Desert Island Tricks

A magic classic finally gets its next chapter and the creator is as thoughtful as you’d hope. We’re joined by magical royalty, Guy Hollingworth to talk about More Drawing Room Deceptions, the highly anticipated follow-up to his legendary Drawing Room Deceptions, plus the re-release of the original book with a new chapter that shows how his routines have evolved through real performance. If you care about strong plots, clean handling and material that lasts beyond the hype cycle, this conversation is packed with gold.
We also invite Guy onto the Alakazam island and talk about his eight essential pieces of magic, one book, one banishment, and one everyday item he’d still use for deception. Along the way we dig into The Reformation (his signature torn-and-restored signed card), why slowing down can make an effect feel more impossible and how he designs methods like puzzles when there are no obvious “building blocks.” Expect practical talk on cups and balls, coins across, Professor’s Nightmare rope magic, stage manipulation, linking rings, gypsy thread, and even a modern phone-light miracle.
You’ll hear behind-the-scenes stories from the Magic Circle, what Guy looks for before he’ll perform someone else’s creation and where to find the Drawing Room Grand Tour details through the publishers at Vanishing Inc and Mike Caveney’s Magic Words. If you enjoy the show, subscribe, share it with a magician friend, and leave a review so more people can find it.
Guy Hollingworth’s Desert Island Tricks 
Welcome package. The Reformation 
Cups and Balls 
Half Crowns & Shell 
Professors Nightmare 
Billiard Balls 
Linking Rings 
Gypsy Thread 
Silhouette 
Luc Apers’ Chinese Silver
Banishment.Mutilated Parasol
Book. Expert Card Technique 
Item. Jacket 
Check out all of the details regarding his new book ‘More Drawing Room Deceptions’ here: 
https://www.vanishingincmagic.com/magic-conventions/drawing-room-grand-tour/
Find out more about the creators of this Podcast at www.alakazam.co.uk

A cruise ship theatre looks glamorous from the outside but the work is brutally practical: your show has to reset fast, pack down smaller than you want and still hit like a full-scale stage production. We sit down with Oscar Leonard, resident magician on Virgin Voyages for the past three years and newly named an Associate Member of the Inner Magic Circle with Silver Star, to unpack what that reality teaches you about building commercial magic and mentalism that actually lands.
 
 Oscar shares how he got the job, what “guaranteed performance spots” every day does to your material, and why recording shows and chasing the right feedback beats guessing. We talk about the problem mentalists obsess over: making mind reading visual. His solutions include a story-driven Fourth Dimensional Telepathy, a dartboard routine that creates instant intrigue, Liquid Forks for fast visual impact, and a standout ESP experiment staged with lab coats and clipboards to make small props feel huge.
 
 Then we go deeper on craft and ethics: Q and A as a closer, how coincidences become fuel for astonishment and why he’d bury most of a stage camera on his desert island. Cameras can help visibility but overuse can turn live theatre into a movie and we dig into where that line sits for modern stage magic.
 
 If you care about cruise ship entertainment, stage mentalism, visual reveals and building a portable show that plays big, this one is packed with workable ideas. Subscribe for more, share the episode with a performer friend and leave a review with the one routine you’d take on your own desert island.
Oscar Leonard’s Desert Island Tricks
Welcome Package. Multiple Selection Routine / Mentalism Reveals 
Fourth Dimensional Telepathy 
The Dart Lottery 
Liquid Forks 
ESP Cards / 4 Lab Coats / 4 Clip Boards
Location, Location, Location 
Three Billet Routine 
Book Test 
Q&A 
Banishment. Using a camera for the majority of a stage performance
Book. The Jinx Bound Collection 
Item. Debra Dale Blank Index Card 
Find out more about the creators of this Podcast at www.alakazam.co.uk

