Insight with Chris Van Vliet - Murray The Magician BLOWS MY MIND & Explains How He Got Over 4 BILLION Views Online

Episode Date: January 20, 2023

Murray The Magician (@murraysawchuck) is a magician, comedian and actor. He is also a viral sensation with over 4 billion views online and performs live at Tropicana Vegas and Fantasy at the Luxor nightly. He joins Chris Van Vliet at the Blue Wire Studios at Wynn Las Vegas to talk about growing up in Burnaby, BC, how he got started as a magician, falling in love with show business at a young age, the difference between a trick and an illusion, getting to the semi-finals on America's Got Talent and making a tiger appear on the show, becoming the magic expert on "Pawn Stars" and much more! Visit Murray's website: http://magicmurray.com For more information about Chris Van Vliet and INSIGHT go to: https://podcast.chrisvanvliet.com If you enjoyed this episode, could I ask you to please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcast/iTunes? It takes less than a minute and makes a huge difference in helping to spread the word about the show and also to convince some hard-to-get guests. Follow CVV on social media:  Instagram: instagram.com/ChrisVanVliet Twitter: twitter.com/ChrisVanVliet Facebook: facebook.com/ChrisVanVliet YouTube: youtube.com/ChrisVanVliet TikTok: tiktok.com/@Chris.VanVliet Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

All systems are going. Ladies and gentlemen, Chris Van Blit! All right, here we go. So good to see you, my friends. Welcome back to another audio adventure on Insight. I'm CVV, Chris Van Vleet, and we've got another magical conversation for you today from the Blue Wire Studios at the Wind Las Vegas.

There is a 100% chance that you've seen Murray the Magician. It's just a matter of where have you seen him? Where do you recognize him from? For me, it's his time on Pond Stars. He's been on the show for like 18 seasons as their magic expert. He was also a semi-finalist on America's Got Talent. But I think for a lot of people, it's just the online views he's had is a viral sensation. Over four billion views online, a lot of those on his YouTube channel, a ton of those on his Facebook page.

He also performs live at the Tropicana Vegas and Fantasy at the Luxor. nightly, so he's all over the place. He should be, he should be on your social media. Give him a follow. He's at Murray Sawchuk. That is his real last name. Give me a follow. I'm at Chris Van Vleet.

That's also my real last name. And big shout out to Scarlito. Scarlito who left this review on Apple Podcast. It says, awesome. I never really thought about listening to the podcast until I tuned in and I heard one. Now, throughout my shifts at work, which I'm, when I'm bored, which is all the time. All I do is listen to the show. Well, thank you so much for leaving those kind words. Thank you for listening to the show. And I appreciate the review on Apple Podcasts. I'll

continue to read one out on every single episode as my way to say a thank you. Thank you so much for being on this journey with me. And let's take a journey right now, ladies and gentlemen, it's Murray the magician, aka Murray Sawchuck. I like how you said. Like as long as you is my hair looks okay. That's, you're so known for your hair. Yeah, thank God I have it. I say the same thing all the time. Right, you got good hair. It's, it doesn't. It's not, I mean, good hair. I have good hair. You have great hair. Well, it's out of, well, it's, well, it's great hair. It's ridiculous, dude. Look at it. I mean. Did you come out of the womb looking like this? That's it. It's just hair. It's just hair. Nobody. It was just like, he's in there somewhere. And I'm like, hey, mama, you know. You were like a troll doll. You were like a troll doll. Pretty much. Yeah, exactly. I left those dolls. We were like this and the hair goes, not great with a pencils. Remember that

Pencilet used to have a thing at the end. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. That's right. I feel like people know you from so many different places. For me, I remember seeing you for the first time on Pond Stars. Sure.

Yeah. That was a while ago. Yeah, that's probably... And you're still doing it. I'm still doing it. And they're still in the air, which is unbelievable, you know? But it just goes to tell you what cool and good TV they put out there. And it's also a TV show that anyone can watch.

H2 to 1002. It doesn't offend anybody. It's educational. And it's even great TV to have in the background. You know what I mean? So, you know? So, you know? So when someone.

bumps into you on the Las Vegas strip and they go, I know you from. What is it normally? That's exactly what it is. Like you're, I'm like, yep, and I just keep walking usually. I'm like, that's good enough. For some people, you know, it's like, you're the guy from. And I'm like, I am.

And I'm like, I am. And that's the end of it. And it could be, who knows? I go, I assume they knew I was. But I think growing up in the business, obviously I was a magician originally, still am. But as I involved with doing different television shows, I really wanted to create a brand and a look

that I could be a host of a show, the neighbor next door on a TV show. I could do a stupid show like wipe out, which I did or deal or no deal, whatever it is, and just kind of be that guy, you know, and almost like,

you know, I were talking before with Live is, talking about Caratop. You don't need to say what Caratop does. He's just Caratop. Yeah, yeah. You know what I mean, so that's what I was,

been trying to create over all my career. So I can be a historian, like on Paul and Stars, and talk educated, you know, or I can be on stage and talk ridiculous in my comedy and not be taking that series. You fall into so many categories

because, I mean, Murray the magician, but you're also Murray the actor and you're Murray the historian. Sure. And you're Murray the comedian. Yep. Yep. Murray the gardener, the plumber, whatever you need.

I'm available for birthday parties. I can paint your house. Whatever you do it. Once you're paying me, I'll do it, you know. When you were a kid, and by the way, I'm a fellow Canadian. I know that. You're from East Coast, right? I am from Toronto.

