Desert Island Tricks
Each week, host Jamie Daws invites one of the biggest guests in the world of magic to maroon themselves on the Alakazam Magic desert island. They are allowed to take with them 8 tricks, 1 book, 1 banishment and 1 non magic item that they use for magic! They even get a welcome package with a deck of card inside! We discuss their 'can't live without' lists and why those items were chosen.
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
Chris Funk
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A card rises to the top of the deck because a violin is playing and somehow that makes perfect sense by the time it’s over. That’s the kind of “how is this even happening?” thinking we love and it’s why we’ve wanted Chris Funk on for years. Chris is a touring magician known for Redefining Wonder and for bringing music into modern stage magic in a way that feels lived-in, not bolted on.
We talk through his desert island list of essential routines, from Bill Abbott’s Five Card Box as a killer opener to a lottery ticket prediction he’s preparing to release (Numera), plus a colour match that ends with a guitar reveal. Chris breaks down what makes multi-phase magic routines work: theme and variation, raising the stakes, and scripting that sounds like a real human instead of “instructions on a page.” We also get into a wild guitar-and-looping piece where a moving power plug changes the music and why audiences sometimes need you to say the thought they’re already thinking.
Then we go backstage into the real touring magician life: cramped travel, questionable hotels, missing luggage, TSA surprises and why “utility props” and redundancies matter if you want a professional show that survives the worst day. Chris shares a kid-led drawing duplication built around trust and confidence, his spicy banishments (including the phrase “Do me a favour”), the classic book he’d take to a desert island (Royal Road to Card Magic) and the tech that runs his show via QLab and a DAW.
Chris’ Desert Island List:
Welcome: Violin Card Rise
- Bill Abbotts 5 card box
- Lottery Ticket Prediction Numera
- Colour Match
- Guitar Trick
- Mind reading production effect
- Drawing Duplication
- Bill to lime
- Impossible Instrument Balance
Banishment. Do me a favour / The Floating Table
Book. Royal Road to Card Magic
Item. Laptop
Find out more about the creators of this Podcast at www.alakazam.co.uk
Stolen Acts And A Punch
SPEAKER_00So I've had Johnny Thompson as a consultant twice before he passed away. Uh once on Wizard Wars on the pilot of Wizard Wars that I got to shoot with Blake Voigt being my partner and then on Fulas, he was my consultant as well. And uh just spending time with him and hearing his stories, he has this one story where he found out that this guy stole his bird act. And he was doing it at this casino in a completely different state. And so Johnny Thompson bought a ticket to fly out, bought a ticket to the show in the front row. And when the guy started doing his bird act, he walked up, and Johnny Thompson was a boxer. He got up and he knocked the guy out and he said, That's my act, and he stole it and walked out of the sh the show. Don't steal another magician's act. You never know.
Why Chris Funk Stands Out
SPEAKER_03more specifically their TV, you'll understand why. So I'm gonna start at the very top of this uh little TV that I've put together for him. Simon Cow says, the best magician we've had on the show so far. Anyone that knows how difficult it is to please Simon Cow with magic knows that that is high praise indeed. He was also featured on Pen and Teller Full Art. If you've not seen his performance, please, please go and see it after you've listened to this. It's absolutely brilliant. The way that he fuses different props into this routine, uh, a violin, uh, I don't want to give too much away, but there is a violin, and he does some brilliant stuff at the end with the violin and then makes it disappear. But something happens before that, so I'm not ruining everything for you. Uh it's brilliant, go and see it. He's had more than 30 national and international television appearances, including America's Got Talent, Pen and Telephulas, Masters of Illusion, Wizard Wars, and Hell's Kitchen. Oh my word, what an incredible lineup. Uh he starred in the tour and production of Masters of Illusion, Illusions Live, headlined Hollywood's world-famous Magic Castle, which would have been an incredible thing to do. Performed at major Las Vegas venues, including, get this, Planet Hollywood, the Venetian, Mandalay Bay, the Rio, and the Tropicana. Feels like he's literally just doing a tour of Vegas at this point. Um, he has performers' residents residencies at Disney and he's built an internationally in touring headline show redefining wonder. I think this is gonna be such a wonderful, wonderful list. Today's guest, of course, is the incredible Chris Funk. Hello, Chris.
SPEAKER_00Hello, Jamie. How are you doing?
SPEAKER_03Uh very well. Now that we have you here, I know that when Pete said that you were coming on the podcast, I was incredibly, incredibly excited.
SPEAKER_00Oh, cool. That's great to hear. I'm I'm pumped that it finally works. I know we've tried lining this up for, I don't know, what, like four years? Something like that. And it just never seemed like it lined up properly. So I'm glad that it finally did. It's good to be here.
SPEAKER_03Well, we were talking beforehand, and it's just because, you know, we say that people are busy, but you really are frantically busy. You are non-stop, you're a hundred miles an hour. How on earth do you do it all?
Tour Life Breaks And Realities
SPEAKER_00I honestly have no idea. You know, I'm on a forced break right now. Like, I forced myself to take a break. Uh, I told my management team um July 1st, like, do not book me anything until the end of September. Uh, I just need to wind down. I need to, you know, be home. And I think my dog sitters lived at our house longer than we have since we moved in 23. So um just wanted to, you know, get back into a bit of a rhythm of life and remember what things used to be like before I lived in hotels constantly touring.
SPEAKER_03So well, I guess that's the other side of the industry because I think a lot of people strive to be where you are. And I don't think that people think how grueling that is as a life, you know, you are constantly in and out of hotels, you're not necessarily knowing where you are from one day to the next.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's uh it's a grind for sure. It's a grind. And you know, there isn't too much that's luxurious about showbiz. Um, you think you're staying in a nice hotel and you get there and you realize that they haven't updated it in like 15 years and it reeks of mold, and you know, I'm 6'4, so I have to spend more on my plane tickets so that I can fit into a seat normally. And like there's just all these things that when you're on the road, like the things you don't think about until you're really in it. Um I'm I'm probably making it sound really negative. Like, of course, there's amazing things about it, but like just it is a grind, the getting there and getting around type of a thing. Obviously, the way I look at it is my 90 minutes on stage is my time off, and I just get to have a break and enjoy myself and just do what I do. So, you know, there's always that side of it that I do love.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, that's even the side that the general public don't think, even when you're just a uh like a close-up magician, sometimes you're traveling three hours to an event to do an hour's work, and then you've got the three-hour journey back. So for your one hour work is actually uh what seven hours just for that one performance.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's it can be a little ridiculous, you know. I I just I tell people I travel for a living and I do magic on the side. But no, I I love it. I I love that like I don't know what I'm doing, you know. I do card tricks for a living essentially, um and I just go out there and hope for the best and hope the audience enjoys it and they keep booking me. So um that's encouraging.
