A show about what we can learn from anyone’s job
A show about what we can learn from anyone’s job
Transcript: Episode 4 - Everyday Experts
INTRO
Thanks for tuning in to Everyday Experts -- a show about what we can learn from anyone’s job.
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EPISODE INTRO
[00:00:00] Gary: [00:00:00] I'm just so eager to fail. I can't wait. I can't wait cause I'm like. Something happens. I'm like, great, how do I fix it? And then I fix it and I just want to want to get every possible thing that could go wrong. It's so thrilling to see what can go wrong with an effect that you couldn't possibly imagine.
[00:00:18] Bethany: [00:00:18] Welcome back to everyday experts. So far this season, we've spoken with a bar owner, a DJ, and a New York City bus operator.
As you may remember, for this first season, I intentionally sought to interview people who work face to face with others. I wanted to see what we can learn from folks who uniquely work in a hands-on capacity.
That’s why I was so excited to meet Gary Ferrar, a professional magician and mentalist. I first met Gary a year ago when I booked him for a CEO event I was hosting.
[00:01:06] One of the things that stood out to me was how quickly Gary immersed himself in our new environment. As I learned in our first conversation, conducted in early 2020, Gayr is incredibly attuned to each audience and prepares for each night differently depending on the type of show he’s designing.
There’s the big, fully staged show, a smaller, more intimate “cabaret style” show, and then the “walk the room” type of thing...which is the gig I hired him to do. I had no idea how a group of tech founders and venture capitalists would respond to a walking magician, but they loved it. He read minds, correctly guessed iPhone passwords, and even somehow managed to get a number to appear in sharpie marker on one of my colleague’s. Even to this day, we have NO idea how he was able to pull that one off.
Be sure to pay attention to the intricate way that Gary teaches himself new tricks and how he does it, as well as how he built up the confidence to become a magician at all. I left this conversation feeling so inspired to teach myself something new using some of his strategies.
If you’d asked me whether Gary’s job would have been possible at all in a post-COVID world, I’d have said no way. Magic, to me, bore the same fate as theatre, my husband’s industry, which has been all but stagnant in the U.S. for over a year now.
But I was WAY wrong. Be sure to stick around after our initial conversation for the 2020 follow-up -- where you’ll learn, just as I did, how magic can exist, even from behind a Zoom screen.
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INTERVIEW
[00:00:00] Bethany: [00:00:00] welcome Gary.
[00:00:00] Gary: [00:00:00] Thank you.
[00:00:01]Bethany: [00:00:01] We first met when you came to a work event where I brought a bunch of CEOs in a room and you showed up in the room and nobody knew it, but you were actually there as a magician and mentalist. And throughout the night you started performing card tricks that would just attract crowds of people and wow. People beyond belief. And I thought that was one of the most amazing things I've ever seen. So I wanted to talk to you about what exactly your job is and how you do what you do.
[00:00:28] Gary: [00:00:28] so I, I'm a magician and a mentalist. I'm based out of New York city. Um, I travel all over the country for my corporate stuff, and there's a little bit of a dirty secret, which is that magic and mentalism are essentially the same exact thing from my point of
[00:00:45] Bethany: [00:00:45] So is it like a rebrand of magic?
[00:00:46] Gary: [00:00:46] It is, I think that it's, potentially more relevant and more intriguing because magic has such a stereotypical connotation as to what it is. It's not just boxes with bunnies and dancing girls and and that, but mentalism allows us the freedom to really escape that characterization of the top hat and the bunny rabbit and perform with minimal props working on our feet with live people.
[00:01:17] And. Really connect with the person that you're working with. You can't fudge your way through it. You can't practice it without another person, because mentalism is all about reading that person's mind. And so to be able to do that, I think is, is taking the practice to a new area of the public's perception. However it is. At the same time, uh, an illusion. It is a trick. I can't go out and get the lottery numbers and I can't, figure out, you know, who's gonna win the Superbowl.
[00:01:49] Bethany: [00:01:49] And how do you become a magician or a mentalist?
[00:01:52] Gary: [00:01:52] Well, most people do start with magic for the reason that I said you can practice magic alone in your room risk-free.
[00:02:00] Bethany: [00:02:00] that how you
[00:02:01] Gary: [00:02:01] Uh, not really. I was always a performer. Theater was kind of my first love. magic took over for a bit. Then I went back to theater. I went to college for theater, [00:02:10] and then once I graduated college, it was kind of a late start, but that's when I really got into magic. So it, it changed things, for me because I was always looking at it from a performance point of view rather than a method point of view. It wasn't about, you know, how, how can I trick them? It was about, how can we make this a fun experience?
[00:02:32] Bethany: [00:02:32] One of the things that , I like to dig into in this podcast is both the people side of the work that you do and the systems and the techniques behind it. And you're already alluding to this practice being a blend of both of those. So I'm curious when you are. Practicing, like how much of the magic of a trick is about getting it right versus that sort of like drama and flair that goes into it.
