Latest / The Magic Guys / Derek Irwin "HUBB" The Bar Magic Specialist! #257

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Derek Irwin "HUBB" The Bar Magic Specialist! #257 · The Magic Guys

• 0:01
  They're guys. They do magic. They are the Magic Guys.
• 0:12
  Ladies and some gentlemen, no, all gentlemen, welcome to episode 256 of the Magic Guys.
• 0:22
  I can't believe we're here. We're doing it. We're really doing it, Red Band.
• 0:26
  To my left, we've got Nick K. Hey guys, I'm Nick Kay and daddy's home. Say hi, Doug.
• 0:32
  Word. Word to your mother. I'm back.
• 0:38
  Lock up your mothers and daughters ladies and gentlemen do people
• 0:42
  still say that word to your mother they probably never
• 0:45
  said that in australia i say word word
• 0:49
  to your mother it's a classic well.
• 0:52
  It's a classic you know is that is that
• 0:55
  like say hi to your mom for me is that the equivalent of saying word to your mother as
• 0:58
  if i'm cool enough to even know what that's supposed to mean i have
• 1:01
  no idea what that is yeah word to your mother very white here
• 1:04
  at the magic guys it's really the magic white guys
• 1:07
  yeah yeah okay i think caden's got
• 1:10
  the right energy he's saying what up y'all i think that's that's
• 1:13
  a pretty universal what about sarmonti that's
• 1:17
  that's the mold school siegfried and roy
• 1:19
  master the impossible oh coming in
• 1:23
  with that how do you see and roy masters of
• 1:26
  the impossible now how do you say the word sarmonti and
• 1:31
  you gotta say it like that every time you say it so multi
• 1:34
  nailed it you're a natural oh thanks
• 1:37
  i'm trying i'm you know i'm trying i'm really trying we got
• 1:40
  some friends in the chat nick who we got stopping in today yeah
• 1:43
  we do we got our buddy tim askin good to see you
• 1:45
  guys there herbert big love buddy good to see all the way from tasmania
• 1:49
  thomas conga yo yo yo adonis good chatting
• 1:52
  to you on the discord earlier today buddy glad you're keeping
• 1:54
  well our buddy caden and scotty link thank you pal and thank you for we got
• 1:59
  to talk about these at some point as well these policy things we'll talk about
• 2:02
  them in an upcoming episode but thank you for the gift scotty link we appreciate
• 2:06
  you and herbert giving a very demonic donation of six dollars and 66 cents.
• 2:15
  Which is very fitting because today's guest comes from the city of angels,
• 2:21
  friends. Tell us about our upcoming guest. Let's get him on.
• 2:25
  Look, I'm excited. I hope you guys are excited. We were just talking to him
• 2:28
  backstage and we can't wait to bring him on. So we're going to do it now.
• 2:32
  This gentleman, where do I start? He is a bar magic specialist.
• 2:36
  He is the resident bar magician at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel.
• 2:41
  He's also a regular at the castle performing in the library bar.
• 2:45
  On top of all of that, he's also an engineer, which we're going to talk to him
• 2:49
  and maybe the common threads between engineering and magic.
• 2:53
  And he's a family man. And somehow having kids, teaching kids to do engineering,
• 2:59
  being a resident, and he also has a monthly show.
• 3:03
  He's just doing so much. So ladies and gentlemen, strap in, baby, as Jason Ma would say.
• 3:09
  It's Derek Irwin, but we all know and love him as Herb. Bye-bye.
• 3:28
  What up derek erwin
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  a very aussie name for a very not
• 3:34
  aussie magician but we affectionately
• 3:37
  know you as the hub buddy tell us who are you what do
• 3:40
  you do well my name's derek and all my
• 3:43
  friends they call me hub and i like to meet new people and
• 3:46
  make friends with people and hub's been my nickname for
• 3:49
  I don't know for a very long time as far.
• 3:52
  As I can remember and so when I started doing magic in
• 3:55
  like a professional sense I was like I think hub
• 3:58
  stands out more so great way to stand out and
• 4:01
  it just happened and everyone in magic
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  now knows me as hub so it's just an easier way and
• 4:07
  how does someone get nicknamed the hub like is it
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  an acronym is it does it mean something that we're not
• 4:13
  aware of or is it just that you know everyone like a piece
• 4:15
  of lego you're just so connected like a hub what no no
• 4:19
  this basically it was it's short
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  for the hubcap kid here i know and
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  i have like an ocd about like things being
• 4:28
  even so instead of just hub it has to be hubb because
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  like i don't know about like like volumes
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  on my car and on the tv they i
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  always have to be even wow so it's
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  a weird it's weird i have it's like i feel
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  like if it's on like 13 i'm gonna get into a
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  car accident okay and my friend friend of mine who passed away he always joked
• 4:54
  we were talking outside the castle one time he said uh it's gonna be a self-fulfilling
• 4:57
  prophecy because you're gonna be trying to get it to be an even number and you're
• 5:01
  gonna look away and get into an accident because of that, but I'm going to blame it on the radio.
• 5:07
  God, I hope not. Yeah.
• 5:12
  Josh, you're muted. So your name is actually trauma-based. Is that what that is? Yeah, basically.
• 5:21
  No, I know what you mean. I certainly love getting symmetry upon things.
• 5:25
  I really do. Like if I was ever going to get my nipples pierced, I'd get them both done.
• 5:28
  I think that's just like, I'm all about balance. All about balance.
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  Now, I had my left one done for a while and I was saving my right one,
• 5:38
  but then it got ripped out during a yeah so how long have you been doing magic for Derek.
• 5:47
  Let's go way back Derek so who was Derek before he became the hub I mean I always
• 5:53
  liked magic as a kid I mean I'd watch the David Blaine specials and I'd watch
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  it on TV the masked magician as much as people wanted to hate on him I think
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  it created more magicians so at the end of the day I think he ended up being a net positive around.
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  And I loved all the Penn & Teller specials. Anytime there was magic on the TV, I was like into it.
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  And I always was fascinated with visiting.
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  There was a magic shop where I grew up called Best Magic in Anaheim. And it's still there.
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  And so they had like costumes and I liked horror movies and special effects
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  stuff. And they had all of that kind of there.
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  And, you know, so it was always like this little shop that was out in the middle, like in where I grew up.
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  And so I'd always visit it. But I was always so nervous to go to like the magic
• 6:37
  table or anything. And then they had like all the Houdini magic shops.
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  I was always like drawn to going to those.
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  But I just, yeah, I would always would tinker with like little magic tricks,
• 6:48
  but it wasn't really performing it. It was just for me.
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  And that was like my childhood. So I was just always fascinated with it,
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  but didn't have too much of an outlet to like perform or know too much and kind of on my own.
• 6:59
  And then kind of fell out of it through high school, but always interested in
• 7:03
  like the bar bets and stuff like that.
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  Because I like literally grew up in bars. My dad would always take me to bars.
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  We'd go to sports bars because, you know, he loved drinking.
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  He was a big drinker. So I was always around. I played pool.
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  I was into all that stuff. I remember watching Pool Hot Junkies growing up and
• 7:19
  the bar bet that he did in that.
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  I was like, yeah, I'm going to do that when I get older, you know,
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  and all the little bar bets and scams and things like that. So I was always very intrigued by that.
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  And then when I got into my early 20s, I started really studying it and practicing
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  to a degree where it was very much like.
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  Reignited that love and passion and i have to give credit to like all of those
• 7:43
  videos by that were on youtube but what was his name what is his name uh the
• 7:47
  uh scam school scam school,
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  ryan brushwood yeah yeah so i started
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  like i just really like found his videos and then i just
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  started going down the rabbit hole because it was very much of like the style
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  that i liked which was kind of the bar bets and scams and
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  things like that but it wasn't too much like look at me i'm a player
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  kind of things those were kind of cringy those like pick
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  up girls and in the bar with magic I
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  was like yeah that's not me at all so I
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  was always and then scam school kind of reignited it and then I started really
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  studying it in my early 20s and then got to go to the magic castle for my birthday
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  and just being a big fan I knew nobody there like in that world but I knew of
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  them and so I just started talking to them as a fan and they were like you should
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  audition and so the The second time I ever walked into the Magic Castle was to audition.
