Episode 18

Peter Nardi is joined by co-host Wayne Goodman for another lively episode packed with magic news, product previews, performance advice and plenty of laughs.

The pair preview the launch of Suspect by Nicholas Mavresis, tease several new releases heading to Magic Live, and discuss the upcoming edition of Wayne’s The Expert at the Restaurant Table. They also react to the news surrounding Mark Mason and J.B. Magic, explore exciting effects including Cardiographic Stage Edition and Eject, and introduce Wayne’s Visual Gag of the Week.

Along the way, Peter and Wayne share valuable thoughts on comedy magic, making material your own, responding naturally to an audience and becoming the kind of performer people genuinely enjoy being around.

Grab a drink, sit back and join the conversation. For the full video version, search Alakazam Magic Live on YouTube.

Find out more about the team behind this podcast at www.alakazam.co.uk

Transcript

SPEAKER_07 0:10

Welcome to the Alakazam Live podcast with Peter Nardi. For the full video version of this episode, head over to YouTube and search Alakazam Magic Live. So grab a drink, sit back, and let's talk magic.

SPEAKER_04 0:28

Hi guys, and welcome to today's uh podcast video thing that we do on a Tuesday. And I am joined this week by my co-host, the amazing Mr. Wayne Goodman, Mr. G.

SPEAKER_06 0:43

Hello, hello, hello.

SPEAKER_04 0:44

How's you? I'm I'm hot. It is very hot. Usually in the studio here it is boiling, but it's not today. Which is good. Yeah. Yeah. Usually light an oven. Have you got your front door open?

SPEAKER_06 0:59

I've got my front door, the window, and the back door open. So I hope we're but there's no air. So normally, like when we have it like this, there's a nice breeze coming through. Um I have to put a little cushion down the door to stop the door from slamming, but there's nothing coming through. There's nothing pushing the door shut. So yeah. But it's all good. It's all good.

SPEAKER_04 1:21

It's all good. It is all good. So um welcome everyone to today's uh live video. Um, we've got a few things to talk about state, and one of the things is this evening at 7 p.m. we have got a live launch. Now, if you have been coming to the shop, chances are I would have uh demoed this on you, or one of the guys would have done. Um, because we've had this in the shop since December.

SPEAKER_06 1:49

Yep. I got I got one for Christmas.

SPEAKER_04 1:52

Yeah. So December we've had it in the shop and we've been demoing it. It's been a great seller. We took it at Blackpool where we sold out of it. Um and we're just coming around to officially launch it today. So join us at seven o'clock tonight. That's seven o'clock BST. If you are joining us from America, that's approximately five hours from now, right here on Facebook and YouTube, where you'll get to see the uh premiere of the trailer, which is a full performance. Um, and also you'll be able to ask us questions.

SPEAKER_06 2:28

So pardon? Can I show the box?

SPEAKER_04 2:33

Yeah. There it is. Is that the poker or pro? That's poker, isn't it?

SPEAKER_06 2:40

Uh no, this is the pro size. Oh, nice. I prefer pro size, to be honest. Um, yeah. It's a great trick. And again, one that you flawed with me with when I came into the shop.

SPEAKER_04 2:55

Do you know what? I mean, I I'm not gonna go too much into it because we're gonna speak about it tonight, but um, yeah, this flaws everyone, even if they own a predecessor to it. Okay, which I'll talk more about tonight. Um, so join us at seven o'clock tonight. Now, these are currently in stock at Alex Am UK, and Chris has got them in our US warehouse. So uh join us today, and you may be able to grab one. Some exciting stuff that's been happening. Oh, actually, while I'm speaking about it, let me just play this.

SPEAKER_09 3:43

Last night, at the stroke of midnight, there was a murder. From the notes of Inspector Nardi, there was only one witness at the crime scene, and that witness was you.

SPEAKER_04 4:24

But this week's been really exciting because we just got delivery of a load of new products we've got coming out. Um for anyone, actually, let me know in the chat because we've got quite a few of our American Alakafam here. Let me know if you're going to Magic Live because we are going to have at least four brand new releases at Magic Live. None of them will be officially released, but we will have them there. One of the products I don't think is actually being officially released till after Blackpool next year.

SPEAKER_06 5:05

Wow. Is that the one you showed me yesterday? You showed me the packaging for. Yes. Exciting.

SPEAKER_04 5:16

Yeah. We're gonna have that at Magic Live and we're gonna have it at Blackpool, and then it's gonna be released, I think, the end of February. Next year. I mean that's that's the thing. I mean, we we have stuff in stock for months before it gets officially released. Um good question. We are we are getting pack uh pro size wallets manufactured. So uh watch this space. Uh let me have a look. Uh someone said you got very big hands, Wayne.

SPEAKER_06 6:06

I haven't. I've got actually got really dinky little hands. I um yeah. Little sausage fingers. It was Danny Rag. Oh. I was gonna say, if it was Lee, everyone's hands are big to Lee.

SPEAKER_04 6:22

Um right, a few people saying they're going to Magic Live.

SPEAKER_06 6:26

Yeah, we've had a few people on the emails when they sign off saying look forward to seeing your Magic Live and stuff from the Americans. So yeah, that that's good. Yeah. Uh it'll be great. Uh thank you, Roy. That's very nice.

SPEAKER_04 6:41

Uh let me see what else is happening. So, Magic News. Wayne, there's well, there's one big bit of news that's been happening or that's been going about recently. Um, but it there don't seem to be much happening in the world of magic. I mean, this time of year, I will say, things do slow down a little bit.

SPEAKER_06 7:05

Well, they slow down our side, but when performers, everyone's out there, there's no real conventions at the moment because everyone's gigging. You know, we're right into the heart of wedding season, um, and and also summer parties, school proms, school fates. Um, well, that there's always there's loads of shows happening at the moment for all kinds of performers. So, you know, that that kind of takes hold. Um there but there are things coming up, you know. I mean, not to shamelessly plug, but we've got the Shindig coming up at the end of the year. Oh, you got it there. We've got the Shindig coming up at the end of the year in November, yeah. Which sounds like it's months away, but it's really, really not. No, I mean the time goes like that. Like that, 100%. And we've just confirmed our last dealer. Uh, we've got some new dealers coming this year, which is really exciting. We've got four great lecturers, one still to be announced. Um, uh a good show in the a great show in the evening. Um, it's all it's all you know getting closer and closer and closer, and we'll be here before you know it.

