Simon Lovell - Man of Danger Vol 1
Category
🦄
CreativityTranscript
00:00 I'm not sure Simon, it looks pretty dangerous in here.
00:03 I am that man of danger.
00:08 Come and check it out.
00:10 [Music]
00:34 Ladies and gentlemen, a warm round of applause for the incredible Simon Lovall!
00:40 [Applause]
00:47 All right, I better do something to justify the time here, don't I?
00:51 What's your name?
00:52 Joan.
00:53 Okay, the glamorous and gorgeous Joan, you're going to be the first one to take a card.
00:56 Can you handle the awesome responsibility?
00:59 A little fluffy hair thing going on there, oh my God.
01:02 Might have points for saying that.
01:04 You've fallen out of birth.
01:06 Joan, we have a deck of cards here.
01:09 I'm going to ask you to check them out.
01:10 They're all nicely different.
01:12 All mixed up.
01:13 So mixed up, they may need help, they may need therapy.
01:16 They can't talk, they can't tell us.
01:17 Don't hold that against them.
01:19 Okay, I think we've found the level of the room right now.
01:22 Joan, I'm going to ask you to reach in and grab one out.
01:26 Really doesn't matter which one.
01:28 Except for that one.
01:31 Joan, I'm going to ask you to sign your name on the card.
01:34 This does two things.
01:35 First, it makes the card unique to you.
01:37 Secondly, well, you don't have to remember the card anymore, do you?
01:41 You just have to remember your name.
01:43 Did you see the little sign there that says memory cells?
01:46 Look, Joan, it's wobbly.
01:50 It's a little Chinese dog.
01:53 Sharpie.
01:59 Sign your name on the card, you're done.
02:01 See that little sneaky under the table thing going on there?
02:07 Alrighty.
02:08 Get rid of the old pen.
02:09 Stick away.
02:10 Now, Joan, it's my job to stick your card back...
02:12 Oh, yes. Do you want to share it around with all your buddies there?
02:15 It's turning into a heart transplant.
02:18 It's my job to stick your card back into the deck, mix them up, and find it again.
02:24 Seems like a pretty futile way to make a living, doesn't it?
02:28 And it stopped me having to look for a real job when I ran out of college courses.
02:31 Check this out.
02:32 What's your name?
02:33 Margaret.
02:34 Margaret, anagram of Grenit, which is Hungarian for goldfish.
02:38 Do you know that game?
02:39 No.
02:40 It's not really, though.
02:41 It is.
02:42 Do you play cards, Margaret?
02:43 No.
02:44 Okay, well, if you ever decide to take up playing cards and you meet somebody who can shuffle a deck like that,
02:49 don't play cards with them.
02:51 It's nothing to do with the trick, it's just advice for life.
02:54 Especially if they're showing off on the cut just a little.
02:57 Oh, around 12 years or so of practice.
02:59 My mother's real proud of me.
03:01 I used to say to her, "I want to be a doctor."
03:03 She said, "You practice those card tricks, John."
03:06 You know what I'm thinking right now, John?
03:11 I'm thinking, "Man, I wish I'd found your card before I did that one-handed stuff."
03:14 But we'll go for it anyway.
03:16 You hold out one hand for me.
03:17 Nice lifeline.
03:19 It's a shame it's on the wrong hand, but it is a nice lifeline.
03:24 Joan, that's not your card, right?
03:26 You know how I know that?
03:27 Your name's not on it.
03:30 Man, she's so ahead of the game.
03:32 Put your other hand flat on top of it.
03:34 Perfect.
03:35 Now, Joan, notice how I cunningly find wrong cards.
03:37 You see, most magicians find the right card.
03:40 They go, "That's your card."
03:41 And you go...
03:42 In a kind of post-Neo-Sartrean, pre-Freudian, George Orwellian manner, I like to find wrong cards.
03:51 See, that's not your card, Joan, right?
03:53 Neither's that.
03:54 I sense a boredom practice creeping in here, Joan, as Margaret realizes she's got 51 to go.
04:00 We'll go for the card straight away, Joan.
04:03 Check it out.
04:04 A little snap, the thing is over the deck.
04:06 2.8 on the magician's difficulty scale.
04:08 That's first measured at the Tokyo Olympics in 1962, Margaret.
04:12 And one playing card, and one playing card turns over in the deck.
04:17 Now, do you know what's just a little spooky here?
04:20 It's not your card.
04:21 Au contraire, mon ami.
04:23 It's the card you thought you were holding in your hand.
04:26 Oh, now it gets spooky, doesn't it, Margaret?
04:29 Oh, do you want to check it out?
04:31 Check it out!
04:34 It's the same card!
04:36 Let's give it an applause, please.
04:39 Thank you very much.
04:40 Oh, God!
04:45 Can it get any better than that?
04:48 It's unlikely, but we'll go for it anyway.
04:50 This is a little technique magicians call "checking the deck is in the correct order for the next trick".
04:55 It's just a little touch we like to put on.
04:58 Now, Joan, actually one interesting thing I forgot to mention is that you always ask me two questions when I do that trick.
05:05 You always say, "How do you do it?"
05:07 I never tell.
05:08 And I always say, "What happens if the trick goes wrong?"
05:10 Look, it's wobbly!
05:16 I carry insurance, Joan. I carry it right here in my wallet.
05:19 Look at that, a cow-hide.
05:21 But it didn't.
05:22 Just a little surrealistic humour for you there.
05:24 Thank you, my friend.
05:27 Off-camera laughter there. I like that in a show.
05:30 Check this out, though, Joan.
05:32 See, inside my little zippered wallet here is the insurance.
05:36 And sometimes it just comes out real.
05:38 Am I man or beast?
05:45 I have the hands of a god, the face of an angel and the heart of a sewer rat.
05:48 Trust me, Margaret.
05:49 Stick the old wallet away.
05:51 You ready to join in with one, Margaret?
05:53 Do you feel sufficiently pumped and ready for action?
05:56 Margaret, I want you to scoot into the deck. Just take anyone you like.
05:59 Just scoot on in.
06:00 That's it.
06:01 They're running away from you, Margaret. Can you handle that?
06:07 They frightened them. You frightened them, Margaret.
06:12 You scared them.
06:13 These are delicate little flowers of cardboard, Margaret.
06:16 Scoot on in.
