I do it on the table with the extra jokes and the extra bits in the start of it and it's a simplified version as well of the standard model, so it's took out any kind of really hard moves to do, because I'm not a car guy by any means get the lecture, have a look at it and you'll see. It'll take you a little while to get through it, but because you'll have the cards, you'll know what's going on and you could marry up the routines together. You'll go oh, that's what he's doing. You could probably figure out exactly how the routine is working. But it absolutely kills with the audiences. It really does. It's a really good table. Pleaser that one.
Speaker 3:Well, that does bring us to the tail end of your eight tricks. So what did you put into number seven?
Speaker 1:So seven, unfortunately, is another one of mine and it's again, it's another one of these funny plots. So if you look at the sort of tricks I've named so far, we've got interactive plot, which is essentially Woody Arrogant, toxic Plus that's essentially a thing, although with Toxic Plus, like I say, I do it as part of the queue, it's not really one of the tricks, it's like a I don't know an extra thing, but that's an interactive plot. I like the prediction style of that as well. Master Prediction would get a sort of honorary recommendation too. But the plot I love most and I don't know why, but I seem to make loads of these tricks is the plot one in five plot. Because if you look at the one in five plot, it's essentially a bank night routine. It could be a Russian roulette routine or it could be a Kurosuke routine and they're all essentially find the one thing in the five things. Essentially I've got a banknight routine. That I've got, um, um, I'm an honorary mention on the on banknight routines, my fish 50. But the one, uh, yours, my mystery, is brilliant as a sort of pax more plays big, um the same with russian roulette scott, scott, alexander spike. You can't go wrong with that risk. You can't go wrong with that Risk. You can't go wrong with that with the Saper Guns. But the one I would take with me 100% is my own and it's Impostor Purely because from that little tiny cardboard tube and the five sticks I can get 15 minutes of lots of comedy, lots of interaction, and it's basically Max Maven's Kurosuke routine, just made smaller and easy to carry but plays incredibly big, you know, and I've had loads more humor to it now. It's just brilliant. So I do it. I mean, the routines are still very similar to Bane without Bane. I mean they don't die in mine because yours are poisoned, I know, when Matt first did the original sort of thing with it, uh, possibly use bane as a of your own, which is a fantastic trick, by the way, if anyone has not got bane, they should get it, because it is a brilliant trick and the props are so beautiful. I don't know how you managed to keep that to the price it was, to be honest. Um, that's a miracle in itself, to be honest. Uh, imposter.
Speaker 1:Basically, we get five people up on stage. Well, actually, I get one person up on stage first, and I explained that by coming up on stage they have essentially assigned themselves to be murdered. So I say to them, before they actually get killed, they can choose five people that they think in the audience would murder them. So there's lots of comedy there. They pick five shifty-looking people, they perform on stage and then I tell the person to die on stage. So that person. I say we sit them down, because I don't like to get them to lie down. But they die on stage. And then they get handed a really dodgy Oscar for overacting, because they usually overact when they do it. And then from the five people that are on stage, the five people, we get them to stick. One of them's got a red dot on it. That's your murderer. And then from that we get each of them have to do an evil laugh to show that they're the evil sort of villain, because it's done like a lined up thing for police. Then they have to mime what dodgy weapon they use and they've all got crazy weapons they could have used and finally they have to have a dodgy alibi. And then from that we eliminate them down until we've got the one person. That's the murderer. That's your conclusion, essentially. I don't do the prediction at the end because I think it's overkill. I don't do the prediction at the end because I think it's overkill, I don't think it's needed, but some people kind of feel like the idea of it. But just from that small packed, small place, big scenario, again, it can be done close up, it can be done stage. So, yeah, it's just great. It's just a really good little trick. I'm very proud of Impostor.
Speaker 1:It took a year and a half of going through the most bizarre methods in the world. You'll know, because you're a creator, sometimes you overthink these things, don't you? And you go well, I'll do it this way. And then it's got some really convoluted methods and I had several convoluted methods. I went through for this thing, trying to keep to all the rules I had, and I got it down to two. And I went to dinner with Tom Wright, who's a good friend of mine, who's been on here, and I gave him the final decision between the two and he went for the most simple one. He went that one. It's the simplest method and it works. Why would you not have that? So, and out of the two, he was right because the one that he rejected wasn't as examinable, whereas this one is 100% examinable all the way through it. So yeah, so imposter would be in my seventh position, which you probably have guessed those tricks up to now. But I don't think you'll guess the eighth one yeah, imposter is so, so good.