Yeah. I read about you. I know you. And then we're going to do that thing where, you know, the Canadians always talk about Canada and oh, look at all the other great Canadians. that are doing it here in the U.S. Of course, the Jim Carrey's and the Leslie Nealzons and Alex Trebex. Yeah, keep going.

Justin Bieber. Oh, do we claim, do we claim him? Sure, why not? Okay. He's famous. Ryan Reynolds. Yeah, exactly. That's my wife's favorite actor.

He's, well, you better watch out there. I know, he's definitely, you know. It's very charming. Isn't he? Hell, I did him. I'm with you. And he's so funny. And his wife's gorgeous as well, right?

So, yeah. The best. I mean, yeah. And I love his post. Like, he's just very funny. He's very witty. So when you were growing up in Burnaby, did you always have dreams of working somewhere in show business? Yeah, you know, I grew up, you know, I started in the business when I was five years old,

Ukrainian dancing, because I'm half Ukrainian and I'm half Scottish. And so that's where Sautchuk comes from, a really Murray Sautchuk. And then Murray is Scottish. So, Murray is my mother's last name. And I got it as my first. And of course, Saochuk is my father's last name. And so I grew up Ukrainian dancing and I trained ballet. I played accordion.

And I quit all acts I wanted a girlfriend. Because let's be honest, according is not that sexy. I know, could have been saxophone, but no. And then as I got into, I got a magic kid.

I was seven, eight years old, like a lot of kids. Kind of liked it. I was already in front of the audience, liked the attention. Only child to begin was, so that doesn't,

you know, liked the tension as well. And then, and then I just kind of picked up. I got paid a few bucks for doing some tricks from kids' birthday parties. And I thought,

well, this is kind of cool, you know, so, yeah, and did all the shows in Lower Mainland, Vancouver, Burnaby,

all that, you know. The interesting thing is we've had a lot of magicians on the show, and a lot of them have a similar story where I got a magic kit when I was a kid, but lots of kids got magic kits when they were kids. Yeah. Why was it different for you? I think I already had the background of liking entertainment. Like, I love watching shows. I love watching even as a kid watching concerts on TV.

My father worked two jobs for the railway, which is my whole family was in that CN Railroad. Very Canadian. Yeah. And he worked for Canadian National Railway. Yeah, of course, you know. And then he also worked as an usher at the P&E, which is a Pacific National Exhibition, which is our big Coliseum downtown Vancouver,

which used to be. Now it's not. It's a smaller one and it's not used as much. But I got to sneak in and see all these shows because he was the usher. And so he would sneak me in between the big rock and roll buses from everybody, from coloring me bad to Paul Abdul to George Stras and William Lell, you name a star, he would sneak me in to watch him because I liked it.

And I'd be 12. I wouldn't necessarily know who they were, but I liked entertainment. And of course, I became to like them. That's why I like everybody from Kissed, Alice Cooper to George Strait, you know. So I learned that being entertainer is pretty cool. You know, you get to all the audience, you get the attention. You get to share your talent if you have some, you know. So that's kind of how I evolved as a kid growing into it.

I thought, man, this would be cool to do it as a living. And there's something about being in front of an audience and eliciting that response from them. It's like a drug. It is. You know. Perhaps the most powerful drug. It is. Yeah.

You know, and you're getting, it's that fact of it's instant gratification. You know, that's the difference, as you know, between doing TV or an interview like this. When you have a live audience, either you're funny or you're not, you know, either you're amazing or you're not or good because you hear from the audience. Whereas when you do a TV show or act, you don't hear it until you walk on the street later after it airs. Oh, my God, I saw that thing. You know, so it's interesting that live performance and you can't beat that high or that rush.

Yeah, like even sitting here, this, it's like we're producing this in a vacuum. That's right. Yeah. Thousands of people will end up listening to this and watching this, but it's just you and I sitting in this beautiful room here. Exactly. Yeah, exactly. You know, so that's, people don't realize that. Yet when they're at home, they feel like they're involved, like we all are.

Yeah. You know, and that's the magic of entertainment. I feel like there's magic in everything. Sure. And I think that that's a beautiful thing about being a magician is because, yes, you can perform magic for people. But there truly is magic in like everyday situations, too. Oh, 100%. I've always said that.

I said, you know, there's days because I love working outside. Like, a lot of people hike a mountain or they, yoga or Pilates. And I go to the gym as well. But I love walking around my property and working my yard, cutting trees and doing just cool things. Or is a gardener. Exactly.

And my wife and actually I started a landscaping company during COVID because I liked it so much. I thought, well, nobody else is doing anything. We can do it outside. So we have a whole company on that side. But for me, just going outside and looking at a flower. And it sounds ridiculous. But looking at a pansy or a rose.

And you look at a rose. I know, I know we buy roses and we just give them to people or put them in a faise or whatever of Oz. You look at rose and how it's made. You go, that's pretty amazing. Like, I can't even draw a rose, let alone make something that cool. Yeah, you put a seed, some water, and you get this really cool looking flower that I have no idea how it grew to look like that with thorns.

