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A Street Magician Explains How To Win A Crowd
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He walks through Covent Garden on a lunch break, watches street performers pull a crowd out of thin air, and realises his computer programming career suddenly feels too small. That moment sends Humphrey Cornthwaite on a path from London street magic to touring, TV production, cruise ship stages, and finally building a fresh wave of live entertainment here in Canberra.
We get specific about the craft and the business: why a straitjacket escape isn’t just a classic trick but a visibility strategy, how humour travels across cultures, and how you read a room fast when the audience didn’t come “to see a magician” but you still need to win them. Humphrey also shares what it’s like rebuilding after COVID, creating regular residencies (including Gang Gang in Downer and shows at Smith’s Alternative), and using real-world networking through the Canberra Business Chamber to turn conversations into bookings.
Away from the spotlight, he runs Positive Approach Consulting with his wife, an occupational therapist supporting NDIS clients, and we talk about bringing the right mindset to performances for people with intellectual disability. We close on big goals, including growing Canberra’s appetite for corporate entertainment and touring his Houdini-inspired theatre work “They Come to Watch Me Die” to festivals and regional venues.
If you enjoy stories about reinvention, small business growth, and the psychology of getting noticed, hit subscribe, share this with a friend in events or hospitality, and leave a review so more people can find the show.
Hello
Welcome And Meet The Magician
SPEAKER_00and welcome to the Canberra Business Podcast. I'm Greg Harford, your host from the Canberra Business Chamber, and today we are talking magic with Humphrey Cornthwaite from Positive Approach Consulting. Humphrey, welcome to the podcast. Thanks, Greg. Now, magic is not something that people tuning into this podcast are probably expecting to hear too much about. So tell us, what is it that makes you magical?
SPEAKER_01Well, um, great question. Uh I am a magician, and you're probably right. There's not too many magicians in the Canberra business chamber. Uh I suppose I'm probably the only one. Would that be correct?
SPEAKER_00Um, as far as I know, I mean there's some members who do some pretty amazing things, but I don't know there's a lot of magic necessarily.
SPEAKER_01True, true. So yeah, I um I'm a magician. I'm a member of the Magic Circle in London, uh, which I joined many, many years ago.
Quitting Tech For Street Magic
SPEAKER_01And my history is I started actually as a street performer in London's Covent Garden. Uh I just finished a degree in computers, computer programming, uh many, many years ago. And I went to Covent Garden and I watched people performing. And as I was walking through, I thought, ooh, that's exciting. I I I kind of want to give that a go. So I went to a the magic shop, Davenport, in Charing Cross Underground Station, and I bought a little magic set, had a bit of a practice, not much. Just thought, I'm gonna give this a go, Red Hall. So I went to Covent Garden. If anyone's been to Covent Garden, they'll know it. There's a cobbled street, it's quite an open space, similar to in Canberra, I guess, Garima Place. And street performers are there, and I said, I want to do a show. So they said, Okay, well, you get out there and give it a go. So they stood on the balcony of a pub uh which was facing the uh the piazza, and I did a show, and I was terrible, absolutely terrible. Couldn't get a crowd, nothing went right, it was a disaster. And at the end of it, they came down and said, Great. And I was like, but I didn't do a good job. They said, You actually went out there and had a go. And that was the key thing to have a go. And that struck me, you know. So I came back and kept on going back until I managed to get a crowd, started working Common Garden, and then as a result of that, ended up in Europe and traveling around doing magic uh in Europe. So the magic is I'm an escapologist, as well, magician escapologist. So um the key thing I do is escape from a straitjacket and chains, which is a lot of fun.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely. Now, I've I've so many questions here, Humphrey, but let's let's just start back with your computer science degree. So you you did your degree and then decided to jump into street theatre, but were you working in computers at the same time? Or or or did you just sort of finish the degree and decide actually magic is so much more exciting than computers?
SPEAKER_01Uh I did actually. Now thinking about it, I did. I graduated and then I started working for the civil service, a faculty of the government. And I was only there probably for about two or three weeks. Uh I just walked, as I say, walked through Coven Garden, probably during one lunchtime. I went, oh, this is far more interesting and exciting. Uh and a lot of you know gave me freedom. So I quit the job and uh and started yeah, doing that.
