ABOUT THIS EPISODE

Did you ever go to a magic show when you were a kid? Or an adult? If so, you know the awe of seeing something you have no idea how it could be possible. That stuff, magic, isn’t real, but in the right hands it is impossible to tell the difference.

Rajon Lynch, also known as RJ the Magician, is someone who took the challenge to become something incredibly rare, an African-American magician. 

We talk about being a black magician is such a rarity, and how that has had an effect on his career and how the other couple of black magicians stay in touch. RJ talks about some of his other really interesting stories and talks about some on-stage regrets as well.

He has also done some stage work that is not about making things disappear. RJ’s TEDx talk: “The Ham Sandwich” is well worth watching. Also, check out his hilarious podcast “I Hate Everyone” where he picks a subject and rants about it.

This episode’s sketch: “Obama Safety Impersonator”

For more episodes, information, and apply to be on the show, visit: http://sketchcomedypodcastshow.com

Sketch Comedy Podcast Show is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

© Copyright 2022 Stuart Rice

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MORE ABOUT THE GUEST

RJ began his career teach magic over the summers at the famous "French Woods Festival of the performing Arts" Summer camp (NY, 2015-2017). There he learned magic himself and was able to teach thousands of children magic, including the children of celebrities like: Ben Stiller, Debora Messing and Alicia Keys. He was then able to take the skills he learned in New York to Shanghai, China. In 2018 RJ was able to travel to china to start the first summer camp Magic program in the country.

With a rhetoric degree and a  comedy podcast RJ is an excellent public speaker. He is known to speak and write on topics from racial injustice to magic/business. In 2016 RJ gave a TED Talk Entitled The "Ham Sandwwich". RJ has been a guest on multiple podcasts and radio shows including New York Public Radio's Livestreamed show "The Greene Space"

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TRANSCRIPT[00:00:00] Stuart: in this episode, Master of black magic, RJ the magician. And I came up with a few sketches, very small subgroup of another profession. Do you know what I'm saying?[00:00:11] RJ the Magician: But a group of white Obama impersonators. You saw[00:00:13] Stuart: a Disney movie when you were a kid, that was about a magician and they were like, oh well, how do you do it? And you responded in your little conversation with yourself with, I don't fucking, no, I guess I got wizard shit. I love the idea of being fired for inappropriate[00:00:29] RJ the Magician: uh magic.[00:00:30] Stuart: You know, the idea of having like you, you're making erections for these kids. Which one did we pick? You'll find out on this episode of it's a sketch comedy show. Welcome to sketch comedy podcast show. The one of a kind show where I Stuart rice invite interesting people to have intriguing conversations and then improvise a comedy sketch based on what we talked about. Have you ever gone to a magic show when you were a kid or an adult? No, no judgment if so, you know the awe of seeing something that can have you really questioning reality that stuff magic isn't real, but in the right hands, it is impossible to tell the difference. Ray john lynch, also known as RJ the magician is someone who took the challenge to become a magician and has been delighting audiences for a number of years and he is something of a magical creature himself. No, not a unicorn. You'd have to check his fet life profile to see if that's the case, but something else incredibly rare. An african american magician. We talk about why being a black magician is such a rarity and how that has had an effect on his career and how the other couple of black magicians stay in touch. RJ talks about his travels, working with celebrities, kids, and other really interesting stories as well as some onstage regrets as well. He has also done some stage work that was not about making things disappear. RJ's ted X talk, the ham sandwich is well worth watching. Also check out his hilarious podcast. I hate everyone where he picks a subject and rants about it. And now my conversation with region lynch master of black magic. What makes you interesting?[00:02:30] RJ the Magician: So we're starting now. Good. Well, I think what makes me interesting is that I'm the only 22 year old black magician in Wisconsin and it's very specific and very specific demographic. A very small niche. But I think that is what makes me interesting. There is one other black magician, but we don't talk about him because he's like over 22. So that's fine.[00:02:50] Stuart: That's right. I mean, you gotta draw the line someplace and if it's the age that's it, that's right, you're saying that there's not very many black magicians in Wisconsin.