Jim Vines, Star of "Broadway Magic Hour" Show in New York City #302

Step into the world of magic and laughter with comedian and magician Jim Vines! In this engaging interview, Jim shares how he first discovered magic and turned sleight-of-hand into a career filled with comedy, creativity, and live audiences.

We talk about his award-winning journey, including taking home top honors at the American Magic Awards in 2017, and what it was like performing on the hit TV show Penn & Teller: Fool Us. Jim also discusses producing and starring in his family-friendly hit, Broadway Magic Hour, performed every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday at 2pm at the legendary Broadway Comedy Club in New York.

It’s a fun, behind-the-curtain conversation about show business, persistence, creativity, and what it takes to amaze audiences of all ages. Whether you love stand-up, sleight-of-hand, or stories of chasing a dream, this episode delivers plenty of magic.

Short intro to TTTP

Transcript

Announcer 0:29

This is another episode of Stand Up Comedy, your host and MC, celebrating 40 plus years on the fringe of show business. Stories, interviews, and comedy sets from the famous and not so famous. Here's your host and MC, Scott Edwards.

Scott Edwards 0:47

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the podcast. Ho ho ho ho I got something fun and exciting for you. If you like comedy and you like magic, we have one of the best in the business. He has his own theater show just off Broadway in New York City. Him and his partner have had huge success with the Broadway Magic Hour. I'm talking, this has got great reviews. They're a list of one of the best entertainment values for families in New York. But hey, let's hear it from him. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome to the show, the one and only comic magician, Jim Vine. Jim, welcome to the show. Great to have you on.

SPEAKER_02 1:30

Thank you so much, Scott. It is great to be here. Did you see what I did? Did you see how I just appeared out of nowhere? You're quite magical.

Scott Edwards 1:40

That's why you had me on, right? Exactly. Well, I was uh telling everybody in the intro about the Broadway Magic Hour and all your success. Before we get to that, because I definitely want to talk about your shows. I've just seen and heard some amazing things. And uh you have a partner there, Carl Machurio, right?

SPEAKER_02 1:59

That's right. He is my uh performing partner. We do the show every weekend at the Broadway Comedy Club there in New York City near Times Square. So yeah, he's amazing. We're both we're we're amazing together. You know, we love to do the show together. It's always a lot of fun.

Scott Edwards 2:13

Yeah, and that's a great way to uh spread the talent when you have two people working together that can bring each a little bit different edge to a show. And from what I've heard, you're voted one of the best off-Broadway shows, especially for families in New York. But Jim, let's go back a bit just to kind of give the audience a foundation. How did you get started in magic?

SPEAKER_02 2:36

Well, Scott, when I was about 12 years old, I was at school, and there was a kid who was a friend of mine who one day came up to me and said, Hey, dude, I'm a magician. Now, how often do you hear that in your life, right?

Scott Edwards 2:49

Not much.

SPEAKER_02 2:50

So, of course, I said, Okay, Mr. Magic, do a trick for me. And he wouldn't, and he wouldn't. And then as it turned out, a few days later, we were in line for lunch, and he wanted to borrow a quarter for uh milk money. And I gave him the quarter and I said, But you have to do a magic trick with it. So he takes the quarter, and Scott, he made it completely vanish right in front of my eyes, no sleeves, no tricky boxes or trapdoors, just him and me standing there, and it was the most astounding thing I'd ever seen. And I was like, I have to learn to do that. But he wouldn't teach me, of course, because that's the magician's oath is you don't tell the secrets. So I had to go to the library, find some books on magic. I learned the trick, and uh the following week I came back and did the trick for him with my own little spin on it, and then he was freaked out. So we had a good time studying magic together. But that you know, every magician I've met seems to kind of have a moment like that where there's just this sort of the magic comes along at just the right moment in the kid's life for whatever reason, and boom, they're hooked. So that's what it was with me.

Scott Edwards 3:58

Yeah, you get bitten by the bug, and then of course, that usually the next step, and I've interviewed lots of comics and magicians uh in several ventriloquists, and they say that not only do you get bitten by the bug of some variety type talent that you start researching and getting into, but when was your first like audience where you got that recognition or applause that just really grabbed you?

