Beyond the Illusion: The Real David Blaine

World renown magician and endurance artist, David Blaine, explains the life-changing circumstances that led to his reputation today as a world-renowned illusionist, and opens up about fatherhood and how parenting has altered his professional processes. Plus, the notoriously private performer reveals in this 2022 interview what it’s like to date a magician and the health issues associated with his record-breaking stunts, like holding his breath for 17 minutes or going 44 days without food.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
This week on the In Depth Podcast, world renowned magician
David Blaine. My strength I feel like is more
based on doing magic as opposed to talking.
The man who buried himself aliveand survived for more than 63
hours in a frozen block of ice reveals the inspiration behind

(00:20):
some of his most memorable stunts.
I've watched that act since I was a kid.
And remembers how he got his bigbreak.
While living in my friend's pantry room and I spent every
penny to make that show. In our 2022 interview, he opens
up about his father's tragic life.
My mother had waited for him andhe was now hooked on heroin.

(00:42):
Resilient mother. After a suicide attempt when she
was 18 and she just tried to find meaning.
And the real life magic of becoming a parent.
The greatest experience my entire life.
It gives you a purpose. We begin our long-awaited chat
with Blaine, starting with how he overcame his fear of public

(01:03):
speaking. All right, so how long a time
coming is this? Well, you came to my show in
Ireland and then he said I want to interview you.
I said hopefully. And then we've been speaking
since. You know when I first put a
request in for you? I went back and looked at my
e-mail last night, 2015. Who put it in through?
Alan Berger. Wow, Yeah.

(01:25):
Is that How I Met you was through Allen?
No, so we missed each other in Davos 2019, a World Economic
Forum. IDM you on Instagram.
You probably regrettably gave meyour number and.
You, you're endured. You're endured, but not
regrettably at all. No, I, no, I wanted to do the

(01:48):
interview with you. I just wanted it to be time
appropriate so. So we had I remember think you
kindly, you know, went out to lunch with me in New York show
in Europe, got together with youafter that lunch in Santa
Monica. I remember thinking like this is
going to be piece of. Interviews with good friends I

(02:10):
need at least. 4 I'm like, this is going to be piece of cake.
We're definitely going to get this taping and legitimately
probably 1 of the more difficultbookings we've ever had in the
history of the show. I even had Tom Hanks take a
question or you tape something for you.
I'm like, this is done deal. Tom Hanks didn't.
I love him. But.

(02:32):
No, but I, yeah, you know, like I said, I told you I would.
I just said I don't know when, but this is the the timing for
me now is almost perfect in three months from now would be
absolutely perfect. But this?
Why? Why three months from?
Now, no, no, just because I'll be closer to dialing in what I'm
working on. You don't necessarily like these
sorts of interviews though, right?

(02:53):
Well, I mean it, you know, it's not that I don't like that I
like them. It's just I'm not the my
strength. I feel like is is more based on
doing magic as opposed to talking, you know, so I rarely
like to go out there and talk too much 'cause I but, but I did
a Ted talk, which was very difficult jumping into the fire

(03:14):
pit and I did it without magic, just speaking.
And that was kind of the first time that I did a talk where I
had no magic to stand behind. And how did you feel about that?
It was very hard and I was very awkward and stuttery, but it was
it was nice to work on a talk, so it was interesting.
Towards the end of it, you got alittle emotional.
Because everybody thinks when I do magic that that relates to

(03:38):
the endurance. So everybody always thinks that
I'm cheating or it's a trick or something like that.
So it when I finally put it all together as as one coherent
thought and worked on it diligently for a long time.
By the way, Richard Wurman was the one that asked me to do
that. And he had asked me to do that
for 17 years. Really.
Yeah. So he Trump's you on how how

(04:00):
long it took for me to feel comfortable to do it.
I was going to say, but I was like, no, I'll, I show up and
I'll do magic to everyone. So every year I showed up and do
magic. And finally one year it was my
brother's birthday, right on theday that I did the talk or
during the conference and my brother wanted to meet.
David Pogue was a New York Timeswriter.
And I said, OK, if I come and dothis, can my brother join?

(04:21):
And he was like, sure. And we'll all do a happy
birthday thing for him. He was like, perfect.
But I'm in. And then I work day and night
forever on that talk. Did you?
Months, day and night. I didn't even watch one thing
during that conference because Iwas just studying all the all
the notes of what I needed to remember.
And then I converted it to bullet points.

(04:41):
So it was. But in retrospect, most of the
people that that that are close to me, they like that talk
because they feel it's like it'svery honest.
What are the nerves going into something like that, given that
it's out of your comfort zone? Well, that's another thing
that's very interesting. So when I was trying to figure
out how to do this as a public, this is my first public talk

(05:02):
without, like I said, without hiding behind the magic tricks.
So I started reading all of the books on public speaking.
You know, Dale Carnegie and all the different books.
I would go to the different bookstores and Justice take
every book on public speaking. And the first thing that was a
really interesting approach by the way, was learning why we're
afraid to public speak. I'm not afraid to go on a white

(05:23):
sharks in the ocean with no occasion but public speaking.
I was, I was very uncomfortable,very nervous to do it.
Still. No, no, no, no, no.
I put myself in the boiling pit.But once you understand the
psychology of why we're afraid to public speak, it becomes
really interesting. So do you know the?
No. What?
What would be your first thought?

(05:45):
I mean, you don't want to mess up.
All eyes are on you doing something but.
What's a problem? What's a problem with all eyes
on you? Self-conscious.
Uncomfortable. So during one of the was sifting
through all the books, one of the things I found in the public
speaking book was really interesting.
And it says the reason that we're so uncomfortable public

(06:07):
speaking is because when all eyes and are are on you, so you
go back a million years and you think about every eye on you,
it's somebody that's a predator wants to hunt you.
So having all the eyes on you while you're on an open plateau
and you're elevated, you're in aplace of extreme danger if you
go back. So the evolution of the brain

(06:27):
hadn't changed that much. So we still even know we're now
not in a dangerous place to be on a stage.
We're we're wired to have that fear of being hunted, being
being chased by a predator. So the idea of public speaking
being something that you're, youknow, you're afraid of because
of something you think is present in your brain now, it's

(06:49):
not. It's from hard wiring of what we
used to need to do, which was hide in caves and, and stay
together. And if you were out in the open
and all the eyes were looking atyou, you are very vulnerable.
Once I started to process that, then I started to accept it.
And then once you accept it, then the fear starts to change.

(07:10):
And then what I did is after that, after the Ted Talk, which
like I said for 17 years, Richard Wurman, who started Ted,
asked me to keep doing. I said no, no, I'll do card
tricks to people. But after, and by the way, in
the audience was lots of my favorite people, you know, in
the world, right? Like people I admired or looked
up to. So I was extremely nerd like
Steve Wozniak, this and that. So Craig Venter, all the, you

(07:32):
know, all those guys, right? So after that talk, I went with
Washington Speakers Bureau and Ihad them just booked me to do
talks. And I started doing, you know,
10,000 people and I would go up on stage and I would not even
prepare. I would just go up and I would
just wing it. And most of the time it was
terrible. But because it would hit like

(07:53):
one in 10 or so, but it really started to make me comfortable
with the process. And, and, and like I said, you
know, I grew up, I went, I went to Publix PS230 public school in
Brooklyn in 1980. One or two or something.
I was in, yeah, I was, I was at PS 2:30.
Then I moved to New Jersey and went to public school in Jersey,

(08:16):
in Totowa. And then in, in I went to
Passaic Valley. And in all these schools, they,
they never had me get up and present or speak.
And it's like, I feel like that should be required.
I feel like all schools should make kids stand up in front
because it took me so long to get over that hurdle, you know?

(08:36):
Yeah. Anyway, that's my sorry for that
rolling. Up I I want to take you back to
what I think's your big break. Take me into the office with
then ABC Entertainment chairman Ted Harbour.
Ted was amazing. So Alan Berger in 1990, three, I

(08:57):
think I showed him a video that I shot where I'm doing magic to
people on the streets. Do me a favour, write your name
on the face of it. Also, the idea was all different
walks of life, you know, all different ethnicities, all
different age groups, you know, every combination I could come
up. I literally walked around New
York City for two days and foundjust amazing people.

(09:20):
Did imagine them edited togetherwith two VCRS.
Then I showed Alan Berger and back then he said, yeah, but
this doesn't work on TV, It's great.
But if this concept doesn't workon TV.
And that was a day of world's greatest Magic specials and all
those big illusion shows. And Alan, by the way, is one of
the biggest agents out there. He's an incredible agent and and

(09:45):
I've been with him this whole time.
So he he said, yeah, it's great,but you can't put this on TV.
It doesn't really work. And like, it was just great
reactions to card tricks and that really didn't exist at the
time on TV. And he flew back home and he
said that he fell asleep that night and and kept dreaming

(10:08):
about the concept. So then he called me.
He called Johnny, my agent at the time at ICM.
He said, why don't we send him out to go meet the different
heads of the networks. So Ted Harbert was first.
He was a present baby, see. And I showed him the tape.
I did some magic to him in the room.
Then I stepped outside and did atrick with him over the phone.

(10:30):
And when I was leaving the meeting, he called Alan and he
said, what do we have to do to keep him from going to any other
networks? And I had met Spike Lee and
done, done magic to him. It's it's something before that.
And I said, one day, if I do commercials, we direct them.
And he's like, sure. So I said, oh, I, I want Spike
Lee to do the commercials. And Ted said, okay.

