Dan White (Magician)¶
Published on Mon, 15 Apr 2019 10:00:09 +0000
The world-famous magician talks about how he fell in love with watches (and blows our minds with a few tricks too).
Synopsis¶
This episode features magician Dan White, known for his intimate show at the Nomad Hotel in New York City and frequent appearances on late-night television, particularly The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. The conversation explores the intersection of magic and horology, with White discussing his personal watch collection, particularly his black ceramic Rolex Daytona which has become his daily wearer. White shares insights from his appearance on Hodinkee's Talking Watches series, noting that the episode has generated more recognition than his numerous mainstream media appearances, with audience members regularly approaching him about watches at his performances.
The discussion delves into White's journey in magic, from being inspired by David Copperfield as a child in Philadelphia to eventually working for his idol in Las Vegas. He reflects on the challenges of performing magic in different contexts—from intimate theater settings to television appearances where tricks must withstand frame-by-frame scrutiny and replay. White emphasizes the importance of audience interaction in his craft and how he maintains freshness in his six-shows-per-week residency at the Nomad. The conversation touches on contemporary magic, the relationship between vintage collecting principles and magic, and closes with White performing an impressive demonstration for the hosts that combines mentalism with mathematical precision, leaving them genuinely astonished.
Links¶
Transcript¶
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| Unknown | Hey everybody, it's Steven here. Before we get into this week's episode, I've got something exciting to share. Hodinki has been nominated for a 2019 Webby Award. If you're not familiar with the Webbies, they're basically the Oscars of the Internet. And every nominee gets to contend for a people's voice award selected by you, the voting public who use, I guess, the internet. We'd ask you to head over to vote.webbyawards.com, enter Hodinky into the search box, and vote for us. We can't do this without you. Alright, thanks for the support. And now here's Hodinki Radio with Dan White. I can't think of an episode of Hodinki Radio that was more fun to prepare for than what you're about to hear. I basically spent a few hours at my desk watching clips of magic shows on YouTube, and I'm happy to confirm it's a pretty great way to spend an afternoon. You might recognize magician Dan White from his episode of Talking Watches. Or maybe from his show The Magician at the Nomad here in New York City. Or maybe you saw him doing card tricks for Scarlet Johansson and Jimmy Fallon on the Tonight Show. Or did you see Kanye West's Jesus tour? Yeah, he worked on that too. I guess what I'm saying is that Dan is kind of the modern face of magic, and his combination of charm, showmanship, and skill is a pretty dangerous thing. He's also a watch guy if that wasn't already obvious. We get into the watches he wears on stage, the historic relationship between watches and magic, and his days working for his childhood hero, David Copperfield. Make sure to stick around at the end of the episode. Dan does a few tricks for us that, to be honest, totally blew my mind. I think you're gonna enjoy them too. This guy is really good. I'm your host, Stephen Pulverant, and this is Hodinky Radio. This week's episode is presented by A. Langenzoner. This year, the German watchmaker is celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Iconic Longa One, a modern wristwatch unlike any other. Stay tuned to learn more about the Longa One later in the show and visit alonanzona.com for more thanks so much for joining us. Good to uh good to finally meet you face to face and uh have you here. Yeah, great to be here. Thank you so much for having me. Appreciate it. Yeah, and we've got uh Cole here too. Hey there. This is your first uh full full episode of Hodinky Radio. It is. Yeah. Yeah. This is an absolute pleasure to have a a guest as esteemed as Dan White. Oh, yeah. There we go. So people might recognize you or or your name |
| Unknown | from talking watches, right? Yeah. It was almost I think uh somewhere around a year ago. I don't exactly remember the date, but uh it's been an amazing experience. That was so much fun to do. |
| Unknown | Yeah, I mean we were we were talking a little bit before before we turned the mics on and you were saying people come up to you at your show because they saw you on Talking Watches. |
| Unknown | Yeah, it's crazy. Uh it's like you know, I've been on the the Today Show, the Tonight Show, Good Morning America, all these different shit I've done. Yeah. And uh I consistently that's the most like feedback I get is from hey, I saw you on Talking Watches. Can't believe that. It's just so crazy. It's so you know, I wouldn't would never have thought that. Um, but we get some really passionate people about watches and they all you know want to take pictures with the watches together afterwards and uh you know. It's cool. I love it. That's awesome. |
| Unknown | Yeah, I mean it must be it must be strange because like when you're doing a show you're you're laser focused on that and then all of a sudden to |
| Unknown | have like watches pop up immediately Well that's the thing I'll ask for help from a volunteer, the person will come up and and I get distracted legitimately because a lot of times these people have really nice watches on so I'll be in the middle of talking about something else or having to do something with my hands that's important uh and just completely like get sidetracked in that moment. And like, wait, I was that a no, I can't tell. Yeah, oh that was. And it keeps peeking out from underneath their collar. And then sometimes they just straight up are like, hey, check out my watch right in the middle of the stage. And like, okay, cool. So meanwhile, the rest of the audience has no idea what this weird kind of little conversation going back and forth is. So but yeah, it's al it's always a lot of fun to see what watches are in the crowd and it's something that that definitely can throw me off a little bit, but I enjoy it. Is |
| Unknown | there one that stands out as like the coolest watch you remember seeing |
| Unknown | ? Hmm. That's a tough call because I don't really get to because I've there's been a few times where I've saw it saw them and I'm like, okay, that looks like it could be this thing that is I'm imagining it is in my head, but I don't get enough like I don't get good enough time to actually either talk or or like actually really look at it. Yeah. Um but like just last week we had a a really beautiful Patek Philippe that was this guy was wearing. Nice. Um but yeah, it it happens a lot |
| Unknown | . It happens a lot. And so when when we left you with talking watches, you had just gotten a Daytona. Yeah. Which is what you're wearing on your wrist. I'm wearing on my wrist right now. Yeah |
| Unknown | . I can't take it off. It's like the best thing ever. I love it. I mean um n never gets old. And so you have uh the black dial, black ceramic bezel, right? Yeah. Yeah. And uh you know, I kind of uh originally wanted the w the white one, um, but I'm really happy that I decided to go with the black one instead. Um I think it just suits me a little bit better. Um and you know, from a distance I like the profile a little bit more. Yeah. And so you be that's been your like daily wearer essentially for the last last year or so. And I've tried to sort of recirculate old stuff and you know, I even it's hard for me even to go shopping now or look for other things because I'm just like I don't I'm just kinda happy now. But I feel like that happens a lot with the collectors and that feeling is is sometimes you feel like you should get something but you might not need it or really have anything that you really want. Uh and I've kind of been in this place right now where there's nothing that I really want right at this moment. Obviously there's things that I really want, but there's you know what I mean? Um but there's nothing that it's like really like uh singing to me that I think would make me stop wearing this one. |
| Unknown | Yeah, and I mean cold, that's something we encounter all the time, right? Is like collectors are always looking for that next thing. But sometimes forget to like enjoy the thing you have. Like you you bought the thing 'cause you like it. Yeah. Just enjoy it, right? It sounds like you're becoming |
| Unknown | you're you're getting closer to becoming a one watch guy. Well I I've never thought that that's what I wanted. Like I've I've enjoyed like the idea of collecting but but um you know when it just fits it fits. You know and if I don't if I don't need it, wh |
| Unknown | y why force it? Totally. One one thing I think you mentioned on your talking watches episode was that you were |
| Unknown | longing for a speedy. Yeah. Yeah. And you know what? I've been and I've looked at them and I've found the ones that I wanted and you know just especially with the speedy because it is kind of very similar to me that in this one and it's like I just can't I haven't been able to like really feel the need to have it. Um but that is it's still there. It's still my lesson. And I feel almost like I just should have it out of obligation at this point. You know, like I I you have to have it. That's what I think about the Daytona though. Right. I feel like people think they need the Daytona out of obligation. Right. I never felt that way. I r I really loved it. And I for me, it's this like I wasn't as big of a fan as the the older models, sort of all, you know, stainless around the edge. And I just this is the one that I was like, okay, I really like how these colors go together and I you know |