SPEAKER_04 8:09

Um I spoke to a friend of mine, Poot, from Holland, who was bought the ticket.

SPEAKER_06 8:17

Yes, Joad and his wife. They're they're a lovely couple. Uh they were at the Anakazam convention, they came over. Yeah. Um, an absolutely adorable couple. Um, yeah, they're they're coming over for it. They're really looking forward to it. Um, and uh yeah, yeah, I'm very excited for that. Um, which is which is you know astounding to think my little one-day conventions getting international visitors, that's really might give me a bit of a buzz. Yeah. Um very, very excited. Very, yeah, that that's all coming up. I will shamelessly plug one other thing just because of the comments on screen at the moment. Um, after a lot of aggravation and bullying from Jamie, um over the last six to eight weeks, I sat down with my uh one of my first books, uh, The Expert at the Restaurant Table, which used to be called the Definitive Guide to Restaurant Magic and got the name changed. Uh, The Expert at the Restaurant Table, which is my book on how to get a residency, how to keep a residency, what to do, what not to do. It's a really, really, really good uh good read. Um, and Jamie was saying, like, it came out 10 years ago. Really, we should we should have another one. Uh, you should update it. So I sat down with it and I went through page by page. Uh, in some aspects, I completely rewrote chapters, in other aspects, there's still the core of it there. Um, but the book is done now. I would like to say a massive thank you to Bob Dilworth, who's watching, uh, for proofreading it for me. Um, and um, yeah, it's going through another little set of editing at the moment, and we're gonna add a couple of extra chapters to it as well. Um, so yeah, and Jamie's gonna rewrite the introduction for me. Uh, so that hopefully later on in the year that will come out as well. So if anybody's looking at it. It was it was it still is one of my favourite books, and seeing it transform from Definitive Guide to the Expert, and then seeing it transform again into this newer version, which is still gonna be called The Expert of the Restaurant Table, uh, 2026 or 2027 edition. I haven't decided when it's gonna come out, but yeah, it it's rammed full. Everyone, everyone who reads my books, they all say that um uh I have a conversational style of writing. So when you're reading it, it doesn't feel like you're reading an instruction manual, it feels like you're having a conversation with me and we're going through everything. Um, Lee uh Lee Ransom, my mate Lee, he literally says that every time he looks at anything I've written, he says, I love your writing style. So that that's um yeah. So if you haven't seen the book, the new edition is coming out very soon, and I'll keep you updated on that. Shameless plug done. Good stuff. There's one more shameless plug coming later.

SPEAKER_04 10:59

All right. Well, I just want to say as well, a big shout out to the legend that is John Fox. Now, if um anyone doesn't know John, uh I've been friends with John for a few years, and uh recently we have been looking at getting various card gimmicks made and everything else. Now we've got Stevo who makes a lot of our card gimmicks, and we have got John Fox. Now, John and Stevo both do exceptional work. Um John is currently tackling the deck penetrations. Now each one of those John makes by hand. I think it takes him two hours to make each unit, um, and they are beautiful. Now, believe you me, I looked long and hard for someone that could manufacture these to the standard that Bromley used to. And, you know, John's done it. He's done it. They they are absolutely beautiful. So a big shout out to my friend John. And if you are still watching, John, because I know it's pretty late there for you now. Um, that deck of cards we were talking about went out in the post to you today. So you should have that pretty soon. This is another project, hopefully, for Blackpool. Um David Blair said, Will you be bringing Knock'em Dead to Magic Live? 100% we are bringing Knock'em Dead to Magic Live. Now, we don't bring a huge range with us to Magic Live, we bring about 10 different titles. So this year, I believe we've got five releases that you can't get online. So you'll have five new releases, and then we'll probably take about five classics, one of which will definitely be knock 'em dead.

SPEAKER_06 13:09

Nice. Um do you want to go back to the swing peak? Because I'm bored of looking at my face now.

SPEAKER_04 13:16

I forgot you were on there, and I should think the people at home are as well. They need a bit of a knowledge.

SPEAKER_06 13:22

Looking at my face is like reading in a car. It's okay for about five minutes, then we start to get a bit queasy.

SPEAKER_04 13:29

Right, let me have a look here. Oh, I'll tell you something, Celts. We've got a new section coming up in a moment. We're gonna drop that at about half past, I think. Um, I've got um a little intro jingle. Um I can't wait. I can't wait to see what this is all about. Right, so we'll do that about half past. But in the meantime, uh we just had these come in. Let's take a look at this.

SPEAKER_00 14:17

Hello, I'm Ju Miranda, and I'm proud to present Martin Lewis cardiographic stage edition. This is the version inspired by the legendary performance seen on the American television decades ago by David Copperfield. This is the closest anyone has ever come to recurating it. What you are getting is a giant stage pad designed for real visibility. It plays just as strong applause as it does in a full theater or even an arena. At the heart of this effect is a state-of-the-art mechanism, just 5mm thick. We develop our own mechanism where a subtle hand movement makes the selected card rise with extreme precision. You decide how fast it rises and how high it goes, all completely mechanical. With this stage edition of cardiographic, we will also receive access to a digital file that allows you to print the refill sheets locally, saving you a lot of time and money. With this new version, the sheets can be printed with the required markings. The result is a reset that takes less than a minute, making this version one of the most practical versions ever created of this effect. I would like to thank Susan Lewis from MagicCraft who granted us worldwide exclusivity. Suzanne trusts the quality of our work, which is why we are the only company in the world producing this amazing version. If you ever wanted that moment on stage that never fails to get an amazing reaction, look no further. This is the cardiographic StageVision. Get yours now.

