Latest / The Magic Guys / Franco Pascali hangs out with the Magic Guys #207

Transcript

Franco Pascali hangs out with the Magic Guys #207 · The Magic Guys

0:01
They're guys they do magic they are the magic guys.
0:10
Ladies and gentlemen out of a puff of smoke we are the magic guys welcome to
0:16
episode 207 of this shenanery i can't believe it to my left konnichiwa we've got nick k oh.
0:27
Because he's in Japan, people, that's why. That's why. Down below, we got Doug Kahn.
0:34
Banzai! I don't know what they say in Las Vegas. Or a lot of the magic Doug has might be from Japan.
0:42
I've seen a nice collection. You never know. And I'm Josh Nolbedo.
0:46
Welcome to the show where we talk about the life of being a magician.
0:49
We interview wicked guests. and we
0:53
do this live so that we can get instant questions
0:56
from you guys which let's be honest we do it live so you
0:59
don't have to edit the thing post you know it really saves you know what it
1:03
really saves so much time you know people ask me like have you had to edit all
1:08
207 episodes well look well i used to i used to spend an hour and a half to
1:13
two hours editing but now i hit download on this StreamYard,
1:17
I upload it to AudioLand,
1:20
and there's an AI built-in feature that will cut out for me these breaks in
1:25
silence, enhance the audio.
1:27
When people talk over each other, it edits it out. Like, watch this.
1:30
I'm going to talk now, and I'm going to talk now. That was five seconds,
1:34
but you'll never hear that because it was edited out.
1:37
Anyway, Nick, how are you doing? Except for our live viewers.
1:41
We're having the least experience right now. to the live viewers that sucked
1:44
but uh but before we dive in nick how you doing you're traveling the world you're
1:48
in japan at the moment what's the latest last week i was reporting from somewhere
1:54
in british columbia canada it was awesome and cold and i've now migrated to tokyo where it is also,
2:01
cold it's about two degrees here and strangely i'm feeling the cold here a lot
2:04
more than i am in canada i don't know why but it's it's a different type of
2:08
cold it gets to your bones,
2:10
Like in Canada, you go through the cold, but in Tokyo, the cold finds you.
2:15
It's pretty great. But there's an abundance of a wonderful drink called sake.
2:19
And if you drink enough of it, you will be fine.
2:22
You know what it probably is? Maybe it's the humidity. That's what it is in New Orleans.
2:27
The humidity and the cold get you. So if you're around water,
2:30
and most of Japan is. Yeah.
2:33
And it seeps in. Yeah, right. Well, food for thought. Science.
2:39
That's what we're here for. Weather and science.
2:43
Weather and science people hell yeah look
2:46
let's dive into it this i'm going to introduce this
2:49
guest now and it's a real pleasure i think the
2:52
perfect way to describe this guy is he's like
2:55
bridged the gap between cardistry and magic
2:59
but in such a like finessed high frequency way like he's coming up with magic
3:05
he's coming up with cardistry i just like art like magicians if you've heard
3:12
of the judo flip cardistry move, that's Franco.
3:16
He might call it the Tokyo Rose part two, but I'll let him explain that.
3:21
And he was a Magic Castle junior.
3:24
He has early memories of learning magic from the age of four,
3:28
doing coin magic to now being 27.
3:30
So that's so much time for such a young guy.
3:35
He's worked with Theory 11. He's worked with all sorts of high-end events.
3:39
He doesn't have a corporate website, which I'm so intrigued to ask him about,
3:42
even though he's so busy.
3:44
And he has the Carter Logo brand, which you can learn magic and get his cards from.
3:49
Let's bring him on. Ladies and gentlemen, it is Franco Pascale.
3:55
Hey, we're live now, right?
3:58
We are live, buddy. Thank you for being on the show. So please tell everyone,
4:02
who are you? What do you do?
4:03
Fire away. my name is franco pascali and
4:07
i love card magic magic in
4:10
general but definitely heavy on cards you know so every
4:12
day i sit and i think and maybe
4:16
plan for a show if i have a show or try and create something
4:19
or cardistry or practice and this is
4:22
my drug of choice to stay
4:25
at home with a deck of cards that's interesting
4:28
out of all the disciplines in magic why what's the affinity with
4:31
cards do you think why are you so drawn to that was it somebody who
4:34
influenced you to do that or you know is it just something that you just have
4:38
a proclivity for you know my father would have card games at the house every
4:43
week so i grew up with these old heads just cracking jokes at each other and
4:49
drinking and playing this card game called truco which is an argentinian card game i believe.
4:54
And i just say that to say that i think i
4:57
liked cards before even magic before anything i just liked cards you know all
5:02
it took was seeing one riffle shuffle and i'm like well i want to be able to
5:06
shuffle like they do you know i want to shuffle like these guys my hands was
5:09
a little too small at the time but i got really into that you had to wait till
5:13
you were five to start the shuffling,
5:16
well you know it's funny i think so what you were talking about learning coin
5:20
magic when i was four i got i think i was five my mom sent me this this footage.
5:26
And we were in the cook islands and i'm like trying to pull a coin from my ear
5:32
but what's crazy about this is it's i saw this footage recently like two years
5:36
ago i didn't know it existed before that so i was just like holy that's what
5:40
you play when you go on the ht you know when you get on the forest did you do
5:44
right i've seen you on there,
5:46
no no no no magic there's a young man come on what's what you're waiting on
5:51
is that a yeah is that a creative choice or just not something you've been,
5:55
like what's your thoughts on on that trying to like
5:58
hitting the mainstream versus not i
6:02
i i like i like all these shows i like it all you
6:05
know i have no distaste towards them but
6:08
i also am like a control freak
6:11
and i like to do it like my way even if
6:13
that's delusional the time so if i think to
6:16
myself like oh there's this amazing piece
6:19
i want to show off i'll probably think of how to do that through like my own
6:24
way or network before i think about going on one of the shows but it's not for
6:29
dislike of the shows i watch you know i watch penn and teller foolish all the
6:32
time even agt i've never particularly wanted to do that but um i still like
6:37
to watch it that's for losers.
6:41
It sounds to me frankly like you kind of want to stay in your own lane if that
6:45
was the case like if somebody were to hire you for a performance,
6:48
for example, what are they to expect?
6:49
Like, what is the style of Franco?
6:52
You know, through my network in LA, and I do perform a fair amount in LA, much more than I travel.
6:58
I don't want to say they like, no, I'm like this artsy guy, but there is kind of the vibe.
7:04
Like you said, I don't have a corporate website. So people that find out about
7:08
me are either through word of mouth or they saw me directly at the castle or somewhere else.
7:13
So I think the people that hire me, my favorite thing to do is close-up shows.
7:17
Somebody's house, find a big table, just pack everybody around and go for,
7:21
you know, 45 minutes or so. So I think they're just kind of like,
7:25
there's this like artist guy who's like really, really good.
7:28
People say he's really good and he's going to be here tonight.
7:30
Kind of like that. It's nothing too crazy and too specific, but there's,
7:36
I think, a specialness to a close-up show.
7:39
So I try to get people on that.
7:42
Totally, totally agree. So when you say artist, I know that in some things I've
7:47
read about you prior that like you're into music and an abundance of other things.
