Sean Does Magic: The Magic of Connection and Self-Belief

Magician and content creator Sean Soteri-Dona joins the We're Out of Time podcast. We filmed a video, and it's my most viral video that I've ever filmed, was Quartzide at the Lakers. LeBron James was right in front of me. Half a billion views on that video. Half a billion? We collaborated with Michelle Obama. Yeah, or her drink company. But I visited the White House to meet with some representatives. I was just there being like, you know, I make a living doing social media. It would be awesome if you didn't ban this app. I made friends every place I would move to just because I was just the magic guy. I would just do magic for everybody. And then I would watch America's Got Talent. I would see kid magicians and teen magicians on there. I'm like, I can do that. We want to extend a heartfelt thank you to our listeners. Because of your incredible support, We're Out of Time has reached number one on Apple's Mental Health podcast chart, number two on the health and fitness chart, and number 26 overall. We couldn't have done this without you. Thank you for being part of this journey with us. Thank you for listening to the We're Out of Time podcast with Richard Tate. If you haven't already, please follow the podcast, Rate and Review. And if you're getting value out of We're Out of Time, share it with someone else you know. If someone has a problem with substance use disorder, please call one call placement. That's 888-831-1581. And if we can't help you, we'll make a referral to someone who can. Please, We're Out of Time. All right. Sean, say your last satiric, Donna. Yeah, that ain't happening. Known as Sean Does Mag. That is me. Is a Dutch American magician. Dutch American musician. Yeah, well, I was born in the Netherlands, but I'm 100% Filipino. So Dutch Filipino American technically. Okay, you were born in the Netherlands. The Netherlands. Yeah. Okay, the Netherlands speak Dutch. Yes. Or the Dutch speak Netherlands. It's the Netherlands speak Dutch. Okay, cool. Sorry. I work around the clock. Right. I'm the ugly American. I never get anywhere. Just because I don't have anyone to go with. Right. Is this a pitch? Or pitching? Hey, hey, you can always hope. But I will tell you this, okay? It's very hard for a 59 year old man, okay? To meet anybody of quality in Los Angeles. That's very hard. Specifically in LA, yeah. Right. Imagine. And the young girls with the kissy face. Right. Or the dancing to the lip sync music. If I see that. And you'll see the most beautiful girl and she'll be age appropriate, right? Yeah. 40s, mid to late 40s. And then they're doing. And singing with the, and just man. Right. Act your age. Yeah. Can't do it. I mean, I don't mean to be the old God. Right. Screaming get off my lawn. But you know, this is kind of lame. Right. Can't relate because I'm engaged. But yeah, for sure. Right. It's either that nonsense or they've got cats. I can't. I hate all these cats. I hate the cats. Everybody has cats. Well, it's not that I hate the cats. It's just you call a cat and it looks at you. It's not as you and it's like, what am I a dog? Right. Beat it, idiot. Just feed me. Just feed me and give me a ball of yarn to quit. Right. And I'm good. Yes. All right. You're a content creator. Yes. With over 22 million TikTok. Shut up. Yeah. You got 22 million. Yeah. For the magic? Yeah, magic. People love magic. How many fingers do I have up under my, at least one? I'm good. I know. I am good. This is why I have 22 million followers. So you're hysterical. I know. You know what came up for me? What? I was in a, I was losing all these houses. Yeah. In multiples. Oh. Right. Multibles. So it was like, you know, you go in and then a group of investors comes in and they, they do, you know, 5% over asking. Yes. Okay. When you said that, it was so beautiful that the thing that came up for me was, I was sick and tired of losing houses. So we, so we, yeah. So we, to buy. Yes. So we went ahead and, you know, you're in multiples. And I finally figured it out. Okay. All I said was, you know, these offers are in, they're going to be accepted. It doesn't matter. This is a one shot thing and we're up against five people. Right. And so it's got to be at five o'clock. So at 445, I sent it in and I said, my offer is $50,000 more than anybody else's offer. No disrespect, but I need, I need an answer in 30 minutes or the offer is gone and I'm gone. Right. Right. Great. Great way to go about it. More than one. More than one. More than one. You just did the same thing I did. You said more than one. So you're saying I should invest in homes. That's what you're saying. No, not at all. All right. Thank you though. No, no problem. I mean, you're making a shit ton of money, right? I'm doing all right. You got a home? I got properties in the Philippines, but yeah. You do? Yeah. Okay. You're going to get a place out here? I want to. That's the goal. Uh-huh. For this year specifically. You got saved. Like what do you mean? Like liquid? Like in my bank? Like around. Really? Yeah. You got anything that you want to get rid