Latest / The Magic Guys / Mario the Maker Magician: From New York to the World Stage #194

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Mario the Maker Magician: From New York to the World Stage #194 · 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 194 of the Magic Guys.
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It's a special day. You're the Magic Guys, that's right.
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To my right, we've got Nick Kay. Welcome to the show, friends.
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Down below, we've got Doug Kahn. Fuck y'all. Fuck, fuck, fuck.
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And I am Josh Nolbedo, and this is the Magic Guys podcast where we share our
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shenanigans as professional magicians and answer your questions and all around just have a good time.
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Now, this has been a wild morning already, just getting ready for this exciting guest.
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And of course, I sent Doug the wrong link to join us. So he was just waiting
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around as if no one was showing up.
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But Doug, you made it like a freaking pro, ready to go. How are you? How many...
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You know, millions of people were you just jamming with before coming on here?
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What were you up to today?
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I was eating some steak with my wife, telling her how excited I was for the
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podcast tonight. Only two minutes later, be brick walled by Norbedo's technical incompetence.
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Not like I'm more excited for this conversation than I have been.
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We've had some banger guests this year, but man, I was hoping to see Mario.
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He was supposed to be at the Texas Association a couple of years ago.
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Like literally one of the top reasons I was looking forward to this convention.
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And he didn't show doing all his pro work.
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Anyway, I am Jess. You're right.
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We have had some killer guests. And we've also had some killer conversations
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along with all the people who are listening live here in the chat.
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Let's give them a shout out.
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We have my good friend, Gary Davis. I was meant to call him back.
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I'll call you back soon. Sorry, Gary.
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We have Eddie. We have Fast Eddie. That's two types of Eddie in one chat.
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Tim Askin, Scotty good to see you here, Scott Link and of course GP Magic,
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thank you guys for being here we are interviewing an amazing person today,
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so don't be too afraid to ask any questions you may have in the chat we will
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ask Mari what we need to go, whatever we need to go,
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now fellas if there's nothing else to talk about I would love to jump into it
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and get this gentleman on the show, what do you think?
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100% let's do it friends, our guest today hails all the way from new york city
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where he performs sold out shows up and down soho theater etc he's traveled
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all around the planet all over the u.s all over canada,
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even in Australia. He's a local boy now. He's performed in TV spots all over
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from Jimmy Fallon to Sesame Street, and he's taken his time to hang out with
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us here at the Magic Guys podcast.
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So please join me in welcoming the amazing Mario, the Maker Magician. Let's go.
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Music.
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What's up uh,
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I love that What was that? You're already straight to it Straight to it It's
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so good to see all of you All of you guys,
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Man, thank you so much for being here You had your eye on us from
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the beginning yeah indeed now mario
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we all know who you are but don't please tell us who
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you are tell us what you do yes i'm
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mario the maker magician hail from new york nyack new
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york to be exact which is along the hudson river right outside of manhattan
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and i do a magic show where
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i build crappy robots that fall apart
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and i try to make kids and families laugh and we've
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been really lucky the past couple years We are family business Travel with our
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kids We road school our kids So eight months out of the year We're on the road
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With my 13 year old daughter My 10 year old son And my beautiful wife Katie
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And this is it I mean we're in it This is our 17th year Doing it full time.
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17 years my gosh that's
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amazing you're doing it right you know people are always like
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oh i have to go and tour and be away from the family
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and how do you cope with it but you've just figured it all
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out gonna have to do less gigs and be a dad
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more often and say no to stuff and earn a little bit
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less to help around the and you're just like screw you guys
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get a backpack we're leaving now you know
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when katie and i met that was like one of the promises we
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made before we got married was like if we do this full-time
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that means we're gonna do it full-time as a team you
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know so like i always call katie like she's my co-adventurer it's
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not like something where there's someone higher or someone lower her passions
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is social media and branding and business you
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know and so what happened was early on we
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were both kind of navigating through the dark like trying to figure out how
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do we find well first of all like what is my character like what is the show
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like and then how do we sell it you know there's so many layers of that you
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need to uncover before you get that first paid gig you know let's talk about
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that how how was how did you give birth to mario like.
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How does this happen like what what came first the magician or the maker yeah
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i think i think the maker definitely came first my i'm first generation american
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my parents came from italy.
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My father my grandfather who i'm named after mario marchese he was he sewed
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for a living he made suits for a living in southern italy and and this is a
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town that there's there's not a lot of money you know and he's.
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He was a maker, right? And he made clothes. That means he could make t-shirts, pants, suit jackets.
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So one of my favorite stories that my dad tells me is that even though everyone
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was poor, you know, and not everyone had shoes, you know, but my,
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my, my grandfather's kids were the best dressed in all of fricking that region, you know?
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And it's a powerful thing to think about when you learn how to make something
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like as a maker, like it not only changes your life, it could change the lives
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of the people around you, you know?
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So I always think about that, about you know because sometimes
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we live in a place where like it's like you got to study this and
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this and this but really like getting your hands into something and
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learning a trade learning something to do like you know
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like that is a it's a monumental thing and you can make a great
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living at it but but yeah I mean that's that's kind of how
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it started you know like growing up my father was
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a stonemason you know my and and my and and
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my mom was you know always pushing me drawing
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at the dinner table and doing a few artistic stuff and
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i just loved making stuff early on i didn't get
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into magic man till i was like 22 i didn't i never saw a magician till i was
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22 21 22 yeah dude like me i didn't get into it till i was 23 that's it's phenomenal
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so wow see so you know what i'm saying it's like you almost feel guilty like
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you you could have been practicing you know yeah yeah.
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Well let me let me ask you this before i i have asked my next question like
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do you kind of feel that there's a saying, and I can't remember who said it. It might have been...
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Dante or someone but but there's a theory that the
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age that you start magic is the mental age
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you have when you perform so what i find curious about
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that is that people who got into magic as children make really good children's
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performers but here you starting magic at 22 years of age and become a worldwide
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famous children's performer so what's your thoughts on that wow dude you just
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dropped the bomb this is what we're supposed to talk at the end of the podcast
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And that's holy cannoli.
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Holy cannoli. I never heard that before. That's a really powerful thing.
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Like, you know, I think, you know, one of the most important things that I think
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like some of the sentences that I've heard over the years that really stuck
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is like the sentence that the audience creates the performer, you know.
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And when you have a talent, some you got to realize the talent is not for you.
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The talent is for them, you know.
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So sometimes we think that like we have this talent. Everyone needs to see me.
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But like we're not understanding. And if we if we understand that it's a gift
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and we have to give, you know, it's the audience.
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It's a it's a harder path. But but, you know, it's a it's a beautiful path, too.
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You know, so for me, when I first got into magic, I went to Times Square.
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I did open night magic in Times Square, like all adult audiences. And I sucked, dude.
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I sucked. Like it was like I was nervous, like everything was so rigid,
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you know, and my wife, Katie, she was dating me.
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I didn't even tell her I was a magician till three months that we were dating.
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And she happened to drive me to a birthday party gig.
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And she was like, you're like a rock star in this little living room.
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Like, do you see what you have? And I'm like, no, no.
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Magicians, tell me this is a stepping stone in your career. You're not supposed
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to do kids magic. You need to do corporate, you know.
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And I had all these things that
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magicians have filled in my head from conventions and club meetings and,
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And it took me two years to like untie all these things to realize that like
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the thing I'm running away from is the reason I'm alive, man.
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You know, it's the reason I'm alive, you know. And and when you start surrendering
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and listening to the audience, like, OK, so I hate to admit it when I'm in this
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demographic, I do better, like a lot better.
