August 23, 2025 • 41 mins
Mac King has been performing his comedy magic in Las Vegas for 25 years. His show is hilarious, and thoroughly entertaining.
[00:00] Introduction of magician Mac King
[00:50] What’s the first magic trick that Mac remembers?
[04:39] When did Mac start doing magic?
[06:06] Mac’s paid performance
[08:19] Mac’s career plans after high school
[12:36] Working with Lance Burton
[14:47] “It’s Magic” in Los Angeles
[16:38] Life after college, comedy clubs
[18:51] Intersection of gambling, magic, and card cheating
[21:06] Mac King’s Excalibur show
[22:58] Performing with a bloody thumb
[34:06] Houdini's naked rope escape
[37:47] Future plans and why Mac still loves performing
[39:58] Life outside of magic
[00:00] Introduction of magician Mac King
[00:50] What’s the first magic trick that Mac remembers?
[04:39] When did Mac start doing magic?
[06:06] Mac’s paid performance
[08:19] Mac’s career plans after high school
[12:36] Working with Lance Burton
[14:47] “It’s Magic” in Los Angeles
[16:38] Life after college, comedy clubs
[18:51] Intersection of gambling, magic, and card cheating
[21:06] Mac King’s Excalibur show
[22:58] Performing with a bloody thumb
[34:06] Houdini's naked rope escape
[37:47] Future plans and why Mac still loves performing
[39:58] Life outside of magic
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
Hey, everybody, this is Life is a Gamble and my
name is Richard Bunchkin. My guest today has been a
staple in Las Vegas for twenty five years. His name
is Mac King, and Mac is a comedy magician and
his show is hilarious. So I highly recommend if you
(00:35):
haven't seen this show, you can catch it at the
ex Caliber. But now let's talk to Mac. Matt King,
Welcome to Life as a Gamble. So happy to have
you here today. It's a real pleasure for me, so
thanks for having me on. I guess I wanted to
just start with you remember the first magic trick you
(00:56):
ever saw?
Speaker 2 (00:57):
I do actually pretty vividly. My my paternal grandfather, my
dad's pop. He uh, he knew a couple of tricks,
but this was the one I remember. I mean, I
have such a bit. I mean maybe I maybe I
built it up over the years in my head, but
I believe I remember him picking me up in his kitchen,
(01:19):
placing me on the counter, his kitchen counter. And this
is how long ago it was. I mean, he was
I was able to be picked up and put on
the kitchen counter by my grandfather.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
But also.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
It was you know, there were matches to light that
stove next to me, and so and he was the
kind of fellow who always carried a pocket handkerchief, you know,
with a little k in the corner. And uh he
uh took that handkerchief and wrapped up the match stick
in there and put it in my hands. And I
broke that match, and I you know, I heard it break,
(01:52):
felt it break in my hands, and then he opened
up that handkerchief and that match was unharmed. And I mean,
I mean, I can vividly remember the kitchen counter. He
was for a few years, he made his living as
a cartoonist, and so he was, you know, an artist
all his life. But once he had a family, he
(02:13):
started he started an insurance business, and that's what he
did when I was around. But early in his life
he was a cartoonist and so he had he had
painted hand painted like the kitchen counter to look like marble.
(02:34):
And so, I mean, I have a vivid memory of
this kitchen counter and him him placing me on it,
and you know, his pocket handkerchief. He always carried, you know, handkerchiefs.
He was pretty dapper fellow.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
You know. It's funny when I was thinking about this.
In preparation for this, I was thinking about the first
trick I ever remember seeing, and it was actually my
grandfather's friend. And I had to be very young to
be able to you know, I mean three four five,
I don't know. But it was also in the kitchen
(03:10):
and he took me in the kitchen and took little
pieces of an He tore little pieces of a napkin
into little squares and then he wet a butter knife
and he put the squares on the butter knife and
then was doing a paddle move trick.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
Yeah. No, that's that's I mean, that's I mean there
are a lot of really great professional magicians who still
do that trick. I mean John Carney, a great sleight
of hand magician, still does that trick in restaurants. I've
seen him do it for people, and it's on a knife. It's, yeah,
on a butter knife with little pieces of paper that
he's torn from a paper napkin and wow, and his
(03:52):
little routine for it is really visual, really magical, and
that yeah, oh yeah, that's a great, great trick. Whoever
your grandfather's friend was knew some magic, I think.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
Yeah, And you know, I'm sure he you know, pulled
coins out of my ear something, you know. But but
that was the one thing I remember. And I also
remember whenever we would see my grandfather's friend, I would
always ask him, you know, to to do some magic
for him.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
Well, no, that's a memorable thing, right. It's such an
odd procedure, right, dipping the knife in the water and
tearing up to get little pieces of paper. I mean,
I mean it's a some that somehow that fixes in
your brain.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
I think, yeah, it's a whole kind of ritual. Yeah,
So when did you start doing magic yourself?
Speaker 2 (04:43):
Well, I mean he taught me that trick. I remember
that too, you know, so I mean having my mind blown,
And then even more mind blowing was seeing how relatively
simple that was, right, I mean, he he had before
he decided to show me this trick and taking a
little match stick and put it in the hem of
(05:04):
his handkerchief, and so that when he put it in
my hand, I was breaking the one in the hymn.
And when he opened it up, you know, that one
remained hidden in the him, the broken one in the
hole one tumbled out on the counter, and I was like,
oh my god, because you know, I I think you think,
(05:26):
you know, I probably was five years old, and I
think up until that point you just think magic is
real maybe or or people are you know, imbued with
magic somehow, and so the fact that I could do
that was just eye opening.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
Yeah. And you know, one of the sort of themes
is this show is about the gambles people take in
their lives, not necessarily for money, but just the risks
that they take. And anybody who goes into the art
is sort is absolutely you know, taking a big risk.
So when did you actually start performing magic?
Speaker 2 (06:10):
I've always said, and I believe this to be the case,
that the first show I did for money, you know,
was like, you know, a neighborhood kid, you know, Sissy
Herbert's birthday party and I got like five bucks in cake.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
I think that was you know, that sounds like a deal.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
But so I was probably twelve years older around around
and there when I did that. I want you but
I've been you know, sort of working on magic really,
I mean, seriously is hard. That's a strong word for
an eight year old, right, But but i'd been you know,
fiddling around with magic and you know, really interested in
(06:49):
it as a hobby, you know, starting around eight, and
so I think that was the first show that i'd
done for money. But my my mom's dad actually had
some magic books at his house, and so I had,
you know, poured through these books pretty good by that time,
and and he was They were always really sweet and
(07:10):
encouraging to me. My mom's parents, you know, they lived,
we didn't live in the same town, but whenever we
would go to visit them, they would you know, invite
their neighbors over to sit in their living room, and
I would do shows for them, and it was just
you know, and there was one particular neighbor I remember,
a woman named Dorothy Merrell. I mean I was ten
(07:31):
years old and still Dorothy Murrell scarred me. I remember
her name, Dorothy. You know, she she wasn't going to
let a ten year old get by with, you know,
something that was lame. She was really critical and you know,
if she saw something, she would point it out. And
at the time, you know, my grandparents were sort of
(07:52):
mortified that their friend would you know, sort of be
an asshole to their old friend son. But but looking
back on it, I think it was really useful right
to have somebody like that, And so that was kind of.
So the I did little shows for my family and friends,
you know, and I did shows at school and the
Talent Show and that kind of thing. But that first
(08:15):
that Herbert Birthday party was the first paid show.
Speaker 1 (08:19):
Was your plan, like, when you get to high school
or whatever? Was your plan? Okay, I'm gonna finish high
school and then I'm going to go be a professional
magician or did you have some other.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
No, it wasn't. I wasn't I my plan. I didn't.
I've never had a plan. Really. I feel like I've
been buffeted about by the universe and it's always worked out. Okay,
So my plan was to go to college. I I
did pretty you know, I was pretty good student and
(08:52):
got a number of scholarship offers kind of around the country.
