Just a few years before he got the internship at NPR that started him in radio, our host Ira Glass had another career. He performed magic at children's birthday parties. A powerful sense of embarrassment has prevented him from ever doing an episode on the subject, but when he learned that producer David Kestenbaum was also a kid conjurer, they decided to dive in together.
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Ira Glass at about thirteen years old.
Prologue
Host Ira Glass talks to producer David Kestenbaum about what it was like to be a kid magician. (9 minutes)
The Oldest Trick in the Book
Magicians say it can take years to create and polish a new magic trick. Teller (of Penn and Teller) shows host Ira Glass how he invented one of his most beautiful and puzzling routines. (22 minutes)
See Teller do The Red Ball trick and read a few pages from David P. Abbott’s book, where he describes how to do the floating ball routine.
The Lady Vanishes
Producer David Kestenbaum became obsessed with one trick he loved as a kid—when David Copperfield made the statue of liberty disappear. (24 minutes)
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