SPEAKER_02 4:25

Oh my goodness, I'll never forget. And I was so nervous because you know, like like that's the other thing about magicians, they tend to be kind of nerdy and shy kids for whatever reason, and I was no different. But I knew I wanted to try to perform magic, and so uh it it that I think it was either that school year or the next. It was definitely around that same age. In one of my classes at school, the teacher said, you know, your assignment was to come and bring a hobby, bring something you're interested in from home and share it with the class. So I was gonna do a magic trick, and I did. I performed a trick. It was a these days it would look very antique now because it was a trick with 45 records, you know, those of the old 45 records and a sleeve and some magic files and stuff.

Scott Edwards 5:10

Yeah, these days you'd have to stop and explain what it was to these guys.

SPEAKER_02 5:16

Even if it was a CD Rob, you'd have to explain it, right? So I did that, and the audience, the kids in the classroom were completely silent the entire time, and I thought I was bombing, and I was so nervous. And at the end, when the trick finally ended, they went nuts, and that was such an amazing experience. I'll never forget it as long as I live. But yeah, you know, you you never forget your first performance, I think.

Scott Edwards 5:41

Yeah, and and I just want to make sure I'm clear. What did you do with the 45s? Because I'm kind of into magic. I'm a magic geek myself. What was it that you did with the 45s that just blew away those kids?

SPEAKER_02 5:55

So you would show a 45 record, black 45 record, you put it inside a little paper sleeve. You know, they used to come in those little sleeves, right? Right. You put it in the sleeve, and you take a yellow silk handkerchief, you poke it through the hole in the middle, and then you reach inside the sleeve and you pull out the record, and now the record has turned yellow to match the silk. You put that down, you pick up another black record, you put it in, put a red silk through the hole, pull that one out, now it's red. Now pick up another black record, put it in, push the silk through, pull it out of the sleeve, and now that one's turned blue. And then you tear up that little paper sleeve and throw it out into the audience. So, right? It's a it's an eye popper. It's so cool.

Scott Edwards 6:36

That is an amazing trick for kids. I mean, I think anybody would be amazed by that, but what I like about it is that you're probably pretty new when it came to the pattern. So you probably hadn't worked out a real, you know, like a funny or interesting pattern. You're just doing the trick as early magicians do. But you did do it with things, one, that they knew, which are 45 records in those days, but you used bright colors, and I'm sure between the scarves and the color of the records, it just really popped for those kids.

SPEAKER_02 7:12

It did. And you know the other thing about it, which I really love, is Pendulette says that the end of a magic trick always has to be simultaneously surprising and yet inevitable. Okay? And that trick, you do have that big surprise because at the moment they're thinking all those black records are somehow still in that little paper sleeve. And when you tear it up and throw it out to the audience, of course, it was inevitable, but it was also a surprise because you just you just can't imagine that that sleeve could be empty by that point, you know?

Scott Edwards 7:46

Wow. That had to be some experience, not only for those uh fellow classmates, but for yourself. And uh, by the way, you you name-dropped uh Penn Teller. I know that you have recently been on the show Full Us. Penn and Teller are, of course, iconic, uh world-famous magicians. I've had a chance to uh see them twice myself. Quite incredible, but uh what they've done for magic and lifting it uh into the really popular variety art form that it is today, it must have been quite a moment to be on the Fula show.

SPEAKER_02 8:21

Well, I'll tell you, it's a it's a bit surreal because if you're if you're a magician uh or a magic fan, you're gonna be watching that show all the time and to suddenly find yourself, you know, standing off stage left, and you see the act before you out there performing, and you hear the incredible, you know, there's there's it's a it's a 1400 seat theater, you hear all the loud, you know, shouting and yelling and laughing from the audience. You're standing off to the side and you're waiting for your turn, and you're thinking, oh my gosh, I'm about to go out, I'm about to be on the show. It was funny because one of the producers, right before I walked out there, he said, Jim, in the next five minutes, you're gonna perform before more people than Harry Houdini did in his entire life. And I thought, gee, thanks, Mike, for reminding me about that. That's really nice.

