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Speaker 1: This is Alec Baldwin and you're listening to Here's the thing,

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Speaker 1: My chance to talk with artists, policymakers and performers, to

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Speaker 1: hear their stories. What inspires their creations, what decisions change

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Speaker 1: their careers, what relationships influenced their work? Did you examine

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Speaker 1: it somewhere? I've examined it. I checked out. My guest

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Speaker 1: today is magician David Blaine. He arrived at our studio

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Speaker 1: ready to astonish. Even before we began our interview, he

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Speaker 1: pulled out an ice pick and began poking it through

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Speaker 1: his hands. Actually for ship. The pick is four inches

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Speaker 1: long and David Blaine is pushing it through the backside

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Speaker 1: of his hand through Yeah. Years ago, Blaine got an

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Speaker 1: m r I to locate the spot in his hand

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Speaker 1: where a puncture would do the least damage, but there's

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Speaker 1: no glove. David Blaine's stunts pushed the limits of the

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Speaker 1: human body. He held his breath for over seventeen minutes.

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Speaker 1: He spent thirty five hours on a hundred foot high

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Speaker 1: pillar with no harness. He encased himself in a six

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Speaker 1: ton block of ice for sixty three hours. He was

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Speaker 1: buried alive for a week, and he went without food,

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Speaker 1: hanging in a plexiglass box near Tower Bridge in London

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Speaker 1: for forty four days. At the heart of these stunts

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Speaker 1: is an obsession with magic that began innocently as early

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Speaker 1: as the age of four. I remember holding a deck

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Speaker 1: of cards, carrying it, treating it like it was an

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Speaker 1: amazing object, carrying it everywhere that I went. And I

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Speaker 1: didn't really know what magic was at that point, but

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Speaker 1: having the cards was the beginning of me entering that

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Speaker 1: world basically, And how does the four year old child

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Speaker 1: enter that world with, like with their games you bought?

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Speaker 1: Were there things? Now, I'll explain it. We grew up

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Speaker 1: really poor, so my mother and bok, yeah, my mother

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Speaker 1: raised me as a single mother, working multiple jobs. She

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Speaker 1: actually grew up with a really wealthy family. And when

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Speaker 1: she was eighteen, she was living at the Sharon Nedland

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Speaker 1: with her family that was the head of the Jewish mafia,

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Speaker 1: one of the top families that was on like the

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Speaker 1: cover of Time Life magazine, all these crazy things, and

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Speaker 1: she felt that that that the whole family and all

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Speaker 1: the corruption was really bad. And eventually, at age eighteen,

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Speaker 1: she tried to kill herself. So she went to rehab

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Speaker 1: and she had kind of a coming of age, and

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Speaker 1: she moved to Brooklyn, never to really speak to her

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Speaker 1: family for the most part again. And then she met

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Speaker 1: my biological father. She met him in a nondenominational church

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Speaker 1: and when they fell him love, he immediately got shipped

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Speaker 1: to Vietnam. So she waited for him. Where was he from?

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Speaker 1: He was Puerto Rican in a mixture of other things,

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Speaker 1: and didn't know him too. I only met him a

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Speaker 1: couple of times. So they fell in love. He got

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Speaker 1: sent off to Vietnam, and when he came back, as

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Speaker 1: many of the soldiers, he had witnessed things there that

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Speaker 1: completely destroyed it, like he saw his close friend get

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Speaker 1: hung up on a tree alive and gutted, and all

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Speaker 1: these terrible things. When he came back, my mother had

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Speaker 1: waited him for him, and he was having nightmares and

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Speaker 1: waking up with violent you know, screaming, yelling, breaking. So

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Speaker 1: she got pregnant. When she told him a few months

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Speaker 1: later that she was pregnant, at that point, he looked

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Speaker 1: at her and said, I don't want to see you anymore,

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Speaker 1: and he left. So that was it, and my mother

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Speaker 1: put everything everything that she had into me. We lived

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Speaker 1: in a sixth story walk up. We started in Flatbush

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Speaker 1: and we went to Park Slope and it wasn't what

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Speaker 1: it is today, you know. It Aged three, my biological

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Speaker 1: father showed up. I was ringing the doorbell because I

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Speaker 1: guess he wanted to see me and maybe her, And

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Speaker 1: when she came downstairs, he punched her in the nose,

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Speaker 1: broke her nose and everything like that. So it's kind

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Speaker 1: of like my first jarring and you know, terrible memory

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Speaker 1: of things. But anyway, at around the age of four,

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Speaker 1: her mother had given her a Tarot deck of playing cards.

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Speaker 1: It was a regular deck of cards with Tarot images

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Speaker 1: on it, and she gave it to me and I

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Speaker 1: cherished this deck of cards and carried it everywhere. Now,

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Speaker 1: one thing that my mother did is when she had time,

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Speaker 1: she would always take me to museums, libraries, bookstore, everything

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Speaker 1: that she could, just to educate me and show me

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Speaker 1: other things, which was way more valuable than any of

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Speaker 1: the toys that i've you know, you could ever give

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Speaker 1: or get. And so I would wa for her at

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Speaker 1: the library and a librarian that was working there showed

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Speaker 1: me the simple self working mathematical book of Magic Tricks.

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Speaker 1: Using that deck of cards, I always said, So I

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Speaker 1: learned something very simple, and when my mother showed up,

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Speaker 1: I did this to her and she went crazy like

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Speaker 1: she had witnessed real magic. And that was the beginning

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Speaker 1: of the love for performing and learning more. And continually thought,

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Speaker 1: if I could just get a Vegas lounge filled with

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Speaker 1: people like my mother, then I'd be said. But the

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Speaker 1: other thing that happened was I was also born with

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Speaker 1: my feet turned in, so yeah, but really bad. So

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Speaker 1: I had leg braces and it's like Forrest Gump and

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Speaker 1: I had leg braces and things like that. So when

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Speaker 1: you're in Brooklyn without a dad and you're alone a lot,

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Speaker 1: and you can't run and you can't be athletic, you escape. No,

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Speaker 1: that's part of it, but you're also picked on because

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Speaker 1: when I wasn't at the library waiting for her to

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Speaker 1: finish on days that she was working later, I would

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Speaker 1: go to the y m c A. And I was