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  And then after I passed, I was like so nervous. I couldn't believe I passed.
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  Started going and I started doing sets down in the basement and worked my way up.
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  Could you tell us what an audition looks like and what to expect and possibly
• 8:49
  even how to prepare for it?
• 8:51
  Okay, yeah, yeah. I've helped a few other friends of mine.
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  I've taught some magic and like worked them up to where they did audition.
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  And so far, everyone who has auditioned has passed on their first try.
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  It's basically you have to know the
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  material pretty intimately you don't need to know everything a
• 9:08
  lot of guys think that they need you know when i was there doing my audition i
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  knew nobody and there was all these people around that like really knew
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  each other some of them took classes there and they knew
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  everybody and i didn't know a single person and there's guys
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  doing like carmanip stuff and i'm like i couldn't i couldn't
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  do a back palm to save my life so like i was
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  like so nervous and i went down there and did it
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  and then halfway they i ended up doing i think like
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  three tricks and halfway through my third
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  trick they're just like they just stopped me like okay that's enough and
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  they they do like an interview beforehand where they talk to you and stuff but
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  halfway through like the third trick they're like okay that's enough all right
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  thank you you can go back upstairs and i went back upstairs and
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  you know next thing you know that's so
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  rude what the hell magic castle in the
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  middle of his trick like you can't wait another minute
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  or two let the trick i i think yeah
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  i think it was like a three-phase routine and they were just
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  like okay we saw the first two or one and a half phases and we think we got
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  i think at that point they're like maybe i don't know they're all grizzled veterans
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  they're all burnt out magicians who can't watch a three-phase routine they're
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  like we've seen enough well it was like the third phase of like the third trick
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  So I think at that point they all had come,
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  they've changed it since then, obviously, but I think they came to the conclusion
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  that they were like, okay, we've seen enough that this guy will be fine. Yeah.
• 10:30
  Yeah. Like at least they interrupted you for a good reason. Like, oh yes, you've passed.
• 10:35
  Like, actually that wouldn't be bad. Like if, if they're like,
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  you have 10 minutes, you can keep performing up until that 10 minutes.
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  If you finish at 10 minutes and we don't stop you, it means you haven't made
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  it, but we're going to stop you at the meter where in which you've impressed
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  us. and then the goal is to get
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  stopped as soon as possible you know i i i would agree i think so but um,
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  Yeah, it was, I think they liked at that point, they liked the not telling you
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  kind of thing, which was, you know, looking back on it was exciting.
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  It made it more memorable for sure.
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  Because you go back upstairs and you see everyone, they're all waiting.
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  And then some of the committee members start coming up and they started pulling
• 11:16
  people to the side and talking to them.
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  And then there was like a small group of us. They're like, do you mind going into this other room?
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  And I remember walking down the stairs thinking, I
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  have to go home and tell all the people that I was auditioning that
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  I didn't get in like I was convinced I didn't get it so
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  I go downstairs and we're just waiting there for like 10-15 minutes
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  and someone finally comes down and they still would that
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  we're all like everybody in the room was like did we get in did
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  we not are we in the right room are we in a good room and then
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  somebody came down he's like I can't say anything right now and we're
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  like but are we in the right room and he goes I would relax
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  and that was it and then they finally somebody officially came
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  down and said like you guys are the ones that got it and
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  so yeah i think they liked it at that time to
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  like kind of keep the mystery of not you know
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  telling you now they i think they don't even tell you the night of they
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  may they'll they'll tell you the next day so okay feeling kind of bad for the
• 12:10
  guys that don't make it like man well they actually will and the whole place
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  because they just got bought out so the whole castle everything's changing in
• 12:20
  there so yeah yeah so Everything's changed.
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  Even this past week when I just did the Magic Castle, everything's so different
• 12:27
  right now. For better or worse?
• 12:30
  I'm sure for both, I think. There's going to be things that people like and don't like.
• 12:36
  Having been a guy who's been around a while, it always seemed like the Magic
• 12:40
  Castle was in a state of flux.
• 12:42
  I would suggest that having Randy at the helm ensures it'll be there forever,
• 12:49
  and securing the legacy.
• 12:52
  It was always like, is Magic Castle going to be open next year?
• 12:55
  We don't know. You know, is the lease going to go through? We don't know.
• 12:59
  The food sucks. No one's buying the food.
• 13:02
  From being in there, too, I think there was, like, all those talks of,
• 13:05
  like, they were trying to buy the building because they didn't even own the
• 13:08
  building. Yeah, that was always the problem.
• 13:10
  We could sell it and turn it into apartments and demolish this.
• 13:13
  And this is prime real estate. And there was real talks that they were going to do that.
• 13:17
  Always has been forever. Yeah.
• 13:20
  Wow. And then he bought the hotel, too. So now they also have the Magic Castle
• 13:24
  Hotel under the same umbrella, which is awesome. Yeah.
• 13:29
  When we ever talk to guests that come on that have been booked to do the castle,
• 13:33
  they always mention how many days and how many sets they're doing per night.
• 13:38
  And by the end of the week, they're exhausted and things like that.
• 13:41
  But we've never talked to someone doing the bar magic there.
• 13:44
  What does performing at the castle as the bar magician actually entail?
• 13:49
  Oh, twice as many sets. Oh, good.
• 13:53
  Yeah. So are you booked for the week?
• 13:57
  Yeah, yeah. So as the bar magician, typically you're going to do Wednesday,
• 14:01
  Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday night. So you'll do five nights in a row.
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  If there's a busy time like January and December and around the holidays times
• 14:11
  and certain times, they'll be busier and they'll have you do seven nights at the bar.
• 14:16
  So, yeah, you'll do Monday through Sunday, which is what all the other showrooms
• 14:21
  do is Monday through Sunday. So if you're in the close-up gallery,
• 14:23
  a typical week would be Monday to Sunday, and now I think you do four shows.
• 14:30
  And yeah, so you'll do four shows, seven nights a week.
• 14:33
  At the bar, it's completely different because you don't have set schedule.
• 14:37
  You're not doing a show at this time and a show at this time.
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  You kind of just do shows whenever there's a crowd.
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  And then if there's like six or seven people, it can be in between and they're
• 14:47
  just hanging out at the bar.
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  They kind of want to see some stuff. So you got to be prepared to do kind of
• 14:52
  like off the cuff stuff too.
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  So I'll usually have like the show I want to do.
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  And the way I do it at least is I have like a 30 minute show that I'll do at
• 15:00
  the bar, roughly 30 minutes. And then I have a bunch of just fun close-up stuff that I do.
• 15:07
  And then if there's group of people i'll do stuff you know i want to try this
• 15:11
  trick that i've just learned or been working on and tweaking it how i'm going
• 15:14
  to deliver it this way it's a good place to do that stuff at the bar and then
• 15:18
  once a crowd comes in we can do like a proper show i call it,
• 15:23
  and have you ever having to skid sorry you
• 15:25
  go nick no i was going to say like with regards to being at the bar like folks
• 15:28
  that you've performed for is anyone been there that you've been
• 15:31
  kind of awestruck or starstruck teller that
• 15:35
  was yeah john archer he
• 15:38
  was working the week and he watched from the
• 15:41
  sidebar which was cool and that's the one thing i really do like about
• 15:44
  the bar is like the close-up gallery a lot
• 15:47
  of these guys they won't get in line and
• 15:50
  then go sit and watch someone they don't know they unless
• 15:54
  they're told to go watch that and then
• 15:56
  they get you know get in line maybe where the bar they kind of are passing and
• 16:01
  then you could they see what's going on or they hear like a bunch of people
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  and they'll kind of watch for a few minutes and be like oh that was a cool moment
• 16:07
  and walk off and then you get kind of noticed a little bit more at the bar because
• 16:10
  it's kind of a come and go aspect which is i i think is great it's a plus for me at least.
• 16:17
  But teller for sure because john archer saw me and he came up to me and he john
• 16:21
  archer's so nice And he goes, hey, I'm going to bring Teller by.
• 16:25
  I want him to see your show.
