Copperfield piece on CBS Sunday Morning

[Richard Hatch]

https://www.cbsnews.com/video/magician-david-copperfield/

[Richard Kaufman]

Great piece!

[erdnasephile]

Thanks, for posting that, Dick--that was a fun watch! (It's impressive to me that he is still hammering away with 15 shows a week).

[katterfelt0]

Thanks, for posting that, Dick--that was a fun watch! (It's impressive to me that he is still hammering away with 15 shows a week).

He obviously needs the money.

[Doug Thornton]

Thanks, Richard Hatch!

When we talked a year ago, David said he has fun, and he's already at the theater, so that's why he does a second show (and a third on Saturdays). He also works on an effect or presentation a thousand times to make it better (or "suck less," as the Pixar gang says).

Here's David with Ben Earl.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LaBDDOfB_lA

Here's his chat with me for SAM161 - The David Copperfield Assembly.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HFLi5Sv5ZQ&t=1s

[Edward Pungot]

Copperfield’s performance space at the MGM Grand is surprisingly intimate. Unlike Penn & Teller at the Rio stadium size one show a night format, Copperfield gives you an intimate setting broken up into a matinee performance and two evening shows. If you’ve ever caught one of his touring shows in the past when he has performed in a large space, the contrast is overwhelmingly more felt especially when dealing with live performance in a smaller venue setting. D.C. regardless of performance space still comes off as not being fully present. He is there right in front of you, but you get a sort of overly polished and scripted version of himself and his personality. But this seems to have always been the case throughout his performing career. Perhaps this is simply a side effect from too much work and the automaton nature of repeating something ad infinitum. But he does definitely deliver. When you have time travel, mental magic, dinosaurs, aliens, and a space ship appear literally right above you head from where you are sitting, you know where that extra spending money went into—right back into the perfection of his show. No card tricks included, but definitely plenty of high tech wizardry and audience interaction.

[Joe Lyons]

Great interview, Doug, thanks for sharing it.

[Peter Ross]

D.C...comes off as not being fully present. He is there right in front of you, but you get a sort of overly polished and scripted version of himself and his personality."

This is a very accurate description of the DC I saw a couple of months ago at the MGM Grand.

The appearing spaceship was cool, but that was about it, IMHO.

[Edward Pungot]

To David’s credit, he did receive a standing ovation after his show. Even if this too was orchestrated, brings up an important maybe overlooked point that to pull off a show of this scale and magnitude, a million logistical things have to fall into place and the timing on stage and off has to be just right to present an overarching flow of seeming impossibilities. So it’s understandable that his mind may be elsewhere. But the result of a well oiled machine is you loose a little bit of that spontaneous feel that is an important ingredient of magic. Perhaps there is very little room for error and nothing is left to chance. If I remember correctly, his stage crew stood next to and behind him on stage to receive the standing ovation at the end.

[Tom Moore]

Perhaps the international version is different to the home broadcast but all we got was some stock footage, a hint at a “discussion about design” that lasted 10 seconds and some more stock footage?

I hope they can do the deal and announce the new special because I can’t wait to see some new footage of exactly how far he’s pushed magic technology instead of 30 year old stock…..

[Ron Reid]

Copperfield’s performance space at the MGM Grand is surprisingly intimate. Unlike Penn & Teller at the Rio stadium size one show a night format, Copperfield gives you an intimate setting broken up into a matinee performance and two evening shows. If you’ve ever caught one of his touring shows in the past when he has performed in a large space, the contrast is overwhelmingly more felt especially when dealing with live performance in a smaller venue setting. D.C. regardless of performance space still comes off as not being fully present. He is there right in front of you, but you get a sort of overly polished and scripted version of himself and his personality. But this seems to have always been the case throughout his performing career. Perhaps this is simply a side effect from too much work and the automaton nature of repeating something ad infinitum. But he does definitely deliver. When you have time travel, mental magic, dinosaurs, aliens, and a space ship appear literally right above you head from where you are sitting, you know where that extra spending money went into—right back into the perfection of his show. No card tricks included, but definitely plenty of high tech wizardry and audience interaction.

Hi Edward:

I agree with everything you mention about DC and his polished show at MGM. People seem to either hate or love his show. If you look at his reviews at TripAdvisor, they're almost all one or five star reviews. For the record, his UFO appearance and the T-Rex illusion were two of the most amazing things I've ever seen a magician do.

Sincerely,

Ron

[Edward Pungot]

It helps to have a cocktail or two before and during the show. I had a gin and tonic for the first time while watching the show and it was quite complimentary.