06:17 Just go round.
06:19 Play like I care, Margaret.
06:22 You don't bother me.
06:24 Just assure me of one thing, Margaret. It's not an ace, is it?
06:28 It's so important.
06:29 You're not just assuring me of one thing.
06:31 I'm just saying that...
06:34 Check it out, Joan, for me.
06:36 She'd say anything to cheer me up.
06:39 See, Margaret, what we're going to do, we're going to use these little miniature prediction aces.
06:42 It's all to do with the size of your hands, Margaret.
06:48 We're going to use these little miniature prediction aces to find the suit of your card.
06:52 Can it get any better than that?
06:54 Yes, it can, but we'll stop with it for the moment, Margaret.
06:57 Notice how I don't look at your card.
07:00 Tip, tap, tip, tap, tippy, tippy, tip, tap, tippy, tippy, tip, tap, tip.
07:05 Do you notice, Margaret, you chose the world's only tap dancing card?
07:09 Making an otherwise boring segment of a somewhat lengthy trick a little more interesting, and I think that's nice, don't you?
07:16 You have no idea what I'm talking about, Margaret, and neither do you, so we've brought it in.
07:21 Tip, tap, tip, tap, tip, tap, tip, tap, tip.
07:25 Margaret, you did not choose a spade, am I right?
07:30 Joan's kneecaps begin to tremble at the enormity of it all, Margaret.
07:35 That's what I thought.
07:36 Give it back.
07:38 As the actress said to the bishop, "Tippy, tap, tip, tap, tip, tap, tip, tap, tip, tap, tippy, tap, tip."
07:43 Notice the tap dancing's getting longer?
07:45 I can see you guys like the tap dancing better than this.
07:48 I pander to my crowd.
07:51 "Tippy, tap, tip, tap, tip, tap, tip, tap, tip, tap, tip, tap, tip, tap, tip."
07:55 Margaret, you did not choose a diamond, am I right?
07:57 A small tear appears in the corner of her eye as she realizes the true beauty of close-up magic.
08:06 A Shakespearean moment.
08:08 "Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?"
08:12 "I'm down here in the garden."
08:14 "Already."
08:15 Dementia is a wonderful thing.
08:20 They're all turning in with the tap dancing, synchronized tap dancing.
08:23 I like that.
08:24 "Tippy, tap, tip, tap, tip, tap, tip, tap, tip, tap, tip, tap, tip."
08:28 And a good finish.
08:30 Margaret, you didn't choose a club, am I right?
08:33 So you know, I know, the bar knows, he knows, senile though he is,
08:38 that you chose a heart.
08:43 But that's not enough for a woman of danger like yourself, is it?
08:47 You're your way into yourself right now.
08:49 Just how weak is the ink on the face of an American playing card, aren't you?
08:54 It's a really weak ink otherwise.
08:59 Check it out, I'll show you.
09:01 I brutally flex your card, for I am a serial card killer.
09:05 The bits of your card fall down like little baby lemmings running to the edge of a cliff
09:11 and hurling themselves into the frothing ocean waves below
09:14 as the sun sets slowly over the Norwegian snow-capped mountains behind.
09:19 They drift and float like little baby butterflies caught in a nitrogen storm.
09:24 Their little purposes extending and proving.
09:27 They flutter to the ground.
09:31 I'm dying.
09:32 I can't go on.
09:33 I'll try.
09:35 They hit the back of the giant ace of hearts.
09:37 The bit of the giant ace of hearts who are looking in the other direction are startled
09:42 and they leap upwards to sanctuary.
09:44 And do you know the only sanctuary they can find, Margaret?
09:47 You call it a girl's ball pit.
09:49 I'll tell you. It's where your card used to be.
09:51 Now he's good, eh?
09:55 So this is the ace.
09:57 Well, this one is yours.
09:59 [applause]
10:02 All righty. You guys want to see one more?
10:05 Yeah.
10:06 Excellent.
10:07 We've involved just a couple of you.
10:08 Let's try and involve all of you this time in a little piece of malarkey.
10:11 What's your name?
10:12 Linda.
10:13 Linda, why don't you reach in and grab one out?
10:15 See the scurrying from you two?
10:17 Youngster, you want to grab one too? What's your name?
10:21 Ray.
10:22 Ray.
10:23 I don't want to grab one.
10:24 Grab one, Ray.
10:25 Don't be such a wuss. Reach out.
10:28 Come on, Ray. Don't let me down.
10:30 Okay, Ray. Sorry your hand is reaching in here.
10:33 My cousin is going to grab a drop.
10:37 Which one is the puppet master and which one's the puppet?
10:40 That's what I'm worried about.
10:41 [groans]
10:43 And did you feel the love leave the room?
10:47 Margaret, you can reach in and grab one.
10:49 Anyone.
10:50 Anyone.
10:51 Meanwhile, you can take the pen.
10:52 [inaudible]
10:53 Hand it on to... What was your name, man?
10:55 Michael.
10:56 Michael. Good to see you, Michael.
10:57 Hand it over to Michael. Hand it to Margaret.
10:58 Joan, you want to hand one of these out?
10:59 See, I'm going for a world record.
11:01 Kind of tough.
11:02 Yeah, it's a very simple sign on the front.
11:04 That's one, two, three, that's four.
11:05 You want to grab one, young... What's your name, youngster?
11:07 Rick.
11:08 Rick, that will give us five cuts. Five.
11:10 We would have had six, but for Ray dropping out.
11:13 Oh, I did.
11:14 You're making me sad.
11:15 Yeah, go on, there. You can grab one too, my young friend.
11:18 And gently move out of shot so that the audience
11:23 aren't just looking at your delightful ass throughout.
11:26 All right, you give him the pen.
11:29 Okay, let's start mixing these little puppies back in.
11:32 That's... Your one goes in.
11:33 We mix them up just a little.
11:34 Tidy the touch of a card god upon the cards there.
11:41 Give them a little shuffle up.
11:43 That's good.
11:44 Try and get them in six different places
11:46 and then find them in six different ways,
11:48 which would be pretty damn cool.
11:49 I think you did great.
11:51 Here's our little mixy match.
11:53 Shuffle and shuffling.
11:54 Ray, I'm so glad you decided to join in.
11:56 It would have been futile without it.
11:58 I want one in there.
