Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: I'm Dr. Todd, a lifelong magic enthusiast, and it is my mission, nay, my life's purpose, to prove that the art of magic is for everyone. Whether you're a hobbyist, a collector, a performer, or simply someone who loves the wonder of a great illusion, this podcast is for you. Join me as we dive into the art, the craft and the mystery of magic, talking to creators, performers and industry experts who bring the impossible to life. Because magic isn't just for magicians, it's for all of us. Now follow me, won't you, into the magician's workshop now. I am really excited to introduce our guest this week. Paige Thompson is a world class magician renowned for her distinctive style and captivating performances. As a resident company member at the Chicago Magic Lounge, she has enthralled audiences in venues across the United States, including Branson, Missouri, Liberty Magic in Pittsburgh, the world famous Magic Castle in Hollywood, and the House of Cards in Nashville. Her televised appearances are equally impressive, featuring on the CW's Masters of Illusion, Fox's Showtime at the Apollo, hosted by Steve Harvey and Penn and Teller Fooless. Internationally, Paige has showcased her talents on America's Got Talent and Germany's Das Super Talent. Performing alongside some of the industry's top illusionists.
In a field traditionally dominated by men, Paige stands out as one of the few world class female magicians. Her performances have graced stages in New York, Chicago, Nashville, Hollywood, Branson, Las Vegas and beyond.
Recently, Paige served as the entertainment director for the Mystify Magic festivals, further cementing her role as a leading figure in the magic community. Paige, welcome to the show.
[00:01:50] Speaker B: Oh, wow, what an intro. I sound very fancy. Thank you.
[00:01:54] Speaker A: You are very fancy. You've got. For anyone who's listening to this, Paige has a very amazing, distinct look. She's got the purple hair. You can, you can you. You look at her and you're like, that's Paige.
[00:02:07] Speaker B: Yes, that is me. Purple. Purple hair. Me.
[00:02:10] Speaker A: Purple is great. My youngest daughter's name is Violet. We lived on Purple Plum way. So yeah, our. Our birthday and my birthday are February, so I think amethyst is the color. So it's purple in my house all the time, so means a lot. So good color.
[00:02:28] Speaker B: Yes, agreed.
[00:02:30] Speaker A: So I am just gonna dive in because I have so many questions. I'm not sure I'm gonna get to them all, but I'll keep hitting you up until you get tired of talking.
[00:02:38] Speaker B: Until I get bored. Cool.
[00:02:39] Speaker A: Yeah, exactly. When you get bored, just turn it off and then I'll edit it. We'll get some AI and Nobody will know. What is your first memory of magic? First standby question.
[00:02:49] Speaker B: First memory of magic.
My. My grandma got me a magic kit when I was like 6 years old. And when I got it, I was at first like, oh, my gosh, I'm gonna learn magic spells and things are gonna float and disappear. I just have to read the instructions. And then I learned that. No, I have to, like, read and practice. And, you know, you're six, your attention span is not super long. But I don't know, I got bored. One day I pulled it out of the closet and I read this trick where you take a piece of rope and you pull it through your neck.
And I ran up to my sister and I said, watch. And then I did it. And she was like. And I remember seeing the look in her eye and how, like, surprised she was. And that's when I was like, oh, this is cool. I can do this. And then I remember taking that same trick, going to school and doing it for, like, the show and tell portion of first grade.
But then I became. I was immediately obsessed with it. And I. It was hocus pocus 72 trick magic set. And I learned all. All 72. And that's amazing. Bugged my sister almost every day. Hey, watch this one. Hey, hey, hey. Watch. So I had a captive audience.
[00:04:22] Speaker A: Wow, that's amazing. Very few people, I think, follow through with those magic kits. I think I learned one thing. It was where the ball. The ball is there and then it's not there.
[00:04:32] Speaker B: Ball and vase. Yep, yep.
[00:04:34] Speaker A: Ball and vase. Oh, I was. I was big into the ball and vase.
[00:04:36] Speaker B: It's great.
[00:04:39] Speaker A: When did you go? Probably? Oh, well, I mean, that's a long jump.
[00:04:44] Speaker B: So, yeah, six years old, not so pro.
Honestly, it really wasn't even till. Okay, well, I can't say. So I'll say I became a full time magician about 10 years ago. So before that, though, I did not know how to become pro. So I. I did birthday party shows throughout middle school and then high school. I was doing birthdays and libraries and festivals and whatever. Like every weekend I had shows. I was busy. I had an assistant that. Because I did the illusions. That's what I was obsessed with at the time was I. I really wanted to be an illusionist. That's what I saw in Vegas and that's what I wanted to do. So, yeah, me and my assistant would go do these shows on the weekends. We'd do magic competitions in Las Vegas.
And when I turned 18, I'm like, oh, yeah, time you moved to Vegas. Right. That's what you do.
But you're 18, and you don't really know what you're doing. So I ended up assisting a lot of magicians because they knew I knew the magic, and I could help train the dancers and that sort of stuff.
But I was still bartending and barely doing magic on my own, just trying to figure it out.
Ended up getting a show in Branson, Missouri, while helping with the show, but I was still assisting, and then eventually ended up doing my own thing in Branson, which led to me moving to Chicago because Branson was a mess. But the second I got to Chicago, I actually figured it out and was able to do the thing. And that was, like, eight years ago, where it was like, okay, now just magic.
[00:06:34] Speaker A: Wow. Where did you learn the illusions?
[00:06:37] Speaker B: I kind of taught myself. I.