7:51
So outside of magic, what are the sort of things that you are into that influence
7:55
your magic and how oh hell yeah,
8:00
so heavy on magic and i never get bored of it
8:02
so even when i do something else it's not because i'm bored of magic it's
8:05
just to get something else out of me but music for
8:09
instance i just love music my brother is a musician by trade
8:12
he's amazing his name's cali mosa you can
8:15
check him out on spotify he has some banger tracks he has like
8:18
this hip-hop funky sometimes psychedelic
8:22
sound it's just amazing and he's really good so
8:25
i live with him and i hear him making amazing things
8:28
all the time i've been listening to rap music
8:32
for a very long time and it kind of started with
8:35
my best friend and i just sitting on this couch and freestyling just the dumbest
8:41
things that you could possibly imagine you know all right challenge stephanie
8:46
on nabito give him a beat quickly nabito give him a beat do it nabito no there's
8:50
no i'll pick you off i'm out i'm out all right all right,
8:55
one four o'clock nabito done playing man.
9:01
No there's no way no but it is funny like for instance my brain is in a completely
9:08
different world when I'm doing music you know so I get to be more.
9:14
Free and in some ways less like myself
9:17
like when i do magic i want to be as much like myself as
9:20
i can or heighten my favorite parts about myself to
9:23
a performance level and when i do music
9:26
there's none of that i don't need to please anybody i don't
9:29
need to anything so i kind of have like a blank
9:32
mental head space and then just try
9:36
and get something out of me that normally wouldn't exist you
9:39
know that's the way i feel when i do thimble magic yeah it's
9:42
a whole different part of my world
9:45
that no one gets to see so much oh yeah
9:48
all right i have a question i i was just listening to another
9:52
interview you did and you asked a question but you
9:55
asked it about cardistry and i'd love to ask
9:58
you the question but about magic and the
10:00
question you asked but i'll rephrase it for this podcast is
10:04
if you had a magic button and you
10:07
could press it and it changes three things about all magicians
10:10
in the world what would those three things be let
10:14
me let me start you off they should shower okay very
10:18
smart that's showering is a great subtlety not
10:21
a lot of people talk about actually this is true and i'm not going to cast shade
10:27
but i could right now on a show i was recently added a professional establishment
10:32
in las vegas where you know one of the magicians had maybe not the best odor
10:37
and he was one of the professionals on the bill.
10:39
It's like not cool. It's not cool. It's not cool.
10:43
I would say I would want the,
10:47
there's basic things like i think practice everything three
10:50
times more than you're already doing so it's almost like if
10:53
we could press a button and people's base level of what
10:56
a lot of practices gets much higher because i always say
10:59
you talk to some guys you're like oh how much
11:02
do you practice like oh i practice all the time and that
11:05
could mean two three hours a day and two three
11:08
hours a day is a lot to practice something every day of your life
11:11
but there's other guys that are doing five six hours a
11:13
day right and there's other guys that are doing nine ten so
11:16
like how much is a lot of practice is relative so i would
11:19
say bumping that up and the other thing i would want to change is
11:23
the way we observe
11:26
what is strong magic or what's a good effect right hopefully
11:30
at its best we get this data from performing it and
11:33
sensing what's the strongest thing that's the best way to do it right
11:36
but beyond that i would.
11:39
Like people to directly see the link between how
11:42
much you actually love and want to do the effect will
11:45
make it stronger so it's almost like i want
11:48
everybody to do the strongest stuff but more important for
11:51
me i want everybody to only do the effects they
11:54
want to do because they love it and they want to right because i
11:57
even when i do gigs sometimes you know i might do venom cube
12:01
and at the end of the day it's not really because
12:03
i want to do venom cube it might be because i've worked out as many you know
12:08
i've done it on stage many times and it fits you know but a majority of the
12:12
things it's just radiating the fact that you really are excited about what you're
12:17
about to show them i think that is important and then the third thing cop out answer.
12:22
Would be for the card magicians out there to learn cardistry
12:25
because cardistry and magic yeah they're
12:28
different things but they're similar and i'll tell you
12:30
what i've never met a single person in my life
12:33
that like was taken like that
12:37
found it weird i did cardistry i think if you look at a magician as a superhero
12:42
and we go what are all the skill sets a magician would have it's like a telepathy
12:47
and the ability to read people and maybe make things appear and the ability
12:51
to change things and card tricks.
12:55
And within the world of cards, cardistry fits so naturally into that equation
12:59
that it's a shame we don't see it so much because... Well, let's explore that
13:04
because there are so many different theories on that.
13:06
And what I find is that the older generation tend to slander it and say that
13:13
it's not necessary. Or if you do...
13:17
You know cardistry it kind of shows that like oh
13:20
like of course you can do everything with cards like it's look look at the way
13:23
he shuffles them and it's like i don't think that detracts from the effect but
13:27
you kind of need to take a moment and just go like i'm like you got to see their
13:31
point is what i'm trying to say yeah i would i would say the the what i found to be funny is.
13:38
To solve all of this it's not even like a difficult rule it's just like don't
13:44
do cardistry when you shouldn't be doing it, right?
13:46
There's some effects where clearly why the hell are we going to do cardistry, you know?
13:50
Some performers will have a style that don't need that action-packed stuff,
13:54
but it's ridiculous to think that a skilled practitioner could not exhibit competence
14:00
with their prop, you know?
14:02
Or competent, not even skilled, but yeah, you're a magician.
14:05
Of course I know how to fan cards, duh, you know? Correct. That's true. Yeah.
14:09
And I think there's also, do you find this, Franco? You'll do something that
14:14
does look knuckle-busting, and that can actually heighten a piece that you do
14:18
where you're completely not even holding the deck anymore.
14:22
Because they've assumed that's
14:24
how you do everything, but now you're not touching it. What the hell?
14:28
Oh, you're so spot on. And when it comes to, I mean, I do, I can do all sorts
14:35
of magic as we all can, but obviously my love is card magic.
14:38
So you kind of go, okay, Franco is kind of in this narrow field of doing magic.
14:43
So then I go, well, if I'm going to do card magic, I want to take them to every corner of the universe.
14:49
I don't want to say no to anything. I don't want to say no to cardistry.
14:52
I don't want to say no to a gambling style.
14:54
I don't want to say no to a more comedic style. Like I want to show them the whole universe.
14:59
Like the older I get, the more I find reasons to say yes than reasons to say no, you know,
15:03
because I see people going, I like a cans, but I don't like transpose or like,
15:07
I like visual card magic but i don't like dealing based
15:10
stuff or i i don't gambling routines are
15:12
not for me like i'm the guy that comes in and i'm just like ready
15:15
to try it all and find a way to implement that
15:18
you know well if you were going to offer advice to anybody
15:21
who's looking to blend both the skill
15:24
set of cardistry and magic into a routine yeah
15:27
what advice would you give as a sort
15:30
of starting point so for example i believe in flourish
15:33
routines and i think that for for me
15:35
personally my multiple card select is a
15:39
perfect example of where you can implement the
15:43
well yeah because you it's the way i frame it
15:46
is i explain that i'm just peaking and every time i'm and as i'm cutting the
15:49
deck i'm going i'm just looking for your card but you're cutting the deck 10
15:52
000 ways and doing fancy and oh i just found it and i go start on top or bottom
15:56
but somewhere in the middle and then i find the card by launching it in the
15:58
air and catching it in my mouth for example so those flash routines have a place
16:02
but i haven't really thought about where else.
