909: Joe Monti - One of the Men Behind the Man

Often we don’t know nor recognize those who work behind the scenes and spotlights. But they are the ones responsible for making the person in front of the curtains or camera look good. As they say, “it takes a village” and that is especially true for “stars” who make it on television and stage. One such person that is a “go-to” consultant is Joe Monti. When Criss Angel got his television deal for “Mind Freak”, Joe was one of the first people Criss called. As time went on and it became apparent how valuable Joe was, he also assumed the role of “producer”. Joe continues to this day to consult for magicians as well as performing for high profile corporate clients. He has even fooled Penn & Teller on their show, “Fool Us”.

My friendship with Joe Monti goes back nearly 40 years from when we performed together at Houston’s Magic Island. It was good to catch up with a long-time friend this week as he shared many stories about what he has been doing during those years. He has a few “behind the scenes” stories to tell about working with Criss Angel plus his experience on “Penn & Teller Fool Us”.

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PLEASE NOTE: These events are THIS SATURDAY June 14th, 2025. For more information on the New York Magic Conference, please visit: https://newyorkmagicconference.com and to learn more about the Salute to Magic and purchase advance tickets, please visit: https://salutetomagic.com

767: Randy Wakeman - I've Been Around for a Long, Long Years

Randy Wakeman has been around for many decades and was often seen lecturing and performing at magic conventions. Nonetheless, I have always seen him as an “underground” magician who appeals to the true sleight-of-hand experts. He is one of those guys who has “been there, done that, has the t-shirt” as he was one of the regular performers about the Chicago Bar Magic Scene before the turn of the last century. He has written several books on magic (card magic mostly) and is still relevant in our community as a performer, teacher and author.

While at the recent Senior Tour close-up convention in St. Louis, The Magic Word spoke with Randy as part of the convention report content. He was preparing for a workshop, so we didn’t get a chance to go in-depth as I had wanted. But we agreed to get together at the 4F convention in Buffalo a couple months later. True to his word, we sat down to complete our chat which results in this episode. The content of our chat in both places was a little disjunctive, so the editing required us to put the second conversation first then plug in the chat in St. Louis and finish with our talk while in Buffalo. This sounds more confusing that it actually is, but I know you will understand and enjoy our chat.

Download this podcast in an MP3 file by Clicking Here and then right click to save the file. You can also subscribe to the RSS feed by Clicking Here. You can download or listen to the podcast through Stitcher by Clicking Here or through FeedPress by Clicking Here or through Tunein.com by Clicking Here or through iHeart Radio by Clicking Here..If you have a Spotify account, then you can also hear us through that app, too. You can also listen through your Amazon Alexa and Google Home devices. Remember, you can download it through the iTunes store, too. See the preview page by Clicking Here

756: F.F.F.F. 2023 - Day Four Report

Saturday, April 29th

10:00 Dealers’ Room opens (closed during lectures, shows, and dinner)

10:00-10:45 2024 Registration & 4F Shop open

1:30 6th Show: Eric DeCamps: One Man Show

3:30 ED Talks #2 (MCs: Christian/Katalina with Rick Wilcox (The Challenge of Stage Illusions), Keith Fields (Audience Management), and Christian & Katalina (Creating a Seance Show)

5:30 Banquet (ticket required)

7:00 Dealers’ Room & 4F Shop open

7:45 Tribute to our Guest of Honor: Mark Mason

8:00 7th Show: 4F Closing Gala (MC: Steve Beam) featuring: Montreal Trio (Micheal Huot, Yannick Lacroix, and Marc Trudel), Alexandria Duvivier, Shoot Ogawa, Mike Robinson, Horret Wu, Carisa Hendrix, Juliana Chen, and Stephen Bargatze and Rick Merrill

10:00 Hospitality Suite opens

12:00 Dealers’ Room closes

Keith Fields playing “Bohemian Rhapsody” on the ukulele at Abbott’s Get Together in August 2021.

Time stamps for this episode:

00:00:18 - Marc DeSouza gives us a colorful recap of the Friday night show

00:24:14 - Michael Ammar talks about Eric Decamps’ one-man show we just saw. This was Michael’s first time returning after 42 years of absence, plus he talks about some new projects.

00:32:02 - Keith Fields was one of the presenters who talked about audience management and he recaps his talk here.

00:43:37 - Rick Wilcox was another presenter who talked about doing an illusion show and he recaps some highlights from his talk here.

00:50:53 - Darryl Rose and Boris Wild stop for a quick chat about this convention and Boris’ choice of an emotional performance for Obie O’Brien

00:57:51- Carisa Hendrix performed at this convention as her “real” self and, of course, as Lucy Darling. She also chats about Michael Dardant impersonating her as “Juicy Starling”

01:00:23 - Joe Monti has had some health issues but is glad to be back with the 4F family that has made him feel good

01:05:26 - Marc DeSouza returns to wrap up the evening show and the entire 50th anniversary celebration of the 4F.

Download this podcast in an MP3 file by Clicking Here and then right click to save the file. You can also subscribe to the RSS feed by Clicking Here. You can download or listen to the podcast through Stitcher by Clicking Here or through FeedPress by Clicking Here or through Tunein.com by Clicking Here or through iHeart Radio by Clicking Here..If you have a Spotify account, then you can also hear us through that app, too. You can also listen through your Amazon Alexa and Google Home devices. Remember, you can download it through the iTunes store, too. See the preview page by Clicking Here