[00:03:03] RJ the Magician: I'm saying there's not many black magicians in general, but especially in in Wisconsin, there's literally two and I am 50%.[00:03:10] Stuart: That's pretty cool. You're 50, that's a that's a high percentage of the population that you are. Where where is it that we have the most amount of black magicians? Where would you say that is[00:03:20] RJ the Magician: what state, wow. Let me check my roller dex. Yes. No, it's the International Association of Black magical artists, swear to God. Here is my here's my amazing star wars that I got from the 2019. This is the guy at the end of 2018. This is real. This is fucking real. Were a network and it is so fucking weird and so funny at the same time, a lot of great people and a lot of just like the it'll be like, it's black magicians, right? So it's literally like a promo video will be somebody with with like a car and then it'll be rims and it'll be asked. It'll be girls and it's like, girls love magic, hashtag black magician. And it'll just be like martin Luther king fist in the air and then that's it. And[00:04:12] Stuart: then wait, wait, wait, wait. Does martin Luther king when he opens his when he opens his hand,[00:04:18] RJ the Magician: it's looking like and flies out like a prince dove. Yeah, and that's what happens. And it's like, what the did I just watch? And it's like a magic promo video and yeah, it's really great. It's that's[00:04:30] Stuart: a that is first off outstanding. That you guys have a network in europe. But the fact that that that was the video that opened up is that's just beautiful. Beautiful. All right, well, tell us about tell everybody here about let's just start with being a magician because that was the that was the thing. I put a call out to find a magician because I have not. I just thought that would be kind of cool to have a magician on. You seemed like you had a lot of good energy. So, I was like, I'll definitely pick this guy. Tell tell us about being a magician. Like, what's that all about? Okay, so the real I think the real question on everybody's mind is will you really get killed if you tell secrets?[00:05:13] RJ the Magician: That's a good question, you know? No, I don't think you get killed. If you tell a secret being a magician is um what is it like?[00:05:22] Stuart: Yeah, I mean I mean like you you wake up every day and you are a master of illusion.[00:05:29] RJ the Magician: Okay, I'll tell you my reality. I'm a pessimist, I'm a realist. Also being a magician is depressing. It's very depressing because people don't think about it. I wake up every single day knowing that I am completely average and knowing that I have to lie to trick people into thinking that I can do something amazing that I can't. So, it's every single day[00:05:48] Stuart: you literally just described every human being.[00:05:51] RJ the Magician: I'll show you what I mean, I'll show you what I mean, right? I do a trick where I swallow a balloon like a twisting balloon, hold like a sword, Right? I have a trick where I can swallow a balloon and it disappears, but yet I get a flat tire on the way to a gig and I'm stuck on the side of the road and negative 20 degree weather for three hours in Montella Wisconsin. So, it's like when that happens, it's like you think to yourself, your imaginary friend, like right before you die, it's like, why don't you just inflate it with your magic and you're like, shut the funk up. You know, it's like that type. It's like that type. So it's it's that's what happens with me when it's like super depressing. That's what I mean. Where I every day I go through normal things where I'm like, why can't you just do this? You know, it's like, why can't you just float over the line of people and it's like, I can't, you know? So that's what it's like for me,[00:06:34] Stuart: I do the same thing. I'm like, why can't I just not disappoint my parents? I mean,[00:06:40] RJ the Magician: why would they be disappointed in a sketch comedy podcast? No. Yeah,[00:06:44] Stuart: that's what every parent dreams about for[00:06:47] RJ the Magician: Their kids back in 1980.[00:06:50] Stuart: He's a podcast host. That's[00:06:51] RJ the Magician: how my parents[00:06:52] Stuart: when they talk about. He's a podcast host. He's doing so well,[00:06:56] RJ the Magician: it's gonna be, but it's gonna be something with the radio on the internet. On the internet.[00:07:00] Stuart: Yeah. The fake radio on the internet. Well, I mean, at least they supply me with a nice basement. Don't you think[00:07:09] RJ the Magician: space? That's[00:07:12] Stuart: not funny. Um, All right. So you're, you're saying like being a magician, you're just like every other person, you just know how to use, uh, your hands and evidently this is gonna sound bad. You know, how to use your hands and mouth differently better than other people because you can swallow things.