Discourse in Magic

Ben joins Jonah to talk about their biggest business failures of 2020, how they happened, and what they learned from those experiences. When 2020 started, like everyone else, Ben and Jonah had big plans. Then everything got cancelled and they had to figure out what the Toronto Magic Company and their careers as magicians would look like. They took a lot of risks and found a lot of success. But these are the stories of their biggest failures from 2020 and we hope you learn something from these lessons. UnConventional Book Following the success of the first UnConventional.fun, the original plan was to send a book to everyone who attended. It was a good idea in theory and it would have made a wonderful physical keepsake of a memorable weekend but unfortunately for everyone Ben wasn’t used to sending out massive projects in the mail. Ben admits it was a stupid mistake but by mislabelling the packages they ended up sending hundreds of books through the mail system only to have them either disappear entirely or end up back in Toronto where they started. Additional delays in assembling the content for the book, editing, and designing the layout meant that promises to deliver the books in a timely manner couldn’t be honoured and many hundreds of books were lost or delivered to the wrong address.  Ben and Jonah learned to plan in advance, especially when working with unfamiliar processes and trying something new, like designing a book. Take your time and don’t be too proud to ask for advice and look up the proper procedure especially when dealing with complicated rules like packaging and labelling your international shipments. Toronto Magic Company Merch Jonah warned Ben that if they decided to sell merchandise to their audience who attended their virtual shows that the end result would be that their apartment, which they both share as roommates, would become filled with unsold merchandise. Skip ahead to 2021 and their apartment is filled with unsold merchandise. One entire closet is dedicated to their merch. They wear the extra clothing almost every day and drink out of mugs with their logo on it. Their apartment is a shrine to unsold Toronto Magic Company swag.  Ben and Jonah learned to think ahead of the outcomes of their projects and find more efficient ways to provide tokens of appreciation to their audience. Mugs and t-shirts are fun at conventions but how many people who attend a virtual magic show want the name of the production company sent to them on a t-shirt? As it turns out, not that many. The Halloween Show You might remember that Ben and Jonah hosted their first ever ticketed virtual magic show for halloween. What you might not remember was that the show itself took a lot of changes while it was being developed. The trailer video was made back when they intended the show to be super scary, but as they developed the program it was decided they would be more family friendly and funny and the tone shifted dramatically. People turned on by the scary trailer would visit the family friendly website and be turned off, while at the same time people enticed by the friendly website would see the trailer and decide that the show wasn’t for them either. Conflicting messaging and changing ideologies about the structure of the show lead to a lot of miscommunication in the marketing of the program and while the show itself was a lot of fun and those who attended had a great time, both Ben and Jonah knew that it could and should have been much more successful had they been consistent with their messaging.  Magic Out Loud Following UnConventional.fun, Jonah and Ben decided they wanted to launch their own magic club. But after some feedback they realized that nobody needed more access to lectures and written material so they changed the focus to a club where magicians would be invited to perform in front of the lecturers and get feedback from them directly. On paper it seemed like a great idea but the result was Ben and Jonah begging for money and not getting enough people to sign up to make it a viable project. The lesson they took from this was to listen to the community you’re serving and try not invent needs that don’t exist. There was no desire for a magic club like this at this time and the only people left disappointed in the end were Ben and Jonah.  Hat Tricks Speaking of trying to make something that nobody asked for…  When Ben and Jonah learned that Netflix was open to pitches for magic shows they tried to put together a project they called Hat Tricks. To this day nobody outside of Ben’s brain knows exactly what this show was about. Was it the Chopped of magic? Was it a send up of shows like Wizard Wars? Was it a convoluted mess with a talking hat that nobody knew what the rules were?  Creativity is great but you also need to know when to be pragmatic and realistic. Having a wacky high concept for a show can work but it also needs to be accessible, and comprehensible to a wide audience and if your own friends don’t know what is going on maybe it’s time to reign yourself in.  And if you decide not to reign yourself in you might be responsible for…  Twizards! No video exists of this grandest of failures. For that we can all be grateful. But if you’ve ever seen Jonan and Ben dressed up as wizards you can know that they own those costumes because of this idea.  