What up, Whisky, Ginger, fans? Welcome back to the show. It's the first time, Joan, on the show. Welcome to the show. We got a good one for you today. Like my man, Steve Harvey, done say, it's Justin Wilman, the magic man with the magic hands and the magic brain.

What a great, cool.

Intriguing dude. I really love this guy, so talented. Go to JustinWilman. Com and go check him out. He is on tour.

He's all over the place bringing his comedic style.

Of trickery.

To you. Wherever you are, he's going to be there in 2024. Go to JustinWilman. Com and check him out. Also, me and Bob released a bunch of new dates. Me and Bobby Lee are doing Bad Friends tour where we do stand-up and stuff from the show. You get a couple hours of stand-up and live podcast events. We're not going to be sitting down doing the podcast. We do live podcast, like events, fan interactions, all sorts of fun stuff. Go to badfriendspod. Com for those tickets. Badfriendspod. Com. We're going to be everywhere. We start in Atlantic City, then we go to Salt Lake City, then we go to Long Beach and Sacramento and Tameculah and Reno, on. Then we end this whole thing in Las Vegas, Nevada on 4/20 before we go down on the night. Go to badfriendspod. Com for those tickets. Badfriendspod. Com. Enough rambling for me. Let's go to the episode.

In here, we pour Whiskey, whiskey, whiskey, whiskey. Whiskey. Whiskey. Whiskey. Whiskey.

You were.

That creature in.

The Ginger Field.

Sturdy and ginger. Like them, the Ginger Jean is a curse. Ginges are beautiful.

You owe me five dollars for the.

Whiskey and $75 for the horse. Ginges Oh, hell no. This whiskey is excellent. Ginger.

I like ginges. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to Whisky and Ginger. My guest today is one of my favorite people on Earth. I say the wrong, I guess, but I mean it once again. Today, it's Justin Wilming. Yeah. Dude, cheers to you. Thank you for coming by. Cheers. Thank you. This is long overdue. I know. Seriously, we've been trying.

Oh, yeah. Good sauce. Do listeners get to know what time of day this is happening?

Yeah, this is at 8:30 in the morning. Yeah, Monday. The start of the show, Monday 8:30 a. M. Oh, that's right. I've had guys on here that most of my friends are sober now, and some of them needed to be. Is it.

Because of this podcast?

Yeah, probably because of the show. Yeah, this show. This has taken down a lot of people. But I've had guys come in here that do drink that are like, You want to crack one? I'm like, It's 7:30. Not really at 7:30, but then I have to.

This podcast is like an airport bar. This is. Anytime a day, it is okay to have a Bloody Mary. Do you feel that way? Absolutely. Los Club 6:01 a. M. L. A. X. You can order a drink.

You're a big American guy. That's what it is? Yeah. I was a Delta Cat, but the Delta Lounge is... Honestly, it's out of control. I was at JFK two days ago, and there was no less than 10,000 people inside the Delta Lounge.

Yeah, you need to know a guy to get in there. There's a line out the door.

I'm the guy.

But Delta Lounge's spread is by far superior to.

American Airlines. It is. But they're changing everything. This is inside nonsense. Actually, this is useful.

This is privileged guy nonsense. I would say this is what people would learn and they hit a million miles.

You used to be able to get in with American Express Platinum card. Some people that weren't flying in first class or weren't a part of the lounge, you could get in. Now they said you got to spend 70 grand a year on an Amex to do it. And a lot of people got super mad about it. And then I said, well, then why don't they just divide up these lounge? Why wouldn't you just make one for people that are card holders, one for people that are their frequent flyers? You know what I mean? Segment, dude. Class system it up.

You mean within the lounge, basically? Like flagship.

And Admiral's Codon.

Yeah, multiple lounge. You ever go on that flagship?

Flagship is really sexy. Oh, my God. There's nobody there. That's right.

Admiral's Lounge is- But you and Wolfgang Puck.

It is. It's him. It's always like a famous chef and then a celebrity that's been famous for 40 years.

Yes.

Where you're like, Is that Arceneo Hall? Is that Arceneo Hall? Where is he going? And it is. Where is he going, dude? You're on tour a lot, by the way. I see your schedule, and it is funny. You're one of these guys that I don't know if you stop, but if you do, you'd have to tell me because I feel like you live on the road. Don't you travel a ton?

I always say I'm on a perpetual tour and then it never really starts or stops. But when I'm on tour, it's never like... It's like two, three days and then back home to Studio City for a couple of days and then a Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and then back home. So it's manageable.

Are you a single man? Are you a single man? No, I'm not. No. So that makes it a little bit more difficult.

I have a wife and two children.

Do you love both of them the same?

Both of my wives, both of my children. Well, you could have both. Wives and children.

You have two wives and two children.

No, that would be... There's no time for that. I love my wife and I love my children the same, but it was easier to do maybe a week or a week and a half away from my wife, no offense to her, than your children. My wife is not going to acquire new quirks and personality traits while I'm gone, hopefully. But the child, they grow up so fast.

They change. Yeah. But it's so funny to say that because I feel like every time I come home, my wife has a lot of new guys working on the house. A lot of them.

-casprabbit? -yeah, I think we've got... He knows we've got six pool guys now, and we don't even have a pool. We're thinking about building one, but...

I don't know, something might be.

Going on.

I doubt it, dude. Maybe she's planning a surprise, 41st birthday. Maybe that's what all.

The secrets. -maybe she's surprising. That could be.

What it is. What do these guys look like?

Really good looking, young, handsome, like 22 to 28. Good looking guys, fresh out of college.

Interesting. Can they throw a hammer?

Can they ever? They can put it down. And they're building a lot of stuff back there. I don't know. She won't let me see what it is. So maybe you're right. It is a surprise. They're always in the backyard. They always have their shirts off in the backyard. They're doing pushups and situps.

It's hot out.

It is very hot. And I do think you need to stay limber when you're doing manual labor.

And.

They're very good looking, all tan. None of them are like me. Actually, none of them look like me at all. They're all really good looking, tan young guys.

I think you're describing the Chippendales.

Are they doing a live show in my backyard?

They might beyour backyard. It might be.

Surprise. Surprise. Well, that's a birthday present. You got me a Chippendale.

You share it, Ical, with your wife, or she's aware of your travel plans, your goings, your comings.

And goings. This is funny because we bought... Here's how I initially started. Calendar sharing was the original way, but I don't put everything in my calendar. So she got frustrated at that. So then a lot of times I just put it in the memory bank that I'm like, I know where I'm going then, then, and then. I have so many plates I feel like I'm spinning that sometimes I just log it in and then I forget to communicate it like, Oh, I forgot that day on X, Y, Z. Now she bought one of these big boards, and I have to write in the calendar what I'm doing and where I'm going.

By hand or paper?

I do it by hand because then I'll physically do it because I'll just ignore it if.

It's-at home on the wall?

Yeah, it's in the laundry room. What if.

She wants to know where you are, but she's not at home. Good luck. She has to go home.

And look at the wall. She has to go home. Or she calls someone inside of the house and.

Says, What are the medical construction workers? Yeah, one of the six chip and do's. Facetime are the schedule.

Yeah, and none of them speak English, so that's even harder. I guess that's even more difficult for her to communicate. But she seems to do just fine with those guys. Okay, nice. Yeah. But I put up a board and I started doing it pretty good. And then I have since stopped. I just don't do it anymore. Now this is pathetic and awful, but I just say you got to just look at the site.

Look at the website. Oh, check my tour schedule, babe.

Check the schedule, dude. But she comes a lot now. Well, she hasn't come in years, but she comes on the road with me now if it's A markets.

If it's A markets. If she can get there in a non-stop flight. 100 %.

Okay. By the way, I'm not going there if I.

Can get there. So no Louisville.

Louisville? She's not going to swing by. No. Not going to make her trip to Lincoln, Nebraska, probably. Oh, no.

My wife will never see Omaha.

No. Oklahoma City. And by the way, beautiful places. She'll just.

Never know. You have to say that.

I do. Because I've checked your tour schedule. Yeah, you do. I do. No, dude, she'll only go to cities where we either have friends or she has something to do.

People always say, do you bring your kids? Do you bring your wife? Maybe I'm in Jolie, Illinois, where I was recently. There you go. And I was like, Lady, I got up at 6:00 AM to get here, and I'm getting up at 6:00 AM tomorrow to get the hell out of here. You think my wife wants any.

