Latest / Hey BigHead: The Vegas Local Podcast / Vegas Mentalist Frederic Da Silva Reads Our Minds | 365

Transcript

Vegas Mentalist Frederic Da Silva Reads Our Minds | 365 · Hey BigHead: The Vegas Local Podcast

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not afraid?
• 0:01
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, how about this?
• 0:02
  SPEAKER_01: You see, I knew that there was something going on.
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_01: I knew we had to start with this.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_01: That's right.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_01: Because uh this might take a long time to go.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_03: The good thing is we're just we're we're we're making it happen.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_03: I'm very excited today because we have somebody very special on the show today, Julie.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_05: Extremely special.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_03: Do you want to do the intro for this one?
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_05: Yes, it's me.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_05: My name is Julie Netherley.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_05: No, we have Frederick DeSilva.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_05: Am I saying that as closely as I can say without the action?
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_02: For the last five minutes.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_05: Okay, we're doing the best we can here.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_05: But we've got him here.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_05: He is a mentalist and he has the show Paranormal over at the horseshoe.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_05: But I'm super excited to chat with him and have him blow my mind.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_03: But we're yeah, we're gonna do we're gonna start the show with a trick first that he insisted on doing.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_03: So take it away, please.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_01: We haven't pre-arranged anything.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_01: By the way, we're starting this from scratch, which is very important.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_03: That's correct.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I have uh some cards.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_01: Do you play cards?
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_01: I do, Andrew.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, please shuffle this deck of cards.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_01: And before we start, I'm going to ask you to.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, here we go.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_01: Look at this.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_01: Come on, huh?
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_01: American shuffle.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_01: Does that mean it's happy with your shuffle?
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, very happy.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_02: Stop.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_02: All right, take this card and please memorize it.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_01: Please.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_02: Today we're going to say that this is your uh favorite, it's your favorite card for today.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_02: It's my favorite card today.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_02: And Julie says, stop.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_02: Stop.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_01: All right, take a card.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, this will be your favorite card for today.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, you can put it back, and you can put it back.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_02: All right, don't forget your card.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_02: You'll remember your card, right?
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_02: So whenever I refer to your favorite card, this is going to be what we're going to do.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_01: All right, so let's start.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so uh Andrew, you told me you play cards.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_01: I do.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, so tell us your favorite card.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_03: My favorite card is the king of clubs.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, so I'm just going to put here a king.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_01: I'm going to do a club here.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_02: Julie, what's your favorite card?
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_05: The one that you just told me is my favorite card.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_02: No, no, the one you just picked.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_05: That's what I mean.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_05: That's what I mean.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_01: What's your favorite card?
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_05: Seven of Hearts.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_01: All right, so the Seven of Hearts.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_01: Very good.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, now you guys can watch.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_01: I have a deck of cards here.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_02: You you've you watch you watch a lot of card tricks, but this is a very different card trick.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_01: All right, so we on the back of each card there is a number from one to fifty-two.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_01: Sure.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_02: And on the other side, we have 52 cards because we have 52 cards in a deck of cards.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_02: Andrew, you told me your favorite card, King of Clubs.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_02: You have no idea of what's which number is your card, correct?
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_01: That's correct.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_01: So just if I just do this, okay, just think of any number, let's say from uh uh you have a favorite, say a number from one to uh to 52.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_01: Brandon's behind us.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, two.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, two.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, so do you think number two would be behind the king of clubs?
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_01: No.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_01: No, okay.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_01: So which number do you think?
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_01: From one to twenty-six, say any number you want?
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_01: Ten.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_01: Ten.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, so we're going to go for 10.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_01: And as soon as you see number 10, you stop me, it's right there.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_02: Yes?
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, number 10, I'll put it right here.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_02: Say any number from uh uh say 28 to uh 52?
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_05: 35.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_02: 35.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, so as soon as you see 35, you can stop me.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_01: All right, every number is here, and uh, I hope you can see.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_01: You can count as you want.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_01: 37 was here.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_01: You told me 35 right here.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_01: Yes?
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_02: And uh now I'm going to write here.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_02: Uh my favorite number here, I would go with 27.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_02: And uh you have no idea which card is on the back of 27, right?
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_03: Brandon has no idea.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_02: So, Brendan, you're going to uh think of a card like three of space, and you're going to every two or three seconds you start to change your card in your mind.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_02: Go ahead, start to do that.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_02: And uh, Julie, you stop him whenever you want.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_02: Stop.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_02: Stop.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_02: Which card which card are you thinking of?
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_02: Ten of clubs.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_02: Ten of Clubs.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_02: Ten of Clubs, he says.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_02: And seconds ago you would think of something else.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_02: And then you were thinking of something else, right?
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_02: Ten of Clubs.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_02: All right.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_02: So as soon as you see the ten of clubs, you can stop me on the ten of clubs.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_02: And your ten of clubs is that was fair, yes?
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_03: I have no idea what happened, but yes, so far, so good, I think.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_01: Alright.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_01: 35, number 10, 10 of clubs, king of clubs, seven of hearts, 27, right?
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_01: Who said number 10?
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_03: That was the number 10.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_01: You did.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_01: There's no heading.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_01: There's no head.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_01: The chances that three people guess correctly the command is 52 times 52 times 50.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_01: I told you this is the best command trick ever.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_01: You told us ten of clubs, right?
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_01: You stop him in his mind.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes I miss.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_01: But no.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_03: Oh my gosh.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_03: Oh my gosh.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_03: Alright, let's really good stop the podcast right now.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_03: That was worth it.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, listen, that was the that was incredible.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_03: I I have no idea how you did any of that.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_05: Let me tell you, my resting heart rate is normally around like 54-55.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_05: My watch is saying my heart's beating 94 times per minute right now.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_05: He's got your heart beating.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_03: I love that.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, we just thought it.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_03: Nicely done.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_03: All right, let's set these cameras back up.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_03: Nicely done.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_03: I'm gonna be honest, Frederick, I'd have no idea how you even did anything remotely close to that.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_03: Well, I'm glad.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_03: I I I like not knowing.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_03: I like not knowing.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_03: Because I feel like everybody knows everything these days, and I like seeing tricks like that and illusions that just blow your mind and you don't even know where to start.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_02: Well, you're right, because uh, you know, nowadays, even uh, you know, with AI and uh you know and chat GPT and Google searches, you can probably get an answer of a question instantly first.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_02: And I think that today, more than uh even ever before, uh not knowing and not finding the explanation anywhere in uh a couple of minutes is uh something that uh we're not used to.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_03: I I I respect the hell out of that.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_03: I'll tell you what I like about you.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_03: And we we just met.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_03: I like the fact that we get a lot of DMs as our show continues to grow a little bit more and more each day.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_03: We get more and more people DMing us and sending us messages.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_03: Your DM that you sent to us may have been my favorite message we've ever gotten.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_03: And I'm gonna I'm gonna say exactly what you said.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_03: You said, if we ever do a no hello, by the way.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_03: It was just it was just a straight thing.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_03: You you you said if we ever do a podcast, I will have to read your mind and reveal your secrets.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, did I say that?
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, what was it?
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_03: Was it two o'clock in the morning?
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_01: It was two o'clock in the morning.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_03: I think you were drinking some wine.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_03: It was probably two o'clock in the morning.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_03: I love that.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_03: It was so it was so intriguing.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_03: And then once we saw who sent it you, and we're like, oh my god, we have to have a motion.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_05: I think my response was if, let's do it.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, Julie was more than a good one.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, yeah.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_01: We had a few conversations.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_01: I remember that, yeah.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_03: But thank you.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you so much for coming on and for being part of this.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_03: We're gonna have some fun today.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_03: And we're already having fun.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_03: You've been performing magic on the strip for 13 years, but you've basically been a magician your whole life, right?
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_03: Correct, yeah.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_02: Would you call it is it a magician?
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_02: Are you a mentalist?
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I think it's okay to call it a magician.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_02: Uh uh, obviously, nothing appears or disappears.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_02: I don't do sleight of hand, uh, you know, I don't put girls in boxes and cut them in half.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_05: So uh well, you might, but not for your show.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_02: Uh Julie.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_05: All right, here we go.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_01: Uh Julie's out of control.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_01: She's out of control over there.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_01: She's it's because the heart.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_01: My heart's racing.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_05: I've lost all awareness.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_02: Some someone is taking control of her mind already.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_03: I think it's you.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_02: I think you may be doing something over there.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_02: Uh yeah, so the the the term that um magicians came up with is mentalist, I guess, which is a magician of the mind or using more psychological tricks or more things that would use um uh uh your brain more than uh than than you know a dexterity or sleight of hand.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_02: What do you call yourself?
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_02: What do you call yourself?
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_02: I would call myself a problem uh being an entertainer is the most important thing for me.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_02: Because at the end of the day, people come to see your show, they come to be entertained, and no matter what you do, uh if you don't have the skills to uh uh entertain an audience, sure, uh it doesn't matter what you do.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_02: You can be a musician, you can be a comedian, you can be a magician, you can be a contortionist.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_02: Um if you want to have a show in Las Vegas and keep people entertained for an hour and a half and not just an act of two minutes or five minutes, right?
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_02: Uh you have to dedicate it yourself to understanding how entertaining audiences work.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_02: And you generally have to be have the heart's desire to communicate with an audience.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_02: And the way I do it, the way the old people do it, or people from my generation, because when I did that, there was no internet, uh, you know, uh we were inter we wanted to have a real crowd in front of us, real people participating to things and not just watching online.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_03: But you were so you mentioned in other shows that you've been on that magic has been part of your whole your whole life.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_03: What at what age did you start?
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_03: Five.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_03: Five.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_03: Do you feel like what did magic give you that you weren't getting anywhere else as a kid?