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And I need to like surrender that. And it wasn't until we actually really surrendered
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that, that we started paying our rent, doing magic as a business.
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But it took two years, Nick. It took two years.
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You know, it took a long time of like fighting that, you know.
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That is, that's a phenomenal story. And I really love that you said that how
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like the audience shapes you as a person or shapes you as a performer, I should say.
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Because we are kind of products of our environment, don't you think? Yeah.
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Yeah, for sure. I mean, look at I love watching videos of Doug,
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like, you know, like street performing and like he's in his element.
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Like, what is it? It's like New Orleans. Like there's like a rhythm. There's like a beat.
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There's like there's an attitude, like just the way his shoulders are when he's
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performing. Like there's subtleties like you're alive, right?
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Like you you're in your element, you know, and and that's, you know.
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That's that's where I always want to be. You know, like that's where I always want to be.
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And, you know, and then you you learn something about yourself and then you feel like a rock star.
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You start changing towards that direction and then you plateau and it gets boring.
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And then you start messing up and then you know it's it's
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a journey right and like and every you know
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i think as long as you have something to chase after like i'm always you know
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trying to change a little bit but yeah i mean the audience
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creating the performer is such a key thing that i think about all the
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time and it's really important to me because the more
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that i'm myself the more i'm excited and the
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more i'm excited the more people are excited with
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me you know and i know it sounds cliche and simplistic but there's
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a lot of truth to those kind of things you know thinking about those kind
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of thoughts you know i think we've just nailed the
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podcast in 11 minutes i mean i don't think we're gonna people
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can consume any more than that that wonderful that
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might be a record but you know since we're we've contractually
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obliged you to stay for another 50 yeah what was your
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next question nick what i want to know is so i
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like yourself you know i like to create and
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i think what i love about what you do is that you use
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these robotics these arduinos and things of
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that nature and you do it like kind of full full
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fold like it's it's it's like it's at the forefront whereas
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whenever i've sort of used it or tinkered with it it's it's done very covertly
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in order to create a magic effect that's kind of interesting so so before we
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talk about you know the knowledge that you gain like how did you even get into
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it because it's to my knowledge you are entirely self-taught on how to program and make Arduino.
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Components and so forth yeah 100 like it's yeah that's
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it these are great questions yeah i i you know
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it goes back to that whole system again being first generation
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american like my parents not speaking english like you know
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you know having this environment where i had to be self-taught
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you know like just getting i was the first person in my family to graduate
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high school you know like first person in my
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family to graduate high school you know so like there's a
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lot of mountains to climb like you know so so so
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what was cool was like just you know
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this whole open source community with technology you
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know that was birthed in the early 2000s like like the
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arduino board getting birth what the arduino does is that it brings freedom
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to the everyday person you know where you don't have to go and go to college
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and be an engineer you can you can study a little bit of code and you can literally
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make motors move by words and numbers you know that you upload from your laptop,
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you know, so it was mind blowing, you know, like, so if I type in the right
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words now, instead of me learning about resistors, capacitors,
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you know, learning about a 555 timer and like all these intricate things that
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technology was in the nineties and eighties for making a circuit.
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Now it's all kind of enveloped in this blue board, you know,
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is the, you know, and then from there, you know, you can add those things.
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You know, those electronic elements,
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but at least there's a starting point and a foundation, you know?
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So that was very exciting to me because the reason I
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got into magic right is because of like the
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idea of like Robert Houdin right like that I can put
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a prop on a table and I can move away and the
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prop moves without me touching it the prop does
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something a magic trick it moves something falls like that
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concept that little moment sparked years
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of inspiration to me like to get that that program working
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on the Arduino so I can do something that does that you know and
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you know so that yeah so like that you know that kind
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of got the ball rolling you know and i think you
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know it's a big thing for me in my show is like do what
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you love is the theme but like the theme is like you know
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and when you're excited about something you know you
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you want to learn about it right so like how do we like
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think about that primal thought like what excites you
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and not worry about the why
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right but just worry about the fact that you're excited
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about it and i'm just gonna learn about like you
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want to know what i've been doing all week you want to know there's nothing to do matter i'll show
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you right now yeah this is what i've been doing and i'm so excited about
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it i don't even care it's like the stupidest thing but it's not like it gives
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me it makes me sleep nice and i've been working with my 10 year old son we've
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been 3d printing we've been getting into drift rc cars like drift yeah boy uh
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so i've been buying these drift
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cars and then distressing them into old vehicles look at this old pick up.
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3D printed little milk crate little tiny milk crate little garbage bag you know.
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But like, I don't know where this is going to take me next year.
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You know, this this will air on the YouTube page and I'll look back on it years ago.
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But maybe every time I chase something that I don't know why I'm excited about,
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I'm going to it leads me and it helps my magic somehow, you know,
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if that makes sense, you know?
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Yeah. I mean, well, straight away, I mean, an RC car could be used as an assistant
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to bring something on stage.
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Right. Or like, you know, there's all sorts of little or even
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it could be a pre-show show where like
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you know things are happening on the stage or yeah obviously
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no 100% it's watching you show me
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that being so excited is like yeah even
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my mind starts to run like oh my god I mean do you
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have a robot open for you before you do your show
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like I mean um I don't have a yeah so like that's a great question I tried to
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build a robot you know to open for me I had I built it it was like on a skateboard
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that was electronic that would go from the wing of the stage you know to the
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center and And what I realized was it just,
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it lacked a human connection, you know,
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and I'm losing this moment of such importance, that opening moment,
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you know, when you're, you know, with the show. And it was very interesting.
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It was like, but I know what you're thinking, Josh, what you're saying,
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because I have the same thought, like it makes so much sense to have a pre-show
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and I'm still playing with the idea.
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I'm just trying to see how do I bring the human connection with the robot?
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That's where I'm at, you know? I mean, your robots went viral during the pandemic
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or probably before that, but that's when I first caught on to it.
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Like, how did it feel watching...
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Not your face, like not you doing something going viral around the world,
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but something that you guys created going around the world. How does that feel?
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Oh, it was surreal. Like it was a desperation because of the pandemic,
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losing all our work financially.
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And then realizing as I'm doom scrolling on my phone, holy crap,
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like the stage is the phone, you know, and the audience is the person behind.
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And I was like, if I can freaking make a robot that just
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does a magic trick for 10 seconds and it's not me you
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know like and then like i built this thing out of servo
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motors and i remember the moment it's a ball to mouth trick
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i know it's called on tom about but it's basically the the robot pukes a ball
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out and then he goes like this and then the ball goes into his hand and then
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he dumps it in a cup but then another one appears and it can repeat endlessly
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and it's slight at hand but it's with a robot you know and And when it started
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fooling me, dude, I freaked out.
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I mean, like I freaked out because like it was I had to time the servo motors
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perfectly for the ball to vanish in the mouth. My gosh.
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And then the ball to appear here, you know, and then it dumps and then it's
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attached to a string that gets pulled.
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You know, it was like there was so much different programs going with multiple Arduinos.
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But when it was all in sync, like the chaos was all in sync.
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I got that 30 second video and I just put it up as as just for fun.
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And then, well, this is the bad part, right, Josh, is that I made like 12 of
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those videos and it was amazing.
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We paid the bills of our house. We paid our mortgage for three months.
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It got licensed in Japan. It got licensed.
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He's got it up. Doug's got it up. There it is. Yeah, there's a little tinfoil robot.
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It's on Tom about.
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Yeah. Yeah. That was, yeah, there. Yeah. Yeah. So I was taking,
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can you guys hear me? Is my mic working?
