Go for Donny! Murray Sawchuck's Magical Evolution: From Childhood Kits to Las Vegas Stages

In this magical episode of "Go For Donny!," host Donny McGuire sits down with the extraordinary magician Murray Sawchuck. Murray, whose passion for entertainment began with an accordion and dancing, shares his journey from childhood to becoming a renowned magician. It all started when he received a Siegfried and Roy magic kit at the age of seven—a souvenir from Reno that ignited a lifelong fascination with magic.

Murray recounts his transition from performing simple tricks for friends to headlining birthday parties and ultimately pursuing a career in magic. He reflects on a pivotal moment during a talent show competition, where he ambitiously attempted to make a steam engine vanish on stage, inspired by his family's railway background.

Listeners will be enthralled by tales of the logistical challenges in preparing and executing this grand illusion, including collaboration with legendary magicians Jim Steinmeier and Don Wayne. Murray also addresses backstage tension and the complexities of performing live on television, sharing insights into the high-stakes world of televised magic competitions.

Donny and Murray bond over their shared enthusiasm for trains, adding a personal touch to the conversation. The discussion covers Murray’s experiences with animal welfare concerns, faced with performing tricks involving live tigers, and his adrenaline-fueled determination to see through even the most daring stunts.

Murray Sawchuck offers an inside look at his career highs and lows, including memorable interactions with industry icons such as David Copperfield and tense moments with show's producers. The episode further delves into the resurgence of magic as a captivating art form, Murray's comedic approach to his performances, and his plans for future shows in Las Vegas.

Tune in for a mesmerizing episode packed with anecdotes, magic secrets, and an exploration of what it truly means to live out your passion. Don't miss out on this enchanting journey with Murray Sawchuck on "Go For Donny!"

🔮 **Episode Highlights:**
- How a childhood magic kit from Reno inspired Murray's career.
- The making of a spectacular steam engine vanishing act.
- Behind-the-scenes tension at talent show competitions.
- Insight into the welfare of performing animals and collaboration with handlers.
- The intersection of comedy and magic in Murray's performances.
- Future shows and Murray’s resilience in the face of production challenges.

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Transcript

0:03

Camera for Donny. Go for Donny! Sound for Donny. Go for Donny! Makeup for Donny. Go for Donny! Medic for Donny. Go for Donny! Grip department for Donny. Go for Donny! Production for Donny. Go for Donny! Murray for Donny Go for Donny! Hey, Murray. How you doing, buddy? Good. How you doing? I'm great. Ladies and gentlemen, we have Murray Sawchuck Murray Sawchuck is an amazing person. He's not only a brilliant magician, but he's actually a sweet guy. And I know him. I've known him for about. Oh, Murray, I'm going to date us now. I think it was 2008 when we met on a little show. Yeah, a long time. Yeah. So it's been a couple years. And. And I've been lucky over. Over those years. We've hung out a few times whenever I'm in Vegas or when you come to LA and you do your thing at the Magic Castle. So I'm blessed to have you, as I call you, as a friend and an amazing. So how you been? What's. What's. What's going on with you, Murray? Good, man. Just back here in Vegas, hanging out in my office today. It's good. You know, we. Way back in April, we closed the Tropicana. It just shut down. That's where my show was, you know, with laugh factory for 12 years. So I went on the road for three or four months this summer, and I've been on the road for a long time like that, so it's kind of fun, you know, Played a few different places in Vegas, too. And then in December, which I can't mention yet, is going to come out in a week or so, I'm opening December 14th here, back in Las Vegas, so. Oh, cool. All right, December 14th. We'll wait. We'll wait for that announcement. I can't wait. Dude, you did have such a fun show. I mean, going back to celebrate Cadabra, when we were hanging out on set and getting to see you work your magic and with Kimberly. But I've been to a couple your shows, and they're so entertaining. I mean, you're not only a good magician, but you're actually fucking funny. You're a magician as well. Sure. I'm sorry. Comedian as well as a magician. That's what I'm talking about. It depends. I mean, if a trick goes south, that's the comedy part. And if it amazes you, then that's the magic part, you know? So, you know, when I was growing up, I realized there wasn't many places on TV for magicians. There's always one or two. And that was it. And so. But comedy, there's always room. Kind of like musicians isn't. You know, you never have enough. So I shortly realized in my 20s, I was always funny off camera and off stage. But I started figuring out how to be funny on stage and on camera, just because that's how you get on TV more, you know? And I use magic as my vehicle now, and I'm still obviously doing magic, but it's nice that I can compliment it with comedy. You know what I mean? That's so cool. So just. So how. Everyone really knows how Marie and I met. Like I said, we met on Celebrity cadaver back in 2008. And then fast forward when we were in Las Vegas filming an episode of Top Gear. And I talk about this because this actually, this podcast kind of spawned from Top Gear and all the stupid stories that we had from the time on Top Gear, like the episode we did of taxis in Las Vegas, where I think I even. You weren't even slated to do this. I think I just hit you up and asked if you're available and you wanted to do something fun. And you're like, yeah, sure, let's do it. Yeah. We shot it from the Tropicana in an ambulance, I believe. That's. Oh, that's right. It was Adam. It was Adam's ambulance turned into a taxi cab. And then they took you down the street as you performed some magic in the back of it. Yeah, yeah. They had the street blocked off and cleared and they went flying down there with the ambulance sirens going. I was in the back of the ambulance doing magic tricks as they were