Scotland: Keith Brown and Graemazing [Oct 25]

Tickets at Flux Brews.

 

From the October 21st Instagram post by Keith Brown:

This Friday, I'll be at @fluxbrews with @graemazing

Join us for beer and magic 🪄✨

 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Keith Brown (@keithhbrown)

 

 

 

Orlando: At the Table with Keith Brown [May 16 - 26]

Tickets at the Orlando Fringe box office:

 

From the May 8th Instagram post by Keith Brown:

Wanna get blown away?!? Make sure to get your tickets to see my new show, 'At the Table with Keith Brown' coming to the @OrlandoFringe Silver Venue. Get your tickets at tixlink.co/table

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Keith Brown (@keithhbrown)

 

 

 

 

London: Keith Brown and Friends (Graemazing and Paul Hutcheson) [Mar 16]

Tickets at Eventbrite.

 

Learn more about Graeme at GraemeReedMagic.com, Paul at canuckhutch.com, and Keith at instagram.com/keithhbrown.

 

From the February 13th Facebook post by Keith Brown:

Buy tickets today (Tues) or tomorrow (Wed) to be entered into a draw for $50 Downtown Dollars!

 

 

 

 

 

Highgate: Absolute Magic with Keith Brown [Jan 20]

Tickests at MaryWebbCentre.ca 

 

From the December 21st Instagram post by Keith Brown:

ABSOLUTE MAGIC with Keith Brown coming to The Mary Webb Centre For The Arts, Saturday, January 20, 2024 at 8 PM

Critics are saying: "Real deal magician, and wonderful storyteller", "5 Stars!", Magic Done Right", "MIND-BENDING, MIND BOGGLING and MIND-BLOWING".

Get your tickets now at marywebbcentre.ca or through link in my bio. Or at our local vendors: Mittons in Ridgetown, Treasures on Talbot in Blenheim and GraveDiggerz' Variety & Restaurant in Highgate.

 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Keith Brown (@keithhbrown)

 

 

 

Toronto: Eldritch Theatre 2023/4 season announced

From the September 22nd Facebook post by Keith Brown:

Absolute Magic plays the Red Sandcastle Theatre October 10-15.

Award-winning magic and storytelling.

Family friendly. All ages.

https://bit.ly/SandcastleOct

 

From the Eldritch Theatre:

• October 25th to November 5th
  Doc Wuthergloom’s Here There Be Monsters
  "Each tale is a fearful warning from the Goblin Universe, wrapped in impossible feats of magic that will warp your very sense of reality! But never fear! Doc Wuthergloom can save you, if only you purchase his Field Guide to Monsters! Step right up and be terrified and amazed! There’s room for one more! Recommended for those with mature and jaded hearts."
  
  
• February 8th to 18th, 2024
  MacBeth: A Tale Told By An Idiot
  
  
• April 11th to 24th, 2024
  The House at Poe Corner
  
  
• Various dates TBA
  
• Eldritch Horrors: Plays from the Tombs

Dear Boss

The Babysitter

Zombocalypse!

Read more and buy tickets.

 

 

 

The Legacy of Sorcerers Safari - part 4

Recap (click to show | hide)

From Part 1 of the series:

In lieu of a physical reunion bringing together past campers and staff, Canada’s Magic is hosting a virtual reunion of sorts.  We’ve reached out to the Sorcerers Safari community with a dozen or so questions to help bring us up to date on what everyone has been up to since our magic camp days.

If you completed our survey, keep your eyes peeled for your segment!  

If you would like to participate but haven’t filled out the survey, there’s still time.  The survey can be found here:  https://forms.gle/umg77yj9QxUzfpm76

Thank you to all that contributed!

 

Mike, Jen, Sorcerers Safari staff, and alumni, this series is for you.

 

<<  part 3  |  part 5 >>

 

Part 4 features:  an in depth look with Keith Brown.  [Catch Keith at the Edmonton Fringe, Aug 17 - 27.]

 

  Keith Brown  

Professional magician, AbsoluteMagic.ca

Attended camp as:

• a camper (2006 - 2007), 
• counsellor in training (CIT) (2008 - 2009), and 
• counsellor (2010 - 2013). 
  (He started going on tour in 2014 and missed the final three years.)

Since his time at camp Keith:

• Did a local London TV spot and with a trick he learned at magic camp. (He used this opportunity to also promote Sorcerers Safari.  Once done, while getting lunch, he opened Facebook and the first post he saw was the announcement about closing camp.) 
• Graduated university with a double major in Dramatic Arts and Communications, Media & Film.
• Gave a TEDx Talk on the Magic of Thinking
  

• Toured every year since graduating. Participated in 40+ festivals around the world.  At Fringe Festivals Keith often receives honour such as Producer's Pick, People's Choice, Critic's Choice, and Best of Fest.
  