Part of this? Right, no. In Joliette. Unless they want to go to that great steakhouse in Juliet. Which one's that? Mikey's chop, Mikey's chop house. Is that still there? You know what? I made it up. I honestly, I made that up. I was just hoping you would run with it.

You're familiar with Louis? It's basically a rip off of Dennis.

No, is that a real thing? Yeah, it's.

A long story. But no, my wife don't want to come unless there's non-performing happening.

Right, unless we can go to a show or go out to a place or if we know someone in that city. You're like, Where are you born?

St. Louis.

Oh, wow.

I know.

I forgot. That's right. You're a Missouri boy. Apology. But you don't look like a Missouri kid. What does that look like? You know what it looks like. Just bring up a picture of a child in Missouri. You'll know right away. When you see these guys, you'll know right away what a.

Missouri child is. Google automatically suggested Missouri child support, by the way.

Well, look at the third kid. I mean, that's what most kids look like in Missouri.

Missouri child, what's the caption?

And dies from coronavirus. Thirteen dies from coronavirus in Missouri hospital. This is the stuff that you guys are.

Pumping out. This is my roots. Wow. Very sad. Can't say anything about that at all because there's a face to it.

But you've done... Before I move on too much into the world.

Of- We've started.

Well, we always start without you knowing. Good. That's how life is.

You're really surprised.

Starts without you knowing, baby. I pull the magic trick on you.

And it's over before I.

Know it. It's done. Thank you so much for watching the show. That's been Justin. I'll say multiple things right now. I really appreciate you. I respect you. I think you're very talented. And I've seen you from afar and watched what you've been doing. And I think it's weird to say that you're a magician because you are, but you're a comedian to me. Do you know what I mean? It's funny because you are a magician, but you're a comedian. Wow. But you're... It's hard because if somebody said, because I think my buddy was like, is he a comedian? I'd say he's a magician, but he's a comedian. But is that insulting to say?

No, that's like my... You have just completed the search of my lifelong dream of identity of wanting to be.

A comedian. But you are a comedian. You don't fancy yourself.

A comedian. I do. I don't do comedy without magic being involved.

Okay. I don't do comedy without saying the F word. I mean, it's like that's my-.

There you go. That's your rabbit from the hat. Right. But thank you. That makes me very proud because I certainly wasn't... I was a magician for a long time before I was funny for the right reasons. But magic is, I think, what put me in front of people to get that feeling of like, Wow, getting a laugh feels really good.

But you guys go through the same stuff. There's a place here in Los Angeles that people may not know called the Magic Castle. It's actually world-renowned. If you're not familiar, I understand. But it's probably one of the most, it's hard to describe, one of the most fascinating places to go to as a comedian, even just a spectator is great. But as a comic, it's impressive because I watch seven different comics a night, magicians a night, and some of them have such comedic instinct, and they lay it in there pretty well. Some people aren't that funny. Some guys are straight magic. But as a comic, it's cool to watch who's developing their comedy with the magic simultaneously and who's just a straight magician.

Some of the up-close guys I always felt like the up-close guys are less showy and jokey and more just performative of like, watch how good I am at showing you this. And then some of the bigger shows in that big room, like in a parlor or whatever, some of those shows it's great to watch people go through what we go through, and you know both sides of it. But it's so interesting to see them work out jokes that bomb, and I fucking love it. It fills me up because I'm like, That's us. That's our pain. Because if a trick doesn't work, there's a way for a magician to massage their way through it. If it doesn't go as smoothly as they want it to-You think so? Yeah. I mean, that's what I see as an outsider. You know inside.

You're too inside baseball. Well, if a trick, like if a joke doesn't work, that's a part of a trick. Or if you're doing a bit and you do a long lead-up and you fuck up a punchline. And then basically two minutes was just lead-up tanked. And it's not like you're going to tell the joke again from the beginning. It's like, all right, you can move on and salvage it. It's a little awkward. But I think if a trick like if the audience clearly sees how you just did what you were about to do or why you can't now do what you were promising to do. Like if I vanished your bill and then all of a sudden out of my sleeve falls a bill and I don't notice it, everyone's like, Oh, my God. It's like your dick came out in the middle of.

Your sad movie. Which is part of your show.

That is the closing. That's why it's called misdirection. If you don't look.

There, look here. You call your dick misdirection.

Misdirection. Oh, interesting. Mr. Mr. Wrexion. -that's right.

-mine is misdirection. That's right. Mine is misdirection. I have a female penis. -i see. It's a new world, Doc.

But I found that there's... When you're at the Castle, I think the Magic Castle is like the comedy store if the comedy store was like a fancy place that had a nice restaurant and you had to wear a suit to get in. And a tie. And a tie. But the idea of a common store, it's like varying size rooms, and it just shows all night, right? And you can go there and spend the whole night and get hammered and see maybe some of the best comedians in the country. But at the Magic Castle, if you'reyou can tell that somebody may be... When you know you're in good hands, there's no better thing than to relax and know this guy's pro. He's going to fucking blow our minds. But when someone is maybe trying out a new bet and you're like, Oh, God, I hope. Oh, my God. I hope he figures this out.

You like it? I like the anxiety of them may be failing. The last time we went, when I texted you, when we went to the Magic Castle with my wife and my sister and some friends, this couple in the main room was doing... And I'm not putting them down. They were doing buckets, like buckets. I don't know if you know who maybe know these people, but it was a husband and wife, and they were doing.

Bucket tricks. What were they doing to these buckets?

Well, they would stack and change them. It was very physical, and it was less magic involved and more showy, but there was also magic moments of them utilizing the buckets to whatever.

But.

They dropped a lot of buckets. She dropped many of the buckets.

And the gist of the bit is, wow, how are they not dropping the buckets?

Yeah, and they're dropping the bucket. I see. But the difference is when you do drop a bucket, he made a joke every time. And that's why I was like, This is great. And he was doing it the right way. And I could feel her anxiety was growing heavier because she didn't know how to laugh it off, throw it away, which I think is the same thing we utilize as comics. When a joke doesn't work, you have to acknowledge it in a way and wrap it around into something else, because if it just dies on its own, the weight is tremendous. You need to spin it a little bit off so people forget how... That just was.

So this guy, I was at the Magic Castle last night for the first time in a while, and brilliant juggler David Diebel. A couple of drops that I could tell weren't like he probably would have preferred to do that catch, but each time it was a new zinger. So you almost look forward to like, Wow, if he catches it, amazing. If he drops it, can't wait to hear what he's going to say next. But if someone is not that skilled and they essentially do the magic equivalent of dropping it, and then your shade in Freudia is like, Oh, what's he going to do? He's going to squirm. And then if he catches that ball, you would feel so proud of this guy. You made, wow, you just turned, just made lemon out of lemon. But if someone really drops the ball, fails that chance as well, it is cringey. A little bit, yes. And I feel... I feel bad because I know people see magic so infrequently versus how much they see comedy. They're at the Magic Castle seeing live magic, many of them for the first time ever and maybe the last time ever.

They are judging my art form based on what they see in three hours at the Magic Castle. So I get really protective. And I get my spidey sense goes up when I feel like, Oh, God. They're laughing at him, not.

With him. Oh, that you don't like it? We love it. In the comedy world, it's our favorite thing. But that's why you've made this dual world where you love Magic so much. That is your first love. That's the thing, right? People say to me, if I could quit comedy or acting, I'd quit acting tomorrow. I'd do comedy until I die. I'd do stand-up until I die. If you had to quit, if someone's like, Dude, you got to be a stand-up or a magician? If that was the case and they put a gun to your head and was like, You got to do it, what.

Would you do? To me? Yeah. I would say, Oh, gosh. I might say a stand-up.

You would quit magic.

Well, here's the thing.

You're a.

Fantastic magician. But are you saying that I can't be funny if I'm doing magic if I had to pick one of those two things?

I mean, it's obviously not a clear divide, but it would be more like, Dude, you got to stick more to magic and stop doing some of.

This and that. I get more gratification from making people laugh than I do from blowing their minds. I do love blowing their minds, and I do take it for granted because it is a profound thing. I see it all the time on audiences' faces, and I maybe desensitize a little bit to it because I know people so rarely have their minds blown, right? So that is special. But man, just hearing... Maybe it's because I've got into Magic because of Johnny Carson and because I love Steve Martin and Johnny Carson and just the way that these comedians carried themselves, I was like, I want to do that thing. Magic was how they got there. Let me start with Magic. So now it's like I did Magic. I fell in the field of magic. I've found love with Magic with the goal of being like a Johnny Carson entertainer. I feel like in that place now where I can juggle the two.

