Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Hey, guys. This is Brielle, and you are listening to magician's workshop with Dr. Todd.
[00:00:20] Speaker B: I recently got a chance to sit down with Brielle, a professional magician out of Chicago. Now, not only is she an amazing magician, but she also lights up the room whenever she's in it. She is the epitome of somebody who has followed their dream and is doing exactly what they want to do. Now, we start the interview off with an absolutely crazy mistake where I thought she was in a magazine that she was not in. And she did not let me live it down at all the entire time. And it's one of the funniest things, so obviously I had to leave it in. So here is the interview that we did with Brielle.
Didn't you have a story in Genie?
[00:00:55] Speaker A: Not that I know of.
[00:00:57] Speaker B: Oh, that wasn't. Where did I read your story?
[00:00:59] Speaker A: Have I been a genie? I don't think I've been a genie.
[00:01:01] Speaker B: You didn't. You didn't.
[00:01:02] Speaker A: I think I would know.
[00:01:04] Speaker B: What article was I reading then? I was reading an article about you.
[00:01:08] Speaker A: I have some articles just in some newspapers from back home in the Morgantown magazine. I've had some.
[00:01:17] Speaker B: The. That's. Oh, you know what? That's what it was. I'm surprised you're not God.
[00:01:22] Speaker A: That's a goal.
You made my heart stop for a second.
[00:01:27] Speaker B: It's that magical that you don't even know you're in it. Surprise. We wrote the article.
Can you tell us a little bit about where you went to school and for what?
[00:01:36] Speaker A: Yeah, so I grew up in West Virginia, kind of a small town. I went to West Virginia University where I studied psychology. I ended up double majoring in German because I just fell in love with the language kind of spontaneously. Had some friends who spoke German, and that led me to study abroad and that led me to want to live in Germany for a little bit. And I applied for every opportunity and I got rejection letter after rejection letter, and the only one left was the Fulbright. And I was like, well, I'm not going to get that. That's the good one.
[00:02:13] Speaker B: That's a high bar.
[00:02:14] Speaker A: Yeah. Somehow. Yeah. Everyone else rejected me, but I got a Fulbright. I spent a year teaching English in Germany, and then I extended it. Then I ended up getting my master's degree in clinical psychology in Germany. And I had only set out. I'm not going to give you the long story, but I had set out to take one or two classes just for fun. And they actually told me that since my bachelor's was not comparable with theirs that I couldn't take their classes, and I had to redo the bachelor's and it was this whole big dramatic thing. And by the time I was done redoing everything, I was like, you know what? I'm just going to get the whole degree. They don't think I'm good enough, so I'm going to do it right. And I got the whole master's. Never used it. I don't know if that was a good choice, but it was free. Going to school in Germany, no problem with that. Then I worked for a little bit, then I came back and did a teaching English as a second language degree at wvu, which was really cool because I got to teach German, where I started learning German.
[00:03:19] Speaker B: So it was so cool.
[00:03:20] Speaker A: Yeah, it was this really great full circle moment. I got to see if I wanted to be a professor, which is what I thought. I did not.
And then I ended up working for the German publishing company that published those books. And that's what led me to Chicago, which is where I am now.
[00:03:37] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:03:38] Speaker A: So that's a long. I'm a magician. I don't know.
[00:03:43] Speaker B: You're a magician and, you know, just happens to know a lot about psychology in German.
[00:03:48] Speaker A: Yeah, the psychology does help. And I do get to speak German to people more often than you would think.
[00:03:54] Speaker B: So there is. There's a lot more German speakers than I thought. I run into them about once a week. It's really strange.
[00:04:03] Speaker A: Where are you located?
[00:04:04] Speaker B: I'm located in Southern Maryland, about two hours south of D.C. okay.
[00:04:09] Speaker A: Yeah. You're not far from where I grew up.
[00:04:11] Speaker B: Oh, you're. Yeah, my. My brother went to Davis and Elkins.
[00:04:15] Speaker A: Oh, my gosh. I almost went there. That was my second choice.
[00:04:18] Speaker B: Oh, wow. West Virginia is so pretty.
[00:04:21] Speaker A: Yeah. Beautiful. It is.
[00:04:24] Speaker B: And my brother actually lives across the state line in. So he works in Virginia and then he's in Charlestown. Charleston. Charles.
[00:04:32] Speaker A: Charlestown, probably. If you're talking about the eastern panhandle, Charleston is further south as the capital.
[00:04:38] Speaker B: Okay. It's whichever one has the horses. The horse racing.
[00:04:43] Speaker A: Charlestown.
[00:04:44] Speaker B: Charlestown, yeah. And he runs cannabis dispensaries out there.
[00:04:51] Speaker A: Dr. Todd's street cred.
[00:04:54] Speaker B: That's all I need. Yeah.
So what was your earliest memory of magic?
[00:05:01] Speaker A: I have always had a fascination with magic. I remember just always liking it, but the thought never crossed my mind that I could do magic. And so the first time I, you know, I learned some card tricks here and there, and I was like, hey, that's so cool. And I would, you know, show people. But it wasn't until I moved back from Germany, I had that year break between getting my. My master's at WVU, where I was substitute teaching and working for AmeriCorps. And there was a local magician, Michael T. And he was just. Just known for being a really sweet guy. And I was like, hey, how are you so good at this? Because I'm having a hard time getting respect from these kids. And, like, I don't. I don't know what to do. And he goes, well, I show them a magic trick before class and after class, and if they're good, they get that and they look forward to it. And I was like, wow, can you show me something? He's like, yeah, let's hang out at the McDonald's after school today and I'll show you some. Some magic. And that a few times.
