The Carbonaro Effect

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Tom Frame
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The Carbonaro Effect

Postby Tom Frame » April 1st, 2014, 11:19 am

Michael Carbonaro, of Magic Clerk fame, kicks off his new series The Carbonaro Effect tonight at 7:30 PM Pacific time on truTV. Check it out!

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Re: The Carbonaro Effect

Postby Tom Frame » April 3rd, 2014, 8:46 am

I liked it. Did anyone else watch it? Your thoughts?

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Re: The Carbonaro Effect

Postby Pete McCabe » April 3rd, 2014, 10:48 pm

My whole family loved it, including my 14 and 11-year old boys. It's certainly a very unusual angle on the idea of a magic show.

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Re: The Carbonaro Effect

Postby Jonathan Townsend » April 3rd, 2014, 11:39 pm

Tom Frame wrote:Michael Carbonaro, of Magic Clerk fame, kicks off his new series The Carbonaro Effect tonight at 7:30 PM Pacific time on truTV. Check it out!


Found the trailer - looks like May??
http://www.trutv.com/shows/the-carbonar ... #no-expand
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Re: The Carbonaro Effect

Postby Tom Frame » May 15th, 2014, 4:42 pm

Don't forget, new episodes air tonight at 7:00 and 7:30 Pacific time on truTV. Check 'em out!

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Re: The Carbonaro Effect

Postby Brad Jeffers » May 15th, 2014, 5:30 pm

Tom Frame wrote:I liked it. Did anyone else watch it? Your thoughts?


Just watched episode one via Xfinity's "On Demand" feature. I enjoyed it.

Wasn't that David Regal in the "Pet-Ex" segment?

Look forward to the next episodes.

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Re: The Carbonaro Effect

Postby Richard Kaufman » May 15th, 2014, 8:46 pm

Regal was one of the writers on the show.
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Re: The Carbonaro Effect

Postby Evan Shuster » May 15th, 2014, 10:46 pm

I just watched the first episode; what a blast! Looking forward to more...

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Re: The Carbonaro Effect

Postby Brandon Hall » November 20th, 2014, 12:22 pm

I think it's a great show. However it's not a "magic show". It's broad appeal is due to the fact that it's a "hidden camera" show that uses a magician and modern close-up magic to pull off the stunts live.
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Re: The Carbonaro Effect

Postby Brad Henderson » November 20th, 2014, 1:30 pm

I wonder if lay people see it as a magic show or a (well done) prank show? A few of the segments i have seen had 'effects' in them but had they been presented without secrecy of method to the audience, I'm not sure the impact would have been lessened.

I've only ever had one lay person mention having seen this show. any feedback from laypeople others have encountered?

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Re: The Carbonaro Effect

Postby Brandon Hall » November 21st, 2014, 3:58 pm

My wife sat through more of this than she would have had she thought of it as a magic show.
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Re: The Carbonaro Effect

Postby Brad Jeffers » December 7th, 2014, 5:39 pm

Have you seen Michael Carbonaro's world famous Shaving Dream act?
Well, HERE IT IS.

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Re: The Carbonaro Effect

Postby Frank Yuen » December 8th, 2014, 1:47 am

There is some fantastic magic being done on this show and it all looks spur of the moment and impromptu thanks to Carbonaro's acting skiils. I just watched an episode where he told a woman that since she spent $20 (in the hardware store) she got a free all purpose bulb. He proceeded to hand her a fluorescent tube light bulb. It was about 14 inches long and in a cardboard sleeve. Carbonaro explains that it is an "all purpose" bulb and when he pulls it out of the sleeve it is now about three feet long. He puts it back in the sleeve and the next time he pulls it out it is approx five feet long! He hands it to the woman and says that he's sorry but he doesn't have a sleeve for the long one but after a pause he takes it back from her and bends it over his knee into a U shaped bulb. It now fits into a plastic bag and he hands it to her. The lady was stunned. Simply a great trick!

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Re: The Carbonaro Effect

Postby Bill Duncan » December 10th, 2014, 2:45 am

The routine where he was a hotel clerk and a ladies credit card transposed with that of a person behind her in line was wonderful.

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Re: The Carbonaro Effect

Postby Q. Kumber » December 10th, 2014, 4:36 am

Brad Henderson wrote:I wonder if lay people see it as a magic show or a (well done) prank show?


I'd be surprised if laymen see this as anything other than a prank show - though a clever prank show with a twist.

Context is important. Yann Frisch has a wonderful act (he won FISM in 2012 for close-up) yet were you to put him on a show without referencing him as a magician, I suspect most laymen would describe him as a comedy juggler.

in the year 2000, at his lecture in Limerick, Ireland, John Carney spoke about putting gag magical effects into his comedy club act and finding that the audience did not perceive them as magic.

