Keith Brown kindly agreed to answer some of our questions ahead of his upcoming show 110% Wizard at The Toronto Fringe.
What is your first memory of magic?
My first memory of magic is probably David Blaine's first special. I was 6 years old when it came out. It inspired my brother and me to learn tricks. I can vividly remember my brother making a card appear on the other side of a window in our front room. Not only did I want to know, I needed to know.
How long have you been performing professionally?
When I was 13, I was offered money to perform in a bar, and I never looked back.
Why is now the right time for you to be at the Fringe?
I am working on a new show that's more storytelling based. I focus on my recent experience as a cruise ship magician. I am breaking in new material as well as some very old material. It's interesting to me to revisit a piece that I haven't touched in a decade and breathe new life into it.
I normally compare the fringe circuit to building a house. First you need to lay the foundation, which is what I did in Orlando. We learnt a lot in the first run and now have the opportunity to make bigger changes. We will build the house up and refine the insides all summer.
How, if at all, does this show differ from your previous shows?
This show is more story based. In the past, I would be doing a magic show and then it would be story time. The story almost always leads into a trick and then I go back to doing magic. This show is more thematic, has a through line and more stories woven into the show from start to finish. It feels better crafted than some of my previous shows.
When did you start writing and preparing for this show?
In January I worked my first ever cruise contract. I wanted to use my time on the ship to develop a new show, but I didn't really have the opportunity given the circumstances. Fringe snuck up on me. They say to write about what you know, so I wrote about my experiences working the ships.
It's always scary putting new material in front of an audience, whether it's a trick or a story. You never know how they're going to respond to it, or if it's any good until you put it in front of people. After performing it in Orlando, the stories really resonated with the audience. It's also very rewarding to discover the moments when presenting it for the first time. I have a pretty good road map of how to get from A to B, but I never truly know what moments and opportunities the audience will serve me during a performance. It's my job to listen and respond accordingly. It's their input that always makes the show better than what I could have made by myself.
Will you tease an effect or two for us?
The first card trick in the show is something I am revisiting after 8+ years. When I first started performing it, many magicians came up to me after the show and told me it fooled them. I never considered it a "magician fooler" per se, but I realized it's because they think it's a trick they've seen before until it isn't.
Is there anything else you’d like to share with the readers of Canada’s
Magic?
For the last year and half, I have been working with Brendan Hong to design my very own deck of playing cards. The first run was printed with Shuffled Ink and I got my hands on them in May. For now, the cards are available exclusively at my shows. I am super proud of the cards and it's a really great feeling to be able to perform with them every night.
Thank you Keith, for making the time to answer our questions!
For more information about the Toronto Fringe, visit FringeToronto.com
My first paid performance was in 2007. I think I started identifying as a professional around 2012.
Why is now the right time for you to be at the Fringe?
At any given time, I have three or four shows I could do. I interact with the audience a lot. So what I do really has to be grounded in the space I’m in. Magic & Martini (2016-2020) always took place in a cocktail lounge. My virtual show, Bring Magic Home, never tried to hide the fact these weird Zoom get-togethers were utterly mad.
The Toronto Fringe is enormous. This year it has one hundred twenty-three shows. And those slots are assigned by lottery. Some years I get busy and don’t get around to applying. But really it was a random number generator that decided this was the time. And so I didn’t know what the show would be until I found out where it was going to be. But once we knew, the whole show basically came together in one afternoon of shuffling index cards around a coffee table.
What is the title of the show?
Mysteries and Lies. I’m chronically obsessed with the paradox of truth in magic — that there is no way to do what we do honestly. My last Fringe foray was called Lies, Damn Lies & Magic Tricks. There’s a naive version of magic which is about fooling people — I know something you don’t know, Nyah! But there’s a more interesting more grown up version which is about getting people to think about what shouldn’t and shouldn’t be possible. But fooling someone is tightly bound up in that project so it’s a very fine line to walk.
I want people to have an amazing — maybe even a profound — experience. But I don’t want to fall into the trap that so many in the industry do of thinking that you need people to think it’s “for real” in order to be respectable. There shouldn't be a contradiction between being totally amazing and being “just a magic trick”.
How, if at all, does this show differ from your previous shows?