• 16:27
  And Teller comes in and he sat center, back row center.
• 16:32
  I mean, there's only three rows, but he said dead center. So every time I look
• 16:35
  straight, there he is watching.
• 16:37
  And I was just, it was like, yeah, it was pretty brutal. And then also Matt King.
• 16:44
  Macking was great so that was fun and see matt
• 16:47
  king laugh as some of my jokes was like always good
• 16:50
  too so wow yeah yeah in
• 16:54
  the castle as well i was gonna say the most terrifying thing would be having
• 16:58
  to do bar magic for someone like doc eason could you imagine like i'm actually
• 17:02
  friends with doc now and doc was i love that and because i am i do cart under
• 17:08
  drink that's the whole bit I do.
• 17:10
  And it's, it's basically I'm doing Doc Eason, but my version of that, for sure.
• 17:17
  And I loved all of Doc's stuff. So Doc is definitely, like, if you watch me,
• 17:20
  you'd be like, oh, yeah, you were inspired by Doc for sure.
• 17:23
  And before I did the bar, I got booked at the bar, I did the close-up room,
• 17:27
  and then I did the Peller Theater with another magician.
• 17:30
  And we did that, like, three times, and we happened to be working the same week as Doc was at the bar.
• 17:34
  And the Peller Theater and the library bar are in the same room.
• 17:39
  And I ended up sitting with Doc Eason and having dinner with him,
• 17:43
  like, three, four nights in a row.
• 17:44
  And we just talked. We never did, no deck of cards, just talked, hung out and talked.
• 17:49
  And I told him how, you know, he's a big inspiration to me and I want to do the bar.
• 17:53
  And after that, I talked to the performance director and he finally was like,
• 17:56
  fine, you can do the bar. So I was like, yay.
• 17:59
  And I was so nervous because that was always my goal was to work that bar.
• 18:03
  It was all for me trying to get in there.
• 18:06
  And I remember Doc was booked again a few months later and it was like a few
• 18:09
  weeks before I was going to do the bar.
• 18:11
  And I went up to him and I told him, I finally got booked to the bar, but I'm so nervous.
• 18:14
  It's like oh do you have any advice and he
• 18:17
  goes you'll be fine and I'm like doc you never even
• 18:20
  see me handle a deck of cards let alone do a magic
• 18:23
  trick how do you know I'm gonna be fine and he gave
• 18:26
  me the best piece of advice that I think like helped everything
• 18:29
  he says I like you I like your magic and
• 18:33
  I've always remembered that that if the audience likes you they're gonna like
• 18:36
  your magic no matter what right so I just always went with that mentality be
• 18:40
  likable and doesn't matter how good or bad the trick is they're gonna like you
• 18:45
  even if the trick fails if they like you they're like oh no it's okay they're
• 18:49
  the greatest audience at the castle too so.
• 18:53
  Words of wisdom i love it there was
• 18:57
  one one little question someone had tim ascom was asking so when you're the
• 19:02
  bar magician is it the people that are there is it people that are waiting like
• 19:06
  is it sort of in between other shows that people are at the bar or are people
• 19:09
  just there hanging out at the bar and not seeing shows does that make sense
• 19:13
  you'll get both so you get both so.
• 19:17
  This last week because they changed a lot of the show schedule timing,
• 19:21
  there's an ebb and flow of the castle and there
• 19:24
  are certain times when certain showrooms light out like when
• 19:27
  the palace lets out you'll get a rush of people and then
• 19:30
  in between when people are a lot of the dining time so
• 19:33
  like right now this week there would always be like a
• 19:36
  little bit of slow but this past week they things were on a better flow
• 19:39
  they've been tweaking the time and they got things a little bit
• 19:42
  of a better flow so i was pretty steady with
• 19:44
  crowds coming in and out and it depends on how
• 19:47
  busy it is obviously friday and saturday nights are going to be more busy on
• 19:50
  a wednesday night but i've had it where like
• 19:53
  nights where it's as soon as i'm done with 30
• 19:56
  minutes a crowd is leaving as another crowd
• 19:59
  is pushing it and so they're all leaving and people are like
• 20:01
  jumping into seats as they're leaving and you don't get
• 20:04
  a green room at the bar so you just put your props under
• 20:07
  the bar and there's people 90 degrees to
• 20:10
  your left and you're like you got to set something up behind
• 20:13
  the bar and you're like doing it hiding it all you
• 20:17
  know resetting your stuff all behind the bar and then
• 20:20
  they're talking to you and they're coming up to you and they're like can
• 20:23
  i get this and this you're like i'm not the bartender you gotta talk to that
• 20:26
  guy i was gonna ask are you serving drinks during this time no luckily you get
• 20:32
  a bartender and then that's just a whole nother aspect like different bartenders
• 20:37
  back there have different styles of how they serve and what they do and don't do.
• 20:43
  There was one bartender there. He was very much like, I'm going to go to the
• 20:46
  side bar where people are ordering drinks and then going around because the
• 20:50
  bar is set up in a way at the library bar where people can order bar food and
• 20:55
  then they'll bring it out to like these tables.
• 20:57
  So you basically have a restaurant in the back of the room and then you're like
• 21:01
  the bar area where the show is going on.
• 21:03
  So you have to like buy, sometimes it gets really, and then there's people lined
• 21:08
  up to get into the Peller Theater.
• 21:09
  So you got all these people who are just like talking and it's super loud.
• 21:13
  And now you're trying to like, you got these people's focus and you have to
• 21:16
  like, sometimes you just tell the crowd to go shh and they'll quiet them down.
• 21:21
  And I always make a joke like this is called the library bar, please.
• 21:25
  And then they'll quiet down for a little bit. But it's tricky.
• 21:28
  Because yeah, it can get pretty loud in there. So you're fighting for attention.
• 21:31
  The one thing I do, my friend Lauro Castillo, who is like, did busking and stuff like that.
• 21:37
  We did this thing called beer magic. And we do magic at breweries and stuff.
• 21:41
  And we'd start doing these beer festivals we'd have a tent we'd
• 21:44
  be back to back at this beer festival and
• 21:47
  people would come up and we're kind of busking under a tent at a
• 21:49
  beer festival and i just started noticing
• 21:52
  he would do cups and balls and i don't do cups and balls but he's going ding
• 21:56
  ding ding ding ding ding and making a racket of noise and i started going man
• 22:00
  i don't i'm doing card tricks and interacting with people but i don't have any
• 22:04
  like loud noise thing so i went and got a like a fishing like a bell.
• 22:10
  And I hung it from the tent and started ringing it when magical things happened.
• 22:15
  And, and that was, yeah. So yeah, that was the inspiration of the bell was that
• 22:18
  someone was doing cups and balls and they're going clink, clink, clink, clink, clink.
• 22:21
  And that would, you would see people out in these fields, start turning their
• 22:25
  head. Like, what is that ringing?
• 22:26
  So I needed something. And so I ring the bell and now people ring the bell and
• 22:29
  you can put the hat under the bell.
• 22:32
  So when people tip, you ring it and they see that.
• 22:34
  And it's a great way. So when And everybody is really loud. You can ring it
• 22:37
  and it kind of focus. Everyone starts to look, oh, something's going on over there.
• 22:42
  And then you can shout. And now people know what show is kind of going on.
• 22:45
  It's the number one thing I tell aspiring buskers when they ask what they can
• 22:49
  do to make their act better I say get a noisemaker I say you know what are you
• 22:53
  doing to make noise out there,
• 22:55
  and when and the guy who taught me Cellini he had
• 22:58
  the trilogy and it's this sound movement and color sound movement and color
• 23:04
  and sound is the first thing so yeah did you have kids before doing this or
• 23:11
  was this all the training on how to manage kids that came after this?
• 23:18
  I have a five-year-old and a two-year-old, so I was already doing the bar and stuff like that.
• 23:23
  So I've grown into that and then started the family and everything.
• 23:28
  So yeah, there's a balancing act with that. And I'm very fortunate that having
• 23:32
  a day job and doing magic and magic has definitely supplemented the fact that
• 23:38
  my wife can be a stay-at-home mom and be there for the kids and stuff like that.