[00:07:29] RJ the Magician: Yeah, I think, I think so. I do comedy magic. So I don't do many like illusions as much like women in boxes and stuff like that, mainly because it's super sexist and old and I'm progressive, but also because I could never afford those things. So I had to learn how to entertain people with my words and with my voice and with my comedy. So I kind of do comedy and I do magic at the same time and I hope that it works. But as, as of now, as I showed you my glossy award, I'm a rising star. So, I mean,[00:07:58] Stuart: well, I mean, that's really all you need, you just need the one award and then you're all[00:08:03] RJ the Magician: set right.[00:08:06] Stuart: A collection of people. Um, okay. So I how did you get into the magic? Like how is that a thing? Like did you, were you watching David Copperfield and going, that guy is okay, but I could do better, You know?[00:08:22] RJ the Magician: Yeah, that's exactly. No, that's not what happened. It was close though. I was, there was a show on the Disney channel. Do you remember? They had those original movies.[00:08:32] Stuart: Oh yeah, yeah. Well, I mean it depends on how far you go back because I remember the original movies on sunday nights where it was like the cat from outer space. Are you talking about that? Are you talking about something[00:08:41] RJ the Magician: different? I'm talking about like smart house era.[00:08:44] Stuart: Okay. No, I don't remember those.[00:08:45] RJ the Magician: Well, I'm sure you were there just a little bit older. And basically what happened was there was a movie called now you see it, which predated now You see me and no one remembers this but me. So I'm convinced it's the Mandela effect or something like that. And essentially in the movie, this kid did a magic competition and beat everybody and like how the funds to do that. And it was basically like, oh, sorry, I guess I have wizard powers and that was the whole movie. And in between the commercials, they would have people like doing tricks and this is how you do a magic trick. And that was the first trick I learned. And that is how I got into magic. But coincidentally enough, my parents are Jehovah's witnesses. So they hate magic. And they're all, yeah. And they're also black and black people as you may know sometimes could be scared of magic. So I don't know what you're talking[00:09:36] Stuart: about. I've never watched,[00:09:38] RJ the Magician: I could do a card trick and they're like get that demon ship out of my house and it's like what the funk are you talking about? Like you, you need cards when you play kings corners. This is no different. But they yeah, so they believe they believe I'm basically a demon. So I, that's basically I had to sneak and do magic my whole life. And then when I was 19 I saw a poster for a camp in new york. They had cooking magic circus, all this ship and I was like that same school, I'll apply, I applied there like we only want you if you can do magic. And I was like, I guess. And I worked there and I taught like the kids are like Ben Stiller, Alicia keys. Debra messing. I like um met so many amazing people started my magic there and then from there I quit my job at a hardware store three years ago and I started doing magic. And now I, since then I've done a lot of cool stuff.[00:10:28] Stuart: Yeah. So now you do magic full time.[00:10:31] RJ the Magician: Yeah, I do magic full time as a performer and I have an internship but it's an unpaid internship but it's with the make a wish foundation. So I do this. I also do uh yeah, I do magic. I do show producing. So I produced shows like for theaters, I'm doing a show in april with chris jones who was a hypnotist on America's Got talent and he's also has a double take his show on facebook watch with john cena where he hypnotizes people not to recognize the celebrities. So I'm like bringing him in their favorite celebrities, so I'm bringing him him and having him perform and I produce the show. So I do a bunch of different things.[00:11:00] Stuart: Oh, that's cool. All right, very cool. Um let's go back to new york. Um do you have any interesting stories about me? I mean new york is the city of a million stories, right? Do you have any interesting stories for your, from your time in new york? Yeah,[00:11:19] RJ the Magician: I do. I, well I see, I have a problem. I have my best friend lives in new york and he met his wife now on Tinder and so I'm like, I need to get a tender because I want that because she's, he's a magician, right? And she's a Puerto Rican and greek lawyer. So like she[00:11:36] Stuart: makes money and he can do magician stuff,[00:11:38] RJ the Magician: She makes money and he does hand stuff and she's also gorgeous and super smart. So I'm like, that's what I want, I need to get a tender. So I got Tinder and I was in new york and I met this girl, she's like, hey, my name is Ariana, I shouldn't say her