And that was the really. The, like, the seed that I think was. Was planted where I was like, this is incredible. This is so much fun. He was like, honestly, I think you have a natural gift for this. Why don't you. Let's work on something. And you can perform at the end of the year in the showcase if you. If you feel comfortable, if we. We get a routine. And that's when I moved to Chicago. We didn't get to do that. But then I saw a magic show here, and that was the first time I had, like, actually seen a show where I went, oh, my God, I could be a magician. That could be me. I could do that. And I went to one of the magicians after the show, and I said, I want to be a magician. Take my money. And he was like, what? That's literally word for word when I said to him, and he was like, okay, here's my card. I'm in town for the weekend. If you're serious, like, call me 9:30 next morning. I was like, hey, are you awake? Can we meet at a cafe or something?
[00:06:59] Speaker B: That's awesome.
[00:07:00] Speaker A: I want to learn magic. And he goes, you're a little crazy, but go buy this book. Go get this. Bring a deck of cards and meet me for lunch. And I bought him lunch. And I, like, listened to everything he had to say. And you can ask anyone. It became my entire personality after that, and I was just so excited. And anyone who would talk to me about magic, anyone who would show me something, anyone who would listen to me talk about what I liked about magic, it was, like, all I wanted.
[00:07:32] Speaker B: So cool.
[00:07:33] Speaker A: And it just kind of snowballed from there. It started out as a hobby, but what.
[00:07:38] Speaker B: What age were the kids that you were teaching?
[00:07:41] Speaker A: It was middle school.
[00:07:42] Speaker B: Okay. Yeah. So it was smelly.
[00:07:45] Speaker A: Well, I think the problem was I was a. It was a substitute teacher and working for AmeriCorps with kids, like, in small groups. So I didn't really have the rapport built up with them. It's a little bit harder to, you know, they see me in the hall, but they're like, who is this? Why? You know, why she teach me math all of a sudden? Like, it's just. It's harder.
And I think because I was young, I guess I still am, but it was just a little bit more difficult to get them to respect me.
[00:08:21] Speaker B: Wow. So you're in Chicago and you're working for a publisher.
What are you in Chicago doing right now? No, no. I mean, then continuing the.
[00:08:36] Speaker A: Yeah, so I worked for that publishing company for a few months, and then I worked in tech recruiting for about a year and a half, almost two years. Then I worked at a zoo doing, like, art installation for their Christmas display.
[00:08:52] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:08:52] Speaker A: And then I went, yep, I'm gonna try and do magic now.
And I worked with Brent Braun a little bit.
[00:09:03] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah.
[00:09:04] Speaker A: Actually, a lot of it. He's. He's been great to work with, but he helped me with my. My fooless routine. And I was like, I think I'm gonna just quit my job. And he was like, I don't think you should do that. He was like, we're gonna get there, but the time is not now.
Well, I'm gonna do it anyway.
He was like, okay. So I gave myself, like, six months of savings. And I was like, if it doesn't work out, Brent, I'm just gonna, you know, get another job. It's okay. And he was like, all right, crazy. Go for it. And I did. And then, like, six months later, he was like, yeah, you did it. And he was like, I honestly didn't think you were gonna work that hard, but good for you, because I. It was. It's a lot of work to just go full on and starting your own business, having no idea what that looks like. No idea how to do any of it. Like, figuring it out a day at a time. But I will never forget him going, don't do that.
[00:09:58] Speaker B: That's. Wow. Going cold turkey.
How did you meet Brent?
[00:10:05] Speaker A: I met him through a friend, Ken Weber, who I. I met at Magic Live.
And he was like, you're doing fool us. You should talk to this consultant. Because I was like, I don't know. What I'm doing, I really don't know what I'm doing. He was like, I can't help you. He was like, I polished acts, but like, Brent, Brent can help you. And I reached out to him and he saved my life.
[00:10:33] Speaker B: Wow. So you, you were. You got onto the show before you had an act. How did that, how did that come about?
[00:10:40] Speaker A: Well, I had an act, I think.
I mean, I didn't have an act in the sense of, like, I didn't have a 45 minute show. I have been doing magic as a hobby for a year.
I don't like saying that out loud because I think when a lot of people hear me say that, there is some negative pushback, like, oh, this person's only been doing this thing for a year. But I think what I'd like to make clear and what I think people don't necessarily understand is magic is more than doing a routine. It's connecting with people. It's psychology. It's performance and those other parts of it. I've been. I've been on stage doing things since I was young. I've been studying psychology since I was young. And I do think that, like, it was out of my comfort zone, but it was something that I really wanted to try.
So while I didn't have a full, like, 60 minute act, I had a show that I had done with Friends. It was like 15 minutes. I took a clip from that, I sent it in with this video gushing about how much I love magic and I haven't been doing it that long, but here's my story and like, just give me a chance and I'll, you know, I would love to be on the show. And they wrote back and they were like, good for you. You got some guts, but this isn't good enough.
And I went, okay, what do I need to do? And they were like, we'll give you time. Come up with something better. And so Bill Cook, one of my really good friends that I met very early on, helped me so much. So he came up with something that was like, based on the bones of what I had submitted. We worked together. He worked tirelessly. He is usually off on a cruise ship somewhere doing magic. He's never home. He was home for, like, I remember, like, five days. And I was like, I need you. I need help. And he was like, okay, I got you. Let's do this. Let's talk. And so I worked with him. I worked with the consultant on the show, and then I worked with Brent.
So I was lucky that they Wanted to work with me. I think what it was was that they liked my story. They knew that I was really green, but they were like, this will be interesting on tv probably one way or the other. Let's see how she does. I think they just, like, after a couple of phone calls, they were like, she's. She's kind of weird. Let's put her on.
[00:13:05] Speaker B: I like that you don't quit. I like that when you set your mind to something, you do it, which is really cool.
[00:13:11] Speaker A: To a fault that I got that master's degree. Out of spite. Yeah.
But I.
[00:13:16] Speaker B: Out of spite. Yes.
[00:13:18] Speaker A: It was a.
It was a little bit of a rough patch when I decided to send it in. And another magician friend, Chris Heron, who had helped me out a lot as well, was like, send it in and forget it. You know, Just do it for you.
And at the time, I.
I felt like I'm trying to choose my words carefully. Like, maybe I was a little bit impatient. Like, I. But it was because I loved magic so much. I just wanted it so bad. It wasn't because I, like, didn't want to put in the work. And I don't know. I think that could have been misunderstood. And I think maybe some people saw that and thought, like, get in line, girl. What are you doing? Like, and I felt a little. Like. Felt a little squashed at times. And I just did that for me, because I was like, I believe in me. I believe I can do this. And I just sent in the video, not thinking that I would ever get a response even. I just wanted to do something, to feel like I was moving forward. Does that make sense?
[00:14:28] Speaker B: It does. It does.
[00:14:29] Speaker A: Yeah. And so I was like, I'm gonna do this for me. I don't care. And the fact that they wrote back, I was like, oh, I'm gonna frame this. They actually wrote back, like, I'm not gonna be on the show, but I'm gonna frame the email from the producers. And everyone's like, that's so cool. They wrote back to you. And I was like, yeah. The fact that I got on the show, I still like. It doesn't feel real.
It's crazy. It's insane.
[00:14:52] Speaker B: Let's. Let's talk about the show, because you're a huge. I mean, I've watched them since I was a little kid.
[00:14:57] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:14:58] Speaker B: Assuming you have, too. What's your. What's your kind of memory? Earliest memory or to. About their act or. What do you remember most about it?
[00:15:07] Speaker A: I mean, I was always fascinated with it. I was sitting I have this memory, like, sitting on my couch with my parents when I was very young, probably like 10 or so, just watching them going, wow, magic is so cool. But it still never clicked, like, this is something I could do, you know?
And magicians that I saw never looked like me, I guess. So I didn't really think that was a possibility, But I just remember being really big fans and thinking they were great, you know, watching. Bullshit. Watching every time they were on a special or something.
Yeah. The episode actually aired last night again.
[00:15:44] Speaker B: Oh, okay.
[00:15:45] Speaker A: Which I didn't know. Someone texted me and was like, you're on tv. And I was like, really?
It's still weird.
[00:15:53] Speaker B: Has that. Has being on the show changed anything? Changed the metric for you at all?
[00:15:59] Speaker A: Yeah, I don't think that I would be paying the bills with magic right now if it wasn't for the opportunity that that show gave me.
I think that show aims to, like, lift up performers and help them out and give them a little bit more visibility, credibility, and that's exactly what it did. I think when people book me, there's more of a confidence, because they can watch that video or they can know, like, okay, well, she is professional enough to do this, so. So it has helped me a lot. I don't know if I would have been successful without it, honestly. At least not that quickly.
[00:16:40] Speaker B: And was that cup and ball actually? You. You got it. That's an actual one that they used. Or is that a. Is that a.
[00:16:49] Speaker A: That was a lot of money on ebay.
[00:16:50] Speaker B: It's a lot of money.
[00:16:52] Speaker A: No, I, I'm not at liberty to say.
[00:16:55] Speaker B: I hope that's. I, I, I have to believe I'm.
[00:16:58] Speaker A: Gonna leave you guessing on that one.
[00:17:00] Speaker B: Oh, I'm. You know what my headcanon is? Yes. You paid a lot of money for that. And you have a certificate of authenticity.
[00:17:06] Speaker A: I'm gonna leave that up to you.
[00:17:11] Speaker B: We'll come up with a code word.
[00:17:12] Speaker A: Would like you to think. What'd you say?
[00:17:14] Speaker B: Yeah, we'll come up with a code signal that you. You'll do at a live show. And I'll just be watching to be like, oh, she did the thing. Now we know.
[00:17:22] Speaker A: Yeah, but you can't ever tell anyone.
[00:17:24] Speaker B: I'm not telling anyone anything ever. In fact, this never happened. You never told me anything. You never will.
Because some things are more important. There's this. There's this patient doctor confidentiality and.
[00:17:37] Speaker A: Yeah, and something that I have learned is people don't actually want to know the answer to stuff like that.
[00:17:44] Speaker B: Have you Ever found that where you. You. Somebody found out how a trick was done, or you showed them and then you were just. Everyone was disappointed.
[00:17:55] Speaker A: I mean, I've watched those moments, like, third hand, I think, or I'll. I mean, my mom is one of those people that's very adamant, like, do not tell me how this works. This is cool. And her boyfriend is always like, can you teach me some magic? I would really love to do that for my grandkids. There are two types of people. One of them just absolutely want to know, either because they're curious or they want to do it themselves. And the other people are like, if you ruin this for me, I will end you. And I respect both, honestly.
[00:18:27] Speaker B: So, yeah, I agree that that's. I've seen the disappointment in people's faces when they find out that it was. It's. It's literally a fake thumb. And you're like, oh, you know why I don't want to know that.