• 23:42
  So yeah, and I tried to do stuff where we get to take the whole family.
• 23:48
  Like we went, when I was working the house of cards in Nashville,
• 23:52
  my wife and daughter came out for the weekend and we just hung out all day.
• 23:57
  We went to the Nashville zoo and then they did the brunch show.
• 24:00
  So my daughter came and we went to the same magic shop, best magic.
• 24:04
  And we got her a, uh, the, the wand and the flower thing, little cup with a magnet.
• 24:09
  And we practiced it at home. And then she opened up one of my brunch shows on
• 24:14
  stage and she did absolutely amazing.
• 24:16
  The videos on my instagram it's like the most proud
• 24:19
  dad moment ever because she absolutely crushed it and
• 24:22
  yeah that's like one of my favorite videos that she got
• 24:25
  to open and then joey the the general
• 24:28
  manager did like the coolest moment because they give you like a
• 24:31
  little button like a lapel pin and then afterwards we're
• 24:34
  at the bar and he came up to her and was like i heard you
• 24:37
  entertained everybody and gave her her own performer
• 24:40
  lapel pin and she still has it it's like a little treasure for her so yeah it's
• 24:45
  a special moment so yeah you know so first you're asking about a job and the
• 24:49
  3d printing realm and so forth i'm curious how much the well firstly for you
• 24:54
  to tell everyone what it is and how much your engineering influences the actual routines you perform.
• 25:00
  Yeah, I think, well, what's fun is you can make anything with these things.
• 25:05
  Like, I've made, you know, devices to have, like, to do a deck switch and to
• 25:10
  do, like, something like you can have, like, the cards here and then a holdout
• 25:15
  with, like, a 3D printed holdout that's hidden under there.
• 25:18
  And as you take the packet, you could add cards to the table and stuff like that.
• 25:23
  So, like, you can just make whatever you need and you can have multiple of those,
• 25:27
  which is always nice. And, you know, and I even I do a Rubik's Cube,
• 25:32
  a full size Rubik's Cube to Skittles in someone's hand.
• 25:36
  And that I just 3D printed, painted and made my own. So it didn't exist and I made it myself.
• 25:42
  So it's always nice to be able to have that and just make it.
• 25:45
  And then on the bell, I have like an LED board, little LED matrix board.
• 25:50
  And my friend helped me program it and it can like display any playing card.
• 25:54
  And my favorite part, it's all controlled from a wireless Super Nintendo controller.
• 25:58
  So i i yeah it's pretty fun and it plays gifts
• 26:01
  like like eight bit gifts and so
• 26:04
  i have a card that says drink on it so
• 26:07
  whenever and then someone keeps picking the drink
• 26:10
  card and it just cycles through all these gifts of like
• 26:13
  from video games and stuff like
• 26:16
  that and it says drink so every time someone picks it starts flashing drink
• 26:19
  drink drink drink and we all drink throughout the show and
• 26:22
  stuff it's very fun wow that's funny wow and for
• 26:24
  anyone who who might understand the 3d printing world if
• 26:28
  anyone just listening to this there's a giant 3d printer behind
• 26:30
  eric what what can you tell us about that
• 26:33
  particular one is this a top of the line yeah so this one it's a bamboo h2d
• 26:39
  and then this one's a key one s so this has two nozzles on it and this one also
• 26:45
  does laser cutting yeah so it does laser cutting and engraving and things like
• 26:50
  that so you can do all sorts of stuff,
• 26:53
  What does that logo on it say? Murphy's Magic Productions.
• 26:59
  Nowadays, like, yeah, you go to Magic Live and you see like so many props that
• 27:03
  are 3D printed and stuff like that. Oh, yeah.
• 27:06
  Yeah, yeah. Like everything's now 3D printed.
• 27:09
  It's nice. It's a nice tool. And then we do like at this university,
• 27:14
  we have like a senior design project kind of thing for some of the students.
• 27:18
  And you can like sponsor the project. And I have one going on right now.
• 27:23
  Where they're engineering a magic trick for me, using electronics and motors and things like that.
• 27:27
  And so it's always kind of like coming up with fun ways to be deceptive and
• 27:32
  use engineering. It's always fun.
• 27:34
  And one thing we're working on is, you probably saw it at Magic Live,
• 27:38
  the giant spinning wheel that you can control the outcome.
• 27:43
  The bulls are also the spinning wheel. Yeah. I don't know the name of it,
• 27:47
  but it's really cool. You throw a dart onto it, right? That one? No, no, no.
• 27:52
  That's Goodwin's bullseye one. It's a different one. It's just a spinny wheel,
• 27:55
  like a Wheel of Fortune type thing.
• 27:57
  Yeah. It's like a chance wheel, and they spin it, but you can actually control kind of where it lands.
• 28:04
  They want $10,000 for it.
• 28:06
  So I was like, I think I could build one for like a few hundred bucks.
• 28:11
  So we've been trying to build one. And it's going to be small,
• 28:14
  so it can fit like on the side of the bar.
• 28:16
  And I was like, I just want it to land on the same thing every time.
• 28:18
  So it's been fun to just kind of try to make that. Just even if I don't even
• 28:22
  use it, it's just fun to make.
• 28:23
  And it's a project for the students and they learn, you know. Hell yeah.
• 28:28
  That's really cool. Yeah. So I was trying to think of fun stuff like that.
• 28:32
  I can imagine just wanting to 3D print like all of these things to hide within
• 28:37
  the bar that look like part of the bar, but are actually like holdouts or loads or, you know, stuff.
• 28:45
  And the thing about the bar too is like all bars are different.
• 28:48
  So when I started doing the Hollywood Roosevelt bar, that one was kind of tricky
• 28:55
  because there's nowhere where I was standing was, there's nowhere to put stuff.
• 28:59
  And that's the nice thing about like the bar is you have
• 29:02
  like a shelf under the bar so like
• 29:05
  you can quickly drop and steal things and switch things
• 29:08
  or whatever you need it's super nice to have that
• 29:11
  and this didn't have that there's like nothing below me and
• 29:15
  so i made like a table that i can
• 29:17
  attach to the side of the bar so now i have a thing
• 29:20
  and then put my close-up pad on top of that so it's all like there
• 29:23
  acting as a servant but it's i made it out of wood and
• 29:26
  stuff like that and then i just use gaffer's tape and attach it
• 29:29
  to the bar and it holds just fine so like i
• 29:31
  can make custom holdouts for
• 29:35
  each bar and i'll go out and measure and figure
• 29:38
  out and then i can cat it make it in computer and 3d
• 29:41
  print brackets or whatever i need to have the
• 29:44
  holdout for the bar and no matter what bar i work at i'm
• 29:47
  upset so yeah it's funny because i got a buddy of mine who's like i'll 3d print
• 29:52
  you anything you want but you gotta learn how to draw you gotta learn how to
• 29:55
  use blender and use the cad drawings it's like yeah if you if you just learn
• 29:59
  that i'll put whatever you want but don't come to me and be like can you make
• 30:02
  me the thing that goes on the side of you know like he's like don't.
• 30:07
  Just don't. And I'm like, fair enough. That's the one thing I did go to school
• 30:10
  for was computer drafting.
• 30:11
  So I can live, I have solid works on my computer and literally can make anything and make it.
• 30:17
  And yeah, it's kind of nice to be able to do that.
• 30:20
  Yeah, that's cool. Now, what I'm sort of curious about is that obviously there's
• 30:23
  probably an abundance of really cool stories about performing behind the bar.
• 30:27
  But one of the things I want to talk about before we jump into that is that
• 30:30
  one of the things you're most known for is that you have this crazy level,
• 30:34
  of interactive and personality driven performance and as a and from the footage
• 30:41
  that you see anyone who's who's had the pleasure of going through your instagram
• 30:44
  will see that like you just,
• 30:46
  solidify the room into one big unit and every single
• 30:49
  person is just being driven by your
• 30:52
  energy and it's such a rare thing to you know short
• 30:55
  of watching a jedi level street performer
• 30:58
  in my opinion and i'm just curious like when you
• 31:01
  think about your persona and
• 31:05
  the development of that that's able to achieve these sorts of things like how
• 31:09
  would you describe your persona firstly and how what advice do you have for
• 31:13
  people to control audiences like the way you do i think for me my mindset when
• 31:19
  it comes to doing magic is i feel oh my lights went off hold on.
