Exciting News! David Peck is back with a brand new venture: "Toronto Threads!" Tune in to 640 Toronto every Saturday at 10pm for an incredible radio experience that delves into the fascinating people that make up Toronto's diverse and vibrant culture.
If you've never been to one of these shows, they're a very unique
experience. Ben Train was kind enough to answer some questions we had
about The Toronto Magic Company, and The Art of Magic.
Ben Train
What is the Toronto Magic Company (TMC)?
In 2016 I partnered up with my best friend Jonah Babins to produce magic shows
across the GTA. Specifically, we wanted to produce GOOD magic shows - the kind
of shows we’d be excited to see.
Since then we’ve produced more
than 200 shows a year, worked with hundreds of amazing magicians from around
the world, and entertained thousands of people.
Who are the players in TMC?
There’s myself, Ben Train, and my good buddy Jonah Babins. We’re the two
co-founders. We also have an amazing team working behind the scenes; video
editors and photographers, our incredible magicians and volunteers, and of
course - our audiences!
Ben and Jonah Babins on an adventure.
What is The Art of Magic?
Magicians have been talking about magic being an art form for hundreds of
years. So in 2018 Jonah and I had an idea. What if we produced an event that
wasn’t just a show, but rather a “gallery” of magic art?
And
that’s what we did! We filled a gallery with magic-themed art (posters, props,
and interactive exhibits), invited some of our favourite close-up magicians to
walk around the space performing, and finished the whole experience off with a
stage magic show filled with mind-reading and illusions.
Admiring the art at The Art of Magic
How does The Art of Magic differ from the Toronto Magic Company's other
offerings?
All of our shows have different concepts, because we want to appeal to
different audiences and we want to explore different ways of presenting magic.
What most of our shows have in common though is that they follow a
pretty traditional show format: you arrive at the venue, sit in your seat,
watch a show, and then go home. (I promise the shows are waaay more fun than
that description makes them sound!)
What makes The Art of Magic
different is that it’s not just a show, but rather an interactive exhibit that
lets you explore magic in different ways (including actively being part of the
experience in ways you simply couldn’t do with a typical show).
Oh… and on top of all that you ALSO get an amazing show!
Jonah entertaining at TheArt of Magic
How was the recent September show (the 30th Art of Magic show) different from the very first
The Art of Magic show?
The first Art of Magic, back in 2018, was very different. We were in a
different location, which meant different limitations (and advantages), we
didn’t have access to enough magic-themed art, and we were relying more on
out-of-town talent.
When the pandemic temporarily shut us down we
used our time to retool everything.
We found a better venue (two
floors which allowed us to have different experiences happening at the same
time), we got WAAAY more magic-related art pieces (Several dozen and
counting), and watched as the talent in Toronto developed to a point where we
no longer needed to bring in outside help (though we still bring in performers
from all over the world - because we love featuring the best magicians on the
planet!).
The concept is ALWAYS something we’re tweaking with,
because we’re always trying to make it better. Speaking of which, if anyone
reading this has been to one of our shows and has ideas for how we can
improve… please message me! ( ben at TorontoMagicCompany dot com)
Ben entertaining at The Art of Magic
What have you learned from producing 30 of these shows?
That there are waaaaay easier ways to make money lol.
Also, I’ve
learnt that sometimes the things that excite ME (or passionate magic lovers
like me) aren't necessarily what excites the general public. So as we test and
try new things we pay special attention to which exhibits resonate with people
and WHY, so we can make all our future events better.
Is there anything else you'd like to share with our readers about The Art
of Magic?
Yah. Buy some tickets and come on out!
If you’re a magic fan, this
is a must-attend. I truly believe that.
And if you’re not yet a
magic fan but you are a fan of fun nights… come on out and we’ll convert you.
;)
Thank you Ben, for making the time to answer our questions!