• Performed for:
• the President & First Lady of Iceland,
• Dave Grohl, and
  
• Joe Thornton (NHL).
• One of his greatest accomplishments is the community he has built, and the people that he has gotten to know by going on tour.
  
  

  The story of Keith and Hendrix at the Orlando Fringe: 

• I am a working professional magician. I get to travel the world and give people extraordinary moments that they hopefully will remember for the rest of their life. As great as getting a nice paycheck is, to me it's going back to cities year after year and reconnecting with people I have met over the years. They get to see me grow as an artist and I get to see them grow as human beings.
  
  
• One of my favourite things that I can't quantify is a little boy named Hendrix who comes to my show every year with his grandma in Orlando. The first year he was helping me on stage during my needle routine that put me in the hospital. I asked the audience if they wanted to go big or go bigger. The audience screamed BIGGER! You could see the blood in their eyes. This little boy in a quiet whisper said "smaller". I said excuse me and he repeated himself. He told me that he didn't want to see me go back to the hospital. He melted the hearts of the entire audience. I got down on one knee and pinky promised him I wasn't going to go back. Mostly because I wasn't insured in the states and couldn't afford it.
  
  
• It was my second show of my run that year and it was one of the best moments on stage. My heart was full. I didn't care if I didn't sell another ticket. I did what I came here to do. I connected with my audience.
  
  
• That year or the next one, he invited me to a pizza party at his grandma's house. How could I possibly say no? I was invited along with his other favourite performers. I got in the van and drove to his grandma's. There were jugglers and storytellers from his favourite shows. We ate pizza and talked. At one point he disappeared. He came back in a full tuxedo and proceeded to show me card tricks he had learnt. I realized he was doing his Keith Brown impression for Keith Brown.
  
  
• I never knew that I could impact someone so much by doing what I do. I had to leave the pizza party early because I had a show that night. I got in the van and I cried. I was this little kid's role model and hero.
  
  
• [May 2023] This is my first time in Orlando since 2016. Sure enough opening night Hendrix and his grandma showed up. He's 14 years old now. He's taller than me. He's writing an animated TV show.
  

 

 

In his own words:

• All of them [my accomplishments] are because of, or were made easier by, my time at Sorcerers Safari!
• I am beyond grateful for camp. 
• Camp made me a better magician, but it also made me a better human. 
• I got to meet incredible friends, colleagues and mentors. 
• People that help build my skills and my confidence. 
• People who believe in me and gave me guidance.
• I can say with absolute certainty that I wouldn't be where I am today without magic camp. 
• I would be a fraction of the magician and the person I am. 
• My life is infinitely better because of magic Sorcerers Safari. 
• I will always be eternally grateful and forever indebted to Mike & Jen for the wonderful place they created and the community they fostered.  [emphasis added]
  
  
  