SPEAKER_03Well, after binge watching all of your performances today, um I can tell you now that I I know that you you said it rather flippantly there that I just do card tricks, but the reason that I'm so excited to talk to you is because I think that your your magic is so diverse. You know, I've seen one one clip was you're producing a fish out of a bag, uh, and then the next thing is you're out on the street with a small voodoo doll and it's rising in your hand, and then you're playing the violin for Penantella and you know, making it vanish and doing your your style is so diverse. It feels like you really do just soak up different kinds of genres and magic.
SPEAKER_00I do. Um, I think my approach to it is um, how can I make this something I actually like? You know, the in the world of magic, there's always that that concept of how do we inject ourselves into what it is that we do, as opposed to just doing the trick as the instructions say. You know, Steve Martin uh has a brilliant quote, which is magic is the only talent you can buy because you can literally buy a trick, read the instructions, do the trick, and look like you know what you're doing. And that was just never enough for me. So I've always tried to see how I can inject what I love into it. And as we go through like the desert island tricks, I'll talk more about how I injected myself into things and the reasoning why I use a violin and the reason why um I do a bit with a guitar. Um I yeah, I I just make sure that I do things that I like, and if people like me and like the things that I like, then it's just like a complete package, you know what I mean? It's it's not just uh run-of-the-mill stuff.
SPEAKER_03Well, people won't be able to see this, but the room that you're in, you're actually surrounded by guitars as as we're talking. Oh, even more guitars. He's just panned around. Oh my word.
SPEAKER_00Okay, that's yeah, I'm missing one. I lent it out, but I have 16 up on the wall.
SPEAKER_03Oh wow. That's amazing.
SPEAKER_00And four packed away.
SPEAKER_03So is this your your downtime thing? Is your your thing to cool off and to reset going back to your roots with music?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, um, I mean music is my first passion, and um I love writing music. Most of the tracks in my show I've written. Um, my goal is to have an album one day. I don't know what that looks like. I'm not a singer, so it might be instrumental, or I have no idea, to be honest, but I love music, so I can get lost just picking up a guitar and playing for hours. Uh, everything seems to disappear.
SPEAKER_03Wow. Well, if there are any music producers listening, just on the off chance, get in contact. We'll we'll make that that album, we'll make that album a reality. Well, I'm really excited to see your list. So let's
Desert Island Magic Format Explained
SPEAKER_03get into it. If it's your first time listening, the idea is we're about to maroon Chris on his very own guitar-ridden island. Uh, when he's there, he's allowed to take eight tricks. Uh, banish one item, take one book, one non-magic item that he uses for magic. And of course, it is season three, which means he has a welcome package. In that welcome package is a standard ordinary deck of cards in which he's allowed to do one trick. So, Chris, what are you going to do with your welcome package?
Building The Violin Card Rise
SPEAKER_00Well, uh that deck of cards would definitely be used for my first pick, which is always the violin trick, the violin card rise. Um that's always something I do. If someone has hired me year after year after year, it's always in the show. Um it's gone from a five to seven minute piece that sometimes stretches into 12-15 minutes, depending on how much interaction the audience gives me. But that's probably like my most comfortable routine that has, no matter what reiteration of the show I'm doing, it's always in it. It's always just a piece of what I do. So um it's come so far. Oh my gosh, has it ever? More I think about it. It's like 25 years now I've probably been doing it, and uh it's it's really grown. So it's one of my favorites deck of cards going into that for sure.
SPEAKER_03Well, let's talk about it for a second. So this was what you did for Penantella Fool Us, and I think what I really loved in particular about it was your construction of that routine. So it's the idea that you've got this uh let's say repetitive routine where the same thing is happening three times, effectively. And then you bring in this prop that bears absolutely no relevance to the deck of cards. It quite literally couldn't be further f from it. And then there's like you you make this strange connection between both of them that when you play it then makes the card rise. So now there's kind of this connection between them, and then you escalate it further, and you do something in the middle, which I don't want to ruin it for everyone, but then that kind of connects everything even further, and then it comes full circle when you make the violin disappear. So I think it's so interesting how you've taken these two completely juxtaposed things and made them make sense through the journey and the structure of that routine.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, you know, it's like a multi-phase routine, and obviously, if anything's ever multi-phase, there has to be uh some sort of variation, like theme and variation type of a concept. So um it started before like the violent suspension, I'll say. Um before that was a piece in there. I had to try to figure out three different ways of making it happen. And it was as simple as covered with a handkerchief, uncovered, and then the card comes out backwards. And it was that for maybe a year. Seemed like it was enough for me until out of the blue one day I had this idea and I tested it out, it worked, it went in the show that night, and it's never come out, which is the suspension piece of it. So um, I just love that it's a gradual grow. The the variation between each three of them is something you know far greater than the one before that. From playing a really crappy twinkle twinkle to um attempting to pull out a violin concerto to then something just like very different in visual. I'm pretty proud of that routine.
SPEAKER_03I I think you should be. I think that that was the other thing that was really interesting, is in terms of your the presentation that you put in with the music side of it, I thought was kind of interesting as well. Because you start off with the joke of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, and then you have that uh the sort of talk over joke where you say, name any any musician. Great buck, brilliant, and that doesn't matter what they say, and then you of course then talk over that their selection, and then you do this incredible piece of music, which is that is just as surprising as the card rising at that point because no one's anticipating you, no offense, to be that good after the twinkle-twinkle little star. Um, and then you kind of bring it down with the plucking of the string. So it it's almost like that's that's where your magician mind and your music minds come together in the presentation of just the music selection as well.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. And I mean, the reason why it's a really crappy twinkle-twinkle is because um, like I quit playing violin when I was 16, and when I was 16 years old, I was actually significantly smaller than I am today. And so I grew, my hands grew after I quit. So when I go to play violin, because I don't play it every single day, um, I can be a little pitchy, you know. My fingers might just not be on point. And it's something that I continue to work towards being more consistent with, but some days they still just don't listen to me. And so um, I made sure I brought their standards down by bringing out a really, really horrible, scratchy version of Twinkle Twinkle, so that if I was mediocre, it seemed like I was really good compared to what I just did. So it is a way of me kind of like protecting myself a little bit when I play the violet in public.
SPEAKER_03Well, there we go. The secret's out, all right? That that's it. You've you've told us all. But that's a great one in your welcome package. Let's go to your main list then. So what would you put in your first position?
SPEAKER_00Well, the violin card rise. Um I is that separate? Because I can come up with another one.
SPEAKER_03Well, it's up to you. You you can you can have an extra trick if you want to. You can you can have the violin card rise as your first one, um, uh sorry, in your welcome package, and we can give you a trick in your first spot.
SPEAKER_00Well, maybe we will do that. And as I go through the list, I'm sure that spot will be filled. Um, this is in no specific order.
SPEAKER_03Do we want a certain order, or can I just it's your your list, it can be however you would like it to be.
