When a show opens with the tune “If You’re Happy and You Know It” blasting through the speakers, there’s a certain silliness and enjoyment that takes over—and this silliness and enjoyment is a high that lasts throughout The Mac King Comedy Magic Show.
After spending more than two decades delighting audiences—both kids and adults—at Harrah’s, King recently made the move to Excalibur, where he continues his schedule of two shows an afternoon. Blending comedy and magic is not something that is the norm, King explains; usually a magician has an air of mystery and remains stoic throughout a performance. But for King, a man that came from a family of self-proclaimed comedians, the dinner table was the premiere pulpit to see who could be the funniest. Comedy was ingrained—and so was magic. Both his grandfathers dabbled in it; one of his grandfathers taught King his first trick involving a rope. Audience members are introduced to this trick, and while it requires nothing more than a rope and a pair of scissors, they’ll be pleasantly surprised and quite taken aback by its power to confound the mind.
While King possesses the air of an unassuming magician, looking more like a 1970s salesman with his plaid suit and briefcase full of tricks, the man truly sets the stage afire with his impressive skills. Whether it’s the bit where he goes “fishing” and conjures up a real goldfish at the end of his fishing pole or guesses the correct audience member’s playing card and pulls it out of a sealed cereal box, King’s parade of illusions constantly leave the audience stunned—and laughing.
During one trick, King calls up two audience members, giving them each a pile of playing cards. He puts on a “cloak of invisibility” and proclaims to everyone that he will transfer three cards out of one volunteer’s pocket into the other volunteer’s pocket using only magic. The laughs come in when King is doing the transferring, one card at a time, and asks one volunteer in a disembodied voice: “Did you feel No. 2 land in your pants?”
Excalibur, 702.597.7600
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