| Unknown | . There is just something about that watch that even like I'm I'm not a chronograph guy. I wear basically three hand watches, sometimes with a date, like that's getting really complicated for me, but uh there's something about that watch that is just so clean |
| Unknown | and so pure and it just it just feels right. Yeah, the all the proportions and the weight and everything, it's just it's it's very satisfying. |
| Unknown | So since Talking Watches, has has anything changed in your collection? Has anything come in? Anything gone out? |
| Unknown | Unfortunately, no. I wish I could give you some like juicy bits of gossip here and there, but um and unfortunately no. Uh but I've been looking. I mean um you know it it's I think it's always fun and this sort of goes back to the the idea of seeing watches at the show. I love seeing watches on people. You know and, what that how the watch affects that person's, you know, gait or just the the whole w how it goes with their clothes. And it it's never just the watch itself. It's really the whole the whole picture. Um so that's sort of what I've been doing lately is just seeing what watches appeal to me on people and why they sort of work really well with the whole persona that that person has. Ye |
| Unknown | ah. I mean people people can't see because of the the magic of radio, but uh you know you're wearing a l a leather jacket and a gray hoodie and like honestly the Daytona |
| Unknown | is kind of a perfect fit. Right, right. But you know, I think it could go either way. I've worn it with the suit and you know, I think it it can go all sorts of ways and that's why I that's why I really like the watch. Um um but yeah it it I think i you have to think about the watch when you think about the outfit. I think it's important for |
| Unknown | sure. I think there's something about magic too. Kind of a Darth Vader looking watch. Black on black, mysterious, magical, you know? Yeah. It fits, it works. Yeah |
| Unknown | . Have you ever had an issue where you wanted to wear a watch for a performance and for some reason couldn't like something about the watch, whether it was too reflective or it restricted your movement or something and you just said like, okay, this this is not a performance watch |
| Unknown | . Yeah, it it I I have. And usually it's sort of I wish I could give you more of an egg good example of these things, but usually it's to do with some sort of hidden gimmick that I might have to be wearing or have to use. Okay of or sort of uh get interfere with. Okay. Um so yeah, I mean it it it's it's more of a physical thing. It's never like, okay, I can't wear that specific watch. It's usually like you can't wear a watch with this because it's going to get in the way of how this thing is gonna function. Okay. Okay. If that makes any sense. Yeah, interesting. 'Cause then you know, there's a lot of cool things that magicians have done with watches. I mean I I me I mentioned this briefly on the the the talking watches thing, you know, just how Robert Houdin, who was father of modern magic, was a watchmaker, you know, and how he made all these really cool gimmicked and tricky watches, you know, watches that turn without any sort of mechanisms visible. Uh but that has continued down the line. I mean there's been a lot of really cool trick watches out there um that have popped up all the way, you know, through today. Well as long as you don't make our |
| Unknown | watches disappear. Yeah, yeah, then we're okay. Yeah. |
| Unknown | Yeah, well I've I did a uh there was a trick that I did uh for a while um with a pocket watch um that I really loved. Uh but for me it never got the reaction that I wanted from the crowd. And that's as a magician, that's what you're you're going for. It's just like a comedian you're going for laughs with with the m magician you're going for gasps, uh or cursing. You know, cursing is is d uh a a strong curse is the equivalent to a laugh uh for a comedian. Um but that that trick that I did with the a pocket watch, it for me I loved it because I loved the method and I loved the uh just the whole effect of the thing and but it just wasn't sinking into to to people. It was it was a trick where we had a pocket watch and anybody would name a time, uh and the time would be on the watch that they've been holding. Uh but also uh the initials of somebody that they were thinking of were engraved on the watch. And they could keep the watch if they wanted to. Um but it just you know maybe I just need to revisit it theatrically because it sounds really cool, right? Yeah when I say right now I'm like damn that's pretty good. Maybe we should do that. But it just never had that like BAM, you know, sort of moment. And it sounds like you have more watch enthusiasts in your audience now too. So they might appreciate it more. They might appreciate more. And I there's there's things I've done with other people's watches b you know i in the show. Um and N |
| Unknown | ice. Yeah, I mean before we I I do want to get into your show and and get a little peek behind the the curtain, so to speak, but uh I did want to ask you, you know, we we just saw over the last two, three months the new releases for this year. Yeah. We had the SIHH in in January, uh, and Basel World just, I guess what, two weeks before we're uh we're recording this. Uh and I wanted to know anything anything catch your eye, anything you saw that like really you think, okay, maybe that's the next thing that' |
| Unknown | s gonna end up in the collection? Unfortunately not really. You know, I was I was I wanted to see more and I this every every Basel War. It's the same feeling I always have, it's like, oh more, I want more You know, you wait all year and and y you get two, three cool new things but you want it's just doesn't it's not doesn't fulfill what everything you wanted. But I mean if I were to this I really love and I've said this on the the talking watches, I love the Jubilee on a GMT. I I love that combination. Uh so I was looking forward to seeing maybe like a coke on the on the on the GMT and um so I think that's might be the thing that once that does happen, if it does eventually, I would like to probab |
| Unknown | ly do that. Also I guess an an obvious question would be the watches you have in your collection have huge history behind them. They're all legacy watches. What about vintage |
| Unknown | ? I mentioned that I haven't found anything that's been like that's really like tapped into my soul, but those are the things that I've been looking at to try to find 'cause I've always wanted the uh a vintage wash, but I just haven't it d there's none that's been like okay |
| Unknown | I mean we can certainly help you there. Yeah. I mean you're a you're for the most part a a sports watch guy, a kind of classic sports watch guy. I |
| Unknown | think I'm actually looking more a little bit more formal. Yeah. At this point, yeah. I can see Steven's your |
| Unknown | guy there. Uh maybe maybe, yeah. Um yeah, I don't know. I mean something something about you getting up on stage in a suit and tie with a really beautiful, like really beautiful paddock or like an old hand wound AP, like one of those super slim dress watches they made back in the you know fifties, sixties. I could see I could see that working out really nicely. |
| Unknown | Yeah, leather sort of situation. Yeah. Or kind of blending sport and and and dress. Those old fifties Seamasters. Yeah. Simple, beautiful, well executed. And has has a speedy vibe. Yeah. But totally. dressy. Yeah Could wear that with a suit and look really good |
| Unknown | . I think we'll have to send some uh some stuff your way when we're done. Uh yeah. I can send you send you some ideas. Yeah. Yeah. Um so let's get let's get into your into your show and into you and your your history in magic. Okay. Um |
| Unknown | how did you how did you discover magic? So when when I was a kid, I was really obsessed with superheroes, as I think all a lot of young boys are. And I would always like draw comic book characters and you know imagine create my own sort of care characters. Uh and well one weekend my mom decided to take me to see David Copperfield. Uh and we sat on the way back and I was blown away, especially at the end when he started to fly across the stage. And in my mind it sort of was this weird clicking moment where I had sort of been living in this fantasy world of what these superheroes could do, but never thinking that they were real. And then now seeing this happen in front of my face for real, I was like, okay, wait a second. So magicians are kind of like superheroes personified, you know? Um and that's sort of like as they say in magic, you you get like that bug, you know, and I'm sure it's the same with watches, you know, you just get that bug that that bites you and that that was when it it bit me and uh sort of just you know kept going after that. Uh there's a magic store fortunately in in Philadelphia where I grew up uh not too far away from where I lived, uh and that gave me the ability to see things even closer. Uh and eventually I started going to the magic store so much that I I asked the owner if I could work for him, even though I was a young kid. Uh so he said, Look, oh you can work here, but I'm just gonna give you magic as your payment. Um so uh you know he would teach me stuff and he would give me books and videos and you know, g little little props. Uh but it looking back on it, it was so important, you know, formatively to be able to get the basics and get all of them, not be restricted in any sort of way. Because you know, uh when you start doing magic it's expensive. You know, you have to buy stuff uh to learn stuff and you need to buy the books and buy all the things. Um so not having that that restriction was was really nice 'cause I could pick and choose the things that I liked and take home with me, learn over and then come back and be able to do them. And it also forced me uh to perform them. I was really shy as a kid, you know, and I think that's sort of a uh a product of always sort of with your head in the book and the comic books and this sort of thing. Um and magic forced me to break out of my shell a little bit. And I've seen it happen with kids who've come to the show uh r just re even up to recently, uh how magic is a really good way of getting kids to to break out of their show because it's a uh performance art that you can't appreciate or do or practice or anything without doing it for somebody else. So you have to force yourself to engage with people and you actually have to engage with them because it's not you know even if you play an instrument somebody could just sit there and watch you or you could just do it by yourself in a room but with magic there there's an active participant involved in these things and you need to be able to engage them, else it's not going to be any good. |
