We're Out of Time - Sean Does Magic: The Magic of Connection and Self-Belief

Episode Date: September 2, 2025

Step into the world of wonder with Sean Sotaridona—better known as Sean Does Magic—as he joins the We’re Out Of Time podcast. Sean opens up about his journey from performing simple tricks to creating viral content that has reached millions worldwide. He shares the story behind his most popular video—an unforgettable encounter with LeBron James that captured over 500 million views—and what it takes to create moments that truly connect with people.From working alongside Michelle Obama to building a community through TikTok and beyond, Sean reveals the magic behind his success, the power of self-belief, and how connection has shaped both his career and life. Whether you’re a fan of magic, social media storytelling, or inspiring journeys, this episode will leave you believing in what’s possible. 👉 Subscribe for more raw, honest, and inspiring conversations every week.🔗 All things Richard Taite, We're Out of Time, and Carrara Treatment Wellness & Spa: ⁠https://linktr.ee/richardtaite⁠For more on Sean: https://www.instagram.com/seandoesmagic

Magician and content creator Sean Soteri Dona joins the We're Out of Time podcast. We filmed a video and is my most viral video that I've ever filmed was courtside up the Lakers. LeBron James was right in front of half a billion views on that video. Half a billion? You collaborated with Michelle Obama? Yeah, or her drink company. But I visited the White House to meet with some representatives. I was just there being like, you know, I make a living doing social media.

It would be awesome if you didn't ban this app. I made friends every place I would move to just because I was just the magic guy. I would just do magic for everybody. And then I would watch America's Got Talent, and I would see kid magicians and teen magicians on them. I'm like, I can do that. We want to extend a heartfelt thank you to our listeners. Because of your incredible support,

We're Out of Time has reached number one on Apple's Mental Health Podcast chart, number two on the health and fitness chart, and number 26 overall. We couldn't have done this without you. Thank you for being part of this journey with us. Thank you for listening to the We're Out of Time podcast with Richard Tate. If you haven't already, please follow the podcast, rate and review. And if you're getting value out of where out of time,

share it with someone else you know. If someone has a problem with substance use disorder, please call one call placement. That's 8888-8-8-3-1-1581. And if we can't help you, we'll make a referral to someone who can. Please, we're out of time. All right. Sean, say your last... Satari Donna.

Yeah, that ain't happening. Known as Sean does match. That is me. is a Dutch-American magician. Dutch-American musician. Yeah, well, I was born in the Netherlands, but I'm 100% Filipino. So Dutch-Philippino-American, technically.

Okay, you're born in... The Netherlands. The Netherlands. Yeah. Okay, the Netherlands speak Dutch. Yes. Or the Dutch-speak Netherlands. It's the Netherlands-speak Dutch.

Okay, cool. Sorry. I work around the flock. Right. I'm the ugly American. I never got to be anywhere. Just because I don't have anyone to go with. Right.

Is this a pitch? Were you pitching? Hey, hey, you can always hope. But I will tell you this, okay? It's very hard for a 59-year-old man, okay, to meet anybody of quality in Los Angeles. That's very hard. Specifically in L.A., yeah.

Right. Imagine. Yeah. And the young girls with the kissy phase. Right. Yeah. Or the dancing to the lip sync music. If I see that, it's just,

and you'll see the most beautiful girl. She'll be age appropriate, right? Yeah. You know, 40s, mid to late 40s. And then they're doing. And singing with, I mean, just, man. Right. Act your age.

Yeah. I can't do it. I mean, I don't mean to be the old God screaming, get off my lawn. But, you know, this is kind of lame. Right. Can't relate because I'm engaged. But yeah, for sure. Right.

It's either that nonsense or they've got cats. I can't. What is up with all these cats? I hate the cats. Everybody has cats. Well, it's not that I hate the cats. It just you call a cat and it looks at you. It's like, what am I a dog? Right. Beat it, idiot. Just feed me. Just feed me and give me a ball of yarn to quit and I'm good. Yes.

All right. You're a content creator with over 22 million TikTok. Shut up. Yeah. You got 22 million. Yeah. For the magic? Yeah, magic. People love magic. How many fingers do I have up under my... At least one. I'm good. I know. I am good.

This is why I have 22 million followers. Dude, you're a hysterical. I know what? Do you know what came up for me? What? I was in a... I was losing all these houses. Yeah.

In multiples. Oh. Right? Multiple. So it was like, you know, you go in and then a group of investors comes in and they, they do, you know, five percent over asking. Yes. Okay. When you said that, it was so beautiful that the thing that came up for me was I was sick and tired of losing houses. So we, so we, yeah, so we, to buy. Yes. So we went

ahead and, you know, you're in multiples. And I finally figured it out. Okay. All I said was, you know, these offers are in. They're going to be accepted. It doesn't matter. This is a one shot thing and we're up against five people, right? And so it's got to be at five o'clock. So at 445, I sent it in and I said, my offer is $50,000 more than anybody else's offer. No disrespect, but I need, I need an answer in 30 minutes or the offer's gone and I'm gone. Right. Right. Great. Great way to go about it. More than one. More than one. More than one. You just did the same thing I did. You said more than one. So you're a second. saying I should invest in homes. That's what you're saying. No. Not at all. All right.

