I just got back from the final engagement of "Ricky Jay and his 52 Assistants." I can think of no other way to describe what I experienced as something that I will remember for the rest of my life.

Ricky Jay is a poet, a historian, a hustler, a thinker, a comedian, and the best *** magician I have ever seen. I consider him the only magician I've ever seen that makes me want to declare loudly and confidently that "Magic is art!"

P.S.
I also got to meet David Roth (Ricky's 53rd assistant) after, talk with him, and get him to sign a book. In the immortal words of Confucius, BOO YAH!

That was my reaction when I saw the show in Chicago several years ago!

Cheers!

I saw him on Broadway a couple of years ago. Great show. NJH, I used to live in DC. I know the Studio Theatre very well. Great intimate space to see him in.

It's horrible to be under 17...

Funny post, Jonathan. But, try to enjoy being under 17 while you can.

Robert

Don't say that because when you get old and wrinkled you'll wish to be 17 again!

Where did you see him perform? Is his show touring( please, oh please) or was it at one spot for an extended engagement? What where some of the highlights for you Details, details!!
Thanks bryan

Yeah guess you all are right...just...such a chance.....

BTW Bryan, he was at the Studio Theatre, in Washington D.C., but his engagement just closed...

I'd like to be 60 again!

Jonathan, get an older sibling or parent to buy tickets for you. I'm 17, but they didn't check my ID or anyone else's.

I guess it depends on how close to 17 you look. The show was clearly noted that no one under 17 was allowed. There was a kid in my row (I was sitting in the third row) when I saw the show that I would guess was about 10 years old. During the intermission an usher moved him to the back of the theatre.

As everyone else has said - it was a great show.

It's funny...Ricky Jay claims that the only reason he doesn't allow people under 17 is because he can't do the show if a buch of kids are watching.

I saw this show Friday night. I almost didn't post this message, because I don't guess most people here need to hear this, but I think some people only part way along the Royal Road might be interested in a presentation-versus-coolness-of-effect comparison. (There's certainly nothing new in this post for the pros.)

The show is made up mainly of tried-and-true standards: Triumph, Everywhere and Nowhere, a Poker/Blackjack deal demonstration, some miscellaneous revelations/flourishes, Card to card case, a 10-card revelation (1 card each from 10 different spectators), Cutting to the Aces, and the Cups and Balls. In addition he does his card-throwing routine and demonstrates an automaton that does Card to Card frame.

Now, I'm an amateur who hasn't tried any kind of performance yet and this is the first top-level show I've seen. But I've been studying Royal Road, Expert Card Technique, Mark Wilson, Card College, many of Fulves' Dover books, and books on Jennings, Harris, Krenzel, Fechter, and so on, along with a bunch of videos - just as a hobbyist.

So I can't perform a single effect well, but I do know how the tricks work - especially the tricks in this show. But Ricky Jay had me spellbound. I was so caught up in his personality, the storytelling, and the humour that it didn't really matter what the effects were. He would do a t** p*l* for example, and I would only realize that he'd done one after I saw the result. Only twice did I actually notice the specific moment when he did a move.

So here's what I got out of seeing the show:

1) Everyone is right when they tell you how much presentation matters.
2) This presentation works for Ricky Jay, because he styles himself as a magic connoisseur and he imparts a lot of historical tidbits. This set doesn't just work because he's good, or because he's good AND funny, but because he's good AND funny AND he's got the right persona/patter to match the kind of tricks he's doing.

I know this has all been said before, but it became "more true" to me after I saw this show.

Now I admit I would have enjoyed seeing some less familiar, "cooler" effects too. Things that IN ADDITION TO being entertaining, would also have made me say, "How on earth does he DO that?!" That is after all the essence of magic. But of course 95% of the people there WERE saying "How on earth does he do that?"

So if you're just starting out, and you're worried that the material in Royal Road, or ANY OTHER BOOK or video you have isn't good enough, or different enough, or new enough, stop worrying and start practicing. Nothing wrong with being fascinated by the cool new moves and effects - I know I'll never stop - but when it comes to actually performing, most people will love any effects, if you put together the whole package.

It's not that he can't do a show if a bunch of kids are watching - it's that he won't. He doesn't like kids.


In particular, he does the "four queen" trick in Erdnase, and his patter is pretty much verbatim as Erdnase's. Now, the colloquial style of Erdnase would seem out of place nowadays, but it fit in perfectly with his show.

On May 10 Ricky Jay was interviewed by Neal Conan on NPR's Talk of the Nation. Here's a link to the NPR page with a recording of that interview (click on "Listen"), which includes some interesting stories from people phoning in to the show.

Here's another, this time with Terry Gross on NPR's Fresh Air, November 9, 2001.

I think it is wrong to say Ricky doesn't like kids. I believe he aims his material at a more mature audience and kids might be bored and react negatively, or react in a way to cause a distraction. His timing and moments are critical.

A performance fine-tuned for the audience. What a concept. I applaud Ricky's focus. He is one in a million.

From what I've read about Ricky Jay, I think he just doesn't like kids. It doesn't matter if they love magic, it doesn't matter if they're magicians, it doesn't matter if they love Ricky Jay. I think I heard on an interview (maybe one of BCIII's) he says very clearly that he's just not interested in performing for children.

I mean, there's nothing really "mature" about his show, except maybe the classic language and sensibility. He's just a serious guy.

Not wanting to PERFORM for children doesn't mean he doesn't like them.

Look, I don't know the man personally so that very well may be the case, but I'm a big fan of Ricky Jay and have read many articles about him. At this point, you'd have to cite some source where he clearly enjoyed children for me to think that he's at most neutral to kids.

There was an incident where he went to the writer's house and the writer had to promise him that his kids would be in bed by the time they arrived and would be off to school by the time he woke up. And his kids loved Ricky Jay! So I think it'd be safe to deduce that Ricky Jay just doesn't like kids, performing or not.