Speaker 3:I remember when I first saw it I just thought it's just a great little idea. You know it's that game. When you were younger we used to have to pull out the short straw, and you know it's used so often in public. Uh, everyday talk. You know who pulled the short straw, or you got the short straw, it's such a normal thing. So to bring out this prop of these straws, it almost feels like that game straight away. So it's instantly relatable to the audience, which I think is great it's funny.
Speaker 1:You should say that because that was the code word for it for the three year and a half. It was called short straw, um. And. And it's funny because craig, when he does a little thing on it, calls it short straw, because he saw it very early on and he knew it then a short straw. And it did start out originally with that plot line, because I always like to do any plot line. That becomes a game or could be a game. I think it's brilliant.
Speaker 1:And it was originally that with you held the straws and I wanted to. Originally it was going to be the whole five straws in their hands and one of them was short and they'd pull it out and then you'd guess who the short straw was. But then I realized if it's in your hand you'd be able to feel it. So they're going to say it's going to have to feel it. So that meant I have to go in a tube. But then if it's in a tube it can't be short because it would just drop down. So then it has to's a different color tip and it's in the tube. And all these different things stages it went through from, from being the shortest straw to being one with a different um. So, yeah, I love the fact that you you recognize that that's where it came from, because that is literally the genesis of that trick was the short straw game. Um, and I still, I still refer to it as short straw.
Speaker 1:The funny thing is the name imposter was actually the name of the book I'm writing, with all my trips in it, cause I suffer massively from imposter syndrome. So the the books actually called imposter and it was just because I needed a new name for it. And Craig went you need a new name for it. You can, went you need a new name for it. You can't call it short straw because it's not a short straw. And I went right, okay, we'll call it the imposter then, because it's the imposter stick, and that's so. Now I've got to change the name of my book. So, and if you go to Vegas and you go to see the Cundress show, the Cabinet of Wonders, in Vegas, they're in New Orleans.
Speaker 1:Matthew Pomeroy and Sasha Lamb fantastic couple. I worked with them on some of their show and I built them an icon, one of my lottery tricks. It doesn't do the lottery, it has a big prediction at the end, which is I won't explain it because I don't want to spoil it, but their Bible's got loads of books on it, of antique, different books, storybooks, and one of the books is Impostor, with the cover of the Impostor next by me. I slipped in without telling them to see if they'd notice, and it was just an additional tile I put in and they kept it in the show and it's just a little nod to me, I guess.
Speaker 1:And during Magic Live they were saying there was a lot of magicians that were coming to the show and they would see Impostor by John Morton as a book and they'd be laughing to themselves because they knew what it was. But of course the Muggles didn't. So, yeah, so they're the only ones that actually have the original book cover, but it's on their thing. But I'll have to change this. There you go, there's the useless information for you. That's where the name came from.
Speaker 3:Well, you've already teased that we've got a strange thing in the eighth position, or a thing that we wouldn't associate with you. So what is in your final spot?
Speaker 1:The eighth position is the red ball done well, albert's ball. The red ball done uh well, abbott's ball, or whatever you want to call it by teller, that teller does so. I have a love for this trick and I've had a love for this trick ever since I got into magic and I used to work on a routine. I haven't done it for a long, long time, but I used to have a routine. I still keep trying to dig out the footage of it where I where. No one's ever seen me perform it, but I had this box, little silver box. It was on like a stand and the box would open up and this little silver ball would float out the box and hover above the box. The box would open on its own, the ball would float out, hover there and it would float towards me and backwards and forwards and it would go through a ring and around and all sorts of things and then eventually would float back into the box and the box would close itself. And no one's ever seen me perform it, because it was one of those things I just did for myself and if I was on a desert island and I've got all the time in the world I would go back into that quite happily and just work for months on making that look realistic. And I've only ever seen Teller's Red Ball done on video. I've seen footage of it on video. It looks amazing. I just love it. I just think it's incredible. Yeah, all right, people are going to know and if you go to the Penn and Teller show they tell you it's just a ball on string, which is really annoying. But it doesn't look like it is. Even though you know that it's something like that, you cannot figure it. You can't see where the hookups are. You just can't figure it out. It's amazing. So, yeah, for me it would be the floating ball or Abbott's ball. I think it was its original name.