Scott Edwards 9:11

That is so wrong. You know, you already have butterflies and a little bit of stage fright. And everybody in the audience, you should know that every comic, every performer, no matter how many shows they've done, you always have that little stomach flutter before you get on stage, whether it's a a you know, a crowd of 40 or 50 or a television premiere like uh fool us and being in front of Penn and Teller, you're gonna be nervous. And it was so nice of that guy to add a little salt to the wound.

SPEAKER_02 9:42

Oh my gosh. You know, I've known him for years and years. Uh, ever since I was a teenager, I've known him. So I think he he knew he could get away with that with me, but it was all in fun. And actually, to tell you the truth, it did sort of relax me a little bit. Because I thought, you know what? It's it's time to go. The pressure can't get any greater than this. It's time to just forget all that and go out there and have fun. And man, were they so nice? I mean, they're just that that show from them is uh is their love letter to magic. You know, they want the magicians to look good, they're not there. Like sometimes when America's got talent, they try to um, you know, make the magician look like he's messing up or make the audience look like they're not enjoying it or something. But Penn and Teller have this feeling of, you know, they magic has given them so much, and they want to give back, and boy, do they, and it's just it's just the best, best thing that's ever happened to Magic, as far as I'm concerned.

Scott Edwards 10:34

Yeah, I'm a huge fan, and uh you're right about uh Penn and Teller. They do it because you know they don't need any more money or anything like that. They do it because they love the art form. And I think that uh that's so important to remember that whether it's stand-up comedy, ventriloquism, juggling, or especially magic, you don't do it because you're necessarily think you're gonna get rich or famous, but it's uh being able to get in front of any crowd, whether it's five or five hundred, and entertaining them, bringing them some joy, and just the thrill of that entertainment moment. I'm I'm so envious that not only have you had all those years doing successful stage shows, but then to get on uh fool us with Penn and Teller had to be uh quite an honor. Now, I wanted to also mention to the audience that you were uh nominated, actually were voted close-up magician of the year a few years back, 2017, I think. And I'm a huge fan of close-up and have worked with some of the best. Harry Anderson comes to mind, but but many, many, many more when it came to close-up magic to get that honor because it was a national recognition, wasn't it?

SPEAKER_02 11:48

Yeah, and I'll I'll correct you on the title a little bit. It was the North American Championship of Magic. I won first place in People's Choice, which is which then gives you the title of North American Champion of Magic, which people say, you know, magic contests? Are there such a thing? And we actually in magic we have what we call the Olympics of Magic. It is really unbelievable, but it it's it's so entertaining and so fun and so great to see all these performers come with these things they've been working on for years. Because you really do um, for something like that, you have to create something that's completely original that nobody's ever seen. You know, you can take a traditional magic plot, but you need to bring something really special and new, blow it out to a whole new level that nobody's ever seen. And to see all these all these guys and gals, and there are a lot of women in magic now too, which is amazing, to see all these performers come up and you know present these things they've been working on for years, it's such a special treat. And to be the one that they crowned the champion of that and to get the people's choice as well, it it was a dream come true, and it was pretty wild. But yeah, you know, to get recognition from your peers, especially in magic, it's so great because lay audiences they can see something and see how amazing it looks, but the magicians usually have an idea of what's going on behind the scenes, and and even if they don't, they can, you know, they even that impresses them because they're thinking, oh my goodness, I have no idea how so that was just amazing. And uh right when I came off the stage after that uh competition I had just performed, but they hadn't even awarded anything yet. I came off, and this woman um named Juliana Chen, who produces these major, major magic shows in mainland China and Macau, she was uh she's also a huge performer. She uh she grabbed me, she said, That was amazing. I want you to uh fly to Macau in two weeks, we'll give you a one-year contract, want you to perform there at this casino three times a day, do this act. I was like, hold on, hold on, hold on. I I mean I had just come off stage, Scott. I didn't even know what to think, you know. But because my kids were in high school at the time in New York City, there's no way I could have left them, no way I could have brought them and my wife. So I had to say no. But boy, what a what a great thing that was for her to even offer. You know, I just I really enjoyed that. And and um who knows, maybe one of these days I'll I'll be able to go over there and do that after all.