taxiing me around Las Vegas. It was fun. I think there was two other cars they were competing with, like a regular cab and then something else, a hearse or whatever the heck they had. I forget what it was. Yeah, they had. Actually, it's funny you said that. There was it. What was it? It was. It was some kind of car that had like a back, like the old. What are those rider cars? El Camino. Yeah, I think it was El Camino. Well, like the old El Rancho or the El Camino. Yeah, it's El Rancho wasn't as cool as El Camino. Yeah, they made in the late 50s, early 60s. Yeah. And then Tanner had this souped up Scion that was just drifting thing. And. And I think it was either before or after we went out with you in the ambulance. We went out with the officers and literally went through. It's Las Vegas Boulevard and Tropicanav. Yeah, so we're going through and man, Tanner just starts doing donuts in the middle of the intersection right as we go through. We're filming out the back of the Suburban and all you see is just. Just nothing but smoke, smoke. And then you can see the lights in the distance as they go red. And it's green for the other cars now. And so we had to get him out of there. And as soon as we go back to the Tropicana, the cop was like, well, I guess we won't be doing that again, will we? And I'm like, no, I'm sorry, officer, we won't. But man, it looked cool. It was funny as. So, yeah, you just need to get that one take and nail it, you know, that's all you need. Oh, God bless Vegas. So, so anyway, so we talk about stupid crazy behind the scenes stories on this podcast. Murray and I know in your time, surely you have one or two gems that you can share with the audience that something, maybe it went wry or just something crazy that happened behind the scenes. All sorts of things. You know, I remember when I was shooting America's got talent season five. So that was 2010. We were shooting at the CBS lot in LA there. And somehow they. I pitched it and they said yes, they wanted me to produce this 450 pound tiger on the show because no one had ever done it before. And it's basically where I turned a girl into a tiger. And then the girl would then appear behind the judges. So girl in a clear box, curtain goes up, it drops, she turns into 450 pound tiger. And then behind the judges, the girl is now there. And she was also wearing Piers Morgan's suit jacket. So, you know, I wasn't using twins or anything because I bought the actual jacket from Piers. That way, you know, it was the same girl and all fine and dandy, but of course were. And they had two tigers on set. Because the way you work with tigers is if one doesn't want to work, guess what? He doesn't work. So they always have two. And it was Randy Miller, who was a big, big tiger guy in the movies for about 30 years in Hollywood. And he had a big bear and he always helped me when I need to do these certain things on tv. So he came in a big race car trailer, all the two tigers in there. And I mean, they were getting steak and filet mignon. The trailers were air conditioned. I mean, they had better living conditions than most humans. And you had to be aware of that because as soon as we were getting on set. We had PETA on set, you know, and they were like, here we go. And they said, well, the conditions have to be right for the tiger. And obviously they have to be. And they're going back and forth, and literally we set the tiger up in the trick. And they're like, well, where the tiger's hiding, there's not enough airspace, supposedly, and it needs air conditioning. And I'm like, you've got to be kidding me. I mean, these are tigers from Africa. I mean, there was plenty of space, and it wasn't that hot, blah, blah, blah. But we needed. We need, need to do the trick. So here they were installing an air conditioner on top of this huge illusion, drilling holes in the top of it so it could have more air. It had enough air. But PETA was not happy with that, unfortunately, or fortunately, people who know how PETA worked, you need to get that right, because if not, it would have been boycotted. And we have picketers outside of cbs. It was a whole thing that America's Got Talent really didn't want. And so, fine, we get that cleared. And I thought, okay, we're back on track. And then I'm sitting in the lobby that day and the day before, and they said, hey, what about if we, like, instead of the girl taking the tiger, won't we if the girl changed into Cannon, who was the host of the show, or maybe David Hasselhoff, you know, who used to be on the show. I said, well, yeah, that's a great idea. I said, but it's not the same trick. I don't need a massive box like this to switch out two people. You know, the box is designed for a tiger. And producing David has love, doesn't have the same impact as a tiger, even though he's great. And so they were almost going to cancel the thing. I thought, well, here we go. I mean, because this is a major trick on tv. We got the air conditioning installed. Then I go to practice on stage again for the night, that night before we're going to go live, and I release the curtain, and it's a curtain that's around the whole box that drops straight down. Well, for some reason, every time I pulled the curtain, it would. Once I would drop before the other, so it would jam. So the trick worked, but the curtain wouldn't come down. And it's so high up, there's no way you can get it to drop. So Jason Raff walks up to me, who's the executive producer, and I've known him for years. And he walks up and he goes, hammer, you know the tricks, great. Everything's looking fine. But I'm telling you right now, if that curtain doesn't drop when you pull that thing, and we can't reveal a tiger in there because there's no way to get that curtain down. I can't do anything about it. I can't. We can't move you on to any round. Like there's. There's no. There's no trick. Because the damn. I said. I know. I said, it'll. It'll work. I'm just like, you know, that curtain doesn't drop, we're stuck. We're screwed. We can't do anything with it. We. I said, no, I got it. So that's the end of rehearsal. And the next day we're going live. So I'm in the parking lot. Kid, you not from 6pm to about midnight till I was allowed to stay on that lot, we were the only ones on that lot. And those people on the lot, that's where