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Speaker 1: on the swim team. So I couldn't beat the kids

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Speaker 1: swimming because my legs didn't and they still don't actually,

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Speaker 1: but they didn't work perfectly. So in order to beat everybody,

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Speaker 1: I just wouldn't breathe. So at the age of five,

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Speaker 1: I learned that, you know, they have to turn their

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Speaker 1: head like this to breathe. There I would just swim

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Speaker 1: and I wouldn't breathe. So I started to at a

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Speaker 1: very young age build up this inforance yeah, or this

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Speaker 1: ability to just use your brain to override the pain basically,

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Speaker 1: and I would win. And then if it was two laps,

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Speaker 1: I would hold for two laps. So at the age

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Speaker 1: of five, I started to get really good at these

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Speaker 1: types of things. Now I started to play games with

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Speaker 1: the kids, so I would challenge them. I would say, okay,

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Speaker 1: I'll stand the water and you can stand the water,

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Speaker 1: and then when you go up, you can come down,

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Speaker 1: go up, come down, go up five times. So eventually

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Speaker 1: I was like that kid that could hold my breath

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Speaker 1: under water while they would hold their breath, go up

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Speaker 1: for a breath, come back down, go up. Come But

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Speaker 1: but but I didn't even understand that the science of

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Speaker 1: it was that makes it very difficult when you go

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Speaker 1: up and go down, go up there, it wastes a

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Speaker 1: lot of O two. So that was kind of at

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Speaker 1: the beginning. And do you hold the record? Now? I

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Speaker 1: had it, but it was taken away. Um, it was

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Speaker 1: taken away by a friend of mine, Tom Z this year. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: but I became friends with him through through the breath

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Speaker 1: hold when I did it on Oh Well, that's where

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Speaker 1: I did it for the world record, But the first

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Speaker 1: time I did it was at Lincoln Center and I

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Speaker 1: did it live on my ABC television show. So I

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Speaker 1: held my breath and I was just going for the

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Speaker 1: straight non PuO two breath hold record, which means you

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Speaker 1: don't breathe puero two first, you just purge really hard

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Speaker 1: and then take a deep breath and hold. And the

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Speaker 1: record at that time was nine oh eight, and I thought,

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Speaker 1: for some reason I would build up a tolerance and

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Speaker 1: and some help pull it off. But I cracked at

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Speaker 1: seven and thirty. So then I went back and I

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Speaker 1: did the on Oprah. I did too, yeah, and that's

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Speaker 1: a different world record, but that one I knew I

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Speaker 1: could get. And the perro too, makes a big difference, Officer, absolutely.

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Speaker 1: And when you do when you hold your breath for

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Speaker 1: seventeen minutes and four seconds, like towards the end, are

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Speaker 1: you blacking out? Are you punching a table to try

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Speaker 1: to keep yourself going? It depends, And I mean sometimes

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Speaker 1: it's really peaceful and amazing. When everything is just right,

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Speaker 1: you kind of go somewhere else. But when things are

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Speaker 1: falling apart, it becomes layer after layer, and it gets

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Speaker 1: worse and worse, and you're trying not to black out,

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Speaker 1: and the pain is building up, and you think you're

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Speaker 1: going into cardiac arrest and you're fighting. So when it's

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Speaker 1: not perfect, it becomes really bad. But when it's perfect,

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Speaker 1: it's it's one of those amazing meditatives' assuming it was

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Speaker 1: perfect done open because you did seventeen minutes. Yeah, it

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Speaker 1: was pretty good, but it started really bad. It was

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Speaker 1: better at the end when I actually realized that I

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Speaker 1: made it and I wasn't, you know, going into cardiac arrest.

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Speaker 1: But the whole experience of it was was pretty brutal.

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Speaker 1: So the Deck of Cards four years old, your mother

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Speaker 1: is the beginning, if you will, of a sense of

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Speaker 1: the power of magic. Yeah, her reactions and and holding

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Speaker 1: your breath and pool was when you first pigan to

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Speaker 1: embrace endurance capabilities and the advantages that could give you.

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Speaker 1: But at the same time, I was also in the

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Speaker 1: library and I would be looking at other books on magic.

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Speaker 1: So you see images of guys like Houdini or specifically

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Speaker 1: Houdini dangling from the side of a building and you

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Speaker 1: look at this man chained up to the side of

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Speaker 1: a building. You don't have a father figure, like, WHOA,

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Speaker 1: this is really crazy. So I would go to sleep

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Speaker 1: at that young age and I'd have dreams of these

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Speaker 1: things that I'd seen on these books. And what Houdini

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Speaker 1: was doing was kind of similar because he was doing

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Speaker 1: things that you knew were real. Even at that young age,

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Speaker 1: you could see it and you know it's not an illusion.

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Speaker 1: When you're four years old and you have the magic

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Speaker 1: book and you're doing the tricks to to go to

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Speaker 1: the level you're at, it's instruction involved. How do you

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Speaker 1: go to the next level after being the four year

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Speaker 1: old boy with the deck of cards in a book.

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Speaker 1: In the beginning, it's only books. It was a different

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Speaker 1: day and age. That's how you learned. You learned from reading.

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Speaker 1: That went on for how long, um, until the age

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Speaker 1: of eleven? Did you have a mentor? No? My mother

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Speaker 1: called my great aunt who sent a check to her

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Speaker 1: for a couple hundred bucks so I could go to

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Speaker 1: some magic camp for a week, Tannin's Magic Camp. I

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Speaker 1: went there and in Long Island, where your friend, and

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Speaker 1: I entered the competition and I won. So I had

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Speaker 1: all this confidence as a kid, and I started doing

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Speaker 1: little parties and shows, but I never performed really for

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Speaker 1: my peers, and not other than my best friends. Nobody

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Speaker 1: knew I did magic, and it wasn't you could have

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Speaker 1: been I mean, these are all trips. You could have

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Speaker 1: been the life of the party. Yeah, but back then

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Speaker 1: and the kids are like, oh, you're some weird though,

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Speaker 1: so it's not. It's the opposite. It's like, get the hell, Yeah,

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Speaker 1: it's something weird, you know, you're a nerdy or so.

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Speaker 1: So I kind of kept it to myself pretty much.

