Michael Carbonaro Interview By: Rob Smittix

Interview: Michael Carbonaro
By: Rob Smittix

RRX: You may know him from his many TV and Movie roles and appearances but you definitely know him from The Carbonaro Effect; Michael Carbonaro will be performing his “Lies on Stage” show this Friday at Troy Savings Bank Music Hall and I couldn’t be more excited to have Michael on the line with me right now. I’ve been excited since I saw the announcement of this show and I said to myself, I’ve gotta get talk to you. So here we are, I’m gonna try my best not to be too much of a fanboy but I am a fan!

MC: Thank you.

RRX: When I watched your show, there were a couple of things I took from it. I mean, it wasn’t just magic but it was comedy at the same time. It’s something that made you laugh and wonder. So, what can we expect from a live show when we are seeing you right in front of us?

MC: You get that exact same kind of energy that you’re talking about. The feeling of a good time, comedy and magic all mixed together. One of my favorite things about the TV show is having an unsuspecting person playing along with me and with my live show… I would say almost every single effect in the show or every piece that I do involves an audience volunteer. I either come out into the house or I’m bringing people up on stage, both kids and adults for different experiments and magic effects. This way it has that improvised fun playful energy. I don’t know exactly which way it’s going to go and they don’t know exactly which way it’s going to go. It’s obviously scripted for me but it’s different each and every night with the different energy that each new person brings to it.

RRX: I’m so happy that you said that you get the audience involved. My wife was begging me not to ask you but I told her I’m gonna ask if you can saw her in half.

(Both Laugh)

MC: It’s funny, this show actually has a part in the finale where I bring two people up from the audience and make them disappear right there on stage. So I guess if you’re looking to get rid of anybody in particular, bring them on down!

RRX: (Laughs) Yeah, for real! Now, you’ve been doing magic since you were a kid, is that right?

MC: That’s right, yeah, I did my first show when I was 13 years old and I was actually dressed as a clown. I was doing birthday parties and I quickly lost the clown outfit and put on a tuxedo, like a magician. Man, just growing up, every single weekend I was doing shows. I got a big following from word of mouth. I grew up in Long Island, New York and I ended up putting myself through NYU with the money I was making doing birthday parties, communions and christenings. They were always family events, which is interesting because when I ended up having a TV show… let me try and explain this. It’s not a kids’ show, you know? It’s a show for everyone and I think that came out of my learning the ropes of an entertainer who was always in front of an audience that had a full spectrum of people. You had little kids, young couples, adults, grandma and grandpa. Everyone in the room together and it was how I curated a fun event for everyone to enjoy. And that just kind of stuck.

RRX: Oh, absolutely. My son and I always got together around the TV and watched the show together. Most of the time, I talk to musicians but I love when I have the chance to talk with different types entertainers. I never ask musicians this because it’s like the forbidden question; I never ask who their influences are but I think it’s a little different for a magician. I imagine you probably had your favorite magicians growing up, somebody that you kind of envy.

MC: Oh for sure! My real way into magic was through special effects. Honestly, the first thing I thought for sure was that I was going to grow up and be like a monster maker. I love horror movies, Halloween and monsters and there’s a magic that goes along with special effects. You know? Special effects are kind of like the magic behind the scenes of movies. I used to go to this local magic shop to buy special effects supplies. I sort of found my way over to the other side of the store and started picking up some magic tricks.
Of course as far as my influences… Copperfield was on TV every year with a special and I loved him. I found that magic was a way to do special effects live in a sense and I developed this love of making people laugh and having a fun time together, which you don’t really get out of being a makeup artist. That’s more like being in the basement alone, working on your monster mask but with magic, you’re out in front of people, creating a relationship and getting to see their reactions. I really molded my stage persona off of what I was watching Copperfield do, who was a real master of ceremonies. He held a whole show together while joking with people and using audience participation. Then he’d do these serious magic illusions and he wove in and out of different styles of magic all in one special. That was fun for everyone and that just did it for me.

