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ncarifo New user Burbank, California 56 Posts |
MagicCafe's "Billy McComb Week" brought to mind a very special day to me a couple years ago -- not long after I first moved to Los Angeles -- that I met Billy McComb, very unexpectedly, at one of my shows:)
The short meeting meant a lot to me and as a result, I wrote a short article for magicians about that day which was published in David Grove's Street Magic Newsletter. At the time, I received quite a few reader responses from admirers and fans of Billy McComb who enjoyed reading this article. And those that know him backed up my sentiments exactly. So, I thought this week on Magic Café would be a wonderful time to post a reprint of the article, expecially for those magi out there that have never had the chance to meet the man that we all have the opportunity to learn from this week on Magic Café. Thanks Billy, Nick Carifo ------------------------------------------------ MEETING GOD AT THE PIER An Article by Nicholas Carifo (Reprinted from David Groves' Street Magic Newsletter - February 2003) -------- MEETING GOD AT THE PIER This past summer, I was performing street magic on the Santa Monica Pier. For those not familiar with L.A., this pier is a Mecca for Los Angeles tourists. The "Pacific Park" amusement park that you see in the opening credits of The Tonight Show is located here. So are the bumper cars from the opening sequence of "Three's Company". It is also a place where the City of Santa Monica licenses street performers to entertain the crowds on a daily basis. Now, originally hailing from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania -- a great city that alas has never been a hot-bed of tourist activity -- I did not come up through the ranks as a street performer. There just isn't any regular tourist venue to work the streets of Pittsburgh. I cut my teeth on the party circuit, not the street. However, the idea has always intrigued me since seeing Gazzo perform at Copley Plaza in Boston, when I was a kid. I was attending a magic convention and the best act I saw was not at the convention, but outside on the street! In short, Gazzo killed. So flash forward 12 or so years to find me, having relocated to Los Angeles to pursue acting and further magic opportunities. I was excited to be able to try my hand working the crowds at such famous areas as Venice Beach and the Santa Monica Pier. I re-worked my comedy stand-up show, cutting it down into three 12-minute "mini performances" to busk for tips. I have been a performer my entire life. I rarely get nervous before a show. However, going into the streets made me nervous. It still does. There is something raw and wild about just showing up and entertaining strangers that pass by without having been hired by a party planner to be there. Being formally introduced as "the entertainment" in the past has been a crutch. I was out of my element, but loving it just the same. I did okay throughout the summer. Getting more and more comfortable with the situation every time I made the trek down to the pier. However, one day stands out that I will always remember. I was performing my act on one very crowded Sunday afternoon. The people crowded around, so it was hard to see everyone watching me perform. "Be on the look-out for Rosie O'Donnell in the crowd", one of the artists told me. I thought, that would be cool for her to stop and watch me perform. I scanned the passing tourists hoping to pull her into my little show if she walked by. I never did see Rosie, but I saw someone better. One of the mainstays of my act throughout the years has been the McCombical Prediction, a comedy mentalism trick. To be sure, a best-selling magic effect around the world. I have performed countless versions the effect customizing it to many different occasions. I love the trick, and it has always been a staple of my act. That day, I was performing my children's version of the trick. As I started my routine, I looked up to the crowd, and in what seemed to be slow motion, the people began to part slowly in front of me, revealing a surprise. Standing there just 3 feet in front of me was none other than the legendary magician Billy McComb, watching me begin my performance of the trick that HE had invented and made famous! Can you say "nervous"? I was still nervous from the situation of being a street performer and now on top of that, a legendary magician that has been a big influence to me is standing in front of me watching me perform his trick! "Nervous" is the understatement of the year for me. I hesitated and smiled, letting him know I recognized him. Then I pulled together as much professionalism as I could muster from experience and just performed the McCombical Prediction the way I had thousands of times before. I really wanted him to like it. If I had known he was going to be there, I know I would have obsessed over ways to change the effect or add to it to impress him. Instead, I just relied on experience and the strong magic that Billy built into the routine. I haven't felt pressure like that since my days of competing at magic contests. But his approval was worth much more to me than any trophy from a magic convention. Immediately after the show, I approached him with a handshake and true to form and reputation he was one of the most approachable personalities I've ever had the good fortune to meet. The first thing he said to me was "I told my friend here, I invented that trick he is doing. And you do it good, you have a great stage presence. I don't even do McCombical myself anymore because other magicians do