Mahdi Gilbert - Fool Us

There are a few Canadians appearing on this season of Penn & Teller Fool Us. Mahdi Gilbert is perhaps the most remarkable among them because he performs magic despite being born without hands. As a result, all of the magic he performs is done with techniques he devised himself. Actually, all of the everything he does is based on techniques he devised himself, from things as simple as taking playing cards out of their box. Being from Toronto, I've known Mahdi for several years and have watched as his magic has evolved over that time. It's been a remarkable journey to observe and this brief national television appearance is, hopefully, just another step on the path.

So take a look and see if he manages to fool the great Penn & Teller:

The weirdest thing to ever happen to me on stage

For the past four years, I have been allowing members of the audience to blindfold me with duct tape (of various and assorted colours). Some would say that this strikes most of the audience as unusual and sends a rather strange message about what my personal boundaries might be. Admitting all that, nothing like this has ever happened to me before: (No spoilers, see for yourself, apologies for the poor video quality)

This was filmed at Magic Tonight If you would like to see what the whole trick actually looks like, in colour, you can watch it here.

Last time on Magic Tonight

Last night on Magic Tonight, I was joined by über special guest Nick Wallace. While he may appear on the surface to be sweet and charming and likeable, he is in fact the devil; pure evil wrapped in Mr. Rogers' sweater. As far as I know, he owns the soul of at least one person on staff at our shows and I doubt he's willing to stop there.

Magic Tonight will be on hiatus for the next little while. Stay tuned for updates on our upcoming shows.

Last time on Magic Tonight

We're up and running at our new location, just 400 feet from our old one, and we're loving the additional space. I was joined by comedy magician Chris Mayhew who recently returned from a tour across China with a new show which is replete with Mayhem.

Magic Tonight runs weekly at The Studio in Toronto. Readers of this blog can use the code reality for a discount on the price of tickets and dinner when purchasing online.

Fresh from the cutting room

With special thanks to Toronto's resident magic video elf, Chris Mayhew, I'm happy to share a compilation of my work over the past few years.

I can recommend his services most highly.

Making Faces

It's been a while since I've posted one of these compilations. Most people don't realize how difficult it is to take photos of live performance. There is no chance to go back and try it again, the moments are gone forever. But what that also means is that sometimes the moments you capture are truly strange. So take a look at some of the funny faces performers made so far this year on Magic Tonight. Enjoy the lovely faces of Glenn Ottaway, Ben Train, David Merry, The Sentimentalists (Mysterion & Steffi Kay) and me:

Magic Tonight continues Sunday nights in Downtown Toronto at the Crimson Lounge. Readers of this blog can use the code reality for a discount on the price of tickets and dinner when purchasing online.