So my mom wasn't super into this whole idea of magic. She wasn't like, oh, let's encourage you, and, you know, no. So I had to get creative, or my grandma would buy me stuff for my birthday or Christmas. But what I would do is I would get the TV Guide, you know, when it used to be printed out and mailed to you, and I would take it and I'd read it front to back, hoping there was a magic show that was going to be on that week. When I'd find one, I would set it up on the VCR and record it and then watch the show over and over and over until I figured out, oh, wow, the tricks worked.
[00:07:20] Speaker A: That's. That's how I found out how Paul Gertner was loading, Doing his final load of his cups and balls. I went. It was back when the VCRs had a. Had a cord, and you could. I could go frame by frame. And I saw. When I saw him actually pull it up, out, I was like, that's in. That's insane.
[00:07:36] Speaker B: Right?
[00:07:36] Speaker A: I couldn't. I tried the same thing, but I could not figure out for the life of me how that metamorphosis worked.
[00:07:41] Speaker B: Oh, really?
[00:07:42] Speaker A: Yeah, I. I just wasn't creative enough.
[00:07:45] Speaker B: I don't. I just. I loved it. And then I got this Mark Wilson Encyclopedia of Magic, and it had the very back section of. It had illusions, and it. It had some great illusions you could, like, build out of cardboard. So I would do that. I go into my garage, and I would also use the saw, but that's fine.
[00:08:08] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:08:08] Speaker B: You know.
[00:08:10] Speaker A: Okay.
You did. Working as an assistant with other magicians, even, you know, you knew a lot of it already. But how did that shape you as A performer.
[00:08:23] Speaker B: Oh, it helped tremendously. It helped so much in seeing, especially since I was helping a lot of these guys with tv. So it let me see the behind the scenes of live TV with America's Got Talent and stuff like that. So when I in the future got on tv, I kind of knew what to expect. I saw how they were treated. I saw how to talk to the producers and, you know, the sort of behind the scenes, that was super beneficial to me when I actually did it on my own. But also assisting. It kind of helps you become more prepared for being on stage because you've kind of done it as a backseat role, and then when you do it as you. You feel. I think it might help you feel a little more comfortable because you've already been on stage, you've done the. And now you are the one who's more featured. But I think having the practice of being on stage as a magician with another magician, I think it also helps your confidence.
[00:09:35] Speaker A: Wow. Okay. And I know you assisted for Dan Sperry. Is that right? I love Dan Sperry. I love his Persona. I love him being himself. I loved his penguin magic lecture.
[00:09:46] Speaker B: He's great.
[00:09:46] Speaker A: It's one of the best ones I look. Yeah. Do you have any good Dan Sperry stories?
[00:09:51] Speaker B: Well, Dan and I. He was the one. He moved to Vegas.
I think this was in 2006. So he was about to move and he called me and he's like, paige, I'm moving to Vegas. Will you be my roommate? I was like, yeah, let's do it. You know? But I had known Dan from magic conventions. I think the first time I met him was maybe 2002, 2003, something like that. I was very young, and I remember seeing him compete. And I went up to him and I'm like, that was the coolest act I've seen. I remember his bird act was as crazy at this time. He had two purple mohawks. He had purple. He had the mohawks going on. And I was like, that is.
This is cool. And he was just the nicest person. And I was very shy. I never talked in my acts at this time. I was doing like a manip act with, like, fans and silks and stuff. No talking. Illusions. No talking. I was very shy, but I. I was like, I need to meet. He's. He's cool. This is great. I love what he's doing because it was so different than what other people were doing. And I really appreciated it. And he was just so nice. And that's at the time when, you know, I had the dial up Internet, but it was like you had your MSN messenger or your aol, you know.
[00:11:10] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:11:11] Speaker B: Because he lived, I think at that time. I think he lived in Chicago area at the time and I was in California. So I'd always get online and hope that Dan. And then we just talk for hours online, just talking about magic and life and everything. And we just became like a little pen pal, best buddies, you know. And he's still my best friend to this day. Like, I talked to him and his wife all the time. I lived with him for on and off for seven years in Vegas with him. And then when they got married, I lived with him and his wife Tamika, and they, they're just my best friends. So it's crazy that that little kid, you know, magic convention relationship is still a bestie of mine.
[00:11:58] Speaker A: That's. That's the, that's the story. That's the most heartwarming story. And I can't wait for the Hallmark version, right? I can't wait.
[00:12:07] Speaker B: It's so funny because people don't think we're friends. They think because we are very opposite. Very like opposite people in what. Who we. And just. And it's just funny that that's your friend. I'm like, yeah, he's the nicest human alive because, you know, he has the spooky Persona, but yeah, it's all fake. Oh, no.
[00:12:28] Speaker A: I was actually, I was actually worried about when I was. When I was going to download his penguin magic lecture. I was like, I don't know. I don't know if any of this is going to be for me. And I watched. I was like, holy moly, this is good stuff.
[00:12:40] Speaker B: Oh, he's great. And he, I mean, I, he helped me so much. Like, I did not have a great relationship with my mom. And he was like, you know, let's move, let's figure this out. And he would talk to me when I was going through figuring out what my life was with her. Like, you know, when you're in something for so long, you don't notice it's not normal until you start talking it out. But he would talk to me. And, And I mean, I, you know, everybody struggles in this business. And I mean, he always was there for me no matter what. He didn't question something if I came to him. And he's just. Yeah, I just, I don't know. I don't think I'd be doing magic if it wasn't for him, honestly. Like, he. The encouragement he gave and then assisting him Was super fun, but also super helpful to me because he always made sure I was paid very well. Like, he never. He always made sure that I was getting much more than most assistants would ever get.
