Shay Kahn on Rolex, Backlash, Paid Demos and the Mentalism Community

This one goes deep, and I'll be honest, it was partly selfish. I've been struggling with how you put actual meaning into magic without it becoming meaning for the sake of it. So I got Perseus Arkomanis on to help me work it out, and hopefully help some of you along the way. Thank you to my sponsor Abracircle. They create amazing websites for magicians. I'm very grateful for their support, so please click on the link and have a look. https://www.abracircle.website/steve-faulkner-podcast-promo We get properly into the weeds. Perseus talks about the moment he realised that between tables everyone was commenting on how funny he was and nobody was commenting on the magic, and the conscious decision to ban himself from jokes in the first five minutes. Terrifying, in his words. He talks about being asked "why are we demonstrating this?" about one of his own routines and having no real answer, and how that one conversation changed his whole approach. There's a lot in here about themes, about scripting, about jazzing, about leaving your ego at the door when people give you feedback, and about the difference between what he calls rollercoaster or firecracker magic and something that actually lands. If you've ever looked at Perseus's material and thought this isn't really for me, that was me too. It really is. Have a listen and see what you think. Perseus's stuff: orionmagicproductions.com His latest release, The Resonance, is a video of his lecture recorded in Vienna with extra material added. Genuinely a bargain for what you learn. Get it here  Newsletter: https://stevefaulkner.com/newsletter Online Magic membership: https://www.onlinemagic.co Steve on Instagram: @stevefaulkner Real Magic Review on Instagram: @realmagicreview Thanks to Stuart Davis for editing. Apologies for a bit of background noise on this one, houses have things happening in them. Stuart worked wonders. 

I've been trying to get Peter Nardi on for ages, and when we finally sat down we just started talking and hit record to see where it went. No plan, no structure, and it turned into one of the most open conversations I've had on here. Peter built Alakazam from a bloke ordering tricks nobody else could get, off the back of daily lunch breaks at Davenports in Charing Cross, into one of the biggest magic companies in the world. We go right back to that, the £100 a week dream, building the first website out of a Programming for Dummies book, and the morning he rang up a brand new job and said he wasn't coming in. But the bit that really stayed with me is him admitting that for six or seven years before lockdown, the passion had gone. Coming in, watching the clock, going home. And how his son Harry stepping up brought that energy back into the building and into him. We also get into what a magic shop actually is to people, why customers ring up to tell Harry their parents have died, magicians who feel the need to prove how clever they are by calling out a double lift in the comments, why old tricks are not worse tricks, and Peter's genuinely brilliant method for getting through an eight hour download without losing your mind. Plus a confession from me about a box of Alakazam review copies I've been sitting on for four years. Alakazam Magic: alakazammagic.com Thank you to my sponsor Abracircle. They create amazing websites for magicians. I'm very grateful for their support, so please click on the link and have a look. https://www.abracircle.website/steve-faulkner-podcast-promo   Newsletter: https://stevefaulkner.com/newsletter Online Magic membership: https://onlinemagic.co Steve on Instagram: @stevefaulkner Real Magic Review on Instagram: @realmagicreview

Arthur Benjamin is a mathematician. When I tell people that, I watch their eyes glaze over a little, and I get it, because that was me too, until I saw him perform at a convention years ago and it became one of the most entertaining things I've ever watched live. Thank you to my sponsor Abracircle. They create amazing websites for magicians. I'm very grateful for their support, so please click on the link and have a look. https://www.abracircle.website/steve-faulkner-podcast-promo We talk about how a kid who did children's magic shows in Cleveland, Ohio ended up as a professor doing mental math as performance, why his father telling him "that might be more entertaining than the fake mind reading stuff" changed the direction of his whole career, and his friendship with James Randi, who genuinely helped launch his career after being won over by logic puzzles at a magicians' convention in the early 80s. He teaches me the doomsday algorithm live on the podcast, a genuinely simple method for working out the day of the week for any date this year, and by the end of it I actually knew my birthday would fall on a Monday. If you've ever thought you're "not a numbers person," this conversation will quietly take that belief apart. We also talk about growth mindset, why one bad maths teacher can shape your whole relationship with a subject for life, and his brand new off-Broadway show, That Math Show, running in New York until 16th August 2026. Genuinely one of my favourite conversations. Have a listen. That Math Show tickets: https://thatmathshow.com (running until 16th August 2026) Secrets of Mental Math (book, audiobook, video course): search Arthur Benjamin on Audible or thegreatcourses.com New book, How to Win: out October 2026 Newsletter: https://stevefaulkner.com/newsletter Online Magic membership: https://onlinemagic.co Steve on Instagram: @stevefaulkner Real Magic Review on Instagram: @realmagicreview