11:59 Where do you want to put it?
12:01 Right there.
12:03 Right there? All right.
12:04 Which, coincidentally, is exactly where I wanted it to be.
12:08 A little thing called a reverse fan force
12:11 doesn't mean nothing to you, young,
12:12 but trust me, there'll be people laughing when I watch the tape.
12:15 Okay, let's grab yours back there, Margaret.
12:18 See how nice Moga was?
12:19 You know, Ray, I'm starting to wish you hadn't taken one there, Ray.
12:24 I can see it.
12:25 And we've got yours.
12:28 You know, when you're doing effects like this, Margaret,
12:30 there's always one person who's got a bad memory.
12:33 And I'm guessing it's Rick down there.
12:35 You can see he's puffing away on his plate,
12:38 thinking, "God, how could I possibly remember these cards?"
12:40 That's why you get them signed.
12:42 But Rick, we'll go for yours first anyway.
12:44 Oh, look, deserters.
12:48 Well, there's one thing for sure now, folks.
12:50 We have a thoroughly shuffled deck.
12:53 Not something I wanted, Joan.
12:55 I was hoping to control these cards to 11th, 14th, 29th, 16th,
12:59 73rd, and 49th and 218th from the top of the deck.
13:03 But now I've just got to use some skill here.
13:05 Rick, we'll go for your card first.
13:07 I can say with absolute certainty, Rick,
13:10 that that is not your card.
13:12 I can, however, say with absolute certainty that that is your card.
13:17 How did that happen?
13:18 How did that happen?
13:19 Because that's what you said when you gave birth the first time.
13:22 Jody, hold out two hands for me.
13:29 Like a little landing pad of yours.
13:31 Try and hold them into the centre there, sir.
13:33 I'm trying to go for a gratuitous upper body shot there.
13:37 Joan, check this out.
13:40 I think we can say that that's your card.
13:42 Margaret, hold out one hand for me.
13:44 I'm going to cut little piles into your hand.
13:46 You say stop whenever you like.
13:48 Right there.
13:50 Right on your card.
13:52 Oh my God!
13:53 Kind of weird.
13:55 Now that's weird.
13:56 Let's go for the two guys together.
14:00 Ray and Michael.
14:02 I'll snatch two cards from the deck.
14:04 I think we've got Ray and Michael.
14:07 Which just leaves me one card to go.
14:13 Can I borrow...
14:14 Get your cards back one at a time.
14:16 I've already got yours here, right there, there and there.
14:19 That means I've just got yours to find.
14:21 And I use Ray's to find yours.
14:23 Not to push it into the deck.
14:24 I just blow on it and change it to yours.
14:27 That, my friends, is what you call a boy.
14:31 Oh, sick!
14:32 People always ask me two questions when I do this trick.
14:37 They always say, "How do you do it?"
14:39 I never tell.
14:40 Then they say, "What happens if it goes wrong?"
14:42 I carry insurance.
14:44 I carry it right here in my little wallet.
14:46 Look, cowhide.
14:48 Hey, that gag worked the first time.
14:50 The third question is, "Where's Austin?"
14:55 Yours is a non-speaking card.
14:58 Inside the wallet, my friends.
15:04 There's one, there's two, there's three, there's four, there's five, there's six I've got.
15:12 It doesn't get any better than that.
15:14 Get some drinks in.
15:19 You'll need them now to recover the head.
15:21 Catch you later, guys.
15:22 Hey, welcome along to the Man of Danger tapes.
15:33 I hope you've enjoyed the set you've just seen.
15:35 And I certainly hope you'll enjoy the sets to come.
15:38 One thing I hope you'll find about these tapes is that my magic is very straight-lined.
15:42 It's very direct, very easy for an audience to follow.
15:46 And that's what I hope you'll get from this set of video tapes is strong commercial magic that you can use as well.
15:52 The opening effect we did for this set is actually one of my favorite tricks, finger number three.
15:57 It's a very simple direct exchange of two cards with lots of fun for the audience.
16:02 So a card is selected.
16:04 It's signed.
16:06 I always get the card signed because, especially in a bar situation, trust me, it's very easy to forget a card after a small vat of wine.
16:15 But it's pretty tough to forget your own name.
16:18 The card is returned to the deck, and I hold a break over the card.
16:22 Some books say a thirty-second of an inch.
16:25 I'm more of about an inch break man myself.
16:28 Keeping that hand covering, nobody's going to see it.
16:32 I take the break with my right thumb and do a very simple cutting action to cut their card to the top.
16:38 And then I overhand shuffle, keeping their card in place with pressure from my fingers.
16:43 A very simple shuffle, but it's exactly the way real people shuffle.
16:48 See, if you do this, they might not know where the card is, but they sure as hell think that you know where it is because it's a fancier way to shuffle.
16:56 So this is my preferred method.
16:58 Of course, then I go into doing a one-hand ripple shuffle and a five-and-a-half-way one-handed cut.
17:04 But two points about that. You see, I move that out of the trick.
17:07 I say it's nothing to do with the trick. It's just advice for life.
17:11 And also a one-hand shuffle really ups the difficulty level.
17:14 Most people can't shuffle one-handed, so they're thinking that I could possibly control a card during that shuffle.
17:21 They don't think that. It's just shuffling more intensity into the deck.
17:25 Okay, now we're set for a double lift.
17:28 I simply put my hands together as I'm chatting to them about holding their hand out.
17:32 I push two cards over, and I re-square onto the deck, maintaining a left little finger break.
17:39 I do my double lift. Notice I don't go, "Oops, it's the wrong card."
17:44 You see, if I do that, I truly think that it means you've screwed up the trick, and then you're going to get the trick right.
17:49 And they're only going to remember that you screwed up.
17:52 So instead I do that kind of post Orwellian, Neo-Freudian, classical Kantian pattern line about deliberately finding wrong cards.
18:00 In other words, giving a reason for it, giving a why for what I'm doing.
18:04 The card's turned down, goes onto their hand. I get them to cover it with their other hand.
18:09 This makes it much harder for them to sneak a peek at the card, and also isolates the card totally.
18:15 Now we've got to reverse that top card of the deck.
18:18 I do this using the Browy reversal, under cover of a patter line, about finding more wrong cards.
18:25 So I take a break of about, ooh, an inch or so on that top card.