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It's yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So what is this?
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The most frequently stolen video? I can imagine your social media just got pirated left and right.
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Oh, and I, you know what? It's right.
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It's true, Doug. And like early on, the reason
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why I didn't put a watermark or anything is honestly because
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i wanted it to be as shareable as possible
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and just kind of like i don't care you know
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and then i didn't realize it was going to explode but
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i think part of the reason why i did take off too was because it
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was so easy to share it you know but let me tell you the beautiful part
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because in the beginning it hurt and i was so pissed people
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taking the video and then putting their brand you know
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on the video and sharing it killed i'm not gonna lie
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it kept me up at night but but in the big picture
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right as i pushed the videos and i was the original it's kind
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of like an nft thing like my stamp i'm the first one
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on youtube to post that i'm the one on instagram as the years
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progressed through the pandemic and the pandemic ended people started
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commenting like pissed off like hey that's mario's robot like what are you doing
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and then they tagged me and then people would like that comment and then it
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started happening with a lot of those videos and in the end it was kind of like
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it was almost better for me because it was like you know then And I don't have to be the bad guy.
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And, you know, but in that situation, it worked out. But I can understand how
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it can be frustrating. You know, it was hard.
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I just, I just had this funny thought of like Boston Dynamics who make the gnarliest
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robots that like do like all terrain courses and it's all like Boston Dynamics,
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you son of a bitch. That's my magic robot.
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Scott Link in the comments, he has written in this business,
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you know, you're successful when you've been pirated.
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So I think that was just an early sign. It was so good that it could not be
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contained just within your social pipes.
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It had to be people so excited to share it everywhere else.
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Yeah thanks for that comment that's nice i feel that you know it's true it's
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and that's what were you doing like right before the pandemic if i recall you
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had everyone in an airstream traveling around the country was that what was
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going on yep yep we had an airstream bambi we had an suv.
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And dude it was so amazing we would like eat
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homemade pasta and wine in a walmart parking
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lot in the middle of the country in our airstream you know like it was
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so it was cool it was really it was
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really fun for a season until you realize
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after a season like like airstreams need to be maintained they
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leak like it doesn't matter how fancy they are you
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got to get on the roof and pray that you don't slip off the bean
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you know like it's like you know and it you know
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it's a lot of responsibility but anyway the beautiful thing is Doug
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I'm glad you mentioned that was that we were reaching this sweet spot we
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were able to tour with an airstream and go
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to these theaters and start plotting these tour routes that
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were being great where I would do theaters on the weekend and I
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would do school assemblies during the middle of the week at a lot
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of these local towns you know and yeah it
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was cool it was nice and you know I think it's like everyone's story right Doug
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I bet for you and and all of you guys it's like you everything's just connecting
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and then the world's just gone you know it's just yeah you watch three months
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of work just you know erase in four days I still remember it you know but you learn how to adapt right,
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And then you push forward. Yeah. Well, how different is the logistics going,
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like, touring around your own country versus touring through other countries?
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Because you have done Canada, you have done Europe, and you've also performed
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here in Australia. Like, is it? Yeah.
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Yeah. Yeah. So, like, it's a wild thing. Like, honestly, we haven't done as
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much touring in different countries.
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Like, so, like, in London, we did a 36-show run at Underbelly Boulevard in Soho.
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And it was really cool because we were at the same venue, you know?
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And and then we did adelaide i
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mean we did a edinburgh fringe you know like the big
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fringe festival that helped us to get uh
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those opportunities in australia you know like i would
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recommend to anybody like do the edinburgh fringe
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it's like life-changing there's 3 500 shows all
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happening at the same time in the same city it's it's
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electric it's inspiring all kinds of different performers
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but what was i going to say was you know it's
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it's a wild thing yeah i mean it's
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it's a wild thing being in different countries it humbles you you know
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i was i was telling my wife beforehand i'm like uh yeah mario's working the
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fringe his social media has 30 000 clown noses for this theater run that he's
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talk about that for a moment yeah this makes for a good gig story What are you
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saying wrong for that one, fellas?
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That was the number.
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It was. Yeah. Yeah. The recent purchase was 13,500 and.
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They got delivered while we were away accidentally, and it spilled over our
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porch into the steps, and our neighbors were helping, putting it in the hallway.
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But no, it's a good thing to talk about because I realize as I get older the importance of giving.
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So we don't make money on the noses, but every show at the end,
22:51
we throw 400 noses into the audience, and we have six-foot balloons,
22:55
and we do this two-minute party.
22:57
You know and and yes we lose money but it's
23:01
like the most beautiful thing like when we're at
23:03
the fringe or adelaide fringe you could see the noses spill
23:06
out into the streets like you'll see them in the you know like you
23:10
know like by the sewer like they're everywhere like there's kids
23:12
wearing them and it's like people ask you know where did you get
23:15
them and they say our show and so it's a it's a it's
23:18
a it's a risk but it's become kind of a symbol because
23:21
the theme of the show is a red ball you know so so
23:25
it kind of fits and i think like we
23:28
were talking before josh with you before we went on air like
23:31
the importance of being a little mad a little crazy like you got
23:34
to do a little bit of something nuts to like.
23:37
Set yourself apart sometimes and yeah it's totally
23:39
nuts dude 13 000 clowns in my
23:42
hallway is stupid nuts you know it's a
23:46
bit of a commitment how much you know
23:48
there that is and you're right you have to be mad because
23:51
you know not unless you're mad you're not going to go to the
23:54
extreme lengths to make it so successful that that
23:57
a sane person how much does that weigh like would that
23:59
cost as much to ship to the show if it would to
24:02
buy the sponge balls no it's it you have
24:05
to yeah you have to ship them and for when we did.
24:08
Adelaide fringe last year they we had we had
24:11
i think of it was 10 to 13 000 noses but
24:14
they got stopped at customs oh yeah i remember you
24:16
posted that too a week before fringe and like
24:19
we're like oh my gosh and like so what are
24:22
these people at customs thinking when like it through the
24:25
belt comes these bags and every time they stab them open it's
24:28
just more clown noses you know but yeah
24:31
i mean it's you know it's it's it's yeah
24:34
you have to ship them dude because they just take up so much space and
24:38
and then we have the balloons too they're heavy like the six foot the
24:41
bigger balloons they weigh a lot and so i'm
24:44
learning you know what to ship and when and
24:47
how and and and it's helped us so that when we show
24:50
up basically when we fly now we literally
24:53
have normal looking luggage it's not like these big freaking
24:56
you know pelican cases they just look normal because
24:59
everything in my show looks like a bomb you know so
25:02
it's like it's all wires oh yeah of
25:05
course like it all has electronics yeah
25:08
dude and it's not just electronics it's like crappy electronics
25:12
it's like hot glue paint i mean it looks so bad it looks so bad sketchy it's
25:19
so it's beyond like one time i forgot my little robot lamp in my carry-on and
25:23
they stopped me the alarm went off everyone's mad at me like and like they they're
25:29
looking at this robot lamp and.
25:32
And then like they had to get the manager and then they're yelling at me.
25:34
And I'm like, I'm just a magician, man. I'm just going, you know, like, yeah, yeah.
25:37
And then finally the bomb squad head guy comes. I could tell it's him because
25:42
he's dressed in black. He's huge.
25:44
He's like this big diesel guy, you know, and he comes out like this.
25:47
And then he looks at the robot and then he looks at me with my hat.
25:51
And I was like, I'm just a magician. Like I'm on tour.
25:54
And then he looks and he looks at, he's like, leave the guy alone.
25:57
He's a freaking magician.