[00:18:39] Speaker A: Yeah, but magic is real. But you knew that.
[00:18:43] Speaker B: Yeah, it's absolutely. There's no such thing as fake thumbs. It's. You're really taking your thumb off. That salt really went into your hand.
[00:18:50] Speaker A: Well, maybe that's not real, but some magic is real.
[00:18:58] Speaker B: I have. I have a question on.
I think it's somewhere that. Now I'm not sure. I'm. I'm having a Mandela effect moment. I'm not sure how I know about your life. I think it from.
[00:19:10] Speaker A: Remember? Let's just.
[00:19:10] Speaker B: Yeah, you're in Genie 1.
[00:19:11] Speaker A: I was in Genie.
[00:19:12] Speaker B: Absolutely.
[00:19:13] Speaker A: Maybe they'll call me after this.
[00:19:15] Speaker B: I. I doubt they're listening to this. I'm sorry. Pet and Teller ain't listening to this. I was talking to Eric Casey. He's like, oh, I hope no one hears this. I was like, don't worry about it.
If you don't tell them, they're not watching.
[00:19:27] Speaker A: I'm rooting for you.
[00:19:28] Speaker B: I. I think so. I. It's.
[00:19:31] Speaker A: You got the sign. How can you not.
[00:19:33] Speaker B: I got the sign. I'm not into myself that much, but my wife is, so. She got me this. She knew deep down that I wanted my name up in lights.
[00:19:41] Speaker A: I love it.
[00:19:42] Speaker B: Yeah, I've. I've always. I always wanted to be an actor, but as you do instead, I went to dental school.
[00:19:48] Speaker A: See, that's. Well, why didn't. Why didn't you go into acting? Was there, like, a moment where you decided not to? Not that I'm supposed to be interviewing you, but. I'm just kidding.
[00:19:56] Speaker B: No fair. Hey, sound bites. This Is all for sound bites. You want to hear more, you're gonna have to listen to the rest of the podcast.
[00:20:05] Speaker A: Wink, sound, wink.
[00:20:08] Speaker B: Yeah, just. I just do that myself.
I don't know. I just every. I was voted by my high school. Who cares? Like, Most likely to be famous. I was in every play I was in. I was. But I knew that for everybody that was like, everyone that was as talented as I was, there's a bunch of other people. And I had no self esteem and OCD and adhd. And at that point I was just like, I'll go. Because school was easy, I didn't have to study, but. But, like, being around groups of people was hard.
[00:20:39] Speaker A: Oh, my God. Are we the same person?
[00:20:41] Speaker B: We might be. I mean, that's why I got into magic. I don't know how I did. So, like, when I'm in social situations, like, if I'm going into a room with a patient that I don't know, I have the spongebobs in my hands and I have Larry, Moe, and then secretly Curly's over here. So I make them pick Larry or Mo, and then Larry Mo end up together. And it's just one of those things where I made a balloon animal for a kid that was crying for a different doctor. And I was like, oh, you know what? I. This is. This is where it's at.
[00:21:10] Speaker A: That's how they get you. You're gonna be a magician someday. You're gonna.
[00:21:14] Speaker B: Let me tell you, don't hurt yourself. That is a gamer chair.
[00:21:18] Speaker A: Yeah, it is. I suck at games. I just really like them.
[00:21:23] Speaker B: That's awesome. Have you played Liars Bar?
[00:21:26] Speaker A: Liars Bar?
[00:21:28] Speaker B: Yeah, it's the new. It's the new hot thing where in a rush roulette situation with a bunch of other anthropomorphic animals. And you've got to play games, and if you lose the game, you've got to take.
[00:21:39] Speaker A: Oh, do you have to lie in it?
I'm very bad at lying for a magician.
[00:21:46] Speaker B: I think if. Just don't say anything. You're a magician and you don't lie.
[00:21:49] Speaker A: Cannot lie. You know, what was that game that was really popular during the pandemic with the little beans?
[00:21:57] Speaker B: The bean game.
[00:21:58] Speaker A: There were the little guys and you had to say who was killing everybody?
Oh, my God.
[00:22:05] Speaker B: Beans.
[00:22:06] Speaker A: No, the. The game where you.
[00:22:09] Speaker B: Time out. Look, I got it.
[00:22:10] Speaker A: I'm looking it up.
[00:22:11] Speaker B: The game with beans that you have to cut.
I edit everything anyway, okay?
[00:22:20] Speaker A: You're gonna be like, oh, my God, you're an idiot. They're not beans.
[00:22:23] Speaker B: I really hope they're beans. I'm. I'm rooting for beans.
[00:22:26] Speaker A: No, what was the one? Oh, among us. Among us.
[00:22:29] Speaker B: Oh, yeah, they're beat. Okay, I get it.
[00:22:31] Speaker A: No, I couldn't. I. Because you would have to be like, I don't know what you're talking about. I wasn't in the. The room. And they'd be like, brief.
Or like werewolf, where you have to pretend. Or like, what's that one board game?
Secret Hitler.
[00:22:48] Speaker B: Oh, I've heard of that. I've definitely. Ultimate werewolf. I've definitely.
[00:22:51] Speaker A: My strategy is to play dumb, and then I do it once, and then people are like, she's not stupid. We're onto her. And then after that, it's just.
I can't lie.
[00:23:00] Speaker B: So do you go like, oh, here, pick a card. This card is totally still there.
[00:23:07] Speaker A: I guess I try to avoid. That's a really good question. I guess I try to.
My magic is more of like, we're doing this thing together than like, okay, I'm trying to fool you because I'd get really sweaty.
