Latest / The Magic Guys / Frankie Foti and his Ask For Magic Special! #283

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Frankie Foti and his Ask For Magic Special! #283 · The Magic Guys

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They're guys. They do magic. They are the magic guys.
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Ah, so accurate. We are guys, we do magic, and we are magic guys.
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I mean, it's just so on point.
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Ever since episode two of the podcast, we've had that intro.
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But to my left, we've got Nick Kay. Hey guys, I'm Nick Kay, and to my right, there's Josh Nibito.
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What's up, guys? Welcome to episode, what did I say? 283. Can you believe it?
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And we're here live with you. We've got a slightly enhanced background today in the pod.
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If anyone's been keeping up with our different changes and put up a little different
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logo on the socials, you know, it's a new world, mate. It's a new world.
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Nick, how are you, man? We were just talking backstage too. Both our heads are
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like freshly shaven, so I couldn't, it's a bit too confusing.
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For everyone if i don't change a little something yeah like you literally and i was like,
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yeah like you literally could do gigs of mine and just wing it and convince
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them that you're me and i'm sure i could do the same for you if they haven't
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met us but they've just seen like our promos and stuff
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we'd have to copy each other's voices i think that's the hard bit so how much of your voice is in your,
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promo content because otherwise,
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your promo see just yeah i'm working on it,
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i can judge in the video if i try hard enough i'll just beatbox the whole show
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screw it yeah as long as you can backflip you know they're not going to notice
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a thing but i can't forward flip or backflip,
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what we can do is introduce our friends in the comment section guys if you're
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in the chat you can ask your questions to our amazing guests coming in today
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in the chat at the moment we have our buddy scotty link chase the,
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magic good to see you buddy tim asking dim questions oh new face rob p the rob
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p not just anyone the rob p so guys ask your questions in there as it is a live
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show unrehearsed we just,
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have at it as we are professionals when sometimes we do talk about really cool
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stuff and then sometimes we interview really cool people like today's guest.
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Yeah, this is a fun one. This gentleman, I don't think, like we,
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I haven't had the pleasure of meeting this gentleman yet.
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Although I feel like just watching how much of a worker he is,
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like I already feel like we're kindred spirits, as Doug would say.
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Nick, have you, have you crossed paths at Magic Live before?
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Is this a connection you have yet?
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No, surprisingly not. And we're talking backstage and there was almost every
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opportunity for us to actually meet at Live, but unfortunately he was tied up
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with some prior arrangements, but I do hope to meet him in the flesh someday.
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Yeah so this this is going to be fun we're going to learn about him with you
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guys all together although i have seen some sneaky previews of his upcoming
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special which we're going to talk all about
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so ladies and gentlemen welcome for the first time his magic guys debut,
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coming all the way from the u.s,
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full-time magician resident at the,
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magic parlor show we're going to talk about yes say it again house of cards
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nashville is that what you said yeah took it right out of my mouth ladies and
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gentlemen please welcome it is frankie frosi.
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Hello, hello, everyone. Thanks for having me, guys.
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Frankie Foti, welcome to the Magic Guys podcast. Please tell our friends who
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are you and what do you do?
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Well, hello, everyone. My name is Frankie Foti, and I'm a professional magician
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based in Nashville, Tennessee.
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I'm one of the resident magicians at House of Cards, and I'm about to release
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my very first magic special.
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Congrats, man. What an epic journey that must have been.
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And man I just have so many questions right off the bat but before we get to that,
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in Brisbane in Australia we we perform at a thing called the Theatre of Magic
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but um what can you tell us about the House of Cards because it already has
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such a dope name what's the experience like there?
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So the House of Cards is a truly unique experience it's basically like you know
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dinner and then a show but also like it's called House of Cards because we have
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some of the world's oldest playing cards, like displayed throughout the place.
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So like, I think the oldest one we have is from the 1400s. And it's like this,
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like, you know, piece of paper that's, you know, from over the years is a little
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bit, you know, like this, like caved in and, you know, painted on.
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And then you have a great steak dinner. And then after that,
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you get to see one of the performers on stage.
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And we have everyone from Blake Voigt to guys like Ryan Plunkett,
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myself, Like every week, the person on the stage basically changes.
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And then after that, you have three close-up magicians that you get to see.
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So it's like really like an evening of magic. And I'm very fortunate to have a residency there.
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Damn. Have you been to a house of cards? Say again?
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Yeah. Have you been to one of these while you've been traveling around? No, never.
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Is there more than one, Frankie, like other than Nashville? Or it's just like
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it's only in Nashville, correct? Just in Nashville. So, yeah. Yeah.
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Yeah, it'd be an amazing experience. We might need to put that on our to-do
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list at some point, most definitely.
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But I always think it's so interesting knowing what you're doing and where you're
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going. Obviously, where you're going is with this amazing special,
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but I'm curious about your origin story because we're having a little chat backstage.
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It would be great to talk about your origin story and how that journey of yours
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crossed paths with the legend of Dean Dill. Could we jump into that story?
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Absolutely. So, I mean, talking about right place, the right timing.
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I don't know what it is, but I was starting to dabble in card tricks.
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I was 15 or 16. I grew up in Glendale, California, and one block away from where I lived.
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I passed by this place every day for over 10 years, but I never really read the sign.
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Then one day, I was with my dad, and I look up and I read the sign.
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It says, haircutting and magic, which I think we can all agree,
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if you look up and see that, you're like, what is happening in there?
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And so I walk in there and I was like dad will you go in there with me and we
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walk in there and to this day even though it was many years ago I can still
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remember exactly what effects he did
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he opened up with the cleanest color changing coin again I barely knew about
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card tricks so coin moves I was absolutely baffled he changed the coin three
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times and then handed it out to me and I'm like looking at this coin trying
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to like figure it out and I was like I couldn't figure it out
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then he did like a this that and the other type of routine and then he did a
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routine that he was known for called Revelation, where this is how clean it was.
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There was an envelope on the table, and it was covered with a glass.
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And he said, name any playing card. That's how fair it was. And let's say I said two of hearts.
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He says, remove the glass and feel the envelope. What does it feel like?
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Something small is folded in there.
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And when you open it up and look at it, there's one playing card,
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and then it was the card I said. And at that point, I was like,
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I have to learn more about this because this is the craziest thing I've ever seen in my life.
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And so my dad and I wanted to like hire him to like, you know,
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basically give me lessons, but we couldn't unfortunately afford them.
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But Dean was such a nice guy that like, he just let me hang out at his barbershop.
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So like every Friday after school,
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I would walk down to Dean's shop and we would go there at like 3 PM.
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And like, there'd be like all the legends of the magic world,
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like everyone from like Paul Wilson to Michael Weber, like Juan Luis Rubiales.
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And I'm sitting there just like this 15, 16 year old kid, just like a fly on
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the wall, Just like asking them every possible question ever.