But everyday magic, like, yeah, there's everything, you know? So, yeah, if you really take your mind out of it and really appreciate certain things, pretty cool. Do you think there's a difference between an illusion and a trick? There is and there isn't at the end of the day. A lot of people growing up in the business when you're trying to make it and you're trying to be a star,

you don't want to be called a magician, you want to be called illusionist because it sounds more expensive and rich and high end and whatever the hell you want to call it. I just say I do tricks for a living. You know what I mean? It's kind of like Frank Sinatra said

he was a saloon singer because we know he wasn't, but he was, you know what I'm saying? So now when people ask what I just said, I do tricks for a living, you know. But yeah, growing up, you know, I'm an illusionist. You know, and usually illusionists

are magicians that do stuff with bigger items. You know, like America's got talent, advantage to train in a car to stuff. And that would be an illusion because the idea is, no, I did not vanish a train. I mean, yeah, I did. If you watch it. I did. But I couldn't just like this. I mean, that's, you know, but so I'm creating this illusion that you really don't see it there. When it might be there, it might not be, but it just didn't vanish in the air. There is a skill

to that. So that's, that's, whereas a magic trick would be putting a coin in my hand and then it's not there, which would be slight a hand as well. But that is more atone to a magic trick because it's more self-contained. Whereas an illusion to vanish the car or a truck, I can't just do that on my own. It takes a team of people and lighting and a lot of cool things that make it happen. So maybe that would probably be the definition of it. Do you remember the first trick that you ever did when you were a kid? Yeah, you know, it's funny.

I just texted a friend of mine who taught me my first trick. His name is Martin. He's almost 80 now. And I didn't know where he was. So I texted a buddy of mine asking where he was and he's still around. And it's a trick where you basically take an elastic band. And you put it around two fingers. And it looks like it's around those two.

You snap your fingers. jumps to the other two fingers. This is a trick you stand the back of a cereal box or a cracker jack box that would teach you. It's a very simple thing that when you do the move, it will just happen. And, you know, when you learn anything, I don't care whether it's music or comedy or magic, you want to give somebody something very simple so there's an instant gratification. And therefore, that'll build upon something. Hopefully that'll be successful versus giving the hardest thing to do and failing.

You're like, we're done, you know. So, yeah, it's probably one of the first tricks, this little jumping elastic band thing. Oh, wow. I'm going to have to learn how to do that. I will show you, yeah, for sure. Oh, you can teach me. Yeah, if you've got a couple of last few bands, I will show you, of course. Yes, I will teach you, yeah.

Where does the germ of an idea come from for one of your new tricks or one of your new illusions? I think the idea comes from just experience and what's funny to me. You know what I mean? Like, I did a bit years ago where you make a rabbit appear in a hat, right? Which I've never done yet in my life. And you think magicians do this. I've yet to see it in my career. I've been doing this for a long time.

a magician actually produce a rabbit up a hat. Never, but it's our symbol. Rabbling a hat. I've never seen. I don't know if you ever have. I have never. Think about it. Have you ever seen a magician actually show an empty hat and pull a rabbit out?

I may be on cartoons, maybe tell me, but I've never seen Copperfield. I've never seen it had done. I feel like that's below people like you and copperfield. But I've never seen it though, right? It's amazing, right? So I'm thinking, but that's our symbol, right?

So it's kind of interesting when you look, look at things that, what people do? So I had this idea where there's a rab and the hat thing. So here's the bit. So big stage, but a thousand, two thousand seat theater. The theater's all open. And I go to the front person. I go check out the hat, nothing in the hat, right? You know, I can believe it's the most amazing for you ever see.

Nothing in the hat. Make sure there's no rabbits or nothing. And I have a table stage left, a long table, four by eight table. You'd see the banquet covered with a black cloth. And I set a black hat on top of it. So I thought, how would I want to make it a rabbit appear in a hat? This is the way I would do it. So I did it.

And it worked out good, but I just took a wrist. So I had, I had a hat empty. They've seen it. I put on the edge of the table. I go, watch very carefully. Count a three. Everyone to help him count three.

A rabbit didn't appear inside that hat. You had a look at the hat? No questions as. Here we go. I go, one, two, three. And I scream. Remember, this is a big theater. Off the mic.

I scream now. And all of a sudden you hear this guy, ah! And you see from the rafters, a guy in a rabbit suit come flying down, miss the hat and fall behind the table. And he lands. And I look at the audience,

go, did he hit the hat? And I'm not even looking at you yet. And all of a sudden you see him stand up behind the table and it fall back down and get dragged off stage and that's it. And I just go, thank you very much. But that's my style. And it just killed. It was one of those bits because it was just so stupid. You know what I mean?

Yeah. So that's how I look at things going, okay, there's a rabbit in the hat. Okay, empty hat. It's a rabbit. To me, that's lovely, but it's pretty obvious. And not obvious, but it's pretty, you already know where it's going. Whereas this trick, you're expecting a little rabbit to come out of the hat, right? Because that's the bit.

And you see a man in a full-sized, like you and I in a rabbit costume, from flying in the raptor just falling down, misses the hat. You know, and he stands up and it falls down again and gets dragged off stage. To me, that's funny. It's not even a trick, but it's just, you know, it's a spectacle. So do they all have to have some sort of element of humor for you? Now they do. Back in the old days, it did. You know, when I was younger, I wanted to be one of the top most amazing, you know,

I had the secret power that no one else had, magician. Like, I think a lot of people try to have. And I watched myself laughing at myself. I go, yeah, it's good. And I fool a lot of people. But I'm like, I just want to come out of that character and be honest. I just want to say something, you know, I want to like, Bob Hope back in the old days used to break the third wall and look at the audience.

He'd be making a love scene with a girl, like, you're so great. I hope she likes me. And you're so great. You know, and you're like, did he just look at the camera and say, I hope she likes me? And I love that kind of thing. So in magic, I've always had that sense of humor where I really like that kind of obviousness going. What did he just say what I was thinking? Yeah.