18:29 I cut half the cards from bottom to top, turning them face up as I do so, and squeeze in, maintaining my break.
18:37 There's the original top card of the deck.
18:40 Saying, "There's a wrong card." Now lift up at the break, keeping that card reversed there.
18:45 Turn these over, finding another wrong card, and drop.
18:49 The effect's all over, you just chatter about, "Ooh, they're getting bored, there's 48 cards to go."
18:54 You run through the pack of cards. There's one card reversed by your little magic snippety-flippety.
19:00 Now, what's spooky about this? It's not your card.
19:04 Don't just flip it over and expect them to remember this was the card they were holding.
19:08 It's very tough for them to do that.
19:10 So instead, to really punch the effect home, you go, "No, no, it's the nine of clubs.
19:16 The card you thought you were holding in your hands."
19:20 That's when the brain synapses start to fry, and they're going, "But, but, but, but, but, but, I, I, what, what am I holding there?"
19:27 You get them to turn it over, it's their signed card.
19:30 A very powerful exchange has taken place, and it's a very strong opening effect.
19:35 Very simple to follow, very powerful in effect.
19:38 It's one of my favorite opening routines. I think you should try it out.
19:41 I think it'll be one of your favorite opening routines as well.
19:44 So that's finger number three.
19:46 [music]
19:55 Now, straight after finger number three, I nearly always do the card to wallet.
19:59 Quite interestingly, on the tape there, you'll notice I managed to get my hand flapping under my tie.
20:04 But rather than stop and try and start again, I believe in just plowing straight on forwards.
20:09 And if you look at their reaction, they didn't know what was going on.
20:12 It was just one of those trouser-filling moments for me, if you will.
20:16 So straight after finger number three, the card goes back on top of the deck.
20:19 I start shuffling the deck, keeping that card on top.
20:22 I'm going to go directly for the wallet.
20:24 Now, the wallet I use is a Caps Valducci type.
20:28 It's got a little slide in it, which is pulled up in the pocket.
20:33 And I'll say to them, "The only thing you really need to know here is the point of the palm,"
20:37 because palming a card is very difficult for a lot of magicians.
20:40 I'll say to them, "People always ask me two questions when I do that trick.
20:44 They immediately look into my face, wondering whether I'm going to tell them the questions
20:48 or whether they should be asking it. That's the exact moment I palm the card."
20:53 Then I'll go to put the deck down. I'll say, "Question number one, how do you do it?"
20:58 "I never tell." And that's the moment the hand's going for the wallet,
21:01 because that's the moment they're looking at my face.
21:03 And as Ken Brook used to say, "If they can't look at your hands, they're not going to see the move,
21:07 however badly you do it." And there's very little distance.
21:10 But there's very little distance even if you go behind your die to the wallet.
21:13 A little Marlow move, I believe, variation 103.9.
21:18 So you just go directly left a little bit, which clears that card out.
21:22 Then I carry on spreading in and out, allowing the card to ride to the top.
21:27 Now you're going to set up a synchronicity of action here that's going to make your top change very, very easy.
21:32 First time around, you leave the card out on top of the deck.
21:36 You drop your hand. You say you didn't pick a club. Am I right?
21:41 Do your tippy-tip-tip thing. Next time around, you leave the card sticking out.
21:45 Drop your hand. Say you didn't pick a spade. Am I right?
21:50 This is a point where you push this top card over a little bit.
21:54 Now as you do your tip-tip-tip thing, you put this back square on the deck,
21:58 leaving this card sticking out a little bit. It's like half a top change, if you will.
22:02 Drop your hand. Turn the card over. As your hand comes back up, you take the sticky-out card,
22:08 and you point to the one you've just turned over and say, "You didn't choose a diamond, did you?"
22:13 And you hold the card back out to them.
22:16 People watching, having seen the face of the card twice, will assume they're looking at the face of this card and saying, "No."
22:22 They're actually looking at the card you're pointing at and saying, "No." Extra little convincer.
22:26 The trick's all over. Do your flexing. If you have to talk about lemmings, feel free to do so.
22:31 But trust me, it's got me some insane reputations.
22:35 You show that the ace is here. You show that the jack is here.
22:39 It's based on a Roy Walton effect. I think it's as good as they come.
22:42 In the bar, it's just a knockout effect. You can see the reaction. It's killer.
22:47 Little lemming ace exchange for you there.
22:51 [music]
22:53 OK, the routine I close this particular set with is called, for no other reason than I always wanted a magic routine,
23:05 called "The Wobbly Wombat."
23:07 Cunning viewers will, of course, notice that it is indeed a multiple-selection routine,
23:11 of which there are many in print, including one from my esteemed cameraman, producer, director, writer, magician, Randy Wakeman.
23:18 He hasn't quite found out what he's good at yet. He's trying, yet.
23:22 Just kidding, Randy. I nearly always have six cards chosen for this.
23:26 For clarity, we'll use the ace through six of spades.
23:31 I always have all the cards signed for the wallet finish on this, the wobbly wombat wallet finish.
23:38 As you saw on the tape, I'm having cards signed as I'm having them returned to the deck.
23:43 There's a lot of action going on, and it covers the time very clearly.
23:46 I gather the cards back and control them in a very simple manner.
23:50 I simply hold a break and start doing some little cuts onto the bar.
23:53 Any force will do, so long as you leave the ace in place there.
23:57 So we've got her to take the jack.
23:59 Notice how I get around them thinking it's a force card by saying, "Please assure me it's not an ace."
24:04 Now, if I'd forced the card, I'd know if it was an ace or not, but that's just a little convincer.
24:08 Then bring out our miniature prediction aces, which are the ace of diamonds, ace of spades, jack of hearts, and ace of clubs.
24:15 I don't do an Elmslie count.
24:18 I think with jumbo cards, it's very clear that one card is showing twice.
24:22 That may just be my paranoia. It may not.
24:24 So I do a Squelmslie count, a squashed Elmslie count, I call it.
24:28 So you do one, take your two, and then I just spread these a bit.
24:33 Now, you see a red ace. You see a lot of white, but you don't see which one it is.
24:38 You're not trying to prove you've got four aces, one, two, three, four aces.
24:41 You're just casually saying these miniature prediction aces.