Episode two of the WafflePod, and a heads up before you start, this one cuts off abruptly. We forgot to hit record again after a break and lost the last five minutes. You've got the meat of it though. Me and Toby get properly into it this time. We start on ADHD, why it seems to follow performers and magicians around, whether that's genuine or just the algorithm showing us more of our own kind, and Toby's own experience of trying to get a diagnosis while living the classic pattern of hyperfocus, distraction and deadline panic. Then we get into the actual craft. Why the first time you perform something new is always going to be rough, and why that's fine. Why perfectionism has to come after performing, not before. And a proper deep dive into Bankable by Eric Stevens, the trick, the gag at the end, and why comedy timing in magic is so often the difference between a trick landing and dying, even when the trick itself is strong. There's a great bit in here about framing a moment, letting a beat breathe before you move on, and why doing too much too fast means an audience never gets to actually enjoy what just happened. If you do any kind of performing, there's a lot in this one. Bankable by Eric Stevens: [Trick Trick Boom link] Newsletter: https://stevefaulkner.com/newsletter Online Magic membership: https://onlinemagic.co Steve on Instagram: @stevefaulkner Toby on Instagram: @toby__davies Real Magic Review on Instagram: @realmagicreview  

Every time Jack Rhodes sits down with me, something seismic has happened. First podcast he was on a career break wondering if he should quit his engineering job. Second time he'd just done BGT and was about to become a dad. This time he's a dad, he's finished a full UK tour, he's headlined the Opera House at Blackpool in front of 3,000 people twice in one night, and he's independently written, performed, directed and edited his own special, which comes out on YouTube on the 17th of July.   Thank you to my sponsor Abracircle. They create amazing websites for magicians. I'm very grateful for their support, so please click on the link and have a look. https://www.abracircle.website/steve-faulkner-podcast-promo   We talk about all of it. What it actually felt like to do the Opera House after the Circle Hall went so well the year before, and why it landed differently. The nightmare 30 minutes before the Leeds show when the sound didn't work and he was screaming internally. Cutting 20 minutes out of a show he'd spent two years writing. The rule he's set for the next show: nothing where he dies a little inside while doing it. And why the cups and balls routine that magicians loved didn't work for normal people at all. We also get into using editing as a tool to develop live material, the sound wave trick for finding dead spots in a show, work-life balance when your studio is at home and you've got a one-year-old, and what the come-down after BGT actually felt like. And yes, David Blaine was at Blackpool specifically to see his show. That's not a small thing. Jack's special: Out 17th July on YouTube. Search Jack Rhodes or find him at jackrodes.net The book (few copies left): jackrodes.net/book Newsletter: https://stevefaulkner.com/newsletter Online Magic membership: https://onlinemagic.co Steve on Instagram: @stevefaulkner Real Magic Review on Instagram: @realmagicreview Thanks to Stuart Davis for editing.   

Jason Bird has been doing close-up magic professionally for a long time. He's worked cruise ships, corporates, walk-around events, and now he's building a parlour show on the east coast. And somewhere in between all of that, he sat down and wrote a book. Thank you to my sponsor Abracircle. They create amazing websites for magicians. I'm very grateful for their support, so please click on the link and have a look. https://www.abracircle.website/steve-faulkner-podcast-promo   Strolling for Dollars kept popping up on my Facebook feed and I'll be honest, I nearly dismissed it as just another ad. Then a couple of people I respect told me to actually read it. So I did. And it's a proper book. Well written, genuinely useful, and honest in a way that a lot of magic business advice simply isn't. We talk about all of it. The first table nerves that never quite go away no matter how long you've been doing this. Why the last five minutes of a gig matter as much as the first. How to reset your energy mid-event and why most magicians don't. The business side, contracts, email scripts, what to say when you walk in, what to do when it goes wrong. And his favourite line from the whole book, good magic leads to more magic, which is worth the price of admission on its own. We also get into the drone trick, which completely fooled me, cruise ships versus corporate work, and why he eventually decided to write everything he knew down rather than keep it to himself. If you do close-up work at any level, this is worth your time. Get the book: https://jasonbird.store Pro Gig Toolkit: https://jasonbird.store Jason's main site: https://jasonbirdproductions.com Walk Around Warriors Facebook group: search Walk Around Warriors on Facebook Newsletter: https://stevefaulkner.com/newsletter Online Magic membership: https://onlinemagic.co Steve on Instagram: @stevefaulkner Real Magic Review on Instagram: @realmagicreview