You know, and so that's kind of my style. Very Dennis the Menace of comedy in the sense of I'm trying to fool you. I'm being honest with the fact that I'm not fooling you because you're getting the gist. and then I do fool you at the end of it, you know. When you have hair that looks like this, it's obviously intentional. Correct. At one point, you didn't do that accent.

At what point in your career did you go, this is going to be my thing? When I grew up, I grew up looking at stars that I thought were amazing, meaning Lucille Ball, Liberace, Howard Stern, like people that were just iconic for their looks, you know what I mean,

and the way they looked and talked. And so I, I went, well, people don't know who I am. I could do good magic, but I felt like you needed the whole package. I called the Ronald McDonald's factor. You know, I mean, you go to McDonald's. You see wrong McDonald's. You know from the age of what, two or three, what wrong McDonald is.

And it's hamburgers and it's a beautiful thing. So I thought, man, I need something that before I'm famous or people know who I am, I want to look like I'm somebody before I am somebody or at least have the package sorted out. So I always kept trying to have in hairstyles and looks. and I always liked Fido Dito. I liked Rod Stewart and all that stuff. And I remember seeing Rod Stewart and Phyllis Deller, the older comedian.

And I saw her on like, I think it was Scooby Doo or something like that. And I was like, they got a cool look. There's no magician that looks like that. It's usually slick back. Hair's black with a mustache or a beard being mysterious. And I thought no one kind of has this. The only magician that was really famous. A head blonde here was Sigfried from Sigfried and Roy.

But he always was classy in that at Combe. So I thought, well, Phyllis Diller's done. And Rod Stewart can do it. I saw Rod Stewart on an MTV show, and he was walking out. He was in the late 40s at the time. I was a kid, so I thought he was old. Now I don't feel that way so much. And I was like, well, he's cool looking and he's old.

And he's got the hair. This hair will last, this hair could actually go through my whole career. So I remember camping one day as a teenager, 17, 18, a bunch of girls and guys were all camping after school on the weekend. And I used to comb my hair nice, you know, almost like yours, proper. And it was long, kind of hung down the Brad Pitt thing when he first started. And I woke up from the tent. And my hair was all like this, making me.

making coffee in the morning around the campfire. And when the girls said, man, your hair looks kind of cool and kind of cute that way. I thought, well, if it looks cool and cute at 8 in the morning, might look cool and cute at 8 at night on stage. Sure. So I started kind of messing up and playing with colors and style. And I thought, you know, what, this kind of works from my look, you know, and it gives me something to hide behind as well.

Because I'm naturally kind of shy, a little bit introvert. You probably never know that. But, you know, in the business, a lot of us hide behind our look and our characters. So it gave me a little facade to kind of play behind. You know, it didn't have to just be all me. you know. So if you're naturally an introverted person and you're naturally, you know, not as extroverted and outgoing, is that just a character on stage? Yeah, I think it is. You know, I mean, when I go on to do shows when I tour even here, not so much here because I just come to work and I look the part. But when I'm on the road, though, we land, do a tech the next day. And I always do the tech with a baseball cap on and I don't shave and I'm going to dress pretty casual.

But then for the show, obviously come down and get ready. And the hair, I'll be up and I'll shave and look, apart and all that, put the eyeliner on, the proper glasses and all that, my black frame glasses. And it's interesting when I do walk in and the promoters are there for the show and that, they go, my God, that's the guy we hired. That. And I like that moment. It's almost that super man moment where you kind of go, Kent Clark, what? And they, oh my God, that's the guy we hired. And so I kind of like doing that the day of the show, not afford it. I don't want to, because I want them to see me as a normal person, which I am and very casual. But when I do come on that stage, I do feel like I hide.

When I come from my suite or my hotel room down to the theater, I do feel like, all right, I'm ready to get attention, be funny. This is what they paid for. You know, and when I walk in, I was going, oh, my God, that's the guy. That's the guy I want a picture with. Yeah, you know, yeah, you don't have the guy that had on us. That's not what I, that's not why I created what I look like. Yeah.

So, yeah. You have such an impressive following on YouTube, almost two million. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. How much has YouTube changes magic? It really has a lot, you know. I mean, back in the day, when I had YouTube,

when it first started. I just uploaded my TV stuff on YouTube. So it was me performing a proper show. Yeah. And then that would be up there. And it wasn't a business. It was just to have it up there for exposure or maybe agents to see to book me or whatever the heck it was. And then we, of course, designed the other channel, which is Magic Murray and where we started really looking at what works online.

And it was a whole different format, a whole different formula. And my YouTube partner, Seth Leach, who I credit for all this, because he's a young kid, could be my son. And he came to me saying, I love your stuff. You're amazing. senior YouTube. No one's watching. I'm like, well, that's a bag he had a compliment. You're amazing, but no one's seeing you.

I'm like, oh, thanks good. So I said, well, all right. I said, well, I can create something really cool for you to be seen. You got to listen to me. I said, I'll listen to you. He says, no more suits. Quit wearing the blue suit you used to wear and all this stuff. Don't look prepared.

We're jeans, t-shirt, be casual. Keep the hair in the glasses. That works. But let's be normal. Like, let's just like your everyday. Let's start doing the magic you do on stage, guerrilla style on the streets. you know, but really set it up as you're doing something wrong or right and see if that works.

