February 26, 2020 • 39 mins
In this episode,we get to know Michael Carbonaro of the Carbonaro Effect, appropriately named after the multi faceted Entertainer. We dive deep into the world of magic and comedyand how his love for both led him to success in the world of entertainment. To say I am now a huge fan is a wild understatement. Not only were we all laughing throughout the interview, he gave such raw and real insight into a world most of us cannot even fathom attempting to conquer. Conquer he has in his very own way, pioneering and reinventing every step of the way. I cannot wait to see him on tour... he better pick me to come up on stage.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Behind the Influence, a production of I Heart
Radio and TDC Media. The greatest thing I had heard
recently was like things you're curious about? Instead of like
what are you passionate about? It's passionate sort of fleeting.
It's like I'm passionate about this, and then tomorrow like, man,
I was not passionate about it, but like, what are
you curious about? Like you know what I'd like to see?
Like maybe be kind of cool if wouldn't it be neat?
I wonder if like all those thoughts will lead you
(00:23):
to your destiny. I came in to meet him and
he was like, oh my gosh, Michael Carbinar, Oh, I
love your show. And I was like, whoa I have
like a name and how like he knows me. I
find that the best, most genuine stuff really is the
stuff that just kind of rings in your heart that
you're like, I'd like to do this, or maybe I
would like to do this. I think this might be neat.
(00:44):
You've got to follow that. He's a magician, he's a comedian,
he's an all around entertainer of people. Michael Carbonaro is
in the house. Welcome, well, no, you welcome So what
came first for you? Magic or comedy? Magic? But first
first with special effects. Know, like I was really into
special effects and makeup as a kid, like maybe thirteen
years old. I mean I was doing I did magic
(01:06):
earlier than that, Like when I was like eight, I
played with tricks and stuff. But when I was like,
I want to when I grow up, I want to
be a special effects makeup artist for the movies. I
was sure of it. And I just loved horror. I
loved makeup and Halloween and special effects, and that was it.
Tom Savini, who was a makeup artist who did like
Friday the Thirteenth and Creep Show, he had a book
on on special effects makeup that was that was literally
(01:27):
like my very first I call it my first magic
book because it's the same. There's like so many special
effects tricks that are tricks, you know, movie tricks and
especially older movies where was all practical effects, where it
wasn't computer generated, so you had to like pull off
these tricks and gags and he would he would speak
like a magician and the effect, and I learned magic
and special effects were sort of like the same thing.
(01:47):
So I was sure I was going to do. It
was buying special effects supplies that a local magic shop.
I also was watching Copper Fields. It was kind of
layering and I started like buying some tricks and watching
the magicians there, and I found my love performing through magic.
So special effets is sort of even though magic is
sort of dorky. You're alone, learning things yourself a lot,
practicing in front of the mirror and and stuff. But
(02:09):
special effects is very you know, isolated. It's a solid
you know, you're in the basement planning with clay and
it's just meditative. But with magic, you're out there performing
for somebody to get a reaction, and it starts to
turn into a relationship and it's like, oh, that's where
I discovered why I really like entertaining. So it really
went from like like the Grand Scheme and went from
(02:30):
like special effects to magic, which brought me to performing.
Went to n Yu thinking I was going to be
the next David Copy. The way you and Hyu is incredible, Tish,
I mean like, no, bless you, bless you, bless you,
bless you? Okay, so I rudely interrupted you, So then
y you and why you? I went to n Yu
(02:51):
just with the thoughts of becoming the next David Copperfield,
and I found my love of acting and even serious acting.
Was like, oh, I want to be like Johnny Depp,
like those really by the way, excellent, thank you. And
so then I was like, okay, no special effects, no magic,
I want to be an actor. And then I was like,
and I started doing stand up too, so we want
(03:12):
to be comedy like doing comedy acting but also serious acting.
I want to do both, like a Johnny Tap kind
of guy. Like I was like, this is Tom Hanks
just like you know, yeah Tom Hanks because he's like
his early stuff super funny and goofy and nonety, but
then he gets into the serious stuff later. I'm like
and Robin Williams, a lot of the comedians are like
you know. So that was the plan. And then I
started to come I've always had like a love hate
(03:33):
relationship with magic where why because of the stigma? Yeah
it yeah, there was sort of like you know, you
can't go you go to like a I don't think
people really understood like he's a magician but he's also
an actor, or he's an actor and a magician. That
just seems like oh, because when you think a magician,
You think like a nerd and the you know uncle goofball. Yeah,
(03:55):
but I was a clown once, So I was performing
for like birthday parties at what age? That is so funny.
When I was eight, I made my parents pay me
to perform at my sister's fifth birthday party. What did
you do? I yelled at everyone the whole time, was
so mean. I dressed I dressed up like a clown,
(04:16):
and I like did this lollipop trick where they had
to guess which one had red marker on the bottom
and when the kid gets the wrong one, which I
don't know how that's magic, by the way, I yelled
at the kid and made them cry good. I was
st a kid's fingers on purpose. They were so mean.
Wait wait, wait you will hold on it look like
(04:39):
an accident. They were brutal. You just reminded me of
Ryan Reynolds for like two seconds and said I saw Deadpool.
But when you did it again, now you're doing but
it was like a Deadpool moment. You kind of resemble
him a little bit. So let me get this straight.
(05:01):
Brian Reynolds looks down to stop. You just made another
face like him. I'm leaving. Are you doing it on purpose?
You're a good actor. That's the bottom line. Hashtag hashtag.
I'm gonna use that in the show, Like if I
have a moment where I like and I'm getting an
executive producer credit, would you do that just for the hashtag?
(05:21):
Though the rest of the show you can have cool?
Who else do you get? Dave Chappelle? Speaking of Dave
of Chappelle, someone on the TV show one time, I
was sure they knew who I was because I'm doing
a hidden camera show and she was like talking to
me and she's like, I know you, I know you.
You have a show, You're Ler, You're Dave. And I'm
like no, She's like I know this show. I'm like Dave.
She's like Chappelle, No way. She didn't think I was
(05:43):
Dave Chappelle. She just confused the name. Somebody was that
his name is Dave. Say hi Dave. No, my name
is Stewart. Oh my god, nice to meet you. Who
am I? Who is Dave? I can't believe this. I
(06:04):
can't believe what can't you believe? Am I? Somebody who
knows you? Do? My name is not Dave, It's David something.
I'm going to show you something that and you'll know
what show it is. I don't show it is. It's
the Magic Show. What's it called. It's Dave the Dave
(06:27):
Chappelle's Chappelle Show, Magic, the Dave Chappelle Magic Show. That's me.
That is me in my hometown right here, in your hometown.
Right How many people can say I have had the
Dave Chappelle Magic Show in my local library. I'm having
a hot flash speaking of David, Sir, Dave of Chappelle,
(06:50):
how's he doing? Your buddy? Here's my buddy. Yeah, I
don't even know. I've heard from an years I was
on Hello, That's a big deal. Was that? Would you
call that one of your big brains? Uh? No, I
don't think. Do you, like, look back on your career,
what was the moment you were like I can actually
do this and make a lot of money and be
really successful. You had to have it like a moment.
(07:11):
The moment where I felt like I was like, oh
my god, I think I made it was when Peter Weller,
who was directing an episode of Rush Hour, which is
this TV show, and I'm like, oh my god, RoboCop
is directing this episode and I'm going to be I
had a part on the show. I got cast and
I came in to meet him and he was like,
oh my gosh, Michael Carbono, I love your show. And
(07:32):
I was like, my show, that's really cool. I was like, whoa,
I have like a name in Hollywood, like he knows me.
That was it And I had already had the show
for years, but it was but it was just that
because it was the two worlds kind of coming together.
I was like kind of in this little, you know,
bucket of doing the TV show, and then there was
also my like Hollywood, you know, acting roles that were
(07:53):
like on hold in a different bucket. So when I
came back to that and he knew that and I
kind of realized that crossover, it was really essently he
said my last name came out of his mouth. It
wasn't like, oh, oh yes, right, I've heard of you.
It was like, Michael Carbonaro, I love your show. I
was like, whoa, that's a moment that was there. Yeah,
that's a moment for sure. So piggybacking off of what
you just said, like you have different worlds, right, like
(08:16):
you know, I'm okay, Well, I can't do it. I'm
gonna stop trying. Let's keep going down your journey. Right,
So you had that big moment you finally realize this
is really real? Right then? Why? Yeah? And I still
I still don't know if I quite really, but people
(08:38):
recognize you everywhere, I'm sure. So you go from one
day having this great show, because I mean, at the
end of the day, there's a lot of people with
great shows, but unfortunately it's really hard to make it
on television. But you have, right, So do you know,
like when you're saying that, I'm even like, really, I swear,
I'm just but going out on tour and seeing them
people at the meet and Green when they out and
(09:00):
they're talking about how much they love the show and
they watch it with their families and they've been watching
it for so long, and they're like naming things that
I've said, and I'm like, WHOA. I like starting to
really feel that what is sort of like a kind
of a cultural impact. And I'm like, you know, when
when I see the little kids who send me stuff
like my kid got into magic as you, I'm like,
what that was me with Copperfield. So it really but
(09:21):
that's the thing that I really love about you too,
is that you've kind of made I was contemplating not
even saying this because I didn't want you to think that.
