We made it! 100 episodes is a milestone we never expected to reach. Well, Jonah did. It’s why he started the numbering with 001. Even still, we’re super excited to have gotten this far. In this episode we reflect on how important the podcast has been on their own magic careers.

Mario Lopez was just a kid when a friend put a lit cigarette into his fist and made it disappear. He learned how it was done and from that moment on he was in love with magic. He moved to Granada in his native Spain when he was 18 where he trained with one of the countries top magicians. He was taught the art of performance and how to create the magical moment. He didn’t teach young Luis any tricks specifically. It was all about how to perform on stage. Mario is incredibly dramatic on-stage which he says is a product of his environment. Clowns, actors and musicians are everywhere in Granada and they have all had an impact on his magic.

Lloyd Barnes grandfather became a travelling magician shortly after the war. He developed many tricks over the years and passed those onto Lloyd. His focus was much more on sport as a teenager – especially boxing and gymnastics. His university career was less than successful – he was thrown out in his final year. But that ignited his interest in magic and soon he was selling tricks and illusions that he developed himself. He was broke and homeless for a time and slept on many friends and families couches over the next few years.

Lloyd now works with Ellusionist. He scouts tricks from other performers and from submissions to the company. He helps to make them more practical and performable. When you send a trick to the company, he’s the guy that reads the email. The other part of his job is to shoot and edit the trailers for the new effects. Along with his own performing career that keeps him incredibly busy.

It’s episode 96 and time for another solo episode with Jonah and Tyler. We start the episode talking about what we should do to celebrate our upcoming 100th episode. We have had some pretty dumb ideas in the past like listening to all 100 episodes in a row. We need your ideas on this one. Hit us up on Instagram!

He is Blue Crown Magic, he is Alex Pandrea. He first got into magic when he was five years old.  A clown came to his birthday party and did tricks like disappearing silk or sponge balls.  But his interest continued into young adulthood.  He grew up in New York City and it was through the local magic shops in Queens like Tannens that he discovered more magic.  He created some new effects as a teenager. 

Our guest this week came across our Instagram feed a few months ago and we knew we had to have him on the podcast.  His work as a cardist is truly awe-inspiring.  John first got into magic after his family got him a magic kit when he was 8 years old.  He learned the boomerang card throw at age eleven and from that point on cardistry became his obsession.  Finding tricks was difficult as he fell into the generation where magic stores started to close but online stores were not yet common.  That forced him to develop his own magic and his own style.