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Speaker 1: And uh, at around the age of eighteen, I started

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Speaker 1: performing with it where um all over New York. Really.

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Speaker 1: I would just I'd be walking off the deck of cards,

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Speaker 1: shuffling cards in my hand, and like the guys you

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Speaker 1: know that they were the parking garage would see me

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Speaker 1: and they'd react to just a simple shuffle I was practicing.

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Speaker 1: So I'd go and do magic and I would get

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Speaker 1: all these amazing reactions from people, and it was addicting.

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Speaker 1: Who was at the top of the heap when you

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Speaker 1: were a kid, when you first became aware they're they're

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Speaker 1: just amazing magicians. But they're not doing talk. They're not known,

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Speaker 1: but they're incredible, so they would just do these in

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Speaker 1: their private world. Now, yeah, well they'd all meet at

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Speaker 1: this little deli in New York and like the Earl

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Speaker 1: in ninety it was called Rubens. It was on Madison

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Speaker 1: even thirty eight, and it was you know, it was

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Speaker 1: it was not the deli that they would let us meet.

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Speaker 1: It was the back room of a deli and all

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Speaker 1: these yeah, none of the seriously, none of them. But

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Speaker 1: the people in the deli were happy because they like magic.

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Speaker 1: So the magicians do stuff, and the and the magicians

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Speaker 1: were you know more. Green Grass of course went to

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Speaker 1: school with Bney, but do you ever hang out with him? Yeah?

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Speaker 1: He knew all my relatives, so eventually, yeah, it was

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Speaker 1: funny though, those are the thing. And then my great

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Speaker 1: aunt when, uh, when the one that put me to

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Speaker 1: magic camp, that paid give that gave my mother that

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Speaker 1: or when so when when I started to make you

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Speaker 1: know a little money, because I was on TV here

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Speaker 1: and there, which my great aunt at a hundred years

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Speaker 1: old living in San Antonio, Texas thought was, I was,

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Speaker 1: you know, this incredibly rich guy would order from body

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Speaker 1: from Barney green Grass from the sun Gary every other week.

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Speaker 1: And she's alone in San Antonio and this little oh

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Speaker 1: and and everything you can take up a stray and

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Speaker 1: locks and this and that filth everybody they ship it

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Speaker 1: down there. Once. I showed up when she died. When

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Speaker 1: she died, I came there the next day to handle everything.

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Speaker 1: And I get there and again she lives alone at

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Speaker 1: A hundred and three. When she died, lives alone. I

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Speaker 1: get there and the next day a huge FedEx arise

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Speaker 1: from party gree Grass and it's, you know, loaded with

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Speaker 1: this insane amount of food that nobody could eat them.

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Speaker 1: When you do a show in the world of magic

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Speaker 1: or illusion or whatever you want to call it, and

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Speaker 1: I'm gonna ask you, what do you call it magic?

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Speaker 1: I mean, I just like the word magic because it's

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Speaker 1: a general term and it's easy. Yeah, people get it.

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Speaker 1: So when you when you when you think of Houdini escaping,

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Speaker 1: because a lot of his was escape, ustry is that

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Speaker 1: dute is very very simple and easy. Now have things advanced,

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Speaker 1: and now because that guy put so much in so

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Speaker 1: what he was doing it was about like just being tough,

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Speaker 1: you know what I mean, I think he was very

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Speaker 1: tough and willing to go through whatever the hell it took.

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Speaker 1: So it's like very few people have that kind of

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Speaker 1: tolerance to this day. I mean even if your physical pain. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: he was just tough. I'm assuming he would be because

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Speaker 1: you're a very physically powerfully built person. Not right now, Well,

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Speaker 1: is there an exercise regiment throughout your career you've had

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Speaker 1: to do in order to have the strength, because a

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Speaker 1: lot of these things require tremendous strength. Big time, you're

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Speaker 1: standing on a beam, for you were up there thirty

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Speaker 1: six hours hours? How is that on your body? Well,

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Speaker 1: that you don't. When I was a little kid in

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Speaker 1: school and I get in trouble and the teacher would say,

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Speaker 1: go stand in the corner, It's like, come on, this

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Speaker 1: is easy. Like you stand for forty five minutes. It's

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Speaker 1: supposed to be hard. So yeah, and then you can

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Speaker 1: apply that. So it's like how long can you stand

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Speaker 1: in one place? So that's really what it's about. So

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Speaker 1: I would practice to standing in one place, and you know,

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Speaker 1: I'd put a chair somewhere and to stand on and

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Speaker 1: see how long I could do things like that. But

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Speaker 1: in order to prepare for an event. No, well, I

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Speaker 1: mean there's a training involved. Yeah. No, When it comes

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Speaker 1: to something like that, I would I build really heavy

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Speaker 1: weight vests or chain mail things like that, and I

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Speaker 1: would just climb stairs, so I'd add sixty pounds, run upstairs,

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Speaker 1: go jogging around the park, do all these things, and

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Speaker 1: I would hide it to no one city. But you

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Speaker 1: build up a real a real tolerance and a real

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Speaker 1: strength and an ability to endure anything. And with a

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Speaker 1: body that you put through those things, especially the breath

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Speaker 1: holding thing, I'm going to assume it. You don't have

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Speaker 1: to answer this question that there's a whole menu of

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Speaker 1: things you just don't do. You know, smoke, you don't

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Speaker 1: take drugs, you don't take alcohol? Or are you a

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Speaker 1: little more liberal? I go through extremes, so when I'm

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Speaker 1: in training, I guess. So when I'm training, I'm like extremely,

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Speaker 1: I eat by the buy a clock and buy a scale.

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Speaker 1: But when I'm on the other extreme, I'll have like

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Speaker 1: you know the opening of the movie, I have another

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Speaker 1: ship that one. But there's a supreme discipline and then

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Speaker 1: you let it drop. Right, It's an extreme on both ends.

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Speaker 1: As you're getting older, is it tougher to do not

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Speaker 1: old but no, no, but I you know, you feel

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Speaker 1: the difference, and it's it's it's definitely noticeable. It's it's

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Speaker 1: it's more work put in, but it doesn't feel more difficult.

