PODCAST · arts
Conversations With Close
by Michael Close
In these podcasts, I interview talented magicians from around the world—performers, creators, and innovators who are shaping the future of magic. I aim to ask thought-provoking questions that lead to meaningful discussions, offering you unique insights you won't find elsewhere. If you enjoy the conversations, I’d love for you to visit our website and explore some of the products we offer. www.MichaelClose.com
Episodes
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Asi Wind Interview - S6 E10
Asi Wind is a world-class performer and creator. He is also an author and a talented watercolor artist. I spoke with Asi about his background (both magically and artistically), the performers who inspired him, and his creative/problem-solving process. We spoke for seventy minutes, and could...
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Let's Talk Latta - S6 E9
My guests this month on Conversations with Close are Jamy Ian Swiss and Peter Samelson. I’ve known Jamy for more than forty years; while I haven’t known Peter as long, he is a very close friend. Both are superb magicians. Our discussion about Geoff was wide ranging and often emotional. When you...
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Ben Seidman Interview S6 E8
I’m a big Ben Seidman fan. He’s funny, he’s smart, and, because he has a profound interest in designing material that will entertain and deeply fool any audience, we have common ground when we discuss conjuring. In this edition of Conversations with Close, Ben and I discuss his background, his...
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Christopher Carter Interview S6 E7
For more than thirty years, Christopher Carter has been one of the busiest performers on the college circuit and has been in demand as a corporate entertainer and keynote speaker. His effect Cold Fusion, published in the Linking Ring in 1990 was adapted by Doc Eason and became one of close-up...
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Aurelio Paviato Interview S6 E6
Aurelio Paviato is my guest on this month’s Conversations with Close. Aurelio is a well-established, fulltime pro in Italy; he performs at corporate functions and has his own one-man show, Storie di un Artigiano di Illusioni. He is a past FISM champion in close-up, and has had a long association...
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Stephen Minch Interview S6 E5
In this installment of Conversations with Close, my guest is the man who, as a writer, editor, and/or publisher, is responsible for many of the most important magic texts published in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. If you have read, studied, enjoyed, and benefitted from…
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Gary Plants Interview S6 E4
Gary Plants is an old friend; we met more than forty years ago at one of Joe Stevens’ early Desert Magic Seminar conventions. Gary is an extraordinary technician, a magic scholar, and an enthusiastic magic hobbyist. Occasionally, he lectures at magic conventions, and lately he has been doing more...
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Mick Ayres Interview S6 E3
Mick Ayres has had a fascinating and varied career with the Walt Disney Company, working as a magician, storyteller, and musician. Like many performers, his world was upended by the Covid pandemic. But Mick found a new stage at the thirteen Marriott Resorts scattered across Hilton Head Island,...
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Allan Ackerman Interview S6 E2
For more than fifty years, Allan Ackerman has been a major creative force in the world of card magic. Starting with Magic Mafia Effects in 1970, Allan has produced a body of work that showcases his ability to create seamless, baffling routines for magicians of all skill levels. Allan’s last big...
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Steve Reynolds Interview S6 E1
Steve Reynolds is a creative and prolific card magician. He lives in New Orleans, the city his mentor, Jon Racherbaumer, also calls home. Steve was greatly influenced by the magic of Ed Marlo; his manuscripts and videos reflect this passion. (His video series, The Marlo Roadmap, provides...
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Piff the Magic Dragon S5 E4
These days, our friend Piff is a very busy dragon. Joined by his partner Jade Simone and Mr. Piffles the Wonder Chihuahua, he headlines his own show at the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas, tours North America (with a completely different show!), and makes numerous television appearances. He is also…
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Friedrich Roitzsch S5 E3
Friedrich Roitzsch is a full-time professional magician based in Munich, Germany. He is also the author of the excellent new book, Instructions for Miracles, which is reviewed in this month’s newsletter. We discussed Friedrich’s background, his introduction to magic, and his influences. I’m happy...