name, but she's, it's o, it's okay. She's like, hey, my name is Ariana, I'm like, oh, where are you from? I'm an italian nanny. So of course I'm like, yeah, an italian nanny, but like she could have been faked cause she's like, meet me in this dingy spot at three p.m. So I was like, all right, I'll go. And I saw Ariana and she was real, she's a blonde italian girl, this blonde italian nanny that was just in town for like six months and I was like, oh well, I wonder how far we can get. So we went and we went to this bar, we danced all night and it was beautiful and we made love under the Sunset and Washington Square Park in new york,[00:12:30] Stuart: That's, that's a real story. You didn't just make that up, I[00:12:33] RJ the Magician: swear to God under the sunset in Washington square park under some kind of bridge or it was like under this little Children's play. But it was, we couldn't find a good spot and I was the best spot and she was a nanny and I was, I'm not doing, I couldn't bring her back to where I was staying with Children because I'm a magician and yeah, it's not appropriate.[00:12:54] Stuart: That said, that is an amazing story. That wasn't the story I was going for, but that's a pretty great story.[00:13:00] RJ the Magician: That's probably the only thing that happened to me in new york, are[00:13:04] Stuart: you sure? Because like, I'm pretty sure that uh, I mean you had some magic gigs in new york, didn't[00:13:09] RJ the Magician: you? Yeah, yeah, I taught at a camp in new york called french Woods Festival of the Performing Arts and I, yeah, like when I was there, like I said, I literally had like Alicia Keys a son in my class. And so she came to the magic show and Alicia Keys had like, she's so rich, she had a body duplicate, so she's so rich. She had a friend that looks exactly like her also traveling with her so that she could be like, oh Alicia, you weren't sure which one it was. And like if you're white, I couldn't tell and I'm black. So if you're white, you don't want to be a racist. You know, you don't wanna be like, oh, are you, are you Alicia? Like who are you? You don't want to do that. So you literally have to like, I'm guessing that's why she had her with her and white people are the main demographic for Alicia Keys music, you know? So like I, yeah, I knew that's what she was going for. So well,[00:13:55] Stuart: I think you just look for the like, you know, little flits of fire, right? You're like, oh,[00:14:01] RJ the Magician: that's not that easy. It's not that easy anymore. You know, it's, it's just stop wearing makeup. So it's like I can tell by your face because I don't know what she looked like before, the makeup. So now I'm like trying to figure out which one, at least the keys. I'm like, oh, she'll be the one next to swiss beats. Of course, swiss beats is such a, like a gangster. He's like walking with both of them. So it's like, you know, you can't win. So that was like, you see little moments like that, you know that she[00:14:23] Stuart: falls a real life queen amidala from, from star Wars having a fake fruit in there.[00:14:33] RJ the Magician: The big person, Her kids also went to the camp, but they looked exactly the same and they came together. So I'm like, I don't think this is a coincidence that he just happened. She just happens to be here with her son. That just happens to be another caramel boy. You know, it's, it's a little too much, you know,[00:14:51] Stuart: so you're saying like the,[00:14:55] RJ the Magician: basically she has a son and her son had a best friend and the best friend's mom looked just like Alicia Keys and they came together that and the dad was this racecar driver from like Nascar or something, but he's irrelevant in this story. But what I took from the story is that Alicia Keys has a body double. That's amazing. Oh[00:15:16] Stuart: yeah. Oh God, that's awesome. That is good insight. All right. Have you ever been fired from a job?[00:15:24] RJ the Magician: Oh, magic. Did you stock my facebook or just a random question[00:15:30] Stuart: or you may be sent it to me.[00:15:33] RJ the Magician: I couldn't remember if I told you this, I was like, how did he know?[00:15:40] Stuart: I know all.[00:15:42] RJ the Magician: I actually um, I actually, I might be giving my graduation speech. I had an interview on friday and I'm going to tell the story if I give it. But I got fired from a job in new york where I was the same job where I was teaching magic I got fired from and I went three years in a row, but my third year I got fired because I did inappropriate, inappropriate magic trick in front of many Children or what they deemed was inappropriate.[00:16:10] Stuart: Okay, well what would be this magic here? You don't[00:16:12] RJ the Magician: have to give us the secret. I'll tell you[00:16:15] Stuart: I do it.