This one was a real treat. I sat down with Dave Loosley, the mind behind The Creative Compendium, and we got stuck into one of my favourite subjects: creativity, and how you actually turn a vague idea in your head into something that works in the real world and is a joy to perform. Thank you to my sponsor Abracircle. They create amazing websites for magicians. I'm very grateful for their support, so please click on the link and have a look. https://www.abracircle.website/steve-faulkner-podcast-promo Dave's one of those people who'll tell you he isn't the most creative person in the room, then quietly explain a way of thinking that completely reframes how you make magic your own. We get into the difference between creativity and originality, why a deadline unlocks more than it kills, sitting on an idea for months until it suddenly clicks, and that maddening thing where the answer only arrives the second you give up. From there it wanders off into paper balls over the head, Slydini, Armando Lucero, the eight ball routine he won the Magic Circle with, his Blackpool book launch, and the daft little rituals we both use to get our heads on before a gig. The Gladys moment alone is worth the listen. If you're a magician, get the book. It's slim, and there's more in it than books five times the size. And if you ever get the chance to see Dave lecture, take it. Links The Creative Compendium: https://www.daveloosleymagic.co.uk/shop Dave's new trick, Mystique: https://alakazam.co.uk/products/mystique-pro-by-dave-loosley Dave online: https://www.daveloosleymagic.co.uk/ Newsletter (where I let you know when things drop): https://stevefaulkner.com/newsletter Online Magic membership: https://onlinemagic.co Steve on Instagram: @stevefaulkner Real Magic Review on Instagram: @realmagicreview YouTube https://youtube.com/realmagicreview Steve Faulkner Podcast  https://stevefaulkner.podbean.com Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-steve-faulkner-podcast/id1484648736 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0cyct7IuLFX9JWysXzlMj3?si=dbIwKjY1Ta-d2gPBjMjk_Q

This week it's me and Toby Davis getting stuck into the most talked-about release in magic right now: Shay Kahn's Rolex System. A thousand dollars for a PDF, no trailer, no performance to watch, and a wave of online backlash that got pretty heated. So we sat down and actually talked about it properly, instead of joining the pile-on. Is it a scam, or a serious professional tool that just got marketed badly? We take the price out of it and look at what you're really paying for when you buy a method, why a PDF feels cheap when a book doesn't, and whether any of us should be weighing in on things we haven't even seen. From there it wanders, as these things do, into getting outraged online, undervaluing your own work, and a few stories from Toby's years editing behind the scenes for some big names. Honest, unscripted, no hype. Two people who love this stuff talking it out. Have a listen and let us know what you reckon. We'll be answering comments and emails on the next one. Links Newsletter (everything goes live here first): https://stevefaulkner.com/newsletter  Online Magic membership: https://onlinemagic.co Watch on YouTube: https://YouTube.com.realmagicreview Steve on Instagram: @stevefaulkner Real Magic Review on Instagram: @realmagicreview Toby on Instagram: @toby__davis  

Henry Harrius joins me for one of my favourite conversations in a long time. We talk about creativity, burnout, exposure culture, social media magic, performing casually vs professionally, Rubik’s Cubes, Shin Lim, Juan Tamariz, David Copperfield, and what “real magic” actually feels like. Thank you to my sponsor Abracircle. They create amazing websites for magicians. I'm very grateful for their support, so please click on the link and have a look. https://www.abracircle.website/steve-faulkner-podcast-promo Henry opens up about the pressure of running HH Presents, having dozens of projects in development at once, and why he believes magicians often forget the feeling that made them fall in love with magic in the first place. This one goes far beyond tricks and releases. It’s really a conversation about artistry, identity, performance and reconnecting with wonder. I loved this chat, and I think you will too. Check out Henry’s work: https://www.hhpresents.com Join my newsletter: https://www.stevefaulkner.com/newsletter My membership: https://www.onlinemagic.co Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stevefaulkner Real Magic Review: https://www.youtube.com/@RealMagicReview Thanks to Stuart Davies for editing. If you enjoy the podcast, please consider sharing it or leaving a 5-star review. It genuinely helps.

Thank you to my sponsor Abracircle. They create amazing websites for magicians. I'm very grateful for their support, so please click on the link and have a look. https://www.abracircle.website/steve-faulkner-podcast-promo There’s been a huge amount of discussion surrounding the release of The Rolex System by Shay Kahn. A $1000 PDF. Paid demonstrations at Blackpool. Claims of it being revolutionary. Claims of it being a scam. Rather than speculate, I wanted to sit down with Shay and let him explain things in his own words. We talk about: the thinking behind Rolex why it was priced the way it was the backlash from the magic community Vanishing Inc taking the product down paid demos at Blackpool propless mentalism performance philosophy psychic entertainment and how the whole experience affected him personally This is not a review of Rolex. It’s simply an open conversation. As always, make your own mind up.