of in order to get? Well, right now, here's the thing is we're saving up for a wedding. So it's like, I'm trying to do both. That's so sweet, man. You getting married? Yeah. So it's kind of like, the goal is I would love a lot more liquid so that I'm more comfortable just like throwing it out. You sure in Filipino? No, she's Australian. She's Australian? Yeah. Too bad she's not American. Right. So she's American. Her daddy pays for the wedding. Is that how that works? Are you an American citizen? I am. Well, why didn't you get that memo? I don't know. I never, no one told me this. Is she friends? Is she close with her dad? Yeah, very close. Is dad got any cheese? I mean, he's just retired. So, yeah. Oh, God. Is this something I should know? I'm 23, how old? You're 23 years old. You're supposed to be saving for your future and getting a home and building a family. That's the goal. That's the goal this year. That's the goal this year. I'm really trying. Man, call your old lady's father and go, can I get a little help here? Right. I mean, I think we're doing okay. I don't think we're not right. I don't think we need his help. I can't stop running my mouth, dude. Yeah, no, it's okay. Look, if we're friends, we tell each other that yes, yes. Okay. All right, here we go. He started magic at age six. Yeah. He was fired by a children's show. That's correct. And began posting on YouTube at 10. Okay. After early rejections from America's Got Talent, he found massive success on TikTok in 2019. With his second video getting 5.5 million views, he has performed at the Grammys. Shut up. Okay. We performed magic during the Grammys at the Grammys, but not actually on stage. No, that's a little bit of a stretch. Okay. He has performed at the Grammys, courtside at Laker games. Correct. Did you get a seat there at courtside? Yes. Shut up. What was that experience like? Oh, it was insane. It was incredible. We were at... I was in the middle or are you behind the basket? Center. Very center, middle court. Like the most prime seats possible. We filmed a video. Obviously the prime seats because you go like this and like this and like this and your neck's gonna... Yeah, but LeBron James was right in front of me. Like it was the most like right here. Like, you know, I mean, and we filmed a video and it's my most viral video that I've ever filmed was at courtside at the Lakers. No kidding. Yeah. Half a billion views on that video. Half a billion? You're kidding. No, not joking. For you, man. Thank you. That was a good experience. You know, I do about four to six games a year. Yeah. Lakers? Yeah. And I was dating a girl that really loved it. Right? And so we'd sit on the floor, but it's so expensive that I feel like God's gonna take all my money. Right? So I'm like, can we do it four times? Dude. Right. Dude. That's it four times this year. Right? Four. Right. Wow. Right. So, you know. That's like a nice car. I got to see the warrior. Dude, it's a really nice car. OK, I felt like so wasteful, but whatever. All right. He has performed at the Grammys courtside at Laker Games. Collaborated with Michelle. Shut up. You collaborated with Michelle Obama. Yeah. Or her her drink company, Plesi, is one of my like big sponsors for the last couple of years. She's got a Plesi. Yeah. It's a it's a drink. It's a kids drink, way less sugar. Not not that I'm being paid to say this, but it's like a very healthy kids drink. And yeah, they make like healthy sodas and healthy juice boxes. And I work with that company a lot. Yeah. I didn't know that. Yeah. It's in Target. It is? Yeah. Good. Yeah, it's great. Yeah. I'd like an option that doesn't cause cancer and obesity. Right. No, no, it's great. That I mean, in a typical juice box, it has the amount of sugar that you should be drinking or that you should have in a single day, which is just so bad for kids. And so they've cut that by like, I think a fourth of the sugar, which is just great. Three fourths or four? They cut it by three fourths. There's only fourth of the sugar there. Yeah. OK, because the quarter it's like. Not that much of it in back, but. No. Michelle. I met President Obama. No chance. I met him. I met him and it was great. I want to meet the new president too. Yeah. I mean, I'm yet to actually visit the White House one time. Do you know how pissed I am that this 23 year old visited the White House? And I didn't. So I didn't I didn't meet any presidents by visit the White House. Uh huh. That's better to meet with some representatives actually so that we could get TikTok not banned, actually. So that so not for anything cool. I was just there being like, hey, I'm you know, I make a living doing social media would be awesome if you didn't ban this app. Right. It should be banned. It should be banned. It should be banned. Why do you say that? Because it's a national security issue. I don't know much. I mean, this is this is why I know. No 23 year olds know about national security issues. I don't really look at the national security issues too much. But I do know that there's a lot of businesses that run through TikTok. And I think that it's a great platform. If we're able to clear the national security issues, then for sure, I think that there should be an app that runs like TikTok. Right. Well, if we can do that, then it doesn't matter. But we're not doing that. OK. And, you know, we're kind of a race with China. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, again, I don't know. I mean, I don't want that. I don't want my lights turned off. OK. I don't want my internet to go down. If your internet goes down, you're like, what's going on here? Like, we don't know how to read anymore. I don't know how to read. Right. But not a newspaper or a book. I mean, right. I mean, come on, man. I don't remember the last time I touched the newspaper. I don't know if I've touched the newspaper actually, now that I think about it. That's so great. Yeah. You kids do. Yeah. No. And I guess, you know, I mean, I want that material. It's like the worst. They make out the worst material. Never mind. You know what you can do, though? What? Actually read it. OK. Because your phone is like, you know, I got to turn it to the saw. Yes. Do this. And, you know, it's like, you know, you get older, you get blind. Right. It's good. I'm happy. OK, with Michelle Obama, Kevin Hart and Mr. Beast. Correct. OK. Mr. Beast is cool. Yes. He's a great guy. He's great. Yeah. OK. You know what I don't want? What do you not want? I'm watching a video of his and he's got people in a room that's all white with lights that are just abusive. Right. Right. They got to stay there for a hundred. Yes. You would you do that? For a hundred million. Not for a hundred thousand. Right. Right. OK. Hey, Mr. Beast, you want to abuse me for 30 days and give me a hundred million dollars all the two. OK, I'm not that proud. So. So add a couple more zeros to the prize pool. Yeah. I think I think Beast Games was ten million. If he can do this, if he gives me a hundred million, the first thing I'm doing is I'm giving you a million dollars. I don't think I'm going to get a million dollars. I don't think you're going to. Dude, just comedy. Yeah. Right. I'm not a comedian, but I don't get any. I don't have people here. I'm like, you know, I have no social outlet. So when they come, just all I do. Right. You know, kind of hold you hostage. Gotcha. Wow, I'm doing your Mr. Beast. Oh, no. Well, you're not Mr. Beast. Mr. Beast is funny. Yeah, he's interesting. He does good things. Yeah, he does. He does great things. Yeah, he does great things. I love him. OK. Are you feeling secure with your million dollars? Yeah, I've, you know, I'm going to make it another way. It's fine. We'll figure it out. No, you know what's going to happen? This this guy is going to see this. He's right. Like that old man. OK, get and he's going to have you on. Right. And he's going to give you a million dollars. Just me. Just. Yeah. Just you. Just despite you. For sure. For sure. Well, I will say this. I've done, you know, last year, I don't know how familiar I with like the rap beef that happened last year with like Drake and Kendrick Lamar. They were like, oh, my God, that is something I've studied. Like I can't tell if you're joking. Magnifying glass. There's no way you've studied that. Like, no. That's OK. Well, there was a big rap beef last year and I wanted to bring that same energy to YouTube. So I did a diss track on Mr. Beast. So I don't think he's going to be getting me a million dollars any time soon. Yeah, you ain't getting a million dollars. Yeah, I'm not getting really dollars. Sorry, Jimmy. That's right. Yeah, you ain't getting a million dollars. And you're going to be broke after the wedding. Right. I think to be the bearer. I know it's it's it's already it's stacking up. I know, dude. You're the best. You're such a good person. I'm like, yeah, you are really you're engaging. Oh, thanks, man. You're funny and you've got your whole world ahead of you. And I wish you nothing but the best. That was very sweet. Thank you. You're a good soul, man. I appreciate that. All the good souls come here. All right. And they're entourages. Yes, they're more of posse. Yes, right. Well, I don't know. Are the entourages? I don't know. I don't know. I've heard it all. My school. I hear one of the SoundCloud concerts where they jump up and down. They all have their short shirts off. Yes. And they're just pushing each other. Yeah. No, I have not. Good. I have a lot of. I love him. That sounds like hell to me. Worst night ever. Yeah, never. Yeah. The only worst time that I think that you can have other than that is going to Disneyland. Very. No, I say this, I say this. I can't. What is that? Our wait for a ride is crazy. Dude, I don't even wait for a ride. I walk right in. Yeah. OK, and it's still horses. It is the worst. It is. It is not the happiest place on earth. It is the unhappiest place on earth. Even when you skip the line, the rides aren't that bad. Dude, the whole thing's bad. All things bad. Hold on. Twenty two million TikTok followers and four hundred million likes. OK, plus five million on YouTube subs. You got five million YouTube subs. This might be