Latest / The Magic Guys / Captivating Art of Rubik's Cubes With Daniel Maze #199

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Captivating Art of Rubik's Cubes With Daniel Maze #199 · The Magic Guys

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  They're guys. They do magic. They are the magic guys.
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  Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to episode 199. My goodness, that signifies almost
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  four years worth of podcast episodes. This is crazy.
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  My friends, to my left, we have Nick Kay.
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  We're talking Rubik's Cube today, people.
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  Oh, we are indeed. We are indeed.
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  When did you start learning rubik's cubes nick like
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  how long ago i probably started doing it kind of
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  mid my career so i'll probably say like five years into it
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  when i came across cube effects and the stuff
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  that carl heinz was doing yeah i spoke to
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  him at length like about it
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  a lot over chicken and waffles like when i was
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  in vegas and his ideas were
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  brilliant but they were hard you know they
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  were hard i remember seeing him lecture and i was
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  like no one's doing this surely apart
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  from him because this is crazy right and yeah and
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  then of and then of course stephen brundish came out and everyone's
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  like okay we have to know this the way i was there like a pivotal moment that
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  made you go okay i am going to start learning was it seeing him or did something
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  else happen no i i i attempted it and i failed miserably at first but then i
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  had a friend of mine called Val who builds on my props. He's an expert.
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  A cabinet builder and he used to build kitchens and so forth for like high-rise buildings
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  and so forth and then he went from doing that into illusions and
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  he taught me how to solve my first cube and and
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  how to sort of work on stuff and how to sort of simplify it and that
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  kind of that's kind of where i caught the bug at first and
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  then got into car hind so yeah but i i think
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  the brundage he had a way of simplifying that
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  but you know this is sort of things that are up for discussion i think
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  with our guest today 100 and and just the
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  the short story for me was i was against learning
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  cube stuff i was like i've spent two goddamn damn long learning cards and coins
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  and whatever and then i did an 80s themed party and on every cocktail table
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  was a rubik's cube and every table was like ah can you solve this and i was
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  like damn it i can't solve it.
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  I was like because if i had have learned i could have done miracles that But
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  anyway, and so that mixed with seeing Stephen Brungish do it, I was like, okay.
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  Mixed with, oh no, I did learn it pre-COVID. So yeah, it was just those two
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  occurrences. I was like, okay, I should learn.
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  Anyway, we've got an amazing guest coming on today and we've been foreshadowing
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  it with our Rubik's Cube talk.
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  Also, thank you to everyone who's joined us live to see this conversation.
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  Nick, who we got in the chat today?
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  Well, the guys in the chat, it's good to see our local friends again.
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  Thomas Conger, good to see your friends. scotty link gary davis he's
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  ready now he says we also have eleanor hunter we're
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  gonna make fun about that later harvey seth rod
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  thank you all for being here to see our guest now
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  our guest hails all the way from the uk on a
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  totally different time zone thankfully he's like
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  wide awake and entirely alert and excited to be part of this chat we first stumbled
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  upon this amazing talent through social media um which josh brought it to my
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  attention showing this wonderful work that he does and we were just like we
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  gotta get this guy in the pod so please join us in welcoming the highly anticipated mr daniel mays.
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  Music.
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  Hello hello daniel mays hello hello hello
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  let me let me figure out how to take
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  your wonderful face off the screen boom there
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  we go there he is look at that ladies and gentlemen let's give him a round of
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  applause there he is thank you so much for having me thanks for being here buddy
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  what time is it on your side of the planet uh we have just passed midnight so
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  we are officially it's officially tomorrow wow,
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  It is always a trip for us in Australia. Every time we do a podcast,
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  Doug, who is not here today because he's getting ready to be Santa, obviously, next week.
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  Busy day ahead of him next week. But in the US, it's always the day before.
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  So it's always a little trippy. Just so you know, Dan, it's going to be raining
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  tomorrow because it's raining today for us in the future.
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  Thanks for letting me know. That was stupid. how
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  i how is the how is the christmas gig season
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  for you in the uk before we jump that like
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  let's just quickly why don't you tell everyone who you are and what
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  you do for folks who yeah sorry for the first time so i'm
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  a uk-based magician i'm mainly based around
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  manchester liverpool area so kind of the north of
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  the uk for those of you that that don't know
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  and i do weddings corporate gigs but
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  I'm mostly known for the work I do with the Rubik's Cube and
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  I am a resident magician at the Oracle Bar in Liverpool
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  which is a super cool special kind of
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  magic bar there's nowhere like it I've never
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  ever come across anywhere like it and I'm I'm so
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  delighted to be able to work there sort of from time to time generally
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  sort of once a week or so and I get to work with a team of
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  magicians and we all work together on various different things
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  and I'm sure we'll talk about that in a bit but
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  but i do a lot of magic with the rubik's cube cards and
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  you know mentalism all of all of the stuff but i'm fairly new to.
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  The professional side of magic and i'm just so
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  keen on getting stuck in basically so now you say
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  that you're very new to this realm which i find like really really cool
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  so ultimately you're a very
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  young handsome 22 year old uk magician and
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  only just recently gone kind of full-time yes
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  in the last six months i've been full-time and it's
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  going well so far that's wonderful you can
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  see the like the the parody enthusiasm still in his eyes there is how you know
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  he's only just become the journey of full-time how long will that enthusiasm
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  last josh i want to give it i would say after two years you're like all right i don't No,
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  I still think you've got it in your eyes as well. I think so.
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  That's the caffeine. Perfect time to mention that we have our Christmas-themed
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  Magic Guys mug at the moment, which a lot of our fellow Magic Guys have already
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  at home. I've been seeing some pictures come from that.
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  And that's a perfect-sized brew cup there.
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  So thank you for that segue, Dan. But no, no, you're right.
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  I absolutely, both Nick and I still have the fire, 100%. That's why we're still
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  doing it. And that's why we do a podcast that makes no money, but gets us so...
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  Fired up chatting to great people like yourself the
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  trick when you're doing it long term is to always
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  be challenging yourself to up your
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  game and like do stuff that
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  like pushes you you have to always be like challenging
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  yourself or doing difficult stuff or risky stuff or stuff
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  that keeps yeah making you evolve because if you if you
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  just go oh yep that's my six tricks i'll just forever do
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  that's when you start to really lose
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  interest in going to autopilot and not look forward to gigs and
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  stuff so for sure um that's mainly
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  why i do stack work because it's so hard and i have to really be
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  in the moment to like pull it off yeah yeah same
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  same with cube stuff you know you do one wrong permutation and
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  you look like an idiot there's like such a fine line between looking
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  like an idiot and looking like god you
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  know i think it's so true you've got to do something that that you
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  get a kick out of as well as the audience because if if
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  you're doing something that you enjoy then the likelihood is they're going to
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  love it too and right now sorry yeah absolutely right right now there are events
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  happening you know every 10 minutes and so the question i was foreshadowing
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  at the start is how is the christmas season in the uk what's your schedule like how are.
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  Figuring everything out jumping from gig to gig if that is
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  what you're doing what's it like yeah well it's pretty good
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  i think next year will be even busier this
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  year is it's pretty pretty packed out i've got maybe another week and a half
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  or so of gigs lined up which should be all all different as they all are and
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  i'm uh i'm booked on christmas day as well now which is which is a new one i
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  didn't expect that at all but you know it's going to be exciting to be actually
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  on christmas doing that,
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  but I think I'm going to then hair it down the motorway and try and find my family afterwards.
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  This is basically your first season, your first four seasons as a magician.
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  You're going through it. This is really cool because it's not very often that
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  our audience get to meet someone like yourself. It's sort of gone into that. You know what I mean?
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  So going into what is effectively going to be your busiest period that you're
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  experiencing for the first time.
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  It's only going to get busier, obviously, as your popularity grows,
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  as your skills grow and so forth.