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And so, you know, I actually auditioned to the Magic Castle for the junior program
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with a Dean Dill routine. So I owe Dean like everything. Like,
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in fact, behind me, we got like a little, you know, magazine he was featured in.
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We got his business card. So a bunch of Dean's stuff is actually behind me.
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Yeah, it's so special. Well, I'm curious, what was Dean Dill like as a teacher?
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I mean, he was the nicest teacher, but also he wouldn't just directly give you
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the method, which I think was way better.
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He would kind of like have me think of like, well, how do you think that I got
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here and kind of like lead me down the path, but wouldn't just directly get me to it.
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And sometimes I would come up with different methods that like he would be,
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you know, even surprised by.
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So I think it was a really great way of like passing down knowledge.
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And he was also just the kindest teacher. Like it didn't matter who you were,
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what your level was in magic. And like, that's where I kind of learned like
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how to like talk and hang with magicians. Like I'm so used to just like sitting
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at a table with like five or six magicians.
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And we're just like sessioning till like, you know, 10 in the evening from like 3 p.m.
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And it's just like, oh, like, have you seen this thing? Oh, what about this
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thing? And so like, that was my introduction into magic, which was such like
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a unique experience, you know?
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Do you think your magic would look completely different had you'd never met Dean Dill?
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I don't know if I would be a professional magician today if I didn't walk into
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that barbershop. Wow. Yeah. How long have...
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I was going to just explain the gravity of Dean Dill. Obviously,
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he's been a legend in the game to the point where the close-up show at Magic Live was a full,
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replica of his shop in which Paul Wilson and a bunch of others,
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it was David Riegel and a few others were actually performing in this said shop.
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And they're performing his pieces of magic in there. Like, you know,
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when a magic invention is willing to give the entire close-up show dedicated
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to Dean Dill, you can appreciate,
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what a legend he was in the game and what a privilege it was for Frankie to
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actually be a part of that magical journey. So that is super cool.
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Yeah, wow. And now moving on to your career with magic, like how long have you
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been performing full time?
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I mean, essentially, magic is the only job I've ever had. Like I got put in
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a situation where I basically had a month and a half to figure out my life. I was like 22.
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And I was like, you know, kind of going to community college and was like unsure
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of like what I was really doing.
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I was still performing at the Magic Castle like you know like as a as a junior
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like doing the brunches and then afterwards they let me do it for a little bit
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longer just so I could even like you know pay my bills and and then it got to
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the point where like I had to make the decision and
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I dropped out of college and just decided to go full-time with Magic and,
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I never looked back and it was really scary in the beginning I mean there were
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times where like I literally wouldn't know like how I was going to pay my bills the next month
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but I was just like I'll I'll figure it out you know like i'm not just gonna
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like sit here and do nothing like you know because like,
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i think a lot of times a lot of people think that the opportunity is just going
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to come to them and it's like sometimes it does but it's like you know it requires
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a lot of like prior hard work to to get to that,
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yeah like and this is something that a lot of is probably resonating with a
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lot of listeners right now is like they are at a point where they've they practice
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their magic for so long and they're like, maybe scared to take that jump.
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In which case you had a rare case where you literally had no choice but to jump.
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Which, you know, in a sense probably helped because you're like,
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I got to keep going forward, you know.
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But like if you had to give like some practical steps for the guys listening
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that maybe want to pursue it full time, like what did you have to kind of do in the beginning?
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Like were you reaching out to like every agent that you knew booked magicians?
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Were you like trying to go around, promote yourself to venues?
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Like what sort of things did you have to like you had to kick into gear and like start doing?
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I mean, it was a combination of two things. One was learning as much as I possibly could.
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And I was very fortunate because because I was a junior at the Magic Castle,
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I had access to the Magic Castle library. And like that has like literally every
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magic book, every magic video ever.
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And so I would just go in there and like spend hours as a junior until there's
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a certain point where you're not allowed to be in the castle in the evening.
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So like I would have to like leave, but I would spend as much time as I could
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like reading like all the books that I could or like in the back on the videos,
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just like learning as much as I could.
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And then not only learning as much as I could, but putting it to use and performing
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as much as I possibly could, like anywhere and everywhere. Because like,
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you know, I wanted to get as much as much experience as I possibly could.
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Because like, I feel like the more you rep these things out,
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like the more the little one degree ideas of like, oh, like if I just add this
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to like this routine, I can combine these and everything becomes a more powerful
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and more unique routine.
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You know, grading magic aside, there's obviously when it comes to show business
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as your show and the business, what advice do you have for people who don't
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really think about the business aspect of becoming a full-time magician?
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I mean, it's, um, it's a full-time job in and of itself.
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Like there's, you know, nobody who, unless you have an agent or a manager who's
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going to go out and get the gigs for you.
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But like, I book all my own stuff. I send them all my own, like contracts.
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Like it is one of those things where like, you know, if you get an email at,
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you know, seven or eight o'clock at night.
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You can't just like push it to the next day. You got to respond as quickly as you can.
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And like, you know, I think when I get a look at it as like,
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you know, every day I wake up, I look in the mirror and I'm like,
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I make my living because I travel around the world, like doing card tricks.
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Like how lucky am I? So it's like, to me, it's not even work.
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It's like, like basically just allowing me to do the thing I love and like getting paid for it.
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Yeah. That's a blessing. So it really is. Yeah.
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So, so this journey of us is quite interesting. So you grew up in LA,
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had the pleasure of being part of the junior program.
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I'm not, I'm not sure if a lot of people know what the junior program actually
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consists of. Could we just touch upon that before we move on?
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Yeah, basically, they have like this program for people who are 13 to 21.
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And you know, they have auditions, I believe it's twice a year,
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and you go in and you have to audition with basically a five minute routine.
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Like if you go, I think a second over, like you're automatically out.
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And you know, sometimes, you know, people like when I got to go to the auditions,
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you get to see sometimes, you know, people have been working on things for like,
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you know, years and months. And sometimes, you know, people pick up a Spengali
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deck and walk in there like, oh, yeah, I'm gonna audition. for the Magic Castle.
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And so you see a wide variety of type of performances. And one of the things
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that I wanted to do was I was about to audition for the castle actually during high school.
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I had a friend who was a member there and I was working on the routine and I
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showed it to him and he's like, it's good, but I think push a little further.
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And I'm so glad he did that because I worked on the routine that I auditioned
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for the Magic Castle Juniors every day for three months. I would show anyone
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and everyone. I was like, hey, check this out. I'm working on this thing.
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And because of that, it was smooth and natural by the time I performed it.
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So I was able to become a part of the program. And then they have these meetings
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once a month where once a month you get to go in and if you want to perform
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during the brunches in the close-up room, which is the coolest experience ever.
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I got my first experience to do that when I was 20 years old.
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Basically, it was the night before. And they're like, hey, you're already approved
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for next month, but we need someone to fill in tomorrow. Can you do it? And I was like, okay.
