Discourse in Magic

This week Jonah breaks down the three biggest mistakes that magicians make when they’re testing our new material for their shows. If you’re trying to get a new trick better, if you’re performing on open mic nights or putting it in your show, or trying to test material in your stage show, how do you make it better? How do you make it work? And more importantly, how do you make it...

This week Jonah connects with movie writer & director Kate Tsang to talk about her latest movie, Marvelous and the Black Hole. Marvelous and the Black Hole features stars such as Rhea Pearlman and is a story about a teenager who teams up with a magician and navigates her inner demons and her dysfunctional family by learning about sleight of hand magic.  The Magic of Stories Kate Tsang doesn’t...

This week Jonah speaks with Benjamin Barnes about the unique Chicago magic scene and what to look for when you want to build your own magic community. Benjamin Barnes is a staple of the Chicago magic community, with direct ties to Eugene Burger, a huge hand in the recurring show Chicago Magic, and now the Entertainment Director of the Chicago Magic Lounge . Ben Barnes not only exemplifies Chicago...

This week Jonah offers up three tips to consider when making your promo video. Your promo video is the most valuable asset that you have to get yourself booked as a magician. The biggest difference in your magic business as to whether or not people choose to book you or not. If you have been trying to book yourself out as a magician for any amount of time, you’ll realize that very soon, you...

This week Jonah is joined by Jonathan Bayme, CEO of theory11 , to talk about his work applying magic minded thinking to his business and the products he creates. Jonathan was five years old when he watched a performance of David Copperfield, and by thirteen he was headlining events to sold out audiences. Soon he’d finish highschool early to begin producing and consulting for some of the biggest na...

Jonah returns with all new interviews and discussions coming your way. Looking Back It’s been almost two years since the pandemic and what a journey it’s been. And we remember that in March or April of 2020 saying that when this whole pandemic thing wraps up, when it ends, when you go back to normal, you’re going to miss the time that you had. And you’re going to wish that you wo...

This week Jonah is joined by prolific magician and prop maker, Bizzaro. Bizzaro has been a staple in the magic world, both as a performer and as a prop maker. In this episode he and Jonah discuss building a workshop, creativity, and problem solving.  Build It Yourself Bizzaro has always been best when left alone to his own devices, from a kid who would always check out the same books every week fr...

This with Jonah connects with Bao Hoang to discuss how he’s grown as an online magician and his success in creating and selling unique collectible card sets. For a long time Bao still performed for corporate gigs and kids shows but ever since the pandemic he’s realized that the way he shares his magic is a lot more scalable as an online video, capable of reaching magnitudes more people than any li...

This week Jonah offers up his suggestions for the best software you can use to maximize your team’s potential.  If you have a growing magic business then you probably have an expanding team. And with that, you have to manage all of the documents and data and opinions and files and feelings of your team members. And to be able to communicate with your team is not an easy task. And certainly i...

Ben Train pops in to offer some important tips to help you overcome any fear you may have surrounding performing the magic tricks that you’ve been practicing on. For those of you who don’t know Ben, he is Jonah’s housemate, his business partner, and the better looking half of their duo act (his words). And over the next few months, Ben is going to be doing a series of short podcasts de...

This week Jonah shares with you a sample of his workshop where he helps magicians grow their business and double their earnings. In this episode Jonah breaks down the important details you need to focus on and explains why they’re essential to help grow and scale your magic business.  This episode is just a little idea of what the complete workshop experience will be like and the kind of things th...

This week Jonah connects with David Regal to discuss writing magic for television and the innovative ways that David approaches magic. David’s trick creation is incredible. And not only is his sleight of hand amazing but so is his writing. Among his multiple writing credits, David was also the head writer for The Carbonaro Effect . Interpreting Magic As much as David loves performing he especially...

Jonah welcomes you to the new year and new plans for Discourse in Magic in 2022. Whether you are using your magic to perform full-time, are just wanting to perform for friends, or get better at magic, the thing that’s in common between anybody listening to this podcast is we are trying to get better, trying to perform better, and trying to make better magic, trying to make more money, and tr...