Why Five Card Box Opens Strong
SPEAKER_00Okay. Well, um I'm gonna start with my opener, and it's been my opener since before it hit the market, um, which is Bill Abbott's five card box. Um Bill and I have been great friends for almost 30 years at this point, and um I've always had the privilege of seeing what's about to come out to the market before anyone else because um we talk things through. I used to help do a lot of his web stuff and his video stuff for him. And even on the five card box, I think in the tutorial, I'm not sure if he changed it, but it might be me teaching how to like write the words on the box. He filmed it at my house uh when I was living uh in Winnipeg. So um five card box, what it is turned into today, um I think it is the greatest opener I have ever used in my show. And it's really hard to replace it. So even if I again do a uh multiple year booking with a client, um that's in there, it just sets the stage so perfectly when you have this story that fits you. So five card box always.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I remember I I mean I spoke to you about Bill before we went live, and I said uh his episode. If you haven't listened to his episode, please go back. It was one of our early episodes, but I said I felt like I'd sat through his show. He was so He's so good at explaining things and he's so good at the storytelling side of things, and everything sort of flowed. Now, I've just gone back to his list. This was his second position, so he had champagne opener and then five card box um as his uh first opening, too. Um, and I remember him talking to me about the the box. He has a story uh that goes along with the box as well. Um, and you know, he said it's it's great to have this thing that's on the stage when the audience come in, and there's an immediate story, but there's a there's an immediate nostalgia for people as well, I think, at that that point, which I think's lovely.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Yeah, definitely like the story that comes with the script. Um, funny enough, is his true story of the first time he did a show, which isn't too far off from the first time I did a show, which was in my parents' living room, um, with a handful of people just sitting around. So uh I'm sure that's the case for a lot of us magicians. That is our first show, testing things out on the family. But it definitely has turned into my own version of the story with my own injected uh you know, through lines and gags and self-deprecating lines. And, you know, I make fun of myself before the audience can in this routine, and I also make fun of the audience before they can heckle me. So I'm heckling them before they're heckling me in this routine, and I'm just setting the stage, like just want y'all to know I know what I'm doing. So if you wanted to be a part of the show and heckle me, like, let's go. Um, I have the mic, the you don't, and I've got an arsenal of things to say. So it really helps set the tune a lot.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, that's great. So I think that's a great one in at number one. Let's go to number two then. What would you put in your second spot?
Numera Lottery Prediction Teaser
SPEAKER_00Uh second spot is uh lottery ticket prediction that um I'm actually releasing hopefully this fall. Okay. It's something it's so stupid and it's so awesome. Like I showed it to Dan White at Magic Live recently, and I said, but okay, I'm gonna show this to you tomorrow, but I just want you to know like it's really, really dumb. So when you start watching me do this, don't roll your eyes. Like, it's really stupid. You're gonna be like, this is ridiculous, but it's so great at the same time. And so I performed it for him, and he's like, You're right, it it was stupid, but it is genius. And so the the cool thing about this is um most people know the lottery ticket prediction that um a lot of performers will do. I buy the ticket on the way to the show, and I still have six randomly named pieces of information that match this ticket perfectly. So um that is definitely a piece that I would have with me because I know that it works a hundred percent of the time. I don't have to do anything, I get to show up and I get to let personality and character sit at the forefront and leave the audience in fun random um moments that have uh a killer ending to the trick.
SPEAKER_03Well, I love a tease. I'm gonna put it out there. I love a tease on this podcast. We love a tease, we love knowing that this thing's coming out. So without giving too much away, because I don't want you to give too much away for obvious reasons. Is there a bit more that you can tell us about what the routine actually is?
SPEAKER_00Uh kind of, maybe. Let me think here. So there's the old way of doing it, which I'm not gonna go into method, but I know you know what I'm talking about, the the mass amount of people out there the way they do it. The way that I used to perform it is I had these frisbees made, like the indoor nylon frisbees that kind of um had a wire in them. And I'd whip six frisbees out, they'd stand up in the audience, and I would get uh a random number or a number that meant something to them. Something between one and forty-nine. Because uh in North America that's the max number. I think Powerball can go up a little bit higher or something, but I just stuck one to forty-nine. So they give. Me random numbers. Um, that meant something to them. It's cool getting that random number, like an anniversary or a birthday or a lucky number, because it gives me material to just kibitz around and joke around with them and do the interactive part. Anyways, I'd write the six numbers down and it matched the lottery ticket. Well, I love the randomness of the frisbees going out. I love the production of that. You know, in theaters, we'd have the dynamic lighting, you know, shooting around the room as these frisbees are going out with funky music playing. It just set the stage really well as something cool is about to happen. So I wanted to keep that, but I didn't want to have to rely on the method. And anyone listening who knows knows exactly what I'm talking about. I wanted something that I didn't have to, you know, have my sphincter all clenched up with hoping for the best and not knowing. You know, I didn't I didn't want that. And so I went to the drawing board and it took me a year with multiple different versions of different ideas of how I could get the exact same outcome. I wanted it to be frisbees, I wanted it to be random, and I wanted it to work every single time. So the great thing is that my routine has not changed. Frisbees go out, six people stand up, random pieces of information, but there's a glass with a piece of paper on there, and I just lift up this cocktail glass and open the paper right in front of them, and it is a perfect match of a real lottery ticket that I give away to someone in the audience. Of course, I sign it so that they need me to cash it in, just in case it's a winner. But um, I give away the lottery ticket at the very end. So the the results are identical. It plays very big, it packs super small, it fits in your pocket, and uh that's all I want to say about it because when it hits the market and people find out what it is, they're gonna be like, This is stupid. But it's so great because it works.
SPEAKER_03And sometimes those are the best things, those are the best effects. I agree. I'm sure somebody once said when the thumb tip first came about the same thing, that's so stupid, but it's so brilliant because it just works.
SPEAKER_00I remember working at a magic shop where um if they bought that, I'd take them into the room and I'd show them how to do it. And they're like, but how how do people not see that? And then I pull out the one that I used, which is neon green, and said, When I did it, I used this. And they're like, Oh.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, what what more can they say? That's it.
SPEAKER_00I know.
SPEAKER_03Well, that's a great one in at number two, so that's something we can look forward to. Have you got a name for it?
SPEAKER_00Numera. It'll be released with Audience Wonderland.
SPEAKER_03Okay, right. I'm writing the actual name, so we can keep an eye out for that. Uh, let's go to number three then. What would you put in your third spot?
Color Match With A Guitar Reveal
SPEAKER_00Uh, you know, it's a common piece, and I just love it so much. Uh, color match. Definitely uh a color matching prediction type of an effect. It's fun, um it's upbeat. And I have a bit of a rule that I follow like 90% of the time, which is um like I love combining mentalism and magic, even though as we have grown up in the world of magic, we're often told you can't mix the two of them, uh, which I heavily disagree with. Uh so if I do mentalism, it's gotta have a visual ending or a visual kicker to it. So I do uh the coloring prediction with someone on stage, which is where I produce my guitar that they colored in and the exact color that they colored it. So I can go into a different trick with the get the guitar. So um it's like a lead-in to the next piece, and because of the coloring prediction and the production of the guitar, it's just become a really fun um fun routine that I don't leave the house with. It's always, always, always in my case, ready to go.