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And you know, at 20 years old, you get to do like four to five or six,
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like 20 minute shows in a day.
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Like, especially at a place where like they want to see magic.
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Like it was a great proving ground to like learn how to do formal closeup,
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which is I think a bit different than like strolling.
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Like when you have all eyes on you, like it's really hard to do a lot of the
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misdirection type of tricks that would work in a strolling environment.
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So I learned a lot about performing that style of magic.
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So you went from going from the castle, and then there was an opportunity to get to Nashville.
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And I don't think your intention was to stay there as long as you did.
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Tell us about that journey, and then what made you say, I'm never leaving?
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So in COVID, a little bit into COVID, I got a call from Joey Martinez,
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who's the general manager and entertainment director here at House of Cards.
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And he knew me as like a junior magician. I had come out to House of Cards maybe
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three or four months prior to do a couple of close-up nights and just kind of hang and see the city.
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And funny enough, someone that night, one of the managers, Mike,
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actually said, oh, you should move to Nashville. And I was like,
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oh, I don't know. I'm probably never going to leave LA.
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Of course, COVID happens. I get this call from Joey. And he's like,
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what are you doing? I'm like, what am I doing?
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It's COVID. I'm sitting at home shuffling a deck of cards. And he said,
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I have an opportunity for you.
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There was a lot of caveats and rules, though. it was like, hey,
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we're basically creating three teams. So like every team is separate because
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it's COVID. We want to make sure if one team gets sick, you know,
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we have another one that's like not.
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And so I need you to come out here. It would only be for two months.
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But I had like a week to get there.
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And I had to drive across the country because, you know, flying was like,
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you know, a crazy time back then.
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And my car was like expiring, like at least the next day. And I was like,
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you know what, let me call you back.
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I bought my car out of the lease the next day, drove across the country.
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And then a month in, I was just like, I never really had that,
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like, go to college, leave my hometown city experience.
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And, you know, LA will always be there. So like, you know, I can always move
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back. I was like, is there any way that like, I could like fit on the roster here?
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And someone had left previously. So there was one spot left.
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And I've been there for six years ever since. So a huge thanks to,
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you know, Joey Martinez and like Bill Miller and Shannon and Blake and everyone
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like they like literally allow me to like make a living doing what I love.
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What's that drive like? Is it, is it a couple of days? Is it like my geography
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isn't amazing when it comes to the States? So forgive me for my ignorance,
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but what's that drive look like?
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Oh yeah, no, it's, it's two days worth of driving. I did like,
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it was like 13 hours the first day, obviously not straight. Like I broke it up a little bit.
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And then I think it was like 14 or 15 the next day. And I just like wanted to
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get there. I should have pulled over.
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Thankfully I was like, you know, awake with enough like caffeine and stuff.
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But yeah, it was a brutal drive, but I was just so excited for the opportunity to perform magic.
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And I think it was like one of the best decisions I've ever made.
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Wow. Could you imagine, dude? It's a big leap to just up and change cities.
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Like, I don't know that I could do it.
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Like I have friends that have done that and up and gone from Brisbane to like
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Sydney, another major city in Australia, but like to just commit.
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And now six years, I imagine you've been living there.
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Damn. Would you do that, Nick? Would you be like, well, Oh, you know what?
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If I didn't have a girlfriend, I probably would. I don't know. I don't know.
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People say that to me, like, would you, would you? And it's like,
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I would, cause it'd be cool to have the experience, but in the same breath,
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like I've spent 18 years building everything I have here and to walk away from
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what I've built is kind of like, I got, I got more to lose than to gain.
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You know what I mean? Like the only thing I would gain is a change of scenery,
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but I'd be starting over again. So, you know, And I like what I got,
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you know, like it's, I don't know about you guys, but whenever I travel,
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I like coming home, like all my stuff's here. I love it. You know?
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Like. Yeah. I'm with you.
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So yeah. But like, it, it takes a lot of, obviously like it was an opportunity
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that you wanted, you took it and now you've built a career from it.
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And now you, so you've now got your roots deeply in Nashville.
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Cause I always consider Nashville as, you know, the kind of country music capital.
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Oh, it's definitely that. It's also the Bachelorette capital of the nation now and Bachelor.
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We get more so the Bachelorette parties, and that's a huge gig resource here.
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We get a ton of people who just want an hour magic show, especially because
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of that one viral video of the guy, I want to say his name is Spellbinder,
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doing the Dove production.
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Ever since that video, it's been at every Bachelorette party almost in Nashville.
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Man i gotta tell you even those clips have have made an impact even here in
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australia because the amount of inquiries that will come through now for hens
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nights is just absurd because of literally that clip.
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Yeah i don't do them because i don't have a budget for a magician over here
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but i get all the inquiries sometimes they do sometimes they do very rarely
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but occasionally it works out and they can be pretty fun.
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They can also be pretty wild. I remember I did one that was,
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it was like a Hannah Montana themed bachelorette party.
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And it was a great time, but I'm not joking. There was, everyone was doing a shot every 20 minutes.
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So it was a wild show, like, yeah, but they were into it, you know?
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They honestly are, like that vibe of a group is definitely like really fun to
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perform for. I just did a Bucks party last weekend.
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And I mean, I've only ever done two, so that's the second one.
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But they were like, the person I showed the trick to had to skull their beer
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if they couldn't figure out the trick.
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Like that was the running gag was like, do a trick on this guy.
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If you like got him, like if he reacts to it and he's like, you got him,
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then he has to skull. So like it was just two hours of making them skull beers. Yeah.
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So you can, you can imagine they were really lenient on trying to pretend like
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they, like they wouldn't really try to heckle because they just wanted to scald
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beer. So they were just like a perfect audience to do magic for,
21:53
you know? That's awesome.
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Yeah. By the end, you're just doing this one and they're like,
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oh, I'm fooled. And then they scald the beer anyway.
22:02
So, um, so Frankie, I'm, I'm curious, you know, LA is just sort of deemed as
22:06
a bit of a mecca to some degree being the home of the magic castle.
22:10
I'm curious what does nashville have to offer the magic scene compared to what la does,
22:16
i mean there's a lot of really talented magicians out here i mean we got like
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a lot of workers like kevin king and mark brown and we have ben young and like
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the entire squad at like house of cards i could literally just name like all
22:29
of them my friend rampton
22:30
but i think having like the base of like house of cards and like having like
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you know a place where you can just like a hundred percent like every week like
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we're going to be performing magic there like
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that's such a nice like opportunity to have like a home-based gig and then like
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you know i have like you know the a few free days for like private parties and
22:49
like corporate events and stuff like that so
22:51
i think that nashville also like the cost of living here compared to la
22:55
is like so much better so like that was also a huge draw of moving here,
23:01
oh yeah yeah that's right cost of things i imagine And maybe,
23:06
the income tax rate might be different.