And I also. I don't know if you read this in my GENIE article, but I'm manifesting that I have really been stage fright.
And so I actually think I did.
[00:23:36] Speaker B: Read about that, Gary.
[00:23:38] Speaker A: Yeah.
And I also have a. I have this ebook that I wrote after Penn and Teller. I will send that to you in case you want to, like, read about how scared I was.
[00:23:48] Speaker B: But I do. I do. And you tell everybody what that ebook is.
[00:23:52] Speaker A: Yeah. So it is, I think 50 or 60 pages about my experience, start to finish, about why I sent that video in my journey into magic, the struggles with magic, like, just very real, like what the process looked like and how horrifying it was and how amazing it was. And then I have a magician's version that kind of, like talks about the behind the scenes stuff as well. But it was really fun to write just for me, really to, like, just capture something that I want to remember forever.
[00:24:25] Speaker B: Nice. So now everybody knows. You can stop listening right now. Get that ebook, and you'll get the exact same thing with less talking from me or my GENIE article or her GENIE article. I'm not gonna be able to cut that out now. I was gonna cut that whole thing about that mistake I made, and now it's literally every five minutes. I'm like, no, it's staying in now.
Oh, I do so much research.
[00:24:50] Speaker A: Put a wink sound in here too.
[00:24:52] Speaker B: Wink.
[00:24:56] Speaker A: You're hilarious.
[00:24:57] Speaker B: You're. You're answering my questions. So fast. Okay, I'll run out of. I'm gonna run out of stuff to talk about.
[00:25:04] Speaker A: Let's talk slower. I'll ask you more stuff about you.
[00:25:07] Speaker B: Don't do that.
No, Eric Casey was mad at him that I didn't laugh at his jokes enough. And so people. People in the comments just said, just get funny.
[00:25:18] Speaker A: Was he funny?
[00:25:19] Speaker B: I. I think hilarious. He'll tell you he was. No, he said. He said. Literally, he's like, I'm not funny, but I'm funny, you know? And I'm like. That was after his third Negroni. So I think is. I got him at his best.
He's great.
And then afterwards, he's like, oh, man. Can I talk. Can I talk to anybody for you? So he talked to. He's working on the Mystify festival. Have you heard about that?
[00:25:41] Speaker A: Yes, I have. Yep.
[00:25:43] Speaker B: You'll probably be at the next one because it.
[00:25:46] Speaker A: Yeah, it's really. It's really hard to go to festivals because if I miss a day of work, like, I'm, you know, like, I don't get pto. And a lot of these festivals, like Magic Live and Magi Fest and Mystify, they overlap with weekends. And that's when I. That's when people like magic. Do people like magic on a Monday? No. Friday.
[00:26:07] Speaker B: Absolutely not.
[00:26:09] Speaker A: Gross.
[00:26:10] Speaker B: No, but, you know, that's the day I think people need magic is. Is a crappy Monday. I think that's. I think there's. And I mean, and you're in Chicago. There's. There's probably a magic show literally every five minutes.
[00:26:22] Speaker A: There is. Yeah. Literally every five minutes. I usually have Monday and Tuesday off. Monday is when I go to my banjo classes and my class and my fiddle class. So I'm pretty wild on Mondays. Well, fun fact. That's not in the book.
[00:26:39] Speaker B: That's the exclusive right here.
[00:26:41] Speaker A: Exclusive for Dr. Todd.
[00:26:43] Speaker B: Yeah. What's your style of. What's your style of banjo?
[00:26:46] Speaker A: I currently, I play claw hammer.
[00:26:50] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:26:51] Speaker A: But I did not grow up playing that. My dad made stringed instruments when I was growing up, so I was, like, around it, but it was just kind of like, I wasn't super into it. You know how, like, if something runs in the family, you can't really, like, make somebody be interested in it, But.
[00:27:06] Speaker B: I. I know that. Well. Yeah, my dad tricked me into being a dentist, so I can't.
[00:27:13] Speaker A: Oh, the dentist friends in the family.
[00:27:15] Speaker B: Yeah. I was like, oh, yeah, you. You should be a dentist. Everybody loves dentists. Nobody's scared of the dentist. They Love you.
[00:27:22] Speaker A: No one said that to you.
[00:27:23] Speaker B: They. I. I believed him because I was dumb. Dumb. And here I am trying to be a magician.
[00:27:30] Speaker A: You. You're doing it.
[00:27:33] Speaker B: There you go. That's all you need. Well, I'm. I'm a middle aged male. We all get podcasts now instead of cars. It was. That was my midlife crisis.
[00:27:42] Speaker A: Well, it's cheaper.
[00:27:43] Speaker B: It's a lot cheaper. This is all borrowed. Yeah, Even that sign. That's a different Dr. Todd. I just borrowed it from him.
[00:27:52] Speaker A: I like your microphone. Looks like a little robot.
[00:27:55] Speaker B: This was the one that everybody thought was really good. And then when they really thought about it, they were like, nah, it's not.
[00:27:59] Speaker A: So I've never seen one before. I like it. It's cute.
[00:28:02] Speaker B: I had to repurpose it. This is not the. This holds cell phones, so it just kind of.
[00:28:06] Speaker A: Oh.
[00:28:07] Speaker B: Literally one. One spit take and this thing is on the floor.
[00:28:12] Speaker A: Well, good thing I'm not funny.
[00:28:14] Speaker B: Not true. I'm. You are. You're hilarious.
Can we talk about your. Your like day to day magic? Yeah. So, all right, so you said Monday and Tuesday you have off.