a day to have 11 million now. Dude, I got like 90,000. I'm sad. No, you're almost at the plot. You're going to get a black. The black soon. Oh, great. I'm going to get a plaque. This is a hundred. It says your name. This is a hundred thousand subscribers. That shit's going in that. Hey, when that shit gets here, put it in the in the closet with the rest of the covers and that I've got. This is crazy. This is sick. It's funny. I mean, magic. Yeah, magic. You've been to the magic castle. Yes, I have been. You perform there. Not. I'm not like a regular, but I've performed there. But mainly recently, like I've only been there. If we're shooting something there, are you considered to be a good musician? I'm a musician. Are you? Are you? Yeah, you're a musician. Have you? I'm a horrible musician. You do not want me to sing. Me too. Are you a good magician? I would like to say I'm a great magician. Yeah, really? Like incredible, phenomenal, fantastic. How long have you been doing it since? Since I was six years old. Wow. Yeah. Long time. A lot. A lot of years with no friends. Were you surprised? It's OK. Hey, man, my buddy who passed away. Rest in peace. Yeah, rest in peace. And he went ahead and he was a fantastic musician. Magician. Magician. He was a fantastic magician. And I loved it as a kid. He he had us all there and we were just, I mean, OK, he didn't have a lot of friends, but. It's a common theme. He's like, you know, and he was really the only person who would be my friend. But. Yeah. Cut that. All right. Here we go. He start. I should just read. He blends sleight of hand tricks with comedy, aiming to make people feel like kids again. Sweet. Proud of his Filipino heritage, he attributes his grounded personality and work ethic to it. That is correct. You got Tiger Mom. What does that mean? Like, you know, like in some Asian cultures, I don't know if it's Filipino, but they walk around with a ruler on this. Right. God damn it. I told you an A plus. No, no, no, no. My parents were very academic focused, but they weren't like that. OK. No. OK, cool. Maybe they should have. I would have been smarter. Did they make you go to bad Hungary? No, no, no, no. Forgetting anything. Does it look like I went to bed on gray? I don't think. You're the best. All right. You started performing magic at age six. Correct. What drew you to it so strongly? Well, I mean, to be honest, I feel like a lot of kids, you know, either like learn a magic trick from like TV or like see magicians. You know, kids, magic is a very kid thing, right? You perform it for kids and they're very mesmerized. So when I was a kid, I got, you know, I would watch TV shows or do magic. There was an episode of Franklin, the turtle. I don't know if you've ever seen that show before, but it was like a cartoon turtle. I know more about the rift than I know about the turtle. The beef with the with the wrappers. I know more about that. Well, there's a turtle and he's a cartoon turtle for kids. And he did magic one episode and I just got hooked into it. And I started performing for a lot of my classmates. And this was like six years old, like kindergarten, first grade. And my family moved a lot when I was, you know, growing up. We we didn't stay in one place for more than a couple of years. And so we were always moving around. It happens when you you got to move. Yeah. The FBI is right in your tail. Yeah, that's it, because they saw the magic. And so what what ended up happening? Oh, you brought the deck of cards. I bought cards. Dude, you're the best. Thanks, man. I so I'm such a. Kid, I'm not really 59 because I lost a quarter century to drug addiction. So what am I 35? OK, incredible. And so I made friends every every place I would move to just because I was just the magic guy, just do magic for everybody. And so, yeah, that's it just became the thing. And everyone's like, oh, you'll be performing in Vegas one day or whatever. And it would just be branded in my mind like I am the guy that does magic. And then at the same time around the age of 10, I saw people were posting their magic videos on YouTube and, you know, your magic, no, just magic videos in general. And I was like, I can do that. So March of 2012, I posted my first YouTube video and I haven't missed the month of posting since March of 2012. We've always been posting. That's fantastic. Thank you, Matt. You know, I love that you knew why you kept doing this because most people aren't that in touch with why they do what they do. And what you were really saying is this was my way to fit in. Correct. Exactly. OK. And everybody hangs their hat on something and this is my something. I love that. I love that. I wish I would have done that, Dylan, because because I thought I was going to be an NFL quarterback. And the reason I did was because I was delusional. OK. I'm five eleven, right? What's the average high for a quarterback? Like six three. Right. So I probably should hang that dream up, too. For sure. Yeah, you're not. Yeah, that is not a lot of Filipino quarterbacks. It's OK. There's not a lot of Jewish quarterbacks either. Have you