Rob Zabresky is an actor, a songwriter and, most importantly for our purposes, a magician. Rob was a musician in the band Possum Dixon in the mid 1990's when he strolled into a magic shop in Baltimore to escape the summer heat. The owner of the store showed him a simple handkerchief disappearing trick and was immediately drawn to it. He performed a version of that trick on stage in front of his bands audience and that was the start of his magic career. The post Character, Acting, and Honing Your Act with Rob Zabrecky appeared first on Discourse in Magic.

Ryan Plunkett is well known as the author of A New Angle and from his work at The Chicago Magic Lounge.  We’ve been eager to get him on the podcast for some time now.  Ryan worked for a while at a magic store. It ended up teaching him about the things that he hated about magic.  So much of the industry is based on pushing cheap tricks with little actual value. The post A New Angle on The Chicago Magic Lounge with Ryan Plunkett appeared first on Discourse in Magic.

We’ve been trying to get The Evasons on the show for a long time now.  Then out of the blue they phoned us up and said that they were in town.  We invited them over the house to record this week’s episode and the results were pretty spectacula The post Succeeding as a Touring Duo Act with The Evasons appeared first on Discourse in Magic.

We're really excited to have the co-founder of Vanishing Ink Magic Joshua Jay on the podcast. Josh and Andi Gladwin founded the company on the belief that there was a real dearth of high-quality magic on the market.  Josh was criticized when he first began selling difficult, high-quality tricks. The critics suggested Vanishing was giving away too much. But Josh says that giving a newbie a really impressive trick right away will ensure that they are hooked for life. But the company is not based on profit at any cost. Josh says they have pulled innumerable products either because there was a missing credit or because the products were not up to snuff. The post Teaching, Lecturing, and Making a Show with Joshua Jay appeared first on Discourse in Magic.

It's time for another catch-up interview with Jonah and Tyler. The episode starts with a quick recap of the last month. Tyler has made a terrible mistake and gotten a Muggle job. He works at at vape store, which is apropos since he uses an e-cig himself. He got the job by doing some magic for the company and they were so impressed they gave him a job. Jonah thinks that's a good lesson for everyone proficient in magic. It's always a good way to impress the normals. The post What do you love about Discourse in Magic? appeared first on Discourse in Magic.

We've invited magic legend Johnny Thompson otherwise known as The Great Tomsoni onto the show today. Together with his wife Pamela Hayes Johnny has been performing for packed houses in Las Vegas for decades. Johnny saw a movie about a Mississippi river boat gambler when he was a kid and he decided he wanted to become a card sharp. He bought The Expert at the Card Table at a Chicago bookstore for 35 cents. He spent the next four years trying to learn everything between those covers. Johnny eventually realized that there wasn't a lot of places for a 12 year old card cheat to work so he decided to switch to magic. The post Show Business and Magic Consulting with Johnny Thompson appeared first on Discourse in Magic.

We're excited to have Denis Behr on the show this week.  Denis has consistently released some of the most innovative magic in the world.  His dedication to the craft shines through in everything he does, especially in his new DVD titled Magic on Tap. Denis first started with magic as a kid after being given a kit as a kid. Card magic has become his obsession. He never worked as a professional magician having trained in mathematics at university. He now works as a web developer and programmer at company based on Munich, Germany. The post How to Love Magic with Denis Behr appeared first on Discourse in Magic.

You know him from his incredible Instagram presence – we're super excited to have @JustJoshInMagic on the show this week. Josh became obsessed with magic as a teenager. It was an interest that started as a diversion from his rigorous training as a musician. But soon enough he had traded the saxophone for a deck of cards. As he entered college he could no longer afford buying magic and so began to create his own tricks – all of which were horrible. He would perform for kids at various daycares and preschools but realized he preferred the magic he did for his friends. He went to school at UCF which is the largest university in the United States. That enormous student body provided a great audience for his early effort The post Money Magic with Josh Janousky appeared first on Discourse in Magic.

