Jono, Ben & Megan - The Podcast - We chat to illusionist extraordinaire, Cosentino!

Episode Date: June 24, 2024

Join us for a chat with the incredible illusionist and escape artist, Cosentino! Discover his mesmerising career, learn about his very first magic trick, and brace yourself for the heart-pounding stories of his daring tricks that landed him in the hospital! 🎩🔥✨ Check out his magic trick on: Facebook: The Hits Breakfast with Jono and Ben Instagram: TheHitsBreakfast  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Hits, with the Jono and Ben podcast. Cheers to Dilma, making the world a better tea. Good to see you guys. Nice to see you. We haven't seen you for a few years actually. We had a TV show last time and like magic that disappeared. No. Like magic you disappeared, but now you've reappeared.

I've reappeared. Back in our lives. There's hope for all of us. Yeah. So coming back to New Zealand, 10 shows around the country country November, December at the end of the year It's kind of like your best tricks Yes, it's called Dicinium It's a celebration of my life in magic

Over the last 10 years So it's 10 effects in the show 10 tricks, it's only 10 shows for you guys And it's a decade, 10 years Excuse my uneducated Ignorance, is Dicin, does that represent 10 in some way? Correct. Yeah, it's Latin for 10.

I should have paid attention. You love your numbers, don't you? I do. I saw something with you doing an interview, I think on the AM show, you were talking about cards. Correct. And how they kind of signify the years.

I'm glad you picked up on that, yeah. That was really interesting. I can't remember exactly what you said. I can repeat it if you want. That'd be great great there are 52 different cards in a pack the cards originally made as a calendar and they represent the 52 weeks in a year the four suits represent the four seasons black cards red cards night and day an ace auto at a king is 13 you add them together 365 so when you pick a card to a magician it's really important yeah i got i got married i was with my wife for 11 years.

We got married on the 11th of the 11th. So numbers for me are a big deal. Do you make important life decisions based on numbers? Yes, I do. Do you? Lucky I walked past you guys. It felt like a good number. So I thought I'd come in and do the interview.

No, no, I don't. But I do like numbers. Yeah. But I don't sit at home and say, but i don't base i don't i don't sit at home and say well we can't go out that day it's only 11 15 a.m we're not going anywhere you've had you know huge tv specials you've traveled the world what sort of tricks can people expect to see like what are we talking when they're in show it's my my favorite effects my favorite tricks people appearing disappearing levitating teleporting crazy death defying escape

So knives dangling above my head people come up. They examine everything. They check everything out They make sure it's all real you can participate as much as you want or just sit and watch it observe because I'm the kind Of person who goes to show I don't want to get involved I don't want to be on stage when I'm watching a show right but other people you'd be surprised You want to get up. Yeah, I like wave. But then if you have someone in the audience who's like, pack me, do you steer away from me? Yes.

Do I need to look the other way or be like, no? No, if you look the other way, then I will select you. Just be normal. Just be a normal human. Don't be a mad screaming, I'm not there! I'm not there! Kids do that.

And then they get up on stage and they freeze. You've probably had that experience. Have you noticed that? Seeing it in person, we've seen you do some tricks before. It's amazing. And they freeze You've probably had it Yeah You notice that? Seeing it in person We've seen you do some tricks before It's amazing And it's amazing seeing it With your own eyes

Yes Not through a TV No Or anything like that Where you kind of go Oh I don't know how you did it You're justified on TV right? Yeah

You go oh that's an actor That's set up If I saw you That person Crazy Crazy fan I have been picked before And people ask me afterwards

They're like tell us about it Did you get picked? I'm like no No It blew my mind tell us about it. Did you get picked? I'm like, no. No, no. It blew my mind. It's better live because you get to just seeing it with your own eyes. It's very, very powerful. It's much more potent.

Magic needs to be performed live. You said levitating, right? People levitate, disappear, teleport. I walk through a steel plate. What's the most nervous you are before a trick? One trick in particular that you've done that you've gone, geez, this could go wrong. I mean, it's all the time it could go wrong.

Doing the stunts, the underwater escapes. You've done a two-hour show. You're crazy. You're like energy. And then all of a sudden I've got to jump in a tank and lower my heart rate and be calm. It's like, well, how do you be calm after two hours of energizing the audience? Having to deal with Megan.