My only real plan was to go to school far
enough away that I couldn't drive home and that my
mom couldn't drive to visit me easily.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
And that's the way kids were back then right now
now they were.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
Yeah, I wanted to get away. I wanted to get away. Yeah,
and so and I went with the idea of majoring
in math. Actually I had some aptitude for that. And
when I got to college. It turns out you had
to go to class every day to be really good
at math, and at that.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
Level, I hate when that happens.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
Yeah yeah, so uh so. But I was on a
you know, pretty pretty great scholarship and at one point
I thought about quitting school to become a chef. But
a local friend of mine in Louisville, uh, you know,
convinced me that that was you know, look, you're this job.
I had been offered a job in Kentucky to that was.
(09:51):
That's sort of I've feel like I'm pretty good at
three things. I'm pretty good at math at that time.
That's like a language, so I think if you don't
use it for you know, a long time goes away.
I still use this. I'm pretty good cook. And then
I'm pretty good at magic tricks. And so it was
(10:14):
those three were kind of battling it out, and math
lost out first because it was it got way harder
and uh uh and so I switched to anthropology in college,
and I have a fine degree in anthropology. And then
(10:34):
oh yeah I can. I can reassemble chicken skeletons after
a nice dinner. But uh uh so uh then uh
then I thought about being a chef, decided to stay
in school that would be there when I was done.
And and then during the summers in school, while I
(10:55):
was cooking the one summer in a really nice restaurant
in Louislle cat in my hometown. He's called six ten
Magnolia's still there, I got a phone call in the
while I was doing some prep stuff to go audition
for to do a magic show in this theme park
like two hours outside of Louisville in Cumberland Falls, Kentucky,
(11:18):
at a place called Tombstone Junction. And it was like
an old Western theme town. They had a train ride
where the gunfighters would you know, the bandits would rob
the train, the sheriff would shoot the bandits and the
train would drive on and and then doing a little
magic show and what they call the saloon, but you know,
they sold Hamburger's and cokes, no outcohol, not really much
(11:41):
of a saloon. And with and that was so. And
at that point I was doing some shows with another
local magician, a guy named Lance Purton, who was a
pretty successful Las Vegas magician. And uh so he and
I were doing shows together a kind of you know
for here and there just one off birthday parties, corporate things.
(12:05):
But this was while I was in school, and so
in the summers we would do shows together. So I said,
can I bring my buddy to this audition. I went
down there and we got this job. So during the
last two summers of school college, I worked in this
amusement park. Lance and I did and so doing three
shows a day, seven days a week. And so at
(12:26):
that point that's kind of when I thought, you know what,
when school is over, I think I can maybe make
a run this as profession.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
Wow. So when you were working with Lance, was it
like a duo or yeah?
Speaker 2 (12:40):
Yeah? We oh yeah. So he would come out and
he would do I don't know whether you ever saw
Lance's show here in Las Vegas, sure, but yeah, so
he sort of sprang the fame with this twelve minute
act with producing cards and candles and doves, and so
he sort of already had that act, and so he
(13:03):
would do that act, which was like eleven twelve minutes,
and then I would come out and do like a
eleven or twelve minutes, and then we would close with
a thing together. So we were doing like we were
doing like thirty thirty five minutes and so and so
we lived there in this park. It was great for
(13:23):
both of us. I mean we did, like I said,
three shows a day, seven days a week, and sometimes
more on Sundays when it was busy. And they had
a big amphitheater that we would work in on Sundays
because they would have country music, you know, you know,
Conway Twitty and Barbara Mandrel and whatever in this big thing.
And so we would open for those guys when they
(13:44):
would come on Sundays, and so we would do extra
shows Sundays. It was just a great training grant. And
we lived there in the park and we had access
to our little theater at night after the park closed,
and so we could really work on our acts. It
was I mean, it was kind of a dream job
for you know, we were like seventeen, eighteen years old.
Speaker 1 (14:03):
It was nuts and getting a lot of reps.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
Yeah, no, that's the main thing. A lot of reps
in front of people who you know, are genuine critics,
right they they're it's not your friends or your family,
they're people who you know, if if they don't like it,
they don't clap or laugh.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
Right right by the way, I wanted to add, you
said you were good at three things, but I think
you also should add a fourth, which is you are
very good at comedy. Okay, thank you. Yeah, the famous
quote tragedy is easy, comedy is hard, or dying is easy.
Speaker 2 (14:42):
Yeah, dying is easy, comedy is hard. That's right.
Speaker 1 (14:45):
Yeah. So, so did you and Lance talk about after
that taking your show on the road or you just
kind of parted naturally and you're.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
So we he he move. I still had one more
we finished. We did three years there together, so I
guess it was my between my freshman and sophomore and
between my sophomore and junior, between my junior and senior year.
We did. We I'm bad at those timelines, but we
did three summers together, and then I still had some
(15:21):
school to do. I still had another year. And so
he moved to Los Angeles at that point because he'd
gotten this offer to be on this big prestigious magic
show in LA and they they always booked somebody from
that show. It was like a ten day run of
(15:42):
magic shows in LA, and they always booked somebody from
that show on the Onto the Tonight Show Johnny Carson,
and so they decided to have Lance on there and
that was his like big giant break, and so he
was already you know, at that point, I was still
in school, but he was kind of soored into who
you know, a kind of another level of show business
(16:03):
that I was in.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
So this ten day show was a live show with
live It was a.
Speaker 2 (16:08):
Live show in the theater. It was called It's Magic.
It was produced by Milt Larson and Bill Larson, who
started and ran the Magic Castle in Hollywood. But it
was it wasn't at the Magic Castle. It was in
big theater in la And because the Magic Castle is exclusive,
you can't get in there unless you know, remember, but
this was a big show for the public and they
(16:30):
people would, you know, magicians would kind of come from
all over the world to be a part of this show.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
Huh. So what happened to you then when you finished?
Speaker 2 (16:40):
So then when I finished school, I went back to
that amusement park by myself and worked on my own
my show at that point. So I was doing the
full thirty thirty five minute show by myself at that point.
And then I got pretty lucky in that comedy clubs.
This was like eighty one or eighty I got a
(17:01):
college in eighty one and so comedy clubs were just
kind of springing up around the country outside of LA
and New York, in Chicago, you know. And so and
there was a guy in Louisville, my hometown, who was
at one point been booking jug bands, but started booking comedy,
(17:24):
started booking comedy in these you know, small bars, you know,
in Kentucky and Tennessee and Ohio and Michigan and West Virginia.
And so I kind of got in on the ground
floor of that. And because I'd already been working on
my own show for quite some time. I mean I
was twenty one or so at this point, and so
(17:47):
because I've been working on my show for some time,
I already had, you know, the thirty five minutes or
thirty minutes of material that you would need to be
a middle act in those clubs. So I didn't have
to start at the very beginning as with a fifteen
minute spot. I got slotted immediately into the middle act spot.
And so so I I got in, like I said,
(18:10):
I kind of on the ground floor of that. And
then after a few years of that, I moved to
LA too and started you know, headlining those clubs around
the country. The improms and the funds and whatever around
the country. So that was you know, that was in
the early mid eighties, and I did those clubs for
(18:32):
you know. I mean I was on the road two
hundred and twenty days a year starting around eighty three
until two thousand when I started in Las Vegas.
Speaker 1 (18:41):
So yeah, man, that's a tough I was on the
road for decades as well, not doing magic. I don't
know if you know my background or not at all,
but you know I I gambled professionally and right, so yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
so yeah, life on the road, man, that gets over you.
Speaker 2 (19:02):
I mean I assume you were kind of just staying
one step ahead of the law at all times.
Speaker 1 (19:06):
Well no, no, I I always played on the square.
So but that that was kind of my intersection with
the magic world was because I started out before I
started playing in the casinos, I was playing backgammon and poker,
and I was very interested in magic to make sure
I wasn't being cheated.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
So yeah, that's right. Yeah, yeah, I mean there's a
lot there's there's there seems to be kind of a
lot of crossover among those worlds, right, you know, uh,
people that are interested in card cheating and people that
are interested in that.
Speaker 1 (19:41):
Yeah, and and people that are interested in gambling I
mean legit I mean legal gambling.
Speaker 2 (19:47):
But no, but I mean but but but like you said,
I mean, but the gamblers are interested in magic like
sort of like you. I think they don't want to
they want to be able to spot somebody who's us
and them.
Speaker 1 (20:01):
Yes, yes, exactly, although although some of them do have
legitimate just they're interested in magic, you know, they like y.