25:58
It's just a robot. And then he walked away. And then we would go,
26:01
you know, like, it was crazy, you know.
26:05
But anyway, I'm saying that story because I learned a lesson.
26:08
Like, there's science to it. Like, you got to take all the lithium batteries
26:12
out. Like, you don't mix those, you know.
26:14
That's carry on. But the robotics, you put them on the check-in, you know.
26:17
And that's a game changer, you know. Like, because now there's nothing to worry about when it scans.
26:21
They're looking for power, you know. And they're looking for liquids, you know.
26:24
And so once you understand that stuff, you know. And we put posters everywhere
26:29
in our luggage describing which theater we're going to and who we are and a
26:34
big number to call, you know, all that. It's helped. Oh, that's so clever.
26:38
And how, like, how worried are you when things arrive that everything's still
26:42
together? Like your props and how much do you have to fix on the other side?
26:48
Yeah, yeah. Yeah. So like when we did Adelaide Fringe last year and we arrived,
26:53
my whole main suitcase, the hinge completely smashed inside.
26:59
Like, I don't even know how.
27:00
Like, I'm looking at it and like, oh, my God, rehearsals tomorrow.
27:04
The day after starts the fringe and it's nonstop. It's show every day and it's completely smashed in.
27:09
And I have no tools because like I'm in Australia and I have no car because
27:13
everyone drives on the other side of the road, you know. So it's like, I can't go anywhere.
27:19
And I'm praying and I'm just figuring out, because there's no Home Depot too.
27:25
So I'm used to all these American version hardware stores and I'm trying to figure it out.
27:29
But anyway, long story short, with a lot of clamps and glue and patience,
27:32
I had to rebuild and restructure the whole hinge.
27:35
And we made it and it works. It happens, dude. And now I bubble wrap everything.
27:40
Everything's wrapped in bubble wrap. It's just heavy bubble wrap and it works out. Yeah.
27:47
Have you ever seen the vacuum bags these are giant plastic
27:50
bags that you can fill with clothing and so forth and
27:53
what you do is you apply a vacuum that
27:56
just sucks all of the air out of out of
27:59
it so that you can take blankets and and and what
28:03
i assume would also work for sponge balls
28:06
and noses and basically shrink them down to
28:09
you know yeah i never thought of that i'll be honest that's a it's a good idea
28:15
i it's a really good idea because you're right because those things can really
28:19
compress right yeah yeah that's a really good idea i you know i i right now
28:25
we're on this kick where we found a good supply now katie.
28:34
As long as the
28:39
nose is still like reflate once you're there
28:41
otherwise you're giving out like little sad flat squashed
28:45
little discs it's crazy like
28:47
we did blackpool magic convention and i
28:50
had all the noses you know and i they
28:53
came all squished like you said they're all compressed so okay
28:57
so we open them up what happens they're freaking little pancakes you
29:00
know but i have to throw them out you know so what did i
29:03
do you want to know what i did and katie thought it was nuts i stuck
29:06
them all in the bathtub and i freaking just squished
29:09
them and i was like an old an old italian lady with my feet making
29:12
wine and like
29:16
and then the bathtub's all red you
29:19
know full of red liquid of dye and like we have to scrub that and i mean but
29:23
anyway it was really fun and it worked out and you learn from these experiences
29:27
and it's part of like what makes it amazing you know like at the end of the
29:31
day like it's just it was chaotic then but we laugh about it now right like it was crazy yeah.
29:37
Let's talk just for a second about being at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
29:41
Would you say that was a nice launching pad for you and to doing some other
29:44
things? It seemed like that's when you popped on off Broadway.
29:47
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, Doug, like we because of Blackpool, we did Blackpool.
29:53
It was a big risk being a children's performer at Blackpool Magic Convention.
29:56
They they gave us this opportunity to perform on the big stage and do our theater show.
30:00
And from there, Chris Cox, who's on The Illusionists, he's an absolute master.
30:06
He came up to katie and was like i
30:09
want to help you guys you know after my lecture and and
30:13
he was the one who like started pushing us to
30:15
do edinburgh fringe he knew underbelly the company that
30:18
runs some of one of the biggest tents you
30:21
know and shows there they run almost half the whole festival
30:24
what was your what was your theater like in edinburgh was like 100
30:27
seats or was it 400 did you say yeah it
30:30
was 400 seat in a tent in a
30:33
tent and but it's all you know they have all the
30:35
tech inside and if you look if you google it the
30:38
purple cow edinburgh it's an upside down inflatable
30:42
purple cow that's a huge tent that's all and it's
30:45
it was just like amazing and the thing
30:48
is i didn't realize but you know it's it rains all
30:51
the time you know in scotland so like
30:54
there were mornings where like that the stage was like you know
30:57
got soaked and we have to you know everyone's cleaning to make it work
30:59
but like it was so amazing to be
31:02
on that stage where like you know it's kids and
31:05
families and they took this big risk to bring us on
31:08
and and all the people that run underbelly just like amazing company you know
31:13
because they have young kids too and and so chris cox helped push that for us
31:17
you know to get produced by them you know a little a little spoiler it's not
31:21
a risk margo they're booking an amazing performer it's not a risk.
31:26
God bless you. Bless you. It was, but no, it was, it was, it was really wild
31:32
because you have giants like Charlie Caper, you know, who's like insane in Edinburgh.
31:36
Like he's a, we're talking about a master of sleight of hand.
31:38
Yeah. He's, he's so inspiring.
31:41
And so you get to see all these Dom Chambers, another amazing magician that
31:45
does Edinburgh, you know, Colin Cloud was there for a minute,
31:47
man, his show was phenomenal, you know?
31:50
And so like, it was just beautiful to be able to see live shows after you're
31:54
done with your show too, you know?
31:55
And then from there from the underbelly boulevard
31:58
you you don't want to hear something funny man i'll tell you i live in new york
32:01
my whole freaking life right so it's like your dream is to be off broadway and
32:04
all that stuff it's like i had to go to scotland so that like i can be in new
32:08
york okay like isn't it wild like it's wild you know yeah so like i go to scotland
32:14
and then it's like you know that gave us some type of street cred you know and
32:18
so that helped us you know and so now,
32:21
you're returning to off-broadway november 16th
32:25
like yes next saturday next
32:28
saturday yeah yes here you are plugging the thing we're looking
32:31
at your website for the listeners at home you were on the tonight
32:34
show yeah how does that stories any stories from that i mean that doesn't just
32:38
happen and go perfectly i'm sure no that was two years in the making you know
32:43
it was not something that just happened there was me and talk about covid you
32:48
know covid stopped everything you know, and then I was.
32:52
It was hard because the idea of even a possibility to be on The Tonight Show,
32:57
can you imagine your head and your heart?
32:59
And then the COVID happens. It's like there's no way they're going to remember
33:03
it. So it was a very long couple of years.
33:06
You had this in the works before COVID. That's interesting.
33:09
Well, the ball was rolling. The ball was rolling.
33:14
And so what happened was it was beautiful how it happened because it was our
33:19
first time off Broadway.
33:20
So it was like the perfect time to really make it happen you
33:23
know and we got the call it was four days
33:26
before he was like are you ready four days like we're
33:29
gonna do it you know and we had meetings you
33:32
know all the time you know following up about material
33:35
and stuff and but what was so beautiful is that
33:38
is jimmy fallon is such a genuine person
33:42
that like the idea that we could bring kids on the tonight show like on the
33:46
floor yeah you know that's like that he's like let's do it you know bring the
33:51
freaking kids man do what you do mario you know like that's insane that's so
33:56
good you know that like that i got to represent that you know yeah tim tim has a great question too,
34:02
where is your favorite place to perform and are the kids different from place
34:06
to place oh they're so different so different like i'll give you an example
34:12
i do a trick with a paper streamer.