• Favourite Sorcerers Safari memory?  
• Omg there's so many.
• [Michael] Ammar doing Card to Sky.
• The late night cabin sessions. Especially when special guests or the heavy hitters would pop by.
• Tyler Wilson doing the LONGEST ACAAN.
• Tyler Wilson & Jeff Hinchliffe playing Eminem's Infinite as time misdirection and it ending with Tyler ripping his shirt open and he had shaved his chest into a 7 of Diamonds.
• The Bagel/Nair game.
• Fridgebox racing
• How I discovered Scott Hammell was on Ripley's.
• I remember Jason England and Michael Weber coming one year. Jason England did a bunch of gambling demos I had never seen before. Then Weber came in for the kill. I walked all the way from the mess hall to my cabin, without realizing how I got there, because I was so astonished. It was a trick I thought about for years. It took me 2-3 years to figure out how it was done and it was a method I was familiar with at the time. I just didn't realize he was using it because he's so damn good.
• I always liked swim time at camp because it meant you got to have one on one time with the pros while everyone else swam. Having access to the people that wrote the books, that make a living doing the thing, was priceless.
• I got poked fun of my first year for having bridge cards. Why couldn't I use poker sized cards like an adult? At one of the evening shows, I told Aaron Fisher that I had something to show him in the mess hall for late night snack. He asked me to show him then and there. I said he had to wait. When everyone got to the mess hall and had their snacks. He asked me again. I took out my bridge cards and sprung them into the garbage. I took out poker sized cards. He gave me a good hug and started calling me Keith "LePaul" Brown. (The cover of the LePaul book has him springing cards in an impossible fashion.) It was like my BarMitzvah of magic.
• The following year I was in a performance workshop being hosted by Lee Asher. Lee was giving campers any topic and they had to talk for 1-2 minutes on the subject. We were focusing on developing presentation skills. A handful of campers went and Lee was giving them random things to talk about, usually boring everyday things. It was my turn. Lee smiled and said "bridge cards.” Immediately I jumped into a sermon about how bridge cards were the devil! They were no good and rotten. No real magician would ever be caught dead with them in their hands.
• There was a year that late one night Jason Dean took me aside near some cabins for staff and special guests. He showed me all the tricks he had been working on since I saw him last year. Incredible card tricks. Then he taught them to me. At the end, he saved the best for last. He showed me a Which Hand routine I had never seen before. Each time became more impressive than the last. No matter what decision I made he knew EXACTLY what I did. I realized I hadn't been fooled this badly in YEARS. I didn't even have a clue of where to begin. It was the one trick he didn't teach me. It was so nice to experience that moment of wonder so profoundly and deeply, that I told him that if he ever did want to show me how that trick was done, was to wait ten years. To give me time to revel in the moment. To enjoy the mystery and wonder how it was done.
• About five years later, I was in Vegas and I saw Paul Vigil do a very similar routine with a very similar prop. A light bulb went off and I did some digging. I found the answer on my own accord. I reached out to Jason to see if my theory was correct. It was nice to catch up with him and reminisce about the moment he gave me all those years ago at camp.
• In the first couple of days during my first year at camp I saw Jason Dean perform a trick I had never seen before. A playing card sticking out of the deck slowly melted through the deck, deeper and deeper. It stopped and found my chosen playing card. He told me that the trick was called Deadliest of the Male. If I wanted to learn it I would have to ask the creator myself.
• I found Lee and asked him. He gave me some elusive answer. At the end of the week Lee hosted a Pulp Friction workshop. He taught us the move and all the different applications. One of them was Deadliest of the Male. I remember being so engrossed in what I was learning I was completely mind-blown. I remember sitting on a couch with Amazing Dan. We both looked up at each other at one point and we had the same look on our faces. We were in awe. We had just learnt a GAME CHANGER. I didn't even know this was possible with a deck of cards.
• I learnt that trick when I was 13 years old. It's still one of my favourite and something I perform all of the time.
• Before magic camp, I had only participated day camps. I had never gone to sleep over camp before. My parents drove me to to the bus pick up at Yorkdale mall. There was a small gathering of magicians from all over. I remember my dad saying "hey that's Chad Juros" I had just seen him on an episode of Criss Angel's tv show and I couldn't believe he was a fellow camper. Amazing Dan checked me on to the bus. There were all of these kids reconnecting with their friends. That bus ride was awesome. The excitement to go to camp was palpable. The magic started immediately. It was 3+ hours of card tricks the entire way to the camp ground. I already had friends by the time we made it to camp. Taking the bus to and from camp became one of my favourite parts in years to come. It was the first time we had seen each other since last year. Everyone was READY for camp and it made one of the best jam sessions ever and camp hadn't even technically started yet. The bus home was also the LAST jam session we had together until the following year.
• One of the things I love most about camp, is that it didn't matter how long it had been since you saw someone, the moment you did it was as if the other 51 weeks of the years didn't exist. Our friendships picked up immediately where we left them. It didn't matter if you had been away for years. We were always warmly welcomed back to camp.
• I got in trouble my very first day at magic camp. I was the only card magician in my cabin. There were stage magicians and jugglers. Card tricks felt like an afterthought to them. The cabin beside mine was FILLED with card magicians and their special guest bunking with them was Sean Fields. I became a regular at my neighbouring cabin because there was always card magic happening. The very first night I was there in an awesome jam session. The head counsellor paid a visit and found out I was not in my cabin and that I had to go back to my cabin. I told her none of the kids in my cabin did cards tricks. She didn't care. I told her my counsellor knew where I was. She didn't care. She told me to stop doing magic and go back to my cabin. Stop doing magic at magic camp? I couldn't believe it. I came here to learn and do magic and I was being told to stop on the very first day. I packed up my cards and went back to my cabin and started hatching a plan.
• The very next day I started asking my counsellor, Marc Chalmers, when and where I had to be next? We made a deal that I would always be where I needed to when I needed to so that he didn't get in trouble or that he had to go searching for me. In return I got free-reign to do whatever I wanted in the mean time, which was as much card magic and I could possibly squeeze in before I had to show up for lunch time or the late night show.
• I really appreciated Marc for doing that for me. 
• Before magic camp, I didn't have many interactions with other magicians. I didn't really have anyone to compare myself to. I remember going to my first ever card class at camp. It was hosted by David Mitchell. The class started with everyone doing a trick so that Dave could assess our skills and see where we were at. I performed a trick I had recently learnt off of Ray Kosby's VHS, Ray's Rise. I don't even think I was finished before Dave said "oh you're advanced, you'll be reassigned tomorrow". No one had ever told me that before. I was just learning as much as I possibly could at the time. No one told me the books or videos I was watching were hard. I just thought it was what you were supposed to learn. The next day I got moved to the Advanced Card class that was being taught by Aaron Fisher.
• Aaron became my first serious card mentor. He always answered my questions. He always gave me homework for after camp. Books to read or things to explore. One thing I always remember about camp is seeing a specific trick from a working pro and asking to learn how it was done. Sometimes they would teach you on the spot. But more often than not they would ask you what you were working on. You'd show them a trick and then they'd give you this nugget of gold, something that would propel you forward. They had spent their life working on these things and why would they just give you the keys to the kingdom? You had to earn it. You had to show them you were serious enough. That you respected the craft. In showing them what you were working on they got a good sense of where you were at and where you needed to go.
• It was always great reconnecting the following year because you could show your mentors and your idols all of the things that you learnt during the year. You could show them hey I did do the homework you gave me, I found that book, here's what I learnt. Then they'd give you more homework and send you on your way.
• One of my favourite times was the process of learning the Gravity Half Pass. It was struggling with the move at camp. I kept using my hands rather than let gravity do the work for me. I went home and practiced and practiced until it finally started to click.
• The following year at camp, it was near the end of the week, I showed Fisher my half pass. He was like a proud father. He asked me why I didn't show him sooner. It immediately proclaimed me as gravity half pass certified which he signed and dated on a set of lecture notes. I could do and teach the move.
• I loved that camp had shows every night that were filled with professional magicians. To see them showcase their talents was a lesson in and of itself.
• The camper show at the end of the week where the campers got two minutes to showcase a trick that maybe they learnt during the week at camp, or had spent all year honing was an incredible opportunity. Every time I got on the Pinetages [Theatre] stage at camp I always felt welcomed and supported by my fellow campers, staff, mentors and community. It was really the best place to workshop and develop your skills because every person in the room was rooting for you.
• I remember in particular another camper named M getting on stage. His card trick didn't work. There was an audible "ahh" from the audience. He was flustered and a bit embarrassed, but instead of quitting, he tried again. The second time around the trick worked. Everyone applauded and cheered loudly. He left the stage with a proud smile on his face. To see your friend stare failure in the face, try again and triumphantly succeed was awesome. I always admire M for his courage that night.
• The access to high level talent was unparalleled.
• I remember a round table discussion that Shawn Farquhar was a part of.  [Editor's note:  Shawn told the story from early in his career, about his experience with hecklers and apartment fires.]
  