16:05
Cardistry as far as being applied to effects would be
16:08
a good place do you have any tips for anyone else looking to sort of blend
16:11
the two skills oh my god totally so one thing i will say is just like magic
16:19
people talk about like what's a practical move right so this we also have to
16:23
think about this in cardistry meaning the best techniques in magic are not only
16:28
the best because of what they achieve, right?
16:31
But they're also the best because hopefully you can do it when the pressure's
16:35
on, when there's a room full of people, lights, camera, action.
16:37
So when I look at that lens, even me who's done cardistry for over 10 years
16:42
now, when I'm live in front of people, the reality is I'm capable of this much,
16:49
but really I can only do this much live because I need to be a professional
16:52
about what's really going to stick the landing and so on, so on, so on.
16:55
So for me, I start close-up shows with 45 seconds to one minute of cardistry.
17:02
It's not a lot, but even that's something to work towards. How does that perform,
17:07
Franco? Is it music, silent?
17:09
No, I speak through it. Yeah. Speak through it. I sit down and I say,
17:14
I sit down and I say, you know, I love cards. I really do.
17:18
And I've learned how to make them jump and dance in all of these different ways.
17:22
So this is called an aerial technique because a card just jumps through the
17:25
air. But there's other ways to do aerials, like from the back of the hand all the way home.
17:29
And I just kind of talk through it like this, right? And another thing is the
17:33
adequacy to speak as your hands are moving resonates pretty heavily in their eyes.
17:39
Because ultimately, to me, what's happening here subconsciously, it's two things.
17:45
One, I want to look like a badass without the badass persona.
17:50
I want to have a friendly, welcoming persona while looking like a badass doing things.
17:54
And then two it's a way to show them
17:57
that they're in good hands fairly quickly both metaphorically
18:01
speaking and literally speaking right because to show
18:04
an audience that they're in good hands right away
18:06
is something we all focus on and this is a very important thing to
18:09
do we can do it with a quick routine we can do it with a joke we can
18:12
do with multiple jokes we can do it with an immediate surprise
18:15
at the start so for me you know
18:18
i kind of like to get a certain message across with cardistry and
18:21
yeah you even get people after the show by
18:24
the way a very common comment if i
18:27
take some time and talk to the people they say
18:29
man i could watch you shuffle cards forever you know love that and i love that
18:34
yeah there's something there's something interesting about that too where people
18:39
generally currently watch a card effect once but they can keep re-watching the
18:45
same It's like ASMR maybe where the, you know,
18:49
it affects the subconscious.
18:51
I have a question for you, Franco. So say you have a modern student interested
18:57
in cardistry. Where do they start in 2025?
19:02
It's a good question. I think if this person is already a magician,
19:08
which at the time that I started cardistry I was, I kind of skipped straight
19:13
to the trilogy, the Dan and Dave DVD.
19:15
I mean, yeah, that was the hot stuff, what, 20 years ago, though, right? Yeah.
19:20
Would you say that's still...
19:22
I would say that's a good one because most of the time you just have to like
19:26
man up and spend 50 hours on your first move. Like the first move I learned was this.
19:31
This started everything for me. The worm, huh? My friend taught me this when I was, you know, 15.
19:36
And from this point on, I looked at the trilogy and then I tried to learn Pandora
19:40
at the time and it was really hard and I couldn't do it.
19:43
But then there's the molecule cuts and those were simpler where it's more something like this.
19:48
And actually, the Buck Twin did just put all that material like they made it
19:52
public domain, if I'm not mistaken. Is that correct?
19:55
Yeah. So for those listening, the young guys who are unaware of this,
19:59
there was two brothers called Dan and Day that released a Buck's trilogy.
20:03
I think it was just called The Trilogy, wasn't it?
20:06
The Trilogy. Yeah. Back in the day, it retailed like 150 US dollars.
20:10
And I got it. And, you know, that's where you learn things like Under Pressure
20:14
and other really beautiful slights.
20:16
And as well as that, there is also a really good section of that trilogy in
20:21
which they have effects,
20:23
actual magic tricks that are heavily, heavily based in the art of cardistry,
20:29
which is why I had to ask Frank of the question earlier.
20:32
Yeah. You know, and speaking of questions, we have one from from Tim Askin.
20:35
Now, it's a very broad question. He is asking, who were you influenced by?
20:39
So let's let's let's break it down by each portion. So you perform many facets
20:42
of magic. I know card magic is your main love, but I also know that you like
20:47
mental style effects as well.
20:48
So let's start with the card game, venture into the mentalist game afterwards. Yes, card game.
20:54
So I saw David Blaine one day and that was like, you know, as a kid,
21:00
I mean, come on, you can't beat that, right?
21:01
So my dad was on the couch and he's like, oh, let's watch this guy.
21:05
Like, you'll like this. And we sat and we watched the guy, right?
21:07
And Blaine's doing the two card money and the tournament restored transpo and this, that.
21:11
And I'm going on the internet and looking up how these tricks are done So what
21:15
I enjoyed About David Was You know when I was six or however old I was When
21:22
I first saw Blaine you know Was that,
21:25
When I saw another magician, I had so many questions as to how real it was.
21:32
And to learn it felt so unattainable. Like, for instance, you see Criss Angel.
21:39
Go to a random person on the street and slice that person in half,
21:43
right? And I'm going, well, what does this do for me?
21:45
This does nothing for me, right? Because as a kid, I'm just trying to like learn
21:48
the trick and show people.
21:49
So when I was able to learn Blaine's repertoire, there was an interesting understanding
21:54
of like, The magic is in the persona and the method and the effect.
22:00
And there are things we can do to make things stronger.
22:03
And I really liked cards doing that. Now, the early years, like let's say before
22:08
11 and younger, I'm going on Penguin Magic. I'm learning from these O's Perlman
22:13
instant downloads. And I'm going on Illusionist. And I'm learning from that.
22:17
And I'm going on YouTube and how to do card tricks. Because I was going to the
22:22
playground, even second grade, third grade.
22:24
I had my cards in hand and i'm doing the work
22:27
on kids right they had fun no teacher had any problem nothing you know i still
22:31
have stories of kids telling me like remember you used to switch cards back
22:34
when we were in school we were just kids used to tell me what number i was thinking
22:37
of you know so it was just like i just really liked that street magic style that was my early.
22:45
Formative thing and then when i got into the junior program at 14 that opened
22:50
up a whole world of other stuff.
22:51
You know, I think, uh, in terms of subtlety versus force, I learned a lot from
22:58
Danny to Ortiz where he opened my mind in terms of, oh fuck,
23:02
I've actually been working a little too hard.
23:04
It's actually not that difficult. It's more the attitude.
23:08
And would you say that's a recent development for you because his magic is really
23:12
just started to kind of get out there.
23:14
Yeah. I mean, you tell me the, when he did Utopia, the Luis de Mato Yeah.
23:19
Great. That was unbelievable, you know? Yeah. About 10 years ago, probably.