| Unknown | Yeah, I mean you you mentioned earlier this idea of like the thing you're going for aren't aren't laughs, they're those gasps, right? Do you remember the first time you performed something for somebody and you were like, Yes, that's it. Like I nailed it. I got I got what I wanted |
| Unknown | . I I don't remember the very first time. I there's definitely specific ones that I remember like, okay, that was a really big gasp, you know, obviously there were a bunch of times when I was working at a magistrate where I got those feelings. But there was I remember one time, it was the first time I had gone up to New York by myself and I was standing outside of Penn Station and I did a card trick for two guys and they just went crazy. Like it was just unbelievable. Um and I think that was one of those moments. I was, you know, in twenty or something, so uh it was like, okay, there's some power to this thing, which I known, but it's like when you have those sort of reactions, uh, it really hits home. Yeah. |
| Unknown | And w what's the sort of line or or the sort of balance, I guess, between learning things that already exist and creating new things. Like what is what is that development like? I have no sense |
| Unknown | of what that is. Yeah, well, you know, I think magic is a lot like music. You know, with music you've got a certain series of notes and uh every sort of thing comes from those certain series of notes and I think magic is very similar to that. We've got certain principles, certain ideas. Uh it's how you put those things together. It's those ingredients, those m core ingredients, put them together to create something new. Uh for me uh in what I do in in the show here is it's a lot of classical elements. There's a lot of tricks that you could actually say to yourself, Oh, I've seen that before. Uh, but it's not. It's not what you've seen before. It's it's an idea that you've seen before. It's a theme that you've seen before with a completely new twist, a new method, a new presentation. Um and we've did that on purpose because we like that feeling of this kind of semi-antiquated, semi-classic, uh but yet modern feel. Um but essentially every magic trick is that. You know, it's it's taking an old idea, an old thought, an old method, uh, and giving it some new life. And definitely there's occasionally times, especially with advances in technology and materials and things like that where we do come up with completely new methods. But even those methods, uh the thinking behind them is based on something that's that's centuries old. Yeah. |
| Unknown | That's something I've always wondered about personally. Yeah. Magicians are like a fraternity. Yeah. And people keep their secrets. Our government can't even keep its keepers guarding secrets. How and you said magic is kind of antiquated, right? It's been around for so long. Yeah. How over that long has no one spilled the beans? Well people have. |
| Unknown | You know, there's a lot of reasons why people will spill the beans and I think with magic, just like any sort of uh, you know, secret society or things like that, the answers are there. They're out there. You just have to dig hard enough for them. Will our listeners be privy to any of those answers? Well they could. If if they really were legitimately interested, it's not like a quick Google search away. It's it's like a thick you know you gotta it's there, you know, it's it's it's just like just like everything else. Um but I think those barriers of entry are important because it wees out the people who just are curious with the people who want to learn. And that's one thing for me, like if anybody ever says,y He te,ach me a trick, how do you do that, right? If someone says to me, Oh, I really want to learn how to do this, I want to do this myself, that's a completely different approach, and that's I would be much more willing to teach them because uh it's one thing to just want to know because you want to feel that desire in your head but it's a different thing to be like I want to be able to do this too. Right. Uh and so when kids want to learn something it's not it's not like there's this oh you have to, you know, cut yourself and then sign a thing and then sell your soul. It's like no, it's just your desire to to want it, you know? |
| Unknown | Yeah. I think one of the interesting things about magic too is is you know you can hear a comedian tell a joke or you can hear a musician play a song and you can kind of like figure out, okay, this is what's going through their head, this is how they've done it, I've heard this before, I've seen this before, and it's it's no sort of less satisfying for having that knowledge. Right. Whereas part of the enjoyment of magic is not knowing. Right. Like once some once you teach somebody a trick, they're not going to enjoy watching you do it nearly as much unless they're, you know appreciate appreciating it as sort of like a fellow craftsman, you know. But but otherwise like that suspension of |
| Unknown | disbelief is is part of it, right? It's totally part of it. It's a really, really important idea, you You know. know, um there's all these worlds going on in a magician's head versus a spectator's head while a magic trick is going on. Uh you know, there's there's the what you see and the entertainment factor and and the suspension of disbelief all super important. But there's all this all this m method and stuff going on behind that as well. And some people can appreciate the the being fooled by it, other people can appreciate the method and actually enjoy that method like you're saying even more than what they're actually seeing. Um and so you know, magic as a magician, you I always have to fight this sort of uh there's there's kind of like a there's a fight going on between the audience and the magician because the magician is trying to hide something and the spectators are trying to figure it out. Um so I'm always trying to alleviate that fight a little bit, make that edge a little bit softer uh because that's kind of a weird place to go into a show with in the back of your head. You don't go to a movie and you're sitting in the movie and you're like, I'm gonna figure this out. I know they use CJ, I'm gonna find the time that they do it. Like th how can you enjoy a movie if that's how you're thinking but that's how people go into a magic show and how could so I try to make it like a little bit less harsh. Um but with magic like music or actually not like music uh we're constantly trying to hide our practice, our uh skill, you know? Yeah. Because if it's skill, then it's not magic, right? So the the less skillful you seem, the more magical it might feel. Uh so Tradecraft. Yeah. |
| Unknown | You me you mentioned earlier David Copperfield. Yeah. And you actually ended up working for David Copperfield, right? That's great. Yeah. So can you talk about that that learning process? And I mean you already hit uh hit on it a little bit with your kind of willingness to teach others, but what was it like to to have this person who kind of got you into this in the first place and then you, you know, be like a young kid being like, Oh yeah, Mike Michael Jordan No, he was definit |
| Unknown | ely my Michael Jordan as a young kid. I idolized him. I would dress up like him, I would take pictures in the same poses that he would do and you know I'd try to learn the tricks that I could learn that he would do. Um so eventually, you know, b being able to work with him was like, oh my God. You know, I had never even talked to him before I started working to him with him, really. So just meeting him in the first place was mind-blowing. Um and I learned so much from him, really. And uh, you know, what I learned I think most from him was just his obvious dedication uh and hard work, his work ethic, uh, but also uh the the side of magic that I really didn't know that much about, which is that that larger side of magic. You know, 'cause I had grown up in this world of of of uh like the the small things you would do for your friends, the car tricks, the little things. And going out to Vegas and seeing these big huge props and lights and this and the other thing. Uh learned so much. And not just about the the magic itself, not just about the magic, but just uh about how to entertain and how to make things look good on stage, uh and how to stand and move and and and how to make transitions between magic trades. Like all those like sort of real real like the real work, you know, that's that's that that's what I was able to get from him. And it was just such an honor, really |
| Unknown | . With with that being said, I I think you know uh what I want to know is is magic as an industry growing or shrinking? Because it would make sense there' theres's a reaction to kind of the digital age and people want that analog experience of going to a performance-based art. Yeah. Yeah |