[00:02:56] Gary: [00:02:56] I think that getting it right is obviously important, but I think that at a certain point it becomes. The given, like you have to get it right, right.
[00:03:09] That, that is just the baseline. People think that that's the challenge, but no, getting it right is the baseline. And then from that point, you really do need to connect with the person that you're performing with. And there's a few different ways that you can do that. You know, I don't always necessarily lead with the fact that I am a magician or a mentalist when I'm, when I'm performing in like a cocktail lounge kind of scenario where people are milling about.
[00:03:33]it's nice to sometimes start as an everyday person and then gradually start to reveal that you have these, these abilities and things and it creates for a much more memorable moment. another nice journey that you can take someone on is maybe, , once they understand what you are and what you're doing to make a moment that doesn't necessarily work right. And it creates a little bit of tension and, you know, people enjoy seeing someone kind of have to like shuffle around a little bit and figure out, you know, how they're going to land on their feet and then suddenly when you can reveal them that, Oh no, everything worked out. Exactly.
[00:04:09] Bethany: [00:04:09] Right. Part of the trick in the performance is getting people to maybe think, Oh, maybe it's not working, and there's like drama in
[00:04:16] Gary: [00:04:16] Exactly. Exactly. And you know, it fundamentally [00:04:20] comes down to my reason for being there, which is not to trick people. I am hired not to trick people, but to make that event memorable, to make it unforgettable.
[00:04:33] Bethany: [00:04:33] So let's talk more about that part. Where do you perform and like, who are you performing for? You've alluded to like, cocktail parties, corporate receptions. Can you kind of talk me through what your routine looks like?
[00:04:45]Gary: [00:04:45] the routine that I have varies depending on the event, and there's a few different variables. One is age. If I'm doing a show for, like a, a senior kind of crowd, it's a little bit different than if I'm doing like a high school graduation party, which
[00:04:59] Bethany: [00:04:59] What's different about it?
[00:05:00]Gary: [00:05:00] the pace, the content, if I'm, if I'm skewing to a younger crowd, I'm doing more technology driven stuff, you know, like a guessing iPhone pin numbers and things like that. Then in addition to the age of the audience, there's also the scale. So it's either one of three things, a strolling cocktail environment where I'm doing groups of one, two, three, or four people at a time. it's a parlor performance where let's say we have 20, 30 people in a room and everybody's sitting and watching, but it's still very intimate the lights are up and everybody's a part of it.
[00:05:37] And then of course, there are stage shows, which because I'm not doing box illusions or anything like that, um, kind of max out at like 400 people. and for that show, it's a whole different set of, you know, experiences and effects that play to a larger crowd.
[00:05:51] Bethany: [00:05:51] Is there a group that you find easier to work with? Like 400 people is so different from doing groups of two to three?
[00:05:57] Gary: [00:05:57] Definitely. parlor is my favorite, like the 20 to 30 person group.
[00:06:03] Bethany: [00:06:03] You can really control the room
[00:06:04] Gary: [00:06:04] the room, you can manipulate the focus so efficiently with 20 to 30 people. And not only that, but you can also so specifically tailor it to the personalities in the room, you know, I can get to know almost every single person in that room and then know who's going to be right for certain moments and who I can count on for, uh, you know, the laugh line and, and that
[00:06:29] Bethany: [00:06:29] Oh, [00:06:30] interesting. So can you give any examples of like how you might pick people for types of tricks that you do?
[00:06:35] Gary: [00:06:35] Yeah. it's incredibly essential to get the right person. It's, it's. Often the biggest choice in terms of effecting the outcome of the effect.
[00:06:45] Bethany: [00:06:45] really?
[00:06:46]Gary: [00:06:46] And the reason is because when you take one person, you bring them up with you. Every single person in that audience is living vicariously through that person. And so they're putting themselves in that person's shoes and watching what I'm doing with that person. And it doesn't matter what I do, if that person has a Luke warm reaction, than the audience is gonna have a Luke warm reaction.
[00:07:12] If that person freaks out, runs around the room, everybody is going to feel that same emotion. So there are a few things that I'm looking for when I'm choosing a volunteer. And. There is some risk mitigation involved. There are effects where I'm like, Oh, I really want someone who's going to give me a hard time because I know that this effect is a comedy effect.
[00:07:32] You know, it's Bulletproof. I can get through it no matter what. And so I want a challenge. I want someone who's gonna come up and, and you know, kind of butt heads a little bit. There are other moments where I need someone who is very pliable and manipulatable and. And if they're not, or if they try and take over, then you know, it, it distracts me from the stuff that I have to focus on from the system's point of view to make things work.
[00:07:53] Um, and I can give you actually some of those tools that I use to select those people . The first thing that you'll notice if you ever see me do a show is that I never ask for volunteers. I find that asking for volunteer invites people. Uh, to raise their hand.