So you wanted to be a comedian through Magic truely? Yeah. Because that is what Steve did. Steve, in his book, which I highly recommend, talked heavily about performing at Universal Studios, right? Isn't that where it was?

Disneyland.

Disney. The pains of that, I guess, is why it's so relative to standup that we go through when you're bombing in an open mic, of performing at Disneyland, as people are passing by. But you catch one out of ten, and they're like, Oh, it's pretty good. And that feels just as good as one guy in a coffee shop laughing, but nine other waiting to go on stage. But it's interesting you say that because I was a big Johnny Carson fan as a kid. And when I was a kid, I'd love to sneak in the living room and watch him. And the magic part of it, for me, never registered. I never got it as a kid. I was like...

Well, he rarely came up.

I know, but he would do magic sometimes.

He would occasionally do magic. But I, of course, like Who do you want to write a book report on in fourth grade? Johnny Carson. So then very quickly I learned, Oh, he started as a magician. Arsonian Hall started as a magician.

Steve Martin, all these-Arsenian Hall started as a magician? . No. What was your kick-off into actually getting the balls to do it? What was the shift of being like, Well, I guess I'm going to actually try to be a magician.

Well, I don't know if I calculated it that much because eventually I broke both of my arms when I was riding my bike.

I can see that the way.

You sit. With roller blades on, they're very strange.

Wait a minute. Hold on. Slow down. Roller blades? Roller blades, man. No pads, no helmet?

I don't know if pads would have helped me. Probably no pads. Honestly. So no pads, no helmet. So no pads, no helmet. This is probably '92 or three. Yeah, and on a bike. So riding a bike while wearing.

Roller blades. Oh, dude, I love it. This is why I'm on it. Don't go over that so fast. That's a great... Give me the world. Is it summer?

This is probably fall. This is in my neighborhood in Creve Coeur on Speedyy Road. Oh, Creve Coeur. Probably me and three girls, and these were my friends, but I was so nervous to.

Talk to girls. Just you and three babes?

Just me and three babes. This is probably in sixth grade or maybe the beginning of seventh. I'm the.

Guy on the rollerblades and on a bike. You're the guy on the rollerblades and on a bike. The purpose of this was you were taking the bike to a friend's house, and you needed both of these modes of transportation.

I don't even know if... I think we were just tooting around. Having fun. In the cul de sac.

And give it to me. How would.

You crack your arms? I was at the top of the hill, and I was going down, and I was pedaling, wheels on pedals, and then I tried to stabilize, and then I was going too fast. Then I went to hit a brake, and I hit the front brake. So then I flew, went flying upward. And then I caught myself with my hands.

Both arms broken. You get up. I'm on the ground. You get up and.

You say... I need to get up. Ta-da.

How great is that, dude?

In here, we pour whiskey.

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Ginger. I like genders. Both arms crack simultaneously. Now, none of these babes ever slept with you after that.

Or before. Right.

Were you a.

Ladies guy? No, I was a friend. I was a friend's own buddy. I was a friend's own kid to those four ladies.

And I don't mean- I still am a friend. Oh, really? I don't mean this in an offensive way, obviously, because it's not. But did they think you might be gay? And they were like, He's our goodis our good boy buddy.

Yeah, maybe.

Because I don't know at that age. I didn't have a lot of... Well, they might have thought he's gay, but they thought he's close to us.

Yeah, I was late to develop. I was late to have pubes. I was late to have armpid hair, which was always noticed in the.

Locker room. Big point of.

Contention for you. -wow, Justin has no armpid hair. I was like this, and I got into Magic after that accident because my doctor recommended card tricks to get my dexterity back from my broken arms. That's how I became a magician. So then I doubled down on the magic, having already been a fan of Carson and everybody. But it wasn't deliberate because of it. It was almost like a practical thing. And then I got obsessed.

You were like, How do I get laid less?

How do I get laid less? Sitting there. I've got casts on. I can't even touch myself.

No, it's just funny because every comic has a story of why... It's similar to that where they get into it because they're like, Well, I needed a release from broken home, bullying, or feeling uncomfortable. And the only thing that most of us knew was, I'm pretty weird. And if I'm weird and I talk about how weird things are, people laugh every time. I mean, that was the thing I learned fast was I said weird shit about what was going on.

At what age?

When I was a kid kid, my humor was a huge part of coping with sadness. My family, a bunch of.

Irish slugs. Section 8 housing on the north side of Chicago.

You know it too well. Yeah. Well, that was when it was just me and my mother. But even as a kid going to family parties when I was a kid kid, I remember six, seven, eight years old. My mother's family never had a lot of money. They weren't like, we weren't homeless, but they were just working class. And so we joked about everything. And my grandfather was big on teasing about the world because the haves and the haves nuts. It's easy just to be like, You think Rolls-Royce is uncomfortable? You see how dumb they look sitting in those fucking things? He loved poking the bear at the Swells is what he used to call them. Oh, the fucking Swells. And I think that.

Anything was popular, punch it. Punching up. You got to punch it as hard as you can. Making fun of anything that people thought think is...

Well, if it was exclusive, especially if it was exclusive and if it was fancy or nice.

The reason we didn't have it-You know how much it costs to fill up that yacht? Yeah, it's a waste. You know what the mortgage is on that mansion?

You know how many maids need to clean that house? You got to deal with all those people. I think that the way to deal with the stuff of the haves was for people in our family to mock them. We don't have that not because we're poor or broke. We don't have that because that's stupid to have. We choose not to. Right, exactly. And I think that influenced my comedic take of the world. As I grew, I start to understand like, Oh, it's because anything that's uncomfortable, it's funny. If it makes you go, Oh, I feel stupid. Well, it's got to be funny. There's something underneath that that's funny because it's all your mind making you feel a type of way about the situation. So for me, it was that. It was mocking the fact that I got made fun of for being a rat-headed kid or just growing up with just my mom and then the weird, tumultuous not having a dad when I was a kid and then having a stepfather years later and us leaving the city. I think just not understanding where I belong a little bit, especially looking as orange and bright as you are Very orange.

So orange. So it just made me have to- I had to have it. Yeah, you had to have it.

You had to something. Being funny is your shield.

And so you, post-broken arm, you got good.

Well, it was the first thing I was better than average. I was fine at sport. Whatever, fine at sports. What was.

Your sport?

I mean, I was golf.

Do you golf still?

Occasionally, but I was on the golf team in high school, so I was okay. Oh, the kid can play. Wrestling in high school, but I was okay. I was not great at anything, grades B, B-. Same. Cs. Music. I mean, I played the saxophone all the time.

Just jack.

Of all trade, whatever. But there was no other... When I got into Magic, there was no other magician in my school. So instantly, I was the only kid in the school who did this thing. And then when I would do this thing, when I came out of the closet as a magician, maybe at show and tell in seventh grade or something, did that first trick, people can't believe it. It's like... You know those early David Blaine specials where it's just him on the street doing a trick, and then people just erupt and run in different directions? I would do that in between classes and stuff in seventh grade and people, even just simple car tricks. I'd be so nervous because I was never a performer. I was very shy. I never even would go out of my way to be that center of attention. But Magic gave me the training wheels a little bit, and I couldn't believe how people would freak out. Through Magic, I discovered that I was funny. Right. Right.

But did you use the funny as a crutch? I talked to you about when a trick doesn't go the way you want, you make a joke about it. Or were you just interjecting comedy.

While you were doing magic? No, I think I was trying to be funny because I love my... Then once I started doing magic, Harry Anderson became my hero.

-.

Harry Anderson? - Harry Anderson, who was the actor, the star of Nightcourt, a great TV show from like.

'84 to '84 A lot of our audience do not know what that is or who.

That is. I was looking up Harry Anderson. He was a comedy magician prior to that show. And his whole persona is like he's working out of a suitcase, pack small, play big, funny. Pen and Teller, just funny. So most magicians start by just lifting jokes left and right, either from the instructions on the trick you bought it from or the magician you saw do that trick. You just start doing their materials. So I would like Robert Orbin joke books. I would go through those and add those jokes into my bits. I'm in eighth grade talking about my about my or whatever. It just made no sense. You're a cover act. And then-And.

That's widely accepted in the magic community.

I wouldn't say it's a it's This was I was a kid.

But even when you're in your amateur period, are people still okay with it?