You have two chances to catch The Art of Magic on Saturday October 21st. The show features: Jeff Hinchliffe, Harry Zimmerman, Jonah Babins, and James Alan. (Ben Train will be appearing in the second show.) Tickets at Eventbrite.
WORLD RECORD HEIGHTS: In this Canadian Conjuror's Interview, we are chatting with Doug 'the Great' Hunt, a man who has been raising the bar for decades!
On October 21st, Doug will attempt to re-take the World Record, and in this interview, we discuss the challenges, benefits and strategies for planning a stunt of this scale (and height.)
Here are a few topics we'll cover: - Media stunts and how they can skyrocket your presence in your community. - The art of turning passion into powerful promotion, drawing from Doug's upcoming world-record attempt. - Lessons and gems from decades of experience offer actionable advice for emerging and seasoned magicians. - The undeniable importance of community in the magic world and the evolving role of magic clubs in our digital age.
From the importance of community and magic clubs in our ever-digital world to the art of crafting unforgettable media stunts, this 25-minute interview is packed with insights and stories that every magician, both aspiring and seasoned, will find invaluable.
We're delighted to bring to you a brief interview with
Young and Strange in which we learn, among other things, how they
earned the sometimes used moniker, "the bickering illusionists."
We’ve heard and read multiple versions of your double act origin
story. What really happened to bring you two together?
Young: We realised early on that the real story wasn’t what
people wanted to hear. They would ask and we could see them zoning out and
being disappointed with the truth so we decided to tell them what they wanted
to hear; that we are childhood friends. It is also shorter so that worked
great for us too. We are not childhood friends (or even friends these days)
and didn’t meet until 2008, we were both working as close-up magicians in the
same town (we are both from Oxford, that is true) and we kept hearing
each-others names, Sam reached out and suggested we meet, so we did. Initially
we just discussed close-up magic and gigs, it was around 18 months later we
did our first stage show together, however it wasn’t as a double act, we both
performed individually.
Strange: In that first
theatre show, we did perform a few routines onstage together (as well as our
individual ‘acts’). Those were the most enjoyable aspects of the show and also
the bits that the audience seemed to like best. We both loved the process of
putting on a theatre show and that shared passion meant we did other local
shows together. We used the income we could generate from close-up gigs to buy
illusions and pursue the double act. It wasn’t until the first series of
Penn and Teller: Fool Us
came along (back in 2011), that we were forced to make a decision on the name
of our double act. A call from a researcher on the show asking what we would
like to be called was followed by a conversation about whether 'Rich and Sam’
was a good option. 'Young and Strange' are our real names so it was a simple
enough decision in the end.
Young (left) and Strange in silhouette
What strengths do each of you bring to the partnership?
Young: Occasionally Strange oils the wheels of the 360 illusion.
I do everything else.
Strange: I am pretty good
at the art of deception. Young thinks I oil the wheels on the 360, when in
reality I delegate that job to our stage manager.
Only a handful of male illusion double acts come to mind. What
motivated you to pursue this path?
Young: Illusions are so much fun to perform, we just loved
it from the very beginning, well I did. Strange was very lost in life. It is a
lot of hard work and they are so expensive and hard to move around. It’s a lot
easier in both respects if there are 2 of you. We really are not very smart
and it is entirely truthful to say there was no ‘master plan’ or consideration
into the commercial opportunities that come from being an illusionist double
act. I regularly get pretty upset and have to revisit my therapist when I
realise he has taken half of the money.
Strange: Scott Penrose once said that being an illusionist is 20% magician and 80%
furniture removal man. Having 2 of us to help move that furniture made life a
lot easier. It’s also good to have a mate to debrief the show with and someone
who wants to dissect each performance. Working on your own without a director
or people in the audience to give feedback must be very lonely. The dynamic of
2 of us also allowed us to bring something to the performances other than just
the box illusions.
Young & Strange - Delusionists is fun for the entire family. It’s a
fully interactive and immersive experience, with extraordinary appearances,
vanishes, mind reading and more. It’s all tied together with a mind blowing,
sensational finale that’s filled with the biggest stage illusions, rivalling
any Las Vegas show. Book tickets now to avoid disappointment.