[00:08:07] And if they do, they likely have some sort of an agenda, whether it's one they that they want to make me look bad, or whether it's they want to make themselves look good, or whether it's that they want to make the room laugh. Any of those agendas could potentially get in the way of what I'm trying to accomplish right
[00:08:23] Bethany: [00:08:23] taking the ego out of the
[00:08:24] Gary: [00:08:24] Exactly. I ask engaging questions and I see who has honest reactions to those questions and then those people without knowing it, have volunteered themselves for the
[00:08:33] Bethany: [00:08:33] So your first couple minutes of like warm up, you're basically just assessing who's who in this room and [00:08:40] picking people
[00:08:40] Gary: [00:08:40] Yes. So, exactly. And even even, you know, later on in the set, you know, I, I might just throw out a question like, uh, has anybody ever walked into a room to get something, and when you got in the room, you forgot what you went in the room to get? Now. Obviously that's mostly happened to everybody, but by asking that, not only am I engaging the personalities in the room, but I'm also looking for people who have very open body language, who are nodding, who are, you know, sitting upright in their seat and are alert and all these little details that I know once, once they come on stage, are going to be very beneficial.
[00:09:14] The other thing that I'm also looking for throughout the course of my performance is. The reaction that people are having to effects. They don't know it, but their faces as they're responding are, they're essentially auditioning for roles on
[00:09:33] from the, the job that I need to accomplish, I need the person who's going to express their emotions on their sleeve and on their face so that everybody in the room can read it and then experience it themselves.
[00:09:44]Bethany: [00:09:44] how did you practice this skill of picking the right people?
[00:09:48] Gary: [00:09:48] It started honestly with children. Because doing magic for children, there's a, almost a greater need for that. you want that kid to come up who is going to open up their hand and see something in it and jump up and down and stomp their feet and run around and. That's what sells the show.
[00:10:11] That's what sells the show. It makes parents look great. It makes the kids look great. It makes you look great. It makes everything work so well when that energy is there. And so, um, from a kid's point of view, because they're so expressive, it's very easy. I can do one effect for a group of kids, and even if I just kind of like blur my eyes a little bit, I can just see the spots of energy in the crowd and then I know, okay, that, that, that, that, those people right there, those are the kids that are, that I'm going to pull up.
[00:10:38] And because it's so extreme there, you kind of hone that skill and then I can, you know,
[00:10:43] Bethany: [00:10:43] version is a little more
[00:10:44] Gary: [00:10:44] is a little bit more subdued.
[00:10:45] Bethany: [00:10:45] You're reminding me and telling this story. Are you familiar with the wand experience at [00:10:50] universal studios?
[00:10:50] Gary: [00:10:50] I am.
[00:10:51] Bethany: [00:10:51] So the wand experience is the Harry Potter world thing where you go into. All vendors wan shop and they pick people to do the little swish and get fitted for a wand. And I went in this room of like 40 people and I'm like a Harry Potter fan. And clearly that was showing and in this room of like a bunch of 12 and seven year old kids, they picked me and all the kids were so pissed and I was beyond delighted to be a part of this, but they are probably doing that exact same thing that you're doing, which is looking around for that sort of open body language.
[00:11:25] Gary: [00:11:25] Yup. And what's, what's useful in that situation is it's that open body language from someone that you might not expect it to be
[00:11:32] Bethany: [00:11:32] Oh, yeah,
[00:11:33] Gary: [00:11:33] know, um, there are, there are times where. I'm seeing genuine reactions, but the audience is not because they're all looking my direction.
[00:11:42] Right. And so they might have a colleague that is normally very reserved that they have never seen that person experienced magic before. And so if you can get the person up who is normally cool as a cucumber, and. That person is flipping out, then it takes it to a whole nother level. So you kind of also want to play against that stereotype if you
[00:12:00] Bethany: [00:12:00] So you'll see people react in surprising ways, and those are the ones that you want to bring up on stage. Wow. Okay. So what's the like arsenal of tricks that you do in these different settings?
[00:12:12] Gary: [00:12:12] It's really all over the place. I. Like performing with everyday objects. I don't like things to feel too forced. So often it's just coins, jewelry, cards, silverware, napkins, things that are at the event.
[00:12:28] I love the fact that I can do an hour and a half stage set out of a standard briefcase. yeah, it has a chalkboard in it. It has some index cards, some Sharpies, some pencils, and, uh,
[00:12:42] Bethany: [00:12:42] that's intimidating
[00:12:43] Gary: [00:12:43] go, yeah. Um, but it's, yeah, it's, it's extremely liberating because it means that I can pretty much perform anywhere. I should also mention that right now I have a monthly public show that I'm doing. Uh, we're actually in the venue
[00:12:58] Bethany: [00:12:58] We are the Oxbow Tavern.