34:14
If you go on my Instagram page, you'll see a moment of it where I have a red streamer on a stick.
34:18
And I say, I go on stage and I say, whatever you do, please do not pull on this
34:23
beautiful red streamer.
34:25
And if I'm in New York city, the second my feet get off the stairs,
34:29
there's three kids ripping the streamer off. Okay.
34:32
And then, and it's just how it is. And I go, no, where are your parents?
34:36
You know, I scream at the kids and I, I have a bit for every time a kid rips it.
34:40
And then I do Edinburgh Fringe and I'm like so excited, you know, and there's me.
34:44
Whatever you do, do not pull on the streamer. And I swear to you,
34:48
I'm going down the aisles with the streamer rushing on kids laps and parents' shoulders.
34:55
Nobody's touching the streamer. Nobody.
34:59
I'm sweating. Like, I'm just sweating, you know, like, how is this possible?
35:04
And then I realized I had to change the wording. I had to like make it into
35:08
a different bit because they're so polite.
35:11
Like they were so, they're such like, they're just so ready to listen, you know?
35:15
And, and so like, but the beautiful thing is after that bit,
35:18
when the streamer gets ripped and they understand that that's the show,
35:21
it's so fun to see the kids open up and scream back and yell.
35:26
And that's why I love Doug so much too. Cause like, dude, like you understand
35:29
that street performing hustle, you know, where it's like, you gotta be loud.
35:32
You gotta be in your face.
35:33
The rhythm has to be quick. Like it's the same thing with my show.
35:36
And that's the that's the energy of kids too it's like if
35:39
you're off a beat that's it you lose them you know
35:42
and and that's and that's what my character is it's
35:45
an exaggeration of who i am it's like i stay on.
35:48
That high rhythm you know that high energy beat
35:51
and so it was really fun and and same with london
35:54
like you know the kids are very polite you know and but it's
35:57
fun it's fun like you know like just
36:00
watching them break character you know and and it makes
36:02
me feel like my job was well done you know do you do that to
36:05
adults as well mario like i hope there's like
36:08
these corporate events that want to book you
36:11
whatever and you just treat them like kids yell at them yell
36:14
at the oh yeah you have to come see the show you
36:17
have to yeah i definitely a big part of
36:19
the show are the parents it's not a kid's show it's a family show and
36:22
so i've learned a corporate show is that something you'll
36:25
do like you know do a mic no i mean it's i
36:29
probably i mean i've done like yeah if it's
36:32
like a family thing for sure josh like if there's like a family thing
36:35
we're all gonna go see the show after dinner you know we'll all
36:37
come in this room sure but like not all adults i
36:40
you know i mean i could maybe but it's just not what i'm good
36:43
at you know there's so many other magicians they're so much better than me you
36:45
know and it's like this is my little niche my little you know thing that i do
36:50
and i kind of just focus on that no 100 what i guess what i was meaning was
36:54
like because we're all kids really and yeah 100 you know i can just imagine
36:59
like how funny it would to be making a room full of.
37:03
Corporate dudes sit on the floor and like yell at them
37:06
and just have hilarious stuff happen like i think people
37:09
would pay a lot of money to experience that you know
37:11
that's really funny i love that image i
37:14
love that image you know it's crazy i would i did a
37:17
bunch of school assemblies last week and i do a lot of school
37:20
assemblies in theaters that paper streamer part the past
37:23
year i changed it because if i do a school assembly and all the kids are sitting
37:26
when i say whatever you do don't i'll pull the streamer what happens is it's
37:29
an ocean of kids like a mosh pit because there's no adult near them and like
37:34
it's chaos like it's like they'll rip and then it's like other kids are standing
37:37
up and they're tackling for the piece and but now what i do is that yeah.
37:42
Exactly it's like all right okay you did it good job anyone else want to pull the streamer
37:48
but no the idea is like so what i do now is where the teachers are sitting on
37:51
the on the ends of the room i'll do the same bit whatever you do teachers whatever
37:57
you do don't pull on the streamer and And like the first five teachers don't
38:00
pull it, but one of those teachers will get it.
38:02
And then it's really fun that I can yell at the teacher in front of the teacher, you know.
38:06
And it's really felt like, wow, I found how this works in this.
38:10
And that's a good example for all of us as performers.
38:13
Like every room requires a different version of yourself, you know,
38:18
like, and it doesn't just because
38:19
you're doing the same material doesn't mean it's the same, you know.
38:22
And there's an adjustment there that that I'm always
38:25
reminded of every time we start a new thing like you know like a new venue like
38:29
the tent in edinburgh or in adelaide it was different too you know so we're
38:33
always adjusting right and and are your kids like your biggest critics like
38:38
do they watch your show and then go dad that bit is no good now or that needs to be.
38:44
Yeah i mean they're i mean dude they're burnt out they don't they hate magic
38:48
i'm gonna be honest if you see my kids don't ask them to pick a card because
38:52
like they're just they're like you know And I say this with all joy because
38:58
it's so funny to me because you know how people say you become the opposite of your parents.
39:04
So it's like for me seeing my dad as a stonemason, that was my thing as a teenager.
39:09
I don't want to do this when I grow up.
39:11
I want to do something fun. And I believe that that's part of the reason why
39:14
I'm here today with the career that I have.
39:17
So I think for them, I'm just curious. What are they going to do?
39:21
I think they're going to play golf and be lawyers.
39:24
I don't know. i don't know yeah yeah
39:28
well as long as they're you know something they enjoy right yeah oh 100 100
39:33
so i'm curious what does mario the maker dream about doing now you've had some
39:39
amazing successes like yeah it's got to be an intense wave to be riding but
39:45
what's what's on the radar.
39:48
Yeah. I mean, I think I just, I, you know, my kids are getting older,
39:51
you know, so they're 13 and 10 and, and talk about shifting your business.
39:56
Like I have, you know, they want to be home more, you know, so it's like,
40:00
it's not anymore like they're three years old.
40:02
We could put them in a car seat and just travel for six weeks.
40:05
You know, they have friends now, you know, and like, so a lot of this stuff.
40:09
And the reason why we're in New York too, is like, is so that they can have
40:12
these sleepovers and these everyday activities. He's like, we live in a wonderful
40:16
town where you can walk downtown, you know, from our house.
40:18
And so that the idea that they have that freedom, you know, because when you're
40:21
traveling, you're you're so much stricter as a parent, too, you know,
40:25
because you just don't know, you know.
40:26
And so I think that, like, this off-Broadway thing is a really beautiful thing.
40:30
The Soho Playhouse has been so kind to us, like the staff and having us back.
40:34
And it gives us a balance for two to three months where we're just home, you know.
40:39
And I like these residencies. I think that's that's all I want is just be able to grow the show.
40:44
We have so behind me is a painting this is painted by my by a nyack artist named peter cheney he's a.
40:52
Amazing artist and so like yeah there's that
40:54
i'll show you if i get turned here you can see that beautiful flower
40:58
in a vase there and anyway he's doing
41:01
he one of the changes of our show on saturday is
41:04
he painted he's painting our whole set like giant cardboard.
