Discourse in Magic

This week, Jonah serves up a bite-sized episode on virtual magic shows. With Covid-19 halting shows, some magicians have taken to performing online, a fairly radical shift in the way magic is performed. Under the Toronto Magic Company,  Jonah and his business partner, Ben Train, have had the opportunity to put on multiple virtual shows, so he’s passing on some advice and tips to the listener...

Jonah is joined by Nick Diffatte this week to discuss comedy, finding a style, and embracing your ideas no matter how stupid they might be. Nick Diffatte might be young, but his strong magic and comedy chops have allowed him to not only perform internationally but headline residences on the Las Vegas strip and on the Disney Cruise Line. His interest in magic came from his interest in juggling. Att...

Jonah is joined by both Morgan & West this week to talk about scripting, creating an atmosphere, and understanding how character should influence your choices. Morgan & West are magicians, time-travellers & all round spiffing chaps who spend their time touring their shows around the U.K. Morgan & West met in University through theatre productions. Independently, the two of them had...

David Ben joins Jonah this episode to discuss if magic is an art form, producing shows, and developing a curatorial eye to improve your magic. From being a performer to a producer to the founder of Magicana, David has spent the last 40 years shaping magic as an art in the public eye. While he tells many stories of how he entered magic, David’s journey started like many others of his generati...

Michael Ammar joins Jonah this week to talk about signature tricks, mentors, and leaving room for your audience’s imagination. From teaching to creating to performing, Michael Ammar has done it all, building his name in the magic community.  Magic never seemed like a viable career path for him. Sure, he liked it, but he always thought he’d take over his father’s steakhouse. The t...

Right now, we’re living through some scary, uncertain times. But, with everyone self-isolating, we’re flattening the curve and giving our healthcare system a fighting chance to get us back to some semblance of normal as quickly as possible. With all this time now, we should be focused on improving ourselves so that when we can come back, we can come back stronger than ever. The Discour...

Jonah joins Luke Dancy this week to discuss exposure online, consulting for Criss Angel, and the magic marketplace. Alongside being a magic consultant, Luke works with Murphy’s Magic Supplies and hosts a weekly livestream where he talks with magic creators about their recent product releases. At the age of eight, Luke saw David Copperfield performing on TV and, since then, he’s been a magician. Wh...

Mike Pisciotta joins Jonah this week to discuss transitioning from close-up to stage, originality, and expressing your you through magic. Mike is an established bar magician at the Magic Castle, having won Close-Up Magician of the Year twice and Parlour Magician of the Year.   While his interest in magic started at a young age, he didn’t begin practicing it until after witnessing Copperfield perfo...

Tyler Erickson joins Jonah this week to talk about working with a mentor, finding the positive, and what to consider when scripting. Alongside being an extremely skilled sleight of hand artist, Tyler is a magic coach who works to improve the approach magician’s take to assessing their own magic. Tyler’s interest in magic started while he was watching Saturday morning cartoons and eating cere...

Discourse is back from our break and, to kick things off, Kostya Kimlat joins Jonah to discuss balancing your business and art, considering various audiences, and the importance of building a community.  Alongside being a skilled sleight-of-hand magician, Kostya is also a business consultant and motivational speaker based in Orlando, Florida. To Kostya, he views his journey through magic as a seri...

One last bite-sized episode before we return to the interviews! This week, Jonah talks about the magic of scripting and why you should seriously consider it before going on stage. There’s a magic to memorizing your script. Not only are you able to focus on the moment, but you can listen to the audience and take in their feedback. Maybe someone says a line you know you can call back to later...

Keep your magic taste buds ready with these quick tactics from Jonah on how to book more gigs in 2020. The interviews will be back soon with some amazing guests. Booking Tactics: Email Marketing: Get into mailboxes! Reach out to the people in your market to let them know what you do.  Cold Calling: If you think of it as telemarketing, you’re doing it wrong. Contact the people in your market...