Speaker 1:I know that's one of the ones that gets mentioned a lot and Teller's obviously taken it to the next level. I know he's worked on it for years and years and years and, a bit like me, it's one of his things that he could just quite happily drift away on and just do that for the rest of his life and he'd probably be happy and it's the same. For me it was either that or the Dancing Cane. Actually they were the other one that I would have done. And again. Somebody mentioned this on your podcast a while back that they would do the dancing cane as a sort of stress relief thing, and I find this doing the dancing cane is the same thing for me. I find it very stress relieving just to sit there and just play with it essentially and just play with it essentially. So yeah, the eighth position was just for me, whereas the other seven were things that I literally do all the time.
Speaker 3:So two questions for you Go on. Well, one of them's not a question, so one of them was a comment, which was, yeah, chris Harding mentioned about doing the dancing cane and that he's never shown it to anyone. It's just something that he enjoys doing for himself, um to to perfect. But my question for you, this same that I believe I said to him why has no one ever seen you perform it, or why have you not, uh, introduced this into your act somehow? Probably because it doesn't suit the character um.
Speaker 1:That's why I don't have anything that looks magical in my um working set, particularly um, because it takes away again. It goes back to this kind of like real or not real thing for me. Um, if I'm doing, I know some people want to do magic and it wants to be like I'm just doing magic to entertain you and there's nothing wrong with that. It's a great thing to do. But that relies on the audience being able to sort of cast away their beliefs, if you like. They have to sort of choose to not to imagine, if you know what I mean, whereas with the other stuff, with the mentalism side, if you know what I mean, whereas with the other stuff with the mentalism side, if I do, there's that element of well, is he doing this for real or is he doing this for real? I mean, you know the plot I'm working on at the moment where I'm getting them to think of a card and they don't write it down and I tell them what the card is I'm still playing without that plot and I'm getting more and more accurate by the minute and there's nothing written down. They literally just think of a card and I can tell them what the card is that. For me, that is essentially. We're doing what we always pretend to do, if you like.
Speaker 1:So if you do a magic trick, it either looks like you've got very, very good skills or you're doing some sort of comedy, pantomime kind of scenario. If you're not careful, magic tricks can look like that. Don't get me wrong. I mean I've seen a lot of really good magicians where they do it and it just looks beautiful and it's like I mean Eric Chen with his Fizermat. For me that's real magic. I can't even compliment how half that's real magic. I can't even compliment how half of that's done. I don't really want to. I just want to enjoy the beauty of it.
Speaker 1:I do enjoy watching magic, but it wouldn't suit my character for me to knock out the red ball after I've just read people's minds. It wouldn't work. Also, I think the reason I've never shown it to anybody is I was never 100% happy with it. Wouldn't work. It wouldn't work. And also I don't think I think the reason I've never shown it to anybody is I was never 100% happy with it. It was one of those things that I it would have to be like. It would have to do something truly incredibly different. That was impossible to explain for me to, to probably show it to somebody. Maybe one day we'll see. I don't know.
Speaker 3:So far it's a great list. We've gone all the way from Inside Out, then we went to a Business Card Peak, then that figures 21st Century Phantom, love, ritual, stand Up Monty, but on the table Impostor, and a Floating Ball routine. What a really diverse, interesting list of effects.
Speaker 1:You, you can. You can see what the tricks I work from that easily. It stands out, the ones that are my my thousand sort of performance tricks. Um, the red ball is the only sort of odd one in there. Um, that's a bit sort of left field I guess. But it's like I say, if I'm going to be stuck on an island, I want something I can play with and work on for years and years and years, and that will be the one that I can quite happily drift away and just be on my own and just do it. You know, yeah.