41:07
Versions of parts of the show and we're
41:10
going to be putting it up on wednesday so like i'm excited about
41:13
little things like that you know like how that's going to affect the
41:16
show the aesthetics and what the kids think of it and and so
41:19
the show gets bigger and bigger there's a lot more to consider about
41:23
staging production and such right
41:26
yeah 100 and cardboard is so lightweight like
41:29
at underbelly we had velcro on the back we could pop them
41:32
off take them off before because a lot
41:35
of the times man you have to strike your stuff off every show
41:38
because there's another show at night and like so I
41:41
have that's why I have big inflatables because they're they compact
41:44
and I homemade that I made them out of
41:47
really cheap material because they compact really tight so
41:50
what happens is I can fill the stage with the inflatables and it looks
41:53
really beautiful and big and it's all run on battery-powered
41:56
fans I suck the air out I can put them into the
41:59
dressing room and the next show can come on you know like so we're
42:02
trying to do that same angle with the cardboard squares that
42:05
Peter's painting like how do we just velcro them on or
42:08
put them on a mic stand you know like how do we placement you know make it look
42:12
full and beautiful you know yeah yeah wow did i did i hear in one of your clips
42:18
that you got to do a kid's show for someone pretty famous who i mean this is
42:25
your story but you did what did i oh wait recently recently.
42:29
The clip that I saw was for Madonna's Kids or something?
42:34
Yes, yes, yes, yes. So I've been really lucky, you know, like being in New York
42:39
City, we did 12 years of kids' birthday parties.
42:43
And then I, yeah, I performed for Madonna's Kids a few times,
42:48
you know, like years ago, a couple of years ago.
42:50
And just a beautiful, talk about Italian-American, like beautiful family,
42:56
you know, just, you know.
42:58
And so yeah yeah that happens like in new york it's
43:01
a beautiful thing you know like you get to meet you because it's
43:05
a crazy thing when you think about being hired for some a private event
43:08
like it's like people are letting you into their home you
43:11
know and like they're they're allowing you to perform for
43:14
their kids which sounds like this crazy hard
43:17
thing but think about their their most valuable thing in their life is their kids
43:20
and they're allowing you to perform for them you know and so
43:22
when you think about it with the right attitude you realize how sacred
43:25
it is you know and so like the fact that
43:28
i got to be there with madonna and see her as a mom you know
43:31
and like what like when she entered the room she was like
43:34
just she didn't even know i was there she was just dancing and her kids were
43:37
following her like little ducklings you know like it was like it shook me you
43:41
know like and i'm like oh that's why she's madonna you know like it's like her
43:47
life is music like even when she
43:49
walks she's dancing right and i feel like there's a lot to learn there,
43:52
even for us, right? Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
43:55
Wow, that's incredible. I can imagine just even, like imagine hiring a show
44:01
for your kid and then Mario shows up and just...
44:05
Flows the house down with your show like that that's gonna be such a wonderful surprise,
44:10
when you were primarily doing yeah it was fun it was fun man like it was fun like but then it.
44:19
Plateaus and then you start not feeling good like
44:22
you feel like all the jokes go over the kids and you don't know why the
44:25
shows aren't going well and you realize like you're just not happy you
44:28
know and like you gotta know when to like do something
44:31
different you know and uh did it did it
44:35
kind of get to a point where you had sort of maxed out
44:37
as many as you could do and you were just kind of yeah because
44:40
i'm looking at magicians 10 years older than me 15 years
44:43
older than me and like and i'm understanding that
44:46
like these are the paths you know like and there's nothing wrong with that there's
44:50
magicians that are 10 15 they own two houses in new york and all they do is
44:54
private working part they're like killing it you know but then it's like comes
44:57
down to what do you want you know and for me i just i think we all just want
45:01
to be happy you know so like for me it's like,
45:04
and then I think of my kids and I, I just, you know, I,
45:06
you know, for me, I, I believe in the show.
45:09
I believe I have something to say, you know, I believe I have something to say
45:12
right now, you know, and it starts on Saturday and it's, you know,
45:17
it's, it's a, it's my dedication to, you know, the people that changed my life,
45:22
you know, like my teacher, Ms.
45:23
Rinello, my humanities teacher, she's 84 years old, God bless her.
45:27
And, uh, I dedicate the show to her every show, you know, like,
45:29
cause there's a lot of things that have to do with how she impacted my life as a teenager.
45:34
And, and what's cool is like when I was on the tonight show,
45:37
you know, she got to see that, you know, and she Facebook me and messaged me
45:42
and like, you know, she's 84, you know?
45:44
So, you know, I don't, I hope to, I hope she gets to see the show,
45:47
you know, at some point somehow, you know?
45:50
Yeah. Talk about this lovely thing. We're on your website, looking around the
45:54
every child initiative, every child deserves a seat.
45:57
Yeah. People can donate seats and people can request seats.
46:02
Yeah. So last year at the Soho Playhouse, we realized like how expensive it
46:07
is to get into New York City, how expensive it is to like just park your car,
46:12
to get into a show, you know.
46:14
And so Katie and I, I always say this at my lecture, you know,
46:19
every child deserves a seat at the theater, you know, because theater changed my life, too, you know.
46:24
And like a lot of kids that I do shows for at these school assemblies will probably
46:28
never get to see theater. A lot of these schools that I've been doing,
46:31
you know, so like so that started with that.
46:34
And Katie was like, man, we should do something where we can pair people that
46:38
have extra money to purchase a ticket. And then I can match them through email
46:42
with a real family that wants to go see the show but can't afford it.
46:47
And last year it took off. One of the managers at Soho Playhouse was like,
46:52
I'll put a page up for you, Mario.
46:53
And we'll and we'll match each individual ticket and guess
46:57
what there were like people freaking like coming up after the
46:59
show like a lot of like single moms like with their son or
47:03
like their daughter like thank you for today and i
47:05
was like don't thank me like there's someone that did it you know but of course
47:08
you know so there's people right now that have a little extra and then there's
47:12
people that don't you know and if we can match those people then we can get
47:16
this thing where they can come out to the city go see the rockefeller tree and
47:20
have this moment you know like where otherwise they wouldn't, you know?
47:23
So we sold, how many tickets have we sold so far? Katie, do you know?
47:28
We matched 62 seats and we didn't even start the run yet, you know,
47:33
and like these are tickets that strangers bought just to, you know,
47:37
just to give, you know, and then
47:39
we have these seats matched with families that have reached out to us.
47:42
So it's just like, you know, we have to think about what, look,
47:47
who are you and why are you here? Right.
47:49
Like, and yes, we're here to entertain. Yes, we're here to make people laugh
47:52
because we want them to forget about the hardships of life from the week.
47:56
Right. And that's this gift. so it's like my it's like our way
47:59
of like how do we take it more you know like how
48:01
do we keep it where we're still doing that you know and
48:04
yeah so mario we have a question here from the christian
48:07
magician i'd like to bring up about school with you it says here i found
48:11
the working in the streets kids love color the
48:14
most anything from silk to cane or blendo
48:17
change bag but are there any tips for
48:20
any other things to keep us to get and keep
48:23
their attention any tips or any other things to to
48:27
get and keep their attention yeah i mean i
48:29
think the biggest thing is that is that kids love
48:32
games you know they love games so
48:36
like think about like the hippity hop rabbits like that routine
48:39
is built in patter jokes and magic
48:42
you know so like if you could take just
48:45
that trick right and do it just like the book you
48:48
know just like the book is right and then all of a sudden like understand
48:52
if you can translate that into a game with kids
48:55
it's like the strongest ending to a whole show like i'm telling
48:58
you like all i'm gonna do now is just you know look
49:01
over there you know and you flip it you know oh you turned it around okay fine
49:04
you're right okay whatever no i didn't turn it back and then all you got to
49:07
do is like you know everyone put your arm in the air smell your armpit and then
49:11
you like you know you flip it around like there's so many things that you can
49:15
uh do with just the hippie ever i think about every routine as a game like and
49:19
the big thing for me too is.