23:08
I know that's a big thing is LA and New York are like...
23:11
One of the highest tax rates, right? Something like that. Yep.
23:14
And Nashville's or Tennessee is zero.
23:17
So that's a pretty big for like, I think it's state tax for not federal.
23:22
So, right. How many taxes do you have over there? There's a lot.
23:29
Okay. So Nick, is that like our GST? Is that what he's kind of referring to? Yeah.
23:34
Yeah. So, yeah, I mean, they've changed the tax laws here at the moment to the
23:38
point where companies are getting charged 63% on their profits.
23:42
It is going to be crippling for small businesses on our side of the planet.
23:46
So maybe we set up in Nashville, just saying, but moving on.
23:51
I have just one question before we press on to,
23:55
to a different topic. And that's that when you are in a situation like having
24:00
a residency, you have this propensity to perform your routine hundreds and hundreds of times.
24:05
Kind of a two-part question in which, how do you find yourself stopping yourself
24:09
from getting boredom with regards to performing things to the point you could
24:12
just put yourself in autopilot, number one?
24:15
And number two, do you ever kind of like deliberately try to put something in
24:21
unfinished just so you can mix it up a little bit as well.
24:26
I mean definitely like i've learned how to deal with the
24:30
you know trying not to get burnout because like at house of cards like it's
24:33
definitely an intense amount of shows
24:36
you know back in the day for the stage show like we would do like six like every
24:39
friday and saturday now it's like rolled back to like five and these are 30
24:43
minute like you know parlor shows for a room full of 70 people so you learn
24:47
real quick how to reset real fast and like, you know, how to be
24:51
in it every show, because I think that's, that's all it is, is to not go on
24:54
autopilot is to like, just really be there in that room with these people and
24:59
like, kind of like share a moment with them.
25:01
Because that's most of the time when you go on autopilot is,
25:04
you know, when you're kind of like thinking about other things, like doing the trick.
25:07
And then, you know, to keep it fresh as well, I definitely am like always fiddling
25:11
with the deck of cards. So like, I'm always constantly playing with like some new idea.
25:15
And so once I have an idea that I feel is like good enough to put in front of
25:20
like a paying audience, I'll throw it in there.
25:22
But it is one of those things because like these people are like paying good
25:25
money to have like this nice expensive like steak dinner.
25:28
So like they want to see things that work, you know, so I'll throw in something
25:32
newer, but I'll never just like directly throw in like, oh, I learned this at
25:35
like 12pm. And then at like 530, I'm going to go into like house of cards and do it.
25:40
Did you say you're doing six shows a day? Is that what I just heard?
25:44
Back in the day, now it's mainly upwards of a couple for the weekdays,
25:51
upwards of three to five on the weekends.
25:55
What what sorry that's crazy so what is the schedule like so like monday to
25:59
sunday what how many shows are happening each day,
26:03
so it also depends on if you're doing like close-up at house of cards or like
26:06
stage but for like the stage how it works is like
26:09
you know they have like the dinner seatings and like we only have like 70 seats
26:13
so we can only fit a certain amount of people into each show so we have to break
26:17
down like you know each like dinner seating into like different shows and so
26:21
on like lighter nights we might be able to like fit everyone into,
26:25
one show on like a chill monday or tuesday but like on the the crazier nights
26:28
like a friday or saturday we have to you know rep out you know somewhere sometimes
26:32
like four like five shows on uh on an evening wow well.
26:37
We have a question here from matt does magic and it says do you have any tips
26:41
for a magician that is performing gigs but wants to move toward a residency
26:46
somewhere like house of guards,
26:49
I mean, I think the best way to, you know, do anything is just,
26:53
you know, be the best at like what you do.
26:55
That doesn't mean like the best, just like, you know, do the best that you can
26:59
to like work as hard as you can on your individual routines.
27:03
And, you know, if you're trying to get like a residency somewhere,
27:07
like I think, you know, the proof is in the work, you know.
27:10
And and like a like a practical tip would it be to first start trying to put
27:15
on your own shows somewhere to get some like,
27:18
you know stage time of doing these acts before you approach some kind of residency
27:23
or what like what would be a practical tip for him to for matt to.
27:29
Yeah i definitely think that would be the move i mean like you know if you have
27:32
like a show and you do it somewhere like people it's the same thing with like
27:36
getting gigs it's like you know the best way to get gigs is to be at the gigs,
27:39
but it's like to get the gig in the first place is the hard part.
27:42
So sometimes you got to create that space for yourself.
27:45
And yeah, something like that, like doing a show and like maybe inviting some
27:49
prospective clients and like, Hey, you know, I would love to perform at your
27:53
restaurant like every Thursday, come check out my show that I'm putting on at
27:57
this thing and like, you know, send them some, some free comp tickets.
28:01
You know how in the, in the comedy world, it's a very big thing that people
28:05
will start working at comedy clubs as like the door guy and like in these entry-level
28:10
jobs so they can be around all the great comedians,
28:14
is that something that could work in the u.s like where,
28:18
frank where matt for example could approach somewhere like house of cards just
28:23
because we're talking about house of cards it'd be like hey can i be a stagehand
28:26
i'll you know do this for free but i just want to be around this kind of thing
28:30
that i want to do one day like is that,
28:33
an approach like should people reach out to existing residencies and be like,
28:38
I just want to help and just kind of learn from being around you guys.
28:43
I mean, in regards to House of Cards, I'm not sure if that would be able to
28:47
help because I don't really think that there's a slot for that.
28:49
But potentially with other venues, that could be a thing. But I think the best
28:53
way to approach, honestly, any venue is just have the proof in the work and
28:58
not just have the proof, but have a solid video of that thing because people want to see the thing.
29:03
And it doesn't have to be the full 30-minute show.
29:06
Sure, you should also have that just in case they want it. but like having like
29:09
a nice like solid like four or five minutes of like strong material that you
29:13
can be like hey like this is what i can do at your place,
29:17
and and i think you know the mecca being the the magic castle i believe that
29:22
is one place where you actually do have to send in your full polished act right
29:27
if you're not already a member and have people to vouch for you,
29:31
i think you actually would have to have like a solid boom here's my 30 minute uncut act,
29:36
so they can see that it's like top tier. Does that sound right?
29:40
Absolutely. I mean, like growing up at the castle, even if you were a member,
29:43
you still got to, you know, send in your video and your tape just to kind of
29:46
make sure that like everything,
29:49
is copacetic and that, you know, all the members and guests are going to be,
29:52
you know, treated well and see some amazing magic. Nice.
29:57
Well, speaking of amazing magic, this is a segue that also is pertinent to Frankie's
30:03
journey and leads us to his special.
30:07
But as we know, the heartbreaking news that we lost one of the legends of magic in the last week, Mr.
30:13
Juan Tamariz, I was able to track down, because we obviously,
30:18
we could talk about him for an entire, for, you know, five episodes, we could talk about him.