Well, I would I would I knew what I was doing, I would say I had killer jokes that people who knew knew those were hacky jokes. But for the most part, audiences.

Don't know. Can you give me one? Do you remember? Do you remember what your young ages?

I mean, the original, the oldest one is like, because I was a kids party magician and be like, How are you doing? Hold out your hand. Okay, no, the clean one. Oh, no, that was the clean one. All right. Stay right here on the trap door. I do this trick in front of the mirror and I laugh for hours. Just hours.

Just.

Quick. I would say here, sign your name on this bill. Use this pen they were giving away at the at the I pull out a pen with a chain on it that I probably saw some other magician do, and it killed that. And I'm like, I just need a pen and a chain. I'm going to do that. I'm 15. I don't know better. But you learn like, wow, laughs, interspersed with magic is a.

Nice-it's so rhythmic, man. When it's working, it's unbelievable. It's funny you say that. I remember that's on The Tonight Show. Why am I so dumb? There is a famous comic that did the pen with the chain on chain on The Tonight Show. Was it.

Gary it Gary Chanley? I think it.

They're giving away free pens. They're giving away, I think that's what it was. Yeah, exactly. You guys have ever been to a local bank? You bank? You they give away free pens? That's what it was. But the chain was hilarious long. I think it was longer than a normal... Probably. It wasn't like the one that's a foot at the bank. It was like a three-foot chain or something. But I think there.

Was multiple. And it's funny because I didn't even know that it was it was if it is. But then because I probably saw some local magician do it. I probably thought like, Oh, my God, that's hilarious. Nobody else has ever seen that. I'm going to do that, too. Little did I know that it was lifted from one of the greatest comedians. Magicians can get away with that for a while.

Until you start.

You start pro. Until you... Yeah, or you just won't even get to that pro part, but until you maybe start to get eyeballs. And then it's like, Oh, is this guy worth? It's almost just a public opinion. Is this guy worth proceeding in their ascent? Or is it like, Oh, we get it.

Well, that's what I'm really curious about, the breaking point of a comic to become a become a There's a lot of.

Inconsistency.

Of who becomes a professional a professional Because some would some the first time you get paid, you're a you're a But for us, a lot of it is validity through the business, whether it's you're given a shot on television, you're passed at a major club, you become some a name in some regard. Is there a, Hey, man, now you're a you're What's the intro into that world? To say where somebody goes, Oh, you know Justin? Yeah, no, he's a pro. You know what I mean? When you're young, how do people... I mean, I.

Would say I thought I was a professional magician as soon as I had a business card, which is probably 14.

Vista Print, baby.

This is before Vista Print. This would be me at Kinkos. You do it yourself. And this is before there was any software. I software. I would literally think I would type the words on Microsoft Word, print it out, and then cut out the words and put them over an actual picture and then make copies of that. It felt like felt up in there. I would do some kids' birthday parties here and there. I thought I'm a I'm I felt like an entrepreneur, which is a new feeling of worth for me. But I think you can't be a professional until you are fully supporting. I was living under my parents' roof. I wasn't professional. I was making an extra couple hundred bucks a month, but I certainly couldn't support myself. I would say it's probably not until in college, I set up my birthday party business again at Emerson in Boston.

What a school. Smart guy. What a school. Bees and Seas got Seas got Emerson?

Yeah. Wow. It was.

Before it was-It was the good old days.

-selected.

It was more-You're not.

Getting in the in the house, is back when it was Tish's waiting list.

They were letting in regular white guys to Emerson back then? That's not happening anymore.

You've got to have-Me and Dan Levy. Oh, Levy.

Oh, is he kid? Wow. I didn't know that.

I'd be remiss if we're talking about the path from magician to comedian. The Dan Levy. Levy, not Levy, by the way. That's right. Not Shits Creek.

That's right.

Dan Levy, Dan a comedian, father of three. He and I were buddies were Emerson. He was a year younger than me. I was gigging around town as just incredible, doing my act, sexual, inuendos, basically my kids' birthday party act. But the comedy club version of it was just a little more little more a bunch of hacky jokes hacky jokes here and there that would kill.

You do the hand joke and you'd go, That one has giz on it.

Exactly.

You just.

Can't put a lot of spin on it. Is like, I thought I was I was hot Dan came Dan and he was just a straight-up a straight-up been doing it as long as I've been doing magic. And he would just destroy with jokes about being a college freshman. I was I was like, I like, I'm doing jokes that were written by a guy who's died of old age. Dan's over here writing new bits about something that happened last week. It blew my mind. He changed my mentality about magic, which historically, magicians can get away with doing the same act and polishing it and honing it over the course of a career. That's their act. Versus Dan, I would... Versus Dan, and also who he introduced me just to the idea that comedians, once it's not funny to you anymore, you may not even want to do it anymore. Or once it's out there, once it's a thing like constantly ditching the old, pruning and evolving. So that was really inspiring to me. So I started doing Magic in comedy venues, and that's what forced me to ditch the hack stuff.

When did you get rid of Justin Credible? What a name, by the way. Were you signed to Cash Money Records back then? Back then?

In the building. -in the house. -in the building. That's when DJ Khaled was my neighbor, was my manager.

You ever had mayonnaise? That guy is the funniest dude on dude on Predator. Does. Just Incredible knows about mayonnaise. God, dude. God, dude. Know about this about this he's got those big teeth? He is the funniest comedian that's not a comedian I've ever seen in my life. Oh, my God. He rips. He kills me.

Kills seen that prop bit he does where he's playing Bob Marley's guitar.

Yeah, dude.

Oh, my God. My God.

And his face looks cartoonish in and of itself. We had a discussion. I can't remember what comic was on the show, and I said, If you really boil it down, comedy, a lot of people can write funny jokes. A lot of people can write a funny quippy joke. That's a thing that many people could do. But it's how funny does it sound coming out of your face? And that's a big piece of it. You can write great shit, but if it doesn't look fun coming out of your face, people just don't attach themselves to it. I feel the same way with Magic, by the way. I find myself liking magicians when I go see them more when I look like it fits who they are. It's almost like when I see a magician, sometimes I'm prejudiced now because I've seen a lot over the years and gone, This guy's vibe, it doesn't fit the show or his show, his act or whatever. And then you see people that it fits their shit to a T. And it's almost it's I know that guy's better from an internal an just because it looks like it's supposed to be coming from you.

It's almost like, Chappell is a is a if someone else told the jokes, I don't know if you'd like him as much. But coming out of.

Out.

Of because it embodies his world.

So well. Or Chris Rock, who doesn't even have to get to the punchline.

Right, I'm already laughing. Because of the way it's oozing from oozing from just your physical delivery, but the way that you are emitting the energy from it as you know. As dorky as it is, you can feel can physical emitting of something and immediately go, God, I know that no one else does that like him or her or whatever. But what you said about said that was odd to me that we that the same thing. Comics had acts. So we had we too. I mean, I up until arguably, I would say the late the were doing acts. I mean, most guys and girls were doing an act. And the old phrase was, What's your act? Can I have I That's why when somebody says to me after we do we do How much time you got? How much time you got? What's your act? Or they say, Good sketch. They don't know what to say. You're like, Oh, it's a set. They go, They go, Because I think the beginnings of time were similar with Magic that it's like, it's like, got to have an act. I can't put you out there without having an act.

Absolutely. It's like, It's it's changing with the time. It's like, It's like, no, no, no, need to know what you're what you're still exists a little bit little bit the newer generation has pushed that away. And that must be the same with same with Magic.

It's not it's not as much It's about.

The person. The presence and then you change.

All the time. Just me being here. It doesn't matter what I do. I do. You're Todd Berry. Is he doing crowd work? Who cares? It's Todd Berry on stage.

Right, exactly. He's in the moment. But moment. Is the same way now, right? Where a lot of you have a vibe.

I'd say there is a little bit more... I mean, you have to maybe... It takes a while to earn it, maybe longer to Coast on your presence than the trick. If there's a certain trick that people love, it's like, we're booking we're booking we're booking you do that do I'm sure with Gafflin, it's like, are you going to do the hot pocket? If he was doing the Tonight Show, are you going to do that hot pocket bit?

Because I don't really want really want they're like, but you have to. That's why we paid you to.

Be here. Or whatever, and you emerge from that. But yeah, I would say the trick, the act. I do certain bits that I've done maybe done years right now in my show. Maybe show. Maybe the oldest 10 years old, but I haven't put it in a special or anything because I haven't had a real special. Real special. But when I- have a special on Netflix right Netflix Well, I've got a series.