| Unknown | . I think I think it it it has to be growing. I I mean, especially you know, it's definitely changing. That's one thing I can say for sure. It's definitely changing because of things like social media, Instagram, YouTube. You know, when I was growing up we didn't have that. Uh I'm here with my friend John. He's who's does magic a lot on Instagram, he's a magician as well. He works with me. Uh, and he that's like this is a complete new medium for for magicians to express themselves. Uh, and it's great, you know. And I feel like because of that, there's gotta be more people who are learning and picking up and picking it up and wanting to learn more stuff um just because it's it's out there. And it's it's and it's being digested differently than it was. You know, when when I was a kid watching David Copperfield, you would have an hour-long special watching David Copperfield. Uh now people are getting 30 second clips of magic, you know, and that's where you're just digesting over and over again. Um so I don't know how that changes how we perceive what magic is or whatever, but it's definitely different. And I don't think it's good or bad. It's just sort of like the natural flow of how things are going. |
| Unknown | Yeah, that that brings up a really interesting point, Cole, which is is that this is in some way like it's a business, right? It's an industry. There is a magic industry. Uh and you've you've worked, you know, obviously you worked with with David Copperfield, um, you have your show at at the Nomad, which we'll talk about in a bit, but then you've also worked as a consultant for people like Kanye. Like you know, finding other ways to kind of use these skills. Can you talk about what the kind of like three hundred and sixty degree view is of like quote unquote the magic business for you? For me or for just in general? Uh I think maybe in general and then kind of where you you've |
| Unknown | kind of carved out your your niche. Yeah. I mean I think in general there's a there's a a few different things and most of them you've touched on. There's the idea of uh obviously of the performing magician um and that takes multiple different roles. There's a performer magician who performs on television, there's the one who performs on stage, there's the one who performs at parties, there's the ones that perform on social media. So there's all these different branches of kids' parties, you know, all these different uh branches of what it would be like to be a performing magician. Uh then you have the people who are do magic consulting, which is a much smaller thing, but those are the people who come up with ideas for other magicians to use. Um and there's only I would say a dozen people in the world who do that. Um and then there's the magic creators who come up with magic tricks. So like their whole thing is that they sit at home and come up with magic ideas, new magic tricks, new you know, they'll pick up a a a glass and find the inherent properties in that that allows them to do some new thing. Um and then uh I'm trying to think what else. I mean I think that's pretty much it. What am I missing? Yeah, that that's sort of the the where you would land if you were going to be a magician. And I'm been very lucky that I've done all three of those sort of things. You know, behind the scenes, uh working on behind the scenes on shows, coming up with magic tricks and then also doing the the performance of them as well. And |
| Unknown | so when somebody comes to you and says like I I want your help doing X, yeah what does that relationship look like and like wha how do you fit in to something like, you know, crafting a you know, experience on a musical tour or something like that? Yeah. I mean um |
| Unknown | it's interesting. It can get cr pretty crazy because you know, especially for people who might not understand what is possible and what's not possible in magic. Uh it's great to hear things, these ideas uh of things that I know when I first hear them, okay, that's gonna be impossible. But then figuring out how to actually make those things possible. That's always like just a beautiful uh challenge. So yeah, it'll it'll be just like that. It'll be like, well how do can we do this? X thing, you know, make this disappear. Do this, you know, and then I basically have to work backwards. It's like solving a puzzle. Um and and figuring out if if that could be accomplished. That's part of it, but then I'd say the other half is just can you give me some ideas that would make this ex music show better. And that I think is a little bit m more fun because then I can pull out sort of out of my no pun intended bag of tricks, uh the things that like I've been thinking about that might be cool that I could never do because I could never pull off because of the size or the stage or the amount of money that it would cost to do. Um and that that can be a lot of fun as well. Are |
| Unknown | are there any instances of that that you're allowed to talk about that that you want to share? Not really. I I figured. I wasn't g |
| Unknown | onna magic in itself, just like you're saying. There's secrets though and especially when it becomes like gets to high level people, you know. Um and also because so eventually some of these ideas might come to fruition. So you know, who knows? Yeah. I mean you |
| Unknown | talk about sitting sitting down and having to, you know, solve problems and kind of like reverse engineer things. And I I think that again to keep drawing parallels with with things like music, you know, so much of the work happens behind the scenes. You know, the the actual performance on stage is is such a like it's a tip of the iceberg sort of situation. Um what is that process like for you when you say like, Okay, I I have an idea, I wanna figure this out? Like what how does it get from that initial thought of like, shit, can I do this to it being on stage in in front |
| Unknown | of an audience? Yeah, usually okay, so it usually starts with two things. It's either I have this crazy idea that I have no idea how it's gonna work and I'm gonna work backwards from that, or it'll start, oh, here's this really cool principle or method that I've saw or heard about or figured out or came across. Uh and then how do I make that into something entertaining? So it's either it's either working from the beginning or working backwards. And And regardless of which one it is, they sort of all eventually come up come to the same place. So once a method's figured out for either one of those things, then it becomes you know how to make this entertaining and and where the beats are and you know what stages of a routine. Because I we're I'm always trying to bring out like a full fledged routine, and those full-fledged routines are usually broken up into you know multiple phases. Uh so so trying to figure out I might have one phase in mind, I have to figure out what the first one is or the the last one really like the thing that drives it home. Um and then after all of those things are figured out, then it's rehearsal and trying it on people and seeing what things fit best with this, or do we put a joke in here, or does this play, or this doesn't? Um and and it's it's it really is just just like like music. Um it's unfortunate when you work all that hard you for something and you realize it's like, uh it's just not it's not not what it is. Going back to the pocket watch trick. Yeah. Yeah, right. |
| Unknown | Yeah. Yeah, it's funny. I mean it's just talking to you right now, like it it makes complete sense to me that you would be a watch guy. Like you know it,' its's it's this like hyper detail oriented, like all of the hard work is hidden, but like you know, and that's all that matters. So I was saying before, it's |
| Unknown | like it's crazy. Like I never had thought about it before doing that interview, and it's like it's really true. It's like totally makes sense. It's it's this it's this piece of magic that is hidden. You know, all of the magic of the watch is hidden. Um and you're just getting to see the the the the the Yeah. And that's just the same with the magic show. You're just seeing the effect. Yeah. |
| Unknown | Um so and I think there's also an element of uh lore that grows over the ages. When you think of watches, you think of all the great watchmakers, turn of the century, so forth. When I think about magic, I think about Houdini, so forth. It just keeps getting bigger and bigger over time, you know |
| Unknown | ? Yeah. Yeah. And and the same thing with collecting and and when you're learning about magic. When you're first learning about magic, you feel like there's just just treasure trove of things that you don't know about and there's all this secret stuff and there's you know, there's the real like gold mine that you have to sort of dig through to get to. And I feel like a lot of people, especially when you're starting off with watches, feel that way too. It's like this endless sort of hallway that you have to walk down to eventually get to the one sort of holy grail. Um and and that is a great feeling. You know, like I I love the journey |