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Speaker 1: One of the things I read is your desire to

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Speaker 1: do some sleep deprivation endurance record. Correct. I've been obsessed

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Speaker 1: with that one. Why just because it's so difficult. It's

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Speaker 1: a thing during every endurance thing that I've done, it's

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Speaker 1: always a sleep deprivation. That's ultimately the most difficult part.

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Speaker 1: I mean, sleep deprivation for me has really had a

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Speaker 1: tremendous impact on my body. For me, at least, I struggle.

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Speaker 1: I have a terrible problem sleeping. Although they say, like

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Speaker 1: Edison and Lincoln, a couple of guys used to take

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Speaker 1: naps um throughout the day, so they would only sleep

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Speaker 1: a couple of hours a night, but they would take

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Speaker 1: fifteen minute naps and Edison would hold like a set

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Speaker 1: of keys in his hand, so if he nodded off,

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Speaker 1: he dropped the keys and would wake him up, and

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Speaker 1: that proved to be very effective. So I think there's

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Speaker 1: there's different ways to well. I'm in a different business

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Speaker 1: to Edison and Lincoln. Warren and those guys, actually they

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Speaker 1: looked like ship. They really looked terrible. They look wasted, tired, haggard.

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Speaker 1: But I think it's not especially he looked like But

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Speaker 1: I think there is a way to build a good sleeper. Um,

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Speaker 1: what's your normal constitution? Like borderline narcalyptic? You are, Yeah,

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Speaker 1: But I wake up every morning at like five am.

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Speaker 1: And even if I'm up like yeah, I just wake

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Speaker 1: up one one at the crack of dumb. But um,

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Speaker 1: I nod off very easily, like I could easily just

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Speaker 1: lights out and that's it. And I mean made conversation

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Speaker 1: with all of my friends or at meetings, I'll just

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Speaker 1: not off right. And so my friends said to me

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Speaker 1: that he was a makeup artist and a hairdresser in

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Speaker 1: the movie business, and he said he worked with Elizabeth

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Speaker 1: Taylor and she would go to this place at the

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Speaker 1: Clinic of Jovenetta in the Italian Alps, and they would

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Speaker 1: go there and eliminate tobacco, alcohol, salt, sugar, caffeine. They

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Speaker 1: ate this very restricted diet. And these people would go

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Speaker 1: there and you would just pass out numb from exhaustion,

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Speaker 1: like every afterno like two o'clock and sleep to five

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Speaker 1: wake up, have dinner, go back past out at nine thirty,

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Speaker 1: sleep ten hours. You just slept for a month. And

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Speaker 1: when the month was over she lost thirty pounds. It

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Speaker 1: was a weight loss probably feel amazing. It was a

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Speaker 1: weight loss clinic and there and the key to their

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Speaker 1: weight lost thing was to induced just this ridiculous amount.

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Speaker 1: But yeah, the diet part is amazing too though, Like

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Speaker 1: we're taking away salt, sugar and all that stuff that. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: and it makes your body function that much better. What's

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Speaker 1: your weakness? Food? Was David Blaine the farest pizza. Luckily

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Speaker 1: it's in Brooklyn, sitting. Now, where's your mom? She passed

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Speaker 1: away the best win. She got sick when a sixteen,

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Speaker 1: and she fought for a couple of years. What was

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Speaker 1: that like for you? I mean, obviously terrible, but yeah,

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Speaker 1: I mean it was the most difficult thing I for

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Speaker 1: when you were sixteen. I mean, she hadn't made The

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Speaker 1: day she told me, no, no, no, The day she

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Speaker 1: told me she had cancer, you know, I was magic

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Speaker 1: was my dream. And I remember I started crying and

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Speaker 1: I said, like, if I could just I'll cut my

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Speaker 1: arms off right now to get rid of your cancer.

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Speaker 1: The one thing she was concerned with and she said this,

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Speaker 1: uh to one of the hospice nurses before she that,

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Speaker 1: she said, my my, my, my only worry is that

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Speaker 1: my son is always going to be alone. So that

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Speaker 1: was kind of like that if I could have proven right, well,

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Speaker 1: I have a daughter now, so so that is it

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Speaker 1: hard for you to have with with the work. You

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Speaker 1: do have half brother, but work, you know, he's he's

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Speaker 1: he's around, he's around, and he's amazing and he's great.

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Speaker 1: But you find it's difficult with what you do. Describe

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Speaker 1: your life. Are you on a plane constantly and yeah,

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Speaker 1: I'm always trying to David Blaine is going from like

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Speaker 1: always traveling, oh non style. How has that affected your life? Um,

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Speaker 1: it's very difficult. You get used to it, but it's yeah,

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Speaker 1: it's tricky because you never have like a base anywhere.

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Speaker 1: David Blaine says magicians are lonely. No one wants to

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Speaker 1: it up with me, he claims, maybe not quite, no one.

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Speaker 1: We're doing our time together. Blaine is the first to

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Speaker 1: pull out his phone to share kid videos. I never

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Speaker 1: taught her, Alex. She just started doing it. So okay, okay,

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Speaker 1: don't call anybody. Okay, everybody can see your assistant. No, no no,

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Speaker 1: she's forget assistem. I'll probably work for her. Crazy. For

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Speaker 1: more conversation about children with people like Chris Kardashian, check

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Speaker 1: out our archives. I feel like the luckiest woman in

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Speaker 1: the world because I get to get up every single

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Speaker 1: day and I work with my kids and my family,

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Speaker 1: and I mean get more controlling than that. Take a

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Speaker 1: listen that Here's the Thing dot Org. This is Alec

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Speaker 1: Baldwin and you're listening to Here's the Thing. David Blaine

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Speaker 1: is known for his TV specials and endurance stunts. Until recently,

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Speaker 1: he stayed away from the kind of show you might

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Speaker 1: see in Vegas. I do shows, but they're I doom

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Speaker 1: on occasion. When did you first play a big venue?

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Speaker 1: When did you first play a venue that you told

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Speaker 1: yourself this is things have changed? Um, well, I've I've

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Speaker 1: been doing a lot of little things, but recently I

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Speaker 1: just started building a tour. So I started playing like

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Speaker 1: eight and ten thousand seaters and things like that, um

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Speaker 1: around the world, not in America, and I've just been

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Speaker 1: testing out how to make things work. But it's been

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Speaker 1: really delicate for me because it's I've always had a

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Speaker 1: big vision as far as doing one of those shows.