We assume that you perform some pieces of the
Delusionists show as part of the Champions of Magic ensemble. What are the similarities and differences between
Young & Strange Delusionists and your performances in
Champions of Magic?
Young: Yes, some of what you will see in Delusionists you
may have seen in Champions of Magic, however we think if you’ve seen us
before in that show you’ll really enjoy coming and watching us sweat and no
doubt screw up at least some of the plethora of new and unfamiliar material
which we will attempt on this Ontario tour. What’s genuinely so exciting to us
is that Delusionists gives us an opportunity to really connect with the
audience on a deeper personal level as we simply have more time to do so.
You’ll see a complete mix of magic at Delusionists. Not just the
largest stage illusions but also close-up, mentalism effects (we promise done
in a speedy fashion, you won’t be bored) parlour magic and Strange might even
be presenting his full (not) FISM level card manipulation sequence.
Strange: Although we have been performing together
for a long time now, Delusionists is a relatively new show. It
comprises a lot of material that we have performed over the years. However,
there is some new content too. That is one of the best combinations to watch
live. You will get to see well worked and honed performances that will make
you think 'these guys are such professionals.' That will butt up against new
material which will make you think 'these guys are such amateurs.' You’ll get
to experience complete competence and then shocking incompetence, which really
makes for good viewing. I’m not sure if this is mentioned in the blurb or
ticket small print, but the 360 illusion is likely to be cut from the show due
to a lack of oil on the wheels.
Much of your act involves a great deal of physicality. How do you
stay show ready? (Do you train? Do you have an active lifestyle?)
Young: I mean look at me, clearly not. From time to time I will
walk to Denny’s if less than 8 minutes away and the outdoor temperature
is above 75 F. I did have a really bad back on the final leg of the last
Champions tour which was a big wake up call to me. I have quite a lot
of pride in the fact that I have never missed a Champions show in 10
years but I was really close to missing one because of this injury, I was in
enormous pain during that first show after I did myself in (lifting my
suitcase into the tour bus of all the stupid possible reasons). Potential
injuries are another reason to attend Delusionists, there’s always the
possibility Strange will fall off our beautiful Bill Smith
Fire Spiker.
Strange: 'I hurt my back
carrying the show’ was Young’s stock response in the aftermath of the suitcase
debacle. It was a dark time. It’s one of the great things about being in a
double act though as there are times when we can help each other out. I’m not
a doctor but his back would get particularly bad and inflamed during a load-in
or load-out, whenever a prop needed maintenance, or if an email needed a long
response.
Young (left) lets Strange take the spotlight
The soundtrack for your show definitely enhances the impact of your stage
performance. Longtime fans will notice that it evolves with time (eg.
one of your signature pieces which you performed in 2017 on
Penn and Teller: Fool Us
has music with a very different feel than Live and Let Die (by Wings) which you use
today.)
From where (or from whom) do you get your inspiration for your music?
Young: In the early days I found most of the music, it was Alex
our Producer who suggested Live and Let Die for our cardboard box
trick, I have hated it since the first performance but he does pay us well so
I have said nothing. All of my own music suggestions have been vetoed by Alex
and Strange since around 2019. I once suggested
Guns N' Roses November Rain to Strange and he said we couldn’t use it
as he had never heard of it. The song currently has nearly 3 billion views on
YouTube.
Strange: Go onto YouTube and type
'November Rain.’ 28 views. Hang on that might be a B, not and 8, but whatever.
Crazy Frog has 4B but I had to talk Young down from that track as he
wanted to use it for a poetic, emotional and reflective
Miser's Dream routine.
What is the biggest change to your act, or change in your approach to
magic, since your producer Alex Jarrett first saw you at the Edinburgh
Fringe Festival?
