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Desert Island Tricks: Daily Summaries Delivered
by Alakazam Magic
Each week, host Jamie Daws invites one of the biggest guests in the world of magic to maroon themselves on the Alakazam Magic desert island. They are allowed to take with them 8 tricks, 1 book, 1 banishment and 1 non magic item that they use for magic! They even get a welcome package with a deck of card inside! We discuss their 'can't live without' lists and why those items were chosen.
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- 2 weeks ago1h 0m
SOS: Andy Smith
A four-year-old “vanishes” a toy car so perfectly that a grown magician tears apart a couch looking for method. That story kicks off a return visit with Andy as we reopen his desert island list and ask the question every working performer eventually faces: what actually deserves a permanent place in your case when your standards change, your venues change and your taste gets sharper? We walk back through the routines that still hold up under real audience pressure, from Three Fly and ri...
- 3 weeks ago56 min
Emilio Lander
A beginner magician walks into a magic shop and gets overwhelmed fast. Now imagine he works there. Emilio joins us from the Alakazam team to build his Desert Island list: eight tricks he’d keep forever, one thing he’d banish from magic culture, plus the “book” and everyday item he’d take to keep performing anywhere. We talk through why practical close-up magic staples still dominate in the real world. Emilio breaks down why Triumph remains a perfect crowd-pleaser, why a strong sandwich routin...
- 4 weeks ago59 min
Doug Gorman
A lot of people think magic is something you either start as a kid or you miss your shot. Doug Gorman blows that idea up. He started at 45 after a Las Vegas moment hooked him for good, spent years performing classic close-up, then made a sharp turn into storytelling magic and bizarre magic that feels like real theatre, not just “watch me do a move.” We talk through the turning points that shaped his style, including the influence of Ed Solomon and the late Eugene Burger and why Doug believes ...
- Oct 2, 20261h 25m
Lee Hathaway
A Covent Garden magic stall in winter, a boat that hosts magic sessions and a career that somehow threads through it all to The Magic Circle. We sit down with Lee Hathaway and get the kind of candid, craft-obsessed conversation that only happens between people who have lived magic for decades. Along the way, Lee talks about the uncomfortable truth most working performers feel: you can “unlearn” technique when life gets busy and getting it back is less about time and more about calm, repetitiv...
- Sep 25, 202625 min
Stranded with a Stranger: Stephen Maule
A coin vanishes three times, ends up trapped inside a phone and then bends after the spectator has been holding it. That’s how Stephen Maule chooses to open his desert island set and it instantly tells you what kind of thinker he is: practical, modular and obsessed with reactions that spread from one friend group to the next. We start with Stephen’s backstory, including the influence of classic TV magic and the way big moments like the Blackpool Magic Convention can pull people back into the ...
- Sep 18, 20261h 48m
SOS: Oliver Meech
Magic gets stale when we keep reaching for the same props, the same references and the same “safe” structures. So we invited Oliver Meach back for a Desert Island Tricks SOS and he did something no one else has done yet: he replaced every trick on his original list with a completely new set, chosen to showcase how he thinks about modern card magic, close-up mentalism, and audience-first interaction. We talk through effects built on bold starting conditions like performing with your back turn...
- Sep 11, 20261h 32m
Michael J Fitch
He’s performed for Queen Elizabeth II, he’s a resident magician in Gordon Ramsay restaurants and he’s Vice President of The Magic Circle, but he still geeks out over the same question every working magician wrestles with: what actually works when you’re in the trenches night after night? We sit down with Michael J. Fitch for a wide-ranging, laugh-out-loud conversation that turns into a practical guide to building a set that plays for real people, not just magicians. Michael breaks down ...
- Sep 4, 20261h 17m
Chris Funk
A card rises to the top of the deck because a violin is playing and somehow that makes perfect sense by the time it’s over. That’s the kind of “how is this even happening?” thinking we love and it’s why we’ve wanted Chris Funk on for years. Chris is a touring magician known for Redefining Wonder and for bringing music into modern stage magic in a way that feels lived-in, not bolted on. We talk through his desert island list of essential routines, from Bill Abbott’s Five Card Box as a killer o...
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About Desert Island Tricks
Each week, host Jamie Daws invites one of the biggest guests in the world of magic to maroon themselves on the Alakazam Magic desert island. They are allowed to take with them 8 tricks, 1 book, 1 banishment and 1 non magic item that they use for magic! They even get a welcome package with a deck of card inside! We discuss their 'can't live without' lists and why those items were chosen.
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