24:44 You flip them out onto your bar or table or wherever you're particularly working,
24:49 and you do the tippy-tap-tap thing.
24:52 Now, you're going to set up a synchronicity of action here that's going to make your top change very, very easy.
24:57 First time around, you leave the card, you drop it out on top of the deck, you drop your hand, you say you didn't pick a club.
25:04 Am I right?
25:06 Do your tippy-tip-tip thing.
25:08 Next time around, you leave the card sticking out, drop your hand, say you didn't pick a spade.
25:14 Am I right?
25:15 This is a point where you push this top card over a little bit.
25:19 Now, as you do your tip-tip-tip thing, you put this back square on the deck,
25:23 leaving this card sticking out a little bit.
25:25 It's like half a top change, if you will.
25:27 Drop your hand, turn the card over.
25:30 As your hand comes back up, you take the sticky-out card,
25:34 you point to the one you've just turned over and say you didn't choose a diamond, did you?
25:38 And you hold the card back out to them.
25:41 People watching, having seen the face of the card twice,
25:44 will assume they're looking at the face of this card and saying no.
25:47 They're actually looking at the card you're pointing at and saying no.
25:50 Extra little convincer.
25:52 The trick's all over.
25:53 Do your flexing.
25:54 If you have to talk about lemmings, feel free to do so, but trust me, it's got me some insane reputations.
26:00 You show that the ace is here.
26:02 You show that the jack is here.
26:04 It's based on a Roy Walton effect.
26:06 I think it's as good as they come.
26:08 In the bar, it's just a knockout effect.
26:10 You can see the reaction.
26:11 It's killer.
26:12 A little lemming ace exchange for you there.
26:15 Okay, the routine I close this particular set with is called,
26:28 for no other reason than I always wanted a magic routine, called the Wobbly Wombat.
26:32 Cunning viewers will of course notice that it is indeed a multiple selection routine,
26:36 of which there are many in print, including one from my esteemed cameraman, producer, director, writer, magician, Randy Wakeman.
26:43 He hasn't quite found out what he's good at yet.
26:46 He's trying, anyway.
26:47 Just kidding, Randy, no.
26:49 I nearly always have six cards chosen for this, and for clarity, we'll use the ace through six of spades.
26:56 I always have all the cards signed for the wallet finish on this, the Wobbly Wombat wallet finish.
27:03 As you saw on the tape, I'm having cards signed as I'm having them returned to the deck.
27:08 There's a lot of action going on, and it covers the time very clearly.
27:12 I gather the cards back and control them in a very simple manner.
27:15 I simply hold a break and start doing some little cuts onto the bar as I'm chatting,
27:19 "Have you signed yours yet? Have you got yours? I'll hand the pen over there."
27:22 If you want to speed it up a little, you can take the cards in pairs.
27:25 Still do the same cutting action, just controlling them all to the top.
27:29 You may like to substitute in something like the Mahatma control,
27:33 which is where you put the halves together, holding a break.
27:36 Cut at the break as you start to immediately go into an overhand shuffle.
27:39 Quite delightful and underused control.
27:43 So you're going to end up with the ace through six on top of the deck.
27:47 You can do an extra little shuffle by grabbing cards from the middle, just chatting away to them.
27:51 Going for a world record. This is dangerous, my friend. Dangerous.
27:56 Then I'll say to somebody, there's always somebody in a group,
27:59 when you do an effect like this that has a bad memory, and it's you.
28:02 And I'll point to the person who chose the ace.
28:05 At that point I grab out a card and say, "I can categorically state that this is not your card."
28:10 Notice I'm not doing an oops moment, categorically stating it's not their card.
28:15 During that chat I've taken a break on the top card, just a little push and pull.
28:20 Put it on top, and for the first card I use Mark D'Souza's Shapeshifter Change,
28:24 which is a little spinny thing.
28:26 If you're not too happy with that one, you don't want to use that, or you don't have the touch for it,
28:30 or you don't want to look too much like David Blaine, who's popularized this all over television,
28:34 you could do a little snap change up the arm. That little change.
28:39 You could do a top change if you want, if you're that minded.
28:42 There's all sorts of ways to get that first card out of the way.
28:44 That just happens to be my favorite way of doing it, the very visual Shapeshifter Change.
28:49 Card number one.
28:50 I'm now going to cut two cards to the bottom of the deck.
28:52 One is the card I don't want, the odd card, and the other one is the second selection.
28:57 Simply hold a break with the right thumb and cut them down there.
29:00 You don't need to run when you're not being chased here.
29:03 You're doing way enough work.
29:05 And now use a little variation of Ken Crenzell's Mechanical Reverse.
29:09 It's like a half-pass, but I'm sure Ken would like his name mentioned somewhere on these Man of Danger tapes,
29:14 for he is indeed a man of danger himself.
29:17 Put a break on the bottom card.
29:19 The little finger goes into the break and I say, "Hold the deck above. Just half-pass that card underneath it."
29:25 Very well covered from above.
29:27 The next card we produce with the Pete Fortin Pop Out.
29:30 Not Pete, as it's often said.
29:32 Randy's been hanging out with him and assures me it's Pete Fortin.
29:36 Hold a break with the right thumb on that bottom card.
29:39 We cut the deck and boom, just pop it out.
29:42 It's a gravity and spinny action thing.
29:45 The third card, I now use a little thing I call the Vernon-esque three-way,
29:50 which was published in my book, Simon Says.
29:52 It's based on an old force.
29:53 The deck is cut and a break is held.
29:56 As I cut pile number one onto their hand, I say, "I'm going to cut piles onto your hand."
30:01 As I start to cut pile number two, I say, "And I'd like you to call stop any time you like."
30:07 Now, very unusually for me at this point, I actually shut up and stay very quiet and just keep cutting.
30:12 This time I cut directly to the break.
30:14 If they say stop there, well, their card's on top of this pile.
30:18 If they say stop as I cut the next pile, leaving just a very few cards behind,
30:22 it's on top of the pile in their hand, which is the way I believe it was in the bar last night.
30:26 If they don't say stop at that point, I'll gather the cards back up,
30:29 recut to the middle holding a break, and immediately cut at the break onto their hand.
30:34 Again, if they say stop there, it's on top here.
30:37 Cut another pile. If they say stop there, it's on top of that pile.
30:41 If someone said stop by then, you're working to a mannequin. Move on.