(10:50):
And Johnny said, we want this, we want that.
And I said I'd, I'd like to, youknow, have have the final
product. He said sure.
And that was that was the first TV special.
And then I spent the entire budget while living in my
friend's pantry room. I spent every penny to make that
show. Really.
Yeah. So I I don't know Ted well, but

(11:11):
I've met him before and he actually texted me something for
you. Great.
David, the first time I met you,when Allenberger brought you to
my office at ABCI, think it's 1993 or something crazy like
that, you did a bunch of tricks in my office that that blew me
away. But then you went outside my

(11:33):
office to my assistant's office,and on the phone did another.
Trick where you got the card. David has kept me up for 20
years now. 30 years. Oh my God, 30 years.
You just, I know you're not going to tell me how you did it.
Is it a math thing? It keeps me up at night.
Just is it a math thing? That's really funny.
Yeah, it was Ted. So I was very lucky.

(11:56):
Yeah. I mean, I think at the time you
have pretty much no, no money inthe but all of a sudden but.
I used I used that plus my fee to make the show right.
But still still nobody still living in my friend's pantry.
But I had my first TV show. But it had, I mean, it had to be
crazy walking out of there with,with that deal, right?

(12:18):
And I think the first thing was like, you know, $375,000 check.
Yeah, I mean, it was literally the whole thing just funneled.
And then what I did is I hooked up with Stephen Chow.
He was the CEO of Fox. He created cops.
He put America's Most Wanted on the air.
But the So every magic show, like I said, was One Direction.

(12:39):
I started thinking the opposite direction.
So if you take magic and you putit in in, in rough real
environments and different environments and show the
diversity of people and show thebeauty of their reactions, then
that's really interesting. More than the tricks that people
know. It's an illusion or it's this
and that. So that was that was the
beginning of that process. And luckily I found Stephen and

(13:01):
we worked every day almost for ayear to make 44 minutes of TV.
And that's by the way, why I'm at such a crossroads right now.
It's because that that's how I started working was you put
everything you have into making really good content.
So you work forever to do it. And now it's about just turn

(13:21):
around because there's so many different channels and outlets
for content or, you know, YouTube and Instagram and TikTok
and Snapchat, Facebook, you know, all the, so my brain, I
never understood that the process is really complicated
for me. So how are you navigating that?
I haven't been. I'm terrible at it.

(13:42):
I mean is that good or bad or? I should probably figure it out.
I do love the, the, that, that idea of, you know, 15 seconds
and tell the whole story. I think it's great and quick and
but yeah, my, the, the way I built everything was the
opposite of that. So the way I built everything is
shoot for a year and you make 44minutes.

(14:04):
Now it's you shoot all day everyday, and you turn content right
away. You also, though own I believe,
all or most of your content which you.
Can. To your credit, which you know
what I'm. Saying is what's what people
like now the brain set that which that other way is anti
they want now, they want real time now and this is it.
You know, it's so different fromthe way I think about magic and

(14:28):
TV and editing and all of that. We'll move on from this in a
moment, but that first special you did because we were talking
about this before we started your young kid get your big
break. The reaction to that among your
peer group people gave you a bitof a hard time.

(14:50):
I'm curious like how that? Didn't know that I was heavy
into magic growing up. So when they saw the magicians
that knew knew and they were they they thought it was it was
great for magic right away. But the guys that didn't know
they're like, well, he's doing the most basic tricks and
putting those on TV. Anybody can do that.

(15:10):
And I and, and in my head, yeah,of course I've always loved
doing the complicated, difficultstuff.
But to make really good TV, it is that show the trick show the
reaction. So it was like kind of, you
know, speeding up the way magic was done previously.
And like I said, now it's like you don't even have time.
It's like, show the trick, show the reaction and you're out.

(15:30):
And it's like super. But back then it was kind of
like, you know, if you could do it in one minute, that's that's,
that's, that's amazing. When you look back today, 2025
years later on kind of those early specials, what's your
reaction? It's so hard for me to watch
anything of myself without antiquing it.

(15:52):
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Anything.
They're watching myself. I just see the flaws.
Oh my God, I wish I did. So it's hard.
Why did you study acting brieflywell?
First of all, there was no such thing as succeeding at magic by
doing magic on TV like that. So that was Part 1.
So I and I and I loved movies and I loved acting.
And the other thing is there wasa quote which is actually from

(16:14):
Roberto Hudon, who's Houdini took his name from.
But Orson Welles uses his quote and says a magician is just an
actor playing the part of a magician.
So when I studied, I went to theNeighborhood Playhouse and I had
this amazing coach. His name was Richard Pinter.
And I would do magic on stage infront of the class.
I was 18 years old. And he would say, David really

(16:35):
read that like the trick, you know, the patter on the.
And when I actually read it, it's just so ridiculous, the
patter that I would break into tears of laughter, crying.
And that kind of it made me realize that if if a magician, I
felt, if a magician really existed and he could do
something like pick this up and change it, he wouldn't really

(16:56):
have a complete pat or a presentation.
He might just take it and changeit.
So I so I took everything off ofthe presentation of it and kind
of luckily through that discovery, put it on the
reaction. So yeah, it was.
It was the most valuable learning curve, probably in my
presentation of magic, really. Yeah.

(17:17):
And how long a period of time was that it?
Was a year OK? Yeah, what do you remember from
the Prospect Park librarian who gave you the magic book?
Well she walked me through a self working trick when I was a
kid in Brooklyn at the library which was right by my house and
I used to take the subway from home sometimes alone when I was

(17:39):
like 6-7 years old and I. Which is amazing by by the way.
Yeah, but my mother taught me very carefully, here's where you
go. And it was during rush hour, so
it's not like night time. So I'd take the subway 2 stops,
get off, go to PS230, then I'd get back on the subway, get off.
And then right next to where we live was a Prospect Park
library. And I would go there and I
always had a deck of cards in myhands.

(18:02):
So one librarian walked me through a very simple self
working magic trick. And that was kind of like the
beginning of me starting to perform, I guess.
And then my mother came and I would do the trick to her and
then she would go crazy. And then I also found the
picture. It can you can we grab that
little stack of pictures? It's right there.

(18:23):
The the getting into magic is a really complicated thing.
So here's something I found which I thought was really
funny. So this is so this is me and my
friend Isaac watching a magiciandoing a string trick at Coney

(18:43):
Island. And I'd be the Coney Island
Aquarium shirt on. So that's my first time watching
somebody doing magic. How old do you think you are
there? Well here this picture, this is
me and him. So This Is Us 2.
This is APS 2:30 that says 81. So I'd guess this is before that

(19:07):
because we look younger. So I guess my guess is five.
Well, maybe isn't that funny? And then what happened was
Isaac, we both, you know, went to the same school, came from
the same area in Brooklyn, but he had a relative that gave him

(19:28):
a classic trick. But we, my mom couldn't afford
to buy tricks for me. So it was like 1 deck of cards.
Was it luckily? Because that's why I had to work
on and learn things. But Isaac's uncle or grandfather
gave him a special magic trick with two coins and Isaac
couldn't figure out how to do it.

(19:49):
I remember I took it and immediately I was able to do the
trick, and then I was able to doit to him and to his mom.
And everybody you know, was like, whoa.
So Isaac's like, wow, you can really do magic.
But I was just, I think early onI had a knack for understanding
the magic tricks. And I think he went to magic
camp later went back as a a counsellor at 10 years old.

(20:14):
I believe you were you win a Long Island Magic competition.
Sorry. There's also a magazine there.
So yeah, this is yeah, but they ran the picture I think a year
later. So I think this picture is from
84 I think. OK, so I would have been 11
actually, but this is me as a young magician.

(20:40):
So that's me as AI guess a 10 year old or 11 year.
Old and this is that. Long that was.
Yeah, that wasn't Yeah. Which my aunt.
My great aunt paid for which wasreally nice to send me to the
camp so. How much does that build your
confidence? Some of the older counselors
like Johnny Ace Palmer, some of the older counselors that were

(21:01):
there like really sat with me and really helped me learn and
present magic tricks and then I would add my ideas to it.
But what it was was learning to work with the team and learning
to hang out with people that inspire you.
So hanging out with magicians that inspired me was that was my
whole life. It's still tonight a magician's

(21:23):
landing from Germany who's goingto stay here while I'm gone, but
I'll see him tonight. And just my life is really
absorbed with spending time withmagicians that are inspiring,
amazing. And that's most of my most of my
growth. And magic is is is through that.
And how so? You bounce ideas, you play.

(21:43):
I mean a lot of it is a performance but but but but much
inspiration comes from spending time with guys that I find
amazing. And so you start performing at
upscale restaurants, you're doing tricks at upscale
restaurants that later. 17/18/19Yeah.
You occasionally then start getting hired to do parties.

(22:05):
I think one of the early ones was by Diane von Furstenberg.
Yeah. How much did that and the kind
of A list type parties kind of help, you know, early on?
It taught me early on that you can see what makes somebody
amazing and it's not what they have around them, it's who they

(22:27):
are inside. And for some reason, magic
really in a streamlined way, it really gets to the person score.
So it's like the person score has nothing to do with all the
things that you think are important.
The person score is who they are.
And I also think everybody has an incredible core, even if it's
been tainted or, or, or they've been through a really rough, you

(22:49):
know, but I still think at the core of everybody, there's just
a, a, a human, you know, soul and heart and then blah, blah,
blah. How did the Steinerd family
impact you? Steiner, yeah, amazing.
Was doing magic at a party. He brought me to the South of
France to do magic at his house.I was supposed to say for a
week. Ended up staying for the whole
summer. And you're how old at this time?

