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Sleightgeek
Magazine: An
Interview with David Acer
(August,
2004)
1.
Hello and welcome to Sleightgeek magazine. What
are you up to these days?
Thanks!
And congratulations on the magazine! It's always nice to
hear a new voice in the fray. What am I up to? Well, right
now I'm... Hang on a second, Law & Order is starting.
I hate missing the first two minutes. I'll be right back...
Okay,
I've seen this one before.
Right
now I'm co-writing and co-hosting a series for Discovery
Kids called Mystery Hunters. We're in our second season
(Season One was nominated for three Gemini awards, the Canadian
equivalent of the Emmys). I host the show with two teenagers,
Araya and Christina, and we explore supernatural phenomena
from around the world, like haunted houses, lake monsters,
aliens, whatever. My character is a scientist/magician/skeptic
and I try to help the kids look at these phenomena from
different perspectives, without totally undermining the
wonder that is inherent in them. In other words, I'm a guy
who wants to believe, I just don't want to be a sucker.
I also get to do a fair bit of magic during the show that
goes unexplained, usually in the context of our stories.
2.
Tell us something about how you got started in magic.
Sure.
Reader's Digest version. 9-year-old kid. Really shy. Gets
a magic trick in his stocking for Christmas. It's a “Ball
And Vase.” Kid lights up. Fascinated by trick. Insightful
mother sees this might bring kid out of his shell, so she
takes him down the street to a magic shop. Kid walks in
and sees rack after rack of fascinating tricks. Kid hasn't
been vaccinated. Bug bites.
3.
Who do you look up to and respect in the world of Magic
?
Paul
Harris and Jay Sankey for creative prowess. Chad Long and
David Williamson for comedy performing chops that are good
enough to fly in the real world, not just at magic conventions.
Mac King for raw professionalism and an ability to make
even the simplest plots commercial. Penn & Teller for
purportedly breaking all the rules, yet still creating interesting,
accessible, hugely entertaining shows.
4.
How about 'outside' of Magic ?
I
love Steve Martin. That's a career worth emulating. Sold
out stadiums as a stand-up comic, writes funny, critically
acclaimed short stories, novels, movies and plays.
5.
Tell us about your first professional engagement.
I
think it was a kid's birthday party when I was about 10
years old. I put up a hand-made sign at the local library,
with a badly-drawn bunny rabbit coming out of a top-hat
that looked more like a soup can. But some guy actually
called me to perform at his kid's birthday - I guess after
calling around, the price tag of $5 appealed to him. I don't
remember how the show went, but I do recall that he gave
me $10 instead of $5, so either it was good enough to warrant
a tip, or bad enough to generate sympathy.
6.
Even the best magicians in the world still have
to practice. How much time do you put aside for this ?
I
write during the day, and I always have a deck of cards
or some coins in my hands, so I probably spend 4 or 5 hours
a day practicing. Rehearsing, however, is another matter,
and I do much less of that than I used to. However, I still
do at least two or three sets a week at the comedy clubs
here in Montreal, in addition to whatever gigs I have booked,
so even though the act gets done in bits and pieces, it
stays pretty sharp.
7.
What do you do for fun and relaxation ?
I
like to put little red lights in stuff around my house,
then preface their names with D apostophe. D'Fridge. D'Television.
D'Rectal Thermometer.
8.
What is your view of the increasing exposure of
magic secrets on the Internet ?
I
think my view is completely irrelevant. It happens and it's
going to continue to happen. I also think that magic as
performed by the leaders in the field has less to do with
secrets and more to do with engaging an audience (dramatically,
comedically, intellectually, whatever). As such, exposure
on the internet should have little to no impact on our craft.
But it sure makes people nervous, doesn't it...
9.
What 3 magic books do you think should be in any
upcoming magician's library?
THREE?!?
You sadistic bastard! I wrote an article for Genii a couple
of years ago where I asked a bunch of magic heavyweights
to submit a list of their ten favorite magic books, and
I got blasted because they found it damn near impossible
to narrow it down to TEN! And you want me to keep it to
THREE?!?