30:45 Now I'm going to cut the top card of the deck to the bottom again.
30:48 Now, there are many tricks I don't like to see lots of motion of the cards.
30:51 I like the magic to just happen.
30:53 Here I actually like all the motion. It's a very busy visual effect.
30:56 So cut the top card to the bottom, which gives me the fifth card on top, the fourth card on the bottom.
31:03 And all I'm going to do is do that little throwing action where the deck's going to slide out from between those two cards.
31:09 Bam! We've found card number four and card number five.
31:13 Now at this point I want to take the routine down a little bit.
31:16 I don't want a big flashy finish on that last card because the wallet's the big finish.
31:20 So I take a break on the top card of the deck, the sixth chosen card, pick up the fifth card,
31:26 and as I come to gather up the rest of the cards, I do a very simple top change action.
31:31 So I'm gathering these all up.
31:35 Now I may wait for somebody to say, "What about the sixth card?" or I may just say, "Oh, we haven't found your card yet."
31:40 Well, that's OK. I'll take the fifth card and turn it into your card.
31:44 That's six chosen cards, folks, a world record.
31:47 At that point I'm holding the deck with my little finger stuck between those cards.
31:51 I really don't want to lose these guys.
31:53 And I'll do a very casual overhand action and immediately push those cards into the palm.
31:59 Throw the deck down and reach for the wallet.
32:02 Now I don't load the cards completely yet. I leave them sticking out.
32:06 And notice the difference in timing here.
32:08 I'll say, "Do you know people always ask me two questions about that routine?
32:12 They're looking at an empty hand here."
32:14 I'll say, "Question number one, how do you do it?"
32:18 "I never tell."
32:19 "Question number two," and this is where their eyes are going to glaze a little bit because they're thinking,
32:24 "As Carl Sagan would say, how can this be?"
32:29 This is what they remember, an empty hand reaching for the wallet.
32:32 And as I reach in, that's when I do the completion of the load and pull out the wallet.
32:37 I tell you, when you open that wallet up and start pulling out six signed chosen cards,
32:44 it's time to finish the set.
32:46 This is truly almost impossible to follow.
32:49 It's a killer effect and one that I'm particularly pleased with.
32:53 And if you try it, I think you'll like it too.
32:55 It's the old wobbly one-bet.
32:58 [music]
33:07 Well, Dr. Lovell, since this is the opening tape of the three-part Man of Danger series,
33:14 what is the single most important thing that you hope our friends at home can learn from these tapes and why?
33:24 The most important thing I hope anybody should get from any magic tape or any magic learning
33:30 is that magic should be fun for the audience.
33:32 It's not about you looking at your hands and seeing how clever you are.
33:36 It's not about you showing off your sleight-of-hand abilities.
33:40 It's all about--and it's certainly not about you having a good time as a performer, although that helps.
33:45 It's all about creating the moment where the audience has a good time.
33:49 It can be laughter. It can be tears. It can be poignant.
33:52 So long as emotionally they become involved with the magic--in my case, I like to be the nutty guy
33:57 with lots of laughs going on--I just like to create a lot of fun for people.
34:01 I think it's paramount that you realize that the magic is actually one of the smaller elements of being a magician.
34:07 It's a critical element that you can do the magic, but it's so important to create fun for the audience,
34:13 and that's what will make you a memorable performer.
34:15 And that's what I hope people learn from these tapes.
34:20 Your opening routine, Fingered Number 3, you mentioned a couple times that it's one of your favorite openers
34:26 and you use it again and again.
34:28 What makes that particular routine a good opener and a generalization?
34:34 What do we need to look for as far as an opening routine?
34:38 I think it has a number of strong points as an opening routine.
34:41 First of all, the magic is very simple to follow, especially when you stress the change, the switch of the cards.
34:48 Two cards change places, that's basically what it is.
34:51 And a very important factor to it is the magic happens in their hands.
34:55 They've got that card locked between their palms, and I believe that magic in their hands is amongst the strongest magic you can do.
35:02 It allows you to interact with the audience as well.
35:05 It's got the fun elements, the little jokey bits--hey, I'm finding the wrong cards.
35:10 They loosen up with you during that routine.
35:13 It's got just enough of patter lines to give you an interaction with them so that you become relaxed with each other.
35:19 And then, bam, a very strong piece of magic happens and they're suddenly like, "Whoa, wait a minute. This guy is going to be good."
35:27 So I think it's a good opening routine on all sorts of levels.
35:30 Simple to follow, gives good interaction with the audience, and it's a very, very powerful effect for a layperson.
35:39 Well, Simon, I know you use card to wallet a lot.
35:42 The particular wallet that you're using, as a matter of fact, was given to you by Fred Capps, I believe.
35:46 It was. Value, treasure, possession.
35:49 So I'd love to hear what you think is strong and good about card to wallet routines,
35:56 and also pitfalls, things that are weak and should be avoided in card to wallet routines, since it's such an enduring and--
36:06 It's a great effect.
36:07 --strong effect.
36:08 Yeah, very strong effect.
36:10 The bad things about card to wallet are often the magician doesn't have the card signed,
36:14 and I think card to any impossible location, it's paramount that the card is signed.
36:19 Otherwise, you have that horrible, "Oh, let me just check the deck. Oh, yeah, it really is my card."
36:26 And it's just a grinding, crunching skateboard to nowhere city if you do that.
36:33 So I believe the card must be signed.
36:36 The wallet must look like a wallet.
36:38 This wallet of mine--I mean, this is 30 years old now.
36:41 It's an old, beaten, battered wallet.
36:43 One of the corner pieces is missing.
36:45 There's a ripped-off list in here.
36:47 There's some cards here.
36:49 It looks like a wallet.
36:50 So often you see magicians bring out this pristine, almost saintly thing that screams prop.
36:59 It's got to be your wallet that you use, or billfold, as you would say in America.
37:03 This is indeed my wallet.
37:05 For the slide, Fred Capps taught me a very cute thing.
37:08 It should have plastic on the inside of the slide and cardboard on the outside of the slide.
37:15 That way, the plastic makes it move in and out easily,
37:19 but when you load the card, the cardboard will kind of grip the card,
37:23 and it helps it to load in so you don't get that horrible, sticky-out corner moment that we've all experienced from time to time.
