Translator: Denise RQ Reviewer: Lena Clemente
My name is Rajon, I’m a college student.
I am a professional magician also, in Oshkosh.
I teach magic classes at the YMCA, in a summer camp in NY over the summer,
and I do shows and restaurant magic
so it’s fair to say I know a little bit about magic.
Today, I am going to tell you guys the secret to magic,
Or more specifically, what I believe is the secret to all good magic.
I believe that the secret to all good magic is relatability,
because in life we need to be relatable
because no matter what we have, or how amazing it is,
if it’s not relatable to people, it won’t matter.
I’ll give you guys and example.
I’m a marketing student, and I can have the best resume in the world.
I could have the most amazing resume,
but if I can’t relate that to the employer,
or the person that’s interviewing me,
if I can’t show them why I matter, then my resume might as well be blank.
I need to show them those transferable skills
so I can impress them with what I have to offer.
So, in magic, we call this the ham sandwich.
The ham sandwich is a principal in magic
that I found in a book called “Magic and Showmanship.”
And the ham sandwich is best explained as as a story or an example.
Imagine that you’re walking down the street with your best friend,
and I come up to you, and I snap my fingers and say,
“Look in your pocket.”
And you reach in your pocket, and you pull out
the biggest, most juicy, succulent, delicious ham sandwich; with extra mayo.
Imagine you pulled out this sandwich.
You look at your friend and say, “Oh, my god! That’s crazy!”
You go home, you put it on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook,
– whatever the kids have these days –
(Laughter)
It’s amazing, but at the end of the day, you forget about it.
Why do you forget? Because, so what?
You did this trick. It could be the most amazing thing ever!
But at the end of the day, you’re saying, “Why?”
I’m going to change the situation a little bit.
Imagine you’re walking down the street with your friend.
You look at him, or her, and say, “Man, I’m really hungry.”
I come up to you. I say, “Want to see a magic trick?”
I snap my fingers, and you reach inside your pocket.
You pull out a delicious, juicy, succulent ham sandwich with extra mayo.
You’re looking at your friend and say, “Wow, that’s amazing!”
You go home and put it on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook.
You go to sleep, but you remember the trick,
because that trick went from a magic trick, a simple trick,
to a small miracle.
I gave you something you needed, that you wanted,
that you didn’t really even think was possible.
And that’s what we try to do with magic. That’s what good magic is.
So I’m going to do a demonstration of some magic
– hopefully, you guys will think it’s good.
I’m going to need a person to help me out. Can someone help me?
Ah, thank you. It would be really awkward if no one raised their hand.
(Laughter)
Please, come on up. What’s your name?
Everyone, give it up for Greg.
(Applause)
Greg, where are you from?
This is Greg from Oshkosh. Everyone say, “Hi, Greg.”
(Audience) Hi, Greg. Greg: Hi, everybody.
Rajon Lynch: Let’s go, Greg. Over here. OK. OK, here you go.
OK. Got you. Perfect. All right.
Greg, I’m going to show you – you’ll be the eyes of the audience.
The close up eyes, I guess.
I’ll show you guys a trick,
and I’m going to relate this, I’ll build the ham sandwich with you guys,
by showing you how the trick is done afterwards.
So this way, you’ll never forget the time that RJ deemed you all deputy magicians.
You can go home and annoy all your family at Christmas with this trick, too.
It’s really good.
OK. Here I have a box. You guys can see the box.
I have a handkerchief. Do you see the handkerchief, Greg?
Greg: Yes, I do.
OK. I’m going to show you guys a trick with this handkerchief.
It’s pretty simple. I’ll let you guess how it’s done at the end.
I stuff it in my hand. Where is it? Here it is; I need–
I don’t have a magic wand. I have a magic marker. Get it?
(Laughter)
I’m going to take the magic marker, I’ll wave it over the handkerchief,
and you know what happens to the handkerchief?
(Audience) It disappears.
See, everyone always guess that, but it turns into egg; that’s the trick.
(Audience) Oh! RL: Oh! See!