ever seen the Jewish Hall of Fame? No, they had to grab like people from AAA. They spawned. Right. To me like this. This Jew is horrible. No, no, no, no. He made it to AAA. Yeah. The only thing worse than our athletic prowess. Right. Is our cuisine. I haven't really tried a lot of Jewish food. Oh, we've got borscht and pickled herring in the house. OK. Well. OK. So and boiled chicken. So you're going to love that. I'm I ate before coming here. I'm I'm OK. I'm good. Thank you. Thank you. It's not going to kill me. Yeah, it's not. So good. You began posting on YouTube at age 10. What was your first video like and how did it feel to share your magic? Oh, man, first video that I ever posted. This was during a time where because this is not a thing on YouTube now, but you can actually you used to be able to respond to videos with videos. Like, instead of just a comment, you could post the video responding to the video. And so people use that as a format to do contests and giveaways. So one person I learned magic from his name was the card trick teacher on YouTube. He doesn't post anymore. I hope he's still alive. He was really old when he was. But I learned all my magic from him. He did a contest. He was like, whoever had the best magic trick replied to this video, you'll win a deck of cards. And I was like, you know, I'm like 10, 10, 9. I was like, I want to win this deck of cards, you know. So I post a video. Is that the deck of cards? No, no, I didn't win. But oh, he should have lied. Yeah, I the guy's dead. It's not like he's this was the death. This that says 20, 21 printing is the the deck of cards gave away back in 2012. No, but it's well, dude, can you come over and just hang out? Just knock on the door and say, hey, Rich, you come out and play. I'll do it. OK. All right. It's great. So I my first ever YouTube video was an entry to a contest and it was me with a very, very old camcorder, three, six, CP very low quality. I believe I was literally in like boxers in my living room performing magic to the camera. And yeah, it has, I think, a whopping 300 views today. And I lost that contest, but that is where I started. And I'm very happy where I am now. Yeah, all I heard is the boxers. OK, nobody was nobody wears boxers anymore. Yeah, that's so. Yeah. Yeah. Boxers, right? Are we? We don't have to check. OK, no, no, no, we're not going to check. No, I'm not not wearing. That's right. Not. That's right. We're not checking. No, we're not checking. OK, this I need to hear. You got multiple rejections from America's talent. What was the process like? And what made you keep at it? Yeah, when I was like, you know, I was moving around a lot, I was doing magic for a lot of different people, you know, in my school, the teachers, the teachers would be like, wow, you're really talented. And then I would watch America's Got Talent. I would see kid magicians and teen magicians on there. I'm like, I can do that. And so I was I was really compelled, you know, I wanted. I don't know what drew me to it necessarily, but I really wanted to make a name for myself. I was like, I feel like I'm special in this craft, at least. And so I told my parents I want to audition for America's Got Talent, and I just kept performing, kept performing. I would I would do, you know, city talent shows and stuff like that. And my my parents would be like, OK, maybe you could actually audition. I didn't realize as a kid, as a, you know, 11, 12, 13 year old kid that when you audition for America's Got Talent, you don't audition in front of the judges, you don't just walk on stage. You have to audition for producers first. I didn't realize how TV worked. So when I get to this audition, I'm like, oh, my gosh, like, is there a crowd waiting for me? Is there like I'm like ready to be on stage? I walk into a room with three people, two people that are like, I guess, assistants and one person that's just taking notes while, I guess, the auditions go through and like perform and do their act. I do magic and I remember the first time. Hold on a second. So you mean to tell me that three clowns, OK, made the decision. OK, and they're probably like, yeah, he's great, but we've already had six musicians, six magicians, a lot of magicians. So I don't have to get out of anything to do with you. I just think that these people were either stupid or just had too many magicians and they're like, yeah, that ain't. Yeah, I don't know. I mean, I worked really hard on that routine. I'm never watching that show again. I hate America's Got Talent. It's still running, right? Yeah, actually, it's not that bad. But is it? Did it run? It's still running. It's still running. Yes. They have a new season coming out soon. Bad luck about to happen. Yeah, well, so I auditioned for these people. And I remember one of the biggest things I remember is when I was doing my magic trick, the producer behind doing the notes was not even watching. And so it felt like it was like already predetermined. It was like there was no no matter what I did. You know what I said? Yeah. They had too many. Magicians, yeah. Yeah, they just