Because the theatre is a very intimate space, 46 seats, with raked seating, we decided this was going to be a close-up show — like what you might see at the close-up room of the Magic Castle. The format is one I hadn’t really worked in before 2020. I never really sat down, even to do close-up magic. I got used to it doing virtual shows, where I opted to sit behind a desk. And during re-opening after the pandemic, there was an awkward period in Canada where you weren’t allowed to have more than ten people in a gathering. So my private shows moved from the end of the room to around the coffee table or the dining room table. (Again, so that the magic can be grounded in the environment. The show happens in your living room. I don’t try to make you pretend your living room is a bar or a theatre or a comedy club.)
But it also means this show is really brand new. If you saw Magic & Martini, before the pandemic, this will be completely different.
The show is thematically richer — maybe just because I’m older. Recently truth has been top of mind. We’re bombarded by fake headlines, fake experts, AI slop and the threat a Large Language Model is coming for your job. So as someone who is trying to walk this tightrope of honest lying, my job is to channel all that angst into a real experience, but without making things explicit so you feel like you’re watching a TED talk about what to do if you think your toaster might be conscious.
When did you start writing and preparing for this show?
I found out where the show was going to be in mid January and that’s when I seriously started preparing. The origin of the show we wound up doing is actually a bit stranger.
I did get used to the idea of performing at the table during re-opening. But the first one of those shows was actually in January of 2020. I received a last minute inquiry on a Sunday morning for a show that night. It was for four people. They wanted something to lighten the mood after they got back from a funeral. (Friends of mine know that the stranger the request, the more likely I am to say yes.) So in my mind, that show was Mysteries and Lies v1.0. And there is actually one trick from that which survives into this version.
The other weird thing that seeped into this show is that the theatre is inside of a converted school classroom. It’s one of the old red brick kind built in 1914. So the hallway has that odd proportion designed to funnel hundreds of kids to and from recess. The doors are classroom doors. So we’re playing with the idea that we’re surveying all of the regular school subjects — science, history, math — through the lens of magic.
Will you tease an effect or two for us?
I would rather people be surprised. But if someone is willing to do some work, they can earn a spoiler. When The Beatles appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show, we got so swept up, we forget that immediately after that, there was a magician on, who did two tricks. The show contains one of those. There is also a piece by Tommy Wonder that he was so protective of that he withheld it from publication in The Books of Wonder. (But he later softened and ultimately shared it in 2003.) I’ll be doing a version of that.
Is there anything else you’d like to share with the readers of Canada’s
Magic?
If they have the time, they should take the time to experience the Fringe. There are over a hundred different shows. So part of the fun is making a day of it, and seeing what new and different things you can experience.
Thank you James, for making the time to answer our questions!
For more information about the Toronto Fringe, visit FringeToronto.com
From the smoky philosophy of "What is magic?" to a hands-on demonstration of mind-bending illusions, Chris Mayhew shares the secrets of his craft and his unique professional journey.
We were also recently reminded that IBM Members have access to the IBM's video library which includes:
Virtual Lecture Series, including - John Carrey - David Corsaro - Mike Breggar - Ryan Pilling
JAM Videos, including - Anastasia Synn - Ben Train - Carisa Hendrix - Jonah Babins - Ryan Pilling - Shawn Farquhar - Max Maven, and many more!
Something Up My Sleeve interviews, including - Eric Leclerc - Billy Hseuh - Hidden Wonders Tour - Marc Trudel - Lost in the Shuffle - Wes Barker - Luc Langevin, and many, many more!
"Who Books That?" with Harrison Greenbaum, including - The Evasons - Steve Valentine - Julie Eng - Shin Lim, and many more!
Special Contributions, including - Luic Carreon - Ryan Pilling - Keith Fields
Magic Mondays, including - Alex Zander - Shawn Farquhar - Lucy Darling (Carisa Hendrix), and more!
Historical Videos, including - Darcy Oake - James Cielen
If you're looking to consume some magic videos, this should keep you busy for some time!
From the David Peck interview David Ben in Episode 629 on the April 1st podcast "Curiosity, Magic & Meaning" at Face2Face with David Peck:
In this episode of Face2Face, David Peck sits down with magician, historian, and thinker David Ben for a wide-ranging conversation about curiosity, illusion, and the deeper intellectual life behind magic. At the heart of the discussion is Ben’s extraordinary collection, now housed at The Lilly Library at Indiana University, a vast archive spanning more than a century of magical history. Together, they explore magic as a “prism” for understanding the world, touching on ethics, problem-solving, and the power of wonder. This is more than a conversation about magic, it’s about how we see, ask questions and make meaning.