It's episode 105 and time for another solo chat between Jonah and Tyler. It's been a month since our heroes sat down for one of these. Jonah had a ton of show throughout March with the Toronto Magic Company. Newest Trick in the Book is now a weekly show every Tuesday which is something that Jonah is really happy about. He continues to work on his time machine phone bit and has an idea of incorporating a “magical” amulet in one of his routines. The post T-shirts and Talismans appeared first on Discourse in Magic.

It's taken more than two years and over 100 episodes but we've finally done it.  We managed to convince one the biggest names in magic to join us for a feature length interview. Teller tells us about his early years performing magic with Penn Jillette and how, together, the built one of the most durable brands in live performance.  He also reveals the secret to succeeding on his TV show Fool Us and why he believes Discourse in Magic is the best podcast he's ever listened to.  We can't think of a better way to usher in spring 2018 then with this interview! The post Fool Us and Beyond with Teller appeared first on Discourse in Magic.

He's an incredible magician, a close friend but most importantly he's a listener to the podcast. Caleb Wiles is well known for his amazing stage performances and his appearance on Penn and Teller's Fool Us. As he started diving deeper into card magic he became totally obsessed. As his journey progressed he became known as the magic guy in his class and in his family. Soon enough he was performing on-stage. The post Magic, Math and Pro Wrestling with Caleb Wiles appeared first on Discourse in Magic.

Paul Vigil has burst out of his native Salt Lake City taking his magic to TV and the Las Vegas Stage. He has appeared on Penn and Teller's Fool Us twice. He trained with Johnny Thompson and worked as a street performer for years – slowly honing his skills. In his early 20's he was only interested in performing magic for himself. He grew to understand the importance of developing an act that appealed to audiences. The post Religion, Psychedelics, and Other Types of Magic with Paul Vigil appeared first on Discourse in Magic.

We're have a really special guest this week. He runs Ellusionist and made waves with his viral performance on Fool Us. Adam Wilber also produced the best selling trick pyro and we're really excited to have him in the show. Wilber was six years old when he stole a prop from a friend for a trick. He mastered that trick, fooled his dad and never looked back.  Adam studied education in college and thought he was going to become a PE teacher.  He started supplementing his income as a walk-around magician but it took another decade before he managed to make a living at it. The post Behind the Scenes at Ellusionist with Adam Wilber appeared first on Discourse in Magic.

Our guest this week is a brilliant mind in the community. He's a magician, a priest and a raconteur – we're really excited to have Jared Kopf. Every child is born with a sense of wonder that gradually dwindles. For Jared it never dwindled. He doesn't remember a specific moment when he fell in love with the art form. But by the time he was a young kid he had become totally obsessed. By 14 he was making pretty good money doing walk-around magic in restaurants. By the time he returned to magic after university he was much more interested in the art of magic rather than just fooling people. The post Real Magic with Jared Kopf appeared first on Discourse in Magic.

We made it! 100 episodes is a milestone we never expected to reach. Well, Jonah did. It's why he started the numbering with 001. Even still, we're super excited to have gotten this far. In this episode we reflect on how important the podcast has been on their own magic careers. The post Is Discourse in Magic Ending? appeared first on Discourse in Magic.

You know him from his Workers project, his book Paradigm Shift and his work as a consulting producer on Fool Us. In this episode you're going to learn all about how to have a good presentation, how to have an act worthy of television, and how to make your magic better! The post Get on Penn and Teller Fool Us with Michael Close appeared first on Discourse in Magic.

Mario Lopez was just a kid when a friend put a lit cigarette into his fist and made it disappear. He learned how it was done and from that moment on he was in love with magic. He moved to Granada in his native Spain when he was 18 where he trained with one of the countries top magicians. He was taught the art of performance and how to create the magical moment. He didn't teach young Luis any tricks specifically. It was all about how to perform on stage. Mario is incredibly dramatic on-stage which he says is a product of his environment. Clowns, actors and musicians are everywhere in Granada and they have all had an impact on his magic. The post Using Your Face with Mario Lopez appeared first on Discourse in Magic.