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_03: Like what happened at five years old where you were like, this is it, this is what I want to do the rest of my life.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_02: Santa Claus at the age of five gives me for Christmas a magic set.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_02: Santa Claus.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_02: Santa Claus.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_02: Santa Claus is a big thing in Europe.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_02: Uh you know, and I believe that it's a little bit the god of children.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_02: There's a guy in the sky that is watching you that knows if you've been a good boy or a bad boy who knows exactly the present that is the best present for you for Christmas.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_02: And uh and children, uh at least in France, are looking all year long for Christmas, so Santa Claus can give them presents and they have to be, you know, they have to work nice at school and all these things.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_02: And uh when I opened the the packages and I see that Santa Claus gave me um uh the secrets of how to become a magician with the books and the uh magic wand and all these props, I thought that someone from above was watching me and chose me to become a magician.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_02: And I thought that and I that very second of my life that I still remember perfectly, I knew that my entire life will be dedicated to be a magician.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_02: And but 39 years later, uh it it haven't changed a lot at all, actually.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_03: Do you call him Santa Claus in Fran in France?
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_03: What's his name?
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_03: Santa Claus.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_03: Santa Claus?
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_03: Santa Claus globally?
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_03: That's just Santa Claus, yeah.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_02: Well it's the uh it's the guy in the sky uh who gives presents to kids uh for Christmas and knows everything about you.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_05: And breaks into your house in the middle of the night.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_05: It eats your cookies and drinks your milk.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_05: Exactly.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_05: So children, if you're watching, please stop watching.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_05: But now obviously as an adult, you know that Santa Claus is your loved ones creating this experience for you.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_05: But do you still believe that there was some sort of divine intervention that led you to be a magician?
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_02: I believe that uh uh faith, believe in something, no matter if the thing exists or not, doesn't change the outcome.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_02: Uh when you believe in something, there's something that is triggered in your mind that gives you the energy, the power, the uh never give up uh whatever.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_02: It give believing in something is always something extremely positive.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_02: It doesn't matter that Santa Claus didn't exist because I was already uh on my train to destination.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_03: Love that.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_03: If you could go back to when you were five years old, as you're 39, you're 39?
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_03: As you're 39-year-old.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_03: No, no, wait, wait a second.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_03: Wait, it was 39 years ago.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_03: I'm 44.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, you're 44.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_03: I know I look 39.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_03: You look fantastic! Hold on.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_05: You should have just ran with that.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_05: I guess I'm 39.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_03: Forget the questions.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_03: What's your skincare routine?
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_03: What I mean, I'm sure you eat healthy, you work out.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_03: I eat hell, I eat very little.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_02: I try not to eat too much, and yeah, I eat once a day after the show.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_02: You look great.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_02: Usually thank you.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_02: Good for you.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_02: You drink a lot of water?
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_02: I drink a lot.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_02: Well, we're in the desert, so yeah, I drink a lot of water and I walk a lot.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_02: I don't drive a car, so I'm always walking from my place to the showroom.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_02: I love that.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_02: Showroom to my place.
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_02: And I do a very intense uh uh I mean, you know, I start the show at four o'clock, and I it's a non-stop show.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_02: I never stop, never stop.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_02: It's only me on stage.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_02: There's no music bet.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, even when I tell my story, I do it live and I speak, and after the show I do a meet and greet.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_02: Sometimes an hour, an hour and 20 minutes.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_02: People wait online to see this, to see these one-on-one tricks that I do to them.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_02: And uh yeah.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_02: I love that.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_03: So obviously, Santa Claus is what got you started.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_03: It got the imagination going and got the the interest peaking.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_03: Who along the journey has been an inspiration to you?
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_03: Like who did you look up to growing up and say that's who I want to aspire to be?
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_02: I think it was more the the uh the audience teached me what they like and what they didn't like and what would work for them.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_02: I I think I I really I'm I always been doing this to get an audience entertained, and the relation the it's almost a sentimental relationship that I have with my fans or customers or guests that I have.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_02: So I think I would do anything to to to please uh an audience.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_02: So it was more it was more finding things that people will be be amazed by, uh, more than me trying to look at somebody else or become someone else.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_03: Did you have a mentor or anything like that?
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_02: Not really.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, yeah, big names uh I mean in the 80s, like uh David Copperfield or local magicians.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_02: Uh but uh uh the kind of magic that I wanted to do, which was more mind-reading, yeah, uh, was was didn't exist back back then.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_02: When did it get popular?
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_02: It got popular after the mentalist, the TV series uh came in.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_02: Um people didn't even know that word.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_02: And I think magicians a lot probably took advantage of say, oh, maybe that's a word to define what we what would we what we're going to do.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_02: Sure.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_02: But uh before that uh it was it was not even popular at all because uh people were saying that it it took too long and it was boring and it was not visual.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, people uh it was not popular at all.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_03: You grew up in France, you grew up over not in the in the United States.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_03: When did you when did you first come to Las Vegas?
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_03: What was your first experience in Las Vegas like?
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_02: So I'm 18 years old, and my entire family and friends uh uh saved some money to give me uh a flight ticket for Vegas.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_02: So I'm 18 years old, I came here, uh I I was not really speaking English at the time, uh and I completely fall in love with the town.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_02: And uh and I remember sitting uh at the Bellagio, I was sitting at the fountains of the Bellagio for hours.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_02: I mean I could see the whole loop several times.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_02: Sure.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_02: Uh and uh interestingly, I was looking because I was sitting at the Bellagio, so in between songs, I was looking around and I could see Ballis, who is now Horseshoe where I perform, yeah, and there was a marquee.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_02: And I don't know, I I I I had the crazy idea that one day I would have my face on this marquee.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_02: And and when things happen in my mind like this and I can see them like clearly, like when I'm five years old and I know I'm going to become a magician, I know the intensity of these thoughts, and I know that I will do whatever it takes.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_02: Uh even if it's unpleasant, even if it's a struggle, even if my life just became extremely more difficult.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_02: Uh I know I'm I it's an idea that is not going to go away.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it just stays in there and it dwells.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_02: Took me 12 years.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_02: For 12 years I I was coming in Las Vegas every month.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_02: I need a thousand dollars.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_02: So I was working cabarets and comedy clubs.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_02: Every day I was doing four or five a day uh private events.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_02: As soon as I got a thousand dollars, I could book a flight, come to Vegas, knock at people's door, people would tell me that they were not interested, and uh go back to France and save another thousand dollars, came back here immediately.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, you would fly from France to the US every month?
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_02: Every month.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_02: It's a long flight.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, it doesn't matter.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_02: Well, no, no, I mean this this was the only thing I wanted.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, right.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_02: There's nothing else that counts.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_02: Wow.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_02: No, I uh I I believe that I wanted this more than any person in the history of the world.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_05: It sounds like that might be true.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_02: No, it is.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_02: I I I I have a lot of uncertainties in life, but but but not this one.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_02: And and when I look at this marquee, I I always believe that you know that the world has some kind of faith, that the universe, if there's only one place in one showroom for one guy, the universe would give it to the person who wants it the most.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_02: And I knew that that this I was absolutely nobody could beat me.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so I knew it I knew it will happen.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_02: It's incredible.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_02: The the power of belief is just uh when you have when you have when you have that kind of level of certainty, it can take 10 years, 12 years.
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_02: It took me 12 years.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_02: And I never gave up.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_02: And and I thought that other people could not know, and I was the only person who could know because the universe put this in my mind, so I was the only person who could see it.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_02: So I never took a failure.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_02: Failure never affected me negatively.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_02: I was just going back to France every month and it's interesting that nobody knows that one day I'm going to have my show in Las Vegas.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_02: They're telling me no, like that there's no way, because they don't know what I know.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_02: Uh but yeah, it was a big, big, big, big struggle.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_02: 12 years took me 12 years.
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_02: 12 years is is is crazy.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_02: I can't go back in time.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_05: During that time flying back and forth once a month for 12 years, which is 144 flights, roughly.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_00: Roughly.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_05: Roughly.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_05: Were there was there any moments that stand out to you in particular that verified whether it was street performing or whatever, but verified what you were doing and w let you know, like, yes, I am on the right track.
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_05: I need to keep going and going.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_02: Well, uh having a show in Las Vegas is basically a yes or no answer.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, uh, someone gives you a showroom or someone doesn't give you a showroom.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_02: If you don't have a showroom, uh it becomes more difficult.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_02: Uh so I mean the amount of things that I have to come up with.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_02: So, you know, there's a big monopoly in Las Vegas.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I mean back then there was MGM and Caesars, and you realize that when the director of entertainer at Flamingo tells you no, and you go to Ballet's, it's the same guy at Caesars, it's the same guy.
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_02: You go you go to uh and the guy you talked to him yesterday, and uh the week before and the month before.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_02: Uh so it is really, but it was I could not accept this idea that that that that that it was a no.
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_02: So my magician's mindset, uh I'm only interested in things that are impossible.
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_02: You know, if it's not impossible, well now I'm not interested.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_02: If I'm telling you what's the best magic trick that I could come up with, you have to tell me something that is truly impossible, but if I do it, it has a meaning.
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_02: Uh so uh if it hasn't been done before, if everybody tells me it's impossible, if everybody tells me that there's no way I'm going to find a way to make it done, well then that's exactly what I want to pursue.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_02: And I think for people who listen, I mean, if you adopt that mindset, I mean it it's life-changing because you don't care about people believing in you, you don't care about people believing that you're going to make it, you don't care about people believing that it that it's doable or feasible.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_02: It doesn't matter.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_03: You had a lot of people tell you that it's not feasible.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_02: Laurent Langlois, which was the French um uh uh director for the French uh organization of magicians, one day told me Frederick, there's less people that want to be president of France than magicians who want to have a show in Las Vegas.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_02: Well which might be true.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_03: What so take us through fast forward to when you did get that yes at Bally's how did that happen?
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_03: What what happened with that?
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_02: So uh I mean uh there was two I I thought that I mean because I have to come up with a new strategy almost every month.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, right.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_02: Uh so I thought how many times did Bally say no to you first?
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_02: Well, uh Bally's never really told me no, it was the director of entertainment that that told me no.
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_02: It basically uh you you cannot ask the same guy, right?
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_02: You have to find another uh you have to find another way.