The Twizards was going to be a show to teach people about magic, where they could learn tricks and understand the methods. But rather than just create a simple teaching program like everyone else Ben and Jonah decided to shoot for the moon and create a disney-esque TV show about a paid of wizards trapped in a library having to learn tricks to escape their prison while Ben and Jonah watch them on TV and learn the tricks in the real world. Sound confusing? That’s because it was confusing.  Not only did Ben and Jonah have no experience scripting and producing a TV program, they’re also not actors or comedians or scriptwriters. They bit off way more than they could chew and soon found themselves so wrapped up in figuring out how to create special effects on a green screen that they forgot that the whole reason they created this project in the first place was to be a fun and simple way to teach people about magic.  Grand ideas are fun to have but the lessons to be learned here are to ask yourself honestly if anyone is asking for the thing you’re trying to make. Learning From Failure Over the course of 2020 Ben and Jonah have tried lots of things and from the failures they’ve learned that one of the most important secrets to success is to give yourself the time to succeed. You can’t complete your high concept project if you’re waiting until the last minute to put the finishing details on it. If you’re putting together your thing a week before your show you’re already too late. As well, be creative in the execution and be level-headed in the creation, create with practicality in mind and execute with creativity in mind. If you’d like to learn more about what the Toronto Magic Company is up to be sure to check out their youtube channel at youtube.com/torontomagiccompany The post Our Greatest Failures of 2020 with Ben and Jonah appeared first on Discourse in Magic.

Jonah is joined by legendary magician and comedian Mac King to talk about his life growing up with magic, blending stand up comedy with magic performance, and moving to Vegas to perform at Harrah’s Hotel. Starting Young Mac King was first introduced to magic by his grandfathers who each had a love for magic tricks. The first time he ever saw magic performed was from one of his grandfathers and the other grandfather owned a collection of magic books that Mac was allowed to pour over them to learn their secrets. Once he was 14 he was allowed to join a local magic club and he remembers clearly the first night he attended a club that a crowd had gathered around another young magician to see him perform before the meeting began. That young magician was Lance Burton and he and Mac remained friends ever since. A Comic’s Approach To Magic Mac King’s act is a blend of stand up comedy and magic, a combination he notices is becoming more rare as time goes on. He got his work touring comedy clubs across the country and got to spend a lot of time in close proximity to other stand-up comedians and saw how they prepared for their shows. Early on he decided he needed to demonstrate to them that he was approaching magic the way a comic approaches comedy. He created his own tricks, and when he couldn’t do that he made sure to create his own presentations. Pretty soon he was tearing up the club scene and winning audiences over.  Genuine Audience Interaction Seeing his live shows shut down for a year has been really difficult for Mac, he loves interacting genuinely with the audience. Dealing with a person on stage, not just as a prop but as a human being and becoming their friend as the show progresses. Adapting to virtual has been especially difficult for him because of the way he interacts with audiences at his live shows, so rather than pivot to virtual magic performances he’s found a new love in the form of producing a talk show on YouTube called Don’t Everybody Leave. Born out of a mix of missing live shows and not allowed to have friends over to play croquet and eat pie late at night in his backyard, he hopes this show scratches that performers itch until we’re all allowed to attend events in person again. Wrap-Up Endless Chain Jacob Jacks. Nobody has heard of him. He’s a street performer from Vegas. He’s a really good magician, he’s really funny, and he can talk about magic in a pretty smart way. What do you like about modern magic? What do you not like? Mac King likes that there’s been a call around the world for more diversity in every profession and every walk of life and magic might be a little behind that but it’s catching up. What disappoints Mac is the lack of other stand-up comic magicians, he wishes there were more 17 or 18 year olds expressing an interest in doing what Mac does. Take home point Do more shows and listen.  Plugs The official site is MacKingShow.com but for the more up to date news be sure to follow him on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook @MacKingShow And be sure to subscribe to his new talk show on YouTube, Don’t Everybody Leave with new episodes every week!  The post Stand-Up Comedy Magic with Mac King appeared first on Discourse in Magic.

