Discourse in Magic

Not all hero’s wear capes, and not all magicians live on the stage. Some can be found sitting at the table at the magic shop, shuffling cards, or creating some new magic. Jeff was an important character in the Toronto magic scene who had an impact on the on two young budding Toronto magicians (Tyler and I). He was at the magic store, at magic camp, and in all of the big time Toronto magic ci...

In episode 63 of the podcast we sit down wit Mark Calabrese to talk about what it takes to make it in magic. Mark is an incredibly accomplished performer. With multiple baffling card effects released on the magic market, as well as appearances on Wizard Wars and Penn and Teller Fool us. In this episode we broke down just that. We broke down his journey into full time magic, and his journey on thos...

In this episode we sit down with Canadian Comedy Magic Icon Matt Disero. Matt is a hilarious Canadian comedy magician, who has made his way up through the comedy circuit. Sitting down with Matt in person it gave us an opportunity to really interact, dig deep, and touch on some of the important nuances of comedy magic. I first found Matt when he was part of James Alan’s Toronto show: “M...

We brought on expert mentalist, hypnotist and rockstar entertainer Spidey. If you haven’t seen Spidey on Youtube, Facebook, or on TV you might have seen him at your local theatre. Guzzo Cinemas in Montreal to be exact. That’s how Spidey got his first pocket of fame. After many years of performing Spidey spun a deal with the theatre owner that he would make videos that play before the m...

In this episode we sit down with Marc Kerstein. If you haven’t used, or been fooled by one of Marcs magic apps, you’ve missed out. Marc is THE iphone magic app guy, and has been brought on to consult on multiple TV series including David Blaine’s most recent special. This is what I’m talking about: How did the effect work? Marc did it. YUP. So now it’s time to tune in...

In this episode we had the pleasure of interviewing our friend Suzanne. We met Suzanne at Sorcerers Safari (RIP) last summer!  Suzanne is an expert restaurant magician. To be a great restaurant magician you have to be good at more than just magic. You need to be able to work well with people. Be a part of team. And make sure your spectators are both seen and heard. Suzanne taught us a thing or two...

It’s been a long time coming to get my good friend Morgan Pierce to join us on the podcast. Morgan is a wildly talented magician turned financial advisor from Kingston, Ontario who joined us to chat about finances and limiting beliefs. If you want to better understand what you’re worth, listen to Morgan talk. He’s one of the only guys who can QUICKLY put things in a way that changes the way you th...

In episode 52 we chat with our first guest of “motivation month”. The point of the month is to give you the motivation you need to get off of your ass and start fighting gigs. They’re out there, you just have to find them. In thus episode we interview Brian Miller, who snaps us back to reality to explain hot to book some gigs: Website Business Card Google Thats it! But it  takes...

Boo Ya everybody! We made it to Episode 52! To celebrate we invited over four of our closest Toronto magic friends to talk about the Toronto magic community. Before I dive into the content of the episode I just want to thank you at home for being with us for 52 episodes! No matter if you’ve been with us for a little bit or a while, you’re part of the Discourse in Magic community and I...

Episode 51….  we’re almost there! If you’re talking about comedy magic, there are just a few names that automatically come to mind. John Archer is one of them. Not only is his magic baffling, but he’s also absolutely hilarious. He’s known for whipping up his audience, and getting incredible moments out of the magic and the punchlines!  We decided to break it all down and ge...

There is absolutely no question in my mind that you’ve heard of Gazzo. Maybe you’ve seen his Fool Us performance. It’s possible you’ve seen another clip from Youtube. Or equally likely, you could have seen him busking in your city! Gazzo is what we call an “Old School” performer. He does his tricks, and he does them well. In this episode Gazzo basically argues t...

If you saw them walking down the block you would stop dead in your tracks. A haunted couple just walked out of a catalogue from the 1930s. Mysterion, a fast talking Dracula looking gentleman with a white streak through his hair and a fitted Jacket with a leopard print neck and the matching pants. And Steffi Kay. A dapper young lady dressed in vintage clothing with bright red lips. If I didn’...