SPEAKER_00Excellent. And and the straight jacket, is there a metaphor there for working in the public service and sort of
Why The Straitjacket Made Sense
SPEAKER_00escaping? Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Oh, I've had many people ask that question, Greg. Um no, I'll tell you what it is. I started with a a small chains escape. And like business, you have to be visible. Uh and what I found is the chain escape I was doing was quite small. I had to crouch down. And as a result, the first row could see me in Common Garden, but the second and third row couldn't see because I was crouched down. So I kind of thought, ooh, I need to do something that is more visible to more people, and a bigger prop. So I decided the strait jacket, a classic of magic, would do the job. So it's a bigger prop, uh, you more people can see it. The chains being wrapped around is is more dramatic, and then the escape to do it in two minutes is is is quite a dramatic escape when you count when people count me down, you know, ten, nine, eight, down to one. So it was really just purely to get a bigger audience and more exposure to what I was doing.
SPEAKER_00And have you ever failed in the escape? I mean, you're here today, so so presumably not, but uh look, I've come close, but I've never actually failed.
SPEAKER_01And I'm reluctant to say that because by saying it the next time I do it, I potentially will fail. But I've I've come very close uh to not getting out. And in some ways, look, that makes it better. Because I've done it for 20 odd years, uh, it's it's kind of routine. And now it's it's kind of second nature. I can tell, because obviously I can't see the straps behind me because they're all the buckles uh uh uh at my back. But as I'm work as I'm being tied up in the straight jacket, I can kind of feel what's going on. And those are the points where I go, okay, I need to make sure that the arm straps work in the neck strap and all that. So, no, not yet, but um it's gonna be a first time.
SPEAKER_00Well, it's good to have that element of drama, I guess, going into your performances. So, anyway, 20 odd years ago, you you started out with a computer science degree, walked through Covent Garden, decided you had this hankering to be a magician, um, went and toured Europe. Um, how did you end up here in Canberra and how long ago was that?
SPEAKER_01Great
Wales, TV Work, And Reinvention
SPEAKER_01question. I ended up here about 15 years ago, and following for following on from touring around Europe, I actually also worked as a as an actor and a producer at ITV in Wales. Uh so I moved back to to Wales, as I say, Cymru, I'm a Welsh speaker, so Cymru. So I moved back to Wales and uh started working at uh ITV, producing light entertainment TV shows. And a friend of mine, Howell, who was a journalist, uh, Charlotte my wife, uh, lodged with him. I turned up for breakfast one morning, and we've been together ever since. So we married actually very quickly. It was uh um we got married, I think, about three months after we met. In well, actually we went to the Grand Canyon. I proposed in the Grand Canyon, and we came back and ended up going to Gretna Green. The um fantastic. So in runaway marriage. Runaway marriage, yes. So uh that was yeah, 20 years ago.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and and and that's kind of a bit of an escape uh reference as well, I guess, uh traditionally anyway.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. Look, I uh I I haven't thought too deeply about the whole metaphor around that, but you're right, there does if I look, there does seem to be some kind of pattern of wanting to change, escape, reinvent. And I think look, Harry Houdini was um who's a big influence. I I wrote a play recently, uh, well, actually not recently, I put it on the show recently. There's a play I wrote called They Come to Watch Me Die, and it's about the story of Harry Houdini, uh, who was very good at reinventing himself and looking at the market and understanding that there's a need for change. So he was known as a card magician, and it was when he joined the Welsh Brothers Circus that he started to learn escapes and realized that that was different to what people were doing at the time. So um, yeah, I think I I I like uh trying to be different and do things different.
SPEAKER_00So, how long have you been performing here in the nation's capital? Since you arrived 15 years ago, or is it a more recent
Canberra Gigs And COVID Reset
SPEAKER_00yeah?