[00:16:15] RJ the Magician: I will tell you the secrets because that's, that's the secret sauce. But basically in the trick I have a cargo from one person's pocket to another person's pockets. Pretty basic trick, but I have to make it like visible. So I put a cloth over one person's pocket area and then the cloth magically rises symbol symbolizing the car going from one person's pocket to another and it just happens to look like an erection if you were so schooled on that information. So I was under the impression the Children would be under what is me and my friends called the Shrek effect or the joke is good for the adults. But the kids don't get it if you don't say anything. So essentially we had to do a show for 1500 kids. How many kids go to this camp? 1500 kids were their huge theater. We're doing a show. It's my turn. I'm first out because I'm the best, I'm the best. I'm first out at least that's how I interpreted it. And then and then I do the trick and it starts to rise and it's beautiful because I'm behind the person when it rises so my heart will go on by Celine Dion starts playing. It's a boner slowly rising or what appears to be a boner to be educated, slowly rising. And then I hear, stop, stop. And I'm like what the funk. I turn around and I see like the director of the camp running up, why would you do that? There's kids here, what are you crazy? Get out of here back your bags right now And they made me leave. And I had to go because of this trick that I did that they said was inappropriate. But the crazy part, the crazy part is that I did the same trick a year before and the director just wasn't there. It went over amazingly all the kids forgot I did it and then I was just gonna do it again this year and I have a video of me doing it two times last year. So then when they're like, why would you do that, why would like get out? And I was like, I did it last year and it was fine and the kids forgot and now they're here, it's the best moment of the show and then they fired me and I had to go stay there. Like you can either go home with no pay or you can go to our sister camp down the road and I was like, I'll go home and they're like, or go to our sister camp, I'm like, no, send me home or guys like, alright fine, I'll go to the other camp.[00:18:32] Stuart: That's where that was the kid. The other camp was the kids that would get the joke. That's why they say that[00:18:38] RJ the Magician: one. It was it was it was a sports camp. They transferred from the arts camp to the sports camp. So like,[00:18:45] Stuart: oh my God, that's like my nightmare. Yeah,[00:18:47] RJ the Magician: no, it was my nightmare to when they knew it. So I stayed there until the kids who were there could forget about the trick. But the ironic part was they'd only remember because it was the only time the director has ever stormed the stage and fired someone mid[00:19:00] Stuart: mid mid[00:19:02] RJ the Magician: mid show mid show, cut me out of the video said, go home. They made me stay at this other camp and like, send me home. They're like, no, we're not going to send you home. That'd be a waste. The kids love you, you're a great magician and they're like you should you should stay. And then they I stayed and yeah, that's what happened.[00:19:17] Stuart: Huh? That is crazy.[00:19:20] RJ the Magician: Yeah. That's very very true story and I was very and but I was I wasn't gonna go back to my best friend eric, he lives in new york, he was like bro, you need to go back because you can be the guy that did whatever the fund he wanted, got away with it and then came back with a paid vacation and that's how[00:19:37] Stuart: you earn that shiny trophy by the way, you don't get a rising star by being complacent. Start, you're pushing boundaries.[00:19:47] RJ the Magician: Yeah.[00:19:48] Stuart: Nicky kids have boners in a magic show,[00:19:51] RJ the Magician: that's what you get, you see you can't, we can't be doing this in an era of screen shotting and screen record. See this is going to be something that is played when I am running for office, you know, like Arnold Schwarzenegger type ship, you know, moving from acting and now I can't, now this is done now, now it's over.[00:20:07] Stuart: Yeah, I mean you're gonna have to stick with the magic, forget if that's like your magic, we can all forget about it.[00:20:15] RJ the Magician: This is the face tattoo for rappers of magicians, accidental boner joke once getting fired, that's that's what this is.[00:20:26] Stuart: So you said uh tender, you actually had a pretty good tender experience, That's a pretty great tender experience.