37:29 I think the other important things about card to wallets are you've got to choose your wallet real carefully.
37:34 So many of them look the size of a small pup tent.
37:37 You've got this humongous thing in your--
37:40 Sometimes you have to extend your pocket to get the damn thing in.
37:43 This is the standard size of a billfold wallet, and there are other ones.
37:47 This one is one Capps gave me that Ken Brooks used to sell.
37:51 There are others available on the market that are the right size wallet.
37:54 I think it's very important.
37:56 As for what makes it a great trick, well, that almost answers itself.
38:00 You've had a card chosen. It's signed.
38:03 It's appeared in the zippered compartment of your wallet.
38:06 Some guys have an envelope in there as well.
38:08 I don't particularly like it being in a sealed envelope in the wallet.
38:11 Again, I think that screams, "Oh, it's a magic trick," as opposed to a magical effect.
38:17 I think the fact that it appears in the zippered compartment of your wallet is as good as you need to be.
38:22 It's a jaw-dropper for laypeople, and in fact, if I'm scooting around table-hopping,
38:26 I'll often just do finger number three and the card to wallet and move on.
38:31 That's all the magic they need. It's a great trick.
38:33 If you don't do card to wallet, I suggest you immediately get the correct wallet and start doing it.
38:38 You'll be glad you did.
38:41 It's apparent to people that are familiar with material that you do a lot of sleight of hand,
38:46 a lot of difficult sleight of hand.
38:48 You've gained quite a reputation for your second dealing, for example.
38:51 Yet, however, in this set, there is a distinct lack of difficult sleights and moves.
38:58 How so, and why?
39:01 Well, I design all of my magic not to fool magicians.
39:04 I design it to entertain laypeople.
39:06 I think designing a trick to fool a magician is a bit as useful as a cat flap in an elephant house.
39:12 It's just idiotic.
39:14 There's no reason to do that, as a performer, to do that.
39:18 So when I design my effects, I take a finish point, such as card is in their hand,
39:23 card is reversed in the deck, they change places, as in finger three, for example,
39:27 and I choose absolutely the simplest straight-line method.
39:31 Now, simplest doesn't always mean easiest, of course.
39:34 In this particular set, I've been able to design the effects with very easy methods,
39:39 which gives me more time to concentrate on the audience.
39:42 If, however, to maintain the straight line of the effect, I require a difficult sleight,
39:46 such as on one of our other tapes, I do an effect that requires a multiple top change and 12-second deals,
39:52 but by doing that I maintain the integrity of the simplicity of the effect, I'll do that too.
39:57 However, I'm always working as hard as possible to make the method,
40:02 the intrinsic method of the effect, as easy as possible, so I have less to worry about.
40:07 Magicians, in general, seem to have the most difficulty in selecting the best tricks for them personally.
40:18 How can we help that?
40:20 Well, first of all, you have to look at the reason why that's so,
40:22 and the reason why that's so is a lot of magicians go around looking for great tricks.
40:27 How do they see great tricks?
40:28 They see a great demonstrator at a convention or a great performer doing a trick and think,
40:32 "That's a great trick, I must have it."
40:35 That's the wrong way around to do it.
40:37 You have to first understand your performance character, and then go to look at tricks.
40:41 Not whether Al Cohen or Darryl or Jeff McBride is demonstrating it well.
40:47 You have to look at it from a sideways angle and look at whether your performance character can create something out of that.
40:54 Sure, Darryl will do his jumping knot of Pakistan, and it looks great.
40:57 I was one of the many who bought the trick years and years ago and never used it,
41:01 because I looked at it and thought, "It's a great trick, it doesn't suit my character."
41:06 So to choose great tricks for yourself, you have to fully understand your performance character first,
41:11 and then get the magic that suits the character.
41:14 It should go without saying, of course, that any new effects have to also fit seamlessly into your already existing material.
41:21 It's not about looking for great tricks.
41:23 It's about finding effects that fit within your material and suit your character.
41:28 And if you do that, it's a much harder job.
41:31 You're cutting down a lot of tricks out of your market possibilities,
41:34 but you'll end up with much better magic in your performance, in my opinion.
41:39 A great, stunning middle piece seems to be an oxymoron.
41:45 Is it?
41:47 No.
41:49 The question which follows is, "What is a great middle piece, and why?"
41:56 A great middle piece.
41:58 It's very interesting because so few people worry about middle pieces.
42:00 They think, "Opener, closer."
42:02 In fact, one very famous magician said, "All of your effects should be closers."
42:08 I don't know where he got that from.
42:10 It's nuts.
42:11 You have to have ups and downs and flows in performance,
42:14 so I open with something direct, simple, reasonably, by my standards, fast.
42:18 Finger three and the card to wallet.
42:20 I've already got my closer planned, the wobbly wombat, for example,
42:24 or a story deck, or the paper rose I'll often use as a closer.
42:28 Far more important is the middle now,
42:30 and that's where a great middle effect is not just a strong magic trick.
42:34 It's a piece where you get to know the audience better, where they get to know you better.
42:38 A guest item I did on Randy's tape, Intimate Impossibilities,
42:42 the murder mystery, is one of my favorite middle pieces.
42:45 Magically, it's nothing.
42:47 It's just a funny little game with the audience.
42:50 But the fun you have with them and the interaction you have with them is very powerful.
42:55 I think middle effects should be where they're more comfortable with you.
42:59 They're getting to know you.
43:00 You've gone, "Bam, bam, I'm a magician. Wow!"
43:02 And now we're getting to know each other.
43:04 A little bonding thing going on, a little linking together.
43:09 And that's where they get to know you better as a person,
43:12 and you get to know them better as people,
43:14 and that way you can react and interact with them better all the way through,
43:18 which builds to the climax, which is where, wham, it's all going to happen.
43:22 You know, it's somewhat like good sex.
43:24 It starts off with a wild ripping and tearing of clothes off, your opening trick.
43:29 Then there's the lying, the cuddling, the kissing,
43:32 the getting the attention and the heightened awareness within.
43:37 That's your middle trick.
43:39 And then there's the, well, you know, the climax.
43:45 It's pretty much like a magic show, really, except a lot more fun, I may add.
43:51 What's the difference between a magician and someone who just does tricks?
43:56 Oh, opening the can of worms, my friend.