I think magic is not cool, but you've kind of
made it cool again, do you take offense to that, like, yeah,
it's great, Yeah I think that. Yeah, and it needs it.
You've made it fun and cool and edgy. Magic has
(09:42):
a stigma for sure. And the thing about magic is
it is a little it is dorky, you know. And
there are a lot of bad magicians, much the same
as there are you know, bad everything, bad singers, bad
you know, artists, bad actors. But with magicians, a lot
of people kind of get their first their first impression.
Like you don't see a magician all the time, so
like maybe someday you saw a magician performing, they were terrible,
(10:04):
and then that's your view of magicians forever, because it's
just like how the terrible prejudice human brain works. But
like you know, there have been some magicians along the
way they really have brought, you know, a level of artistry.
And but there's so many, so few there are so
can you name? I mean you can name, but I
can name maybe two who can you name? Is Chris Angel?
(10:26):
And what's the other guy? That? Just um, David Copperfield.
That's it, right? And what do you when you think
of them, you think of them as what as Vegas performers,
Vegas performers, like literally, that's why I think unfiltered, like
like magical commercial faces, like when you think of like
famous famous modern musicians Michael Carboner, Right, thank you, that's
(10:49):
the only one. No, But seriously, like I think you're
really doing something very different and you've created your own
lane for yourself, Like I don't I can't compare you
to any other comedian or any other magician. Was there
a moment in your career because obviously right now you're
really really successful, but there had to be a day
that you were like, I don't think this is for me.
I want to quit because it's a brutal industry. Like
(11:11):
it's not easy, especially when you're creating your own brand
or lane. Nobody knows what to think of you or
what bucket to put you in every other day. Really,
that's an honest answer. Yeah, I could never get away
from it because I love performing and when I'm on
stage and I'm like having that vibe with the crowd
and shooting energy out and it's shooting back and it
(11:33):
turns into that perfect kind of show where we're on
a ride together. I go like complete zen, and I'm
like this, I never want to do anything else in
my entire life. So you know, I fantasize about like
hiding on Vermont and like painting contact lenses because you know,
they still paint contact lenses for the movies, Like those
horror contact lens are still hand painted, and I'm like
obsessed with contact lenses and like how they paint them
for the movies. Um, And I'm like, I'm going to
(11:55):
hide in Vermont and lead the business and just paint
contact lenses. Why do you want that? Because it's too
chaotic or because it's overwhelming or there's a shitty day. Well,
what's the reason behind wanting to hide away? Yeah, all
of those things have come into play with wanting to
hide away, and and maybe even the momentum has gotten No.
I came into doing the show and having this fame
(12:18):
way after I had already accepted that it wasn't going
to happen. Really, like I really finally was like I
moved out to l a wanted to be an actor.
Came out to l A from New York to just
kind of drop magic and really focus on acting. But
then I got into the Castle, and you know, then
I was on the Tonight Show and that Magic became big,
and then I was on the Tonight Show, he says,
So casually Magic was being on the Tonight Show, and
(12:44):
Magic sort of just started working in a way that
was great. And but before that I had come out
to l I was getting guest stars on different TV shows,
and I was married. I wasn't married yet, but I
was with my husband, my now husband, but we had
been together for almost seven years. And I was like,
I kind of had that mental moment where I was like,
you know, we're just living in an apartment. He's an actor,
(13:04):
I'm an actor. I'm like, I like this life. Like
if I don't ever get anywhere else other than this,
this is awesome. So you're willing to be like, I
don't care if it doesn't work out a lot of
my life. That's a good place to they say, that's
when when you kind of surrender, that's when it all happens. Yeah,
And I think I was able to make a lot
of decisions because there was like, you know, the popularity
(13:25):
me being on the Tonight Show and what I was
doing was like I got a lot of offers in
a lot of different directions of like to have my
own show. It's a big deal. Yeah, it was huge.
But I was able to say no just to a
lot of things that I definitely had to say no
to that Like five years earlier, I would have been like, sure, great,
let's do it right now, Let's do it no matter what.
But I'm like, no, I don't think I'm gonna have
control enough on that, or I don't think that's going
(13:47):
to happen right. Let me just and nothing else on
the table. I'd be like, no, but that's not it.
That's such a good place to be because I feel
like they know when you're desperate, you know, yeah, yeah,
you can feel it and smell it and taste it
and feel it so refreshing. Again, where do we go
(14:11):
from here? Okay, so I want to know how you
got your show. Tell me about the moment you got
that phone call, because I had to be surreal. I know,
I know, I'm it's like there, I think you're assuming that.
It was like, oh my god, I got a show
kind of a moment. It was a lot different than that.
It was very like I had already all right, So
when I'm when I was on the Tonight Show, I
was doing these segments of hidden camera magic, and each
one of them was about, you know, four minutes long,
(14:34):
and putting them together was brutal. It was really hard
to come up with that kind of material that was
gonna work and fly and be able to tape and
put it on the show. And every time I had
to do a new segment, it was like Fregey to doodle,
Holy Di Coke, How am I gonna stop it? Really? Again?
It was really hard to make those segments. So when
(14:54):
it came to be that it was going to be
a TV show of this ILK, I was immediately like,
how am I possibly gonna make like a number of
episodes of this kind of material? This is going to
be really hard. And so when we were going to
do the pilot of the show, it was called like,
you know, the pilot was happening, and I was excited,
but I was also like, how am I gonna pull out?
(15:15):
How am I going to get and and shooting the pilot?
How am I going to make enough materials to do
this pilot. Is it gonna work? Is it gonna work
as a TV show? And shooting the pilot pilot full episode, Yeah,
it all, it all kind of like it all overlapped,
like it was like, you know, True TV was like,
let's have you do a pilot and see what happens.
But before we even aired the pilot, they triggered thirteen
more episodes. Yeah, well yeah, but like a hundred meetings
(15:40):
later probably right, no, no, no, So you've got it kid,
Thanks ma'am, Thanks miss I. The shooting the pilot was
a brutal, awful, horrible, probably the worst week of my life.
I had a horrible time in Georgia shooting. It was
just tumultuous, so much pressure, just everyone's wondering if it's
(16:00):
gonna work, including me probably more than anyone else. And
I hated it. And I was like calling Peter, my husband,
like every day and I'm like, this is terrible. I
don't ever want to do this. This is just not
so was it just the pressure? Did you not like
were you did you have creative control in anyway? Oh? Tons, Yeah.
They were really great with that. I mean it was
they really saw what I was doing, and we're like,
(16:22):
do you keep doing that? You know, like so, but
but but and it looked it's like a long road
too simple with anything, right, Like with anything, it's a
really long hard road to make a very simple thing.
And when it's done, it just looks clean and easy
and simple. And especially because I'm doing tricks that look
really simple, someone comes in with their cell phone and
I shake it and like you know, a bug flies
out of their cell phone and they're like, oh bug, cellphone. Easy.
(16:43):
He could do it. He's a magician. And you're like
that took forever to figure that out and come up
with it and then figure out how to you know,
like it's tricks I've never done before. So each moment
was it was tough. It wasn't like just writing lines
memorizing them in comedy, like the manipulation that went along
with it, the concept. So now it's you're in a way,
you're acting like you're totally acting, not even in a way.
(17:04):
But then there's comedic timing too. It's not just like
you were doing everything, every everything, everything has to come
in with like the complete reality for that person that
this is actually happening. By the way encounter. How do
some of these people believe this stuff? Like there was
a one that a fish came out of a fish
stick or something, and I was like, how does she
actually believe that? She was like inspecting is any of this?
(17:27):
We I won't tell anyone. It's never been faked ever,
Always a real unsuspecting person being fooled by And all
bets are off with how I fool them, But they're
being fooled like I will fool them however I need to.
But that is a real unsuspecting person. And you can
tell alive. No, I think it's moving around. We don't
(17:52):
want to be serving. I'm okay, I understood, understood, all right.
So they said it's a real fresh Yeah, shut the up, man,
come on, are you kidding me? Come on? The thing
is freaking alive. I think that's a catfish. It's it's
(18:14):
like weaving them into it. It's like you can't and
we That's sort of the trick is how do you
do the tiny little thing you know that gets them like,
oh that's weird. And if that can happen, then the
bigger thing happens. Oh my god, now that happened, like
the fishick wiggles a little on the plate. You're like,
what did you see that move like that? That is
so weird? Why that move? And then you break it
and the fish comes out and I'm shocked right there
(18:35):
in front of you. You know it. Why wouldn't that
Initially you'd be like, what the hell? Has there ever
been a situation where it's backfired where somebody got pissed?