(23:11):
I think I was 19. They gave me heavy fast culture
and brought me everywhere. And I learned quickly.
And also the way Jeffrey was wasreally interesting.
He would, you know, he was, he was an early billionaire and he
was very powerful and very incredible.
But the way he spoke, what was he would speak quietly but have
such a strong command that he, you know, people would edge in

(23:33):
to listen. I think I watched him and
absorbed and learned a lot fast.What I learned from him was
anybody is capable of achieving anything and don't judge
anybody. You know, he took me.
I was a kid doing magic at, at abar mitzvah and he was like,
here, come spend the summer withme and my family, you know, and

(23:55):
there, there was no reason for many.
He was, he was just so good to everybody.
And, and, and I think, you know,like I said, I learned quickly
just how to interact with all different groups fast and early.
Tell about running into Jack Nicholson at the club?
Exactly. So I'd, I'd be out and I'd run
into all these people that I, you know, watched repetitively

(24:18):
Cuckoo's Nest over and over. They'd say, oh, you know, they'd
announced that I was doing magicthere to Jack and then it would
be really cool. So it was young and and amazing.
What's the deal with you and knocking on wood?
Oh, yeah. Superstitious Jewish, maybe.
Superstition runs in the blood. Yeah.
So I get really crazy with all that stuff.

(24:39):
I And when I'm training to do something, I start to get really
insane about it. Like I'll stop the motorcycle
and jump off and knock on a treereally fast and then jump back
on a bike. Yeah.
So it almost becomes overwhelming.
There's a Yoda out out here. And the reason the Yoda's here
is because my mother used to love Yoda.
We watched Star Wars ago when I was 5, and that was her favorite

(25:01):
character. And before I did the Oprah
breath hold, I was, I was livingon 11th St. and I had this
office and I see this Yoda and Ihave to leave to go do the
breath hold the next morning to go to Chicago.
And I'm doing the breath hold the same day.
And it's late, but that store next to the Strand on 11th

(25:23):
Broadway, it was like a comic book store and I see Yoda in the
window and I'm like oh wait, I need that Yoda to be able to do
the breath hold and not no because it's easy to crack on
the breath hold, right. So my mom Yoda connected and I'm
like I need this thing. So I buy the Yoda.
But now it won't fit in a taxi because of the arms are so

(25:44):
outstretched pre Uber days. So I have to carry Yoda from
11th St. to here. I should be, you know, resting,
getting ready to do the breath hold on Oprah.
But my point is, is my superstition made me think that
I needed Yoda. Do you think the superstitions
in any way become detrimental toeveryday life?
I think superstitions in a weirdway are important because I

(26:06):
think it just shows your dedication to what you're trying
to do. For examples, when I'm running
on a treadmill, let's say I decide I'm going to do a, a 5K,
so I won't stop at the 3.1. I'll have to go to the 3.2 and
then I'm like, wait, well, I might as well just go to the
3.5. So that mentality, which is
based on, you know, the idea of like, it starts with the

(26:27):
superstition. It's like push further, push
further. I think that translates in when
you're trying to do something like hold your breath for 17
minutes. You said somewhere in my work I
have extreme self-discipline. In my life I have none.
It's true. And I think it's like you go
from one extreme to the other. So it's like right now I haven't

(26:47):
started the training. I'm procrastinating.
I'm currently 25 plus pounds overweight.
I need to get back in the other mindset so I can start putting
the show in Vegas together safely.
But I'm also that last minute person.
I wait until the last possible 2nd and then I'm like, OK, I
have 76 days until the show. That gives Me 2 1/2 lbs per

(27:10):
week, which means I'll be able to safely lose.
That's quality it 23 lbs and it whatever the the math is and
then OK, I'll be there just in time.
Always been a procrastinator. I think I work best under
pressure. I think that's my thing.
And I think growing up with a single mother in Brooklyn and
spending our first, you know, nine years like that where I was

(27:32):
kind of in charge until she got remarried.
And then things changed, obviously.
But up till then I was like, let's wing it and get it done.
It's so bad. Speaking of your mom getting
remarried, you move to the suburbs in New Jersey.
They moved. To a little town called Total,
which is on the border of Paterson.

(27:52):
And we lived in the top floor ofa, of a, of a house, you know,
right, right on the border, which was great.
And I went to Washington Park School, where my best friend
that became my best friend when I was 10.
Jimmy, who's who's there now whoI just saw that just had a baby

(28:14):
on the guffa, so I just went there with my daughter to go
visit me the other day. Yeah.
So we start in Totowa. Then I moved to Little Falls and
I went to Passaic Valley High School, which was for me, it was
great because I, you know, I surrounded with a different type
of kid. So it wasn't like the kids that
I grew up in Brooklyn with. It was like a different type of

(28:35):
thing. These were ironically, these
kids were all like really tough.So it's like you I I learned a
lot fast. I read your days often ended in
fights or crying. Truth to that?
Yeah, sure. But I think that, you know, I
think that happens. I I think that, yeah, I think
those things. But that's that's not.
I think it's also. I think it's also, it's also

(28:57):
tricky because, you know, I'm lucky because I have a brother
that's amazing. The role he plays in your life
is what? My brother, yeah, he's
incredible. And he's just an amazing guy.
You know, my mother, I think married and we moved to Jersey
and I think they didn't exactly get along.

(29:19):
And I think I was of a, you know, I, I think I was more
like, who's this kid coming intomy space, this crazy kid that's
into magic and into it. So it was, you know, I think it
was a, a struggle, but in, in retrospect, I think that
struggle was the most valuable. That's what makes you and that's
what also drives you. So it's like I said, when things

(29:41):
are comfortable, I have very little, you know, I might just
not even leave the apartment. But when things are tough and
they're difficult, that's when I'm alive.
And that's also when I feel the most creative.
That's when I work the most. So I do believe that comfort

(30:02):
does in most case, in my case atleast, puts a complete damper in
in being creative or getting anything done.
So it's the opposite of achievement.
What did you think of your step dad?
I think he's, you know, he's my brother's dad, so I think he's a
great guy. He's just, from age 10 to 18, I

(30:25):
lived under his roof and that was very nice that he allowed
that to be I, you know, I, I, I think you, you take opposite
ends of the spectrum and put them into the same environment.
I think there's always going to be that clash, you know?
How do you view your dad today? Why?
My biological father, He overdosed on heroin and died.

(30:48):
So I didn't. I never really knew him.
I knew he gave my mother a really tough time, so I just
found the picture of him actually.
Maybe I'll show it to you even. Where?
How did you find it? Well, I was going through the
find me things. I just found a one off picture.
So yeah, it's it's sad that he had such a difficult life, but

(31:08):
he was in Vietnam and he didn't sign up to go.
He was drafted, and it's either you go to jail or you go to
Vietnam. And I think the only way you get
people to just point their guns and shoot people that for no
reason is, you know, in many cases, such as my biologic
father, they started taking AAA grade morphine, right?
They would rate infirmaries. And then they got back to New

(31:29):
York. My mother had waited for him and
he was now hooked on heroin, youknow, So I think it was tough.
And he saw some horrific stuff over there, right?
So his best friend could gut it gutted alive while hanging from
a tree in front of him and things like that.
So yeah. And then would have these

(31:51):
nightmares when he came back home.
Horrific. Yeah.
So my mother had to do. My mother had a very difficult
life, but it also made her the most amazing, you know, teacher
she cared for. She was she was incredible.
It was the biggest blessing was to have a mom like that and.

(32:12):
What did he say to her a few days before she's?
With you when when she told him that she was pregnant, he just
disappeared so she didn't see him until the day that I was
born and one of her friends saidthat my mom's having a tough
time in the hospital. You should go say something
because she knew him and he wentto the hospital, looked there,
said I don't love you anymore, Ilove another woman.

(32:33):
Goodbye SO and my mother alreadyhad the craziest life to begin
with. Really.
Yeah, but because it was just meand her, she put everything in
in everything into her boy. So.
And I'm going to ask you about her in a SEC.
But he he ends up coming back atsome point and takes a swing at

(32:56):
her right. Yeah, well, she said.
He used to have nightmares and from the war and he would just
react and it became violent. So I don't know the details
obviously, but I've heard terrible stories.
What was the situation where in I found this remarkable that you
know, you're a kid and there's aboard between two windows it.

(33:17):
Wasn't exactly like he just threw me on it and said walk.
I think he was holding me tightly, but I think he was
teaching me like you don't need to have fear.
So I I don't think it was his his reckless way of doing it.
I was just so little. I think it but it might have
worked, you know, because my friends all say that I was never
afraid of things that were, you know, I, I would fall off the

(33:38):
edge of like cliffs when I was little and landed and stuff.
So, so maybe that that whole psychology of him teaching me
not to be afraid because he was probably so traumatized and so
afraid at the end war. So I, I, but I was a kid.
So in retrospect, you know, if somebody throws something this
way and it's going there, you still remember it is coming

(34:00):
right at you, right? Yeah.
Are there other things like thatthat come to mind that you
actually think? There are those lots, yeah,
there's lots of those things. But I didn't, we didn't live
with him, so I just saw him every now and then.
One time he was smoking and he burnt the apartment down.
We had to run and I was also lots of fires growing up, by the
way. Lots of your apartments burned

(34:20):
down, right? Yeah, I was in a bunch of fires.
By the way, another story, the story is I was at a wrestling
camp when I was 11 in Pennsylvania and we were all in
a plateau between and so there was a rubber mat that and with a
a cover and open. But everybody was told to go
stand on that mat. And I just stayed out in the
open field during the rain. And a lightning bolt hit not me,

(34:44):
but you. You could see it.
And it hit the field that I was standing on, but far away.
But the electricity came into meand my hair all stood on edge
and on edge. And I was blinded for a minute.
Plus I couldn't see. And I'm like, I can't see.
I can't see. It's running in circles.
So that's kind of a crazy story.Yeah, for sure to close out the

(35:08):
dead stuff you ran into him. Yeah, I've seen him.
Yeah, I've seen him a few times.And a cop called me, said your
next of kin, your biological father is dead, overdosed on
heroin. And that was that I.
What was your reaction? I didn't know him very much, so

(35:30):
my reaction was I was protectiveof my mother.
So, you know, so when you have one side of a story, you don't
really the other side is so. Yeah, but it still touches you.
I think he had a tough life. You know, I knew him very
little. I think I met him three or four

(35:52):
times in my whole life, something like that.
So I didn't know. Now, my mother also have a
godfather who's still in my life.
This is my mom, by the way, thisis her.
She was amazing. This is my great aunt that paid
for the magic camp. This is my mother.

