On March 4th we shared with you
that this season of
Canada's Got Talent
has quite a few Canadian magic acts.
We are delighted to have the opportunity to do short interviews with some
of the acts again this year. Kicking off the series is the Montreal
Trio!
You may already know that:
- the Montreal Trio includes Yannick Lacroix, Marc Trudel, and Michel Huot
- Marc performed close-up, a stage show, and lectured at the 2024 Browser's Bash
-
Michel performed a
stage show, and
lectured
at the 2024 Browser's Bash
- Michel lectured for the Sid Lorraine Hat and Rabbit Club (IBM Ring 17) last fall
- in 2024 the Montreal Trio performed at Blackpool and Magifest (please, no spoilers!)
-
in 2023 they appeared on European television (again, please, no spoilers!)
We're very pleased that Yannick and Marc made time to answer our questions ahead of their appearance on the March 25th episode of Canada's Got Talent!
Who inspires you that is not a magician?
Yannick: My spouse whom I adore, who accompanies me and supports me in all my magical projects.
Marc: I love getting inspiration from other fields. I visit museums, listen to music and podcasts, read books from all genres, watch masterclasses, and more.
Michel: Charlie Chaplin, Brian Tracy, Gary Larson and my girlfriend who runs 2 businesses with 30 or so employees alone
Yannick: My spouse whom I adore, who accompanies me and supports me in all my magical projects.
Marc: I love getting inspiration from other fields. I visit museums, listen to music and podcasts, read books from all genres, watch masterclasses, and more.
Michel: Charlie Chaplin, Brian Tracy, Gary Larson and my girlfriend who runs 2 businesses with 30 or so employees alone
What is your first memory of magic?
Yannick: I attended a superb stage magic show by the magician
Reveen in Montreal. I was sitting in the front row and I was 8 years old. It
was amazing!
Marc: I remember watching David Copperfield on television and playing with a magic kit when I was a child. I was probably 7 or 8.
Michel: Well the first time, I was 10 years old and it was Mehdi who pulled a gum of my ear but THE moment was when I was 23 and André Bouchard was performing close-up magic...it changed my life.
Marc: I remember watching David Copperfield on television and playing with a magic kit when I was a child. I was probably 7 or 8.
Michel: Well the first time, I was 10 years old and it was Mehdi who pulled a gum of my ear but THE moment was when I was 23 and André Bouchard was performing close-up magic...it changed my life.
Who from the magic community inspires you?
Yannick: First, my 2 magician friends: Michel Huot and Marc
Trudel who are part of the Montreal Trio. But Gary Kurtz (Canadian magician)
has always been a great inspiration and he has made me the magician I am
today.
Marc: Too many to name, but a lot of my inspiration comes from reading books. Books not only provide knowledge but also force you to imagine the routines in your own unique way.
Marc: Too many to name, but a lot of my inspiration comes from reading books. Books not only provide knowledge but also force you to imagine the routines in your own unique way.
Michel: Lately, someone i am touring with at the moment inspires me...Raymond Crowe! All the small details. Others include David Acer, Mac King and David Williamson.
Was there anyone or anything instrumental to you becoming a magician?
Yannick: The Magie-Marcis school with my teacher Maurice
Choquette taught me magic in the mid-80s. I then started teaching with him.
Following his death, he bequeathed me his school which became mine:
MagieStrale.
Marc: Probably Juan Tamariz, for the way he studies audience energy. I have also been working with Stéphane Bourgoin, who has been a great mentor to me. Stéphane is probably one of the most creative minds in magic, yet he remains a well-kept secret among the magicians lucky enough to work with him.
Marc: Probably Juan Tamariz, for the way he studies audience energy. I have also been working with Stéphane Bourgoin, who has been a great mentor to me. Stéphane is probably one of the most creative minds in magic, yet he remains a well-kept secret among the magicians lucky enough to work with him.
Michel: The booklet Leading with your head by G. Kurtz still has a great impact on me as well as the book by Eberhard Riese called Foundations. I have always been amazed also by people who can really drive a crowd. Do lots with less (Colombini, Doc Eason, Bob Sheets, Eric Leclerc). At the beginning of my magic adventures, my pal Yannick also sparked a flame.