it." Wow. He liked my performance of his trick. I felt a load of stress disappear. You have to understand that I feel a connection with the innovator of an effect any time I add another's published routine to my show. I know the work that goes into creating and writing and I never take another's work for granted. I try to build on it. Billy's approval of my performance was one of the most important things he could have given me. To my surprise, having just officially met, Billy McComb took the liberty of buying me a soda and hanging out on the pier watching me perform my street act over and over. He sat on the park bench next to me, watching with a teacher's eye. He gave me hints, tips, and advice. He noticed that I flinched and was uncomfortable when the time came to ask the crowd for money. He noticed when I delivered some comic lines about tipping, I looked down and to the sides and retreated back to my performing case after the show ended. He told me to look the crowd right in the eyes, hold up the tip jar, and deliver the same tip lines directly. He taught me that it was much easier for then to "slip away" without tipping if I wasn't looking at them. It worked. Even though I still wasn't getting rich there, my tips doubled during the next show. During the next couple hours he watched me perform and offered his advice, which was very well taken. I'm no fool. I thought "only in Hollywood" would someone like Billy McComb just show up "accidentally" at my show and offer advice. I told him, we actually performed on the bill together 10 years ago during the headliner show at The International Battle of Magicians convention in Ohio, but we never had the chance to meet as the backstage was so crowded that night and I was busy with my assistants putting stage illusions together. We found we had some mutual friends in magic too. The day ended with an invitation to submit a tape of my act to The Magic Castle. Billy liked it and thought the session I performed on the pier would be great for the Parlor Room in the Castle. He invited me to meet him there and he introduced me around. It felt like being given a personal tour of a castle by the royal family. I never had the chance to meet "The Professor", Dai Vernon at the Castle, but sitting in session at The Magic Castle with Billy McComb had to be what it was like. Amazing Johnathan's tribute website calls Billy McComb "The Living Legend of Magic". I have to agree, and add, that he's one of the nicest, most creative, and generous performers I've ever met. It's people like him, that make me proud to be a part of the magic community. ----- Author: Nicholas Carifo is a comic magician, illusionist and actor residing in Burbank, California. He can be reached for comment at nicholas@modernmagician.com
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Nicholas Carifo Modern Magician Productions nicholas@modernmagician.com www.modernmagician.com |
Billy McComb V.I.P. 1922 - 2006 57 Posts |
Nick...bless you for the delightful things you have said.
Of course I remember you well. I have often told Ron Wilson, the talent booker at The Castle that your personality and stage prescence would be a real killer in the Parlor or the Palace...but it gets us nowhere. He tells me he has enough acts on his compueter without getting any more. Years ago I recommended an act wich only lasted one show in the Close-Up room. I'd been asked by him to recommend him. I asked several folks at the Magic Circle and they all recomended him. I hadn't seen him, but he wasn't right for the room. So any recomendation by me is now a kiss of death ! I'm sorry. I still have your phone number (818) 846-6955 and one day someone will be happy to book a guy with a great personality doing the McCombical deck well and the Linking Rings. I know you had a great following in Pittsburgh, but, hey, I can only scream so loudly ! Best wishes Billy
Billy
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ncarifo New user Burbank, California 56 Posts |
Billy,
No worries at all and defintely no apologies needed. I just wanted to share the article with everyone else here on the board:) Thanks so much for the kind words and the fabulous memory..yes... it's still my phone number:) I'll trod the boards at The Castle eventually, I have patience. I've never considered myself a magicians magician, so I have always hesitated at really pursuing it much. I should send them audition tapes more often. I know Ron must have his hands full with no shortage of talented guys banging down the doors to appear there:) I certainly haven't been one of the loudest. I am happy to be patient and wait my turn. In any case... really enjoying reading the questions and responses here, which makes me wonder about a question myself..... Are you currently working on any new books of stories and/or magic? Anything new on the horizon we should be looking to read?
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Nicholas Carifo Modern Magician Productions nicholas@modernmagician.com www.modernmagician.com |
Shawn D Elite user Hughson,Ca 465 Posts |
I saw Billy McComb this Friday at the MAgic Castle and you are right this guy is great.Very nice guy and Very funny.He walked up to the window at the bar to introduce the bar act and pretty much did a 15 min comedy act.He had everyone in stitches.I still start laughing everytime I think about you saying"I was looking through a nothole in my grandpas wooden leg"
Man that was funnny! I just wanted to say Billy it made my year just to meet you and see you how great of a person you really are. Shawn D |
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