SPEAKER_03So this is another example of the the violin card rise, really, in that you found a way to introduce the instrument and connect it to to a magic trick as a way to lead in.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Um and that's always growing as well. Like the ways that I've produced it have changed constantly. But um I I always missed having my guitar on the road when I was in the hotel, when I was doing corporates, and it wasn't into the show. I always just miss having that. So I figured out a way to write it into the show so that I just could always bring it with me. Um, and it made sense in my brain to have that one more thing along with me on the road, because obviously we want to pack smaller when we're traveling. But no, I now pack with a guitar. I actually have a double guitar case with one guitar in it so that I can squeeze half my show in the other cavity because they don't check how many guitars are in a case.
SPEAKER_03There you go.
SPEAKER_00There's I learned that work in a cruise ship years ago.
SPEAKER_03So that's the real secret of Matic right there. Yeah. There you go.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Um, is there a particular color match that you've leaned towards?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, ProMystic. Um the second version that they they put out. Um right from day one, I was constantly, constantly nagging Craig. I'm like, we need this built just into a marker package. And um I he he couldn't figure out how to do it. He created a beta, he sent me the beta. I worked with it for about six months or so. And he's like, I just don't know about the packaging. What do I do? And I said, Well, it's easy. Like, you just do something that someone can go to a stationary store and buy a new one of, and you know how to fit things into stuff, and so just do that. Who cares about like this lifetime of the packaging? Make that the expendable that um or exhaustible or whatever the word is that looks so natural because it is exactly what it is. So you put it out, and it's like, yeah, this is this is the best. Um I actually have two of them. I mean, I learned again working cruise ships, redundancies are super important when you're on the road. So uh I have two in my case ready to go at all times. The best.
SPEAKER_03And in terms of the the music in your show, how does that change the dynamic of the audience towards you? Because there there must be this moment where they they think that you are one thing, and then when you play these instruments, you become something either even more or something completely different than what they were anticipating. So does it change the dynamic of the audience towards you?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it does totally. Uh, I think it wins them over, you know. There's uh that old saying, I think it's from the Barnum circus, like the something for everyone statement. Like I've really tried to follow that, like that old vaudeville, maybe that's what it was. I can't remember right now. I should have looked that one up. I knew I was gonna bring it up, but I always make sure there's something for everyone, and that no matter what the age is, like I don't do a kids' show. Um, I don't do an adult show, but I know that the kids are gonna walk away loving it, and I know the grandparents are gonna walk away loving it, and I know the parents are gonna walk away loving it because I make sure that there's something that speaks a language that everyone can really appreciate and and love. So the music has definitely helped me obtain that and maintain that.
SPEAKER_03Amazing. Well, I think that's a great one in at number three. Let's go to number four, then, Chris. What's in your fourth spot?
The Guitar Plug Knot Vignette
SPEAKER_00Uh, fourth spot, I've got the um guitar trick. I've kind of explaining basically like the first several tricks in my current show. But um it's a piece where I write a loop of music using my you know, my um sampling keyboard where I have a drum pad in there and a bass line that I've uh recorded, and then I throw that into a looping system that I play the guitar over and I add some layers. But before I do that, I go to turn my amp on and my amp doesn't turn on. And so I look and realize if someone from the audience hasn't shouted at me, plug it in, type of thing. So I go to the middle and I realize that it's not plugged in. So I plug it in and the head of my guitar amp lights up. The tubes light up and it turns on, and you hear like a type of noise as if the power is there. So I loop the guitar piece and then I take the plug and I start doing a walking knot routine with the plug. But as I move the plug, the music is speeding up and it's slowing down, and the light is getting brighter and it's getting dimmer, and I move it around and unplug it in different locations, and then um at the very end, I take the plug and I basically like wrap it around itself and remove it. And now the cable is one long piece, the music has started, or no, the music hasn't started, but it's just one long piece and it should be working. And I walk to the front of the stage, and anyone who's been paying attention throughout the the trick, they then say, plug it in. And so with the plug being not connected to the main chord anymore, I plug it in, amp turns on, music starts playing again, and we all have closure.
SPEAKER_03Wow, that's that's almost like an entire mini act just in itself.
SPEAKER_00It is. Um, I have a love-hate relationship with it, to be honest. Um, it the audience doesn't know what to do. It's more of a vignette, it's more of its own piece. I could never just go out and do that on its own because it's a good trick. But I I don't know, I don't know how to explain it. It's um it's something very different that I find people don't know how to respond to. And so I think the last video I did of it was on the Huckabee show, and that was in 2021. I mean, what it is today, I talk so much more, and like I'm making fun of the audience for the fact that they don't know how to react to what's going on here. Um, and it's just become like a more comedic, high-paced type of a bit, but I find they don't know what to do. They're like, uh, music, wait, magic, wait, uh, he's moving it, what it sounds different, like it's just so many things all at once. So I love it, but at the same time, it's like, uh, it's uh it's a weird one. Definitely a weird one.
SPEAKER_03I think that's really interesting that you said the audience don't know how to react to it, and then you said you do it a lot differently than how you used to do it. And the fact that because you realized the audience were maybe uh not quite reacting or didn't know how to react, you just call it out and and you just say to them, you know, I get that you don't understand what's going on here.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Um like I think it was Don Allen or it was either Don Allen, Paul Daniels, or Wayne Dobson. But there's a line where it was like, uh don't the first time I saw this happen, I too forgot to clap. And so just saying the things that they're thinking out loud, um, putting words to the action that they're already giving me, there's something funny about that that I know audiences love and it helps them relax and it shows them, oh, okay, I'm allowed to, I'm allowed to do something here, type of thing.
SPEAKER_03Well, I said to you before we we came on to record, I think that's what's really lovely about your character and your style is that you're so warm and bubbly in your character, and you're you're quite I would say you're quite high energy in your your role as well. Um but then you have this other side to you where the audience aren't quite sure who you are or what you're gonna do. You know, I mentioned earlier on there's a video of you producing a fish, and then there's a small voodoo doll floating on your hand, and it it seems like the fact that you are this nice friendly character almost allows you to get get away with a little bit more because the audience is so comfortable with you.
SPEAKER_00And that's part of why you know five card is a staple and why I have uh scripted it the way that I have where I am heckling them before they heckle me. Like I set the stage that um I'm gonna approach the line, I'm never gonna cross it. If you want to cross it, I'll leave that up to you. But I'll approach the line and I'm gonna call you on your stuff and we're gonna have fun doing it. And so it's just become a piece of who I am that shows up in every show no matter what I'm doing. Uh yeah. I guess it's built into me.
SPEAKER_03So when it comes to building your show Redefining Wonder, was it a case of that's where you started? You just wanted to put all of the things that you loved into that show.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, pretty much. Um, it helps me enjoy my show a lot more of doing the things that I love to do, but it also just allows it to be its own unique presentation if I'm doing the things that I love outside of magic as a part of the magic trick. You know, it creates that uniqueness instantly for me and that differentiator instantly. So if I'm working in a theater and they had a magician last month, I know 100% that they have not done anything that I am doing in my shop.
