Trickster Michael Carbonaro is set to appear at Braden Auditorium for a Family Weekend performance of Carbonaro: Lies on Stage, Saturday, October 1 at 7 p.m.
Ahead of his show at Illinois State University, the magician, comedian, actor, and star of truTV’s The Carbonaro Effect discusses the tricks of his trade and the magic of performing on a college campus.
You’re bringing your Lies on Stage tour to Illinois State University for Family Weekend. What type of lies should students, and their families, be prepared to witness?
The good kind of lies. There are good lies and bad lies, just like there are good witches and bad witches. A magician is a noble liar because they are telling you that they’re lying. People like to be fooled when they know they’re being fooled, at a live show. It’s different than my TV show where they don’t know they’re being fooled; although, we always reveal it to them at the end. So those are good kind of lies that people have fun with.
On TruTV’s The Carbonaro Effect, you perform illusions and magic tricks on unsuspecting people. What’s the trick to making magic on TV compared to performing for a live audience?
It is a completely different ballgame. On my TV show, The Carbonaro Effect, you’ve got to be able to fool the person and fool the camera at the same time. And that can be difficult when the cameras are hidden, because sometimes they’re at weird angles, which can be awkward for magic. So, it’s a real challenge to try and figure out how to fool the home viewer and fool the person who’s right in front of me while fooling the cameras at the exact same time. Live shows are much easier and much more fun because stuff doesn’t stop and start all the time. It’s just one free flowing experience where everybody’s on board together. It’s my favorite thing to get to do.
Over the summer, you hosted a seven-week residency in Las Vegas at the Penn and Teller Theater. What was particularly magical about that experience?
I felt like I was being pranked. I’ve been a fan of Penn and Teller—they’ve helped shape my character, my wit, and my love of magic. And just the fact that they called and asked if I would like to perform there—I didn’t believe it then, I’ve now gone through it, and I still don’t believe it. So, it felt like it was a grand magic trick on me.
Now, you’re back on the road, touring the U.S. Is there anything particularly magical about performing on a college campus, such as Illinois State?
Yes, there is a kind of an indescribable energy that comes with a college campus that I absolutely love. There’s this new freedom of college students who are just getting to be out on their own, and there’s this electric energy in the air of excitement. And you might think it could be a little dampened with parents being there too during Family Weekend; but students are getting to be adults for the first time in front of their parents, and it’s like a new kind of energy where parents are returning back to them being on their own, and it’s this inspiring freedom of new excitement that I think tails along with magic really well.
As an institution of higher learning, we talk a lot about students’ passions and career goals. How did you realize your desire to perform and make magic?
It was my mom who really supported me in saying, “These are these things you love to do. You love playing with special effects and magic and playing with your video camera and playing with makeup and playing with magic tricks. If you love doing those things, this is the career you should look into—find a way to make this what makes you money and supports your life.” And I was sort of like, “Wow, I could do this stuff. As a job.”
Tickets for Saturday’s show are on sale at the Braden Box Office, located in the Bone Student Center, 200 N. University St. in Normal, and at Ticketmaster.com.
