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Magic and the Big Reveal

I just watched a few episodes of Penn and Teller: Fool Us on a demand.  Finally! A reason to watch the CW if you are not a superhero loving Preteen.  The premise of the show is magicians attempt to fool the duo.  If they do they get to perform in their show is Las Vegas.  Wow.  Pretty cool for the chronically dateless magician.  No?

This got me thinking about magic. Do you watch it for the wonderment? Or do you stare at it with a skeptic's eye wonder how they did it? I think I fall into the later camp. Although neither is a perfect world. I go through the performance looking for mistakes and feeling swindled by some charlatan. I miss the magic. Take simpletons to the same show and they are on the edge of their seats wondering if the girl is going to get out the sword box. Because to them it could go either way. But isn't it in that childlike innocence, in that suspension of disbelief where the magic lives?

I was raised by very cautious and skeptical parents. Who above all else told me to "be careful". This helps me at the poker table. I catch a lot of buffers. But it does not serve me well as I try to navigate the new-age magic of The Secret and its ilk. My gurus are able to summon up their suspension of disbelief much more quickly. Some of them even find happiness simply in the belief.



I found this magical thinking in of all places the CW. It was episode 2 season 6 of Penn and Teller: Fool Us entitled "Now That's Bunny". In it Greg Wison, one of the competing magicians, makes Mark Wilson and Narni Darnell, former stars of appear at the end of trick. They happen to be Greg's parents. But still. Now upon seeing this. Penn and Teller leapt to their feet in ovation. Clearly they know how a sword box works. But they were lost and amazed at sight of one of their idols. They found the magic.

Blog Author

Michelle Tomko's comedy is a fervent blend of tomboy sensibilities courtesy of the older brothers she grew up with in the Midwest and the barrage of perimenopausal chaos the East Coast world has heaped upon her. She pulls her humor from everyday observations and classic stories of family, travel, pets, and adversity. With razor-sharp crowd work and improvisational skills to the rock-solid timing of a veteran performer, Michelle’s act is not to be missed!

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