[00:13:41] Speaker A: Well, I mean, you're. You're definitely overqualified, you know, as, you know, being able to. Because you could run your own show.
[00:13:47] Speaker B: Right. But it was fun. That's what was cool with working. When you work with your best friend, it's not work. It's just fun. I mean, touring Germany, hanging out. Oh, so terrible, you know?
[00:13:58] Speaker A: Oh, he toured. You toured with Journey?
[00:14:01] Speaker B: No, Germany. In Germany.
[00:14:02] Speaker A: Oh, Germany. Oh, yeah.
[00:14:04] Speaker B: Journey. Heck, yeah.
[00:14:06] Speaker A: No, I was about to say, what's Journey? That's like, don't stop believing. That sounds.
[00:14:09] Speaker B: That would be epic. No, we toured two. We had two different tours in Germany. It was the Dance Fairy Strange Magic tour.
But, yeah, it was. It was great. Super fun.
[00:14:22] Speaker A: I've only heard secondhand accounts, and apparently it was amazing. So I didn't have a passport at the time, otherwise, I would have. I would have gone.
[00:14:32] Speaker B: So I think you could find the video.
[00:14:35] Speaker A: Oh, okay.
[00:14:35] Speaker B: I'm gonna watch it.
[00:14:37] Speaker A: I'm gonna write that down.
Would I see you in it doing. What were you doing at the time?
[00:14:42] Speaker B: Jumping in and out of boxes. There's a page in a cage.
[00:14:45] Speaker A: Illusion Page in a cage.
[00:14:49] Speaker B: He called it something else, but I will leave that out.
[00:14:52] Speaker A: Yeah, well, if it's in German, we won't.
Das lady in a Boxen.
So you go from Las Vegas. How do you end up in Chicago?
[00:15:06] Speaker B: So I had an opportunity to be a part of a show in Branson, Missouri.
[00:15:11] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:15:13] Speaker B: And Branson just honestly was weird. It was.
[00:15:17] Speaker A: It seems like an odd place to have a hub of magic, of all places, so. It doesn't.
[00:15:22] Speaker B: Well, there's hubs. It's like an entertainment hub.
[00:15:26] Speaker A: Oh, okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[00:15:27] Speaker B: But it's. They call it, like, the Midwest, Vegas, but it's not.
[00:15:34] Speaker A: That's a. That's a red flag right there.
[00:15:36] Speaker B: It was just very strange. And I was told things and promised things that never actually happened. And I'm still owed money from people and things. And it. I just kept trying. And I'm one of those people who trust when somebody says something. I think, okay, I'll give it.
I'll bully. Why would they lie? But there was like, no.
[00:15:58] Speaker A: Yeah. Nobody would ever lie to you in the entertainment industry.
[00:16:00] Speaker B: Yeah, never.
But I kept getting lied to. And then I'm like, okay. And people did think I was a witch because I was a girl doing magic. So that equals witchcraft and like, okey dokes. But I did this illusion in the show where it's called Lev Impaled, where it's like a levitation. So a girl floats into the air and then you lower her down onto a sword and she falls through the sword and you spin her around so the sword is coming out of her stomach and it looks like she's impaled by a sword. But this is a magic show, right? Magic tricks. So it's a trick, but somebody in the audience jumped up and called me a murderer and then ran out of the theater and then wrote me this long angry thing on the Facebook fan page of the show. And it was like, you can't. You murder people every night using your witchcraft and blah, blah. So, yeah, there was a lot of that.
Yeah, it was super great. And I was like, I gotta get out. I was like, I don't know where I want to go, I don't know what I want to do. And then my sister had moved to Chicago like a year prior to that and said, oh, this Chicago is a great city. And then I looked it up. I'm like, oh, it's an eight hour drive. Okay, I'll try Chicago.
And then I just started emailing magicians. I got here, just looked at magicians, emailed them, said, hi, I'm a magician, I'm new. Where do I go? Who do I see? And the first person to email me back was Benjamin Barnes, who is the. The entertainment director at the Magic Lounge. And he was the nicest, kindest person. He invited me to a show and when I got to the show, Eugene Berger was in the audience. And I'm like, oh, this is cool.
[00:17:52] Speaker A: Yeah, put this out today.
[00:17:54] Speaker B: Look it. Yep. Great.
And I had done these teen weekends at this magic convention called the World Magic Seminar. The teen weekend was like, it was Lance Burton's Teen Weekend, but it was hosted by Eugene and Jeff McBride, so.
[00:18:12] Speaker A: Oh, wow.
[00:18:13] Speaker B: Yeah, so I did that for three years in a row. I did the very first one. I think that was like in 2002 or 2003. And then 4, 5, 6, something. I forget. But it was, it was pretty great. I mean, learning from those two was insane. And then when I saw Eugene in the audience at Chicago, I'm like, oh, this is a real. This is a big deal. I guess, you know, this Chicago. I didn't know Eugene was from here because I had associated him with Vegas because that's when I saw him was in Vegas. I did not know his, like, history of Chicago. But Chicago has a crazy history of magic that I felt very stupid about when I moved here because I didn't know any of it.
[00:18:57] Speaker A: I didn't know any until I started interviewing people. And the amount of people that I can find in Chicago is, is outrageous. So. And it's pretty much, it's, it's close up central. It's like the. They have deep dish pizza and close up magic.
[00:19:10] Speaker B: Right. It's like a thing. It was like a Chicago style magic.
[00:19:14] Speaker A: Yeah, well, you say Chicago style magic, but what if you had to. To put a pin in it? What is Chicago style magic?