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  So a question that I would like to present, as anyone else listening to this,
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  we're just establishing that you've gone from, well, just to preface this as
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  well, you were doing architecture prior to this?
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  Yes, yes. That's on pause. I might go back to it.
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  But I think there's something to be said about trying to follow your dreams while you're young.
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  And I don't know how the next year is going to pan out. I'm hoping it's going to be great.
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  But I've deferred the place at university. So if need be, I can go back.
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  But if you ask me now, I don't think I will.
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  Yeah, it's funny because I have this vision. Like, I'm an architect.
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  I'm like, what do you do? Like, I build stuff. And then you get in playing cards.
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  You're trying to, like, build a house like this. And then you're sort of like, hang on a second.
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  Yeah, you're like, here I am building houses with cards like an idiot when I could be doing magic.
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  Well, look, you can build your character off that, you know,
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  like there's already that effect built on that where you build up the house
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  and then you take away the edge and that shouldn't be out of balance and,
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  you know, all that fun stuff.
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  But yeah, this is such an exciting time for you. I mean, I can tell if you're
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  six months in and you're as busy as I'm seeing you are online and you have a
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  residency, like you're building all the pillars to really set yourself up well, which is great.
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  And you have the right attitude. You don't seem cocky.
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  Like I'm the greatest magician. You seem like you're trying to have fun with
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  your audience, from what I see anyway.
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  How, with Cube Magic, Cube Magic is not easy to do in terms of entertaining an audience.
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  Because, you know, a cube is meant to be just as a puzzle for one person to
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  do themselves. So what was your kind of discovery into making it entertaining
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  and then deciding to sort of make that your brand?
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  So, I mean, like a lot of magicians, I saw Stephen Brundage on Print's Got Talent. And it was amazing.
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  And, you know, I remember seeing that as a kid thinking, this is just outstanding.
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  And I've always done the Rubik's Cube before I did Magic. So for me,
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  being able to, yeah, yeah, I've always been a cuber, to use that awful term.
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  So a question about that. So, like, tell me the timeline. I was this old when
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  I got into Cubes, and then I was this old when I got into Magic,
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  and now I'm 22. So fill us in on that.
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  So you saw Stephen Brundage when you were three, right?
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  I saw i saw his act on youtube i do not
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  know when i didn't see it live but i was probably
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  about sort of 10 12 when i was first solving cubes
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  but i wasn't obsessed with them at that point i
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  just i enjoyed you know the puzzle as everybody does
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  and it was it was something with my dad that i could kind
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  of you know relate to and he taught me and so now whenever i do
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  it you know there's that kind of connection but i do think
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  inspired the magic quite a lot when
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  i saw steven doing all of these different things
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  with it and and then I kind of began doing
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  it more and more and creating my own stuff with it pretty early on because when
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  you enter magic you see this enormous page
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  of endless material everyone's already
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  done something that you know if you're if you're going to cards then the number
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  of books and different it's endless and that's brilliant and I love all of that
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  but I think for me being able to do magic with the Rubik's Cube was a way of
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  kind of sticking my stamp on the world sooner in a way whilst I absorb all this other stuff.
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  It's probably the only branch of magic that I feel confident to talk about because
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  I have not studied and I haven't had the time to study as all of the other stuff there is.
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  And I guess for me, it was a way of bringing my own person into magic, but also...
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  Also you know doing something that i
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  that i really enjoyed and there was there's i think there's so much you can
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  do with it and it bothers me that people have this stigma about rubik's cube
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  magic this is specifically for the magicians that all you're doing with it is
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  is putting it into a combination and that's it and i'm you both do rubik's cube
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  magic as i've i've done my research.
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  And as you as you know it's all about doing something different with with it
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  which which which makes it exciting.
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  And I think for people that say that there's only one or two things you can
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  do with a prop in magic, it's, it's magic is endless. You can do anything.
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  So, so it's, it's really, it's something different, I guess,
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  in, in, in what I see in magic at the moment. And it allows me to still feel
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  like I'm creating stuff, but at the same time studying so much because there
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  is so much to learn elsewhere.
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  So as far as the, the disciplines in magic go, like you would have cube magic,
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  which would probably be you probably say a comfortable decade under your
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  belt as far as tinkering with the cube but as far as the other
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  disciplines like cards and coins that's a relatively new
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  aspect oh yeah well i've done performance i
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  think my background is definitely in in acting and theater
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  but i've always you know messed with cards but i
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  think i've only been properly doing it for you know one or two years there
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  you go wow and do you find any
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  parodies or common ground between like the
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  disciplines seeing that like if we're going to sort of put them on a scale
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  like number one would be cubes do you see any sort of parodies
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  between between the two how do you mean do you mean difficulties or kind of
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  any common ground any sort of thing that you can go like you know what i wonder
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  if i could apply this principle oh absolutely oh so many things so many things
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  i think you know what i mean like so for example a false shuffle isn't too dissimilar from a, you know,
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  false mix or a false... A Rubik's false mix. Absolutely. Yeah.
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  I definitely, definitely think any genre of magic that I end up studying,
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  I link to cubes innately. I do it.
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  I've got some new stuff at the moment with kind of putting cards into cubes,
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  which is quite a fun idea.
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  And, you know, if, I mean, I haven't explored coin magic at all,
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  but I'm sure there could be so many different things. You know,
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  I'd love to do something with mirrors and cubes. I think that could play really nicely.
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  I mean, sky's the limit, basically. And I think if you have something that you
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  can start from, it allows you to build off that rather than coming up magic
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  with a completely blank canvas, which I think can feel quite overwhelming.
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  Yeah. And you've learned a lot from Kev G, right? Who we've had on this podcast before.
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  Oh, I love Kev. He's brilliant. His work is just fantastic.
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  And that's how we kind of connected, right? Because I performed one of his effects
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  he put out with the letters on the cube, which I used to spell the host that
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  was interviewing me and to change the cube that way.
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  But I haven't seen that, you know, I thought that was really original.
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  Thank you. Well, I found that effect, I think was really well thought out,
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  but I found from trying to perform it to audiences, it, they didn't find it
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  as interesting as I found it.
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  Like, look, you, we predicted something and I've, now it says it on the cube,
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  but when you make it their name, now it seems a bit more personable and interesting
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  because everyone loves their own name.
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  And so it becomes a bit more fun. But a question I have for you is the thing that people I've,
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  i think well something i was worried about in the beginning was
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  with cube magic you should know
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  how to solve a cube if you're going to do cube magic is the
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  first thing i think especially in close-up because i would agree
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  what happens when people are
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  going wow that stuff's too amazing that can't be
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  a real cube can i mix it up what's your how
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  what's your next step when someone says
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  that to you in a performance when someone
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  asks to mix up the cube i say absolutely go for it it's you've got to be able
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  to say yes and in fact i would say in every in most of my rubik's cube routines
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  that i do it has to involve them mixing it up in some way because that is what
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  you do with this item and if they're not doing that then you know it's not as
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  special it's not as meaningful.
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  And also i think they have to examine it because because it
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  is a little bit different to a pack of cards you know it's just like
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  when you hand a pack of cards out to someone to shuffle or to to check
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  out even if you're not innately saying examine this
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  pack of cards and check it's you know normal even if you're not saying that that
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  is what you're doing and there's a real purpose to that i think
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  you really want them to hold on to the cube and even
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  at the end of my you know wedding sets or anything that's a
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  bit more special i will leave the cube with them because it it
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  ticks that box off right and it's then special i
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  couldn't recommend that any higher as well like i think
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  i pay for henry harris's like if
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  he ever has kids i i swear i feel like i paid for their college because
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  i'm always ordering dozens of cubes
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  because at the end of my show i give it away because i
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  think like you just said you have to otherwise they assume
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  it must be a trick cube in some way but you
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  give it to them now the audience knows holy crap this
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  is actually happening and something interesting you i think we
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  talked about this you you don't use special
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  cubes i'll say like you mainly use a regular cube.