(36:16):
This is something really funny you asked me about, like my
acting. That was like my headshot.
By the way, why did you change from David White to David
Blaine? I mean, Blaine was your middle
name. Yeah, Blaine was always my
middle name. So I was David Perez, David
White, David Mcallo, David. I had so many different last
names that eventually Blaine wasalways the middle name.

(36:37):
So when I was 18, the first thing I did is I went straight
to the whatever he had to do to change your name legally to
David Blaine and went back to just David Blaine.
So I had so many different last names.
I'll show you some of those things, too.
Yeah. What was I looking?
Oh, yeah. This was my godfather.
So it's him. This is him teaching me chess.

(37:00):
When I was like 4, he took me toPuerto Rico.
And he played a big role. I think yes, he was great, and
him taking me to Puerto Rico andteaching me chess was very
important as a kid because chessis a game where you have to
think ahead and Magic's very similar.
When it was you, your mom, your brother, Toughest time

(37:24):
financially would have been when.
I mean, it was always tough, youknow, it was never, you know,
it's never like. But no, the the toughest time
for Nance would be Brooklyn whenshe got remarried.
It was, it was tough, but not like, you know, you're hungry

(37:44):
some days. So it was, it was safe in that
sense, so. Describe what it was like when
you were in Brooklyn. My mother was very health
conscious, so she would buy a huge bag of brown rice, a huge
thing of oatmeal. She'd have kale, We'd have all
those healthy, nutritious things.
But, you know, we're, it was a single mother working multiple

(38:04):
jobs. And so, yeah, we, we were, you
know, didn't have much when we were walking to school, we'd
walk across the street. She didn't want to go past the
toy store or anything that she wouldn't be able to ever get.
One time I remember I was asked go to school, it was raining.
And I found that I said, mom, there's money.
It was raining really hard. And I picked up a $20 bill off

(38:27):
the street. But she thought it was just
probably a penny and that we were late.
And when I I remember when I pulled the 20 up, she saw it and
we both started jumping up and down and hugging each other and
we and we were so excited and sohappy.
And then that day when we came back from school she walked me
right to the that toy store and with the 20 bucks I picked out a

(38:49):
spider man doll I believe. What did she do to make ends
meet? Worked multiple jobs, waitress,
school teacher, I mean, and thenshe'd send me away the whole
summer so she could work and do whatever.
So I'd go to those like camp friendships, those, you know,
those programs where they take inner city kids and bring them

(39:09):
up to this really pretty place. And there I think also, now that
I think about it, I was in thosemagic programs at summer camp
and I was like 678. How would you kind of best
explain the role she played in your life?
Just the most amazing, inspiring.
She would read to me always. She'd take me to museums, she'd

(39:31):
take me to the library. She, she was very loving, very
affectionate and never critical,never judged anybody, had very
little, but would be the first one to take her coat off and
give it to a homeless woman in the park and Prospect Park and
just yeah, she was incredible. I read some word that you were

(39:54):
considering going to college, but then she got sick with the.
Very. Oh, she wanted me to go.
Yeah. She always dreamed of me going,
you know, to a great school. But when she got sick with
cancer, that wasn't an option. I wanted to just succeed so I
could help take care of her and stuff like that.
Yeah. What was it about what you read
in her journals? It impacted you?

(40:19):
Kind of hit the tail end of her life.
There though, all her whole lifeis just it's it's mind blowing,
starting with her childhood growing up the way she did.
She grew up from a very wealthy Jewish mafia family.
Her great uncle was he, you know, is he on the Riviera?
I think it was a first one of gambling in New Jersey.

(40:41):
He was partners with Meyer Lansky.
He had all these casinos. And I think that that kind of
corrupt money, I think set her on a mission of her own that she
didn't want to be a part of that.
And I think she left her family,left everything she was, went

(41:05):
from New York City to moving into Brooklyn after a suicide
attempt when she was 18. And, and she just tried, I think
tried to find meaning and, and just like I said, became a
school teacher, inner city kids and social worker and put
herself through Brooklyn Collegeat that point.

(41:28):
What were her concerns for you that you read in her journal in
her remaining days? I think her main concern was
that I would always be alone, but that didn't happen.
I have an amazing my family havean incredible daughter.
You said she removed fear from you.

(41:49):
How so? I.
Think when you just give a kid that much love and confidence, I
think that that helps. Yeah, that is what?
But the only thing she was afraid of was bugs.
And so for years, when I would see an insect other than a
cockroach, but when I'd see an insect, I would run and scream
like, like, like, like a crazy person.

(42:11):
And what do you mean other than a cockroach?
Well, you know, in the apartmentin New York, we have roaches all
the time. So if you're used to them,
you're not afraid of them. Switching gears a bit here, but
I've asked you about the fear because it applies to obviously
your work. But how much do you agonize like
over your work? But I mean, it's full time.

(42:32):
That's all you think about. All consuming.
Yeah, and I think magicians are very similar.
I think most magicians that I'm friends with, they know nothing
but magic. I mean, they study, they read,
they, they they love art becausethat's all part they cinema, but
that's all part of magic, I think.
But like, if you ask them about,you know, who won the NBA

(42:54):
playoffs, very few, almost none of my magician friends can
answer that. I think most magicians,
including myself, become all consumed in magic.
What about practising cards? Because I I.
Non-stop. This is one of the first times,
I mean I'm sitting here for thissong without cards, but the only
reason why is because I just watched something of myself when

(43:16):
I was playing with cards the whole time and it was really
annoying because the sound kept going.
So I said OK, I'm not going to play with cards and I'm doing
interviews. You'll sometimes do it 8 hours a
day. All day.
Yeah, all the time. Yeah.
They just feel amazing, you know?
I love the way cards. I love the moves, the technical
part of it, the digital fixation.
It's just, yeah, it's just the whole thing.

(43:38):
Can you go a entire day without touching cards?
Oh, very difficult. I think it's also meditative on
on many levels. Yeah, so.
Just the way if you see a magician playing with cards and
you see other magicians and one guy's like suddenly you'll see
every magician have to pull their cards out because it just
feels even just talking about them, like inching, you know, to

(43:59):
to grab the deck. But but the point is, is, yeah,
it's it's it's something that just, you know, it's just the
fluidity, Yeah. It just feels incredible.
In what ways was Houdini your role model?
That was kind of my education, so I would study books on
Houdini, look at images of him, and I think it started to make
me dream up what was possible and what could be done and think

(44:22):
about magic in a different way, about real versus tricks and
stuff like that. Take me through your process for
developing an idea. So I start with something.
I start with a simple idea, or Isee an image and then I'm like,
wait, that would be interesting,but it's not magical.

(44:43):
But if you took that idea and stripped away this part of it,
because Houdini wrote that Mac Norton, who was the guy that was
the human aquarium that could store frogs and fish and stuff,
it was 100 years ago in his bookMiracle.
And I say, wait. So if Houdini's writing about

(45:04):
this guy doing it with him on tour, Houdini definitely wasn't
fooled. So Houdini really believed that
this guy was able to store frogsand fish in his stomach in an
aquarium, which is all the waterand frogs.
He would drink in front of the audience.
And then he'd bring up all the water and all the frogs and
fish. And if you take that away and

(45:26):
you get rid of the messiness of it and you can just produce a
frog, that would be really interesting, you know?
And so that was the basis of it.And then I, I, I'll show you the
sword that I had made where it and the sword was kind of the,
the beginning of the process. So actually, can we get that

(45:50):
sword? Is it, it's right there on that.
It's right below. Thanks.
It's right below the right thereon the left.
Yeah, that sword note to the right.
Yeah, that big. And I don't need the holder,
just the sword itself. Perfect.

(46:11):
Thank you. So you see, I had this thing
made and the frogs are on it, right.
And then so in order to get rid of the whole, drink the water,
bring up the water, I had to figure out how to go in and out
of the esophagus so I could bring the frog up without the

(46:31):
water. So it it became in my mind if I
could do this sword, then I can figure out how to control my
stomach and my esophagus and be able to bring a frog up.
So. And and why is that, that in
your mind you thought if you could do that, you could do the
other? It, I don't know, it just felt

(46:54):
right now. And so, but my SO went from his
thing was to drink the water, drink it and then bring all the
water out and bring the creatures out.
And I started thinking, if you can just do that where you have
nothing and suddenly there's a frog, that's magical.
So you get the idea and then from idea to it's.
Actually, don't even you don't even doubt it right away, you

(47:16):
just assume it's real. I well, I mean based on
knowledge of you, but, but yeah,I, I guess the, the question is
the, the training that it takes to get get to the point where
you're actually able to. Actually, yeah, yeah.

(47:37):
Was being able to do this was a big part.
Is it? Could I also have a like a
tissue or paper towel with just some water, please?
Thank you. Set that to go getting your
hands. Through that, yeah, I'll just
rinse this because it's been sitting there.