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Speaker 1: So I never wanted to build an illusion show. I

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Speaker 1: kind of wanted to do things where an illusion show

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Speaker 1: would be a Houdini type show. No, no, well he

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Speaker 1: incorporated no, but he would do illusionists that you're alluding to.

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Speaker 1: Who else does allus? I mean just any show where

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Speaker 1: it's like magic, you know, uh, like the it's trickery.

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Speaker 1: So basically, at the end of the day, as beautiful

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Speaker 1: as it is, it's not real. Whereas when Houdini would

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Speaker 1: dangle upside down in a water tank, you knew he

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Speaker 1: was risking his life. I think that was interesting. So

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Speaker 1: I think all the skills that I've been working on

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Speaker 1: for since the beginning of you know, my interest in magic,

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Speaker 1: we're trying. I'm trying to put all those together into

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Speaker 1: one evening. Can I show you just a little So

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Speaker 1: this is what I'm working I should probably slide over

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Speaker 1: to you. So this is the show I've been building,

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Speaker 1: and and it has everything is very simple. There's no props,

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Speaker 1: there's you know, I have a T shirt of nothing,

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Speaker 1: I bring some kerosene, I drank a gown of water. Um.

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Speaker 1: This is all over Asia and South Africa, so when

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Speaker 1: you're doing that kind of work, is it all like

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Speaker 1: a grand stage kind of illusion things that people can

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Speaker 1: readily see or their cameras on you like, like basically

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Speaker 1: what I was talking about. I try to do things

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Speaker 1: that are real and magic. So I go, you know,

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Speaker 1: I do use a camera and project things, but I

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Speaker 1: also will drink, you know, a glass full of kerosene,

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Speaker 1: a gown of water, light of fire on the stage

427
00:23:35,119 --> 00:23:37,439
Speaker 1: and then put it out, or I'll hold my breath

428
00:23:37,480 --> 00:23:40,000
Speaker 1: for ten to fifteen minutes and the water tank on

429
00:23:40,040 --> 00:23:42,919
Speaker 1: the stage and um, like the ice picked thing that

430
00:23:42,920 --> 00:23:44,679
Speaker 1: I did to y'all do that. So I mix it up,

431
00:23:44,720 --> 00:23:48,280
Speaker 1: so it's the concept is real or magic's happening to

432
00:23:48,440 --> 00:23:51,159
Speaker 1: entertain the audience. Are they like their bartenders like? Are

433
00:23:51,160 --> 00:23:53,600
Speaker 1: their waiters like distributing drinks to the ground while you're

434
00:23:53,600 --> 00:23:57,160
Speaker 1: holding your breath. They're right right on you. The way

435
00:23:57,200 --> 00:23:59,760
Speaker 1: I used to do was in the beginning, it started

436
00:23:59,800 --> 00:24:02,400
Speaker 1: with an act where I would do a'd be underwater

437
00:24:02,440 --> 00:24:04,560
Speaker 1: and I would do all these magic things underwater, like

438
00:24:04,560 --> 00:24:08,160
Speaker 1: I'd smoke a cigar underwater, I would have an eel

439
00:24:08,240 --> 00:24:10,119
Speaker 1: come out of my mouth. I would do all of

440
00:24:10,119 --> 00:24:13,640
Speaker 1: these things. But it started taking away from that, I'm

441
00:24:13,680 --> 00:24:16,560
Speaker 1: actually holding my breath the entire time. So basically what

442
00:24:16,600 --> 00:24:18,840
Speaker 1: we did is we took all of that away and

443
00:24:19,000 --> 00:24:21,600
Speaker 1: just made it about the actual feet of endurance and

444
00:24:21,680 --> 00:24:23,879
Speaker 1: let them walk around and feel it and see if

445
00:24:23,920 --> 00:24:26,680
Speaker 1: it's real and interact with it, and that became much

446
00:24:26,720 --> 00:24:28,679
Speaker 1: more effective. So it was kind of like when you

447
00:24:28,720 --> 00:24:30,920
Speaker 1: see a guy that's risking his life for that entire

448
00:24:30,960 --> 00:24:33,880
Speaker 1: duration and if you believe that he's really not breathing,

449
00:24:34,640 --> 00:24:37,200
Speaker 1: that stands on its own without the actual tricks. So

450
00:24:37,240 --> 00:24:39,600
Speaker 1: it was it's playing with that line of like how

451
00:24:39,640 --> 00:24:42,240
Speaker 1: far can you push yourself before you crack? Live in

452
00:24:42,280 --> 00:24:44,760
Speaker 1: front of an audience that I'm intrigued by. The Delian

453
00:24:45,080 --> 00:24:48,040
Speaker 1: Delian Madison was called one again Rubens and you and

454
00:24:48,080 --> 00:24:50,440
Speaker 1: are you a Magic Castle person? Have you hung out there?

455
00:24:50,880 --> 00:24:54,440
Speaker 1: I have friends have friends that performed there and described

456
00:24:54,440 --> 00:24:56,400
Speaker 1: to people what kind of a function that service. It's

457
00:24:56,400 --> 00:25:00,040
Speaker 1: a private club. Yeah, there's a bunch of amazing magicians

458
00:25:00,040 --> 00:25:03,640
Speaker 1: that you know that hang out there and socialize there.