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  Yes i mean i i have been
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  looking into the gimmicks a bit more recently because
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  they are so exciting there's so many different things you could
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  do with them but i was so keen on developing you know
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  two or three strong routines with normal
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  rubik's cubes to almost get that baseline understanding and i'm the same with
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  other branches of magic so cards i try not to use any gimmicks with that just
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  yet i'm sure in a few years time when i need to you know reignite the fire i.
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  Will you know do that but but yeah i think i think if you can do if you do magic
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  with something that isn't.
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  At all you know doctored and it is a normal item it's
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  more effective so so much yeah so
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  what i'm curious about is like so the folks that might not be too
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  familiar with ruby's cubes because it is as far as magic goes.
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  It's a relatively new realm you know what i mean migraine's been.
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  Around a long time you know it dates all the way back to the 1800s.
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  And so forth but a ruby's cube is quite unique and what
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  i'm curious about is like what is a list and
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  before we throw to some questions in the chat now guys if you do have questions do
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  pop them in the chat it is a live show so please stop we'll
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  throw all the questions at daniel in a moment but before we do
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  i want to ask like with
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  coins you got coins across you've got three
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  fly you've got you know muscle passes
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  and so forth like gravity coin if you will there's all
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  these different types of effects cards have triumph memorized deck
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  etc what's the sort of list that
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  you have that with with regards to effects that you've created
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  oh my gosh so many so many yeah
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  let's hear it i so first of all what i do
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  want to say is i feel like there
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  was there is a list of different ways of solving it that
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  all are really the same trick someone's you
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  know someone picks up a rubik's cube and super fast
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  does a solve and it's back to normal right that is
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  that is great but if you're the one doing it
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  it's it doesn't feel right unless it's the last thing that you do
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  and you leave it on because it just feel like the final thing that you
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  should do with the cube is something i've always said so i think just the solves
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  that you can do all of the list of that you know i know that sam huang does
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  a lot of different things with his new project and they're brilliant but i would
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  never do more than one of those in a routine if that makes sense so i'd kind
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  of put them into a you know it's a bit like.
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  Which pass do you use it with cards or which you know i think yeah you can do
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  20 controls but it's the same trick.
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  And you do the one that fits the environment the best at that moment.
• 20:37
  Right. But effectively, like, you've got Solves, just like you have... Exactly.
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  And likewise, you've got Matches, which is another huge branch.
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  There's so many different ways that you can match two Rubik's Cubes.
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  If you can do it without gimmicks, I think that's even better.
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  And there are hundreds of ways to do it with other, you know,
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  extra ones, but that is an amazing effect that is always going to go down and treat it.
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  I would then say the solution is probably my favorite Rubik's cube trick out
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  there. It's just so good.
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  Anyone that's doing Rubik's cube magic that isn't using the solution needs to
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  go and find it because Michael Murray is a genius.
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  And this, the wording that you use to, I mean, I find it just outstanding.
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  The difference between when you solve a cube, like super fast to when you're
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  getting somebody else to solve a cube.
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  I mean, that they are totally different levels. Can you explain it for the listeners
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  what the solution actually is?
• 21:32
  Yeah, of course. Like what the audience sees.
• 21:35
  Yes. So the audience sees you handing the spectator a mixed up Rubik's cube
• 21:40
  and they are instructed to turn it behind their back.
• 21:44
  And the way I do it anyway, I get somebody else, maybe they're,
• 21:48
  you know, whoever they've come to the show with or whoever they're with to say stop.
• 21:52
  And at that point, the spectator is asked to stop turning.
• 21:55
  And then with a bit of buildup, maybe it's a countdown. maybe it's you know
• 21:58
  some other way they bring the cube out and it is solved behind
• 22:01
  their back and they have actually done it themselves and
• 22:05
  it's a normal rubik's cube there's nothing there's no it's it's
• 22:08
  just a different way of presenting this trick
• 22:11
  but for me it stands on a plinth far higher than you
• 22:14
  solving a cube because not only do you
• 22:16
  get the hit of everybody seeing the
• 22:19
  cube solve which is amazing as it is but then you get the second moment where
• 22:23
  everyone then gets to watch that person going wow I've just solved a cube and
• 22:28
  and I've seen you know you've you've got some really nice you know twists on
• 22:33
  this Josh I've seen the way that you've you know because it's all about the
• 22:36
  wording and it's all about the way that you present this trick,
• 22:39
  And I think there are various techniques that you can use to make it really
• 22:43
  fooling and also make sure that it doesn't go wrong.
• 22:46
  Because sometimes it does, as people know, that do the solution.
• 22:50
  Sometimes they'll bring it out and it is still mixed up. And that's OK.
• 22:52
  You know, there are ways to move around that.
• 22:55
  But that doesn't normally happen to me anymore because I've just done it so
• 22:58
  many times and there are different language uses that you can use.
• 23:02
  And I think it really shouldn't scare you off a magic trick if it might go wrong
• 23:07
  at one point, because there's normally a way around it.
• 23:10
  I think the most important thing as well as the customer experience as well
• 23:13
  like you bring somebody up on stage and celebrate them as the hero celebrate
• 23:17
  them as as being able to absolutely there's nothing more the way i go into it
• 23:21
  because i use that to close out my routine,
• 23:24
  and i say like if you ever try to like normally get someone i've been interacting with
• 23:27
  in the show they've made some choices or whatever it might be and i
• 23:30
  say have you ever solved one of these before and you're like never i can't
• 23:33
  have you go your whole life without ever solving a cube do you wanna and they
• 23:36
  go yeah i'd love to learn i go yeah bring him up on stage and then they get
• 23:39
  to walk away being like you know when somebody asks them can
• 23:42
  you solve these they can say i've solved it once and that's
• 23:45
  like a nice feeling for them like that customer experience is is
• 23:48
  ideal it's it's brilliant and to
• 23:51
  be honest my favorite moment is if you get them and and they have it like one
• 23:55
  move away because yeah that that sometimes happens and that is just so sweet
• 24:00
  because it feels like they they really are and then they actually finish it
• 24:04
  and it's this it's just a lovely bit of dialogue that they have where you don't
• 24:08
  have to do anything you're hands-free and therefore,
• 24:12
  would you force that outcome where they have to do one more move.
• 24:18
  No because sometimes it does actually come
• 24:22
  out like this by accident and yeah
• 24:24
  if i give you know if if i was to force this
• 24:27
  outcome there is a risk that it might come like
• 24:30
  this and then then you're a bit stuck because for someone that
• 24:33
  has never held a cube before that's actually very hard for them
• 24:36
  to work out right and so this is
• 24:39
  blowing my mind so you actually if it is one move
• 24:42
  away you get them to finish the one move oh
• 24:45
  that's the ideal situation yeah holy crap because i've always
• 24:49
  taken it and done the one move for them but the
• 24:52
  fact that like that makes so much sense why wouldn't
• 24:55
  you get them to do the last move yeah if they
• 24:58
  just say you just say finish it finish it do
• 25:00
  it complete it because the way i do
• 25:03
  it right is i i have two cubes and then
• 25:06
  i explain that you know if i was to try something behind my back there's no
• 25:09
  way it would like you'd be able to do it in in a thousand years i then give
• 25:13
  it to them behind their back and then i take the cube and with a single hand
• 25:16
  i get them to like i'm facing the audience and they're facing me as in like
• 25:21
  sorry and my back's towards the audience, but they're looking at me and I go,
• 25:24
  take a deep breath and I solve it with one hand behind my back and then I say, stop.
• 25:31
  And then I look back at my audience and I say, is it done? And they go, yeah.
• 25:34
  And I'm like, on the count of three, raise the cube above your head.
• 25:37
  And when they raise the cubes above their head and they're a perfect match and
• 25:40
  they're both solved, that's great.
• 25:41
  But what I'm saying is like, you can stop and you'd be like,
• 25:44
  we should be one move away, bring it above your head.