49:22
Call and response is my whole show. Like if you have a beat where you're not
49:26
doing magic, if you want to see more, say more.
49:29
I can't hear you. You know, like, you know, like that kind of thing.
49:33
Like what are the catchphrases that you can say that force them to respond so
49:37
you can get that extra moment to breathe or get that trick reset?
49:41
I think it's something to think about, you know, games and call and response.
49:46
And you can watch videos on YouTube of stuff like that, you know,
49:50
just, you know, to get ideas, you know.
49:54
So when you're so well-traveled, you've performed, you know,
49:57
across so many different locations.
49:59
One of the things that's been brought to my attention is how different it is
50:02
performing in New York, which is, you know, what you're native to versus performing in LA.
50:06
And one of the things we were told is that LA doesn't particularly care about how good you are.
50:12
They care about more like what social status you have, how many followers, et cetera.
50:16
Whereas in New York, they couldn't care if you had 6 million followers and you sucked.
50:20
Do you find that to be proof i mean
50:23
yeah there's a we were just in california two weeks ago i
50:26
mean it's it's a different rhythm you know
50:29
i think yeah i mean it's a different rhythm it's a
50:31
different style you know like i i like
50:34
you know i mean it's just yeah i mean it's it's
50:37
a different energy it's yeah it's
50:40
a it's a good question i mean i mean at
50:43
the end of the day i know that everyone laughs at the same things like no matter
50:46
where i'm in the world like kids all laugh but there's definitely like there's
50:49
definitely a swagger you know in LA than there is in New York I mean
50:52
you know people say what do they say they say like New Yorkers
50:56
are mean you know but they're kind you know like
50:58
and and like everywhere else in the country they're they're nice
51:01
but they're secretly jerks you know like they're mean you
51:04
know so it's like you know like if you if you
51:07
if you fall like or you trip in
51:10
the city they'll be like what you know what's wrong with you get out of my way but
51:13
then they'll you know help you up and like you know it's all like an attitude
51:16
thing like the kindness that's what i love about new york is just it's
51:19
the language of kindness that they speak that like if you're not from new york
51:22
it looks like they're jerks you know but it's just new york you know we have
51:25
a different way of communicating love you know and i and i i mean i'm just i
51:32
yeah i mean i i definitely miss new york when i'm not in new york you know after
51:36
a couple weeks but i'm so happy.
51:40
That like my kids got to experience Australia, you know, like my daughter's
51:44
favorite country now is Australia.
51:45
Adelaide was, there's so many freaking Italians in Adelaide.
51:49
I mean, it was like crazy.
51:50
There's Italians in Australia. There's so many. I didn't know, you know?
51:54
Yeah. I mean, yeah, look, we can use some more Mario over here for sure.
51:58
And you, you were even talking about a few subtle differences you noticed when you were in Australia,
52:03
like the thing with the fruits in the grocery stores and little details like that,
52:09
where it's it's free for kids to have fruit when
52:12
you're shopping in the store you guys don't have that
52:15
which is strange but you know come
52:18
back anytime is what we're saying i love you went to the grocery
52:21
store in australia there's multiple baskets when you enter the grocery store
52:25
and it says free vegetables and fruits for kids so you literally kids are allowed
52:31
to eat those for free there's no way in new york like there's there's nothing
52:34
like that here you know like and then the other beautiful thing about australia
52:38
and tell me if i'm wrong because i might be wrong because I was only there for a couple weeks,
52:40
but it seems like all the fruits and vegetables, you don't import them from other countries.
52:44
It looks like you grow them all mostly in Australia, which is amazing.
52:49
I don't know. The food just felt really natural.
52:54
I don't know. It's hard in America. That's the one thing that hurts a little
52:58
bit is just regulations with food and trying to find healthy stuff to eat and
53:02
making sure it's... Australia was really fun.
53:05
We just We were able to eat really well And not that we're not here I just feel
53:09
like it's expensive It costs a lot more money to eat better Ridiculous.
53:16
Of all the neighborhoods you've performed in Obviously countless locations all
53:21
across New York You've been to Radelaide What was it like being on Sesame Street?
53:26
Yeah man yeah i'll
53:29
tell you i didn't sleep the whole night before that's gotta be
53:32
like a mecca right yeah i mean it's
53:35
like i don't have a college degree but that felt
53:38
like my college degree you know and yeah it was they rented a theater in new
53:45
york city for the day and so like it was so the idea was like to make our own
53:50
magic tricks like a maker magic thing and we built this little flower out of
53:54
a Ziploc bag track that can,
53:56
so the flower can bend as you slide your thumb.
53:59
And so all my best afterschool program bits we put into the episode,
54:03
but I think my favorite part from Sesame Street was, well, first meeting like
54:08
Joey Mazzarino and Peter Linz, like these masters.
54:12
Freaking masters, okay.
54:15
Of puppetry. Like you talk about like puppets,
54:18
like, and you're like, oh that's such a kid thing or like dude like peter
54:22
lins during the pandemic he instagram he came on
54:25
our instagram live feed right peter lins puts on a
54:28
sock on his hand with the little eyes and
54:31
the moment that thing moved it was like i was hypnotized and i was laughing
54:36
and crying katie was laughing and crying because he spent his life doing this
54:41
you know and like you think of it as such a small move but it's like it's like
54:45
slideini with like the paper balls getting pissed like You're not going to learn
54:49
the next move until you learn this move.
54:52
He's a master of every movement, right? That's what I'm trying to say.
54:56
And it was so beautiful to see them in person.
55:00
And these puppets, when they were off set, they put them on these stands. So they're on the table.
55:07
And it looks like you're at the Museum of Modern Art, the way they're displayed.
55:11
Offset. And I think that shook me the most, was just looking at these iconic
55:16
pieces of art. like from my childhood, you know?
55:20
But yeah, like, you know, I was just thinking about like sliding with the paper
55:24
balls and all that, like the idea of like, just being so focused on the moves
55:29
and mastering, you know, the illusion with physical stuff. And that's how I see you guys too.
55:34
Like when I watch your clips, all three of you, by the way, freaking epic magic,
55:39
you know, like, like there's just the time that you put into cards and coins
55:42
is, is just inspiring, you know?
55:45
So now I'll say now I didn't say before, but it's an honor to be spending this
55:49
time with all three of you honestly yeah so thank you guys yeah without a doubt
55:53
without a doubt mario knows how to sweet talk yeah we're not about the guests
55:57
let's drink some limoncello all right yeah,
56:00
but for like you know for us and for the magicians out
56:03
there that are aspiring to like for the guys listening to this that
56:06
want to do this full-time you know yeah obviously the i've
56:09
i've always we we know that the ones that do their
56:13
own path or find their own niche are the ones that
56:16
that can successfully do it full time and make a great living
56:19
what do you have any sort of advice on how to
56:22
approach finding your own path
56:25
or how to start customizing the things in your show like what are some ways
56:31
they could tweak a routine yeah maybe yeah i think those are great questions
56:36
you know i'll answer them both separately i think i think if i think you need to love magic so much.
56:43
That you don't care where on the tree you land, you know?
56:46
So like, if you have this idea that like, I'm going to be magic and I'm going
56:50
to be this, you know, and I'm not, I have to have this.
56:53
And if I'm not this, then I'm not going to be anything.
56:55
It's you got to get rid of that. You have to be passionate about your dreams,
56:59
but flexible about the details of your dreams.
