How many magicians have gotten into acting in addition to magic shows?

Oct 11, 2017
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I know Lance Burton was on an episode of Knight Rider where he played an evil magician who had David Hasselhoff as Michael Knight kick his butt for him, and I know Penn and Teller were in one of the Sharknado movies. They were also in a couple episodes of The Simpsons where they both did voice acting, and David Kotkin was in a couple episodes of The Simpsons as well including one where he played an evil magician. That almost sounds like a real life description of him because he did that cool looking card trick with a scorpion, and he's hogging it so nobody else can buy it for a fair price or at least learn it. Oh well. Seriously, has he done any acting besides voice acting. What about other magicians like Jeff McBride or the Pendragons or Sigfried and Roy. I was surprised to see Jeff McBride performing for that reality show for magicians called Penn & Teller Fool Us because he's well known enough that he could perform in Las Vegas any time he wants. I'd rather just do tricks and put on shows locally.
Take care and God bless
 
Jan 26, 2017
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P&T also write Broadway Shows. A lot of magicians consult for movies. Derren Brown appears on Rednose day occasionally. Brian Brushwood held a TV show (or 2). I'm sure there are more.
 

WitchDocIsIn

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Sep 13, 2008
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Jeff McBride does perform pretty much whenever he wants. I fear you've missed the (actual) point of Fool Us.

Steve Valentine - http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0884313/
Ricky Jay - http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0419633/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1
Penn - http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0422710/?ref_=nv_sr_1
Teller - http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0854418/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1 (Also a playwright)
Lance Burton - http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0123643/?ref_=nv_sr_1
Mac King - http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1169127/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1
Vincent Caso (Has posted here in the past) - http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2312881/?ref_=tt_cl_t6
Derren Brown - http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1494925/?ref_=nv_sr_1 (Mostly his own shows, but he was also in Sherlock)
R Paul Wilson - http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1526932/?ref_=nv_sr_2
Harry Anderson - http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0026789/?ref_=nv_sr_1
Jonathan Pendragon was a stunt man and was in The Blues Brothers as well as several other productions - http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0946396/?ref_=nv_sr_1
David Copperfield (Why do you keep calling him Kotkin? And why are you so obsessed with the fact that he doesn't sell his mateiral?) has appeared in several TV shows and movies.

That's off the top of my head. Many decently successful magicians also end up at least dabbling in acting, due to the connections they make and the cross over skills.
 
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RickEverhart

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I have "zero" acting experience and to be honest that is probably my most area of concern, struggle and needed growth. That being said, I have gotten better and have seen vast improvement over my 18 years of performing just by being thrown into the fire.
 

CWhite

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Criss Angel appeared in the tv show Las Vegas and the John Stamos sitcom Grandfathered and CSI NY..
IMDB is a great tool lol
 
Oct 11, 2017
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I'm obsessed because I hate seeing small tricks that shouldn't be that expensive that are either unavailable or for an obnoxiously high price. I call him David Kotkin because there are too many tricks like that. I could see it if the graffiti prediction Illusion was expensive because it's big; but when it comes to a trick that looks like it doesn't require more than a deck of cards and a scorpion, there's no reason it shouldn't be unavailable. I came up with a trick idea of my own where there's a hidden spike under a bag, and I basically present it in a funny way. I invite someone to select a bag and say that we're gonna play squash it, wimp. I tell the person I'll go first, and we keep doing it back and forth. There's a little bit of luck involved because you may be able to reveal which bag has the spike in it at the end without a spectator figuring out the secret. I grew up watching David Kotkin do his tricks and never being able to guess the secrets, and it gets sickening and old after awhile. I started buying a few at magic stores and had fun with the easy ones like Mislead, pen through a quarter, and the one where you make rubber bands penetrate each other. Now the squashing bag with a spike under it routine that I told about is mine, and it's annoying that I can't expose my trick to everyone because there's a rule.
 
Jan 26, 2017
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I'm obsessed because I hate seeing small tricks that shouldn't be that expensive that are either unavailable or for an obnoxiously high price. I call him David Kotkin because there are too many tricks like that. I could see it if the graffiti prediction Illusion was expensive because it's big; but when it comes to a trick that looks like it doesn't require more than a deck of cards and a scorpion, there's no reason it shouldn't be unavailable. I came up with a trick idea of my own where there's a hidden spike under a bag, and I basically present it in a funny way. I invite someone to select a bag and say that we're gonna play squash it, wimp. I tell the person I'll go first, and we keep doing it back and forth. There's a little bit of luck involved because you may be able to reveal which bag has the spike in it at the end without a spectator figuring out the secret. I grew up watching David Kotkin do his tricks and never being able to guess the secrets, and it gets sickening and old after awhile. I started buying a few at magic stores and had fun with the easy ones like Mislead, pen through a quarter, and the one where you make rubber bands penetrate each other. Now the squashing bag with a spike under it routine that I told about is mine, and it's annoying that I can't expose my trick to everyone because there's a rule.
A lot of the smaller tricks he does are available. If you find a price unfitting, don't buy it. There's no need to buy every trick, nor does he have to release anything. And your logic for calling him "David Kotkin" is pretty flawed here. "I don't like the fact that he sells what he uses to make a living, therefore I shall not refer to him as the common name he has". A lot of performers go by second names.
 