Jonah was invited onto the Of Sleights and Men podcast to talk about running his various businesses and the balance between his love of magic and his love of entrepreneurship. This episode is just a highlight of his full conversation with podcast hosts Benji and Jacob. Check out the Of Sleights and Men Podcast for the complete interview. The Toronto Magic Company Jonah opens up about the founding of the Toronto Magic Company and how it fits in with Discourse in Magic and his career as a magician. He pulls back the curtain to give an insight into how the business operates and the challenges he’s had to overcome with running three ongoing businesses at the same time. You’ll get to learn about the origins of the company and Jonah’s inspirations.   The Love Of Entrepreneurship  Jonah’s first love has always been magic but he shares with the Of Sleights and Men podcast how that love has changed over the years to prioritize the love of entrepreneurship and operating his own company. Through that love of entrepreneurship Jonah has learned important lessons about input and results and opens up about how much his process has changed as a magician.  The Value Of Magic That said, Jonah still knows that magic is fun and magic is a release for a lot of people. He talks about what it’s like to live in a space where art is valued and the value that magic and performance plays in society. We are serving a need and making people happy and that is real and valuable and important and Jonah is happy to share that journey with people. The post Of Sleights And Men Podcast appeared first on Discourse in Magic.

Jonah is joined by Scot Nery, a juggler, magician, and entertainer who now helps entertainers with their branding, marketing, and more helping to identify their value and the value they bring to their clients.  Escaping The Magic Bug Scot Nery didn’t really stick with magic, not at first. Early on when he first joined a magic club and found a mentor he found that the club he was a part of was not very creative. They would perform tricks exactly as written, right down to the same patter. There was no room for deviation or change and at the time he thought that all magic was, which was repeating stuff that somebody had already seen. It was that reason which attracted him to juggling instead, since every time you see juggling it’s in the moment and the risk involved feels like each performance is something unique.  What brought Scot Nery back into magic was he saw that it created hope, which is something he feels a lot of performers forget about when they’ve been performing for a while. The magical moment that gets everyone hooked to magic in the first place is a feeling of giving people hope. That a human can go beyond what you think is possible for a human to do. The Boobie Trap Scot is also the mastermind behind the hugely successful Boobie Trap show out of LA. It came from a desire to prove that he could host a show himself and to provide a platform for performers to kill it in front of an audience. Every show was different and was packed full of surprises, you never knew what guest or performances you were going to get each night. But you would be forgiven for thinking that Scot is not a magician, he lied his way into a marketing job and made his name performing in a one-man parody of a cooking show. But he’s also performed at Magic Castle and has made connections with magicians and entertainers around the world.  Empathize With Your Customer When Boobie Trap was shut down due to the pandemic, Scot found out about Jonah’s consulting work with magicians. The two connected and now Scot offers consulting work of his own helping to identify the value of and empower magicians to grow their brand and their business.  One of the big tips that Scot suggests is that if you’re having a hard time identifying your value that you empathize with your customer. You are likely much more than just a host when you are taking on a job for a client and you can offer them work in staging the show, set design, scripting, and lots of other details that a corporate client might overlook when booking a magician to host their big event. In the end it’s not really about what trick you are able to pull off but what problems you are able to solve and learning what problems you are able to solve can make all the difference in the world to a stressed out HR manager booking their next show. Wrap-Up Endless Chain Mark Collier. He’s an amazing clumsy card magician that does everything. He’s like Leonard Green fallen apart.  What do you like about modern magic? What do you not like? Scot likes taking a format or a genre and exploiting every aspect of it. Now there are no expectations for that a Zoom magic show should even look like Scot is very excited to see what develops from that. Scot doesn’t like that he’s still hearing people denigrating virtual shows.  Take home point As long as we are trying to survive we are not going to be able to create the great stuff that moves us forward. We’re not going to be able to create the entertainment that changes people’s lives. First we have to thrive, we have to really take care of ourselves, and do awesome stuff for each other, and then we can make some amazing things that people can’t get from Netflix or Instagram. Plugs Visit Scot’s page at scot.fun and if you visit scot.fun/dim you can pick up something free from Scot right now just for Discourse in Magic listeners. The post Discovering Your Value with Scot Nery appeared first on Discourse in Magic.