SPEAKER_04 16:31

So they have come in today. Recently I was out in Portugal with um Leo Schmetters, and every time me and Leo go away together, we tend to go away once a year with our wives and everything, and we always look if there's a local magic shop. So uh we look one up, it was a taxi ride away. So Jenny and Mariah went to have a look round the town. Me and Leo jumped in a taxi, went to this magic shop, tiniest magic shop in the world, like really small. And when we walked in, there was like about five beginner packet tricks on the wall, and that was it. And I thought, oh my god, you know, that's we've we've just come to like a punter shop and everything else. So while we were there, a guy came out from another door, and I thought, I recognize you. And he said, Oh, Peter, like this. I said, Where do I know you from? He said, Oh, I'm I work with Joel Miranda, and I said, Oh, is Joel from around here? He said, Yeah, these are our offices. And I tell you what, it was like a TARDIS. This little door opened, and we went down into Joel Miranda's offices and workshops. Incredible. And he we were lucky enough to see some of the projects he's been working on, which I can't say anything about, but like incredible stuff. But while I was there, he showed me this and asked me if we would like to stock it. And um this is phenomenal. I mean, I love cardiographic anyway, I think it's such a beautiful effect. And I know when Harry and the boys of 4MG were doing their stage show, it was part of one of their routines. And um, but when I saw, and it always got a great reaction. Cardiographic always gets a great reaction, but when I saw this one, it's genius. It's bearing in mind, you know, the pad is big, it's A2, I think, so it's a big size pad, but your thumb only has to move a short distance because of this pulley system, which works really smooth and everything else, but because of the pulley system, you there's hardly no movement from you to get the card to rise out. Um I would say there's probably less movement on this huge version than there is on the standard stage version.

SPEAKER_06 19:09

Really?

SPEAKER_04 19:10

Yeah. And it's a lot smoother. You know, with I don't know if anyone's used uh cardiographic before, but there's a lot of tension there. You know, there is the chance that it could break, it shouldn't, but it could. Um with this one, it's it's just super smooth. Super smooth, it's lovely. So they are in stock now here at Alexam. Um, so if you want one, and remember, if you're in the UK as well, um, because it's not a cheap item, I think they're £360, but we do offer um Klarner as well, so you can pay over three months interest free, you know. But the first one went in my car to take home.

SPEAKER_06 20:03

Nice, yeah, lovely.

SPEAKER_04 20:06

It's great, it's really good.

SPEAKER_06 20:10

Um I bought I bought a pop over the weekend. Well, last weekend. What did you um I bought eject by Trick Trick Boom?

SPEAKER_04 20:19

Oh, last year at Magic Live, that was the talk of the convention.

SPEAKER_06 20:25

I can imagine it was the talk. A lot of people were talking about it at Blackpool this year, and um just the the scope and capable, well, but first of all, the the possibilities with it are endless. Um like having it shoot it shoots a sharpie basically, it it fires a sharpie um up. Um you can have it in the top pocket of your jacket, uh, you have it in your back pocket and have it shoot up behind. Um, Matt Edwards does a really nice routine with it where um he has cards, he springs a deck of cards and the pen shoots out and impales the chosen card. Um, or appears to impale the chosen card, I should say. Um there there's version I really like the one with the tube where you drop it into the tube and it vanishes and it shoots out of another tube on the table and you catch it. There's so many, so many different things. But what I will say, and you know what I'm like with instructions. Um I sat down with the instruction video because it does say inside the lid, watch this before you touch the gimmick.

SPEAKER_05 21:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 21:25

So I put the instructions on, and it's only about half an hour, 40 minutes, and I watched it. They go into so much detail, like really in-depth. It's just such a beautiful little thing. And you look at it, you go, Oh, this is gonna be simple, but actually, when you're watching it, there's so many little subtleties and nuances with it as well. Um, I was I was very, very impressed.

SPEAKER_04 21:45

Really, really yeah, and you can inject you can adjust the high. A lot of that, I don't know if it's still the same tutorial, but a lot of it was filmed in our Airbnb in Vegas.

SPEAKER_06 21:57

Oh, really? Yeah. So I put it to its maximum height. I was staying at Tracy's and I put it to the maximum height and I went outside and I put it on the ground and it went up three floors.

unknown 22:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 22:14

That's his height. So what's that? Twice. Probably um about 20 feet, 25 feet. It was high. It was really, really high. Um, and then um, and I I sent it back to the lowest one um and put it in my pocket, and it still shut up to about here. Yeah. So yeah, I'm gonna have a lot of fun with it. Um, but yeah, it's well worth well worth having a look at. It's available on the side.

SPEAKER_04 22:41

It's really good. People were going crazy for it at Magic Live last year. Absolutely crazy.

SPEAKER_06 22:49

Um, yeah, it's it's funny because there, you know, there's there's there's tricks that are labelled as comedy magic, and then there's comedy props, which we're gonna come back to later. But there's very few tricks I've found with the label comedy magic that actually live up to that, and it's nothing to do with narrators or anything like that. It's because you've got to have a certain amount of comic ability to to make something funny. So you need to be able to understand the comedy of it to make it make it work, yeah. Um but this one just works itself, it's just a funny thing. And when that when it shoots out of your pocket and you catch it, that's a really funny moment that will get you reputation for for being funny, for being clever, for the magic. I mean, I do a sharpie production when I'm working, and you know it it's it's people go, Oh, the thing with the Sharpie, and it's just a few flipstick moods. Um, but again, it's giving me a bit of a reputation of of doing that. Yeah now I can start off the card a Sharpie flat out of my pocket, it's just gonna add and enhance that even more.

SPEAKER_04 23:55

Yeah, yeah. No, it's great, it's it's a lovely little item. Um, and I think they're not at the moment, but I think when we had our sale on, they were on sale as well. Yep, yeah, yeah, it's it's a great little thing, great little thing. Um right, someone said, Will you be taking E2 to Magic Live? We probably will, but we won't have a lot of them because we have had E2 there uh a couple of years on the trot, so we won't have a lot. But if you are going Magic Live and you're after an E2, come up quickly because we'll probably only have six or twelve, if that. Um because we've got plenty of new stuff to be demonstrating. So big news. I don't know if you've heard the news, Wayne. Mark Mason has sold the company.

SPEAKER_06 24:52

What uh MB Magic? JB Magic. JB Magic if I want, yeah, J Joke Box, yeah. He sold it.

SPEAKER_04 24:59

He sold it. The rights to all his tricks, apart from his coin stuff, yeah, are now owned by Penguin Magic. Wow.