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Christian Bischof Interview S5 E2
My guest this month on Conversations with Close is someone who may be unfamiliar to you. Christian Bischof is a Swiss corporate entertainer who has recently published an extremely valuable two-volume set of books titled Diamonds of Performance: How Magicians Fascinate Their Audience. Christian...
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John Bannon Interview S5 E1
John Bannon is a prolific creator of high-quality magic (emphasis on card magic). His published works include Impossibilia, Smoke & Mirrors, Dear Mr. Fantasy, High Caliber, Destination Zero, and Mentalissimo. In cooperation with Big Blind Media he has produced several DVDs, including Move Zero, a...
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Steve Valentine Interview S4 E7
Steve Valentine is a world-class magician (two-time recipient of the Magic Castle’s Close-up Magician of the Year award), a magic scholar, a creator, and an actor with an impressive CV. (Just take a look at his IMDB page.) His most recent acting project is Monster High: The Movie, which airs on…
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Amy Kimlat Interview S4 E6
Amy Kimlat has written a new book (Hocus Pocus Practice Focus: The Making of a Magician) geared toward young readers who have an interest in magic. The book was based on Amy’s experiences as a young magician, and the mishaps that influenced her to abandon the hobby for many years. I spoke to Amy...
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Danny DaOrtiz Interview S4 E5
Dani DaOrtiz is certainly one of the best-known creators and performers in the magic world. At the 2022 Quebec FISM, he won a special award for his writings on magic theory and philosophy. He continues to lecture and perform around the world. Dani’s book, Freedom of Expression, is finally…
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Steve Spill S4 E4
In a career spanning fifty years, Steve Spill has done it all – close-up performer, bar magician, comedy clubs, concert venues (opening for rock bands), Vegas variety shows – culminating with a twenty-year run as the owner and featured performer at Magicopolis, a theater in Santa Monica,...
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Martin Lewis Interview S4 E3
Martin Lewis is one of magic’s finest performers, and one of its most ingenious creators. His effects can be found in the repertoires of magicians around the world. There has not been a big book of Martin’s magic since 1985, when Martin’s Magic (written by Eric Lewis) appeared. Soon, the long…
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Steve Cohen Interview S4 E2
Steve Cohen is a New York City-based magician whose show, Chamber Magic, has been running Off-Broadway for twenty years, first at the Waldorf Astoria New York, and, at present, in an exclusive salon in the Lotte New York Palace Hotel. For decades, Steve has been researching and studying the life...
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Larry Hass Interview S4 E1
Lawrence Hass, Ph.D. is the Dean of the McBride Magic & Mystery School in Las Vegas, successor in that role to his friend and mentor, Eugene Burger. He is former Professor of Humanities at Austin College and former Professor of Philosophy and Theater Arts at Muhlenberg College. In 2010 he retired...
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Boris Wild Interview S3 E10
Boris Wild is a well-known performer, lecturer, and creator of magic, including the ingenious marked-deck system that bears his name. The pandemic quarantine sidelined his busy traveling schedule, but he used the down time to create a new lecture (and a new set of lecture notes), Variations. I...
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Josh Jay Interview S3 E9
I’ve known Joshua Jay since he was a youngster, and I’ve followed his development as a performer, a creator, an author, and a businessman. He has lectured and performed around the world, spent twelve years as the tricks columnist for MAGIC magazine, founded (with Andi Gladwin) the successful…
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Bob Farmer Interview S3 E8
For more than four decades, Bob Farmer has been a prolific creator of high-caliber magic effects. But in that time, I don’t recall anyone doing an in-depth interview with him. I’m happy to rectify that situation this month. Bob and I spoke for ninety minutes, discussing his introduction to magic,...
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Sylvain Juzan Interview S3 E7
This month’s guest on Conversations with Close is Sylvain Juzan. Sylvain and I met briefly at a Genii convention a few years ago, and then got to spend a bit more time when he appeared on season 7a of Fool Us. I spoke to Sylvain about his background, his new book, Every Card You Take – I’ll be...