Young: The biggest change to the act was when Strange had a baby
went home and Alex Jarrett stood in for him for a couple of weeks. Young &
‘Strange’ never had more positive feedback. The act was tight, professional,
had improv skills and people loved us. For the first time ever, people
actually wanted their photo with Young & Strange. I really tried to
convince Alex to not allow Strange back and to continue on the inevitable
golden path that lay ahead of us, sadly he said he couldn’t do it as arguing
with venues about the cleaning costs for the end of show confetti takes up too
much of his time. I still believe that had he said yes there is a good chance
my house today would have more than 2 bedrooms.
Strange:
Interestingly, whenever the biweekly conversation comes up about ‘The worst
ever Champions of Magic gig,’ Corbin in Kentucky is top of the list. I
can’t remember the exact date of that show but I know my daughter's birthday
is on 14th September.
Our biggest change to our act since meeting Alex Jarrett is that we have been
kept busy working. He has provided us with air time on stages around the world
for many years and that has allowed us to evolve and develop as an act. Alex’s
passion is firmly rooted in comedy and that has no doubt impacted us along the
way.
(not) Strange (left)* and Young post-show Meet and Greet, circa September 14th * Alex Jarrett, producer
Young's go-to Karaoke song:
Kayla Drescher and I used to sing
Phantom of the Opera together when we were on tour. I haven’t been able
to sing it since she left… it’s just too hard.
Young, are you tired of Strange riding on your coattails all these years?
Young: He knows the right thing to do is change the agreement
from 50/50 to 60/40 (at least). He knows this deep down, he also knows I can’t
ask for it and he has to offer. It’s just plain selfish that he hasn’t
already.
Strange's go-to Karaoke song:
I have always loved Guns N' Roses November Rain. It’s my
go-to track and I love it.
Strange, are you tired of Young riding on your coattails all these
years?
Strange: I have heard many, many people over the years say that I
do all the heavy lifting in the act. That accurate metaphor became literal
after the suitcase saga of 2023.
Is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers?
Young: We really do hope magicians will consider coming along to
Delusionists we really think they will enjoy slagging us off both
during intermission and after the show questioning and criticising our
material choices, show structure, and inevitable screw ups. They will feel
great after knowing they would have done a better job. We think they will have
a great time. Hope to see you all there.
Strange: If you are coming to the show then can you please visit the merchandise stand
and buy a shot glass? We ordered 1,000 shot glasses (the minimum order
available) and in the past year we have sold 18. They can double as candle
holders or if you hold one close to your ear you can hear the sea.
Young and Strange "One More!" shot glasses 📸 : Kidlet, Kitchener, 2022
Thank you Richard and Sam, for making the time to answer our questions!
Read our 2022 interviews with
Richard Young
and
Sam Strange
where we learn about their favourite:
- thing about touring with Champions of Magic - piece to perform in Champions of Magic - Canadian thing
- part of the show to watch, and - biggest change in the past 10
years
We had the opportunity to check in with David Merry and learn more about his
soon to be released film,
Switched at Death.
Who inspires you from outside the magic community?
I lived
in Las Vegas in 1981 playing blackjack for a living, while I was there I went
to see many comedians as that was what I truly loved when added to my magic. I
saw Johhny Carson, Bob Hope, George Carlin and finally Don Rickles. Bob Hope,
Don Rickles and Rodney Dangerfield had the biggest impacts on me. Eventually I
went on to become a joke writer for Rodney Dangerfield and Joan Rivers. I
wrote jokes for Leno at the Tonight Show but not enough to say I wrote for
him. I also love Apollo Robbins known as the world’s best pickpocket. He came
to me and asked me to write a bunch of material for him… he’s off the charts
good!
What is your first memory of magic?
The very first recollection of any magic I have was at a birthday party I went
to as a child and watched the amazing Johnny Giordmaine.
I can’t
put an exact date on it but I would guess I was 7 or 8 years old. I was
mesmerized instantly. After that a friend who was quite a card guy even at 13
showed me tricks he could do with an ordinary deck. He actually is our last
mayor’s younger brother, Michael Tory. He became very accomplished, very early
(he attended several Tannen’s Magic Camps) and that got me hooked on close-up.
