Mac King’s comedy-magic is known for being popular with youthful audience members as well as adults, but the magician with a penchant for plaid suits cautions that his afternoon show at Harrah’s is not exactly designed to be kid friendly. King, who figures he’s played at least 8,000 shows to more than 2 million people in his 17 years in Harrah’s showroom, is nearly as practiced at the art of sly innuendo that goes over adolescent heads as he is at sleight-of-hand deception. “That’s kind of the thing I fought over the whole 17 years,” says the illusionist. “Because it’s in the afternoon, the misconception, I think, is that it’s a kids’ show. It’s a show designed for adults that kids like.”
King expertly walks the line of risqué humor without crossing it, keeping more mature audience members laughing while the younger set focuses full attention on trying to figure out how that rope he keeps snipping with scissors keeps reconstituting itself. It might be the goldfish he pulls from his mouth or the guinea pig that plays a central role in one of his tricks that helps create the impression that his magic is kid-friendly. It was honing his craft primarily at comedy clubs that led to his iconoclastic approach to magic, and like a rising stand-up comic he tailored his material with an eye on the future.
“While I really love filthy, dirty, comedy, I didn’t want to put anything in my show that I couldn’t do on TV, in the hopes that someday it would be on TV,” recalls King with a laugh. “It was relatively clean compared to the people I was working with some weeks, so that allowed me to make the transition from my comedy club show to the show I’m doing now without changing much.”
Save for one trick that causes kids of all ages to jump out of their seats, King is alone, performing in front of a background that matches his suit, unless he invites people to join him as a temporary assistant. As King points out, his audience interaction makes every show different and makes him a better entertainer. “There’s no other place where the feedback is so immediate and so true,” he says. “If people hate you they let you know and, also, if they love you they let you know. It’s really exhilarating to be up there and have people really respond positively, and it’s really educational to be up there and have them respond negatively. I think you learn a lot, quickly, in that environment.”
Learning and education is important to King in other ways as well. He’s a staunch supporter of children’s literacy and breast cancer awareness, and is dedicated to teaching magic through books, videos, comic strips created with his brother Bill King and a series of magic kits. He’s currently working on a new Trunk-O-Tricks kit to offer alongside his Mac King Magic Set, and says one of the best parts of his job is hearing from people who have learned magic through him. “It’s really gratifying in a way,” says King. “People come to the show a bunch, repeat customers, and I’ll get feedback afterwards saying, ‘We had this other kit for our kids and they loved it, so now we hope this one’s just as good.’”
Harrah’s, 1 & 3 p.m. Tues.-Sat., $36.95-$46.95 plus tax and fee. 702.777.2782