This works for kids parties, but I know a lot of you are scratching your head.
I can see you thinking, “How did he do that?”
I know. It’s really not hard to do this trick.
Does anyone have a guess of how it’s done?
What’s your guess, Greg?
Greg: My guess is you take the handkerchief
and you put it down into the egg that’s in your hand.
RL: Umm, but Greg, the handkerchief is in my pocket.
So, what happened to the handkerchief?
I don’t want to put you on the spot, even though you’re in the spotlight.
So I’ll tell you how it’s done.
This is actually so simple, you guys are all going to go, “Oh!”
It’s actually a hollow egg. Oh, what?! That’s crazy!
It’s a hollow egg – I chose red because it matches the stage.
And I have a handkerchief.
Now, you guys don’t see the egg, or the handkerchief
because I drape it over my hand, like this.
I use a little bit of psychology.
You guys think since I have one thing in the hand,
that I wouldn’t possibly have two things in my hand.
Because what kind of freak has two things in their hand?
Me. Because they pay me. That’s why.
So, I put it over the hollow egg. I stuff it in my hand.
– you have to make sure they don’t see the egg or else trick is ruined –
you stuff it in the hand,
you wave the magic marker, and you do a little bit of magic.
But, this is pretty impressive… not that impressive. It’s OK.
But it would be much better if Greg did it, don’t you guys think?
(Audience) & RL: Yeah!
So, Greg, I have your own limited edition, RJ’s Magic yellow handkerchief.
And you have an egg. There you go.
And I will take an egg and a red handkerchief.
Do you remember what you have to do?
First step – you need foreplay; you can’t just get right to the point.
(Laughter)
He tried to stuff the handkerchief in the egg right away.
RL: You have to put it in your hand– Greg: I was draping it over.
RJ: Oh, thank you! He was draping it. OK. Are you left handed?
Greg: I’m right handed.
RJ: Put it in your left hand if you want. It’s a little easier with your left hand.
Put it in the hand, you have to conceal it,
and then you drape the handkerchief over; that’s gorgeous; you’re good.
You don’t have another handkerchief, but I do, that’s OK.
We’ve got one handkerchief in our pocket, and we should have the magic marker.
Where is the magic marker? Oh, here it is. We have the magic marker.
We’re going to take the handkerchief, and I need you to stuff it in the egg.
You can’t let them see the egg. There you go. It’s hard.
Stuff it in the egg, there you go. You can use two hands, yeah.
Foreplay requires two hands.
(Laughter)
Greg: Note to self.
(Laughter)
RJ: All right, stuff it in the egg. Good.
All right, so now what we’re going to do is we’ll get to use the magic marker
if I can find it.
RL: You don’t have a magic marker. Greg: I’ve got keys.
RL: That– Umm, no.
Take the magic marker, you wave it over the egg.
Here, you can use it too. There you go.
You say the magic words: foreplay.
(Laughter)
Greg: Foreplay.
RL: And it turns into an egg.
And everyone gives you a round of applause.
(Applause)
RL: But, the thing is you guys are all really smart.
This would work for a kids’ party.
But after a while someone, would be like, “Let’s see the egg!”
And then, you’re screwed. So, what do you do?
Did someone say, “Eat the egg?”
I mean, if that’s what you want.
RL: What you have to do– Greg:… is you crack the egg somehow.
RL: You crack the egg somehow? Well, do you know how to do that?
Greg: I don’t. RJ: I’ll show you.
All you do is give it a snap. Try it.
If you give it a snap, you can then peel the sticker off the egg.
Like that.
Then, you can crack the egg.
Nah, I’m just kidding. That’s a fake egg.
(Laughter)
Greg: I was trying to pull a little bit of this out.
RJ: Everyone give it up for Greg, the magician.
(Applause)
Greg: Thanks for having me up here. RL: OK, thank you.
(Applause)
Greg: I won’t shake your hand. RL: Oh, don’t; yeah, don’t shake my hands.
I do have a handkerchief.
But thank you very much. I’m RJ.