44:02 A guy who does tricks is a guy that we've talked about already,
44:05 a guy who goes to a magic store, a magic convention,
44:08 and buys some funny little well-designed plastic wrapped stuff.
44:15 And he learns how to do it quite adequately,
44:19 but he never learns how to link them together,
44:22 how to make them one with him.
44:24 He's the guy that says, "Would you like to see my new trick?"
44:32 It's gone.
44:35 That's not being a magician. That's a guy who does tricks.
44:37 That's like grandfather pulling a quarter from behind your ear.
44:39 That's a trick.
44:41 I believe the difference, then, is that the magician puts emotion, feeling, meaning,
44:46 and understands why he's doing the magic, not just how it's doing,
44:50 not just how it's done, but why he's doing it.
44:53 He has meaning to everything. He ties things together.
44:56 Again, at the risk of constantly repeating myself,
44:59 he cares more about his audience than he does about what he's actually doing in his hands.
45:03 He's not hunched up looking at his fingers going, "Oh, this is so cool."
45:07 No, he's saying, "Look, this is so cool."
45:10 And it's a quantum leap of difference,
45:12 and the difference truly is in understanding your performance and your character
45:16 and understanding that the audience matters and that the tricks
45:19 are just merely a vehicle for you to interact with the audience.
45:24 Your performance at the beginning of this tape,
45:27 which I'll call the wobbly wombat performance, for lack of a better reference term.
45:33 What specific elements did you use in that performance
45:37 to try to elevate that experience to a magical one?
45:42 Well, first of all, the magic pitch is very strong.
45:45 I mean, the lemming ace exchange is a very powerful piece of magic.
45:50 And it's not just two cards changing places, it's two shapes changing places,
45:54 which is a very strong piece of magic.
45:57 The wobbly wombat routine, there are six strong productions of cards there.
46:01 The fingered three, we've already said, is one of my favorite effects,
46:05 and I believe to be a very powerful effect.
46:07 So inbuilt within all of the fun and the lunacy and the insanity going on,
46:12 there are very strong, what I like to call, lock points of magic.
46:15 So I can drift off and be chatting about lemmings and hamsters and wombats
46:19 and God knows what else I'll ramble on about,
46:21 but they'll always drag back to a moment.
46:23 And you notice I'm not trying to be funny when the magical moment happens.
46:27 I'm not trying to be funny there. I'm not trying to step over it with a laugh.
46:30 When that lemming ace exchange thing goes, I say, "Well, it's your card."
46:34 I'm being quite serious there because I want the magic focused at that point.
46:39 So I'll be funny all around, but build up to the magic and into the next trick.
46:43 The moment of the magic, I'm really not trying to be funny.
46:46 I'm trying to make the magic speak for itself,
46:48 and I believe that's an element of heightening the magical point of a close-up set.
46:53 You should let the magic speak. Don't be afraid of it, as Eugene Berger says.
46:57 Magicians are afraid of magic.
46:59 Well, that may well be true, but let the magic breathe by itself.
47:03 Give it air. Give it space around itself to exist.
47:07 Simon, what do you think is the most important single thing that all of us can do
47:13 to improve our magic and our magical performances?
47:16 Care more about your audiences.
47:19 Well, of course, the best thing is to produce a director, writer, interviewer,
47:34 cameraman, and all-round good egg is ask me to do a little bonus item,
47:38 a little extra trick just for viewers of the tape.
47:41 So let me show you one of these silly little things that I like to play with.
47:44 We have a deck of cards.
47:46 A card is selected.
47:49 You can run through the deck. They're all quite nicely normal and so on.
47:52 Yeah.
47:54 Then the card is going to be replaced in the deck.
47:56 Let me show you the card. The Jack of Diamonds.
47:59 And now you claim to have an extraordinary ninja finger.
48:04 Yellow-belt origami, my friend.
48:07 This is very weird. Check this out.
48:09 You go, one.
48:11 Oh, man!
48:15 That hurts.
48:17 But I did judge the distance correctly, I believe,
48:20 and just stabbed through to your card, the Jack of Diamonds.
48:25 It's a little thing called Hyper Poke you might like to play with.
48:28 A little bit of a visual nutsoid one.
48:31 First thing you need to do is get about 20 cards and cut.
48:41 I just cut around the circle. It's like about an inch there.
48:45 You also need to make a card that's got a kind of star flap in it.
48:49 I just poke the scissors in and rip them out.
48:51 That's going to be the lock card.
48:54 And don't think you can stab your finger through an ordinary card.
48:58 What you need to do is get a playing card and a pair of scissors
49:02 and scratch away at it.
49:05 I'm just going to open these up a little bit.
49:07 Scratch, scratch, scratch, scratch, scratch, scratch, scratch, scratch, scratch, scratch,
49:10 until you've really weakened the face.
49:12 And the way I do it is to use a center spot
49:15 and pretty much rub out the whole spot.
49:18 That way it's really weak.
49:20 Don't have a broken finger like I did when I first started playing with this trick.
49:24 I have a delightful x-ray to prove it.
49:27 So we weaken up that card.
49:30 It should be pretty weak.
49:32 That's not the entire clasp. That bit is the end of the tape.
49:35 And you need to just put a little mark on the card.
49:38 I actually do quite powerful marks.
49:40 I need anyone looking for them. Why not?
49:43 Your setup. You have an ordinary card, a star card,
49:46 cards with holes in, your weakened card.
49:49 That's on the bottom of the deck.
49:52 Or somebody gets hurt.
49:55 You can fan through the deck. Just keep it tight.
49:57 Looks like a nice, normal deck of cards.
50:00 You then fan through for one to be chosen.
50:02 And as soon as one's chosen, keep fanning until you see your mark.
50:06 Take a break there and cut that whole packet to the top.
50:10 Now let just one card drop.
50:13 So now you're holding your break above the star card.
50:17 That card, the king of spades, goes back in.
50:20 You can square up the deck.
50:22 And as you hold it in your hands, you just lift up.
50:25 Then you just have to be confident enough
50:29 to do the hyper-poking stab bit, stopping right at that card.
50:34 It's a nice, cute little visual piece for you.
50:37 I am that man of the angel.
50:41 [music]
50:44 [music]
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51:00 [music]
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51:12 [music]
51:17 (upbeat music)