[00:12:59] Gary: [00:12:59] Yeah. [00:13:00] the reason why I bring that up is it because in the show that I do here, there are very. Idealized effects. it's my dream repertoire because I get to control every single experience of the environment when I'm working gigs, I don't know if people are going to be seated behind me.
[00:13:17] I dunno if there's going to be mirrors or poor lighting or anything. And so. I'm bringing in more of what I would consider my utilitarian Bulletproof effects, which are not to say that they're not artistically crafted and, and mystifying. I just know that they're gonna work no matter what.
[00:13:37] Bethany: [00:13:37] But your versatility and agility to do that must be just, you're always kind of improvising,
[00:13:42] Gary: [00:13:42] right. Which. Seems like it's difficult, but honestly, when you're a magician, you're doing the same effects over and over and over again. The improv improvisation is what I find most useful in terms of connecting with the audience, making sure that they know that it's fresh, because they can tell if you're just going through the motions.
[00:13:59] And I find that that improvisation is what allows people to say, Oh my gosh, I just saw something that couldn't have happened anywhere else. Yeah.
[00:14:11] Bethany: [00:14:11] Literally for days after you came to our event, one of the partners at the firm I work at was talking about you do this trick where you somehow get a Sharpie to appear on someone else's hand, and he was like blown away and still confused how that Sharpie Mark was on his hand days
[00:14:27] Gary: [00:14:27] Yeah.
[00:14:28] Bethany: [00:14:28] That's amazing to have that kind of after effect.
[00:14:31] Gary: [00:14:31] And again. A Sharpie. Right? That's all. That's, that's all it
[00:14:35] Bethany: [00:14:35] It was so basic. So if you could break down the formula of a magic trick, there's a part of it that's getting it right. There's a part of it that's picking the person. Is there another element that's a part of that that makes it really magical?
[00:14:49]Gary: [00:14:49] One of the biggest variables. Is the effect that you choose to do in the moment. let's say this is a strolling environment. I'm evaluating within the first couple seconds where this is going to go, and. People always ask, what's my favorite effect? And my favorite effect is always [00:15:10] the one that's right for the moment. So it's constantly
[00:15:13] Bethany: [00:15:13] What's an example of an effect?
[00:15:14]Gary: [00:15:14] I can perform the same trick, but have it seem like it's four or five different effects, depending on how it's presented and in what context. So I'm, I'm picking the right effect for the, for the person.
[00:15:28] And then within that, there needs to be something that is completely impossible, there needs to be something that is, a little bit impressive, but not as overwhelming. It's never a one-step bam, we're done. It's either a two or a three step. Um, and that allows people a T to focus, cause I don't want to waste something. So oftentimes if I do something, people are like, Oh wow. That was pretty good. I should probably pay better attention and that's when I want to do something really good. Right? Because I don't want to waste that. While they're still talking about their, Oh, who's this clown that came over?
[00:16:07] Bethany: [00:16:07] I think this is good advice for lots of people in lots of industries in order to get attention. Yes. If I want people in a meeting to pay attention to a project that I'm doing, maybe I send a teaser via an email. I dropped something interesting at the beginning of the conversation and then people start starting to pay attention, but just kicking right off into it without getting that sort of buy in is not going to work and you're doing the same thing and how you, how you do tricks. Right.
[00:16:33] Gary: [00:16:33] And, uh, you know, obviously if we're doing something on a stage, uh, we could do another, uh, way to draw focus, which is to just come out and just look at people and not say anything.
[00:16:43] And you'll watch the energy in the room just slowly come in. Um, you start to find these moments. Another thing that you can do is. Use the volume of your voice to change focus. You know, if there's that really rowdy group, you might think you just start screaming and eventually you'll get them. But the minute you drop down to here, you'll, you'll see everybody just, Ooh.
[00:17:04] It comes in. Yeah. And so you start to find these little techniques that you know, work in, in certain situations. But yeah, I like, I like that tiered approach where you start to train people to have reactions. You start to set expectations and then blow them out of the water. And, uh, the stakes [00:17:20] keep getting higher. So people keeps, keep getting more invested and more focused in it as they progress through that effect.
[00:17:27] Bethany: [00:17:27] It strikes me that you have a very peculiar job in that people know it's just magic. But. They want to be surprised. And at the same time, there's almost this, a group that wants to come in as like skeptics and like debunking it and demystifying it and asking you for your secrets. And I can't really think of any other job where people have the audacity to ask the person like, how could you do this wrong? what's behind it? you must get that a lot.
[00:17:54] Gary: [00:17:54] Yeah. Well, there, there's, there's two thoughts there. so as far as, hecklers go or things like that, it's not too much of a problem with strolling because if someone's giving me a hard time, I'm not obligated to perform for that person. I just move on to a different group. the stakes are a lot higher when you're doing a parlor show or a stage show. I've learned that the best way to handle a heckler is I don't know of anybody else who does this. I don't even know if I want to reveal this because he's another magician listens. But here's my secret. What I do is I create at two points in, the performance one very early on, the first beat, a trap. I just, I set a layup for a heckler line.