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Re: The Carbonaro Effect

Postby Jonathan Townsend » December 10th, 2014, 7:57 am

What episode number is the light bulb? The credit card?
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Re: The Carbonaro Effect

Postby Frank Yuen » December 15th, 2014, 1:40 pm

Jonathan Townsend wrote:What episode number is the light bulb? The credit card?


The light bulb is Season 1 episode 17.

Just found a good interview where Michael explains the premise of the show in the first minute or two very well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nI9hgDJZyk

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Re: The Carbonaro Effect

Postby P.T.Widdle » December 15th, 2014, 5:12 pm

I guess there won't be any card tricks on this show.

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Re: The Carbonaro Effect

Postby Brad Henderson » December 15th, 2014, 5:37 pm

Just had my second lay person mention this show. They like the gag/prank aspect but commented they had no idea how he does what he did.

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Re: The Carbonaro Effect

Postby Kevin Connolly » December 15th, 2014, 6:27 pm

This is a great new approach for presenting magic. It's very tough to come-up with a fresh approach.
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Re: The Carbonaro Effect

Postby P.T.Widdle » December 16th, 2014, 8:12 am

Carbonaro says that "taking the magician out of the magic" was the key for him. I think that's an interesting thing to consider. On the one hand, with this approach you lose the "heat" normally associated with doing a magic trick as a magician, and gain additional creative scenarios in which to perform. On the other hand, while it is certainly enjoyable to watch on TV, I sense a subtle difference in the reactions of the spectators for which the "effect" is being "performed." Yes, there is surprise and usually delight, but sometimes I detect uncertainty, nervousness and embarrassment (all usually associated with being pranked).
One of the purposes of identifying as a magician is to serve as a guide through the effect, so that while the spectator may feel disoriented, confused, maybe even in a little danger, they know they're safely in the magician's hands.

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Re: The Carbonaro Effect

Postby Brad Henderson » December 16th, 2014, 3:25 pm

excellent points pt. There clearly is a difference. The safety issue is a smart observation. Also, significant change in response may be a result of not knowing that which is about to happen is impossible. Priming the audience to experience the impossible is a critical aspect of most magic performances. Are there ways to do this outside of the traditional methods:strategies?

Charles Reynolds posited that fulfillment is more amazing than surprise. Can the depth of the 'magical' experience be related to the degree of fulfillment felt?

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Re: The Carbonaro Effect

Postby Chris Aguilar » December 16th, 2014, 4:11 pm

When I watch (and enjoy!) this show, I think of it as a really fun variant of "Candid Camera" rather than a magic show.

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Re: The Carbonaro Effect

Postby Tom Moore » December 16th, 2014, 4:38 pm

Whilst i don't have experience of the Carbonaro show I have worked on magic in a number of "hidden camera" stunts and not once have I found the participants describing (or perceiving) the experience as magic. In a world where almost every week some significant piece of sci-fi technology enters the consumer market people are used to seeing and accepting impossible things or things to which they have no explanation - as others have pointed out it is the "magician" acting as a guide and reminder of the possible that makes a magic performance "magic", without that explicit guide then there is no magic.
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Re: The Carbonaro Effect

Postby Frank Yuen » December 16th, 2014, 10:24 pm

Question: In order to televise any particular segment the "mark" has to be told it was a trick. How do you think the layman experiences the magic after the fact? How is the experience different if at all?

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Re: The Carbonaro Effect

Postby Tom Moore » December 17th, 2014, 4:05 am

Not once can i think of any moment in any hidden camera sequence i've been involved in where the mark has "experienced magic" after the fact. Stop and think for a moment just how many impossible things are taking place around you right now, how many things that you don't really understand how they work, we have all just learned to accept we really don't have a clue most of the time.
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Re: The Carbonaro Effect

Postby Jonathan Townsend » December 17th, 2014, 8:17 am

Frank Yuen wrote:Question: In order to televise any particular segment the "mark" has to be told it was a trick. How do you think the layman experiences the magic after the fact? How is the experience different if at all?


First - it's pranking. Look this defective pen squired ink all over your shirt ... ha ha it's invisible ink.

The notion about not telling them after can lead to a ski run toward charlatanry.

Perhaps the 'informed consent' concern has been abandoned in psychology?
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Re: The Carbonaro Effect

Postby Brad Jeffers » January 2nd, 2015, 2:55 am

Michael Carbonaro is a very talented performer. In stature and physical appearance, he reminds me of a young Johnny Carson.

I think that like Carson, he will transcend the role of magician and go on to bigger things.

Perhaps The Carbonaro Effect will prove to be his Who Do You Trust.


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