An honest answer

WHO IS THE BEST MAGICIAN
IN AUSTRALIA?

It is the most searched form of the question and it has no honest answer. There is no ranking body and no official title. What exists is a short list of things you can check yourself before booking anyone, and a record willing to be put through the same test.

Start here

NOBODY CAN HONESTLY ANSWER THAT

There is no ranking body for magic in Australia, no league table and no official title. Anyone claiming to be the best is telling you what they would like to be true. The useful question is what can you verify before you pay a deposit. Six checks, about ten minutes, and they work on any magician including this one.

The six checks

WHAT YOU CAN ACTUALLY VERIFY

1. Are the awards judged by other magicians?

A magic festival award is judged by the trade. An award a performer invented for their own website is not. Ask which festival, which year, which category, then check the festival’s own record.

2. Has the industry asked them to judge?

Winning is competing. Being invited back to sit on the judging panel is the trade treating someone as the standard. It is a materially different signal and it is easy to ask about.

3. Is the screen work documented outside their own site?

IMDb, a streaming platform or a broadcaster’s own account are records maintained by other people. A showreel is not evidence of a credit.

4. Can they do the close work, or only the big props?

Sleight of hand under a spectator’s nose is a different discipline from stage illusion. Both are real. Ask which one you are actually booking, because the room decides which one you need.

5. Do the testimonials name findable people?

A named critic at a named publication, or a named client at a named company, can be checked. An anonymous rave cannot. If there is no name, ask why.

6. Does the record carry dates?

Dates make a career checkable, and a date is the one thing an imitator cannot borrow. Ask when, not just what.

Phoenix being prepared for a locked water tank escape — The escape work, performed on live television.

The same test, applied here

PUT THIS ONE THROUGH IT

It would be poor form to publish a checklist and dodge it, so here is the magic record against all six, with sources.

Awards judged by magicians

Two awards at the Melbourne Magic Festival: the “Gluttony” (Adelaide Fringe) Award in 2014 and the Most Popular Show Award in 2015. A magic festival, judged by the trade, for the show Psyche!

Asked back to judge it

Later invited onto the judging panel at that same festival, alongside Cosentino. Also a judge at the Sydney Fringe Festival for four of the last five years, across theatre, comedy, dance and acting rather than magic alone.

Screen work documented elsewhere

Underground Magic on Prime Video, filmed in New York, the only Australian on the series. Australia’s Got Talent across two seasons. IMDb.

Close work, and the big stuff

Credited on IMDb as card expert to Taylor Kitsch on X-Men Origins: Wolverine, which is sleight of hand at film-crew scrutiny. At the other end, a locked water tank escape performed on live television.

Named testimonials

Critics named with their publications, celebrity quotes attributed to the people who said them, and 5.0 from 42 Google reviews on the public business profile.

Dated

Twenty-five years, 500+ cruise contracts and 1,000+ shows at sea. Every claim above carries a year.

Being fair about it

WHAT THIS DOES NOT PROVE

None of it makes anyone the best. It makes a record checkable, which is more useful. There are superb magicians in Australia with thinner paper trails, and thin ones with good marketing. Run the six checks on whoever you are considering, this one included, and book whoever’s evidence stands up. If magic is the wrong fit for your night, or you actually want the mind reading side, I will say so.

TELL ME ABOUT YOUR EVENT

Date, venue and roughly how many guests is enough to start. If a magician is the wrong call for your night, I will say so.

Enquire 1800 MINDGUY (1800 646 348)