On this episode, we are talking about ticketed virtual magic shows. I’m going to give you three reasons why you absolutely should put on your first ever virtual ticketed magic show. We are talking about your virtual magic show, not the one you do for corporate clients, not the one you do for families, but the one that you sell tickets for. I know you’ve thought about it, some of you may have done it already, and I know many of you have successfully sold out virtual events. Some people are struggling to get people to attend their events without having to bother people one at a time or individually and some of you are doing it but want to figure out how to do it better. I want to walk through three reasons why you should be thinking about putting on a ticketed virtual magic show. Reason #1: Word Of Mouth The first reason has to do with your peers, your friends, your family, your family’s friends, and your friends’ family all work at companies. And those companies have not been able to gather together in person and even though it may be really difficult for you to get in contact with the HR person at those companies, it’s very easy for you to get in contact with one of the employees who puts in a good word for you. You reach out to your friend, your peer, and you get them to know about your brand. That way, when something comes up at the company and they’re asked if they have any ideas they can put their hand up and say they know just the person. If you’ve been doing magic for any amount of time, especially if you’re in the first few phases, a lot of your bookings are going to come from word of mouth. Putting on a ticketed show literally puts you and your magic in front of your friends, your family, your family’s friends, and your friends’ family. Your peers get to see what you do. And then two weeks later at their company event, when they’re doing bingo or something, and it’s really boring and they really don’t like it, they’re going to think back to the ticketed magic show that they went to and they’re going to wish that they had something like this at their company. you will start to see that the friends that you have are going to be recommending you for their company.Your show acts as an audition so that they can see it. They can know that they like you. People are seeing what you’re doing instead of sitting at home and twiddling your thumbs. Reason #2: An E-Mail List Throughout the course of the pandemic, my email list has been my safe haven. Having thousands of people that know me and like what I do has allowed me to sell new and unique ideas. When we launched virtual magic shows, we sold it to the email list of people that were interested. When we put on a ticketed show, we sold it to the email list. Even when we put on a virtual magic convention, I was grateful to have an email list so that I could tell all the people who already like what I do about all of the cool things that I’m doing. When you build fans of your brand, if they’re just a fan of yours on Facebook or Instagram, you can’t guarantee that when you post something they’re going to see it. But if they’re on your email list then you can guarantee that you’re going to see it. A ticketed virtual magic show is an epic way right now to get people onto your email list. Not only do they pay money but after the show you can send them bonuses. You can send them epic stuff to their emails. They love it. And they love getting emails from you, which means when the time comes that you want to send an email about an upcoming product and upcoming project it becomes easy to do. You don’t have to go and start posting on social media to collect all those people, instead, you just send an email out to your email list. In the last seven years that I’ve been in any kind of business my email list has been the number one asset in my business. Reason #3: It Makes Money I did an interview a couple of years ago with an incredible magician and speaker, Brian Miller, and he said something that’s always resonated with me. He said, the reason why restaurant magic is so amazing is because they pay you to market yourself. How awesome is that? They pay you to go around and give out business cards. And I want you to think about your ticketed virtual magic show in the same way. People are paying to come and see your show and at that show you get to promote whatever you want. Usually you’re either spending your money or spending your time to do lead generating activities. This is a lead generating activity that makes you money.    That’s it for this week, we are still kind of decompressing from Unconventional.fun a few days ago. It was awesome and Ben and I will do a little episode talking a little bit about that, but otherwise I just want to say thank you. Thanks for joining us on this little magician appetizer and I will see you all next Thursday. Peace! The post Magic Appetizer: Three Reasons For Ticketed Virtual Shows appeared first on Discourse in Magic.

Jonah is joined by Ryan Kane, author of “Out of Stock: A Magician’s Guide to Writing Your Own Lines”, where they talk about the importance of writing your own lines when performing your magic and Ryan takes one of Jonah’s own lines and takes it through his process to replace it with something new or something better. Original Content Ryan Kane has exploded in the last twelve months, not only because he’s been doing a lot of virtual magic, but also because he’s been giving opportunities to a lot of magicians to perform by hosting open mic nights and helping to build up the community by helping magicians to work on their magic. Ryan does the deep work on magic, on writing your own lines, and if you see him perform you know that he’s written every single word. The Prevalence of Stock Lines Ryan is passionate about challenging the use of stock lines in performances. They’re functional and easy to get used to always using but, as Ryan points out, they can cheapen the entire performance if someone in your audience has heard that line somewhere else. Ryan has developed a system to help break down the use of your stock lines, examine what use they’re actually serving, and work towards creating newer and better lines that not only will be original lines that you’ve created for yourself but might also bring out aspects of your show that have grown stale over time.  Endless Chain David Gerard. He’s a fantastic mentalist magician from the Bay Area and when it comes to a magical thinker he’s among the top.  What do you like about modern magic? What do you not like? I like being able to connect with a lot of magicians that I normally don’t. I don’t like that this is a boy’s club and we need to get up to the time with and we need to stop making excuses for ourselves and become more inclusive.  Take home point Set a new standard for yourself. Figure out that you’re not going to do this anymore, I’m gonna get rid of stock lines, I’m gonna do more stage time, I’m gonna be better about watching tape… these are easy little things that will make a massive change in your show and in your life.  Plugs The Mostly Magicians Virtual Open Mic is completely free and you can request to join the public Facebook link by visiting facebook.com/groups/mostlymagiciansvirtualopenmic Out of Stock: A Magician’s Guide to Writing Your Own Lines is available now on Amazon  And you can find out more about Ryan Kane at ryankanemagic.com The post Throwing Away Your Stock Lines with Ryan Kane appeared first on Discourse in Magic.