SPEAKER_03Amazing. Yeah, I guess that means that you know that your audience are going to have a completely unique experience because yours is the only show. It goes, it kind of reminds me of like old school vaudevillian magicians. You know, back in those days, they had their acts, and that's what people would go and see. They would go and see the act, and uh it was so unique to them that other magicians would then try and steal parts of those acts for their their own performances. So I guess that's that's the the great thing about what you're doing is you know that that is that's your vaudevillian show, so to speak.
SPEAKER_00You know what's funny about stealing acts is when you say that, this story always comes to mind. I I was working, so I've had Johnny Thompson as a consultant twice before he passed away. Uh once on Wizard Wars on the pilot of Wizard Wars that I got to shoot with Blake Voigt being my partner, and then on Fulas, he was my consultant as well. And uh just spending time with him and hearing his stories, he has this one story where he found out that this guy stole his bird act, and he was doing it at this casino in a completely different state. And so Johnny Thompson bought a ticket to fly out, bought a ticket to the show in the front row. And when the guy started doing his bird act, he walked up, and Johnny Thompson was a boxer. Um, he got up and he knocked the guy out, and he said, That's my act, and he stole it and walked out of the show.
SPEAKER_03Wow, that's crazy.
SPEAKER_00Don't steal another magician's act. You never know.
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SPEAKER_03There you go. Let that be a lesson to everyone. Right, let's swiftly move on to number five then. Uh, what's in your fifth spot, Chris?
Utility Devices After Lost Luggage
SPEAKER_00Uh, fifth spot. So this is where I started to this is where it gets a little tricky, a little challenging going through this list because um I could just name off what I'm doing in my show because I love doing that. But at the same time, I learned a very valuable lesson when none of my luggage arrived to a cruise ship I was doing. And so I had to create a show with what I could find on board because it was C days. So I wasn't gonna get my luggage, I wasn't gonna get my show. I just had whatever I arrived with, which was a good chunk of things. But um the lesson that I learned is that I will always travel with, you know, in the magic world, what we call utility devices. And what that allows me to do is um not rely on what the trick is itself, but use it for whatever result I want to get. And so um one of the bits that I created using a double tank, for example, um, is an alternate piece that if I were to pull the lottery prediction piece out, I'd put this one in. And it's just audience writing down random information, um, gathering it up, someone picks out a piece of paper and then doing like a mentalism bit to it. Now, of course, I need to have the visual kicker to that. So um there's three random things written on the paper. I kind of get one, I nail the other, and then I do something with the third one that is a unique way to find out what the word was, but then I draw it on a pad, and the drawing comes to life and turns into the real version of what that third piece was written down that I then give out to the audience member to keep. So um I don't have a name for it. Um I wouldn't know what to call it, but it's like a mind reading production effect. Um, and that allows me to have that utility device that works for so many other great tricks as well.
SPEAKER_03So the utility part of it is the utility part them writing stuff down effectively.
SPEAKER_00Well, the utility side of it means that like the the piece that I use for the trick itself uh isn't sold for that trick. Um, you know, like a thumb tip, you could uh do so many things. You can switch something, vanish something, produce something. Like it's a utility prop. Um deck of cards could essentially be a utility device as well. Like if you know a thousand different revelations, you could do a thousand different tricks with a deck of cards, and they could all have like a different feel, a different, totally different um premise to make it feel like something completely different with a deck of cards. So that's what I mean, like with the utility device, the devil's hang being the fact that I can do that trick with that, but I could also, you know, make something vanish. I could also swap something out, I could also produce something, you know, a shot glass or whatever it might be.
SPEAKER_03Okay. So what I kind of also think is interesting about your list so far and some of the things that you've been talking about is a lot of the things that you're doing now are very informed by things that have happened in the past. So it really feels like you we always talk about putting in the hours, but it feels like the experience that you have now is very much because of all of the things that have happened before to get you to where you are now.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Yeah, like there's that saying that we're the sum average of our life experiences. And um, you know, when you experience something like not having any luggage, arrive on a cruise ship where you're the headline performer, um, there's a part of me that says, that'll never happen again. I will never not be prepared again. So I make sure that, you know, there's a couple of things that I make sure are in my bag that are a part of my carry-on that don't take up a lot of room, but that allow me to do uh, you know, a variety of different things. I could essentially use them for, you know, two different shows, two different nights with two different effects, but it took up the smallest amount of space in my bag. And that all happened because of the experiences I've had of not having anything show up.
SPEAKER_03So we should all learn uh and and take this advice and Now before we find ourselves in that position.
SPEAKER_00Pretty much. Yeah. I mean, just find those pieces where you're like, I have this, I could do this, this, this, then this with it. That should just always stay in.
SPEAKER_03And if you just have a mental toolbox of methods in your head that require very little or, you know, billets, pieces of paper, envelopes, that sort of stuff, then you're you're never going to be lost in in the world because you know that should anything happen, well, okay, I don't have physical props here, but I know that I have uh sorry to old reference here, a rolodex of ideas in my head, which I can just pluck from and I can find different things to work with that.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Yeah, it's a great idea to do that, to think about it, uh, and prepare for the worst, because it will happen. You know, I remember thinking, man, I've gone this long without my luggage not arriving, and which probably was that trip where it didn't arrive. It's like, oh, it finally happened.
unknownCrap.
SPEAKER_03And it's one of those stories, if I'm honest, I've heard it a lot. I've heard a lot of performers who travel internationally a lot. It it happens an awful lot of people losing their luggage, and and sometimes you know it's TSA as well, who confiscate things or take things away for whatever reason, even though it there's genuinely no there's nothing bad about it for whatever reason they they take stuff away, and then you're kind of lost in that sense as well. It's quite a regular thing.
SPEAKER_00It is, it is a regular thing. I mean, I saw this practice where you print out um, I am a touring magician, these are my props. You know, please be careful. Um they are just props, like really spelling it out so that if they do get open and searched, that it gives them a little understanding as to why you have the weirdest-looking stuff sitting in your case.
SPEAKER_03I reckon we could start an entire forum chat room just of different things magicians have had taken away from them or questions, and the amount of times magicians have had to perform to uh TSA agents to prove that they are magicians, which seemed to be the other regular story.
SPEAKER_00It is regular. I remember the first time um something like that happened where I had to like prove myself. I was coming back from a gig in Vegas, and they stopped my case going through the scanner, my carry-on, which I'd never had an issue with, but they stopped it going through the case, the the scanner, and the bomb squad had to come in. I almost missed my flight, and the bomb squad came in because they they just classified it as like this undetermined object. And I'm like, guys, no, bring it out. Like, I know you can't bring it out and just go based off my word, but like, hey, look, I I'm a magician, this is what I do, and this is what this is. And at the very end, I show them and they're like, you might want to reconsider how this thing is pieced together. I'm like, I will definitely do that because I don't want this ever happening again. So it it encouraged me to uh redesign the entire thing and build it from the ground up.