Thank you though. No, no problem. I mean, you're making a shit ton of money, right? Doing all right. You got a home? I got properties in the Philippines, but yeah. You do? Yeah. Okay. You're going to get a place out here? I want to. That's the goal for this year specifically. You got saved? Like, what do you mean? Like liquid? Yeah. Like in my bank? Like around. Really? Yeah. You got anything that you want to get? rid of in order to get well right now here's the thing is we're saving up for a wedding so it's like i'm trying to try to do both that's so sweet man you getting married yeah so it's kind of like the goal is i would love a lot more liquid so that you know i'm more comfortable just like

throwing it out she Filipino no she's Australian she's Australian yeah too bad she's not American right she's American her daddy pays for the uh for the uh for the uh wedding is that is that how that works are you an American citizen I I am. Well, how, when, why didn't you get that memo? I don't know. I never, I never, no one told me this. Is she friends?

Is she, is she close with her dad? Yeah, very close. Is dad got any cheese? Um, I mean, he's just retired. So I'm, yeah? Oh, God. Is this something I should know? Dude.

I'm 23. How old is, 23 years old? You're supposed to be saving for your future and, and, and, and getting a home. and building a family. That's the goal. That's the goal this year. That's the goal this year. I'm really trying.

Man, call your old lady's father and go, can I get a little help here? Right. I mean, I think we're doing okay. I don't think we need his help. I can't stop running my mouth, too. Yeah, no, it's okay. Look, if we're friends, we tell each other the time.

Yes, yes. Okay. All right, here we go. He started magic at age six, inspired by a children's show. That is correct. And began posting on YouTube at 10.

Okay. After early rejections from America's Got Talent, he found massive success on TikTok in 2019. With his second video getting 5.5 million views, he has performed at the Grammys.

Shut up. Okay. We performed Magic during the Grammys at the Grammys, but not actually on stage. No, that's a little bit of a stretch. Okay. He has performed at the Grammys,

court side at Laker games. Correct. Do you get a seat there at courtside? Yes. Shut up. What was that experience like? Oh, it was insane. It was incredible.

We were, I was in the middle or are you behind the basket? Center. Very center, middle, like the most prime seats possible. We filmed a video. Obviously the prime seats because you go like this and like this and like this and your neck's going to. Yeah, but LeBron James was right in front of me. Like it was the most like right here.

Like, you know, I mean, and we filmed a video and is my most viral video that I've, I've ever filmed was court side at the Lakers. No kidding. Yeah. Half a billion views on that video. Half a billion? You're kidding. No, not joking.

For you, man. Thank you. That was a good experience. You know, I do about four to six games a year. Yeah. Lakers? Yeah. And I was dating a girl that really loved it.

Right? And so we'd sit on the floor, but it's so expensive that I feel like. like, God's going to take all my money. Right? So I'm like, can we do it four times? Right. Dude, that's it four times this year, right? Four.

Right. Wow. Right. So, you know. That's like a nice car. I go to see the warrior. Dude, it's a really nice car. Okay.

I felt like so wasteful, but whatever. All right. He has performed at the Grammys, court side at Laker Games, collaborated with Michelle. Shut up. You collaborated with Michelle Obama. Yeah.

Or her drink company, Plezzi is one of my big sponsors for the last couple years. She's got a plezzi? Yeah. It's a kid's drink. Way less sugar. Not that I'm being paid to say this,

but it's like a very healthy kids drink. And yeah, they make like healthy sodas and healthy juice boxes. And I work with that company a lot. Yeah. I didn't know that. Yeah. It's in Target.

It is? Yeah. Good. Yeah, that's great. Yeah, I'd like an option that doesn't cause cancer and obesity. Right. No, no, it's great. I mean, in a typical juice box, it has the amount of sugar that you should be drinking

or that you should have in a single day, which is just so bad for kids. And so they've cut that by like, I think, a fourth of the sugar, which is just great. Three-fourths or a fourth? They cut it by three-fourths. There's only fourth of the sugar there. Yeah. Okay, because a quarter of it's like, not that much of an impact. But, Michelle, I met President Obama.

No chance. I met him. I met him. And it was great. I want to meet the new president, too. Yeah. I mean, I'm yet to actually, I visited the White House one time. Do you know how pissed I am that this 23-year-old visited the White House?

And I didn't. So I didn't meet any presidents by visit the White House. Uh-huh. Oh, that's better. To meet with some representatives, actually so that we could get TikTok not banned. actually. So not for anything cool. I was just there being like, hey, I'm, you know, I make a living doing social media. It would be awesome if you didn't ban this app. Right. It should be banned. It should be banned. It should be banned. Why do you say that? Because it's a national security issue.