• 25:47
  Then they can both have one move away. I can go next to him,
• 25:50
  give it a turn, and you've just solved your first cube.
• 25:53
  I wonder if that's a stronger effect.
• 25:55
  You're going to try it. Yeah. Do you think I have to give it a try?
• 25:59
  Give it a try and let's find out. Cause I, yeah, it definitely feels like it
• 26:03
  makes it more convincing, but then here's the thing,
• 26:08
  anyone who, cause Daniel and I've been chatting about this a little bit and
• 26:11
  he made me aware of something that I didn't even know was possible with this routine.
• 26:15
  And that is, and you'll have to message Daniel to find out where to find the work on this.
• 26:21
  But we, for those who know the solution, know what's going on.
• 26:24
  But Daniel explained to me, there is a version of this now where you can actually
• 26:29
  like behind They're even more fooled because behind their back,
• 26:33
  they're actually twisting the cube behind their back, right?
• 26:37
  Like they are twisting it. And then when they bring it out, it's still solved
• 26:40
  and they're still mind blown.
• 26:42
  Like without giving away any methodology here, like what's been your experience doing that?
• 26:49
  Does it fry this spectator more or is it just like a magician thing that's cool to be able to do?
• 26:54
  I think i think it's one of those one of those things where
• 26:57
  you it you want to do it when
• 27:01
  you really need to fool someone because that is it's one of those tricks that
• 27:05
  does it i think yes the method is is almost better in that respect because they
• 27:10
  are they are literally turning the cube and it comes out solved and it's like
• 27:13
  wow but i think there are a few caveats with the presentation,
• 27:19
  that you have to get them to do before they start mixing.
• 27:23
  And I think if you're, if there's any way that you can avoid that,
• 27:27
  that like, you know, that's better.
• 27:29
  So from my experience, the Michael Mario version is still my favorite because
• 27:32
  it is so simple and it's so brilliant and you can do it in any way you want.
• 27:37
  I'm sure as all three of us do it, I'm sure we all do it in completely different
• 27:40
  ways and a different presentation.
• 27:43
  And that's what I think makes a good magic trick, because it's almost like a
• 27:47
  tool for you to then be able to, you know, do in any way you like.
• 27:51
  Yeah. So, yes, it is more fooling this other one. And I love it because it's
• 27:56
  very magician-y, but I don't think it's perhaps the most flexible presentation.
• 28:01
  You know, you kind of got to do it that one way if you're going to do it.
• 28:04
  But Michael Murray's version is a way that you can really just go nuts.
• 28:08
  Yeah and i'm hoping to use that principle in in
• 28:12
  more of my shows i'd love to do it
• 28:15
  where they bring out a mixed up cube behind their back still which
• 28:19
  i know it's this isn't a new idea this is something a lot of people do but
• 28:22
  they this could then be a force mix or it could be anything and you can you
• 28:26
  know then build it up and i was thinking i want to use a so i've got a rubik's
• 28:30
  cube wall now which is very exciting in my world possibly embarrassingly so
• 28:35
  but this is a a wall of rubik's cubes that you can do all kinds of things with
• 28:39
  but what makes my wall special is.
• 28:42
  Again it's non-gimit it's not there's no
• 28:45
  tricks in it you can it is literally just a wall
• 28:48
  of rubik's cubes there is no it's not a you know you
• 28:50
  can buy rubik's walls online and they
• 28:53
  can have pictures on and stuff and that's great but i
• 28:56
  get more of a kick out of
• 28:59
  it i guess if the if the wall is entirely examinable and
• 29:02
  you can literally hand those cubes out afterwards and there's nothing to see and
• 29:05
  it's a see-through wall there's no anything and I
• 29:09
  think being able to do tricks where the pixels all create a name or they all
• 29:14
  create a pattern that relates to that person that is that is more amazing than
• 29:20
  having the same picture every show to me and so the idea that you can.
• 29:28
  You can have the solution mixing up Rubik's Cubes and then putting those Rubik's
• 29:33
  Cubes into the wall to create the name from a collection of people.
• 29:36
  I mean, that sounds great.
• 29:38
  And I'm yet to do this, but I'd love to do the solution on mass and have like
• 29:41
  five people all mixing cubes, all putting them into the wall.
• 29:45
  And then at the end, you turn the wall around and it says somebody's name that
• 29:49
  is important in the show.
• 29:50
  I think, you know, the size is the limit.
• 29:54
  Yeah, brilliant idea. Yeah. Well, that's the thing.
• 29:58
  Before we go down diving into crazy methods and exposing things we probably
• 30:02
  shouldn't be to the audience.
• 30:05
  Let's throw the questions from our audience. Our first one comes from Tim Askin, Them Questions.
• 30:11
  And he just wants to know, what magicians have influenced you?
• 30:14
  So we've already mentioned a few cubers. I should mention Colin Klaus,
• 30:20
  along with KevG, as the creators of the Refractor Project.
• 30:23
  They do a big un-gimmickless cube project
• 30:26
  which is super fun it makes
• 30:29
  patterns on the cube they do lots of things with doing just
• 30:33
  one side so one color and I think this is
• 30:36
  a huge resource for anyone that wants to learn cube magic
• 30:38
  properly because it has just so many
• 30:42
  different volumes that you can go into and I think they've
• 30:45
  got six or seven volumes out now and you can choose which ones you
• 30:47
  want and they'll tell you which kind of you know which bits
• 30:50
  you get in in each one and they've got videos and great tutorials and they'll
• 30:54
  teach you to solve a cube as well for free i think so they
• 30:57
  have been a great inspiration in terms of doing gimmickless cube
• 31:01
  magic or you know magic with a completely normal rubik's cube i've
• 31:05
  always been a huge jen brown fan as i'm sure
• 31:08
  we all are i think his shows are just outstanding i can't wait to see his next
• 31:14
  one i'm sure i'll see it more than once but i think his presentation and the
• 31:18
  way that he'll take a pretty normal trick but create something so moving and
• 31:22
  special with it is just that's like the dream,
• 31:26
  right? I want to be able to.
• 31:29
  Do that with with as much magic as i can i think he's his his unique way of doing something is is,
• 31:36
  just so interesting to watch and i will say as
• 31:39
  well derek del gardio in and of itself always makes
• 31:42
  me cry it's just you can't you can't not feel it and that's what magic is all
• 31:48
  about i would also say there are a host of magicians that work at the oracle
• 31:54
  that i've learned so much from and And I can mention a few.
• 31:59
  There's an episode, Terry and Ben Francis is amazing.
• 32:03
  They do all kinds of things, but it's all very meaningful. And a lot of the
• 32:06
  mentalism that they do is very, it connects to the audience directly.
• 32:11
  And I think that's so important. To name a few magicians that I've been inspired
• 32:16
  by. I hope that answers your question.
• 32:19
  It's great that people are proof, right? Like when you've got your own voice to lean on.
• 32:23
  Like you know and then that you know to keep it just as sentimental the next question is,
• 32:30
  what's your most embarrassing five performance moment
• 32:33
  this seems like it might be coming from someone that knows this
• 32:36
  story is this a friend of yours right this is a friend of mine
• 32:39
  i don't think he knows this story but it is a friend of mine
• 32:42
  nonetheless thank you
• 32:44
  for that rod so i would say for me
• 32:48
  the one that comes to mind the most
• 32:51
  clearly i was doing a rubik's cube
• 32:54
  match routine where it's all
• 32:57
  about the memories of the two spectators and you know i i do this at the oracle
• 33:03
  often and i i bring these these normally to a couple and we know who the we
• 33:08
  can see in the oracle who the tables and and and who is kind of sitting there
• 33:12
  so if there's a couple then they often will say,
• 33:15
  you go to this table, Dan, because you could do your couple routine.
• 33:18
  So very confidently, I sit down and I do the memories and we're talking about,
• 33:22
  you know, do you remember the first time you met each other?
• 33:24
  And oh, yes, I do. And he turns the cube.