SPEAKER_06 25:12

Well, that's that's that's wow, that's yeah. Big news.

SPEAKER_04 25:18

Very big news. I mean, realistically, for for Penguin, it's phenomenal. As a magic manufacturer and a fan of Mark's, you know, I I class Mark as a good mate, and I've been buying stuff off Mark for 25 years plus. I know the strength of his back catalogue and the amount of products he's had. As a manufacturer, I think Penguin, if they wanted to, they wouldn't, but I think if they wanted to, they wouldn't have to release anything apart from a Mark Mason trick for the next five to ten years, and they'll still have plenty.

SPEAKER_05 25:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 25:58

Huge, huge back catalogue. And I I I think as with everything, there are gonna be routines that have most probably dated not too well. So there's gonna be a percentage where you go, do you know what? We're not gonna rerun that one. Or, you know, we've got the same in our back catalogue. There's certain tricks where you go, it's it's still a great trick, but it's just not what people do nowadays, or they don't carry that anymore, or you know, stuff like that. Um, but I think it's a fantastic acquisition for Penguin.

SPEAKER_06 26:41

Yeah, that's amazing. That's that's yeah. Well, I wasn't expecting you to say that. Yeah, that's a big news. I mean, I didn't know one.

SPEAKER_04 26:50

Yeah, that's it, it's huge, huge. So um, and I think they're gonna be hitting with the first releases sooner rather than later. I don't think they're they're hanging about. Um, and of late, Mark's business model has been I think it's four tricks a year or five tricks a year. So he'll release five tricks, he'll have them at Blackpool, various other conventions around the year. Um, and then the next year he'll have another. So he spends he's only releasing a few items. Um so I would presume that the first items to to hit will be Mark's latest releases that he had at this year's Blackpool.

SPEAKER_06 27:42

Nice. Like you say, he's got a huge back catalogue, he's got so many. I mean, yeah, I mean, I was buying stuff off off Mark back in '95. What's that? That's 30 years ago. Um, when I was on the ships, and he would send them to the to the ships to Hull and to uh Portsmouth and Southampton to me. Um yeah, that's a that's a great yeah, that's brilliant, brilliant news. It'd be nice as well because there's some stuff that won't have been available for a long time that will now become, they say, not everything, but some things will become available again.

SPEAKER_04 28:13

Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Actually, James Samuel has just said, he did say in an interview that he's free to bring out his own things in the future. So I hope that does continue. So maybe it will be a bit like um Paul Roberts and Elmwood. So Elmwood, Paul Roberts sold Elmwood to Penguin, but Paul still brings out his own bits. Okay, yeah. Um, and then Jed said, I believe Craig was filming some of Mark Mason's back catalogue with Penguin. Uh he was, yeah. He's uh Craig's just got back from uh Penguin Magic in Ohio filming a load of stuff. Um so yeah, really, really good. Really excited for that to see what's happening because pretty much like Alakazam as well, there's a lot of stuff that Alakazam released, Mark released, that are no longer on the market. You can't get them, you can't get them for years. Um, and that's why we sort of relaunched things like The Extractor, The Bitbook, Knock'em Dead, because they're they're all great old classics that just weren't available for years because we were concentrating on new stuff. But every year we try and introduce at least one thing from our back catalogue.

SPEAKER_06 29:42

I've got something I keep asking you about. I won't say now, but I'm still waiting for it to come back out again.

SPEAKER_04 29:49

I can't remember what it is.

SPEAKER_06 29:52

Um I'll tell you after. Okay.

SPEAKER_04 29:56

All right.

SPEAKER_06 29:56

I'll message you. I'll message you. You'll know you'll know as soon as I I you'll know as soon as I say what it is, you'll know.

SPEAKER_04 30:03

Let me have a look. Let me have a little look. I'm waiting for my message to come down. There you go. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, that that will happen. That will happen. Actually, I need to speak to my good friend John Fox about that.

SPEAKER_06 30:29

There you are, John, some more work for ya.

SPEAKER_04 30:34

Um so it's I think it's time.

SPEAKER_06 30:45

I've been waiting for this. Go on.

SPEAKER_04 30:47

You better I think you'll like it. I think you'll like it. Here we go. Ladies and gentlemen, our brand new weekly section.

SPEAKER_08 30:59

If you need a little joke, that'll briden your day. A funny little masterpiece you can't wait to say. Try it out and test it, it's brilliantly unique. It's Wayne's Vigil Gag of the Week. If you need a little joke, that'll briden your day. A funny little masterpiece you can't wait to say. Try it out and test it, it's brilliantly unique. It's Wayne's Vigil Gag of the Week.

SPEAKER_04 31:28

Yay! Wayne's Visual Gag of the Week. So my goodness. I'm gonna bring you up full camera. Tell us what this is all about, Wayne.

SPEAKER_06 31:39

So Peter and I chat a lot when we're not well, even when we're working, we're not working. He gets very busy in the shop, and I'm doing stuff, my exam work. And then at the end of the day or or after work, we'll have a little chat. And normally I'll say to him, I've got something to show you. Yeah, um, which led to me showing him lots of things. So I've got I've got a few things here. I've got a handbag, um, which I showed Pete last night, which was a good gag, isn't it? The hangbag. It is a good, it's very big for a gag. Hold on, let me let me grab it. Let me grab this behind that. So this is my handbag. So, and it holds all my tricks in here, and I can go down. I I've got a few ideas for it, uh, for gags and things, but I I don't know. I I got it as a bit of a freebie, so I'm just playing around with it at the moment. Um, but yeah, that's my handbag. And then we were talking, and I said I've had this idea, maybe on the live, we could do because I've got lots and lots of sight gags and uh visual gags here. Um I will say, can I just butt in?

SPEAKER_04 32:45

Yep. So a few years ago at our Christmas party, I was me and you were outside talking, because I I think I was outside vaping and you come out. Or I no, I come out because I saw you with a group of people, and you were entertaining them, I would say, for five or ten minutes, and I think you only did one trick, and that trick didn't last five or ten minutes. The rest of the time was just gag after gag after gag. And I remember Harry watching you and coming in and saying, like, you know, it's incredible to watch. So if someone hasn't seen you perform, they probably don't understand that you throw in a lot of these bits throughout your performance.