they shoot Price is Right and all these other shows. Oh, yeah, everything else. And so I'm out there. Everyone's left except me, a security guard. And Lefty is my guest act on my show. And we're resetting this curtain over and over and over and over and trying. And I'm pulling the curtain just to figure out, to make sure it drops. I thought, man, everything's working. I got peed up for everything. Got air conditioning, the thing, tigers up there, the girls, great. Everything's working. And this goddamn curtain. The simplest thing isn't dropping, right? If it somehow jams, I'm screwed because there's no reveal. The tire could be there, but you can't see the goddamn thing. So I'm pulling this thing. I realized what it was is when I pulled this cord, it had two pin hinges that just open and then it drops. This drop, it's kind of like a kabuki drop or, you know, it's just a square curtain that drops down. So what happens is it's a big curtain with a metal to bottom metal top. The top one drops first, and then you pull a second wire and the bottom one drops. And that's how you reveal the girl. So I pull the first one. That's never a problem because it's below and it's right on there. The second one is the hardest one because it's carrying the weight of everything else down with it. And I'm telling you right now, I practiced probably a thousand times. It Became OCD in the parking lot trying to do this thing. And it would jam once every 15 times. Then I realized the first one was easy because I pulled it. It would release the pin and drop this thing. The second one, when it pulled, though, somehow, if I didn't pull it hard enough, one pin would release half a second before the other pin, which made the thing go off center when it dropped. So I pulled it really quick. Both pins would go. So I realized that finally, by about midnight. So when you watch that clip you ever see online of me producing this girl, the tiger trick, you actually see me come off the ground because I pulled that string so goddamn hard. So I'm thinking, if this does not drop, because I knew everything worked. The girl got in there, the dragon worked, the thing worked, the music was great. I knew the girl. Once I dropped the curtain, that was fine. I walked around, and of course, my line was, ladies, and watch, don't take your eyes off this cabinet, because whatever you do, this is the trick you're going to be talking about at work tomorrow. I'm thinking, man, if this doesn't work, that line is going to be locked into my crappy mistakes all my life. And if you see me when I pulled and I said that last thing, and I think my last line was the Howie Mandel, this is for you. Yeah, that's what it was. So I pulled. You're not going to believe this when you'll be talking about at work. I crank on the thing, you see me come right off the ground. The sucker drops. I look, I go. I said, howie, the tiger's for you. And, Piers, the girl's for you. And then the girl appeared behind Piers Morgan with his jacket. And I'm telling you, when I looked at the box, I looked back out. I was as excited to see the tiger. I thought, man, if this goddamn thing doesn't work, this is going to be the biggest blue America's Got Talent and expensive because they paid a fortune for the tiger and all this stuff. So, yeah, so it's one of those moments where most people don't realize how everything was like basically on clockwork. If it didn't work, you know, it would have been the worst trick ever. So. Oh, my gosh. And that's all live as well. People don't understand. American really is live. There's no staging stuff or setting stuff. That's why that show is so strong, because it's really in real time, you know? Do you think you are drawn to live? Clearly, everything you do is live. So you're drawn to that adrenaline. You. Adrenaline. Like that, where it's got to be, you know, I love that. You know, that's why also, when I do TV shows, I do things in real time, just because that's how I do. That's how I perform every night, you know, and that's my style. I don't need to preset many things, you know? Can things look a little bit better on TV by preset things? Yeah, of course. You know, you can have that, but it's not needed, you know. And so when I see a lot of these magic shows out there on TV and that, and you can see it's all preset or staged, I go, there's no real reason you need to do that if you work all the time, because these tricks can be done in real time, you know, And. And I think the audience these days now can actually see the fact that, you know, that you're either staging something. Or you're not, you know, how do you think the magician. Your world is gone right now. I mean, it ebbs and flows. Do you think it's on the back and up where. It seems like everywhere you turn, there was a magic show on TV left and right, and then it kind of went away. And now it seems like it's resurging, like, with the Americans Got Talent and some of these talent shows, 100%, it's. Definitely coming right up. I think it's like any comedy in the 80s was phenomenal. Now comedy is so back up right now. You know, no one ever thought comedians would be selling at arenas. And it's a common thing right now. From Joe Coy to Chrysler to Segura, all those guys, you know, I mean, like, it's. It's a big, big kill. Tony, all those guys, you know, it's wild. How so? Magic, definitely. You know, I just shot my 11th season on Massive Illusion with ATI Studios and CW and 11 seasons in a row, you know, and you think, well, maybe five or eight, but they got another year, you know, which is amazing, you know, so it's. It's a good thing, you know, I think also trying to be creative and interesting and different and not just doing good trick. I think people have to be invested in the person doing the effect right, which creates you as a star personality. Not just the trick, because, you know, it's like singing a song. You could sing any song, but not many people sing like Celine Dion or Adele or Rye Carey or, you know, whoever's famous out there, you know, that has Those, that's why you're listening. You listen to them for who they are, not necessarily the song. Well, I've always liked I. Not just because, you know, I consider your friend. I think, you know, your magic is great because you, you incorporate the comedy with it. So, you know, you