I don't know much. I mean, this is why I know. Well, no 23-year-olds know about national security issue. I don't really look at the national security issues too much. But I do know that there's a lot of businesses that run through TikTok. And I think that it's a great platform. If we're able to clear the national security issues, then for sure. I think that there should be an app that runs like TikTok. Right. Well, if we can do that, then it doesn't matter. But we're not doing that. Okay. And, you know, we're kind of a race with China. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, again, I don't know. I mean, I don't want my lights turned off. Okay. I don't want my internet to go down. If your internet goes down, you're like, what's going to?

on here. Like, we don't even know how to read anymore. Like, I know how to read, but not a newspaper or a book. I mean, right. I mean, come on, man. I don't remember. The last time I touched the newspaper, I don't know if I've touched the newspaper actually, now that I think about it.

That's so great. Yeah. You kids do. Yeah, no. And I guess, you know, I mean. And what's that material? It's like the worst they make out of the worst material. No mind. You know what you can do, though? What? Actually read it. Okay? Because you're following these.

Like, you know, I got to turn it to the side. Yes. Do this. And, you know, it's like, you know, you get older. You get blind. Right. It's good. I'm happening.

Okay. With Michelle Obama, Kevin Hart and Mr. Beast. Correct. Okay. Mr. Beast is cool. Yes. He's a great guy. He's great.

Yeah. Okay. You know what I don't want? What do you not want? I'm watching a video of his and he's got people in a room that's all white with lights that are just abusive, right? They got to stay there for a hundred days. Yes.

Would you do that? For a hundred million. Not for a hundred thousand. Right. Right. Okay. Hey, Mr. Beast, you want to abuse me for 30 days, but give me a hundred million dollars, all the two.

Okay? I'm not that proud. So. Just add a couple more zeros to the prize pool. Yeah. I think Beast games was 10 million. If he can do this. if he gives me a hundred million, the first thing I'm doing is I'm giving you a million dollars.

I don't think I'm going to get a million dollars. I don't think you're going to do. Dude, just comedy. Yeah, right. I'm not a comedian, but I don't get any, I don't have people here. I'm like, you know, I have no social outlet. So when they come, I just, all I do is, you know, kind of holds you hostage. Gotcha.

Wow, I'm doing it. You're Mr. Beast. I know. Oh, no. Not Mr. Beast. Mr. Beast is funny. Yeah, he's interesting dude. He does good things.

Yeah, he does great things. Yeah, he does great things. I love him. Okay. Are you feeling superior with your million dollars? Yeah, I've, you know, I'm gonna make it another way. It's fine. We'll figure it out.

No, you know what's gonna happen? This guy's gonna see this. He's gonna be like that old man. Okay. Get, and he's gonna have you on. Right. And he's gonna give you a million dollars. Just me.

Just to, yeah, just you. Just to spite. you. For sure. For sure. Well, I will say this. I've done, you know, last year, I don't know how familiar you are with like the rap beef that happened last year with like Drake and Kendrick Lamar.

They were like doing this. Oh my God. That is something I've studied like. I can't tell if you're a magnifying glass. There's no way you've studied that. No. What? Okay, well, there was a big rap beef last year and I wanted to bring

that same energy to YouTube. So I did a disc track on Mr. Beast. So I don't think he's going to be getting me a million dollars anytime soon. Yeah, you ain't getting a million dollars. Yeah, I'm not getting a million dollars. Sorry, Jimmy. Yeah, you ain't getting a million dollars. And you're going to be broke after the wedding.

Right. I think to be the bearer of that. I know. It's already, it's stacking up. I know, dude. You're the best. You're such a good person. Am I?

Yeah. You are really. You're engaging. Oh, thanks, man. You're funny. And you've got your whole world ahead of you. and I wish you nothing but the best. That was very sweet.

Thank you. You're a soul, man. I appreciate that. All the good souls come here. All right. And they're entourages. Yes. They're more of possees.

Yes, right. Well, I don't know. Are the entourages? I don't know. I've heard it all. I hear one of the SoundCloud concerts where they jump up in debt. They all have their short shirts off.

Yes. And they're just pushing each other. Yeah. No, I have not. Yeah. I love him. That sounds like hell to me. Worst night ever.

First night ever. The only worst time that I think that you can have other than that is going to Disneyland. Very. No, I say this. I say this. I can't, what is that? Our wait for a ride is crazy. Dude, I don't even wait for a ride.

I walk right in. Yeah. Okay. And it's still horses. It is the worst. It is not the happiest place. on earth. It is the unhappiest place on earth. Even when you skip the line, the rise aren't that bad.

Dude, the whole thing's bad. All things bad. Hold on. 22 million TikTok followers and 400 million likes. Okay. Plus five million on YouTube subs. You got five million YouTube subsubs. This might be out. I have 11 million now.

Dude, I got like 90,000. I'm sad. No. Hey, you're almost at the black. You're going to get black. The plaque soon. Oh, great. I'm going to get a plaque.

This is 100. It says your name. This is 100,000 subscribers. That shit's going in the, hey, when that shit gets here, put it in the closet with the rest of the covers of bullshit that I've got. This is crazy. This is sick. I mean, magic?

Yeah, magic. You've been to that magic castle? Yes, I have been. You perform there? I'm not like a regular, but I've performed there. But mainly recently, like, I've only been there if we're shooting something there. Are you considered to be a good musician? I'm a musician. Are you, are you, yeah, you're a musician.