Speaker 2 (20:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (20:11):
But you know you mentioned you were good at math,
and so when you got to Las Vegas, did you
investigate gambling with an edge?
Speaker 2 (20:20):
I did not.
Speaker 1 (20:21):
No, that's surprising to me.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
Yeah, No, that's uh, it's never that's never been an
interest of mine. I don't you know. I mean I
have a number of friends who made their living, you know,
doing gambling, and yeah, but it's never been something that, uh,
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (20:42):
Yeah, no, I get it. Some people aren't interesting.
Speaker 2 (20:45):
It's not something that I kind of am thankful, right
because I'm you know, that's a that's a that's another
you know obsession that uh that you can you know
that you can uh go down that rabbit hole. Yeah,
And so I've got enough of those.
Speaker 1 (21:03):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, well, you know when you got here
to Las Vegas, I have to tell you, I your
show is when people ask me what show to go see,
your show is the one I have recommended by far
more than any other show. It's you know, A, it's hilarious. B.
(21:27):
It's much cheaper than the other shows. It's a great
show for kids. And you know at Harrah's you were
on in the afternoon. I'm not sure when are you
on it now?
Speaker 2 (21:37):
The same I'm on in the afternoons at ex Caliber too. Yeah,
and you know it's so funny. It seems brand new
right at ex Caliber and I in June it was
four years, but I've been there and it seems like
just brand new. But that's I think that's because Hara's
was so long. I was there twenty two years almost,
(21:58):
you know too, yeah, twenty a little over twenty years.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
Yeah. Just to get a little inside baseball here, do
you four w all the theater or are they or
is the casino actually producing the show.
Speaker 2 (22:13):
There's a guy spy entertainment, Adam Steck. Okay, so he
controls that room at ex Caliber. At Harris, I was
partners with the casino, and now I'm sort of partners
with Adam Steck and he has Thunder from down Under
(22:33):
and the BEG shows in that room, but he also
has done other shows around town. He had the Mike
Tyson Show and that was going in town and some
other other stuff. Yeah, so sho, I share the stage
with those Thunder from down Under guys. So it's hard
to tell the difference, really is hard to tell the difference, right.
Speaker 1 (22:55):
So be having also been a performer, everybody has stories
about things that go wrong, either audience members that don't
do what they're supposed to do, or I had a
friend who worked for a for a headlining magician here
in town. It was one of the boy dancers, you know,
(23:17):
to wave at the box when it opens some things.
And they opened the box and the leopard had died
in the boats, you know. So yeah, But anyway, so
I'm wondering if you could share any of your sort
of greatest hits of things going wrong on stage.
Speaker 2 (23:38):
Yeah, well I don't. I mean, I don't have anything
to compare with a dead giant.
Speaker 1 (23:44):
Yeah what.
Speaker 2 (23:49):
Yeah, but I have certainly had my share, I mean,
And that's what that's what I mean I've been doing
the show a long time here in Las Vegas and
before that a long time prior to Las Vegas, and
so uh, I love it when something goes wrong, really,
it keeps It's what one of the things that keeps
it fresh. I mean, I like leaving sort of it's
(24:10):
weird to say, like open spaces for things to happen
every show. Not every show. Do things happen you know,
that are that are out of the ordinary. Sometimes it's just,
you know, as it's normally planned. But I like having
I like leaving an opportunity for unplanned stuff to happen.
Speaker 1 (24:28):
It forces you to improvise, which many people are not
comfortable doing, but obviously you are.
Speaker 2 (24:35):
I I I feel like I'm yeah, I'm comfortable at it,
and it does keep the show fresh for me, right.
I think that's one of the things that you know,
people say, how do you keep doing these shows and
stay fresh? And you seem like you're still really engaged.
And I think that's part of it, is that I'm
open to these things happening and and like it, and
(24:56):
I like having I like having to deal with those
things like this is this is years ago, but I
do it. The show opens with me doing a rope
trick and doing trick with rope, and it gets more
and more complicated and more and more I hope amazing
as it goes on. But I've done it a long time.
(25:18):
It was a trick that I kind of you know,
I mean, the magician cutting a rope and putting it
back together is an old trick. But over the years
I've added some stuff that I've come up with too,
I hope make that even more mysterious and even funnier. So,
but I've been doing it a long time and I
(25:39):
can do it sort of without thinking about it. You know.
It's muscle memory, really and so and so one of
the things that I'm doing I open with this trick,
and one of the things I'm doing is kind of
scoping out the audience, watching for people because there's a
lot of audience participation. And during that trick, I pick
(25:59):
out at least two of the people that I'm going
to use later in the show, and by you know,
facial expressions and body language and if they seem to
be open and having a good time. And so I'm
picking those people. And so sometimes this particular time, I
(26:19):
wasn't paying enough attention to these really super sharp scissors
that I have, And so I cut the end of
my thumb off just a little out that you could
see it arc in the light in this club, like
you know, And in my mind I don't think this
is true, but in my mind it it made it.
There's like a sound effect went. I don't believe that
(26:41):
really happened, but it did. And this was a comedy club,
and so there were it was a club in a
hotel lounge actually, and so and there was a table
right right up on the edge of the state and
so this little piece of me landed on the front table.
And so and I'm sure you've cut yourself many times
(27:04):
and and what you know, I put my finger over
that the end of my thumb and sort of, you know,
say a little signent prayer like hopefull, hopefully it's not bad.
Hopefully it's not bad. It's not bad, it's not bad.
And then you look and it's like, oh, it's okay,
and then whoosh, a bunch of blood and so uh
(27:25):
and so I I've got my little suitcase of props
next to me, and I was working on a trick
that had that involved band aids, and I thought, oh,
maybe I have a band aid in here. I wasn't
a trick that was in the show yet, but I thought, maybe, oh,
from that trick, maybe I have some band aids in here.
I didn't, but I did have some like clear like
(27:45):
scotch tape, And so I tried to manage my thumb.
Speaker 1 (27:49):
Up did you retreat the peace or or leave that
on the terrible Uh?
Speaker 2 (27:58):
It was terrible. I mean it didn't do anything. Yeah,
they just directed the blood, you know, Damn, I don't
it's but I managed to get through. So I kind
of I pulled that off and kind of managed to
get through the end of the rope trick. You know,
there's blood on the rope. And it was just sort
of really in a terrible way of discussing. So wait,
(28:22):
wait did the audience audiences, well, the audiences, I don't
you know.
Speaker 1 (28:27):
I'm like, like, if you would think this was part
of the trick, right, I.
Speaker 2 (28:33):
Think, yeah, I don't know what. I couldn't tell you.
I was so concentrated on my thumb and getting the
physical actions. Now I had to really think about it, right,
trying to get through these things with a sort of
crippled thumb and not get too much blood on the
rope and whatever. So so, but I get through it,
and and I did what I normally, I didn't do
(28:56):
what I normally do. I said, uh to the audience.
Normally at this point I would get a random person
from the audience, but I think under the circumstances, it's
better if we uh get a nurse. Is there a
nurse here tonight and a woman I'm a nurse, come
(29:18):
on up. So this woman comes up and uh, she
I mean, she looks at my thumb and she immediately
goes into nurse mode. Right she steps between me. I'm on,
I'm working with a mic on a stand, and she
steps between me and this mic and she just takes
over and she and there was a bar in the
back of the room, and she calls back to the
(29:39):
bar on the mic. She says, uh, send up a
first aid kit and a shot of vodka. Like I
don't really drink hard alcohol, so uh, but it turns out,
I mean, so they sent up they had a little
first aid kit behind the bar, and they sent up
some vodka. And she made me dip my thumb down
(30:01):
into this. Oh, I mean it's I mean I felt
like a you know tech savery cartoon, you know, steam
shooting out of my ears. Right, I felt like so that,
but then it's instantly shot through, right, I mean the vodka. Uh.
And I you know again the improv thing that you're
talking about. I say water to wine and uh and
(30:30):
then I uh, then I say to the front I
put it. I put it down on the front table
and said, thank you for being patient, and I have
a little gift for you. You get a bloody married.
I had those two little I had those two little jokes.
She bandaged up my thumb and I got through the show.
