The Secret Lives of Magicians: Discovering the Tricks and Stories Behind the Magic

Pull back the curtain and you will not find angels or demons. You will find people: road-worn, hilarious, slightly superstitious, carrying fifty years of other people’s secrets inside a two-hour act.

The Secret Lives of Magicians is about them — the tricks, the stories, the scars behind the magic. With humor, detailed research, and great characters, it offers a new take on the genre. It is not a book about how the trick works. It is a book about who pays for it.

Every illusionist in these pages understands the same law that governs the SuperPower verse: a secret shared too early is worthless, and a secret kept too long is a cage.

The magic, it turns out, was never the point. The magic is just the receipt for everything it cost.

One of the top TV shows is Pencil and Sayer's ‘You're in Club Magic.’ In this show, several magicians try to outsmart ‘the kings of magic’ in each episode. Pencil and Sayer are two renowned magicians who know and perform every magic trick created from the 1800s to today. Every magician who appears on their iBroadcast show attempts to deceive them. If any participants succeed in tricking them, they are awarded a trophy and the chance to perform in Las Vegas as Pencil and Sayer's co-headliner for a month. Magicians caught by the wizards must announce to the world, “I failed to trick you. I guess you won't hear me say, 'You're in Club Magic.’”

Pencil, a fifty-five-year-old magician, and Sayer, around sixty-five years old, took the stage as the entire audience applauded these legends of magic.

The first magician steps onto the stage, wearing a ‘Surfer in LA Magic Shop’ T-shirt and True Republic ripped jeans. He greets the audience, saying, “Hello, Pencil and Sayer, legendary magic dudes. I am Vance Nish from Los Angeles, California.”

“Tell me, Vance, the surname 'Nish' is Scottish and originates from the West Coast of Scotland, specifically the Hebrides Islands. It means 'son of Angus,' doesn't it?” Pencil asks.

“I guess, dude? Anyway, my friends call me Van, so you can call me that as well.”

Silently, Sayer brings his hands together, forming them into a ball. He thrusts his hands upward in an explosive movement, moving them in opposite directions until they vanish behind his back.

Pencil, observing his partner's physical display, exclaims, “That's an explosion... No, the object is disappearing, evaporating, fading, melting... I've got it! Vanishing!” Sayer nods vigorously as he smiles.

“Van Nish,” Pencil adds as the audience applauds and laughs, prompting Sayer to repeat his explosive hand movements.

“Vanish... To disappear; that is the name of our first magician!” Pencil exclaims.

Van Nish performs an elaborate trick with boxes that disappear and reappear on stage. Then, his finale begins, featuring his female assistant standing behind a wall of boxes. Initially, the audience can see her until a large black cloth floats down and lands on the floor. After a few seconds, she disappears.

A lime-green-haired hostess interviews Vance Nish while Sayer whispers to Pencil, discussing how the trick was executed.

After the magicians deduce how the trick was performed, Pencil confesses their belief about how the trick was executed, preserving the illusion's secrets. The performing magician nods and says, “Yes,” then spreads his arms and adds, “I am angry, even pissed off, that I must admit I failed to trick you; now you won't hear me declare 'You're in Club Magic.’”

The show's hostess, a stunning and voluptuous model with lime-green hair, emerges to present the ‘You're in Club Magic’ trophy to everyone in the audience.

Everyone laughs because the award has large letters on the front of the cup that say, ‘U R in Club Magic,’ which sounds like ‘Urine Club Magic’ when read aloud.