Lloyd Barnes grandfather became a travelling magician shortly after the war. He developed many tricks over the years and passed those onto Lloyd. His focus was much more on sport as a teenager – especially boxing and gymnastics. His university career was less than successful – he was thrown out in his final year. But that ignited his interest in magic and soon he was selling tricks and illusions that he developed himself. He was broke and homeless for a time and slept on many friends and families couches over the next few years. Lloyd now works with Ellusionist. He scouts tricks from other performers and from submissions to the company. He helps to make them more practical and performable. When you send a trick to the company, he's the guy that reads the email. The other part of his job is to shoot and edit the trailers for the new effects. Along with his own performing career that keeps him incredibly busy. The post Visual Magic and Ellusionist Secrets with Lloyd Barnes appeared first on Discourse in Magic.

It's episode 96 and time for another solo episode with Jonah and Tyler. We start the episode talking about what we should do to celebrate our upcoming 100th episode. We have had some pretty dumb ideas in the past like listening to all 100 episodes in a row. We need your ideas on this one. Hit us up on Instagram! The post Look How Far We’ve Come appeared first on Discourse in Magic.

He is Blue Crown Magic, he is Alex Pandrea. He first got into magic when he was five years old.  A clown came to his birthday party and did tricks like disappearing silk or sponge balls.  But his interest continued into young adulthood.  He grew up in New York City and it was through the local magic shops in Queens like Tannens that he discovered more magic.  He created some new effects as a teenager.  The post Making Magic and the Playing Card Revolution with Alex Pandrea appeared first on Discourse in Magic.

David Williamson is an incredible comedy magician and sleight-of-hand master. He feels that he was bitten by the bug early and he had no other choice but to follow his passion.  He was totally obsessed with it from a very early age. David was painfully shy.  But he forced himself to get up on open stages at bars at the age of 15, and look at him now! The post Becoming an Entertainer with David Williamson appeared first on Discourse in Magic.

Our guest this week came across our Instagram feed a few months ago and we knew we had to have him on the podcast.  His work as a cardist is truly awe-inspiring.  John first got into magic after his family got him a magic kit when he was 8 years old.  He learned the boomerang card throw at age eleven and from that point on cardistry became his obsession.  Finding tricks was difficult as he fell into the generation where magic stores started to close but online stores were not yet common.  That forced him to develop his own magic and his own style. The post Cardistry, Magic, and Getting Noticed with John Stessel appeared first on Discourse in Magic.

Welcome everyone to Episode 92 – our first episode of 2018! We both had a good New Year's Eve. We relaxed with friends, some hors d'oeuvres and champagne. Last New Year's we challenged ourselves to come up with some magical resolutions. Jonah resolved to work more on scripting his magic performances in 2017 – something he managed to achieve. Tyler, meanwhile, can't remember what his resolution was. Though, he may have promised himself that he was going to perform more. The post New Year, New Magic appeared first on Discourse in Magic.

Felix Bodden has appeared on Fool Us and has created a really popular Instagram feed.  He first became interested when he was eight years old in 2001 – the same year that the first Harry Potter movie came out.  But Felix became frustrated when he realized there was no such thing as real magic.  His Mom took pity on him and bought Felix his first magic kit.  When you’re a kid everything is magical.  The post Inner Secrets of Instagram Magic with Felix Bodden appeared first on Discourse in Magic.

We’ve been trying to get Tony Chang on the podcast for a long time and it’s finally happened!  Jonah and Tony spent some time together and NYC recently.  But this is the first time we have had the chance to talk to him about his history.  Tony first fell in love with magic when he saw a clown magician as a kid.  He got curious and he went to the public library in Idaho, where he grew up and found some books.  They were incredibly discouraging.  So he turned to some magic rooms on IRC in the early days of the internet.  He ordered a Hank Lee book and read it repeatedly.  His goal with magic is to create something incredible with imperfect means.  You can create an illusion using blunt mechanics to achieve something impossible.  The post Making Good Magic Great with Tony Chang appeared first on Discourse in Magic.

Geraint’s advice for a magician who wants to begin to sell illusions depends on what you want to accomplish.  Some people just want to make as much as possible.  But others want to be known and respected for creating quality magic.  Networking with the magic community to create something of value is hugely important.  But, he advises that once you conceive of a trick you should sit on it for a while.  Geraint has created tricks that he perfected over years before bringing to market. The post What Makes a Great Magic Product with Geraint Clarke appeared first on Discourse in Magic.