And at the time, uh, this is before we moved
to LA. My wife and I were traveling together. She
(30:52):
was traveling with me. She's from Kentucky. Also. We were
traveling together, and we were living in hotels because I
was traveling around the country and we're gonna we were
going from Louisville to the East coast and then back
across the country and end up in La where we
had an apartment that we had rented. But we had
like six or eight weeks that we were traveling around
(31:15):
in living in the hotel. So she was in this.
She was up in the room and I've done this show,
and so I leave and go back to the room
and she, you know, I'm I'm mean to her sometimes,
I like mean practical jokes on her. So when I
(31:38):
she said, how was it, And I said, well, I
cut off part of my thumb and she's, ha, ha,
you're very funny. Oh no, and I said, I really
did cut off just the very tip of my thumb.
Oh my god, we have to go to the hospital.
I said, I think you're right, but I have a
second show, so I'm going to do the second show
(31:59):
and then we'll go to the hospital. And so that's
what we did. I mean, you know, show must go on.
So I go do the second show and she as
you know, she's she's in there watching now because she's
curious about me doing the show with my thumb band.
So and then but she knows the order of the
show and show she knows, like, you know, he's got
(32:19):
like fifteen minutes to go. I'm going to go get
the car. She said, I'll meet you, you know, we'll
zoom out of here. I'll meet you, you know, I'll
pull up in the front of the hotel and we'll
in the car and you can just get right in
the car and we'll go to the Burdency room. And
because it's like, you know, by this point, it's probably
eleven o'clock at night. And so so I finished that
(32:42):
show and I'm leaving, and this guy just will not
stop complimenting me an audience member. Right, He's like tugging
on my sleeve. It's like Matt King, he was so good.
I just want to tell you how much I am.
I'm like, thank you, I'm really sid it, but I'm
trying also to extricate myself to make my way down
(33:04):
to the first floor. And so he he says, no,
I just want to tell you how much it was.
And me, he said, I came to the first show
and I thought it was so good. I bought a
turn around and bought a ticket for the second show.
And I was a little disappointed in your second show.
And now you know my ego, I go now I
stopped right. I want to hear why suddenly it's like, okay, uh,
(33:28):
this trip to the emergency room isn't isn't as all
of a sudden. I want to know why he was
disappointed because I felt like especially for you know, doing
it with the band aide on my thumb, bandage on
my thumb. And he says, yeah, the first show, it's
so good. Second show a little disappointed. I you know
(33:48):
that that bit you did where you cut off your thumb,
you didn't do that in the second show. And I
thought that was the best part of the whole show.
And so he he thought that was a trick. So
that's pretty good.
Speaker 1 (34:03):
Yeah, that's great, if you got if you've got.
Speaker 2 (34:06):
Time for another one there.
Speaker 1 (34:07):
My favorite one, yeah, absolutely, my.
Speaker 2 (34:09):
Favorite one is, uh, I do this bit in the
show or I toss a rope into the audience and
I get a woman up on stage and I say,
you and I are going to do the Houdini Challenge
naked rope escape. I want you to take off your
clothes and tie me up. And then then then I
(34:29):
tossed the rope aside, so you don't have to tie
me up. We're gonna do a quick card trick and
then I do a card trick with it. And so
I'm working this club in Knoxville, Tennessee, and the club
owner calls me, uh, Sunday afternoon, and he says, hey,
I'm bringing a date. This is our first date. I'm
going out with this woman bringing to your show tonight.
(34:51):
We're gonna sit right in the front. I want you
to get her up for that trick. The guy's name
was Barry, and I said Barry on them. I don't
really like getting people up that I know or that
a friend of friends, because they're you know, a big
part of my show is they're genuine reaction. And if
they if they're connected to me somehow, then I feel
(35:12):
like sometimes that reaction is He explained to me that
he was writing my check and so, and I'm like, okay,
I'll get her up and so. And like I said earlier,
I'm I'm spending the rope trick. I'm looking at her,
like you know, Barry and this woman are sitting at
(35:32):
the table in the front, and I'm spend this whole
rope trick looking at her, and she's always in the shadows.
I can't really get a good look at her to
see how she's reacting to the rope trick and see
whether she's going to be good and and so. But
I throw the rope and I get her up on stage,
and once she gets into the lights, I see that
(35:53):
she is the exact wrong person, I mean, just the
meekest little mouse of a woman. I feel terrible for her,
But you know, you say, you know, you perform before
and for anybody who else who has there's you know,
you're saying words, but there's also another voice in the
back of your head talking to yourself at the same time, right,
(36:15):
And so this little voice in my head is like, well,
I hope she does cry. It will serve him right
for making me get her up here and screwing up
my show. Blah blah blah. So but I'm I'm you know,
I'm going, you know, like a devil on one shoulder,
and they don't do it, do it, do it whatever?
And finally I say, okay, we're gonna do the Houdini
(36:36):
Challenge naked rope Escape. I want you to take off
your clothes and tie me up, and boom, she whips
off her dress. Oh Mary, the club owner is standing
up taking photos of me and this stripper that he
has hired to play a joke on me. It was,
it was, I mean, I mean I literally fell on
(37:00):
the stage. I was laughing so hard I fell down,
my knees buckled, I was laughing so hard. And so
that's that's one of my favorite things that's ever happened
to me.
Speaker 1 (37:10):
That's great, that's great, And I mean it sounds like
they did a really great job of.
Speaker 2 (37:18):
She was an amazing actress, right, I mean she was.
It was crazy and and and also I mean if
you knew this guy Barry, you just would not think
of him as capable. I mean, he ran a comedy club,
but to me, it wasn't a funny bone in his body.
And yeah, I would just I wouldn't have thought him
(37:41):
capable of doing something so perfect, hilarious.
Speaker 1 (37:46):
That's great. How how many shows a week are you
doing now?
Speaker 2 (37:50):
Uh, depends on the week, but mostly five weeks, so
one show a day, five days a week.
Speaker 1 (37:56):
Yeah, and you're I've sort of cut.
Speaker 2 (37:59):
Down over the years. I mean I'm really super busy,
you know, super busy weeks. I'll still do two shows
a day, but it's I don't know, I don't want
to say I'm getting old, but well.
Speaker 1 (38:12):
I was just going to say, you are, you know,
getting there to social security age, any plans on retirement
or you're just going to keep going?
Speaker 2 (38:21):
And no, I'm going to keep going. I mean you know,
if you saw how miserable I was during the pandemic
when I was off work for like fourteen months or
whatever it was, I mean, it just I mean, it
really drove home for me how much I need it, right,
I mean how much it means to me to be
up there. And you know, so far knock on wood,
(38:43):
I'm I still feel like people are coming and they
still seem to enjoy the show. I mean, you know,
I had a good friend of mine say I feel
like say to me, and it's just the most I
mean I don't maybe my wife paid him to do it.
I don't know, but but but it was like, hey,
I feel like, you know, you're at the height of
(39:05):
your powers right now. Your your show is better than
it's ever been. So if even if that's not true,
it's I still feel like it's uh, it's it's good
enough to keep.
Speaker 1 (39:16):
Doing Oh there's no question, yeah of that.
Speaker 2 (39:20):
You know, and doing it. I still love going in
every day.
Speaker 1 (39:25):
Yeah that's there's that. And and what are you going
to do if not sit at home and watch TV?
I mean that's well, that's right.
Speaker 2 (39:31):
Yeah, So I mean I might you know, there could
be a point where I go. You know what, I'm
not going to work five days a week every week.
You know, I where I could just start doing like
private shows or whatever and do three or four a month,
but you know, I'm not nearly to that yet. I mean,
I've still got almost two years on my current deal,
(39:53):
and I think I'll at least up for another three.
Speaker 1 (39:56):
Yeah, what do you do when you're not When you're not?
Speaker 2 (40:00):
For me, I've got a lot of buddies here in town.
You know, we share some of the same friends, I think,
and uh so we have a we have a pretty
bloody croquet match every now and again my backyard. Uh So,
I like cooking and hanging out.
Speaker 3 (40:18):
With pals, and you know, my wife and I try
to travel some but I mean most of it's tied
to work, right, I mean I I just had it
worked in touring Italy for like four days.
Speaker 2 (40:33):
But then we took another week to just kind of
go around Italy. So you know, I try to take
off some time, but you know, I can't take off
too much show these the ticket vendors around town don't
care for that.