I'm a horrible musician. You do not want me to sing. Me too. Are you a good magician? I would like to say I'm a great magician, yeah. Really? Like, incredible. Phenomenal. Fantastic. How long have you been doing it since? Since I was six years old.

Yeah. Long time. A lot, a lot of years and no friends. Were your present? It's okay. Hey, man, my buddy who passed away. Rest in peace. Yeah, rest in peace. And he went ahead and he was a fantastic musician, musician. Magician.

Magician. He was a fantastic magician. And I loved it as a kid. He had us all there. And we were just, I mean, okay, he didn't have a lot of friends. It's a common theme. And he's really the only person. person who would be my friend.

But, yeah. Cut that shit. All right. Here we go. He starts, I should just read. He blends sleight of hand tricks with comedy aiming to make people

feel like kids again. Sweet. Proud of his Filipino heritage, he attributes his grounded personality and work ethic to it. That is correct. Yeah, Tiger Mom. What?

What does that mean? Like, you know, like in some Asian cultures, I don't know if it's Filipino, but they walk around with a ruler on this. Right? God damn it? I told you an age plus. No. No, no, no, no. My parents were very academic focused, but they weren't like that.

Okay. No. Okay, cool. Maybe they should have. I would have been smarter. Did they make you go to bed hungry? No, no, no. Forgetting any.

Look, it does it look like I went to bed hungry? I don't think. You're the best. All right. You started performing magic at age six. Correct. What drew you to it so strongly? Well, I mean, to be honest, I feel like a lot of kids, you know, either like learn a magic trick from like TV or like see magicians.

You know, magic is a very kid thing, right? You perform it for kids and they're very mesmerized. So when I was a kid, I got, you know, I would watch a TV show as they would do magic. There was an episode of Franklin the Turtle. I don't know if you've ever seen that show before, but it was like a cartoon turtle. I know more about the rift than I know about the turtle. The beef with the rappers.

I know more about that. Well, there's a turtle. And he's a cartoon turtle for kids, and he did Magic one episode, and I just got hooked into it, and I started performing for a lot of my classmates. And this was like six years old, like kindergarten, first grade. And my family moved a lot when I was.

was, you know, growing up. We, we didn't stay in one place for more than a couple of years. And so we were always moving around. That happens when you, you got to move. Yeah. The FBI is right. Yeah, that's it because they saw the magic. And so what ended up happening. Oh, you brought the deck of cards. I bought cards. Dude, you're the best. Thanks, man. I so I'm such a kid. I'm not really 59 because I lost a quarter century to drug addiction. So what am I? 35. Okay. Incredible. And so I made friends every, every place I would move to just because I was just the magic guy. I would just do magic for everybody.

And so, yeah, it just became the thing. And everyone was like, oh, you'll be performing in Vegas one day or whatever. And it would just be branded in my mind. Like, I am the guy that does magic. And then at the same time around the age of 10, I saw people were posting their magic videos on YouTube. And, you know. Your magic. No, just magic videos in general.

And I was like, I can do that. So March of 2012, I posted my first YouTube video. and I haven't missed a month of posting since March of 2012. We've always been posting. That's fantastic. Thank you, Matt. You know, I love that you knew why you kept doing this, because most people aren't that in touch with why they do what they do.

And what you were really saying is, this was my way to fit in. Correct, exactly. Okay. And everybody hangs their hat on. something and this is my something. I love that. I love that.

I wish I would have done that, Dylan, because I thought I was going to be an NFL quarterback. And the reason I did was because I was delusional. Okay? I'm 5-11, right? What's the average high for a quarterback? Like 6-3? Right.

So I probably should hang that dream up too. For sure. Yeah, you're not, yeah. That's not a lot of Filipino quarterbacks. Yeah. It's okay. There's not a lot of Jewish. quarterbacks either. Have you ever seen the Jewish Hall of Fame? No. They had to grab like people from

AAA they spawned. Right? To me like this this Jew was horrible. No no no, no. He made it to triple A. Yeah. The only thing worse than our athletic prowess is our cuisine. I haven't really tried a lot of Jewish food. Oh, we've got borsh and pickled herring in the house. Okay, well. Okay. So, and boiled chicken. So you're going to love that. I'm, I ate before coming here. I'm, I'm, okay. I'm good. Thank you. God's going to kill me. It's so good. You began posting on YouTube at age 10. What was your first video like? And how did it feel to share your magic? Oh, man. First video that I ever posted, this was during a time where, because this is not a thing on YouTube now,

but you can actually, you used to be able to respond to videos with videos. Like instead of just a comment, you could post a video responding to the video. And so people use that as a format to do contests and giveaways. So one person that I learned magic from, his name was the Cartrick teacher on YouTube. He doesn't post anymore. I hope he's still alive. He was really old when he was, but I learned all my magic from him. He did a contest.

He was like, whoever had the best magic trick replied to this video, you'll win a deck of cards. And I was like, you know, I'm like, 10, 9,

I was like, I want to win this deck of cards, you know? So I post a video of me. Is that the deck of cards? No, no, I didn't win.

