iTunes Exclusive Episode The Illusionists

The following is a sooner orgator production. The following is a sooner orgator production. The following is a sooner orgator production.

The following is a sooner orgator production. Welcome Empire member and or members. If you're hearing my voice right now we hope it means at least one of the following things.

Number one we hope it means you listen to the clubhouse podcast every Sunday night live 70's turn for Pacific. Your one stop shop for all things sports entertainment. We also hope it means you subscribe on iTunes because right now it's time for another tune's exclusive welcome.

My name is Rob and I've been called a magic man for many many different reasons. None of this we're gonna discuss today but since this is and I tune's exclusive it also means I'm not by myself. Joining me across the desk is he tends to do from time to time is a man who has pulled many rabbits out of many hats but none of them his own oddly enough he is Chad welcome sir.

I don't know what you're talking about allegedly allegedly okay I'll stick with that. Also joining us for this particular episode by the way our 90 first iTunes exclusive cod is a man who has pulled many disappearing acts in his days but he's not willing to talk about it either. You may know I'm as fond on go but his mom and him have done for them in the calm down for the welcome sir.

I disappeared a lot last night but this would be at the down to the national film festival. That's all I wanted to listen to. I don't hear anything else.

I was gone gone gone. We are young only when we do one of these episodes we're here to review something for you and today is no different. Right now we're reviewing a traveling show that's literally been all over the world currently showing in the Dallas Fort Worth area at least until April the 18th and I'm right on that done.