This week Jonah has a very short message for you going into the final week of the holiday season. Three simple things that can’t go unsaid before the year is out. Thing 1: This Is Our 300th Episode! This is our three-hundredth episode. Many of you have been listening since the beginning of the podcast. Maybe you started listening a week ago, or a year ago, or five years ago when this started, but...

This week Jonah connects with John Graham who has just released his new book, “Stage by Stage”, which is all about transitioning to stage magic. Jonah goes behind the scenes with John and asks him every question he has about stage magic. The Magic Shop Of Solitude John was fortunate enough to grow up in Pennsylvania where Mel’s Magic City , which is still open today, was his place of s...

This week Jonah reveals to you what the best tool you can use to help grow your magic business. And it’s something you already own…   The tool that Jonah is talking about is the video recording app on your smart phone. Videoing your performances is the best thing you can do for your magic. If you have video footage of your performance, you can edit it and clip it out. You can find grea...

This week Jonah shares with you his top three picks for magic theory books that will make the biggest impact on your magic. The reason why this podcast even exists in the first place is because of magic theory books. This podcast is Jonah’s fight against the world of magic to help there be more resources about theory, about opinions, about ideas, and the way that things should and could be perform...

This week Jonah shares with you three tips on how to transform your five figure magic hustle into a six figure magic career. Twelve months ago, Jonah launched the Discourse in Magic six figure mastermind. Jonah launched the mastermind to help people grow their magic business from five to six figures. Now, he’s watching student after student hit the six figure mark. So in this short episode, he’s g...

This week Ben Train fills in for Jonah and offers up some tips on what he is doing to overcome his fear of returning to the stage after so much time away. Exciting, Scary, Times These are exciting times. After a year and a half of being able to do nothing but virtual shows, the public spaces around us are opening up. With theatres reopening, Ben is about to return the stage, along with Jonah and f...

Jonah and Ben are back for one more time to talk about the fifth, and final, UnCoventional.fun virtual 8-bit magic convention. They’ve been to a hotel lobby, to the Magic Land amusement park, and even to space. Now they’re taking the final Unconventional.fun event to the prehistoric past. Thanks right, DINOSAURS. The next, and final, Unconventional.fun takes place on November 27th and 28th. What T...

This week Jonah connects with professor Richard Wiseman to discuss co-authoring his book with David Copperfield, debunking supernatural claims, and the ethical responsibilities that magicians have with their audiences. Go To The Library Richard’s introduction to magic was through his grandfather who, after performing a coin trick for him, told Richard to go to the library and find the answer to th...

This week Jonah shares with you three tips to help you get better at booking gigs. Over the course of the last two years Jonah has helped about sixty magicians book virtual gigs and over the past few months he’s helped a couple dozen magicians to book real-world gigs. Jonah will walk you through the three biggest problems that magicians struggle with when booking gigs. #1. Missing Authority At fir...

This week Jonah connects with Jeff McBride to talk all about the theatre of magic, the phases that every magician might go through, and his thoughts on the growth of virtual magic shows. Jeff comes from an era of magic when there wasn’t street magic and social media but a strong emphasis on theatre. Combining his love of various forms of theatre and rock icons like David Bowie and Alice Cooper, Je...

This week Jonah connects with Giancarlo Bernini to talk all about his journey navigating the pandemic so soon after his major breakout in magic on Fool Us and his innovations in bringing magic to cryptocurrency NFTs. The Year That Wasn’t When Giancarlo graduated college and soon after appeared on Fool Us the rest of his year in 2019 skyrocketed with more bookings and more opportunities than he had...

This week Jonah connects with Tyler Rabbit to talk all about his amazing work with coin magic and his thoughts on the suspension of disbelief and the rise of exposure videos. Tyler Rabbit is an incredibly talented coin magic performer, who has also performed at The Magic Castle . But it wasn’t always this way and this conversation Tyler shares with Jonah his love-hate relationship with magic and w...