SPEAKER_06 33:41

Yeah, one-liners, side gags, anything and everything. So I I talk about in my lecture, I talk about I was doing a gig once, and I have this joke that only somebody called Wayne can do. Hi, Chase. Um, I had this gag that only somebody called Wayne can do it. It's not, it doesn't even make any sense really, but that doesn't matter. So when someone says to me, I do a trick and they go, No way, I go, no, it's Wayne, right? Which is stupid and ridiculous, but it always gets a laugh. It always gets a big laugh. Um, and and it's the way that you tell it, I suppose, but it it does get a laugh. And um I was at a gig once and there was a guy there called John, and he saw me do the gag and he got a laugh. I got a laugh. And when I went to watch him, the guy went, this woman went to him, no way. And he went, No, it's John. And didn't get any laugh at all. Um, I felt so sorry for him. Um, he just didn't get it. But yeah, no, I do I use a lot of jokes, a lot of comedy. Um, and I'm gonna go through so each week I'm gonna show you a gag. Um when I'm doing close-up, but I do that the little greater, um, and I'm gonna share an idea that I've got with a little greater, um, and and and things like where you break the wine glass and you restore it again, and all of these are little buy moments, and it's just nonsense, but it it makes it. And and as well as that, I I tell you know, 500 gags in a minute or whatever. Yeah, um, it is constant joke, joke, joke. I'm talking to people, I'm looking at people. Um, I had a bloke at a gig on on uh the weekend. Uh where was I? Saturday, I was doing a summer fate, and there was a guy there with a big beard, well, little beard, uh little mustache, little white beard, mustache, white hat, and he had like an American flag t-shirt on, and I kept calling him Colonel Sanders from KFC. Um, and and it was just not in a nasty or horrible way, but it just made the moment, you know, because I'm just observing things, and um I I do this water pistol trick uh for my good friend Magic Holly, and I bring out at the end of it, I bring out this giant gun, this giant water pistol. And this little girl in the front mode went, that's not fair. He only had a small water pistol, so I squirted her. And again, it just created that really nice moment. She didn't get upset, she laughed a bit off, but it was just a fun moment. So I love those kind of things. I love adding that kind of humour. Um, so today's today's gag of the week uh is an oldie but a goldy, um, and it's actually from my stage show. Um, I'm not claiming any originality for this. Some of the jokes I'm going to share with you with you are mine uh that I've written and I or I've created, and then some of them are not, and I've just used for almost 35 years. Um, this comes from my cabaret show, especially for when I was in Spain. Um, but it's very easy to make up, it's very good fun. It's not really a close-up trick, but I guess you could do a close-up, you've got a space in your pocket, you carry a bag. Uh, but I asked someone if they've got a lighter, and they somebody throws me up a lighter, and I take it and I put it in the pub and I say, Thank you very much. And then that's the end of the gag. I don't do anything else with it, it just gets put away. Um, and um, yeah, you never never refer to it again, you never go back to it, you never give back to the person to the audience, and it just creates a bit of tension that gets called laugh. It's a good gag.

SPEAKER_04 37:07

Well, just to credit that, I first saw AJ do it, the amazing Jonathan. Uh but I saw somebody before before AJ, I did see somebody. Paul Zennon claims originality on it. Okay. So it's one of I think they both did it roughly the same time. And the line they used to use, and I think both of them use a similar line, is when the lighter comes up, they introduce the thing and they go, Well, that just about fills that up, and then puts it to the side, you know. Um, great, great gag. Great gag.

SPEAKER_06 37:49

And I I saw a guy called Burnett doing it in Benedome in '95. Um and he was a he was also, I mean, he didn't do any magic. It was all just gags. But I remember him doing, but there's nothing to say that he didn't see it in the yard.

SPEAKER_04 38:04

I would have seen I would have seen AJ do it before '95, I think. Okay. Um, but it's such a good, it's such a good gag. And I know I know Noel uses um the same gag on his fantastic Ringo effect. Have you seen Ringo?

SPEAKER_06 38:28

I've got Ringo, yeah, it's on the beer. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 38:30

Yeah, he uses the same gag. Has anyone got a ring? Just about fills that up, and it's perfect. And I think I told him the gag when he first showed me Ringo. I think. Nice. Um, yeah, it it that's a brilliant, it's it's a brilliant gag for for cabaret and stage, and it just it comes in sort of you sort of sideswipe them with it, don't you? Because they don't know where it's going when you're asking for the lighter, it's built up.

SPEAKER_06 39:04

One of the things, I mean, a lot of people make fun of all the jokes, a lot of people, especially Tracy. Um, but a lot of people make comments about it. But for me, it it's you never see the punchline coming, but also it is used. Uh, comedy is a great tool for misdirection.

SPEAKER_05 39:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 39:23

So if I want to cause uh if I need a little bit of time delay between me doing something and then the reveal of that something, then I need to be able to do something that's gonna last five seconds, ten seconds, that will give me enough time delay that I can refer but without being too distracting. So I don't want to go into another trick or start something or do something weird. I want to do something that's gonna be relevant, be part of the show, be part of what I'm doing. So something like that where I say, Oh, I need a lighter. Has everyone got a lighter please? Oh, thank you. Boom, that's that done. Yeah, and then you carry on. And it's not enough of a distraction to make you forget what's going on, but it is enough of a distraction to cause a little bit of time delay so that you can now go back to the thing and they've forgotten that you shuffle the cards, or you didn't do this, or that was supposed to happen, or you know what I mean? Um, it it just takes that moment away. Um, and it's yeah, it is it's it's one that that goes in my cabin as it goes everywhere. It's just a lovely, a lovely throwaway moment that yeah that gets big laughs. Yeah, and that that's the thing with also go on.

SPEAKER_04 40:31

No, I was gonna say as well, like with when you are out performing, I mean, I don't see myself as a a comedy magician. I'm not a gag guy when I'm performing. I'll I'll be funny, but not with gags. Do you know what I mean? I'll I'll have a couple of funny comments or a couple of funny answers. But it it's quite weird, isn't it? Because when you're out performing, if you've got that sort of persona, like you know, if I'm out there like this and I'm all serious, you haven't got that persona. But if you're there and you're having a bit of a laugh with the people, sometimes you can say something that genuinely isn't funny. Yet I think it's either the the beats in which you say it, or the fact that they're just having a good time, or they laugh that they just find it hilarious.

