Young & Strange

Last updated
Young & Strange
Born
Richard Young
Sam Strange [1]

(1984-07-24) July 24, 1984 (age 37)(Young)
(1984-11-30) November 30, 1984 (age 37)(Strange)
OccupationMagicians, entertainers
Known for Magic, comedy

Young & Strange (Richard Young and Sam Strange) are a British comedy magic double act. The duo perform on stages around the world with a magic, comedy and illusion show and currently headline the touring production of Champions of Magic which frequently tours theatres in North America. [2] [3]

Contents

Young & Strange have also been featured on numerous magic and comedy based television shows around the world including Penn & Teller: Fool Us , ITV’s The Next Great Magician and NBC’s Caught on Camera with Nick Cannon .

Career

Young & Strange began as rival magicians [4] in their hometown of Oxford, both owning almost identical magic businesses performing for private and corporate events until they put on their first show together at The Thame Players Theatre in Oxfordshire in 2010 and went on to perform at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe for four years.

In addition to performing in the duo, Richard Young also hosts the magic podcast series The Magicians' Podcast on iTunes and Spotify which has featured interviews with magicians including David Copperfield, Derren Brown and Teller.

Between 16th July to 30 August 2021 Young & Strange were one of the main cast members of Wonderville, a variety show at the Palace Theatre in the West End of London. [5]

Viral video

In 2015, a video surfaced depicting Young and Strange supposedly photobombing a Sky News TV broadcast, performing an illusion known as "the shrinking man" behind the Sky News presenter Ashish Joshi as he was apparently broadcasting outside the Houses of Parliament. [6] [7] It was later revealed that Joshi was in on the joke, and that the video was created independently in the style of Sky News, with Sky News confirming this via Twitter. [8]

Awards

Related Research Articles

Paul Zenon English entertainer

Paul Zenon is an English stage and TV magician, comedian, presenter and writer.

Penn & Teller American illusionists and entertainers

Penn & Teller, Penn Jillette and Teller, are American magicians, entertainers, and scientific skeptics who have performed together since the late 1970s. They are noted for their ongoing act that combines elements of comedy with magic.

Max Maven American magician and mentalist (born 1950)

Max Maven is an American magician and mentalist whose performances are considered erudite and intelligent. He is ranked as one of the most influential mentalists of all time, and one of the 100 "Most Influential Magicians of the 20th Century" by Magic Magazine.

Quick-change is a performance style where a performer changes quickly, usually within seconds, from one costume into another.

Rob Zabrecky

Robert Zabrecky is an American actor, author, magician, and songwriter. His career began as a musician while being the front man for the band Possum Dixon. In the later years of his career, he has found success as a magician, actor, and author.

John Max Thompson was an American comedian and Las Vegas illusionist who performed under the stage name The Great Tomsoni with his wife, Pamela Hayes. They had a comedic slapstick act with the well-dressed Thompson and his gum-popping assistant, Pam, performing illusions while enduring a series of mishaps. Within the magician community, Tomsoni was considered a virtuoso, widely known as a mentor and teacher of magic, and a creator of tricks, as opposed to simply a performer. He worked behind the scenes with magicians such as Penn and Teller, Lance Burton, Criss Angel and Mat Franco. In 1999, he was awarded one of the highest honors in the magician community, a Masters Fellowship with the Academy of Magical Arts. January 30, 2020, Showtime released a documentary about Thompson written and directed by Emery Emery called Gambler's Ballad: The Legend of Johnny Thompson.

Ali Cook English magician and actor

Ali Cook is an English actor and comedian originating from Yorkshire. Cook played Sgt. Paul McMellon in the feature film Kajaki, which won the Producer of The Year Award at the 2015 British Independent Film Awards and was nominated for a British Academy of Film and Television Arts Award in 2015.

Peter Firman is an English magician, comedian and television presenter.