Yeah, but that's a special.

It is special. It's six.

Little specials. You're being You're.

Being your own work. But I'm not on stage doing magic. I'm out in the world. I'm doing stuff that was written and created for humans, but for that show versus my act. I'm not burning my act for that.

Was that a part of that? You were like, I don't.

Want to do any of my of my stage shit. I'll tell you because It's magic on magic filmed and then and is harder to be as engrossed and amazed by the people in the audience versus street magic or out in the real world, in-situ magic, filmed and put in front of people. Because there's something about like, comedy, I want to watch it and experience it as the audience would. But with magic, it's like I really need to be there. You can watch it at home and laugh on the people on the screen laugh. But with Magic, it's like, I wasn't there. How many takes was there? I want to be there. So if I can clearly experience it through a person who I'm watching doing Magic on the street to somebody who I feel they're real, they're not a part of this of this just hits harder. It's harder to get that on-stage that special. I'm finding it a hard enough to crack.

Well, because I've seen yours, and then I've never really... You're right. I've never seen a seen special on.

Tv because If one of the best magic shows you saw at the Magic Castle was filmed and then put up on Netflix as a special, when you watched it back later, if you weren't actually there, I'm sure you would feel a much bigger detachment than if you're just listening to the funny ideas that a comic is saying.

But I feel like specials do that too for stand-up.

You're like, Who are all these people? Are they in on this? Did they tell.

You to say that?

But.

Specials for stand-up do that too sometimes. You're like, You're I always think stand-up or performance, live is unbeatable. You can't You live. Beat live. Can't beat the best specials, I'm still like, I'd rather see this live. I'd much rather see this in person because I know that part of that experience is feeling the other people's emotions. That's part of the vibe of how good a joke is. You can pass around a good clip on the internet, but there's nothing better than live. That's why Lenno never did a special. He said, I just want you to come see me live.

Maybe I should start saying that.

Just come see me live.

You know why I haven't had a live special? Because you just got to.

Come see me live.

You've got to see me live. Robbie Pratt.

You know why? Yeah, you know why?

I'm not going to work with... No, people need.

To see me live. Because they need to need to live, baby. But who's.

Your-but in order for them to see you live, they need to see you.

On stage. On stage. All one in one hand meets the other. But you're already doing it. You're humming along, man. No one's worried.

About you. It's been a blast. Yeah, you're good. You know it's been interesting is going from honing my skills as a comedian in comedy club where it's just adults to now, it's like a full circle. I started doing kids' birthday parties. How old are we talking? 10, 12. The kids? Yeah. Five, six, seven, eight. And then their parents. So it's almost like the gig is the audience, but then there's the back of the room. The parents are the cop. It's like a Disney movie. And I'm obsessed with just making them laugh. Obviously, I got to make them laugh and make them go crazy, the kids. But the people in the in the the parents need to be like, I need I need adult to know that this is not what I'm... I'm not just here to entertain the kids. I'm here to entertain you. And then I would do comedy clubs where it was just us adults. And now where I'm doing these theater shows because of Magic Humans, I'm getting lots of people, entire family. So it's like a lot of kids again.

It's all ages.

It's all ages.

Now, is that a hindrance for you? Do you feel like you want to be dirty, but you're like, you're there's a lot.

Of kids of kids There are moments I censor myself. I would maybe would occasionally cuss in a comedy club, but I don't feel any need to cuss on stage now, but I just sometimes feel a little... I'm just thinking about the implications of what I'm doing. Sure. I'm not going to drink a beer on stage like I would in a comedy club. I don't want to drink a beer on stage when I know that there's kids watching thinking.

I want to drink a beer. My dad does.

That, then he yells at me. Yeah, or just that like, Oh, my God. I love his magic. I want to drink a beer like him. That's what I maybe would have thought as a 10-year-old if my parents brought me to a show. And I thought that cool magician drinks magician drinks I'm going to drink beer. I remember how impressionable how was. I don't need to get into that. So I'm always thinking about it. That's just interesting.

That's nice that you're.

Conscious of it. I'm also conscious of how people who didn't even think that you could bring your kids to this show feel when they walk in and they're like, they're like, Maybe it's a it's seat theater, but there are 80 kids under 10 here. That's not our date night that in my mind, right? I'm trying to cater to multiple audiences.

That's very nice of nice too. We don't do that at all. When we do The Bad Friends with me and Bobby, sometimes people will bring their 14-year-old.

You were telling me they don't exist or you roast them?

No, I always say, Why would you bring your child to this? I'm always like, Dude, you know Bobby shows as butthole at some.

Point in the show. Well, then it makes the rest of the audience uncomfortable. I'm always I'm out for... Even if they're not your kids, if I do something risky, you're like, Justin, there's kids here. It's in your head.

You're thinking.

About it.

I'm thinking about it. At a club is way more free.

I'm trying to make everyone.

Feel comfortable. Let me see this tattoo on the inside of your arm. I can't stop seeing it. Now, are you happy that you did this? Or is this one of those where you're like, you're I didn't wish I did it?

Never regretted it. Good. It. Good. -what is it by the been.

Happy about it. Can I see it?

It's a hand.

Holding a jack of spades. Hand holding a jack of spades. Now, what's the...

What's the meaning of that? Well, my name is Justin. It starts with the letter J.

I told you his name was Justin. So when.

I was thinking, What's my favorite card? Which is a thing magicians do. I was like, I don't want to be the Jack of the heart or the diamonds or the spades. It's cool because what the hell? It's just a cool design. So Jack of spades from a from was just like my favorite card. So I thought at.

Some point-Was it a feature of your act, ever? No. But you just love Jack of.

Jack Yeah. And I always knew I need to get a tattoo, something. What am I going to get? It's like, I want to get something magical, but I'm not going to get a magic tattoo. That sounds like a big mistake. Well, Jack Spades, it's a it's This was all just immature thinking.

How old were.

You when you got it? I was 41. Was 41.

I was.

I and I just moved to L. A, finished my college second semester of senior year with Dan, and then stuck around and started making bad decisions. And that was.

One of them. Are you guys still close? You and Dan? Yeah. One of my arch my by the way. Is he? We hate each other wholeheartedly.

Has he.

Been on here? No, I love him so much. No, he's a great dude. That guy doesn't hate anybody. I don't know if he hates anything.

No, he's the.

Nicest guy. He's too nice. He's a good looking guy that.

Loves shoes and family. He accuses me of me We're good, nice.

You're close in the nice way, but I know something's a little bit darker inside of you.

It is.

Yeah, with Dan, it's not that dark.

Something's darker inside of you. No, Dan doesn't have... Dan is the last guy to know that his best friends got a problem of some sorts because he just doesn't see it. He's the best.

In people. I just thought you liked Coke. I had no idea you were an addict.

Yeah, I thought you just wanted me to pee in that cup for funzies. I didn't know you were trying to pass.

A test. Where are you going with all that pee, Dan? Don't worry about it, buddy. Daddy will be back. In back.

In pour whiskey.

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Ginger. I like genders. What is your little your deep inside you? What do you think it is? Did you have childhood trauma? You got to have something. I can always feel it on them. I can always smell it on somebody.

What's funny is funny is like trauma doesn't always lead to magic like people think. People does. -comedy does. Whereas comedy is a.

Defense mechanism. But did you have any heartbreak as a kid that really... Because look, here's the deal. You're a good guy, nice guy, smart guy. I know there's something in there. I feel like a therapist right now. But we all have a thing.

We all have a thing.

Do you have anything?

Well, I've always had a bit of a... You know, an issue with issue with whatever the substance.

Of the day is. You want a new drink? You want me to pour.

You another one? Yeah. Okay. I'm a little too moderated right now. Okay. Oh, my God. Where's the moderator? The moderator? Him. I could have another one. But yeah, moderation over the years and control of that has been something. But that's not the darkness, that's the that's the symptom, right?

Be. It depends. I mean, I'm not here to break it down. I just want you to tell me you.

I will say there's a little bit of a... I think what draws you to magic is it's like, I know something people don't know. You're naturally, because of your art form, drawn to secrets and secretkeeping and manipulating people's heads.

Do you think that's a part of sociopathy? Do you think you have some sociopathic tendencies?