SPEAKER_03Now, ordinarily, I would ask you what it was in the bag, but you know what? I I like the mystery, and I like that everyone at home listening to this right now is thinking, what did Chris have in that bag?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, I I can't say. I can't say.
SPEAKER_03Uh moving swiftly on, let's get to number six then, Chris. What's in your sixth spot?
Letting Kids Shine With Mind Reading
SPEAKER_00Uh the sixth spot is um a drawing duplication. But I don't do it. Um a kid does it. And I basically help them see their inner superpower. So someone from the audience draws something and the kid draws exactly what they drew, making them the superstar of the of the routine.
SPEAKER_03I love that you've made this all about the audience because a drawing duplication is nearly always about the performer. It's about look, I can get this right, it does this match, and you've taken all of that away. It's not about you at all, it's all about the kid. Um, so what a lovely moment. That must be such a heartwarming moment in your show.
SPEAKER_00It is. Um, and it's something again where it's just gonna grow and grow and grow into something far greater. Like I'm glad that it is what it is, but I'm excited to see where it's gonna go as um as it gets workshopped more and more um over the years.
SPEAKER_03How do you even approach that as a premise? The idea that a kid is going to read the mind of someone else and they are the ones doing the drawing duplication, that must be a really interesting thing for you to to play with.
SPEAKER_00It it is, and it's about obtaining the trust of the the kid very, very quickly. Which I mean, years ago when I still had a day job, I worked at a school, and um my role was like a teacher's assistant, and so I worked with special needs children. Um one thing a lot of people would be surprised probably to hear is that like I was gonna become a sign language interpreter. So I finished all the levels of sign language, and I worked with deaf kids, and then that slowly trickled in when there weren't kids that were deaf in the school that I worked at to you know, behavior, um, ADHD, whatever it might have been, it doesn't really matter. And I know these labels are probably like not what they're called today, but that's what that's just the words that we used a long time ago in the school I worked in. So um I think what that allowed me to do is get to their level, uh kids' level, really, really quick and meet them where they're at. And dealing with my own personal things, you know, like I am very open about the fact that I'm severe ADHD. Um and I think it's one of my superpowers. I don't see it as a negative, I just see that it's a a way that my brain functions that allows me to do things differently than someone else does. Um, will I lose attention if I'm not interested in the subject someone's talking about? Yeah. Are they gonna know? Yeah, they're gonna know. It's gonna be very evident. But um I have come to terms with that being an adult. And, you know, I say it jokingly, but if I have a kid come up on stage, for example, who's ADHD and I catch on to the fact very quickly, there's no way that their ADHD is gonna outdo mine. So there's like this really cool um moment where I meet them where they're at, I make them feel comfortable, and we become very good friends very quickly. And often like these kids give me a hug before they walk off stage and go back to their seats. And it's always like a highlight of the show for a lot of people where they get to see another side of me. There's the music side, the magic side, and then um, you know, like I have an edgy look when I'm performing, and then all of a sudden I win over the heart of this kid on stage, and so um, long story longer, I try to just you know make the the kid feel really seen, heard, welcome on stage as they are, and we talk about superpowers and how we're all created uniquely. And today we're gonna unlock a superpower that you never knew you had, but I've got a feeling you got it, and then we go into it.
SPEAKER_03Wow. Well, I think that's a great one in at number six. Uh let's go to number seven then. What is in position
Bill Vanish Into Lime Or Crackers
SPEAKER_03seven?
SPEAKER_00Position seven. Oh man, this is uh another tricky one. It's one or the other, and they very often are like the ones that replace each other in a show. So I don't know if I'm allowed to do that, but um, it's a bill to an impossible location. So a borrowed bill um vanishes and appears either in a lime, which on a desert island, hopefully there's lime trees. And uh if it's not in a lime, it's the piece that I have done on Masters of Illusion with goldfish crackers, where the bill vanishes, appears inside of a bag of goldfish crackers, but then that has that kicker where I dump out uh well, I dump out all the crackers at first to show the bills in there. And then the kicker is that I take the goldfish crackers and turn them into real goldfish in the bag and dump them out into a glass of water and there's real goldfish swimming around. So it's hard for me to decide which one is which because the bill in lime has a kicker where a bottle of corona is produced for the lime to go with. So um, yeah, I don't know which one it would be between those two. I'll let the listeners decide.
SPEAKER_03Well, we can do one better because earlier on you said that your violin card rise was the first position, but instead you ended up putting Bill Abbott's five-card box. So you do still have another slot. So you can either battle it out and work out which one to have, or and have an extra eighth, or you can put uh both of those in position seven and eight.
SPEAKER_00You know, I'd probably go with the bill in line because that would just allow me to bring other props along. Uh, because the goldfish cracker routine utilizes that double's hank, which I've already got with me.
SPEAKER_03See, I said I like it when people hack this system. That's great. That that's that's good. And of course, you've already got a fish on your island. So you're set up for that. You're pretty much um Yep, I love it. I want to talk about both of those very quickly, though. So earlier on, when we spoke about the the violin card rise and how you'd structured that in a way that you had these kind of juxtaposed things, and you have a wonderful way of bringing the story together and making everything make sense by the end of it. And you kind of said that with the guitar trick as well, with the knot keeps moving and changing, and you know, everything is gonna feel really confusing, but then the way that you constructed it is this really pleasing plethora of you know the music and and the magic and the performance all coming together. And that's what I found when I watched your uh the crackers and the the bill and the fish. It's the same thing. It's forgive me for saying it, it's it's balmy, right? It's crazy. Um when you see it, none of it makes sense, but then you do you do what you seem to do really well, and you bring it all full circle, and at the end, you know, there's even more the the woman's face on on that performance says it all. She's absolutely completely shocked by the whole thing.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Yeah, and you know, that routine, the the place that it birthed out of was um when Wizard Wars aired back in 2014. Um, a local news, like TV morning show wanted to have me come out and promote the show. And so I think we couldn't get footage in time because I was episode one with e Katarina being my partner on that. And so um they're like, we'd love for you to perform something. And I'm thinking, well, I want to do something as an homage to Wizard Wars, like something an old premise of people don't know. Wizard Wars was like um like chopped on the food network where you're given random ingredients and you have to put together a meal, but instead of cooking with random ingredients, we had to do a routine with random objects presented to us. So I decided the day before we're airing, because I leave things to the last minute, um, that I'm gonna do something where it's like they present me with random objects. And I always wanted to make a goldfish appear on TV, and I'd never done it before that time. So um I said, listen, I need you to give me a glass of water, an empty glass, goldfish crackers, this, this, and this. And then basically just spelt out the routine. I did it for the first time on that morning show, and it became the staple that I was doing in my corporate show for the longest time. Um, where I'd even figured out a method on how to load goldfish in the middle of my show without leaving the stage so that they're ready to go and not dying. Um because they're feeder fish, and so they are ready, you know, yeah, you fart while they're in the room and they're gonna, you know, float to the top of the water. So they they don't have a long lifespan. Um, but that's where it came from, and I I just fell in love with it. I love that it's a basic routine that has uh a bit more and a bit more, and then when you think it's done and I'm gonna restore the bill because I cut it, I don't, and I do something totally different, which is make the goldfish appear out of there. So um yeah, I really love that routine.