(47:58):
You want to try this with a perfect thanks.
I'll just do this. Perfect.
Thank you. So you wanted to see the the
process? Yeah, sure.
All right. I have to kind of lick it.

(48:19):
It's like you want to stand up, you can pull it out.

(48:43):
So I had to learn how to do that.
I mean, even even when you're doing it, it looks as horrible
as it must be. You know, you watch, you do some
of the stunts sometimes and. I learned that specifically to
do that one trick with the frog.It's that whole thing, the whole

(49:08):
process of learning how to do that led to the frog.
But then that led to another trick, which was I started
thinking, what if I could swallow somebody's ring and then
pull it out with a hanger? So then I had to learn how to
put a hanger, you know, down my throat.

(49:30):
And then I had to develop that trick.
So the process is, you know, onething from an old image of a
poster. And then Houdini's book where he
writes this is how the trick, hemust have really been doing it.
Then it leads to can I do it? Then it leads to maybe I should
learn how to control the esophagus.
So it leads to swords from whichleads to me learning how to do
that trick with the frog, which then leads to another idea,

(49:53):
which is oh wait, what if I ate somebody's ring, put a hangar in
and pulled it out? Back up a a moment.
How how are you feeling right now just after having done that?
Like what? Fine.
Really. And what about when it's going
down? I'm fine.
I just haven't. I'm not.
I haven't practiced or done it for a long time.

(50:13):
But yeah, it was quick. Probably if I if I practiced
again for, you know, three days,it'd be like nothing.
And and when you first start, I'd imagine you don't go all the
way down, right? It's.
I think the first time I did it was just not that big.
It did go all the way, yeah, to the IT hits the stomach, the

(50:36):
bottom of the stomach, yeah. And from there to being able to
pull a ring out with. Well, then, then you figure out
how to incorporate magic into the idea.
And that's what during early YouTube days when all the tricks
were kind of being exposed, I started thinking it would be
really interesting to figure outhow to do things that are real
and combine that with magic. So that way the the the reality

(50:59):
of it makes it just as interesting when the method is
revealed as the trick that you're seeing.
And was that realization, did that kind of change everything
for you? No, because I was always doing
that stuff. So I always liked the the real
stuff, even as a kid, that was the magic I was drawn to.
So, you know, the guys on Coney Island that were doing the crazy

(51:21):
stuff. So yeah, I think I was, you know
what it was. I think I always liked things
that were believable. And I think that that's from
growing up with, you know, a deck of cards, not like a a
magic kit, you know, because my mother could never buy a Magic
kit. So giving me a deck of cards
that her mother gave to her thathad tarot images on it, that was

(51:44):
that led me down the path of learning that you can do amazing
things with a deck of cards and simple magic.
And when you'll do these bigger stunts, explain the like mental
goals, almost short term mental goals you'll set for yourself
along the way you have. To give me one.

(52:06):
I mean, it could be. You're going to say the ice of
the 44 days. Well, yeah, I mean, those are
the examples where I read about you talking about the short term
mental goals. But I think I assume that it was
more than just that that, you know, in order to kind of get
through some of these bigger things, you'll only look so far

(52:30):
ahead. Yeah, well, that's true.
I I think that's just the math part of my brain.
So I like to break things down into into numbers.
So if I know I have to do 44 days, which seems like a long
time to go without food and justwater, it's not as hard to
realize 22 days to make that possible.

(52:51):
So the first goal is how do I get here?
And for fasting, I'd done all ofmy stunts previous to that.
What the fasting was just the side footnote that wasn't really
discussed. But when I was buried alive for
a week, I didn't want to eat theweek before because I didn't
want to have to go to the bathroom in the coffin,
obviously. So that was really a 14 day
fast. So that kind of led me to loving

(53:11):
that part of it because when youfast, the brain changes again
and everything becomes really incredible.
You know all the all the things that yogis and and and monks
talk about during their fasting and during their cut off of all
the things that you daily you, you think about that changes
your brain and suddenly become aware of things that you would
never think of. So.
Describe what that's like when you're actually in it, by the

(53:33):
way. It just becomes amazing because
you realize how much your day isbased around your next meal or
what you're going to, you know, and that consumes a lot of time
like, oh, where am I going to goto dinner while I have to break
for lunch? And when you take that away, you
realize that you're fully functional.
But not only that, now your brain is thinking about things
that you never thought about, you know, and even just the way
you see colors, you know, when you do an extreme fast and you

(53:55):
take away everything, suddenly you're aware of colors that you
never even paid attention. You look at the sky and you're
like, Oh my God, you know, So it, it, it, it triggers
something that that's incredible.
So then I started, I was like, OK, I'm going to go to London,
do a long fast and the whole stuff would be only about the

(54:18):
water fast. So, and that became what I
researched and looked into and found documentations of what
could be done. And I'd known that I'd already
done this long because I'd tested and practiced doing fasts
and I was like, OK, this is doable, but I'm going to push it
just to this point because I think I can come back with no
permanent damage. And and did you?

(54:40):
Yeah, for the most part. What's for the most part.
Yeah, I mean, you know, my my org, I have the adrenal medicine
thing that kept all the documentation somewhere here.
But it it discussed like all therepercussions on the body and
the long term effects on some level.
Oh yeah. But we could look at it after, I
guess. But yeah, but you know, I think

(55:01):
my, my, my heart wall, my BM, mybone mass index, everything
decreased by about 33%. I lost 60 lbs in 44 days.
And yeah, it was, it was intense.
But I feel like I did get most recovery of other than my
metabolism. I feel like it always thinks I'm
going into starvation mode now. Maybe so my body reacts quicker

(55:23):
when I stop eating and when I start eating I can gain and lose
really fast. And you said that before and
said like there's no way of actually proving that, but it's
been since that point that you're I.
Think so. Yeah, I think so.
What did the recovery process entail from that?
Well, the doctors were skeptical.
Even my own Doctor Who was like a top starvation expert who

(55:46):
wrote the paper with me. And then he wrote the paper.
He just added me because I gave him my thoughts.
But the he was skeptical. He thought I was taking glucose
or or something or electrolysis.But it wasn't.
It was just periods 2O. And they wanted you to at some
point. My magician collaborator wanted
me to and I was like, no, I wantto do it this way.

(56:09):
So I did it my way. At the end of the stunt, when I
went to the hospital, phosphate levels went really fast and I
almost went into shock and probably could have died.
And that's when the guy went, Ohmy, oh, wow.
All the stuff he said is real. This is the refeeding syndrome.
And then he wrote a paper about that, which is how lots of

(56:29):
people actually that are bulimicor starving themselves, they
actually, you know, become at atreal risk once they start to
feed them. So he he had a good collection
of data and use that informationto publish a paper.
But that was the most dangerous part for you.
You felt like when it came time to refeed.

(56:49):
No, I don't know. I think I think that was the
most dangerous part for just theteam.
For me, it around day 40, my heart started feeling really
strange. I kept thinking I was going to
go into cardiac harass things. So there was an extreme risk

(57:10):
based on what I was feeling, butthen I got a message from
somebody that that was outside that brought a sign that said
God is love. And that was the last thing my
mother said. So I'm like, OK, I'm going to
make it. And your body started consuming.
Because you would think it just goes after the fat, but it
doesn't. So it goes after muscle tissue

(57:30):
and fat, and then it switches toyour organs and it goes.
So your organs start to decreasein size and you really start to
feel the muscle tissues. When your body's eating it
really becomes painful everywhere and I don't recommend
anybody to do an extended fast at that level.
I think a few days is great. 63 hours in a block of ice.

(57:51):
Why do you call that? I think it was meant to be.
I think it was meant to be longer and I think I showed up
late to the ice or something like that.
And then the ice wasn't ready and then the so every,
everything was backwards on that.
So but that was the hardest one by far.
And it was, I think it was because standing up the entire
time plus the radiation of the cold, even though it was a warm

(58:13):
November, it was like 68. So the air being pumped through
was, you know, at a room temperature, but that made the
ice continuously drip on me. And then you're fighting your
own brain. It's like 1/2 of you saying go
to sleep, you're going to die. The other half, it's like, no, I
have to achieve this goal. And it becomes like a battle

(58:34):
against yourself. And then the brain just gives
out when I start having hallucinations while I was
awake. But I couldn't tell whether this
is real. Is this real life or am I
dreaming with my eyes open? And that was the case.
I was having nightmares and dreams while my eyes were open
starting at hour 55. So it was probably only like 8
or 9 hours left. But they're long.

(58:55):
You know those hours. And you a couple minutes passed
and you thought it was hours, right?
A couple seconds passed and I thought it was hours robably,
like time shifts. Everything is so different.
The way it worked is I think it was like 402 or I don't remember

(59:18):
the time, but you know, the stunt was supposed to end at 9
Oregon 10, and it's four O 2. And I see a guy through the ice,
by the way. Then Fox did a whole special, by
the way, saying that I wasn't inthe black of ice and I had a
twin switching up and downward. And my doorman watched it and he
actually believed. And he was like, was that you?
It's like Eddie, you looked at me through yes, you.