And so, so YouTube has changed that in a way. And also with YouTube, you have to play to one camera. And as you know, when you play the camera here, I can fool you this way. So I hold my hand up here. I can hide something behind my hand, right? Because you're right in front of me. And the camera has one eye, as you know. But if you're right here, in my left or right, you'll see what's behind my hand.

So there's a lot of amazing YouTube magicians that can blow your mind. the way because they're right here. But if they were to go on a stage of a thousand people, they can't do it because the art of magic should be fooling 180 degrees of people, if not 360, but at least 180. You know, like getting... So that's the good and bad thing with YouTube.

You can look really amazing on YouTube without having the skill set because I have one eye looking at you. And I always tell people, you ever lie in bed, an hotel room or your own house, and you open one eye, right? And you see half the room. And you close one, open the other.

half the room vanishes and the other half appears, well, that's, that's your eyeballs, which is like an inch apart. Well, you have just a camera with one eye. Man, I can do miracles. If I can just have, if I had one person just you and I, I can produce the world. When you have a thousand people spread across a theater, it's a different formula, you know, so. And YouTube's also, and TikTok, it's social media in general, has kind of created this new style of magic. Like, what Zach King is doing is magic.

Yes. But it's like. It's unbelievable. Absolutely. But it's more like, they're like illusion. No, they're like special effects. Totally. That's exactly what it is.

And it's an experience. It really is an experience. I like, I love his stuff. He's finitely. He's got a big team behind him, a lot of time, a lot of money and all that. Like, he really does put the time into that. And see, now that I love because he's going the extra mile and he really is fooling you. And he's not trying to say he has a power.

And he's just going, I got a cool video. I'm going to freak you out. So he's not trying to say he has a special power. He's whatever. He's going, I'm just going to entertain you. And I think that's great. And he's really used the medium to the best that I've ever. seen online. It's fascinating when he shows

like the behind the scenes of how he does it. Yeah. Because the intricate details that he's putting into these tricks. It's unbelievable. Because you don't even see the switch out. You don't even see that frame when it changes from the cardboard cut out to the real person or the mountain to the whatever the heck it is. Like it's really, once again, it's a lot of time and effort

and, you know, and that isn't one camera, one shot. That's a lot of pre-planning, a lot of getting that camera angle bang on for that moment, you know. It's the new year, which means new habits for a lot of people. Maybe you want to lose some weight. Maybe you want to eat a little bit better. Well, if you're looking to eat better and save money this year, cut back on those expensive takeout meals and get started with Hello Fresh.

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I start bringing an element that I'm known for. So like in my show now, I have Houdini's original handcuffs in that show. Because if you've seen me on Pond Stars, that's a cool idea. the holy smokes, they're right here. And I actually lock myself in them. And I get out of them at the same time, I bore a watch and a ring from somebody. And the watch and the ring vanish.

And I get out of the handcuffs at the same time. And the watch is now somewhere else. The ring's here. So it's a whole little. And I also get a minute to share a bit of the history and historical knowledge of that. You know, and then also I'll do a couple of bits where I talk about feeling cops on my YouTube channel because that's kind of my angle parking pranks and cop pranks

and homeless and tricks to the homeless and giving them, you know, giving back to the homeless. And then there are things that are buzzed things that people like to look at and watch. And I'll do a couple of bits in the show where I'll set it up. But if they haven't seen my YouTube, I'll say, well, there's a bike cop over here. And I was drinking in public where I'm not supposed to be. And here's what happened.

And then left you as my guest act. He's been with me for years. And one of my best friends, he'll act as that cop. And they can recreate the scene. So those who don't see my YouTube or even know what I'm talking about, they can still be entertained. And those who are a fan, they go, my God, I remember that clip that got 100,000 or 100 million views. he's redoing it on stage in real time. And the way I set it up is you might think I'm editing stuff online,

which I don't do any of my YouTube videos and never edits is one take, one shot. There's not an edit. From the time we do the trick to the time it ends. And I always tell people to watch myself. You'll see there's no edits. It's so impressive. And that was one of my big goals of YouTube because I can edit anything. You and I could edit a trick right now and make it look unbelievable,

which Zach King does, but he doesn't hide that fact. Like when Zach's going, hey, I'm just here to, I'm just here to fully. Not a chance. So with me, it's the same way in the sense if it's one camera, one shot, no ads until the trick happens. So when you do see me on YouTube, you're really seeing it in real time. You know what I mean?

Now, do, will I use things like a tree or a hedge that's right there that I'm using that you can see to help my trick? Oh, of course I will. You know what I mean? But if you were standing with that camera with my guy, I still fool you in that shot.

You know what I mean? So I try to be true to my roots of really doing the trick in real time. So I try to bring it to the show a little bit. What do you think, because you've done so many different things, you're recognizableable for so many different things. What's the thing that really?

really took you to the next level. Two things, I think. You know, it's funny. I could ask that question along. I wasn't that one like Justin Bieber moment, you know, where, you know, usher found me or JT and then they from the YouTube and then all of a sudden you're opening for them and that way we go. Right.

You know what I mean? Or Boubley with David Foster and then there goes the album and away we go. You know, so I think with mine, it was little successes, you know, one was being on America's Got Talent. You know, no forget, I was on the fifth season of that. And that was before we were allowed to use social media, no Twitter, no Instagram. I didn't even think Instagram was around the time. Facebook. And that was like said, season 5, 2010.