30:24
And we will now do obviously our due diligence and do a history lesson on Juan,
30:29
but what we found out was Frankie actually has spent some time with Juan and
30:33
actually influenced some aspects of his magic special so before we talk about
30:39
that I went and grabbed this excerpt,
30:42
of Juan talking about the,
30:45
seven veils of mystery which is just so beautiful to watch it goes for three
30:50
minutes so we're going to play that first before we then segue into Frankie's
30:55
special and talk about his,
30:57
inspirations with Juan as well.
30:58
So here is the Seven Veils of Mystery.
31:02
For me, I think the Seven Veils of Mystery.
31:11
Mystery of the love because if you don't love your art, you cannot express yourself.
31:19
You cannot express something without love. It's very, very important to love the passion of the art.
31:26
The audience, how they know that this man or this woman loves magic, really.
31:32
They know, but how they know is a mystery for me. The second one for me is the
31:37
mystery of the knowledge.
31:40
If you know more about this tree, about the author, about him,
31:45
about the history of the tree, and the more you know, the more your magic is
31:51
more deep for the people.
31:54
And the people feel this. How are they feeling?
31:57
I don't know. It's another mystery, the second one. The third one for me, the mystery of the work.
32:05
More work you put in effect, in a trick, in an illusion, in a dream,
32:10
more strong and more reaction and more deep reaction and more remain in the
32:16
feeling and the emotion of the spectator.
32:19
How they know that you put more effort, more work?
32:23
They don't know, but they feel. And this is a mystery.
32:27
Another one is the mystery of the energy.
32:33
Sometimes we perform, I perform as a magician with only this,
32:38
in a theatre of 1,500 people.
32:41
And the last one must feel.
32:46
The energy you have, not only physical, but also spiritual, spiritual inside, you know.
32:54
And the five mysteries for me is the mystery of the truth.
32:59
Of course, the art in general is not true, it's a fiction, you know, not the real life.
33:05
And magic especially, you know, especially you are lying, lying all the time saying,
33:15
do this, I don't know this I have not here nothing but you have hidden something.
33:22
But the more true is the thing that you do more true, people,
33:27
feel this and I don't know how they feel but they feel and this is the fine
33:31
mystery, since mystery is the interior world, more rich is your interior world,
33:37
more people like your magic more they feel,
33:41
your magic In the interior world, there is no interesting,
33:46
you can be a good communicator, a good showman, but not a good artist, it's not the same.
33:55
The seventh mystery for me is
33:56
the mystery of love, but I told the first is love, the last one is love.
34:03
I think it's important the love to the audience, to the other people,
34:09
because it's not only a question to, I do this and you applaud me.
34:14
It's not the most important. The most important is the love to the other,
34:17
no? And the love to the audience is all seven mysteries that I don't know.
34:24
I don't know how they know, but they know.
34:26
Sure, sure, they are the, for me, seven veils that cover seven mystery images,
34:34
and for me they are very important.
34:43
So true yeah mike,
34:47
josh you you're muted josh ah
34:50
yes that is how much attention i wanted to give to juan as i muted myself,
34:55
what i was saying was i could watch that over and over but that that excerpt
34:59
is just so people can find it is,
35:01
part of the full documentary called our magic by paul wilson which is available
35:06
for download at vanishing inc so go and support that that's just a small clip
35:10
of like an hour and a half of just
35:13
wonderful footage of other magicians talking about how great magic is,
35:18
but frankie what yeah i was gonna say just while we're on the topic of juan
35:21
i know a lot of people in discord have been asking for a history lesson on juan,
35:26
it's something that we'll spend well i will spend a little time on over the
35:29
next couple of weeks it could possibly be a two-parter i will try and condense it down,
35:34
he led a very big life so let me write a couple of drafts of it and then when
35:39
it's ready we'll definitely do our diligence good and proper and we'll pay him
35:43
the proper respects in a history lesson just so you guys
35:46
uh listening who are asking for it on the discord it will happen so circling
35:50
back frankie i know that this has been a big influence for yourself,
35:53
has it influenced your special at all.
35:56
I'm more so just like the way that, you know, Juan and all of his students are
36:00
so like kind of open and free.
36:02
Like, I feel like with a lot of magicians, it's like when like you're showing
36:06
them a trick, just like, oh, I know how you do it. It's like,
36:08
that doesn't even matter. It's just like with them, there's just this,
36:11
it's this sharing thing where it's just like, everything is open and free.
36:14
And it's like, oh, you want to learn that?
36:16
Here you go. Like, you know, they're just the way of thinking and just like
36:20
how like comfortable they allow you to feel to be able to ask for anything,
36:25
you know, because like I was, you know, like very afraid to kind of create this special.
36:30
And so like hanging around them and like, you know, like Juan Luis Rubiales,
36:34
like kind of got me over the kind of fear that I have personally with like asking
36:39
people for advice and stuff like that.
36:41
And I was very fortunate enough to meet Juan Tamarez when he was spending some
36:45
time at the Magic Castle through my friend Juan Luis Rubiales in Elan.
36:50
And he, you know, kind of, we spoke a little bit, just kind of chatted about
36:53
magic. and it was a very brief interaction, but you could really feel everything
36:59
that he said in that clip about just the love and just the presence and energy.
37:05
Wow, what a gift to be able to spend that time with him. Even how brief it might
37:10
be, it sounds like it can already have an impact just by being around him at all, you know.
37:17
And I've noticed that theme is very common, which I wish there was more of with
37:23
the Spanish thinking of magic you're mentioning, where everyone sort of shares everything.
37:28
And it's more about watching a performance and seeing how it makes you feel
37:32
rather than like what is the method,
37:35
if that makes sense which is a really cool way to to think about it and having seen a preview of the,
37:42
special you have coming out it's
37:44
quite different to the structure of any special i've seen which doesn't,
37:50
i don't think you really see in the trailer but to to give context to what we're
37:55
all talking about i thought i would run the trailer now and then we'll get on
37:59
and we'll talk about it this is ask for magic.
38:39
That is what almost a year and a half of my life looks like.
38:43
Really? So this was shot last year or the year before that even?
38:48
This was filmed in December of 2024.
38:52
And it's kind of a crazy origin story of how it even started.
38:57
So basically, I've always had this idea in my head that I was going to create
39:02
a magic special or just have something like that. I grew up in LA.
39:06
My dad was an actor. I was always on these movie sets like I've always been
39:10
around like the film process like I love like editing little things like on
39:13
my computer everything from like little home movies on iMovie with my like Uncle Chris like
39:19
when I was like 14 or 15 just like making silly stuff to
39:22
I like wanted to make something like with magic but like I had a lot of rules
39:27
for the special like one like you know if we think about who's put out magic
39:30
specials it's like legends like David Blaine and like you know like Darren Brown
39:35
and like all of these like
39:36
dynamo like all these amazing magicians and so I not only wanted to like just
39:40
put out a magic special like I wanted to put out one with my own flavor that you know
39:46
was like making magic like you know look cool and like also say something meaningful
39:51
without being cheesy because like that is a very hard line to.