[00:18:38] I let it out there and it's, it's obvious enough that if someone wanted to give me a hard time, they will. And if they don't, we just move on.
[00:18:47] But if it's there, I know who that person is. And not only do I know who that person is, but that moment is so predictable because I've done it so many times that I know everything they could possibly say. And not only that, but I will use it to make the effect better. And disprove anything that they have said.
[00:19:06] Bethany: [00:19:06] what do you think people in other professions can learn from the kind of one to one person engagement that you're doing every day on stage?
[00:19:16] Gary: [00:19:16] I think that it comes down to being prepared. Because ironically, the preparation is what allows for the improv. I feel like if you know your product or your [00:19:30] material very well, or your schpeel or you know, whatever is applicable to your job, the better you can rehearse that and practice that.
[00:19:37] People think that that. Makes it stay like, Oh, I'd rather just wing it because you know who wants to script it or type out every single thing that I'm going to say. But honestly, by doing that level of preparation, it opens you up to so much more freedom than, because
[00:19:50] Bethany: [00:19:50] you're creating constraints and control in one part of your environment. This, the tricks always go the same way. And your script goes the same way in certain cases, and then you can pick up on all the other variables
[00:20:00] Gary: [00:20:00] Exactly. Exactly. And not only can I go off on a tangent and know where I can come back to the script because I have it, but also while I'm in the script. I don't have to get distracted and stop to regroup.
[00:20:14] I can just sit in the script for a little bit and sort out in my mind, if something is going a little bit wrong or I need to think about someone's wearing something and I want to make a joke about that later, that'll seem impromptu, then I can sit in the script for a little bit and let my mind run in the back kind of behind the scenes as I'm performing because I know those lines.
[00:20:35] Pat and then. Jump back into a present performance. And from the audience's point of view, they have no idea that I even left because I was talking to them the whole time. But for a while I was exactly, I was just gone back into my head and, and working that stuff out, and then I can pop back in. So I think that that preparation is, is the key. It is tedious and it is boring. Um, but it's, it's ultimately the way to keep you fresh and present in it, ironically.
[00:21:03] Bethany: [00:21:03] Really good advice. I want to come back to how you learned these skills. You spoke about learning from kids in order to start reading people. How do you learn these tricks? Were you just teaching yourself? Were you learning in other places?
[00:21:18]Gary: [00:21:18] I dabbled the way that people do. You know, kids pick up cards and try some stuff out, and then it fell away for a while. In college. I got really into theater. Uh, it was a relatively quick turnaround and it all started because I went on one acting project. Uh, it was a commercial for Walmart, and there was a girl there who was like, [00:21:40] Oh, I, um, I play guitar for kids in hospitals, and it's this great program. They subsidize, you know, your travel and your time. And I was like, Oh, well, I know some card tricks. And if I had not got on that audition, and if I had not, uh, talked to that girl, there's a very good chance that I won't be a magician right now.
[00:22:02] Bethany: [00:22:02] So you did the hospital thing?
[00:22:03] Gary: [00:22:03] Because I said, I know some card tricks. I did that. I did it for a year. They loved me. I went, I ended up doing five hospitals a week, pediatric units, and in New York, every single one was an extremely low risk scenario because I was being subsidized by this, uh, foundation that wasn't present. So, you know, there wasn't a ton of pressure and the kids were thankful for anything cause I would walk in their room, they were sitting there with a broken arm and it's like, Oh great, something is here. It didn't matter how great it was and if I failed, down the hall was the next room and I tried it again and down the hall was the next room and I tried it again. And so I got to to really test, yeah, yeah. Without any risk. And it was a very, unique experience . I was learning the effects as I was doing them in real time with an audience. So I learned what worked and what didn't work in those, in those moments. And. By the end of the year, I was like, wow. Like I'm pretty good
[00:23:05] Bethany: [00:23:05] so thinking about those early days when you're first doing your first card tricks and then learning new tricks and practicing them with those kids, how many times did it take you to like memorize a trick or is that kind of hard to answer?
[00:23:18] Gary: [00:23:18] Yeah, it's, it's, it really varies a lot effect by effect, but I would say that there's obviously some practice that goes in before you try something out with audience and then you think, okay, I know this. And then invariably, the first time you do it in front of someone, you're like, Holy cow, I know nothing. all your words go out the window. You don't know what you're saying, what you're doing. The move doesn't work. Nothing works. and that's after you're like, all right, I got this right. So then there's a whole relearn of like, okay, now how do I do this in front [00:23:50] of people? and then you get to a point where it's passable in front of an audience. And that's when the real work comes in, because at that point, then you have a structure and now you're adding in subtlety.