Okay the illusionists here's the bit it is seven of the best magicians in the entire world all with a different style so you're not seeing the same kinds of illusions over and over and over and over again but it is the 19th just clarify as the 19th so the 19th is what runs through. And first off we got to thank Francis go we got to pick everybody over Dallas some of musicals everybody on musical fair park who accommodated us when we couldn't make it on press night exactly so thank you again for giving us the chance to see this for you so much Francisco you've been so good to us. And this is different from the normal kind of stage production that Dallas some of musicals does because it's not a musical there's music with it but it's not a musical this is a yeah no singing it's a two-hour magic show basically but it's a magic show on a different level because when you say magic show people think Guyana Tuxedo at a kids birthday party wearing a cape with flash bombs that go off in front of them not that kind of magic show kids this is magician showmanship to the next level if you're a fan of America's got talent you've seen at least half of this group on America's really oh yeah oh I was not aware that these these were alumni of that show and Britain's got talent like I know Kevin James and Dan Sparier were both wasn't he on now I'm sure I'm sure he loves that joke and you know yeah I'm sure that he's never heard it before all right so let's go through who these guys are we have Andrew Basso who is the escapeologist you have Aaron Crow who is known as the warrior he does magic with weapons basically he's best way to put it Jeff Hobbson who's the trickster you have you Hojin me Rob the manipulator you have Kevin James who used to just mention as the inventor Dan Sparier as the anti-conjurer or Sparier I'm sorry as the anti-conjurer and Adam Trent as the futurist these are your core there's also much like Cirque de Sole the music's all played live by a band called Z so they're almost the last band in the phone book there there's they're still rated above Z's he top but they're they're right there close you get a chance to see all of them do these different styles of magic like Andrew Basso is the scapeologist you know we're you're getting there you're getting that who uh we talked about Aaron Crow is the warrior Jeff Hobbson is the trickster to me was kind of more that throw back to the Vegas in 50s through the 70s where they combine comedy with it they they actually have a reference to that in his in his bio in the in the playfield they call him the host of Las Vegas they've called him that for more than 15 years which doesn't surprise me now you have a you Hojin is the manipulator he does a lot of work I think he did with cards yeah mostly like a lot aside a hand stuff right Kevin James is the inventor's kind of a throw back to I dare to say steampunk yeah a lot of a stuff was very steampunk influence when he like there's he picks up a prop that you could definitely tell was was built with steampunk in mind uh Dan Spary more of the Chris Angel modern darker style and Adam Trent is the futurist how would you describe his thought more technological well I mean it's it's all in the name you know with him being the futurist he it's this is his vision of what he thinks Mattie it's almost steel I'm almost stealing a quote from him what music is good music what magic is going to be like in the future total running times about two hours there's there's a 20 minute mission in the middle and you really get to it's see just kind of how these guys all work and do what they do there is some audience participation involved a lot for sure there's a lot lot of lighting and music and just multimedia going on well don't let's start with you how do I mean we have to review this a little bit differently because there's not really a story here you just get to see these guys do what they do how did you feel from an entertainment value I was really impressed mostly with the music okay I thought it really fit the mood of what was going on in this style of performance here you're going to get a lot of changes in tempo and this and move in styles of magic indeed indeed because it starts off with that kind of futuristic loud boom boom boom that's getting everybody out here then it's times what the comedy in the a lot of crap participation for a show I thought you know I'm not saying that's a bad thing because I think a lot of good comedy with this you will be odd with it but I really liked not to give anything away but with the the manipulator when he did his tricks out there that music they had with it I thought fit it perfectly chat yeah it was it was like there's such a juxtaposition of styles here to when you you had the manipulator doing almost ballet with his with his act just using props with his hands and then you had the anti-cangerer who was very Marilyn Manson meets David Copperfield as I've seen in the first the Chris Angel but but even more extreme I mean he's literally got the face paint like our our Alice Cooper Marilyn Manson and his music is really hard and edgy but no less entertaining and I mean and you would almost think that this guy's appearance would put some people off and some of the jokes he made honestly going into it seeing him I was kind of because I'm not a fan of that Chris Angel style the the shock magic is what they like to call it sometimes and he I don't know if he toned it down or if that's just how his style of it is I enjoyed his style of that as much as I enjoyed anybody's of the entire performance you know I'm sitting there looking at this banner of sting of your show like hmm it's kind of what he looked like I really liked the pacing of it I what I really dug is how you had you know serious and comedic very well balanced you never had too much of either one right so you could kind of breathe every once and again I really really enjoyed Jeff Hobbson because you know I am a student of comedy I am a guy who knows comedy and side of her apple he he told some jokes but but it was subtle enough that you could bring the kids and the kids wouldn't even go right past him yeah the adults will yeah with with a catcher's glove the size of the auditorium but I felt that all seven of them performed very well I think for me and I don't know how you could pull this off but I would have loved to have seen a trick with all seven of them together yeah well it's funny you mentioned that they they did appear on America's got talent back in August okay this past season and you had because it's it's on the if you go to the the illusion is live dot com it's which is their website it's in the upper right hand corner you click on it shows their audition piece and it's the futurist the inventor and the anti-conjure all performing simultaneously oh wow I mean you know the the futurist is doing his bit with the video monitor I don't want to give anything away but if you saw this past season of America's got talent you saw this the anti-conjures bit with the dubs and the inventor's bit with the chainsaw and again we don't want to go too deep into the illusions because we want people to go into this as cold as they can from it and I guess for me looking at because I bought the dvd that they sold I think that you've got the core four which are the trickster the inventor the anti-conjure in the futurist they're the core four of this thing and the other three kind of rotate through because the dvd I bought has three illusionists that we didn't see uh-huh what if we're being a female because I kept saying I saw a female in the commercial for this and you guys were looking at me like I was crazy but there I mean so I guess there's kind of a it's kind of a rotating troop that could be yeah people coming in out I kind of agree with you on one thing I I I have two kind of criticisms with this go ahead please don't make wrong I'm yeah we're critics that's what you're saying like the ending I think they should have done something huge with all them together that's what I was just saying yeah I agree with you on that like I like you said um and my other criticism is and don't come here wrong the ending was very good what they did I like how they did it but I think they should have done big you know big finale shot you know um my other criticism is on this for what they're doing and go around the world and all this and which is going to be on my written review on the kubba's podcast.com that's our website is that a lot of the magic on the show here was not what I'd call original I've seen a lot of these tricks well for we've been around for a time now where it's hard yeah to come up with new things and and I think that for me I think each one of them kind of put a little different spin on the classic illusion yeah I and those are all you can do with a lot of magic was great I just I was looking for something new that I've never really seen before and there was some stuff in there but it's just I didn't see enough of that I thought but what they did was incredible don't get wrong these guys are topped here oh absolutely there was never a time I was like oh it's over there oh it's this I got to really sit down and beat for two hours of my life be seven again you know because as we grow up as adults we get so cynical towards things especially things like magic because we go and we see all these specials and they tell you how they do tricks and blah blah blah blah blah and a certain part of me doesn't want to know those things a certain one of me just wants to be entertained and I got to do that for two hours I got to sit there and enjoy an art form because makes make no mistake this is an art form this is something that you just don't wake up one day and decide you're going to do this is something that you work hard hard hard hard and also kudos to the assistance in the background oh yeah I mean they were coming in and out and they really had to know really have to have locked down the the order and blocking of each illusionist because they worked with all of them it wasn't just like this is Jane my assistant they were all all of their assistant in me personally this is just me is I'm one of those guys who tries to figure out how they do that it's just in my mind but don't get me wrong that's just me but that's a natural curiosity but for me it's still in for me it's a suspense of disbelief oh yeah it was just it's still very very enjoyable chat anything you want to add I would have liked to have seen more from a shoot a look at the playbook because I can never remember his his handle the warrior we only got to see him once Aaron Crow um and with uh basso the escapeologist well as I'm thinking about you actually did get to see two different stunts from him because remember in the very beginning when they introduced everybody he did a scout and then he did his stunt later in act one but you didn't see him again to which it would during his stunt we're not going to say give anything away there is something I want to ask you about off air about that I heard the air conditioning oh yeah it was so it was dead silent when when when they right before he starts his stunt his seconds done yeah you can literally hear him breathing and there's no microphone on yeah that was impressive it was an eerie yeah that place was packed that place was yeah but I kind of wish they had held that for the second act because we we saw him do his bit and in the intro and I'm like let's let him come back in was that the end of act one I think so roughly around me which I think for me is a good place for that because you get to get that big that big mmm right before the animation so you can kind of catch your breath yeah I'm thinking you know you know well I'm gonna say I don't want to spoil that out no and during the animation you actually get to see another trick uh from Dan Sparie the anti-conjrist on the screen because there's a screen on the state and you miss that down you right during the animation okay and also during the instrument animation Jeff Hobson was actually walking through the crowd and talking to people and taking pictures and signing things which I thought was kind of cool too and he was he started throwing cards I guess they were cards yeah they were floating cards and the balconies yeah you try to throw and you're talking probably up 15 feet and out about a hundred he up and by the time we realized what we were what he was doing we saw him just nail one on stage left and he was just a little bit off on stage right but he killed the one on stage left I mean he took that thing straight up and straight out and it went right into the balcony anything that besides what we've mentioned so far that you would have liked to have seen that you didn't I can't think of anything I mean because they they they hit on every little flavor that you could sample in them in on the magic menu I agree they had a great mix and I really can't think of anything they left out I mean you had your you had your you know animal involvement you had your you know classic you know watch me do this to the assistant involvement you know it's I can't think of anything they left out some great card tricks because you know I'm always a fan of card tricks you got a contract you have my intention and boy the manipulator can can do some cards right when some world awards yes they said every three years magicians from all over the world get together and have this big contest and he won it before he turned 19 yeah you're stuck in a world champion here you got some you hold in his name yeah it's his performances gave gave you goosebumps you've just I don't know I don't know if it's the elegance of it or just his music selection it just adds to it but it's very very it's soothing it's it's it's it's not something that you hold your breath over but you will find yourself gasping anyway because you just don't expect it to happen I was like he was impressive the weird thing for me and we talked about this on the drive back to the studio as I left I had this little bit of disappointment but I can't tell you why like I didn't walk out of there like you're gonna have to pick me up off the floor but I can't tell you why well anytime you go see a magic show you have a really high level like of X-beck this is what especially when you see I mean when you when you watch the ads for this thing you're like gosh I've got to see this thing and I don't regret that too I don't know I don't know why I just don't know why I feel that wait a bit this show this show has that biggest trip quality I mean when you really think about this could be a permanent show on some hotel of Vegas easily I mean it's sold out multiple shows in at the Sydney Opera House that's go city that went to New York today I mean we're lucky here in Dallas this is going through the 19th or again a week and a half of this it was like in Chicago for only like five days you know so I mean go to Dallas all right let's get into the final analysis the way we do a final analysis on this show we don't give you stars or numbers thumbs down whatever we don't do that our audience the empire is better than that we're gonna ask two questions question number one is would you see this this production again the answer is no we're done here if the answer is yes in this case how much would you be willing to pay in what section of the the auditorium would you be wanting to sit don let's start with you would you see this production again actually I what I was really really impressed with the thing okay how far would you be willing to do it I would probably do front of the balcony on this just okay different aspect of it maybe a higher higher level of yeah observation yeah exactly chat would you see this again oh yeah where you want to sit pretty much where we sat so back a back center of the the front section for me I would see this again but I think I'm inclined to agree with dawn I think I'd like to sit in the balcony and get just that higher view of everything because I think for this I wouldn't want to sit too close because I really want to get a perspective of the intensity.

