How not to lose $100

A short excerpt from Magic & Martini at SpiritHouse in Downtown Toronto. This is a piece of magic I created based on a trick of Tommy Wonder's several years ago. I first began performing it in 2012 as part of my show, Lies, Damn Lies & Magic Tricks. 

It appeals to me because of how direct it is. A lot of magic is based on distraction and surprise where the climax comes out of left field, but here I get to say what will happen and it happens. 

The trick is called "Elizabeth V" for reasons which would take a while to explain. 

Magic & Martini continues with through the summer with selected dates in Toronto. Readers can use the code olive for a discount on the price of tickets when purchasing online. (We will be back in Oakville and Hillsburgh in the fall.)

Tommy Wonder

One of my early inspirations in magic was a dutch performer named Tommy Wonder (ne Jacobus Bemelman). I devoured all of the Tommy Wonder material which was available. (Which at that time in the history of the internet, making far too many purchases on eBay.)

One of the things that made him such a memorable performer was that more than doing magic, he was someone that magic happened to. (And ending prepositions with sentences is a situation up with which we must not put.) He took after another dutch forerunner, Fred Kaps in that respect. It has been over ten years since he passed away I reached a point where I thought I had seen all that there was.

Yesterday, the YouTube algorithm (probably prompted by my review of Jamy Ian Swiss' article about him) turned this up for me and I remembered what I found so inspiring years ago. So enjoy a rather grainy television performance from the late, great Tommy Wonder: