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

Mario says his magic allows him to share with his audience. It’s a form of communication. Magic is all about sharing his emotions with an audience. Mario loved Loonie Tunes cartoons growing up. Those cartoon are all about creating impossible moments on-screen which is something Mario tried to emulate. Other performers that inspire Mario included Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton.

Mario believes that the magician is more important than the magic. Who are you really? If you let your true self shine through it will dictate your success. But too often people lack character and that’s why they are not engaging with an audience. When he first started he was very shy on stage. He was told repeatedly to talk louder and to look at his audience. Mario realized in the end that they were wrong. He became the shy g uy on stage. Play into your weaknesses.

Mario’s Instagram presence is very unique. Unlike many other magicians he rarely uses cards. He shies away from card magic because he thinks it very difficult to be unique using that style of magic. He thinks its much more important to go to different places. Mining the same old material rarely creates something interesting. That said, Mario has still learned a tremendous amount watching other magicians on Instagram.

There are many creative moments in a day, according to Mario. He allows himself to open to ideas at any time. Mario has a ton of weird objects on his table at home from chains to coins to cards. He is constantly playing with those objects. From that new ideas are constantly born.

What do you want to tell the audience?

Enjoy the process. Enjoy everything that has to do with magic.

What do you want to ask the audience?

Are you doing the magic that you love or not?

What was your favourite part of the episode?

Jonah liked hearing about how Mario uses his face so expressively.

Mario liked discussing the importance of using his eyes and face to communicate with the audience.

Plugs

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