I don't know if I had those. You would think that I would have had those ideas before ideas became a became a maybe being a magician draws them out of you. I think where you enjoy... Magicians have to naturally be a little bit of a sociopath in that you need to lie in earnest. You need to need I need to tell you, I need to spin a yarn. It's total BS, but if you smell it's BS, this trick won't land. I really need to be good at lying and being sincere and telling you something is true. Is true. That is. I broke both of my of my arms my bike with a rollerblades, right? Who knows? I need to make it sound like that really happened. Right. But it didn't. It did. It did. I'm pretty sure. But sometimes you tell yourself a lot. Sometimes I'll tell a story just to set up a bit, and it's total BS. But I convinced myself that here's a game I used to play with my dad when we were kids and blah, blah, blah. It might be a way a set up a trick, and I have.

But I never played that game with my dad as a kid.

Do you ever believe it.

Yourself sometimes? Yes, I believe it myself because you get so... You get a little good and you have to... It's such a method, acting thing of... You're not playing another person, but you're playing yourself if you're being totally honest. And as a magician, I'm constantly have constantly What is Justin when he's really just being sincere? Look and sound like, and I try to emulate that when I'm when I'm I fool myself.

See, I like how honest this is because this is a big part of comedy as well. As well. Comedians, even if you're telling your own depiction own depiction of stories and comedy are going to have to have some semblance of pulling from air. It's impossible to have lived such a... I'm not Forrest Gump. I can't have all of these amazing stories. So we do have to take from the reality, blend our own. A good friend of ours was writing a bit and said, I don't want to make this about the person it's about because then they'll know it's about them. And I said, Do you have a brother? And she said, No. And I said, Well, then it's about your brother. And that's And thing that we do a lot in lot where it's.

Where it's make the bit work, you invented a brother that doesn't exist.

Yeah, because then it puts onus on a thing that isn't real. So who's going to get mad about it if they found out it was about them? You know what I mean? And we do that stuff a lot. And I helped her do this bit because it was a great bit. And I was like, She's like, I'm embarrassed if they find out about it. And I said, Well, they don't if it's not to them. It's like one of the first bits I ever got landed on TV. I referenced my dad, but it wasn't about my step-dad. It was about my biological father. But a piece of the other story has a story from my step-dad in it. So I just blended the two worlds. And both of them know, but nobody knows. But it doesn't matter because it's helping the bits progression. Instead of me, I can't break it break I go, Well, that part is about my dad, but the other one is about my about But it is something my something used to do. In fact, his best friend used to do that. That's why I got influenced. It's a waste of people's time.

So we all have this story spinning element to us that does, yes, convince you sometimes, what piece of this of.

Had my dad in the audience when I'm telling the story about a game that we never actually played, and he believed it too.

He thought it happened.

Yeah, he would say, Man, I remember playing that game with you. I you. Him. He'll now perpetuate the bullshit of like, Yeah, you know. Let me tell you the story about this thing I used to do with Justin because he was so proud that it inspired a bit that he can enjoy as an adult. An adult. It apparently left such a whimsical mark on my childhood when I just made it up. So it's like retroactively.

But it's.

Great.

Though. Happy childhood. Yeah, you're Yeah, you're making it. Well, is the truth of the story anyway when it's monotonous like that? Your version is just as valid as somebody else's, right? It's your version, their version, and then the 10,000 feet reality that somebody else can put together. I don't really know. Really know. So if I remember going to that place when we were a kid and your mom going, Did we ever go there? I don't know. But if it makes you feel a type of way, then sure, fine, who cares? Your memory is fleeting regardless. You're holding on to things that you care, that you actually care about. And then other stuff, it's hard to fit into that space. I mean, do you feel like as you're getting older, you'll go, God, what was that? What was that thing? And I forget. And I go, Well, I guess there's not a lot of room unless it really meant something to me. But some people, surprisingly, remember all of it. But I think if you're able to put it in a way where it's a great story, a great bit, a great piece, I don't know, isn't that a part of the art?

I art? I little bit. I think it is. A little bit, right? Especially, I'm an entertainer.

As long as the trick works.

Well, it's not like I was robbed.

At gunpoint. If the trick does it's like, it's hey, buddy. It's pretty obvious to everyone you're talking out of your ass here. I Googled you don't have a brother. A it is, then you're screwed. But if it works, it works.

He.

Died in the war. And as long as the as don't hurt.

Somebody or-Well, that's right. Yeah, if it's if it's it's nonsense.

You have to do world events.

That events Well, I mean, you were in the call. You fought in... You fought You I.

Fought in Vietnam.

You.

Were in Vietnam, right? I was in the Cupcake War, Andrew.

You were in Little Cupcake Wars. Yeah, you were on Netflix right now.

I had tours of duty.

Did you ever get to go to the Playboy Mansion when it was around? I did. You did?

Did you do magic there? I think he was there.

Was there. Tell me-I get performed at the Playboy the Yeah.

Give it to me, baby.

Let me think back. I used to have magic on my pocket all the time. I would be busting out tricks left and right.

You never left home without having something-for-something.

-or something. Having something. Before you've made it, it's like, Who are you? What do you do? I'm a magician. Oh, okay, let's see. Show me. Show me. Say something funny. Do something funny. Tell me a joke.

But that's hard for us to do magic. You're like, Fine. Like, Fine.

I'll give you What do you do? You just tell people you're a magician?

Yeah.

I meet all these Uber drivers who are like, You ever met this asshole, this magician? He just doesn't.

Do a trick. I go, Come see me live.

Yeah, come see me live.

Come see me live.

But yeah, I went to the Playboy Mansion for some thing, and I think I was there to do magic. I would do walk around walk around magic is a whole genre.

Of magic. You were like an appetizer.

Yeah, I was like a cocktail party, ice breaker conversation starter.

Does this pay well to do this?

Not that gig necessarily. That was more exposure. Fully, full exposure. But other gigs, yeah, I would do bar do I would do strolling magic at. So a cocktail hour, I would basically no table. I'm wearing a suit. My pockets are packed. I've got 30 minutes on me. So I go up to groups, break the ice, do about 10 minutes of tricks. Thank you guys so much. Enjoy the party. Go to Find a Dark Corner, reset all my shit, and then go do it again and again. Oh, wow.

Yeah, strolling magic. How many hours do you have to be there for these things?

An hour.

Or two. That's okay.

Yeah. I think at this at mansion party, I walked up to Paris Hilton and Kim and Kim this was probably 2009. I was like, Hey, how are you guys doing? I'm Justin Credible. I'm the magician here. Can I show you a trick? And they're like, No.

And I.

Waddled away.

Well, one day you're both going to be bigger than bigger than I'll be Justin, not Justin Credible.

Few people have denied Magic from me, and all of them are billionaires now.

Who else denied Magic.

From you? Elon Musk.

What did he say?

He say?

Like, I'm sorry, this does not compute.

I have not seen him. Seen yeah, strolling Magic is the way to... I mean, there's no better reason to hand out your business card.

Than-you like what you saw? Come see me.

Yeah, come see.

Me live. Come see me live. I saw you live. Yeah, but I mean.

Different place. Where chairs are pointed at, where you're sitting.

But Playboy Mansion doing Magic had been sexy, fun. It's surreal. Also a little bit of a letdown because when you go there, you're like, This place is really nasty.

It's very, yeah, it was weird. It was very much like a event. I don't know what the event was, but it wasn't like a Playboy party. It was some party at the Playboy Mansion. So you realize at the time like, Oh, it's a venue. It's like a place, it's a facade. It's a lifestyle that a company can rent out for the evening. Totally. And you could.

Feel like you're at the at I went once from one of those movie nights. I don't know what night it used to be. Maybe Tuesday or Monday. He would watch a movie with everybody. And boy, oh, boy, was I on. It was so disgusting. I disgusting. Even remember. We didn't stay. We didn't watch the movie.

Cindy's movie.

It was that or it was American was X. It was one of those. Oh, wow. Yeah. And they just looped the curb stopping scene. That's the whole night.

No, I genuinely don't remember. It was something like, I want to say 16 candles. It was something in that era. It was like Molly Ringwald era.

Okay, well, that's fun.

Yeah, but I didn't stay because I was like, I don't want to watch a movie with this old guy and all these people these people I.

Want to make a movie.

That's.

Right. With all these people. Come on, where's.