[00:24:01] Bethany: [00:24:01] Most people probably stop there though.
[00:24:03] Gary: [00:24:03] exactly. They get very discouraged and they don't go past that point, but, but honestly, it's that last 10% that not only consistently then fool people, but it's also that last 10% that allows you to, I don't know if you've ever had this experience, but there are times where you certainly see something and you're like, well, yeah, I don't know how that worked, but that's not the same as wholly. What, what did I just see? You know, both of those are essentially successful magic tricks. In both scenarios, the person doesn't know what happened. But what does it take to get from that one reaction to the second reaction? And often it's not even a different effect. It's, it's just finding little nuances, little convincers, little things that push it from, uh. Not plausible too mind blowing
[00:24:58]Bethany: [00:24:58] you said when you practice magic, you can do that in a room by herself. Learn the tricks. When you practice mentalism you need a person there. So I imagine the first few attempts at this are not successful. So how do you, how do you, how did you sort of learn that and practice that in real time?
[00:25:15]Gary: [00:25:15] usually when I have an idea, what I'll do is I will run out into a public space and I will just go to town. I am. So, yeah. Yeah. run, run through Penn station. Yeah. Because, usually what I'm thinking of are subtle tweaks. I throw them in to my working repertoire. if they work, great. If they don't, nobody notices. Right. but if there's ever something brand new, anytime you do something the first time for an audience, it is going to fail, and I can't do that at a paid gig. You know, I'm, I'm being paid to consistently deliver
[00:25:52] Bethany: [00:25:52] So you go to like a subway
[00:25:54] Gary: [00:25:54] So I go to a subway station and I feel so free [00:26:00]
[00:26:00] Bethany: [00:26:00] so you'll just walk around and say, Hey,
[00:26:02]Gary: [00:26:02] Cool. Would you mind, could I stop you for a second? I'm, I'm just, I'm working on something and, and I want to try this out with you. And you know, surprisingly a lot of people say, yes, it's New York. Everyone's, everyone, everyone's crazy. Um, so, so they say yes, and I'm just so eager to fail. I can't wait. I can't wait cause I'm like. Something happens. I'm like, great, how do I fix it? And then I fix it and I just want to want to get every possible thing that could go wrong. It's so thrilling to see what can go wrong with an effect that you couldn't possibly imagine.
[00:26:31] And so to have that freedom to just like run around to as many people as possible to say, all right, great. What's going to go wrong this time? What's going to go wrong this time? And then take all that and repackage it and, and fix all of those things is, is really thrilling.
[00:26:44] Bethany: [00:26:44] The enthusiasm on your face as we're talking about failing is something that I wish we could just package into like a lots of other tech founders and CEOs, because we talk a lot about like, Oh, fail fast, fail now. That's always good. That's how we learn. But it's so much easier said than
[00:27:00] Gary: [00:27:00] done. Right. Right.
[00:27:01] Bethany: [00:27:01] And to find enjoyment out of it is a whole other
[00:27:03] Gary: [00:27:03] Right. And I, I honestly do love it because it it is so amazing. How many ways something could fail that you couldn't have fathoms, you know, just completely beyond your wildest expectations of what someone could stupidly do to ruin everything.
[00:27:20] Bethany: [00:27:20] And then you're, you're disappointing people
[00:27:23] Gary: [00:27:23] Right. Right. Which I love, which is fine because they don't know who I am. I'm a crazy person who ran up to them on the street. Right. it's extra freeing because of the amount of pressure that I have in everyday work to not
[00:27:34] Bethany: [00:27:34] Wow. That's very cool.
[00:27:36] Gary: [00:27:36] Yeah.
[00:27:37]Bethany: [00:27:37] when do you think you become like an expert magician versus an amateur versus just a guy doing tricks at a hospital? Like when did that transition sort of
[00:27:46] Gary: [00:27:46] That's a great question. And I struggled with the answer because I was there before I knew it. and so I had to come to terms with it. And the way I came to terms with it was I just felt, I felt like, Oh, but you know, like I'm just, I'm just tricking them. And then I realized every magician. Is just tricking them. No [00:28:10] one, no one is actually doing magic out there.
[00:28:12] it's not about what I'm doing. It's not about how bold the method is. It, it's, if the person's mind is blown, then I've succeeded. And I, I suddenly looked around me and I was like, like, Oh, I thought I was just faking this. But that's the point, right? that the point of my job is to do things that I can't really do. That's what the job description is, which is an awkward job description. Um, and so it very easily lends itself into imposter syndrome, where you're like, well, of course I'm not a magician, you know, cause I'm just tricking these people. But when you suddenly realize like, Oh wait, yeah, I'm, I'm here. I can consistently deliver and destroy a room more than most of the people that I see when I look around be, and that was kind of the moment where I started, doing my public show because I was like, alright, I want to take this now and make it, art.