57:02
You know, I heard that once in a talk and it, you know, meaning like if your
57:05
dream is to be on Broadway or like a
57:08
Lincoln Center, but like all these opportunities are coming in your life.
57:11
Like, and you're like, I'm not taking that. that's not broadway that's not lincoln center that's a
57:14
birthday party or that's a library show or that's a you'll never
57:18
ever get close to there you know like it's
57:21
the idea that you love magic so much you don't care like
57:24
i just want to get on stage i want to perform i want to find
57:27
myself i'm still finding myself you know like i
57:30
did six shows in california at a school and i learned
57:33
all this new stuff about myself like that i didn't know because there
57:36
was like these interruptions during the assembly because
57:39
it was after school program and it was like really distracting at
57:42
first but then i learned this different side of my character
57:45
of how to deal with the distractions that help benefit me now
57:48
like that i just did a couple shows just recently so like every struggle
57:52
that you're facing maybe it's there because there's
57:55
something more beautiful ahead that you need to get through this
57:58
struggle so that you can find what that beauty is you know kind of
58:01
thing if that makes sense you know like so i've been trying to look
58:03
at every struggle like that in my magic because
58:06
like even with the tonight show like it the opportunity happened before the
58:09
pandemic and and if it happened that early i i
58:12
wouldn't have been ready and i wouldn't have had anything to promote you know
58:15
like so as much as i wanted it then and now and i need it now thank thank the
58:21
universe god that like i i was forced to wait you know and and look i'm 40 i'm
58:27
gonna be 45 you know like it's you're never it's never too late to do what you
58:31
love you know you would never guess i think because you're having so much fun you do not.
58:35
You know, magician's age seem to age pretty well because we just have so much
58:39
fun, right? Without a doubt. That's not true. You are not.
58:44
We basically refuse to grow up. So that's only going to. That's right. That's right.
58:49
And like the second question you asked, I think like just think about where we're living right now.
58:56
You can get a bamboo mini 3D printer for $300 right now.
59:02
Black Friday deal. That is the fastest commercial, that's the fastest 3D printer that exists.
59:07
It prints six times faster than any 3D printer. And you literally plug it in
59:11
and it self-calibrates and you could download files and 3D print like in record time, you know?
59:17
Like just having that in your house or apartment, like with extra money,
59:21
if you have that 300 bucks, like get it, you know? Because that's a toolbox.
59:26
It's like a hammer that you learn how to use, like that will kill in your magic
59:30
career. Like you can use and make gimmicks and all that.
59:33
Other thing is Tinkercad.com. It's a, it's free.
59:37
It's a 3d design software that's online. I use it all the time.
59:41
Trust me, there's way better ones and fancy ones, but that's the one that I
59:45
use because it's open source. It's free and you can start right now.
59:50
You can learn how to 3d design, download the STL file, put it on your 3d printer.
59:54
So that means like magic gimmicks, you know, like this, this silly little ice
59:58
cream scoop that I saw in a linking ring magazine,
1:00:01
I 3D printed it, you know, and, and, and it took, you know, and I glued it together,
1:00:06
painted it, you know, so this is, it's not just about.
1:00:11
Buying marketed tricks.
1:00:12
It's about creating an environment where you can hack those tricks,
1:00:16
where you can add to those tricks, you know?
1:00:18
And then at the, and then the other big thing is like, don't be afraid to be
1:00:21
vulnerable in your magic too.
1:00:23
You know, the things that connect us most as people are the things that make
1:00:26
us most vulnerable that we don't want to talk about, you know?
1:00:29
And I think that the more we communicate, there's a painter,
1:00:33
his name is Botero, very famous artist.
1:00:35
He said, in order, he said, he said, in order for art to be universal, it must be local.
1:00:43
Okay. Meaning like the more local you are to yourself, the more you speak to
1:00:48
the world, you know, like his art spoke to the world because of his culture,
1:00:54
his country, and how he represented it on the wall,
1:00:57
like his traditions, his family.
1:01:00
It's not because he tried to paint every culture. He painted what he knows, his local, right?
1:01:08
And I've been trying to adapt that more into my life and my career now,
1:01:11
especially like my heritage, like what makes me different?
1:01:14
What's, you know, like to say in that story about my grandfather,
1:01:17
like I just learned that a couple months ago that my dad just happened to share.
1:01:21
Like, I never knew that, that he had the best clothes in school,
1:01:25
you know, like, but maybe they didn't have shoes. Like, that's a powerful story.
1:01:28
You know, what is your local and how can you adapt that to your magic?
1:01:32
Oh this is amazing mario i'm sorry man i get deep i get deep i'm sorry you have to,
1:01:40
maybe it's still in the shell i think it's still in the shell you know you you
1:01:45
know you you talk to some magicians about like their feelings their thoughts
1:01:49
and if and if it were an ocean you'd barely wet your ankles and you talk to
1:01:54
mario the maker and you drown you know it's like.
1:01:59
There is a depth of knowledge and and love that you
1:02:02
have the game it's so inspiring thank you so much for sharing it with us today
1:02:06
but i think the hour has passed it is slowly becoming time for us to wrap up
1:02:12
i think it's about time we press on to the final word gentlemen i i think so
1:02:17
i think so and look make sure you go and see mario if if he is coming to your city in the future,
1:02:22
his website is in the description below just fly
1:02:26
go find him because i can't wait to see your show in person and i feel like
1:02:32
i've seen it like it's funny i feel like i have not seen it but i feel like
1:02:36
i've seen it because i've felt the the vibes and the good energy and the high
1:02:40
frequency from the clips that do go out there even if it is just a robot it's still,
1:02:45
It's still you and, you know, your team and your wife. And it's still everything
1:02:49
you've created. But I can't wait to still see it in person.
1:02:53
So, you know, beautiful stuff. So, you've given us so much already.
1:02:57
But if we may, we're going to press on with the final word and get one last
1:03:01
little piece of Mario the Maker Magician wisdom. Here we go.
1:03:11
Hey, so the final word is just how I end my magic show.
1:03:15
Do what you love, use what you have and have fun.
1:03:19
And meaning whatever excites you, like whatever it is right now that you're
1:03:22
excited about, how silly or small it is, I don't care.
1:03:26
I believe there's something from the universe like tapping into you,
1:03:30
telling you to learn about it because that's why you're excited about it.
1:03:33
And when you're excited, you learn the most.
1:03:35
And so do what you love. That's what that means. Use what you have.
1:03:38
So whatever that you're excited about that you're learning on,
1:03:40
don't think, oh, I can't do that because I need this and I need this and I need
1:03:44
this. And if I don't have that, I can't do that.
1:03:46
You have it. You have it inside you right now.
1:03:49
Everything, every tool that you have inside and use what you have and have fun, man.
1:03:53
Make it fun. Just like the amazing magicians that are on this podcast.
1:03:56
Bless all three of those gentlemen. Before we go, I'm just going to say Adelaide Fringe 2025.
1:04:02
I'm going to be there. If you're an Australian Adelaide, come say what's up.
1:04:06
There is a 2025 Australian tour that's happening.
1:04:10
So check out the Mario the Maker Magician page. Mario the Magician at Instagram.
1:04:15
And then starting this Saturday, November 16th, off-Broadway,
1:04:20
the Soho Playhouse. We're going to be there for two months till the new year,
1:04:24
every Saturday and Sunday, four shows a week.
1:04:26
Come say what's up. Come see some magic.
1:04:29
Come see some robot magic. Thank you so much.
1:04:33
Thanks for listening. It's time for us to disappear now. Disappear now.
1:04:39
But we'll see you again on the next episode of The Magic Guys.