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
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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
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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