But, oh, he should have lied. Yeah, the guy's dead. It's not like he's going to come back. This was the debt. This that says 2021 printing is the,

the deck of cards that he gave away back in 2012. Um, no, but, dude. Dude, can you come over and just hang out? Just knock on the door and say, hey, Rich, can you come out and play?

I'll do it. Okay, all right. That's great. So my first ever YouTube video was an entry to a contest, and it was me with a very, very old camcorder, 360P, very low quality. I believe I was literally in, like, boxers. in my living room performing magic to the camera.

And yeah, it has, I think, a whopping 300 views today. And I lost that contest. But that is where I started. And I'm very happy where I am now. Yeah, all I heard is the boxers. Okay. Nobody wears boxers anymore. Yeah, that's, you're not wearing boxers, right?

Are we, we don't have to check. Okay. No, no, no, we're not going to check. No, I'm not wearing boxes. That's right. Not. That's right. We're not checking.

No, we're not checking on. Okay, this I need to hear. You got multiple rejections from America's Got Talent. What was the process like and what made you keep at it? Yeah, when I was like, you know, I was moving around a lot. I was doing magic for a lot of different people, you know, in my school. The teachers there, the teachers would be like, wow, you're really talented. And then I would watch America's Got Talent.

I would see kid magicians and teen magicians on there. I'm like, I can do that. And so I was like, I was really compelled. You know, I wanted, I don't know. what drew me to it necessarily, but I really wanted to make a name for myself. I was like, I feel like I'm special in this craft, at least.

And so I told my parents, I want to audition for America's Got Talent, and I just kept performing, kept performing. I would do, you know, city talent shows and stuff like that. And my parents would be like, okay, maybe he could actually audition. I didn't realize as a kid, as a, you know, 11, 12, 13 year old kid,

that when you audition for America's Got Talent, you don't audition in front of the judges. You don't just walk on stage. You have to audition for producers, first. I didn't realize how TV worked. So when I get to this audition, I'm like, oh my gosh, like, is there a crowd waiting for me? Is there like, I'm like ready to be on stage. I walk into a room with three people, two people that are like, I guess, assistance and one person that's just taking notes while I guess the auditions go through and like perform and do their act. I do magic.

And I remember the first time. Hold on a second. So you mean to tell me that three clowns, Okay. Made the decision. Okay. And they're probably like, yeah, he's great, but we've already had six musicians. A lot of musicians. Right? So I don't have to get out anything to do with you.

I just think that these people were either stupid or just had too many magicians. And they're like, yeah, that ain't. Yeah, I don't know. I mean, I worked really hard on that routine. I'm never watching that show again. I hate America's Got Talent. It's still running, right? Yeah.

actually it's not that bad but is it did it run it's still running it's still running yes they have a new season coming out soon bad luck about to happen yeah well so i audition for these people and i remember one of the biggest things i remember is when i was doing my magic trick the producer behind doing the notes was not even watching and so it felt like it was like already predetermined it was like there's No, no matter what I did. You know what I said? Yeah. They had too many, um, uh, magicians.

Yeah. Yeah. They just had many magicians. So, um, I do this act for the producers. Um, they say no. And I'm crushed. Like, I'm like, an 11, 12 year olds. I'm crushed.

I'm like, I thought it was good enough for the show. Why wouldn't they even give me a chance? It didn't seem like they even cared. And so I proceed to audition three more times after that. Every year I would audition. Same people. Not the same people, different producers every time. But, you know, and every time they would consistently tell me no.

I get rejected multiple times. I'm going into my freshman year of high school. You know, I don't know. I get this feeling like, look, I was told no so many times from these producers, but everyone in my life is telling me that I'm special. And I feel like I am able to perform better than anybody else my age. And so I, you know, was already posting on YouTube. I was posting Instagram was slowly becoming more of like a short form content,

place, started posting a little bit of my clips on Instagram and going into my freshman year I basically the first, true story, this is going to sound so cliche, but the first assignment that I ever got freshman year of high school was to write a letter to the time I graduated. So first period

to write a letter to yourself for when you graduate. Oh, that's great. Yeah. It was like my English teacher was like you can keep this or we can keep it and by the time you graduate you can open it up and read it. And so that's beautiful i wrote in there for some reason i was very inclined this was after like my third rejection on america's got talent i was like i want to take social media seriously this is becoming like actually an industry and so i wrote i was like i have a thousand subscribers and i have 800

followers by the time i opened this letter please i would love to be able to be in a position to move to los angeles that was my one goal i was like just move to l i give me a shot at la i don't want to go to college my parents you know they're asian you know they were like very academic They want me to go to college. I don't. I just want to be. How do you know they're Asian if you're colorblind? That's a really good question.

I mean, that's what it says on all the forms save. I don't know. That's a good question. I don't know. Yeah. I'll talk to my parents about that. I got to confirm. It's a good question.