Not a lot of people know I’m a hard core close-up card guy! I took private
lessons from Ariel Frailich, Howard Schwartzman, and Derek Dingle.
Who from the magic community inspires you?
Doing comedy magic I had two people I looked up to, one was The Amazing
Johnathan and the other was Mac King. Both became friends over the years and
I truly respected their work as comedy magic performers. The difficulty with
comedy magic is the extremely fine (and hard) line that needs to be found
that brings the two disciplines together. I spent many years trying to
figure out a way to blend the two together without having one overpower the
other. I never wanted to be a magician that started one trick and after
finishing it implied OK here’s my next trick. My lifelong pursuit has been
to understand the importance in the subtleties of transition between the
two. I have only seen a handful of people who grasp the concept. Mike Hammer
is a great practitioner today as are a few others. I take my hat off to
anyone who has studied the difficult process. Ali Bongo was a good friend
who was excellent and of course Terry Seabrooke.
Doug Henning obviously had a huge influence but I think the man who
made me want to try doing it for a living the most was Peter Reveen. After
watching him many times years ago at his Toronto run as a kid I realized
that’s what I wanted to dedicate my life to.
You've previously been on screen as part of the show
Too Much Information
and served as director and EP for the TV show
Off The Hozzle. What prompted you to make the transition from live comedy magic
to television?
I had an idea for a short comedy video and asked a friend of mine who was a
producer and cameraman to help me shoot it. We shot the video, had it edited
and I put it up on my newly formed YouTube channel. I went out to perform at
a corporate event that night and worked in front of 300 people. A couple
days later I checked out the views on the comedy video and 80,000 people had
seen it. I feel like I was given the gift of laughter and after 35 years of
making people laugh at live shows I thought I should try creating more on
screen comedic content. I’m trying to make the world laugh and if I can do
it on a greater scale and leave a body of work behind when I’m gone that
would have a bit of a legacy. I took shooting courses, editing courses,
writing courses and finally directing courses. I stopped reading books
almost altogether as I had to watch how content was shot and ultimately
brought to life. I opened my production company
Home Invasion Studios Inc.
the following year. One thing that I always did on my “road days” was make
use of my waking hours. Some comics would get up at 11 am and not be
diligent in writing or creating. While I worked on cruise ships for about 10
years and had so much spare time I wrote everyday. When I got off the boats
I had written 9 feature films and pilots and bibles for 6 television shows
which I am very proud of.
The Switched At Death logline and
synopsis
suggest a wildly entertaining plot! The screenplay was a finalist
in at least four international film festivals and it won Best Screenplay
at the 2019 Canadian International Film Festival. Where did the
story idea come from?
My writing partner on this project is the very funny prop comic Marty Putz,
an old and dear friend. We have written several screenplays together and
have another in the works. We were spitballing ideas on a phone call one day
(he lives in LA) and he said to me ‘How about a young guy gets kicked out of
the house and moves into an old folks home.” That’s all I needed to hear, I
loved the idea! Over the next eight months (on and off of ships) I hacked
out the first draft which was originally called Senior Management.
When I was done I sent the draft to Marty as he had forgotten the original
concept. He couldn’t believe I had written the screenplay. This would have
been about 8 years ago which gives you an idea how long it takes for an idea
to come to the screen. Over the next 6 years we tweaked, re-wrote and
morphed that first draft into what is now our movie called
Switched at Death. We sent it off to the Canadian International Film
Festival in Vancouver and basically forgot about it. Out of the blue I got
an email saying it had won the screenplay festival. Immediately I sent it to
several others and it did so well at all of them (placing in all) some of
which had 1400 scripts we realized we needed to make it. By then I had
already shot my TV show
Off The Hozzle
on CBS and
A Little Sketchy
here in Canada that I reached out to my two partners and we raised the funds
needed to shoot it! CMF came up big for us which is the TV arm of Telefilm Canada. I’d like to thank them for their support as it’s not an easy feat
getting a movie made anywhere.
