Congratulations to Ben Kahan for advancing to the elimination rounds at Canada's Got Talent!
Read our interview, Canada's Got Talent: Getting to know Ben Kahan. ICYMI: Ben Kahan's Canada's Got Talent audition.
From the April 29th Facebook post by Canada's Got Talent:
There were 43 posts at Canada's Magic
this month! Here are the five most viewed posts in the past 30 days
(actually the top 4 posts are all related to a certain reality tv show, so
we're going to lump them in as one, giving you the top 8 posts for
April):
5. ICYMI: Connie Boyd and Steve Valentine - 2025 Milbourne Christopher Foundation Award recipients! - Congratulations Connie and Steve!
4. Robin Sheikh on Penn and Teller's "Fool Us" S11 E12 - Congratulations Robin, on your fantastic showing on Fool Us!
3. [Guest post] Magic Made In Canada - Thank you Ryan for this excellent list of Canadian made magic!
2. Random thoughts about "Champions of Magic -- Chasing the Unbelievable" 2025 - Western Canada, don't miss your chance to catch Champions of Magic -- Chasing the Unbelievable in May! Tickets: ChampionsOfMagicTour.com
- May 7-9: Victoria BC, Royal Theatre
- May 11-12: Calgary AB, Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium
- May 20-22: Vancouver BC, Queen Elizabeth Theatre
and the most viewed posts this month ...
1. ICYMI: Ben Kahan's Canada's Got Talent audition - Super audition Ben!
Canada's Got Talent: Getting to know The Secret - Interviewing a computer program was definitely a first for us!
Canada's Got Talent: Getting to know Ben Kahan - Thanks for the interview Ben!
Canada's Got Talent: Getting to know Alexandra Burgio - Apparently Alexandra's made quite the splash in the UK! We're getting a lot of UK traffic back to last year's interview.
From the April 21st upload "Birthday Candles & Zip Ties | Jay Sankey | Inventing Magic with Blake Vogt | Ep. 3" at Blake Vogt's YouTube channel:
Blake sits down with Jay Sankey and they have 1 hour to invent a new magic trick.
Previously shared on Facebook April 23.
From the April 20th article "Astronaut and sketch duo from Sarnia team up at Canada's Got Talent" by Paul Morden in
The Observer:
“We sent him over the script and Taylor and I were like, ‘Oh, there’s no way he’s going to sign on to this,’” Pinch said.
But Hadfield agreed “and we were off to the races,” he said.
“We thought this is going to be our love letter to Sarnia,” he said. “And it just so happened to work out the new judge this year is Katherine Ryan, who I actually went to high school with.”
Ryan was a student in the year ahead of Pinch at Northern Collegiate and they had some banter that didn’t make the final edit, including a line where he said, “I remember you from high school . . . where just like now, you were there judging me and I’m on stage doing my silly comedy.”
Ryan is “so, so funny, like impossibly funny,” Pinch said. “Where people would normally have one joke, she has 10 at the ready.”
And Hadfield was a “real professional” and “nailed it,” he said.
“If he has any aspirations to be a magician, I think he may have something,” Pinch said. “He’s definitely got a future.”
From the April 4th post "ICYMI: Carson & Taylor's Canada's Got Talent audition" at Canada's Magic:
Disappearing the moon before David Copperfield could!
Watch Carson and Taylor make Sarnia proud by invoking a Canadian treasure!
From the April 4th upload "Magicians Carson & Taylor Return To CGT With SURPRISE Guest" at the Canada's Got Talent YouTube channel:
Sarnia magicians Carson & Taylor are BACK on CGT - and this time, with more surprises up their sleeves!
Tickets at The Staircase (Spookshow - May 9 - 10) and Market Hall (A Work of Fiction - May 17).
From the April 15th Instagram post by Nick Wallace:
From the March 12th
Instagram post by Nick Wallace:
Sophie Lloyd
You may remember that almost 5 years ago on May 27, 2020 the CBC radio show
As It Happens discussed some earlier goings on at The Magic
Circle.
From the Jenny Winstanley interview at As it Happens transcripts:
It was a major to-do about a major ta-dah. In 1991, The Magic Circle — the prestigious British organization of illusionists -- voted to allow women to become members. At which point one of its members — Raymond Lloyd — revealed he had something up his sleeve. A woman's arm. Raymond Lloyd was, in fact, Sophie Lloyd. For two years, she had pretended to be a young male magician. No one noticed. Unfortunately, illusionists apparently don't like to have their illusions shattered. So when Raymond announced he was actually Sophie, she was booted out of the Magic Circle — despite its new policy allowing women. Still, it was a triumph. Not just for Ms. Lloyd, who was just pretending to be a magician. But also for Jenny Winstanley, who actually was a magician. And had taught Sophie Lloyd everything she knew, so they could pull off the remarkable trick. In 1991, As It Happens reached the women at a party celebrating their magic moment. Here's Michael Enright, speaking, first, with Jenny Winstanley.