RRX: You’re about my age, so I know you were a kid when his specials were on. Did you ever try to figure it out? Or did you ever think that you knew how he did a certain trick?

MC: I was studying magic at the time, so a lot of it I really did start to learn. From going to magic conventions, magic camp as a kid and reading books on illusions. I would see how he was using different methods to make things happen. Sometimes he would fool me, other times I thought… I know what’s going on here. But for me and it’s still true to this day… when I watch magic I really try and kind of… I don’t want to say put the blinders on but I like to just ride the experience and not sit back and try calculate what’s happening. I love being fooled, which is so fun.
Magic is one of those things similar to musicians, they have different notes that they play to put together to make something new. Magic has different methods that you apply in different ways to make your own effect happen. You can be fooled with it even if you know it, you kind of lose track. The beauty of magic is it guides you in one way and then it’s too late to go backwards and figure out what happened before you were paying attention to that part. It’s a wonderful wild web of lies that sort of stack a magic effect together when it’s done right. It’s wonderful to get fooled by it.

RRX: Yeah, I was pretty proud when I was a kid after figuring out a trick for myself. Copperfield would have you do that thing where you touch the screen and you play along at home. I actually figured that one out. It was just math!

MC: Oh geez, yeah.

RRX: But then I see you and some other big magicians do tricks that just don’t even seem humanly possible. And then I wonder… did you tap into that part of the brain that psychics tap into? Do you really have a special power?

MC: Well, I mean, in a way… sort of, it’s hard to say and it might even scare people to think about it. I would say it’s the same way with storytelling, when you can get somebody lost in the story, you can also get somebody lost in a reality.

RRX: Right. That always boggled my mind. There’s some tricks out there that seem like they could be real magick, like with a (k).

MC: Oh wow. That was kind of the point of the Carbonaro Effect, to try and get people to maybe accept that there was magic happening right in front of them in real life.

RRX: With the TV show, there’s gotta be some standout episodes or tricks that you did or maybe it was just the way that the person reacted. Any favorites that come to mind?

MC: Man, there’s so many that I’m proud of. Gosh, sometimes I would sit in the writing room with some really tight magician friends of mine who helped me come up with these tricks. We had 125 episodes, so there were so many effects to come up with. In the beginning when I was doing it on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, I would come up with all of the stuff myself. But once it turned into having to do so many episodes and just banging them out… we had to get great minds together to come up with the tricks. And so for me, there’s just so many moments of being proud.
Could we actually get somebody to believe this and then watch it happen? Could we get somebody to believe in a mermaid? And then the answer was yes! Could we get somebody to believe that a person turned into a cat? And the answer is yes. Could we get somebody to believe that we accidentally shot somebody back in time? And the answer is yes! It was just amazing to watch those things happen.

RRX: I’m thinking you would probably be an amazing poker player. I imagine most people wouldn’t want to play against a magician. Is there anything to that? Or are there other hobbies that you are into?

MC: That’s really interesting. It’s still special effects for me. I still sculpt, make prosthetics, monster makeup, a lot of art and drawing. But I’m actually not a great card player. I don’t play any poker or any games like that. It’s funny, you wouldn’t wanna play with me because I’m terrible not because I do magic.

RRX: (Laughs) I would definitely think the opposite. At least what you would have going for you is the poker face.

MC: Right. No, it’s true.

RRX: Cool. I’m very excited to be seeing you live this Friday night.

MC: That’s right, Friday night! The audience will leave delighted and truly questioning if magic is really possible!

RRX: Yeah, I can’t wait. I’ll try to see if I can push my wife up onto the stage for a disappearing act but she’s a little hesitant.

(Both Laugh)

MC: Rob, thank you so much for doing this for us.

RRX: I appreciate your time.

Michael Carbonaro: Lies on Stage
Troy Savings Bank Music Hall
Friday, November 22nd 7:30pm
For Tickets Visit: troymusichall.org