(Applause)
My name is Rajon, I’m a college student.
I am a professional magician also, in Oshkosh.
I teach magic classes at the YMCA, in a summer camp in NY over the summer,
and I do shows and restaurant magic
so it’s fair to say I know a little bit about magic.
Today, I am going to tell you guys the secret to magic,
Or more specifically, what I believe is the secret to all good magic.
I believe that the secret to all good magic is relatability,
because in life we need to be relatable
because no matter what we have, or how amazing it is,
if it’s not relatable to people, it won’t matter.
I’ll give you guys and example.
I’m a marketing student, and I can have the best resume in the world.
I could have the most amazing resume,
but if I can’t relate that to the employer,
or the person that’s interviewing me,
if I can’t show them why I matter, then my resume might as well be blank.
I need to show them those transferable skills
so I can impress them with what I have to offer.
So, in magic, we call this the ham sandwich.
The ham sandwich is a principal in magic
that I found in a book called “Magic and Showmanship.”
And the ham sandwich is best explained as as a story or an example.
Imagine that you’re walking down the street with your best friend,
and I come up to you, and I snap my fingers and say,
“Look in your pocket.”
And you reach in your pocket, and you pull out
the biggest, most juicy, succulent, delicious ham sandwich; with extra mayo.
Imagine you pulled out this sandwich.
You look at your friend and say, “Oh, my god! That’s crazy!”
You go home, you put it on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook,
– whatever the kids have these days –
(Laughter)
It’s amazing, but at the end of the day, you forget about it.
Why do you forget? Because, so what?
You did this trick. It could be the most amazing thing ever!
But at the end of the day, you’re saying, “Why?”
I’m going to change the situation a little bit.
Imagine you’re walking down the street with your friend.
You look at him, or her, and say, “Man, I’m really hungry.”
I come up to you. I say, “Want to see a magic trick?”
I snap my fingers, and you reach inside your pocket.
You pull out a delicious, juicy, succulent ham sandwich with extra mayo.
You’re looking at your friend and say, “Wow, that’s amazing!”
You go home and put it on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook.
You go to sleep, but you remember the trick,
because that trick went from a magic trick, a simple trick,
to a small miracle.
I gave you something you needed, that you wanted,
that you didn’t really even think was possible.
And that’s what we try to do with magic. That’s what good magic is.
So I’m going to do a demonstration of some magic
– hopefully, you guys will think it’s good.
I’m going to need a person to help me out. Can someone help me?
Ah, thank you. It would be really awkward if no one raised their hand.
(Laughter)
Please, come on up. What’s your name?
Everyone, give it up for Greg.
(Applause)
Greg, where are you from?
This is Greg from Oshkosh. Everyone say, “Hi, Greg.”
(Audience) Hi, Greg. Greg: Hi, everybody.
Rajon Lynch: Let’s go, Greg. Over here. OK. OK, here you go.
OK. Got you. Perfect. All right.
Greg, I’m going to show you – you’ll be the eyes of the audience.
The close up eyes, I guess.
I’ll show you guys a trick,
and I’m going to relate this, I’ll build the ham sandwich with you guys,
by showing you how the trick is done afterwards.
So this way, you’ll never forget the time that RJ deemed you all deputy magicians.
You can go home and annoy all your family at Christmas with this trick, too.
It’s really good.
OK. Here I have a box. You guys can see the box.
I have a handkerchief. Do you see the handkerchief, Greg?
Greg: Yes, I do.
OK. I’m going to show you guys a trick with this handkerchief.
It’s pretty simple. I’ll let you guess how it’s done at the end.
I stuff it in my hand. Where is it? Here it is; I need–
I don’t have a magic wand. I have a magic marker. Get it?
(Laughter)
I’m going to take the magic marker, I’ll wave it over the handkerchief,
and you know what happens to the handkerchief?
(Audience) It disappears.
See, everyone always guess that, but it turns into egg; that’s the trick.
(Audience) Oh! RL: Oh! See!