Speaker 1 (40:49):
Well, this this has been great. I just want to
thank you again. This has been a real, real treat
for me.
Speaker 2 (40:56):
Well, thank you so much for having me on. I
really do appreciate it and I hope I get to
see in person soon.
Speaker 1 (41:04):
Yeah, that would be great. Well, there you have my
interview with Matt King. If you didn't get it from
the show, let me just say it again. If you're
looking for a show to see while you were in Vegas,
I can't recommend this show highly enough. I guarantee you
that you will enjoy it. Anyway. You can reach me
(41:28):
at life isagamblepod at gmail dot com, or you can
find me on Twitter at RWM twenty one. So until
next time,
Hey, everybody, this is Life is a Gamble and my
name is Richard Bunchkin. My guest today has been a
staple in Las Vegas for twenty five years. His name
is Mac King, and Mac is a comedy magician and
his show is hilarious. So I highly recommend if you
(00:35):
haven't seen this show, you can catch it at the
ex Caliber. But now let's talk to Mac. Matt King,
Welcome to Life as a Gamble. So happy to have
you here today. It's a real pleasure for me, so
thanks for having me on. I guess I wanted to
just start with you remember the first magic trick you
(00:56):
ever saw?
Speaker 2 (00:57):
I do actually pretty vividly. My my paternal grandfather, my
dad's pop. He uh, he knew a couple of tricks,
but this was the one I remember. I mean, I
have such a bit. I mean maybe I maybe I
built it up over the years in my head, but
I believe I remember him picking me up in his kitchen,
(01:19):
placing me on the counter, his kitchen counter. And this
is how long ago it was. I mean, he was
I was able to be picked up and put on
the kitchen counter by my grandfather.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
But also.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
It was you know, there were matches to light that
stove next to me, and so and he was the
kind of fellow who always carried a pocket handkerchief, you know,
with a little k in the corner. And uh he
uh took that handkerchief and wrapped up the match stick
in there and put it in my hands. And I
broke that match, and I you know, I heard it break,
(01:52):
felt it break in my hands, and then he opened
up that handkerchief and that match was unharmed. And I mean,
I mean, I can vividly remember the kitchen counter. He
was for a few years, he made his living as
a cartoonist, and so he was, you know, an artist
all his life. But once he had a family, he
(02:13):
started he started an insurance business, and that's what he
did when I was around. But early in his life
he was a cartoonist and so he had he had
painted hand painted like the kitchen counter to look like marble.
(02:34):
And so, I mean, I have a vivid memory of
this kitchen counter and him him placing me on it,
and you know, his pocket handkerchief. He always carried, you know, handkerchiefs.
He was pretty dapper fellow.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
You know. It's funny when I was thinking about this.
In preparation for this, I was thinking about the first
trick I ever remember seeing, and it was actually my
grandfather's friend. And I had to be very young to
be able to you know, I mean three four five,
I don't know. But it was also in the kitchen
(03:10):
and he took me in the kitchen and took little
pieces of an He tore little pieces of a napkin
into little squares and then he wet a butter knife
and he put the squares on the butter knife and
then was doing a paddle move trick.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
Yeah. No, that's that's I mean, that's I mean there
are a lot of really great professional magicians who still
do that trick. I mean John Carney, a great sleight
of hand magician, still does that trick in restaurants. I've
seen him do it for people, and it's on a knife. It's, yeah,
on a butter knife with little pieces of paper that
he's torn from a paper napkin and wow, and his
(03:52):
little routine for it is really visual, really magical, and
that yeah, oh yeah, that's a great, great trick. Whoever
your grandfather's friend was knew some magic, I think.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
Yeah, And you know, I'm sure he you know, pulled
coins out of my ear something, you know. But but
that was the one thing I remember. And I also
remember whenever we would see my grandfather's friend, I would
always ask him, you know, to to do some magic
for him.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
Well, no, that's a memorable thing, right. It's such an
odd procedure, right, dipping the knife in the water and
tearing up to get little pieces of paper. I mean,
I mean it's a some that somehow that fixes in
your brain.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
I think, yeah, it's a whole kind of ritual. Yeah,
So when did you start doing magic yourself?
Speaker 2 (04:43):
Well, I mean he taught me that trick. I remember
that too, you know, so I mean having my mind blown,
And then even more mind blowing was seeing how relatively
simple that was, right, I mean, he he had before
he decided to show me this trick and taking a
little match stick and put it in the hem of
(05:04):
his handkerchief, and so that when he put it in
my hand, I was breaking the one in the hymn.
And when he opened it up, you know, that one
remained hidden in the him, the broken one in the
hole one tumbled out on the counter, and I was like,
oh my god, because you know, I I think you think,
(05:26):
you know, I probably was five years old, and I
think up until that point you just think magic is
real maybe or or people are you know, imbued with
magic somehow, and so the fact that I could do
that was just eye opening.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
Yeah. And you know, one of the sort of themes
is this show is about the gambles people take in
their lives, not necessarily for money, but just the risks
that they take. And anybody who goes into the art
is sort is absolutely you know, taking a big risk.
So when did you actually start performing magic?
Speaker 2 (06:10):
I've always said, and I believe this to be the case,
that the first show I did for money, you know,
was like, you know, a neighborhood kid, you know, Sissy
Herbert's birthday party and I got like five bucks in cake.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
I think that was you know, that sounds like a deal.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
But so I was probably twelve years older around around
and there when I did that. I want you but
I've been you know, sort of working on magic really,
I mean, seriously is hard. That's a strong word for
an eight year old, right, But but i'd been you know,
fiddling around with magic and you know, really interested in
(06:49):
it as a hobby, you know, starting around eight, and
so I think that was the first show that i'd
done for money. But my my mom's dad actually had
some magic books at his house, and so I had,
you know, poured through these books pretty good by that time,
and and he was They were always really sweet and
(07:10):
encouraging to me. My mom's parents, you know, they lived,
we didn't live in the same town, but whenever we
would go to visit them, they would you know, invite
their neighbors over to sit in their living room, and
I would do shows for them, and it was just
you know, and there was one particular neighbor I remember,
a woman named Dorothy Merrell. I mean I was ten
(07:31):
years old and still Dorothy Murrell scarred me. I remember
her name, Dorothy. You know, she she wasn't going to
let a ten year old get by with, you know,
something that was lame. She was really critical and you know,
if she saw something, she would point it out. And
at the time, you know, my grandparents were sort of
(07:52):
mortified that their friend would you know, sort of be
an asshole to their old friend son. But but looking
back on it, I think it was really useful right
to have somebody like that, And so that was kind of.
So the I did little shows for my family and friends,
you know, and I did shows at school and the
Talent Show and that kind of thing. But that first
(08:15):
that Herbert Birthday party was the first paid show.
Speaker 1 (08:19):
Was your plan, like, when you get to high school
or whatever? Was your plan? Okay, I'm gonna finish high
school and then I'm going to go be a professional
magician or did you have some other.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
No, it wasn't. I wasn't I my plan. I didn't.
I've never had a plan. Really. I feel like I've
been buffeted about by the universe and it's always worked out. Okay,
So my plan was to go to college. I I
did pretty you know, I was pretty good student and
(08:52):
got a number of scholarship offers kind of around the country.
My only real plan was to go to school far
enough away that I couldn't drive home and that my
mom couldn't drive to visit me easily.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
And that's the way kids were back then right now
now they were.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
Yeah, I wanted to get away. I wanted to get away. Yeah,
and so and I went with the idea of majoring
in math. Actually I had some aptitude for that. And
when I got to college. It turns out you had
to go to class every day to be really good
at math, and at that.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
Level, I hate when that happens.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
Yeah yeah, so uh so. But I was on a
you know, pretty pretty great scholarship and at one point
I thought about quitting school to become a chef. But
a local friend of mine in Louisville, uh, you know,
convinced me that that was you know, look, you're this job.
I had been offered a job in Kentucky to that was.
(09:51):
That's sort of I've feel like I'm pretty good at
three things. I'm pretty good at math at that time.
That's like a language, so I think if you don't
use it for you know, a long time goes away.