SPEAKER_01So when I arrived, I I worked at Channel 7 or Prime 7, uh, and I was part of the production team uh producing Prime Possum. So we did Prime Possum, and it was duper dog in WA. So I was co-writing, co-producing, directing that show there. Uh so it was performing as well. And then I worked on the ships as well. So I was a cruise uh, they called it guest entertainer. So you'd go on the on the ships, I'd fly out to Brisbane and then they'd put me on the ships, and I'd do a show a week there and then come back. So it was like flying fly out. So do a week on, week off pretty much, when the contracts presented themselves. Unfortunately, as as the dreaded uh COVID hit, uh the the whole market dried up. So it was a very difficult so um performing took uh a back seat plus uh family growing up. Um so probably backing performing I'd say the last 18 months, two years.
SPEAKER_00And and how's it going? I mean it's a it's a big thing to write become to to start performing and and trying to establish yourself as a as a as a as a well-known and recognized performer.
Networking And Selling Entertainment
SPEAKER_01Absolutely, yeah, 100%. And to be honest, Greg, thanks to you for the Canberra Business Chamber. It's uh we joined the Canberra Business Chamber. Uh I go along to the events, uh, which are great networking opportunities. And that's that's what it's all about is is is having associations like the chamber to allow people like me to get there, meet people, um, press the flesh, you know, shake the hands, meet, and and try and use that then to follow on meetings to drum up business. And it's it's a difficult one to, you know, the the meeting people say, oh, do you need a magician for a party? It's not it's not front and centre of people's mind. It's it's that add-on. Uh for example, if we talk about weddings, you know, weddings, uh magician or entertainment is last on the list. Not necessarily the the band, but the the magician is is not front and centre, especially in the current climate as well, with interest rates and uh the economy. So it's just trying to have that exposure, get out there, see people, demonstrate what I can do, uh, which I tend to do at the chamber events. I'll bring a pack of cards and show people things and um because it's the best way. It's it's you can talk about magic, but the reality is you need to show. Uh so it's yeah, look, it's it's building. It's certainly building.
SPEAKER_00And you're doing um some some gigs as well as sort of private performances, as I understand it. So what we what does that look like for you?
SPEAKER_01Yep,
Residencies, Venues, And Audiences
SPEAKER_01so the uh the regular event at the moment is Gang Gang up in um Downer. Downer. I was gonna say Dixon, and I went, it's not Dixon's, it's Downer. Uh I knew we began with a D. Yeah, and that's a great venue. They're great people there. Uh it's a good audience, uh, very friendly, a very warm crowd. So so that's a that's a regular Friday. Um, and I I'd split that with a friend of mine, Connor, who's uh uh another magician. Uh and we are also just about to start a quarterly event, uh not as regular, quarterly event in Smiths, alternative. Um Nigel is very supportive of what we're trying to do. Uh I did the um the theatre show they come to watch me die at Smith's a few weeks ago, and that was that was great. There was a a a lot of people came to that, which was really good. Um so it's about trying to get well there's a there's two things. Trying to get the regular bookings, so the residencies, I guess you'd call them. So those are the weekly events, and then trying to get the the one-off gigs as well uh to try and build uh the the the the uh the audience and the crowd base, I guess.
SPEAKER_00How do you find Canberra's audience differs from audiences elsewhere around the world? I mean you've got great experience having worked in London across Europe and and down here in Australia.
SPEAKER_01Jeez, that's a good question. How do they differ? Um Do they differ?
SPEAKER_00Do we do we do we all love the same magic?
SPEAKER_01I think so. I think so. I think I uh I come from a um a comedy uh point of view, and I think humours uh translates across uh the world. And uh yeah, I don't I don't see a difference. Uh I think people may say, oh, is Camera a bit more reserved? Um look, some people are, but generally the the the comedy gets through, which is the main thing. Different countries, different languages though, not quite so easy. I'm actually just about to go to Lisbon for um a festival there, where I speak a little bit of Spanish.
SPEAKER_00I was gonna say, how's your Portuguese?