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, uh so I thought uh if I I there's two things that I wanted.
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_02: I wanted to have a show in Las Vegas and I wanted to have a I want to do TV in Europe, okay, and I had no show in Las Vegas, had no TV in Europe.
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_02: I thought it I fit like the magician then started to think what kind of trick I can come up with.
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_02: So I thought, well, it's interesting because if I had a TV show in Europe, maybe people will start to give me attention in Las Vegas.
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_02: If I have uh a show in Las Vegas, I will immediately go on TV in Europe because I would say I'm the So I say if I come up with these two things, two ideas at the same time and pitch these ideas at the same time, it might work out.
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_02: So uh, since I was coming every month here, I was uh sending all my mail video cassettes at that time, yeah, uh from Las Vegas.
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_02: So I say, this producer in France that is never responding to me, if I send my mail every month from Las Vegas, this is the guy from Las Vegas, people are going to give me some attention.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and if I start to do some TV shows in Europe and I come here and say, Hey, I'm the magician, I have a friend.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_02: I had bought a domain name, French television.com, to get an email, Frederick DeSiel Frenchtelevision.com.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_02: So when I was sending my email, the people from here would say, Oh, this is the French TV.
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_02: Wow.
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_02: That's brilliant.
• 21:59
  SPEAKER_02: Oh.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_02: I came up with things like this, like hundreds of them.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_02: And if you and if you think about that, French television is not a French word.
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_02: So it it it would not even make sense.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_03: That's because us crazy Americans, we just we we wouldn't even believe that.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, we we'd believe it.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_03: I believed it.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_03: And he was too telling me it wasn't true.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_02: I believe it's like cute things.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, I was not doing this in a bad uh way, of course, but uh uh it's an illusion in itself.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I I would I would agree.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_02: So I came up with a TV show that I produced at what called the World of Magic, and the idea was to uh visit the most beautiful places in the world and include some magic because uh I thought uh if if I come as a journalist or as someone who is producing a TV show, I was remember going at the AFL Tower restaurant and say, hey, this is the French TV, we would like to interview the manager, we show the best places in the world to be at.
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah uh and I never mentioned about the magic.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_02: So once I get an interview with the manager, I start to perform magic because I said that this was the idea of the TV show.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, that's so funny.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_02: And my idea was uh uh can I stay tonight and perform for your guests so we could have a little bit of footage.
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_02: And I was hoping that maybe that would be a way to get in.
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_02: And then the guy told me, yeah, but uh we we can't have you for tonight.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_02: Uh so then have to try again and find another idea.
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_02: And uh then my life has been finding ideas and ways to to get things.
• 23:29
  SPEAKER_03: I love that you don't take no for an answer.
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_03: And if if if if you if it is a no, you you try again.
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_05: Like incredible perseverance, incredible perseverance.
• 23:37
  SPEAKER_02: Well you find you'll find another way.
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I love that.
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_02: When you truly believe in your heart that you're going to get it at the end, uh it's not as painful as as it seems.
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_02: If you watch a replay of your favorite team and you know that you're going to win at the end, you know, even if at the beginning is tough, uh you have a smile on your face.
• 23:57
  SPEAKER_02: Let me tell you something.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_03: If I was you, I and I finally got that yes, and I'm on I'm in Las Vegas now and I'm on the strip, I would go back.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_03: Uh I I'm I'm petty.
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_03: I would go back to everybody that said no to me and be and just shove it in their face.
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_03: I I would be.
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_05: I wouldn't believe that you'd do that.
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_03: He doesn't seem like the type of guy to do that.
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_03: I would do that though, because I'm I'm very petty like that.
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_03: But I I think that's that's incredible that you were able to persevere and get that yes.
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_03: And and 13 years later, you're you're still here, you're still kicking ass.
• 24:27
  SPEAKER_03: That's true.
• 24:27
  SPEAKER_02: I could I could have well.
• 24:29
  SPEAKER_02: Alright, well, if you want to know the a little bit more, yeah.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_02: So uh I mean what happened then is that at some point I find a I find a showroom, and uh it was at uh uh I believe there was a nightclub club called Crave at Planet Hollywood on the corner at Harmon or something like that.
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_02: So I find a way to find the director of this, and they tell me that maybe I can come, but they asked me a ridiculous amount of rent, which I don't care at that time.
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_02: Sure.
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_02: Um so uh and then Crave at Planet Hollywood, whatever, close and they went downtown.
• 25:01
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_02: They tell me that I can go downtown.
• 25:03
  SPEAKER_02: They ask me like$25,000, which for French, I mean the average salary in France is$1,500 a month.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_02: So it is yeah, so it's a ridiculous amount of money.
• 25:13
  SPEAKER_02: I find a way because I'm a hard worker, I find a way, I send the money.
• 25:17
  SPEAKER_02: Uh I finally announced that I'm going to have a show in Las Vegas.
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_02: Everybody laughed at me, by the way, because in my country they've been hearing this story for 10 years now.
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_02: I actually owned the website VegasMagician.com in at the time that we people people didn't even know what the domain was.
• 25:35
  SPEAKER_02: Uh I come to Vegas and uh I was scammed.
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_02: There was no shore, there was no nothing.
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_02: Oh I had advertised my show on all the magazines and everything because I don't want to mess it up.
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_02: So uh the manager that I booked at the time tells me, Do you want to sue this guy?
• 25:55
  SPEAKER_02: And I say, Well, I'm running out of money.
• 25:59
  SPEAKER_02: And uh we go see the lawyer, and the lawyer says, Well, this guy has been scamming a lot of people, maybe it will go on the news, maybe some, maybe he will get some attention.
• 26:09
  SPEAKER_02: And maybe he will end up on the strip.
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_02: Anyway, that's what happened because at some point uh some guy told the story to someone who was taking over showroom at Bailey's, yeah.
• 26:21
  SPEAKER_02: Ken Walker, which uh uh was my uh my partner, I mean, became my partner later.
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_02: And uh they were taking over the buffet at Bailey's uh to put a show called Tony and Tina's Wedding at the time because they wanted to take the kitchen and do the show.
• 26:37
  SPEAKER_02: And uh they asked me if I um I offered them uh you know to rent the showroom in the afternoon.
• 26:43
  SPEAKER_02: It had to be two and four o'clock because nobody wanted this time slot.
• 26:46
  SPEAKER_02: I'm still performing at four o'clock.
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, you really I love it.
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I never changed.
• 26:50
  SPEAKER_02: And uh it started from there, so I had a few bucks left.
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_02: I put everything on the Las Vegas magazine, which was a thousand dollars a day.
• 26:58
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, a day a day.
• 26:59
  SPEAKER_05: Oh my god, what a story!
• 27:01
  SPEAKER_02: What a story and uh on day one I called the box office, I asked how many tickets we sold, yeah, and that told me zero.
• 27:13
  SPEAKER_05: So what do you do from there?
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_02: What I would be so disheartened.
• 27:17
  SPEAKER_02: I I it was one of the most messed up moments of my life because I thought that I had all the struggles were finally going to pay off, and I realized that it was just the beginning of another nightmare, which was how do you sell tickets in Las Vegas?
• 27:36
  SPEAKER_02: And uh at that time people told me, you know, we we we've been telling you for 10 years, you know, but you insisted to be thrown in the tank with sharks.
• 27:49
  SPEAKER_02: So I mean, yeah.
• 27:51
  SPEAKER_02: I knew that I would be I had a six weeks contract.
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I knew I would I was broke by the end of the week, I could not advertise anymore, and I could not even pay my rent or anything by the end of the week.
• 28:02
  SPEAKER_02: And I didn't give up.
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_02: I thought, well, my residency is Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday.
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_02: There's a flight on British Airways at 9.50 p.m.
• 28:13
  SPEAKER_02: on Sunday.
• 28:14
  SPEAKER_02: I'll do my show, I'll go back to British Airways, I'll stop in England, England, I'll go to Switzerland because it was cheaper.
• 28:21
  SPEAKER_02: Then I'll take a flight, I'll go to France, I'll do as many corporate shows, private events, anything I can do.
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_02: I basically have 24 hours or 48 hours, and I'll go drive back to Switzerland.
• 28:32
  SPEAKER_02: I slept on the tiles of the Geneva airport every week, and I came back 19 hours later on the flight in Economy.
• 28:41
  SPEAKER_02: I was back on stage for four o'clock on Thursday.
• 28:45
  SPEAKER_02: Here's the money I owe you.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_02: I'm going to do this another week.
• 28:47
  SPEAKER_02: And I did that for one year.
• 28:49
  SPEAKER_02: That was my first year residency.
• 28:52
  SPEAKER_02: And in the meantime, and people ask me, What's your marketing plan?
• 28:57
  SPEAKER_02: What's your plan?
• 29:00
  SPEAKER_01: And uh I kept saying, I think people will help me.
• 29:05
  SPEAKER_02: When you're a performer like me, you believe that the audience I I I believe that people will help me.
• 29:11
  SPEAKER_02: I believe that people will talk to other people and they will come back, and uh they I will be able to connect with them in the way that was unique to me.
• 29:21
  SPEAKER_02: And uh I kept doing this for one year, so now so now I was going to France every week, every Sunday, and I was coming back every Thursday.
• 29:30
  SPEAKER_02: And I was uh nobody knew about that.
• 29:33
  SPEAKER_02: Nobody knew about that.
• 29:34
  SPEAKER_02: I was just keeping paying my bills, and people started to write reviews online, and we became the number one rated show in Las Vegas on TripAdvisor, which was big 13 years ago, yeah, and uh started from 200 number 200 top top 20, top 15, top 10, top five, top, I think we ended by top three or top two.
• 29:57
  SPEAKER_02: Good for you.
• 29:58
  SPEAKER_05: How did it feel when that phase of struggle and obstacles finally came to a close and you weren't worried about selling tickets or having to fly back and forth to pay the rent?
• 30:11
  SPEAKER_02: That's a very good question.
• 30:14
  SPEAKER_02: Uh I don't want to say that I miss it, but I mean my life was intense, really intense.