had. Yeah. Magicians. So I do this act for the producers. They say no, and I'm crushed. Like I'm like an 11, 12 year old. I'm crushed. I'm like, I thought it was good enough for the show. Why wouldn't they even give me a chance? It didn't seem like they even cared. And so I proceed to audition three more times after that every year. I would audition. Same people. Not the same people, different producers every time. But, you know, and every time they would consistently tell me no, I get rejected multiple times. I'm going into my freshman year of high school. You know, I don't know. I get this like feeling like, look, I was told no, so many times from these producers, but everyone in my life is telling me that I'm special and I feel like I am able to perform better than anybody else my age. And so I, you know, was already posting on YouTube. I was posting Instagram was slowly becoming more of like a short form content place. Started posting a little bit of my clips on Instagram and going into my freshman year. I basically the first true story. This is going to sound so cliche. But the first assignment that I ever got freshman year of high school was to write a letter to the time I graduated. So first period to write a letter to write a letter to yourself for when you graduate. Oh, that's great. Yeah. It was it was like, you know, my English teacher was like, you can keep this or we can keep it. And by the time you graduate, you can open it up and read it. And so that's beautiful. I wrote in there for some reason, I was very inclined. This was after like my third rejection on America's Got Talent. I was like, I want to take social media seriously. This is becoming like actually an industry. And so I wrote, I was like, I have a thousand subscribers and I have 800 followers. By the time I open this letter, please, I would love to be able to be in a position to move to Los Angeles. That was my one goal. I was like, just move to LA, give me a shot at LA. I don't want to go to college. My parents, you know, they're Asian, you know, they were like very academic focused. They want me to go to college. I don't. I just want to be. How do you know they're Asian if you're colorblind? That's a really good question. All right, go on. I mean, that's what it says on all the forms. Save. I don't know. That's a good question. I don't know. Yeah. I'll talk to my parents about that. I got to confirm, but it's a good question. So I spend the four years of high school really working on social media. The first year that I really took it seriously, I was like doing everything I could, self-promoting myself in comment sections, just trying to. Hey, I'm trying to grow my account. And it kind of worked. I grew to 30,000 on Instagram in my first year, freshman year of high school. I'm like 15 second year sophomore year, doubled that to 80,000. By junior year, TikTok came out and TikTok was like, you know, kind of a joke platform at first. Like people weren't really taking seriously. It was very comedic based memes, not really magic, but my second video, Catches Fire, is me doing a comedy skit, actually. And it got 5 million views. And by the first month of TikTok, I had grown to a million followers. At the beginning of TikTok, it was a lot easier. They had those, right? Yeah. It was it was very, yeah, 2019. This was pre-pandemic. So I grew to 1.9 million followers my junior year. And I still wasn't really making a ton of money. But I was, you know, I was getting there by senior year. I mean, it's just like I must have been at the right place at the right time. I'm about to graduate. Covid shuts the world down, right? Everyone decides to download this app that I'm already posting three times a day on in just the algorithm. Everything just catches fire. We struck lightning in a bottle and for seven weeks straight, we grew a million followers. A million a week? A week, yeah. Just every week. By the time I opened that letter, I had 12 million followers and I was moving to Los Angeles. And that is kind of my origin story. OK. Before we get going, I want the I want the trick. For I ask, I mean, I want the trick. Sure. Why not? You're familiar with the deck of cards? I am familiar. You know, all the numbers, letters, you're familiar with all of that stuff, right? Are there letters? Yeah, yeah, like Ace, Jack, you know, Jay. That is my fault. Yeah, yeah. This is a brand new deck. We're going to try something. I'm going to shovel it up a little bit and I'm going to have you select one of these cards at random. All right. So I'm going to go through the side here whenever you want. Just go ahead, say stop at any point in time. Stop. Right there. That's good. Right. Any more, any less? No. That's good. All right. Take a look at the card that you stopped on. You got it? Yeah. I'm going to do something that you should not do with the deck of cards. Can you hold on to this for me, please? Sure. Watch closely. That card that you stopped on in the piece. That's insane. Thank you. But there's this thing of magic that whatever disappears, it has to reappear. So actually bounce off the air, it