So I spend the four years of high school really working on social media. The first year that I really took it seriously, I was like doing everything I could self promoting myself in comment sections just trying to hey I'm trying to grow my account and and it's kind of worked I grew to 30,000 on Instagram in my first year, freshman year of high school I'm like 15 second year sophomore year. Double that to 80,000 by junior year TikTok came out and TikTok was like you know kind of a joke platform at first like people weren't really taking seriously it was very comedic based memes not really magic, but my second video catches fire is me doing a comedy skit, actually. And it got

five million views. And by the first month of TikTok, I had grown to a million followers. At the beginning of TikTok, it was a lot easier. They had those, right? Yeah. Yeah. It was very, yeah, 2019. This was pre-pandemic. So I grew to 1.9 million followers my junior year. And I still wasn't really making a ton of money, but I was, you know, I was getting there by senior year. I mean, it's just like, I must have been at the right place at the right time. I'm about to graduate. COVID shuts the world down, right? Everyone decides to download this app that I'm already posting three times a day on.

And just the algorithm, everything just catches fire. We struck lightning in a bottle. And for seven weeks straight, we grew a million followers. A million a week? A week, yeah, just every week. By the time I opened that letter, I had 12 million followers. and I was moving to Los Angeles. And that is kind of my origin story.

Okay. Before we get going, I want the trick. Before I ask, let me ask you. I want the trick. Sure. Why not? You're familiar with the deck of cards? I am familiar.

You know all the numbers, letters. You're familiar with all of that stuff, right? Are there letters? Yeah, yeah, like Ace, Jack, you know, Jay. That is. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. This is a brand new deck.

We're going to try something. I'm going to shovel it up a little bit. And I'm going to have you select one of these cards at random. All right. So I'm going to go through the side here whenever you want. Just go ahead and say stop at any point in time. Stop. Right there.

That's good. Any more, any less? No. That's good. All right. Take a look at the card that you stopped on. You got it? Yep.

I'm going to do something that you should not do with the deck of cards. Can you hold on to this for me, please? Sure. Watch closely. That card that you stopped on in the piece? That's insane. Thank you. But there's this thing of magic that whatever disappears, it has to reappear. So actually bounced off the air. It hit off the light. It helped the mic stand off the top of your head,

flew all the way behind me. There is one piece right there. I haven't moved a muscle. Not a muscle. I'm going to make this as fair as possible look. Nothing else in my hands. I'm just going to grab it. You could have stopped on any card. I don't want to touch it. Go to flip it over. your card the jack of diamonds but not only that I want you to see that is the exact piece that I ripped off that card that my man is exact here I'll show it to the camera here we go just like that that's gorgeous thank you that's really good yeah all right one more well I'm on it I'm ready here we go let's do it why not um do you want to pick a card

Okay, okay. Okay. Here, it's a brand new deck, so I have to shuffle it, but that looks pretty shuffle, right? Or do you want me to mix it up anymore? No, it's good. Feels good. I'll give it one more. Okay.

You want to reach in here? Do me a favor, just reach in or just grab any card that you want for me, any card. Okay. Any one of these. Go ahead. Go ahead. Anyone one. Go ahead.

Go and we're going to try something. I'm going to take this. I'm going to lose it roughly into the middle just like this. Mm-hmm. Just like this. I might need to stand up for this. Is this okay? Make certain.

Yeah. Yeah. Okay. As long as it's... Okay. Is... Do I need to move the mic? Okay. So, um, there's this thing in magic called sleight of hand.

You've heard of it, right? Yes. You remember the card that you picked, right? Yes. This is something a little bit different. This is called slight of mouth. Just, just watch closely. You'll know why I'm engaged by the end of this.

Watch closely. Okay. What do you mean? Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. No, it was a six of, uh, it was a six of, uh, it was a six of, uh, it was a six of of what is that?

What is that? A club? What is that? It's a six of spades. That's what it was. No. One card. And one card only.

Your card the six of spades. Yeah. It's a six of spades. You're insane. Thank you. That's insane. Thank you. Yeah.

Fuck on that. America's Got Talent. You people. You people are so stupid. It's painful. God. That was stupid good. Dude, that was stupid good.

Thank you. All right. What's the single magic moment in your career that made you feel like you made it? Wow, that's a good question. You know, funny enough, it has something to do with America's Got Talent. It is? It has something to do with America's got talent. Because, you know, I moved to Los Angeles after garnering all

these followers. I'm doing my thing. I start working with Paramount Nickelodeon, doing all these things in the world of magic. And then I get a call from America's Got Talent. They called Jesus. They called me. Finally. Yes. Finally. And I'm like, wow, about damn time. I've been waiting for this one. And they said, hey, we want you to audition properly. Skip all the producer stuff. like let's just have you go on to the show and perform for the judges. And so I remember like mentally I always thought like one day I'm actually doing this show and we're going to do it properly. And it's like when it came in, I was like, okay, about time.

I start prepping for the show. And the moment was me backstage when they're like, you're up next. And I'm sitting there. And I'm really not an emotional. I don't get, I don't cry a lot. I don't know, maybe there's some trauma that I need to figure out. But I don't cry a lot. I don't really like, you know, when things go wrong, I just think, okay, how can we make it right?