Yannick Lacroix, Michel Huot, and Marc Trudel
📸 : CGT
Did you ever get discouraged and think about quitting
magic?
Yannick: No, I've always been passionate about magic since I was a kid and I've never stopped.
Marc: Not really. I’ve always been fortunate to find new projects that keep me engaged.
Michel: Only once; September 11th 2001. I felt useless 'finding their cards'. But the next day a spectator told me that I just made him forget about what was going on for 15 minutes. That was it. Oddly enough, our job is to make them forget!
Yannick: No, I've always been passionate about magic since I was a kid and I've never stopped.
Marc: Not really. I’ve always been fortunate to find new projects that keep me engaged.
Michel: Only once; September 11th 2001. I felt useless 'finding their cards'. But the next day a spectator told me that I just made him forget about what was going on for 15 minutes. That was it. Oddly enough, our job is to make them forget!
Do you have any tour or pre-show rituals you’d be willing to share
with our readers?
Yannick: Michel, Marc and I have a little ritual before
presenting our act. We walk as if nothing had happened around a magic
accessory and suddenly we start dancing around it, each improvising our
own choreography. We really look crazy, but that's us!
Marc: We have lots of crazy patterns and rituals, but one of them is “fighting” a playing card using invisible karate. You get the idea…
Marc: We have lots of crazy patterns and rituals, but one of them is “fighting” a playing card using invisible karate. You get the idea…
Michel: Oh yes. I have on with the boys that they already explained. On my own, I do a breathing technique in the dark in my dressing room (called Prana Yama).
How did the three of you meet?
Yannick: I have owned a magic school (MagieStrale) in
Montreal since 1992 and Michel and Marc were my students in the
mid-90s.
Michel: Taking a pause now, go see Yannick's answer haha!
How did the three of you come to work together?
Marc: Over the years, we became friends and started
collaborating on shows, lectures for magicians, and more. Eventually,
the Montreal Trio was born!
Yannick: We created this issue in 2013 to present it at a prestigious FFFF magic congress in the USA. And since then, we have presented it for magicians and the general public in Quebec, Canada, the USA, England, and very soon in Europe.
Michel: I first pitched an indea to Yannick many many moons ago. We did an act called The Human Deck of Cards. Then, many years later, another idea popped and we figured we had to be three. Marc was an obvious choice.
Why is now the right time for you to be a part of
Canada's Got Talent?Yannick: We created this issue in 2013 to present it at a prestigious FFFF magic congress in the USA. And since then, we have presented it for magicians and the general public in Quebec, Canada, the USA, England, and very soon in Europe.
Michel: I first pitched an indea to Yannick many many moons ago. We did an act called The Human Deck of Cards. Then, many years later, another idea popped and we figured we had to be three. Marc was an obvious choice.
Yannick: We were invited to participate in CGT and we thought
what a chance to show our act on Canadian television on the biggest stage
in Canada!
Marc: Our individual schedules are always a little crazy, so whenever we get the chance to work together, we take the opportunity. For CGT, the stars aligned!
Marc: Our individual schedules are always a little crazy, so whenever we get the chance to work together, we take the opportunity. For CGT, the stars aligned!
Michel: See above!
Yannick: The Montreal Trio is not limited to this issue, we
hope to be able to show you all our creativity, sometimes a little crazy, in
the near future!
Marc: Simply that there is a lot of great magic happening in Canada right now—not just with our trio. Magicians should be more curious about it!
Michel: Just shut up and do it!
Marc: Simply that there is a lot of great magic happening in Canada right now—not just with our trio. Magicians should be more curious about it!
Michel: Just shut up and do it!
Thank you Yannick and Marc for making the time to answer our
questions! Break a leg on CGT!
Learn more about Yannick Lacroix at his website MagieStrale.com, and follow him on Facebook.
Learn more about Marc Trudel at his website
MarcTrudelMagicien.com
and follow him on
Facebook, and
Instagram.
Learn more about Michel Huot at his website MichelHuotMagic.com and follow him on Facebook, and Instagram.
Learn more about Michel Huot at his website MichelHuotMagic.com and follow him on Facebook, and Instagram.
Don't blink or you'll miss it! Catch a sneak peek here in the March
22nd Instagram post by
Canada's Got Talent:
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