• This entire story made Shawn rethink his persona on stage and tried to eliminate the adversarial relationship many magicians have with an audience. He wanted to be so nice on stage that if anyone did heckle him, everyone else would know the heckler was the a$$hole.
  
• Hearing this story as a young teenager made me re-examine my persona on stage and adopt a similar one to Shawn. Be so nice that they want to help you and they never heckle. At any point on audience member can just say no magic boy that's not my card if they aren't on your side. Being so nice has helped me countless times in my career winning over audiences by approaching it with love and good intentions. Because magicians need audiences. We can practice as much as we want but we need a willing audience because the magic happens in their minds. We know how the tricks work and we can't fool ourselves. We need an audience to live vicariously through them so that we get a glimmer of that moment of wonder that got us into magic in the first place.
  
  
  
• Biggest take-away from Sorcerers Safari?
• All of it.
• One of my biggest take aways in the tangible sense of community and camaraderie. We all decided the gather in the woods in northern Ontario, year after year, because we love this thing so much. We got to share that love with other people who loved it as well. We were able to foster our love and talents with each other and get better every year.
• Camp friends and friends for life. It doesn't matter how much time passed, we always picked up right where we left off.
   

Honestly, I could probably go on all day if you let me. I often refer to Sorcerers Safari Magic Camp as the closest thing to Hogwarts because it was. It was a magical place that has given me friends and profound education in magic.

What I've written so far is me just scratching the surface. I haven't even told you about the late nights around the camp fires telling jokes. Or the notebooks I have from every year at camp that I still have to this day. They're some of my most prized possessions as they a time capsule filled with magic. I took more notes in those books than I would in an entire semester of school.