[00:20:32] RJ the Magician: I have horrible ones though and I actually have a podcast called I hate Everyone podcast, I'm gonna start rolling out, Yes, I do matter as a matter of fact, but I'm going to start rolling out episodes, I think I want to do like every friday or something. So I'm definitely gonna do it next week. For sure, ventures from Tinder and it's going to be a different story. I met so many people from Tinder that I've just like, I literally, I met a girl on Tinder. She tweets, she tweets, I met a magician and I'm like, wow, that's kinda cool. She tweeted it and then someone goes, that's creepy. And someone else's like, make them disappear and someone else is like, that's just like a clown. And then the other person goes, me too, and it was fucking me because I'm the only one I did too. And it's like, I just all kinds of situations like that, just all the time. It just happened to me on Tinder. I don't understand why.[00:21:21] Stuart: That is, that is pretty crazy. Uh no one's ever tweeted about any of my dates. That's pretty good.[00:21:28] RJ the Magician: Really? You know, I didn't have a date though, She just match with me and thought it was funny and then like, and then I just happened, I just happened to see it, or there was one other one that happened recently that was actually kind of funny girl on a date. It was a great night. And then on sunday I was like, hey, how's it going? No reply all day. I'm like, okay, I must have said something maybe. And then she goes, oh sorry, I think I was drugged at the bar last night. I'm like, but were you, were you drunk at the bar? And she's like, yeah, I'm so sorry. I thought it was really fun. We had a great, I had a great time. I was like, okay, cool, next day. Nothing now. I have not heard from this girl's sense, but she always watches my instagram story. So I'm assuming it's her ghost.[00:22:06] Stuart: Are you sure you didn't like performing a trick? Like made her disappear and then just not, you just drank too much whiskey and then next thing, you know, she just never came back.[00:22:16] RJ the Magician: I tried, you know, it's probably what happened to probably do drink too much whiskey, make the girls disappeared[00:22:22] Stuart: exam or whatever you say and then they disappeared. Like[00:22:27] RJ the Magician: you[00:22:27] Stuart: didn't distract you with like, hey, let's play darts and you're like, okay, and you go play darts and come back and you're like, I was here with someone, but I don't know, she must have got an Uber[00:22:37] RJ the Magician: people do love dart, they love dart,[00:22:41] Stuart: I det. Um, so when you're going out on a date, so obviously you tell people straight up like, hey, I'm a magician, what, what do people say to that? Like when I mean obviously it's like that's kind of exciting for that one because she, she posted on twitter, but like, what else, what? Hey, I'm a magician dude. I mean is the response usually like what? Really?[00:23:04] RJ the Magician: Well, it's because I don't look like a magician, right? So like I like, especially[00:23:07] Stuart: don't wear like a wizard hat or a top hat and you don't have a bunny have been hanging around all the time.[00:23:13] RJ the Magician: I don't, I don't and I, I typically I do kind of classic magic, which is interesting. So I do like more like other things you might see if you think of a magician, but then I also don't look like a magician, which I kind of like. So it's like if I tell somebody that and I'm on like if I'm on Tinder or something like that, it'll usually be like, oh yeah, I'm a magician and then they won't reply or like not not reply to me, but they just ignore the message because they think it's like a freaking joke. So then, so then we'll be talking about like, oh what do you do for work? And I'm like I'm a magician and they're like, oh I thought you were kidding, ha ha. And then I have to explain. It's like no, but it's cool. Like I've given a ted talk like I lecture at colleges about magic and business, like I like do that. I have to like convince them with all these things, they think I just go to parties and talk to kids, you know? And it's like I put on like three course dinner magic shows, like I like put on theater shows I perform at clubs and stuff like this. So like, I try to, that's the hard part is getting them to see that like a magician isn't like a clown all the time.[00:24:09] Stuart: Right? Not all the time. You do the comedy. Like a little bit of like um uh you did ted talk, Tell us about the ted talk.[00:24:19] RJ the Magician: Yeah, I did a TED talk once in 2016, I think I was 20 years old and I just bumped into this dude and I was like. he was like, yeah, I'm the founder of Ted for the area. And I was like, that's interesting. I've always wanted to give a ted talk. My favorite one is a magic ted talk. Maybe you should do it. And he's just like, that's a good idea. And then they called me like six months later and like do a ted talk and it's really not that good. It's called the ham sandwich and it's a magic ted talk, but it was one of my first experiences doing something that would be viewed like worldwide, so I'll give myself credit for that one.