Scott Edwards 14:14

Yeah, and what a great honor just to be uh uh offered that. And as you mentioned, uh performing in front of your peers is always uh very challenging. I come from the stand-up comedy industry, and the toughest audience in the world is other stand-up comics. You know, in fact, uh being a producer for uh 40 years or so, when I think something's really funny, go, oh, yeah, that's funny. You know, I don't I don't laugh and guffar like I did when I was young. And I'm sure magicians, instead of like going, wow, that was freaking amazing, they go, Oh, he did that well. You know, they're a lot more uh judgy and and practical about it. But I think it's impressive and and audience, you've heard it here. Jim Vines, the champion of 2017. That's an incredible honor. And I want to take a sidestep. I'm very close friends with Larry Wilson, who's performed uh you know, all over movies, TV, stages around the world. And he once explained to me that virtually there's no such thing as a new trick, uh a new bit of magic. What it is is that you have to find your twist, your turn, and take the tricks. And this Penn and Teller are famous for this of taking tricks from history and making them your own, updating them, using you know modern props, whatever it is. And that is respected in the industry that you've taken something that you know was done before, but now you've made it special again. Am I close?

SPEAKER_02 15:47

So true. And you find this in various art forms. So, for example, in music, there are eight notes in a scale. Everybody's using the same eight notes. I think Aristotle said about uh playwriting um there are only seven plots, or maybe it's nine, I can't remember, but there's just only a few plots, you know. In magic, there's only a few things you can do as well. You can make something appear, disappear, change places with something else, uh, transform it as something else. You can penetrate one object through another, you can, you know, you can levitate something, but the idea is that you take these basic building blocks and just rework it to tell a new story. And that's what that's what storytellers do, that's what comics do, that's what musicians do, and that's where all the creativity comes from. It's is finding those those basic building blocks and just turning it into something nobody's ever seen before.

Scott Edwards 16:41

Well, Jim, you've hit on something so important, and that is that not only magic tricks and illusions are so important, and you have to learn the prestige digitation and and the the uh you know watching your sidelines and all the the physical aspects, but one of the key things is the pattern. And for those in the audience, that's what you're saying when you're performing a trick, it's called the pattern. And because this is a comedy podcast, Jim, I'm gonna put you on the spot. At what point uh we s we heard about your early school performances, at what point did you start adding some humor and some comedy to your pattern to make your show so enjoyable to uh families and and kids of all ages?

SPEAKER_02 17:27

Well, that's one of the things, Scott, is and that's why I'm with my partner, uh, my performing partner, Carl Mercurio. He is so funny, and he can do crowd work like nobody's business. And I'm more of the I would say more like the straight guy, the straight man, you know, I'm sort of like the one setting him up. So basically, you know, in our show, the characters we kind of decided on is that I'm the guy who believes in magic, you know, and he's sort of like the wisecracking sort of Harry Anderson type. So if you imagine Doug Henning and Harry Anderson together in a show, that's kind of what it would be like, okay? Great analogy, yeah. And so um it works out really, really well because I do, this is gonna sound weird, Scott, but I do believe in magic. And what I mean by that is even if there's a trick to it, Scott, even if there's a trick to it, if someone witnessed the impossible, someone witnessed magic, that magic really happened in that person's mind. So it doesn't matter that there was a trick to it, magic happens. And the other thing I always like to think about is especially, you know, as you pointed out, we have a family show with a lot of kids, parents, grandparents, everybody of all ages. But I always like to remind the kids that anything is possible, okay? If you believe in yourself, even when others might doubt you, nothing can stop you. And I think that's a really important lesson to carry. My parents always taught me that, but I know there's some kids who may never hear that, and there's some kids who may be told, oh, you're not that smart, or you can't do that. You know, forget that. But I definitely want kids to understand that anything is possible because I believe it.