As Jonah mentioned in the previous episode, he’s taking a four-week break from the regular interviews. So this week, while he works away behind the scenes, Jonah wants to hear about what magic is like in your city! Do a little research to see where magic and magicians reside in your city. For example, in Toronto: Clubs: Sid Lorraine Hat & Rabbit Club , Alakajam , Browser’s Den Mont...

Is this the end of Discourse in Magic? Of course not! But, Jonah is taking a break from interviews for the next few weeks to work on some projects for you, the listeners. However, he’ll keep serving up some bite-sized episodes to keep your appetites wet. While the podcast might be taking a slight break, Jonah won’t be. He’s currently working on a course that will help you take a...

Episode 200!  To celebrate this milestone, Jonah travelled all the way to Spain to sit down with the maestro himself: Juan Tamariz.  At four years old, Juan fell in love with magic and knew he had to become a magician. However, becoming a magician wasn’t a viable option back in the day, so he attended film school. While working in the film industry, he performed in the summer; he learned a l...

Jonah is joined by Nathan Kranzo this week to talk about creating unique effects, entertaining an audience, and taking risks.  Nathan is known for his out of the box thinking when it comes to magic and performing. Like most kids, Nate received a magic kit, but he wasn’t exactly ready for one; it didn’t take long for him to fill the drawer box with lit firecrackers. His influence to take up magic c...

Ben Train, Chris Mayhew and Jacque Swan join Jonah once again this year to reflect on 2019 and look ahead to 2020. From winning awards, to getting into performing, to disillusionment, a lot has happened since last year’s episode. The four also discuss coin magic, soup, and Ben creates a drinking game involving Jonah’s hats.  Highlights Ben: His highlight was being able to produce so many sho...

To kick off the new magic year, Jonah sits down with Woody Aragon to discuss developing taste, resonating with an audience, and expressing a message through your magic. Woody is viewed as one of the most important modern card magicians, known for his contribution to stack work.  Woody jokes that he came out of themwomb loving magic. He can’t recall a time when he was a layperson even though, where...

Surprise! It’s a bonus episode to end your year with a little more magic. Jonah sits down with Paul Gertner to talk about performing on TV, putting a spin on your magic, and developing a kicker. Paul is a closeup magician with an on running show in Boston; he’s also the only magician who has appeared on Fool Us three times. The ads on the back of comics for magic tricks and other oddities fa...

Happy Holidays! As the decade draws to a close, Jonah sits down to reflect on the trends we’ve seen in magic and makes his prediction on where magic is headed.

This week Ben Earl joins Jonah to discuss practice, sleight of hand, and approaching magic as an art. Alongside being a skilled sleight of hand artist, Ben is also an author and founder of Studio52. Ben’s interest in magic started when he stumbled across Expert Card Technique at his local library. The book was his glimpse into an underground subculture that he knew he needed to learn more about. H...

This week Jonah is joined by R. Paul Wilson to discuss scams, the ties between magic and film, and the exposure of magic. Alongside being a magician with a vast knowledge of cons and scams, Wilson is also an author and filmmaker.  At eight Wilson was hooked on magic after seeing his first trick. Around the same time, he watched his first film about scams. Since then, his life has been intertwined...

Javi Benetiz joins Jonah this week to discuss movement, meaning and the importance of experiencing life. Javi is an award winning sleight-of-hand magician from Spain, who brings his passion for life into his magic.  The moment that drew him into magic, Javi recalls, happened when he was four years old; his father did a colour change that has stuck in his memory ever since. Between seeing Tamariz o...

While in Spain, Jonah sat down with Fernando Figueras to discuss presentation, honesty in magic, and being a magic coach. Alongside being known for his rich and emotional presentation style, Fernando is also a magic coach who focuses on developing magicians’ practical performance skills.  At nineteen, Fernando was attending university for computer engineering. When he began to develop an interest...

Jonah has returned from Spain and, as souvenirs for his listeners, has brought back a number of episodes with some amazing Spanish magicians. First up is Juan Rubiales, who sat down to discuss mentors, bringing emotion into your magic, and loving yourself. Alongside being a skilled magician, Juan is also a talented caricature artist.  After being shown a magic trick at fourteen, Juan decided to pe...