39:56
You know kind of balance on yeah and even the setting of this special is really
40:01
interesting I'm going to bring up the we'll just have the trailer in the background
40:06
for those watching but even this like you can see this is in like a well-to-do neighborhood,
40:11
there's a very fancy car so we all want to know.
40:15
Whose car is this is this your it is my friend pete's car i i borrowed it for
40:20
the the shoot i definitely don't drive something like that every day do the
40:24
same thing by the way but just so we have context yeah okay so,
40:28
thank you pete so we get pete's car this is great and then this house again
40:34
massive house we just went past but um,
40:36
this kind of signifies that maybe like this is someone's private home you're
40:40
going in to do a show for like is that what you were kind of going for with this,
40:44
so I wanted the the performance to be something that like it felt like the viewers
40:48
at home are kind of like right there in the living room watching us do this
40:52
like you know magic show and so
40:54
I also was like doing the magic special for my 30th birthday so I was like well
40:59
if I'm gonna get like a crazy Airbnb I might as well go a little all out and
41:05
reached out to a bunch of Airbnbs and told them what I wanted to do,
41:09
and found one this morning that was like hey yeah you can have like you know
41:12
20 people in a film crew in here filming like a magic special and you know i,
41:19
just like the moment i saw this place i was like this looks like such an epic
41:23
backdrop so i like had to film it there hell yeah okay and then,
41:29
yeah i was gonna say like well how do you go from like oh i want to make one
41:31
one day to i'm actually doing this like,
41:34
i wouldn't even know where to begin if someone said if someone gave me a budget
41:38
like they said here's 100 grand make a special, I would not even know where
41:41
to begin, buddy. So talk us through that process.
41:44
So, you know, I've never really fully directed a thing like this on my own.
41:48
I've had a little bit of experience like directing a stage production that I
41:52
did at like a, you know, a magic show in a theater of like 300 people.
41:55
But like directing like an actual like film, if you will, is like a whole other
42:00
ballpark. And the crazy part was most of the production for that was like before
42:05
like we filmed the actual thing.
42:07
We had like two weeks because it was two weeks before my birthday.
42:10
And I was like, well, like I've always want to do the special before I'm 30.
42:14
But I'm turning 30 in like two weeks. And like, well, what if I just like do
42:18
a magic show for my 30th birthday? And then like, well, what if I film that?
42:21
And like, what if that's the special? And like, I was too afraid to do it.
42:25
And so I am the worst about asking for advice, which is kind of the through
42:29
line, if you will, of the special.
42:31
And so I called my friends who own a production company, Kim and Jay,
42:36
they own a company called Pop Media LA.
42:38
And I pitched them this crazy idea.
42:41
And, you know, they were the film crew behind it. And they're like, we're in.
42:44
But we're also getting married this week. So like, you know,
42:47
just do the work on it this week and then we'll figure it out next week. And I was like, oh, okay.
42:51
So basically I spent like a week in my room with this thing behind me.
42:55
There's like a little notepad that I got.
42:57
And like, I filled this thing with like notes, like every day I would go to like a coffee shop.
43:02
And like, I don't know if you can even see the writing, but like literally every
43:05
page is like filled with like ideas and like shot lists and like,
43:09
it's just putting in the work.
43:11
And I watched every single like, you know, YouTube, meet with the directors
43:16
and just listen to all the experience they had.
43:20
We found the production team, that was the hard part. We found the venue,
43:24
that was the hard part. I got the car, we found an audio person,
43:27
we found a makeup person.
43:29
And then the other thing was, if I was going to do this and I'm going to have
43:33
this special or whatever,
43:34
I didn't want to just do it by myself. So I wanted to feature my friends in
43:38
it because like what's more fun than doing a show than like with your friends.
43:42
And so I asked three of, you know, the best performers like in Los Angeles and
43:46
like three of my best friends to be a part of it. We got Franco Piscali.
43:50
Franco and I not only went to high school together, but we actually were like,
43:54
you know, Magic Castle juniors.
43:56
And like he is honestly, I think, one of the best close-up magicians in the
44:00
entire world. Like every week, this guy comes up with like 30 ideas that are
44:04
all like, you know, if I came up with one in my lifetime, I'd be happy.
44:08
He comes up with like 30 in a week.
44:10
We have my friend, Riccardo Berdini. He is one of the best performers and mentalists
44:14
like in Los Angeles. And same thing with Jackson.
44:17
I wanted to get like different flavors of magic since I'm doing a lot of cards.
44:21
And since Franco is doing a lot of cards, I wanted to bring in some like,
44:24
you know, balance of like mentalism to like kind of like, you know,
44:28
have like peaks and flows of the special.
44:30
Like I didn't want it to just be like one level. so we had all that we filmed
44:35
the special and then I was like well I need some like talking head stuff like
44:39
some stuff for like you know I'm talking because there's like an intro and there's like an outro
44:43
and then I was like well I mean you know dream scenario like what if I filmed it at the Magic Castle
44:49
and then went through the entire process of doing that and like you know getting
44:52
like you know production insurance and like all of this and just kind of just
44:56
figuring it out as I was going.
44:58
And it's been an intense process. The reason it's taken so long is because there'd
45:05
be little moments where I'm working on the special and I'm like, it makes sense.
45:08
But because I'm trying to do something essentially that no one's ever done before
45:12
with this weaving a narrative through a magic special, which I really haven't
45:17
put on the trailers or anything like that.
45:19
It's not really a surprise, but I want people to experience it in the moment
45:24
when they watch the special but it's very hard to again as I mentioned tie that
45:29
strong powerful message and like
45:30
not make it cheesy so like there was 15 seconds in the beginning of a voiceover and.
45:36
That we added over landscape that probably took me two or three months to like figure out.
45:40
So it was just a lot of like trial and error to where like, you know,
45:44
it's never going to be perfect.
45:45
I made a ton of mistakes, but I think it's, you know, the best that I possibly
45:50
could do with, you know, what I shot in the one day, because like I wanted to
45:55
shoot it like for real, like a.
45:58
Comedy special, like, you know, like one take, like, you know, do like an entire show.
46:02
So we had like three cameras we had like like a side camera to pan to the audience
46:06
we had like a main camera and a close-up camera and like everything that could
46:10
go wrong did go wrong like we had some audio issues and we had to spend two
46:14
or three months you know deleting like rf
46:17
interference and then like you know dubbing over like my voice so it sounds
46:21
more natural and i'm like oh that sounds too like robotic or whatever so we got to like fix this
46:25
to dealing with you know, the whole like voiceover thing.
46:28
So it was quite a, you know, like it's one of the biggest things I've been working
46:33
on for the past year and a half of my life.