I still use this. I'm pretty good cook. And then
I'm pretty good at magic tricks. And so it was
(10:14):
those three were kind of battling it out, and math
lost out first because it was it got way harder
and uh uh and so I switched to anthropology in college,
and I have a fine degree in anthropology. And then
(10:34):
oh yeah I can. I can reassemble chicken skeletons after
a nice dinner. But uh uh so uh then uh
then I thought about being a chef, decided to stay
in school that would be there when I was done.
And and then during the summers in school, while I
(10:55):
was cooking the one summer in a really nice restaurant
in Louislle cat in my hometown. He's called six ten
Magnolia's still there, I got a phone call in the
while I was doing some prep stuff to go audition
for to do a magic show in this theme park
like two hours outside of Louisville in Cumberland Falls, Kentucky,
(11:18):
at a place called Tombstone Junction. And it was like
an old Western theme town. They had a train ride
where the gunfighters would you know, the bandits would rob
the train, the sheriff would shoot the bandits and the
train would drive on and and then doing a little
magic show and what they call the saloon, but you know,
they sold Hamburger's and cokes, no outcohol, not really much
(11:41):
of a saloon. And with and that was so. And
at that point I was doing some shows with another
local magician, a guy named Lance Purton, who was a
pretty successful Las Vegas magician. And uh so he and
I were doing shows together a kind of you know
for here and there just one off birthday parties, corporate things.
(12:05):
But this was while I was in school, and so
in the summers we would do shows together. So I said,
can I bring my buddy to this audition. I went
down there and we got this job. So during the
last two summers of school college, I worked in this
amusement park. Lance and I did and so doing three
shows a day, seven days a week. And so at
(12:26):
that point that's kind of when I thought, you know what,
when school is over, I think I can maybe make
a run this as profession.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
Wow. So when you were working with Lance, was it
like a duo or yeah?
Speaker 2 (12:40):
Yeah? We oh yeah. So he would come out and
he would do I don't know whether you ever saw
Lance's show here in Las Vegas, sure, but yeah, so
he sort of sprang the fame with this twelve minute
act with producing cards and candles and doves, and so
he sort of already had that act, and so he
(13:03):
would do that act, which was like eleven twelve minutes,
and then I would come out and do like a
eleven or twelve minutes, and then we would close with
a thing together. So we were doing like we were
doing like thirty thirty five minutes and so and so
we lived there in this park. It was great for
(13:23):
both of us. I mean we did, like I said,
three shows a day, seven days a week, and sometimes
more on Sundays when it was busy. And they had
a big amphitheater that we would work in on Sundays
because they would have country music, you know, you know,
Conway Twitty and Barbara Mandrel and whatever in this big thing.
And so we would open for those guys when they
(13:44):
would come on Sundays, and so we would do extra
shows Sundays. It was just a great training grant. And
we lived there in the park and we had access
to our little theater at night after the park closed,
and so we could really work on our acts. It
was I mean, it was kind of a dream job
for you know, we were like seventeen, eighteen years old.
Speaker 1 (14:03):
It was nuts and getting a lot of reps.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
Yeah, no, that's the main thing. A lot of reps
in front of people who you know, are genuine critics,
right they they're it's not your friends or your family,
they're people who you know, if if they don't like it,
they don't clap or laugh.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
Right right by the way, I wanted to add, you
said you were good at three things, but I think
you also should add a fourth, which is you are
very good at comedy. Okay, thank you. Yeah, the famous
quote tragedy is easy, comedy is hard, or dying is easy.
Speaker 2 (14:42):
Yeah, dying is easy, comedy is hard. That's right.
Speaker 1 (14:45):
Yeah. So, so did you and Lance talk about after
that taking your show on the road or you just
kind of parted naturally and you're.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
So we he he move. I still had one more
we finished. We did three years there together, so I
guess it was my between my freshman and sophomore and
between my sophomore and junior, between my junior and senior year.
We did. We I'm bad at those timelines, but we
did three summers together, and then I still had some
(15:21):
school to do. I still had another year. And so
he moved to Los Angeles at that point because he'd
gotten this offer to be on this big prestigious magic
show in LA and they they always booked somebody from
that show. It was like a ten day run of
(15:42):
magic shows in LA, and they always booked somebody from
that show on the Onto the Tonight Show Johnny Carson,
and so they decided to have Lance on there and
that was his like big giant break, and so he
was already you know, at that point, I was still
in school, but he was kind of soored into who
you know, a kind of another level of show business
(16:03):
that I was in.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
So this ten day show was a live show with
live It was a.
Speaker 2 (16:08):
Live show in the theater. It was called It's Magic.
It was produced by Milt Larson and Bill Larson, who
started and ran the Magic Castle in Hollywood. But it
was it wasn't at the Magic Castle. It was in
big theater in la And because the Magic Castle is exclusive,
you can't get in there unless you know, remember, but
this was a big show for the public and they
(16:30):
people would, you know, magicians would kind of come from
all over the world to be a part of this show.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
Huh. So what happened to you then when you finished?
Speaker 2 (16:40):
So then when I finished school, I went back to
that amusement park by myself and worked on my own
my show at that point. So I was doing the
full thirty thirty five minute show by myself at that point.
And then I got pretty lucky in that comedy clubs.
This was like eighty one or eighty I got a
(17:01):
college in eighty one and so comedy clubs were just
kind of springing up around the country outside of LA
and New York, in Chicago, you know. And so and
there was a guy in Louisville, my hometown, who was
at one point been booking jug bands, but started booking comedy,
(17:24):
started booking comedy in these you know, small bars, you know,
in Kentucky and Tennessee and Ohio and Michigan and West Virginia.
And so I kind of got in on the ground
floor of that. And because I'd already been working on
my own show for quite some time. I mean I
was twenty one or so at this point, and so
(17:47):
because I've been working on my show for some time,
I already had, you know, the thirty five minutes or
thirty minutes of material that you would need to be
a middle act in those clubs. So I didn't have
to start at the very beginning as with a fifteen
minute spot. I got slotted immediately into the middle act spot.
And so so I I got in, like I said,
(18:10):
I kind of on the ground floor of that. And
then after a few years of that, I moved to
LA too and started you know, headlining those clubs around
the country. The improms and the funds and whatever around
the country. So that was you know, that was in
the early mid eighties, and I did those clubs for
(18:32):
you know. I mean I was on the road two
hundred and twenty days a year starting around eighty three
until two thousand when I started in Las Vegas.
Speaker 1 (18:41):
So yeah, man, that's a tough I was on the
road for decades as well, not doing magic. I don't
know if you know my background or not at all,
but you know I I gambled professionally and right, so yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
so yeah, life on the road, man, that gets over you.
Speaker 2 (19:02):
I mean I assume you were kind of just staying
one step ahead of the law at all times.
Speaker 1 (19:06):
Well no, no, I I always played on the square.
So but that that was kind of my intersection with
the magic world was because I started out before I
started playing in the casinos, I was playing backgammon and poker,
and I was very interested in magic to make sure
I wasn't being cheated.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
So yeah, that's right. Yeah, yeah, I mean there's a
lot there's there's there seems to be kind of a
lot of crossover among those worlds, right, you know, uh,
people that are interested in card cheating and people that
are interested in that.
Speaker 1 (19:41):
Yeah, and and people that are interested in gambling I
mean legit I mean legal gambling.
Speaker 2 (19:47):
But no, but I mean but but but like you said,
I mean, but the gamblers are interested in magic like
sort of like you. I think they don't want to
they want to be able to spot somebody who's us
and them.
Speaker 1 (20:01):
Yes, yes, exactly, although although some of them do have
legitimate just they're interested in magic, you know, they like y.
Speaker 2 (20:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (20:11):
But you know you mentioned you were good at math,
and so when you got to Las Vegas, did you
investigate gambling with an edge?
Speaker 2 (20:20):
I did not.
Speaker 1 (20:21):
No, that's surprising to me.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
Yeah, No, that's uh, it's never that's never been an
interest of mine. I don't you know. I mean I
have a number of friends who made their living, you know,
doing gambling, and yeah, but it's never been something that, uh,
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (20:42):
Yeah, no, I get it. Some people aren't interesting.
Speaker 2 (20:45):
It's not something that I kind of am thankful, right
because I'm you know, that's a that's a that's another
you know obsession that uh that you can you know
that you can uh go down that rabbit hole. Yeah,
And so I've got enough of those.