[00:19:23] Speaker B: Well, I like the way it's described by many people that host at the lounge. It's like people getting drunk and watching card tricks is kind of. What?
[00:19:32] Speaker A: Nice.
[00:19:35] Speaker B: Yeah. But it's mainly like close up magic. It's pretty much just the magic that happens right in front of your face. It doesn't need to be like a certain environment. It's like you're at a bar, you're doing a trick, you're at a restaurant, you're just sitting. It's not like a structured thing. It's more of an impromptu.
Watch this close up trick. Watch a card trick, you know.
[00:19:58] Speaker A: Okay, so it, but, but kind of a big more of an emphasis on card tricks.
[00:20:03] Speaker B: I mean, there's a ton of card tricks, coin trick, it doesn't matter. Just, you know, close up stuff that is happening under your nose. So yes, coins, cards are the most common.
[00:20:13] Speaker A: Okay. What does, what does being a resident magician at the Chicago Magic Lounge entail?
[00:20:20] Speaker B: So that means I am one of the very few lucky people in the world. And I, I think about this all the time that I do feel like this isn't real, what my life is right now, especially after so long of being a mess trying to figure out this entertainment world. But now the, like. I've been at the lounge, it's been open for seven years. And I pretty much joined on like two months after they opened.
[00:20:51] Speaker A: Oh, wow.
[00:20:51] Speaker B: And they just needed more magicians. They just needed magicians. They didn't realize they would need as many as they did. It was popular from day one, which it still is. We're still sold out seven nights a week.
[00:21:05] Speaker A: Like, that's insane.
[00:21:07] Speaker B: So to be a resident magician is. There's a few of us that have scheduled days every week. So for me, I'm off Monday, Tuesday. I can work every other night at the lounge. So that's my schedule. I'm work, I'm at the lounge Wednesday to Sunday.
It doesn't mean I have to be at the lounge, but that means I get to be there if I want to be. Because I also. Yeah, I leave all the time. Like, I just started cruise ships a year ago, so I've been. I was pretty much gone from Chicago since right before thanks. Or Thanksgiving on. So I just got back and now I have like three. Three weeks here before I go on another ship. So.
But what's crazy is that I leave, I'm gone for three months and I come back and I'm right back in my magic home of Chicago.
[00:21:59] Speaker A: That's a dream. You have a. You have a guarantee gig.
[00:22:03] Speaker B: When it does not happen, it's like, yeah, it is unheard of in this world. And I'm so. And I. It's like I feel so comfy, but it's also terrifying. It's like, can I be comfy? Like, what? Because just this world is still such an unknown. And then when Covid happened, it was like, what is this?
When I just started to get like, oh, yeah, I'm figuring it out. And then. Hahaha. Just kidding.
But right now it's like I have this home base for magic where I get booked for so many things. Like just from working there, from doing table magic, from being on stage, people are like, oh, I'm going to book you for my birthday. I'm going to book you for my wedding. I don't even have to advertise. I'm getting paid to advertise. I'm getting paid to be at the lounge to do magic. And then people hire me. It's.
Yeah, it's something I don't think I'll ever believe is real.
[00:22:54] Speaker A: That's amazing.
I know that. I know that wedding magic is big in the uk.
How. What is. Where are we at with wedding magic in the United States? Is it a thing yet or is.
[00:23:07] Speaker B: It becoming more popular a thing in Chicago? Anywhere else I have lived never did a wedding.
So I don't know if it's like a Midwest thing or a Chicago thing, but Chicago, it's crazy. They. I've done so many weddings. That's. And it's the most fun thing because you show up, you're. You just bring, you know, your pockets full of some card tricks and you wander around for an hour with these people who are so happy because they just saw their friends, got married and now they're all having free alcohol.
[00:23:36] Speaker A: So fantastic.
[00:23:38] Speaker B: It's very. It's a very good gig.
Yeah.
[00:23:42] Speaker A: What are the advantages to working at a restaurant where people are Expecting you to do magic versus, like, where a restaurant. I worked at a restaurant where they weren't. And it was a very. Sometimes it was really awkward, even though I'm like, I know I'm supposed to be there, but, like, it's different when you approach. Like, they're expecting it.
[00:23:58] Speaker B: Oh, at the lounge. It's the easiest experience in the world because they. They are at the Chicago Magic Lounge. They know that's what it is. They sit down in this theater, and then a magician approaches. I don't even have to say. Sometimes I just walk. Hello.
[00:24:14] Speaker A: Oh, my gosh.
[00:24:15] Speaker B: And I'm like, oh. Okay. So they're just excited. They know what's. They know what's gonna happen. They're just ready for the magic to happen right in front of their face. So you don't have to sell anything. I've worked for years, worked gigs where it's, you know, a restaurant. I did this gig on the Jersey Shore for, like, three summers in a row where I. I mean, they. They paid me to be there, but I still had to sell my show. Like, I had to sell the fact that I needed people to watch the show. They didn't have to pay for it, but I just had to convince them to watch me. You know, when you're in a restaurant, you're trying to work for tips because you get paid, you know, a tiny amount. You kind of make the money off the tips. This. I was getting paid really well to be there, but I wanted an audience. So very hard to convince random strangers to watch my little magic show on the Jersey Shore.
[00:25:17] Speaker A: How do you know when to go to a table? And how long do you give a table?
[00:25:20] Speaker B: This is even more. This is how we're even more spoiled. Okay. We don't even have to figure that out. We have a person who is in charge of keeping track of who's been sat when the server has been there.
[00:25:35] Speaker A: That's too good.