| Unknown | . And now we'll look at this week's sponsor. Twenty-five years after its debut, the Longa One is still the first watch that comes to mind when people think about a Langazona. With its asymmetric dial layout and outsize date complication, the piece is instantly recognizable and has remained virtually unchanged since its initial release in 1994. There now exists an entire family of Longa One models, including the Longa One Moon paseh with its unique day-night indication, or the astonishing Langa One Turbion Perpetual Calendar. To celebrate the Langa One's 25th anniversary, the brand is launching a collection of special editions, presenting one new piece per month. The celebratory watches mirror familiar Longa 1 models with white gold cases, two-tone dials made of solid silver, blue numerals and hands, and balance cocks with a special blue-filled 25th anniversary engrave. You can read about the first few releases: the Longa 1, the Grand Longa One Moon Phase, and the Little Longa One, right now on Hodinki. But you'll have to stay tuned through October to get to know all of the celebratory releases. To learn more about Alonganzona and the Longa One, visit alongandzona.com. Alright, let's get back to the show. Yeah, one of the things that I think sets you apart is the way that you make magic feel sort of contemporary and and palatable. You know, I I think it's a thing where, you know, people hear the idea of like, hey, what are you doing Saturday night? Oh, I'm going to a magic show. And people are like, wait, what? What are you doing? Um But when people see your your show at at the Nomad and the the work you do elsewhere, you know, I think it immediately becomes apparent that like, oh, this this is cool. Like this is like a cool young guy who like dresses nicely and has like a cool personality and makes this thing feel like something modern and something that like I should be into as opposed to like something that somebody's doing in like a back alley somewhere and like, wait, why am I doing this? Right. Um is that something you've you've sort of consciously cultivated or did it just kind of happen? Yeah |
| Unknown | , I've definitely, you know, when we first set out to start doing this show, I was like, okay, I want this to be cool. But I don't know, like it's hard to define what cool is, especially when it comes to a magic show or whatever. So for me, it was just like I just want it to feel contemporary. So because for me, contemporary equals cool for this show. I just don't want it to feel dated or in any way there being a a stereotype or peep just you do all of the negative things that you think about magicians, I just didn't want to do that. So that was my way of defining cool was just no top hat. Exactly. But eve no. So that's not even a lot of personally thinking. Because like the then there was a part of me was like, wait a second, no. The top hat and the cape's kinda cool. It is kind of cool to be honest. After I say it, you know totally. It is kinda cool. You know, so it's just maybe it's just like how it was being worn or so basically I picked a lot of picked apart a lot of different aspects of magic. Like we saw a magic wand at the show because yeah, a magic wand might be cheesy, but if you engrave it and make it brass and put it in this really cool box, then that's cool. That is cool, yeah. Um So it's sort of just looking at those old things and figuring out why they might not be cool or why they might be dated uh and figuring out how to make them contemporary. So yeah, it was definitely a conscious uh effort. But it wasn't so I don't know what the definition of cool is. I just know that I what I don't want it to be, and that's how I defined what I wanted it to be. Trevor Burrus The rabbit and the hat kind of thing. |
| Unknown | Yeah, exactly. Exactly. And how did you get I mean uh I've seen you on a number of you know high-profile TV shows, which we've we've touched on a little bit, but you know, you're kind of the go to guy for for Jimmy Fallon these days. Yeah. Uh how did that how did that happen? How do you become Jimmy Fallon's like go to magic guy |
| Unknown | ? It was our opening night show. It was the only second time I'd ever performed the show. Um he was eating downstairs at the Nomad. There there's a amazing restaurant at the Nomad. Um and he was eating downstairs there and one of the the head managers uh asked him to just check out the show, second act the show and see just the end of it. Um so he came up and he went crazy. He was he loved the show. He was screaming and laughing and and from that moment on, he was just like you should come on the show. Next thing you know, you're face to face with Skylar Johansson. Yeah, yeah. Pretty much. It's pretty much. It's been a pretty much a roller coaster like that. Uh but yeah, e eachach time we do some really cool stuff with him and he's so awesome. I honestly I think the the coolest part about working on his show is that he legitimately doesn't want to know anything about what I'm doing And that makes it so much better. You know, especially in a world where in of television where everything's controlled and everyone's sort of sort of there's there's a formula to it all and everybody wants to know exactly what's gonna be aired before it airs. Um that's the opposite with with him. He goes completely fresh. All he knows is that something cool is gonna happen. Um and I think it makes it. I think it that energy, you can feel that energy because there's that kind of like |
| Unknown | I mean there's a few where like he can't stop laughing. I mean he like can't get his lines out he's laughing so hard or is like so jittery about it, which is is great. It definitely adds to the to the He knows you're always up to something. Yeah. I mean what's what's it like performing for TV in like you know you're you're given a five-minute block or a seven-minute block, right? You're performing for a small smallish audience on a soundstage, but you know it's gonna be broadcast, you're playing the cameras, versus performing in a like small intimate room. Such a |
| Unknown | good question. Such a good question. It's so much different. And it's so much different because of the playback feature. So, you know, with magic, while I want it to be artistic and I want it to be fun and I want it to be beautiful, at the end of the day, I realize that the most important part before you can really get your head around anything else is it has to be deceptive. Right? That's if if you don't accomplish that one goal then it's kind of pointless really uh I wish it wasn't that way and I try to do things. I've th you know, I'll throw out routines, ideas that the point isn't the deception, the point is the beauty. But it's still, you know, especially for these TV spots, you people want to be fooled, you know, they want to see something really spectacular. So uh because of that, you know television doesn't blink. You know, you can't you can't force a camera to look at something that you could force a person to look at something live. U So because of that, we really have to think hard about what is the thing that is going to work the best on television and on the internet that can be played back and paused and played back and rewound and slow mode and zoomed in on. Um because it has to be kind of bulletproof. Uh and it's this weird thing. It's like okay, I'm trying to fool the entire country. Like that's a big job. You know, that's no joke. Yeah. So um it it can be difficult and it and there are l so many things that I would a hundred percent that I have done in my show and in live that I just would never do uh in one of those settings because it would be very easy to pick apart or it just wouldn't have the same strength. Um so it it it can be it can be very difficult. Those those are those are some of the I think some of the most challenging projects that I've worked on |
| Unknown | . I mean that that's it's interesting 'cause it keeps bringing us back to this idea that like magic is a it's sort of like a dance you're doing with the audience, right? And in the case of TV, that audience can have this like can sort of interact with you in a way you can't interact back, right? Like they can rewind the tape, they can go back and forth. But you also, in your in your show, you know, a lot of what you're doing requires kind of audience participation. You know, you you have to have somebody come up, you have to interact with someone. And that, you know, is kind of a big act of faith on on your part, right? Like your show is now in someone else's hands, right? Yeah. It really is. I'm sure in some way the answer to this question is yes, but you can choose sort of how how deep you want to go on it. Uh do you ever have moments where you're just like, oh God, you totally fucked that trick up for me? Like you know, the other person in some way like fails you or doesn't give you the response you want, or something happens just in that interaction and it like kind of kind of throws a wrench into things. Definitely |
| Unknown | . Okay. Definitely. It doesn't happen as much as it used to. I've been a lot better figuring out, like sort of knowing what to avoid, but it's still I'll catch them. I'll catch them every once in a while. They're catching me. They're catching me. And it's it's tough because uh it it can be a number of reasons why that might happen. You know, one you know, a lot of times it's just drunkenness, you know, just uh having too much to drink. Or there's other times where it's uh, you know, um a bad attitude or you know I, don't know. It's unfortunate because I've always feel bad for everybody else. Right. You know. But I it doesn't happen that often anymore, so it's not like a it's not that big of a worry of mine, but when it does, it it can be like I'm just trying to speed through it. And you know, for me, my kind of mantra whenever I deal with people who are at my show is like I just want to treat people the way I would treat my relatives if they were coming to see a show. Um because I think that's important. Uh and I think that's important to having a good time anywhere at a restaurant, at a uh you know any any sort of function where you are socially if you're around people that are treating you well that's always a good thing. So I try my dandest to to treat everybody really well, even if they're being like extremely rude to me. Um so uh hopefully just you know the audience will be on my side after one of those experiences |