[00:29:13] Bethany: [00:29:13] And then my last question, which is something I ask everyone, what is another job or profession that you admire?
[00:29:19] Gary: [00:29:19] Ooh, ironically, actors. Isn't it crazy? Because I started, I don't consider myself an actor. Well, well, let me, let me be more specific. Film and TV actors. Okay. because I feel like, I am terrible on camera when I have to say words that aren't mine. eh.
[00:29:45] I'm always in my show really doing what I'm, what I'm doing, you know, like I am invested in that and it is me. It is, it is me. Gary. You know, trying to do what I'm doing. So, yes, I'm, I'm performing, but I'm not really acting. As soon as I have to do something that is, that is fantasy. I feel like I see those people do that, and I say, wow.
[00:30:12] So, yeah,
[00:30:13] Bethany: [00:30:13] they're, they're reading someone else's script
[00:30:15] Gary: [00:30:15] right? Yeah. I like the fact that I have [00:30:20] a script, but it is, it is my script and it's very much who I am. And it may, this is funny. It makes it very challenging because 90% of my, nightlife, social interactions are work, you know? which is rare as the parent of two children and someone who works nights and weekends, but when I do go out. To a social environment where I'm not working. It's very strange when I don't have my material. Oh no. Never. No. Intentionally.
[00:30:54] Bethany: [00:30:54] And if people ask you, you're like, no, I'm off the
[00:30:56] Gary: [00:30:56] Yeah. And I w I wouldn't want to, but it's still a little weird. You know? I am so used to navigating this experience a certain way that to not have an agenda when I approach someone it's very strange.
[00:31:10] Bethany: [00:31:10] That makes sense. Well, Gary, I learned a lot about your job. Thank you so much for sharing about how you read people, how you change the focus of the group, how you do these tricks, how you learn them, how you were constantly perfecting. I think there's a lot we could learn from you.
[00:31:24] Gary: [00:31:24] Thanks so much.
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TRANSITION
Alright, you heard about the day in the life of a magician from the before-times… now let’s jump ahead to pandemic-times. So let’s set the stage a little bit. It’s March of 2020, and one day, everything in New York City came to a SCREECHING halt. Broadway shut down. Restaurants shuttered. People abandoned their offices and didn’t return back to work for a year.
As a magician and mentalist whose job is built around entertaining crowds of people, what do you do?
Here’s Gary’s story on what happened next.
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2021 UPDATED CONTENT
[00:00:00] [00:00:00] Gary: [00:00:00] It was my best January and February that I had ever had. I had my show in the city that was really starting to take off. And when everything came to a screeching halt, I panicked,
[00:00:13] in April I thought there was no option. I. Uh, as you can imagine was very scared because my entire calendar got wiped. And I remember vividly having phone calls with other magicians and mentalist saying like our skillset is, is about connecting people, and how can we possibly do that if people can't get together, And I said, I said, zoom magic is not going to be a thing because how could it be? Why would people want that?
[00:00:48] I started getting some calls probably the last week of March for, like kid birthday parties cause they just yeah. On zoom because they needed something and they had no idea what to do. And I had no idea what to do, but I was like, you know, a kid party, I could probably figure out a way to do it
[00:01:09]And it certainly wasn't me, you know, it was clients reaching out to me saying, we want you to give us something. And I was like, do you really know? You know, like how, how, how could it possibly be good? But I realized that, especially from, from the corporate realm, they still have clients that they need to provide, experiences too. And, and so much of business is about taking people out to dinner, out to drinks. And, and if that's not an option, there needs to be a plan B.
[00:01:38] And what I realized was that, magic was a great way to fill that because zoom is really awkward when you don't have someone who's like a master of ceremonies, you know? There's no such thing as a cocktail hour, where you can have a little side conversation. If anybody wants to say anything in a zoom meeting, it's essentially like running up on stage into the microphone at a party and, and shouting out something to everybody and that's, that's really awkward.
[00:02:05] And especially early on, people didn't know how to hand handle that. So people would just [00:02:10] sit on zoom silently because they didn't want to dominate, they didn't feel comfortable, they didn't know everybody. And I, I realized that it's a different service, but if I can kind of be the social director of a zoom meeting, it's the closest thing I have as a skill set, uh, to what I used to do.
[00:02:28] And, and it can still be billed as magic and mentalism. And so that that's kind of what has happened. And I've now done over 600 virtual shows since April. Okay.
[00:02:40]Bethany: [00:02:40] Okay. What do you do in your virtual show? That's different from your live show,
[00:02:45]Gary: [00:02:45] everything, everything. There's very little crossover because.