SPEAKER_06 41:30

That's like the no way, no way, nah thing. It's uh the gags that come before and everything else. I've got them, I've got them laughing. It it doesn't make sense, but it does kind of.

SPEAKER_04 41:44

Well, you got the way in both. No way, yeah, way, nah.

SPEAKER_06 41:48

Yeah. Yeah. And it's my name, which makes it relevant. So they go, no way. No, it's way nah. And then they go, ha ha ha. There's there's a there's a funny thing. We I was talking to him about this recently, actually, with Tracy. Um, Rodney Piper from Spain phoned me, and we were talking, we talked about some jokes and stuff, and old gags and bits of business and whatever. And um we talked about, we used to have a little challenge that we would do um in a bar called well, it was mostly in Chaplin's in Saloo, where there was a joke we came up with that isn't a joke, it's a non-joke, it's not funny or anything. But the challenge was that we would have to do the joke in one of our shows, he'd have to do it in his show, and I'd do it in my show, and see if we get a laugh with it. And now for me, it wasn't that much of a too difficult, it was a challenge, but not too much of a challenge because I'd do so many jokes in my show that I could just slip it in and it would go uh with the flow, yeah, but not always, because sometimes the the comedy wouldn't be hitting as hard as you want it to, um, which is great with comedy magic because you can then do like you can then push more magic and less comedy, and like likewise, if it's going really great and they're not they they're liking the magic, but they're loving the comedy, you can do a bit more jokes, you can go either way with it. And the joke was uh man walks into a bar 29 years old, right? There's there's not there's no joke there. There's that that that's it. There, there's no you're not missing out anything. Um, and we would do it, and we would get laughed with it, and then we would bring other entertainers into it, and some would and some wouldn't get laughed with it. Um, but it was it was a great, it was a great little challenge for us to keep us thinking and keep us working. Yeah, because we I I was doing five shows a night, so you know, to go out there and throw this in uh and see if we can get a laugh with it was something we would do would do regularly.

SPEAKER_04 43:42

And let's be honest, it's no worse than some of your others.

SPEAKER_06 43:48

See, you can lie, you can take the mid as much as you want. I don't care. I'm beyond that now. I don't, yeah, I'm beyond all that. The other thing, as well, that I would say if anybody wants to try comedy, the other thing I would say we'd great. Seriousness, and you know, some of my jokes that I come up with are out there, yeah. Yeah, I've got some some gags that are just completely out there, but they get I get laughs with them, so I don't care. But the main thing is, and this is one of the questions I get asked quite a lot by by punters and by magicians, is like, you laugh at your own jokes, and I'm like, Yeah, because they're funny, right? If I don't find them funny, why would I why if if I didn't find them funny, why would I tell them? Yeah, you know what I mean? And I don't mean I'm corpsing or I'm collapsing on the floor in fits of laughter, but if I say a gag or I do an ad lib that I think is funny, then I I will laugh at it. Yeah. Um and and and because my philosophy is when I'm up on stage, there's that old saying you can't please all the people all the time. But my belief, and something that really works for me, is my my philosophy is a little bit different. My philosophy is I'm here for the next hour, I'm gonna have a great time up here. I'm gonna laugh and joke about, and I'm gonna be an idiot, and I'm gonna I'm gonna have a great time up here. Now, you as an audience, if you want to come with me on this journey, yeah, then you're more than welcome. You're everybody's welcome. Yeah. But if you're not gonna come with me on this journey, and you're just gonna sit there grumply and drink your drink and just stare at me, I'm gonna ignore you because there's nothing I can do for you. I can't entertain you if you start the show by going, nope, not interested.

SPEAKER_04 45:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 45:31

Not interested at all. And I do this when I'm doing close-up, even. If I got to the table and someone who's being obstinate and being, you know, aggressive or I hate magic, I don't believe in magic, I know how it's done, I've seen BGT, all that kind of stuff. I'd ignore them. I'd I'll perform to the people, I'll perform to the people who do want to watch. You know, because there's no point trying to change someone's mind. So I'm having a good time. If you want to come with me, you are gonna have a great time as well. Let's see what we can come up with and do here, blah, blah, blah, and off we go. Uh and that that really works for me. And and most people, most people are up for the laugh, come along for the ride. And those that don't, I think in some ways they're grateful because I'm not gonna pick on them, I'm not gonna get them up on stage, so they get left alone, which is what they want, um, and and everything moves forward.

SPEAKER_04 46:22

Yeah, no, great. So that brings us to the end of uh Wayne's visual gag of the week. So uh we we got about cheaply.

SPEAKER_06 46:34

David. Are you gonna play it again?

SPEAKER_05 46:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 46:39

Well, before you do that, I have got another shameless plug. Go on. Um, I told Peter about this last night, and and he said, Oh, we could do it on the live. Um, so a few weeks ago, um, I I showed off my new hat, which has come in very, very helpful um in this mod this recent days with all the heat and everything. Um, I wasn't allowed to wear it to go to take that with Tracy. She wouldn't let me. Uh, but it would have been great that day because it was very, very hot.

SPEAKER_04 47:09

Will she let you wear it on the wedding, do you think, if it's sunny?

SPEAKER_06 47:13

Um, she might not get much of a chance to object because she might come down the aisle and I'll just be stood there. I'll just turn around and be like, hello. Um, these are great. Um, that it's a great little side gag. I did it. This one I used on Saturday at the summer fate I was at. Um, and I kept I kept doing this and going, Oh, I'm I I'm really sorry, lady. So sunny. Wait one second. And I went and I said, I want my hand to be here because then I can, but I can't because I need both my hands. And I went and put this on, and uh, and it got a great laugh. It got a really, really big laugh. So the um Zen's is that her boding you to say, tell him to turn that off. I have this, these are available on my site now. Um, they're just five quid and they're great. They absolutely come flat-packed, and you just put it on your head, and it's so silly and stupid. Uh, the Wayne Goodman uh palm visor. Um, yeah, and it's just a great little sight gag. Really, really good little sight gag. There we go. Brilliant. So okay.