459
00:25:03,680 --> 00:25:05,920
Speaker 1: But so when people come, they get to see these

460
00:25:06,560 --> 00:25:11,400
Speaker 1: improvisational sort of improvisational magic shows. It's pretty amazing. If

461
00:25:11,440 --> 00:25:13,639
Speaker 1: I went there years ago. But it depends you know

462
00:25:13,680 --> 00:25:16,800
Speaker 1: who's there. So if it's like if people are lucky

463
00:25:16,840 --> 00:25:20,640
Speaker 1: to see like Derek, they'll Gaudio and uh and Garrett

464
00:25:20,640 --> 00:25:23,640
Speaker 1: Thomas or some of these guys performed there, it's kind

465
00:25:23,640 --> 00:25:25,919
Speaker 1: of like WHOA, there might be a lot of people

466
00:25:26,000 --> 00:25:29,800
Speaker 1: who you know the same. In my business, there's journeyman

467
00:25:29,800 --> 00:25:33,520
Speaker 1: actors who are doing regional theater who are the great

468
00:25:33,560 --> 00:25:36,639
Speaker 1: undiscovered actors. You know, they don't have big careers in

469
00:25:36,640 --> 00:25:39,359
Speaker 1: film and TV, but but they're phenomenal. They just they

470
00:25:39,400 --> 00:25:43,639
Speaker 1: just crushed the big time. So there's guys out there

471
00:25:43,640 --> 00:25:47,000
Speaker 1: who are famous, amazing, but that you'll never know. Is

472
00:25:47,000 --> 00:25:48,680
Speaker 1: it because there's only room for so many Do you

473
00:25:48,720 --> 00:25:50,480
Speaker 1: think it's only so many seats at a table up

474
00:25:50,480 --> 00:25:52,240
Speaker 1: there at the top. No, I don't think so. I

475
00:25:52,320 --> 00:25:54,919
Speaker 1: just think like there's different things to work on. Like

476
00:25:54,960 --> 00:25:59,359
Speaker 1: a lot of magicians complain about Houdini's showmanship skills during

477
00:25:59,400 --> 00:26:01,680
Speaker 1: his lifetime because I say, all, I could do that better,

478
00:26:01,880 --> 00:26:03,879
Speaker 1: I could do this. But Houdini was a showman, so

479
00:26:03,920 --> 00:26:06,640
Speaker 1: he was kind of thinking about the the bigger picture

480
00:26:06,680 --> 00:26:09,280
Speaker 1: in certain senses. So there are guys that could do

481
00:26:09,400 --> 00:26:12,040
Speaker 1: much better slight of hand than him, or could could

482
00:26:12,040 --> 00:26:15,560
Speaker 1: do moves that were better routines, But he was thinking about,

483
00:26:15,880 --> 00:26:20,040
Speaker 1: you know, the actual showmanship of on a bigger scale.

484
00:26:20,080 --> 00:26:23,320
Speaker 1: So before you go out, whether it's on Oprah, any

485
00:26:23,400 --> 00:26:27,360
Speaker 1: kind of endurance event you've done, exhibition, any show you've done,

486
00:26:27,400 --> 00:26:30,840
Speaker 1: whatever you've done, is there a state you have to enter?

487
00:26:31,000 --> 00:26:34,280
Speaker 1: Is there a regiment you adhere to to get your mind?

488
00:26:35,080 --> 00:26:36,480
Speaker 1: Because I would imagine you have to have the most

489
00:26:36,520 --> 00:26:39,320
Speaker 1: intense level of concentration known to man, right, which is

490
00:26:39,359 --> 00:26:42,240
Speaker 1: why I do so few like I do such little

491
00:26:42,240 --> 00:26:44,840
Speaker 1: things because when I go into something, I put everything into.

492
00:26:45,960 --> 00:26:48,199
Speaker 1: You know, the movie Houdini is it's it's it's a

493
00:26:48,200 --> 00:26:51,040
Speaker 1: wonderful movie. It's enjoyable, but it's a little shiny. I mean,

494
00:26:51,040 --> 00:26:53,720
Speaker 1: it's Tony Curtis and Janet Lee and the whole thing.

495
00:26:54,080 --> 00:26:56,480
Speaker 1: But there are moments that are thrilling, and and you

496
00:26:56,560 --> 00:26:58,679
Speaker 1: carry into it your obsession with Houdini and a man

497
00:26:58,760 --> 00:27:02,080
Speaker 1: that did those kinds of things back then. And there

498
00:27:02,119 --> 00:27:05,760
Speaker 1: are intimations in that world of the supernatural where they've

499
00:27:05,800 --> 00:27:09,440
Speaker 1: got some kind of otherworldly dial tone that they're making

500
00:27:09,440 --> 00:27:11,119
Speaker 1: their phone calls on there that you and I that

501
00:27:11,160 --> 00:27:13,760
Speaker 1: other people don't have. Yeah, that's the movies, right, right,

502
00:27:13,760 --> 00:27:16,240
Speaker 1: that's the movies. So in real life to you, it's

503
00:27:16,240 --> 00:27:19,200
Speaker 1: all reality and it's all technical and it's all your

504
00:27:19,280 --> 00:27:23,720
Speaker 1: hard work and there's nothing anything that's done in that world. No,

505
00:27:23,880 --> 00:27:26,000
Speaker 1: that's the stuff I'm most interesting. Is I like the

506
00:27:26,080 --> 00:27:29,280
Speaker 1: idea that like anything that I do, anybody could do

507
00:27:29,280 --> 00:27:35,960
Speaker 1: you really believe that? Okay, does your religion come into

508
00:27:35,960 --> 00:27:39,360
Speaker 1: playing any way in your life? I mean that that's

509
00:27:39,359 --> 00:27:41,720
Speaker 1: a good question. So the last thing my mother said

510
00:27:42,040 --> 00:27:45,360
Speaker 1: before she died was God is love, and I kind

511
00:27:45,359 --> 00:27:47,480
Speaker 1: of I think that that that's kind of what I

512
00:27:47,520 --> 00:27:49,480
Speaker 1: look at it as I look at you know, I

513
00:27:49,560 --> 00:27:52,440
Speaker 1: kind of have blind faith in a weird way. It's

514
00:27:52,440 --> 00:27:55,000
Speaker 1: funny though, because I'm so skeptical of everything. But at

515
00:27:55,000 --> 00:27:57,280
Speaker 1: the same time, it's like I feel my mother there

516
00:27:57,280 --> 00:28:01,040
Speaker 1: when things are going really bad. So that's kind of

517
00:28:01,040 --> 00:28:02,800
Speaker 1: where I'm at now, you know, in in terms of

518
00:28:02,840 --> 00:28:08,359
Speaker 1: my life, it's become so um uh so spiritual. But

519
00:28:08,480 --> 00:28:10,800
Speaker 1: you know, I actually just thought about something. I do

520
00:28:10,960 --> 00:28:13,960
Speaker 1: think that, like what you do is very like what

521
00:28:14,119 --> 00:28:16,000
Speaker 1: you said, is it is it real? Or do you

522
00:28:16,040 --> 00:28:18,560
Speaker 1: think the powers are real? And I think part of

523
00:28:18,600 --> 00:28:22,040
Speaker 1: being a really good showman is a magician is similar

524
00:28:22,080 --> 00:28:23,840
Speaker 1: to acting because I think you kind of have to

525
00:28:23,880 --> 00:28:28,040
Speaker 1: believe that what you're doing is magical while you're doing it.