| Unknown | . Probably as as your career develops in the beginning, you take what you can get. You wanna put yourself in as many as as many gigs as possible, right? Yeah. So your audience, you don't choose who they are. Now you're at a point in your career where |
| Unknown | they're not gonna be in the audience if they don't wanna be there. That's true. I do there is a definitely bu affer of the people are coming to see me. Right. I'm not forcing myself down their throat. You know it's only better if you have an open mind. Absolutely. Absolutely. And I that's why I say it doesn't happen very often. Ninety ninety percent of the time that's not an issue at all. Everyone's very enthusiastic to be there. But you know, who knows what can happen the in the two hours before they get to the show that might make them a little bit not so happy. Yeah, yeah. And how long is the show been going now? Four years. W |
| Unknown | ow. Four years. Uh to four years this week. Great. And you're doing six shows a week at the Nomad Hotel in New York City? Yep. Perfect. We'll uh we'll link everything up so people can get all the details and uh you go over it a bit in in talking watches too so we'll make sure to link link that up too. But how do you how do you keep a show fresh after four years? Because I would imagine four years, six times a week. Yeah. If you came out and did the same thing every day, I think it wouldn't be good only because you would be bored. Right. No. So |
| Unknown | that the biggest part of why I'm able to do that so well in my mind is that because of the fact that the show is fifty percent audience. Because of that, uh it is like I'm dealing with a whole new show every single time because I have to read people and interact with people in a different way and they're changing the the the trajectory of how the show is going, you know, it's sort of like the okay, we're gonna go this way and this person's gonna go that way, so I have to zigzag with them the whole way through. Um so that always keeps it fresh. Uh and because the room itself is so small, you know, it's only eighty people. Um so I'm I can hear people talking right next to me. It's not like this big stage where I can't see anybody. It's a s conversation essentially. It's definitely not I'm just speaking at them. They're we're talking back and forth. Um but then on top of that, I'm always working on new routines, especially for like uh, you know, Jimmy Fallon or any of these sort of things. So I like to pepper in usually one place in the show where I'll throw in a new thing. Um and that one new thing will change the whole atmosphere of everything else. Uh so that that keeps it really fresh for me. And you know, I'm always scared that I even when I first started doing the show, I was always scared of getting to that point where I was just like phoning it in. Um so I'm personally actively like I'll figure out all the different ways to make sure that it's always feels fun and fresh and lively. Yeah. |
| Unknown | It's also you know there,'s there's the part of you that has to come out every night and and in a very literal sense, like put on a show, right? Like you have to have a smile on your face, you have to be animated, you have to make people feel good, but you also have to be a a technician, you know? Yep. And and are there ever nights where like you just get out there and you're like, uh we're we're kind of on the razor's edge tonight, right? Like you're not confident going into it that that you can, you know, kind of kind of pull it off, or does that W |
| Unknown | ell no, I mean it that doesn't happen h hardly ever. And the only times that it does happen um because it's almost like you know, as a magician, your sort of muscle memory sort of kicks in and you can you can do things just because you've been doing them so often and you sort of like just grew up doing them. Uh but you know when you get sick, that's when it's a little bit dicey. You know, because you you you're okay, your your your brain's not working the same way, fingers aren't working the same way, things might not be going the same way. Um so that's the only time where I feel like okay, you know, I might be on the racer that just as I'm sick |
| Unknown | . Okay. And so we we obviously want people if they can come see you in New York to come see you in New York. Um but if they can't, or if they can't right now, what what are some of your sort of favorite appearances you've done, whether it's on Fallon or or elsewhere that you think people should go on YouTube and yeah, |
| Unknown | so if you're on YouTube, I would definitely check out one of my favorite ones is I did a a bit with um Jimmy and and Questlove with it with a deck of cards uh and numbers. Um it it's I'm not even sure what the title of it is. Uh but but if if if you'll see that the the cap the sort of the the uh screen grab of it is uh Quest love holding like a a series of of numbers on a on a sheet. And that one's probably my favorite personally. Okay. Uh we'll find it. We'll we'll put that in the show notes also. There's another the sec probably at the same level I really enjoy the uh um Um uh yeah, it's magician Dan White freaks out Jimmy and Questlove with something. I don't know. I don't see the rest of it. But you just like a magician if you look up Dan White freaks out Questlove, there's a bunch of videos that come up. Um but the uh the the other one is I do a trick with the cards against humanity cards. Okay. Um which I haven't I haven't seen this one either. Yeah that one's one of my favorites as well. Uh and I love cards against humanity as well. So it the whole thing kind of came together really well. But that one is is really co |
| Unknown | ol. One thing that that we you know tend to ask people who who interact with other people, you know, in show business or or other people who have a tendency to be watch people. Yeah. Do you ever show up to like Jimmy Fallon and realize that like, you know, the other guest for that night is a watch person and you spot something or you end up, you know, at a at a party with some other some other folks and you realize like, oh shit, this is like a a common a common ground. |
| Unknown | Absolutely. You know, you see it a lot. You'll see somebody with a a a beautiful watch on the wrist and I'll start talking to them about it or or or vice versa. Uh and usually it's pretty quick combo. Like I've I haven't really had one of those like well okay we really hit it off and we're start talking about you know watches really hard. Um but it's it's it's it's fun seeing them out in the wild and especially like I was saying before, it's interesting to see what type of personality drives with which watch. Uh and and you know I'm I'm always looking out for 'em, so yeah it' its's cool. Nice. And |
| Unknown | you know we I I asked you to give recommendations of your own work for people to check out, but I also wonder for people who don't know a lot about magic, what what are the things people should be paying attention to today to see really what's kind of on like the bleeding edge of what's going on in in the magic world? Yeah, I would honest |
| Unknown | ly say the social media stuff. Like really what people are doing on Instagram, I think is is where that young fresh energy uh is, as well as the live shows. Um so I would say that the two coolest things, the two biggest things in magic that are sort of revolutionizing the game in the last five years at least, or definitely what's going on on Instagram, but also what's going on in these venues like where I'm at. There's a few other shows in the country, and I think that's where people are really pushing things further and hardest. Um because they're new new new new stages essentially for where magic can be. And whenever you get a new medium or a new stage, you get new ideas. |
| Unknown | So before we get into the uh hodinky questionnaire, which is how we how we wrap every episode. You work at the nomad, so I gotta ask the chicken. Oh it's so good. Have you had it? Yeah. Oh of course. Yeah. It's uh amazing. It might be the most mentioned food item on this show is bad chicken. Yeah. Wow. Why how does it come up? It's just like we find out that people like we'll talk about restaurants and it just it comes up. It's kind of a hodinky team team favorite. Yeah. Back in the day. It goes all the way back to to Ben uh introduced the rest of us to it I think it's yeah yeah I could not work in that hotel and you know not weigh four hundred pounds |
| Unknown | but it's just so funny you walk through the the the the hallways and you'll get whiffs of different things and the chicken's one of them and you you know it's like oh my god like right before the show there's a there must be some vent or something that's right behind where I walk into the stage that just blows their hamburger smell right into my face. And it's like, oh my God, I'm so hungry right now. Give them pipe it right into the dressing room. It's like friggin' great too. So I don't know if you ever try to get a lot |
| Unknown | . Oh man. Awesome. Well uh let's do the hodinky questionnaire. Let's do it. I have a couple little extra things I'm gonna throw on the end. But uh yeah. We'll uh start things off with what's a watch that caught your eye recent |
| Unknown | ly? Um well I was just at the nomad and uh I was with the the owner of the nomad. Um and he had a beautiful AP on just the the um royal oak. Uh and you know, I hadn't seen one in person for a while and it you know, what's interesting to me about some watches that I really love are the fact that I might not have liked them when I first saw them. Um and then over time seeing them more and feeling them and touching them, all of a sudden it's like, wait, I really like this thing that I didn't like before. Uh and that's one of those watches that I was never really into. Um but seeing it on a few different people that uh that I was was able to really see up close, I was like, okay, this is a really beautiful watch and I get it now. I get it. Um so that was the last one that sort of I just saw yesterday. U thath was I was like damn |
