Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Magic Mike. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Magic , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Risk taking is something we’re really interested in and we’d love to hear the story of a risk you’ve taken.

There’s a common theme in most entertainers’ stories and that is the risk of failure. Any success in this crazy world of show business only happens because of countless failures we endure. Ultimately, the creative pursuit is the unwillingness to give up in the face of failure, to adapt from what doesn’t work until you find what does. It’s a bunch of trial and error. I had to find places I could be bad and make mistakes; find places I could fail and go up again the next night and fail all over again until I found my comfort level on stage and found the material that was entertaining to the audience. This is a continuing struggle when working and breaking in new material. It doesn’t hurt as much as it did when I was starting out because I know it’s all part of the process. It’s only through failure that there is real growth, failure breeds success.

Magic , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I’m a comedy magician. I attempt to combine the performance art of sleight of hand magic and illusion with the performance art of comedy and humor to create an experience for the audience that is fun, interactive, memorable but most importantly mind-blowing. I offer my audience a fresh take on a magic show by presenting original presentations while involving the audience in the presentation as much as possible which leads to a good amount of improvisation creating a unique performance each and every time. I am proud to have been a part of the longest running magic show in DFW history. With the support of The world famous Improv Comedy Club in Addison, Texas we are moving into our 14th year of offering a weekly magic show for audiences of all ages. This residency has shined new light and interest on magicians and has lead to many of the other Improv Clubs in Texas and around the country to do the same. Becoming a full time professional comedy magician was definitely not easy. I knew from a young age I wanted to be a magician but, at the time, I didn’t realize all of the work it was going to take to get there. In order to present magic successfully, one must learn difficult sleight of hand which requires dedication to hours of practice and access to secret literature describing the techniques and mentors willing to help you along the way. A successful magic performer must also learn communication, speaking and acting skills which also requires hours of lessons and mentorship from theatrical instructors. And, on top of that, a magical entertainer must learn the art of deception through psychology and misdirection. The challenge of learning all of these techniques would not have been possible without an encouraging and supportive family. My mother and grandparents offered all they could to provide me with the secret books I would track down through magician mail-order catalogs, they would send me to performance camps and magician conventions as well as taking me to countless theatrical performances and live shows where I was exposed to performers like David Copperfield, Harry Blackstone, Jr. , The Amazing Kreskin, Jeff Dunham, Jay Leno, Jeff Foxworthy and countless others. In middle school and high school I took advantage of the theater programs that were offered and in college I used my electives for similar theatrical training as well as getting a job at a Dallas magic shop where I would sell jokes, gags and simple magic tricks and get hired out on the weekends for magic gigs booked through the shop. By the time I graduated college with a degree in psychology I realized everything I had learned up to that point about magic and performance was not going to do me any good if I didn’t know the “business” side of show business. So, with dreams of being a full time performing magician, I got a day job in order to learn how a business operates. I spent 5 years as a manager learning the ins and outs of a business as ferociously as I had learned the complex sleight of hand and performance techniques all the while spending my time off driving to different open mics or comedy clubs for a little bit of stage time. Finding places I could be bad and make mistakes; find places I could fail and go up again the next night and fail all over again. And then, one day, after the countless performance failures had become less and less and I knew enough about business and had saved enough money; I quit my day job and dove head first into being a full time professional magician. I’ve been performing my special kind of comedy magic full time for 18 years now and the main lesson I learned from all of this is practice and dedication can only get you so far; it’s only through failure that there is real growth, failure breeds success.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

There’s a common theme in most entertainers’ stories and that is the theme of failure. Any success in this crazy world of show business only happens because of countless failures. Ultimately, the creative pursuit is the unwillingness to give up in the face of failure, to adapt from what doesn’t work until you find what does. It’s a bunch of trial and error. I had to find places I could be bad and make mistakes; find places I could fail and go up again the next night and fail all over again until I found my comfort level on stage and found the material that was entertaining to the audience. This is a continuing struggle when working and breaking in new material. It doesn’t hurt as much as it did when I was starting out because I know it’s all part of the process. It’s only through failure that there is real growth, failure breeds success.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

One of the first lessons I learned about becoming a professional entertainer was to save your money and prepare for “dry spells” of performing opportunities. Turns out that was the best advice I ever got. Since then, I have always been paranoid of being broke so that lesson actually turned out to be a lifesaver when lockdown happened and I lost months of performance contracts in the span of a week. The covid years showed me that magic is one of the most flexible and malleable art forms under the entertainment umbrella. and can be performed and experienced with equal levels of amazement through video conferencing.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://www.mikewilliamsmagic.com/
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