really do bring people in and keep. I'm just not a serious person. Even when you look like this, how can I be serious? I mean, could you imagine me being a doctor? Hey, what's wrong? And they're like, no, no, we're healthy, we're totally fine right now. I think we're good. You know, so it's very hard, Chip. You know, it's just, and it's just my personality. I'm thinking everything that what could go wrong? Or how could I make this funnier? You know, And I've just always been that way because to clap's easy. You can clap. I mean, you can clap at stuff that's crap, but to laugh, it's very hard to fake laugh and, and have stuff that's, you know, but if it's funny, they'll laugh. And that's a beautiful thing. When you have somebody laugh at something, it's addictive, you know, it's like a drug, you know. And you. So you're doing shows at the Laugh Factory, is that right? Yeah, I was Effort was laugh factory for 12 years. Yeah, I mean, I took a three year break and I went to Planet Hollywood within that 12 years. But yeah, Laugh Actor is my main producer and I had a resident show there for years at Tropicana. And they're great and they're looking for a new place here in Las Vegas and I think next year planning on opening again. You know, between that I'm moving and going to different places for the next little while. You know, the Tropical. The Tropicana is going to, is going to open up where the stadium is again. No, forever. They implode in the middle of October. So they're building a baseball park. They're bringing the open A's there. And Bally's owns that land now. So whatever they're going to build, there's going to be a Bally's casino hotel and the baseball park is huge. Oh my gosh. You know, I always talk about how amazing it is that buildings can be erected and built so fucking quick in the Las Vegas area, but outside of the Las Vegas area, I mean, it takes forever. Like our bullet train that they've been working on for years. I mean, I think there's Two things. First of all, we have the perfect environment to work 12 months a year, you know, so it's not Washington, it's not Montana, Chicago, where they get snow from, you know, November till May. So I think we have that on our side, you know, and barely rains here, you know, And I think it's easy to get stuff here from the ports, from like, LA and everywhere else. So I think that that has a big thing to do with it. You know, what's still growing is a demand for things here as well, so. And a reason to have things. You know, the sooner they build a hotel, sooner they can get people to gamble and spend money. And people coming here, it's not like a mystery. It's almost like Dubai. I'm sure they build stuff really quickly in Dubai now because Dubai now is a big hub for very rich people to go hang. I'm sure at the beginning it was hit or miss, you know? Yeah, no, so true. I mean, I just wish that bullet train will come in. So, speaking of trains, segue, you know, I didn't know you made a train disapp. You made a locomotive disappear. Yeah, my father's locomotive. 1918 steam engine. Yeah. Your dad's locomotive. My whole family's been on the railway all their life. Except I didn't know that dude. Yeah, I drove trains before I got into the industry. I was an engineer. Now I get real trains, like big ones. Freight trains? Yeah. No way. Okay, so you know all about them. Yeah. Okay. So my dad started on the coal engines. All the coal and real steam engines. And he used to shovel coal and grease the engines and all that stuff back and when he was 18, back in Vancouver. Oh, that's so cool. So you made. You made a steam engine that he had? Yeah, locomotive. So we had to find one that was very similar. It wasn't his, obviously. And the steam engine, most people don't know, or they know it's super heavy. And we do something on a stage. You only put a certain weight on a stage, especially a studio stage, so we had to gut it and empty out, take off almost the metal that we could that would actually be in there because it's such a heavy piece of work. And then, yeah, we made it vanish live on stage. That was another one of those ones, I'm telling you. I'm in that parking lot again a few weeks later, and I pitched his idea to him. I was sitting at the Ivy, the restaurant there in la, because I want to be fancy and bougie and pay 40 bucks for a salad. And I never. Because that's where all the stars got filmed. Don't Forget, this is 2010. And so I went, took my mom there and left him, my guest actor sitting there. And they called me, say, hey, Murray, if you were to get through this next round with this tiger. Because I was going to find out that night, you know, come back to see if, if the votes come in. But they're like, if you get, you know, I'm not saying you do, but if. What would be your next trick? Like, what would you. Like, what do you have on the table for us? And I said, I said, well, I could do this and that and this and that. And then Lefty was the one. So why don't you do something big like vanish your, like a steam engine, like go back to your roots because, you know, you don't have this rags to rich story. You know, everyone has that. Parents give up their car to get the kid to LA to become an actor. Whatever the story is, they didn't have that story. What you need some sort of a story, you know, that's half the battle on these shows is the rags to riches story not just being great. So once you story as you give up, you gave up everything for magic. You could have had a very solid career in the railway because that's what your whole family did, pension plan retirement. But you decided to be a magician. And so in honor of that, you know, maybe vanish a train at your dad's in honor of being a railway family. I'm like, oh, there it is. You know, And I even did a commercial for Cheerios because it was a whole thing they were doing about what did you give up to be here Thing, you know, and I had to not really make up something, but I had to really stretch a little bit because, you know, my, my life was pretty simple. We weren't rich growing up at all. But, you know, it wasn't a horrible life at all. So that's what we had to do is make that, make that a little more, you know, empathetic. So that's, that's why I say, I manage a train for you. I said, really? I said, yep. And I said, it's going to be