We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jason Michaels a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Jason thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?

My most recent risk was creating and submitting a slightly risque magic trick to the television show Penn & Teller: Fool Us. In addition to the trick being risque, it also was very personal to me since it drew attention to the neurological disorder Tourette Syndrome – which I have.

As a clean entertainer, the idea that I was submitting a magic trick that used curse words in it to a television show was definitely out of the box for me.

However, I deeply believed that the combination of advocating for those of us with Tourette’s with the clever use of wordplay and sharing my personal story would help the trick make sense to a viewer.

The trick was accepted for the show and I flew to Las Vegas to shoot in May of 2022.

My magic trick, which is titled Four Letter Words, aired on Penn & Teller : Fool Us on the CW network on October 28, 2022. The episode was titled “Four Fools and Counting.”

After the episode ran, I was extremely pleased to receive a great deal of positive feedback and comments from many people who identified with the struggle that I shared while performing the trick.

I count the entire experience as a great success. My risk paid off.

Four Letter Words can be viewed here: https://youtu.be/04i3LRPmIgQ

Jason, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I am a magician, keynote speaker, two-time TEDx presenter, and author who lives with and thrives with Tourette Syndrome. My primary goal with my programs are to amaze and inspire audiences around the world.

I’ve shared my style of sleight-of-hand, illusion, and humor with corporate audiences, theaters, universities, the United States Armed Forces, and for private social affairs all over the world.

My show Mysteries and Illusions is currently playing Saturday nights in downtown Nashville, TN.

As a speaker, I am dedicated to motivating audiences to see beyond their challenges and self-imposed limitations with my keynote program #DOTHIMPOSSIBLE: RESILIENCE. In it, I teach empowering techniques on how to overcome adversity and conquer the day.

Additionally, I am the author of the Amazon best-selling book “You Can Do the Impossible, Too!” The book details my “impossible” journey of overcoming the debilitating neurological disorder Tourette Syndrome to become a success in business and in life.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

I think it is important for artists and creatives to never accept the idea of having to be a “starving artist.” When I was a theater major in college there was very much the mindset that you may have to suffer in order to do what you love.

In today’s world, with technology and proper sales and marketing education, artists and creatives can thrive even if they never become a household name.

Look to technology like ConvertKit and Kajabi and look to authors like Seth Godin to help you build a community of people who love what you do and want to support it.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

I have struggled my entire professional career with the artistic versus commercial side of my business.

On the one hand, I want to please any client who hires me to entertain their group. I want my work to be reviewed well and for the person who is paying my invoice to be thrilled with the entertainment they received. And I make sure to always deliver.

On the other hand, I didn’t get into magic and acting to please anyone else. Some of my most interesting ideas have never seen the light of day because I don’t believe that an audience would understand them. After all, when you think of what the term “magician” means to you, what do you think of?

You probably don’t think of magic tricks that touch on the subjects of race or abuse, do you? And if you went to a magic show that dealt with those subjects, I can almost guarantee that you would review them poorly online – because you were made uncomfortable. Reviews like those kill businesses like mine, so those artistic ideas stay on the paper and never make their way to the stage.

The struggle simply comes down to this fact. Calling oneself a “magician” means different things to different people. A mother of a four year old might think of a magician as a birthday party clown. A twenty-two year old in Vegas might think of David Blaine or Criss Angel. Those are wildly different performers and wildly different expectations from an audience.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.JasonMichaelsMagic.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jasonmichaelsmagic/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jasonmichaelsmagic
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonmichaelsmagic/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/JMichaelsMagic
• Youtube: @JasonMichaelsMagic

Image Credits
Larry Courtright M. Jason Cook