Camp gave me access to a lot of incredible people that were willing to answer my questions and give me guidance.

Sorcerers Safari enriched my life with friends and skills. It fostered my talent and helped me become the person I am today. It allowed me to pursue my passion with like minded people. It gave me the career I have today. 

I will always remember Sorcerers Safari fondly and would do ANYTHING for one more year at camp.

 

Thank you Keith, for sharing your fantastically detailed memories! 

[Catch Keith at the Edmonton Fringe, Aug 17 - 27.]

Check back throughout the month to read updates from other Sorcerers Safari alumni and staff!

 

 Previously featured 

• Ben Train - part 1
• Brad Bond - part 2  
• Brett Chrest - part 3
  
• Byron Berry - part 1
• Cameron Dunlop - part 2
• Dick Joiner - part 3 
• James Carey Lauder - part 2
• Matt DiSero - part 3
  
• Sam Pearce - part 1
  

 

Learn more about Sorcerers Safari. 

part 1 | part 2  | part 3 | part 4 | part 5 | part 6 | part 7 | part 8 | part 9 | part 10 | part 11 | part 12 

<<  part 3  |  part 5 >> 

 

 

Magic at the 2023 Edmonton Fringe [Aug 17 - 27]

With thanks to Keith Brown for compiling the list at FringeMagic.ca

• Absolute Magic with Keith Brown
  (Also part of the Sorcerers Safari Legacy!)
• All Tease All Shade with Jay Flair
  
• Cooking with Igor with Chris Visser
  
• Magic with a Little Flair with Jay Flair
  
• Mind Hack Sideshow by Rob Dante
   

 

From the August 6th Facebook post by Keith Brown:

The 42nd annual Edmonton Fringe Theatre is happening August 17 - 27.
Tickets go on sale Wednesday, August 9th at NOON!
Absolute Magic plays La Cité Auditorium over in the French Quarter.

 

 

 

 

 

Toronto: Keith Brown's Absolute Magic at the Toronto Fringe [Jul 5 - 15]

From the June 7th Facebook post by Keith Brown:

Absolute Magic plays the Al Green Theatre (Spadina & Bloor) as part of the The Toronto Fringe!

Tickets go on sale Wednesday, June 14th.

Get yours at www.TorontoFringe.ca

 

 

 

 

Toronto: Ring 17 Gala dinner and show with Keith Brown, James Harrison, and Michael Close [Jun 15]

From the May 31st Instagram post by the Hat and Rabbit Club:

Join us on June 15 to celebrate the end of our season with an unforgettable evening of dining and entertainment at the Hat and Rabbit Club's Gala Dinner and Show!
Indulge in a delicious roast beef dinner (vegetarian option available) and experience magical performances by @keithhbrown and @pickpocketjames. Featuring music by that amazing jazz pianist (and all-around great guy) @mikeclosemagic! Plus a few other surprises!


Tickets for dinner and the show are $40 each for both members and their guests, be they spouses, partners, friends and/or family! 

https://www.ibmring17.com/events/year-end-gala

 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Hat & Rabbit Club, Toronto (@hatandrabbitclub)

 

 

 

[Guest post] ‘Magic chose me’: How one man found his calling

The following is a guest post by Sheridan Williamson Fraser.

--

‘Magic chose me’: How one man found his calling
Mike Segal built a career by perfecting tricks and inspiring a new generation of magicians 

By Sheridan Williamson Fraser,
Journalism Undergraduate at Toronto Metropolitan University

It all started with a single bus ticket that in a flash became two. Day in and day out, Mike Segal, a young boy originally from Montreal, would take the bus to and from his new school in Toronto, carefully holding on to each bus ticket. One day in 1972, while playing outside at recess, another boy snatched the bus ticket from him, closing his tiny fist around the rectangular piece of paper. As Segal’s only way home was crushed between the other boy’s small fingers, concern built within him. Another second passed, then the other boy waved an erratic hand through the air before rolling back his fingers to show not one but two bus tickets lying on his palm. The boy then miraculously handed both tickets to Segal before walking away to enjoy the rest of his short break between classes. Looking down at his hand, Segal was left baffled. To him this was not some simple sleight of hand but an act of real magic.  

This one short instance, this one trick, was the start of a lifelong journey into the art of illusion and the beginning of a career which has spanned four decades. From this moment on, Segal began going to the library, constantly in search of the miraculous ticket trick. Initially he thought “If I could just learn that trick, my parents would never have to buy me another bus ticket.” 