In episode 47 we sit down with David Malek to talk about being entertaining. Even though David is one of the most skilled card-men alive, that's not his most interesting feature. It's his entertainment value! If you've never seen THE KING perform live, you're in for a treat. In this episode he tells us exactly how he does that! Specifically he uses examples himself, famous actors, musicians and mo...

In this episode we sit down with John Guastaferro and we chat all about making your own effect awesome. John is an expert at working with different important elements and putting them together to make a beautiful trick. Since reading John’s book “One Degree” I knew that he had the right type of approach to magic. Creating beautiful masterpieces by focusing on what he knows and diving i...

Nick Wallace spills the beans on exactly how scripting a show creates an incredibly powerful experience for your audience! In this episode he breaks down exactly how he works with a director and why he would never create a show without it. Nick started off doing Fringe Festivals just like Keith Brown from Episode 38 all about Fringe shows . If you listened to that episode, you’ll remember Ke...

In this episode our friend and the January contest winner James Harrison joins us to talk about identity, props, and paying your dues. The most important topic is identity, because it helps sort out everything else. Your identity, who you are as a performer shapes what you have to do with your effects. Things vary based on your character, if you perform for money or not, your target audience, your...

In episode 43 Chad tells us his story that starts from his childhood. He was 3 years old when he was hospitalized with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia. During many of his years and months at the hospital Chads father brought magic to help take his mind off of things. Today chad takes what he learned from his father to spread the magic around the world. For a full episode write up, details, videos, l...

Welcome to our first ever live show! We invited Wes Barker, Eric Leclerc and Chris Ramsay to Toronto to record an episode but we said HEY, why don’t we invite the local magicians too. SO WE DID! And it was a blast! Take a look! from left: Jonah Babins, Chris Ramsay, Eric Leclerc, Wes Barker, Tyler Williams (Thanks to Eric Jackson for the photo) Currently if you want to see the live video fro...

In this episode Tyler and I sit down with Caroline to chat all about everything it takes to build a community and following. Caroline Ravn is the queens of outreach. In the episode she gives us tips about how to get published in an article. Want to hear how to do it?…. You build a friendship with people in charge, you pitch them stories of your fantastic life, and you reach out to them with...

In episode 39 we chat with Asi Wind about the importance of caring about the magic that you create. Too often, people do standard effects with standard presentations that don't resonate with themselves. So why do they think it will resonate with their audience? In this episode Asi breaks it down and explains why it's so important to make sure you enjoy and care about the magic that you create. For...

We sit down with our old friend Keith Brown to chat all about everything you need to know about fringe festivals. If you're looking to find out how to get on a fringe festival, how to succeed at one, how to sell tickets or why you would want to do one, this is the perfect episode. Keith holds no information back and shares it all. This is a perfect episode for our "crafting a show" month, since it...

The amazing Chris Funk joins us on episode 37 to chat all about why making your show around yourself is the best thing you can do for your magic. Chris is someone who seems to have attained major success, and he has reached that level of success just by being awesome. No crazy business tactics, no morning cold calls. Just commitment to a great show and appropriate promo material. It seems like in...

In this episode we sit down with a great friend James Alan from the famous "Magic Tonight" show from Toronto. Since he's a fan of the show it was a blast to chat with him on the podcast and tackle some of the things we mentioned in episode 35. James has some great opinions and awesome gems all about introductions, and tweaking the minor things in your show as well as the major things! I hope that...

You know him from Comedy Network! You’ve watched his Viral Videos! You know him Cupcake Wars (okay maybe not) the one and only Justin Willman joins us on the podcast! If you’ve never heard of Justin pause the episode and go watch this! Willman has a great approach to Magic on TV and on Youtube. One of the unique approaches that we haven’t heard is a real fight for quality over qu...

With perfect timing, days after the David Blaine special airs, Tyler and I sit down with our old friend Daniel Garcia. He chats with us about what it's like to consult, and some tips and activities he uses to inspire his creativity and inspiration. If you need to produce more content then you are right now, I recommend listening to this episode to find out some of the best ways to be creative regu...