expensive. I'm not going to pay for it, you know, because I don't have a train in my. And so they said, how much would it cost? So I called my builder and my designer and I said, we got to find a train. How much? And we got a price. And I said, well, yeah, we can easily do it. I said, well, great, because if we do, if you do get through, we're not saying you are. We probably do it in next week. I said, well, I can't do it next week. I said, I need two weeks. I said, well, that's kind of hit or miss. You know, we kind of pick and choose. Well, I'm telling you right now, if you want that trick. I said, I can do a lot of tricks, but if you want that trick, I said, it can be done in two weeks, not next week. I said, it's impossible. I said, it won't be done. I don't have it. I said, I got to design it two weeks from now. That is a possibility. And even that was, like, just ridiculous. And so, sure enough, I called my builder in Vegas. I said, you're not going to believe this. And I got the budget approved. And I said, we need to find a train, and we need to modify the train so it can fit on a stage. I need this sucker to be £3,000 or less or whatever the stage weight took. And so we drove to Boulder City here in Vancouver. Vancouver. We go to Boulder City here in Vegas and looked at a big old train lot that was just sitting there with rusted trains. And I hopped the fence and I found out who owned the trains. And I said, hey, that's the train I need. And we got back to Vegas, worked on it and got it approved. And literally, we pulled it into the lot that the night before. And then we built the scaffolding in the lot to put this big cover on top of it. And I thought, well, if I could raise the train in the air, see the silhouette, pull a cloth, and it disappears. That's a pretty cool trick. No one's ever done that, ever, you know? And sure enough, we were in that parking lot practicing over and over. And once I ripped the cloth next, it got caught in the thing. I thought, oh, my God, this is not going to work at all. And then I realized, like, when you do certain things, like, that cloth has to be taught. And if you say you're trying to make the train disappear somehow, it'll suck everything with it. Like, if you're trying to push that thing or go up or down with it, it takes the cloth with it. Like, it's a thin cloth. So all of a sudden, I need people to hang on for dear life so you don't see anything move when it shouldn't. And then the best thing was I did this. So the trick, we got sorted, and what people don't Realize is really interesting and talk about things people don't realize on the stage. I had five or seven of my own crew, and we used 12 of their crew on stage. So we needed a lot of people to move this train because it didn't just disappear. And so we're on that stage and with the stage on the wings. They have star drops on LED walls. Not an old star drop like the velvet with light bulbs. This actually has LED walls and they moved in and out so you could bring, you know, on tracks. So we set that. We do a test run in the afternoon, right? And the train has a cow catcher on. That's a big pointed nose called the cow catcher. So it. Which basically shoots things off the rails if it comes forward. And they could probably say cow catcher. There's a cow on the way going through farmlands. It'll just shoot inside. So we get everything measured and we tape it off. This is where the train has to be, and we know where to get rid of it. And we time it. We do it once, and it looked great. I thought, man, we've got this. I just need this to look good once on tv. So two things happened. All of a sudden, that whole day, no producers are really looking at me or talking to me. Nothing's really. The attention I'm getting for the last four months is vanished. And I said to somebody, I said, this is my last round. I said, I'm not going through. I just know they're just. The way they're talking to me. I just. I said, it's okay. I've gone further in this competition I ever thought I would. I'm in the semifinals. I've done tricks I've never done in my life that I could never do without being on the stage, you know, And I've designed some really cool things. I said, I gotta. I'm thick. I'm done. And like, how do you, like, you do one of the biggest tricks ever on that stage, which I. It still is the largest trick ever done on America's Done. I said, I just. It's my time. I said, I don't know why, but I also brought Jim Steinmeier and Don Wayne. And Jim Steinmeier and Don Wayne are the top magic designers in the world. They worked for Copperfield, everybody. And I think also when the producers saw I had those guys with me, they knew I could do any trick I wanted to ever. And if I wanted to win or at least get to the end, I could design a trick probably worthy of it. And I think that was a bit of a concern either because they always had singers win or other things that would be more beneficial to them at that time, you know, because no magician ever won. So we're doing this. It's time to roll. It's live, right? So we get the train up on stage, we lock it off. They're good. Doing a commercial break and everything. And we get the cloth ready on top, and everyone's in position, and I go to the train. So where I go. And first of all, they drop my music super low purposely. And I thought, well, that's not right, because you're going to hear a lot of. You're going to hear in moving out. You're going to hear us getting rid of that goddamn train. Like, I need that music pumping. And it was not loud. And I've been on that stage enough now going, there's no reason why it shouldn't be loud. And I thought, okay, so if you watch that clip, I don't stop talking. I just keep talking away because I realize I'm talking. My voice will cover any noise that's being made of that train vanishing or going where we're trying to get rid of it. And if I stop talking, you're gonna hear something. And I. That music was so, so low. And I thought, those bastards. I do the whole thing. Cloth drops. I pull a cloth off. I look back, it's gone. Like, it. It is gone. I'm like, thank Christ. I turn. Audience stands up. Sharon Osborne stands up. Piers Morgan and Harry Mandel stay. Don't even clap. I'm like, I just managed to goddamn train 15ft from you guys. Like, live. One take, one shot. It fucking