23:23
Yeah, that sounds right. And so would you say that you were like,
23:27
as you become more of a professional performer and those style of routines interest
23:32
you more now that you're in the wild performing more as opposed to just practicing in your room?
23:37
Yeah. I mean, all those have influenced me in some ways. I still take notes out of Blaine's book.
23:42
I still take notes out of denny to ortiz book
23:45
and i loved well i love still love woody aragon a
23:48
lot you know just seeing that guy i've learned so much sitting with
23:50
him talking about genius that one yeah there's a lot of you know i've been lucky
23:55
enough to meet a lot of magicians and there's something to learn from everybody
23:59
i really i really believe that so i'm like a hybrid card magician i have some
24:04
spanish style in me some elegance some you know.
24:09
That's great. Love it. Go ahead, Josh.
24:13
Another question we've got here from Ed. I'll read it out for our audio listeners.
24:17
Franco, is there a trick you debated on putting into an act because you weren't
24:21
sure how strong it was and then it actually turned out to be a banger?
24:26
Yeah, probably. I'd have to think though. But I feel like that happens fairly often, you know?
24:32
Maybe just not in the act, but just like, I'll come up with something.
24:35
I'm like, I don't know how this is going to work and it either works or it doesn't, you know?
24:38
But yeah yeah i
24:41
do believe that you have to try things to see that's i do
24:44
believe this you got to go show a bunch of dudes
24:47
bunch of humans one at a time two at a time three
24:50
at a time hopefully a room full of people because we
24:52
could learn a lot from these scenarios right more of a professional setting
24:55
but yeah that that's definitely happened
24:58
if you're looking for specifics i'd have to think i can't i can't rattle
25:01
one up well well let me ask you this how many times
25:05
does a trick need to be sort of like reiterated or
25:09
like improved upon before it becomes a permanent
25:12
act in your working repertoire so i'm
25:17
very risky and i will just go
25:20
for it even if i've never done it before in my life
25:23
guilty i'd rather go
25:27
hard the first time and then figure
25:29
it out after because at the end of the day how bad could it be and
25:33
in terms of structuring a close-up show or doing any
25:36
show for that matter i'm totally the guy that's going to do 70 80 things i've
25:41
done before and then i'll play with that 20 evaluate risks and well let's let's
25:47
let's explore that for a minute so that it's really important to have environments
25:50
in which you can try new stuff and and afford yourself the liberty of failing.
25:56
My personal thought process on this is that you like, it's not very polite.
26:01
If someone's paid you like a huge corporate rate for you to be working on new material per se,
26:06
in what environments do you refuse to try new stuff because of the privilege
26:13
they paid for versus other environments that you wouldn't mind sort of going like, well, you know,
26:19
let's just say it's like, it's a simple roving gig or it's a one hour rove and
26:23
I've got it running the pile of my hand. And I go, I got something new I'm working
26:26
on. You guys want to see it?
26:27
And you put it right in the middle so you can hammock it between two awesome
26:29
effects that you know are going to crush.
26:31
Like, what's your advice for the folks listening?
26:35
So first, if I'm unsure that a trick will work,
26:41
I probably won't do it. But if I know it's going to work, I'm just unsure of how it will play.
26:47
I'll do it every single time. Like, that'll never scare me. If I could sit and
26:50
just, like, do the math in my head and go, well, this works.
26:54
This will work. We just now have to see how well it plays. Like,
26:56
I normally take those all day, every day.
26:58
I'm never scared of that because it's only going to be one, two new pieces at the end of the day.
27:02
When I'm strolling, I'm a maniac. I'll do anything.
27:05
I'll pull things out of my ass. I'll make it up on the spot because there's
27:09
going to be, like, you know, five, six.
27:11
Beats that i'm going to hit per group anyways but when
27:14
i'm like strolling i do a lot of random and a
27:17
lot of interesting effects have come from like being in a strolling
27:20
environment i do i stroll with two decks so
27:23
i have two decks in play all the time and just things start popping in your
27:27
head a good question about now i'm thinking about this when i'm strolling if
27:32
i have somebody doing something with another deck and i'm explaining some process
27:35
to them i might be doing cardistry with a deck in my hands for no other reason than I can.
27:41
And I might not even look down, but I like that they know I am, you know?
27:45
So sometimes it's like a peripheral kind of thing that's going on.
27:50
So basically, if it's strolling, I'll take much more risks than if it's a show.
27:54
But if it's a show, I'll still take some control risk. This is what street performing is good for.
27:59
Street magic at all. Just take it out in the wild and throw down if it messes up, who cares? Yeah.
28:04
Yeah, I guess in that environment, it's the type of thing where it's like,
28:07
you're on my time which means i can do what i want but when you're hired you're
28:11
on their time because the privilege they've paid for and so it's like well if
28:14
i'm on your time and yeah yeah,
28:18
that's a really healthy way to go in about it yeah it looks like we have a question from scott.
28:24
Scott it says yeah oh you got it because i can't see it from where i am franco
28:28
scott says franco what is your mindset when you're performing you always seem
28:33
so positive and open which i would What is your mindset when you're going to
28:37
perform close-up for a group of people or during a stage show?
28:41
Nice. Scott is awesome, by the way. He took some lessons with me in the past.
28:47
I see him at the magic shop as well. Love you, Scott, first of all. Yeah, Scott.
28:53
Close-up? Frank goes to get that plug-in that he gives lessons.
28:59
Open. Professor is open. Every magic guy needs a Scotty. We got a Scotty P.
29:04
That's right franco lessons but i think i need to raise first could be.
29:15
Mindset while doing a close-up gig so loving the material is a big part of the
29:20
mindset because that helps me relax and the more relaxed i could be before the show the better.
29:26
I'm genuinely trying to relax and ease my mind as much as possible.
29:34
And that comes easier the more you do a show. But it's just really important
29:38
because when I, especially when you're at somebody's house, I don't get an introduction.
29:42
So what does that mean? That means you have to be comfortable with sitting at
29:45
the table while everybody's gathering around and everybody's figuring out how
29:48
we're going to do this thing.
29:49
You know, I'm not hiding while that's happening. I'm just out there.
29:52
I'm just chatting with people. by the way perfect time
29:55
to do cardistry in these moments right many times i'm at
29:58
someone's house i'm sitting at the table while people are just
30:00
coming in and sitting just talking to them and doing this and then they go whoa
30:04
and then i'm like oh you like and then i just do more and more it just kind
30:07
of like helps so i do go for relaxation and just love and just try and smile
30:15
at people because i'm genuinely want to be there you know yeah how much are you,
30:21
how much is your how much of your ears trying
30:23
to absorb the stuff people are saying and like to
30:27
improv off the situation i mean
30:30
we know how that goes hopefully we're listening a lot right hopefully we're
30:34
listening a lot and one thing that comes with relaxation as i'm saying now is
30:39
the ability to do what you're saying more right because you're right like part
30:42
of the reason why i want to be so relaxed is so i could free up more of that
30:46
brain space for like the little other things going on.