SPEAKER_04 48:15

That's uh okay, here we go.

SPEAKER_08 48:17

If you need a little joke, that'll brighten your day. A funny little masterpiece you can't wait to say. Try it out and test it, it's brilliantly unique. It's Wayne's visual gag of the week. If you need a little joke, that'll brighten your day. A funny little masterpiece you can't wait to say. Try it out and test it, it's brilliantly unique. It's Wayne's visual gag of the week.

SPEAKER_04 48:45

So I'll join us ever gonna get bored of that. Join us next week for another visual gag of the week. There you go. Um, I've got another little trailer to play. Okay. Let me play it now.

SPEAKER_05 49:07

No. No way!

SPEAKER_03 49:10

This Oracle knows the answer to every single question you could ever possibly ask it. It is never wrong. Pocket Oracle is unique, it's fun, it's fooling, and it's easy. But it's so small and so portable, it all fits on one card. To use Pocket Oracle to understand the object someone is thinking of in the most unique way possible. With no more than one single business card and Pocket Oracle all housed inside of this beautiful little sleeve, you are set to perform a miracle. With Pocket Oracle, you'll receive the Oracle card itself, which is a beautifully designed matte finish wallet card. But you'll also receive a specially engineered ultra minimalist geek device. So what happens? Your friend thinks of an object, they commit to that and it's sealed away inside the sleeve, put out of sight. You then ask the Oracle some questions about the object they think of, and it provides you with three factually correct answers every single time. What's crazy about Pocket Oracle is that you can ask the question before your spectator really freely decides on the answer. The method behind the call routine is diabolically clever and perfectly simple. You will love performing Pocket Oracle. As a bonus, combine the Pocket Oracle with any regular or borrowed deck of cards, and you'll be able to perform an impromptu miracle. One that sees you work in conjunction with the Oracle to understand the card they're thinking of, and then for them to find it with the cards in their hands. Not only that, but learn how to use the pocket oracle in the real world to positively affect people you know or don't know. I know you will love Pocket Oracle.

SPEAKER_04 51:10

So that is new from Chris Rawlins, a lovely little piece of mentalism to carry about with you. They're in stock now as well. That's Pocket Oracle.

SPEAKER_06 51:22

I like Chris. He's got some lovely ideas, hasn't he?

SPEAKER_04 51:26

He's got great ideas, but more than that, as well, he's everything's always structured very well and very well thought out. The routine's always very clever, very deceptive. Um, yeah, I've got a lot of time for Chris and his releases. Um and if you're going to Magic Live, I believe Chris is going to be out there as well. He was there last year. Um and he always has some really nifty little bits with him. So yeah, looking forward to that. Um so I I really enjoyed the little discussion on that uh uh uh visual gags of the week. I'm looking forward to next week's one, Wayne.

SPEAKER_06 52:16

I've already got it, I've got a few weeks mapped out. I've got some ideas for next week's a close-up pop. Cool. It's a close-up item. So yeah.

SPEAKER_04 52:26

And I know that um I mean me and you speak almost, well, not almost daily, we do speak daily, but especially when we used to video every day, every single day, you were showing me something else. Like literally without fail, every day. I've just been to the been down to the shop and I found this. I'm gonna do this with it. Been here, found this, I'm gonna do this with it. And I think that's um that's a thing as well, isn't it? Just looking about for weird objects.

SPEAKER_06 53:04

You're always on the lookout for the the next gag or the next thing that you can use. I I've got one here. Let me show you this one very quickly. This is a Christmas one.

SPEAKER_04 53:13

Oh, I know what one it is.

SPEAKER_06 53:15

Yep. Right, you know. So this is this is superb. Um, I actually out my out my window, let me grab this one as well. These aren't ones I use in my show necessarily. Um so this was a um this is Cheeky Beaky, which is a uh uh a little teddy bear seagull. Um and um yeah, I thought it'd be quite funny to call him Steven. So I got Stephen Seagull, um, which is just just for me is very, very funny. Um plus he's quite tubby and he doesn't do much. Um but then I've also got this which um was for the Christmas tree. Um I can't remember where this came from, but I I I I found one online, so I got it. Um this is for the Christmas tree, it's a missile toad.

SPEAKER_04 54:08

So you you kiss Tracy under the missile missile toad.

SPEAKER_06 54:13

Underneath the missile toad, yeah. Um, which I think is hilarious. It's so stupid and ridiculous. Um, but it it's it's very me. And and and that's what it's all about. It's all about finding that stuff that you know you can you can show and have a laugh with and do a gag with. I I still haven't done it yet. I'm gonna try and get it done today. Um I'm gonna I'm doing some jokes for charged up by Craig Petty.

SPEAKER_05 54:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 54:38

Um I need to do that. So my apologies for the delay there. Um, but also, you know, that there's also I'm always looking at everything that I do and seeing, okay, what gag can I do with that? What gag can I assign to that? What what is funny about that? How can I make that? Because when I go out there, I don't want to be just doing a standard trick. I want it to be my own, I want it to be fun, I want it to have some element of me in that. Yeah. Um, and for me, my my you know, yeah, I mean it's it's who I am. If I didn't tell jokes, I wouldn't be Wayne Goodman. I we, you know, it's it is literally part of me. I know we've talked about this before as well, but Rodney Piper often said that he imagined that in my head I've got a Rollodext that is just spinning and spinning and spinning. Yeah, thank you. Um I'm not so much a prop guy because there's a lot of verbal gags as well, but I do like Carrot Top. Um, I did. He's he's gone a bit, he's gone a bit uh wacky at the moment. I hope hopefully he's alright. Um but yeah, yeah, he said there's like a rollodex in my head just spinning. Uh and it's funny because if you ask me to tell you a joke now, I'd have to go, I'll come back in a second and think of one. Um but when I'm out on stage, I don't have to think. No, when I'm performing group, it's it's almost like it's not it's not a skill, it's a reflex. Yeah you know, if you if you punch me on the knee, my leg will shoot forward, you know. Um if you if you pour boiling water on me, I'll jump back. Um if I need a joke, it's just there. I don't have to think about it, I don't have to stress that it's not going to be there. The joke will be there if I need one. Yeah. And it's always been like that. It's always, it's always been, uh hopefully always will be, you know. Um yeah.