• 33:26
  And it's all about turning the cube each step of the way between the two people
• 33:31
  is the kind of narrative.
• 33:33
  And so they both reach a point where they've both been mixing the cubes.
• 33:37
  And at the end, they match. And it's almost like you were.
• 33:42
  It's a meaningful way to bring a matching Ruby suit together.
• 33:45
  And that's how it normally goes down.
• 33:47
  With this particular couple, they were sort of having me on in that it was a
• 33:52
  first date. It was a blind date.
• 33:57
  And I don't think either of them had been in the Oracle for very long.
• 34:00
  So when I asked them, do you remember the first time that you met each other?
• 34:04
  And they were like, yes, yes, we do.
• 34:06
  We moved on. And it was, do you remember the first time you were on a date together?
• 34:09
  And at this point I was assuming that they were together And had been together
• 34:12
  for a long time Until they matched And as it turns out They had just had a conversation
• 34:18
  to say That they weren't going to be talking anymore That was it They were just going to be friends.
• 34:27
  And I just had to say Oh fair enough Love to meet you both,
• 34:33
  We're actually getting divorced Thanks for having us We've had a
• 34:36
  lovely time yeah yeah yeah yeah the
• 34:39
  cubes are the only thing that'll match with us yeah all
• 34:43
  right well well on the other side of an entirely embarrassing moment
• 34:46
  we have a question from Eleanor Hunter who is asking what
• 34:49
  is your favorite memory performing magic so I think that would probably be recently
• 34:57
  I did my first Rubik's Cube magic show mid-November and it was just so special
• 35:03
  It was just so rewarding to pile all these ideas in together and be able to perform it.
• 35:09
  I did it to my family at first, and it was very nice to get the feedback from
• 35:15
  people that wanted the best for me.
• 35:18
  I definitely think if you're a young magician going to a show or an old magician,
• 35:23
  but if you're new to magic, going into...
• 35:26
  You know doing shows it's so important to do your
• 35:29
  first few shows i think to people that you know care about
• 35:31
  you because it's a different environment to
• 35:34
  close-up magic i would always say close-up magic
• 35:37
  to get to get in involved you want to be doing it
• 35:40
  to as many different people that you don't know but i think
• 35:43
  when you're doing a show and it's a piece as a whole it might be
• 35:46
  20 minutes half an hour an hour the show
• 35:49
  can really be examined a bit
• 35:52
  more critically i think without causing
• 35:55
  any offense if that makes sense I think feedback is you're going
• 35:58
  to get you're going to get better feedback from your relatives in the
• 36:01
  in if you're doing a show rather than close-up because you risk
• 36:05
  with close-up people saying you know you're
• 36:07
  brilliant that was fantastic and that's it but if
• 36:10
  you do a show they've got lots to talk about lots to think about they've all
• 36:13
  experienced it together and you can even do a group census
• 36:16
  a group survey so for me being able
• 36:18
  to perform that to my whole family and and friends
• 36:23
  it was just it was a special moment because it went well
• 36:25
  but also i felt that there was a lot to grow on and
• 36:28
  that was as a result of knowing these wonderful people yeah
• 36:32
  you need a safe space yeah that's where you can be.
• 36:36
  Vulnerable and give it a go you know one
• 36:38
  of my favorite moments was at a helder grimirez lecture
• 36:42
  where a magician got up and said what happens
• 36:45
  you know because he's like you do this and the person chooses that goes yeah but
• 36:48
  like whenever i tried new magic for my girlfriend she'll purposely
• 36:51
  like do this and this and this and this and what do i do about that and held
• 36:55
  it just went get a new girlfriend and then moved on that was it so yeah so that's
• 37:04
  one of the doubts obviously we're performing with people that know you i suppose
• 37:07
  it's like you can be a dick but then you're just a dick you know what i mean like,
• 37:10
  Yeah. For sure. Yeah. But I don't know. Maybe folks in the UK are a little more classy.
• 37:16
  You know, keep in mind, you kicked a bunch of your people out and they came
• 37:19
  to my country, just so you know. You know?
• 37:24
  Oh, boy. So tell us about the Oracle.
• 37:29
  What is the setup of this residency that you have? Is it a restaurant?
• 37:35
  So it's a speakeasy bar in Liverpool, and it's a little bit secret.
• 37:39
  You have to knock on the door and if they've got room they'll
• 37:42
  they'll let you in and it's kind of
• 37:44
  upstairs in the middle of Liverpool which is a just
• 37:47
  a bustling city it's a city of energy it just
• 37:50
  it's there's so much going on in terms of music and and the people are are just
• 37:54
  so friendly and exciting and I think I've never been to a city that has such
• 38:00
  a real character and so nestled in This brilliant city is a speakeasy bar where
• 38:07
  the whole bar is run by magicians.
• 38:10
  The bartenders and magicians, everybody there is part of this community.
• 38:17
  And as a visitor, you are invited to sit down at a table. It's all candlelit.
• 38:22
  It's all very kind of Victorian setting.
• 38:24
  You can check it out on Instagram and the pictures are just phenomenal.
• 38:28
  And you will see a few magicians as you drink
• 38:31
  a fantastic cocktail that is themed around magic
• 38:34
  in some way or or is you know specially handcrafted
• 38:38
  they've got their own list of cocktails and it's
• 38:41
  it's just a fantastic place to to work
• 38:45
  out and absorb ideas and talk to people and meet other
• 38:48
  magicians amongst you know loads of
• 38:51
  other interesting people that doesn't sound amazing
• 38:54
  that sounds so wonderful like it would be so great i imagine that
• 38:56
  like it would just be the type of thing where like magicians would finish a gig and
• 38:59
  go i'll just have one knock off before heading home and then you
• 39:02
  know see all the all the lads and
• 39:05
  go yeah yeah yeah and it's it's always busy it's
• 39:08
  it's such a it's such an exciting place
• 39:12
  to work because you never know who you're going to get and sometimes you get people that
• 39:15
  have seen you before and that's always exciting because then you've got to show
• 39:18
  them something different and i
• 39:21
  mean as a as a venue it's quite intimate quite small i've
• 39:25
  never ever seen a venue like it it's such
• 39:28
  an independent place and it's the quality of
• 39:31
  magic that that is performed there that i've
• 39:34
  seen you know i've been i've been a visitor myself i've.
• 39:37
  You know i've there was a time where
• 39:39
  i wanted to be in oracle you know for more than a year before
• 39:42
  i was able to sort of say that you know kind of
• 39:45
  let in almost the quality is just outstanding some
• 39:49
  of the the mentalism that's performed there is just it's so meaningful it's
• 39:53
  all about creating you know magic for the spectator making them the star and
• 39:58
  it's not about showing off this is the kind of thing that they almost teach
• 40:03
  which i think was such an important lesson to learn as a you.
• 40:08
  There are magicians watching this going, man, how do I take that next step to
• 40:14
  start doing magic full time or even to do magic professionally in any level?
• 40:19
  For having just started that journey and starting it so well,
• 40:24
  was there a moment or a thing you started doing or something that helped you
• 40:30
  get from learning all this magic to now taking that step to doing it for a living?
• 40:37
  I think going to blackpool magic convention for
• 40:40
  the first time was a huge step in
• 40:43
  the right direction because i was allowed then to meet loads of
• 40:46
  other people that did it and once
• 40:50
  i'd made these connections i could then see them again and that
• 40:53
  was it was just an overwhelming sense of wow
• 40:56
  there are real people in the world that do this niche
• 41:00
  career and actually if
• 41:03
  they're doing it you know why can't I and I think being
• 41:06
  able to then meet person after person from
• 41:10
  Blackpool was just it was just the biggest
• 41:13
  step biggest kind of change in I
• 41:17
  guess before I went to Blackpool I was kind of I'm a part-time magician
• 41:20
  you know I'm gonna do architecture and then it was wow
• 41:24
  this is so brilliant there are
• 41:27
  so many people that do it I simply must you know
• 41:29
  become one of them yeah it's like the person
• 41:32
  who can run the the 100 meter dash
• 41:36
  in a certain amount of time and once one person
• 41:39
  did it then like five people did it the next year like that mindset of being
• 41:44
  around other people that do it okay it is possible that's that's so that's so
• 41:50
  fascinating so yeah one tip it sounds like what you're saying is you got around
• 41:54
  the people that are doing the thing you want to do, essentially.