526
00:28:28,080 --> 00:28:30,760
Speaker 1: So I think part of it is you play into that,

527
00:28:30,760 --> 00:28:35,120
Speaker 1: that commitment to this thing actually being magical. You are

528
00:28:35,160 --> 00:28:38,680
Speaker 1: a solo act, correct, you've never partnered with anyone, You've

529
00:28:38,720 --> 00:28:40,920
Speaker 1: never performed with anyone. No, But when I when I

530
00:28:40,960 --> 00:28:45,120
Speaker 1: was doing my tour, I have a different Magicians do

531
00:28:45,320 --> 00:28:48,160
Speaker 1: magic while I was breathing pure oxygen getting ready to

532
00:28:48,280 --> 00:28:51,680
Speaker 1: go into the tank. So when you're shooting a project,

533
00:28:51,720 --> 00:28:55,040
Speaker 1: when you're making a film, like as we're sitting here

534
00:28:55,080 --> 00:28:58,040
Speaker 1: right now, we're being filmed, what's the conflict for you?

535
00:28:58,080 --> 00:29:00,960
Speaker 1: If any when you are being told by people and

536
00:29:01,120 --> 00:29:03,959
Speaker 1: now you have a collaborator, whenever you start shooting it's

537
00:29:03,960 --> 00:29:07,800
Speaker 1: a collaboration. Is it all get worked out really, really easily.

538
00:29:07,880 --> 00:29:10,560
Speaker 1: Or do you find that collaborating with people is tough?

539
00:29:13,240 --> 00:29:16,360
Speaker 1: I mean, with him, I'm lucky because he's an amazing addition.

540
00:29:16,480 --> 00:29:19,320
Speaker 1: So but but if somebody looks well, but if no,

541
00:29:19,480 --> 00:29:21,840
Speaker 1: he just has a great vision. So somebody has a

542
00:29:21,920 --> 00:29:24,320
Speaker 1: great vision that goes beyond what your vision is, then

543
00:29:24,360 --> 00:29:27,920
Speaker 1: it works well. If somebody's If you're fighting with somebody

544
00:29:27,960 --> 00:29:30,280
Speaker 1: to try to like do something good, then it's a nightmare.

545
00:29:30,320 --> 00:29:33,320
Speaker 1: But if you have somebody that's vision is let's do

546
00:29:33,400 --> 00:29:35,760
Speaker 1: better than what you're doing or or let's do better

547
00:29:35,800 --> 00:29:38,160
Speaker 1: than what you're doing, then it's exciting because I know

548
00:29:38,200 --> 00:29:42,600
Speaker 1: that in films, you know director sometimes one is Glen Garry,

549
00:29:42,640 --> 00:29:45,200
Speaker 1: Glen Ross. He was a good director. That's very very helpful. Man.

550
00:29:45,200 --> 00:29:48,239
Speaker 1: It's also the guy that directed the Ricky Jay two

551
00:29:48,280 --> 00:29:51,560
Speaker 1: assistants and speaking of him or or Copperfield, of any

552
00:29:51,600 --> 00:29:55,360
Speaker 1: of the more well known people, uh do you get like,

553
00:29:55,640 --> 00:29:57,120
Speaker 1: do you get an email of Vy now? And then

554
00:29:57,120 --> 00:29:59,360
Speaker 1: the Copperfield says to you, I speak to both of them.

555
00:29:59,720 --> 00:30:03,719
Speaker 1: Those want to be like I always wondering you just

556
00:30:03,760 --> 00:30:08,400
Speaker 1: burnt to the ground like that you seem. And I

557
00:30:08,400 --> 00:30:09,920
Speaker 1: hope you don't take this the wrong way because I

558
00:30:09,920 --> 00:30:11,440
Speaker 1: don't know you that well. I mean, I know your

559
00:30:11,440 --> 00:30:13,480
Speaker 1: person and I've seen you, and you seem like a

560
00:30:13,560 --> 00:30:15,800
Speaker 1: very warm person. You seem to have a lot of

561
00:30:15,880 --> 00:30:18,080
Speaker 1: love in your heart. You talk about your mom, you

562
00:30:18,160 --> 00:30:22,120
Speaker 1: have a daughter, and of course in my mind, you're

563
00:30:22,120 --> 00:30:24,360
Speaker 1: in that tank for seventeen minutes. You're doing one of

564
00:30:24,360 --> 00:30:27,720
Speaker 1: these crazy things you're doing, and you know, all of

565
00:30:27,720 --> 00:30:31,480
Speaker 1: a sudden you've crossed the endurance line and you've blown

566
00:30:31,480 --> 00:30:33,160
Speaker 1: a gasket and had a heart attack and a tank

567
00:30:33,160 --> 00:30:37,280
Speaker 1: of water and you're dead. Jesus does death hang over you?

568
00:30:38,200 --> 00:30:40,560
Speaker 1: I mean, I I think you know. It's not like

569
00:30:40,960 --> 00:30:42,959
Speaker 1: I have a death wish, So I'm never trying to

570
00:30:43,040 --> 00:30:45,760
Speaker 1: go to the point that's that I'm gonna die. I

571
00:30:45,800 --> 00:30:48,320
Speaker 1: train really hard, and I study, and I work slowly,

572
00:30:48,360 --> 00:30:51,440
Speaker 1: and it's kind of based on estimations and mathematics, and

573
00:30:51,480 --> 00:30:53,040
Speaker 1: I've done it this much, so now I can do

574
00:30:53,080 --> 00:30:55,120
Speaker 1: it this much. And I slowly push and push. So

575
00:30:55,760 --> 00:30:58,840
Speaker 1: I try to assume that I'm doing it in a

576
00:30:58,880 --> 00:31:01,720
Speaker 1: way that I'll be okay, um. But at the same time,

577
00:31:01,720 --> 00:31:05,400
Speaker 1: I don't. I won't cancel an idea because of the danger.

