James Randi is a Canadian-American retired stage magician and a scientific skeptic who has extensively challenged paranormal and pseudoscientific claims. Randi is the co-founder of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI), originally known as the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP). He is also the founder of the James Randi Educational Foundation (JREF). He began his career as a magician under the stage name The Amazing Randi and later chose to devote most of his time to investigating paranormal, occult, and supernatural claims, which he collectively calls "woo-woo". Randi retired from practicing magic at age 60, and from the JREF at 87.
Penn & Teller are American magicians and entertainers who have performed together since the late 1970s, noted for their ongoing act that combines elements of comedy with magic.
The bullet catch is a stage magic illusion in which a magician appears to catch a bullet fired directly at him or her — often in the mouth, sometimes in the hand or sometimes caught with other items such as a dinner plate. The bullet catch may also be referred to as the bullet trick, defying the bullets or occasionally the gun trick.
Exposure in magic refers to the practice of revealing the methods of magic tricks.
Teller is an American magician, illusionist, writer, actor, painter, and film director. He is half of the comedy magic duo Penn & Teller, along with Penn Jillette. Teller usually does not speak during performances. He is an atheist, debunker, skeptic, and a fellow of the Cato Institute, an organization which is featured prominently in the duo's Showtime series Bullshit!. Teller legally changed his name from "Raymond Joseph Teller" to the mononym "Teller".
Joshua Jay is a magician, author, and lecturer. He has performed in over 100 countries, and he was awarded the top prize at the World Magic Seminar in 1998. He fooled Penn and Teller on their hit show, Fool Us, and he holds a Guinness World Record for card tricks. Jay has done magic on numerous television shows, most recently Good Morning America and The Today Show. Most recently, in January 2018, Joshua was recognized by the Society of American Magicians with their highest proclamation, for his contribution to the art of magic. Joshua attended Ohio State University and currently resides in New York City.
Romany, the Diva of Magic, is a professional magician. She was featured on the cover of The Linking Ring magazine in August 2007. She was mentored by professional magician and teacher Jeff McBride, who was quoted as calling Romany "a British Bette Midler."
John Archer is a British comedy magician, television writer and actor. As well as performing magic, he has also commercially released a number of his tricks through various magic suppliers.
Andi Gladwin is a British magician, speaker, and publisher. He has appeared on television, has lectured for magicians throughout the UK, US and Europe and written / published books on magic. Gladwin is an Associate of the Inner Magic Circle and was granted the Maskelyne Literary Award from the prestigious club.
Steve Spill is an American magician and founder of Magicopolis, a 150-seat theater that opened in 1998 in Santa Monica, California, where Spill performs sleight-of-hand and large-scale illusions. Spill's shows have been praised by critics, theatergoers, feature writers, families, tourists, and magicians.
Magicopolis is a 150 seat theater in Santa Monica, California, founded in 1998 by magician Steve Spill. It is the permanent home of his magic production, "Escape Reality", which has received positive reviews from guests and critics. Magicians Penn & Teller cast their hands and feet in cement for the Magicopolis groundbreaking ceremony on March 25, 1998. Robert Holbrook, Mayor of the City of Santa Monica, on behalf of the City Council proclaimed March 25 to be "Magicopolis Day" in Santa Monica. Friday, September 18, 1998, marked the grand opening, and official ribbon cutters and special guest performers Penn & Teller took the stage and over the course of the evening performed some of their classic routines. To finish, Penn delivered a "heartfelt discourse on the value of seeing magic performed live and the importance of Magicopolis".
Magic, which encompasses the subgenres of illusion, stage magic, and close up magic, is a performing art in which audiences are entertained by tricks or illusions of seemingly impossible feats using natural means. It is to be distinguished from paranormal magic which are effects claimed to be created through supernatural means. It is one of the oldest performing arts in the world.
John Lovick is an American magician, writer, and director. Since the 1990s he has performed as a magician throughout the United States and Canada, as well as England, Australia, New Zealand, and Malaysia.
Abracadabra was a British weekly magic magazine whose publication life spanned sixty-three years. The first issue was published on 2 February 1946; the last issue was published on 28 March 2009; a total of 3,296 issues.
Mark Edward is a professional mentalist who specializes in magic of the mind. He has written several books on mentalism, séance theory and production and appeared on television as both primary consultant and on-air performer in such diverse programming as A & E's Biography: "Houdini, the Great Escape," NBC's "The Other Side" and "Psychic Secrets Revealed," The Sci-Fi Channel's "Mysteries, Magic and Miracles," The Discovery Channel's "Forces Beyond," and on two episodes of The Learning Channel's "Exploring the Unknown." His featured segment as a spirit medium on the pilot episode of Showtime's "Penn & Teller's Bullshit!" series entitled "Speaking with the Dead" helped secure an Emmy Award nomination for that episode in 2002. Mark Edward is not related to John Edward.
Michael Vincent is a British magician. He won The Magic Circle's Close-up Magician of the Year award three times.
John van der Put is a magician and comedian from the United Kingdom who performs under the stage name Piff the Magic Dragon. A winner of multiple awards from British magic societies, he toured as a supporting act for Mumford and Sons and has appeared on Penn & Teller: Fool Us and America's Got Talent. In June 2019, van der Put was named one of Variety's 10 Comics to Watch for 2019. Van der Put lives in Las Vegas and has a residency at The Flamingo.
Stephen Louis Macknik is an American neuroscientist and science writer. He is a Professor of Ophthalmology, Neurology, and Physiology & Pharmacology at the State University of New York, Downstate Medical Center, where he directs the Laboratory of Translational Neuroscience. He directed laboratories previously at the Barrow Neurological Institute and University College London. He is best known for his studies on illusions, consciousness, attentional misdirection in stage magic, and cerebral blood flow.
Kostya Kimlat is a Ukrainian-American magician, motivational speaker, entrepreneur, and business consultant who uses magic to help companies train employees. As a speaker, he helps groups understand the importance of perception in their daily lives through the art of magic and sleight of hand.