• 41:58
  So Tim is asking, is there a process to get your foot in the door?
• 42:01
  Is it like an invite to perform at this Oracle bar?
• 42:04
  How did it kind of work for you to get in there? So I basically...
• 42:08
  I said, I came up to, I literally emailed them first and they invited me in
• 42:12
  and they were very encouraging, but it was kind of, they sort of said,
• 42:17
  you need to kind of work on your routines a bit more before you're,
• 42:19
  you know, at the level that we want. And that was, you know, a good few years ago.
• 42:24
  And then as as time went on i
• 42:27
  then sort of i remember going in as the visitor and said
• 42:30
  listen i'd love to work here again and then as
• 42:34
  i did more magic and grew on social
• 42:37
  media i think that prompted more of a
• 42:40
  connection to be made and when they could
• 42:43
  see that the magic that i was doing was a good level i think
• 42:46
  that was when it allowed me to be able to have my first shift trial shift if
• 42:50
  you like i know what you mean i manage a little residences here on my side of
• 42:54
  the planet and i remember hanging out one time and this guy comes over to me
• 42:57
  and he's like i think i'm ready to perform in your venues and i was just like
• 43:00
  i don't remember asking you yeah the first thing i thought,
• 43:04
  like i was like i didn't ask this guy who is he to assume that i like that just
• 43:08
  because he's in the scene that like he gets this privilege yeah and i was like
• 43:12
  i i was sort of taken back by then And I just went, okay, cool.
• 43:16
  Let's see what you got, man. Okay. So, okay. So, okay. So, okay.
• 43:23
  And I was like, all right, brother, you need a little bit of work.
• 43:26
  Get it together. Get me five solid routines.
• 43:30
  Come back and see me in six months. I'd love to see that. And I've got guys
• 43:33
  that I've literally done that.
• 43:34
  They came to my home in this very home jammed. And I've gone,
• 43:39
  come back when you stop doing the
• 43:40
  nervous laughter. Every time you say something, do a card, do the card.
• 43:44
  And I'm like, okay, go work on that, come back.
• 43:47
  And now these guys are employed regularly for that reason. But it's really cool
• 43:52
  that there is a place that allows people to elevate themselves and to be guided by the magicians.
• 43:58
  Because look at this, man, like six months ago, you weren't a full-time magician.
• 44:02
  It's because of these sorts of things in community that are so important.
• 44:06
  It's nice that that exists because a lot of people spin out that they're not very supportive,
• 44:11
  that we that there's some sort of contention or
• 44:14
  that we're in competition with each other it's just not the case in
• 44:17
  our community i know in some there is and i just
• 44:20
  find that when it is nobody wins when
• 44:23
  we're in competition with each other yes yes you know i think you have to just
• 44:27
  build on each other's ideas and it's all about pushing each other yeah i think
• 44:34
  that yeah meeting meeting lots of people that do magic was 100 the best thing
• 44:37
  i could have done yeah interesting question here from Ed, sorry, Josh, go ahead.
• 44:43
  No, I was going to say, the other thing I've noticed you've done well quickly
• 44:46
  as well is things like your branding, like your website.
• 44:50
  When you go to your website, already looks very polished. It has a professional
• 44:54
  video playing in the background on that kind of parallax sliding kind of website
• 44:59
  look, which is like you've already,
• 45:01
  it seems like you've quickly put in the time to go, okay, I need to look professional
• 45:06
  to match, you know, what I want to kind of do.
• 45:08
  Is that advice that other
• 45:11
  magicians gave you or you just naturally were like okay i
• 45:14
  need to make my stuff look good yeah well i
• 45:17
  think finding the magicians that that are doing the kind
• 45:20
  of business that you aim to do and then
• 45:23
  sort of copying the bits that you like in that kind of
• 45:26
  respect that's so important i think getting my first showreel was brilliant
• 45:31
  i was so excited about that because it actually had you know it was a professional
• 45:36
  quality of magic that was happening at a wedding it was just so like i would
• 45:40
  i've been dreaming about that for so long i think once you have.
• 45:45
  Those building blocks set up it's a springboard to
• 45:48
  be able to just get out there so definitely getting
• 45:51
  a showreel for the first time was great and yes as you
• 45:53
  know that is then all over the website yeah so just
• 45:58
  while we have the while we slowly draw to a close we'll sponsor a
• 46:00
  few more questions from our listeners here we have one from ed interesting one
• 46:04
  it says here is there a specific card move that you cannot master well enough
• 46:09
  to perform absolutely there are far too many there are so many different things
• 46:14
  i would love to learn with with cards and,
• 46:19
  I think the one that I'm most keen on, on mastering now would be.
• 46:25
  It would probably be a really clean card spring.
• 46:28
  I know it's really basic, but I can only do it this far at the moment and I would not be confident.
• 46:35
  Yeah, no, I'm like, this is probably the best I can, I can maybe go that far.
• 46:40
  It's funny because it's just like, mine's this big.
• 46:44
  It's not a dick measuring contest, buddy. No, but it's something that you want
• 46:49
  to be able to do if you're asked to do it, you know?
• 46:52
  And I've always tried to do it. I just haven't put the time aside to fully learn
• 46:55
  it. But that's the bed of my life in terms of cardistry or anything like that.
• 47:00
  I would love to learn that properly just because it's like a kind of rite of
• 47:03
  passage, it seems, perhaps.
• 47:06
  I mean, you've got the hair to do like the shin limb spring and have the hair
• 47:09
  flowing at the same time. Oh, thank you.
• 47:12
  You know, you're halfway there. Question from David Russell.
• 47:15
  David Russell is asking, I'm curious the percentage of y'all's performance are
• 47:19
  scripted for tailored shows slash street performing.
• 47:23
  Do you have a script for most of the things you perform?
• 47:26
  Yes and no. I think it's important to jam and do magic that is original.
• 47:32
  And, you know, there's something really special about changing the script if something happens.
• 47:36
  And if somebody does mix up a Rubik's Cube, it's so important to change it,
• 47:43
  change the script and actually make your script then about genuinely solving
• 47:46
  it, if that is what you need to do next, or taking a piece off and finding something inside.
• 47:52
  Or, you know, I think having a script is great and really important to have
• 47:58
  a couple of routines that you can just bash out if need be.
• 48:01
  But i think being able to jazz and do your own thing is so important as well
• 48:07
  it's that balance i guess so i hope that answers your question david yeah and
• 48:13
  josh do you want to sort of share a thought on that one as well.
• 48:16
  Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I find the most entertainment comes from the moments
• 48:22
  that people feel like are improvised, but done so well.
• 48:26
  So I will have the structure to get us from the start of the routine to the
• 48:31
  end of the routine, but I'm constantly looking for those moments to adapt and change it.
• 48:38
  So whenever I do particularly a parlor show at the Theatre of Magic,
• 48:41
  Last week, we just did a bunch of shows and I'm just waiting for someone to
• 48:46
  say something so I can change the routine a little bit.
• 48:49
  And like the purest example was that clip I just put out on Instagram yesterday
• 48:55
  is a moment where normally a woman is on stage holding the deck and she's going
• 49:00
  to name a card and I'm going to have her cut and find her own card.
• 49:04
  But she just names a non-card.
• 49:07
  She's like the ace of queens. No, the queen of aces. And I'm like,
• 49:10
  okay, this is the routine.