In a landmark moment for the scholarly study of magic, Indiana University’s Lilly Library has announced the acquisition of the David Ben Magic Collection. The Lilly Library is one of the nation’s preeminent rare books, manuscripts, and special collections libraries.
This April Fools’ Day, turn disbelief into discovery as the Lilly Library announces the acquisition of David Ben's very real collection of extraordinary materials chronicling the art and history of magic, illusion, and performance history.
In this episode of Face2Face, David Peck speaks with magician, actor and creator Steve Valentine about creativity, the subconscious mind and rediscovering the art of magic. Steve reflects on how the brain is always working beneath the surface, often producing creative breakthroughs when we least expect them. He shares how revisiting the history of magic and returning to routines he once performed has reignited his passion and opened new perspectives on his craft. Their conversation explores how reflection, curiosity and our past experiences shape the way we create and perform. Thoughtful and engaging, this episode is a reminder that creativity is rarely linear and that sometimes the best way forward is to look back.
Along the way, Carisa, Piff, and Paul get real about the reasons
entertainers succeed and the pitfalls that can take them out just as fast.
It’s smart, honest, and wildly entertaining.
We recently reported our random thoughts about "Champions of Magic -- Holiday Spectacular" in Toronto. Frances Morgan, whose official role in the production is "Magic and
Props Assistant," kindly agreed to do an interview with us.
Based in Spokane, Frances:
performed as a Magician’s Assistant at Silverwood Theme Park in 2022 Read more (click to show | hide)At the theme park we did grand scale illusions as well as a few smaller
illusions and routines. My favorite was our opening act that the
magician and I created together (about a week before opening day!) I got
hired quite unexpectedly, and had to jump in quickly. I was hired at the
end of May and the full season started the first week in June. Before
that, I had never been involved in a magic show in any capacity. So it
was quite the adventure having to learn everything in such a short
amount of time. That lasted a season before I moved on to starting my
own show and forming my company, Inland Northwest Magic [INWmagic.com].
debuted her first show as a magician in 2023,
won First Place in the Spokane Magic Club's Close-Up competition, Read more (click to show | hide)
For my first local competition, I did some simple card routines, but
what I have always stood behind is even the most simple magic can be
amazing with the right presentation. I had music playing in the background, chose my setup carefully and rehearsed until the last moment
to make sure it was ready. It was my first competition and I had just
debuted my first solo show a few weeks prior, so that October was a fun
and busy month! Some of the card moves in the routine I performed were taught to me by the magicians I met through the magic club
and competed in the 2024 IBM Stage Competition.
Read more (click to show | hide)At the annual IBM International Championship, I competed in the
Stage Magic category. I had just joined the IBM as I had been
elected Vice President of my local magic club and needed to join
the IBM in order to do so. When I joined, I saw they had a convention
coming a few hours away from me in Washington and knew I had
to go. Magic conventions rarely, if ever, come to Washington
or Idaho so I took hold of the opportunity and it was one of the best
decisions I have ever made. When I joined, I saw they also
had a competition and figured I had nothing to lose so I sent
in a video on the last day available for submissions. I had only been
performing as a magician for a short while, so I looked at
the show I had, took the routines I got the best reactions
from and created a new sequence to make a roughly 8 minute routine. I
went to a local park with my friend, we filmed it, went to a
restaurant and uploaded it.
I never actually expected
to hear anything back, but about a month later, I saw an email in
my inbox from IBM. The headline was simple “I.B.M. Contest”;
the opening, polite “Thank you for sending your submission
for the 2024 Tacoma I.B.M. Convention Competition.” Reading this,
I fully expected it to be a polite ‘thanks but try again
later’ kind of email, but to my surprise I read and re-read
and for good measure read again the next line. “Congratulations, we are
pleased to inform you that you have earned a spot in the
finals of the Gold Medal Competition and will appear on the
International Stage Championship”. I began to jump and run around the
house in complete shock and happiness. That competition was
my turning point as a magician.
Competing at IBM, I
truly felt like I was a magician. This was not just friends and family,
this was a panel of judges who looked at my performance and
said ‘yes, she can compete at this convention’. It
truly is and was an honor to be there.
I did a linking ring
routine (which I started to perform at the request of my mom who has
always loved the linking rings and which has since become a
staple in my shows), a dream bag production, where I make
flower boxes appeared; and a torn and transformed paper to
kabuki effect.
What is your first memory of magic?