worked. It was pretty amazing for the time we had. Now, if I had, like, three months to redesign the thing, I would have done a few things differently, but I had two weeks to get this thing designed and a trick I've never done in my life. So I stand there, all of a sudden, Sharon standing up, clapping. And then Piers Morgan's like, well, it's not bad, but it's, you know. You know, I think. I think the other magician, the show did much better than you this time. And the other magician, that point did a trick like, I did that. That episode, similar to the one, the tiger trick I did the week before. He just changed a girl, made her appear. So I'm like, he did the same goddamn trick I did the week before, but I used a tiger. Had a girl appearing. I'm like, how are you. How are you saying that you think that Guy's tricks better than mine. When I just did the goddamn trick the week before, that was even better than the trick he just did now. And I managed to train. So I'm like, okay. So as soon as he said that, I. Everything. All the dominoes lined up, I went, I'm totally not going through. Like, there's. This is. I know, it's a production meeting. Way before I was on stage, they knew my time was up. I knew it. I've done enough shows like this. And then Sharon was like, murray, I gotta be honest with you. I've never seen anything like that in my life. I said, I haven't even seen David Copperfield do tricks like that. And she's praising me. I went, oh, she's going off script. This is not the way it's supposed to go. And she couldn't stop. I would pay top dollars to that in Las Vegas. I've seen David Copeland something that great. I said, that's close to me. We're here. It's a live show. There's no set. Like we're seeing it live. This is. And I said, well, thank you very much. And I knew she stood up for a reason for. Gave me a stand ovation. Because it was that good, I think, not because I did. I just feel like the whole thing really came together. It took a lot of people to make it look that good. But then Pierce said, ah, it's not that good. I'm thinking, what are we not that good? Are you shitting me? And then Howie Mandel was like, he had to cover. And how. He's a dear friend of mine, but how he had to cover two places. And Howie said, well, actually didn't. Didn't David Coffee do something like that in the 90s? Because, you know, I said, oh. I said, oh. And I realized Copperfield called him. Something happened between two days ago and now because something happened bringing up copper. So I said, well, yeah, Cockfield isn't like that. I said, but he did it outside live with the train on tracks. This is in a building with a steam engine. Copperfield had a train car outside on track still. Like, if a train's still on tracks, you're doing it outside. There's only one way you're making that sucker disappear. But I'm, you know, but that's. I didn't say in that. But I'm thinking, why would you bring that up? Like, this is nothing. This has nothing to do with David Coppield. The only reason I'm doing a train trick is my Parents, My family's in the railway. If my family was scuba divers, I'd probably do something in an aquarium, you know, I wouldn't use the goddamn train. I'm like, so as soon as he said that, so soon, Sharon, don't forget I'm live on tv. So everything in my head, I'm going, don't be defensive. Just be nice and just let it go. Because you're not going to look right. So Pierce is like. I said, I appreciate your compliment, Pierce. Thanks. And then Sharon said. I said, well, thank you very much. I went, well, she stood up and she's talking about how great this is, better than Copperfield. I went, oh, she's doing that. She's not supposed to be saying that. But I said, okay. And then Harry was like, didn't Copperfield do that back in the old days? I'm like, oh, my God, Harry Mandel is saying the line Sharon should be saying to me. And she decided not to because she realized how great the trick was, how much work it went into it. So I'm going through, all of a sudden, my head on stage, watching this live, going, wow. Sharon totally went off script, said shit she shouldn't have said, and gave me accolades. Piers is following the script because he's getting paid a fortune an episode. So you do what they say. And then how he's trying to cover up and help the way it was supposed to go live, saying, didn't Copper Field. And then he butted in with what he probably should have said was, I think I heard something like the train leaving the station. Well, there's sure a lot of noise. I'm thinking, bastard. That's why they dropped my music, because you're supposed to hear stuff. Yeah, you heard nothing because I kept talking. So whatever he said, the train was leaving the station and that was they were making noise, loading up the other group up there, whatever the hell it was. So he said his line, which didn't make any sense because there was no noise. Long story longer, we finished, my dad is there, my mom, we hug. I go off stage going, wow, that was interesting. Because they were hoping the trick didn't work. Get this. I go off stage, my lead guy backstage, my own stage tech that I brought in with me, he goes, you're not going to believe what fucking happened. And I said, it was pretty wild. I said, but we pulled it off. He said, yeah. I watched the monitors. He said, it looked amazing. And I said, what happened back there? He said, yeah, fucking believe this. We marked off exactly where the Train should be. I know he's a guy that's worked with every magician. He helped build the train. Like, he knows magic better than anybody. He's back there with the train. He said, murray, we're trying to get. Get it off stage. Can you believe, as you were talking about your dad and the railway before you covered that sucker up, they moved that right LED wall in by six inches. So that cow catcher, when they were pulling the train off stage, was supposed to hit the wall and not disappear. And he was standing right there. And the union techs were like, this is where it needs to be. And he was like, no, it doesn't. It needs to be right there. It's a goddamn mark. Said, nope, is where it's at. It's like, no, doesn't fucking have to be. He literally leaned in with two of his guys and pushed the LED wall right out of the way. Six inches where it needs to be. Because they