578
00:31:05,560 --> 00:31:08,480
Speaker 1: So you ever been scared before? You're ever in the

579
00:31:08,560 --> 00:31:10,560
Speaker 1: zone doing one of these things that saying wait a second,

580
00:31:11,840 --> 00:31:14,720
Speaker 1: this is not going You're strapped into the rocket ship.

581
00:31:14,760 --> 00:31:17,680
Speaker 1: And when the hallucinations start to come, like on the

582
00:31:17,720 --> 00:31:20,600
Speaker 1: pillar it happened and uh in the block of ice,

583
00:31:21,480 --> 00:31:24,440
Speaker 1: you go into another world. Things start to hear voices,

584
00:31:24,520 --> 00:31:27,120
Speaker 1: you see people talking to that aren't there, and you

585
00:31:27,200 --> 00:31:29,960
Speaker 1: start to really go into this sort of like a

586
00:31:30,080 --> 00:31:33,560
Speaker 1: nightmare dream skate but while you're awake. So it's it's

587
00:31:33,560 --> 00:31:37,200
Speaker 1: always been, that's always been something that but but at

588
00:31:37,200 --> 00:31:39,040
Speaker 1: the same time, it's weird because it's kind of like

589
00:31:39,080 --> 00:31:41,480
Speaker 1: amazing at the same time. So this thing you show

590
00:31:41,560 --> 00:31:43,560
Speaker 1: me the pictures of the stage so that you were crafting,

591
00:31:43,720 --> 00:31:45,320
Speaker 1: can you give us a sense of win? That might

592
00:31:45,320 --> 00:31:46,720
Speaker 1: be ready but you might be doing that in the

593
00:31:46,800 --> 00:31:49,000
Speaker 1: US win I'd say, you'll have it here in about

594
00:31:49,040 --> 00:31:52,680
Speaker 1: a year. Yeah, and and and it will be everything

595
00:31:52,760 --> 00:31:55,400
Speaker 1: that I've ever dreamed of, all put into one evening.

596
00:31:56,120 --> 00:31:59,480
Speaker 1: You do it one evening. I wanted to not feel

597
00:31:59,520 --> 00:32:01,360
Speaker 1: like a normal show. It's not going to be one

598
00:32:01,440 --> 00:32:04,600
Speaker 1: even you know it'll it'll it'll come and go, but

599
00:32:04,640 --> 00:32:06,920
Speaker 1: it will be. It will, it will move, and it

600
00:32:06,960 --> 00:32:09,520
Speaker 1: will change because you can't risk your life like that

601
00:32:09,600 --> 00:32:12,640
Speaker 1: every night. So it's it's gotta it's got, it's got

602
00:32:12,640 --> 00:32:17,720
Speaker 1: to live a life of its own. Better you than me. Man.

603
00:32:17,800 --> 00:32:20,960
Speaker 1: You're tough. I know, I see you, I see this,

604
00:32:21,000 --> 00:32:23,920
Speaker 1: I go how do you do that? You're tough? Were

605
00:32:23,920 --> 00:32:26,920
Speaker 1: there a sports in your life? You play football? Wrestling.

606
00:32:27,720 --> 00:32:29,880
Speaker 1: I really like baseball, but I knew that there were

607
00:32:29,920 --> 00:32:32,080
Speaker 1: so many people so much better than me, so I

608
00:32:32,400 --> 00:32:34,760
Speaker 1: didn't spend all my time and focus on it. But

609
00:32:34,840 --> 00:32:37,800
Speaker 1: I love sports and I love competitive. Yeah, I mean

610
00:32:37,800 --> 00:32:41,080
Speaker 1: I was competitive on everything, but I knew that there's

611
00:32:41,160 --> 00:32:43,240
Speaker 1: guys that were so much better. So it was kind

612
00:32:43,240 --> 00:32:45,480
Speaker 1: of like magic. Felt to me, like something that was

613
00:32:45,520 --> 00:32:48,200
Speaker 1: my own. So I kind of went for that. Since, uh,

614
00:32:48,320 --> 00:32:50,440
Speaker 1: since an early age, kept it to myself. You know

615
00:32:50,440 --> 00:32:51,920
Speaker 1: what I think you are? I just figured it out.

616
00:32:51,920 --> 00:32:53,640
Speaker 1: You know what I think you are because you're so tough.

617
00:32:54,360 --> 00:32:57,920
Speaker 1: You're very sweet, you're filled with love, but you're really tough,

618
00:32:58,960 --> 00:33:01,720
Speaker 1: you know, and you what you are I think you're projecting.

619
00:33:02,480 --> 00:33:06,880
Speaker 1: I don't think you're a Jewish gangster. You went it up.

620
00:33:06,880 --> 00:33:19,400
Speaker 1: It's a Jewish gangster in the end, a Jewish gangster

621
00:33:19,480 --> 00:33:22,560
Speaker 1: who once grabbed a glass of wine from the President

622
00:33:22,600 --> 00:33:25,800
Speaker 1: of Kazakhstan, drank it, then took a bite out of

623
00:33:25,800 --> 00:33:29,440
Speaker 1: the glass, chewed it up, and swallowed. David Blaine has

624
00:33:29,440 --> 00:33:32,720
Speaker 1: done this more than a few times on his Twitter feed.

625
00:33:32,920 --> 00:33:37,120
Speaker 1: There's a recent photo labeled Dentist's Note. A hand scribbled

626
00:33:37,120 --> 00:33:40,600
Speaker 1: piece of paper says no X rays where he needs

627
00:33:40,680 --> 00:33:48,400
Speaker 1: crowns because he choose glass. Watch a video of David

628
00:33:48,480 --> 00:33:52,080
Speaker 1: Blaine pushing an ice pick through his hand while I

629
00:33:52,160 --> 00:33:55,480
Speaker 1: keep that hand steady that Here's the Thing dot org.

630
00:33:56,200 --> 00:33:59,040
Speaker 1: This is at like Baldwin. You're listening to Here's the

631
00:33:59,080 --> 00:34:05,840
Speaker 1: Thing four fo