Scott Edwards 19:22

Well, that's so important to pass on to the younger generations. And with this segue, let's talk about your amazing show, The Broadway Magic Hour. It's performed in New York, I believe, uh three days a week. And you and your partner do these shows that entertain, as I mentioned, kids of all ages. But it is a great family show. You've had amazing reviews. It was voted one of the best family shows in New York. And kids, what did you think? Yes, there's no reason not to cheer. The Broadway Magic Hour. Tell us a little bit about how that came about and what you and uh your partner Carl are doing.

SPEAKER_02 20:02

Well, yeah, and and I'd also like to mention there is a big difference between a family show, which is what we're doing, and a kid's show. It is definitely not a kid's show. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Scott Edwards 20:14

Yeah, I sorry, I I didn't set you up very well. We're not talking about some clown doing balloon animals for a birthday party. We're talking about a professional comedy magic show in a professional theater that just happens to be available because it's a clean entertainment setup that kids of all ages from you know uh 10 on up, eight on up would enjoy it. But there's a lot of adults and a lot of grandparents that are having a great time as well. And thank you for pointing that out. I should, there is a difference.

SPEAKER_02 20:48

Big difference. And one of the, you know, even when I went to um well, last time I was in Las Vegas about a year ago, I went to David Copperfield's show, and I'm looking around the showroom, I'm like, oh my gosh, this looks like our audience at the Broadway Magic Hour. We had I saw eight-year-olds, 10 years old, 17-year-olds, grandparents' parents. So David Copperfield uh is doing a family show, and I thought to myself, you know, because there's so many magic shows in New York City where they say ages 18 and up or 21 and up or whatever. I thought, if somebody went to David Copperfield and said, hey, Dave, from now on, only 21 and up in a first show, he would say, Are you kidding? Are you kidding me? What are you talking about? So magic really is an art form for everyone. And one of the one of the beautiful things about it, I think, is that grandparents and their grandchildren have never been further apart culturally than they are right now. The kids are always on the TikTok and Instagram and these different things. The grandparents have no idea what that's about. But they go to a magic show. First of all, Scott, when they go to a movie, I think they're even seeing two different movies, even though they're both watching the same screen because their kids look at it through one lens and the grandparents through another. But in a magic show, everyone is on the same page. Everybody sees the same impossible thing happen. And it's a great leveler and a great um moment for them all to be together. And I think when the grandparents leave the show and are talking to the kids, they have a lot more interesting things to talk about now than how was school last year. They say, How do they make that kid float? What is going on? You know?

Scott Edwards 22:23

Well, and and that is so true. That you're you have providing you and Carl in this show, the Broadway Magic Hour are providing something for families, uh, parents, grandparents, and kids from teenagers down to young age to talk about. It gives them something that a shared experience that allows them to communicate more, and that is so important in this day and age.

SPEAKER_02 22:48

I agree 100%. You know, that's what we're all about. And you know, we even we even when we were designing the show, we thought, you know, how can we do this in a way where we're not hitting people over the head with$150 a ticket or$200 a ticket to do on Broadway. We really wanted this show to be for everybody. And Scott, we see the most diverse and beautiful faces in our audiences every single week, and we just love it. And people keep coming up to us and they're saying, you know, thank you for making this affordable. It it means so much. You know, families uh these days, economic times are kind of uncertain. People are worried that AI is going to take their job or this and that. They have no worries when they come to our show. Family-friendly pricing as well. So it's it's just one of those things, you know, we feel like we've we figured out the the secret formula that works for us.