[00:25:37] Speaker B: Yes. So we. There's usually on the weekends, there's six of us close up magicians, because they want to get at least two to three magicians to every table, and that seats 105 people. So usually that's enough. Sometimes it's hard. It just. It really depends on if there's very large groups or if they're all two tops, you know?
But we have a. We call them the magic host, and they're in charge of hosting the magicians to figure out where we will be sent. So the host will say, go to this table here. Come back to me, or they'll say, go down the line of this table, this table, this table, come back to me. We, we try to keep it five minutes max. Because we're trying. It's not like you're not making a long stint of it because there's so many of us in every table. We're hoping season of Magic. So we try to keep to a under 5 minute time restraint. Pop, pop, pop. Good. Get to all the tables and people are happy. They want to see to them. We learned early on that people if they were to watch one magician for or three magicians for three minutes each, they're thinking they're seeing more with the three magicians. Even though that one guy did a ten minute set. It's like they want to see a variety of people over a variety of magic.
[00:27:05] Speaker A: That makes sense. Yeah. And say you have five minutes, how many effects will you do on average?
[00:27:13] Speaker B: I kind of have like these routines where it's like different moments happen. So I've. Or if they're like, I need you to do a quick trick. I also have those where it's like it's a minute I can do do something impactful in a minute. But a lot of them are like, it's a routine with maybe two to three different moments of magic where it's like, then the ending is like, oh, but it's like a build.
[00:27:39] Speaker A: Perfect.
[00:27:40] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:27:43] Speaker A: Where do you get your material?
Do you have like a commercial website that you like or do you have books that you've read or do you come up with most of it at this point? Are you just able to make something up as you go?
[00:27:57] Speaker B: So for me, with Close Up Magic, I had no clue where to start. And when I got here, everybody at the lounge, all the Close up guys recommended books for me to read and videos to watch. And I really delve like dove headfirst into learning Close Up Magic.
But I've never liked learning magic from videos.
Oh, did my.
[00:28:25] Speaker A: You were the entertainment director for the completely sold out Mystify Magic Festival. Can you talk a little bit about the festival and if. I know that's kind of a loaded question. Let's start. What is, what is the Mystify Magic Festival?
[00:28:42] Speaker B: So, yes, this just happened. I got back like three days ago. But Mystify was the very first ever put together convention that was meant to showcase female magicians. Because Leah Orleans, who has been around magicians her whole life and has gone to all the magic conventions, I'm sure she talked about this, how she went to a convention and was like, there Was not a single woman booked. And she's like, I'm gonna try this. And everyone's like, you should. And then she really just took the ball, went rolling with it. And she's amazing. Like, it is insane how smart she was with everything and how she just knew what was necessary, what was needed, the people she needed to talk to. Like I, I was amazed with her organizational skills and with just the idea she had. And it, it really turned out like shockingly amazing. Like, I mean, not okay shockingly in the fact that for a first time magic convention and there's over 300 people there and everything went well, it's pretty epic. And just, it was overwhelming to hear the excitement of all the attendees and how much they appreciated it and how welcome they felt and how it was just the best experience they had. So it was so cool to be a part of that and that she trusted me to be the entertainment director and work with the talent and you know, make sure the shows happened and all that. And it was, it was crazy. It was, it was a whirlwind. Like I am still sleepy from it. It was, it was.
[00:30:32] Speaker A: I was about to say, you must be still coming down from the high.
[00:30:34] Speaker B: It was exhausting because we also, we all wanted it to be good. So we all wanted to make sure everything was happening at the right time in the right place. And.
But I couldn't have imagined a better team to work with like all the people she had put in place and she was very strategic with like putting a magician and somebody in another department, like in another part of the entertainment world together, like to make sure as a team we would have all the bases covered. And it was crazy. It was great and it was so much fun. And yes, she announced that 2027 we'll be doing another one.
[00:31:15] Speaker A: So I'll be going.
[00:31:17] Speaker B: I'm going to bring my more mystify. So if you missed this one, guess what? You have two years to build up the excitement.
[00:31:24] Speaker A: What would you say is the minimum age to like because my daughter will be 17. Is that too young to bring her?
[00:31:31] Speaker B: No, there was very, there was some very little young ins. I think there was an eight year old like no, you don't have to be any age. There's not a requirement.
[00:31:42] Speaker A: But why? Just because Vegas I'm like, I'm like right. Walking them to the venue.
[00:31:47] Speaker B: I didn't see any of Vegas. This convention could have been anywhere because I didn't leave the hotel.
[00:31:53] Speaker A: Like the convention, my kind of festival.
[00:31:56] Speaker B: And it has, we made sure we had so much programming happening that nobody got bored. Like there was stuff going on all the time. Like there was. And multiple things happening at the same time. So when you look at the convention, like, list of activities for the day at 2pm we had three different things happening. So if one of them looked better to you, you could go to that one and not the other, because not everybody has the same taste. And it's hard to force people to.
[00:32:25] Speaker A: Watch something that was actually really reminded me of a. This may sound odd, but it reminded me very much of a dental convention. Because there's. It's true, but like there is. There's multiple classes going at the same time because that you have a specialist who may not be interested in, you know, somebody may not be interested in learning about illusions, but they may love, you know, talk to somebody who's doing a card thing. Maybe a coin. Exactly. I loved, I loved the way she designed it. It was very well planned.
[00:32:53] Speaker B: Right? Oh, and look at how pretty this is. This was our, our program. Look at how gorgeous this. Right?
[00:33:03] Speaker A: That is gorgeous. And it turns into a keepsake.
[00:33:06] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:33:06] Speaker A: Like, it's amazing.
