This morning, we have another video of a great magician at work but before I get to it, I want to mention that Billy McComb passed away this afternoon following a long hospitalization. Everyone around the Magic Castle is saddened by the news since Billy was a great, wicked presence at the Castle as a performer, as a member of the Board, and as an endless fount of great stories. If you ever got to chat with the guy or see his act, you're probably saddened by the news, too.
Actually, I think I was sitting near Billy at the Castle the first time I saw Lance Burton perform. If I had to pick the best magician working today, I'd pick Mr. Burton. His show at the Monte Carlo hotel in Las Vegas is state-of-the-art magic, though I must admit I liked him even better when he was at the Hacienda. For five years, he did a low-budget, low-priced magic show there that substituted ingenuity, talent and plain ol' hard work for expensive spectacle. I saw it many times and it never failed to delight everyone in the house, including me.
That show opened as his current show opens: With Burton's championship "in one" routine, producing doves and lit candles from God-knows-where. He did at the Castle the first time I saw him there…and it's one thing to see non-magicians stare in awe at tricks; quite another to see some of the world's top magicians with their jaws hanging open. Someone called it the most perfect bit of stand-up magic ever done and if you saw the whole thing — which I recall as running around twelve minutes — you might well agree. I'm sorry he's trimmed it down but even the two and a half minute version in our clip today is pretty astounding work. Take a look and see if you can figure out where the birds come from. I mean, besides from eggs.