Scott Edwards 23:39

Well, and that's so important to find your path and stick to it. And when you're dealing with an audience, you want to have something so relatable, so entertaining that people walk away with uh great memories, which, based on your reviews and and other things I've read uh is happening at each and every show. Now you have to understand I come from the world of uh stand-up comedy, so there are clean comics, very few actually, uh, and then and and even magicians and stuff. In fact, you may know about amazing Jonathan, who had his own show in Vegas for decades. And you know, really, really good magic and really, really funny, but not a kid's show. So, you know, there is a difference, and uh I've seen Harry Anderson go both ways. I've seen the um other people now. My friend Larry Wilson is always uh squeaky clean. So it just depends on what you want to present, your personality, your vision of your talent, what you want to share with the audience. But I think you and Carl making a specific point of not only making the show available to all ages, a lot of diversity, and you know, nobody could ever be offended. It's just there to have fun, comedy, magic, have a great time. But then to price it at a point where everybody can be a part of it is so actually unusual, but my hat's off to you for doing that. Now, why don't we share with the audience a little bit more information? Let's get specific, Jim, about the Broadway magic hour, where you're at, what it costs, when your shows are. Let's let's get the audience involved here.

SPEAKER_02 25:22

Cool. Yeah, well, we're on um weekend afternoons at 2 p.m., uh, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. We're at the Broadway Comedy Club, which is on West 53rd Street in Manhattan, between 8th and 9th Avenues. Uh Broadway Comedy Club has been there for years and years. It's uh it's a real uh historic, beautiful venue right there in Manhattan, and lots of amazing comics started out there and still come there. Uh they come back time and again, uh even after they hit it big. But what we loved is that they didn't have any early afternoon programming. And they were really thrilled to have something that would open up the doors at 2 p.m., you know, because they use the the comedy shows usually start at four. So we we go from two to three, and then we're out of there, and then the four o'clock show starts, they have a whole new time spot with us, which is amazing. But yeah, we're right there in Manhattan, very easy to get to from any subway, uh, or lots of buses come by there as well, and then there's uh there's parking across the street, there's a parking lot, a parking garage there, paid parking, parking nonetheless.

Scott Edwards 26:23

Yeah, but you mentioned pricing. Give us just a general idea.

SPEAKER_02 26:28

We have uh what we call premium seating for$40, which is up very close to the stage. Then we have$25 seating in the rest of the house. Even$40 is such a bargain in New York City. And of course,$25, it goes without saying, is like an unbelievable bargain.

Scott Edwards 26:43

No, those are amazing prices, Jim. I I've been to Broadway a few times, seen several shows, and you cannot get a ticket for under$100 and most or more. So to keep things$40 and under$25 a seat and gives an opportunity, a family of four can can see a great show for under$100. I mean, that's a a real that would be a real treat anywhere in the country, but in right down in the center of New York City near Broadway is just such a special thing. How many seats in this theater? 180. Oh, that's perfect. My club's always had 200 seats. I always thought that was kind of like the the choice size. Well, that's amazing. Well, ladies and gentlemen, it's been so great to hear about Jim Vines and his uh history in magic and his amazing show, The Broadway Magic Hour. He and his partner Carl Machario, I think I'm getting that right, have been doing this. How long have you been at the uh club so far? We're in our second year now at the club. Wow. Well, ladies and gentlemen, next time you're in New York City, grab the kids, grab the family, get the grandparents. We'll teach them about that TikToky thing, and uh run on over to the Broadway Magic Hour. Uh, any last words for our audience, Jim? What would uh be magical and exciting to come see?

SPEAKER_02 28:07

Hey, New York City is always the most amazing and magical place on earth. Scott, I I know you're a West Coast guy, but I got to tell you, man, I just I love New York. So anybody who comes to New York, have an extra special magical time and come see us, we'd love to see you and hang out with you.

Scott Edwards 28:21

All right. Well, you've heard it directly from the horse's mouth. Jim Vines, ladies and gentlemen, a world-class and champion uh from 2017 Magician. He and his partner Carl bring in great shows for families, and we're just so excited to have you on the show. Ladies and gentlemen, we'll be back next week with another great show here on the Stand Up Comedy Podcast Network. And thank you, Jim, for being on with us. Thanks for having me, Scott. It was great to be here. Ladies and gentlemen, thanks for listening. Tell your family and friends, we'll see you soon. Bye.

Announcer 28:58

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