SPEAKER_01Oh, I know. Uh well I speak a little bit of Spanish, uh, so I'm learning Spanish and have been for some time, which is gonna help me a little bit, but not a huge amount. Uh and as I mentioned earlier on, I speak Welsh as well. So um yeah, but uh a visual comedy I remember I did a a show in uh where was it Singapore? I think it was Singapore, Qual Lumpa. Uh and they loved Mr. Bean. So I kind of went, oh great, I just I just do lots of Mr. Bean style performing, um, and that kind of works. So I guess it's it's you're right, the now I'm reflecting on the question, is I think I'm now starting to understand the differences with the Canberra audience, which is not great to uh not great differences, not great audiences, not great differences to say a Covent Garden audience. Um so it's no, it's it's pretty straightforward.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. So just
The Day Job And Disability Gigs
SPEAKER_00for our listeners, do you want to just tell us a little bit about positive approach therapy and and what it is that you do uh in your day job?
SPEAKER_01Absolutely. So positive approach is uh a company my wife and myself own. My wife's an occupational therapist, and I do all the back-end stuff, so I'll do the bookkeeping, um, the invoicing and the reconciliation. So uh Charla, who's the occupational therapist, she works with clients in the NDIS, predominantly adults, and works on either for direct therapy or what's called a functional capacity assessment, and then that works with the NDIS as well.
SPEAKER_00And is there a crossover there? Do you find yourself sitting in the office uh entertaining the clients on the way through with a few car trips?
SPEAKER_01I never see the clients, which is interesting. Um, but I yeah, look, I I when I mentioned earlier on about looking for opportunities, um, I certainly, in fact, uh I'm doing a gig this weekend uh where the main person has an intellectual disability, and I'm really looking forward to that. Uh and in fact, I've got a gig at the end of the month with a person with intellectual disability as well. So it's um yeah, yeah, it's look at when people sort of say about disability, uh we've all got challenges. And people with disabilities have just got challenges. So it's about again, it's about looking at it and going, okay, how how do I approach this person? How do I get the best uh performance of that person so they enjoy it?
SPEAKER_00So uh overall, I guess.
Career Highlights And Crowd Psychology
SPEAKER_00I mean, what's been the highlight of your uh entertainment career personally? What's the thing you've most enjoyed or been the biggest success?
SPEAKER_01Um geez, that's a tough one. There's been many, I think. Uh many years ago, uh I performed Princess Anne, which was an interesting experience. Um and look, I think the many, many years ago I did a TV show called The Lifeboat, and that was that was a great experience. I was uh actor on that for uh for a year, and that was where we were there was a lifeboat station set in um I was gonna say New South Wales end. The old South Wales. Old South Wales, yeah, South Wales, uh in Pembroke on a lifeboat station. Um I look, I think there's there's when Fragman's sake on the ships, you're working to probably about 700 seater, and for me that moment at the end when the straitjacket hits the stage and the audience cheers, they're all they're all memorable moments where you go, that was a that was a good show. Uh and and I I for me when I uh when I feel I've earned my dinner, as it were, when I've earned my cup of coffee, then that's that's a winner. Uh so it's yeah.
SPEAKER_00So how how big an audience do you get at your public gigs here in Canberra?
SPEAKER_01Um not 700. No, there's there's there's not that many looking um uh I think I'd say probably hundred, uh two hundred, depending on it's really dependent on what it is.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and the venue, presumably.
SPEAKER_01Absolutely, 100%. So it depends whether people are seated standing, whether it's a birthday, whether it's a corporate, uh, gang gang, it's hard to say because you're doing Roman magic. So there's two types really Roman, we're just going around showing people uh routines, or whether it's a a stage um setting as well, so it's like a fixed audience. Uh, and then on the fixed audience, whether it's a wedding, whether it's a corporate. So it really does vary, which makes it really interesting, Greg, because you're kind of turning up to a bit of an unknown quantity. Uh you obviously you do the pre-work and you understand what's happening, but on the day, uh had a really interesting one just before Christmas, actually. It was an AGM. And I rocked up and kind of went, okay, well, this is this is interesting. We just had an AGM. Now I'm gonna eat razor blades and escape from a straitjacket. So yeah, it's um it's hard to say. It's which is great. This is what the street taught me is to to look at what you've got and cut your cloth accordingly.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. And and a lot of variety in there, by the sounds of it. I mean, that must make it quite exciting to um go to work every day.