• 31:27
  Shit we should have paid the bill,
• 31:31
  trying to save money all right now um wait are you in the bathroom right now
• 31:34
  is that what just yeah yeah from the toilet bowl please join me in welcoming
• 31:41
  hub now you know where my office is in the bathroom uh no so i think for me
• 31:46
  my mindset has always been when i'm doing magic is I think there's two types of magicians.
• 31:51
  And I think there's magicians that do magic to be like, look at me,
• 31:54
  look at me. And then there's magicians who are there to give something.
• 31:59
  And I've always had the mindset that I'm sharing something with you.
• 32:02
  I've learned this skill that's entertaining, that people find joy out of.
• 32:07
  And I want to share that with you.
• 32:09
  So I think that's always been my mindset, which when you come to magic with
• 32:14
  that mindset, that you're not trying to like, you're not looking for attention.
• 32:17
  You just get the attention as a byproduct of sharing your skills.
• 32:21
  I think that mindset has really driven how I do magic at the bar.
• 32:26
  And I also try to make it about the audience.
• 32:31
  And my whole show is basically about a spectator who I'm essentially picking on.
• 32:38
  But even like before i start
• 32:42
  the show i'll talk to the people because people are ordering drinks and
• 32:44
  stuff and i'll go hey you're sitting in kind of a seat where you're gonna participate
• 32:48
  pretty much the whole show i just want to make sure you're okay
• 32:51
  with that that by the end of the show tonight i'm
• 32:54
  gonna have everybody chanting your name if you're not
• 32:56
  comfortable with that now's the time so you can kind of guide
• 32:59
  and make sure you're getting a good spectator in that way and
• 33:03
  because the worst is when the person's just annoyed by you constantly like now
• 33:07
  you have to pick a card now you have to pick a card now you have to pick a card
• 33:09
  like you know i mean and especially because my whole show is about them continually
• 33:13
  picking the drink card which is a card that says drink on it which is a good
• 33:17
  tip by the way blank face cards and stickers.
• 33:22
  They look super high quality and they make them thicker so you can always feel and find them.
• 33:28
  And so, man, I use that all the time. At one point in the show,
• 33:32
  I need to spread and get a break under that card.
• 33:36
  And it's like four or five down, but I can spread and instantly feel it as like
• 33:40
  a marker so I can get a break under it.
• 33:42
  And if you lose it, you can always find it because it acts as almost like a breather too.
• 33:47
  So stickers on cards, chef kiss, the best thing you can do.
• 33:53
  You know instead of i know you can like print and spray
• 33:56
  something on it but the print never looks super glossy or
• 33:59
  clear so the sticker i
• 34:02
  found worked really well without having to print your
• 34:05
  own custom cards kind of thing so that's always nice and so that's my tip so
• 34:09
  i have a drink card this spectator is constantly picking the drink card we all
• 34:12
  drink becomes the running gag and then so that person's then doing magic they're
• 34:19
  finding everybody's cards throughout the show So I'm just doing kind of basic card tricks with them,
• 34:24
  but they're doing it. They're the ones doing the magic.
• 34:26
  And it becomes more about the audience than me.
• 34:30
  So I'm making them kind of a star and the rock star of the show than anything.
• 34:34
  And then I try to end it with a big hug moment where, you know,
• 34:37
  I thank them for being there because, you know, I like that idea of that without
• 34:42
  an audience, we're just guys fiddling with cards and stuff, you know? So yeah.
• 34:48
  I always, I'm grateful to my audience too. I don't hate my audience.
• 34:52
  So many people I find like, kind of just don't like people.
• 34:56
  And I think that comes from, they don't like, why are you in entertaining people?
• 35:03
  The main people is the people. And so it's kind of funny when I've seen people
• 35:07
  that, oh, I fucking hate my, like, oh, these people are annoying.
• 35:10
  I'm like, no, don't, don't.
• 35:12
  No, they're not like, look, they're drunk and they're annoying for sure.
• 35:15
  But that's an opportunity as i
• 35:18
  see it i see it as a challenge when you got the grumpy guy and you
• 35:20
  can you can get that one guy to break
• 35:24
  and smile and laugh dude you got
• 35:27
  the whole audience like you're done like that guy if
• 35:30
  he's like i'm gonna get you i'm gonna get you oh and you
• 35:32
  break him the whole room is like oh
• 35:35
  we got bob bob finally broke you know you
• 35:38
  win the whole audience after that moment so i think
• 35:41
  that's always to me i always like go and seek
• 35:44
  out that guy almost like you know i gotta say like
• 35:48
  i gotta say like if in january when you're you're doing seven days if you are
• 35:53
  still at that mindset at day seven at like 11 o'clock at night that you still
• 35:59
  want to win over bob then you're in the right place because yeah playing the
• 36:04
  devil's advocate i could see.
• 36:08
  How constantly trying to control this crowd that are coming in,
• 36:11
  going out, getting drunk,
• 36:14
  just whatever, you know, not paying attention.
• 36:17
  Some are you winning them over. Day seven, show number three.
• 36:20
  I could see how someone might be like, fuck this, like, just fucking watch the
• 36:24
  cups and balls or don't, okay?
• 36:26
  I could see how that could happen, but holy crap, what a mindset.
• 36:31
  I tried to always, I think there was, I can't remember off the top of my head who said this.
• 36:37
  Probably all sure someone's heard this and can credit them but they said oh,
• 36:43
  I try to remind myself, this might be the first and only time they might see your magic.
• 36:49
  Wow, that's heavy. Yeah, right?
• 36:52
  That's it. That's it, man. And for a lot of people, we all live in a world where
• 36:57
  you are doing magic, you're around magic.
• 37:00
  But for so many of these people, this might be the first and only time they
• 37:04
  ever see close-up magic or something like this.
• 37:08
  And we're jaded in a way. yeah but i have to admit i had the same thought recently
• 37:12
  i was performing for like a 90 year old and i was like crap i might be the last
• 37:16
  person who ever showed the magic you know what i mean.
• 37:21
  It's yeah like it was an interesting
• 37:24
  thought but it's nice when people think about that when they
• 37:26
  think about they're going to be able to have the opportunity to imprint or
• 37:29
  give them an experience and i think that's seldom when people
• 37:33
  have any sort of mindset where it's like you're here for me to clap for
• 37:36
  me to make me feel good yeah it's
• 37:39
  i think i think i kind of agree with
• 37:42
  you more about like you being servant to the
• 37:46
  audience you know yeah and then they show their gratitude and whether i appreciate
• 37:50
  it or not it's fine like you still have the gift and you're still giving it
• 37:53
  away you know some some people would be unhappy in heaven and wouldn't clap
• 37:56
  for your trick even if it resulted in them their wristwatch is missing that
• 38:01
  you've stole their wallet and
• 38:03
  you predicted did everything correctly and they're still going like, no,
• 38:06
  I suppose it was okay. Yeah, that was a stooge.
• 38:09
  That's what I was looking at. Classic. Oh, let's go in on it.
• 38:12
  You guys are colluding. I'm like, everybody's here. Come back to the next show.
• 38:18
  That segues into a great gig story. Let's jump into a quick gig story and tell
• 38:21
  them about your stooge story, Josh. This is a pisser. Go for it.
• 38:25
  Let me find them. So Gig Stories is a part of the show where we talk about little
• 38:29
  magical moments, either while performing or our day-to-day life.
• 38:32
  Starting with a great story that made me laugh when I saw Josh Nebito's Instagram
• 38:37
  stories about him using a stooge.
• 38:40
  Oh, right, right, right. Yeah, this is the wild, wild west of YouTube comments.