Make me. Energy stuff. Correct. And then you've got to lower everything down. So that's really, really challenging. So this is you, you would chain yourself up and go into a tank

and have to escape. Wow, that is a real gear change for you. Have there been moments where you've been in that tank locked up and you're like,

oh. Has it ever gone on a little too long? Yep. Did you end up at hospital after one? Yeah, I got slashed by a knife.

I got 12 stitches in my chin. Hit my head, my forehead. I got seven in there. I blew my eashed by a knife. I got 12 stitches in my chin. Hit my head, my forehead. I got seven in there. I blew my eardrum going underwater. I cracked two ribs. I broke my ankle

hanging upside down. That was all in one week. Sounds like I don't know what I'm doing. So it's not all just showbiz. There's a huge element of danger. What was the first trick?

Because I think magic is, you got a book as a kid, right? What was the first trick you ever learned? I made a coin vanish for my father who's a structural engineer. You're thinking that's as a kid, right? What was the first trick you ever learned? I made a coin vanish for my father, who's a structural engineer. You're thinking that's unimpressive, right?

All kids make money disappear, so it's not really impressive. But it was a trick. And the coin vanished. Very simple sleight of hand. It's called the French drop. Vanished. But my father hadn't seen magic. And he said to me, how did you do it?

Now, as a kid, can you imagine? To me, he was a genius. My father was this genius who who made bridges and buildings stand up using mathematics and i managed to baffle him for him and there's a huge amount of power that happens as a kid who i was really struggling with school or things were problematic so i could do something nobody else could do and that's where the obsession began well started yeah were your family supportive of your career uh yes in the beginning because magic helped me to come out of my shell and read and and be better student at school my mother was a

school principal so they're very happy and my father was happy because now i was being a normal human and i was talking to people and not being so shy and then it becomes a dad i really want to do this and he's like now it starts to change a little bit. You're 16, 17. I thought this was just a hobby. Correct. I've got this engineering firm. Mother was very encouraging. Father, not so much.

And then, so there was always this, I had to prove myself, prove myself, prove myself. And I remember finishing high school, going to university for a year. And then I said,

I got this offer to be on a cruise ship as a headliner. And I said to my father, let me just give it a shot for a year. I I said I got this offer to be on a cruise ship as a headliner and I said to my father let me just give it a shot for a year I'll take a leave of absence from my studies and I'll come back and I'm still absent from the studies but that's amazing

that's cool that's how it happened and good on him for backing you too and then he backed it in the end and then I couldn't be more proud now my father introduces me to everybody as you know

this is my son the magician yeah now uh you're gonna do a bit of a trick for us now is it an audio trick or more of a visual one it's a visual track okay we've got the cameras the cameras are rolling describe and cameras are rolling yeah okay great okay so we'll do our but we are shocking at painting pictures with words but we'll give it out no but you can see it on social as well we'll check it out it's only our job but it's only yeah okay oh and we've got an iphone do we yeah okay so what do we got we've got a packet of tic tacs yeah you can have they're real tic tacs would you like one okay are you gonna offer your tic tac i always feel like i'm gonna screw up the trick somehow but i don't know it's just him telling me i've got bad breath yeah

maybe yeah you should take one okay yeah yeah they're real okay real tic tacs okay so he's putting his mouth in his mouth and it's on the end of his tongue. Yeah. Now it looks like he's swallowing it. He's made it disappear. The tic-tac is gone. It's gone. Oh my God, amazing.

Are you impressed? Yes. He didn't even chew it. Impressive? Yeah. Yeah. He's standing up now. Okay.

Breathing in through his nose. No. No, he's not going to come out of your nose. He's not going to come out of your nose. No, not his eye. Not his eye. through his nose. No. No, he's not going to come out your nose. No, he's not going to come out your nose. Oh, no, it's going out through his eye. Not his eye. It's underneath his eye right now. I hate eyes.

It's coming out. It's out, it's out, it's out. Did he pop it out of his eyeball? Yeah, and he's eating it. He's eating it again. I can't do eyes. Oh my God. It's peppermint flavour

and it has made your eye water. I guess because it's minty fresh, right? You swallowed it and it popped out of your right eyeball. Oh dear. That was horrific to watch. Isn't that fun? Oh my God.

Wow. That's impressive. Go along and see it,, my gosh. Wow. That's impressive. Go along and see it, Costantino. You're incredible. Ten shows around the country, November, December, this year. You can get all the details at Endeavor.live slash Costantino. So nice to see you again. Thank you very much for wowing us once more.

Pleasure, guys. All I can think is how many tic-tacs are floating around your body that you've lost along the way.