505: Ray Hyman - Skeptical Observer

Nonagenarian Professor Emeritus of Psychology at the University of Oregon, Ray Hyman, is one of the founders (along with James Randi and Martin Gardner) of the skeptical movement. He consulted for Alice Cooper and the federal government during his colorful career. And he still teaches workshops on “character reading” (see: cold reading) to skeptics.

In this workshop from The Amaz!ng Meeting 2012, Ray Hyman instructs participants on how to do "psychic" or character readings. They also perform readings on each other. The goal is not to increase the number of cold readers, but to show how easily a cold reading can convince people they have experienced the supernatural.

This is a TV interview of the truth. Jerry Andrus

In this podcast, Ray talks about meeting Dai Vernon, Dr. Stanley Jaks and Persi Diaconis and his close relationship with Jerry Andrus and James Randi. At one point in his life, James Randi asked Ray to come in to help consult with rock legend, Alice Cooper. He also talks about working with the government to dispel psychic phenomena and the development of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI),

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500: Uri Geller - Not Bending the Truth

Uri Geller is undoubtedly one of the most interesting, enigmatic, charismatic, controversial, influential and well-known entertainers in the world today. His name has become part of our zeitgeist and, like Houdini, has become part of our international culture and language.

There have been several articles, televised performances, interviews and podcasts on Uri Geller. One of the more recent ones (aside from this one), was done for the podcast called “Pretend” (#S405: The Psychic Spy with Uri Geller) which I recommend you take an hour to hear. It goes into much of his background which this week’s podcast does not cover.

Uri Geller, the illusionist known for his spoon-bending stunts, unveils an 11 ton spoon in Jaffa, Tel Aviv, next to the site where he plans to open his museum in late 2019.

In this podcast, Uri talks about his appearance on “The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson” and his subsequent battle with James Randi, metal bending, existential and metaphysical interests, dowsing, powers of the mind, and more. Throughout our discussion, Uri suggests that listeners visit his website at https://www.urigeller.com/ which contains a wealth of information and free downloads. You can spend a lot of time there delving into the many facets of this multi-dimensional man.

This 500th episode is one small podcast for a man. One giant leap for magic.

334: A Magical Christmas Carol

Over the past year, I have attended a LOT of magic conventions. During those events, i have tried to update you with what was going on each day with daily updates from the organizers, talent, registrants, and dealers plus sometimes a little "color" background outside of the hotel.

But while I had some of my guests "cornered" for a few minutes, I asked them to do a reading of the classic story, "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens. As many of you don't know, Dickens was a bit of a conjurer himself having performed during the summer of 1949 in a coastal resort off of the Isle of Wight purveying prestidigitation to those on holiday in the area. He was known as the “Rhia Rhama Rhoos - the Unparalleled Necromancer" and reportedly performed many unusual tricks including making playing cards magically burst into flames, transporting a woman’s watch from inside a wooden box and into the middle of a loaf of bread, and even cooking a steaming hot plum pudding in a gentleman’s top hat.

But prior to his venturing onto the stage to prestidigitate, he had already written many of his well-known novels including one published in 1843 which would become the iconic classic and perennial treatise on the holiday, "A Christmas Carol".

So here I present you this year's audio greeting card with great gratitude to all of my guests who participated in this project and also to all of you who regularly listen to The Magic Word Podcast. Happy Holidays!

As a little added treat for you this holiday season, here is a video I filmed and edited in 1985. Magician Scott Wells is visited by "three foreign" visitors who want to learn magic. In this video, Scott performs close-up, stand-up and stage magic for his guests. He also gives magic lessons to his guests; however, these instructions have been edited out of this public video.