[00:33:07] Speaker B: Yep, yep.
[00:33:08] Speaker A: Wow. I'm glad to see that on the other end of it that it went as well as projected because you never know like it could have been. I'm sure it was well planned, but you never can.
[00:33:20] Speaker B: Of course, you don't know how it's going to be received by people. You don't know if they're going to enjoy it, but it was overwhelming, overwhelmingly positive, like the happiness that people had. The first show we did had like four standing ovations, like throughout at a magic event. It was great.
[00:33:40] Speaker A: That is amazing. Oh, I, I don't. I mean, it's not usual for conventions to sell out, is it? I mean, are there any.
[00:33:46] Speaker B: Oh, yeah, Magic. Magic Live is like the biggest one. And then Blackpool, those bigger ones, and they have like. I think Magic Live has over a thousand people. Like Magi Fest sells out all the time.
[00:34:01] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:34:02] Speaker B: They do. And because there are. They have a certain name to them, a certain, you know, people know what they are and they, they want to see those things.
[00:34:12] Speaker A: But this, I mean, this was grassroots though, right?
[00:34:15] Speaker B: That's the thing. Newer, smaller ones. No, they're not gonna sell out in the beginning. It's not easy at all. But Leah's also, she knows how to market. Like, she, she does it with herself. Like, she, she knows the process, she knows who to talk to. She knows how to make it good.
And even if she didn't know how to do that. She is smart enough to find the people who do know how to do that.
[00:34:43] Speaker A: Yeah, I think she built a tremendous team. I mean, obviously she picked you as an entertainment director.
[00:34:48] Speaker B: Oh, yes, yes.
[00:34:49] Speaker A: It worked, right?
What does it remember? I'm a complete noob and you have to treat me kind of like I'm a, like I'm a 3 year old when you explain magic things to me.
What is, what is the role of an entertainment director for a magic festival?
[00:35:08] Speaker B: The main thing is, is to pick out talent that we need to run the festival. Like people who have multiple skills, who can lecture, who can be on stage, who can do close up magic, and people that especially for this festival, have a good message to share with all the attendees. So I see a lot of magic. I luckily I work at the Magic Lounge and I see that helps ton of magic. So that's another big benefit for me is that I know and I know a lot of what these people do. And I have also been in magic over 30 years. Like I, oops, 20. 20 years.
[00:35:49] Speaker A: 20 years. Yeah, yeah, 20 years. I did, I did the math. It's 20.
[00:35:55] Speaker B: I, yes. So I, I know like some of the classical artists that have been around, but I also know who's happening today. Like I, I see it, I get to see it and I, I also know the types of magic they do. And I just having this background in magic myself, it's easy for me to be able to find others that I think would have been, you know, beneficial, but also impossible to only choose a few. So this is why like people that would reach out. I wasn't selected. I'm like, we're. This isn't the end. Like we need, we can't book everybody for the first one.
We need more of you for future.
[00:36:37] Speaker A: So was there anything that stood out to you as like, like your top moment from this festival?
[00:36:45] Speaker B: I mean, I think it was just hearing the feedback of and seeing a show and that very first show with four standing ovations, but also having the team that was so on board with anything and everything, making sure everything worked out. Like there's certain acts that have certain things that they need to make work technically. And we had some challenges in the showroom with the local crew. Like nothing crazy, but there was challenges and watching our team overcome those challenges and be so willing to be so patient and able to work through all that seamlessly and nobody knew any of that was happening was pretty amazing.
[00:37:36] Speaker A: That's the best part. Yeah, that's why I learned as a, you Know, just in high school theater, it's like they. The audience doesn't know.
[00:37:42] Speaker B: They don't know.
[00:37:43] Speaker A: You're. You're a sports. You're a sports person. What's your. What. What are your teams again?
[00:37:47] Speaker B: Oh, yeah, let's. You want to go through?
[00:37:50] Speaker A: Okay, I do. I do.
[00:37:51] Speaker B: Football is my.
[00:37:52] Speaker A: I want to make sure we're not against each other.
[00:37:54] Speaker B: Are you a sportsman?
[00:37:56] Speaker A: I realized how I get really involved, and I would feel so bad when my team would lose. And then I realized something. When they win, I don't get paid like they get paid. And I. Them. Well, I'm paying them to feel happy. But most of the time, being from Maryland, I was feeling pretty sad. So not only am I feeling sad, you were Raven.
[00:38:16] Speaker B: I love watching Lamar Jackson. He's amazing. I fell in love with Joe Flacco. I don't know why, but we're all.
[00:38:23] Speaker A: Wacko for Flacco because, you know. And then the next year, they paid him too much, and they couldn't afford it. He couldn't find anyone to throw to.
[00:38:29] Speaker B: Yes. But I am a Miami Dolphins fan. I fell in love with Dan Marino when I was, like, 8 years old, and he retired two years later, and they've sucked ever since. So it's been great now. Yes. And the Dolphins fell in love.
The Oakland A's, who are now in Sacramento. Moving to Vegas, maybe Switch is heartbreaking, but I'm fine.
[00:38:49] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:38:50] Speaker B: San Jose Sharks.
[00:38:52] Speaker A: Oh, okay. You're Sharks. Okay. When I was growing up, I had a little Shark pin because I went. I went to a Capitals game, and my dad's like, oh, you can pick something out. And I was like. I didn't care about. I was like, I saw the San Jose Shark.
[00:39:04] Speaker B: They have the coolest logo.
[00:39:05] Speaker A: They do. They have the. They have the best hockey logo.