Or like, we've some of the pranks up and I
hate the word prank. Prank sounds mean you know, like
someb some of the yeah, the artistic illusion set ups,
(18:56):
some of the tricks. Some of them will like if
we bring someone in who's like some of them, I like,
will hire people out from like a temp agency. We'll
call it be like, oh, can you have someone commit
and be a receptionist for me? And they'll committed a receptionist,
and then this thing just has to have, you know,
starts to happen and then I reveal like, oh, you know,
this was a show. And usually it's great, but sometimes
(19:16):
if you get that like like somewhere over forty year
old person who was like working at a temp agency
that doesn't want to be working at a temp agency
and now they're like putting in a situation where on
a TV show they're like I didn't want to be
on a TV show and you're like, got it, no problem.
So then they don't sign and we don't know. So
it's just been talent basically, not nobody who you've I
don't want to say tricked. Well, there was a scam
(19:38):
when um it was too scary, Like a lot of
them get really scary, and I what was the scary one?
It was called raven Man. What did you do? Who
was that? An airport baggage claim late night? Okay, right right, yeah,
and the guy was coming in and that the premise
was that, like, you know, these bags haven't been claimed
in over three months, and if they don't get claimed
(19:59):
in over three months, we have to put them into
a warehouse and tag them and then if they come
in after a year, you know, they can still claim it.
So we're just going through and we opened up this
weird box that looks like it really kind of didn't
blow kind of it was sort of like that Transylvanian
like Dracula's coffin moment. It was like a wooden crate
and we heard like from inside and I opened it
(20:21):
up and there was a raven in there, like in
a cage. Were like, what the heck? No one picked
this up? What's I don't know about the animal? Like,
I gotta call the boss. This is crazy there, you
must be You're not even supposed to ship animals or
transport them this way. So then I left the room. Well,
the first step happened where we think like that it's
a do not feed on the raven's cage. And while
we were like filling out paperwork, and then we turned
(20:42):
back after hearing some scratching it like scratched out the
word not, so it was like do feed? Like did
he scratch that out? Is he trying to tell us
to feed him? Like? What's going on? Is he a
smart raven? I know they're smart, but did he did
he got ivy League school? Yes? So, um, he's fiic
tissue us. So then I leave, as I do, I'm sorry,
(21:04):
it's I leave, and the box starts to shake and
the front door flings open and the raven is vanished,
and in its place is a naked man right with
like big black weird eyes. Was he actually naked? Yes?
Along his body kind of like featherist junk, you know,
(21:27):
and he but and kind of like he looked scared
to be there and like came out of it. And
we've cast this amazing little dude and he was just
like perfect and he came out of the thing and
and ran off and people were freaked out. It just
looked like it it's like a shape shifting that clearly
this raven had turned into this man. It was a
raven man, clearly. Clearly, what else would you believe? Hey,
(21:51):
what the dude working out there as that thing didn't
Some dude just ran out of here. But oh, dude,
I'm telling you a guy just ran out of there,
freaked out, half naked, wearing a like loin cloth and
ran this way. Dude, I'm telling you, dude, sitting in
the kennel like this, a person looking very scared, naked
(22:17):
with like what looks like bird feathers on his junk
and just runs away. But one dude like picked up
and the dude we showed on TV like picked up
one of the stanchions and was going to like hit
the guy, get the back. I swear to god, Hey,
he broke out. It's a person. There's a naked man
out there. It was violent. He was scared. You do wait,
(22:37):
because there's got to be moments like that. What do
you do to security pop in? Well, we're like, don't
run towards the guy. Like when you pop out of
the box, run the other way. Don't run toward him.
If you run toward him, he's you know, you're he's
about to be killed by the raven man. What do
you do? You pick up a stanton the raven man.
That's what I always learned, Hit him in the nose,
and the raven man will run away. Been through that course,
(22:58):
um tickled raven man. All right, right, that sounds like
a novel to uh, let's write it. So the other
guy who had come to work that night with like
dress shoes was working with me, and when the raven
Man popped out, he shrieked like in a big dude.
It was funny as hell shrieked. But Rant just bolted
(23:22):
out into the first in the morning. Yeah, running in
the parking lot, across the pavement in the in the
darkness at two in the morning, and like, I'm like,
he's gonna slip with his shoes, you know, and fall
and hurt himself. Like this is dangerous and I pulled
the plug. Like we did it three times and I'm like,
it's getting progressively closer to We're very lucky something didn't happen,
(23:43):
and I'm like, let we have to stop. And then
you know, the producers were like come on, you know,
and I'm like, I just yeah, other ones, you know,
I don't mind freaking someone out, but that one was
just getting too physically violent, and yeah, so I pulled
the Okay. So what's your favorite your favorite episode or
not an episode, favorite segment within an episode. I think
(24:05):
my favorite one one of well, when the dude turned
to stone at a church. It was amazing. And we
found relic in a church and the guy like everything
I was touching with the relic turned to stone, like
the rag I was cleaning with it turned to stone.
And then this guy was holding it and he was
literally standing right next to this girl. And there's no way,
I mean, it could have happened. She just turned her
(24:26):
head for a second. When she turned back, he was
just right there, just stone. She's screwed. That was a
scary one too. That was just amazing. I love the
feeling of the story, like and someone you know you're
you're in a church and it's freaky and you find
a chalice and then it turned to and you just
find a challenge. Believe it, you know how it happens.
Another one was we uh, I grew a human head plant.
(24:47):
It was like a plant. It was like a pod
that like grew and it was a human head that
bloomed in this plem are saying I have not seen
and I'm really upset about it. We'll send them to you.
Oh great, I'm your best friend. Now. Yeah. There's another
one with a time capsule that we dug up a
time capsule and inside of it was like all of
this information that the person who dug it up with
me ended up believing that they wrote as a child.
(25:10):
Yes it was. They believe that it was from their classroom.
Like I was digging up the time capsule and exactly exactly.
We started digging it up, and I was like, oh
my god, I remember doing one of these time capsules
in school back when I was you know, back when
I was in elementary school. I'm like, did you ever
do one of those? Like no, I don't think I
don't remember. And I'm like, what school did you go to?
(25:31):
And it's like North Northfield Elementary. I'm like, okay, and
you know, we were there digging and we're like the
whole you know, and I just like casually started asking
him questions, like what you know they're getting there, They're
they're actually taking surveys. This is hard to explain it,
but like there, I was like, well, no, he's got
the pod in his hand already, the glass time capsule.
He was just dug up and I'm asking him questions.
(25:51):
I was like, you know, the reason why we're here
in the park today and we're clear excavating excavating it's
a yeah, we had to know. Um. I was because
they're gonna put a new monument here in the park
in Chicago. And I was like, and they're actually taking like,
you know, requests about who what figures would be kind
(26:12):
of cool in the park, you know, like what would
be cool. And this guy was like, you know, they
should put like a jet or something like an airplane
because they always have the air show in Chicago. Would
be really called have a big jet. And I'm like, oh,
that's cool. So he's in the middle of like opening
up this sealed pod while we're having this conversation, and loe, behold,
he pulls out these papers like that look like they're
from an elementary school class, and there it is Northfield
Elementary that was his school, with his name on this part.
(26:34):
And then and then it shows and it's like the
next picture is a crayon drawing of the two of
us digging up this time capsule. And then the next
page is the two of us in front of a
big jet monument in that park. And it was like,
that's what you just said should be in this park
was a jet? Like did you predict this as a kid,
And he's like, oh my god. Any well, human psychology
is crazy, Like you can't believe anything that people will
(26:54):
tell you. I know, it's terrifying. That's crazy. So when
you told him at the end, what did he say?
You know that one was the one, you know. And
there's always a little deflation when I tell them because
a lot of the times I'm orchestrating an amazing moment
of like magical coincidence or literally yeah. So there was
(27:16):
a real drop down when I he didn't want to believe.
Almost I wish I couldn't, you know, I could have
just not told him ever and be like, I have
a good day. You gotta get them to sign the paper. Okay,
So your show is doing really really well. For people
who have not checked it out, where can they find
the show? And then we're going to talk about your
tour just for a little bit. Um. It's on True TV.
(27:38):
It is called the Carbonaro Effect, and it's on True
TV a lot, by the way, So yes, so it is.
I hope you're making that coin oh man, Nope, but
I really just do it for the love of you know,
of course. But you can get it on iTunes. Amazon
has it right where can make the most money. Let's
(28:00):
tell them to go yeah, oh I sell it on
the corner of fountains and love it. Okay. So next year,
I'm all about putting things out into the universe. I
think it's already and you're already on tour and you
have a hundred shows, so I don't want to overwork you.
I think next year I'm putting it out there. You're
(28:21):
gonna have a Diet Coke tour that's going to pay
you one billion dollars. Thank you for putting it out
too big? Is that what they say? Whatever? You know
what I mean? Okay, where because oh nope, yep, Victoria
keeps trying. So let's just laugh at one of her things.
(28:47):
So I want to say, on track, we promise you'd
be out of here by three. Give a piece of
advice to litterally you are somebody who is trying to
follow in your footsteps. It's a hard industry. You have
broken so many barriers, you have created your own lane.