During those days in 1972, flipping through book after book, Segal recalls learning all he could about magic, teaching himself different tricks and eventually building up a repertoire of techniques. “I never did find that trick,” he says, but now nearly 50 years later Segal can still remember that first magic moment, “I’ve seen thousands of magic shows. Can’t tell you anything about them but I remember that trick.” 

As for his own journey, Mike Segal has spent over four decades as a magician performing, teaching and inspiring the next generation of magicians. His career has impacted the trajectory of magic’s evolution in Canada by providing opportunities for young people to get involved with the craft and be supported in forming future careers. 

According to The Canadian Encyclopedia article “Magic,” the first reported magic performer in Canada was Maginnis in Halifax in 1875 but, Indigenous groups in Canada were said to have games and ritual practices prior to European arrival which are reminiscent of present-day performance magic. 

Since then, magic has evolved into a modern stage production involving close-up magic, big production acts and mental illusion among other tricks. 

Segal remembers feeling like the straight-faced and serious persona never fit his personality on stage, he was always more comfortable with presenting magic in a lighter comedic way. His signature performance style is the “magician in trouble scenario,” which appears on stage as a trick going wrong when in reality the act is another illusion in itself. 

This style of magic, which Segal performs to this day, was influenced by something that happened at the start of his career. At age 14, Segal recalls performing a comedic magic show at an elementary school. Following the performance, a young boy, approximately eight-years-old approached him. The boy asked hopefully, “You’re a magician. My brother just broke his arm. Can you make it better?” At that moment, Segal remembers thinking “Wow, okay so these kids think I could really do magic. Well, that’s wrong.” 

Segal says he believes in performing illusions not faking supernatural powers or witchcraft. “We don’t have any special powers. I have the same powers as all of you. I have just learned to create illusions, the way some learn to play tennis or how to play the piano,” Segal said. At the time, Segal felt it was unfair to misrepresent what magic was to young kids, innocent enough to believe his magic was real. 

Missing link: 

By 1982, Segal was nearing the end of high school and focusing on his career, choosing magic over his personal life. 

Jen Segal, Mike Segal’s wife, describes her relationship with Segal as an “Oprah story,” worthy of mushy daytime television. Jen and Mike met at York Mills Collegiate Institute. Shortly after starting high-school they began dating, staying together for years leading up to graduation where they amicably split.

Jen and Mike at prom in 1984

photo source: Facebook

Jen remembers wanting to settle down and start a family, while Segal wanted to work and travel. “I was broken hearted,” Jen explained in an interview. 

After 10 years had gone by, both Mike and Jen had moved on with their lives until a single phone call in 1992 changed everything. “My [friend] Sherry called and she was like ‘Mike’s on BT’ [Breakfast Television] and so I turned on the TV and there he was”. 

In late 1990, Segal began making appearances on the Toronto morning show, BT. “I lived right by there [the studio], they knew me and we had a great relationship… I was part of the City TV family,” he said. 

Over two years, Segal made 100 weekly appearances on the show. Once Segal had built a relationship with the show’s network, he, in addition to his weekly appearances, became the fill-in visitor when scheduled guests were unable to arrive on time. 

“They would have you know, whoever coming into town to promote something that day, but the plane got delayed, or they're stuck in traffic or there's a snowstorm. So, these guys [Breakfast Television producers] would just call me and say ‘Mike, can you be in the studio in like half an hour and bring something?’ And so, I would do that,” said Segal. “I just loved it. The exposure was great. This was before the internet, so this was the greatest promotion I could ask for.” 

As for Jen, after seeing him on TV, she decided to take a chance, picking up the phone and calling the studio where she set up a time to meet Segal. “And that was 30 years ago,” Jen says as she sits on a white couch in the home she shares with Segal. “As soon as we saw each other it was like yeah we’re together forever.”

Creating a path: 

In the late 1980s, a few years prior to Segal’s reconciliation with Jen, he began carving out a place for himself in magic entertainment in Canada.  

After Segal had graduated from York University, he, along with a few friends and classmates freshly out of school, started Magic Unlimited Theater Productions in Toronto, a co-op theatre company that performed original shows for schools which were written based on the current school curriculum. 

John Rotstein, the owner of Rotten Pictures, a video production company, met Segal in a high-school theater class where they became close friends. Rotstein later received a performing arts bachelor’s degree with Segal from York University before joining the theatre production company. 

“Mike was very passionate about doing magic,” Rotstein explained in a phone interview. “He has a natural ability to charm people. He was very driven about his career and he knew what he wanted to do.”  