This episode is packed full of questions that we want YOU to answer! Join in the fun, leave a comment and let us know what you feel about these deep philosophical magic questions! The post Questions for Your Magic Mind appeared first on Discourse in Magic.

Sean O is a master of cardistry and has achieved a lot at a very young age.  Sean is only twenty years old but has been honing his skill since he was in grade school. He did his first paying gig was when he was nine.  He performed at a five year olds birthday party.  He first saw card magic when he was given The Trilogy by Dan and Dave.   He would also watch XCM battles and was obsessed with it.  Both of Sean’s parents worked in IT and he had many computers in his house growing up.  He has combined his interest in the web and magic from the very beginning. The post Instagram and the Cardistry Subculture with Sean O appeared first on Discourse in Magic.

Xavior Spade is making waves as one of the highest profile YouTube magicians.  He is using live streaming to connect with an every-growing audience.  Xavior found magic as a young person while growing up in Jamaica, Queens in New York City.  But it was magic that helped him to escape the ghetto.  It was incredible eye-opening experience to be treated as an equal in the magic community.  Eventually, Xavior gravitated to new platforms like Twitch and Discord as a gamer.  Some magic discussions took place on those video streaming services and eventually ended up on YouTube.  The post Modern Magic and Why it Lives Online with Xavior Spade appeared first on Discourse in Magic.

Garrett Thomas is an incredible magician, an opinion that was confirmed recently when Jonah saw him perform at the Buffalo 52 magic convention.  Garrett first fell in love with magic because of his father.  His dad was a huge fan of magic and was friends with the bar magician Eddie Fechter. Who had a brilliant way of teaching people.  Fechter taught Garret’s dad a few tricks which were then passed on to young Garrett.  That instilled an obsession in him at a very young age.  His family has a history of addiction and Garrett feels that he funneled that addictive personality into magic.   The post Understanding Magic with Garrett Thomas appeared first on Discourse in Magic.

Allan thinks that young magicians should start out by learning from the masters.  It would be foolish to ignore the classics.  Work your way through Card College.  There is enough knowledge there to last a lifetime.  Eventually you will discover two or three pieces that resonate with you.  That will then help you discover what your strengths are. The post Presentation, Effect Selection, and How to Practice with Allan Hagen appeared first on Discourse in Magic.

Demian Aditya has become world famous because of his insane escape acts.  Demian first became interested in magic because of David Copperfield who was on TV regularly in his native Indonesia.  The post Becoming a Death Defying Escape Artist with Demian Aditya appeared first on Discourse in Magic.

Billy has taken her background as a busker worldwide, regularly performing in Europe and on television. She trained as an actor in Edmonton and was almost totally disinterested in street performing and magic. That is until she saw Nick Nickolas performing at the Edmonton Street Performers Festival nine years ago. The post Busking for Magicians & Earning Your Chops with Billy Kidd appeared first on Discourse in Magic.

On today's episode, Mahdi Gilbert joins us to talk about the state of magic.  He first got into magic as a little kid despite not having much exposure to it.  He didn’t have a TV or internet but he had heard about magicians from other kids at school.  His childhood logic was that if he could learn magic he would be able to do anything.  Everyone told him that he couldn’t do it because he was so small, had a speech impediment and because he was born without hands. The post No Hands, No Feet, No Excuses and No Limits with Mahdi Gilbert appeared first on Discourse in Magic.

Lawrence Hass is the Associate Dean of the Magic and Mystery School in Las Vegas.  We wanted to invite him on to talk about the theory of magic at its deepest level.  Lawrence has a Ph.D. in philosophy and taught the subject for many years.  As he was finishing his Ph.D. he happened upon a David Copperfield performance on TV.  He immediately started thinking about what Copperfield was doing in a philosophical framework. The post How to Create Magic Out of Tricks with Lawrence Hass appeared first on Discourse in Magic.