Today Jonah tells you about Unconventional.fun 2: Magicland. He’ll explain to you what this is, how it came to be, and then give you six reasons why this may be something that you want to be a part of.  What is Unconventional.fun?  Six months ago, Ben Trane and Jonah launched the first ever eight-bit video-game virtual-magic convention. What that meant was that not only did you have all the cool parts of a convention, like lectures and shows and things like that, but the thing that they did was create a virtual world, kind of like an old video game, where you would mingle around the world with arrow keys. When you got close to other attendees, you could jam with each other. You could hang out because you could see each other’s cameras and hear each other’s voice. So it was kind of like a real magic convention but placed in a video game world. If you wanted, you could go to enjoy the lectures and panels and shows but you could also hang out with the cool kids in the back jamming or just connect with some of your favorite magicians and hangout and talk like you would at a real convention. It was awesome. They had 250 magicians but made two big obvious glaring errors that they are not going to make again. Two Big Mistakes The first big, huge mistake that they made was that they had 13 hours of lectures and shows and panels but they didn’t record a single thing. Which is funny because this is magic 101… record your shows and record your stuff! The first reason why they didn’t record anything was because they were worried that it was all going to crash completely. It was earlier in the whole zoom world. The second reason why they didn’t record it was because they wanted to make it a live event, a kind of in-person thing, so everyone would be there. But what they didn’t realize was that there’s people all over the world and what’s two o’clock for them in the afternoon was maybe the middle of the night for somebody else. So a lot of people stayed up very late to be a part of the whole entire thing, which was epic but a mistake on their part. The second mistake that they made was that they built a video game world. Jonah and Ben teamed together with coders and designers to make a world that was whatever they wanted. And with unlimited creativity, with unlimited power, the world that they built was … a convention center. They built a floor of a hotel lobby, and it was awesome, they had a dealer’s room, a main stage, jamming areas, a bar, and a lot of different cool stuff like you would have at a real convention. But when they decided to do it again, they knew that they had to make something cool. So after the first convention, they sent out a survey asking if people wanted to do it again. And 96% said yes! So they knew they were going to do another one and they knew they were going to have to make some big changes. Two Big Changes The first big change is that they are recording all of the lectures, panels, and shows so you can watch them afterwards if you can’t make it, or like a convention, if instead of a lecture you’d want to meet up or jam with somebody who’s not lecturing at that time, you can totally do that and watch the lectures afterwards. The second big change is that they built Magicland. It’s a magic themed amusement park. So instead of a dealer’s room, they have a midway. Instead of having a bar, they’ve got food trucks. So now when you walk around the virtual world, you are in a unique place that doesn’t look just like a hotel convention center, but instead it looks like something magical and impossible that has never existed before. What To Expect The first Unconventional.fun was a one day eight bit virtual magic convention. And now, Unconventional.fun 2 will be a two day eight bit video game virtual magic convention. And the days that it’s happening are Saturday, February 27th and Sunday, February 28. Unconventional.fun 2: Magicland is the second ever video game virtual magic convention. Just like the first one, there’s lectures, panels, and shows and also you mingle around with the arrow keys. When you get close to the other attendees your camera and mic fade into view. So you can jam, you can hang out, and you can spend time together. That means that if you come find Jonah, we can jam and hang out with him. You can also hang out with some of the other magicians that are there. Not only the ones on the lineup. At Unconventional.fun 2, you can jam with Eric Jones, Suzanne, Caleb Wiles, Asi Wind, Paul Vigil, Moritz Mueller, and so many different magicians that are going to be there. Six Reasons Why You Should Go Number one: lectures.  