Thethat out. It was disgusting. Honestly, they took us for a tour. And this poor girl walked us around in a very shitty, tattered bikini. You know what it reminded me of? One time I went to a house party, I think I was in Vegas and some billionaire, we were out doing shows and some dude had us over at his house and there were a bunch of young, beautiful women. And he was like, Who wants to get in the pool? And I was like, was get in the hot tub. I don't really feel like getting the pool. You know what I mean? I'll get in the hot tub. And he was like, You just wear your underwear. And I was like, All like, I right. I I was like, was like, I don't know I want to do to do this party? This party? Was like, Ladies, come here. Come here. Opened up a cabinet or I mean, a door that should have been a pantry for food in his in and it was filled with swimsuits, filled, top.

To brim with bikini. Any for Santino?

I wore the bottoms, not the top. I see. I fell out both sides. Oh, you did. I had one ball on one side, one ball on the other. It was a good bit, man. People really liked it. But to see two balls floating and then your penis tucked, it hurt. After a while, you had to stop. But he had bikinis in there, and I thought, Man, how gross and weird and sad. But some of them put them on and got in the pool, and that felt the same way I felt I felt girl that gave us the tour at tour Playboy a Playboy was a bikini that looked like it was in a room of bikinis. It wasn't hers. You know what I mean?

It was It was gets there in the morning, clocks in, takes off takes off were in. Right, because you.

Have to. The bikini that they have. And she toured us around and it was like, miserable, sad. Just everything about it bummed me out. I remember feeling not feeling not I didn't care. I didn't think anything was going to happen there. I just was excited to see something like that. And immediately with my buddy, I was like, We should probably leave. You know what I mean? I was like, What are we going to... It was like rich, cool people.

You're probably like, Do we want to get drunk here?

No. You definitely don't. I want.

To say I've been here and not come back.

And then get out.

Yeah, exactly. It was a say I did.

It thing. And you did.

I went to Burning Man once, which is way better than the Pippin' Mansion.

To perform or to live?

I went there. Not for like to attend for a week with my girlfriend at the time and a couple of buddies. And I took a bunch of magic thinking I'm going to be like the wizard of the playa. And I was so fucked up the whole time I never did a trip for a week. Not once. Never opened up. Because to do a do I'm sure it's like, say a joke. You have to switch from being a normal person in their day to be like, be like, right. Let me get on. And it's not vacation mode.

You did Burning Man one time, and that's it? , one time. One time. Never go again?

I would. I mean, it's a whole to-do. Whole kids.

Things, gigs. I mean this sincerely. I have absolutely no interest in it whatsoever.

Even for.

A Say You Did It? I love Say You Did It. I do love do love saying you But boy, oh, boy, are you talking? He knows. That is an Andrew Santino nightmare. Huge groups of people where I'm just mixed in with these people without people without of.

Where-.

Vaccination proofs? Vaccination proofs? Yes, well, that's How many boosters do you have? You have? Is the pisser? Where do I sleep? Will it be comfortable?

The pisser is everywhere.

Yes. I need to know. I like to be set up. I like.

To be set up. Well, you can be set up. You can do it do it properly or you can You can take a tour a tour there.

But then I just don't want to ever feel vulnerable in a huge group. And that's what I feel like happens there, particularly when I'm on drugs. Me on drugs? I'm at my couch at my house with people I like, or I'm in a very secure location with a small group of humans. Of me at the beach with a couple of good friends and a little bit of mushrooms.

Heaven on Earth. On Earth. Cabin in the woods with the favorite people. Oh, my God, with five people. I don't care what they see me do. Don't care.

See me pass out, whatever. But 17,000 people heavily on drugs wandering through the desert, that's a big pass for your old Red Boy. I can't do that. I respect that the spiritual connection people make out there.

Well, you're not seeing 17,000 of them at once. For the most part of your experience, you're like, I'm around a couple hundred people.

But then But you just roam through? Don't you roam for hours? What did you take? You feel free to discuss.

I took the 10 to the 25. I took, I think, some mushrooms up there.

And then maybe-Ever acid?

No.

Never acid. Did you ever do acid?

Never have.

Did you ever get into drugs when you were a child?

I would take my dad's bottle of wild turkey that was on a cart like that in the basement. I love your dad. And I would occasionally sip it and replace water to make the difference.

Smart. Yeah.

Until I realized my dad is never touching this. This is horrible. This is horrible liquor, and it's probably 20 years old already. He's not going to check this. So I drank that, and then I realized... I would experiment with the booze around that I knew my dad would notice. Huffed a little bit here and there.

A andthere. A Huffer. What are we talking?

Computer, like computer spirit?

Scotchgard. Oh, wow. Buddy.

Yeah, we're talking like age 14.

You were Huffing at 14. At 14. Yeah, was big back then.

You know, I don't I don't remember I don't think those have been invented yet. Invented yet. Well, any were so were so was nothing.

To nothing Sure, but any of those compressed those compressed you're getting... That's fun. That's fun. Yeah.

Yeah, Whippet's too. But too. But would get spins, get busy, and it was unpleasant. Loved the spin. But the Huffing, it reminded me of Salvia. Yes, I love Salvia. I can't believe this is a thing. I just bought this at a at a store on the corner that also sells gasoline, and this is legal. And then you hear, Oh, it's legal weed. And then you take a little hit of that of stuff, and you're on another planet for like two minutes. That's what That's what Anyway, I have a family audience now.

Let me tell you something, dude. Families do drugs, too. They do. Families definitely do drugs. They do. But in the desert, did you find at this Burning Man that you opened up a piece of your creativity out there as well? Did it help? Did it.

Help you? I would I would had my mind blown over and over again. Your mind is blown at the expanse, the quantity of people, the art, the things. You'll see a double decker, London busses that are transformed into giant butterflies with 300 foot-wide wings and flapping. And flapping. Got 300 people on it. It's going through the middle of the desert. Excuse me. Cough button. Going through the desert at 3:00 AM, and you're like, How did this get here? You feel like you're on another planet. I'm a magician. I like to blow people's minds. It's nice to have your mind blown. You're just like, What is life? This is crazy. I want to know.

How to... And did you get into the communal thing where you're trading food for other things?

Yeah, I thought I'm going to trade magic.

You were going to trade.

Magic for food? Yeah. Didn't work? Just brought my own food. Didn't have to do any.

Tricks for anybody. But see people do that, though, right?

They go, I'll make you a.

Shirt for a sandwich.

Everyone comes with a thing. Yeah, a gift to their.

Own personal currency. Another big no for me. Yeah, I just want to know where all that.

Stuff is coming from. I remember at the time, it was the period of time where my ex-girlfriend and I had the most like it was the most crazy, just sexual energy. It was like the prime of the relationship was that week. Perfect. So that was great.

And you left her there out at Burning Man. Yeah. Rest in peace.

She's doing great.

She's killing it.

She's still fine. Exactly. She is Kim Kardashian.

Oh, my God. My God. That's what happened when you She denied you all you all That's so wild how life comes around. Well, I'm curious about the... Maybe I'll try it. I don't know. I feel like- Huffing? Huffing, I'm done. Burning Man, I feel like maybe. Why not? Burning Huff. I don't know.

I mean, listen, mean, opportunity might present itself. And then you're like, Wow.

People have offered. This is supposed to be the thing.

But the things that are the, Can't believe I did I did never do that again, are really special. I saw The Grateful Dead with Jerry Garcia. That's rad. Like two months before he died. And I often think often I mean, I was a was I think it was the first time I heard I music. But I remember thinking like, I really love this. I've been wearing been shirts for years, and now I'm finally seeing, I'm hearing their music.

I actually like their music. Yeah, I love it. Have you seen Dead Company?

No, I really need to. Have you?

No, I need to too. It's funny.

It's one of those things. 17,000 people just roaming in.

The desert. See, not roaming.

No, roaming.

No, sitting in one seated very high, sitting down. That I like. And I know where the bathrooms are. Big thing for thing for I've been too high at stuff when I was a child, meaning like a teen getting stoned or getting ripped on something and being like, God, I don't know where the bathrooms are.

What are you doing in the bathroom?

You know what I'm doing in the bathroom.

I see what you mean. I guess you need your private place.

I just need to feel a little bit safe when I'm unhinged and I'm letting myself fly free. I don't want to also be like, Oh, man. I didn't know it was going to be cold. Be cold. You know what I've mean? I've at a place being like, Yeah, are we going to leave soon?

Have you been to Coachella?

Yeah, I went to the third Coachella that ever happened.

With VIP With That's right.

And then I never went again.

Because once you've done it with the bands, you're like, Oh, man.

I can't I can't do it out.

Yeah. Do it out. I was able to find a La Croix.