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Roberto Giobbi Interview S3 E6
If you have any interest at all in card magic, I’m sure the name Roberto Giobbi is familiar to you. He is a prolific author, a frequent contributor to magazines (his column in Genii has run for fourteen years), a lecturer, a teacher, and an experienced performer. His new book, Sharing Secrets…
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Jamy Ian Swiss Interview S3 E5
This month my guest on Conversations with Close is an old friend, Jamy Ian Swiss. Jamy is an author, a public speaker, a close-up and stand-up performer, and an activist in the skeptic community. We talked about a wide variety of subjects; Jamy offered some great stories he has never shared in...
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Dr. Michael Rubinstein S3 E4
Dr. Michael Rubinstein has been a major player in the coin magic world since the 1980s. His new book, Rubinstein Coin Magic contains the best of his published creations, previously unpublished material, and routines from his friends around the world. Michael appeared on Penn and Teller: Fool Us a...
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Richard Kaufman Interview S3 E3
Richard Kaufman is a prolific author and publisher; his output includes some of the best books of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. For more than twenty years he has been the editor of Genii magazine. His most recent book, Mr. Jennings Takes it Easy, has been in the works for many years.…
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Eric Mead S3 E2
Eric Mead is a gifted performer, a creator, an author, a genuinely funny human being, and the man responsible for the ten-percent solution on Penn & Teller: Fool Us. His book, Tangled Web, is full of great routines, and is required reading for those of you interested in memorized deck magic. Eric...
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Scott Alexander Interview - S3 E1
Scott Alexander is one of magic’s few general practitioners, equally adept at close-up, parlor, and stage magic. He has created and marketed some excellent, professional-caliber routines. He was also a close friend to the late Denny Haney, whom he considers to be his mentor. Later this month…
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John Carney Interview S2 E5
John Carney has been a friend for more than forty years. He is an author, one of the world’s finest sleight-of-hand performers, a serious student of conjuring, and one of the funniest people I know. I spoke to John via Zoom. Our conversation ranged far and wide, from his early years at the Magic...
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Andrew Golder & Lincoln Hiatt Interview S2E4
Late in the evening on October 21, 2020, production wrapped on season 7b of Penn & Teller: Fool Us. I had been working on pre-production since early June. While I have written about the show in various places and have discussed it on my podcasts and the podcasts of others, I had never done an...
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Guilherme Silveira Interview - Season 2, Episode 3
My guest on Conversations with Close this month is a relative newcomer to the world of magic: Brazil’s Guilherme Silveira. You may have seen Guilherme on season seven of Fool Us, which aired during the summer. His routine featured an interesting wrinkle on using a smart phone in a prediction...
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Doc Dixon Interview Season 2 - Episode 2
I met Doc Dixon almost thirty years ago; we have shared some memorable and hilarious experiences. I’m sure most of you saw Doc’s fooling performance on season six of Penn & Teller: Fool Us, in which he put a whole new spin on the venerable Three-shell Game. (A historical note for Fool Us fans: FU...
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Asher and McKinstry Interview - Season 2 - Episode 1
For many magicians, playing cards have an undeniable fascination; enthusiasts eagerly snatch up every newly released pack they can get their hands on. (As someone wryly posted on Facebook, designer decks are the magical equivalent of Beanie Babies.) For serious playing-card collectors, their...
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Stephen Bargatze & Rick Merrill Interview - Episode 16
One of the reasons I was eager to attend the OWOW Magic Festival was that two old friends were also going to be performing there. I’ve known Stephen Bargatze for at least thirty years, and I’ve known Rick Merrill almost that long. (When he was fifteen, Rick sent me a letter offering an…
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Ryan Joyce Interview - Episode 15
Ryan Joyce is a busy performer, and he has been ever since he graduated from high school. For ten years, he performed a touring illusion show that crisscrossed Canada. He then entered the cruise-ship market, performing illusions, a smaller stand-up show, and a hypnosis act. Ryan also has an avid...