Speaker 3:Well, that does bring us to your two curveball items. Now, of course, we've given you eight choices for your tricks, but we're only giving you one book and one item. So what did you put in your book position?
Speaker 1:This was a difficult one. There's two books that I really like and there's a third one that everybody should know about. That I don't think people do and it changes the way I perform. It's not the one I would take with me because I've read it and I know it really well, but it's magic and showmanship by Henning Helms. I've probably just butchered his name big time. But magic and showmanship it's about 14 pound. You get it and he talks about before it's all theory. There's no tricks in there. It's all theory. There's no tricks in there. It's all about performance and how to perform and how to entertain.
Speaker 1:And the biggest thing I took from that book was try and make every performance into a game because it's more engaging and it's more entertaining for the crowds. And he's 100% right, without a shadow of a doubt. If you have a trick, you look at it's. If you make, if you have a trick, you look at all the tricks that you ever perform for anybody. The ones that are interactive and feel almost like they're a game. They're the ones that will probably play better to your audience than anything else. And I got that from one of the chapters in that book Magic and Showmanship, henning Helms. Definitely definitely get it. I highly recommend it If somebody wants to improve the way they perform. It's very, very cheap but it's got some real gold in it.
Speaker 1:But it's not the book I'd take with me. The other one I already mentioned would be the Bodimus Effects, because it sits in my workshop. It's signed by the man himself to me because it was one of the first ones that came out and it's in cling film and I've opened it twice, so I'd love to sit and read through that. I know I have the time because I know there's gold in there. That I'm I should not be buying tricks, I should just be reading his book. And the other one is Darren Brown's, which again Darren Brown's, again notes from a fellow traveller which I know has been mentioned a million times on your thing.
Speaker 1:And it's probably Darren's book that I would take with me, purely because I really struggle to read from books and the way Darren writes in this casual, informal style, it's almost like you're having a conversation with him and it makes me want to read the book, whereas if it's a book that's just trick after trick after trick after trick, I'm bored. After five minutes I haven't got the attention span for it or it'll send me to sleep. But with Darren's it's almost like he's sat in a room just having a chat and because he puts witty comments in it, it's how I'm trying to write my book a little bit. So it's got that kind of humor to it and like a conversation. It's brilliant and obviously he's got some real gold in there.
Speaker 1:So I'm not all the way through it yet. I've still got loads more to go through it. But even from just the sort of first couple of chapters I've already got my money's worth. So yeah, it'd be I've already got my money's worth. So yeah, I probably wouldn't take the one I've got that's mine because it's signed by him. So I'd probably get one that I can afford to get wet, but it would be Darren Brown's notes from his fellow traveller. I'm really sorry for being boring and picking one that everybody's picked, which is why I'd go for one that I thought I'd already mentioned, one that people probably don't know about, but yeah, it would be Darren Brown book of all days.
Speaker 3:Not boring at all. I think it's a great choice, and the thing is, if we do get lots of one thing on here, it just goes to show that that one thing is something that people who don't have that thing should be paying attention to. That's all that is. And you're absolutely right. It's such a phenomenal book and he does have that sort of conversational um thing it is it does feel like you're reading a diary. That's what it felt like to me. It felt like I could imagine maybe the day after, when he had processed whatever happened that he was about to write about. He was sitting down and he was almost spilling all of these thoughts out from his mind onto the page, but it was almost like he was writing a diary for himself to read back at the end yeah, it's such a relaxed style.
Speaker 1:His other books as well. I mean pure effects. They've got some little quips and things in there as well which are sort of like we just put in there and just makes you laugh. Um, so his writing style is really nice, like that is. It's very relaxed, even the happy book, again, it's just. It's just the joy to sort of read, if you know what I mean, all his books. His writing style for me is really what makes a difference. So it's interesting, out of the three books there, all of them actually have more method in them, which is more. What I'm interested in is the actual performance method as opposed to tricks method. It's it's. I think we've all got a million tricks we don't need. I know it's been said a million times, but it's true. We don't need any more tricks. What we do need is how to improve the performance and the way we do it. So, uh, yeah, definitely that's important. I think people don't take enough interest in that than they should yep, I agree 100 percent.