• 49:11
  So now and you build off that i'm like
• 49:14
  that goes out the door but i had in mind i'm like great i'm
• 49:17
  like the ace of queens oh okay i'm gonna i am gonna
• 49:20
  cover my ears because i don't want to hear that and then we make
• 49:22
  jokes and then i'm like all right how about you just pick a
• 49:26
  random card and now that becomes the the way
• 49:29
  we're going to still get to the same ending i was going to end with anyway but
• 49:33
  um so that's how i approach it but definitely
• 49:36
  you should have a script because otherwise you're in trouble
• 49:38
  if nothing happens for you to to latch
• 49:42
  on to yeah absolutely absolutely what about what about
• 49:45
  you nick i think that there is a roadmap
• 49:48
  that scripts create and they allow you to
• 49:51
  go off script because i think the worst thing is sort of going through situations
• 49:55
  where you sort of um and are or you don't know where you're going there is a
• 49:58
  comfort that an audience experiences knowing that you are in control that that
• 50:04
  you know like some people you'll meet they'll be like i was so scared i was
• 50:07
  so worried that i screwed it up and it's like no like.
• 50:11
  If you can give them this comfort knowing that you're so competent that like
• 50:14
  you've got this or when people want to challenge you that you're so competent
• 50:17
  that like I tried to find him and I tried to screw it up and he got me anyway.
• 50:22
  Then all of a sudden you've earned their respect. You know what I mean?
• 50:24
  Cause that's just sometimes the, like just the, the, the blue column mentality
• 50:28
  of some people where they used to like either have been an apprentice in the
• 50:32
  past where they had given a bit of a hard time.
• 50:34
  They got to earn their stripes in order to become one of them.
• 50:37
  They kind of project that same ethos onto you. So you've got to show you have
• 50:41
  the stripes and earn their respect, you know, and it's an egotistical thing.
• 50:46
  But if you understand the game, then you know how to play. And if you know how
• 50:49
  to play, you know how to win. So that's what that's where I find the comfort in scripts.
• 50:54
  So, yeah, yeah, I totally agree with that. Should we do a since we've all been
• 50:59
  doing tons of gigs lately?
• 51:00
  Should we do gig stories, Nick? Yeah, absolutely.
• 51:04
  I reckon before this, I've got to ask. I've got one question for Nick that I'm,
• 51:10
  before this ends, I'm dying to know.
• 51:13
  Sorry. All right. Yeah. Okay. But I'm not being interviewed here. All right. You shut up.
• 51:21
  You call yourself a professional mind blower, right? Yeah. And I've had a name like rebrand recently.
• 51:28
  I was just really curious to know why that was the name that you settled on
• 51:32
  or like the title that you settled on.
• 51:33
  The reason i loved it is because it didn't
• 51:36
  box me into being one particular type of thing it
• 51:39
  didn't mean that i was stuck as a card guy or i
• 51:42
  was stuck with some sort of identity as like i'm this guy it gave me permission
• 51:47
  to do whatever i want to do so long as it blows your mind so i can pick up a
• 51:53
  book pick up a straw grab a spoon a piece of chalk and some and some whatever
• 51:58
  right and I can blow your mind with whatever.
• 52:00
  So the beauty of that is that no matter what, like I do stuff with Lego, bro.
• 52:04
  I do stuff with like pieces of fruit. I do stuff with like you name it.
• 52:08
  And that's what I loved about it. But to be like, I'm the illusionist,
• 52:12
  it sort of sets up a thing that like, oh, you're that guy that like has the
• 52:16
  pretty girls and the blah. And it's like, no, I'm bald and fat.
• 52:19
  That's not going to suit me. Or that you're the card smith or so forth.
• 52:22
  You know, I just, I didn't like the borders and boundaries that came along with
• 52:26
  any other title other than just being a professional mind blower.
• 52:30
  And it's a really cool way to hand out your business card because people go, my mind's blown.
• 52:34
  And I guess what I do for a living says on my business card and they go professional
• 52:37
  mind blower. That's funny. I'm going to keep that, you know?
• 52:40
  And so that's the reason I chose that title.
• 52:43
  That answers my question. Thanks very much. You could have just been like the
• 52:47
  mind blower, but I think having the notion of professionals in front is important.
• 52:52
  There was a thing from a Mike Tyson documentary where they said,
• 52:56
  you're a professional fighter now. Do you know what a professional means?
• 52:59
  And he was like, what? And he goes, professional fights no matter what.
• 53:03
  And that's why ever since I became a professional, when I became a professional magician,
• 53:09
  my notion behind that, and this is, I've never really shared this before,
• 53:12
  but my notion is that like i'm like i'm a professional which means i perform
• 53:15
  no matter what and so if i've got a gig and my heart's broken i'm still performing
• 53:22
  if i've got a gig and i've had a death in the family i'm still performing like
• 53:26
  that's that's the sort of notion i have with regards to calling myself a professional
• 53:30
  does that answer your question.
• 53:33
  Absolutely that's the only way i know how to break that tension that was great
• 53:37
  and and that And that perfectly explains why we had James Brown on two weeks
• 53:43
  ago, and he's the professional opportunist.
• 53:45
  You know, that might mean pickpocketing, that might mean card skills,
• 53:51
  that might mean loading things under different parts of, you know,
• 53:55
  your watch or your shoulder, your body,
• 53:56
  or that could mean hypnosis, that could mean, yeah, a whole realm of things in that same vibe.
• 54:03
  So gig stories is when we share well i'll we'll play the stinger and then we'll
• 54:09
  explain yeah i'll do it so gig stories is a portion of the show where we talk
• 54:14
  about magical moments either while performing or our day-to-day life starting
• 54:18
  with josh you want to do the first one yes okay you.
• 54:24
  I love doing a routine where you give someone a deck of cards and you tell them
• 54:29
  to cut the deck behind their back. So they're cutting it like this.
• 54:33
  And then you're going to say, all right, take either the top or bottom one,
• 54:38
  put it in your pocket, right? That's the routine.
• 54:40
  Magicians know what's going on here. Now, prior to that, I had just done a warm-up
• 54:46
  trick with the audience and someone picked a card as like the nine of clubs
• 54:50
  and I've done some stuff with it. I shot it out of the deck,
• 54:53
  caught it off my mouth. Great.
• 54:54
  But I'm like, all right, let's put the magic in your hands.
• 54:57
  Now, this guy, it was a Christmas party. And you always got to be wary that
• 55:01
  people are a little more cocky at Christmas parties because they're like in a celebrating mode.
• 55:07
  They're maybe drinking more than they would because like it's a celebration.
• 55:11
  So I give this guy the deck and I can see his hands really moving behind his back.
• 55:15
  Like it seems like he's cutting the deck, but he's doing it really quickly like this.
• 55:21
  And i'm like okay here we go so anyway i'm like all right i'm gonna adapt to
• 55:26
  it fine brings the deck out and i'm looking at the deck so that i can now continue
• 55:32
  the routine knowing what card he's just put in his pocket without him even knowing
• 55:37
  so you know it's a mystery card plot,
• 55:40
  i look at the deck and i realize he hasn't cut the deck he's been like doing
• 55:46
  this kind of thing Like whatever you call this, the Hindu shuffle.
• 55:50
  So he's basically really been shuffling this deck, interlacing their cards and stuff.
• 55:55
  However, something in my brain ticks. I just look at the deck hoping that I
• 55:59
  might realize what card's missing.
• 56:03
  And it occurs to me, oh, I didn't see that card that was first picked when I
• 56:08
  approached this group, the nine of clubs.
• 56:11
  I didn't see the nine of clubs when I just spread them.
• 56:14
  So luckily I realized he has fooled himself now because he shuffled the deck
• 56:20
  properly like five times and he's single-handedly taken out the card that the
• 56:25
  first person used in this group and they don't know what's happened yet.
• 56:28
  So I'm like, so now that becomes the routine. So I identify,
• 56:32
  thank God, if he had taken any 51 other cards, I just couldn't have finished
• 56:37
  the routine like that. I would have had to just jump to a different kind of routine.