Matt Marcy is an American comedian-magician known for his original, comedy illusions. In 1997 he was named by the Academy of Magical Arts as its top ranking young magician when he was just 20 years old. He was a Master of Ceremonies at Wizardz Dinner Theater at Universal Studios Hollywood. He is now primarily a corporate entertainer, and has performed for a variety of celebrities and dignitaries, including Prince Faisel of Saudi Arabia. He was also an opening act for The Amazing Johnathan at the Sahara Hotel and Casino and the Golden Nugget in Las Vegas, and recently appeared on the A&E TV show Magic Castle After Dark.

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.

Mike Super is an American magician who is the winner of the NBC show Phenomenon. He was a top finalist on Season 9 of America's Got Talent. He's also appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show and The Penn & Teller FOOL US TV series. Super currently tours the U.S. and Canada with his illusion show.

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 Member of the Inner Magic Circle with Gold Star and was granted the Maskelyne Literary Award from the prestigious club.

Shawn Farquhar

Shawn Farquhar is a Canadian magician and illusionist notable for his title as the "Grand Prix World Champion of Magic" from the International Federation of Magic Societies.

Magic (illusion) Performing art

Magic, which encompasses the subgenres of illusion, stage magic, and close up magic, among others, is a performing art in which audiences are entertained by tricks, effects, 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.

<i>Penn & Teller: Fool Us</i> Television series

Penn & Teller: Fool Us is a magic competition television program in which magicians perform tricks in front of American magician-comedian duo Penn & Teller. Its first two seasons were hosted by Jonathan Ross, and the third season onwards by Alyson Hannigan. Fool Us was filmed at Fountain Studios in London, England and the Penn & Teller Theater in Las Vegas. After each performance, if Penn & Teller cannot figure out how a trick was done, the magician(s) who performed it win a Fool Us trophy and a five-star trip to Las Vegas to perform as the opening act in Penn & Teller's show, also at the Rio Hotel & Casino.

Piff the Magic Dragon British magician and comedian

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.

Rick Lax American author and entertainer (born 1982)

Rick Lax is an American author, entertainer and magician.

Benjamin Hart is an English magician. In 2007, he was awarded the "Young Magician of the Year" award by The Magic Circle. Hart has worked on British television and is an inventor and designer of magic tricks and stage illusions. In 2014, he starred in Killer Magic on BBC Three. Hart was a finalist on Britain's Got Talent in 2019.

Xavier Mortimer French magician

Xavier Mortimer, is a magician and variety performer from the South of France. A winner of multiple awards, he has appeared on Penn & Teller: Fool Us, America's Got Talent, Masters of Illusion, Plus Grand Cabaret du Monde, and The Next Great Magician on ITV. Xavier lives in Las Vegas and performs his resident show at the Strat.

Willi Auerbach German stage magician

Willi Auerbach is a German stage illusionist, magician, and designer of magical illusions.

References

  1. "Young & Strange". oxfordtimes.co.uk. Retrieved September 19, 2019.
  2. "Young & Strange of 'Champions of Magic' perform act never attempted on television". Fox5. 2019-07-02. Retrieved 2019-09-19.
  3. "Woke magic at the Merriam". The Philadelphia Inquirer. 2018-06-19. Retrieved 2019-09-19.
  4. "Roz And Mocha: "Young and Strange" Blow Our Minds With Some Magic!". Kiss 92.5. 2018-12-13. Retrieved 2019-09-19.
  5. "Wonderville review – pick 'n' mix variety show loses its magic". The Guardian. 2021-08-03. Retrieved 2021-08-04.
  6. "Magicians 'hijack' Sky News reporter". The Telegraph. 2015-07-24. Archived from the original on July 25, 2015. Retrieved 2019-09-19.
  7. "Sky News magician 'videobomb' was PR stunt in effort to get TV deal". The Guardian. 2015-07-24. Retrieved 2019-09-19.
  8. "Sky News Twitter". Twitter. 2015-07-24. Retrieved 2019-09-19.
  9. "The Magic Circle Awards Ceremony 2018". The Magic Circle. 2018-09-02. Retrieved 2019-09-19.