Surely wasn't the easiest audience but he converted them all, they gave up, they thought they know better, love these kind of performances

Part 1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGcZ_KN6VEk

Part 2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFJ5tL2vnq8

Part 3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwi9KLAxBKA

A master at work...

Not that we didn't already know this, but the number of hard won hours in the crucible really shows in this performance. There's that Malcolm Gladwell idea about it takes 10,000 hours to master a complex task, well there it is, right there. A master, as pug says above.

Of course, we could ask, how did Pop Haydn get so good even 10,000 hours of performance previously? Unknown

SO entertaining!!

More like a survivor of more than 10,000 hours of performing...

Pop your color changing silk routine fools me even though I know how it's done. Magicians like you are my all time favorite because you understand just how important presentation is. I hope you're still working on that book

Goes to prove... never underestimate the power of pixie dust! thanx for the links. ps I recommend Pop's notes on Chicago Surprise! Lynn

lol

That has inspired a new quotation ... to paraphrase a popular saying about genius and inspiration/perspiration:

Mastery is 99% survival and 1% arrival.

Whit has created more than a mere "character" in Pop. He has developed an intriguing persona. I never get tired of watching Pop perform. He has brought new life to classic magic.

Part 1: Great opener! I love that he let her change her mind on the second choice! The production from the pockets was soooo smooth. The classic Fs were beautiful. Some amazing lines!

Amazing performance!

I love the luxor joke

As a physicist, I really appreciate all the scientific mumbo-jumbo, in particular for the magnetized water. The mix between real scientific laws and pure delirium is great.
Look also at that one
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Y2cYMBM3e0

My favorite performer

Pop is also a very helpful guy. I had a question regarding lecture info. /content and he went more than out of his way to help in a way I wasn't expecting. You can tell he loves and respects the art.

Thanks, guys!

You can't trip up a season pro like Pop. He has seen it and heard it all. And he has a contigency plan for every scenario.

I hope you've seen these two as well:

A recent performance of my full one hour stage show:

Last night I spent the evening watching Pop perform on youtube. I just let one video play after another and watched Pop do the same routine multiple times for multiple audiences. Here is what I learned:

The importance of Character, Performance, and Patter.

Character: We all know Pop's character that he plays. But what was interesting was watching one of the videos which started as just an interview in what looked like a library somewhere. Pop was not wearing his traditional costume her performs in, just his street clothes. As he was being interviewed I thought, well, here is a very nice man, but this isn't Pop. This is just a nice, soft spoken older gentleman, who I probably wouldn't have even recognized on the street. But after the interview, Pop gets up in front of the audience (in his street clothes) and suddenly in front of my eyes becomes Pop Hayden: they eyes, the expressions, the manner of speaking all changed. He BECAME the character right in front of my eyes. It was amazing. That taught me lesson one: the importance of creating a character from the bottom up. And that character didn't depend on costume or props, but just attitude and acting. Incredible.

Patter: Over and over I watched Pop deliver the same jokes and exact same patter for a trick over and over again for different audiences. And each time he delivered the patter it seemed spontaneous, as if he had just thought of it. Lesson Two: use patter and stick to it. The trick is to not be spontaneous, the trick is to SOUND spontaneous.

Performance. Of course this goes with Patter and Character, but watching Pop perform, it was clear, it AIN'T the TRICK, it is the PERFORMANCE of the trick that makes it magic.

Thanks for the lessons Pop. We are lucky to have you.