30:49
I think because that's when the real magic happens when you can be in the moment
30:54
which we're talking about you do so much,
30:57
you're a crazy man when you're doing roving that's because it seems like you're
31:01
able to actually absorb the surroundings and so that's probably something else
31:07
that comes with doing stuff that you've practiced so much so your brain CPU
31:11
isn't being used by okay how do I do this trick you're just now thinking of,
31:16
Yeah, when you're doing the magic, you don't want to be thinking about the method or the presentation.
31:20
That should all be like breathing because there's going to be enough to worry
31:23
about. Absolutely. Yeah.
31:27
100%. Well, look, you mentioned lessons with Franco.
31:32
And I think who just mentioned that? Oh, yeah, Scott just mentioned it here.
31:37
Franco's lessons are incredible and it made me a better magician.
31:40
So could you talk about that a little bit? Like what made you decide to go down the teaching routes?
31:45
What does it sort of consist of and like how
31:48
are you kind of finding that that endeavor so i
31:51
love to think and talk about magic and if i
31:54
feel like i can help somebody that makes me feel good i also
31:57
particularly think that one-on-one you can be most effective and i haven't done
32:01
many lectures really ever not that i'm against it i would love to i'll probably
32:05
do lecture at some point right you'll see me somewhere but just when you're
32:08
one-on-one i get to examine each person and give them a lesson plan that I think will really help.
32:14
And I've gotten all types of people, all skill levels, even some working pros
32:19
where it's like, I know they really are wanting more to chat.
32:22
And for them, it turns up, it ends up becoming more like, here are some routines
32:27
I do professionally in the show, in context. Let's talk about this, you know.
32:31
But for newcomers, like you just, you kind of see where people are at.
32:35
You see if people have an affinity to sleight of hand or not.
32:39
And I enjoy it. I enjoy always custom tailored lesson plan.
32:42
You know, it's not the same for everybody and only card magic because although
32:48
I love all magic, I see someone wants a lesson. What do they do? Find you on Instagram.
32:53
You don't have a website. DM me on Instagram.
32:57
Do you do other social media? Is it mainly Instagram?
33:02
Mainly Instagram. Yeah. For now, you have a card to logo YouTube,
33:06
but we're going to put some videos in the near future. It seems like I've been
33:10
seeing you on social media for, I don't know, longer than you've been alive.
33:14
When did you start putting stuff up for public consumption on the internet?
33:19
I'd have to really think about it, but pretty damn sure it would be right around
33:24
I got into the Magic Castle Junior program.
33:28
So, 10 years ago?
33:31
13 years ago, 13 years ago, where were you doing that guy?
33:35
I was, was it like magician's video network? Were you around for that?
33:38
Or what do you mean? What's that? When did you start publishing the video online
33:44
and where were you doing that?
33:46
I think on Instagram, you know, a lot of these, yeah.
33:50
A lot of these I've gone rid of and archived, you know, I don't want to cringe
33:52
at myself, but I think I'm pretty sure most of the time it was Instagram.
33:55
Yeah. or collaborating with other card brands that do stuff for their things, you know?
34:01
Yeah. You've been in the social streets for a while. Yeah.
34:06
Talk a little bit about the group you mentioned. You called it Carta.
34:11
Carta Lago. Carta Lago. What's that jam?
34:15
Just my main project where I want my magic publications to live and the playing
34:22
cards that we print to live there.
34:24
And even a gallery of unique videos you
34:27
know just like that let's call that home base
34:30
you know i think that's where i will cultivate and
34:33
release most of my artistic projects so
34:37
you produce decks as well you have some hard copy
34:40
as they say yeah yeah i have two
34:43
decks of cards i think for me
34:46
the most important thing is if i can perform with them yeah that's
34:49
important and do cardistry with them but USBC feels good so any deck from USBC
34:54
will be great for cards pretty much yeah so yeah it's funny because I was recently
35:00
designing people have asked me about what I'm going to do for the third deck
35:03
of Cartelago for a while been asking me and two things one.
35:09
It's hard and expensive you know so that's,
35:12
true but I make a lot of decks and I'm like wow this deck looks so cool and
35:16
I like this but it's a one way and I go I hate that it's,
35:21
like i know cardists would like it and i would like it too but
35:24
i will be so annoyed if i order a whole thing from
35:27
the factory and i'm not even doing my close-up show with it it just won't feel
35:30
right you know so i'm just kind of really trying to make a deck that's just
35:33
simple enough but totally usable for magic not too busy nice on the eyes and
35:38
i love that well cards are the one thing where we can we can actually go on our own supply yes.
35:45
Yeah yeah people like that too by the way when i have a gig
35:48
you know i bring them my cards at the end of the show i will
35:51
two things that i frequently yeah bro that's a
35:54
power move that's a business card you do the show or at least what what i would
36:00
recommend if it works for your show because i don't even at like a close-up
36:04
show i'm fairly gaffless i don't have any gaffer things like this right so also
36:09
a power move that actually leads into a question but for here from ad,
36:13
he was actually asking, do you utilize any utilities,
36:16
gadgets, or anything that are always on you?
36:18
You're saying you're just sort of gaffless and straight up?
36:21
Most of the time, yes. Most of the time, yes. When I do strolling,
36:25
not so much, because even though I like to be a madman and try different things,
36:29
there's a level of commercialism that I do like to hit, you know?
36:32
So I do have some gadgets on me strolling and some little things.
36:36
Consider the universal smoke watch. the universe.
36:42
Check it out no I gotta get plugs in here the boss isn't happy yeah,
36:48
while I'm in the magic shop if I mention things we sell occasionally,
36:53
brilliant I just mentioned the universal smoke watch let me put it away and
36:59
show everyone quickly look it's this little thing and it goes right in here
37:02
it's got a remote control.
37:05
Magic reveal no it's on it's on the freaking i know i know i know but sorry
37:11
frankie you were saying about the decks that you give away at the oh yeah so
37:16
i'll do the act and there's two things i'll do,
37:19
which is one i'll bring extra decks for the host even one
37:22
deck by the way i'll say i probably make these cards and wanted to give this to you
37:25
but the other thing i like to do that's like a little
37:28
more maybe poetic is if i
37:31
ever see somebody that's just really like
37:34
taken aback by what had just happen at the end of the performance i
37:38
give them the deck i used yeah so i
37:41
say by the way these cards are normal i want to give these to you as a gift and
37:44
i'll just give it to a spectator that seems particularly touched by
37:47
what has happened or the show yeah that's such
37:50
a beautiful way to do it instead of just
37:53
giving it to like the last person that helped in the act or whatever especially
37:58
if it's your deck like if i created these here enjoy them you know that's a
38:03
really strong yeah moment yeah because by the way in all fairness i've done
38:09
it with bicycle cards as well,
38:11
i think it means it means a very similar thing to the spectator being given
38:17
them by you back in the day i used to give away a sock every time i would just at the end,
38:24
you know, and, but it didn't seem to have the power that the cards.
38:30
Yeah. I have card socks and pizza socks. They're always nice socks.
38:36
Alex Boyer in the chat is saying, I do this, but with my underwear.
38:41
Alex got that for me. He saw me do the sock thing and he just,
38:44
you know, ramped it up a notch.
38:47
Yeah. I think you can buy them from a vending machine here in Tokyo.
38:50
What I'm curious though, Alex, is what happens when you have two gigs that day?