[00:28:28] Speaker A: Yeah. So what then?
So once a month I work at five different breweries and restaurants and things around town where I have just like monthly residencies.
Saturdays and Sundays I am at the Wonder Museum, which is a really cool interactive museum for all ages. That is in Boston. Chicago. And there's another location, I believe in California.
And then that's probably 50% of what I do. The other 50% is private stuff.
Corporate gigs, birthday parties, bat mitzvahs.
Have yet to do a yacht club like you.
[00:29:15] Speaker B: I'll see if they could get them to fly you out. I don't know what the budget is.
[00:29:18] Speaker A: I mean, it's probably good enough.
[00:29:20] Speaker B: I don't. I don't know.
But yeah, Southern Ireland thing.
[00:29:26] Speaker A: True. Yeah. I don't know. I think they. I think they have the budget, but I do a lot of like living room shows too.
[00:29:32] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:29:33] Speaker A: Like, let's see, I have. Tomorrow I have an engagement party.
Next week I have a fundraiser event.
Yeah, usually I have like one or two private things a week. And then on top of that, the museum and the, the bars and the restaurants and.
[00:29:51] Speaker B: Would you say that magic's. Would you say that magic's pretty popular right now as. As a. As a.
Like a.
[00:29:58] Speaker A: An art form in Chicago? It is.
I don't know if you've heard of Chicago, heard anyone say Chicago style, close up magic. I have, because they're very proud of that. It's like the specific type of magic that originated in Chicago, which is this close up. You're eating, you're drinking. Magician comes to your table, or they come to the bar. And this is my bread and butter. Because I don't like being on stage.
I can. I have a stage show that I wrote with Brent and some other people that I opened in the summer last year. But I just. There's something about Close up that makes me feel like. I don't know, it's more focused on the connection and the experience that we're building together that is like, feels like really facilitates that childlike feeling or curiosity or even healing experiences that I don't think you get from being on stage. So all that to say, I just really, really, really love close up or, like, small living room venues. I don't. I do some stage stuff, but I just. I love close up magic so much.
[00:31:12] Speaker B: How do you. So at the restaurants that you're at, is it expected that there's a magician? Like, do people go there knowing there's gonna be a magician, or do you have to, like, say, hey, I'm a magician?
[00:31:24] Speaker A: Most of the. I do go to a few places where people expect magic. Like, I occasionally will do tables at the Magic Lounge, where people know that you're gonna be there. A lot of places where I go, either there's a sign that no one has seen or, like, people knew what they forgot about it, or no one has any idea. So it's like, if anyone needs rejection therapy, so good for that. Um, but you do have to kind of cold approach the table, and I've worked that out. Um, how I like to do that.
[00:31:55] Speaker B: I do want to talk about that because I have. A couple years ago, I did a couple months of weekend magic, restaurant magic at a place in D.C. a friend of mine was a manager for the Live act band there, and I. She said, oh, they're looking for a magician. I was like, I had no idea. I was just. I was. I was like, yeah, sure, I'll do it. I've never done this before. So it took. It was insane. Because there's nowhere to really look. There's nothing that prepares you for that. What do you. Do you have any tips that you could give for people that want to do restaurant magic but don't know how to, like, approach a table or what? Maybe even, like, what kind of magic to do at a table?
[00:32:37] Speaker A: Absolutely. So I would say what I did to prepare, I read Al James Magic Restaurant Magic.
Gosh, I should know the name of this book.
It's something by Al James. It's either restaurant magic or magic at the table. But he has been doing magic in Chicago for so long, and he is fantastic at it. And I read through that.
But I.
Gosh, I don't know. Let me back up.
I'm trying to think what I would tell myself because I was nervous as heck. I remember the first time I did restaurant mad, I was shaking. Like, I was like, physically shaking. But something that really helped me from his book was table tents. Places that, you know you're going to be around servers. I make these little tents that have, like, tonight's entertainment is Brielle. Have your server call Brielle over to the table so you can, you know, drop those off. And it's kind of like a nice, low pressure way to introduce yourself to people, like, if you're interested in magic and then they can, like, have a second look you up, decide if they want to see you, have the server call you over. Also, something very important in restaurant magic is, like, the main reason that they're there is to get their. Their food. And so at restaurants, it's a lot different from bars because you are basically trying to make the. The server's job easier. You want to make the wait time seem shorter. You want to, you know, make them forget they're waiting on their food, but you don't want to be in their way. So ideally, you want to, like, time it right. So you go right after they've placed their food order. So there's a lot that goes into it that I don't think I realized at first. So I would advise people to just like, observe, do your research at the place you want to work, but other than that, just do things that are fun for you. Because I think if you're having fun, people enjoy it.
And people say that a lot about me. They're like, you seem like you're having a great time. And I was like, I am.
I think that's really important. I think people will have fun if you're having fun.
[00:34:47] Speaker B: Yeah, your. Your joy is. Is catchy. Like, and that's even on the. The pen and teller. Like, it almost seemed like you were about to explode. Like, you're so like, it. I don't know it. I don't know if there was awkward tension, but it was. It was awesome. It was really good.
[00:35:04] Speaker A: I mean, I am a little awkward. I definitely got that in the YouTube comments quite a bit. But no, I just. I love magic and I love doing it, and I want people to know that. And yeah, I think any kind of magic you're interested in, it doesn't matter. You can make anything close up magic. Like I do a lot of mentalism at tables and I don't think that's a lot of people's go to, but I really enjoy mentalism and I think it was accessible to me very early on because my background in psychology, whereas card magic, I had to really. And I'm still, you know, working at both, obviously, but I just enjoy mentalism and what I can do with that. I like all types of magic, though.