SPEAKER_01100%, and I think that's what I enjoy is is turning up and going, okay, what what what's the crowd like? And you can tend to um pick the first few people as a bit of a litmus, you know, a bit of a test, and then you go, okay, this is this is how this is going to work for for the evening, uh, which is which is good. And say going back, I know I've mentioned the street a long time, uh, many times, but uh that if you think about it, when you stand in a s in a in a in on a street uh and want people to come up and to watch you for 30-40 minutes and then pay you at the end. And that's the key thing with street performing. You don't pay when you come in, you pay at the end. And the audience will only stay if they're interested. So the fact that I actually made a living out of it was was a good a good test. So yeah.
Five-Year Goals And How To Book
SPEAKER_00Yeah, awesome. Um so you've been doing this stuff for 20 odd years, um couple of years really focused on it here in Canberra. What's your aspiration for the next five, ten years?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, look, I I think Canberra is uh is um is a market that's absolutely ripe for magic. Uh I I think there's there's uh many events, uh many options. And I think like most uh businesses where there's uh something new, uh it takes a little bit of time to convert that into work uh and for people to trust and and to build trust and gain trust. So for me for the next five years, it's about uh building those venues, understanding who's uh giving the work out and developing those relationships. Um again, you know, refer back to the the business chamber is is is taking advantage of the information you have to build those relationships with people, which you already have, which has been really good. And then also the other the other key thing is to continue working on uh my script, which is They Come to Watch Me Die, which is going to be at the Sydney Fringe Festival. Uh, I want to do that touring at Canberra, but also in the surrounding area. So I'm quite keen to put that on in venues that don't normally get uh productions. So the Outback. Uh and there's uh there's a great organization in Sydney called Arts on Tour, and they've been super helpful, giving me lots of information uh of where to go uh in in the outback area, I guess. But yeah, focusing on Canberra, it's about building those relationships and gaining trust, I guess.
SPEAKER_00Excellent. Well, Humphrey Cornthwaite, I wish you all the very best as you continue your magic and entertainment and indeed escapology career uh here in the Capitol. Um, if people do want to get in touch, I'll perhaps book you in for a gig. How do they do that?
SPEAKER_01Fantastic. Yes, um, you can contact me on thetouchofmagic.com.au. Uh that's the website. And you can also contact me through MagicianCambra in Instagram. So I've just started the Instagram, so I need to know more about so if there's anyone listening to this who's a big social media guru, then please get in contact. I need that support.
SPEAKER_00And and some might say that there's a degree of magic and mystique around social media generally as well. So there's some good good synergies there, perhaps, for you to explore.
SPEAKER_01Absolutely. And on social media, uh, when you talk about goals, is I want to do uh social media in Welsh, doing magic, possibly on the Camino de Santiago in Spain.
SPEAKER_00Sounds very exciting. I wish you all the very best with it. Thanks, Greg. Humphrey Cornthwaite, thank you so much for joining me here on the Canberra Business Podcast. If we've got uh people who are listening to this who want to get in touch with you, perhaps want to book in a gig, how do they do that?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, great. Thanks, Greg. The uh the the the website is thetouchofmagic.com. So it's uh not all one word, but no spaces, thetouchochofmagic.com. And you can reach me on Instagram. Instagram is a new uh exciting space for me, and that is Magician Canberra. No space, magician Canberra.
SPEAKER_00Excellent. Thank you so much for joining us here on the Canberra Business Podcast. I'm Greg Harford from the Canberra Business Chamber. I've been talking to Humphrey Cornthwaite from thetuchofmagic.com, and I wish you all the very best as your magic career evolves and carries on here in the nation's capital.
SPEAKER_01Thanks, Greg.
SPEAKER_00We'll catch you next time on the Canberra Business Podcast. Don't forget to follow us on your favorite podcast platform for future episodes.