Read more.
We're delighted to read today at the BBC, that Sophie Lloyd has been granted membership into The Magic Circle.
From the April 24th article "Woman who tricked her way into men-only Magic Circle finally allowed in" by Grace Dean at
BBC News:
A magician who tricked her way into the Magic Circle is finally being granted membership - 34 years after she was kicked out.
Sophie Lloyd says she disguised herself as a man to fool examiners into letting her join the elite society in 1991, at a time female magicians were not allowed to be members.
When the Circle announced it was permitting women to join later that year, Ms Lloyd revealed her deception, prompting the society to expel her at the very same meeting it admitted its first female magicians.
Doug Henning at The Fabulous Fox Theater in St. Louis.
From the April 24th Facebook post at Canada's Magic:
A gift from our friends at Champions of Magic!
This photo was taken from the backstage wall at the The Fabulous Fox Theater in St. Louis.
Neil McNally at The Doug Henning Project, has a photo of Doug performing at this theatre circa 1985:
https://doughenningproject.com/2021/04/14/1985-fox-theater-st-louis-dancing-handkerchief-photo/
Neil has also posted this photo, but does not have information about the year it was created, or the tour to which it belongs.
https://doughenningproject.com/2017/07/07/backstage-pass/
📸 : Richard Young
(Young & Strange | The Magicians' Podcast Network)
You can catch Richard Young as part of Young & Strange in Champions Of Magic in Canada:
- May 7-9: Victoria BC, Royal Theatre
- May 11-12: Calgary AB, Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium,
- May 20-22: Vancouver BC, Queen Elizabeth Theatre
with a rumoured December booking in Kingston!
- Dec 14: Kingston ON, Slush Puppie Place
Check ChampionsofMagicTour.com for updates.
Thanks for sending this along to us Richard Young!
Read our interview, Canada's Got Talent: Getting to know The Secret.
From the April 21st upload "Mystery, Talent, And A Big Reveal… The Secret Stuns The Audience" at the Canada's Got Talent YouTube channel:
Nobody was ready for what The Secret brought!
Fresh from 4F in Buffalo Bernardo Sedlacek will have be doing a Magic Show
this Sunday April 27 at 200 University Avenue West, Waterloo.
You may remember Bernardo from FISM in Quebec or his recent appearance on Fool Us.
Seating is limited to 35 people.
To guarantee your place, please interac the money to:
rafamendes at
wealthsimple dot me
For more information, contact Stephen Kirkegaard.
From the Browser's Den website:
Get ready for a day packed with fun, bargains, and incredible finds at our annual Magic Auction!
This is a great opportunity to bid on magic props, books, and more at fantastic prices. Many items sell for at least half their original cost, and you may even find rare or collectible pieces.
For nearly 50 years, magicians have gathered at Browser’s Den for this event, and it’s always a fun and worthwhile experience. If you’ve never attended before, we encourage you to join us and see what bargains you can find.
From the March 19th Facebook post by the Browser's Den of Magic:
Previously shared on Facebook March 19.
Let Do Something Impossible... Again! We had so much fun last year, we decided to do it again. This is a completely interactive experience. Your not just watching the show... you are in the show.
On March 4th we shared with you
that this season of
Canada's Got Talent
has quite a few Canadian magic acts.
Next in our series of short interviews with some of the magical acts is The Secret!
The Secret identifies as a computer program.
We're very pleased that The Secret had the bandwidth to answer our questions ahead of its appearance on the April 22nd episode of Canada's Got Talent!
Who from the magic community inspires you?
Was there anyone or anything instrumental to you becoming a magician?
Thank you to The Secret for answering our
questions! We hope you compile well on CGT!
Have a listen this excerpt from most recent episode of the What's Going On? podcast which is part of the Magicians' Podcast Network (spotify link) (Apple Podcasts link), where nice things are said about Alexandra Burgio's performance on Britain's Got Talent!
Congratulations Alexandra!
From the April 18th Instagram reel on The Magicians' Podcast Network:
Alexandra Burgio’s huge BGT YouTube numbers.
They are still posting videos, but these are the Canadians we've seen so far. Excellent entries from Chris Pilsworth (#49) and Alex Boyer (#73)!
Who have we missed?
There's still time to submit your entry. Fore more information visit:
https://www.fismitaly2025.com/online-magic/
From the March 31st
Instagram upload by the Online Magic World Championship:
#49 Chris Pilsworth -- "Without A Trace"
From the April 17th Instagram upload by the Online Magic World Championship:
#73 Alex Boyer -- "One Take MADNESS"
Previously shared on Facebook April 17.