• 56:41
  But thank God he messed up my trick, but then took out one to make this trick better.
• 56:46
  And I was like, you know what? You could have shuffled that deck as much as
• 56:50
  you wanted, taking a card from anywhere. But what was the card you wanted at
• 56:54
  the deck? You said it was your favorite. And he's like, nine of clubs.
• 56:56
  I'm like, what are the chances? And he takes it out. And I just walked away
• 57:00
  like a king, like, you know, you all bowed out to me.
• 57:04
  This is like exactly what happens every time. So that was my geek story.
• 57:08
  Literally happened this Christmas season. And, you know, sometimes you just
• 57:11
  got to be thankful for those moments and being able to identify those moments.
• 57:16
  But that was fun. All right, Nick. That's an awesome, awesome time. Me?
• 57:19
  Thank you. Yeah. What's your geek story? I was going to say,
• 57:20
  would you like to share a geek story or do you need a moment for me to do a
• 57:24
  bit of a filler? No, no. I'd love to do. You go first.
• 57:26
  I don't mind if you want to go first. It's all good.
• 57:29
  Let's go, Dan, let's hear it. I had a gig, this is a sort of similar story to you. I had one where.
• 57:36
  I was doing cards and someone had shuffled the pack and I'd been around a bunch
• 57:40
  of tables and it was the end of the gig.
• 57:42
  And somebody said there was a table that I hadn't gone to or at least a bunch of people I hadn't seen.
• 57:46
  And they called me over before I left and they said they'd had quite a bit to drink.
• 57:52
  But they were very, you know, we want to see magic. We want to see magic.
• 57:55
  So I did a quick trick with the normal pocket cards. That was great.
• 58:00
  And then the second guy comes along and he was he was your classic heckler.
• 58:05
  Right it was very raucous very no no
• 58:08
  we don't want that card we don't want that card we want the we want the
• 58:11
  seven of clubs and he made a real scene of this and of course i had the invisible
• 58:15
  deck with me and when he asked to see the seven it was obviously facing down
• 58:23
  in the pack and that was great but then the guy next to him said no no i would
• 58:27
  have said the nine of clubs and of course.
• 58:30
  Magicians will know that if you keep spreading if if
• 58:33
  those two cards have got something together then it worked very
• 58:35
  nicely but both the nine and the seven were the
• 58:38
  only two turned over and everyone went went
• 58:41
  nuts and it was it was quite a special moment because i don't
• 58:44
  think they were expecting that at all but the fact
• 58:47
  that that both people really tried to sort of change
• 58:51
  the the script and then it worked out
• 58:54
  in the end was it was really nice and that's great jamming
• 58:57
  with the invisible deck is i love
• 59:02
  it i love it you get the uh yeah hell
• 59:07
  yeah i love it i rate it all right nick so i've
• 59:10
  been very very silent about this i'm very private about my
• 59:13
  my personal life and so forth but i'm going to share this because it's
• 59:16
  it's been it's been a month but on the 3rd of december which was
• 59:19
  my birthday i took my mom in for
• 59:22
  a hip replacement and that's like and i've just
• 59:25
  had gigs every day since like that the same day i got to meet
• 59:27
  james brown it was a wonderful day i had to perform that evening and so
• 59:30
  forth so surgery supposedly went well but
• 59:33
  mom there was some nerve damage uh we don't
• 59:36
  know if they severed a nerve or whatever else but effectively my mother is in
• 59:39
  hospital and has no legs at the
• 59:42
  moment and i've been very private about this it's no one's
• 59:45
  kind of business but if you are listening and you would kindly say
• 59:48
  a prayer so that she would heal and get better that would be amazing but
• 59:51
  she's been in hospital since it's now the 17th of december
• 59:54
  and they're doing a bunch of nerve thingies we're.
• 59:57
  Going to try and fix her up so she can start walking again we don't know how long it's going.
• 1:00:00
  To take but at the moment she's got no leg okay so i've
• 1:00:03
  been visiting her quite regularly at the hospital and in one of my journeys
• 1:00:06
  while visiting mom she uh you know i broke up and i bring her some things some
• 1:00:11
  chocolates and stuff because i don't want chocolates i'm like that's for you
• 1:00:13
  to make friends with the nurses they'll take care of you and and you know you'll
• 1:00:16
  be like every time they come and bring you something thank you love help yourself
• 1:00:18
  to a chalky you're so lovely and you know then they'll take care because you're here for a while.
• 1:00:22
  I should have been there for a couple of weeks now. And I'm going to.
• 1:00:25
  I'm hanging out with mom and this, this lovely lady comes over and she's like,
• 1:00:28
  what do you do for a living?
• 1:00:29
  And I go magician. She's like, I knew it was you. I've seen you perform.
• 1:00:33
  You did a blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. You're amazing.
• 1:00:35
  Oh, it's so cool to see you again. And I was just like, Oh, thank you so much. This is my mom.
• 1:00:39
  You know? And she's like, Oh, your son's amazing. Blah, blah,
• 1:00:41
  blah, blah. It's so cool.
• 1:00:42
  And I'm like, Oh, thank you very much. You know? And then she went away, but
• 1:00:45
  it was just a really beautiful moment to like share with
• 1:00:48
  my mom that she kind of sees like the
• 1:00:51
  effect of what my magic or my love kind of for the game does
• 1:00:54
  to be able to help her out and so they've been taking really good care of her
• 1:00:56
  and we've got some good news i think it's going to be okay
• 1:00:59
  it's going to be like a six month thing and some nerve stretching and
• 1:01:02
  whatever else like she's going to be okay but that's been like my
• 1:01:05
  life over the past um past whatever so
• 1:01:08
  thank you for your kind words and sending your positive thoughts
• 1:01:11
  and prayers for mom she's gonna love that and i'm
• 1:01:14
  gonna love you guys for it too thank you so much oh that's
• 1:01:17
  great man that's that's so cool and what a
• 1:01:20
  gift for her to see that effect from
• 1:01:24
  from her son that's awesome yeah look we
• 1:01:27
  we've run out of time which is which is
• 1:01:30
  it happens always when we have a really interesting guest that time flies now
• 1:01:35
  i want to encourage you guys to scope out daniel's work his links are in the
• 1:01:41
  description of wherever you're watching or listening to this but in case they're
• 1:01:46
  just in their car listening to this daniel they can find you on Instagram.
• 1:01:50
  It's, is it Daniel underscore Mays underscore? Is that? That is the one.
• 1:01:54
  Yes. Daniel underscore M-A-Z-E underscore or your website, which is?
• 1:02:01
  Danielmayes.co.uk. Yeah. Check it out because anyone up and coming,
• 1:02:06
  like this is the standard of website you should be having.
• 1:02:08
  If you want people that take you seriously and want to book you for gigs.
• 1:02:13
  So let's keep in touch with Daniel.
• 1:02:15
  I know I am going to be really interested to see how you evolve over time and
• 1:02:21
  what you end up doing, where you end up going.
• 1:02:23
  But look, we're going to leave this episode in the way we end every episode,
• 1:02:27
  which is with the final word, which we give to our guest so we're going to give that to daniel right now.
• 1:02:36
  Thank you so much for having me today i guess the biggest thing i want to leave everybody on is,
• 1:02:44
  it's so important in magic to remember that it's endless and
• 1:02:47
  if something feels impossible to do there
• 1:02:51
  is almost always a way to get around it so always
• 1:02:55
  something i've something i've tried to always try and do is
• 1:02:58
  talk to people and work out
• 1:03:01
  that way to make that thing happen whether it's
• 1:03:03
  presentation or method or anything at all there is
• 1:03:07
  almost always a way and rubik's cubes are not just matches and solves thank
• 1:03:13
  you very much for having me thanks for listening it's time for us to disappear
• 1:03:19
  now disappear now but we'll see you again on the next episode of the magic guys this.