Ben and Jonah have brought some of the best lecturers together. Not only people who have been crushing in virtual but also just people who absolutely crush it. So not only do they have a John Guastaferro lecture, which is going to be amazing, they’ve got an Eric Jones lecture and Adrian Lacroix lecture. One lecture that Jonah is looking forward to is Asi Wind who will be doing a part lecture, part Q&A called “Fix Your Magic”. You will get to submit your magic problems and Asi will work to fix them and talk about some potential solutions.  Number two: We have an incredible Virtual Magic Panel. Ben and Johan have pulled together a handful of magicians who have been absolutely crushing it in the world of virtual to ask about why, what, and how they’re doing it and figure out how you can do the same thing.  Number three: Performances. The last year and a half of magic has gone through changes that it has never seen before because of the full fledged transition from in-person magic to virtual magic. So you better believe that when they say they’ve got virtual magic shows for you to watch, they have the best virtual magic performers in the world performing. You will get to see exactly what it is that they’ve created over the past year and how you can maybe do the same thing, not by taking their tricks (unless they’re for sale) but to get some inspiration from some really incredible virtual magic performances. Number four: A custom world.  Ben and Jonah built an entire custom world with magic jokes. And with unlimited different bits and pieces that are hilarious. They have food trucks, a midway, games, and performance spaces. Big enough for 500 magicians Number five: The jamming.  This is really the thing that separates this from other conventions in the virtual space is that you really can mingle around and you really can jam with anyone. Ben and Jonah are going to be there. All of the performers on the lineup are going to be hanging out and jamming. And there’s a really cool feature in this platform where you can search the name of the person that you want to jam with. They’ll come up and then you can go find them. So if you want to jam with Eric Jones, you just search his name, you click on it and it’ll tell you where in the virtual world he is and go and find him. If you want to go jam with Spidey, it’s exactly the same thing, you can search where in the virtual world he is and go find them. If you’ve got a question for Adrian Lacroix or you want to jam with Chris Mayhew or you want to share some tricks with Michael Feldman. Easy! To find them you type their name in a little search bar and then you go find where their little avatar is hanging out. Number Six: It’s yours forever Every single one of those lectures, performances and panel talks, are being recorded and being given out to you forever. If you just bought this to download the videos afterwards, it would be worth it. Get Your Tickets Today It’s happening February 27th 7:00 PM to midnight Eastern Standard Time and then February 28th is the full day from 9:00 AM to midnight. If you’re interested in Unconventional.fun, Just click the links here to read a little bit about what it’s all about. We would love to see you there.  The post Magic Appetizer: Unconventional 2: Magicland appeared first on Discourse in Magic.

Jonah is joined by Ben Seidman to talk about working as a consultant on Mindfreak, appearing on Fool Us, and learning how to throw out everything you’ve heard when designing your own show.  He Started Terrible And Then He Got Better Ben doesn’t think his origin story is all that interesting. He was interested in magic and got his dad to buy him a magic kit and he was really bad at it and then he got better. Throughout his early years he says there were two “aha” moments for him that stuck with him throughout his career. The first was the feeling of “crushing” a show and the second was the realization that he was coming up with ideas that nobody else was doing. One of those first ideas, a pick pocket routine he invented when he was 21, would land him his first consulting job on Mindfreak and open the doors to the rest of his future career performing in magic.    At Mindfreak Ben found himself working between Johnny Thompson and Banachek and for someone so young it was inevitable that he would be feeling some imposter syndrome. But once he offered up ideas that they would say were cool too it was validating enough to allow Ben to give himself permission to admit that the work he was doing had value as well. Ben’s time as a consultant and advisor helped him to find his footing but performing had always been his goal. Each of his favourite magicians followed what he calls the holy trifecta, they’re very creative, amazing on stage, and also very technically skilled. Checking off those boxes are important to Ben as well as creating emotional hooks with the audience but also keeping it really funny.  