• 30:28
  SPEAKER_02: And uh during all these years where I I was trying to have my show in Las Vegas, my life was the activity in my brain and the amount of thoughts and the ideas I had to come up with uh was actually feeding me and making me feel alive.
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_02: And then we had some very, very good years uh before COVID.
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_02: And uh I think uh uh these were not the happiest years in my life.
• 30:59
  SPEAKER_02: I was just performing and sailing out the showroom, and uh I started to find things to entertain myself.
• 31:10
  SPEAKER_02: I bought boats and yachts and uh lost a lot of money on this crap and realized that I was not happier.
• 31:16
  SPEAKER_02: I bought a penthouse and realized that I was not happier, so I got rid of everything.
• 31:21
  SPEAKER_02: Uh I think that there's there's a uh there's a pleasure for me to uh accept challenges and try to solve issues and and problems that aren't meaningful.
• 31:34
  SPEAKER_02: Are you happy now?
• 31:35
  SPEAKER_02: I'm happy now because uh uh I I'm I'm I'm more interested in sharing my story like what I'm doing right now.
• 31:45
  SPEAKER_02: It's a great story.
• 31:46
  SPEAKER_02: And uh hopefully it will inspire some people and uh hopefully it will also inspire me to uh keep uh going and uh Yeah.
• 31:56
  SPEAKER_02: Love that.
• 31:57
  SPEAKER_03: W walking down the strip.
• 31:59
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, we we knew who you were as soon as you DM'd us, but we also know you because we see your picture everywhere.
• 32:07
  SPEAKER_03: You could walk down the strip and we would see your picture numerous times all throughout the strip.
• 32:12
  SPEAKER_03: Is it weird to see your face all over on buses that drive by or cars that drive by or or the marquee that the is it weird to see your your face on there?
• 32:24
  SPEAKER_02: Well, that's another very good question.
• 32:26
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, because you know, these were things that I I dreamed about when I was uh younger.
• 32:35
  SPEAKER_02: And I thought that you would end up on the cover of a magazine because people like you.
• 32:44
  SPEAKER_02: I thought that uh maybe one day Las Vegas will like me so much that they will wrap their bus for me, and you know where I'm going with this.
• 32:55
  SPEAKER_02: And uh to realize that everything has a price tag, yeah.
• 33:00
  SPEAKER_02: Of course.
• 33:01
  SPEAKER_02: Uh and uh I was like, well, you just have to pay.
• 33:08
  SPEAKER_02: There's no because I'm French, also, you know, um uh the the the relationship French people have with money, money is almost front upon.
• 33:17
  SPEAKER_02: You know, people don't like if you're showing off your car or if you show up, it's it's really front upon.
• 33:23
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you should not pursue money in life.
• 33:25
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, uh, you should pursue cultural things or try to you know be very good at something or help other people or or be smart, uh, but but uh just showing off you have money is uh is not really something that people applaud.
• 33:40
  SPEAKER_02: Sure.
• 33:40
  SPEAKER_02: Uh I thought uh I thought uh it would be more difficult to have a face on the bus.
• 33:46
  SPEAKER_02: And it wasn't.
• 33:47
  SPEAKER_02: I mean I mean it it's uh you have to pay for it.
• 33:51
  SPEAKER_02: And uh and that a little bit killed the magic and and the dream, sure, you know.
• 33:58
  SPEAKER_02: Uh because so yeah, so then I say, well, I and because I was not interested in making money and the show was doing very well, I say, well, I'll just buy more, more, more buses.
• 34:08
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and uh and but if only it was so easy, if only it was that easy.
• 34:13
  SPEAKER_02: But but then you know uh I start to realize that nobody cares.
• 34:17
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and then you see your bus, the things that you've been you probably have been dreaming about that for for years, and it's right there, and you say, It's here, and then you look at everybody and nobody cares.
• 34:31
  SPEAKER_02: I've never seen a person say never.
• 34:34
  SPEAKER_02: Not for me, not for anybody.
• 34:36
  SPEAKER_02: I've never seen anybody take a picture of a bus, no matter who is on the bus.
• 34:40
  SPEAKER_02: That's fair.
• 34:41
  SPEAKER_02: And this is brutal.
• 34:42
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, brutal.
• 34:45
  SPEAKER_02: So I start to resent these things.
• 34:47
  SPEAKER_03: Really?
• 34:48
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 34:49
  SPEAKER_03: You're very you you you you're not shy with your emotions.
• 34:52
  SPEAKER_03: You you get really happy and really, you know, uh positive, but then also you definitely have some not not anger, but disappointment or frustration.
• 35:00
  SPEAKER_03: Well, you learn about life, right?
• 35:02
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 35:02
  SPEAKER_02: If you don't learn anything, then uh what are you doing?
• 35:06
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and I'm comfortable being uncomfortable because I've been uncomfortable um for most of my life, and this is when um you know I came up with something interesting.
• 35:15
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so I start to resent that.
• 35:17
  SPEAKER_02: I I I remember, you know, uh I thought about my grandmother, we were not poor, but I mean, uh, you know, uh in Portugal we had no water at home, we had no even an outlet, uh, there was no electricity, we were going to the fountain every day with these big things on your head to find some water.
• 35:36
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, you know, we were uh I've never lived in a luxurious, and I say, well, when I'm spending for this bus every month, you know, uh this is more than my entire family making a year.
• 35:49
  SPEAKER_02: And I start to find it a little bit not uncomfortable, but uh I I didn't really like to pursue fame or attention.
• 35:59
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah, this this is my photo 20 years ago.
• 36:03
  SPEAKER_02: Is that 20 years ago?
• 36:04
  SPEAKER_01: And it hasn't been changed.
• 36:05
  SPEAKER_01: There it is.
• 36:05
  SPEAKER_01: Do I look like him?
• 36:06
  SPEAKER_01: So now so now I'm like, uh, I should change my photo for as long as I'm going to keep this photo, I'm not going to put it anywhere.
• 36:12
  SPEAKER_03: It's it it's it's recognizable.
• 36:14
  SPEAKER_03: I've I've lived here for 15 years and I've always seen that photo.
• 36:17
  SPEAKER_03: I've never changed it.
• 36:18
  SPEAKER_03: Don't don't change it.
• 36:20
  SPEAKER_05: Unless you want to use a photo from our set.
• 36:22
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yes, yes.
• 36:24
  SPEAKER_03: Right here.
• 36:25
  SPEAKER_03: Let's print the bus.
• 36:26
  SPEAKER_03: Exactly.
• 36:27
  SPEAKER_03: Let's print the bus.
• 36:28
  SPEAKER_03: The big head bus.
• 36:29
  SPEAKER_03: The big head bus.
• 36:30
  SPEAKER_03: So your show today is called Paranormal.
• 36:34
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 36:35
  SPEAKER_03: When did the show start to evolve?
• 36:38
  SPEAKER_03: Like when did you create the the process of the show?
• 36:41
  SPEAKER_03: Because obviously you didn't start thinking of paranormal at the age of five.
• 36:44
  SPEAKER_03: You you thought of you know, you this is what you wanted to do with your life.
• 36:47
  SPEAKER_03: But when did the idea of the show Paranormal start to take shape?
• 36:52
  SPEAKER_02: I was probably 12 or 13 years.
• 36:54
  SPEAKER_03: Really?
• 36:54
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I start to include some uh mentalism in my magic set because I was only doing magic.
• 37:00
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 37:01
  SPEAKER_02: So back then I thought, well, again, you know, very similar to uh when we're talking about the buses.
• 37:06
  SPEAKER_02: I thought, like most magicians, that whoever got the biggest illusion and the biggest truck and the biggest prop on stage was the best.
• 37:13
  SPEAKER_02: So I was uh manufacturing and buying a bunch of stuff that uh most of the time I could not even load on stage because uh there was no ramp or no nothing, it was too heavy to put it there.
• 37:24
  SPEAKER_02: And then uh I I had that pride of the magician to present these big things, and at the end people tell me, yeah, all these tricks was good, but but how did you guess the word?
• 37:34
  SPEAKER_02: I thought on the book, and I start to be upset.
• 37:37
  SPEAKER_02: I say, really?
• 37:38
  SPEAKER_02: Because I was doing these things between big acts so my staff could install the other things behind the curtain.
• 37:44
  SPEAKER_05: Right.
• 37:45
  SPEAKER_02: And and I thought, away, I uh I I've been traveling with this thing over France for 15 hours.
• 37:52
  SPEAKER_02: This thing could break, cost a fortune, and everybody talks about the things that I do that are basically that didn't have a financial investment, I would say.
• 38:02
  SPEAKER_02: And uh and I I I fall in love with mentalism because one day I was doing these big illusions and I remember there was a contortionist, and I could do I I did not need any uh rehearsal or I did not need any, you know, I did not to warm up, I could just go on stage and do the trick.
• 38:23
  SPEAKER_02: And I see these people for three or four hours warming up, practicing their circus act, and I'm like, all I'm doing right now is pushing a button and the girl starts to float.
• 38:36
  SPEAKER_02: And I start to feel disgust with myself.
• 38:38
  SPEAKER_02: Really?
• 38:39
  SPEAKER_02: I I honestly I remember going on stage and I'm saying, Frederick, if what you're doing can be learned in one month, one week, or whatever, then what's the point to have been doing these things for decades?
• 38:54
  SPEAKER_02: So I got rid of everything.
• 38:56
  SPEAKER_02: This is what I do.
• 38:57
  SPEAKER_02: I sold all these illusions and say I want nothing.
• 39:00
  SPEAKER_03: That's so funny.
• 39:01
  SPEAKER_03: That's crazy.
• 39:02
  SPEAKER_02: I say I I I'm I I haven't performed magic since the age of five to do something that someone could start today and do it in one month.
• 39:11
  SPEAKER_02: And then I start to think, yeah, I'm very good at this rope routine, I'm very good at this.
• 39:15
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm like, well, maybe, maybe, maybe, maybe I I always afraid to not be as talented as people think I am.
