831: Naathan Phan - Dangerously Gregarious

From Viet Nam and Scotland, this versatile, multi-national, energetic performer, Naathan Phan, has appeared on television, cruise ships, and stages around the world. You may have seen him on Masters of Illusion or Penn & Teller Fool Us (both on the CW Network) or America’s Got Talent (sic). You may have seen him in the movies such as Superbad or Up in Smoke, among others. Not only does he perform clever, innovative magic, but also he is a superb singer, actor, and mixologist!

Join us this week with Naathan Phan as we share a scotch and conversation. Naathan talks about his cross-country tour with his current, two-man show. He also gives some advice on how to develop a rapport with the audience, selecting volunteers, performing on television and cruise ships and more. He also gives us a recipe for a tasty cocktail!

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245: Day One - MAGIC LIve! 2015

For the first day of a four day event that had no scheduled activity until 7:30 p.m., there sure was a lot of meeting and greeting of old friends.

In this first day update, we have some time to chat with many of the friends we ran into. With nearly 1,800 registrants, it's hard to get around to have quality conversations with everyone. But it was great that some people gave me some great quality time albeit short due to the veritable whirlwind of magical luminaries swirling around the casino. Monday will bring us the first full day of activities so I probably should get a little rest. I;m still on Central Time so it is nearly dawn in Texas according to my body clock.

Time stamps for this podcast:

00:00:25 - Charlie Randall of H&R Magic Books joins me at the airport for our flight from Houston to Las Vegas

00:07:17 - Chris Philppott and Steve Valentine, mates of mine from the Magic Castle are the first ones that I got to chat with after I checked into the hotel. Steve talks a bit about his presentation that he will give on Monday and Chris talks about his marketed effect, "French Postcards".

00:11:46 - R. Paul Wilson talks a bit about his movie, "Our Magic"

00:13:25 - "The Evil Twins", Dave Cox and Bruce Gold

00:15:20 - Steve Bryan talks about the Little Egypt Gazette and Randy Wakeman joins us to give us a health report on SIMON Lovell

00:22:44 - Kyle Knight and Mistie talks about their current and future schedule also about their performance on "Wizard Wars" and "Penn & Teller Fool Us".

00:31:35- Jeff and Tessa Evason are joined briefly by Gil Eagles and Ken Weber

00:39:26 - Justin Willman is getting married soon and he talks about that. He is also joined by Sean Popp and Shep Hyken.

00:44:38 - Dustin Stinett talks about the upcoming Genii convention

00:52:26 - Ray Anderson, star of Esther's Follies in Austin, Texas talks about the upcoming Texas Association of Magicians convention and his appearance there.

01:01:47 - Dennis Watkins talks about the return of the Houdini play in Chicago next summer for a 15 week run starting in June 2016.

01:06:52 - Steve Chezaday and Carol talk about Abbott's Get Together that just ended and he flew straight to Las Vegas

01:20:11 - Tom Mullica talks about his late night tales he told by his headstone in the graveyard at Colon, Michigan at Abbott's Get Together last week.

174: Michael Dardant - Bitten By A Wizard

Multiple award winner, Michael Dardant, wrapped up his "Bitten By A Wizard" lecture tour in Houston where he stopped by to chat about a lot of stuff he's involved in now and in the future. Since this podcast was recorded, Michael continued to win even more magic contests. In particular, he took first place with the I.B.M. close-up category which included a $2,000 cash prize! He also secured a spot to compete in the close-up category next year in Italy at F.I.S.M.

In this podcast, Michael talks about entering magic contests (how and why he did); working the streets; performing as a emcee; mentoring others; burlesque shows; customizing your act; comedy and improv; working in movies; advice, tips and more. He has a funny story with Sylvester Stallone, too. Wow, Michael can also do great accents and impressions, too!

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. (please note: this RSS Feed subscription system may not work with Android systems). Remember, you can download it through iTunes. See the preview page by Clicking Here.