Speaker 1 (21:03):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, well, you know when you got here
to Las Vegas, I have to tell you, I your
show is when people ask me what show to go see,
your show is the one I have recommended by far
more than any other show. It's you know, A, it's hilarious. B.
(21:27):
It's much cheaper than the other shows. It's a great
show for kids. And you know at Harrah's you were
on in the afternoon. I'm not sure when are you
on it now?
Speaker 2 (21:37):
The same I'm on in the afternoons at ex Caliber too. Yeah,
and you know it's so funny. It seems brand new
right at ex Caliber and I in June it was
four years, but I've been there and it seems like
just brand new. But that's I think that's because Hara's
was so long. I was there twenty two years almost,
(21:58):
you know too, yeah, twenty a little over twenty years.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
Yeah. Just to get a little inside baseball here, do
you four w all the theater or are they or
is the casino actually producing the show.
Speaker 2 (22:13):
There's a guy spy entertainment, Adam Steck. Okay, so he
controls that room at ex Caliber. At Harris, I was
partners with the casino, and now I'm sort of partners
with Adam Steck and he has Thunder from down Under
(22:33):
and the BEG shows in that room, but he also
has done other shows around town. He had the Mike
Tyson Show and that was going in town and some
other other stuff. Yeah, so sho, I share the stage
with those Thunder from down Under guys. So it's hard
to tell the difference, really is hard to tell the difference, right.
Speaker 1 (22:55):
So be having also been a performer, everybody has stories
about things that go wrong, either audience members that don't
do what they're supposed to do, or I had a
friend who worked for a for a headlining magician here
in town. It was one of the boy dancers, you know,
(23:17):
to wave at the box when it opens some things.
And they opened the box and the leopard had died
in the boats, you know. So yeah, But anyway, so
I'm wondering if you could share any of your sort
of greatest hits of things going wrong on stage.
Speaker 2 (23:38):
Yeah, well I don't. I mean, I don't have anything
to compare with a dead giant.
Speaker 1 (23:44):
Yeah what.
Speaker 2 (23:49):
Yeah, but I have certainly had my share, I mean,
And that's what that's what I mean I've been doing
the show a long time here in Las Vegas and
before that a long time prior to Las Vegas, and
so uh, I love it when something goes wrong, really,
it keeps It's what one of the things that keeps
it fresh. I mean, I like leaving sort of it's
(24:10):
weird to say, like open spaces for things to happen
every show. Not every show. Do things happen you know,
that are that are out of the ordinary. Sometimes it's just,
you know, as it's normally planned. But I like having
I like leaving an opportunity for unplanned stuff to happen.
Speaker 1 (24:28):
It forces you to improvise, which many people are not
comfortable doing, but obviously you are.
Speaker 2 (24:35):
I I I feel like I'm yeah, I'm comfortable at it,
and it does keep the show fresh for me, right.
I think that's one of the things that you know,
people say, how do you keep doing these shows and
stay fresh? And you seem like you're still really engaged.
And I think that's part of it, is that I'm
open to these things happening and and like it, and
(24:56):
I like having I like having to deal with those
things like this is this is years ago, but I
do it. The show opens with me doing a rope
trick and doing trick with rope, and it gets more
and more complicated and more and more I hope amazing
as it goes on. But I've done it a long time.
(25:18):
It was a trick that I kind of you know,
I mean, the magician cutting a rope and putting it
back together is an old trick. But over the years
I've added some stuff that I've come up with too,
I hope make that even more mysterious and even funnier. So,
but I've been doing it a long time and I
(25:39):
can do it sort of without thinking about it. You know.
It's muscle memory, really and so and so one of
the things that I'm doing I open with this trick,
and one of the things I'm doing is kind of
scoping out the audience, watching for people because there's a
lot of audience participation. And during that trick, I pick
(25:59):
out at least two of the people that I'm going
to use later in the show, and by you know,
facial expressions and body language and if they seem to
be open and having a good time. And so I'm
picking those people. And so sometimes this particular time, I
(26:19):
wasn't paying enough attention to these really super sharp scissors
that I have, And so I cut the end of
my thumb off just a little out that you could
see it arc in the light in this club, like
you know, And in my mind I don't think this
is true, but in my mind it it made it.
There's like a sound effect went. I don't believe that
(26:41):
really happened, but it did. And this was a comedy club,
and so there were it was a club in a
hotel lounge actually, and so and there was a table
right right up on the edge of the state and
so this little piece of me landed on the front table.
And so and I'm sure you've cut yourself many times
(27:04):
and and what you know, I put my finger over
that the end of my thumb and sort of, you know,
say a little signent prayer like hopefull, hopefully it's not bad.
Hopefully it's not bad. It's not bad, it's not bad.
And then you look and it's like, oh, it's okay,
and then whoosh, a bunch of blood and so uh
(27:25):
and so I I've got my little suitcase of props
next to me, and I was working on a trick
that had that involved band aids, and I thought, oh,
maybe I have a band aid in here. I wasn't
a trick that was in the show yet, but I thought, maybe, oh,
from that trick, maybe I have some band aids in here.
I didn't, but I did have some like clear like
(27:45):
scotch tape, And so I tried to manage my thumb.
Speaker 1 (27:49):
Up did you retreat the peace or or leave that
on the terrible Uh?
Speaker 2 (27:58):
It was terrible. I mean it didn't do anything. Yeah,
they just directed the blood, you know, Damn, I don't
it's but I managed to get through. So I kind
of I pulled that off and kind of managed to
get through the end of the rope trick. You know,
there's blood on the rope. And it was just sort
of really in a terrible way of discussing. So wait,
(28:22):
wait did the audience audiences, well, the audiences, I don't
you know.
Speaker 1 (28:27):
I'm like, like, if you would think this was part
of the trick, right, I.
Speaker 2 (28:33):
Think, yeah, I don't know what. I couldn't tell you.
I was so concentrated on my thumb and getting the
physical actions. Now I had to really think about it, right,
trying to get through these things with a sort of
crippled thumb and not get too much blood on the
rope and whatever. So so, but I get through it,
and and I did what I normally, I didn't do
(28:56):
what I normally do. I said, uh to the audience.
Normally at this point I would get a random person
from the audience, but I think under the circumstances, it's
better if we uh get a nurse. Is there a
nurse here tonight and a woman I'm a nurse, come
(29:18):
on up. So this woman comes up and uh, she
I mean, she looks at my thumb and she immediately
goes into nurse mode. Right she steps between me. I'm on,
I'm working with a mic on a stand, and she
steps between me and this mic and she just takes
over and she and there was a bar in the
back of the room, and she calls back to the
(29:39):
bar on the mic. She says, uh, send up a
first aid kit and a shot of vodka. Like I
don't really drink hard alcohol, so uh, but it turns out,
I mean, so they sent up they had a little
first aid kit behind the bar, and they sent up
some vodka. And she made me dip my thumb down
(30:01):
into this. Oh, I mean it's I mean I felt
like a you know tech savery cartoon, you know, steam
shooting out of my ears. Right, I felt like so that,
but then it's instantly shot through, right, I mean the vodka. Uh.
And I you know again the improv thing that you're
talking about. I say water to wine and uh and
(30:30):
then I uh, then I say to the front I
put it. I put it down on the front table
and said, thank you for being patient, and I have
a little gift for you. You get a bloody married.
I had those two little I had those two little jokes.
She bandaged up my thumb and I got through the show.
And at the time, uh, this is before we moved
to LA. My wife and I were traveling together. She
(30:52):
was traveling with me. She's from Kentucky. Also. We were
traveling together, and we were living in hotels because I
was traveling around the country and we're gonna we were
going from Louisville to the East coast and then back
across the country and end up in La where we
had an apartment that we had rented. But we had
like six or eight weeks that we were traveling around
(31:15):
in living in the hotel. So she was in this.
She was up in the room and I've done this show,
and so I leave and go back to the room
and she, you know, I'm I'm mean to her sometimes,
I like mean practical jokes on her. So when I
(31:38):
she said, how was it, And I said, well, I
cut off part of my thumb and she's, ha, ha,
you're very funny. Oh no, and I said, I really
did cut off just the very tip of my thumb.
Oh my god, we have to go to the hospital.