Your magic can be technically flawless and still feel forgettable. This conversation with Michael Vincent hit us like a wake-up call: the real goal is the experience you leave with the spectator, not the applause for your hands. Michael opens up about stepping away from performing to care for his mother, then returning with a new approach built around purpose, discipline, and audiences who choose to be there. 
The list becomes a deep dive into close-up magic and parlour magic fundamentals: Vernon’s Triumph as chaos versus order with the spectator doing the shuffling, Linking Rings built on crystal-clear conditions, Slydini’s Knotted Silks as pure visual impossibility, the Invisible Deck as shared fantasy made real, Roy Walton’s Smiling Mule as a lesson in timing, plus coin magic that leans on sound, story, and imagination. 
We also go hard on a topic many magicians avoid: reading and research. Michael argues that the best secrets still live in books, that mastery can’t be bought and that a strong repertoire is a reflection of identity. He caps it with two recommendations that shape creative showmanship and resilience: Darwin Ortiz’s Strong Magic and Viktor Frankl’s A Man’s Search For Meaning. If you want stronger reactions, better structure, and a more honest path to becoming great, press play, then subscribe, share this with a magician friend and leave a review with your own desert island list.
Michael Vincent’s Desert Island Tricks
Care Package: Triumph 
Linking Rings 
Knotted Silks 
Invisible Deck 
Smiling Mule
Coins Through Hand 
The Slot Machine 
Marlo’s Repeat Card to Pocket 
Your Card, My Card, Everybody’s Card 
Banishment. Complete and utter laziness 
Book. Strong Magic 
Item. A Man’s Search for Meaning 
Find out more about the creators of this Podcast at www.alakazam.co.uk

A lot of magic advice lives in theory. David Rhodes brings something better: a working performer’s list of eight routines he’d keep if everything else disappeared, plus one book, one non-magic utility item, and one thing he’d banish from the art. David’s story starts with a familiar arc, going all-in on magic in his twenties, stepping away for years into the corporate world, then coming back with fresh eyes and sharper taste.

We dig into a lineup that leans heavily toward practical mentalism and audience-first structure: Telepathy Plus as a minimalist billet miracle, a memory demonstration that builds real credibility, and a Magic Square that can turn “confusion” into a perfect closer. From there we get into blindfold work and psychometry, where the impact comes from meaning, not props, plus fork bending with a clear stance on why less is more when you want it to feel genuinely psychic. We also talk borrowed-object impossibility with ring flight, and why the strongest close-up magic often lives in the spectator’s hands.

Card lovers still get fed: Out Of This World gets its flowers as one of the most powerful spectator-driven effects ever, and David shares a sneaky multiple selection “cheat code” that lets you weave in favourites like Triumph. We round it out with Interpreting Magic by David Regal for the interviews, a corner rounder as an underrated weapon for short cards, and a banishment that every performer should consider: ditch hack lines that kill connection.

Send in your list of 8 tricks, 1 book, 1 non magic item and 1 banishment to sales@alakazam.co.uk
Find out more about the creators of this Podcast at www.alakazam.co.uk

The magic that stays with you isn’t always the trick you can describe, it’s the feeling you can’t shake. That’s where our conversation with French magician, creator, hypnotist and theatre performer Jean-Luc Bertrand begins: the rare moments that make a seasoned performer feel like a five-year-old seeing impossibility for the first time, and how we can build shows that give audiences that same hit of wonder. 
We get into the effects and performers that shaped Jean-Luc’s taste and philosophy, from Garrett Thomas’ legendary ID-style miracle to David Blaine’s extreme commitment and Derren Brown’s masterclass in scripting, structure, and hypnosis. Along the way we talk misdirection as intention, how to avoid performing on autopilot, and why the best professional magic is really about “writing memories” for people at the most important events of their lives. 
Jean-Luc also shares what he would banish from the magic industry: the lack of meaningful copyright norms and the casual attitude toward copying. We explore why originality is harder than buying the latest trick, and why ethics matter if magic is going to evolve. Plus, we tease Jean-Luc’s upcoming Murphy’s Magic release, the JLB Coin, and what makes it feel like real superpowers in the hands. 
Jean Luc’s Desert Island Tricks: 
Welcome Package. Card Under Tablecloth 
Drivers Licence Trick by Garrett Thomas
David Blaine’s Frog From Mouth 
Derren Brown’s Card Under Box
Creating a moment for a single audience member 
French Fries Production 
JLB Coin 
Yann Frisch
Music Box Effect 
Banishment. Lack of Copyright in the Magic Industry 
Book. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
Item. BIC Lighter 
Find out more about the creators of this Podcast at www.alakazam.co.uk