• 39:23
  SPEAKER_05: So we see that magic and mentalism obviously have deep roots in who you are and and how you've moved throughout your life.
• 39:31
  SPEAKER_05: But do you think that magic as a whole has a deeper meaning for the audience or for society and how we engage with it?
• 39:39
  SPEAKER_02: Well, that's a very good question.
• 39:41
  SPEAKER_02: And you've been asking a lot of very good questions.
• 39:43
  SPEAKER_02: That's what we do here at the Hey Big Head show.
• 39:45
  SPEAKER_02: That's why we have a plus.
• 39:46
  SPEAKER_02: For people that have never seen my show, you actually did a better job than I thought.
• 39:52
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you, thank you.
• 39:53
  SPEAKER_02: Uh yes, yes, Julie, you're you're right.
• 39:57
  SPEAKER_02: Uh I mean, uh, maybe not for the audience, it's probably not perceived as for the audience, but I think that for me as a person, uh the the meaning of of of performing magic uh is obvious, it is more philosophical and existential than than than than it looks like.
• 40:18
  SPEAKER_02: I think uh you know we are very limited as human beings, and uh I always been very uh uncomfortable with this idea.
• 40:29
  SPEAKER_02: I remember being a child and be sitting down and say looking at the sky and just and the birds, and I say, Why am I stuck here?
• 40:38
  SPEAKER_02: I can't go nowhere.
• 40:39
  SPEAKER_02: I'm I'm like a magnet on this earth, and this is infinite.
• 40:42
  SPEAKER_02: And why am I here?
• 40:43
  SPEAKER_02: What did I do wrong?
• 40:44
  SPEAKER_02: Why are we so limited?
• 40:46
  SPEAKER_02: And and and when I was looking at magicians, I say, Well, they're free.
• 40:51
  SPEAKER_02: These people are free.
• 40:53
  SPEAKER_02: And somehow they get as close as possible of what freedom would be, like if you just close your eyes and do whatever you want.
• 41:02
  SPEAKER_02: Uh and and this is what the magician does.
• 41:05
  SPEAKER_02: The magician is free from all the limitation we have as human beings.
• 41:10
  SPEAKER_02: And uh if being limited is something unbearable, is that an English word?
• 41:15
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, unbearable?
• 41:16
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 41:18
  SPEAKER_02: Well, uh, then certainly, you know, uh being on stage and doing the things, and and they look at least for the audience, it looks real.
• 41:27
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 41:28
  SPEAKER_02: Now I would I I would argue that that the magician is almost the only person who doesn't get the entertainment and the wow because he's the only one who knows how it's done.
• 41:39
  SPEAKER_02: But to performing in front of an audience and see their reaction, you kind of take a little bit of for you, yeah.
• 41:47
  SPEAKER_02: And it's a beautiful way to give and take because I can't I can't do I can't do a magic trick for myself.
• 41:54
  SPEAKER_02: You have to do something to someone so that person experience it and you can profit from taking a little bit of what they feel.
• 42:01
  SPEAKER_05: What does it call that?
• 42:02
  SPEAKER_05: Symbiosis.
• 42:03
  SPEAKER_02: Is that what it is?
• 42:04
  SPEAKER_05: Where two parties benefit from each other in a cycle.
• 42:07
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, I think so.
• 42:08
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, does it bother you that you can't really enjoy magic anymore?
• 42:14
  SPEAKER_02: Uh no, because sometimes I still see see things that uh fool me.
• 42:22
  SPEAKER_02: And uh I I can still look at old videos of uh all the magicians, uh, and it puts me back in uh in my childhood, and I still remember the feeling of uh not knowing how it was uh done.
• 42:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 42:37
  SPEAKER_02: And now it's my turn to uh do these things to other people.
• 42:40
  SPEAKER_03: One of the things that we found during the research is you don't really implement, I don't want to say new tricks, but you don't add in a lot of new tricks on the re on a regular basis, right?
• 42:51
  SPEAKER_03: Correct.
• 42:52
  SPEAKER_03: Why is that?
• 42:53
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 42:53
  SPEAKER_02: I I mean I've been asked this a lot, and uh uh at no point it's uh it's it's a laziness from my trust me.
• 43:02
  SPEAKER_03: Right out of everything you've described, well, lazy, I would never think of you as being lazy.
• 43:07
  SPEAKER_03: Never ever or undetermined.
• 43:10
  SPEAKER_03: You are one of the most determined people, but continue.
• 43:13
  SPEAKER_03: I'm sorry.
• 43:14
  SPEAKER_02: Um I mean, yeah, it would be easy.
• 43:18
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, people come up with tricks that you can basically buy, you know, you can buy the rights and do them almost immediately.
• 43:24
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 43:25
  SPEAKER_02: Uh I would argue that 20 or 30 or 40 years ago, uh people kind of like the stuff that were difficult to do.
• 43:34
  SPEAKER_02: Uh using uh if you were using a deck of cards and you have a card trick to show, uh it could not be you could not use marked cards, you can have duplicates, it could should have can the deck can be borrowed, can we ask the spectator to shuffle the cards before?
• 43:49
  SPEAKER_02: If not, shame on you.
• 43:51
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 43:51
  SPEAKER_02: Right?
• 43:52
  SPEAKER_02: This has changed a lot with the internet and with people who want to make money selling tricks that everybody can do.
• 43:59
  SPEAKER_02: Uh And then these rules, these ethical rules, completely fade away.
• 44:04
  SPEAKER_02: Sure.
• 44:05
  SPEAKER_02: And in what I do, mentalism, even worse.
• 44:11
  SPEAKER_02: So for profit, then people will come up with easy solutions, right?
• 44:15
  SPEAKER_02: I remember I was spending hours every day trying to memorize list of words.
• 44:20
  SPEAKER_02: My mom was telling me random words, and I have to remember 20 in less than 10 seconds.
• 44:25
  SPEAKER_02: And there was no trick.
• 44:26
  SPEAKER_02: It was what the mentalists were doing.
• 44:32
  SPEAKER_02: Today I could have the notification on my watch or an earpiece.
• 44:35
  SPEAKER_02: But these things were the why why would you do that?
• 44:38
  SPEAKER_02: So I don't uh I I fall in.
• 44:42
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, I I before I came up with this show, I mean, I performed for uh 20 or 25 years, and I had a chance to test what's good and what's not, and I don't feel comfortable getting on stage and no sh not showing my best show uh every single day.
• 45:01
  SPEAKER_02: I've been I I watch a lot of uh singers that are for the first time, and uh I thought I will have the heats, and I don't have the heat, and I'm extremely disappointed because the show is not as good as I thought.
• 45:14
  SPEAKER_02: My favorite songs are not there, and uh I don't want I don't want to do that to my audience, especially when you are in Vegas and people will see your show maybe once in their lifetime or they'll come back 10 years later.
• 45:26
  SPEAKER_02: Uh so I feel I have an obligation to give my best material every day.
• 45:31
  SPEAKER_02: I do sometimes remove something and try something, something new.
• 45:37
  SPEAKER_02: Most of the time I end up by taking it off because uh I think it's not worth taking what I have.
• 45:43
  SPEAKER_02: And I kind of like the idea, even if maybe it's not realistic.
• 45:48
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, to a certain degree, I believe that you know the if I have been doing this for 20 years and I stick with it, and I'm going to do the same trick today that I was already doing when I was 25, but now I did it 3,000 or 4,000 to yeah.
• 46:04
  SPEAKER_02: I believe I want to believe when I leave the stage that nobody else than me could do this particular show better than me because nobody has stuck with it for decades.
• 46:15
  SPEAKER_02: And uh and I mean I'm willing to improve it, which I believe I do.
• 46:19
  SPEAKER_02: I believe I I mean every time you interview someone, you become better.
• 46:23
  SPEAKER_03: Try to, yeah.
• 46:24
  SPEAKER_02: Uh so uh uh and I'm never bored.
• 46:28
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, I'm not bored today to say, oh my god, I'm going to do the same thing.
• 46:32
  SPEAKER_02: Are you going to do this thing again?
• 46:34
  SPEAKER_02: I'm not.
• 46:34
  SPEAKER_02: I'm actually more excited because I think I'm I'm better today than I was last year.
• 46:38
  SPEAKER_02: And I I want to I want to believe that I have today the best version of my show that I ever created.
• 46:44
  SPEAKER_03: One of the things that's that's different about your show is people, especially people rave about how personal you are with the audience.
• 46:52
  SPEAKER_03: You make a connection with the audience more so than like Penn and Teller, for example, who it could be anybody out there and they're still doing their tricks on stage.
• 47:00
  SPEAKER_03: Are you going to interview them after this?
• 47:04
  SPEAKER_03: Um, I wish that that that would be great too.
• 47:06
  SPEAKER_03: Right to edit this moment.
• 47:09
  SPEAKER_03: But they uh but with you, you you really do build that personal connection with the audience.
• 47:14
  SPEAKER_03: Do you have a memory of an interaction you had with an audience member?
• 47:19
  SPEAKER_03: In the 13 years of doing this on the strip, is there a memory that you have that kind of stays with you?
• 47:24
  SPEAKER_03: Of I read I'll never forget this interaction with that audience member in a positive way?
• 47:30
  SPEAKER_00: Uh or negative way.
• 47:32
  SPEAKER_02: Uh whatever you want to share.
• 47:34
  SPEAKER_02: You tell me I I wanted to do hypnosis at some point, and one day uh someone passed out on stage and we have to call and that person was not hypnotized though.
• 47:48
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 47:49
  SPEAKER_02: And uh last act, older guy comes on stage and uh he passes out and nobody reacts because I've been saying sleep, sleep, sleep to everybody and I have to scream this is not part of the show.
• 48:02
  SPEAKER_02: And the people laugh and I'm like, we have to call an ambulance, this is not and I had that thought if this guy dies right now, when I've been saying sleep and fall and do all these things that people don't understand, how am I going to prove to the children and the grandchildren that I have nothing to do with that?
