Steve, when you were on the comedy club circuit, did you ever encounter these mega talents? If so, any story about them?

Yes Christopher, I worked a week in Atlantic City at the Comedy Stop at the Trop with Bill Hicks. Suprisingly after our first show, at the comedy condo we stayed up all night talking about magic. One bit I did in the show was a mind reading stunt, fake of course. He started talking about metaphysics and the possibility of real telepathy, and how he thought he'd personally experienced it.

When I pointed out that magic has a built in irony, how things look one way when they're really another way, and the audience kinda knows it... he pointed out that it was not unlike how the government manipulated the media, or how the church hides the truth from the flock, and continued on with a bunch of other sociological ironies.

"But Bill those ironies are unethical, with magic there's nothing unethical..." Yes, but my point is..." On and on it went into the wee hours. Over the course of our week together I showed Hicks every card trick I knew. He was a great talent, it's too bad his life was cut short by cancer.