I said, I think you're right, but I have a
second show, so I'm going to do the second show
(31:59):
and then we'll go to the hospital. And so that's
what we did. I mean, you know, show must go on.
So I go do the second show and she as
you know, she's she's in there watching now because she's
curious about me doing the show with my thumb band.
So and then but she knows the order of the
show and show she knows, like, you know, he's got
(32:19):
like fifteen minutes to go. I'm going to go get
the car. She said, I'll meet you, you know, we'll
zoom out of here. I'll meet you, you know, I'll
pull up in the front of the hotel and we'll
in the car and you can just get right in
the car and we'll go to the Burdency room. And
because it's like, you know, by this point, it's probably
eleven o'clock at night. And so so I finished that
(32:42):
show and I'm leaving, and this guy just will not
stop complimenting me an audience member. Right, He's like tugging
on my sleeve. It's like Matt King, he was so good.
I just want to tell you how much I am.
I'm like, thank you, I'm really sid it, but I'm
trying also to extricate myself to make my way down
(33:04):
to the first floor. And so he he says, no,
I just want to tell you how much it was.
And me, he said, I came to the first show
and I thought it was so good. I bought a
turn around and bought a ticket for the second show.
And I was a little disappointed in your second show.
And now you know my ego, I go now I
stopped right. I want to hear why suddenly it's like, okay, uh,
(33:28):
this trip to the emergency room isn't isn't as all
of a sudden. I want to know why he was
disappointed because I felt like especially for you know, doing
it with the band aide on my thumb, bandage on
my thumb. And he says, yeah, the first show, it's
so good. Second show a little disappointed. I you know
(33:48):
that that bit you did where you cut off your thumb,
you didn't do that in the second show. And I
thought that was the best part of the whole show.
And so he he thought that was a trick. So
that's pretty good.
Speaker 1 (34:03):
Yeah, that's great, if you got if you've got.
Speaker 2 (34:06):
Time for another one there.
Speaker 1 (34:07):
My favorite one, yeah, absolutely, my.
Speaker 2 (34:09):
Favorite one is, uh, I do this bit in the
show or I toss a rope into the audience and
I get a woman up on stage and I say,
you and I are going to do the Houdini Challenge
naked rope escape. I want you to take off your
clothes and tie me up. And then then then I
(34:29):
tossed the rope aside, so you don't have to tie
me up. We're gonna do a quick card trick and
then I do a card trick with it. And so
I'm working this club in Knoxville, Tennessee, and the club
owner calls me, uh, Sunday afternoon, and he says, hey,
I'm bringing a date. This is our first date. I'm
going out with this woman bringing to your show tonight.
(34:51):
We're gonna sit right in the front. I want you
to get her up for that trick. The guy's name
was Barry, and I said Barry on them. I don't
really like getting people up that I know or that
a friend of friends, because they're you know, a big
part of my show is they're genuine reaction. And if
they if they're connected to me somehow, then I feel
(35:12):
like sometimes that reaction is He explained to me that
he was writing my check and so, and I'm like, okay,
I'll get her up and so. And like I said earlier,
I'm I'm spending the rope trick. I'm looking at her,
like you know, Barry and this woman are sitting at
(35:32):
the table in the front, and I'm spend this whole
rope trick looking at her, and she's always in the shadows.
I can't really get a good look at her to
see how she's reacting to the rope trick and see
whether she's going to be good and and so. But
I throw the rope and I get her up on stage,
and once she gets into the lights, I see that
(35:53):
she is the exact wrong person, I mean, just the
meekest little mouse of a woman. I feel terrible for her,
But you know, you say, you know, you perform before
and for anybody who else who has there's you know,
you're saying words, but there's also another voice in the
back of your head talking to yourself at the same time, right,
(36:15):
And so this little voice in my head is like, well,
I hope she does cry. It will serve him right
for making me get her up here and screwing up
my show. Blah blah blah. So but I'm I'm you know,
I'm going, you know, like a devil on one shoulder,
and they don't do it, do it, do it whatever?
And finally I say, okay, we're gonna do the Houdini
(36:36):
Challenge naked rope Escape. I want you to take off
your clothes and tie me up, and boom, she whips
off her dress. Oh Mary, the club owner is standing
up taking photos of me and this stripper that he
has hired to play a joke on me. It was,
it was, I mean, I mean I literally fell on
(37:00):
the stage. I was laughing so hard I fell down,
my knees buckled, I was laughing so hard. And so
that's that's one of my favorite things that's ever happened
to me.
Speaker 1 (37:10):
That's great, that's great, And I mean it sounds like
they did a really great job of.
Speaker 2 (37:18):
She was an amazing actress, right, I mean she was.
It was crazy and and and also I mean if
you knew this guy Barry, you just would not think
of him as capable. I mean, he ran a comedy club,
but to me, it wasn't a funny bone in his body.
And yeah, I would just I wouldn't have thought him
(37:41):
capable of doing something so perfect, hilarious.
Speaker 1 (37:46):
That's great. How how many shows a week are you
doing now?
Speaker 2 (37:50):
Uh, depends on the week, but mostly five weeks, so
one show a day, five days a week.
Speaker 1 (37:56):
Yeah, and you're I've sort of cut.
Speaker 2 (37:59):
Down over the years. I mean I'm really super busy,
you know, super busy weeks. I'll still do two shows
a day, but it's I don't know, I don't want
to say I'm getting old, but well.
Speaker 1 (38:12):
I was just going to say, you are, you know,
getting there to social security age, any plans on retirement
or you're just going to keep going?
Speaker 2 (38:21):
And no, I'm going to keep going. I mean you know,
if you saw how miserable I was during the pandemic
when I was off work for like fourteen months or
whatever it was, I mean, it just I mean, it
really drove home for me how much I need it, right,
I mean how much it means to me to be
up there. And you know, so far knock on wood,
(38:43):
I'm I still feel like people are coming and they
still seem to enjoy the show. I mean, you know,
I had a good friend of mine say I feel
like say to me, and it's just the most I
mean I don't maybe my wife paid him to do it.
I don't know, but but but it was like, hey,
I feel like, you know, you're at the height of
(39:05):
your powers right now. Your your show is better than
it's ever been. So if even if that's not true,
it's I still feel like it's uh, it's it's good
enough to keep.
Speaker 1 (39:16):
Doing Oh there's no question, yeah of that.
Speaker 2 (39:20):
You know, and doing it. I still love going in
every day.
Speaker 1 (39:25):
Yeah that's there's that. And and what are you going
to do if not sit at home and watch TV?
I mean that's well, that's right.
Speaker 2 (39:31):
Yeah, So I mean I might you know, there could
be a point where I go. You know what, I'm
not going to work five days a week every week.
You know, I where I could just start doing like
private shows or whatever and do three or four a month,
but you know, I'm not nearly to that yet. I mean,
I've still got almost two years on my current deal,
(39:53):
and I think I'll at least up for another three.
Speaker 1 (39:56):
Yeah, what do you do when you're not When you're not?
Speaker 2 (40:00):
For me, I've got a lot of buddies here in town.
You know, we share some of the same friends, I think,
and uh so we have a we have a pretty
bloody croquet match every now and again my backyard. Uh So,
I like cooking and hanging out.
Speaker 3 (40:18):
With pals, and you know, my wife and I try
to travel some but I mean most of it's tied
to work, right, I mean I I just had it
worked in touring Italy for like four days.
Speaker 2 (40:33):
But then we took another week to just kind of
go around Italy. So you know, I try to take
off some time, but you know, I can't take off
too much show these the ticket vendors around town don't
care for that.
Speaker 1 (40:49):
Well, this this has been great. I just want to
thank you again. This has been a real, real treat
for me.
Speaker 2 (40:56):
Well, thank you so much for having me on. I
really do appreciate it and I hope I get to
see in person soon.
Speaker 1 (41:04):
Yeah, that would be great. Well, there you have my
interview with Matt King. If you didn't get it from
the show, let me just say it again. If you're
looking for a show to see while you were in Vegas,
I can't recommend this show highly enough. I guarantee you
that you will enjoy it. Anyway. You can reach me
(41:28):
at life isagamblepod at gmail dot com, or you can
find me on Twitter at RWM twenty one. So until
next time,
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