• 38:47
  And for anyone who's spent any time in YouTube land, reading comments is like,
• 38:54
  kind of interesting you do learn a lot but it's also like detrimental
• 38:57
  to your mental health sometimes and but
• 39:00
  most of the time it's like really positive right so i
• 39:03
  was in there i'm just trying to find the actual post but
• 39:06
  essentially someone wrote what they thought
• 39:09
  was like both a positive and negative comment youtube is
• 39:12
  probably where like the most community lives
• 39:15
  of people like that regularly watch my stuff you
• 39:18
  know instagram is like other magicians watching it and whatever but youtube
• 39:22
  is like people who are really like tuning in
• 39:25
  every day to watch and so i do a lot of card magic a
• 39:28
  lot of crazy moments happen that i capture in our show
• 39:31
  the theater of magic and yeah someone just left this comment they're like look
• 39:34
  i really love watching josh's videos i love his his persona but like i just
• 39:41
  wish he would stop using stooges for all his tricks because yeah it's too impossible
• 39:46
  that you could find just any card that's named and do anything with it.
• 39:52
  So yeah, I think it would better your career if you could like stop using Stooges.
• 39:56
  And that was basically the summary of the comment.
• 39:59
  And so yeah, I mean, what do you say to that? I mean, I've never used a Stooge
• 40:03
  in my life, but if that's what they think I do, then that's to them,
• 40:07
  that's what they think I do.
• 40:08
  So I just commented saying, oh, that's such, that's the best compliment ever. Thank you.
• 40:12
  And kind of left it at that. And so yeah, I thought it was funny.
• 40:15
  You shared it on my story on Instagram and it got the most interaction any story of mine has ever had.
• 40:21
  I think the most people replying to me with messages and views.
• 40:25
  And so, yeah, it must just be a funny, but now I, but now I think like,
• 40:29
  okay, how many other people think that as well?
• 40:32
  Like he wrote, he wrote it, but how many people are thinking it?
• 40:35
  So now I'm going down this rabbit hole of like,
• 40:39
  what's like a artistic way to mention there's no stooges or make a joke or a
• 40:45
  light thing or a yeah i think the answer to that is just to put logic traps
• 40:49
  in your routine so that they do think something they need to like or they're
• 40:54
  gonna say whatever but you gotta say you just have to say look again.
• 40:58
  Do you ever have like three people pick one card? So color, value,
• 41:02
  suit? And so do you ever do it that way?
• 41:06
  I haven't only for the like condensedness of the video, but for sure you could do that. Yeah.
• 41:14
  And I'm so much of on the team of screw those people in a way.
• 41:19
  Like, I don't like, how far do we have to go to like, like prove a point, right?
• 41:27
  Like I don't know I just feel like there's nothing
• 41:30
  it's one of those things that like instead of
• 41:33
  trying to prove it ask them what would it take for you
• 41:36
  to believe that I'm not using a stooge like I would kind
• 41:39
  of pose that question in a way like I don't
• 41:42
  know I never try to like I'm like okay if that's sure yeah
• 41:45
  that's what you want to believe that's fine because some people don't
• 41:48
  want they don't want to just like not
• 41:52
  let themselves be fooled you know like they
• 41:55
  they just won't let them no matter what they do and the
• 41:58
  tricky thing absolutely and the tricky thing is they're
• 42:01
  these people are watching it on video so anything in video
• 42:04
  these days could be untrue but it's obviously
• 42:08
  a different experience when you see it in real life so yeah
• 42:11
  i'm not super worried but it was just a weird like positive
• 42:15
  and negative comment attempt in one thing it's kind of funny well you took it
• 42:19
  the right way as a compliment because it is kind of a compliment yeah yeah you
• 42:23
  just kill them with kindness kindness on youtube is uh my recommendation to
• 42:27
  anyone that's how you that's how you win but we got to hear some stories from
• 42:31
  hub i mean you're doing magic.
• 42:33
  So many crazy situations with people drinking and loudness what um e-bombs yeah what yeah oh yeah.
• 42:43
  Well you're talking about we were talking about this backstage where you guys
• 42:47
  being australian and stuff like that your guys are allowed to say certain words
• 42:50
  and me being in america we can't say certain words.
• 42:53
  What are you talking about, Hub? What words specifically? Tell...
• 42:56
  I'll see you next Tuesday, I can tell you. How about that? Oh, he said it. Oh, my God.
• 43:03
  So basically, I actually have a funny story. So in my bar show, I have the drink card.
• 43:09
  And at some point, I go to the spectator and I say, you know,
• 43:12
  this is a blank card. And this is how you can make up whatever card you want.
• 43:15
  You get to make up whatever card you want.
• 43:17
  So think of any word that you'd like to write on that card as long as it's not
• 43:21
  drink, drink, or drop. Because then it gets too confusing.
• 43:24
  And they generally can write whatever word and have them sign it.
• 43:27
  Which, by the way, if you're going to do ambitious card or anything,
• 43:30
  just get a blank face, a whole deck of blank face.
• 43:33
  And now you can still have 52 cards and have a signed card routine.
• 43:37
  Do whatever you want with it in an ambitious card routine or whatever you want
• 43:41
  to do with it. You can give it away and you still have 52 cards in your deck.
• 43:45
  I don't know why I didn't think of that. It just came to me.
• 43:47
  But yeah, it's a nice little tip because so many tricks, you want all 52 cards
• 43:51
  or something like that. so I do that they write the word and,
• 43:56
  At this one show, it was this most conservative-looking girl,
• 44:02
  just looking pretty, very nice, no tattoos, very much like the most perfect
• 44:10
  American kind of idea that you would see, like Christian lady. Young guy.
• 44:16
  Yeah, exactly. And I was like, can I write anything?
• 44:20
  And you know I've obviously gotten penises the
• 44:24
  fuck all that stuff everything and
• 44:27
  I said yeah you can write whatever you want I've gotten it
• 44:30
  all don't worry and I don't know what they write until it ends up under my drink
• 44:34
  so I do a thing and I spread the cards and oh this tells me your cards under
• 44:39
  my drink and that's the drink card and then everyone looks and I go and you
• 44:42
  wrote and I look at it and I and she wrote see you next Tuesday yeah exactly.
• 44:51
  And now I'm like oh that is one
• 44:54
  I've never got and everybody sees it
• 44:57
  everyone already knew what the word was and they're laughing because they see I'm
• 44:59
  in kind of a predicament where I can't really say it in
• 45:02
  the castle and at that very moment my very British friend walked in and he walked
• 45:10
  up to the bar and he saw this all and he goes I can say it and I go and he wrote
• 45:15
  and he just blared it out as loud as could be in the middle of the bar in front of everybody.
• 45:21
  And then he goes, and I give you a pass for the night, you can say it. So I was able to say it.
• 45:25
  And like, all the jokes started writing themselves because the normal lines
• 45:30
  that I would say is, is become jokes because she wrote that word.
• 45:35
  So like, someone will write, I don't know, someone one time write forklift.
• 45:39
  And I go, I'm gonna show you guys how I got the forklift under my drink.
• 45:41
  Well, she wrote and I was like, I'm going to show you how I got your under my
• 45:46
  drink and now everyone's laughing.
• 45:48
  Right. So it suddenly became this whole running thing. Like,
• 45:52
  and I think I started doing like at one point, like a version of ambitious that I do.
• 45:56
  And I say, look, we're going to take whatever's on top and I'm going to blow
• 45:58
  on it and it will turn into your card.
• 46:01
  And then I go, are you ready to blow on your beep? Yeah.
• 46:05
  So it's this, like, the script itself, it's not like I was saying this to make a joke.
• 46:11
  It was the script just kind of because she wrote that word and became the joke, which was hilarious.
• 46:16
  So now I can actually think I officially can say I've seen everything written on those cards.
• 46:21
  Yeah, wow. Wow. We just had a similar, not as running long moment,
• 46:27
  but we had a funny moment.