46:35
And I'm like kind of curious to see like what it's going to be like when it's
46:38
finally out and I can kind of relax and not have to focus on it, you know?
46:42
Yeah. And what was the thought to include your friends in the special as well?
46:47
You know, a lot of people putting that much time and effort into a special,
46:51
they want to make it all about them,
46:53
but even in the sneak peek you've sent me you very clearly don't do that like
46:58
it's very obvious that you're sharing a lot with the audience in in the way
47:02
that you have the talking heads that that come in which people are going to
47:05
find out about but like was that,
47:08
like obviously i can tell you know you're about sharing and i mean the this
47:12
special is literally called ask for magic it's not called like watch how good
47:17
i am at magic you know even that itself is really interesting,
47:19
but like, was there any...
47:23
I want to use the word ego, even though that's not what I'm trying to say,
47:26
but like, was there any thought to be like, oh, do I want to include other people's
47:29
magic on this special? Because it's, I know they're going to do good magic.
47:33
Does that make sense? Like, what was your thought process to include other people?
47:38
So it's funny that you say that, because one of my friends, Jackson,
47:41
who's in the special, he was like, you know, when I was trying to pitch him
47:45
this idea, he's like, oh, so it's cool. Like I get the footage after whatever,
47:49
like the special comes out.
47:50
And I was like no dude like you're in the special like because like I like you know why
47:56
not like hype up your friends you know because like I think like the realest
48:00
friends are the ones that like you know who will like hype you up like you know
48:03
when they're not in the room and like you know I
48:06
like these are friends who like I think are so talented and I just wanted the
48:09
world to see like you know how amazing the that they are,
48:13
Wow. And what better way to show how good your friends are than through your
48:16
own special? That is real friendship.
48:23
How collaborative was it having more than one performer on there?
48:26
Did you allow, like, with regards to directing the special and the construction
48:30
of the show, was it something that you took point on and directed all of them?
48:34
Or were they able to have their creative, you know, prowess and thoughts into the show as well?
48:40
So I mean like I of course wanted to make sure that whatever I posted like I
48:44
ran by them so they knew that they were going to look good
48:46
but like this was a self-produced and directed magic special like all of the
48:51
the funding from everything from getting like
48:53
you know equipment and stuff which thankfully like we actually had a lot of
48:56
people who like believed in us and like gave us like free equipment like Nisi
49:01
gave us these lenses that were
49:02
super expensive just because they believed in my crazy idea there was this lighting
49:06
company that gave us these like crazy lighting rigs that looked like real movie
49:10
like you know like because they were real movie stuff
49:13
but like when it comes to like directing it like it was like my vision and i
49:16
kind of was just like hey like for my friend ricardo
49:19
i love when you do this thing could you do this thing like hey jackson like
49:23
i love this thing like i think this piece would fit really nicely here
49:26
and then franco like you know just put in one of your crazy like you know genius
49:29
ideas and you know i'm sure it'll be great and also shout out to him again because
49:34
he is the guy who came up with the concept astromagic
49:36
I didn't know what to call it.
49:38
And I asked him and that's what he came up with.
49:41
I think you're going to have one of the rare actual footages of Franco on the
49:45
internet because he rarely puts out anything of his and anything you do see
49:51
come out usually gets taken down later on at some point.
49:55
So even that's a plus well people waiting to see it it comes out on the 18th
50:01
of september that's the day you've picked is there a significance to that date,
50:06
uh yeah so the special is kind of dedicated to my dad and that was his birthday
50:11
so i thought what about what better day to release it than a day that has some meaning to it,
50:16
yeah okay that's beautiful people in the chat already saying they can't wait to watch it,
50:22
a two-part question so i know a lot of things can go wrong and there's things
50:27
you learn from those what are some of the things you're willing to share,
50:31
about what went wrong and how you rectified them and second question is do you
50:36
see yourself performing,
50:38
a part two of ask for magic,
50:41
i mean i would love to do some type of live tour situation i feel like that
50:45
would be cool to go to some different cities and maybe bring my friends with
50:49
me and then also like when it comes to like the mistakes it was just like learning how to.
50:55
Direct people without the ego.
50:57
Because a lot of times I'm asking for these favors and I don't want to be like,
51:02
hey, do this thing. And just learning how to communicate with people and ask
51:06
for things when, for example, I had some music, like the music in the special.
51:11
That was originally created by my friend Lenny for the special.
51:15
And so I basically just pitched him the ideas and I would have to be like,
51:19
I like that one, but can we make it more like this without being like, do it this way.
51:23
And so just like learning how to communicate with people like on like a level
51:27
playing field and just like treating everyone with respect, I think is just
51:31
like, you know, a lesson that we can all learn from.
51:34
Yeah. Wow. Do you have any.
51:37
It doesn't have to be Magic Castle, but like it can be any gig, I guess.
51:41
We often talk about gig stories we've done where something crazy has happened,
51:45
something funny has happened. But like, is there one that comes to mind for you that you can share?
51:50
I mean, so many. That's what we like.
51:54
Strap in, everyone. There's a lot of them. I'll tell you about one of the worst
51:58
shows, though, like when I was like kind of growing up and like what I learned from it.
52:02
Basically, I was hired for this corporate event. and year one,
52:06
I did it, it was okay, but like it was like the wrong setup.
52:09
And so I show up year two and it was 30 minutes of strolling and like 30 minutes on stage.
52:15
And before the 30 minutes of like strolling and close up, the photographer had
52:19
recognized me from like the year before and he made a joke to the bar staff
52:23
and he's like, oh, watch your money around this guy.
52:26
He's gonna make it disappear, but like no context. So now they just think I'm
52:29
like a thief or whatever.
52:31
And I could feel like that awkward tension. so I was like oh hey he's making
52:35
a joke like I'm a magician
52:37
and they're like oh actually we just had like five hundred dollars worth of
52:39
our tips sold last night so we're a little on edge so starting off the night
52:43
great but then I did 30 minutes of strolling then it's fine and then the.
52:48
Age-old problem that we have all dealt with at some point is like I was gonna
52:53
do the show and of course we all do like the after dinner show now the event
52:57
planner who like I had the 30 minute phone call with and like explained everything
53:00
in the contract 30 minute after dinner show
53:03
was pregnant and having her baby. So like her assistant was there.
53:07
And so her assistant comes up to me and tells me words that I will never forget as long as I live.
53:12
And she's like, hey, right now they're having salad and then you're going to
53:14
go on during chicken, which is, you know, as every performer,
53:17
exactly what you want to hear.
53:19
And, you know, I tried to respectfully kind of be like, hey,
53:22
like I would highly recommend not doing that. Like in the contract,
53:26
it says like an after dinner show, like it's not going to work.
53:28
And she's like, hey, we're on a tight schedule. You either go on and do that
53:31
or you don't get paid. Like it was like pretty direct.