You know, I drive through friars with a smile on my face. Like, there's not much to it. But that moment of me backstage moments before I know I'm up next, and I've already gone through the routine a million times in my head and I feel good about it. I'm just waiting. That moment right there, I remember being so emotional in my mind, but I knew I was about to be on stage. I couldn't cry. But I could have been crying in that moment. That was the moment where I was like, I made it because I visualized this moment for so many years as a kid, like being on stage

in front of the judges, performing magic, you know, having a huge crowd watch me and just about to live that moment. I remember being so present in that like I need to take this in because, wow, I'm doing it. How'd you do? I. Well, listen. Well, listen. and I don't normally ask follow-up questions. So I will say this. I'll preface it like this. I didn't pick my routine. So the routine, I did not pick the routine.

The producer wanted me to be very specific on what I wanted to do. And we built a routine that was based off these strict guidelines of what they wanted. I didn't like the routine. But I went out and performed the fuck out of it. I performed the best magic that I could have done. I did this routine. I get back on, because I performed it in front of them. I went to their desk and then I went back on stage.

They start giving me really bad feedback. They start giving me feedback like it was slow. It was boring. The magic was okay, but I'm like confused, whatever. And that's where me looking back as like this, the 10 year old kid, the audition for Mexico Town, I was like, there's no way I'm leaving here without my four yeses. So I tell Howie Mandel, who's telling me that my performance was slow.

I said, give me 30 more seconds. This is a true story. Give me 30 more seconds. I have a deck of cards. Let me just perform one trick. And I will blow you away. I guarantee it. They weren't having it,

but the crowd wanted me to do one more trick. So they said okay. They said okay. Go up. Awesome. I have them pick a card. I do that exact trick that I just did now where it coughed it up. I get a standing ovation from those four.

And my four yes is. And I save my ass from getting rejected. from America's Got Talent. Yeah, but then... Wait, let me take that. Because the genius of that is... Look, I heard once that Abraham Lincoln lost 26 elections in a row before he became president.

Now, that's not true. It was a lot less, but what he did was he kept after. after it, right? And you kept after it. But here's the magic moment. You didn't take no for an answer, right? And you and you knocked that door down. You ran right through it. Okay. And you could have gone the other way. You could have been like, you could have had all those failures, all those misses at from 10 on. And you could have let that crush you. And most of the people would have. And the thought would have been, I'm not good enough. I'm not enough. Right? Because what just happened was it was different than all the others. You went ahead and were actually performing in front of the judges now. These people actually called you. and then and you had the confidence of your life experience because you're getting better at your craft right correct and then they sh**t all over you okay and and you were like no this is bullshit and the

reason you said this is bullshit was because you were you were hand you are you are you were what's the word hamstrung you are hamstrung by the producers because you didn't get to be you. They were telling you what I mean. So you were like all these things and you're like, fuck this. Okay. Uh-uh. I need 30 more seconds.

You're going to be just on. Okay. And they weren't having it. And then the crowd was so moved by the ballsy move, right, that you had, right? They're like, yeah, man, give this guy another break. Plus, the crowd liked it. The first one. Yes.

Right? So now they're probably like losing their mind and these guys were stuck. Now they can't. Now they're hamstrung and they have to give it to you. And then you just, you beat the shit out of it. You killed it. I love this. Thank you.

I love this. See, we are a mental health podcast. Because you must have been crushed every single time. you failed. Now, 100%. Right? And that must have depressed you. Oh, yeah.

Well, how'd you get out of that? I don't, I all, I give it to my dad, to be honest, because my dad always told me like, you know, you only fail when you give up. That's really it. And so I just kept always thinking about what was next, you know? Okay, this didn't work. Where do we go now? And so, yeah, in the moment, it sucked.

And I'm a kid. You know, I'm like 13, 12, 11, whatever. And I have so many photos like before and after. Like before the audition, after audition, I look so sad. But you can't live in that sadness. It's what's next after that. How do you not live in the sadness? It's a really good question.

I mean, I think for me, it's just thinking that living in the sadness won't change anything. I don't think that if, you know, I can feel sorry for it. for myself for years, it wouldn't get me any closer to getting a yes. Do you know who that is? Who, who is? Your dad. That's what your dad put into your head. He took care of his boy.

That's beautiful. That's so nice. Wow. And now you're going to be the dad. And you're going to take all the things from your father that were good. And anything that was bad, you'll leave. behind. And, you know, I'm, I did it better than my old man. My old man did it better than his old man. And my son's going to do it and my daughter's going to do it better than I do it. And that's how you

know you're doing it right. Okay. You think you, you think you know what love is, but you don't until you have a child. You just don't. And they don't cost you money. They make you money. because for you, you have this much, it's enough. The second you have a child, it's completely different. You're now the dad. You're responsible for this child. Something inside of you turns on and you're like, okay, let's get going. Children make you a fortune.