38:53
Nowadays we give away the paper to pants another plug.
39:01
Wow i pulled this off the shelf to prove we
39:04
have everything someone's gonna love doing this
39:07
trick it's a paper tear that turns into it looks like
39:10
a g-string i haven't opened it up and done it yet
39:12
but i was like paper to pants we do
39:16
have a trick supply you know of could
39:19
be a big market for that effect you know i remember i
39:22
mean i when i was doing when i was doing my first show i was you know
39:25
using flash paper to produce a pack of cards and i was going to do one
39:27
more effect for the evening and i do a flash production and i
39:30
produce this enormous pair of underwear and and
39:33
it gets a laugh and i turn to the to the person on my left
39:36
i'm like are these yours and and i'd be like no and then
39:38
i pull a deck of cards out of the underwear i'm like oh these are mine and that's
39:42
excellent water let's go stupid franco
39:46
we do a segment normally called um gig
39:48
stories where we bring up like it's usually
39:52
because we're always gigging it's something that recently happened but like a
39:55
crazy story at a gig where it was just something wild happened or maybe like
39:59
something miraculous that made it a miracle with magic happened or like you
40:05
know a crazy person was a spectator there so many yeah what what yeah do you
40:10
have a favorite or a recent one that was super bizarre?
40:13
Yeah, I'm thinking more recent. There's definitely some that are very interesting.
40:19
Starting with...
40:21
Well, in stack, okay, sometimes people name cards next to each other,
40:28
and this could be helpful, right?
40:30
The last time I did the Magic Castle close-up gallery, I had somebody name a
40:35
card, somebody names another card, my brain is understanding,
40:40
oh, it's next to those two,
40:42
somebody names a third card, and it's next to those three, and then somebody
40:48
names a fourth card, and That's never happened in my life.
40:51
And they were all right there. It was like a run of King of Spades through Ten
40:55
of Spades or something like this.
40:56
It was like the king that, and I was just like, are you fucking kidding me?
40:59
So that was pretty like, that was pretty, pretty intense.
41:03
That's on like the magical miracle side. But in terms of, let's say more work
41:08
professionalism stories, crazy thing that has happened recently is I did a gig
41:13
in Vegas a few months back.
41:16
By the way, next time you're here, look me up, bro. i gotta i gotta hit you
41:20
up doug yes i'm sure we'll have fun oh yeah i gotta go by the show you gotta
41:25
show me the paper we'll go out to the club we'll go to the club i'm down.
41:32
So i'm doing this show and we had
41:35
a deck of cards for everybody in the room that we were
41:37
going to use for an effect and specifically it was
41:40
a pellegrino and aquapana
41:44
thing okay i'm not sure exactly how
41:47
those tied in but those people from their team and whatnot and you
41:50
can tell the client sometimes every detail and
41:54
sometimes it really seems like they're going to listen but sometimes
41:57
you show up and nothing is done right yeah so
42:01
that day my friend max i don't know if you know max major who's uh awesome and
42:06
he's a total he really saved me here because i'm like will you help me do this
42:10
show like there was one little bit like i needed help with i'll give you money
42:14
it'll just be fun like you just need to help with it he's like oh for sure he's
42:16
like the man right so we go over to this place and we had.
42:21
It's here right max is in vegas isn't he
42:24
that's right yeah yeah okay sorry we had
42:27
these ai printed cards with everybody's
42:31
face on them right of the
42:34
people yes everybody's face on them and it
42:37
was put in a deck of playing cards and we had
42:41
told them that we don't know who is who so
42:44
all you guys need to do is like for like the gifts
42:47
that everybody gets everybody got like a little gift bag
42:50
or something we had to have the name in
42:53
the right deck for the right person basically basically what's your
42:56
name oh here's your gift bag and we get
42:59
there and not a single one was done and the
43:02
shows in like two hours so that was
43:05
like oh my god like this
43:08
is really bad at this current moment now luckily they
43:12
understood that they messed up and we had like a whole
43:14
factory of like five workers on day rent me
43:17
and max just sorting through all the deck and we
43:20
finished like 10 minutes before showtime and
43:23
then we did the show and it went great you know but sometimes
43:26
you have to you have to really think on your toes you
43:30
know where it's just like client is like you know here's another one client's
43:33
like oh do a close-up show i'm like amazing she's
43:36
like what do you need i send her like five reference photos
43:39
of what i need for the table layout real simple i'm
43:42
like look i need a big table just as nothing on
43:46
it entirely cleared off make sure.
43:49
That everybody sits around they're like perfect we got you
43:51
you show up and it's like not.
43:55
That at all and then you're just like oh shit we got to do this anyways you
43:58
know so there's there's tons of craziness both on the magic side and just the.
44:02
Logistic side of like pulling things off you know well are there other examples
44:08
where you've gone to these crazy great lengths for an event?
44:13
Like you just mentioned that. I think you mentioned Theory 11 helped out with
44:17
that, right? That particular one. But are there other examples where you've.
44:21
Like, do you have a team with you that's behind the scenes? Like,
44:24
all right, let's make like this wildest thing happen because they just never
44:28
expect that we went to that great length.
44:30
I don't really have a team, no, but... But, you know... There's, you know, there's...
44:36
I don't want to say too much, but for like... There's some...
44:40
So the answer is yes, I can hear it.
44:43
I do some behind the scenes stuff, you know, with some close-up shows that just might help.
44:51
If depending on the people that are there, maybe I know some people that are
44:54
going to be there or maybe I could find something out or, yeah. Great.
45:00
Yeah. So, yeah, it is a helpful tool to have in the kit sometimes for the experience of the guest, right?
45:09
Like, I've always thought it would be cool to be in a show and then the spectator
45:15
you pick, you, like, make something vanish and it appears, like,
45:19
stuck to their front door.
45:20
But like maybe they don't see it till they get home or like you have someone
45:25
their video calling to show oh that is my actual house and you know like that
45:30
that not like a magical thing but just like you've gone to the efforts to figure
45:34
that out and now it becomes magic because they're,
45:38
being like how the hell did you know where i live that how
45:41
do you know i'd be thinking about it's already there and then when they get
45:43
home it is there and like it's you know they'll talk about it for the rest of
45:47
their life oh my god totally the ai cards feels like a similar thing like no
45:52
other event have they gone to where they were gifted a deck of cards and the
45:55
jokers have their faces on it you know it's insane.
46:01
Well, that was a great, that was actually a great, I, I, someone mentioned,
46:04
I wonder if, cause that happened at the castle, the four cards in a row,
46:07
someone jokingly said, I wonder if they all just knew the stack.
46:12
But even that. Oh my God. So that, you know, I'm thinking that,
46:15
but no, there was just, there was just no way, you know, I was shocked, like mouth.
46:20
I'm like, this is great. It's like, you know, this, this happened to me once
46:23
this way, but I go name any card, two of hearts. And then I go, do you want to change?
46:30
Four clubs right and then i'm just like ah this
46:33
person's done this person's done right yeah so there's things
46:36
like that where you just you wish that it
46:39
was being filmed i have a friend who says my friend antonio
46:42
says he wants to ask god what were the strongest tricks he's ever done like
46:47
the ones that were never filmed like he just wants to see the show reel of like
46:51
what's the strongest things i've ever done and how does well the bit i can't
46:57
believe this was filmed and then we'll move on.