There's hard days, there's days people want to quit. What
do you say to that person today to have them
keep going and be in your position one day? Yeah,
(29:11):
stick to what you love and your gut on what
it is that moves you and that you're curious about,
because it starts to get like a lot of people
telling you what's working and a lot of opinions coming
into play. And I find that the best, most genuine
stuff really is this stuff that just kind of rings
in your heart that you're like, I would like to
(29:32):
do this, or maybe I would like to do this.
I think this might be neat. You've got to follow that, like,
follow all those leads toward it, and then the people
will be like, oh, yeah, that's that's what I meant
about that thing. Like, but you can kind of get
stuck getting guided from these outside voices, and you're kind
of and loose getting in tune with what that is
that you want to be doing in there. But the
(29:53):
greatest thing I had heard recently was like things you're
curious about? Instead of like what are you passionate about?
It's passionate, sort of fleeting. It's like I'm passionate about
this and tomorrow Like that was so passionate about it,
but like, what are you curious about? Like you know
what I'd like to see? Like maybe it be kind
of cool if wouldn't it be neat? I wonder if
like all those thoughts will lead you to your destiny. Yeah,
(30:18):
I have I have one more question than we're gonna
play an icebreaker really quick. But you can win an
Oscar for special effects? Okay, you can win an Emmy
for your show? Or can you get em? We haven't
been nominated for an Emmy, and you know, I think
they think it's fake, but it's not fake. Don't you agree?
(30:39):
We had a People's Choice nomination once critics it was
it was just important to be nominated by something. No,
that's amazing, that's amazing. Um, so you can have and
then what do people on tourquin or like that could
be fun a Broadway I'm coming up with it right now.
Bubbly it up. The Michael Carbonaro explains the universe. It's
(31:04):
just how the universe works. Secret time portals. I like
a big old Doug Henning kind of float and get
compressed into These are my dreams. Oh my god, I'm
so happy you're doing this, and I'm going to wear
a rainbow leotard. No, maybe you know, maybe the new
(31:24):
wave rainbow like that though. Okay, so what are you
what are you going to take a Tony for your
show and Emmy for your show? Oh my god, you
have many shows and then Oscar for special effects. That's
really hard because special I would go for the Tony
(31:45):
because I would, you know, like, if there's anything I
know I am, If it's like specialist, magician, actor, comedian,
what is it? It is entertainer. The tour show is
so much fun. It's great you come see me do
this stuff that I do on the TV show really
happening live. I think that even the biggest fans of
the show who watched the TV show like, but can
you really do things like that? If I was really
(32:05):
there and boom, I do. So I know that you
call people up on stage during your show? How do
you pick who you're who you're going to pick? How
do you pick who you're gonna bring people up? Yeah?
Because it's like the TV show. It's got that improvisational
fun and you never know exactly where it's going to
go when you have someone from the audience. But there's
like it's almost like a little instant casting session because
(32:26):
there's like different tricks that different people work better for.
Like I'm always picking like a kid for this one,
an adult guy for this one, and a lady for
this one, and you know, but how does that work?
Do you pick real time? Yeah? Really? What if you
get some like crazy? But that's part of it. You know.
Sometimes you get someone who's a dud so to speak,
and they're like not engage right, you know. But I
(32:47):
have really good luck and I have pretty good like instincts,
Like you can walk right out there into the crowd
and I'll walk amongst them and I'll just feel it.
And sometimes that person can come up and then they
get petrified and then that can you know. But even
like if I bring up kids, there's just one segmme,
I bring up two kids and if they like freeze up,
that can be really funny too, because it's just like, yeah,
everyone's laughing at that. You know, guys, he calls people
(33:10):
up on stage. You can touch him, you can smell
his musk. That's one of the that's an upgraded ticket
right there, the musk touching, musk sniffing segment. I would
go see you live. I mean some of the stuff
I was, I will there you go? When will you
be in l a for all the low parch a
dynasty typewriter? That is so soon? How many shows do
(33:32):
you find up? I just like this tour was like
a hundred This leg of the tour was like a
hundred gigs. And when do you sleep? Well? It's really Oh,
I know. Do you drink coke? I actually have diet
coke in my show right now? I do. I'm telling
you my live tour right now has diet coke. And
I thought you were joking, not joking. That's I swear.
(33:53):
I swear, and it's my favorite new trick in the show.
Hold on you. After all this diet coke talk and
hashtag spot on, I've been trying to tell you you
actually have a Diet Coke. Have a Diet Coke bit
in the show? Does he really? Okay? Manager has confirmed
I don't know, maybe I Coke. You call, Oh my god,
Diet Coke call him Hello, this is Diet Coke. He
(34:18):
actually they actually call even though this is recorded. Okay,
So where can people get tickets to your show? Michael
Carbonaro dot com spelled just like it sounds, Oh my god.
Um yeah, Ticketmaster has tons of the tour, but the
tours really you could find it on Michael Carbonaro dot
com and all my web stuff, which I'm like at
Carbonaro on Twitter and at Carbonaro on Instagram. You can
(34:41):
go to my bio and click right into the site. Alright, guys,
we're going to take an exclusive but refreshing break with
Diet Coke. And when I say break, I mean we're
literally going to break into Michael Carbonaro's film. How does
that sound a great? I've got some pictures to delete.
It feels well, You're gonna be really mad at me.
(35:04):
Last place you ordered from on Postmates? I did it
like last week. I think it was the Pressed Juicery.
Would you order? I ordered three day juice cleans. I
did three Day Green's Juice Clarence Last, why are you
doing that? Because I was like, I was like off
the gym thing, thank you, thank you, But it's a
it's just been a struggle. Did you do it? Yeah?
(35:27):
You're healthy. Yeah it looks like I am. You are Yeah,
but that's because we didn't go into like yelp. Okay,
last misscall a k who you sent a voice sail
Kyle Thomas. No, what I did? Miss? That was a
genuine miss. I bet it was. That was a genuine miss.
There's a bunch of numbers. I don't know that. There's
a lot of right over there. I know I'm getting
(35:48):
a lot of like calls from my hometown, Long Island,
and they don't leave messages. That's weird. It is Okay.
Last song you played on your phone? Okay? Oh boy,
oh Dream Warriors by Skin from Nightmare Now Street three.
But before that was Billie Eilish, So that's pretty hip.
You know this you want to hear. I'm just gonna
(36:12):
list this. This is my playlist. This was a jogging playlist.
Hazard by Richard Marks, California, Cation by the Red Hot
Chili Peppers, Midnight Train to Georgia Bury a friend and
then Dream Warriors. That was my run so so weird.
(36:33):
It was great, but it goes all over the place,
so you can you don't get like our enough Billy
Ellish running, you know, Eilish. First person in your favorites,
first person in my favorites? First, First of all, the
first part of my favorites is Matt Chick, who is
my like co creative partner. But and I'll say, the
(36:54):
first person in your favorites isn't kind of the easiest
one to call? Sort of in the middle is that?
Do you know that you're like, go to favorites? It's
like sometimes oh yeah, it's right in the middle of
your finger, doesn't middle one? I've got mom and Amelia's
Iran Brown? Okay, cool, Okay. Last person you texted? What
did you say? Okay? I said it says f me,
(37:15):
but it was it was about something else, like I
made a mistake. It was like, oh, f me was
the last text? Okay. Most recent incoming d M. My
friend Chad Sanborn, who works on the show, sent me
a video of a snake attacking a little kitten. Right now,
(37:35):
but what happens? What happens too? And a kitten lover,
kitten crazy, and then all of a sudden, the kitten's
face opens up and it's this weird like giant mouth,
and you realize that both the snake and the kitten
are actually hand painted like art. It's too it's too
human hands. Ye, it's called happy ending. You're uber rating, which,
(37:58):
by the way, is very shocking. Oh, okay, it's right there, food.
Thank You's I wonder what I got points off for? Okay,
last question, I'll stop torturing you. Most embarrassing app on
your phone. I have this relaxed yoga app. You make
your own yoga music. I don't do yoga, but you
can kind of build little soundscapes like you like add
(38:21):
bubbling water with the sound of a wind chime and
you mix them up yourself, because that's the world we
live in. Now, you're like, I'm going to control exactly
how the relaxation comes to me. Well, guys, I don't
know where to go from here. You can only go
up always. It was so fun having you on the show.
Thank you for stopping by. When your show goes to Broadway,
(38:42):
your ass is coming back, all right, I'm dragging him.
Oh to do the show. So you're gonna look, I'm
getting you out of it. If you get to Broadway,
I'm taking you down. You're coming back, first show ever
trained to Georgia. Yeah, but you definitely have to come back.
I know you have so many great things in the works,
and you're such an inspiration to so many people. I
think gonna do big, big things. And I'm also a
psychic so firm. Yep, me too. Wait wait three diamonds?
(39:06):
Were you just thinking of the three? Yes? Radio? So
don't forget to check out all of Michael's stuff. It's
all on his website. You can buy the tickets there.
