Magician David Blaine’s first TV special aired sixteen years ago and was followed by many stunts such as “Buried Alive,” “Drowned Alive,” and “Revolution.” The Devil is back with a new special on ABC called “David Blaine: Real or Magic.” This special featured magic tricks performed in the houses of stars such as Kanye West, George W. Bush and many others.
The show’s opening had a trick where David Blaine shoved an ice pick in his hand without drawing blood or seemingly feeling any pain. The first segment was called “Connections” and featured a psychological trick that involved two people, which he performed on Jamie Foxx and his daughter Corrine Bishop to a raucous reaction from friends of the two.
The next segment, “A Reverse,” had Blaine eat a piece of Olivia Wilde’s twenty dollar bill and then put it back together. In his mouth. Staying in the alimentary canal, he leisurely ate a glass cup of Katy Perry’s and then pulled not a rabbit, but a small reptile out of her purse.
He did not just perform for celebrities, but he did street performances as well. He made a $1 bill turn into a $100 bill and the four participants, shocked and excited, had the best reaction of the show, just taking off with the Ben Franklin. The next segment, properly titled “No Blood,” had Blaine get x-rays to prove that he really was putting an ice pick through his hand in the previously mentioned trick.
The next segment called “52” was in tribute to Dai Vernon, a magician known as The Professor, and saw Blaine do card tricks for Jon Stewart, Bush and even Stephen Hawking. Then he performed a physical act that was my favorite part of the night. The trick was originally performed by Hadji Ali and involved the regurgitation of kerosene to create a fire and then water to put it out.
Blaine traveled all the way to Africa to find a man who was capable of regurgitating water on command and then went on to nearly digest Woody Allen’s goldfish on his first attempt, but he did succeed. He finally attempted the trick with kerosene at the grand opening of the Nobu Hotel in Las Vegas.
The show ended with comedian Ricky Gervais pulling out a needle from Blaine’s arm. There are not many things funnier than seeing a British man absolutely freak out like Gervais did.
Overall, the show was 90 minutes well spent. It was awesome to see Blaine perform for people in the projects and people in the Hamptons. It was obvious from Twitter and other social media that people loved watching these mind blowing tricks. The major networks should take note.
By Jack Kaup