Whenever I wanted. Yes, whenever I needed a Perrier. No, I was never fancy. I just wanted safety. I think I feel like if I'm on drugs, I want to feel safe. I don't want to feel like, Just let it go, man. It's like, No, man, because then I'm stuck I'm stuck then my high gets killed. And I like to be a little organized and then let the brain run as fast as it can. Is there someone in the magic world you have beef with? Please tell me you got some drama with somebody out there. Call them out, dude. Call them out on this show. If you're going to going them out, dude, let it rip.

Magicians love beef.

They do, huh? Yeah. It's funny because it runs in the world of comedy.

Is this a promo for.

Your other show, Beef? Yeah, for Beef I did on Netflix. Please watch them in four episodes.

That's right. And there's a new spin-off coming soon. Magician beef. Magician beef.

It's a little bit more rare.

That's rare.

Well, I don't know. No, it's actually pretty well done. It's over done, to be honest with you. With you.

I don't know. It's I'll say this. Say I have beef with beef I don't. I find keeping grudges to be exhausting. There's so much to remember already in life and keeping up with my own convictions and my point of view or opinion changing about things as I get older and evolve and evolve That's a lot of lot of to also remember the people that have wronged me. Of course, you. It's like, what good is that going to do me? I will often times sometimes be like, Oh, there's so and so. Let's go say hi. And Jill's like, You hate him. Hate I'm like, Oh, you're right. I do.

Hate that guy.

Shit, that's right. I hate that guy. Let's still go say hi. Let's still go say hi.

That's a nice place to be. You can just let it. But in your community, it's.

Community, it's a big such a small community. It's like we're all the same the micro, the subculture, why beat each other up? I will say magicians, though, because it is such a small community, and we were talking about lifting material here and there, and I did that first. There's only so many tricks that are out there. But there are hundreds of years of magical literature and this and this and so much independent creation, and there's also so much plagiarism and this and that. Magicians can very easily get hung up on thinking that someone else doing a thing vaguely similar to what they did is the thing that's keeping them from making it. You know.

What I mean? I mean? Thing.

I'm sure. Same exact thing. It's like, He took that joke from my YouTube special.

Or they'll just say like, say like, only reason that they made it is because of this thing that they do. But I could have done that thing. I would do that thing. I don't do that thing.

And it's like, well... And same for musicians, for musicians, sampling of this and that. It's like, Yeah. Like Ed like.

Almost all of my music, by the way. Yes, he has.

And your jokes. Yeah. He's got them on them He's got He's got everything Let.

Me say this. I've said this before, and this is very rude, and I don't have a lot of ground to stand on. But that guy makes me feel good as a Redhead.

I.

Never thought about that. And I don't mean this to be mean, but I feel good. I feel good. Feel good.

Know what Ellen was to the LGBTQ community in the 90s and early and Ed Sheeran is to the change.

Ed's for me.

Ed's for us. He's letting everyone know that it's safe to be.

Safe to be a ginsh.

To be you.

And I'm a little bit better looking. I will say.

Will say.

Hes a Look at me. Yes, I will agree. I'm a little bit.

Better looking. You're right.

You're right. So somebody goes, Oh, you're Redhead. I don't really know if I like Redheads. I go, Look at me. Not bad. No. For a Redhead, not bad.

It's true. But it's like me saying I'm pretty funny for a magician.

You are.

I know, but for a magician.

No, but.

You are. For a Redhead, there are subcultures.

That we're talking about. Well, dude, we're thrown into the woods. I mean, people don't like us at all. They can't wait. I mean, people mean, people want.

Just- Way to go from to pull up the most unattractive edge here in GIFs. There you go. That's all right. That's a little Snowden creeping in. Great hair, though. He's got great hair.

All right.

Tell me something. But as far as beef goes, by the way, yeah, there's magicians, I think, that have beef with me.

With you. They don't like you.

Right. Well, I've had with... There are There and then.

There's-any physical fights?

-hatches that are bare. No. That would be sex. That would be great. A magic duel. Like the Like the Ancherman.

But pulling out weapons. This guy is good. Is good.

The middle of a fight. Hey, you got a problem with me, Blaine? Let's do the bullet patch.

For real. Now, do people like him? Like him? Do you in your in your like David Blaine.

It's funny, It's funny, magicians hated David.

Blaine at first. Why?

Because he was so fucking popular.

Fucking popular. Never heard of him. He was.

So famous. How is he so famous so quick? And then most important is that he's doing the same tricks I do. He's doing tricks that you can buy from a magic shop. Why is everyone freaking out? Well, He's biting a quarter and quarter and it back. He's like, I do that stuff. I was one of those magicians who would be like, How is this guy so famous? I do the same thing, but we didn't. We're so deluded. It's like, no, he was the first magician to do that trick, and people and people it. The first person to do that material and get the reaction that it deserves. Just the reaction was it, man. Just the reaction was it, man.

You go to a bad neighborhood, you get some good.

Magic reactions. Right, and he looks like he's got power. He does look a little-He owned that whole thing. But magicians, man, real tough love relationships first. Magicians love to.

Hate you. Until it's undeniable.

Pen and Pen magicians hate it. Magicians would pick it. Magicians would say they are they magicians because they're revealing the secrets. They're-really? Yeah. They're-really? Yeah.

They're revealing the secrets of someone else's trick.

Well, revealing the secrets of their own tricks. But also But also Pen were very careful to often invent the methods that they would they would reveal But the fact that they were exposing anything at all, magicians just they're blind to the brilliance that they're doing and just focusing on one thing. But then Penantel were around long enough and magicians were like, Oh, yeah. David yeah.

David were like, Oh, wow. He's pretty great. I think they're fantastic. I must be dumb because I've seen those guys. I thought they were unbelievable. I was like, God, they're fucking good. And it's also again, does it sound funny coming out of your face? Does it look good coming from you? From a visual a visual.

It's like carrot top, right? Yeah. I've got so much shit for so many years until eventually, he's an institution. Doing his own thing. People were like, were like, You is the best the best shown of.

The age. It's Could be a.

Nicer, cooler dude. Why wouldn't you nicer do him earlier? It takes us so long.

Because we're awful people.

We're such assholes.

We really are. We're such assholes, too.

Yeah.

Well, if you at home want to go see this see this we started?

Yeah, we just started. Okay. Please go see him on him on your website? What is it?

Justinwillman. Com. It's justustinwillman. Com. That's it. Is it Is Andrew Santina? Yeah, but some people couldn't find those. A lot of people there's people there's have to have to buy typo like andrew like does comedy. Com. Comedy. Com. You own that? Yeah, I I.

Still own justincredible.

You do? You don't.

Utilize it? Well, it goes to.

Justin Willman. No, dude, you should make it its own.

Separate page. And I had to buy to com as well.

Who's that?

I don't know.

But why did you have to buy that?

Because people.

Think my last.

Name is Williams. Think you're.

Justin Williams. Well, ladies and gentlemen, go see Justin see Justin Williams.

Oh, no, Credible with a K. A K.

My friend.

Yeah, come on. Like someone would? Yeah, I should probably look into that.

Justin Credible with.

A K. I'm on tour. There we go. I'm in a bunch of places.

Go see Justin see live. He's on tour everywhere. By the way, playing in Boston, which we just got back from back Theater, one of my just my just Did you just do the do No, we did the MGM musical at Fenway.

Oh, that.

Sounds pretty cool. It was phenomenal. And they brought us around. It's attached to Fenway. And you walk through the stadium and they treated us so well in Boston. I love them. But he's got a bunch of dates coming up all the way through the end of the year. Go to justinwilman. Com to go check him out. It's a pleasure seeing you. I really appreciate you. I think you're so talented. Is that one of your kids?

That is my son, Jack.

Son, got his son on this. He's selling his kids on the on already.

I love milking a kid for a video. Honestly, when you look at what works, kids.

Got to have. Yeah, well, I have one right there. He's 24. That's the problem. We end the show the same way with one word or one phrase. You can choose, but you look inside of that camera, you're single, and you do one word or one phrase to end this episode forever. This will be embedded in history.

This is your is your crispy. All right, let me think.

One word or one phrase to just really define you in this episode and that camera whenever you're ready.

You're ready. Magician beef is rare. In here, we pour we pour whisky, whisky, whisky, You were that creature in the in the Sturdy.

And.

Ginger. Like ginger.

Like vapor, the is a curse. Ginges are Ginges You owe me five dollars for.

The for and whiskey and for.

The horse. Ginges are hell now.

This.

Whiskey is excellent. Ginger. I like I.