• 48:20
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 48:22
  SPEAKER_02: Uh so that's probably my worst memory.
• 48:24
  SPEAKER_02: Oh gosh.
• 48:24
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 48:25
  SPEAKER_02: And uh since then I I I really stopped doing uh hypnosis in my show.
• 48:31
  SPEAKER_02: Um but I mean uh yeah, nice moments I have all the time.
• 48:36
  SPEAKER_02: But I I I think I I I have built this show for the audience more than for me, and I think I doing I'm doing these things every day for the love of my fans more than any other magician does.
• 48:53
  SPEAKER_02: I mean I can't talk for everybody, but when I have a conversation with magicians, I feel that uh they do it more for themselves.
• 49:00
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 49:01
  SPEAKER_02: And it's almost like I'm going to show them how good I am.
• 49:04
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm really not into that that spirit.
• 49:07
  SPEAKER_02: I do a meet and greet.
• 49:08
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, we we next year we probably we are we're going to have to push the show at 3 p.m.
• 49:13
  SPEAKER_02: Because the meet and greet, I do a free meet and greet after the show.
• 49:16
  SPEAKER_02: I pay for the room, I pay for the staff, I pay for the uh you love to have the music.
• 49:21
  SPEAKER_02: I'm not I never charge.
• 49:23
  SPEAKER_02: And people wait online sometimes one hour, one hour, twenty minutes just to take a photo with me and have an interaction with me.
• 49:30
  SPEAKER_02: And and and I could do four hours of meet and greet a day for free if I if I could.
• 49:35
  SPEAKER_03: That says so much about you too, is that they're we they're willing to wait in line just to just to meet you and shake your hand.
• 49:40
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, you know, uh when when you've been waiting all your life to have an audience and you finally have an audience, um, you know, I started with zero.
• 49:47
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 49:48
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 49:48
  SPEAKER_05: You're so devoted to your craft and the environment that you've cultivated that I'm sure lots of sacrifice has happened in your life as well.
• 49:58
  SPEAKER_05: What are things that you have given up or had to move to the side in order to get to where you are today?
• 50:06
  SPEAKER_02: I don't want to be dramatic and say everything.
• 50:08
  SPEAKER_02: Please be dramatic.
• 50:09
  SPEAKER_02: We love the drama.
• 50:10
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, uh I I like the idea to be all-in, I like the idea of people saying I'm a hundred percent.
• 50:15
  SPEAKER_02: And I usually argue a lot with people because I I I I I rarely have seen people really being a hundred percent.
• 50:23
  SPEAKER_02: I don't even think that most people really understand what it is to be a hundred percent.
• 50:29
  SPEAKER_02: I think uh I I I I thought about this every second of my life when I was taking breakfast when I was going at school.
• 50:37
  SPEAKER_02: Uh always.
• 50:39
  SPEAKER_02: I mean I don't have TV, I don't really I'm not on I mean I'm not really I don't distract myself.
• 50:45
  SPEAKER_02: I can't even.
• 50:46
  SPEAKER_02: I I wish I could.
• 50:47
  SPEAKER_02: I wish I could turn TV and distract myself for an hour and 30 minutes without without feeling any guilt.
• 50:57
  SPEAKER_02: You still feel guilt even today?
• 50:59
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I would I would not watch.
• 51:00
  SPEAKER_02: I I haven't watched I haven't been to the cinema for decades.
• 51:03
  SPEAKER_02: Wow.
• 51:03
  SPEAKER_02: Do you sleep?
• 51:05
  SPEAKER_02: Well, that's uh that's a very good question.
• 51:07
  SPEAKER_02: Uh you know, so many years ago I thought I thought that I I I was basically very afraid not to realize my dream.
• 51:18
  SPEAKER_02: When you go 100% on something and this becomes your entire life, sure, if you don't make it at the end, you have wasted the fantastic opportunity to be alive.
• 51:27
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 51:28
  SPEAKER_02: And I didn't want this to be a pipe dream that people that I would be 70 and 80 years old and say, this guy lived all his life hoping that one day he will have a show in Las Vegas and he never did, he never made it.
• 51:40
  SPEAKER_02: It starts to be scary at some point.
• 51:42
  SPEAKER_02: And I thought if I had a limited amount of time, I would make it.
• 51:45
  SPEAKER_02: Sure.
• 51:45
  SPEAKER_02: It's just a when you don't give up, well then it's just a matter of time.
• 51:49
  SPEAKER_02: I mean if you have unlimited money and you're just waiting for the roulette to go 10 times on number 10.
• 51:56
  SPEAKER_02: If if you're okay to be there forever, yeah, you know, one day I did a TV show and the guy gives me a lock with four digits, and I was going there every day.
• 52:04
  SPEAKER_02: Say if tomorrow you this lock is, I would believe that you have powers.
• 52:08
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 52:08
  SPEAKER_02: That's a joke.
• 52:09
  SPEAKER_02: And I say, well, I don't know.
• 52:11
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know the code.
• 52:12
  SPEAKER_02: I have to go from zero and go to 900, 900.
• 52:14
  SPEAKER_02: You know, this is my mindset.
• 52:16
  SPEAKER_02: And the next day I had the code at open it.
• 52:18
  SPEAKER_02: And the if people don't believe, actually, Penn and Teller say something very uh smart, which is uh sometimes you know it's just you putting more efforts in something that is reasonably that you can reasonably imagine that someone is going to put it.
• 52:32
  SPEAKER_02: But yeah, I would start from zero and uh whatever it takes.
• 52:35
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, I have 24 hours to unlock this thing.
• 52:37
  SPEAKER_02: When most of people would say, Well, I don't know, I will have to come up with an excuse.
• 52:41
  SPEAKER_02: Uh so I coming back to sleep, I thought, well, if I have a limited amount of time, I could make it, but I have limited amount of time.
• 52:49
  SPEAKER_02: And then I start to get concerned about sleeping eight hours a day.
• 52:52
  SPEAKER_02: Sure.
• 52:53
  SPEAKER_02: And I read all these books of people supposedly say that they can sleep four hours a day.
• 52:58
  SPEAKER_02: Look, I I can I can write a boot about motivation, but the truth is I never had I I'm born with it.
• 53:04
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, right.
• 53:04
  SPEAKER_02: So maybe some people can sleep four hours a day, they feel fantastic.
• 53:08
  SPEAKER_02: Now you start to do what they do, it just doesn't work for you.
• 53:11
  SPEAKER_02: You I don't believe that you can learn everything or transmit everything.
• 53:15
  SPEAKER_02: I think people take advantage of the things that they are naturally gifted with and then try to tell you, yeah, but you're not enough motivated, look at this guy, he's doing that.
• 53:23
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, it didn't take me any effort.
• 53:26
  SPEAKER_02: It would be easier for me to people, it would be easier for me to it's easier for me not to give up than to give up.
• 53:33
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 53:34
  SPEAKER_02: I I don't consider that I was courageous or I was brave enough not to give up.
• 53:39
  SPEAKER_02: I was not brave enough.
• 53:41
  SPEAKER_02: I was not brave enough to give up.
• 53:45
  SPEAKER_02: I like you.
• 53:46
  SPEAKER_02: You understand what I mean?
• 53:48
  SPEAKER_02: I do understand.
• 53:48
  SPEAKER_02: I but I'm not taking credit of something that I was naturally born with.
• 53:52
  SPEAKER_02: I could not give up.
• 53:53
  SPEAKER_02: I don't think I had no courage.
• 53:56
  SPEAKER_02: I didn't have the courage to say, okay, I'm going to give up on my dream.
• 53:59
  SPEAKER_03: Eventually you gotta slow down though.
• 54:01
  SPEAKER_03: You're you're you're 44 notch.
• 54:02
  SPEAKER_03: Again, you look fantastic, you look early, mid-30s.
• 54:05
  SPEAKER_03: She likes my boots.
• 54:06
  SPEAKER_03: She loves your boots.
• 54:07
  SPEAKER_03: I do love the boots.
• 54:08
  SPEAKER_03: You got everything going on.
• 54:09
  SPEAKER_03: But eventually, father time always wins, and eventually you gotta slow down a little bit.
• 54:15
  SPEAKER_03: Why?
• 54:16
  SPEAKER_03: Why?
• 54:16
  SPEAKER_03: Because your body just can't take it anymore.
• 54:19
  SPEAKER_03: Your body needs sleep, your body needs to turn off, doesn't it?
• 54:23
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 54:24
  SPEAKER_03: I'm not finished with this.
• 54:28
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, I'm sorry.
• 54:29
  SPEAKER_02: I gotta do it.
• 54:30
  SPEAKER_05: You say shut up.
• 54:30
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, just to say continue, please.
• 54:33
  SPEAKER_02: What I'm saying, it did not work for me to sleep less.
• 54:36
  SPEAKER_02: So I had to find another solution.
• 54:39
  SPEAKER_02: What's your other solution?
• 54:40
  SPEAKER_02: Well, the other solution was I cannot spend eight hours dreaming of random stuff.
• 54:47
  SPEAKER_02: I have to use, yeah, and I always thought, and I still believe today, I'm fascinated with dreams, right?
• 54:53
  SPEAKER_02: Your brain creates the story, you're discovering it at the same time, and you never lack inspiration.
• 54:58
  SPEAKER_02: Versus if you ask me to tell you a story right now, and what's next and what's next, at some point I don't know what's next.
• 55:03
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, and when you dream, you do that all the time.
• 55:06
  SPEAKER_02: I would say, maybe I could keep working when I'm dreaming.
• 55:09
  SPEAKER_02: And then I start to learn, you know, lucid dreaming and all, and then I had I had an audio sound every 15 minutes, a sound that you never hear in real life.
• 55:19
  SPEAKER_02: So if I'm hearing this sound right now, I know that I'm dreaming the interview and this is not real.
• 55:24
  SPEAKER_02: So I start to control my dreams.
• 55:26
  SPEAKER_02: That's interesting.
• 55:26
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so then imagine you're dreaming that uh I don't know, uh you're in the beach, uh, you know, uh having fun and surf or whatever, and then I listen to the sound, I say, here we go.