[00:02:48] To be honest, nothing that I do, except for there's one effect that transfers over, but none of my methods worked anymore. Everything, everything was about touch. It was about, stealing people's watches or, you know, sometimes the method would, would require you to casually, touch someone's phone and, and make it seem like you hadn't touched their phone
[00:03:12] By the time I got into virtual, I was like, Oh, there stuff that really works well over virtual, uh, like.
[00:03:20] Like very specific mentalism effects where if anything, the distance enhances the magic and the impossibility of it. Where, you know, if you're over there in your bubble and I'm over here in my bubble, how could I possibly know what movie you watched last night? You know, that's, that's somehow less plausible than if I was to bring you up onto a stage and do that
[00:03:43] I think that to some extent, virtual is here to stay. Especially when we're in a world, that's not zoomed out because everything is not happening on zoom, then sure. If you have to attend one zoom event a month, It's going to be fine. It's going to be, I know how to do it. We're going to have fun with it.
[00:04:03]It's when it's your, fifth zoom event of the week where it gets a little bit more tedious,
[00:04:08]Bethany: [00:04:08] you mentioned that you've learned how to be like a professional MC on zoom. So for those of us who are on zoom calls, 24 seven, what advice do you have?
[00:04:17] Gary: [00:04:18] Let people know [00:04:20] when and how to talk. If you're in charge of the meeting, just give them, an opportunity, say, what have you been doing for fun lately?
[00:04:28] You know, ask someone, someone specific and, and see what they say. And, give the conversation, some structure so that people don't feel like they have to dominate and over, or are they oversharing? I don't know. And so, you know, giving some shape to that, is very helpful. And I think people are very appreciative if you're giving them permission to talk and they don't feel like they're taking over.
[00:04:53]Bethany: [00:04:53] What have you learned with all of this?
[00:04:56]Gary: [00:04:56] I think the biggest thing that I've learned is that people are always going to need entertainment. I had always thought of my profession as a bells and whistles kind of thing. Uh, you know, it was just the little extra thing at the party.
[00:05:14]And it's not, it's not that anymore. By stripping everything that we had away, I have realized that it, it is an essential service. It's, it's something that people really do need so that they don't get burnt out, so that they can feel connected with other people and they can feel, Genuine emotion and they can witness something that they have never seen before.
[00:05:40] I had a client that emailed me and said, you know, my, my cheeks hurt cause I haven't smile this much since April. And to hear that, is it just, it warms your heart and it's so it's so rewarding to feel like, yes, what I'm doing here really, really does matter.
[00:05:56] It's been weird to read minds over the internet And transfer everything that I know into a virtual realm, but I've, I've somehow done it
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OUTRO
[00:00:00] Bethany: [00:00:00]
After both conversations, I came away from spending time with Gary just amazed by his approach to learning.
In our first conversation, he shared the example of learning how to read people from reading kids -- how he worked in the pediatric ward of several hospitals for years and recognized that kids express themselves in a more accentuated way than adults. For him, the repetition of working with so many kids over time helped him prepare for the minutiae of smaller expressions and adults.
This theme was echoed in Gary’s approach to failure. In case it wasn't clear from the conversation, Gary loves to fail. He doesn't talk about it like it's a bad thing. For him, it's absolutely not -- it’s a lesson on incremental improvement. He seeks out failure with enthusiasm because he knows that when people break his tricks, he'll do better the next time, and that's a hugely important part of his process. The idea of finding and testing material in completely low risk environments like strangers at a subway station seems like a really brilliant hack. It got me wondering -- what's the sandbox environment I can set up for myself in the work I do? Where can I practice too?
Something that’s really special about having these before and after stories with each Expert is to hear how they have grown, pivoted, and evolved. And Gary is the epitome of the entrepreneurial pivot. He recognized the world changed, he went through his mourning period, as we all did, but then he got back to work. He reworked his material, reworked his website, and THREW himself back into this new reality. 600 Zoom magic shows in a single year. That’s not luck. That’s business savvy.
I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about the essential-ness of different jobs and different industries. But I hadn’t quite clocked, until speaking with Gary, just how important entertainment and levity is as being an integral part of the human experience.
This keen observation, that his job isn’t more than just a bells and whistles kind of thing, is a perfect example of Gary’s sharp focus on people in the work that he does.
You can read a lot of business books in customer service and try to nail the exact perfect experience for your end users. But maybe, like Gary, you just need to get out there and start experimenting.
You can find and book Gary online for a virtual (or a contact-less in-person show) at ahrealmagic.com. That's a-h realmagic.com. You can also find him on YouTube at Gary Ferrar, and on Instagram @GaryFerrarmagic.
As always, you can read more about Gary’s story, subscribe to my blog, and see photos at everdayexperts.co.
Next week, we’re getting personal -- with a wax and eyelash specialist who, up until 2020, ran her business out of her own home. You’ll hear about how she cultivates trust with her customers, and how she’s leaning into self-care in a post-pandemic world.
Thanks for tuning in, and see you next time on Everyday Experts.