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David Regal Interview - Episode 14
My guest this month is one of my favourite performers and creators, David Regal. Although our paths have crossed at the occasional magic convention over the years, we’ve never really had the opportunity to spend time chatting about magic. I regret that, because David is an “evangelist” for…
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Paul Vigil Interview - Episode 13
This Conversations with Close podcast features an interview with Paul Vigil, who, in the past few years, has established himself as one of the top-flight performers and creators in the world of magic. Paul’s skills were well known to the magicians of Las Vegas, but it is only recently, with the...
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Johnny and Pam Thompson - Episode 12
In March 2013, I ran a cover story on Pam Thompson in M-U-M. While there had been many stories about Johnny Thompson in magic magazines, there had not been one on Pam, who was an integral part of the Tomsoni & Company act. In preparation for that article, I recorded several phone conversations…
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Harry Lorayne - Episode 11
I met Harry Lorayne in the spring/summer of 1975. At the time, I was going to music school at Butler University. I lived not far from campus and was home for lunch. As I watched the noon news, I heard the following announcement: “After this commercial break, we’ll be back with memory expert…
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Matt Disero - Episode 10
Matt is one of the busiest professional comedy magicians around; he works corporate events, cruise ships, and comedy clubs. He is also in demand as a writer for television. You may ave seen Matt on the fourth season of Penn & Teller: Fool Us. His experience on the show led him to an important...
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Bruce Kalver - Episode 9
I had a chance to chat with my old friend, Bruce Kalver. He was the president of The Society of American Magicians when I was hired to be the editor of M-U-M. He authored several feature stories for me and also wrote one of the most popular columns in the magazine, Tech Tricks (which continues to...
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Jeff Pinsky - Episode 8
Jeff Pinsky is the owner and operator of The Browser's Den of Magic in Toronto, Ontario, CANADA. I sat down with Jeff at the Den in June 2019.
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Jeff Altman - Episode 7
Jeff Altman is an American stand-up comedian, actor, and magician who has appeared as a guest on Late Night with David Letterman and Late Show with David Letterman a combined 45 times. Altman mesmerized contemporaries like David Letterman and Jerry Seinfeld, and inspired future comedians like…
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Andi Gladwin & Josh Jay - Episode 6
Andi Gladwin is a British magician, speaker, and publisher. He has appeared on television numerous times, has lectured for magicians throughout the UK, US and Europe and written / published books on magic. Joshua Jay is a magician, author, and lecturer. He has performed in over 100 countries, and...
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Mac King - Episode 5
Mac King is an American magician who has performed on television specials, often as a co-host. He has his own family-friendly show, "The Mac King Comedy Magic Show", at the Harrah's Las Vegas in the Clint Holmes Theater. Here is the chat via Skype. (Sept 2018)
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R. Paul Wilson - Episode 4
R. Paul Wilson is a close-up magician, filmmaker, and author. Michael sat down with R. Paul Wilson at the Ring 129 Workshop Convention in St. Joseph, Missouri.
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Anthony Owen - Episode 3
Anthony Owen was a magician, mentalist, and producer. Michael caught up with Anthony at the Sesson in London, England. (January 2018)
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
In these podcasts, I interview talented magicians from around the world—performers, creators, and innovators who are shaping the future of magic. I aim to ask thought-provoking questions that lead to meaningful discussions, offering you unique insights you won't find elsewhere. If you enjoy the conversations, I’d love for you to visit our website and explore some of the products we offer. www.MichaelClose.com
HOSTED BY
Michael Close
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How many episodes does Conversations With Close have?
Conversations With Close currently has 52 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Conversations With Close about?
In these podcasts, I interview talented magicians from around the world—performers, creators, and innovators who are shaping the future of magic. I aim to ask thought-provoking questions that lead to meaningful discussions, offering you unique insights you won't find elsewhere. If you enjoy the...
How often does Conversations With Close release new episodes?
Conversations With Close has 52 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
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You can listen to Conversations With Close on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Conversations With Close?
Conversations With Close is created and hosted by Michael Close.
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