• 55:36
  SPEAKER_02: I'm dreaming back to work, Frederick.
• 55:38
  SPEAKER_02: That there's this act, I want to figure out I need a solution for this.
• 55:42
  SPEAKER_02: And this is one of the things that I that that I still do today, and is extremely I enjoy it so much.
• 55:49
  SPEAKER_02: When I wake up in the morning and I've been working in something that I could not solve, and in the morning I have the expl I have the solution, you wake up and you feel great to have spent eight hours sleeping because you didn't waste you didn't waste your time.
• 56:04
  SPEAKER_03: When are you gonna write a book?
• 56:05
  SPEAKER_03: Because I would love to just see what goes on in here, because what you what you do, what you're you're so determined, you want to continue to improve just what you're capable of doing.
• 56:17
  SPEAKER_03: I respect that, and I would love to just read whatever goes on in your mind and just see what you put down on paper.
• 56:24
  SPEAKER_03: It's really intriguing.
• 56:25
  SPEAKER_03: Is it still relevant to write a book?
• 56:27
  SPEAKER_03: Of course, yeah, maybe, or maybe do an audiobook.
• 56:31
  SPEAKER_05: Readers are coming back.
• 56:32
  SPEAKER_05: America is facing a literacy problem.
• 56:34
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, well we're coming back with reading.
• 56:37
  SPEAKER_03: Do you see the end at all?
• 56:38
  SPEAKER_03: Do you do you think of retiring at all?
• 56:40
  SPEAKER_02: No, I don't feel about retiring, but I probably think about death uh 50 times a day.
• 56:46
  SPEAKER_03: Really?
• 56:46
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 56:47
  SPEAKER_02: Are you scared of death?
• 56:49
  SPEAKER_02: I'm not scared, but it's something I've been thinking about since uh 13 or 14 years, yeah.
• 56:56
  SPEAKER_03: Why?
• 56:57
  SPEAKER_02: Uh why?
• 56:57
  SPEAKER_02: I can't really tell you why.
• 56:59
  SPEAKER_02: Uh I'm wondering why people don't think about it all the time.
• 57:03
  SPEAKER_05: Well, what about death is it that you're thinking of?
• 57:06
  SPEAKER_02: Just that it's inevitable or yeah, the fact that it's inevitable, the find that uh, you know, um uh is w our uh is anything uh really relevant to do?
• 57:17
  SPEAKER_02: Uh how fast it will be before people forget about us, uh, why leaving if you're going to die?
• 57:24
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, these are philosophical questions, and uh doesn't mean I'm depressed about it.
• 57:28
  SPEAKER_02: But uh I'm surprised that people live their life and and they don't seem to bother about that.
• 57:33
  SPEAKER_02: It's like you're getting on the Titanic, and uh I know that the boat is going to sink, and I'm telling you, and people know and this just don't care.
• 57:43
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, but it it also makes time extremely valuable.
• 57:48
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 57:50
  SPEAKER_02: So you know there are good things.
• 57:53
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, uh I I wake up in the morning, I take the sheets, and uh here we go, let's let's do it, let's let's let's enjoy uh have another chance to leave uh another day.
• 58:02
  SPEAKER_02: And it keeps me excited about life and about the future.
• 58:05
  SPEAKER_03: Do you make your bed every day, every morning?
• 58:07
  SPEAKER_03: No, no, no.
• 58:11
  SPEAKER_03: All right, we have a few more questions, but before we get to the last few questions, do you want to do the the other trick you're gonna do with Julie?
• 58:18
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know if I can do something with Julie.
• 58:20
  SPEAKER_02: Can we?
• 58:21
  SPEAKER_05: You can do whatever you want.
• 58:23
  SPEAKER_02: Alright, let's try.
• 58:26
  SPEAKER_02: Julie, do you remember the name of your first crush?
• 58:29
  SPEAKER_05: I do.
• 58:32
  SPEAKER_02: Alright.
• 58:32
  SPEAKER_02: Can you close your eyes for me for a second?
• 58:35
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 58:36
  SPEAKER_02: I would like you to imagine that uh you're going to leave this podcast.
• 58:41
  SPEAKER_02: Uh do you drive?
• 58:42
  SPEAKER_05: I do.
• 58:42
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, so imagine you get in your car and uh you hear tuck tuck tuck on the window of your car, and you open your eyes, and you can't believe it's it's you know instantly it's your it's your first crush.
• 58:57
  SPEAKER_02: Maybe you don't recognize him.
• 58:59
  SPEAKER_02: How how old was you were you when you were when I had a crush on him?
• 59:03
  SPEAKER_05: Like preschool.
• 59:04
  SPEAKER_05: Three or four.
• 59:05
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, three or four.
• 59:06
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, open your eyes.
• 59:07
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, you still remember his name, right?
• 59:09
  SPEAKER_02: I do.
• 59:09
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 59:10
  SPEAKER_02: Have you seen him after that?
• 59:12
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, we went all through grade school together.
• 59:14
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 59:15
  SPEAKER_02: Is there any way I could know the name of your first crush?
• 59:18
  SPEAKER_05: No.
• 59:19
  SPEAKER_02: No.
• 59:20
  SPEAKER_02: Is it a is it a long name?
• 59:22
  SPEAKER_02: Less than five letters, less than six letters, right?
• 59:25
  SPEAKER_02: Is there a double letter on the middle?
• 59:28
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 59:28
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 59:29
  SPEAKER_02: What the think of think of one of these double letters on the middle.
• 59:35
  SPEAKER_02: Alright, can you close your eyes for me?
• 59:37
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 59:38
  SPEAKER_02: I would go with this.
• 59:39
  SPEAKER_02: I'm not getting a common name.
• 59:41
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 59:42
  SPEAKER_02: Keep your eyes closed.
• 59:43
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, don't you?
• 59:43
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 59:44
  SPEAKER_02: Here we go.
• 59:44
  SPEAKER_02: Keep your eyes.
• 59:45
  SPEAKER_02: What is that double letter on the middle?
• 59:47
  SPEAKER_05: You want me to tell you?
• 59:48
  SPEAKER_05: Yes.
• 59:48
  SPEAKER_02: E.
• 59:48
  SPEAKER_02: Hey, open your eyes.
• 59:50
  SPEAKER_02: Right here.
• 59:53
  SPEAKER_02: Here we go.
• 59:54
  SPEAKER_01: She's doing this again.
• 59:56
  SPEAKER_01: She's out of control.
• 59:57
  SPEAKER_01: I'm controlling her mind right now.
• 59:59
  SPEAKER_05: Check the heart rate.
• 1:00:00
  SPEAKER_05: 83.
• 1:00:03
  SPEAKER_02: Alright, close your eyes.
• 1:00:05
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, in your mind, just start to say the name over and over.
• 1:00:07
  SPEAKER_02: Just in your mind.
• 1:00:08
  SPEAKER_02: Imagine you're screaming the name to me.
• 1:00:14
  SPEAKER_02: I've been writing names for decades.
• 1:00:16
  SPEAKER_02: I never had to write this name before.
• 1:00:19
  SPEAKER_02: Julie, please keep your eyes closed on the counter three, one, two, three.
• 1:00:23
  SPEAKER_02: What's the name?
• 1:00:24
  SPEAKER_05: Steed.
• 1:00:24
  SPEAKER_05: Come on.
• 1:00:27
  SPEAKER_05: There's no name.
• 1:00:33
  SPEAKER_05: I mean, I I believe in your abilities.
• 1:00:35
  SPEAKER_05: I just did not.
• 1:00:37
  SPEAKER_05: Nobody has this name.
• 1:00:38
  SPEAKER_05: I can't do anything.
• 1:00:39
  SPEAKER_05: It's his middle name too.
• 1:00:40
  SPEAKER_05: But he goes by them.
• 1:00:41
  SPEAKER_01: I can do anything.
• 1:00:42
  SPEAKER_01: What the fuck?
• 1:00:43
  SPEAKER_01: Come on.
• 1:00:44
  SPEAKER_01: And you never say that by the way.
• 1:00:46
  SPEAKER_01: He's also out of control.
• 1:00:48
  SPEAKER_03: I've never cursed in my life.
• 1:00:49
  SPEAKER_03: That was unbelievable.
• 1:00:53
  SPEAKER_05: It's his middle name, but he went by it.
• 1:00:55
  SPEAKER_05: That's what everyone called him.
• 1:00:56
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 1:00:57
  SPEAKER_02: Not Steve.
• 1:00:58
  SPEAKER_05: No.
• 1:00:58
  SPEAKER_02: And that's why I do at the meet and greet.
• 1:01:00
  SPEAKER_02: You know, people see this on stage.
• 1:01:01
  SPEAKER_02: They say, come on, there's no way.
• 1:01:03
  SPEAKER_02: And then I tell them, come at the meet and greet, ask me anything you want, and I'll do it.
• 1:01:07
  SPEAKER_02: And I love doing it.
• 1:01:08
  SPEAKER_02: And I and I this it's it's so enjoyable.
• 1:01:11
  SPEAKER_02: For your sh that was incredible.
• 1:01:13
  SPEAKER_05: I know, I can't get over it.
• 1:01:14
  SPEAKER_03: For yeah.
• 1:01:15
  SPEAKER_03: For your show Paranormal, is there you've you've been doing it for 13 years.
• 1:01:19
  SPEAKER_03: Is there anything you want to keep adding?
• 1:01:21
  SPEAKER_03: Is there anything you want to add to it that you haven't done yet, or you want to take it to somewhere else that you haven't been able to take it yet, or you're fine with where it is content?
• 1:01:29
  SPEAKER_02: Uh I believe the the industry of uh sitting in the theater for one hour and a half and watch a guy doing something on stage.
• 1:01:39
  SPEAKER_02: I believe that uh it's possible that it's going to fade away.
• 1:01:44
  SPEAKER_02: It's possible that the new generation have unlimited entertainment um for free.
• 1:01:49
  SPEAKER_02: Sure.
• 1:01:50
  SPEAKER_02: And it's it's aggravating already, you know.
• 1:01:52
  SPEAKER_02: We have so much information and so much free entertainment, and your algorithm is so dedicated to you and knows you so well.
• 1:02:01
  SPEAKER_02: Uh that sitting in in a theater watching someone doing something, um I believe that the show business industry, the best days of show business industries, are behind.
• 1:02:13
  SPEAKER_02: It doesn't mean that, but but but there's probably a new opportunity to reach people in a different way.
• 1:02:20
  SPEAKER_02: Maybe it's not going to be called a show.
• 1:02:22
  SPEAKER_02: Maybe it's not you sitting on the chair and you watching something.
• 1:02:26
  SPEAKER_02: Um which is but uh uh but uh you know for me the meet and greet I do after the show show me that this one-on-one interaction is something that you cannot get anywhere else.
• 1:02:40
  SPEAKER_02: Uh it's not something uh it's and it's still different than just watching from being sitting and watching a show.
• 1:02:48
  SPEAKER_02: I want to explore that more and understand uh how I can keep developing these things.
• 1:02:54
  SPEAKER_02: I would love to have a place, a pub, a bar, or anything where I could just sit and perform my waking hours.
• 1:03:03
  SPEAKER_05: What if you owned a bar and then you could perform there too?
• 1:03:08
  SPEAKER_05: And and then that's taking the money that you have that you said.
• 1:03:11
  SPEAKER_05: The paranormal club right wasn't bringing you happiness using it otherwise, but you could create someplace for people to hang out and drink alcohol, yes, and button, enjoy the magic too.
• 1:03:24
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I mean, I I I would love to find a way to be able to wake up in the morning, perform until I go to sleep.
• 1:03:30
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 1:03:31
  SPEAKER_03: Obviously, show business.
• 1:03:33
  SPEAKER_03: We're gonna get you out with this last question.
• 1:03:34
  SPEAKER_03: Obviously, show business is different than it was, you know, 39 years ago or so when you first experienced magic.
• 1:03:42
  SPEAKER_03: What advice would you give someone who is around that age where they're trying to figure out if if this is an age?
• 1:03:49
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know, 12.
• 1:03:50
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, okay.
• 1:03:51
  SPEAKER_03: Let's say 12.
• 1:03:52
  SPEAKER_05: Not five.
• 1:03:52
  SPEAKER_03: Not five.
• 1:03:53
  SPEAKER_03: Let's say 12 or something.
• 1:03:54
  SPEAKER_03: That they're they're they're interested in having magic be a part of their life as an entertainer for the rest of their life.
• 1:04:02
  SPEAKER_03: What advice would you give a 12, 13-year-old Andrew, who wants to grow up and be an entertainer and do what you do?
• 1:04:11
  SPEAKER_02: You know, life is very cyclical, and uh sometimes uh people were doing things uh decades ago uh that are not done today, and then it seems like it's something new.
• 1:04:26
  SPEAKER_02: I'm going to tell you a fun story.
• 1:04:28
  SPEAKER_02: Can you show me this?
• 1:04:29
  SPEAKER_02: I have a very good friend, I'm not going to say his name, but okay.
• 1:04:32
  SPEAKER_02: Very good friend magician.
• 1:04:34
  SPEAKER_02: He saw this, right?
• 1:04:37
  SPEAKER_02: Which is and he looked at this and said, Frederick, this is brilliant.
• 1:04:40
  SPEAKER_02: This is like your website.
• 1:04:42
  SPEAKER_05: The pamphlet?
• 1:04:43
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 1:04:44
  SPEAKER_02: And I was like, Are you kidding?
• 1:04:46
  SPEAKER_02: He said, Yeah, you give this, there's your photo.
• 1:04:49
  SPEAKER_02: I have your website, I have your contact on everything.
• 1:04:52
  SPEAKER_02: He's younger than me.
• 1:04:53
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, when is this considered to be the next thing?
• 1:04:57
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you know, uh you know, I I I have respect for your art, is a good thing to be interested in the history, how people got there.
• 1:05:07
  SPEAKER_02: And uh sometimes you find old ways of doing that can become trend.
• 1:05:12
  SPEAKER_02: You know, the thing with with particularly with magic, if you do magic online, you only have to do the trick once.
• 1:05:20
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 1:05:21
  SPEAKER_02: I I can try some impossible stunts, and I do it a thousand times, and when this is going to hit right there, we have it on camera.
• 1:05:27
  SPEAKER_02: Just that one.
• 1:05:28
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, then you never have to do it again, right?
• 1:05:31
  SPEAKER_02: But you cannot do it ever.
• 1:05:34
  SPEAKER_02: Again, if you ask me, can you show me the thing that you did uh on your TikTok?
• 1:05:38
  SPEAKER_02: Well, then you can't do it.
• 1:05:39
  SPEAKER_02: So people have issues today because when you go see the show, it's not as neat as what we saw online.
• 1:05:48
  SPEAKER_02: And uh you know, uh learning the old school uh like like like I do, maybe people are not going to be willing to sacrifice you know an entire life in in just a few minutes of act, and uh maybe one day that would become a new way of uh doing things.
• 1:06:08
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah, look at what people were doing uh a long time ago.
• 1:06:12
  SPEAKER_02: And if people are not doing these things anymore, and uh everybody does another way, well then maybe you can be different doing the things that uh people used to do a long time ago.
• 1:06:22
  SPEAKER_02: Well said.
• 1:06:23
  SPEAKER_03: Frederick man, I want to thank you so much for being here.
• 1:06:26
  SPEAKER_03: This you your story was so inspiring.
• 1:06:29
  SPEAKER_03: I love hearing stories of people failing over and over and over again, hearing no over and over and over again, and then being being so determined that they finally get that yes, and now they're on the strip for 13 years, now their faces all over the strip.
• 1:06:43
  SPEAKER_05: You're coming on the show, you're blowing my mind with not only not only the success with the show, but just you have incredible skill and talent.
• 1:06:52
  SPEAKER_03: You do.
• 1:06:53
  SPEAKER_03: You are one of a kind, you really are.
• 1:06:56
  SPEAKER_03: That's and you haven't seen the show yet.
• 1:06:57
  SPEAKER_03: I haven't even seen the show yet.
• 1:06:58
  SPEAKER_05: I'm gonna have to find Steed on social media.
• 1:07:02
  SPEAKER_03: You have not paid me.
• 1:07:03
  SPEAKER_01: There has been It's not like the trucks, it's not like the buses.
• 1:07:07
  SPEAKER_01: I did not pay you to say anything nice about me.
• 1:07:10
  SPEAKER_03: No, not at all.
• 1:07:12
  SPEAKER_03: You blew my mind with that first trick.
• 1:07:14
  SPEAKER_03: I still don't even know how you did that first trick, but that second trick, I have no idea.
• 1:07:18
  SPEAKER_03: Steed's gonna be so excited.
• 1:07:19
  SPEAKER_05: I'm gonna have to.
• 1:07:20
  SPEAKER_05: I mean I have no way to contact him, but I'm sure I can find him on Instagram.
• 1:07:23
  SPEAKER_00: I can't imagine him to the podcast.
• 1:07:27
  SPEAKER_00: We'll invite him to the street.
• 1:07:28
  SPEAKER_05: Steve, you have to come meet Fred.
• 1:07:30
  SPEAKER_00: It's Julie, after all these years, still thinking about Steve.
• 1:07:33
  SPEAKER_00: She's still thinking about the name.
• 1:07:36
  SPEAKER_05: You can't forget that name.
• 1:07:37
  SPEAKER_05: Also, my mom was his preschool teacher, so it's like this weird, you know.
• 1:07:41
  SPEAKER_03: It's a weird, it's a weird dynamic you got going on there.
• 1:07:43
  SPEAKER_03: Uh paranormal at the horseshoe.
• 1:07:46
  SPEAKER_03: How many how many shows do you do a day?
• 1:07:48
  SPEAKER_02: I do uh one show and one meet and greet a day.
• 1:07:50
  SPEAKER_02: So one show.
• 1:07:51
  SPEAKER_02: Four o'clock this year, two 2027 will be three o'clock, so we can have more time for the meet and greet.
• 1:07:57
  SPEAKER_02: How many days a week?
• 1:07:58
  SPEAKER_02: I do 250 shows a year.
• 1:08:00
  SPEAKER_02: Oh my gosh.
• 1:08:00
  SPEAKER_03: 50 weeks a year.
• 1:08:02
  SPEAKER_03: Go on vacation.
• 1:08:04
  SPEAKER_03: Take take a while off.
• 1:08:05
  SPEAKER_05: Frederick doesn't like vacation.
• 1:08:07
  SPEAKER_03: I don't like vacation.
• 1:08:08
  SPEAKER_03: Go on social media.
• 1:08:09
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know what I don't know what to do with vacation.
• 1:08:10
  SPEAKER_02: Let's go to the movies after this.
• 1:08:12
  SPEAKER_02: But I'm in vacation.
• 1:08:12
  SPEAKER_02: I look at my watch, it's like four o'clock.
• 1:08:14
  SPEAKER_01: Really?
• 1:08:14
  SPEAKER_01: Is there what is there really anything what I'm doing right now?
• 1:08:18
  SPEAKER_02: I could not do it at stake so seven.
• 1:08:21
  SPEAKER_00: Just turn just turn it rough.
• 1:08:22
  SPEAKER_03: Let's go see a movie, right?
• 1:08:24
  SPEAKER_03: Let's go.
• 1:08:24
  SPEAKER_03: Let's go.
• 1:08:24
  SPEAKER_03: Frederick is over.
• 1:08:25
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you so much for being here.
• 1:08:26
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you, Andrew.
• 1:08:27
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you, Julie.
• 1:08:29
  SPEAKER_03: Catch new episodes each week on heybighead.com.
• 1:08:32
  SPEAKER_03: Julie, do you have any last words, the state of steed before we go?
• 1:08:34
  SPEAKER_05: Bye.