You know him from his incredibly popular videos The BC Shuffle and The Instagram Sessions.  Jeremy Griffith has popularized social media magic in a way no one else has. He's developed a new way of performing magic online. The post How to Grow Your Instagram Following for Magicians with Jeremy Griffith appeared first on Discourse in Magic.

Jeremy Hanrahan is renowned in the magic community for his secret identity as @GaffGuy52.  He started early and became completely obsessed.  At first, he was a sleight of hand expert before he moved into gaffing.  He started his career selling his gaff decks to Morrisey Magic in Toronto. The post Everything You Need to Know about Gaffing Cards with @Gaffguy52 appeared first on Discourse in Magic.

Steve Reynolds is a renowned New Orlean’s card magician who is obsessed with keeping the history of magic alive. But Steve doesn’t have a step-by-step advice about how to become a magician.  He just did it.  He was full of passion and obsessed with learning.  Steve remembers how difficult it was to find information when he was younger.  Steve finds that there are a lot of young magicians that have the right attitude about magic.  But many people are stuck in a bubble of performing only for their friends.  In fact, Steve thinks that if they step out of that bubble and perform for a real audience they are going to be in for a rude awakening. The post Standing on the Shoulders of Giants with Steve Reynolds appeared first on Discourse in Magic.

Zack Mirza has created a remarkable career both as a professional animator and a magician.  He has animated a variety of children’s programs and his magic career was featured in the OLN series Illusion of Grandeur.  The post he Artist’s Journey with Zack Mirza appeared first on Discourse in Magic.

Harrison Greenbaum is the hardest working man in comedy and magic.  His unique act has landed him slots on Last Comic Standing and America’s Got Talent.  His career started early first as a stand-up comic who occasionally used magic in his sets when the jokes weren’t landing The post A Masterclass in Comedy Magic with Harrison Greenbaum appeared first on Discourse in Magic.

Our guest this week is Glenn West.  Glenn is a fantastic magician who started his love affair with magic after being introduced to the craft by his father.  Magic is constant presence in his life though he is not a working magician. Instead, he works as an animator in film and television. The post Crafting Incredible Visuals with Glenn West appeared first on Discourse in Magic.

In episode 69 we sit down with cardist Anna DeGuzman to talk magic, cardistry, content creation and much much more! The post Cardistry, Community, and Content Creation with Anna DeGuzman appeared first on Discourse in Magic.

Jason is a rockstar magician. He is a rockstar - The drummer for Sidewise; a crazy metal band, as well as an accomplished and creative magician. Jason dives in with us to ways that you can benefit as a magician even if it isn't your career. The post How to Benefit From Magic When it’s Not Your Career with Jason Dean appeared first on Discourse in Magic.

In episode 67 we sat down with the very brilliant Michael Feldman. Michael is a full time Lawyer as well as a recognized magician. He performs and creates fantastic magic that’s as knuckle-busting as it is baffling. The post The Laws of Magic and How to Give and Take Criticism with Michael Feldman appeared first on Discourse in Magic.

Ryan does it all! He's written and performed two of his own magic shows. He's advised and built props for top magicians around the world, and he most importantly  he handcrafts tools (wallets, card clips, close up pads) for magicians looking to up their magic style at REhandcraftered.com  The post How to be Meticulous in Your Craft with Ryan Edwards appeared first on Discourse in Magic.

Not all hero's wear capes, and not all magicians live on the stage. Some can be found sitting at the table at the magic shop, shuffling cards, or creating some new magic. The post Falling in Love with Magic Again with Jeff Hinchliffe appeared first on Discourse in Magic.

In episode 63 of the podcast we sit down wit Mark Calabrese to talk about what it takes to make it in magic. Mark is an incredible accomplished performer. With multiple effects released on the magic market, as well as appearances on Wizard Wars and Penn and Teller Fool us. The post Success by Word of Mouth, and Behind the Scenes TV Magic with Mark Calabrese appeared first on Discourse in Magic.

In this episode we sit down with Canadian Comedy Magic Icon Matt Disero. Matt is a hilarious Canadian comedy magician, who has made his way up through the comedy circuit. The post Magic in the Stand-up Comedy Circuit with Matt Disero appeared first on Discourse in Magic.