A reminder that Chris Ramsay and Ekaterina part of the the Online Magic jury for FISM 2025.
Listen to their interviews at the Online Magic World Championship Instagram account:
The following is a guest post from Ryan Pilling.
Until the lathes stopped spinning in 2013 Morrissey Magic Ltd. was Canada’s top name in the manufacture of magic props. Known for their cups, pans, balls, and bowls finely crafted from Quebec aluminium, adorned with the red maple leaf sticker, and still found in prop cases around the world.
The Canadian magic industry is still alive and well, though more dispersed, with independent creators and makers working from kitchen tables and garages to make magic. Our aim here is to bring more awareness to magic being Made in Canada.
This list is a living document, and we’re hoping you can help us to track down any missing makers. To qualify, we’re using the “Made in Canada” definition of the Competition Bureau[1] that at least 51% of production costs are incurred in Canada, and the last substantial transformation occurred in Canada. For mail order, the product must be shipped from Canada. For digital products, the creative effort must come from a Canadian resident.
[1] https://competition-bureau.canada.ca/en/how-we-foster-competition/education-and-outreach/publications/product-canada-and-made-canada-claims#sec-3-2
Alberta
- Micky Hades - Calgary
Run by Micky's son Brian, PDF copies of Micky's lectures notes and books, among other offerings.
http://www.mickyhades.com
- Ian Pidgeon - Edmonton
TOXIC+ and iThump are apps for Apple devices to create amazing mentalism effects.
https://www.ToxicPlus.com
- Ryan Pilling - Calgary
Tips & Tricks for Magicians offers original digital products and a book Finding the Funny now printed in Canada.
https://MagicTipsAndTricks.com
British Columbia
- Shawn Farquhar - Maple Ridge
Palmer Magic manufactures and sells original products such as the Omni Deck and Sheer Luck Comedy Book Test.
https://PalmerMagic.com
- Paul Romhany - Vancouver
VANISH International Magic Magazine which is nominated for an online FISM award in 2025!
https://DigitalVanishMagazine.com
Manitoba | New Brunswick | Newfoundland and Labrador | Nova Scotia
Ontario
- Michael Close - Mississauga
Ebooks and magic merch from the author of the new Paradigm Shift ebooks, the Workers series and more!
https://MichaelClose.com
- Ariel Frailich - Toronto
Author Sub Rosa, Reading Writing, and more!
https://ISawThat.com
- Gerry Frenette - Barrie Magic Makers is known as a builder of illusions to the biggest stars. Now semi-retired, but still making magic. https://MagicMakersIllusions.com
- Chris Philpott - Windsor Creator of 100th Monkey and more brilliant mentalism and magic.
https://www.MagicaOnline.com
- Chris Pilsworth - Ottawa
Creative consultant and maker of artisanal magic. You can order his PB&E (Paper Bag & Egg) and 2025 lecture book with an inquiry to
chris at borntoamaze dot com
- Jay Sankey - Toronto
Sankey Magic is home to Jay’s original and creative products.
https://SankeyMagic.com
- Steve Valentine - Toronto
His Magic on the Go video library offers deep dive instruction for classic sleight of hand magic.
https://SteveValentine.SquareSpace.com/magic
Prince Edward Island
Quebec
- Normand Beauchamp - Saint-Jérôme
Original ideas and props from Normek Magic & Illusion.
https://www.NormekMagicIllusions.net
- Michel Huot - Montreal
Order direct from the creator of SOCKS and Priceless.
https://MichelHuotMagic.com
- Steph Lac - Montreal
Slim Card Gaffs & Magic is creating gaff cards in a traditional, handcrafted way.
https://www.SlimCardco.com
- Richard Sanders - Montreal
Sanders FX is the home of worldwide hits such as Fibre Optics and Extreme Burn. https://SandersFX.com
- Marc Trudel and Sophie-Ann Vachon - Montreal
Conundrum Magazine is a unique publication in magic.
https://www.ConundrumMagazine.com
Saskatchewan
- Lisa Krol - Saskatoon
Magic By Lisa is handcrafting magical bags and other props to make things vanish or appear.
https://www.MagicByLisa.ca/basic-bags (password: Vernon)
Yukon | Nunavut | Northwest Territories
For corrections or additions please contact Ryan Pilling at
ryan at MagicTipsAndTricks dot com
Note: this list does not include retail magic dealers, but we strongly encourage you to also support our Canadian magic shops.
--
Thank you Ryan
for creating this valuable list and guest posting at Canada's
Magic!
Sleightly Sketchy presents Tricky Sticky
Tricky Sticky is getting in on the Starter Pack meme!
Inspired by Vincenzo Ravina
and Sophie-Anne Vachon
