When The Magic Is Gone

Are you excited, or are you mailing it in?

Mar 23, 2023

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A couple of weeks ago, I was in Las Vegas for a few days. I had two very different experiences. I went to a podcasting conference. And I went to a magic show by one of the most famous magicians in the world.

Based on this limited information - a conference about podcasting and a legendary magician - which one sounds more exciting and entertaining?

Well, dear reader… prepare to be AMAZED! Much like a great illusion, things are not always what they seem!

(cue suspenseful music and dry ice machines)

The Magic Show

The magic show was a creative spectacle that I will never forget.

Not because it was so good, but because it was SO bad. And the level of badness holds a lesson for all of us interested in creativity.

Just to state it again - the magician is VERY, VERY famous. A legend who has been doing this for a long time. The tickets are not cheap. He has his own theatre. In fact, he is so famous and well known that he does THREE SHOWS A NIGHT. (Foreshadowing… my hunch is that this is where the problem begins.)

After a barrage of warnings about not taking photos or videos, the magician appeared on stage. Literally. Four curtains were raised on an empty stage. With a flash of lighting, the curtains dropped to reveal the magician on a motorbike in the middle of the stage. PRESTO!

Immediately, something felt off. It was as soon as he started talking. Beacuse he was talking really, really fast. And in complete monotone. It was like a grade school student reading a story in front of a class for the first time. Rushed and emotionless. Counting the seconds until the performance is over, dying to just get this insufferable experience over with and leave the stage.

Several of us began whispering to each other. “Can you understand what he’s saying?” “What’s going on?” “Why is he mumbling and talking so fast?” “This is really weird!”

Soon, it became apparent.

This guy was mailing it in. EPICALLY mailing it in. Mailing it in like I’ve never seen someone mail it in before in my entire life.

He was on stage for only one reason - to cash a cheque and nothing more. It felt like a new performance genre: Hate Magic. It felt like he had contempt for the schmucks who had paid to be there, and resented that he had to perform the same cheesy script for the thousandth (or ten thousandth) time… including the third time that night.

What made it even worse is that the script was supposed to be emotional. There was a storyline! There was talk about love. And his childhood. And his parents. And secret hand symbols his family would use to say “I love you.” And a cute Grogu-like alien friend (seriously). It was clearly SUPPOSED to be delivered earnestly, with passion, fond reminiscence, and love.

Instead, it was delivered at 100 mph, emotionless, and expressionless.

“Thisisaphotoofmeandmydad.Welovedeachother.Somuch.WeevencreatedaspecialhandsymboltosayIloveyou.Thisisthesymbol. Afteralltheseyears, Icanmakethissymbolandstillfeeltheloveofmyfather.”

It was SO bad, that the contrast between the emotional nature of the material and the lacklustre delivery actually became more entertaining than the show itself. The feats of magic were impressive - let there be zero doubt that there are great illusions in this show - but they are completely undermined by the fact that the guy doing them could not possibly be more bored, and resentful of having to be on stage.

The stereotype of magic shows is that at the climax of the big illusions, especially in Vegas mode, the magician extends their arms - giving the impression they are casting a spell. BEHOLD! Great magicians do it with a flourish - the extension of the arms symbolically expels magical energy that makes the impossible possible. Well, this guy extended his arms, too, but it felt like it was with spite every time. “Here you go, you losers. Abraca-fucking-dabra.” There was no flourish. It felt more like an exhausted sigh of regret than magic.

And when all the impossible pieces came together at the end of the show, the audience should have had their jaws on the floor. But the magician’s utter disdain for being on stage made it feel rushed and empty.

After the show, all we could talk about was how surreal his performance had been. A friend in our group looked up reviews for the show on Trip Advisor, and while there were some very positive reviews, it seems we weren’t alone in our ‘meh-xperience’:

“He sounds tired and bored in his delivery.”
“THE WORST… save your money… terrible show… he has given up on quality… it is time to retire.”
“He is clearly ready for retirement.”
“He is clearly just going through the motions… he mumbles most of his “very” scripted lines and rushes through like he is ready to get out of there.”
“What a washed-up hack. Clearly disinterested in doing the show.”

This guy is well past his best before date. I don’t want to speak on his behalf and maybe he just had an off night, but he certainly projected that he hates his job and that it brings him no joy.

When your job is creativity and you hate it, yet you continue to ask people to pay to watch you perform three times a night, maybe it’s time to do one last trick and make yourself disappear.

The Podcasting Conference

Talking about Creativity with the amazing Tom Webster.

Contrast this with the podcasting conference, Podcast Movement Evolutions. If you tell anyone not in podcasting that you are going to a podcasting conference, there is shock that a podcasting conference exists. And they wonder what goes on at a podcasting conference and whether it is just a bunch of people wearing headphones whispering quietly into microphones and interviewing each other. In other words, if you’re not in podcasting, a podcasting conference doesn’t sound like it would be particularly exciting. (I have joked with my friends that I was summoned to attend a ‘gathering of the nerds’)

But it was great. Everyone was really excited to be there. Everyone was really excited to see each other. And everyone was excited to talk about their craft and their business. Even though there has been some turbulence in the industry with some high-profile layoffs, you wouldn’t know it from the energy at the conference.

And that’s because the people that go to a podcasting conference LOVE what they are doing. Getting to work in podcasting is REAL MAGIC and the magic most certainly is not gone.

I should have come away from two FULL days of back-to-back conversations exhausted, but I was energized from being around so many terrific, talented, and passionate people.

Take that, Magic Man!

Creative Takeaways

The lesson here is obvious to me. Pay attention to your creative energy. Pay attention to whether you are excited about the work you are doing, especially if your profession is creativity-for-hire. Maybe especially if you’ve been doing it a long time.

This is circular and redundant but I will say it anyway - the magic of creativity is to stay where the magic is.

When you overstay your welcome - when the magic is gone - everyone else can see it, too. You’re just fooling yourself, cashing a paycheque, and ruining your reputation and legacy.

Creative Prompts

Have you ever overstayed your welcome to cash a cheque?
Have you continued in a creative endeavour after your passion for it was gone?
Are you paying attention to what ignites your creative energy and what extinguishes it? Are you allocating your time and resources appropriately?