Piff the Magic Dragon is back, doing mostly the same act he did on Penn and Teller Fool Us. I absolutely love Piff. I love his humor and would probably watch his act even if there was no magic in it. His byplay with Heidi was hilarious, especially his line about "No, I can't find it, the will to live."
Wayne Hoffman had an interesting take on the Russian Roulette plot. I liked him on Phenomenon and I've seen him live before. He's a nice guy, but this particular piece didn't really do it for me. I might just be looking at it through magician eyes, but Russian Roulette effects aren't my cup of tea. They go over well for audiences though, and I have done one myself, but I just find it lacking something.
I met Derek Hughes years ago at Monday Night Magic. I don't remember anything about what he did. but I do remember he was talented and funny. I really liked his act here, the judges obviously did too, and I think he's gonna do pretty well.
I don't even know where to begin with Stevie Starr. I'm not even sure if I would classify him as a magic act or not, but I want to talk about him so he's here. Stevie is interesting, to say the least. I think I like his act, but there's only so much you can watch someone swallow and throw back up. The problem I have is that I'm not willing to suspend my disbelief enough to believe some of the things I've seen him do in the past. Like most of what is in this act I could plausibly see as real. Except the sugar. But things like solving a Rubik's cube with his stomach or unlocking a padlock with his stomach can only be a trick in my eyes. And that leads me down the path of, if he's using trickery to do that, what else is he using trickery for? It'll be interesting to see where he goes.
Xakary was interesting. I personally haven't seen a sawing in half that doesn't use a trained assistant, but it's probably just because I've been living under a rock. I liked it well enough, but I wonder if he got through more on the gimmick of cutting a judge in half than actual good magic. I'm interested to see where he goes from here and if he can keep it up.
Michael John was pretty good. At first I was kinda bored with the card trick since it seems that everybody is doing it nowadays, but the second part was pretty neat and unexpected. I feel like he's going to do well in the voting (depending on who he's up against) because he hits all the notes that people seem to like: young, good looking, in shape, sensitive. I feel like women are going to vote for him in droves.
Well, I think I hit everyone. Now that I'm caught up with the first three episodes, I'll try to get a magic recap done soonish after the new episodes air. I don't watch them live so it may be a couple days after. Bear with me.
- Andster
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