| Unknown | . Did you have the exact same experience, Stephen? Yeah, funnily enough, uh I felt the exact same way about the Royal Oak. Yeah. Saw it for years and never thought it was something I wanted and then probably not the first time I I saw one in person, but pretty soon after that I was like, oh, oh wait. Like this thing, this thing is serious business. Uh and now I would kill for an A series and old old Royal Oak. But yeah, I think that watch has a funny way of kind of do |
| Unknown | ing that to people. Well I felt the same way about uh the day chest. The first day chest that I'd really seen, I was like, oh, this is garish. Like it's like too much. And now I was like, I love those things. Yeah. But I don't know if that's an a uh an effect of time or an effective style change or just your own sort of personal |
| Unknown | taste maturing of the I don't know. I don't know what's also when you're when you're into something for any period of time, like again, you have to keep things fresh, right? Like you have to find new things to be interested in. So Yeah. Yeah. Well cool. Well uh next question. Uh what's the coolest place you've traveled in the last year |
| Unknown | ? Coolest but in the last year. Ooh. Jeez. Um well uh you know just what's sticking out in my head. I was in uh Italy recently and I I'd I'd lived in Italy for a year or so so uh I was you know pretty familiar with Italy. Uh but I one place that I'd been in Italy that I'd never been to in the last year was a place called Matera. Um that is is just gorgeous. It's uh where they used they they sh they shot uh Passion of the Christ in. So it very looks really, really old and you know, this is where it was a community of people lived in the caves that were built into the side of the hills, and it's one of the oldest uh colonized settlements in in in the world. Okay. Um and it's it was it was it was magical for sure. And honestly, I haven't really been traveling that much just because I've had a baby recently with Congrats. Yeah. So it's it's been a little bit harder to travel. Um but Matera was really, really fantastic. And the whole story of of the city I think is really interesting. Um it's one of those uh cities where I feel like f it it's the power of art is uh exemplified in this city because art has changed this city in multiple times not politics where art has changed the politics of the city. Okay Okay. Um you know, so I could go into this whole thing with it, but uh it it's pretty it's pretty fast to me, yeah. Cool. What's the best piece of the Yeah. It's it's in really the the south of Italy. Um and it's this beautiful hill town that is is is really just magical. It's built into the rocks. Gorgeous. Well I now know what I will be looking at on my phone on my way home. Yeah, and you can stay in a cave in the hotel. It' |
| Unknown | s really good. Uh what's the best piece of advice you've ever been given and who gave it to you? Hmm. |
| Unknown | That's a tough one. Uh I've gotten a lot of advice. You know, honestly for me, it was my mother. Um she when I was very young, she just told me the most important thing to do was what I loved. Um and it I had always sort of fought with myself that I should be doing the thing that uh the thing that everyone else is doing or the thing that is gonna make me the most successful or make me the most money and that that's what I'm thinking in in my head. Um, but my mom was always there to say the opposite of what you would expect a normal mother to say, which is, No, no, no. Do the thing that you really love uh and then you'll be happy. You know, everything else will come from that. Um so so I'm glad that I took that not only that I got that advice that I took the advice. Yeah. Uh because I don't think I would have had she not been so forcefully telling me that. Nice |
| Unknown | . Um yeah. And that that's changed everything. Perfect. Yeah. So the last of the the sort of standard questions is uh what's what's your guilty pleasure? Guilty ple |
| Unknown | asure. Um I honestly i if I wasn't on this show I would say why |
| Unknown | I was gonna say I feel like playing poker against a magician as a Nga, man. That sounds that sounds dangero Yeah. Well it's it' |
| Unknown | s interesting because it is kind of a you know, you're playing other people. You're not playing uh the I mean, obviously you're playing the cards as well, but it's you know, it has a lot to do with how what the people are doing at at the table. So that's uh I would love to go play some poker right now. I think Gray can probab |
| Unknown | ly probably hook that up. Lose a lot of money to him. Yeah for sure. So the two questions I have I have just for you, because they're two magic themed questions. One is no joke, like probably two-thirds of the people who I've told we were recording this uh immediately wanted brought this up in in some way. So I'm gonna call this the the Joe Bluth question. Okay. Trick or illusion? What's |
| Unknown | the right word? Ah, it's a good question. It's a good question. Either one of them works. Okay. Um I'm not insulted when somebody says I I call someone a trick. I realize that other magicians do not like that and I can see why. You know, it is a little bit dismissive, pejorative, you know, it's like it's just a trick. You know, it's just a trick. Um but essentially that's what we call it, what magicians call it. Okay. So it and and I think what's interesting though is that in the magic industry, a trick and illusion are two different things. Oh. Um clearly different things. Uh a trick is something a trick is essentially everything. Every we call okay, so I'm gonna break this down for you guys. Sorry. So perfect. Uh in magic we do tricks, right? And all of the things are tricks, right? And we kind of specify them as uh an a method and effect. Um so we'll also call every trick an effect, like that's the effect of the effect, the effect of this is the effect of that. So behind the effect is the method, and that's how it's done. And those sort of two things fit into what we know as a trick, right? When you say illusion, that is the thing that is on the stage, right? Those are like uh illusion is very specific sort of branch of magic where it's like the big things. You know. So th those things uh the word term illusion is used as m uh uh in in the industry to to delineate size. Okay. Uh so yeah. Interesting. Inter |
| Unknown | esting. Okay. That was a much more interesting answer than I was expecting. Uh that's awesome. Um and so the other one that also people brought up when I was talking about this, uh the illusionist or the prestige? Ooh. |
| Unknown | Mm. Okay, so this is one of those things that I think uh is like what we were talking about with the Royal Oak. Uh I originally liked the Illusionist better, but now I like the Prestige better. Okay. So why? I don't know. It's just if you were to ask me which one I would watch right now, I'd probably even though I've seen both of them probably the same amount of times and uh very many times, I'd probably watch the prestige right now. That's what I would prefer to be watching in on that |
| Unknown | , Steven. Oh, I'm hard in the prestige camp. All right. Yeah. All right. But for reasons that have nothing to do with magic that just have to do with like being a movie nerd but sounds we got to cut |
| Unknown | from I I think w you know what was so great about I feel like the the prestige is for me that same sort of contemporary feel. It still it feels very contemporary, even though it takes place in a very in a peri it's a period movie. But it feels contemporary. I agree. Uh and that w for for for my show and for what I'm doing is sort of that same uh nature and that same sort of aesthetic and feel that I I really like. Um so I think that might be why might be more gravitating to that one now than than than the illusionist |
| Unknown | Nice. Cool. So to wrap things up, we will do uh cultural recommendation. So we always like to leave people with something they can go check out when they're done listening to us uh yammer on. H |
| Unknown | mm. Hmm. It's like anything? Like a restaurant. Anything. Yeah, a restaurant's perfect. But you can't say the name. I know this great show the gnome had. We'll do that in a second. We are gonna close with that. I've just there's things running through my head that are like I feel like people know about, but the like the things um I love restaurants that feel like they've been there forever or have been there forever. Like that's my thing that I've been really into. Like I like going to places that have been there for a really long time, have a lot of history. Um and there's a reason why they're successful throughout the ages. So not like the newest thing, but the thing that's lasted the test of time. So two of my favorite restaurants uh are one is where I used to live in Williamsburg called Bamonty's, um which is uh one of the oldest Italian restaurants in New York City. It's been there since nineteen. Have you ever been there? No. Um it's old red sauce joint, you know, but you gotta go in there for the character. You know, you see it's like it's out of a out of a movie. Um and it's really a jewel, you know, that that has stood the test of time and everybody in there is just there's so much character, especially if you go during one of the feast weeks, there's a G Leo fest that they do. Anyway, I recommend it. It's it's very cool. And then also where I'm from, originally Philadelphia, there's a Japanese restaurant outside of Philadelphia called Sagami, which I've been going to since I was a kid. Um so it's it stood the test of time, but it's just one of the best Japanese restaurants uh you'll find and it's that same sort of thing. You walk in and you feel like you're in a different ye |