(59:40):
You said hi to me. He's like, yeah, but they said
you were switching. I was like, but then where's my
twin? But anyway, the next special is
that we never landed on the moon.
So I was like, OK, but but anyways, so the guy is outside
it's four O2 whatever the time is.
And I said I go what time is it?And and somebody out there goes

(01:00:04):
four O 2. So I'm like OK, two.
That means I have like 5 or 6 hours until this is over.
I have to wait till 9 or 10. OK, so I wait.
I'm trying to like get this clock to move.
So I wait for. Two hours way before I ask

(01:00:25):
anybody again. So I look out, I see it's blurry
with the ice. So I look at, I see somebody go,
what time is it? And the guy goes 404, whatever
it was, and it was the same guy.And I was like, and that's when
I think the real it start my thebrain just went crazy.
Do you remember what? Then I started seeing people in

(01:00:48):
the ice and I was communicating to people and I was hearing
voices and the hallucinations just went crazy.
So what? When did your team realize you
were in trouble? When the guy that was working on
the stunt, because I said it wasa warm November, so the ice was
dripping a lot. So he was vacuuming under the
ice and hit the catheter, which I and that was that was the

(01:01:08):
beginning of like downhill. He feels so bad to this day, but
it's not his fault. So I always say there, if there
was one thing I wouldn't do, butnow there's a few, but if there
was one I would never redo. It's the ice for nothing in the
world. Would I do that because I have a
daughter and I don't want to kill myself.
I also wouldn't do the 44 days the buried alive.

(01:01:28):
If like anybody could do that. The breath hold.
I do it still all the time against all advice because I
have a heart condition. What's the heart condition?
Just like I have 50% stenosis, Iget half the supply blood to the
heart because my right coronary artery takes an irregular path
between my pulmonary artery and my aorta, which reduces blood

(01:01:51):
flow to the heart. Which may also be the reason I
can hold my breath because maybethe body compensates and I have
a high red blood cell. I don't know, but so there may
be some connection to me being able to hold my breath to that
birth defect that I have. But when I meet with all of the
cardiologists, they say you cannot hold your breath, you
will die. They've been saying this now for
15-10 years. No, since 2014 or 15.

(01:02:15):
The sleep deprivation thing. That one, that one I could not
do OK. Because I was going to ask that.
One I backed out of. In in earlier interviews you had
said the goal of yours was to break that record 1,000,000
seconds. Million seconds to break the.
Record 11 1/2 days when? 11.56 I think would be 1,000,000
seconds. When did that change?

(01:02:36):
I started to hire the team I hadlike that top guy out of
Stanford whose name is actually Doctor Dement and he's the one
that covered Randy Gardner that did the 11 days, but it was not
documented in the first four days.
So who knows exactly. But anyway, when him and the
team came, we start playing withsleep depress and gotten up to
five days or something. But he said if you have micro

(01:02:58):
sleeps, we're not going to countit.
So it means if you do that, it doesn't count.
So it's like it just based on the difficulty and based on that
statement and based on Peter Tripp, who was a radio DJ that
did it in Times Square. Ironically, his name is Peter
Tripp and he actually tripped out at the end of his week long
telethon where he stayed awake and moved away and never spoke

(01:03:19):
to any of his family yet. Changed his brain, apparently.
Wow. Yeah.
But anyway, so that one was the one that seemed like this one.
I, I don't, I don't think I can actually pull that off.
I'm also that guy that just falls asleep anywhere, anytime.
So I want to ask you, in terms of stunts you have done, the

(01:03:41):
breath holding on Oprah, what's going through your mind?
Before Oprah, obviously I wantedto be sure that I wasn't going
to fail. So I worked diligently with the
great team. Had pulmonary experts, had had
neurovascular surgeons and doctors, had free divers, had
everybody with me. But I was in a pool with all the

(01:04:02):
telemetry hooked up and I was doing a breath hold and I'd
gotten to 20 minutes and two seconds, but my heart had
dropped to 8 beats per minute and they thought that I was
going to suddenly go into cardiac arrest and die.
So they pulled me out of the water and I was like, why didn't
you do that? It was like I was in an amazing.
It's like incredible, you know. So anyway, I had done the twenty

(01:04:24):
O 2. So even that gave me the
variance for when I did Oprah, even if things were crashing or
not going according to plan, which they weren't, I knew that
I could still do at least 10% more than what the goal was.
So I felt, I felt comfortable that I could succeed with the
record at the time, which was 1632.
What's the longest you've done? Twenty O 220 minutes and two

(01:04:46):
seconds, yeah. All right, so you're on Oprah
now, which is much different because, you know, this is the
national television program. Well, I'll tell you what the
issues were. So, so it wasn't that, but what
the issue was was I wanted to use a sphere because that image
is, is I thought just so much better.

(01:05:08):
And she was like, OK, we could ship this fear.
We'll set that up. But but I also wanted telemetry
so they could watch the heart rate, which I thought would be
for safety, but also interestingto see what the heart does
right. So we had a pulmonary expert
come in and I was hooked up, butthe machine, they left it right

(01:05:32):
next to my ear, which was annoying and awful and made the
heart rate go quicker. And, and and then I had a
scheming of the heart so it would go high then low top of
that because for the audience I wanted to be facing this way.
So I was used to training where I just float face down, which
makes it much easier. But now I want to be this way.

(01:05:52):
So I had to put my feet into thethese things because I had a, a
wet suit on to keep me from going up and I had to use extra
energy to keep the body down. So suddenly I was like, Oh no,
this isn't this is live and we're in the middle of it and
things aren't going to be right.At one point I didn't think I

(01:06:12):
was going to make it. I'm sure that I was going to
black out and that would be it. You don't die from a blackout,
by the way. You black out.
And this is how the Navy Seals are trained as they're blacked
out underwater. And then that way they're not
afraid of drowning, and then they're brought up to the top
and they're brought back. So yeah.
But all of the conditions kind of made this very difficult.

(01:06:36):
And at the halfway point, you don't think you're going to.
I didn't think I was going to make it.
No chance. What was the most painful part
of it? It did start to get really
painful, but I, I think it like 15 minutes or something like
that started to get really, really uncomfortable.
I mean and. What's the feeling?
Why? First I purge really hard on O2

(01:06:58):
for 23 minutes. That gets rid of all the CO2 and
it loads you up and then what happens is you have tingling
everywhere, the fingers, ears and nose, the lips, everything
feels very strange and and I ride that out.
So 4 minutes in, if it kind of feels like I'm just beginning

(01:07:19):
and then then then you kind of cruise for a little bit.
But I had that issue with the feet trying to hold the body.
And then I had the issue of thiswith with the beeps kind of
hearing your heart rate and knowing that it's going way
higher than it should. The other thing is when your
eyes are closed, you don't use any.

(01:07:40):
The less your brain works, the more efficient the brain uses a
lot of oxygen. So the brain is, is, is the more
you can put it, you can take away every, everything, even
closing your eyes, the more efficient you are at holding
your breath. So between the beeping and the
brain working and the feet it, it's it.

(01:08:05):
It became really difficult to one point, I didn't think I was
going to make it, but as soon asI got to, I think around the
mark of what the goal was, whichI think it was 1632, it was 13.
And then it was a hypothetical 10 minutes that that was a
rumor. There was no documentation of
it. But then I believe that it was

(01:08:27):
truthful because it was a bunch of free divers who said, yeah,
there's somebody held for 10 minutes.
And then I did it myself in a pool and got to 15 minutes with
my team underwater. And then then I then I started
to think that, yeah, you could go for almost 20 minutes.

(01:08:50):
Now there's somebody I think did24 minutes and three seconds
underwater, which is crazy. And you thought you were going
to go into cardiac arrest? Yeah, at the end there.
Yeah. But then when I got closer to
the 16 plus mark, I was like, OK, I'm good.
What happened to the Brooklyn Bridge?

(01:09:13):
I started training for that, dropping just repetitively over
and over, and I did. Let's see, I have a picture of
it. I'll show you what I did to
that. I could find it did after a
bunch of jumps. I've kind of done this to my

(01:09:36):
arms. Oh.
Yeah, so. And where were you jumping from
there? See, I guess here, Yeah.
So once once that's so I said, well, this is.

(01:09:56):
Oh, and that's from how high up?That you're jumping not even a
fraction of of the Brooklyn Bridge height.
But I'm still, you know, I'm still, I'm still in love with
falling from heights into water.I just, I think the Brooklyn
Bridge is, I don't think it's worth the repercussions #1 plus

(01:10:23):
you, you don't want some kids seeing that and thinking it's OK
to do so. There's multiple reasons.
And we started thinking, what ifwe put a helicopter next to it?
And the guy that's coaching me, Dana Kunzie, who jumped 172 feet
into water, ABC Wide World of Sports, everybody else was
pulled out in a stretcher. After that they pulled the event

(01:10:43):
and he said no more of this. But he he looks at that Brooklyn
Bridge. He's like, I could get you to do
that like nothing. So he for him it's it's it would
be simple to, he thinks coach, but I think not.
The kerosene in water in in yourmouth, the, the moment you were,
I think, performing for Robert De Niro and Chef Nobu, that's

(01:11:10):
arguably the most danger you've ever felt.
You were in like in that actual moment, right?
I still think that's like the most dangerous because just
drinking that much, you know, kerosene or lamp oil, which is
they filter the, the, they use chemicals to get rid of the
odor. So it's even more dangerous than

(01:11:30):
kerosene. But drinking it and then having
it go in your stomach, the problem is the oil residue.
So there's always some sight. I've stopped doing that one
where I drink it now I just put it in my mouth but I'm still I
don't even feel comfortable withthat anymore.
Why not? I just think putting those kind
of that kind of stuff, I have a friend, Johnny Fox, who was

(01:11:52):
sword swallower and a fire eaterand I, we got esophageal cancer
and just it was a bad death, so.When you were doing that though,
like that time, what are you thinking as it?
Why? I'd watched that act since I was
a kid. It was a guy named Haji Ali that
would drink a big glass of kerosene and a gallon of water.