SPEAKER_03Okay, well, build to lime is going with you. That means that you do still have another slot, you've got number eight. So what would you sneak in there?
Balancing Instruments For A Last Image
SPEAKER_00Well, it's another one of those love-hate relationships I have with a routine, but I've already got everything with me in order to do it, and there's no end to the trick, so I do it as the very last thing in my show, and then I leave it, and it's basically I create an impossible balancing suspension with all of my instruments, so it's like Josh J's balance, but I do it with a mic stand and a keyboard and my guitar and the violin and the bow. And so I take a mic stand, I touch the tip of my keyboard on one end to it, and it stays there, and then I take my guitar and I put it on the opposite side of the keyboard, so it's like almost countering the mic stand, and I just balance it back and forth, let go, and it stays there. And I took the violin and I touch it to the headstock of the guitar and it stays there, and then the bow I touch to the scroll of the violin and it stays there, and I show there's nothing holding it up, and then I tell my audience, thank you, and good night. And I take my bow and I go off stage. And people come up after to the show to the front of the stage and they're just taking photos of it and they post it. Um, so I make sure that on the screen behind the the balance is you know my social media stuff, just just for some shameless plugging in their photos. But um, yeah, I I love that piece because it is another just different impossible moment with things that I love.
SPEAKER_03So, two two points to that. The first one is how many iterations did you have to go through to get that to work? That sounds like it was an absolute nightmare to to make practically.
SPEAKER_00It was maybe three years of trial and error, and um it's hard to not do it with real instruments. So I bought a lot of you know cheap instruments off Amazon that I didn't care if they fell because falling is definitely a part of figuring out how not to make them fall. So yeah, it went through many, many reiterations uh over the years. I mean, I performed it on Masters of Illusion in 22 or 21, I think. Um and what I did on like I wish that I could just find that video everywhere and delete it because that's not what it is anymore. It's something completely different than that. But um yeah, it's gone through so many different versions, and the one that it is now uh I like the most. Um it's the cleanest. The routine is good. My wife helps me with it in the show. Um, she uh comes out and holds things, and then at one point we all just let go and it doesn't fall, and it's it's a really cool moment.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, one thing that we always think about is the the pre and the post show. And I know that you said it kind of flippantly there about the the social media things at the back, but I remember seeing Luke Jamay do a show years ago, and he he simply had something projected on the back wall when the audience were coming in. I'm not gonna say what it is because it's it might be disrespectful to him. And um the audience were just talking. There was such a buzz in the air when they when they saw this thing, and it really got me thinking, you know, those pre and post-show things are actually really important because it it's creating that journey, it's creating that story. So you leaving that on the stage for people to take pictures of is so clever because it means that that's gonna carry on way after the performance. It kind of reminds me of, in and of itself as well, the Derek Delgodio show with the brick on the corner. You know, people are gonna go and find that that brick if they can. Um, so yeah, I think that's such a clever thing to do, just to leave it set up and and to walk away and let this thing linger.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and I mean they people I have people watch the stage because um out of nowhere, suddenly people would be walking up on stage looking at it. But um for security reasons now in my rider, I tell them I need security just watching the stairways going up on stage. But they're they're looking and trying to find how this thing is not falling. Uh, it's really cleverly done. Um it's so different than the first version of it that I had created as well. But it it's a cool spectacle that they are you know looking around and filming and taking photos of. So um I sent you a photo in the chat that you get to actually look at and see the suspension and the image that is up on the screen uh afterwards. Normally there's also like a hashtag that goes with it, but um yeah, I I use a lot of screen in my show. I constantly have a splash image or live video feed or something going.
SPEAKER_03How on earth is that happening? So Chris has just sent me the picture. It looks absolutely ridiculous. I mean that in a good way. That is unreal. Yeah, it just I can't I can't fathom. It's even the fact that the guitar is not even completely horizontal. It's ever so slightly off to one side, which makes it feel like it's gonna fall even more, like it's even more balanced, and the bow straight on the end, that looks incredible.
SPEAKER_00I think there is a photo on my website somewhere. If people were to dig around, they'd probably find it.
SPEAKER_03Well, I think it's a great way to close out your list, and thank goodness that you had that extra slot there. So we had the uh in your welcome package, you had your violin card rise. We had uh Bill Abbott's five card box, the lottery ticket prediction, which was Numera. Uh, we had color match, the guitar trick, mind reading production effect. We had the draw and duplication, the superhero one with the kid. We had the build to lime, narrowly missing out to the um the fish production or build to fish crackers, uh, and then you ended with your impossible instrument balance. I think that's uh a pretty unique list. So let's go to your banishment
Banish Bad Lines And Floating Tables
SPEAKER_03then. So we've given you eight tricks, but you're only allowed one each of these. So, Chris, imagine you're about to dig a big sandy hole, you're gonna throw something inside, never to be seen again from the magic industry. What would you like to banish?
SPEAKER_00Uh I I'm torn between a line and a prop. I don't know which one it would be.
SPEAKER_03Well, we love an honorable mention, so you are of course allowed an honorable mention.
SPEAKER_00Okay, okay, okay. Or a dishonorable mention, I guess in this case. Um I would say that the the line is uh do me a favor. Take a card, but do me a favor. Like are things that bad in your world that a favor is having someone pull out a playing card from a fan of cards. I don't know, need to strive for something higher. Do me a favor. I hear it so much, so much. Like walking the hallways of Magic Live where people are sessioning. Do me a favor, pull out a character. Do me a favor. I hate that. I really hate that. So that's the line. The mention is the floating table. I just can't handle it. Um if I see it on stage, my hopes and expectations for the show dwindle rapidly. Um the one and only acceptable use I've ever seen is Darren Brown. And that's it. Um everything else is not even a close second, or it's an unrehearsed crappy version of it. Yeah. Can't handle it.
SPEAKER_03Okay, let's address both. So do me a favor. I think it's really interesting how we all have these um hookups about things. So one of my ones. Is not magic related, but when someone says, instead of would you mind doing for me, they say, Would you like to? So instead of someone saying, Would you mind dropping me down the road? They say, Would you like to drop me down the road? It's the tiniest thing, but the implication there is it goes from a favour to an expectation. Uh, a favor to an expectation. So I think it's the same kind of thing. Do me a favor. That's not really the the intention there isn't them doing you a favor at all. Uh is completely the wrong phrasing.