53:34
And I was like, I will go up there and do this performance. But like,
53:37
while they're eating, this is not going to be like, the best show.
53:40
And she's like, I don't care.
53:41
And so right before I'm about to go on stage, I can hear the audience like as
53:46
they're introing me. Oh, and by the way, before they even intro me,
53:49
the CEO is on stage, and no one's paying attention to him.
53:53
If no one's paying attention to the CEO, they're not going to care about me.
53:57
But as they're introing me, I can hear the tables because I'm in the back of
54:00
the room talking like snack about me and be like, Oh, magic,
54:03
like this is going to suck.
54:04
Like, and just saying that like as I'm walking up to like the other stage
54:08
and then of course there was like the dance floor of doom in between me and all the tables and then
54:14
uh I was this is when I learned you don't open with a piece of uh of pre-show
54:18
especially if you don't have a backup so I'm on stage I'm about to do this crazy
54:22
great prediction and the guy that I do that to.
54:26
Walks out of the room and I'm like literally like hey man like like come on
54:29
on stage I'm in front of like 300 people, half of them have.
54:33
Stood up and sat down, and I've gone through this whole process,
54:36
and just midway the guy walks out, and I'm just on stage like, what do I do?
54:40
And I'm like, oh, I was just using this to pick a random person.
54:42
Here, why don't you come up? And it's just already awkward.
54:45
I'd already asked them to be quiet because they were clanking away.
54:48
No one's paying attention.
54:50
And five minutes into me doing the show, I was like, do I just walk off stage? And then I was like, no.
54:57
This is going to suck. You're going to do the show. You're going to get paid.
55:00
And then you're going to leave.
55:01
And when I say no one was paying attention, I was doing the calculator toxic and I missed.
55:07
I just typed in with one hand, no one was paying attention. No one cared.
55:11
I did the show. I got it done. And then after that show, I was like,
55:15
if I can be on that stage and be in that uncomfortability, I can walk into any
55:21
other situation and I'll be fine.
55:23
So it was in anything that could go wrong, did go wrong type of situation.
55:29
What a great lesson to learn in year one, like you were saying.
55:33
Yeah, we can all like feel a similar environment we've been in at some point.
55:39
And like, I can, I can just feel the energy you're going through.
55:44
Looking back at that now, let's say you, today's you are put in that position.
55:52
What do you think you would have done now in that situation?
55:55
She says the same thing. Either you go up or you don't get paid. Yeah.
55:58
What's your reaction in 2026?
56:03
I think I would have to like heavily, like, you know, think about it in the
56:06
moment because if I thought that this was like a situation where like I could
56:10
really put on like a performance, I would do it.
56:12
But otherwise I'm just saying, Hey, listen, like, you know, we can,
56:15
you know, refund that part of the performance because like, you know,
56:18
any performance I put on is a reflection of me.
56:20
And like, I don't like if I'm going out there to a situation where I know it's
56:25
like not going to work and it's going to like make me look bad.
56:28
Like, It's not only going to make me look bad, it's going to make the client look bad.
56:32
And I would just explain that. And it's just like, listen, we don't even need
56:36
the extra money. I'll give you back the portion for that. And we just call it an evening.
56:41
In the current moment, that's probably what I would do. Yeah,
56:44
I think that's pretty smart.
56:45
I think you could say something like, for anyone listening, you could say something
56:50
like, look, I just know this is not going to be good for anyone.
56:54
It's going to make you look bad, me look bad. let me just keep roving throughout this meal.
56:59
Version instead like let me just keep doing some more roving magic instead of
57:02
stage that at least will have some impact,
57:06
other thoughts that come to mind is like to make the client happy if you are
57:10
concerned you could go up there and just do one trick like some wisdom i i got
57:16
from a really well-known magician,
57:19
in australia called raymond Crow,
57:22
is he said, you know, he'll get booked at quite a high-end fee for a corporate
57:26
event to do a 20-minute act.
57:28
But if the act is not going well at seven minutes in because they're all drinking
57:33
and not listening and watching, he will just call it and he'll end the show
57:37
because he knows his first act is very visual and doesn't require any attention from the audience.
57:42
And he has said to me like, yeah, if you have to call it for the benefit of the audience,
57:48
do that you know nick what's what's your thoughts on let's say you're in that situation.
57:53
Any other yeah i think this is what's important about having a good emcee because
57:57
it is an emcee's job to gain control of the audience and then hand that controlled
58:01
audience over to said magician and a lot of times when you're doing events,
58:05
they don't always have a great emcee or you know cheryl from accounts is deciding
58:10
that she's going to emcee the event because she's the organizer of the party
58:13
and she wants to put badgies on herself.
58:15
So these things are going to happen, you know, whether you like it or not.
58:19
But I think that what Frankie did was just like, all right, cool.
58:21
Let's get in the trenches and get through it. There's worse things to do.
58:24
You, you did your job, you did the privilege they paid for, whether or not they
58:30
put themselves in a position to enjoy it the most.
58:33
That's fine because you can perform the very same act for two people at a,
58:38
at a, you know, cocktail table or the same show in front of like 60,
58:44
50 people, 20 people, whatever it might be.
58:47
If they're not willing, number one, or able, number two, to receive it,
58:53
it's kind of their loss. That's the sad thing.
58:56
But your intention is true to just give them the gift of magic,
59:00
which you've worked really hard on, which is really good.
59:03
You just want to have an environment in which they can actually receive it.
59:06
So that's on them. Yeah. Wow.
59:10
What a banger. It's something we all have to go through just to understand why
59:14
you never want to go through it again. You know, that's, yeah. Wow.
59:18
What a way to end. Well, in the description where you're watching and listening
59:22
to this is Frankie's YouTube channel where you can go and subscribe,
59:27
turn the bell notification on so you get alerted when
59:30
the special is dropped on the 18th about uh
59:34
what's that three three weeks away something,
59:38
like coming up yeah it's gonna be here before you know it,
59:41
we can't wait to see it can't wait to see the full thing and go follow him all
59:45
his links are below like we were saying reach out to frankie if you are an upcoming
59:49
magician and you maybe have other questions from this that you want to reach out and ask,
59:55
and we're going to end our episode in the way we always do which is by giving
59:58
our guest the final word.
1:00:02
Well, a huge thank you to Nick and Josh for having me on here.
1:00:05
I've had a great time chatting with you guys and would love to see you guys
1:00:09
perform maybe here at House of Cards in Nashville. I think that'd be pretty awesome.
1:00:13
But please, everyone, check out Ask for Magic. This is the hardest I've ever
1:00:18
worked on anything in my entire life, and I am so proud of it.
1:00:21
And I think that all of you will really get a kick out of it.
1:00:25
And for final words, I think when doing magic, You know, don't forget to have fun.
1:00:32
Thanks for listening. It's time for us to disappear now. Disappear now.
1:00:38
But we'll see you again on the next episode of The Magic Guys.