The magic of...podcast with Paul Roffman

Episode 25. Billy Kidd discusses magic, showmanship and creating her theatrical magic experience.

Billy Kidd knew she wanted to become an actor by the age of 5. Every day after school she trained extensively in ballet, jazz and tap dance as well as Piano, Saxophone and voice lessons to help further her acting career. By age 11 she was getting paid to play. She was a working actor in theatre, film and tv for many years. In addition she also educated people worldwide about a lost instrument called the Nose-Flute. Billy proceeded to train, teach and perform with her group the Slappyfeatherwhistle Nose-Flute Ensemble to critical acclaim in theatres, radio and tv. When she turned 18 she was accepted into the top theatre schools in the UK and Canada including RADA and Trinity College in London, the National Theatre School and the BFA Acting programs in Canada. After graduating from theatre school she was lucky enough to still be making a living as an actor. Everything was going according to plan until she saw a street magician. Then she went into a deep depression, sat in the dark drowning in tears because she knew she had to become a bloody magician. Fuck! This was not the plan. Since that dark night Billy abandoned her job as an actor, escaped and made an uneven living doing card tricks on the streets of Bath England. Within a matter of months she got cast doing magic for a national advert for O2. She then hosted two series of Breaking Magic on Discovery Channel and was featured on ITV’s Next Great Magician. Billy was also a regular on the series Wizard Wars with Penn & Teller in the USA where she earned the only standing ovation from the popular duo. Her work has been seen on numerous documentaries and televisions shows for the BBC, Channel 5, CBC, CW network, and Discovery Channel. She divides her time by performing in theatres all around the world, the cobbles in Europe, Disney Cruise Lines, and her home play space Krowd Keepers Magic Theatre.

Episode 24. David Penn, magician & consultant, explores his ideas on magic, the past & the future.

Britain’s Got Talent's David Penn is a seven times national award-winning magician and illusionist, whose amazing style of magic will be sure to enhance your next important event.   The entertainment options that David offers include close up tech magic, after dinner cabaret and illusion shows. His large scale illusion show won him the title of ‘British Magic Champion’ and also secured him a place in Britain’s Got Talent's live final stages.   As a close-up magician, David has also been awarded the title of the 'Magic Circle Close Up Magician Of The Year’ and the International Brotherhood of Magicians ‘Close Up Magician of the Year’ for his Close Up Magic. This makes him the number one choice for discerning individuals booking entertainment for weddings, corporate, and private events.   David’s magic has been seen in six major TV series which include ’Britain’s Got Talent’ on ITV, ‘FREAKY’ on Channel 4, ‘Astounding Celebrities’ on ITV and ‘The Sorcerer’s Apprentice’ on the BBC. David has also been booked to work internationally alongside performers such as Andrea Bocelli and Il Divo and he has entertained various celebrities and heads of state from around the world, including The Sultan of Brunei and Her Majesty The Queen. David Penn-The Tech Magician David Penn-The Tech Magician David-Penn David-Penn 3/3 David is a leading corporate magician whose clients include Sony, BMW, Tesco, Bentley, Time Magazine, 3M, Npower, and Hanbury Tennison. He is often engaged to create bespoke illusions and effects for specific events to impart his client’s key message at trade shows and conferences.  ​ David Penn’s unique style of magic has to be seen to be believed and he can be booked for corporate dinners, weddings, conferences, and private events. Whether performing close up magic, cabaret or his illusion show, David will entertain, astound and leave your guests utterly amazed.

Episode 23. R Paul Wilson talks magic, directing, writing and presenting. Influences and inspirations.

R Paul Wilson is a writer, director, producer, actor, expert on the art of deception and a world- renowned magician. His show “The Real Hustle” ran for eleven seasons on the BBC and was sold to over fifty countries. As writer and presenter, Paul has pulled more scams on real people than anyone in history in his mission to inform and protect the public. In “The Takedown” (Tru TV), he formed a team of experts to cheat businesses and casinos using high-tech and old-school techniques before revealing their methods and explaining how to “protect the house” and for his two-hour special “Scammed” (History Channel) Paul re-invented an age-old scam and pulled several classic con games on real people, businesses and investors in Charleston, SC. He is the author of “The Art of the Con” (Lyons Press, 2014) and has written countless articles on con games, consulted for high profile legal cases and advised both casinos and players on methods of deception. Paul was the senior consultant and producer on the hit BBC show “The Magicians”, designing and directing brand new illusions for a ground-breaking live Saturday night show with an audience of over seven million viewers. He has acted as consultant for numerous television shows and feature films, advising writers, producers, directors and actors about magic, con games and the inner workings of deception. As a magician, he performs around the world on stage and in private, intimate shows where he demonstrates cheating, magic and miracles. He is considered to be one of the finest living exponents of sleight of hand and has created effects and material for many of the world’s best-known performers. As a filmmaker, Paul began as cheating consultant and second unit director on “Shade” (RKO Pictures, 2002) and expert consultant for Joe Carnahan’s “Smoking Aces” before returning to the UK for The Real Hustle, an innovative hidden camera show featuring real scams pulled on real people. Paul has directed television, shorts, a feature documentary and two scripted features. “The Magic Box” (2013) is Paul’s award-winning homage to nostalgia and the art of magic and his feature-length documentary “Our Magic” is a deep insight into the world of magicians with thirty one of it’s most respected performers and thinkers sharing their thoughts and feelings about the art. His first scripted feature “Con Men” is a zero budget indie that drew on his experience as a con artist and helped to attract investors for “Isolani”, a thriller set in Glasgow where a young mother becomes a pawn in a deadly game of deception. Isolani premiered in London at the Raindance Film Festival, was nominated for best feature, a BIFA and for best debut at Camerimage. Paul is currently in the early stages of his third feature while working on several TV projects that combine elements of magic, deception and storytelling. LINKS: ISOLANI TRAILER: https://vimeo.com/222539329 CON MEN TRAILER: https://vimeo.com/131299482 OUR MAGIC TRAILER: https://vimeo.com/98007553