This works for kids parties, but I know a lot of you are scratching your head.
I can see you thinking, “How did he do that?”
I know. It’s really not hard to do this trick.
Does anyone have a guess of how it’s done?
What’s your guess, Greg?
Greg: My guess is you take the handkerchief
and you put it down into the egg that’s in your hand.
RL: Umm, but Greg, the handkerchief is in my pocket.
So, what happened to the handkerchief?
I don’t want to put you on the spot, even though you’re in the spotlight.
So I’ll tell you how it’s done.
This is actually so simple, you guys are all going to go, “Oh!”
It’s actually a hollow egg. Oh, what?! That’s crazy!
It’s a hollow egg – I chose red because it matches the stage.
And I have a handkerchief.
Now, you guys don’t see the egg, or the handkerchief
because I drape it over my hand, like this.
I use a little bit of psychology.
You guys think since I have one thing in the hand,
that I wouldn’t possibly have two things in my hand.
Because what kind of freak has two things in their hand?
Me. Because they pay me. That’s why.
So, I put it over the hollow egg. I stuff it in my hand.
– you have to make sure they don’t see the egg or else trick is ruined –
you stuff it in the hand,
you wave the magic marker, and you do a little bit of magic.
But, this is pretty impressive… not that impressive. It’s OK.
But it would be much better if Greg did it, don’t you guys think?
(Audience) & RL: Yeah!
So, Greg, I have your own limited edition, RJ’s Magic yellow handkerchief.
And you have an egg. There you go.
And I will take an egg and a red handkerchief.
Do you remember what you have to do?
First step – you need foreplay; you can’t just get right to the point.
(Laughter)
He tried to stuff the handkerchief in the egg right away.
RL: You have to put it in your hand– Greg: I was draping it over.
RJ: Oh, thank you! He was draping it. OK. Are you left handed?
Greg: I’m right handed.
RJ: Put it in your left hand if you want. It’s a little easier with your left hand.
Put it in the hand, you have to conceal it,
and then you drape the handkerchief over; that’s gorgeous; you’re good.
You don’t have another handkerchief, but I do, that’s OK.
We’ve got one handkerchief in our pocket, and we should have the magic marker.
Where is the magic marker? Oh, here it is. We have the magic marker.
We’re going to take the handkerchief, and I need you to stuff it in the egg.
You can’t let them see the egg. There you go. It’s hard.
Stuff it in the egg, there you go. You can use two hands, yeah.
Foreplay requires two hands.
(Laughter)
Greg: Note to self.
(Laughter)
RJ: All right, stuff it in the egg. Good.
All right, so now what we’re going to do is we’ll get to use the magic marker
if I can find it.
RL: You don’t have a magic marker. Greg: I’ve got keys.
RL: That– Umm, no.
Take the magic marker, you wave it over the egg.
Here, you can use it too. There you go.
You say the magic words: foreplay.
(Laughter)
Greg: Foreplay.
RL: And it turns into an egg.
And everyone gives you a round of applause.
(Applause)
RL: But, the thing is you guys are all really smart.
This would work for a kids’ party.
But after a while someone, would be like, “Let’s see the egg!”
And then, you’re screwed. So, what do you do?
Did someone say, “Eat the egg?”
I mean, if that’s what you want.
RL: What you have to do– Greg:… is you crack the egg somehow.
RL: You crack the egg somehow? Well, do you know how to do that?
Greg: I don’t. RJ: I’ll show you.
All you do is give it a snap. Try it.
If you give it a snap, you can then peel the sticker off the egg.
Like that.
Then, you can crack the egg.
Nah, I’m just kidding. That’s a fake egg.
(Laughter)
Greg: I was trying to pull a little bit of this out.
RJ: Everyone give it up for Greg, the magician.
(Applause)
Greg: Thanks for having me up here. RL: OK, thank you.
(Applause)
Greg: I won’t shake your hand. RL: Oh, don’t; yeah, don’t shake my hands.
I do have a handkerchief.
But thank you very much. I’m RJ.
(Applause)
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