Is Criss Angel a "real" magician?

Factual Questions
21

Yes, he’s a real magician, by any relevant standard or criterion.

Criss Angel can and does perform lots of excellent magic in real life, in front of real, paying customers, where camera tricks are not even an option. He is very talented and versatile - he can do close-up magic, stage magic, sleight of hand, manipulations, mentalism… this is like a musician who can turn his hand to rock, folk, classical or jazz.

His live magic show in a basement club in Times Square - one of the last major things he achieved before getting his TV show - was very successful. It was a very innovative and ambitious fusion of many theatrical disciplines, using music, mime, masks and even puppetry to embellish and enhance the magic. Summed up like that it might not sound impressive, but it was an excellent show that demonstrated Criss’s commitment not only to excellent magic but also to artistic innovation.

Within the trade, Criss was respected for his skill, his versatility and his showmanship. It’s true that his particular style of presentation (which might loosely be termed ‘Rock Gothic’) was not to everyone’s taste in the professional world. However, the same is true of everyone else, from Copperfield to Penn & Teller. You will always get a range of opinions when it comes to presentational style. But Criss’s skill and talent, and his serious dedication to good magic, was never in doubt. This is still the case.

With regard to his TV shows, for the most part Criss performs material that he can, and does, perform in a live show, where (again) camera tricks are obviously not an option.

For some of the more spectacular and headline-grabbing stunts, it’s true that he and his production team have exploited the medium of television in various ways, for example by taking advantage of the fact that he can control a TV camera’s point of view. Within the trade, some people think this is okay, while some think it might be considered ‘cheating’ in some way, although there is no prevailing consensus.

Although this occasional exploitation of the TV’s opportunities might cloud the issue in some people’s eyes, there should be no doubt that yes, he’s a real magician and a very good one. Like him or dislike him, he should at least be respected for his talent, technique, ability, invention and showmanship.

Criss has a great commitment to magic, and also champions innovation and the invention of new tricks and illusions. Very often he will champion the work of some young magician somewhere who has come up with something new by featuring the new trick or whatever on his show (this is done by arrangement, and yes, the inventor gets money for his contribution).

Please also understand that when you have a TV show, there are many factors that influence what gets broadcast, and you can’t attribute everything to decisions made by the star. Sometimes producers and network executives insist on things being done a certain way because it’s easier or they think it will grab headlines and win audience share. Sometimes in such discussion, you will be shocked and saddened to hear, ethical considerations are perhaps not given due prominence.

22

Wait a minute… So you’re saying that Criss Angel doesn’t have magical powers, but instead uses tricks to create the appearance that he does?? What a scandal!! This should be on the front page of every newspaper in the world!!

I don’t know what we’d do without you freedumb2003.

23

Don’t be sil, BA! Who on earth would ever make such a statement…

hh

24

So when Jesus turned water into wine, it was just a parlor trick?

25

It’s nice to know that somebody can have absolute certainty of what ‘magic’ is and that it does not exist!

26

He’s not a magician but he is a sufficiently advanced technologist. :slight_smile:

27

No, it was just a story.

:slight_smile:

28

I appreciate your knowledgeable contribution. :cool:

I’d just like to add (from what I’ve seen) that when Criss Angel does ‘small’ street magic like making a coin pass into a soda can, he does it very well (including the patter and showmanship).
However his ‘big’ street illusions (like walking across a swimming pool, levitating between buildings and passing through a shop window) involve:

  • extensive location preparation
  • having everyone in shot be a shill

I feel uneasy about this. If the camera shows a crowd on a street gasping in amazement, then I want them to be real people who have been fooled, not a bunch all working for the magician.

29

It might be instructive to consider Angel’s magic performances on his
television show, “Mindfreak” in comparison to the performances of other
magicians on television. Up until “Mindfreak”, with a few exceptions, the
integrity of the magic was a very important aspect of its presentation on
television.

Since we all know that anything is possible on film or tape, for magic
to work in these formats, there has to be an trust between the performer and
the viewing audience that what they are seeing on their screen is exactly what
they would have seen if they were there in the flesh.

In the early days of television, variety shows presented the top magicians of
the day performing the acts that they had honed to perfection through hundreds
of live performances. No video trickery was required to make these miracle
workers look good. Mark Wilson came along in the early 60’s (late 50’s maybe,
to lazy to check) with his kid’s show, “The Magic Land of Alakazam” which
featured lots of magic in every episode, including many illusions created
specifically for the show. Everything done on the show could be performed live
(and much of it has in the years since) without the benefit of any television
trickery.

In 1974, Canadian magician Doug Henning had a hot Broadway show, “The Magic
Show” which landed him a television special in 1975. The special featured many
illusions, large (a water cabinet escape) and small (the vanishing of a nickle
from Henning’s hand, shot in close-up with no edits) all done live.

Several more annual television specials from Henning and later David
Copperfield followed and they all carried the disclaimer, usually spoken by a
show’s guest or a narrator at the top of the show, that all the magic that the
home viewer was seeing was accomplished without the aid of any video trickery
and that we were seeing exactly what we would have seen if we were there live.

Having knowledge of magic and a little about television production, I can vouch
that, with the exception of a few dodges by Copperfield in his later specials,
this was true.

Which brings us to Criss Angel and “Mindfreak”. First of all, notice that
unlike almost all televised magic shows until now, “Mindfreak” doesn’t have a
disclaimer that guarantees its viewers that everything they are seeing is
happening exactly as it would be seen if the viewer were at the taping. Of
course, it’s magic and it’s showbiz, so they could say that, but they
should get credit for not doing so. Because a large percentage of the magic you
see on an average “Mindfreak” episode is television magic. I define television
magic as magic effects that require judicious camera placement or movement to
mask surreptitious activity that one would see if one were at the taping.
Editing of events. Use of the nature of video to mask methods. Digital
manipulation of video images. I consider these tactics to be a violation of the
trust between the magic performer and his audience and I have seen them all
used multiple times on “Mindfreak” episodes.

So while it may be true that Criss Angel can perform magic well to a live
audience, do not assume that anything you see on “Mindfreak” is evidence of
that.

30

At first I though ‘Mindfreak’ was amazing.
Then when the tricks were explained by the TV show featuring the Masked Magician, I was irritated.
Anyone could have done most of the tricks with no preparation or skill.

31

Agh. I can’t believe I’m standing up for magicians. My father is a magician; I grew up as an assistant in his shows, and learned the ins and outs of the trade. I now *hate *magic, and don’t enjoy watching it performed by anyone, ever, in large part because I either know how it’s done or can make an educated guess. But the one thing I do still appreciate is the preparation and skill it takes to perform magic well.

Years ago, at a magic convention, I saw the Pendragons perform “Metamorphosis”: the magician ties up the assistant in some fashion, then throws the assistant in a box, locks the box, climbs on top of the box, holds up a curtain, and when the curtain drops, the assistant is standing on the box and the magician is inside. It’s an easy trick, and everyone at the convention had seen it a million times, and knew exactly how it’s done. But the Pendragons did it so well, and so fast, that they got a standing ovation. They made it actually seem magical.

Then there was the guy who did close-up routines (sleight of hand, card tricks, etc.) despite having lost two fingers on one hand in an accident. He was always surrounded by a group of magicians going, “I know how he must be doing it, but goddamn it if I can see it happening!”

It’s like the difference between the average schmoe plinking out notes on a piano and a concert pianist performing. It’s not the hitting of the keys that’s entertaining, but the skill involved.