588: Stuart MacDonald - What a Character

Multiple award winner, Stuart Macdonald continues to reinvent himself. From a nine to five job in the corporate world, he developed a contest act that won awards after awards that took him around the world. Along the way, he performed magic on the college circuit and spent many years producing a haunted house that had thousands of visitors annually with a staff of over 50 employees. He developed a character (Richard Presto) for the digital age regularly performing on Zoom meetings with his hip, 1960’s persona.

Cryogenically frozen in 1962 Richard Preston was the greatest entertainer and magician of his generation. Stuart MacDonald, magician / actor www.stuartmacdonald.com

Richard Preston is the first entertainer to be cryogenically frozen in 1962 and was unthawed to bring the world back together. He was the greatest entertainer in history up to 1962 and now he's proving it again with a revival of his 2020 Christmas Capers Holiday Magic Show.

In this week’s episode, Stuart talks about his magical journey from the corporate world to the full time performances as a magician. Alon the way he also fooled Penn & Teller on their television show plus he is in demand giving keynote speeches to corporate audiences. This “chameleon” of a man is constantly reinventing his act and himself to keep up with the times by finding what his audience wants and needs at the time when they want and need it.

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437: CJ Johnson - Game On!

CJ Johnson is a man of many talents. He is not as well known among the magic crowd because he is another one of those who works, creates, and performs rather than attending magic conventions, lecturing for Penguin or Murphy's, or having his ideas published in major magic magazines.

But it's important to know what he does and why he is successful at hypnotism shows, marketing, building, working the college and grade school circuit and producing several game shows that are on the road and on the high seas.

CJ Johnson is one of the leading hypnotists in the college and corporate market today. To find out how to bring Comedy Hypnotist CJ Johnson to your next College, Corporate or High School event, visit http://www.SleepWithCJ.com now.

Survey Says is our most popular college and corporate game show. This video shows just 1 part of one round. It captures the energy and excitement created at each and every show by our amazing group of hosts. If you are looking for the best College or Corporate game show in the business, that won't drain your wallet - look no further.

In this podcast, CJ Johnson talks about taking classes to become a hypnotist after he had already booked some hypnosis shows. Though it may not be the best advice to do that, it worked out well for CJ. He also talks about working the college circuit with his many game shows. CJ also refers to his marketing book, "More Shows More Money". That book is still available and can be purchased as an eBook or a soft cover edition. Just Click Here to visit the website where you can also see his other offerings.

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.. Remember, you can download it through the iTunes store, too. See the preview page by Clicking Here

Proven Techniques to Succeed in the Entertainment Business.

261: Project Alpha with Mike Edwards

After viewing the highly acclaimed documentary, "An Honest Liar" about the career of James "The Amazing" Randi, I wanted to talk with Mike Edwards, the "psychic" who was "tested" along with Steve Shaw (Banachek) over a three year period in the late 70;s to the early 80;s. I have discussed Project Alpha with Banachek many times privately, on the podcast and on an L&L Video (Psi Series Volume 4 - Psychokenisis) but I had never met or spoken with, Mike Edwards, his partner on the project.

The stars aligned with my travel plans to Phoenix, Arizona and Mike's availability so we were able to find a relatively quiet corner in an otherwise busy restaurant and record this chat. It is a completely different perspective from the one I have heard from Banachek and the revelation during the last few minutes of our conversation figuratively "bowled me over". I was not expecting that news. You might be surprised and excited once you hear it, too.

Recorded: 5/27/2010 Original Alpha Kid, Michael Edwards pays a visit to the foundation and recalls some of the behind the scenes tricks that he and Steve Shaw (Banachek) did during the MacLab test. From Wikipedia: Project Alpha was an elaborate hoax orchestrated by the stage magician and skeptic James Randi.

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