[00:24:55] Stuart: Yeah, that's pretty cool. I've never done a ted talk. Never asks to the right people. I don't think I'm not interested. That's why I have interesting people on the show because if it was just me, nobody would do that.[00:25:09] RJ the Magician: That's not true. That's not true. Dude, I was 20 years old. So I bumped into, dude, I didn't know much. I knew a little magic. So I mean, it just happened, it just[00:25:16] Stuart: happened. I honestly, I'm not gonna, I'm not, I'm not going to play the game, but like 20 years old. I it was certainly not giving ted talks, that's what I thought. Ah good stuff. Um Alright, so let's say someone wants to get started in magic and this is actually the genesis of me looking for a magician because I was like, man, it would be kind of cool to learn some magic tricks. Like where do you, where does one go to learn magic? Like what does one do[00:25:45] RJ the Magician: to go get well, if you straight up, if you really want to learn magic, contact me, you can get my contact information in the show notes, I assume hopefully. And yeah, if you contact me because I didn't get into magic until I got hired at the summer camp in um in new york. And that's when I learned from seven other magicians who taught me what they know, and that's really the only way to learn, in my opinion, like the best way. But then I run china's only summer magic program and their first summer magic program, I started it last year and I work out there. I'm hiring magicians for this summer, you don't have to know a lot because I will train you to learn magic. And I think that's the best way to start like learning from someone that knows a little bit, you know? But if you really don't know anything the magic is in the books and you can just search online online to search magic books and they'll come up on amazon if you really want to know. People are like well you don't give away the secret. It's like people only read if they care about the secret, you know? So yeah it's a weird community where it's like don't tell the secrets, like don't this is ruining us but at the same time it's like I don't think that you know I think if you care enough you'll look it up anyway. So I mean but yeah if you wanna if you wanna if you want to start getting into magic um I would definitely search like the Tarbell course in magic or I would search um Mark Wilson's complete course in magic. Um Or I would say the last one would be S. W. Word mazes expert at the card table. Those are three basic books that anyone starts with.[00:27:11] Stuart: Okay. That's cool. That's good stuff to know. Okay[00:27:15] RJ the Magician: one more thing I'll tell you one more thing. This is actually really interesting magic. It's like music and people don't know people think mad magicians just like they all have their own tricks but we all actually by tricks like magician or musicians by songs. So if like magicians will go to a magic website or a magic shop buy a DVD and learn how to do a trick, then they have the rights to perform those tricks. So it's not like we're all creating things all the time. We all technically just by other people's material and perform it. So that's uh that's a lot of people don't understand about magic and it's really is a business and their creators, people who create and are horrible at performing sometimes sometimes they're really good and there are people who perform really well but just don't have any original material. So it's really uh like Criss Angel doesn't have that much original material because he has a ton of consultants, you know, but he's really great at performing,[00:28:05] Stuart: so. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Is he? I don't know, it seems like[00:28:13] RJ the Magician: show isn't great, but for his market to have captured it for 20 years and to have an ongoing Vegas show for years and years and to be in the public eye still, and to be synonymous with magic, his name is synonymous with magic, you know that to have, that shows how good he is as a magician.[00:28:31] Stuart: Yeah, that's true, that's true. That's the most magical part. Um What do you have a like a personal magician that's like like your idol?[00:28:42] RJ the Magician: Well I guess my mentor, we all have mentors any magician you see as a mentor and mine his name I met in that camp my first year, he's the one that hired me, his name is magic Larry, this is real magic larry, he's probably like a 67 68 so he would kill me if I told his age he works out a lot. He's an older magician from Delaware. He lives in Delaware and he taught me most of the magic that I know. That's why I perform the way I do mostly like classical magic because I like kiss. He taught me old things that he knows and he, he's probably my mentor, he's very, very different than how how I perform. But then in terms of just great magicians, I really like, I love this guy named Derrick Hughes that was on America's Got talent. I don't know if you know him, but he pulled a card out