You can watch his show on iTunes, True TV, obviously
Amazon do it watch it a hunter times, great great content, guys.
All right, that's all I got, did you know? Our
(39:34):
Behind the Influence is a production of I Heart Radio
and t DC Media.
Welcome to Behind the Influence, a production of I Heart
Radio and TDC Media. The greatest thing I had heard
recently was like things you're curious about? Instead of like
what are you passionate about? It's passionate sort of fleeting.
It's like I'm passionate about this, and then tomorrow like, man,
I was not passionate about it, but like, what are
you curious about? Like you know what I'd like to see?
Like maybe be kind of cool if wouldn't it be neat?
I wonder if like all those thoughts will lead you
(00:23):
to your destiny. I came in to meet him and
he was like, oh my gosh, Michael Carbinar, Oh, I
love your show. And I was like, whoa I have
like a name and how like he knows me. I
find that the best, most genuine stuff really is the
stuff that just kind of rings in your heart that
you're like, I'd like to do this, or maybe I
would like to do this. I think this might be neat.
(00:44):
You've got to follow that. He's a magician, he's a comedian,
he's an all around entertainer of people. Michael Carbonaro is
in the house. Welcome, well, no, you welcome So what
came first for you? Magic or comedy? Magic? But first
first with special effects. Know, like I was really into
special effects and makeup as a kid, like maybe thirteen
years old. I mean I was doing I did magic
(01:06):
earlier than that, Like when I was like eight, I
played with tricks and stuff. But when I was like,
I want to when I grow up, I want to
be a special effects makeup artist for the movies. I
was sure of it. And I just loved horror. I
loved makeup and Halloween and special effects, and that was it.
Tom Savini, who was a makeup artist who did like
Friday the Thirteenth and Creep Show, he had a book
on on special effects makeup that was that was literally
(01:27):
like my very first I call it my first magic
book because it's the same. There's like so many special
effects tricks that are tricks, you know, movie tricks and
especially older movies where was all practical effects, where it
wasn't computer generated, so you had to like pull off
these tricks and gags and he would he would speak
like a magician and the effect, and I learned magic
and special effects were sort of like the same thing.
(01:47):
So I was sure I was going to do. It
was buying special effects supplies that a local magic shop.
I also was watching Copper Fields. It was kind of
layering and I started like buying some tricks and watching
the magicians there, and I found my love performing through magic.
So special effets is sort of even though magic is
sort of dorky. You're alone, learning things yourself a lot,
practicing in front of the mirror and and stuff. But
(02:09):
special effects is very you know, isolated. It's a solid
you know, you're in the basement planning with clay and
it's just meditative. But with magic, you're out there performing
for somebody to get a reaction, and it starts to
turn into a relationship and it's like, oh, that's where
I discovered why I really like entertaining. So it really
went from like like the Grand Scheme and went from
(02:30):
like special effects to magic, which brought me to performing.
Went to n Yu thinking I was going to be
the next David Copy. The way you and Hyu is incredible, Tish,
I mean like, no, bless you, bless you, bless you,
bless you? Okay, so I rudely interrupted you, So then
y you and why you? I went to n Yu
(02:51):
just with the thoughts of becoming the next David Copperfield,
and I found my love of acting and even serious acting.
Was like, oh, I want to be like Johnny Depp,
like those really by the way, excellent, thank you. And
so then I was like, okay, no special effects, no magic,
I want to be an actor. And then I was like,
and I started doing stand up too, so we want
(03:12):
to be comedy like doing comedy acting but also serious acting.
I want to do both, like a Johnny Tap kind
of guy. Like I was like, this is Tom Hanks
just like you know, yeah Tom Hanks because he's like
his early stuff super funny and goofy and nonety, but
then he gets into the serious stuff later. I'm like
and Robin Williams, a lot of the comedians are like
you know. So that was the plan. And then I
started to come I've always had like a love hate
(03:33):
relationship with magic where why because of the stigma? Yeah
it yeah, there was sort of like you know, you
can't go you go to like a I don't think
people really understood like he's a magician but he's also
an actor, or he's an actor and a magician. That
just seems like oh, because when you think a magician,
You think like a nerd and the you know uncle goofball. Yeah,
(03:55):
but I was a clown once, So I was performing
for like birthday parties at what age? That is so funny.
When I was eight, I made my parents pay me
to perform at my sister's fifth birthday party. What did
you do? I yelled at everyone the whole time, was
so mean. I dressed I dressed up like a clown,
(04:16):
and I like did this lollipop trick where they had
to guess which one had red marker on the bottom
and when the kid gets the wrong one, which I
don't know how that's magic, by the way, I yelled
at the kid and made them cry good. I was
st a kid's fingers on purpose. They were so mean.
Wait wait, wait you will hold on it look like
(04:39):
an accident. They were brutal. You just reminded me of
Ryan Reynolds for like two seconds and said I saw Deadpool.
But when you did it again, now you're doing but
it was like a Deadpool moment. You kind of resemble
him a little bit. So let me get this straight.
(05:01):
Brian Reynolds looks down to stop. You just made another
face like him. I'm leaving. Are you doing it on purpose?
You're a good actor. That's the bottom line. Hashtag hashtag.
I'm gonna use that in the show, Like if I
have a moment where I like and I'm getting an
executive producer credit, would you do that just for the hashtag?
(05:21):
Though the rest of the show you can have cool?
Who else do you get? Dave Chappelle? Speaking of Dave
of Chappelle, someone on the TV show one time, I
was sure they knew who I was because I'm doing
a hidden camera show and she was like talking to
me and she's like, I know you, I know you.
You have a show, You're Ler, You're Dave. And I'm
like no, She's like I know this show. I'm like Dave.
She's like Chappelle, No way. She didn't think I was
(05:43):
Dave Chappelle. She just confused the name. Somebody was that
his name is Dave. Say hi Dave. No, my name
is Stewart. Oh my god, nice to meet you. Who
am I? Who is Dave? I can't believe this. I
(06:04):
can't believe what can't you believe? Am I? Somebody who
knows you? Do? My name is not Dave, It's David something.
I'm going to show you something that and you'll know
what show it is. I don't show it is. It's
the Magic Show. What's it called. It's Dave the Dave
(06:27):
Chappelle's Chappelle Show, Magic, the Dave Chappelle Magic Show. That's me.
That is me in my hometown right here, in your hometown.
Right How many people can say I have had the
Dave Chappelle Magic Show in my local library. I'm having
a hot flash speaking of David, Sir, Dave of Chappelle,
(06:50):
how's he doing? Your buddy? Here's my buddy. Yeah, I
don't even know. I've heard from an years I was
on Hello, That's a big deal. Was that? Would you
call that one of your big brains? Uh? No, I
don't think. Do you, like, look back on your career,
what was the moment you were like I can actually
do this and make a lot of money and be
really successful. You had to have it like a moment.
(07:11):
The moment where I felt like I was like, oh
my god, I think I made it was when Peter Weller,
who was directing an episode of Rush Hour, which is
this TV show, and I'm like, oh my god, RoboCop
is directing this episode and I'm going to be I
had a part on the show. I got cast and
I came in to meet him and he was like,
oh my gosh, Michael Carbono, I love your show. And
(07:32):
I was like, my show, that's really cool. I was like, whoa,
I have like a name in Hollywood, like he knows me.
That was it And I had already had the show
for years, but it was but it was just that
because it was the two worlds kind of coming together.
I was like kind of in this little, you know,
bucket of doing the TV show, and then there was
also my like Hollywood, you know, acting roles that were
(07:53):
like on hold in a different bucket. So when I
came back to that and he knew that and I
kind of realized that crossover, it was really essently he
said my last name came out of his mouth. It
wasn't like, oh, oh yes, right, I've heard of you.
It was like, Michael Carbonaro, I love your show. I
was like, whoa, that's a moment that was there. Yeah,
that's a moment for sure. So piggybacking off of what
you just said, like you have different worlds, right, like
(08:16):
you know, I'm okay, Well, I can't do it. I'm
gonna stop trying. Let's keep going down your journey. Right,
So you had that big moment you finally realize this
is really real? Right then? Why? Yeah? And I still
I still don't know if I quite really, but people
(08:38):
recognize you everywhere, I'm sure. So you go from one
day having this great show, because I mean, at the
end of the day, there's a lot of people with
great shows, but unfortunately it's really hard to make it
on television. But you have, right, So do you know,
like when you're saying that, I'm even like, really, I swear,
I'm just but going out on tour and seeing them
people at the meet and Green when they out and
(09:00):
they're talking about how much they love the show and
they watch it with their families and they've been watching
it for so long, and they're like naming things that
I've said, and I'm like, WHOA. I like starting to
really feel that what is sort of like a kind
of a cultural impact. And I'm like, you know, when
when I see the little kids who send me stuff
like my kid got into magic as you, I'm like,
what that was me with Copperfield. So it really but
(09:21):
that's the thing that I really love about you too,
is that you've kind of made I was contemplating not
even saying this because I didn't want you to think that.