[00:39:08] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:39:09] Speaker A: All right. It's. It's very rare to find hockey fans. I do love me some hockey, so. And that's the one thing I love. Live right.
[00:39:16] Speaker B: Oh, it's the best. And watching it here is super fun. In Chicago, I've gone a few times to see the Blackhawks there. It's a fun environment.
But then right now, I'm very happy because I'm a huge Golden State warriors fan. And they made this great trade and got Jimmy Butler, and we have won. Well, we lost last night, but we had won seven games in a row.
They're really good.
[00:39:38] Speaker A: That's awesome.
[00:39:38] Speaker B: And I really want Steph to have one more.
Steph Curry to have one more championship.
[00:39:45] Speaker A: I. Who couldn't everybody loved him in the Olympics. It was so good.
[00:39:49] Speaker B: He, like, the amount of times my, like, the happiness I feel from watching him is epic. He just is amazing. And I want to cry every time he goes off on these crazy scoring tangents. He's amazing.
[00:40:04] Speaker A: Have you ever had any sport, any athletes come in that you've recognized at the Magic Lounge?
[00:40:16] Speaker B: Somebody did come in from the Bulls. I remember he was hurt at the time.
I'm blanking on his name. I did know him when he came in. I was like, oh, yeah, he was super nice. There's been. I think a Bears kicker came in or a punter came in.
Nobody super, like, wow.
I was serving in Vegas when I was, you know, when I first moved there and I worked at a Cheesecake Factory, you know.
[00:40:48] Speaker A: Oh, love the Cheesecake Factory. I'm still full from the last time I went to a Cheesecake Factory, like, 10 years ago.
[00:40:54] Speaker B: I worked for that company for, like, nine years because they would let me transfer around if I got booked doing gigs somewhere, they'd let me hop around to different cities and stuff. It was.
[00:41:02] Speaker A: Oh, nice.
[00:41:03] Speaker B: It was a very great company to work for. It really stayed very flexible for me. But I remember Mike Bibby. Do you remember he was a basketball player for.
[00:41:14] Speaker A: The name is familiar.
[00:41:15] Speaker B: Sacramento Kings for a long time. And then with the Heat. And he. I think he ended with the Heat. But I was a huge Kings fan when I was younger because I didn't know the warriors and the Kings were, like, rivals. I didn't get that. I just liked them both. But I went to his table, and I was like, hi. I just had to meet you. And he's like, you still know who I am? I was like, yes.
[00:41:41] Speaker A: That's awesome.
That's how you prove your. Your chops, that you're a sports fan. Like, if you. If you remember them after, you know, after their careers are over, when most people don't even remember what they did.
[00:41:51] Speaker B: Yes. There was a backup quarterback of the Raiders that came in once, too. And I went up to him like, you had a great game the other night. And he's like, nobody knows who I am.
[00:42:03] Speaker A: The Raiders. Marcus, why are you wearing face paint?
[00:42:06] Speaker B: Chewy? Elsa Soboat. Where was a fun.
[00:42:09] Speaker A: That's a great.
[00:42:10] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:42:11] Speaker A: Have you ever had any magicians come in that you were. That you fanned out over to the Magic Lounge?
[00:42:17] Speaker B: I mean, I. When I'm obs, I was like. My idol was Lance Burton. He was, like, the greatest thing in the world. And when I met him for the first time, I almost died. Like, I went to his show, you know, Like, I was so nervous. I was terrified. But I was very young. And now, slowly, throughout the years, as I've seen him more and more, like, he's just the sweet. He is. He was sweet when I met him when I was young, but I was just so petrified because I'm like, this is the guy, you know?
[00:42:53] Speaker A: But I. I was obsessed with him because of the Nickelodeon, like, Halloween. I was. I still watch that every year with my kids so that they can see. Like, it's just like, oh, my gosh. That's such a good. That's such a great 20 minutes of television.
[00:43:07] Speaker B: He's amazing. I saw his show way too many times in Las Vegas. It was great.
And. Yeah. And then I was performing at the IBM convention in Pittsburgh, and he watched my set, and he gave me a standing ovation and said he was proud of me. And I almost died.
[00:43:28] Speaker A: That's awesome.
And so that's high praise for me.
[00:43:35] Speaker B: It's.
I'm. I'm. And I think why I'm so weirded out with what I'm doing right now is because this is what I've wanted to do. Like, I just wanted. Yeah, you're doing it to make a living doing magic. And the fact that that's happening is still strange to me. It's still.
[00:43:52] Speaker A: That's amazing because.
[00:43:54] Speaker B: Yeah, it's. It's a weird adventure to get there.
[00:44:00] Speaker A: Nice. All right, you ready for some rapid fire? I've got three questions. Answer best you can. What advice would you give to someone that's just starting out in magic?
[00:44:09] Speaker B: My biggest piece of advice is to read your magic. Don't watch. I know so many people now learn from YouTube. That's what they have access to, and they can. But what I'm learning is a lot of people just copy exactly what they see. What I feel like when you go get a book and there's so many books on magic, like, so many, you.
[00:44:30] Speaker A: Can go to a lot, especially from Vanishing Ink. Vanishing, Inc. Has a lot of books and Vanishing Ink and Vanishing Ink. Vanishing Inc. Are we sponsored? No, we're not sponsored, but there's a. There's a pro. I'll tell you about the secret project after we're done.
[00:44:44] Speaker B: Got it.
[00:44:45] Speaker A: But Vanishing Inc. Vanishing.
[00:44:46] Speaker B: I love it. I mean, all right, they're both great. Love them. Josh and Andy.