(01:12:14):
The kerosene would float on top of his stomach.
And then he would blow the kerosene out onto a fire and
make an enormous fire. So it was like he was like a
human dragon. And then he would use the water
to put out the fire. So I was, I was like, whoa,
that's the craziest thing I've ever seen.
So I always wanted to learn thattook me forever to learn it.
But the hard part wasn't drinking the kerosene or the

(01:12:35):
flammable. And then I had somebody make me
one. His name was Doctor Zeller.
He made Zell gel, the famous gelthat prevents you from, you
know, when you put your skin on fire from actually feeling the,
the, the fire. So, you know, from the heat.
So I guess you do feel heat, butit protects you from burning

(01:12:55):
yourself. So he was making me a mixture
that was supposedly, you know, jet fuel is the cleanest.
So it was kind of like a jet fuel and, and then this guy,
Doctor Zeller suddenly died of some weird thing.
And so I was like, oh, so anyway, I, I, I, I haven't
figured out the solution becauseI still have the fire on tour,
but I'm trying to figure out if there's an alcohol base like a

(01:13:17):
Bacardi 151, which is very flammable that I can drink, not
swallow, and then blow the fire out.
The fire comes back really quick.
So anyway I'm working on that for this new show.
I'm trying to figure out a solution.
Have you ever been when you've had the kerosene down in you
like freaking out a little bit? Yeah, when I did at Harrison

(01:13:39):
Ford's house, it made the IT makes your heart and your body
just goes really weird. Yeah.
So that I think that was probably the last time that I
drank that much kerosene. And what do you do when?
You minimal amount. Like what do you do when you
freak out? No, I mean like, how do you?
Feel it like your heart just starts going crazy and your

(01:14:01):
body, your body, you're sweating, your body's reacting
like what? Are you putting this in my
system? And do you think you're in
trouble in that moment? Nah, I mean I I also have that
hypochondria thing, so sometimesI assume something, but I've
been through that so much as a kid that eventually now I'm not

(01:14:24):
so paranoid of it. Last stunt, I wanted to bring up
the bullet catch, which you've done on a couple of occasions.
You know, I, I believe you're head of production temporarily
quit. My my top magician consulted me.
So if you do this again, we're, we're, I'm not helping you at
all. And then that and then just the,

(01:14:46):
all the gun violence or anything, it made me reluctant.
I'm like, no, forget this, it's not worth it.
And then that, you know, that magician, Chung Wing Soo, he
died doing the bullet catch on stage.
And he was an American magician.You throw me that book right
there. Glorious to say.
Yeah. So this is Chung Wing Soo.

(01:15:07):
And this guy, this is him, BillyRobinson.
And this is him as Chung Wing Soo.
And he played a Chinese contour because 100 years ago, if you're
from China and a magician, you're very mysterious, very
interesting. So he wouldn't speak and he
would do the bullet catch on stage.
And I thought it was so nice theway he did it, though.
It was so cool looking. He would have a, A and I'll show

(01:15:32):
you it's, it's such a, the way he presented it was so cool.
He'd have them shoot him from the audience.
And it was like a, a path that went out into the audience
straight towards him. Let's see if I could find that.
And then what happened? It was one day he did the bullet

(01:15:53):
catch on stage. And again, remember, he never
spoke. They thought he was a they
thought he was a Chinese conjuror.
They couldn't speak any English.And he was in London performing
the bullet catch. And the bullet catch went wrong,
struck him. And he yelled someone close,
someone lowered the curtain. I'd been shot.

(01:16:15):
And suddenly he sounded like an American.
And the whole audience laughed. They thought he was kidding.
They thought it was funny. Then he dropped dead on stage in
front of everybody and see how he did it and just let looks.
It did look so cool, you see. Yeah.
So it's kind of like that story about Chung Wing Sue's bullet

(01:16:36):
catch and the story about RobertHoudin.
There's such a rich history of it.
So I wanted to do it but. And presumably there's even less
opportunity for SO. He did it as a trick.
He didn't really catch it. So the guy that I studied with
was named Carl Skeens and he didit on that's incredible.
And he had his wife shoot him ina metal cup in his mouth and he

(01:16:58):
had done it hundreds of times. And just one time he said when
they were fighting, she missed alittle bit and she sliced
through his face. But but he obviously 12
magicians that died were faking it.
He, he, he was fine other other than that one time.
So I had him help me figure out a way to do it for real, which

(01:17:18):
is put a metal cup in your mouth, have a bullet shot into
the metal cup. And then I started thinking, but
if I'm going to do this on stage, I think I have to do it
to myself. And so I think if you put a
string onto the trigger, put a laser on a scope and then you.
Know what was the scariest part of the times you've done it.

(01:17:40):
I think that the scary part is before the fact, not when you're
doing it, when you're first trying to actually solidify the
idea. I think that's kind of, you
know, you're like who how am I going to do this?
You know, so, so the assembly ofit, but it was like when I did
the balloon flight when my daughter came, the whole thing
was dialed in and safe and perfect.
So there would be no risk of, ofreally anything.

(01:18:02):
We've worked really hard to get there.
But leading up to I had to do almost 500 jumps and it had to
be done quickly. So we're doing 1012 a day.
And yeah, I had to get a pro rating so I could jump over a
congested area. And you aren't insured for much.
I couldn't be insured for any ofthat actually so until the real
stunt, but the whole 500 jumps was on me so that the scary part

(01:18:26):
was the off the books part that I was doing on my own.
Ironically no injuries whatsoever.
The 1st jump that I did recreationally like a year after
the the balloon stunt, I was flying with a friend.
He was holding on to me so another guy could get a picture
of us. And then when I came back, I was

(01:18:47):
so far away from a good landing spot that I landed on something
just double broke and triple ripped the ligaments on the
ankle. So the big injury that I had was
just on a recreational jump. But it was also the one time
that I didn't treat it very seriously and I wasn't focused
and I wasn't prepared. And I have my equipment didn't
have my, but what I had done the500 jumps with.

(01:19:09):
So it just shows you, it's like,you know, that level of focus
and seriousness has to be applied at all times.
Health issues you have today associated with your career.
I think metabolism took a a hit probably from all the breath
holding. They say short term memory loss,
but short term memory rebuilds itself apparently.

(01:19:32):
And then I would guess that the unknowns from eating glass,
kerosene, these things, probablythere's a lot of residual
effects I don't really know about yet.
In on the munching on glass, I mean.
It's probably not a good idea. Well, I mean, you have issues
today, right? The other thing is there's like
a chemical in the glass, so the chemical that that they use to

(01:19:52):
make glass, that's also going into your body.
So not the best idea. And explain why you moved from
the hand to the bicep with the ice pick.
Just the scar tissue that was happening in my hand, the amount
of scar tissue was becoming I would have like sharp shooting

(01:20:12):
pains and nerves. So I just decided to switch to.
You know, you've said before youthink you're going to die in
your 60s or high likelihood. No.
Well, what I said is if I was betting as an insurance guy,
betting on, you know, life expectancy of first of all,
Houdini died at 52. A bunch of magicians did die at

(01:20:34):
the age of 52, but he was very, you know, extreme and really
pushed himself. I mean, you're no different.
I think I do push myself a lot, but now that I have a daughter,
I don't even want that risk anymore.
So the way I approach things is very different, very calculated.
You'd said in an article, I'd like to figure out how to be

(01:20:56):
happy more. Oh, well, sure, that.
I mean, I'm not a bouncing up happy type person, but that
doesn't mean I'm also a depressed person.
Yeah, but I sure I'm not that type of person that looks going
Hannah. What?
What made you realize you'd liketo be happy more?
No, I, I just mean, you know, there's so much to be, you know,

(01:21:19):
grateful for, right? Like you could be in an extreme
situation where everything seemsreally difficult, but you could
take that and use it to build and, and become stronger and
look at it as like, oh, I'm lucky that I went through this
versus well, this is terrible. Life is unfair.
So it's two approaches. So I'd like to take any
situation that things are difficult and kind of use it as

(01:21:40):
like, oh, great, let me learn how to become stronger.
Let me learn how to become better.
Let me learn, you know. You said long ago you're
reluctant to let people in or get close to people.
Yeah, I think that's just childhood and, you know, the
world around. And that type of thing makes
you, you know, little, you know,you know, afraid to.

(01:22:05):
And then probably also the loss of my mother.
There's another part of me that's afraid that if I do feel
that way and then somebody abandons me, there's like that
great devastation. So I think that combination of
things probably led to, you know, keeping, you know, a guard
up on, on certain levels. In what way did you see it come

(01:22:27):
out in you? I don't know, I just it's
everything, you know. And, and then the other thing
is, which is I think just as a magician, you're also in a world
where you're not like you work on things, but you're like very
guarded about who you share the things with, you know, So you're
very, very protective over ideas, you know, So I think it

(01:22:50):
all, I think it all go hand. It's hand in hand.
But there was a period where that upset you, right?
Like the, like, inability to letpeople in more.
Yeah. I don't know.
How would you say the risks you take impact like relationships
with significant others? When Dessa was one, I did the

(01:23:11):
electrified thing and then that was the longest break that I
ever had, which was almost a decade before I did another
stunt. So it's the way I think about
things changed as soon as I had a daughter.
Previous to that, I, I wasn't afraid, you know, if a shark
bites my leg off, so be it. So before that I was, I was a

(01:23:35):
little more, you know, willing to take a, a risk.
Whereas now I'll make sure that there is, you know, a cage close
enough by that if the shark starts to come at me, I could
get in the cage, right? What about on the dating front?
Like what's it? Yeah, I think it's, I think
dating a magician is, is is, fora start, already strange.