• 46:28
  Someone dropped that word in at
• 46:31
  the theater of magic in a moment where we asked the sweetest
• 46:34
  looking lady to say like the
• 46:37
  worst word she knew but normally they say like dang it
• 46:40
  or you know bollywoggle they didn't
• 46:43
  just make up a word but similar effect where
• 46:46
  sometimes we underestimate you know we we judge
• 46:49
  a book by its cover yeah yeah okay
• 46:53
  what about any any other crazy moments or
• 46:57
  like just like pure miracles that happened off
• 46:59
  of someone doing something you didn't anticipate yeah one
• 47:03
  of my favorites that happened was i was i do this casino
• 47:07
  night for this company it's like a plumbing company supply company
• 47:10
  and they do a casino night and have me come out every year and they walk around
• 47:14
  and do magic and they do like a little tournament like a texas hold'em tournament
• 47:17
  kind of thing and people win prizes i'm walking around watching a little bit
• 47:22
  of it and this one guy that i did magic earlier in the night he's playing on the table,
• 47:27
  and he leans over he's like can you get me pocket aces he goes come here magic
• 47:31
  boy and i was like oh yeah sure what's up and he's like can you get me pocket
• 47:35
  aces and obviously there's i'm not touching the cards or anything it was like
• 47:39
  i could but you know it wouldn't be fair he's like oh come on and i just step
• 47:44
  off to the side and he got dealt pocket aces.
• 47:48
  And he won the hand and he was so occupied playing the hand.
• 47:51
  I just then tapped and I was like, you're welcome and walked away.
• 47:54
  And he like freaked out because he just realized he had just asked for pocket
• 47:58
  aces. And the next hand he got dealt pocket aces.
• 48:01
  And it was like, I'm going to take credit for that, even though I had nothing to do with it.
• 48:04
  And every year I've never had to do another magic trick for that guy because
• 48:08
  he goes, I won the tournament because of you, like all that stuff.
• 48:11
  So yeah, it was, um, those are those one moments.
• 48:14
  And that's why I think in one of your videos, you got someone just happened
• 48:20
  to name a card and it happened to be like his name was 10 letters and 10 more cards was that card.
• 48:27
  And you saw like that to me is like the perfect sign of like someone who's done
• 48:33
  magic for a long time is they're looking for these opportunities. And I don't remember.
• 48:37
  Oh, it was wild. it was yeah he named
• 48:40
  a card it exactly spelled to his name which
• 48:43
  i didn't know his name yet and then as a joke when
• 48:46
  i asked him what his card was he said a different card but i
• 48:49
  recognized in that moment oh his name now
• 48:52
  with what's left would spell to that card he just pretended was his card and
• 48:58
  we could spell to both of them it was yeah and you're like and then deal your
• 49:01
  name again in this hand and then you have both cards in hand and i was like
• 49:06
  oh that's so good happens every week every every show obviously.
• 49:11
  I think those moments are to me like a good sign of someone who's paying attention.
• 49:17
  I don't remember who it was. I read it in a book.
• 49:19
  And he said, one of the best things you can do is start looking for things that are around.
• 49:25
  If you're at a venue and it's a whiskey company and they have the year they
• 49:33
  were established on the wall or something.
• 49:35
  And now you're doing strongly magic. And right behind him, it says establish whatever year.
• 49:40
  Do toxic and boom oh that's the
• 49:43
  yeah there's so many things you can pull from that
• 49:46
  like you know really elevate that
• 49:50
  like a simple card trick to something more like i do a routine or you get someone's
• 49:54
  birthday and i do like a multiple selection and sometimes i'll do this in the
• 49:58
  bar show because i'm having like five cards selected and those five cards add
• 50:02
  up to the number of days since the person who's picking the drink card was born
• 50:05
  and because earlier in the And I got their birthday information or,
• 50:09
  you know, just casually talking to them.
• 50:11
  You know, they'll wear at the Magic Castle or birthday buttons.
• 50:15
  Oh, happy birthday. Was your birthday actually today? No. Oh, when was it? OK.
• 50:20
  Oh, well, happy early birthday or happy late birthday. And how old are you now?
• 50:24
  And boom, now you have their information just in a casual conversation.
• 50:28
  You can quickly just get those numbers. And then throughout the show,
• 50:32
  make sure those people get the right cards.
• 50:34
  And then I do a thing where I go after the cards are back. there's kind
• 50:37
  of a recall position going back over and over and over again at
• 50:40
  the very end i find like all five cards and then i can lay them
• 50:43
  out and i go but you know what's crazy about these five cards hey siri what
• 50:46
  was the day blah blah blah 15 234 days ago and it says their birthday and boom
• 50:53
  damn yeah that person and then yeah so you can when you see i love that you're
• 51:00
  looking for things to grasp onto,
• 51:02
  to take advantage of a situation that really like can make people really remember
• 51:08
  that moment and make it personal, which is always great.
• 51:11
  Yeah, I think it was, I learned that from doing Nate Staniforth's course during COVID.
• 51:17
  That was really, really helpful learning things just to be really indigenous,
• 51:22
  you know, focus on that magic doesn't just happen with what you create at home.
• 51:26
  It's like when you have a room, when you have four walls, like go nuts, use them all. Yeah.
• 51:31
  Yeah. I love Nate Staniforth's talk about the cone of focus.
• 51:35
  I don't know. You know that one?
• 51:37
  Yeah. Like out here, like it's so perfect for the bar too,
• 51:40
  because there's so much they freak out and then
• 51:43
  then the focus gets back and then they
• 51:46
  come back out right like so the bar has
• 51:49
  that and that cone of focus that he talks about is
• 51:53
  so much more dramatic at the bar like in a close-up setting you get their their
• 51:58
  attention goes out and then it comes back in they're back in but at the bar
• 52:03
  it's like they're looking every which way for so long and then you can wrangle
• 52:08
  them back in and the time it takes you to wrangle them back in,
• 52:12
  you could separate the deck red and black throughout that
• 52:15
  time like you could do anything you want it's so crazy
• 52:18
  how much you can actually get away with at the bar because there is so much
• 52:22
  chaos and stuff going on you know i mean sometimes people will want to order
• 52:25
  a drink right in the middle of the show you're like oh order a drink yeah oh
• 52:29
  what are you getting you know and boom you've done whatever you wanted at that
• 52:32
  moment it's pretty crazy how easy it is.
• 52:37
  How was that? Easiest deck switch ever,
• 52:41
  yeah seriously it's kind of especially when you have the thing behind you and
• 52:46
  i and in one of the routines i do i do a deck switch and i go just show the
• 52:49
  card to everybody and i just.
• 52:52
  That's it super simple as easy as
• 52:54
  it gets and i don't think i've ever been caught nope never been
• 52:57
  caught so so are you also doing corporate gigs
• 53:00
  as well hub yeah doing corporate gigs when
• 53:03
  you're booked for corporate gigs are
• 53:06
  they booking you as a bar magician or strolling or
• 53:09
  something a lot of strolling so that's how i actually
• 53:12
  got kind of discovered at the magic castle they do a strolling
• 53:15
  showdown one of the most popular events that they do it's
• 53:19
  really fun down in the inner circle they set up a bunch of tables magicians
• 53:23
  sign up to compete and then there's magicians that sign up to judge and they
• 53:27
  bring their friends and stuff like that they all sit around at tables and then
• 53:30
  a big group of magicians start table hopping for like an hour an hour and a
• 53:34
  half. And you just go to every table.
• 53:37
  If you want to win, you have to get to every table.
• 53:40
  And then the magicians, who are the judges, vote for their top three,
• 53:45
  one, two, and three. I liked one here, two here, three here.
• 53:48
  And then they tally all the votes. And if you get the most one votes,
• 53:51
  you win or whatever the point system they create.
• 53:55
  And it was my first year I was a member at the castle. I'd been doing sets down
• 54:00
  in the impromptu basement and getting better and better and better.
• 54:03
  And then I competed. And the first time I competed, I got third place.
• 54:07
  And that gets you, you know, the first time you compete, all these other magicians
• 54:10
  liked you enough, and you're nobody, it instantly gets you kind of recognized.
• 54:14
  And I got booked in to do the cocktail hour in the close up gallery.
• 54:19
  And living in Orange County, none of my friends could really make it to LA that
• 54:23
  early because of traffic.
• 54:25
  So I told the performer, I was like, I really want to do late because then my
• 54:28
  friends have an opportunity to come.
• 54:30
  He's like, oh, now you're asking for it, right? And so I competed the second time and then won it.
• 54:36
  So I won the second time and then he came up to me afterwards and was like,
• 54:40
  oh, now you've earned it. So I got to do late.