hit off the light. It helps the mic stand off the top of your head, flew all the way behind me. There is one piece right there. I haven't moved a muscle. Not a muscle. I'm going to make this as fair as possible. Nothing else in my hand. I'm just going to grab it. You could have stopped on any card. I don't want to touch it. Go to flip it over. Your card, the Jack of Diamonds, but not only that, I want you to see that is the exact piece that I ripped off that card. That, my man, is exact. I'll show it to the camera. Here we go. Just like that. That's gorgeous. Thank you. That's really good. Yeah. All right, one more. Well, I'm on it. I'm ready. Here we go. Let's do it. Why not? Do you want to pick a card? Okay. Okay. Okay. Here. It's a brand new deck, so I have to shuffle it, but that looks pretty shuffle right? Or do you want me to mix it up anymore? Yeah, it's good. It feels good. I'll give it one more. Okay. You want to reach in here? Do me a favor. Just reach in here. Just grab any card that you want for me. Any card. Okay. Any one of these. Go ahead. Go ahead. Any one. Go memorize the form you got it. Yeah. And we're going to try something. I'm going to take this. I'm going to lose it ruffling to the middle just like this. Just like this. I might need to stand up for this. Is this okay? Make certain. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. As long as it's okay. Do I need to move the mic? Okay. So there's this thing in magic called slide of hand. You've heard of it, right? Yes. This is something a little bit different. This is called slide of mouth. Just watch closely. You'll know why I'm engaged by the end of this. Watch closely. Okay. What do you mean? No, it was a six. It was a six of a. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure.�������� One card and one card only your card the six is fades. Yeah You're insane Thank you. That's insane. Thank you. Yeah, suck on that America's Got Talent You people you people are so stupid. It's painful God That was stupid good Dude that that was stupid good. Thank you. All right What's the single magic moment in your career that made you feel like you made it? Wow, that's a good question You know funny enough it has something to do with America's Got Talent It is or it has something to do with America's Got Talent because you know, I moved to Los Angeles after Garnering all these followers. I'm doing my thing. I start working with Paramount Nickelodeon doing doing all these things in the world of magic and Then I get a call from America's Got Talent. You they called you. They called me Finally, yes, I'm finally okay, and I'm like wow about damn time I've been waiting for this one and they said hey, we want you to audition Properly skip all the producer stuff like let's just have you go on to the show and perform for the judges and so I remember Like I mentally I always thought like one day I'm actually do this show and we're gonna do it properly And it's like when it came in I was like, okay about about time I start prepping for the show and I'm the moment was me backstage when they're like you're up next and I'm sitting there and I I'm really not an emotional part. I don't get I don't cry a lot And I don't know maybe there's some trauma that I need to figure out, but I don't cry a lot I don't I don't really like you know when things go wrong. I just think okay. How can we make it right? You know, I drive through fires with a smile on my face like there's not much to it, but That moment of me backstage moments before I know I'm up next and I've already gone through the routine a million times in my head And I feel good about it. I'm just waiting that moment right there. I Remember being so emotional in my mind, but I knew I was about to be on stage I wasn't can cry by you could I could have been crying in that moment That was the moment where I was like I made it because I visualized this moment for so many years as a kid Like being on stage in front of the judges performing magic, you know having a huge crowd watch me and Just about to live that moment I remember being so present in that like I need to take this in because that wow, I'm doing it How'd you do I? I Well, listen, I don't normally ask follow-up questions, so I will say this I'll preface it like this I didn't pick my routine So the routine I did not pick the routine the producer the producer wanted me to be very specific on what I wanted to do and We built a routine that was based off these strict guidelines of what they wanted I didn't like the routine, but I went out and performed the out of it I performed the best magic that I could have done I Did this routine I get back on because I performed in front of them. I went to the desk and then I went back on stage They start giving me really bad feedback They start giving me feedback like it was slow. It was boring the magic was okay, but I'm like confused whatever and that's where Me looking back as like this the 10 year old kid the audition for Mexico Town was like There's no way I'm leaving here without my four yeses So I tell how we Mandel who's telling me that