(01:23:59):
You know, I think a magician is very.
We keep all of our walls up and we, you know, our world is all
consumed by magic. So I think that makes it
complicated. Yeah.
It is did like, do you think that makes it hard?
Yeah. Probably, but I think it's, you

(01:24:19):
know, complicated, long rabbit in a hole to try to figure out.
But sure. And being a magician #1 is
you're guarded, you're secretive, you're reluctant to
let people in on some level. It's just the nature of that.
And I think that the reason people become a magician is
because they already have that, that brain chemistry that like

(01:24:41):
they've already built that wiring of I'm, you know, I'm
going to stay alone. I'm going to practice magic.
It's weird. I don't care if the other kids
don't accept me because I have my car.
It's I have my magic. So, so I think that magicians
have in common. It's all I, I think it's similar
to like comedians in some level or, or it's like it's, it's,
it's, it's its own world. But you feel great when you're

(01:25:05):
with other magicians, you know, because you have that same
language, that same communication.
And that communication is about the the cards or the the numbers
or the logic or the science or the creativity and that that's
where all the energy and focus goes, I think.
How much desire, if any, do you have to one day get married?

(01:25:27):
I mean, I'm open to everything. That means that is that
something you want for your life?
Or let's put it like. This.
I'm the first person that cries over any romantic movie.
So like any movie that comes on,including Grease.
I was showing it to my daughter and I just start crying.
She's like, why are you crying, Papa?
I'm also the first one tells my brother, everybody marry her.

(01:25:50):
She's amazing. Just marry her.
So, yeah, I believe in all of that stuff.
I think I'm just seeing how there's a part of me that's
guarded and and afraid of being abandoned and, you know, things
like that. And then and then again, I think
that goes to the whole magician's construct.
Wait, this is Desa call. Hey, say hi.

(01:26:18):
Hello, I'm grilling your dad with questions.
Are you going to come over? You're going to come over in a
bit. Yeah, just what pair of shoes do
you think I need to take for theairport tomorrow?
I think the new ones are good. The So I bring the the Nike.

(01:26:40):
Yeah, perfect. I.
Bring the but in your suitcase. Yeah, perfect.
OK, so we'll be there in 30 minutes.
OK, perfect. All right.
Just Dan, love you. Bye.
Fatherhood impacted you how? The greatest experience of my
entire life. It gives you a purpose.
And it's funny because I used tosee people showing pictures of

(01:27:03):
their kids. Now I'm that guy.
You know, there's nothing greater in life.
It's, it's our ultimate purpose,right?
Survival and reproduction, According to Freud, the ultimate
productive, you know, that's, that's it.
So doing magic tricks on stuff, sure, it's entertaining and fun,
but no, having a daughter is thewhole point of life and

(01:27:24):
existence. So yeah, it's the most
fulfilling, rewarding experiencethat I'll ever have.
And by the way, it's hard to continue doing magic because I
just want to be with my daughter, you know?
So it's like anytime that I'm doing something like even now,
it's like this is time that I could be with with my SO it's
everything is, you know, but butwe spend a lot of time.

(01:27:46):
So it's OK. But I'm just saying, yeah,
that's the greatest feeling and experience that you can that for
me personally, that you could ever have in life.
It's the only other moment in the interview where you've been
a little touched, like talking about something.
That sure, yeah. What was the other end?
Moment oh talking a little bit about your parents OK the IT it

(01:28:09):
it changed you in what ways thatyou weren't expecting.
I mean, in, in every way, you know, the things shift.
What you think was important before is no longer important.
So the, the, the main thing that's important is just being
the best dad that I can be and being there for her and, and
teaching her everything that I love.

(01:28:30):
Yeah. How you do it?
No, you don't. I know.
You put it there. You knew that.
How did you know you're a magician?
Watching her grow and learn and supporting that, that's that's
that's my priority now. Of course the work is important
and doing magic I still love. It's my passion, it's my drive
and my focus, of course. But now that's not the only now

(01:28:54):
there's something much more important.
To what extent was it at all challenging figuring out that
balance? I I think you just naturally, it
just happens. You just you're you just you
just become that. I don't think you have to figure
it out. Although there was a book that

(01:29:15):
was really good called nurture Shock recommended highly If they
want to learn about how, how to the psychology of, of, of
raising a kid in a way that so with nurture shock, what they
say in the beginning of the book, which is amazing.
It's AI think Columbia and Harvard did a test and they gave
1000 kids the exact same tests and 500 were split in one group,

(01:29:37):
500 and the other. They were all pretty much on the
same level, which is why they were put into this test.
And the 500 kids that were rewarded on their achievements,
like you're great, that was amazing.
And then the other 500 kids wererewarded on their work.
And what happened was on the second test, the 500 kids that
were told they were great and their achievements were so
amazing, they suddenly declined On the next test where the kids

(01:30:00):
that were rewarded for working hard, they increased, they went
up immediately. And the reason why was because
when you compliment somebody's work, they can just keep getting
better. There's no end to it.
But when you compliment somebody's achievements, like,
oh, you're great, that's amazing.
Suddenly they're afraid to not be great.
And so suddenly they're more hesitant, reluctant to get
something wrong, whereas the other kids, they're getting
compliments on the work. So that was like the opening of

(01:30:23):
the book and, and just little things like that that, you know,
that that help me understand thepsychology in the way that I
wouldn't have normally thought of it.
How would you feel if she got into magic?
Great, but I support anything that she wants to do, and she's
so amazing and so talented and she isn't the magic.
She's incredible at it. Well, that's because I've seen
her obviously once. She comes, I'll show you guys

(01:30:44):
something, but that'll we're doing it just as practice right
now, so there won't be any. Well, the reason I asked because
in some, you know, I've seen herin some of your work, but then
in some conversations you've had, you're like, you don't want
that life for her. No, no, she'll whatever she

(01:31:06):
decides. I'm super supportive.
I want to touch on some celebrity interaction first,
Mike Tyson's people accidentallytaking your suitcase.
Oh amazing. Running into Mike at that point
was incredible. And you're how old?
I don't remember, but young and it was like my first trip to LA
and and brown too many suitcaseswere the thing.

(01:31:26):
And so he there was like 100 getting thrown into his cars and
mine was missing. And I say, I think you guys
might have taken one of my bags.You go, go knock on that limo
and I knock on the window and the thing rolls down.
It's like you got a problem and I was like, no, Mike, I I used
to print you on my shirt and. He goes jump.
In and so I sit in the limo and in the ride back to his hotel, I

(01:31:48):
was doing magic to him the wholetime and and he said, you know,
I wasn't meant to be the heavyweight champ.
I was too short. My reach isn't good.
He's like, but I had nothing to lose, and therefore I had
everything to gain. And he's like, you know, he, he,
he gave me little amazing bits of wisdom, which is like, you
work really hard. You don't look back.
You focus on the big goal. You know, it was, it was

(01:32:09):
amazing. Yeah.
Leonardo DiCaprio, like great. You guys, You guys were close to
one point, then you weren't. He was amazing, very generous.
He was so nice. He hosted my first show.
He was, he was incredible. You you the the articles read
like there. You didn't like the association
with him like when you were like.
Something other to be associated.

(01:32:30):
He's that guy's amazing, yeah. Trump.
Great. I met him on a handshake and I
did magic to him at some party. I was like 18 or 19 or whatever
it was. And I was like, one day I'm
going to do stunts. Can I use your land?
He's like, yeah, here, take my number.
And he gave me his card. And then cut to a few years

(01:32:51):
later, I called that card. It was like 8322000 I think.
I don't remember, but it was so they hello, we're Donald Trump.
So I said this is Dave Blaine, amagician.
He told me I could talk, call him and I needed.
And so he jumps on the phone andI was like, remember you said I
could like use your land to do astunt.
Was think about doing the stunt buried alive that Houdini died
before he got the chance to do, which is that stunt.

(01:33:13):
He died beforehand and he said, yeah, I'll send you my driver.
And back then, having a driver take it was a big deal, right?
There's no Ubers or anything. I'll send my And his driver took
me around to all the spots and Isaw this great West Side Highway
location and I was like, I want that one.
And they're like, OK, it's yours.
Madonna. Amazing.
You guys, you guys dated, right?We're very close and we're still

(01:33:35):
close. And what was amazing was early
on, I would watch how she'd build shows.
So I would go to the museum withher and things like that, and I
would see her looking at all theart and all the photographs and
just writing little thoughts forwhat she's going to put into her
shows. And yeah, she's an incredible,
amazing, powerful woman I was lucky to to become friends with

(01:33:58):
still to this day. It's always inspiring and always
her last show it was she made a like a, a music, like almost
like a musical. And it was on.
And I mean, she did it so much and it was so hard, but it, it
was unbelievable. The amount of thought and
processes. Very few people can do that, you

(01:34:20):
know, in that in the whole, yeah, very few.
She creates and does her her whole, her whole thing from the
bottom up and even watching her build her show, like the way she
checks every little detail, every nut and bolt on the stage
on all the props, it's, it's crazy, it's amazing.

(01:34:40):
President Bush and buttering up the Secret Service beforehand.
I stole his watch. I think we're in China and I was
at a gig. He was a gig and I did this
watch still and. But but buttering up the Secret
Service beforehand was a key part of that.
Getting these guys ready so whenI start handling or or doing
whatever, they wouldn't think I was going to like, stab him, you

(01:35:03):
know, do something crazy. So, yeah, I got them comfortable
with the idea that, like, I can grab and manipulate people.
Look, here you go. Move here, move here, come here,
you know? So that was, yeah, that was
great. Thanks for listening to my chat
with David Blaine. To see him.
Literally swallow a sword and some jaw-dropping card tricks he
performed for our crew. Go to youtube.com/graham

(01:35:24):
Bensinger and if you get a chance give us a rating and
review. Thanks again for listening.