Segal says the idea for the company came about because they were “struggling artists” at a time when it was very difficult to get a grant for a magic-based performance because magic was not considered a legitimate performance art. 

“We were young and hungry. We hustled” Rotstein said. “We spent a lot of our time hustling for grant money to fund our projects.” 

Segal’s idea for the theatre production company was to bring performance magic some legitimacy and to show people why magic should get the same respect as other artforms. “Magic was such a great performance art and it bugged me so much that everywhere I went people would say ‘oh, magician? You should come and do my kid’s birthday party’. I just hated it.” 

Segal says he wanted to change the perception of magic in Canada by presenting it to young people who would not have preconceived notions surrounding what the craft could be. Connecting magic to youth was so important to Segal because when he was a young person, he had no one to mentor him or to look to for answers.

 

Mike Segal, circa early 1990s
photo source: Facebook

 

Fueling the future of magic: 

In 1980, Segal had his first experience receiving encouragement from a big name in magic entertainment. 

At 16 years old, Segal spent one week working as a stagehand for a CBC movie version of the Broadway hit The Magic Show, starring the famous Canadian magician, Doug Henning. The show was extremely popular, and according to the Internet Broadway Database, the magic musical earned Henning a Tony award nomination for best performance by an actor in 1975. 

A few years after the musical’s Broadway run ended, the CBC began working on a movie version of the show in Toronto, where teenage Segal gained a spot on the crew, skipping an entire week of high school to do so. 

The experience has become a blur, lost in time, except for one moment that would inspire not only Segal’s career but the decades of mentorship that would follow. 

On his last day on set, when Segal was sitting on a set of stairs helping to reset the stage lights, he looked up to see Doug Henning, the star of the show standing next to him. 

Henning walked the remaining few feet towards Segal before saying, “Hey, you’ve been here for a while. You’re a magician, right?” They both sat there on the stairs leading up to the stage talking about magic. 

“To me it seemed like we sat there for hours, we were probably there for 15 or 20 minutes,” says Segal. In that short time Segal recalls that Henning wished him luck in his future endeavors and listened intently when Segal described his future plans even dismissing another crew member who approached him with the flick of a hand. “So that stuck with me until today,” says Segal. “The way he treated me absolutely is part of why I decided to try and do that with younger magicians. If this guy is going to spend time with me now. I thought I should try and guide some people.” 

Segal, first and foremost, describes himself as a performer, though his work in mentorship for youth in magic has become a large part of his career. 

Sorcerers Safari was a Canadian performance arts camp, founded by Mike Segal, teaching youth magic, and it operated for one week every summer from 1997 to 2017. According to the Sorcerers Safari website, a typical day at camp involved various magic classes, outdoor activities and an evening show performed by professional magicians.  

After touring nationally and internationally with the Magic Mike Show for years, Segal recalls wanting to spend more time at home. Sorcerers Safari provided him with the opportunity to stay with his family and create magic education.

“He was the facilitator of mentorship,” says Keith Brown, a Canadian professional magician, who performs all around the world. Brown says he spent years of his adolescent life attending Sorcerers Safari, entering the camp grounds as a camper and exiting as an experienced counsellor. 

Brown fondly remembers his experience travelling to camp for the first time. “I remember making friends on the bus. And then literally jamming and doing card tricks the entire three hours up to the camp. And it was like, ‘Oh my god’, magic camp starts immediately on the bus ride.” 

When looking back on Segal’s creation, Brown said, “He's been around for so long, and is connected to so many different people and camp is like a by-product of that. He created this wonderful place out of love for all of these kids and his friends and his colleagues to come to”.

Brown attributes the days collaborating with peers and well-known magicians to his own success. “Magic camp was a huge influence on me and I would say that I would be a fraction of the magician I am today and I probably wouldn’t be a professional magician without it,” said Brown. 

 

 "That time at Sorcerers Safari Magic Camp when some World Champion Magicians cut my hair." 
-- Mike Segal, August 2011
photo source: Facebook

Sam Pearce, another professional magician and ex-camper who attended Sorcerers Safari in 2005 and 2006, says his exposure to large illusions and comedy magic as a youth helped influence the magic he performs today. 

“I’m sure being exposed to all those different acts and seeing what was possible was certainly interesting,” Pearce explained. “That’s where I learned to juggle.”

Pearce can be seen incorporating his juggling into many of his performances. Two metal step stools are set up holding two rectangular planks, sandwiching a cylindrical piece of equipment similar to a hollowed out rolling pin, making the top plank reminiscent of a teeter totter. Pearce stands above the top blank shifting from side to side as he tries to balance. This is all made more complicated as he is simultaneously juggling three knives, the blades flying into the air and plummeting back down in quick succession.    