It doesn't be wrong the seats were credit. Oh yeah the seats we had really we got to think Francesco again Dallas some music. Yeah you mean it's called fair park thank you so much for inviting to this thing this was incredible but go check out the illusion is currently in Dallas through April the 1819 or if it comes to your neck of the woods yeah check it out I mean go to their website and find out where they're going to be I bought a t-shirt that's got all the dates on the back of it but I haven't looked at them all I also bought the DVD so my wife could watch it the DVD they're selling us from their London performance so we're actually looking forward to seeing that because there's three illusions in that we didn't see I mean they've been to Australia Mexico America America so gentlemen anything that's what we do to the plugs.

Now just a credible show go see it all right visit our website www.theclubhousepodcast.com find out everything you need to know and some stuff you don't like our Facebook page look up the clubhouse podcast on Facebook put the word podcast on the end or it's something completely different trust me follow this show on Twitter at clubhouse show you can follow me on Twitter if you'd like I am a yes that Rob Irvin that is spelled ERV IN I'm at chat in PG69 I'm at fondango and you can email me at Don at theclubhousepodcast.com email Don if you'd like to find out about us doing a live show as we've been doing a couple of them lately near you we love doing live shows interacting with the people you can email me if you'd like questions comments concerns tell me to go pound say and I am Rob at theclubhousepodcast.com I'm chat at theclubhousepodcast.com Charlotte Parker is on Pinterest because we are more we obligated to say that Jules Womack you're ready to come hang out with us in the green room our normal show every Sunday night seven eastern four pacific is your one stop shop for all things sports and entertainment just keep subscribing on iTunes you can listen whenever you want we're cool with that too so until next time for Don for Chad for the Empire I'm Rob the clubhouse is closed Brittany Palmer is one of the assistants I'm telling you I have a million of these the preceding was a sooner or later production why because I have to