of his ask for his first trick, incredible, incredible. The car disappeared, came out of his butt, crack butt butt, crack, you got to look it up. Um, I love great comedy. People who confuse magic and comedy together, but they don't just use the trick to make it funny, They use the comedy and then they'll show a trick and that makes it kind of like a story and I really love that they can create a story, not just be funny. You know, amazing. Jonathan is really funny and amazing, Jonathan so great. He's like, he's funny, but there's magicians that can craft a through line in a story that I just love, you know,[00:30:00] Stuart: that's a, that is kind of, that's impressive what a comedian can do it with just comedy but it's really impressive if someone could do it with magic as well. That's awesome.[00:30:09] RJ the Magician: Yeah, it's been like it's been getting a lot bigger lately that um that magicians have been doing the shows with the theme. So like there's this dude named Derek Delgaudio out of new york and he has a show called In and of itself and it's produced by Neil Patrick Harris, which is because he's also a magician very in the magic, he was the president of the Magic castle and ended up itself was an amazing show that had a theme and like the hole that you walk in, I didn't get a chance to see it sadly because it was sold out sucking every week. But like he, he walked in and you see all these cards, I am this, I am a shaman, I am a healer, I am a blah blah blah and it has all these different cards, you get to pick one and he predicts what you'll be at the end or here's a trick where he has a golden brick named any street, any avenue in new york and he builds a card castle around, it blows the card castle down the brick is gone and it's on that street corner and people will tweet at him and it's stuff like that, it takes magic to the next level, you know, shows like that,[00:31:03] Stuart: that's amazing. That's, its stuff alright well it's been about a half hour and we're at that time where we have to come up with a sketch just because this episode ends does not mean that RJ disappears. Make sure to go to his website, R. J S magic dot com to find out more about RJ about where he's at, where you can book him those types of things. You can also go to Youtube type in the ham sandwich and he's got a TX video there. That is fantastic. And also check out his excellent, I hate everyone podcast on Spotify and now our sketch Obama safety impersonator in three two. Alright, so we're here for the Obama body double. He's coming through Wisconsin and we need to make sure that you know he's safe, go ahead and send the first guy in.[00:32:06] RJ the Magician: Hello, my name is RJ. I am uh sorry, my name is Barack Obama[00:32:13] Stuart: and I[00:32:14] RJ the Magician: was looking at nancy Pelosi the other day and I realized that she was looking mighty fine compared to Michelle. I saw those nasty things. Those perverts like mitt Romney were sending. It's disgusting.[00:32:26] Stuart: I mean, RJ you're incredible at this. I don't know if we're gonna be able to hire you for this[00:32:31] RJ the Magician: position, Is it? Is it because my voice is[00:32:34] Stuart: off? No, I think we all agree. The voice is absolutely right onto you do Obama almost better than Obama himself. I just don't know if it's gonna work out,[00:32:44] RJ the Magician: I feel like this isn't fair.[00:32:48] Stuart: I just, I'm, I'm at a little bit of a loss as to how this actually happened. How you,[00:32:54] RJ the Magician: what rose through the ranks of oppressions like my forefathers through the chains of slavery.[00:33:02] Stuart: No, I was talking more about the fact that you're, you know, five ft one in asian, thank you so much for joining us for sketch comedy podcast show. We hope you enjoyed listening to it as much as we enjoyed making it. Make sure to head over to sketch comedy podcast show dot com there. You can subscribe to the show. Head over to youtube and watch some of the videos and sketches we've done there. Maybe head over to Patreon and become a patron to the show. That would be so much appreciated or you can leave a review someplace or if you're feeling really saucy apply to be on the show. I appreciate every single one of you that listens to the show and I would love to hear more from you Now I got to get this out of the way. Sketch comedy podcast show is protected under a creative commons attribution no derivatives four point oh international license. Which means that if you would like to reproduce anything in the show, please contact the show so that I can get you the right material for it. And also this show is copyright 2022 Stewart rice every day we are given a choice. Can we do the funny thing or the not so funny thing? I'm going to urge you to do the funny thing today and create an improvised comedy adventure of your own. Take Care, See you next episode. Mm hmm.