So we didn't have that element. So when it was on TV doing that live, we had 22 million people watch us live. That's a lot for a live show. Now it's about 8 million, which is still a lot. But 22 is kind of hard to understand. So literally the next day at the airport, people were walking up to me going,

oh my God, where's the tiger? Oh my God, where's the tram? I'm like, you watch the show? Like I'm like, you actually, with 22 million. Yeah, they did. because you will run into enough people that did see it because it happened to be the hottest show that year, that time. So that's one of those aspects where it's kind of neat having that, you know, I mean.

I mean, that's such a big stage to be on. Yes. And when you're fooling, this is the best part about those types of shows is we put ourselves into the shoes of the judges. We become them. Totally. Oh, my God. How'd you do that?

That's so impressive. And I feel like that just rubs off and everyone goes, well, if those judges are impressed, I've got to be impressed too. That's right. And it's in real time. It really is. That's the great thing about AGT. It is in real time.

So if you're watching, you're seeing it, they're not doing camera or editing. That would take away the talent, you know. So that is kind of a cool thing. And then after that, I got pawn stars, as a magic expert. So that was cool, too. So I had two hit shows back to back that put me on as a guest star or whatever, you know, now a regular on pawn stars, but it's still guesting. So that really, that really pushed me into people's lives every day.

somewhere in the world, you can probably see me. You know, and so I got very lucky with that. And pawn stars are now, very dear friends of mine, Rick and Chum and Corey and all the guys, you know, so. How do you convince America's got talent to give you a tiger? Boy, not easy. You know, let me tell you, that, you know, so when I went in that show, they said, what do you want to do?

So I said, I want to make a car. I want to make a car up here. And they said, I don't know if we can do that. I said, well, I don't want to do the show them. And they said, what do you mean? I said, I've watched your show. I need to do something you've never done before. Yeah.

And I need to do something that I want it on TV. And I've never done it on TV before. And you have never had that. And so I want to create something that. So, well, how about a car? How about one of those tricks? You cut a girl in half? I said, you're going to X me.

I'm not going to get X. I won't okay doing one episode and not winning. I'm not here to win. I get the deal. I'm not. But I want to do something special. So I end up producing a car, which they said finally, yes. And then they said, what are you going to do next?

And I said, because everything I'd done in America has got to tell I'd never done in my life before. Wow. I create it, especially for the show. because I was thinking as a producer, not a magician. And I've always done that. And every time I do TV, I always think of the director, the producer, never the talent. Because I go, what would I want that guy to be?

You know, I really put myself in a third purr going, what would I? So as a magician on AGT, either make an elephant appear, a car vanish, a tiger. If you ask any, a rabbit or have had, whatever a middle of America would say, that's what I try to do. Yeah.

So a tiger. And so I said to him and say, I can make a tiger appear? Can you? I said, yeah. I said, you know what? How much is going to cost? So I called my friends who had tiger. as a trainer and a cage that I could put them in.

Because I didn't know any of this stuff. I called my friends who have tigers. I know, right, yeah. So, yeah, Randy Miller, who's a dear friend of mine. And he's the one that you, if you ever saw the movie, Gladiator, they had tigers. That's his tigers. And for commercials and all that. And so they're very famous tigers in their own right.

So I talked to him and I got the trick and I rented it and I didn't know how to do the damn thing. So I'm practicing the thing. We're at AGT. We have this thing there. Now, of course, we got PETA who's not happy out of the situation as well. And the tiger was treated really. well, huge race car trailer, air-conditioned.

I mean, the thing got better combinations I've ever had in my life. And it had a second tiger, too, because you always bring two tigers, which I didn't know this until then, because if one's having a bad day, guess what? It's having a bad day. And you don't win. It's a tiger, yeah. Yeah, you're like, you know what? Okay, you just relax your partner.

So you use the other tiger, and hopefully they're nice. So when this thing pulled on a lot, everyone came out of the woodwork. I saw producers I didn't even know we're in the building because they don't get to see the upper execs. Yeah. But they're paying for it. So, like, we're going to see the damn tiger. So we go in there and the tiger's there, gorgeous thing.

So we're rehearsing. Peter's on set because we got it clear by PETA because we're at CBS Lots. It was a big thing. And so they're there. We finished the rehearsal. I do it three times. The girls in the box, curtain drops. Tiger's supposed to be there.

First time I do it, the curtain half dropped. Then I had the tire and the girl in the box at the same time. And I'm like, they're all safe, but they're both there. And I'm like, okay, let's reset it. Did it again. The curtain wouldn't fall. Okay, did it again. You only allowed 15 minutes rehearsal because, you know, there's a lot of acts.

Yeah. Did it again. The curtain dropped. The second part of the curtain wouldn't drop. So it was covered, but now I couldn't reveal there was a tiger there. So Jason Raff walks up and he's the executive producer. And I've known for years. He walks up and he goes, Hamer.

This trick that, they spend a lot of money getting out there. I said, this trick, if this doesn't, like, if this, if we can't see the tiger, there's nothing I can do to make this look magical or put you through it. Like, there's nothing I can do. And he walks away. I'm like, okay, got it. So I looked at my buddy lefty who was with me everywhere and I travel. I said, we got to fix this damn curtain thing.

So I spent literally eight hours in that parking lot pulling the curtain. It was like OCD times 10. I was like, we got, this curtain's got to drop. Even if we, the trick works, that curtain's jammed. I can't show the damn tiger. Right. Tiger. So we did that.