[00:44:52] Speaker A: You mean Josh and Andy, the greatest magicians of all time who are maybe the nicest people that I've ever met.
[00:44:58] Speaker B: I finally got that Josh and Andy, a magi fest. And I loved it. I went this pat as just to visit it and I had such an amazing time. And they really know what they're doing. Putting on a convention. And they helped Leah a lot. They were super open to helping her and explaining things she needed to learn and behind the scenes of stuff. And it's just such a cool world that we're in where people are helpful and not like gatekeeping of this is what I do. But they're great.
[00:45:23] Speaker A: I love your idea about reading.
[00:45:24] Speaker B: Yeah, reading, because it helps you come out in the trick and not just another. You're seeing the same trick from where you just like copy paste of, okay, this guy did it online. Now I'm doing it. When you read something and you learn it, you're creating in your mind how to do that trick without seeing anybody else do it. So it will just ultimately make it more original and creative.
[00:45:50] Speaker A: I actually really love that idea. That's. I've never heard that advice. And it makes so much sense because there's a lot of. There's. And I believe Dana Herz, who's with Magic Corp, she basically says there's a lot of bad magic out there. And it's true. Do you ever still get nervous before a performance?
[00:46:06] Speaker B: Always when I'm doing something new or where it is. Like when I started ships, the very first ship I did, I was really scared because I'm like, it's such an unknown. You don't know what to expect. I've never performed for a ship audience. I don't know what it's gonna be like. But for me, the scariest thing is a brand new trick because I.
You can practice something to no end, but it doesn't matter. The audience might hate it, you know, so I'm always very prepared. Like, I practice to. I won't put something out there that's not ready to be seen. But also, it doesn't mean they're going to like it. So anytime I do something new, I'm very nervous because I just. I don't want the audience to hate this thing that I've been working on.
[00:46:53] Speaker A: You know, so that's the perfectionist. That is. That is. Seems to be ingrained in every professional magician that I talk to, you know, because that's your living. I mean, so of course you want to be perfect. And the last quick fire. Can you talk about a time where the trick went really wrong and how you recovered?
[00:47:10] Speaker B: Well, this. This is. I am very proud that I'm very prepared. So I don't really let things go wrong, but the time where something did go very wrong is when it wasn't anything I could control. It was the elements. So I was on the. It was for this Jersey Shore thing. I was outside, and it would rain sporadically. Was. Even though it was during the summer, it would rain randomly. The stage I was on had no cover over it, so, yeah, it would get wet. And I was doing Sub Trunk, which is where, you know, somebody's in a box, lock them up. And then I stand up on top of the box, and there's a curtain. Boom. We change places. Now I'm locked inside, right?
So for this version, I had gotten locked in the box, my assistant locked me inside, stood up on top, brought up the curtain, Boom. Ta da. I'm now on top. She's locked inside. But the box was very slick.
So I was gonna jump off the box, but first I have to drop the curtain. So I'm dropping the curtain, but as I do that, my foot slips. So my foot slips, gets caught in the curtain.
It takes me out. Like, it takes me off the box. So the curtain somehow managed to get tangled in my foot, which caused me to trip and fall off the box. The curtains wrapped all around me, and my momentum of bouncing from the box to the stage bounced me onto the ground. So I had bounced.
[00:48:50] Speaker A: Oh, my gosh.
[00:48:51] Speaker B: So I just tumbled from the box to the stage to the ground. And I'm. All this time my head's covered in this curtain, so I couldn't see where I was going. I was just hoping for the best. There's this stagehand who was kind of, like, in charge of the theme park, and he, like, sees me and he, like, runs, and he uncovers me. He's like, are you okay? And I'm like, I don't know, but my whole arm had been, like, sliced open. There was just blood gushing down my arm. My wrist was, like, kind of sprained, but that was it. Like, I could have been so much more hurt. But the girl was still locked in the box, so I had to get up on stage, unlock her, get her out. And luckily, it was the last show of the night, and there was a security guard there who was also. He used to be an emt, so he was able to, like, use little sutures to, like, you know, sew it up. And I didn't even have to go to the doctor. But that's amazing. It was quite the mess. And unfortunately, nobody got it on tape, so I didn't get to see it and I really wanted to see it because I'm sure that would have been.
[00:50:02] Speaker A: Yeah, that would have been YouTube worthy for sure.
[00:50:05] Speaker B: But yes. So for me, I prepare. I over prepare. I. I am. Because that's one of my biggest fear is having something go wrong.
[00:50:14] Speaker A: And it.
[00:50:15] Speaker B: If something is out of my control, like I won't do a trick that is out of my control. If there's a trick that requires something to maybe happen, I won't do it. I won't. Or I need to have a guaranteed backup because I don't want to let the audience down. You do magic. So if you do a trick that doesn't work, you look stupid. This is it. You're putting on this Persona of I can do this amazingness and then it doesn't work. It makes you look pretty dumb. And I'm big fear of mine. But yeah, so big fear of mine is to not be prepared and have something go wrong. Unfortunately, I can't prepare for the weather, but still nothing was revealed. I just looked like an idiot.
[00:50:57] Speaker A: Yeah, that's actually the best part. It's not you dropped it and didn't see any business. It's actually more amazing because you've. You fell off and it still worked. Paige Thompson, thank you so much for your time. You're a fantastic magician and dare I say, a fantastic human being. And if you, the listener, liked what we're doing here, please like and subscribe on YouTube so you can watch us in glorious video and follow and rate the podcast so we can spread the word that magic is for everyone. I'm Dr. Todd and this was Magicians Workshop and we will see you next time.