When I was about 3 I went to a theme park and there, I experienced my first
magic show. My favorite routine was when the magician made a table
float on stage and to my astonishment, proceeded to walk down the
stairs into the audience with the table! Ever since then, the
floating table has been one of my favorite illusions to perform.
When I went to my first magic convention, I had the honor to meet
the builder of the illusion, and have been performing it ever
since.
What genre of magic has your focus currently?
Everything! Different circumstances allow for different magic. My love of
magic stems from my love of connecting people and bringing stories
to life. I am working on a Valentine's theme show using both stage
and close-up magic. The theme is a love letter to magic and wonder, and
will be performed in a movie [theatre] that was first owned by a
magician. I have the honor of being the first magician to perform magic there
since him in the past 50 years! A show that gets to play with a history
like that is such a thrill and an honor.
I love the theatrics
of stage magic and helping the audience get lost in the wonder and story
of it. Theatre is my first love, having grown up performing since I
was about 3 years old. Close-up magic is a new adventure and for
me, the appeal lies in connecting with the audience in an up close
manner. Having magic happen in your hands as an audience member is one of the
most amazing things you can experience. I also love doing
walk-around magic for events. I usually start with just conversing
with people. Many people have at least some small connection with magic,
and often I can utilize that when I perform magic for them. I get to have fun
weaving their stories into the magic to create something personal
for them and unique for me.
Why did you want to become part of the Champions of Magic behind-the-scenes
family?
I saw Champions for the first time in 2022. It was my first time seeing a
magic show of that magnitude and I absolutely fell in love with it!
My favorite part was the ensemble aspect of it. Magic usually
features the solo magician but growing up in theatre, nearly every show I saw
had an ensemble of actors working together to build a story. The
ensemble aspect of Champions felt more natural and exciting to me.
One of my favorite parts of theatre is getting to play off the other
actors in a scene, and I got to see that same playful creativity with
Champions.
Magic has this amazing ability to bring the
audience into its space. Unlike other forms of theatre, magic
breaks the 4th wall and gets to incorporate the audience unlike anything else.
Magic has all the wonderful qualities that I love about theatre and
then some. It is more spontaneous and can connect with an audience
in a unique way; Champions shows that in a wonderful and grand display.
What are your roles on this tour?
I get to do a little bit of everything! My official title is Magic and Props
Assistant. I work primarily with the props team and between the
three of us we take care of over 200 props in the show, from sunglasses to a
sparkly, metal moon. We build, repair, improve, set, strike and pack all the
props every new show day. I also get the chance to be onstage as an Assistant
for a few of the acts. For one routine, I get to wear the dress I wore as an
Assistant in the theme park, so a fun personal call back, and I also wear a
necklace of a snowflake that my family gave me for Christmas a few years ago.
For me, it is a way to bridge my past experiences with this new
chapter.
What surprised you most about touring with this ensemble of magicians?
This is my first tour and I have an immense amount of respect for the stamina
of this group! Especially the crew and the producer. Every person
works incredibly hard and will jump in to help when needed. If one
of us is sick or injured, or simply let something slip in the rush of
the moment, we all try to pull together to help one another and
give the best experience possible to the audience, while supporting
each other as a team.
Tell us about a highlight from this tour.
One highlight was at one of the shows, we invited a kid onstage and he had
the best time! I got to interact with him and his mom off stage
and his whole face lit up at being a part of the show. Getting to
inspire people of all ages is just spectacular!
What compelling reasons are there to come see "Champions of Magic:
Holiday Spectacular"?
Theatre is magic when seen live, and a live magic show is theatre on another
level. This show has something for everyone of all ages. One of
my favorite aspects is the different genres that come into
play.
Some examples: we have a callback to old Hollywood detective mysteries, a
sit-com holiday party, and a tribute to grand scale Las Vegas magic
shows. We also get to bring a few people up on stage to
witness the magic up close!
Is there anything else you’d like to share with the readers of Canada’s
Magic?
Happiness is magic. Keep sharing the magic. Join the email
list of Champions of Magic and come follow along on
the adventure!
Thank you Frances, for making the time to answer our questions and congratulations on your recent achievements!
Learn more about Frances at her website INWmagic.com and sign-up to her
email list.
At 14, you became one of the youngest performers to execute Houdini’s suspended straitjacket escape. What do you remember most vividly from that moment?
The straitjacket escape was my first career “child.” It was something I decided I wanted to do when I was around 13 years old. Not one person in the industry wanted to help. I was encouraged to stay “young and cute” and focus on smaller things – but it didn’t matter.