And then when you actually watched that clip online, when I pull, I literally pulled the pin because the pins got stuck. I pulled that pin so damn hard. So it would reveal a tiger. I got off the ground. about three feet if you look at me. And when I look back, I was so thrilled that there was a tiger sitting there. I was more excited than the audience because I was like, oh, Christ, it worked. So I literally looked at the audience.

I was just as happy as them. And I was like, at the end, soon as we finished, the tiger went back to the farm, which is in Big Bear, a big ranch, like 35 acres. They had to roam on. And the trick went back to the person I rented it from. Like, we're never doing that again. Thank you. Good night.

It worked. So that's how you had a tiger out. But the next day after we did the rehearsal, because you shoot the next day, right, five o'clock, which is eight o'clock, East Coast. And three o'clock, I get a phone call saying, hey, Mur, if we can't produce the tiger in the box, what do you think about producing like David Hasselhoff? Because David Hassel had just left the show, or maybe Nick Cannon. I'm like, I don't need a box that big to produce those people. That's not a trait. Like, a tiger is, well, Pete has given us trouble. We're not sure yet. I'm like, it's three o'clock in the afternoon.

We go live in two hours. It's like, all this money spent. I've got rented people we got. I said, are you kidding me. So we go back and well, you know, they're a little concerned about the tiger. I said, there's not enough holes in the top of the cage. We want an air conditioner put in. I'm like, great. So we got an air conditioner put on top, blew the air. Like I said, this is a better than one-bedroom part in New York City with the damn tiger. And we did the whole thing what they said. And sure enough, they approved it literally at the last second and we did it. But I'm done. We're not doing this. Wow. So that was, but we got it. And we got the footage. It was wonderful. The tiger was treated very, very well. You know, kind of a huge

animal. Better than you. Yeah. And the animals are always treated. In my world, they are because I'm a huge animal. etiquette, keeping them safe. Man. So that's how you get a tiger on there. I'll never do it again. That's impressive. You know, but.

Have you had a trick go poorly in front of your audience here? Yes. And how do you recover from that? You pass out and then when you wake. I'm very fortunate because I always have outs on tricks. So every trick I have, even if it goes south, I do have a backup plan. It may not be the greatest solution, but it's one to keep it going. I really hate when things go south.

and then no one can recover. You know what I mean? Because as a professional entertainer, you should be entertaining, like I think, you know, especially as a magician, everything's supposed to be magical. Right.

You know? So, yeah, when things have gone wrong on the stage, I always had an out, and usually at the end of it, I go, well, I think how we got through that because it was not the way

that was supposed to happen. But there has been moments where I remember I had one thing happen, this is recently, where I play tic-tac-tac-toe with somebody. So you pick a card and you pick something out of a bag, and I don't know what it is.

So say it's seven diamonds, and like a pink bow. I go, great memory of that. I don't know what that is. You and I play Tic-Tac Tone, nine squares on a clear board that's all attached. So X is O, we play the whole board and no one wins.

I got it's too bad. I said, by the way, Chris, so what was your thing you picked? So I picked seven times. I picked the red box. Really? And then when I turn, because it's a clear board

that we're playing against, and they're magnetic X's and O's. So you can't, there's solid squares, so you can't see. So when it's solid, so when I, but when I turn it around,

you see the back of it, it has a prediction. your card, seven of diamonds, and the item that you chose. So literally I'm putting on the last X, as I'm talking to the audience, you go, here you go. The stand that's on, the stand slowly tips over, falls, all the pieces fall apart. The whole thing just fell apart. Like literally the whole board fell apart.

X's O's stand. Everything was gone. It was like in the Wizard of Oz, the witch goes down. I'm like, and I had nothing. I was like, I couldn't even, I made a joke. I said, just, you know, in about 30 minutes to be on eBay, starting at 999. an offer if first big takes it. And I made some joke like that.

My stage tectored all off stage because the stand fell and then everything else just fell apart around it. So I couldn't. There's no way I could get to the damn trick. So I went off stage and my guest deck was on and we reset the whole trick back up. And they go, do you guys want to stay at tick, tectozing again? I said because, and they're like, of course, because now they're like, so I redid the trick and we got it right, you know, because when something falls apart that badly, at least I got

a good laugh out of it. Yeah. I made a joke and that's what happens. But I didn't give it a trick away. either because I didn't get to the point of the trick. But the amazing, as soon as I put that last thing, I just grabbed the board and turn it, the trick would have been over.

And I'd just talk to the audience once and just like caught the whole thing. Christ, that's the end of that. So you make the best out, right? We've talked so much about tricks and illusions here. Could you show us something? Yeah, if you want to see something. I'd love to.

So, because we're in the studio, not much around, but can I borrow like a bill from your five, $1, $1 bill or something like that. If you got something handy. Who has money anymore, right? Exactly. We're in Vegas. now at a casino, right? Okay.

You're in luck. Sure. What do you got? I don't want for it. Look at you, you big spender. Yeah. Like that, huh? So it's a regular dollar bill.

I'm going to do to those cameras. You guys see what I'm doing here. Let's see. You have a watch. All right. It's a dollar bill, right? Regular dollar bill. And you fold this up here.

And this comes in really handy if you're in Vegas, of course, like you and I are right now. You fold this up, right? And you just crack it like that. That's it. That's all you got to do. Like this. And if you go really care wise, you'll love this. Yeah, we can actually do this on the casino point.

Make a lot of money if you're just doing like this. Here, see. Like that. I see what's happening. Wow. Like that. A $100 bill. Wow.