Josh Burch

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Aug 11, 2011
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I'm obsessed because I hate seeing small tricks that shouldn't be that expensive that are either unavailable or for an obnoxiously high price. I call him David Kotkin because there are too many tricks like that. I could see it if the graffiti prediction Illusion was expensive because it's big; but when it comes to a trick that looks like it doesn't require more than a deck of cards and a scorpion, there's no reason it shouldn't be unavailable. I came up with a trick idea of my own where there's a hidden spike under a bag, and I basically present it in a funny way. I invite someone to select a bag and say that we're gonna play squash it, wimp. I tell the person I'll go first, and we keep doing it back and forth. There's a little bit of luck involved because you may be able to reveal which bag has the spike in it at the end without a spectator figuring out the secret. I grew up watching David Kotkin do his tricks and never being able to guess the secrets, and it gets sickening and old after awhile. I started buying a few at magic stores and had fun with the easy ones like Mislead, pen through a quarter, and the one where you make rubber bands penetrate each other. Now the squashing bag with a spike under it routine that I told about is mine, and it's annoying that I can't expose my trick to everyone because there's a rule.

I've been thinking about this lately. It's going to sound pretty arrogant but here it goes.

I think that there should be a rule that if someone else is doing a trick in magic that you shouldn't do that trick!

Talented magicians already follow this rule to some extent, they at least will try to make their magic personalized. That's a start, but there are WWWAAAAAYYYYYY too many magicians basically copying something they saw on TV. In stand up comedy you are black listed if you steal a joke, I kind of wish it was that way with magic. It would force us all to be a heck of a lot more creative.

I know where we can start. If David Copperfield did it, don't do it. David Copperfield is probably the most ripped off magician out there. There are only a finite few pieces of magic that hes has performed on his specials (okay, a few hundred). Can we as a community stop performing Cardiographic, Banana Bandana, and Origami? Or at least stop performing these pieces exactly like he did?

David Copperfield is awesome, look at his magic and create a pattern for your own. If you want to do the graffiti wall prediction then write a list of what you like in that effect. Maybe that list says:

- It involves the audience
-There's funny by play
-The prediction seems impossibly specific

Then go out and create a trick of your own that fits that criteria.
 
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Josh Burch

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To get back to the main question. I'll stick with appearances where they play characters that are not magicians or themselves.

Penn and Teller used to be regulars on Sabrina the Teenage Witch. They were the witches council, the governing body of the witches.

Justin Willman makes a cameo as a college student on Gilmore Girls. It's Rory's first day at Yale. She's early for class, he comes in looks at her and says, "Freshmen!", all disgusted like.

Ricky Jay in Mystery Men was pretty funny. The main villain has a dilemma and so he turns to Ricky Jay's character and says, "What do I look like a magician?". I laugh out loud every time.

They made a mask wearing alien character specifically for Jeff Mcbride on Star Trek (Voyager I think?). It's a fun cameo because they integrate some magic into his alien character. It's awesome.

If we count times that they appeared as magicians then I have a couple of those that are fun.

On Burt Wonderstone (the greatest of all the magic movies) when Burt is talking to David Copperfield you can see Homer Liwag in the background. Jonathan Levitt is the hand double for Burt Wonderstone as well.

Recently, I was watching Freaks and Geeks and was super surprised when I saw Joe Monti performing magic at disco.

You don't see his face but Jason Randal performs some magic on Pretty Women.

My favorite is David Copperfield's cameo on Scrubs. It's such a funny little addition.
 
Jan 26, 2017
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I've been thinking about this lately. It's going to sound pretty arrogant but here it goes.

I think that there should be a rule that if someone else is doing a trick in magic that you shouldn't do that trick!

Talented magicians already follow this rule to some extent, they at least will try to make their magic personalized. That's a start, but there are WWWAAAAAYYYYYY too many magicians basically copying something they saw on TV. In stand up comedy you are black listed if you steal a joke, I kind of wish it was that way with magic. It would force us all to be a heck of a lot more creative.

I know where we can start. If David Copperfield did it, don't do it. David Copperfield is probably the most ripped off magician out there. There are only a finite few pieces of magic that hes has performed on his specials (okay, a few hundred). Can we as a community stop performing Cardiographic, Banana Bandana, and Origami? Or at least stop performing these pieces exactly like he did?

David Copperfield is awesome, look at his magic and create a pattern for your own. If you want to do the graffiti wall prediction then write a list of what you like in that effect. Maybe that list says:

- It involves the audience
-There's funny by play
-The prediction seems impossibly specific

Then go out and create a trick of your own that fits that criteria.
I think people are perfectly fine performing the same effect or even the same trick AS LONG AS it is personalized. For example, I perform "Be honest, what is it?" Quite a bit, but I never perform it like David Blaine did. I simply cannot pull off that style or that sort of patter, so I make mine into more of a game, and do some subtleties to change it up a bit.
 
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WitchDocIsIn

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Apollo Robbins was also on Leverage, and apparently a movie called "Focus".

Everyone mentioned in this thread has been a magician - I'm really not sure why you made that second comment.
 

WitchDocIsIn

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Criss Angel may be a jerk, but he is undeniably a magician.

He has earned more money than most performers through magic, he had one of, if not the, longest running Off Broadway illusion shows, he's been featured on TV more than any other magician, he's been given more magic awards than anyone else (I think - definitely gotten a lot of them), he current performs regularly doing a stage illusion show in Vegas ... By any reasonable mode of measurement, he's a magician.
 
Jul 13, 2014
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I keep saying that angel is not "a magician by any reasonable mode of measurement. " every single example listed by Christopher T is meaningless, as numerous "artists" have demonstrated that success does not always correlate to actual skill. The post keeps vanishing without notifications, unlike the first where I was told of its removal.
 
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