SPEAKER_00It is. And what it tells me is a lack of effort and a lack of thought into the parts that matter more than your trick. Like what we're saying while we do the trick is far more important than what the trick is. It's the difference between um like taking someone on an impossible journey or just doing something that makes them go, huh, that was cool. Like there's such a uh a great distance when we have worked on the things that we say to present the trick and to make it our own and to make it unique and to make it something that I like uh how I would naturally speak to someone when I'm not doing a trick, those are the things I want to say while I'm doing the trick. So they're getting the authentic me. Not just do me a favor. You know, um like my my go-to if I'm doing a card trick, um, like close up or something like that, uh, is hey, do you like card tricks? Say yes. And I just stare at them like with a a very straight face until they say it. I'm like, perfect, here, take one then. And then I just go into it, not hey, do me a favor, pull out a card. Especially if it's like four card tricks in a row and people say do me a favor every time, which has happened, I've seen it, it's like, oh, dry I just want to pull my hair out.
SPEAKER_03Well, I think that's a very good line. Um uh that's a very, very, very funny line. And what is it about the floating table then? So what is it about the floating table that it it just gets you?
SPEAKER_00I think that it is one of those things that fall into the category of that Steve Martin quote where it's the only talent you can buy. I think that people um and I see it more in like the corporate shows, um, and I guess theater shows, but they're like, I have seven minutes I need to fill. That's cool, it's visual, I'm gonna do that. And they just buy it and they throw it in and do it verbatim, like the exact same routine, you know, the exact same imaginary thought or thing going in the box. So I'll like um and then it becomes the the promo shot on the hero section of their webpage, you know, a floating table, and it's it's um I I'm so glad that the floating stool was made because that at least same thing, but it's not this Elizabethan-looking table that everybody owns with the same tablecloth that everybody owns that's on the homepage of their site, that's the same seven minutes on their show. Um I don't I think that it it doesn't lend itself to uniqueness, creativity, or anything like that. And that is just my own opinion, and I appreciate that a lot of other people disagree, and that's okay.
SPEAKER_03Well, I'm gonna do you a favor and I'm gonna put both of those in that ditch. Both of them are gone. Uh they're banished on your island, they're they're they're never to be seen again. So, Chris, what about
Royal Road Plus Laptop Cues
SPEAKER_03your book? So, what would you put in your book position?
SPEAKER_00Okay. Um again, that's hard. I mean the one that shaped me and molded me was the Royal Road to Card Magic. So I would say that that is it because I could go through it again right now and read something I've never read before. And there are some serious magician foolers in the Royal Road to Card Magic that if you even just put two minutes into digging into that book and finding one of them and practicing it, you'll fry some of the best minds in magic. I think that's what I'm gonna go with. I'm not even gonna think about what the other options were. Royal Road, first magic book I ever bought.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, it seems to be one of the classic books that I'm not sure if I'm right to say it's maybe overlooked nowadays because of the the amount of material that that we have nowadays. So I'm not sure if newer magicians will go back to it as much, but it definitely feels like one of the fundamentals really to to learn from.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. It definitely is. Uh like I remember I went through the book, and then I remember someone showing me a trick, and they knew that I was a Royal Road. I find that there used to be two divisions, like expert at the card table or royal road. And uh he showed me something from Ro Royal Road, and I had no clue. Like it it frustrated me. I had no clue how he did it. It blew my mind. And he told me it's in Royal Road to card magic on this page, and so I went back, looked at it, I'm like, holy smokes, there it is. I thought I'd gone through this whole book, but uh, you know, I obviously missed something, or I wasn't ready to fully understand what I was reading, maybe at that point in my magic walk. So so good.
SPEAKER_03Okay, well, Royal Road is going with you. That means you've got one more thing. So you've got a non-magic item that you use for magic. Now, looking over your list, you've got an awful lot of them. We've got violins, guitars, we've got a cardboard box there, where you've got lottery predictions, you've got coloured pens, you know, you've got an awful lot of things that could have gone into that slot. So let's see what you would have put there. What's your item?
SPEAKER_00Uh, my laptop. I mean, I run QLab um for the production of my show. And I also use it to do the um processing for all of the instrumentation that is amplified. Um, all the digital stuff runs into uh it's called a DAW in my computer, and that processes it as well. So my computer's a huge thing. Um I would definitely have that with me.
SPEAKER_03And your shows, you mentioned that you do cruise ships and obviously uh you're actually all over the place when it comes to different event arenas, so to speak. Um are you controlling those shows yourself from the stage?
SPEAKER_00I am, yes. Um people will sometimes see me poke my butt. It's because my remote is in my back pocket. And um I actually have three remotes in play throughout my show, depending on what the routine is and where I'm at with my hands. But most of the time I have a two-second delay on all my cues so that I can cue it and then my hands are free, and then the transition takes place. And um, I think I do that for no other reason than to fool people who know that I'm cueing my own stuff so they don't see me queue it. Because when the cue happens, like it's already done. It happened already. So my hands get to be free, and then the transition takes place. And I get a lot of questions like who's controlling all that? Is that like your wife back there? Or are they doing that the sound booth? It's like that's that's me. I have, I think, 284 cues in my show that um some are automated, but I am I'm I'm cuing them the whole time. I need to be in control of that.
SPEAKER_03Amazing. Well, I think that's a great thing for you to take in your item, uh, your laptop. And technically you've snuck in Q lab there. But like I said, we like a hack. We like people to sneak things in, so
Links Tour Talk And Goodbye
SPEAKER_03that's great. Uh, but it's a great way to close it out. Thank you again, uh Chris. It's been so nice to finally have you here, even though we've got you when you're taking a break. So we we've not we've not helped with the situation, really.
SPEAKER_00Well, well, no, but you know, this is a different way of thinking about the craft, and it's fun. And uh I I enjoyed it. It was great. Thanks for having me be a part of this.
SPEAKER_03Well, thank you for coming on. Now, if people want to find out more about you, of course, you may or may not have teased that there's a trick coming out in the very near future. Um, where can they go to find out all of this information?
SPEAKER_00Uh well, my website is kind of the hub, ChrisFunkmagic.com. Um, I don't think uh it has been updated with my tour schedule. I think it still has stuff from June in there, but um, that's where the bulk of everything takes place or social media, um, which I don't run. So I'm not really sure what's on that. Um, I pay a kid to do it for me. It's better that way. Uh, but that's all just Chris Punk magic as well on all the platforms.
SPEAKER_03And let's hope you head over to the UK one day soon so that we can see you performing over here.
SPEAKER_00That would be fantastic. I mean, I'll be there for Blackpool, but not performing. I'll just be demoing.
SPEAKER_03Amazing. Well, thank you again, Chris. And thank you all for listening. Uh, please do go check out everything that we've been talking about. Uh, I highly, highly recommend that you just spend an afternoon looking at all of Chris's videos. There's some really brilliant, brilliant magic. A lot of what he's spoken about on this podcast, actually, you'll be able to see performed in some aspect. And try and seek out the picture of that balancing trick because it's gonna be hurting my head for a long time, especially when you see the the angle of that guitar. It's just not right. Uh, thank you all for listening. Of course, we're gonna be back next week with another episode. Thank you so much. Have a good week. Bye-bye.
SPEAKER_01When I perform a gig, I look at the fix that takes these three boxes. Is it super strong and powerful? Yes. Will it last of your spectators for a lifetime? Absolutely, please. And does it leave the bulletin?
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