This was one of the first times in my life that I learned to put blinders on and not care about the background noise. It taught me that success comes from a balance of caring deeply and not caring at all.
If
you’d like to hear the noises our mouths make and are curious about
what our faces look like when we make those noises, then check out this
interview with Mike D'Ascenzo on The D'Ascenzo Zone Podcast!
Listen to Richard Young and Alan Hudson interview Shawn Farquhar on the
What's Going On? channel of the
Magicians' Podcast Network(also available on
Apple Podcasts
(listen for free on a 3 day trial)).
OUT NOW! The 2009 FISM Grand Prix Champion for Close-Up Magic Shawn Farquhar (@magichampion) joins Young & Hudson today.
Topics discussed: His incredible 32 year long run as a cruise ship magician How and why he transitioned from Cruise ships to his own theatre Hidden Wonders. the harsh realities of running your own theatre. The opportunities that came from winning FISM. His thoughts on originality and theft of material. Also Shawn answers 20 Magic Questions.
Listen to Richard Young and Alan Hudson interview Gabriella Lester on the What's Going On? channel of the Magicians' Podcast Network(also available on
Apple Podcasts (listen for free on a 3 day trial)).
OUT NOW! Joining Young & Hudson today is Canada’s Gabriella Lester, the insanely talented 21 year old already carving a path for herself on the highest level.
Topics Discussed: - Gabriella talks about how she landed the job of associate producer on Fool Us. - She also talks about her latest role in the upcoming Now You See Me Live show. - And the hosts discuss Penn & Teller finally being allowed into the Magic Circle. PLUS: Gabriella answers 20 Magic Questions.
Another one, Eric asked one of the kids pick a card and show it around. After some more hocus pocus, the card appeared in another kid’s hand. It was unreal.
After that one, we returned to our seats and to our conversation.
Eric told me about performing recently at the home of a wealthy business man somewhere in the U.S.
“Ahead of time, I asked them to supply the cards so they could be sure I wasn’t bringing ‘tricky’ magician’s cards with me,” he explained. “When I arrived, there were two sealed decks of cards. I opened them and began…”
We're delighted to interview David leading up to the Canadian premiere of his show The Enigmatist which runs from June 10th to 22nd at the Lighthouse ArtSpace in Toronto. For tickets
and more information visit Starvox Entertainment.
What is your first memory of magic?
Like every magician, I have these indelible moments from when I was a kid.
For me, the most impactful was when I was about seven years old and saw a
magician performing at a pumpkin patch. He performed the sponge ball trick,
which blew my mind, of course. But what happened next would change my life
forever. He did the trick to my dad. Now my father is a biochemist, and
still is the smartest person in the world to me. So when he opened up his
hand and suddenly had two sponge balls, I turned to this omniscient figure
and asked him how the trick worked. My dad flashed me a sheepish grin and
said, “I have no idea." And that’s when I knew I wanted to be a magician!
And this moment continues to inform my work. I recently released a kids book
of magic tricks,
How to Fool Your Parents. It’s a book dedicated to
smart, brainy, kids. I’m basically channeling my seven year-old self!
Who inspires you that is not a magician?
Will Shortz, the puzzle editor of the New York Times. He’s
been a wonderful mentor and friend since I first met him as a teenager.
Will has brought smart and accessible puzzles into the homes of millions
and millions of people. He always says that a good puzzle makes the solver
feel smart. I try to channel this in every puzzle I create and show that I
perform.
"... a good puzzle makes the solver feel smart." -- Will Shortz
David Kwong, The Enigmatist Photo credit: Yann Rabanier
Do you have any tour or pre-show rituals you’d be willing to share with
our readers?
The mental gymnastics that I perform in the show require a great deal of
memory. So I get to the theater early and I practice with flashcards in my
dressing room. I usually solve a crossword puzzle or two as well, you
gotta get my brain going and I actually find it relaxing!
David Kwong Photo credit: Justin Barbin
What can your audiences expect to see during The Enigmatist?
The Enigmatist is an evening of magic, puzzles, and cryptography
(codebreaking). There are brainy magic tricks, and a box that the audience
must collectively unlock to reveal the mysteries inside. I also regale the
audience with the story of America's first codebreakers. Also, the puzzles
start right away! Audiences are encouraged to come early to the show where
they have the option of solving puzzles in the lobby. This is called the
Puzzle Garden and ties into the show!
Thank you David, for making the time to answer our questions!