Rosemary Reid, a professional magician and Torontonian, spent 17 years attending Sorcerers Safari until its closure in 2017. 

When Reid first began showing an interest in magic, her father stumbled upon ‘Magic’ Mike Segal on Breakfast Television, while Segal was promoting magic camp, in 2001. 

Reid describes her first year at Sorcerers Safari as “The best experience I’ve ever had. I met some of my best friends who are still my best friends to this day that first year.” Adding, “So after that first year, I was like, I have to go back to magic camp.” 

During her 17 years attending Sorcerers Safari, Reid was a camper and instructor. Given there was only one cabin for girls at the camp, Reid worked as the social media manager and part-time videographer before becoming an instructor. “I kind of just tried to help wherever I could,” she said. 

“I remember speaking with Mike once and his advice to me one year at camp was to dream big. He told me to dream big and I’ve always remembered that and it always helps me to visualize the impossible, which is kind of like my job as a magician.” 

Since her time at camp, Reid has been an avid advocate for women in magic. Her goal is to continue the conversation and increase awareness of the effects of misogyny in the magic industry.  

“I kind of fell in love with [the camp] then watching the kids learn,” said Jen Segal, Mike Segal’s wife and manager of Sorcerers Safari, when thinking about her time walking through the camp grounds, peering into classrooms of overflowing excitement. Jen said she gets emotional thinking about the camp and the countless lives changed over those seven days every year. “Parents would write me or phone me after camp saying ‘my kid came home a different kid, they’re so much more confident’… ‘your camp totally changed them’.” 

Segal opened Sorcerers Safari to build new magic audiences and educate people on what is possible with magic. “In the beginning, we were just trying to find each other,” said Segal. “It became something so much bigger than all its parts. Sounds corny, but it really was like magic. It was the greatest magic trick I’ve ever done and I still don’t know how I did it.”

"Dealers' Day" at Sorcerers Safari
A day when campers bought magic.
photo source: Facebook

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Thank you Sheridan for guest posting at Canada's Magic!

 

 

Guelph and London: Keith Brown (and Nicholas Wallace in London) [May 6 & 10]

From the March 29th Facebook post by Keith Brown:

Had a great time performing at the Market Hall Performing Arts Centre in Peterborough this weekend.

I have two BIG BIG Shows coming up.

Saturday, May 6th - Guelph - River Run Centre. This gorgeous theatre has 800 seats, PLEASE help me fill it. I'll be doing my one man show

Wednesday, May 10th - London - Wolf Performance Hall. 

Keith Brown & Friends returns to London! We have an incredible line up. 

Award winning magician Nicholas Wallace, as seen on America's Got Talent and Penn and Teller: Fool Us

Juno nominated singer-songwriter Corin Raymond.

 

 

 

 

Scotland: Shazam! at Flux [Mar 10]

With Keith Brown and Graeme Reed!

 

Tickets at Flux Brewing.  

From the March 3rd Instagram post by Fluxbrews:

RESCHEDULED TO FRI MAR 10

Our magic & mentalism show has been rescheduled to Friday March 10 from 7:30-9.

There are limited tickets available - hit the link in our bio to claim your spot!

 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Flux Brewing Company (@fluxbrews)

 

 

Toronto: Alan, Brown, and Mayhew at The Rec Room [Feb 3]

Tickets at Eventbrite.

 

From the January 28th Facebook post by Chris Mayhew:

I’ll be performing on this show at the Rec Room Toronto this upcoming Friday Feb 3rd! Come watch me and my friends tear up this awesome stage folks, I promise it will be a wild ride like usual with me 😎😈🔥 

 

 

 

 

Edmonton: Keith Brown and friends (such as Jay Flair!) [Dec 9]

From the November 29th Facebook post by Edmonton Fringe Theatre:

“Fringe provided a support system of other artists who mentored me. It was invaluable to me. I just want to pay it forward. I like to bring other artists with me because other artists brought me with them. That’s what I want to do with this show.”  - Keith Brown, Fringe Artist

Don’t wait til next summer. Get your fill of Fringe magic now! Snag your tickets to Keith Brown & Friends, December 9 at 8PM in The Backstage Theatre.

Hosted by magician Keith Brown, this variety show features an electric lineup of local talent: musician Jay Gilday, magician Jay Flair, theatre creator Dayna Hoffmann and Max Hanic.

Buy tickets now: https://tickets.fringetheatre.ca/event/601:4499/601:30097/
Photo by Avan Patel.