They don't cost you money. Ever. And it's the only, we love. It really is. That's beautiful, man. That's beautiful. Okay. I've a follow-up on the America's Got Talent Thing. Thank you for that,

by the way. That was beautiful. My fiance is going to be very happy because she wants to be a mom yesterday. How old is she? She's 24. Yeah, you might want to wait till 30. Yeah, we... Because just for one reason. Okay. Everything you say now is funny. Right? You guys are the best friends. Right? The second

your child is born, You're a sperm donor and an ATM. Okay, you can use that. I'm stealing that one. You can steal them all. I'm stealing that one. They're all for you. Okay, thank you.

No problem. I'm not a comedian. So from the America's Got Talent thing, it went so well. And I think it really like fulfilled a part of me as a kid that I really wanted was that moment. I've thought about it for so long. But what I also didn't know about show business is 100 people get yeses, only 20 people air. And so I was not aired actually on America's Got Talent, despite me getting my four yeses.

So we still have a remaining journey with them. I told them that, well, internally I said the next time I'll be on that show is when I'm judging it or hosting it. So I'm waiting for that day. God, I love that. Trying to, man. No, that's, that's, that's, that's revenge. I'm all about revenge. The mental patient on the, on the, on the, on the, on the number, whatever the hell I've got now.

Moving up by the second. Now, let's go to this one. What unique strengths do you think magic videos have on TikTok versus YouTube? Oh man. Well, TikTok is so fast-paced and people go on that app, I feel like a lot of the times for some sort of spectacle. And that's what magic is. You know, it's a quick, I can do a trick in like 10 seconds and amaze you. And I think that that really played into my strengths when I started posting a ton. It's like people would see, it wouldn't take long for you to consume 30 seconds. You see me do a magic trick and then I'm out of your face. And then I just showed up every single day doing it. So show me a 10.

second a 10 second trick. Oh, man. Here's the world's fastest magic trick. It looks like this. It's called the snap change. Let me see if I can do this. You could learn this. It's not that difficult.

I'm pretty stupid. Okay, I'm going to perform it to you and the camera at the same time, but it looks like this. Like that. That's sick. Yeah, it's a snap change. So you just take it and you just, I'll show me one more trick

Okay yeah cool Well we'll um Here I'll try something Feel pretty good about the I didn't switch it out There's nothing any funny Business going on here

Okay cool Can you do me in favor Reach in here Just grab another card for me Anyone that you like Any one of these Go show it to the camera Don't show it to me

And then I want you to put it back In the deck anywhere Okay Do you have your phone on you? Do I have my phone? He's got his phone You got your phone on you Can you do me a favor?

Can you go on Instagram and then hand it to him? You remember your card, right? Yes. Don't forget it. I think I do. Go to the search on Instagram. I don't want to do anything weird here. I just want to show you I'm going here.

I'm going to my page. Can you click on my handle for me? Just click on my page. And then can you read my bio out loud to everybody? Right. Let me read the bio. How do you read a bio? The first line on.

there. What does it say? You picked the five of hearts. Is that it? It was. Yes, it was the five of hearts. How the hell did you do that? I don't know. It's a really good question. Should put in the notes. That's so good. I picked the five of hearts. Yeah. That's insanity. Thanks. You could have picked any of these cards. I could have picked any of those. Literally any of these. And there's no pattern. That's insanity. You're great. Thanks, man. You're great.

All right. You got anything coming next? Do you want to tell me where you're going to perform? Okay, so a couple things that are coming up. So I'm trying to work in the traditional media world a lot more. So I'm trying to do, you know, I have a movie coming out this year for Paramount called My Weird School. It's a Nickelodeon movie, but it'll be on Paramount Plus. And it's, I'm a lead in the movie.

And I actually play a 14-year-old, which is just crazy because I guess Asians. don't raise them. That's what they say, right? Asians don't raise in. What does that mean? Like, we don't wrinkle. So we look young. I thought you said agents. No, Asians don't raise it. Yeah, anyways. So I'm doing a lot of stuff in the traditional media world and hopefully we're just making step in stone to hosting the Oscars.

So I'm going to say it right here because I'm actually making a compilation of as many of these as possible. But every podcast I go on, I'm making a compilation of me saying, hello future Oscars. It's your host, Shawnee. Anyways, because it's going to happen. I can't wait. We're going to clip it one day.

Can't wait. So many different podcasts. We're going to just throw this on. That's so amazing. You're speaking it into existence, man. Thank God in advance. Yeah. No, no.

Just thank God in advance on my life. And don't ask him for what you need. Ask him for what you want. Okay. buddy thanks for coming thank you so much for having me man this is fun you're so good to me see you next Tuesday let's go you're all the footballs yes you grab five balls five one at a time okay okay okay one point two points three points four five six seven eight nine okay got it okay you get five balls I get one okay what yep okay let me get on the board then

Okay. Oh, thanks. There we go. Fantastic. There we go. One. Okay. Let me go here.

Oh, that's close. So I got two more? Yep. Oh, that's amazing. Oh, let's go. Okay. And why not we go along? Okay.

No, you get to do another one. Okay. Same spot. All right. You did great. Okay. All right. That was awesome.

All right. All right. Here we go. You got one and five. How about that? I know, baby. Come here. Give me a hug.

Oh, what? You're gonna be okay. In fact, that's the first time I ever did it without anything. Ha ha ha ha ha