Michael Carbonaro Quotes

I'm friends with Criss Angel. Criss has offered me a million times to go downstairs and see the setup. I don't want to see it. I just want to go, 'God, how did you do that?'

All David Blaine is is a good-looking magician.

My goal was becoming the next David Copperfield. I learned how to be a performer by emulating him as a kid - his formula of just talking to people onstage, being free to improvise, being charming and witty with a crowd, together with great, beautiful magic.

My interest was magic, believe it or not. I became an amateur magician and did something like 400 magic shows through my teen years.

He spent hours and hours and hours practising these conjuring tricks. It's just such a curious thing.

I'm not a big fan of doing it because I get really frustrated because I can't do any of the tricks, but I love to watch magic.

The real secret of magic lies in the performance.

A clever conjurer is welcome anywhere, and those of us whose powers of entertainment are limited to the setting of booby-traps or the arranging of apple-pie beds must view with envy the much greater tribute of laughter and applause which is the lot of the prestidigitator with some natural gift for legerdemain.

For me, the most exciting thing is to create good magic that's entertaining for an audience, and it would be lovely if a magician was fooled as well.

I don't think you can say something is or isn't magic. That's what was cool about Houdini, because he was a magician who had a magic show, but he was also an escape artist, and they kind of, over time, blended together. They both kind of enhance each other, I think.

Magic is the oldest part of the show business profession. It can now be used as a forward-thinking tool to build a child's confidence. It has been an amazing part in many entertainers' lives, including Steve Martin and the late Johnny Carson.

Magic is the Special Olympics of entertainment.

If you want to talk about magic, the stuff that blows me away is the stuff that's done close up.

As a kid, I always was obsessed with Houdini.

I definitely went through my magic phase. I think all little boys do at some point or another - they get fascinated by magic tricks.

I've always done magic as a hobby. I've done it professionally, too.

I never quite know how to describe what I do. I normally just say, 'Oh, I'm a magician', which probably puts fairly naff ideas in people's minds but is pleasantly conversation-stopping.

When I came to Mumbai from Dubai to become an actor, I used to entertain people at parties by showing some card tricks.

I always wanted to do magic tricks - I feel like that could be the the next wave.

Magicians will always tell you the trick is the most important thing, but I'm more interested in telling a story.

But when I go off stage I don't have a deck of cards with me all the time.

My interest in magic was kindled by Steve Martin, the comedian I'd gone to high school with.

You have to learn certain skills to present magic.

I'm such a proponent of the theatrical experience and the cinematic experience, and we've reached this point where the magicians are not only giving away their tricks, but they're telling us how they're doing the tricks in advance before you even come to the magic show. It'd be nice to get a little of the mystery back in.

If I had auditioned for 'Merlin' on magic alone, I don't think I'd have got it. Like any kid, I probably had a magic kit, but it's not something I ever pursued. I've never watched a magic show like David Copperfield or used him to base my character on, but I really like David Blaine and Darren Brown. They are doing wonders.