[00:35:53] Speaker B: I have a question about mentalism and what I've noticed is every time I see a trick on a website, they're like, and we're going to tell you about, all about the psychology of this. And I'm like going, really? You're going to tell. Is there like a textbook about this? When you, when they say, when people, when they say the psychology of a trick does that, is that a buzzword? Are they, are they really going to teach about like the. This is what your brain, this is what your brain does, like, or is it just a buzzword that they say?
[00:36:27] Speaker A: I think that's just a buzzword. I haven't read that anywhere, so it's nothing that I'm familiar with. But that's a question for Penguin. You should call them up and be like, what's up with this guy?
[00:36:37] Speaker B: I don't know if Eric's going to talk to me again. Do you use psychology, like, do you use anything specifically that you trained in psychology for in any of your acts? Does that come into play at all?
[00:36:51] Speaker A: Yes, but not in the way that you would think it would.
I.
When I walk onto a stage that's not like a set show or when I walk up to a table, my brain is like, okay, read the room, read this person, read the body language. What do I need to do? How are they feeling? And there's like a million things going on. And I think that's the way I rely on it. That's how oftentimes I'll choose what direction we're going to go. I'll make an assumption.
What do they need? What's going to make their night better? What not to do, what's the vibe? There's like a billion things going on that I feel like comes from my training there and just like having this heightened awareness for better or worse.
And then often times I like to.
My magic is a little, a little like storytelling and a lot of the, the stories I weave into It. And the things that I talk about are psychology principles. I talk about, like, reading people's body language or their inflection or their tone to try and, like, predict choices that they're going to make, things like that.
But I would say most of.
Most of it is just like reading the room. Honestly, did any of that make sense or was that very, like, Pen Jillette, I told you an answer without telling you an answer.
[00:38:19] Speaker B: No, no, it actually makes a lot of sense. It's basically it. And that's. That's what I found with. You could tell very quickly if somebody's really does not want you at the table. Yeah.
[00:38:32] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:38:33] Speaker B: Have you ever. Have you ever had a table where somebody was into it and then other people really weren't?
[00:38:38] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:38:39] Speaker B: What do you do in that? Are you just like, well, I'm going to entertain these people. You will just have to deal with it.
[00:38:45] Speaker A: Yeah. That every situation has happened at some point. You know, like, I'll walk up to a table and people will be like, absolutely not. And I'll be like, okay. You know, if there's anything you need, let us know. Thank you. You just want to, like, leave it positive, walk away sometimes, best case scenario, everyone's very enthusiastic.
But a lot of the times, like, one or two people, like, really want to, and either the other person is on the fence, like, they. Maybe they've had a bad experience with magic, or they're just, like, skeptical, or they're, like, afraid.
I like to gently involve them if I feel like that's the case. I want to give them a positive interaction. I want to have them participate if they're comfortable, but I want to keep it, like, a good experience for them. I want to do everything I can to, like, make them smile before I walk away. But there's sometimes where, like, a person, one person clearly isn't in the mood.
But I've only had it happen one time where, like, I remember this so vividly. It was last month. There were four people at the table. Three of them were like, oh, my gosh, yes, we were waiting for you. We're so happy that you're here. We heard you were going to be coming. And one person sitting there doesn't look up from the table. They don't look up from their phone. And I was like, oh, do they want to watch? And they're like, oh, don't worry about them.
And I. That one stumped me. I was like, I don't. Okay, but you guys want. And they were like, yeah, yeah, yeah. So I do Something for them. And then I just kind of like to respect the other person's space because I didn't. I didn't understand what was going on. I was like, well, if you guys want to see more, just wave me over. I'm here until xyz. Like, I'd love to show you some more. I hope you're having a great time. And I, like, dipped because I. I'm good at reading the room, but that one I have, I still to this day. And, like, I don't know what that was about, but either they hated magic or someone had just, like, had a fight or they've gotten bad news, but I didn't understand at all. But, yeah, you'll get. You'll get everything.
It's.
It's good. Good rejection therapy, too.
[00:40:53] Speaker B: Yeah. I mean, I guess you do learn to, like, not let things phase you. I guess that's helpful, right?
[00:40:58] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah.
[00:40:59] Speaker B: It's nothing against you. It's like when I walk into a room, nobody wants me to be there. I don't want to be there. It's. I just have to get used to the fact that, like, and I. Some people adore me, but that's not. That's the. You know, I don't. I don't take it personally if they don't like getting their teeth touched.
[00:41:15] Speaker A: Yeah, same. Yeah, I don't take it personally if people don't want their heart touched with magic.
[00:41:20] Speaker B: Oh, that's a. That's a soundbite.
Come to Brielle. She'll touch your heart like.
Like Indiana Jones. She'll pull it right out.
My brother used to scare the crap out of me by doing that to my chest.
[00:41:41] Speaker A: Oh, my God. My dad. I have a memory of my dad doing that, too. Like, when I would be, like, annoying, he would, like, chase me and do that. Trauma.
Trauma.
[00:41:51] Speaker B: We. We all got to be magicians somehow. And it's usually trauma related.
[00:41:55] Speaker A: That's the connecting tissue of. Of it all, the Indiana Jones movie.
Now, you know, everyone else can go home.
No, I still have plenty of emotional support.
[00:42:07] Speaker B: Water. Okay. I was going to ask you if you have enough emotional. That is.
[00:42:10] Speaker A: That.
[00:42:10] Speaker B: That's a nice glass.