Okay,
if you wanted to perform professionally, and you were only
allowed three books, I would say you need one book that's
crammed with tricks - that would be The Mark Wilson Course
In Magic. You also need one book that will teach you how
to perform. That would be Eugene Burger's The Performance
of Close-Up Magic. And maybe one big book of commercial
card magic so you could get by at a show with just a deck
of cards. Let's say Scarne On Card Tricks.
10.
What's the single most satisfying experience you
can remember in your life ?
When
I solved one side of a Rubik's Cube.
11.
What's your personal favorite magical effect ?
To
perform? A card trick I do at comedy clubs called “Party
of Six.” It allows me to bring six people on stage
and gives me tons of opportunities to improvise. The trick
is in my new book, Random Acts of Magic, which, like my
previous books, is being published by The Camirand Academy
(www.camirandmagic.com). It's scheduled for release in October.
12.
If you hadn't been a magician, what job do you think
you would be doing now ?
Making
Card-Toon decks for Dan Harlan.
13.
What ambitions do you still have ?
Just
to keep getting better.
14.
Magic attracts lots of female spectators so why
do you think the world of Magic is very much 'male dominated'?
Because
art reflects life. The world is still full of bonehead men
who refuse to empower women for fear that they might excel
beyond them. And a woman who gets into magic has to deal
with that from both her peers and her audiences, and that's
in addition to how rough the business is anyway. It's a
lot to handle.
15.
What's the best advice anyone ever gave you ?
Show
business isn't a sprint, it's a marathon.
16.
What difficulties (if any) have you met on the 'business'
side of magic ?
I
don't know what it's like in the U.S., but in order to make
a living as an entertainer in Canada, you really have to
have a lot of irons in different fires. In particular when
you're starting out, you can't pay the bills just as a comedian,
or just as a writer, or just as an actor. That's why you
often find people who do all three, and sometimes more.
This isn't really a difficulty, I suppose, just a reality.
Of course the upside of this is that each specialty feeds
the creative machine, so ultimately, you improve at all
of them more than if you had just focused on any one.
Also,
undercharging is a chronic problem in the industry. Different
cities have different norms, of course, but it's hard for
a really good kidshow magician to charge $500 when his peers
are all charging $125. As a result, the ceiling in many
cities is far too low. It's like an invisible salary cap
that magicians just can't exceed. And that's not unique
to magic. In Canada, the norm for comedians has been established
predominantly by one short-sighted, national chain of comedy
clubs that has a stranglehold on the industry, but in order
to maintain control, they keep the prices down, so corporate
gigs that comedians should be getting $2000 for end up netting
them $450, and if a comedian gets a direct call from a client
and asks for $2000, the client just calls around, eventually
contacting this national chain, who offers another comedian
for one quarter of the price. Once you have some television
exposure, and there is demand for you specifically, things
change, but everyone else is basically screwed.
17.
What movies, books, music do you like?
Yikes!
Big category! I'll try to narrow it down a little:
5
favorite films - Contact, Searching For Bobby Fisher, Lord
of the Rings Trilogy.
5
CDs I've been listening to a lot lately - Songbook, Volume
I (Randy Newman), Hot House (Bruce Hornsby), Californication
(Red Hot Chili Peppers), Ten Summoner's Tales (Sting), Tumbleweed
Connection (Elton John)
5
books I thoroughly enjoyed - The Life of Pi (Yann Martel),
American Gods (Nail Gaiman), Millroy The Magician (Paul
Theroux), Ender's Game (Orson Scott Card), The Pre-History
of the Far Side (Gary Larson)
18.
We have lots of young talented magicians here at Sleightgeek.
What advice would you give to them.
Perform
for real people every chance you get.
19.
Now it's your turn...What are you ' selling ' ?
I
have tricks, books, videos and DVDs for sale on my website,
along with tons of clips from TV shows, radio shows, and
other fun stuff that you can check out for free. It's all
at www.davidacer.com.
For
Sleightgeek interviews with Lee Asher, Jeff McBride and
more, go to www.sleightgeek.com
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