You $100.x to my money. Exactly. I like that. And that's real. Yeah. That's how you make money in Vegas. What? Where's my dollar?

Gone. You're worried about the dollar right now. Really worried about that, Chris. Come on now. Come on. You're a smart man. Oh, my gosh. That is impressive. I'm going to put that right there. There you go. See. You're so incredibly talented at everything that you do. Such a pleasure to dive into this conversation with you.

Gratitude is such a big part of my life. And I end every conversation talking about gratitude. I wake up every day. I say out loud three things that I'm grateful for. And that's how we end all these. So what are three things in your life, Murray, that you're grateful for right now? I think it's three things. I mean, it's only three. I'm so grateful to something. Start with you know. All right.

Let's start. Well, you know, I'm grateful for my wife. You know, Danny, she's phenomenal. She supports all my crazy ideas and who I am and accepts me for who I am. And that's the greatest thing, you know, accepting somebody for who you are and doesn't judge you. So that's pretty awesome. That alone. I'm grateful for my health.

You know, I'm super grateful for being healthy. And I don't take a day for granted because they always say health as well. And then all of a sudden, you know, you see friends. that aren't as lucky. And you go, wow, you know what? That could happen to any one of us. So I'm really thankful for that, you know. And also unthankful, you know, in a way, I love giving back to the community.

I love helping people out. Like, I get off on it. It's a high for me. So I think I'm also really thankful and grateful for that I'm in a public position that I can give back to charities and do magic and shows for free to help raise money and help other causes because you don't, when you are in trouble, you don't realize how in trouble you are. You know what I mean? And how lucky you are to be where we are.

You know what I mean? So I think those are three things, you know, that I really think. I mean, there's a lot more things. You know, my dogs. Those are three great things? You know, what are you? Oh. I'm thankful for, or at least today, what do you think? I don't know. Yeah. Health is a big one for sure. Because I think that, you know, there's that phrase that I love. It's a healthy person has a thousand problems and a sick person has one.

And I think about that all the times. I'm super grateful to be healthy. I just recently got married. No way. Congratulations. When did you get married? Three weeks ago. Oh, wow. Really recently.

December 17th. And you're still married? I'm still married. See, they said it wasn't last time. I know. I've been married since last year. Look at you. Look at you.

Look at you. Trooper. Good for you. Congratulations. I was super grateful for my wife. She's just the best partner that I could possibly imagine. Actually, I had her on an episode. She'd never done an interview ever.

All right. And I said, I want to interview you. I want to interview you. I want everybody to get to know who Rachel is. Good for you. So how to go, great. How did you find interviewing your now wife? Was it interesting asking your questions that maybe you wouldn't have known or didn't know?

Because, you know, that's kind of the fun thing about an interview. Or was there something that she answered that you thought, oh, that's interesting. Definitely. It was, you know, we weren't in the studio here. It was very laid back. We went to the mountains. We were in idle wild. I was drinking a drink.

She's pregnant soon. I was drinking for three at that point. Good for you. Good for you. Right. So it was much more laid back. But that was really cool. That's awesome.

And also, I'm just grateful for opportunities. Like the fact that you and I are sharing a conversation right now, The fact that we live at a time where we can have YouTube channels and podcasts. Yeah. Grateful for that. Super lucky. What a cool way of getting your word out there and sharing it. And realistically, it doesn't cost that much to do that.

Meaning, my mom can go on YouTube and upload a video if she wants and she's 83. You know, what a cool way. You know, back in the old days, and to get any exposure, you'd have to take an ad out in a newspaper. Right. You know what I mean? Or whatever, you know. Yeah. I mean, if you want to go live now, you push a button on your phone.

It's ridiculous. You wanted to go live 10 years ago. You had to own a TV station. Yeah. Or stand on your belt. and you scream loud. That too. More of the Renaissance era.

What's the best way that people can find you? How should they check you out? You can go on my website, which is murray magic.com. It has all the links right pretty much there for everything. And my comedy special come out a few weeks ago, and it's on there as well. And my kids book and everything else I do because I love to keep busy. And that's the best thing you can find me on Instagram. Murray Saw Chuck, you know, Murray, the magician.

Just Google Murray, the magician. You'll see more than you probably want to really see. Murray, this was such a pleasure. Thank you so much. Thank you, sir. I appreciate it. Come see my show sometime. Next time I'm here. That was just so impressive. And that's one way to get a 100x return on your investment.

So good. You've got to check out the clip. I'm going to post it on YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Twitter. I'll put it everywhere so you can check that out. Big thank you to Murray for joining us in the studio. I just love having magicians on the show. We've had a lot of Vegas magicians on the show. Chris Angel, Matt Franco, Jen Kramer, and Xavier Morrill. Mortimer, so you can go check those interviews out in the interview archives on the podcast. If you enjoyed this, please snap a screenshot, share this with a friend, and tag us in social

media so we can share it out as well. Murray's at Murray Sawchuk. I'm at Chris Van Vleet, and I'll leave you with the words of Anne Frank, who said, whoever is happy will make others happy to. Be great. Be grateful. We'll see you on the next one for some more insight. Jim Rome takes on sports.

Why? Because I have a job to do. With rapid fire takes. So I don't want to hear from you lava pigs on this notion today. No idea what you're talking about. You're complaining more than you like to breathe air. It's like you get up in the morning only to complain and cry and moan on social media about things that you don't even understand. He's the spitfire of sports smack. Take advantage of it. Get up in here.

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