Episode 22. Steve Valentine - Actor, magician, writer, teacher, producer. A true renaissance man.

MAGICONTHEGO.COMBorn in Scotland, raised near London, Steve has been performing since age 5. That was the year he started THEATRE and DANCE training and took a passionate, lifelong interest in MAGIC. His first job was playing the child Prince in ‘THE KING AND I’. From those humble beginnings, Steve has appeared in over: 250 HOURS OF TELEVISION, A DOZEN MOVIES, COUNTLESS COMMERCIALS, TWO MULTI AWARD WINNING VIDEO GAMES, and starred in FOUR TV SERIES: CROSSING JORDAN for NBC, as Criminologist ‘Nigel Townsend’ , NIKKI for the WB, as choreographer ‘Martine’. I’M IN THE BAND for Disney, as 80‘s rock legend ‘Derek Jupiter’. ESTATE OF PANIC for SYFY. (nominated for a Rose D’or) Steve has carved out a unique place for himself in show business, constantly changing and morphing into a myriad of wild, quirky, funny, dangerous and always unique characters.One thing’s for sure, you never get the same person twice, from rock stars to serial killers, to drag queens to criminologists, to Victorian singing and dancing mustache twirling villains to knights in shining armor. And its Steve’s morphic skill in character and voice that has kept him so much in demand in the highly competitive world of TV and Film. Recently Steve made a big splash as Bronx based ‘Barry Greenhouse’ in the Robert Zemeckis movie THE WALK, and the serial killer (spoiler alert) in the feature MIDNIGHT MAN, the Egyptian Priest Aye in Mr. Peabody and Sherman, and also killing in NBC’s One Big Happy, Mom, Big Bang Theory, CSI, Supernatural, Psych, Beauty and the Beast, Hot In Cleveland and the deliciously evil Les Camembert in Disney’s massive hit Teen Beach Movie, in addition to voices on Mickey and the Roadster Racers, Turbo Fast, Jake and the Neverland Pirates, Tinkerbell, Sofia The First, UnCharted and Bioware’s DRAGON AGE series, earning a massive international fanbase for his acclaimed performance of Alistair. All that, while recurring on many different TV shows such as: MOM, Ghostwriter Major Crimes, Mike and Molly, Blunt Talk, and Anger Management. STEVEVALENTINE.COM STEVEVALENTINELIVE.COM. MAGICONTHEGO.COM MAGIC: Steve is highly sought after and highly respected for his work on and off stage as a world class magician. A multi-award winner at the world famous Magic Castle in Hollywood: MAGIC CASTLE TWO TIME CLOSE UP MAGICIAN OF THE YEAR, TWO TIME LECTURER OF THE YEAR, RECENTLY VOTED THE STAGE MAGICIAN OF THE YEAR! Steve has literally toured the world performing his brand of high energy mind-blowing magic, headlined in Las Vegas and has created original magical pieces for himself and other professional magicians, including a mind bending 22 hour video course on his favorite trick, called C2P. In 2019 Steve lead a three month National Tour with The Illusionists, the most successful touring Magic show of all time, and plans to helm the Now You See Me - Live tour sometime in 2021.

Ep. 21 Joshua Jay, The theories of magic and performance. From authenticity to narrative and back again.

Joshua has performed on stages in over 100 countries. His first residency in New York was the show, Six impossible things. Joshua was awarded the top prize at the World Magic Seminar and has fooled Penn and Teller on their hit show, Fool Us. He holds a Guinness World Record in card magic. He has performed magic on numerous television shows, most recently Good Morning America and The Today Show. Joshua Jay is the author of MAGIC: The Complete Course, The Amazing Book of Cards, and, for children, Big Magic for Little Hands . He has designed illusions for stage and screen, including a recent collaboration with HBO for Game of Thrones. Joshua consulted with the United States Postal Service on the design of their postage stamp series, Magic. Joshua appeared at the 2008 Inaugural Ball for President Barack Obama, and has also delivered private performances for former Presidents Clinton and Trump. Most recently, in January 2018, Joshua was recognized by the Society of American Magicians with their highest proclamation, for his contribution to the art of magic. MAGIC Magazine called Joshua Jay “MAGIC’S RENAISSANCE MAN”