• 54:43
  And that kind of after that moment, it really established me and kind of worked,
• 54:47
  you know, became a regular at that point.
• 54:50
  Wow. It's worth pointing out as we get closer to the end of this episode.
• 54:54
  First of all your website very clean very
• 54:57
  nice not always what i see when
• 55:00
  i go to magician's website so it looked amazing i appreciate that because i
• 55:04
  made it it's squarespace i don't know they're responsible no they're not but
• 55:08
  they get my money as well yeah one thing i noticed on your website which is
• 55:13
  interesting if anyone is listening to all of this and going wow i would love to
• 55:17
  be taught or have hub watch my magic or i would be love to be influenced or
• 55:24
  ask more questions do you offer a teaching package on your website yeah.
• 55:29
  What can you tell them a bit about that? Like, what does that involve? Like what? Yeah.
• 55:32
  So I kind of meet magicians at their level and try to help them either be how
• 55:38
  to present their magic or just teach them magic tricks and get them going with just the basics.
• 55:45
  And, you know, I, I, me and Doc have talked about this, like I'm no card expert.
• 55:52
  Like I don't even, I would argue I don't even have that good of a double lift.
• 55:55
  Like I can get away with it at the bar pretty well. But for the most part,
• 55:59
  I think what I do do well, though, is that I make everything I do,
• 56:03
  I handle it casually enough.
• 56:05
  I'm not stiff. I'm laxed. And I think, you know, even I think Diverin has that
• 56:09
  quote where like, if you're, you know, act natural, don't make it so much a
• 56:15
  move because then people can feel it. They don't know what it is, but they can feel it.
• 56:19
  And I know so many guys when they do like a pass, they really quick move, you know, or.
• 56:27
  You know like they kind of it you
• 56:31
  don't know what just took place no i'm not even joking i
• 56:34
  saw it the other night it's like yeah you know like boom really quick and i'm
• 56:39
  like look i couldn't see what you did but i also know you did something i don't
• 56:43
  know what but you did do something where i honestly feel like and i think this
• 56:48
  isn't my idea this is just known is like the best misdirection is.
• 56:53
  Like them looking up at you.
• 56:55
  My favorite thing to do is, what was your name again? Oh, it's Mike.
• 56:58
  Oh, Mike. And then there you go. You did the pass because they look up for that moment.
• 57:02
  And then you can do the pass and it's invisible because they're like,
• 57:05
  oh yeah, they're going to tell you their name and they're going to look at you when you say it.
• 57:09
  So sometimes I won't even ask people their name because I want to do a pass or do a move.
• 57:14
  So I'll be like, oh, do me a favor. Take a card. Okay, great.
• 57:17
  Go ahead and put it back in the middle. And sure, what was your name?
• 57:19
  Oh, and then you do the pass because as soon as they go to tell you their name,
• 57:22
  They're going to look up and,
• 57:24
  it's done. And then you can set the cards down and be like, okay,
• 57:27
  shuffle, shuffle, shuffle, and then move on. Right?
• 57:29
  So yeah, I mean, no expert at that. But I love meeting people at their level
• 57:34
  and guide them to whatever their goals are.
• 57:36
  And we do that step by step and try to help you.
• 57:40
  I think one of the biggest problems I see a lot of time is continuity errors.
• 57:44
  So like, and then they're always trying to mimic what they saw.
• 57:48
  I had a friend who we started out, and he would do imagination coins
• 57:52
  and the great routine but
• 57:55
  he would be like laughing giggling and he'd be like all right let me show you
• 57:59
  this trick did you imagine giving me the quick i'm like what the heck happened
• 58:03
  your whole persona changed in that moment because you're mimicking what you
• 58:07
  saw and it's not like okay no so i would try when i try to teach people it's like
• 58:12
  let's get away from that and you know things like that so that's why magicians
• 58:17
  always say like reading the books tend to be the better way because you're going
• 58:21
  to read it and figure out how it fits you instead of you see it and you're just
• 58:25
  going to naturally want to mimic and copy what you saw. So yeah, books.
• 58:31
  Doug, I mean, Doug can attest to that, right? Learning from books. Books are for losers.
• 58:37
  Now that you're having to sell tricks at Trick Supply.
• 58:42
  Okay i mean that note that was it i said it i said a joke so we've we've hit
• 58:49
  the hour but i want to ask one one question which i think would be nice way
• 58:52
  to to wrap this up and it's simply if someone were to see you even just once
• 58:56
  in their lifetime what do you hope they remember about you,
• 59:00
  oh man that's a good question i just genuinely hope they like me and i i hope
• 59:08
  they have fun honestly like.
• 59:11
  And I hope that they forget whatever's going on in their life.
• 59:15
  I mean, life is difficult enough.
• 59:18
  I mean, today we do have it pretty good, you know, but we live in a special
• 59:22
  time where things are really good.
• 59:23
  And, you know, I always try to stay humble.
• 59:26
  You know, some of the my grandfather grew up like in a cabin and then went off to war.
• 59:32
  I'm fortunate enough that, you know, we haven't had to do that. And that's what I keep.
• 59:37
  I think we talked about this maybe earlier. I meant to say something about like,
• 59:40
  you know, doing five or seven nights and doing six 30 minute shows over and
• 59:45
  over back to back to back at the bar can be exhausting.
• 59:48
  But man, it's so much easier than construction or going to fight a war or being
• 59:54
  in a trench or something.
• 59:56
  So like, I get tired, I definitely get tired. And I have to go home and play
• 1:00:00
  with kids. And, you know, it's difficult, without a doubt. And it's tiring.
• 1:00:04
  But honestly, if you can just remind yourself, like, we do pretty,
• 1:00:08
  I just hope people always remember, like, we do have it pretty good.
• 1:00:11
  And I always try to remind myself and I hope if there is, we do have real problems too.
• 1:00:15
  And I do hope that when they do see me perform that for that 30 to 60 minutes
• 1:00:20
  or two hours or whatever time I spend with them, I hope that I was able to like,
• 1:00:24
  let them shed that weight of whatever they have going on in their life.
• 1:00:27
  And they were just able to be in the moment and present and have a good time.
• 1:00:31
  And I genuinely hope that. So yeah.
• 1:00:34
  That's amazing. That's a great answer. Perfect answer. Perfect answer.
• 1:00:38
  And look, the comments, people watching live, people want you to come back.
• 1:00:42
  So you are welcome back here anytime, my friend.
• 1:00:44
  For those who want, if you do want to learn from Hub, he has a 10 lesson package on his website.
• 1:00:50
  All his links to Instagram and his website are below wherever you're watching or listening to this.
• 1:00:55
  And we can't wait to jam and watch you perform in person.
• 1:01:00
  But for now, we're going to end our episode in the way that we always do,
• 1:01:04
  which is by giving our guest the final word.
• 1:01:08
  Well, thank you guys so much for hanging out with me today. I have a regular
• 1:01:11
  show at the Hollywood Roosevelt.
• 1:01:13
  It's a show every Sunday. It's from 6 to 8 p.m. It's only 30 bucks.
• 1:01:16
  We do a cocktail hour where I kind of sit down with people and do a couple of
• 1:01:20
  tricks. And then everybody comes up to the bar and we do a full on bar show.
• 1:01:23
  It's like 45 to 60 minutes, depending on the interactive people.
• 1:01:26
  I'm always trying new stuff.
• 1:01:27
  You can get tickets on Eventbrite. Just search magic library bar
• 1:01:30
  and then i'm regularly at the magic castle all the time and i travel for corporate
• 1:01:34
  events so if you know any events i both travel i'll go out and when this summer
• 1:01:38
  you can catch me on the spellbound princess cruise line doing the magic castle
• 1:01:43
  spellbound that's the new thing that they're doing so i'll be on that for a
• 1:01:45
  few weeks and yeah i hope to see you soon and,
• 1:01:50
  hubmagic.com yeah that's it thanks
• 1:01:52
  i'm a dub rub thanks for listening it's time for us to Disappear Now.
• 1:02:00
  But we'll see you again on the next episode of The Magic Guys.