| Unknown | Yeah, I know. Uh cool. What do you have for us? Uh I have this new Netflix series that came out called uh Love, Death, and Robots. Okay. Have you guys heard of it? Uh-huh. No. It's kind of Black Mirror-esque, that's the popular comparison that people are making, but it's basically uh sp short animated things that explore weird and wild sci-fi themes. Nice. That's about all I can tell you. And it's on Netflix. It's on Netflix. There's 18 episodes and it gets weird. But have you watched the whole thing? Uh I'm about halfway through. Gotcha. Yeah. But they're all independent. Gotcha. I would definitely, definitely check it out. I think you'd like |
| Unknown | it. Nice. I've got another TV thing. Have you guys watched this doc it's not even a documentary? It's called Fake or Fortune. No. What's it about? I think it's as as a collector, you know, that's i I f I've felt like there was sort of uh that's why I gravitated towards it. It's about art fakes and forgeries and it's a a BBC show where they take uh they they find old masterpieces that people might think that they have in their house uh and try to give those pieces of art um the the history and the and the the credit to get them to be appraised at what they think they should be appraised at. So people will come in with like, uh you know, I have a this lost uh Degas painting um that I think is real and can you can you verify that this thing is real? And they go through the whole thing to to get it verified. It sounds totally up my alley. Yeah. And that's what m that's like you it's like there's some real controversy of some of these decisions because they have you know, these academic people who are figuring out whether the thing is real or not. And you know, there's different different opinions. So that's when it gets really interesting. So I hi I've watched all of them in like a week. Did you watch Antiques Roadsho |
| Unknown | w growing up? You loved Antiques' Road Show. Most people are |
| Unknown | into Antiques Roadshow. Okay, so if you love Antiques Roadshow, you're gonna love this show. Perfect. You're gonna love the show. Um because it's done really well too. It's not like it's smart. Um but but yeah. I that's interesting because I don't think I never knew any other kids growing up that liked Antiques Roadshow but I would watch that as a teenager uh and be like yo I want to go on this show. I wish I had something that I could br |
| Unknown | ing on this show. Yeah. I think that's another though like a collector thing, right? Like if you're if you have that kind of like bug inside of you. It's a collector G Antiques Rochelle. Yeah. Cool. So I'm going to recommend a different kind of TV. So it just started back up the Sunday night before we recorded this, uh, is the final season of Veep uh on HBO, which is amazing. Uh I'm a big fan. Uh been watching it since it started, so I guess like six or seven years ago, seven years ago, eight years ago. Um and the show hasn't been on for two, two and a half years. Uh they had to take a break in shooting because Julia Louis Dreyfus got sick. Uh but she came back, finished it. Um the first episode is absolutely hilarious. Uh, so I'm I'm pretty excited now. I have another Sunday night uh fix. I don't sit down and watch TV when it's on, like actual like live TV very often. Yeah. That's one thing. Like Veep, I'll sit down and watch. Whene Tru Detective is on, I'll sit down and watch that on Sunday nights. But if it's not on Sunday nights on HBO, I'm probably not watching it when it actually airs. We got Game of Thrones coming up, so that's gonna be good too. We're gonna have to do whole hodingky radio episodes. Do a spin-off show, a recap by Game of Thrones. No, no, the game should be we should play it right now. Which character would wear |
| Unknown | which watch? Interesting. Ooh, yeah. I don't know where to start Yeah. Yeah. Okay. |
| Unknown | Joffrey He uh Big Bang. I think he's wearing a Big Bang. Yeah. All day. |
| Unknown | Sorry, Hubla. Ooh, we should do this. All right. We have a new segment for when the uh when it comes back. We'll give you credit. We'll link it up in the notes. Gray's favorite thing. Perfect. Sweet. Thanks for doing this. This has been a lot of fun. Do you want to see something? I mean, do we have time? Yeah, I would love to see something. No, if you |
| Unknown | if you have something you're happy doing on radio, I would love that. So that the I mentioned at the beginning that uh we used to work in a magic store and the magic uh the guy that I worked for had he would he had the cheesiest jokes, but his favorite one-liner is he would always say, Yeah, I I used to perform this on radio. People would call him and and say that they couldn't see how I did it. That's funny. But so you know, as a magician, like there's a lot of like weird jokes and funny clowns and things like that that we all sort of get used to. It's kind of an allied art. Um and that you know, that's where we all come from. And you know, I love that sort of stuff. So is it cool, is it not cool? Who knows? Uh you you go y ready to see something? Yeah, let's do it. Okay. Let's uh |
| Unknown | So to narrate. You got a deck of cards in front of me. Yeah, I got a deck of cards. I need something to post it |
| Unknown | now. Let's see. Somewhere. Hold on. The thing it's tells you what time we're in right now where the hardest thing for me to do is find a piece of paper. Yeah, right. Um it's true. Uh yeah, okay here. Sure. Okay. We have a piece of paper here that we somehow scrunched up from the trash. And what I want you to do is I want you to uh I want I want you to think of a number uh between let's say thirty five and a hundred. Okay. Uh and actually if you wouldn't mind I don't want you to stand near the camera or anything, so if you wouldn't go over there you can use this uh to write on uh but but just uh go in the corner, write that. I don't want anybody to see it. Imagine it's written real big. Go over over there. Go there. Alright. I don't want anybody to see it. Write it on the paper? Yep. Let me know when you've done that. I've written the number. Okay, uh f uh fold the piece of paper in half. Fold in half again. You can put the piece of paper in your pocket so nobody can see it. You can cut the pen too. I'm putting the folded piece of paper deep in my pocket Okay, so uh you've got a number in your mind that none of us here know what it is. Uh I do. What I'm gonna try to do is right now is I'm gonna use the deck of cards to to figure out your number because I have a deck of cards here as well. Uh first one I'm gonna take out the jokers. Mm hmm. Good. Uh okay. So in it I don't know if you know about the deck of cards, how they're sort of made up like a it's like a calendar kind of w when you really think about it. Um yeah, in a deck of cards there are uh you know four suits, right? And four seasons, uh, and there's fifty two cards in the deck and there's fifty-two weeks in a year, uh and what else we got? We got night and day, black and red, 13 lunar cycles, 13 uh values of cards. And when you add up all the values, they equal uh three hundred and sixty-five uh all the values together. So it's it's a pretty interesting thing. I want you to think of your number. And I'm gonna ask you a few questions in a second, a few kind of uh important questions. Um Actually you know what, before we do anything, first of all, was there I'm just getting a image of your number. Was there a uh even number in your in your number one of the digits even yes were both the digits even? No. Okay. Was it under sixty? It was under sixty. Okay. Um let's give this a shot. Give this a shot. I'm gonna time this just to see if I can do it. Uh see how long it takes me. See how long it takes me. Alright. Here we go. I'm gonna ask you some questions. I want you to time this when I hit start. Okay, here we go. One, two, three, start. Okay, I hit start. Good. Um what's the day that you were born? I think it was a Tuesday. Tuesday. Do you know what the the date was, the actual number day? My birthday is June twenty third. Okay. Nineteen eighty seven. Nineteen eighty seven. Okay. Uh and uh how old were you when you had your first kiss? Uh sophomore in high school maybe sophomore fourteenish. Good. Uh and what's the what's the street number that you grew up on? I grew up uh twenty-one was my twenty-one. Me too. Okay. All right. Um, stop. All right, slapping it. Uh so we don't need the jokers. I put just two cards down here. Uh not so sure about this, to be honest with you, not so sure about this. Uh what is the number you thought of? No. It's fifty two. Fifty two. That's right. Fifty two. Interesting. From all those questions from the deck of cards, uh, I think we might have done it. Yeah. See, five. Oh, there we go. Nah, no way. But what's more interesting is that what we've been talking about right now for the last hour or so is essentially I did. Just now. You stopped that and started that yourself. Yeah. And you stopped uh it was about forty seconds, forty seconds, twelve milliseconds. Yeah. What's interesting though is if you take forty and add twelve to it. |
| Unknown | Oh, yeah. Oh man. That's crazy. Very interesting. This is wild. |
| Unknown | Cool. How's that? All right. Can we just have you come back and do something at the end of every episode. This is this becomes how we close out Hodinky Radio. That is amazing. That's so cool. I'm blown away. Wow. The magician at mirror tone. Yeah. Alright, I got nothing. That's uh No, no problem. That was fun. That was cool. Also, coming in the screen. This week's episode was recorded at Mirror Tone Studios in New York City and was produced and edited by Grayson Corhonan. Please remember to subscribe and rate the show, it really does make a difference. Thank you for listening, and we'll see you next week. |