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Favorite Magicians

Josh Redstone

Thinker
Josh Redstone
Joined
Aug 12, 2006
Messages
203
You can't have a forum about magic without asking about everyone's favorite magicians :D

More and more I find myself drawn to the work of Cyril. He'll take something that's already really cool on it's own and put a spin on it, like a card through window routine into a card through aquarium routine.


So how about everyone else's favorite magicians?
 
David Williamson
Ricky Jay who was directed by David Mamet
David Roth
David Regal

It seems I have a predispostion to people named David.
 
Ricky Jay not only for his magic itself but for books like Learned Pigs and Fireproof Women, and Cards as Weapons. And his work with Mamet.
 
I'm keepin' it contemporary.

David Williamson is funny and amazing. Just yesterday I caught this clip of him: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCzTYrnOg-8
Pick up Magic Farm if you can!

Bill Malone
Tommy Wonder (recently deceased :( )
Simon Aronson (a lawyer by profession)
John Bannon (friend of Aronson, also a lawyer by profession)
Ricky Jay
 
Two of my favorites are Randi and Jamy Ian Swiss.

Randi, because...well, just don't ever give Randi a $20 bill, because you will immediately get a $1 bill back. I swear to whatever deity of your fancy, he doesn't do anything - he just hands it back to you.

Swiss? He fooled 20-odd skeptics, up close and personal (any closer, and the vice squad would have been called in), at TAM2, who were just dying to catch him. He can do it again, at will. The swine.

Don't ever think you can't be fooled, especially if you are a skeptic.
 
CFLarsen said:
Two of my favorites are Randi and Jamy Ian Swiss.

Randi, because...well, just don't ever give Randi a $20 bill, because you will immediately get a $1 bill back. I swear to whatever deity of your fancy, he doesn't do anything - he just hands it back to you.

Swiss? He fooled 20-odd skeptics, up close and personal (any closer, and the vice squad would have been called in), at TAM2, who were just dying to catch him. He can do it again, at will. The swine.

Don't ever think you can't be fooled, especially if you are a skeptic.
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were these skeptics, magicians?
 
Speaking of fooling, Banachek actually managed to fool a bunch of scientists in one of Randi's hoaxes.....I think that's awesome, so he'd probably be a potential fav. (I say potential because I'm not really that familiar with his work outside of that project)
 
Gross oversight on my part. I need to add one more: Lennart Green. (I'm basically a card guy.)
 
My favorite magician is David Blaine. David has dated Madonna, Fiona Apple, and models Josie Moran and Manon von Gerkan.

Yes, he's the greatest magician ever.
 
HarryKeogh said:
My favorite magician is David Blaine. David has dated Madonna, Fiona Apple, and models Josie Moran and Manon von Gerkan.

Yes, he's the greatest magician ever.
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Where was the ironic smiley?
You were being ironic werenri't you?

I second Magic farm.The trick and anecdotes are first rate.:)
 
firecoins said:
but were they magicians? Skeptic, as skeptical as they are, are not fluent in the methods & can still be fooled.
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You're not from around here, are you?

edited to add: I just reread the back and forth and I see it's just a slight problem with writing skills . . . I'm guessing you actually meant to ask if Jami was fooling skeptics or skeptical magicians, so never mind.
 
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HarryKeogh said:
Yes, he's the greatest magician ever.
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His conjuring skills are ok, but to date that collection of women (with a face like his)...yeah he's the greatest magician ever. Although Copperfield married that German model, who's name I forget.


Edit: I forgot to add my favourite magicians. When I was a kid Doug Henning really appealed to me. Maybe because he seemed like such a nice guy. Too bad he went woo with the TM crowd.
 
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firecoins said:
but were they magicians? Skeptic, as skeptical as they are, are not fluent in the methods & can still be fooled.
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It's not even that difficult to fool most people who claim to be magicians. But the average magician is not really fluent in methods.
 
Bob Klase said:
It's not even that difficult to fool most people who claim to be magicians. But the average magician is not really fluent in methods.
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I bring up the issue not to debate what the average magician or skeptic knows. Non magicans including skeptics may be fooled by stuff magicans won't be.
 
Well, in that case my very favorite magicians, and just about the only ones I've seen while I'm alert and they're alive, are Max Maven (closeup) and Penn and Teller (big show). I saw Paul Daniels on a cruise ship as a little kid and it was total entertainment sho-biz and complete fun. I'm so amazingly gullible when it comes to the art form of magic illusion. Anybody can get me going. I tend to analyze it all only later when I get a chance.

[thinking back, Daniels probably wasn't on the cruise ship, saw him in London]
 
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