I have four kids. I have to have a lot. I have to have plastic. It's so much water in my house.
[00:42:19] Speaker A: Yeah, I. I broken most of my glasses, to be honest with you. I'm very clumsy.
[00:42:25] Speaker B: That's. That's why you're a mentalist.
[00:42:27] Speaker A: Yeah, because I can't hold on to it.
[00:42:30] Speaker B: You don't have to hold anything you can just tell. You can tell Penn and Teller what they picked. You don't need to touch anything.
[00:42:35] Speaker A: Oh, my gosh. No, I didn't touch anything. No. The reason that I wanted to design. I'll tell you exactly why I wanted to design a trick where I didn't have to touch anything because I was so worried about my hands shaking because of how afraid I was. No lie. No lie. I didn't want to have to touch anything. I was so terrified.
[00:42:52] Speaker B: That's awesome.
[00:42:53] Speaker A: There were 700 people in the audience, 10 cameras. And the first time I met them was when they got on stage. Like, who would not be scared? If anyone says they're not scared, they're lying. They're lying.
[00:43:03] Speaker B: Is there. Is there like an after party where you can actually talk to them or is it pretty much right. See you.
[00:43:07] Speaker A: So they have their exit and I have my exit, and they can choose to go off on your exit. And I apparently talked to teller for like 10 minutes, but I don't know, I blacked out, to be honest with you. I apparently had a very lovely conversation with Teller. Penn bullied me about my sharp Sharpie being. He was like, bring a better Sharpie next time. That's all I remember is him going, this is a Sharpie.
[00:43:32] Speaker B: Hey, that's an invitation is what that is.
[00:43:36] Speaker A: I just went, okay.
[00:43:38] Speaker B: You know, I think next you're gonna have to go in and bring a. Bring a gimmick Sharpie.
[00:43:43] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, I gotta. You gotta do something to catch him off guard.
[00:43:47] Speaker B: Can I talk about Healing Appalachia? I saw a video and I thought, oh, that's, that's. Tell me about that.
[00:43:53] Speaker A: My God, I love Tyler Childers and the food stamps. One of my favorite bands.
And I got the opportunity to work for Healing Appalachia, which is. This is the second year that they've had it. It was in West Virginia. I think next year it's moving to Kentucky. But it's about bringing people who are in recovery who have been doing really well, doing this like week long thing where they come and have special opportunities and they like hang out with other people going through similar things. And they get to watch all these bands and they get to volunteer and be the staff for the event. And I got to go back to the camp and do magic for people that were like, hanging out, get to know people. I got to go backstage and do magic for the bands. I got to go in the crowd and do magic for people. And I.
My sappy ass was just like sitting on the plane on the Way there, like, tearing up. Like, this is, like, peak, you know, Penn and Teller. Great. Okay. Yeah. But this was just, like, such a beautiful moment for me to be able to bring magic back home and to be even in the presence of music that has meant so much to me for a cause that is so important, especially in Appalachia with the, you know, addiction crisis that we suffer from.
It was just really beautiful to be a part of that. It was amazing. Yeah.
[00:45:26] Speaker B: So check out Healing Appalachia. Healing Appalachia. And I. I got to. I saw them through Instagram. It's at Healing Appalachia. And they have all their pictures, and you can see you on it. It's. It's. It seems like it's an amazing organization. I love it. I think the. The opioid epidemic in our country is outrageous. And there's. It's at L levels, it's at providers and illegal drugs and legal drugs, and it's just. We need. We all need to work on it. So that's. That's amazing that you did that.
[00:45:55] Speaker A: Yeah, it was beautiful. They had people come on and, you know, speak about their journey, speak about their recovery. They had people, you know, teaching how to administer Narcan.
They had.
It was just. It was really cool. It was really cool and really just beautiful. I don't know. It was great. And if you watch the video on the Healing Appalachian Instagram, I'm in, like, I'm 0.5 seconds in one of those videos. Tyler Childers, people in the crowd, and then me.
[00:46:21] Speaker B: Awesome.
Brielle, thank you so much for coming and talking with us. Really appreciate it. I had a great time. Thank you so much.
[00:46:32] Speaker A: Thank you. This was, honestly, a blast. I think we're hilarious. We should. We should take this on the road, honestly.
[00:46:37] Speaker B: I have a. I have a couple concepts that you will have to get involved with, and I will tell you later. Where can the people that are listening to this find you?
[00:46:45] Speaker A: I have a website, Magic by Brielle B R I E L L e dot com. And I'm also on Facebook and I have an Instagram. That's the word hashtag, and then my name spelled out hashtag Brielle.
[00:47:00] Speaker B: And that's actually where I found you. I was looking for cool magicians, and.
[00:47:04] Speaker A: There you were, hashtag cool magician. And I came right up.
[00:47:09] Speaker B: Thank you so much. Have a. Have a fantastic week. And we will. I'm sure we'll be seeing a lot of you.
[00:47:15] Speaker A: Thank you. Don't forget to like and subscribe to Dr. Todd.
[00:47:21] Speaker B: Wink.
And look for her in Jeannie magazine coming out this year.
Call up whoever you know.
All the insiders know this show.
[00:47:33] Speaker A: Call them.
[00:47:33] Speaker B: Call them. I'll call them. I'm calling right up. I'm sure they'll. They'll listen to me. I'll bribe them with free teeth whitening.
[00:47:41] Speaker A: Oh, that's a. That's a really good deal. Can I have that?
[00:47:45] Speaker B: Yeah, you can.
[00:47:47] Speaker A: Oh, my God.