were pushing it in because they were trying to catch the train from not disappearing, which everything makes sense now, right? Because. And it actually did disappear because had my team on all the important corners. All the other people were just fillings to help us get rid of it, because a huge train. And so basically, my guys were all in the important areas so it wouldn't fuck up because they know what's going on. And so he said, yeah, they try to bring that wall. And so the train wouldn't get past it. I said, no way. And so he's the one that moved. It literally moved it literally seconds before they had to crank it out of there. And then. And that was it. And then I said, no way. I said, well, I know Piers Morgan sat there with his arms crossed saying, the magician that they did a better trick. I'm like, he did the same trick I did. The episode before Sharon stood up, went again against everybody. Howie Mandel went and covered her line, talking about, well, didn't Cockfield do that? Because. And then Howie Mandel had to cover his line, which is about making some noise, which it made no noise. And I'm like, that's unbelievable. And so I didn't know Jaime Mandel at that point in my career. I didn't know Piers nor Sharon, right? And so that was it. Years later, I got a phone call from David Copperfield that he heard that you were doing his trick. And he said, you got to stop that. That's not gonna. That's not the way it's gonna be. And, you know, and Copperfield was coming on that season to perform and so was Criss Angel. And he called Howie, and Howie didn't know Copperfield at the time. And if you go back and look at Howie's Mandela thing, you'll see it. It's online somewhere about. There's not too long back. And he said, yeah, he called me. I didn't know you had my number. And he called me saying, I hear Murray's doing this. He can't go through. Like, he's not. This is. That's my trick. It's not possible. And I said, no way. He said, oh, yeah. So we changed everything because he called and he was coming on that season. He was not happy that you're supposedly doing his trick. I said, well, it's not his trick. I used to train locomotive in a live theater, doing it with a live audience. I said, he did his in the 90s with the Orient Express, which is a train car outside on tracks with a ton of lights, just showing off the train while still sitting on tracks with a locomotive car. I said, it's not the same trick at all. I said, and also, I'm doing it because it's my family's history. This train would never be on this thing. And then later on, it was copied by the illusionists for a few years where they copied making a train appear. And you could tell they copied my trick because it was the same train I had. And if you know anything about trains, there's probably 145 different styles of locomotives that you could copy. Like, you could use any. I just happened to use my. Because it was my dad's train. That's why I used the damn thing. Well, they copied the exact. How many wheels it had, how many. I'm like, I know you copied my train. Because if you know anything, railways, which I All I've lived in all my life, there's 139 other trains. You could just change the design and made it a little bit different, and they didn't. And so it was one of those things where it really spawned a whole thing. So that was one of those things that I sat back and it took me literally about eight years to ten years later to figure out, because I was on that stage going, what's going on right now? Pierce is reacting like he shouldn't be. Sharon's overreacting, how he's covering their lines. And I'm seeing all this. I've done TV all my life, too, so I see how something's produced, and I'm like, how is that even happening? And I go off and My guy says, dude, they try to stop your train from being pushed off because they moved the walls in by six inches. I'm. No way. I'm like, those bastards. And all day no one talked to me. And then 10, 15 years later, I talked to Howie because we're friends now, going, you know what really happened? Copperfield called and saying, that's bullshit. I need you to stop that trick from happening. And so that's. Can you believe that? And we still pulled it off. But isn't that wild? But no one ever heard that story from there. Isn't that crazy? Yeah, you're the first one hearing it. I mean, from my mouth, you know, But. And then. But you look back on Howie stuff about four months ago or something, you'll see it. It's actually a big thing about us talking about it. And he actually brought it up, not me, on live, on his podcast. So it's pretty wild. Oh, my gosh. Yeah, I had no idea. I just saw about a train. I was like, oh, my gosh. Yeah, I used to drive trains. And it's so funny. That's my Cow Catcher story. I have a good one. Okay. To piggyback onto yours. It's not as good. It's not on stage. But first, you guys just want everyone to stay tuned for. Switch to channel two, where I'm gonna get a chance to ask our guests Murray saw Check some more questions that you, the listener, want to get answers to. And then later, I also have an amazing car enthusiast, Max, on his show, Max's Motor Minute, where he asks guests few car specific questions and really grills them about cars. It's. It's pretty crazy how much he knows about these cars. So. Hey, I also have a website, Murray, where I sell merchandise, and I have these cool stickers called Go for Donnie Little Stickers. And I got hats and everything, you know, I got swag. I love it because I know you don't have enough swag, you know, to put them on your coffee cups and to support your favorite podcast. All right, so my Cow Catcher story. I love that you said cow catcher. I know. I love that you know about engines. Just because I used to drive. So my first. My first time out on. On an engine on the main line, I was with this engineer called John Moore, and I was a conductor trainee. And I'm sitting in the. On the left side of the engine, engineers on the right side, and we're rolling. I was looking down at my paperwork, and all of a sudden he starts blowing on the whistle and. And I look up, I'm like, oh. I look at him like, are we going to hit it? And there was two cows, one standing sideways in the rail and one next to it. And we were doing 70 miles an hour. And so he says, land on the horn. He