Speaker 3:And it does bring us to your item. So what did you put in your item position?
Speaker 1:so this is a really hard one for me. If I I had my way, I would take my workshop with me, but you're not going to let me do that. I know you're not. I could spend hours with my workshop and just create magic all the time, but I couldn't do it with just one bit out of my workshop. So I know you're not going to let me have that. So, in the absence of my workshop, it would be my Dungeons Dragons dice bag, which is a bit of a weird one, I know. So it's a little tiny bag.
Speaker 1:You can buy these on Etsy. They are like a drawstring bag. They come in a million different colors. I've got just a. I think mine's just a black sort of suede one with a gray lining. I've got two of them. I've got one in my normal case and one in my backup case, and it will hold everything in that little bag that I would put into my jacket pockets.
Speaker 1:So in the summertime, when it's razor hot, I just wear trousers and a waistcoat and a nice shirt, obviously, and I carry that little bag with me. And it took me ages and ages to find a bag that I could carry with me that didn't look like a handbag because obviously I'm a guy and I didn't want to have a handbag but there's nothing wrong with that. But for me I didn't want a handbag, uh. But likewise I didn't want one of these kind of leather polio things because that felt like a briefcase. I've already got a nice doctor's bag for when I walk in the place. This is something just that literally just takes all the bulk out that would not have been in my normal jacket pocket and it goes in this one little bag. So you can't overfill it, you can't put a million tricks in there that you'll never use. It literally just has the things I'm going to use in it. So that means when I'm set up at a gig I have my instant app cube in one waistcoat pocket. I have a business card peak in the other side pocket and everything else a Lego deck, a normal deck of cards, I have Hollywood in there, a load of Sharpies in there, north Cross and whatever are in there. Everything else goes in that one bag and it means that if it's red hot I don't have to be there sweating my nuts off, essentially because I've got the sleeper suit on and it's razor sun on top of me and I'm burning up because nobody likes a sweaty magician.
Speaker 1:And when you get over the fact that you're carrying a little bag with you and it just clips on the back of my belt so I can have my hands free and it's not even there, if I walk up to the table I hook it on the chair or sometimes I'll just put it on the table and the biggest comment you get normally if you're going to get any funny comments about it is like, is that your magic bag? And I go yep, yep. The rabbits are on the third floor down because it looks a bit like the hermione that she has in Harry Potter that has like a million things in it. It looks a bit like that. It opens up and it'll stay open. It's got like a square, flat bottom. You can easily get in there if you wanted to. If you just put decks of cards in there, you could probably get probably six decks of cards in there. I would say, not that you would, but you could.
Speaker 1:And even if I'm wearing a suit jacket now, I don't have anything in the suit jacket, I just carry the bag. I've got that used to doing it now. I've had it for about two years maybe longer than that now, and it is a godsend and I've recommended it to a few other magicians over the years and some have took it on and some haven't. If you get your head around the fact that you've not got your pockets it's in the bag you won't go back. You won't go back. I tell you now. It frees you up, frees you up completely, because you don't have to have the jacket anymore and you can have your sleeves rolled up so I can do tricks. They can see there's nothing on my sleeve because I've got no sleeves. So yeah, dungeons and Dragons dice bag, you get them from Etsy. Mine's from somebody called Cottontail Kate or Kites. But just look up Dungeons and Dragons dice bags. They even come with little section pockets if you want. Mine hasn't, but you can get them like that.
Speaker 3:So yeah, there you go it's definitely not one that we've had before and probably not one we'd have until everyone now googles it, which everyone is going to be doing after this. Um, I'll be honest, I googled it while she was talking. Um, I had to see what it looked like but yeah, that's a great shout.
Speaker 1:That's a great idea yeah, it took me forever to find a bag that would look looks all right. You can get access in and out quickly and because of the cord, you can just literally it's got a toggle on it that can close it. You just tuck that toggle underneath your belt and it holds it in place, so you've got your hands free. You can walk around like there's nothing. It's just there on the back of your belt, but when you've got it, you just take it out and you've got everything access to everything you would have had in your pocket. But you're not all bulked up. There's no bulk there. I mean, I'm a chubby guy anyway, so the last thing I need is more bulk. But, um, but it's just really handy for that and in the summertime it's a godsend because you're not getting all hot and sweaty well, it's a great, great choice and a great list.