46:59
But we had, Penn and Teller were just touring Australia.
47:03
And in Brisbane, we have a show that we do every Saturday called the Theater of Magic.
47:08
And Teller came to watch the show and I'm doing the closeup act.
47:14
And the guy that I bring up on stage, I just remember him saying it was his birthday.
47:20
And that's why his girlfriend brought him tickets to come to the show
47:23
and i go he's holding the
47:26
deck i say name any card he says eight of
47:29
clubs tell his front row at this show and i look at him go and you're here because
47:33
it's your birthday like yeah how how old are you 33 and i had done a film and
47:40
it was the best moment ever and say no more to do that while teller's in the audience is insane.
47:50
Just kidding.
47:51
Yeah, that's how I felt. But the hardest part is, you know, acting controlled.
47:57
This happens in every show.
47:59
You know, I'm not excited. This is, you know, how it always happens. A hundred percent.
48:06
All right, let's go. Stefan says, are you planning to go to any conventions and or to lecture?
48:13
I think we were just bringing up lecturing.
48:16
Yeah, well, will you be at Magic Live this year? I'll be at Magic Live for sure.
48:20
We'll see you there all right yeah and then
48:23
there's some i don't know if i should
48:26
announce yet but i think i'm going to be performing in spain for
48:29
something in july with some awesome guys yeah so yeah what about magic live
48:35
i go all the time yeah i've always wanted to see matthew writes he's got a theater
48:40
there matthew right doesn't he the chamber of secrets right is that what it's
48:43
called i i don't even know who matthew right is i'm sorry i'm not even sure
48:47
are you Are you saying in Vegas?
48:49
No, no, in Spain. In Spain. So Matthew Wright is a UK magician.
48:53
I think he placed a fism a couple of times as well.
48:56
Yeah, and he's released an abundance of effects through Murphy's and so forth.
49:01
He does an amazing three fly where the final coin, the final destination it's
49:07
called, and the final coin floats across from one hand to the other.
49:11
Maybe I have, that's ringing a bell almost. You should look him up,
49:14
But I know that he has a theater there that he started off with his partner, Alana.
49:19
He lectured here in Melbourne a long, long time ago. And he seems to be doing pretty good.
49:23
I saw on his Instagram, he jumped in a Ferrari 458.
49:27
That's a $400,000 car here in Australia. So I think he's doing okay.
49:31
So yeah, so maybe look it up.
49:35
Maybe you got to talk to Matt. Yeah, you got to talk to this guy. Yeah.
49:38
And what about Cardistry? like are you going to Cartopia or Cartistry Con or any of those.
49:45
Not to my I might go to Cartistry Con you know not confirmed but I think it'll
49:51
be in New York so I might try and go to that yeah yeah nice one.
49:56
Yeah and at magic live for anybody oh sorry no
49:59
no go for it we're here for you oh no i was just gonna say for magic
50:02
live anybody that's going i sit
50:05
at a table with my friends and we taught card tricks for
50:08
three days straight and that's it so feel free to say hi like we're
50:11
we're very easy we don't i don't i go to
50:13
just relax honestly i just sit at a table and enjoy you
50:17
know that's the stuff that's the stuff it is yeah hell yeah i mean half the
50:24
time people like come to magic live don't actually buy a ticket to the convention
50:28
but just hang out that's me that's yeah for like the past three four years you
50:33
know yeah that's the way to do it it's where the good stuff happens,
50:37
that's where the magic is man we had another question here from from stefan
50:40
which is an interesting one seeing that i'm on vacation to avoid this he says
50:45
here in regards to burnout.
50:48
In regards to burnout what is the one thing that keeps you going is it performing
50:51
or creating or something else do you ever burn out do you ever get tired of
50:55
magic and need a breather,
50:57
i have tried to practice the art of
50:59
not getting burnt out and although that is an insane claim to have i don't have
51:04
any answers for this but i can tell you what i do and has helped me so the first
51:09
thing i always say is there's like i think there's a base of five or six things
51:14
you can do for me because i'm a magician and cardist so those would be try to create something new.
51:21
Refine something you already know or created or
51:23
have learned or try and learn something new so
51:27
the big three so that applies to
51:30
cardistry so in a way if i
51:32
get burnt out of learning new cardistry
51:36
i could jump to i'm trying to be careful not to flip
51:39
you off i was about to put the wrong finger down i could uh you know
51:41
i could jump from okay i don't feel like creating cardistry but maybe i
51:44
can learn cardistry oh i don't want to learn okay maybe i could
51:47
refine and move i already know same with magic so constantly jumping
51:50
between those like do i want to sit and be a thinker
51:53
today do i want to absorb information or do i
51:56
want to refine the information that already exists in my head so
51:59
i'm constantly looping between those and when it
52:01
comes to burnout another great thing
52:05
about cardistry is it's so different from the creative magic process it's the
52:09
same in terms of your neurons are working the neuroplasticity helps both right
52:15
just being creative helps anything creative in general i firmly believe this
52:18
but they are very different and like for instance i posted.
52:23
Fair amount of cardistry moves last week i believe on my cardilago account those
52:28
are all moves i kind of made that day you know like just seven hours eight hours
52:34
ten hours on the couch with normally a friend is doing the same thing and i
52:38
put those up and it was just fun to do put it up,
52:41
so now this week i'm feeling more magical you know and
52:43
maybe i'll spend some more time on magic i'll still do that but constantly shifting
52:47
and then if i'm sick of those six things which almost never happens maybe i'll
52:54
try and get a friend over and he'll make a beat and i'll try to make a song
52:57
that's what the thimble magic's for franco yeah you haven't started the thumbles yet.
53:03
Gotta get some pimples well i i love
53:06
i love the phone i love that you avoid burnout on
53:10
magic by doing more magic that's the best yeah that
53:13
is a different area it would be like i like to go
53:16
hiking and i like to go i like
53:19
to oh i take a break and i eat some ice cream you're like
53:22
you know when i'm burning out of magic i do a little bit more magic i feel like
53:27
i've done a little bit more magic i like to watch magic and when i'm done watching
53:30
magic then i like to teach magic like to teach when i'm done teaching magic
53:35
i just grab a book and i smell it i just and my favorite book to smell is tarbell,
53:44
spicy yeah like do you know what i did to avoid burnout i fucked off to canada for three weeks.
53:52
Well played i'm snowboarding on mountains and
53:55
and you know visiting dispensaries do you
54:00
have cards with you there do you
54:02
have playing cards with you in canada cards
54:05
right now in japan yes in
54:09
general yeah absolutely i'm asking nick k who's they're
54:12
always on me they're always on me yeah yeah yeah i actually
54:16
keep them in a jacket pocket right now you do franco i was like whoa yeah what
54:20
do you mean hey franco i'm curious do you do you keep decks everywhere in the
54:26
house and this is a very serious question do you genuinely keep a toilet deck
54:31
that you just leave in the toilet,
54:34
Oh, that's funny. Like you don't take it with you. I don't ever take,
54:37
I mean, not ever, but I don't do toilet decks. Good.
