Next Monday, June 25 Penn & Teller: Fool Us returns The CW with a whole season of acts trying to sneak their secrets past the bad boys of magic. The official trailer for the new season is our lead off video… and the countdown to the official summer magic TV season begins!

A quick recap of the magic on America’s Got Talent last night: First, comedy “mentalist” Lioz Shem Tov did not impress all of the judges, but did garner three yes votes basically doing the old “David Copperfield” bit from Conan O’Brien’s early days at NBC (which frankly is probably older than that). Japanese, uh, I’ll call him a “comic magician” Wes-P did an interesting take on the ol’ table cloth trick which did not go over terribly well. You can see that here. Finally, and most importantly, there was a magician making a plethora of spongeballs appear who seemed to be voted on to the next round, but they did not show his whole act or even announce his name. If you can identify him, please let us know through the comments!

The Paso Robles Daily News looks at a Go Fund Me campaign dedicated to financing a student film about magician and YouTube star Rich Ferguson.

Dorothy Dietrich and Houdini have inspired Erin Callahan’s new young adult novel The Art Of Escaping. Read more over on the Buffalo Business First site.

Caesar’s Las Vegas Blog looks at the long Las Vegas career of “the man in plaid” Mac King.

Finally, you can listen to a KFGO radio interview with Michael Finney ahead of his appearance at the Roger Maris.

Headlines, News | No Comments »

FISM 2018 in Korea is next month… new champions of magic will be crowned! German competitor Willi “The Magic Man” Auerbach posted this video featuring the Rubik’s Cube stage act he will be performing.

Conventions, illusion, performance | No Comments »

Ahead of Smoothini’s new show Hip Hop Houdini next month, Fuse is sending Smoothini out to music festivals to meet with artists and share a little bit of magic; in the first clip of this web series, he chats a little with Lizzo and then blows her mind.

performance, Smoothini, TV | No Comments »

Masters Of Illusion returns to the air Friday, June 29 and The CW just released the first teaser commercial… that’s today’s lead off video! Penn & Teller: Fool Us returns next week.

The CBC Radio Network has a feature on McGill University PhD candidate Jay Olson, a former professional magician turned psychiatry student, who hopes to mix the lessons he learned as an entertainer with those learned getting his doctorate to help his patients.

The Jewish Week Media Group posted an interview with Vitaly Beckman, who has brought his magic to the Westside Theatre in Manhattan.

Finally: if you are in Albuquerque you are in luck! Lance Burton and Friends are coming your way September 1!

Headlines, News | No Comments »

We are going to close the day with a little escape artistry… or is it escapistry? I am not sure. I am sure, though, this is Christian Wedoy. He’s an illusionist, escape artist and free diver from Norway, so it should not come as any surprise he is going to hold is breath for about four solid minutes during this clip!

Escape | No Comments »

Many of you probably saw this on Facebook over the weekend, but just in case you missed it, here are highlights from the New Orleans Memorial and Second Line Celebration for Harry Anderson, as originally posted by the one and only Turk Pipkin. If you have been wondering what Turk has been doing lately, check out the website for The Nobelity Project, a group building schools and promoting education in Kenya.

Broken Wand, Harry Anderson | No Comments »

The AP gives the world a peek at the items from the Copperfield Magic Collection on display at the New York Historical Society’s Summer of Magic Exhibit. This special exhibit opened over the weekend and will continue to run through September, so if you are going to be in New York, plan accordingly!

David Copperfield, History, News | No Comments »