I think magic is not cool, but you've kind of
made it cool again, do you take offense to that, like, yeah,
it's great, Yeah I think that. Yeah, and it needs it.
You've made it fun and cool and edgy. Magic has
(09:42):
a stigma for sure. And the thing about magic is
it is a little it is dorky, you know. And
there are a lot of bad magicians, much the same
as there are you know, bad everything, bad singers, bad
you know, artists, bad actors. But with magicians, a lot
of people kind of get their first their first impression.
Like you don't see a magician all the time, so
like maybe someday you saw a magician performing, they were terrible,
(10:04):
and then that's your view of magicians forever, because it's
just like how the terrible prejudice human brain works. But
like you know, there have been some magicians along the
way they really have brought, you know, a level of artistry.
And but there's so many, so few there are so
can you name? I mean you can name, but I
can name maybe two who can you name? Is Chris Angel?
(10:26):
And what's the other guy? That? Just um, David Copperfield.
That's it, right? And what do you when you think
of them, you think of them as what as Vegas performers,
Vegas performers, like literally, that's why I think unfiltered, like
like magical commercial faces, like when you think of like
famous famous modern musicians Michael Carboner, Right, thank you, that's
(10:49):
the only one. No, But seriously, like I think you're
really doing something very different and you've created your own
lane for yourself, Like I don't I can't compare you
to any other comedian or any other magician. Was there
a moment in your career because obviously right now you're
really really successful, but there had to be a day
that you were like, I don't think this is for me.
I want to quit because it's a brutal industry. Like
(11:11):
it's not easy, especially when you're creating your own brand
or lane. Nobody knows what to think of you or
what bucket to put you in every other day. Really,
that's an honest answer. Yeah, I could never get away
from it because I love performing and when I'm on
stage and I'm like having that vibe with the crowd
and shooting energy out and it's shooting back and it
(11:33):
turns into that perfect kind of show where we're on
a ride together. I go like complete zen, and I'm
like this, I never want to do anything else in
my entire life. So you know, I fantasize about like
hiding on Vermont and like painting contact lenses because you know,
they still paint contact lenses for the movies, Like those
horror contact lens are still hand painted, and I'm like
obsessed with contact lenses and like how they paint them
for the movies. Um, And I'm like, I'm going to
(11:55):
hide in Vermont and lead the business and just paint
contact lenses. Why do you want that? Because it's too
chaotic or because it's overwhelming or there's a shitty day. Well,
what's the reason behind wanting to hide away? Yeah, all
of those things have come into play with wanting to
hide away, and and maybe even the momentum has gotten No.
I came into doing the show and having this fame
(12:18):
way after I had already accepted that it wasn't going
to happen. Really, like I really finally was like I
moved out to l a wanted to be an actor.
Came out to l A from New York to just
kind of drop magic and really focus on acting. But
then I got into the Castle, and you know, then
I was on the Tonight Show and that Magic became big,
and then I was on the Tonight Show, he says,
So casually Magic was being on the Tonight Show, and
(12:44):
Magic sort of just started working in a way that
was great. And but before that I had come out
to l I was getting guest stars on different TV shows,
and I was married. I wasn't married yet, but I
was with my husband, my now husband, but we had
been together for almost seven years. And I was like,
I kind of had that mental moment where I was like,
you know, we're just living in an apartment. He's an actor,
(13:04):
I'm an actor. I'm like, I like this life. Like
if I don't ever get anywhere else other than this,
this is awesome. So you're willing to be like, I
don't care if it doesn't work out a lot of
my life. That's a good place to they say, that's
when when you kind of surrender, that's when it all happens. Yeah,
And I think I was able to make a lot
of decisions because there was like, you know, the popularity
(13:25):
me being on the Tonight Show and what I was
doing was like I got a lot of offers in
a lot of different directions of like to have my
own show. It's a big deal. Yeah, it was huge.
But I was able to say no just to a
lot of things that I definitely had to say no
to that Like five years earlier, I would have been like, sure, great,
let's do it right now, Let's do it no matter what.
But I'm like, no, I don't think I'm gonna have
control enough on that, or I don't think that's going
(13:47):
to happen right. Let me just and nothing else on
the table. I'd be like, no, but that's not it.
That's such a good place to be because I feel
like they know when you're desperate, you know, yeah, yeah,
you can feel it and smell it and taste it
and feel it so refreshing. Again, where do we go
(14:11):
from here? Okay, so I want to know how you
got your show. Tell me about the moment you got
that phone call, because I had to be surreal. I know,
I know, I'm it's like there, I think you're assuming that.
It was like, oh my god, I got a show
kind of a moment. It was a lot different than that.
It was very like I had already all right, So
when I'm when I was on the Tonight Show, I
was doing these segments of hidden camera magic, and each
one of them was about, you know, four minutes long,
(14:34):
and putting them together was brutal. It was really hard
to come up with that kind of material that was
gonna work and fly and be able to tape and
put it on the show. And every time I had
to do a new segment, it was like Fregey to doodle,
Holy Di Coke, How am I gonna stop it? Really? Again?
It was really hard to make those segments. So when
(14:54):
it came to be that it was going to be
a TV show of this ILK, I was immediately like,
how am I possibly gonna make like a number of
episodes of this kind of material? This is going to
be really hard. And so when we were going to
do the pilot of the show, it was called like,
you know, the pilot was happening, and I was excited,
but I was also like, how am I gonna pull out?
(15:15):
How am I going to get and and shooting the pilot?
How am I going to make enough materials to do
this pilot. Is it gonna work? Is it gonna work
as a TV show? And shooting the pilot pilot full episode, Yeah,
it all, it all kind of like it all overlapped,
like it was like, you know, True TV was like,
let's have you do a pilot and see what happens.
But before we even aired the pilot, they triggered thirteen
more episodes. Yeah, well yeah, but like a hundred meetings
(15:40):
later probably right, no, no, no, So you've got it kid,
Thanks ma'am, Thanks miss I. The shooting the pilot was
a brutal, awful, horrible, probably the worst week of my life.
I had a horrible time in Georgia shooting. It was
just tumultuous, so much pressure, just everyone's wondering if it's
(16:00):
gonna work, including me probably more than anyone else. And
I hated it. And I was like calling Peter, my husband,
like every day and I'm like, this is terrible. I
don't ever want to do this. This is just not
so was it just the pressure? Did you not like
were you did you have creative control in anyway? Oh? Tons, Yeah.
They were really great with that. I mean it was
they really saw what I was doing, and we're like,
(16:22):
do you keep doing that? You know, like so, but
but but and it looked it's like a long road
too simple with anything, right, Like with anything, it's a
really long hard road to make a very simple thing.
And when it's done, it just looks clean and easy
and simple. And especially because I'm doing tricks that look
really simple, someone comes in with their cell phone and
I shake it and like you know, a bug flies
out of their cell phone and they're like, oh bug, cellphone. Easy.
(16:43):
He could do it. He's a magician. And you're like
that took forever to figure that out and come up
with it and then figure out how to you know,
like it's tricks I've never done before. So each moment
was it was tough. It wasn't like just writing lines
memorizing them in comedy, like the manipulation that went along
with it, the concept. So now it's you're in a way,
you're acting like you're totally acting, not even in a way.
(17:04):
But then there's comedic timing too. It's not just like
you were doing everything, every everything, everything has to come
in with like the complete reality for that person that
this is actually happening. By the way encounter. How do
some of these people believe this stuff? Like there was
a one that a fish came out of a fish
stick or something, and I was like, how does she
actually believe that? She was like inspecting is any of this?
(17:27):
We I won't tell anyone. It's never been faked ever,
Always a real unsuspecting person being fooled by And all
bets are off with how I fool them, But they're
being fooled like I will fool them however I need to.
But that is a real unsuspecting person. And you can
tell alive. No, I think it's moving around. We don't
(17:52):
want to be serving. I'm okay, I understood, understood, all right.
So they said it's a real fresh Yeah, shut the up, man,
come on, are you kidding me? Come on? The thing
is freaking alive. I think that's a catfish. It's it's
(18:14):
like weaving them into it. It's like you can't and
we That's sort of the trick is how do you
do the tiny little thing you know that gets them like,
oh that's weird. And if that can happen, then the
bigger thing happens. Oh my god, now that happened, like
the fishick wiggles a little on the plate. You're like,
what did you see that move like that? That is
so weird? Why that move? And then you break it
and the fish comes out and I'm shocked right there
(18:35):
in front of you. You know it. Why wouldn't that
Initially you'd be like, what the hell? Has there ever
been a situation where it's backfired where somebody got pissed?