looked over at me. He's like, hell, yeah, we're going to hit it. And so right before we hit it, I go like this. I think I'm going to feel it. And it was like, think. And we kept going. Yeah. And it like. And cud. And it just exploded all over the engine. The cow catcher caught the cow and exploded. And then we stopped a couple miles down the way, funny enough at a Taco Bell and got, you know, opened the door and man, it was just. It was disgusting. I think the knuckle. The backbone was on the knuckle of the. Oh, man. Yeah. I'm sure there's a lot of those stories because, you know, you're, you know, taking trains in, you know, the wild, where those animals live, that's their territory. You know, it happens. It's crazy. You know, the. The dumbest thing I've ever hit was a washing machine. What someone. Yeah. They put it. And it was the most random spot on the tracks where you're looking around going, how the hell did someone get this thing here? Yeah. But, you know, they love seeing that. And then the cow catcher kicking it out. And people realize how strong a train is. It just. I mean, it's wild. I mean, they say it's 30 miles an hour. It's like running up to a can of soda, like a third full. And kicking it. That's what a train will do at 30 miles an hour. Hitting a truck or a car. Yeah. So it's, you know, they're destructive, but so cool that you're. Yeah. Your family's around, so I can use that story, too. I got out of the industry and got into podcasting. That's my rags to riches story. Or else I would have been an engineer switching trains. Yeah. Just like magical. Murray. So how did you get started, Murray? I never heard how you got started. Your first magic trick. I was seven years old. I got a magic kit from my parents from Merino, a Siegfried and Roy magic kit from my. Actually, I'm gonna. That my parents got me and I. Actually, this isn't the one because I got rid of it, but I found her online and that's the kit. Isn't that cool? That's original kit from the 19, I would say early 80s that they got me. It's got, like, tricks in there, four or five tricks. And this is the actual one, which I can't believe. So I bought two of them because I found them online somewhere. And I still have a couple of the original tricks here that I actually have. But this is the five. It's not even open, so it's kind of cool. That's the first kit I ever had and, you know, lasted half an hour, you know, because I was young, because I always loved entertainment. I played accordion. I danced since the age of five, so seven, eight. I was looking at other things. They gave me that as a souvenir from Reno, because you buy souvenirs at the kiosks and all that in the hotels. And that's when Reno was really popping. You know, late 70s, early 80s was like Vegas, it was. And they'd have those flights for 200 bucks from Canada. Champagne flights, you know, direct. And you stay free, gamble, you get everything. You know, the way casinos used to work, you know, and that was the first thing. And then later, as I got older, I got my Uncle Nat to get me a magic kit, because they always ask what I wanted for my birthday or for Christmas. My birthday is November 25, exactly a month from Christmas. So I'd write. I'd open the Sears catalog when they had catalogs before the event. I remember those days. Yeah, I want that. I want that. Yeah. And so I'd go through stuff, and there was some magic kits in there. And so I had some friends that shared an interesting. They could do some tricks. They taught me how to do this jumping elastic band trick where it just goes from one finger to the other. And super. I don't even have an elastic band here, but if I did, I'd show it to you. But it's a. Oh, yeah, I do. So it's just like a little elastic band. And what you do is it jumps from one finger to the other like that. So there's on these two fingers, right? I'm using a skin color one, which I shouldn't. Right. And you can show both sides, right? Like this, right? It's on these two. If you open your hand, it jumps to these two. And that's the trick. Super simple. And that's the one thing I learned. I was like, that's pretty cool. And so I learned that from a couple of friends. And then I just thought, what a cool idea, because I already been on stage for a while, and I liked the attention when I danced and played music. And I thought, well, magic's not far off. That as well. So I ended up getting to the magic thing that way, and I thought, let's go with it, and started doing birthday parties and making a few bucks, and I'm still fooling people to this day. I freaking love that. That's so cool. It's so cool that you're able to do that, especially for a living. Yeah, I know. Something you're passionate about for a living. I mean, not a lot of people have that opportunity life where they're. They're working and they're doing that grind and, you know, they're working for the weekend. Yeah. Where, you know, you're actually living for the weekend because you do most of your stuff on the weekends. Right? 100. Yeah. I'm very fortunate. You know, I always say some people, you know, work 50 weeks a year, you know, to get two weeks a year off for a vacation and a holiday. And I work 52 weeks a year, and I go on vacation 52 weeks a year because I love what I do, so. Oh, man, that's so cool. Well, I can't thank you enough for coming on, Murray. I just want to remind everyone, check out my website. This is not only an audio podcast, Murray, but this is also a video podcast. He's on there. Donnie. Jesus. It's on YouTube, so make sure you check it out. I have a YouTube channel. Go for Donnie. That is where Go for Donnie airs, along with Switchy, Channel 2 and my nephew's podcast, Max's Motor Minute. But, Mary, it's so good to see you. I can't thank you enough for being coming on, taking the time, man. I just miss seeing you, and I love everything about you. Yeah, well, thanks for having me on, man. I appreciate it. Missy as well. And you're always a guest of mine here in Vegas. Yeah, stay at the house and see my show, everyone. I can't wait to come out. Well, thank you, Mary. We appreciate it. And check us out on Switch, Channel two coming up next. Guys, take it easy. Production for Donnie. Go for Donnie. Locations for Donnie. Go for Donnie. For Donnie. Go for Donnie. Hey, Donnie. What the hell are they doing?