Are there similarities in the work of writing a screenplay and putting
together a comedy magic stage routine?
Absolutely. I would say the greatest similarities are format and of course
creativity. They both have to be formed in a way that follows some format
conventions but also have no outer boundaries. In both scenarios we are
telling stories really. Both a screenplay and live show typically need a
beginning, middle and end. In screenplay writing it’s a little more complex.
You need to hit certain notes by a certain page. You need to state your
theme of the movie in the first few pages, you typically need your inciting
incident (quite often around page 8) that is the moment that puts the story
in gear. Next in both live shows and movie writing is the “middle” part.
Some say the typical structure for film writing is three stages some say
five. In either case the middle is the meat and potatoes of the story, as
well as your act. In movie writing you are expanding on the inciting
incident and plot point one to take the viewers on the story “journey” which
will eventually resolve the conflict or issue at the centre. The last stage
is the resolution (again quite often with stage shows as well). I have three
pieces in my show that I do in the middle of my show that are called back at
the very end as the climax to the evening. When I landed on this my shows
had way more impact!
Here’s a golden rule of script writing, “Show, don’t tell” in other
words if you have successfully written and shot a movie, you should be able
to watch the movie with the sound off and still understand what you’ve seen.
If the entire script has very little action and is all descriptive dialogue,
it isn’t typically very good story telling. Magic quite often is the same,
certainly an act to music with no verbiage tells its story visually,
however, someone who only describes the action of what they are doing
usually doesn’t connect with their audience. Example, "here’s a ball that
I’ll put under this cup, it will now move to this cup.” If the trick does
just that, don’t describe what they are about to see as it’s bad
“storytelling.” With an act like mine (comedy magic) I use a combination of
visual and the written word. I am a joke writer so I need the verbal aspect
firmly ingrained in the backbone of my act hopefully heightening the visual
optics.
Principal photography wrapped March 31st. Where are you in the
production schedule? Where and when will we be able to see the
final product?
The first process was seeing a full linear version of my film edited by my
amazing editor (the editor’s cut). I then step in as the writer and director
to make the changes needed from a comedic timing and (scene take) choice. I
have final choice as to every aspect of what will eventually be seen on
screen as I wrote, produced, and directed it. It then went to be colour
graded. When you shoot the film it’s shot on very expensive cameras that
capture everything in 4 K. The files are huge but when you review the scenes
shot daily (dailies) they look uncoloured and drab. That process was done
and I now see the vibrant colouring! The music score is being done now (we
need) 59 individual pieces of music and so far 52 have been written. The
composer is a friend of mine who went to Alert NWT with me a hundred years
ago performing on an Armed Forces tour. The audio is being mixed by audio
engineers so the entire film’s dialogue, sound effects and foley are
constant all the way through. We are doing ADR (automated dialogue
replacement) with a few lines from some actors that were not perfect in
playback on the "picture lock" final cut. After that the visual effects will
be added and I’ll go into the studio to see the final cut. We will make last
changes as needed and can start shopping the movie! We are looking at a
release date of Aug 31st downtown at the Royal Theatre if everything goes
well. Then it will be sent to distributors, film festivals, and streaming
services for worldwide sales.
Is there anything else you'd like to share with our readers about you
or your film
Switched at Death?
The movie took 15 days to shoot in and around Toronto. I had an amazing crew
of 30 and an equally amazing cast of 45 talented actors. The web site is
SwitchedAtDeath.com and I’ll
send further details as they come in!
I have been green lit for my next film THE CAGE which is like the
movie SAW. A nasty revenge type thriller that basically takes places in one
location! More details to follow, should go to camera this fall or next
spring!.
Thank you David, for making the time to answer our questions, and for giving
us a peek into the fascinating world of filmmaking!