54:41
Now, I'm looking at about 15 deck of cards that I'm not going to turn around
54:46
because my place is a mess.
54:47
So there's always cards everywhere. I see some bicycles. I see an attack on
54:52
Titan deck for some reason.
54:54
Some anyone checkerboards, a red Fournier, another pack of bikes, my friend's 1902 decks.
55:00
Yeah, there's cards everywhere. It's a disaster. It's a disaster.
55:03
Nice. Separate question to that Marquise has asked What happened to your song
55:07
Mystic And will you release it on Spotify?
55:11
Oh that's so funny I don't know I could I just took it off Because there was
55:17
a part of that instrumental I wanted to like use for something else,
55:21
But I'm actually kind of shocked That he noticed that To be honest with you,
55:28
Do you ever find Is there any crossover where people get confused What you do?
55:33
Like by having these different artistry interests or not so much?
55:37
Like what do you find? Because you obviously dabble in different things,
55:40
artistry, magic, music.
55:44
Is there anything like that? People know I think I'm a magician.
55:47
At least my whole friend group are the people here. And by the way,
55:51
if I'm at a studio with some artists, I'm showing them some shit.
55:55
Like for sure. It's a great environment to show people shit.
55:59
People are already energized and trying to have fun. And musicians very quickly
56:04
see the artistry in everything we do very quickly, you know,
56:07
so it tends to be enjoyable, but yeah.
56:10
Do you have any advice for magicians wanting to do magic full time?
56:16
You have a very unique approach by word of mouth, by performing at the castle,
56:22
and obviously your connections in LA and through Theory 11 and stuff,
56:27
but is there anything you've observed,
56:29
that you would pass on for magicians to think about if they want to do it full-time even?
56:34
Should they? Should they? It's a hard question because what I do,
56:38
I do a little of everything. I teach a little bit.
56:40
I help people with their projects as they need.
56:43
People need photos. I can help with this. i release my
56:47
own ebooks and i do the playing cards so the only
56:50
thing that keeps me going is a combination of a little
56:54
of everything obviously i don't do it for the money i fucking love this if i
56:56
were doing it for the money i would be pretty dumb you know but i would say
57:00
if you want to be a professional magician just like very basic advice but you
57:08
do have to kind of start asking yourself,
57:11
is this worth my time at every given corner, even when it comes to a slight
57:15
you're practicing, a routine you want to put effort to?
57:18
I think the whole thing of professionalism is just like, you're kind of adding
57:23
these lenses where you're evaluating what it does for you, like really,
57:28
you know, like if I work on this routine for a week straight,
57:31
because it's going to turn into a showpiece that's very valuable,
57:35
you know, but if months go by, and I'm learning a grip of a bottom deal I'm
57:40
never going to use that's kind of the opposite of professionalism although you
57:46
could learn things from that process either,
57:49
you just got to be hard on yourself as all performers are we're all our harshest critics.
57:56
And film yourself doing magic and look at the footage even if you don't show
58:00
anybody because you will shock yourself at what you see I know a lot of magicians
58:06
who haven't really filmed themselves and really looked at it.
58:10
When you film yourself and you look at yourself, that's like you get to see
58:14
how you come off and how to tighten the screws.
58:17
On the business side of things, I'm a terrible person to ask,
58:21
like in terms of strategy and whatnot.
58:23
But I will say like, sometimes you can take things into your own hands.
58:28
Like you were asking, how do you practice new material?
58:30
I hit up a friend who had a spot, a little clubhouse. It was part of this hotel.
58:35
And we're like, let's do a magic night. Can I film it? He's like, yeah.
58:39
I'm like you'll get the people there he's like yeah and then
58:42
i did four close-up shows 19 minutes each you know
58:45
i mean not 19 people each it was like a 45 minute
58:48
show but that was not a gig i just
58:50
kind of made a gig for myself for the opportunity of
58:53
filming it and looking at that footage and trying out new
58:56
stuff honestly and it's amazing people come out
58:59
to a night it's just drinking the same magic you gotta
59:02
sit there there's no stakes nobody's like oh you're to
59:04
disappoint the client you're just kind of doing your thing so
59:08
taking things into your own hands anytime you can you
59:11
know you know see we're almost out
59:13
of time but i'd love to one more question if i mean i
59:16
think it would be cool to know like you said a lot of do's and
59:19
it's all been really good advice what are some don'ts that you have
59:22
for magicians out there what sort of advice you're like don't do
59:25
this don't be that person don't approach it
59:28
this way i think the biggest don't is
59:31
don't be replaceable so like across
59:35
the board the best magic i've ever seen
59:37
in my life i'm looking at whatever it is
59:40
and i'm thinking to myself what a special thing
59:43
this woman or this gentleman is doing right like this is
59:46
what this person does and this person's doing that but if i leave feeling like
59:51
it could have been anybody in that room doing the same thing i think this is
59:56
really bad you know and there's a lot of ways to not be that and there's the
1:00:02
simple things we can do which is like.
1:00:05
Mean this is a whole nother debate but i don't do double cross not
1:00:08
because it's not an amazing trick but it's really because
1:00:11
i don't feel it fulfilled really when
1:00:14
i do it and believe it or not i've
1:00:17
been at gigs and i go i've seen this one before like for somebody
1:00:20
like me who tries to be like artsy fartsy that
1:00:23
i've seen this one before is like a stab to my heart
1:00:26
i wish it wasn't this is like a flaw of mine you know
1:00:28
because i really take it personal and i'm like well i'm a
1:00:31
idiot it you know why did i why am
1:00:34
i doing this thing right so definitely find any
1:00:38
way to not be replaceable and listen to
1:00:41
everybody but only really listen
1:00:45
to yourself so it's like taking all advice without
1:00:47
getting upset at people for it let people say everything they want to say and
1:00:51
take it all in and consider everything but at the end of the day you just got
1:00:54
to listen to yourself for sure for sure yeah great advice great advice thank
1:01:01
you for asking that question nick because franco that was like maybe the best
1:01:05
source and it was like right near the end of the episode.
1:01:09
That was a killer a couple minutes for sure yeah franco given the testimony,
1:01:16
sweet wow well so we've we've put as nico alluded to in a second we put franco's
1:01:21
links below you'll find everything starting off with his instagram you can find
1:01:27
out how to contact him to learn from Franco.
1:01:29
Then he has his other channels for cardistry and his private account for sharing magic ideas.
1:01:35
And then Nick, carry on from there, my friend.
1:01:38
Well, just a big thank you for being here, Franco. I've been an admirer of your
1:01:42
work for so many years and it's so cool for us to finally set up a friendship
1:01:46
and thank you for coming on the show and allowing us to share you with the rest of our world.
1:01:51
So as we wrap up, we'd like to leave you with the final word.
1:01:54
Everyone else in the chat. Thank you for your questions.
1:01:56
We'll be here again next week. You can scope out all of our links below, as Josh said.
1:02:01
But I think it's time for our good friend Franco to take it home with the final word.
1:02:06
The final word is, if you love what you do, they will love seeing you do what
1:02:14
you do. Thank you very much.
1:02:17
Thanks for listening. It's time for us to disappear now.
1:02:22
But we'll see you again on the next episode of the magic guys.