Speaker 3:Now, if people want to find out more about you, john, where can they go?
Speaker 1:So if they want to get in touch with me personally on anything, get a hold of me via Facebook Messenger is the easiest way. Find me on Facebook, get a hold of me on Facebook Messenger. Don't try and add me as a friend. Shoot me a message first, because I get loads of requests as friends and after them I don't know. So if I've got a bunch of friends that mutual, add you unless I've spoken to you. If I've spoken to you and I know who you are, then I'll add you. Um, you can email me, but I wouldn't bother because I'm rubbish answering emails back. I get so many these days, um, it's difficult to sort of like keep up with them, so you best, the quickest way, is just messaging me online on Facebook. If you want to look at the products I have, custommagiccouk is my products page. You can't buy anything from it. It's like a showroom site, I guess. But you have to still message me because it's all about customer service in my head and that's about it really.
Speaker 1:I've got Twitter and I've got Instagram, but I hardly put anything on it because I'm on an old fart who doesn't understand these things and I'm my life's not interested enough to know what I'm eating every day. I put pictures on it. I don't do that kind of stuff. So I even on the Custom Magic Facebook group. I only put stuff on there if it's something I think is worthy for people to see that I've created. I don't send millions of mail shots out to people. It's not my thing. I'm rubbish at business is basically what I'm saying. I'm rubbish at business.
Speaker 3:And you do have something coming up on Unlimited soon as well, which is very exciting.
Speaker 1:I can't wait. We're checking Unlimited to see when it's on. I really can't wait to see the reactions. Oh, just a little shout out actually If anybody's seen my academy already and they like it, please leave a review, because it's interesting to see what people say. So far they're all nice reviews, which is nice. So hopefully I'll carry on Probably just doing myself now to some lower ratings, but it's always nice to know that people actually like what I've put on there, because I did put a lot of work and heart and soul into it and it is literally my working set and there is something on there for everybody.
Speaker 1:So I'm hoping people like it. I really hope they like the thing on unlimited um, because that's still from part of the button box, um show that I'm building. So, yeah, it was fun that I really enjoyed it and thank you, you and uh harry, for being there when I did the lecture. Um, it was, uh, you really made me feel at home, so I really do appreciate that and it's nice to know you still haven't opened the coffin I gave you I still haven't opened the coffin.
Speaker 3:No one's going to understand what that means, what we're listening to this, um, but that was uh, it's a great, great trick. Do check it out. It probably won't be on unlimited until 2025. Now, there's a teaser there's a teaser, but it's well worth it. You'll understand when you see it. It's a phenomenal routine, but all that's left for me to say, john, is thank you so much for giving us your list and giving us your time.
Speaker 1:My pleasure. No, thank you for having me. I love this podcast. It's one of my favourite podcasts, if not my favourite. Actually, I used to do it religious. I really like the ones midweek as well, because there's some little gold nuggets on there that you go. Well, I'll have to check that out.
Speaker 3:Yeah, they're quite diverse, aren't they? The strategy? Of the strangers.
Speaker 1:Yeah, really, really good, and it shows what people are doing, and a lot of the time there's stuff on there that you've never heard of, you know, because it's not the latest thing, it's something that people have worked, so that's really important, I think.
Speaker 3:Well, now people have worked, so that that's really important, I think. Well, now we finally have your list, which is great as well, um because it's been a long time coming.
Speaker 1:Yeah, thank you for the good work, mate.
Speaker 3:Thank you for doing this and, of course, if you guys do want to be a part of one of those ones that john was just on about uh, it's called stranded with a stranger. It goes out every monday then send in your list of eight tricks, one book and one non-magic item to sows at alakazamcouk In the subject line put to my Desert Island list. That way it comes through to me and I can get one of them recorded. Of course, the more of them that we get, the more we can record. So, with that being said, we'll be back next week with a strategy with a stranger and a Desert Island tricks. Until then, have a great week island tricks.
Speaker 2:Until then, have a great week. 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.