Of Sleights and Men

Christopher Barker - How to Change Your Community With Magic

Christopher learned his first card trick in college after meeting a magician in Edinburgh, Scotland. Soon after, he bought his first magic book and started practicing and performing at a pizza parlor. Now, Christopher is a high school Spanish teacher with 10+ years of classroom and coaching experience. He has a genuine passion for magic and performance that he loves to share with others!

In this episode, we discuss how he's changing his local community with magic, teaching children's classes, and so much more. 

Check out his site here: https://barkermagic.com/index.php

Jigar Solanki - The Best Mentalist in India?

Jigar is without a doubt one of the most talented mentalists in India. And very recently, his social media has been EXPLODING! We were delighted to welcome him onto our podcast. 

Giacomo Bigliardi - Journalist, Rising Star and Incredible Creator

Giacomo Bigliardi burst onto the magic scene in recent times with his incredible style of card magic. 

We first met him at Blackpool 2024 and were delighted to finally get him on the podcast. 

This podcast features questions such as: 

• What magic is like in Italy? 
• How to grow your personal magic brand.
• How to create original magic. 
• And so much more...

Listen now!

Magician Zenia - India's Leading Female Magician

Introducing Zenia, India’s leading female magician, and a true global sensation!  She's a world-renowned celebrity magician, winner of several national and & international awards. She has enchanted audiences in more than 10 countries, Zenia’s awe-inspiring performances have earned her the prestigious Merlin Award, often hailed as the "Oscars of Magic." Her spellbinding shows have captivated elite corporate giants like BMW, BPCL, and HUL, as well as some of Bollywood's biggest stars, including the Ambanis, Alia Bhatt, Shahid Kapoor, Aamir Khan, and legends like Hema Malini and Dharmendra.

Why Every Magician Should Perform A Book Test

In this podcast, we go over our top 5 favorite book tests and describe our experiences performing our completely original method for a book test on the streets in Manchester!

 

Geraint Clarke - Real Talk with Ellusionist CEO

In our podcast we talked about: 

• What it takes to perform street magic day in day out?
• What actually happened with the ‘back to black’ controversy? 
• What are your favorite projects you’ve released at your time at Ellusionist? 
• Where do you see the magic industry going in the next 5 years? 
• Who are the creators you’re most excited about right now? 
• What makes truly great magic that sells? 
• Much more! 

 

How are these IMPOSSIBLE tricks done? Reacting to your answers...

We asked the collective genius of our list for potential methods to achieve the following trick:

You can have any card freely chosen, lost in the deck, and then…

• Drop the deck and let gravity cut to their card.

• Don’t even touch the deck, simply place it on the table and blow to their card.

• Pretend you’re Tiger Woods and with one clean stroke putt to their card.

• With a run up that makes you look like Ronaldo cleanly kick to their card. 

• Place the deck in front of your spectator and after a simple instruction they flick to their card. 

• In a completely impossibility the spectator picks up as many cards as they like and it’s revealed they’ve cut to their card.

(oh and it needs to be done impromptu with a borrowed deck and without using any crimps, bends, or breathers!)

We asked you all for answers and here's us reacting to them!

The Greatest Plots in Magic

In this podcast we discuss...

• Our favorite plots and our audience’s favorite plots—are they the same?
• Our top 5 plots in card magic 
• The most underrated plot in magic
• The magic we actually enjoy after 10+ years in the industry
• MUCH MORE!

Jeff Kowalk - How to make your magic timeless

Jeff Kowalk is many things - from the stage presence ‘Psychic CPA’ who puts on incredible shows for corporate events, to the CFO of Vanishing Inc. to a beloved magic YouTuber ‘Erudite Magic’ there’s not much about magic from business to performing Jeff doesn’t have a hand in.

In this podcast, he talks us through everything from why he quit his job to pursue a career in magic to the top 3 magic books he'd take to a desert island. 

Get more from him here: https://www.youtube.com/@EruditeMagic

Joel Dickinson - Prolific Creator, Lifelong Performer

In the podcast, we discussed:

- Joel’s creative process that lets him put out hit after hit (honestly, this answer was NOT what we expected)

- Joel’s transition from performer to creator (and why he’s making the switch)

- The crazy world of magic piracy and Joel’s efforts to combat it

- A story about pottery that reveals the best way to create great magic

- The ‘red flags’ that tell you a trick isn’t going to work in the real world

- The ethics of marketing in magic and whether some companies take it ‘too far’ 

- And more