The Importance of Remaining Original  Ben is a passionate advocate for original content. Far too many magicians, including Ben up to a point, have relied on phrases and jokes and lines from other performers. Perhaps it’s from the culture where we get the magic and included is the patter and the instructions tell you what to say and so you say it. But if you’re going to perform magic the only thing you can guarantee will be original will be you. Everyone is performing magic and it’s all just… magic. If you hear a line that another magician says Ben will emphatically tell you that you should never use that line in your own routine.    Who you are and what you say is vastly more important to your connection with the audience. The things that you say are what create the moments. So look through what you say in each trick and if you’ve ever heard that line anywhere else just cross it out. If you take those things out you still have to fill that space. You will start saying the things that are you because you have to. If you put yourself in a position where it’s sink or swim, something will come out of you.  Pivoting To Virtual  Ben also stuck around to share more about how the past year of virtual magic has been for him. One of the things he’s noticed is that it’s much easier to connect with fans of his work. Normally while touring his name alone would not be a huge draw on the marquee. He might have a lot of fans but they’re spread out all over the world. Now thanks to virtual magic they can all gather in the same place. So rather than performing on a live stage to an audience that might not know who he is, he’s been able to perform to fans who know his work and are excited for his unique brand of magic. And that wouldn’t have been possible before virtual magic.    Ben is quick to point out that virtual magic shows are not the same kind of magic as a netflix special. You have to make sure you are interacting with your audience, that’s the one major strength you have in a virtual show that you can’t do in a pre-recorded tv special. He’ll also warn you about over spending and over producing your show. You don’t necessarily need a five camera setup with expensive lights and a set. There’s no shame in doing your show on your laptop camera and seeing how it works out before investing more money into your tech. Focus on what you can bring first. Wrap-Up Endless Chain David Jerard. David is a magician and mentalist based out of San Francisco. David is also one of the people that Ben bounces ideas off of. And also Joe Monti. Joe is strange strange man who Ben loves dearly. He also worked on Mindfreak and has a unique perspective and is super goofy. He talks a mile a minute and his brain works just as fast.  What do you like about modern magic? What do you not like? Ben likes that more people have access to magic. There was a time when you only saw magic when you were in the upper crust, now anyone can see magic. Ben doesn’t like that more people have access to magic. There’s a problem with magic becoming trivialised. Far too many people are putting out magic online before it’s ready to be performed. A moment of magic should be a unique thing but if you can access it non-stop, especially from any level of quality, then it’s no longer this profound and beautiful thing.  Take home point Be Original.  If you forge your own path and you put things into the world that have not been seen before then people get to appreciate you for who you are as opposed to who someone else is. In your everyday life and in your magic try to create moments of joy for people by being the best human you can and trying to be truly you. The more “you” you are the more original you will become, in life and in your magic.  Plugs Ben Seidman’s Oracle System is being sold by Vanishing Ink and is available now to pre-order at www.vanishingincmagic.com/close-up-magic/the-oracle-system.  The Oracle System is the only piece in Ben’s repertoire that is available for public consumption so don’t miss out on this unique opportunity.  The best way to find his tv and video appearances is to just go ahead and google Ben Seidman Videos and you can also visit BenSeidman.com You can also follow Ben on instagram @benseidman The post Finding The Magic Formula with Ben Seidman appeared first on Discourse in Magic.

Jonah is joined by Ben Train, his Toronto Magic Company business partner, to offer up a glimpse of what life is like at the Toronto Magic Company, how it’s adapted to the world of virtual magic, upcoming events they’re hosting, and the lessons that he and Ben have learned after almost a full year of pivoting to the virtual.   A New Mission Ben and Jonah launched the Toronto Magic Company four years ago with the mission to share magic with public shows and programming for lay people around the Toronto area. When all live events were cancelled in March 2020 they had to shift the Magic Company to an all virtual environment and now their mission is to simply share magic. Now, thanks to virtual magic, Jonah and Ben are able to share magic not just in their geographic area of Toronto but all over the world, which has really helped to make the work they do a ton of fun.  Having Fun With Virtual Magic For Ben, virtual magic has changed his relationship with magic. In the past Ben has been honest about how challenging live shows can be. With all the prep work, stress, and travelling involved it can really take a toll on someone. Virtual magic has reinvigorated Ben and shown him just how much fun there is to have with magic. Ben feels more creative and more free than he could be on stage, he feels comfortable in his setting rather than feeling nervous before shows and for a variety of reasons this past year has helped Ben fall in love again with magic.  For Jonah, there’s always been so much mystery when you go to a private event to perform and you’re not always guaranteed a receptive audience. With virtual magic, Jonah has discovered a world of enthusiastic audiences excited to see magic done in a novel way. There’s something very special happening right now and the full potential for virtual magic is just beginning to be realized.  Living With Your Business Partner  Shortly after founding the Toronto Magic Company, Jonah and Ben made the decision to move in together as roommates to better coordinate their business projects. So what’s it like living together when each of you are fundamentally very different people? Jonah and Ben pull back the curtain on their home and living arrangement and share stories about how they couldn’t have pulled off this company without the other’s unique input. They also share how they overcome creative differences and lessons they’ve learned over the past several years in resolving conflicts and taking risks.  Next Stop, Magicland!  Unconventional.fun is coming back in 2021 and this year they’re taking a bold leap into a magic park setting. You might recall that in 2020 Ben and Jonah hosted the inaugural Unconventional.fun virtual magic convention by recreating an 8-bit virtual hotel environment where magicians could mill about and jam in the lobby and attend lectures and workshops. For their very first time doing it they wanted to recreate the familiar setting of a conventional convention, but this year they’re pulling out all the stops and embracing the creative freedom that a virtual environment offers. This year Unconventional.fun is going to Magicland, a virtual amusement park for magicians. More details will be coming out soon so for now you should sign up to the mailing list by visiting Unconventional.fun to be notified when tickets go live. The post A New Mission For The Toronto Magic Company appeared first on Discourse in Magic.

Jonah is joined by Mat Franco where they get to discuss his dominating performance on America’s Got Talent, opening up a For-Real-Life show in Vegas, and knowing from an early age that Mat was destined to live his dream as a magician. Ever since he was five, Mat has dedicated his life to learning and performing magic, from show-and-tell in kindergarten, to the college touring circuit, to winning on America’s Got Talent, to producing a show in Vegas.  No Backup Plan Seeing magic on TV, a five year old Mat asked him parents for some magic tricks and soon after he was performing for his kindergarten class. By elementary school he was performing on stage for the local high school and from then on it’s been non-stop performing. He might claim that he went to business school as a backup plan but the reality is he never had one, it’s always been magic. Tough and ruthless was the name of the game when it came time to get booking to perform on the college circuit and through a mix of good luck, a good show, and being able to speak the language of leadership and business to those who were doing the booking Mat found himself performing for colleges across America.  Winning Wasn’t The Plan The idea for signing up for America’s Got Talent was to be able to get footage of his acts to use to book more gigs at colleges. It was never his intention or belief that he would progress through the competition all the way to winning in the finale. But, as Mat puts it, he was “young, stupid, naive, and tenacious” and able to problem solve his way to adapt the tricks he had in his inner rolodex to performing on the show.   Still A Beginner In Magic Mat still considers himself a beginner in magic and it’s that mindset that he believes has helped him to achieve the success he has found. He never had big dreams, the most he hoped for was to make magic and share it with people. At the end of the day it’s all about attitude, personality, entertaining people, interaction, that’s the real magic, that’s the x-factor, that is intangible. Wrap-Up Endless Chain Bill Malone  What do you like about modern magic? What do you not like? Shows like the Carbonaro Effect and Fool Us which are reframing magic for modern audiences in a way that’s positive and uplifting. For a time magic was being associated with cruel pranks online and it’s nice to see it moving away from that. On the other hand magic is currently suffering from a voyeuristic approach, where people mostly watch magic being done to other people, and Mat would like to see new ways to present magic that allow the person watching it to be more directly involved in the experience.   Take home point I do believe experience is the best teacher. I believe you should follow your passions. And I’m also a believer in good solid technique in whatever it is you’re doing. Not to overlook a good solid base, a good solid background in technique, a toolbox to draw from, that will allow you to create better things. If you get really good at the scales you can write better songs.  Plugs You can listen to Mat co-host the Mind Over Magic podcast with Eric Ditelman Instagram @matfrancomagic Twitter @matfrancomagic Youtube And be sure to visit matfranco.com The post Living the Magic Dream with Mat Franco appeared first on Discourse in Magic.