Or like, we've some of the pranks up and I
hate the word prank. Prank sounds mean you know, like
someb some of the yeah, the artistic illusion set ups,
(18:56):
some of the tricks. Some of them will like if
we bring someone in who's like some of them, I like,
will hire people out from like a temp agency. We'll
call it be like, oh, can you have someone commit
and be a receptionist for me? And they'll committed a receptionist,
and then this thing just has to have, you know,
starts to happen and then I reveal like, oh, you know,
this was a show. And usually it's great, but sometimes
(19:16):
if you get that like like somewhere over forty year
old person who was like working at a temp agency
that doesn't want to be working at a temp agency
and now they're like putting in a situation where on
a TV show they're like I didn't want to be
on a TV show and you're like, got it, no problem.
So then they don't sign and we don't know. So
it's just been talent basically, not nobody who you've I
don't want to say tricked. Well, there was a scam
(19:38):
when um it was too scary, Like a lot of
them get really scary, and I what was the scary one?
It was called raven Man. What did you do? Who
was that? An airport baggage claim late night? Okay, right right, yeah,
and the guy was coming in and that the premise
was that, like, you know, these bags haven't been claimed
in over three months, and if they don't get claimed
(19:59):
in over three months, we have to put them into
a warehouse and tag them and then if they come
in after a year, you know, they can still claim it.
So we're just going through and we opened up this
weird box that looks like it really kind of didn't
blow kind of it was sort of like that Transylvanian
like Dracula's coffin moment. It was like a wooden crate
and we heard like from inside and I opened it
(20:21):
up and there was a raven in there, like in
a cage. Were like, what the heck? No one picked
this up? What's I don't know about the animal? Like,
I gotta call the boss. This is crazy there, you
must be You're not even supposed to ship animals or
transport them this way. So then I left the room. Well,
the first step happened where we think like that it's
a do not feed on the raven's cage. And while
we were like filling out paperwork, and then we turned
(20:42):
back after hearing some scratching it like scratched out the
word not, so it was like do feed? Like did
he scratch that out? Is he trying to tell us
to feed him? Like? What's going on? Is he a
smart raven? I know they're smart, but did he did
he got ivy League school? Yes? So, um, he's fiic
tissue us. So then I leave, as I do, I'm sorry,
(21:04):
it's I leave, and the box starts to shake and
the front door flings open and the raven is vanished,
and in its place is a naked man right with
like big black weird eyes. Was he actually naked? Yes?
Along his body kind of like featherist junk, you know,
(21:27):
and he but and kind of like he looked scared
to be there and like came out of it. And
we've cast this amazing little dude and he was just
like perfect and he came out of the thing and
and ran off and people were freaked out. It just
looked like it it's like a shape shifting that clearly
this raven had turned into this man. It was a
raven man, clearly. Clearly, what else would you believe? Hey,
(21:51):
what the dude working out there as that thing didn't
Some dude just ran out of here. But oh, dude,
I'm telling you a guy just ran out of there,
freaked out, half naked, wearing a like loin cloth and
ran this way. Dude, I'm telling you, dude, sitting in
the kennel like this, a person looking very scared, naked
(22:17):
with like what looks like bird feathers on his junk
and just runs away. But one dude like picked up
and the dude we showed on TV like picked up
one of the stanchions and was going to like hit
the guy, get the back. I swear to god, Hey,
he broke out. It's a person. There's a naked man
out there. It was violent. He was scared. You do wait,
(22:37):
because there's got to be moments like that. What do
you do to security pop in? Well, we're like, don't
run towards the guy. Like when you pop out of
the box, run the other way. Don't run toward him.
If you run toward him, he's you know, you're he's
about to be killed by the raven man. What do
you do? You pick up a stanton the raven man.
That's what I always learned, Hit him in the nose,
and the raven man will run away. Been through that course,
(22:58):
um tickled raven man. All right, right, that sounds like
a novel to uh, let's write it. So the other
guy who had come to work that night with like
dress shoes was working with me, and when the raven
Man popped out, he shrieked like in a big dude.
It was funny as hell shrieked. But Rant just bolted
(23:22):
out into the first in the morning. Yeah, running in
the parking lot, across the pavement in the in the
darkness at two in the morning, and like, I'm like,
he's gonna slip with his shoes, you know, and fall
and hurt himself. Like this is dangerous and I pulled
the plug. Like we did it three times and I'm like,
it's getting progressively closer to We're very lucky something didn't happen,
(23:43):
and I'm like, let we have to stop. And then
you know, the producers were like come on, you know,
and I'm like, I just yeah, other ones, you know,
I don't mind freaking someone out, but that one was
just getting too physically violent, and yeah, so I pulled
the Okay. So what's your favorite your favorite episode or
not an episode, favorite segment within an episode. I think
(24:05):
my favorite one one of well, when the dude turned
to stone at a church. It was amazing. And we
found relic in a church and the guy like everything
I was touching with the relic turned to stone, like
the rag I was cleaning with it turned to stone.
And then this guy was holding it and he was
literally standing right next to this girl. And there's no way,
I mean, it could have happened. She just turned her
(24:26):
head for a second. When she turned back, he was
just right there, just stone. She's screwed. That was a
scary one too. That was just amazing. I love the
feeling of the story, like and someone you know you're
you're in a church and it's freaky and you find
a chalice and then it turned to and you just
find a challenge. Believe it, you know how it happens.
Another one was we uh, I grew a human head plant.
(24:47):
It was like a plant. It was like a pod
that like grew and it was a human head that
bloomed in this plem are saying I have not seen
and I'm really upset about it. We'll send them to you.
Oh great, I'm your best friend. Now. Yeah. There's another
one with a time capsule that we dug up a
time capsule and inside of it was like all of
this information that the person who dug it up with
me ended up believing that they wrote as a child.
(25:10):
Yes it was. They believe that it was from their classroom.
Like I was digging up the time capsule and exactly exactly.
We started digging it up, and I was like, oh
my god, I remember doing one of these time capsules
in school back when I was you know, back when
I was in elementary school. I'm like, did you ever
do one of those? Like no, I don't think I
don't remember. And I'm like, what school did you go to?
(25:31):
And it's like North Northfield Elementary. I'm like, okay, and
you know, we were there digging and we're like the
whole you know, and I just like casually started asking
him questions, like what you know they're getting there, They're
they're actually taking surveys. This is hard to explain it,
but like there, I was like, well, no, he's got
the pod in his hand already, the glass time capsule.
He was just dug up and I'm asking him questions.
(25:51):
I was like, you know, the reason why we're here
in the park today and we're clear excavating excavating it's
a yeah, we had to know. Um. I was because
they're gonna put a new monument here in the park
in Chicago. And I was like, and they're actually taking like,
you know, requests about who what figures would be kind
(26:12):
of cool in the park, you know, like what would
be cool. And this guy was like, you know, they
should put like a jet or something like an airplane
because they always have the air show in Chicago. Would
be really called have a big jet. And I'm like, oh,
that's cool. So he's in the middle of like opening
up this sealed pod while we're having this conversation, and loe, behold,
he pulls out these papers like that look like they're
from an elementary school class, and there it is Northfield
Elementary that was his school, with his name on this part.
(26:34):
And then and then it shows and it's like the
next picture is a crayon drawing of the two of
us digging up this time capsule. And then the next
page is the two of us in front of a
big jet monument in that park. And it was like,
that's what you just said should be in this park
was a jet? Like did you predict this as a kid,
And he's like, oh my god. Any well, human psychology
is crazy, Like you can't believe anything that people will
(26:54):
tell you. I know, it's terrifying. That's crazy. So when
you told him at the end, what did he say?
You know that one was the one, you know. And
there's always a little deflation when I tell them because
a lot of the times I'm orchestrating an amazing moment
of like magical coincidence or literally yeah. So there was
(27:16):
a real drop down when I he didn't want to believe.
Almost I wish I couldn't, you know, I could have
just not told him ever and be like, I have
a good day. You gotta get them to sign the paper. Okay,
So your show is doing really really well. For people
who have not checked it out, where can they find
the show? And then we're going to talk about your
tour just for a little bit. Um. It's on True TV.
(27:38):
It is called the Carbonaro Effect, and it's on True
TV a lot, by the way, So yes, so it is.
I hope you're making that coin oh man, Nope, but
I really just do it for the love of you know,
of course. But you can get it on iTunes. Amazon
has it right where can make the most money. Let's
(28:00):
tell them to go yeah, oh I sell it on
the corner of fountains and love it. Okay. So next year,
I'm all about putting things out into the universe. I
think it's already and you're already on tour and you
have a hundred shows, so I don't want to overwork you.
I think next year I'm putting it out there. You're
(28:21):
gonna have a Diet Coke tour that's going to pay
you one billion dollars. Thank you for putting it out
too big? Is that what they say? Whatever? You know
what I mean? Okay, where because oh nope, yep, Victoria
keeps trying. So let's just laugh at one of her things.
(28:47):
So I want to say, on track, we promise you'd
be out of here by three. Give a piece of
advice to litterally you are somebody who is trying to
follow in your footsteps. It's a hard industry. You have
broken so many barriers, you have created your own lane.