SPEAKER_04 56:27

Yeah. It's the same with I mean, it's the same with me and magic now. I mean, it never used to be like that. But the older I'm getting, and I think where I'm not performing as much and I'm just demonstrating tricks in the shop, I'm not really learning a lot for me. Um, if someone just goes, show me a trick, I said they're going, oh what should I do? Whereas if if I'm doing something, then they all start just flowing.

SPEAKER_06 57:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 57:00

But I think when you you sort of sit there and you you go, right, okay, I need to do a trick. I think your mind goes through various things of like, it needs to be a good one, it needs to be this, it needs to be that, it and you just overthink everything. Whereas, you know, your your skill is responding. You know, I've never seen a time where someone said something to you and you haven't got something you can come back with that's relevant as well, not just a gag, it's relevant to what they've said, and you can tell it is just instinct, it's just there, the the joke's there, and it's if I said you tell me five jokes about this, you have to sit there and think of them. If I come out with the thing, they would just come shooting back at me.

SPEAKER_06 57:57

Yeah, 100%. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Um it's funny how the old brain works, isn't it? It is.

SPEAKER_04 58:08

Uh let me have a look. Who's on here? Oh, our good friend Joshua Kofer's joined us. Hiya, Josh. Um Yeah, so Tracy said you're absolutely not wearing that at the wedding.

SPEAKER_06 58:27

She hasn't got much saying that.

SPEAKER_04 58:29

If she's gonna turn up halfway through Yeah, I I think she wants you to really. I think that's her saying Wayne It will make my day, Wayne. That's what she's saying. I think so. Uh Craig Barnes says, You're a great performer, very funny. Right, he hasn't put a com uh a comma in here, so I'll read it as it's put. You're a great performer, very funny looking. Forward to the shing, forward to the shindig.

SPEAKER_06 59:11

Um I got I got a lovely comment on Saturday. There was a young man there um called Harry, and I first met Harry seven years ago, and he's uh extremely special needs, he can't speak, he he kind of makes noises and he's very loud and shrill. He signs a lot, and I met him about seven years ago um when I was working at a pumpkin patch one Halloween, and actually his mum sent me the picture of seven years ago the other day. Um, and when he found out I was gonna be at the par at the fate on Saturday, apparently he was just he was up at six in the morning, he was so excited to be there, which is absolutely lovely. And he as soon as he turned up, I was like, hi Harry. And he came over and gave me a hug. He's got to be about, I think he's about that 22 or 23, or maybe a bit older than that. Absolutely lovely kid, lovely guy. He just just so and he's walking around the fate, and everyone knows him, and they're all saying hi, and he's high-fiving. And even though he's at the back of the field, you can still hear him shrieking and laughing and stuff, and it was great. And his mum sent me a lovely message saying how how much she enjoyed my interaction with Harry, and you know, I didn't treat him any differently. I squirted him with a water pistol, you know. I I didn't treat him any differently to anybody else, and he had an absolutely amazing time. And I think that's that brings you right to the core of it. Yeah, I think um, you know, if if if if first of all, you've got to have a good time, and secondly, you've just got to be that guy that everyone wants to be around. I remember once, I remember once somebody, I think it was Rodney, said this to me. He said, little girls should look up to you, little boys should want to be you. People your own age should all want you to be their best mate, and old older generation men should look at you and go, Oh, I wish I was him. And older generation women should look down and go, Oh, I wish he was my son. And if you can get all of that into one package, then then that's where you should be. And that's what I try and do. I just try and be likable by everyone.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:12

Yeah, yeah, it's great. Uh well, I think you've achieved that.

SPEAKER_06 1:01:17

I try, I'm very trying. Um I'm never gonna stop. I'm gonna warn you now, I'm never gonna stop coming up with gags.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:27

Right, that's not that's not the best news I've heard today.

SPEAKER_06 1:01:31

We need to have a chat about that because I need I need three new gags for the wedding.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:37

Right. So that brings us to the end, actually, of this live, but the not the end of the lives today, because tonight at seven o'clock on Facebook and YouTube, we have got a live launch. Let me play this and I'll be back.

SPEAKER_09 1:01:55

Last night, at the stroke of midnight, there was a murder. From the notes of Inspector Nardi, there was only one witness at the crime scene, and that witness was you.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:31

So join us at 7 pm tonight on Facebook and YouTube for the live launch of Suspects by the amazing Nicholas Mavresis. We will see you then, and Wayne, we will see you next week. Next week. Is there anything else happening this week? Uh no. No. But there is, if you check on our oh, I've got another trailer, I think. Oh, I've got another trailer quickly. Let's play it before we go. Let's have a look.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:10

Hey everyone, it's Kev G, and I'm super excited to announce I'm gonna be heading down to the Alakazam studio on Tuesday, the 21st of July for my first Alakazam Academy. Now, I'm gonna be teaching a ton of my creations, stuff that involve gift cards, Lego, music, playing cards, cubes, and I'm even gonna teach you how you can craft some of the gimmicks yourself so you can go out and perform these straight away. Now, whether you're a hobbyist or a professional, I'm pretty sure you're gonna have a takeaway from this academy. So get in your diary, get your ticket, join me live on Tuesday, the 21st of July, and I'll look forward to seeing you there.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:59

So that's just gone on our website. You can get your tickets for that Academy right now. And remember, even if you can't make the date or the time, um, everyone who buys a ticket will receive the download for them to keep forever. So, um, yeah, that's about it. We will see you tonight at 7 p.m. right here on Facebook and YouTube. So put a reminder, set your alarms, and we will see you then. So until next week, Wayne.

SPEAKER_06 1:04:28

Four hours from now. Four hours from now. Yeah, four hours from now. So wherever you are in the world, four hours time. Uh, yeah, well, have a good week. Um, it's gonna be hot again this week, so make sure you drink lots and look after yourself, and I will see you on the next one next Tuesday. Nice.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:47

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