There's hard days, there's days people want to quit. What
do you say to that person today to have them
keep going and be in your position one day? Yeah,
(29:11):
stick to what you love and your gut on what
it is that moves you and that you're curious about,
because it starts to get like a lot of people
telling you what's working and a lot of opinions coming
into play. And I find that the best, most genuine
stuff really is this stuff that just kind of rings
in your heart that you're like, I would like to
(29:32):
do this, or maybe I would like to do this.
I think this might be neat. You've got to follow that, like,
follow all those leads toward it, and then the people
will be like, oh, yeah, that's that's what I meant
about that thing. Like, but you can kind of get
stuck getting guided from these outside voices, and you're kind
of and loose getting in tune with what that is
that you want to be doing in there. But the
(29:53):
greatest thing I had heard recently was like things you're
curious about? Instead of like what are you passionate about?
It's passionate, sort of fleeting. It's like I'm passionate about
this and tomorrow Like that was so passionate about it,
but like, what are you curious about? Like you know
what I'd like to see? Like maybe it be kind
of cool if wouldn't it be neat? I wonder if
like all those thoughts will lead you to your destiny. Yeah,
(30:18):
I have I have one more question than we're gonna
play an icebreaker really quick. But you can win an
Oscar for special effects? Okay, you can win an Emmy
for your show? Or can you get em? We haven't
been nominated for an Emmy, and you know, I think
they think it's fake, but it's not fake. Don't you agree?
(30:39):
We had a People's Choice nomination once critics it was
it was just important to be nominated by something. No,
that's amazing, that's amazing. Um, so you can have and
then what do people on tourquin or like that could
be fun a Broadway I'm coming up with it right now.
Bubbly it up. The Michael Carbonaro explains the universe. It's
(31:04):
just how the universe works. Secret time portals. I like
a big old Doug Henning kind of float and get
compressed into These are my dreams. Oh my god, I'm
so happy you're doing this, and I'm going to wear
a rainbow leotard. No, maybe you know, maybe the new
(31:24):
wave rainbow like that though. Okay, so what are you
what are you going to take a Tony for your
show and Emmy for your show? Oh my god, you
have many shows and then Oscar for special effects. That's
really hard because special I would go for the Tony
(31:45):
because I would, you know, like, if there's anything I
know I am, If it's like specialist, magician, actor, comedian,
what is it? It is entertainer. The tour show is
so much fun. It's great you come see me do
this stuff that I do on the TV show really
happening live. I think that even the biggest fans of
the show who watched the TV show like, but can
you really do things like that? If I was really
(32:05):
there and boom, I do. So I know that you
call people up on stage during your show? How do
you pick who you're who you're going to pick? How
do you pick who you're gonna bring people up? Yeah?
Because it's like the TV show. It's got that improvisational
fun and you never know exactly where it's going to
go when you have someone from the audience. But there's
like it's almost like a little instant casting session because
(32:26):
there's like different tricks that different people work better for.
Like I'm always picking like a kid for this one,
an adult guy for this one, and a lady for
this one, and you know, but how does that work?
Do you pick real time? Yeah? Really? What if you
get some like crazy? But that's part of it. You know.
Sometimes you get someone who's a dud so to speak,
and they're like not engage right, you know. But I
(32:47):
have really good luck and I have pretty good like instincts,
Like you can walk right out there into the crowd
and I'll walk amongst them and I'll just feel it.
And sometimes that person can come up and then they
get petrified and then that can you know. But even
like if I bring up kids, there's just one segmme,
I bring up two kids and if they like freeze up,
that can be really funny too, because it's just like, yeah,
everyone's laughing at that. You know, guys, he calls people
(33:10):
up on stage. You can touch him, you can smell
his musk. That's one of the that's an upgraded ticket
right there, the musk touching, musk sniffing segment. I would
go see you live. I mean some of the stuff
I was, I will there you go? When will you
be in l a for all the low parch a
dynasty typewriter? That is so soon? How many shows do
(33:32):
you find up? I just like this tour was like
a hundred This leg of the tour was like a
hundred gigs. And when do you sleep? Well? It's really Oh,
I know. Do you drink coke? I actually have diet
coke in my show right now? I do. I'm telling
you my live tour right now has diet coke. And
I thought you were joking, not joking. That's I swear.
(33:53):
I swear, and it's my favorite new trick in the show.
Hold on you. After all this diet coke talk and
hashtag spot on, I've been trying to tell you you
actually have a Diet Coke. Have a Diet Coke bit
in the show? Does he really? Okay? Manager has confirmed
I don't know, maybe I Coke. You call, Oh my god,
Diet Coke call him Hello, this is Diet Coke. He
(34:18):
actually they actually call even though this is recorded. Okay,
So where can people get tickets to your show? Michael
Carbonaro dot com spelled just like it sounds, Oh my god.
Um yeah, Ticketmaster has tons of the tour, but the
tours really you could find it on Michael Carbonaro dot
com and all my web stuff, which I'm like at
Carbonaro on Twitter and at Carbonaro on Instagram. You can
(34:41):
go to my bio and click right into the site. Alright, guys,
we're going to take an exclusive but refreshing break with
Diet Coke. And when I say break, I mean we're
literally going to break into Michael Carbonaro's film. How does
that sound a great? I've got some pictures to delete.
It feels well, You're gonna be really mad at me.
(35:04):
Last place you ordered from on Postmates? I did it
like last week. I think it was the Pressed Juicery.
Would you order? I ordered three day juice cleans. I
did three Day Green's Juice Clarence Last, why are you
doing that? Because I was like, I was like off
the gym thing, thank you, thank you, But it's a
it's just been a struggle. Did you do it? Yeah?
(35:27):
You're healthy. Yeah it looks like I am. You are Yeah,
but that's because we didn't go into like yelp. Okay,
last misscall a k who you sent a voice sail
Kyle Thomas. No, what I did? Miss? That was a
genuine miss. I bet it was. That was a genuine miss.
There's a bunch of numbers. I don't know that. There's
a lot of right over there. I know I'm getting
(35:48):
a lot of like calls from my hometown, Long Island,
and they don't leave messages. That's weird. It is Okay.
Last song you played on your phone? Okay? Oh boy,
oh Dream Warriors by Skin from Nightmare Now Street three.
But before that was Billie Eilish, So that's pretty hip.
You know this you want to hear. I'm just gonna
(36:12):
list this. This is my playlist. This was a jogging playlist.
Hazard by Richard Marks, California, Cation by the Red Hot
Chili Peppers, Midnight Train to Georgia Bury a friend and
then Dream Warriors. That was my run so so weird.
(36:33):
It was great, but it goes all over the place,
so you can you don't get like our enough Billy
Ellish running, you know, Eilish. First person in your favorites,
first person in my favorites? First, First of all, the
first part of my favorites is Matt Chick, who is
my like co creative partner. But and I'll say, the
(36:54):
first person in your favorites isn't kind of the easiest
one to call? Sort of in the middle is that?
Do you know that you're like, go to favorites? It's
like sometimes oh yeah, it's right in the middle of
your finger, doesn't middle one? I've got mom and Amelia's
Iran Brown? Okay, cool, Okay. Last person you texted? What
did you say? Okay? I said it says f me,
(37:15):
but it was it was about something else, like I
made a mistake. It was like, oh, f me was
the last text? Okay. Most recent incoming d M. My
friend Chad Sanborn, who works on the show, sent me
a video of a snake attacking a little kitten. Right now,
(37:35):
but what happens? What happens too? And a kitten lover,
kitten crazy, and then all of a sudden, the kitten's
face opens up and it's this weird like giant mouth,
and you realize that both the snake and the kitten
are actually hand painted like art. It's too it's too
human hands. Ye, it's called happy ending. You're uber rating, which,
(37:58):
by the way, is very shocking. Oh, okay, it's right there, food.
Thank You's I wonder what I got points off for? Okay,
last question, I'll stop torturing you. Most embarrassing app on
your phone. I have this relaxed yoga app. You make
your own yoga music. I don't do yoga, but you
can kind of build little soundscapes like you like add
(38:21):
bubbling water with the sound of a wind chime and
you mix them up yourself, because that's the world we
live in. Now, you're like, I'm going to control exactly
how the relaxation comes to me. Well, guys, I don't
know where to go from here. You can only go
up always. It was so fun having you on the show.
Thank you for stopping by. When your show goes to Broadway,
(38:42):
your ass is coming back, all right, I'm dragging him.
Oh to do the show. So you're gonna look, I'm
getting you out of it. If you get to Broadway,
I'm taking you down. You're coming back, first show ever
trained to Georgia. Yeah, but you definitely have to come back.
I know you have so many great things in the works,
and you're such an inspiration to so many people. I
think gonna do big, big things. And I'm also a
psychic so firm. Yep, me too. Wait wait three diamonds?
(39:06):
Were you just thinking of the three? Yes? Radio? So
don't forget to check out all of Michael's stuff. It's
all on his website. You can buy the tickets there.
You can watch his show on iTunes, True TV, obviously
Amazon do it watch it a hunter times, great great content, guys.
All right, that's all I got, did you know? Our
(39:34):
Behind the Influence is a production of I Heart Radio
and t DC Media.
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