my performance was slow. I said give me 30 more seconds. It's a true story Give me 30 more seconds. I have a deck of cards Let me just perform one trick and I will blow you away. I guarantee it They weren't having it, but the crowd wanted me to do one more trick. So they said okay. They said okay go up awesome I have them pick a card. I do that exact trick that I just did now It coughed it up. I get a standing ovation from those four and my four yeses and I saved my ass from from getting rejected from America's Got Talent Yeah, but then wait, let me take that Because genius of that is Look, I heard once that Abraham Lincoln I lost 26 elections in a row before he became president now. That's not true It was a lot less but what he did was he kept after it Right and you kept after it, but here's the magic moment You didn't take no for an answer Right and you and you knocked that door down you ran right through it Okay, and you could have gone the other way you could have been like you could have had all those failures all those misses at from ten on and you could have let that crush you and most people would have and The thought would have been I'm not good enough. I'm not enough right because What just happened was it was different than all the others you went ahead and And we're actually Performing in front of the judges now these people actually called you and then and you had the confidence of Your ex your life experience because you're getting better at your craft, right? Correct and then They sh!t all over you Okay, and and you were like No, this is bullshit and the reason you said this is bullshit was because you were you were hand you were you were What's the word hamstrung you were hamstrung by the producers because you didn't get to be you They were telling you right so you were like all these things and you're like this Okay, I need 30 more seconds. You're gonna be just on okay, and and They weren't having it and then The crowd was so moved by The ballsy move right that you had right they're like yeah man give this guy another break plus the crowd liked it The first one. Yes, right? So now they're probably like losing their mind and these guys were stuck now They can't now they're hamstrung and they have to give it to you and then you just you beat the out of it You killed it. I love this. Thank you. I love this see You're a mental health Because because you must have been crushed Every single time you failed now and I'm not your person right and that must have depressed you oh, yeah Why would you get out of that? I Don't I all I give it to my dad to be honest cuz my dad always told me like you know You only fail when you give up. That's really it and so I Just kept always thinking about what was next, you know, okay? This didn't work. Where do we go now? And so yeah in the moment it sucked and I'm a kid, you know I'm like 13 12 11 whatever and I have so many photos like before and after like before the audition after audition I look so sad But you can't live in that sadness. It's it's what's next after that? How do you not live in the sadness? It's a really good question. I mean I Think for me, it's just thinking that living in the sadness won't change anything I don't think that if you know, I can feel sorry for myself For years it wouldn't get me any closer to getting a yes. Do you know who that is? Who is your dad? That's what your dad put into your head He took care of his boy That's beautiful That's so nice Wow And now You're gonna be the dad And you're gonna take all the things from your father that were good and anything that was bad you'll leave behind and You know, I'm I did it better than my old man My old man did it better than his old man and my son's gonna do it and my daughter's gonna do it better than I do it And that's how you know You're doing it, right? Okay, you think you you think you know what love is But you don't until you have a child you just don't and they don't cost you money They make you money because for you You have this much it's enough The second you have a child, it's completely different You now have you're now the dad you're responsible for this child Something inside of you turns on and you're like, okay, let's get going Children make you a fortune. They don't cost you money ever and and It's the only love that That matters It really is as beautiful man as beautiful Okay I've a follow-up on the America's Got Talent thing. Thank you for that by the way, that was beautiful My my fiance is gonna be very happy because she wants to be a mom yesterday. How does she she's 24? Yeah, you might want to wait till 30. Yeah, we it was because just for one reason, okay? Everything you say now is funny Right, yes, you guys are the best friends, right the second your child is born You're you're a sperm donor and an ATM Okay, you can use that I'm stealing that you can steal them. I'm stealing that they're all for you. Okay. Thank you. No problem. I'm not a comedian So from the America's Got Talent thing it It went so well and I think it like it really like fulfilled a part of me as a kid that I really wanted was that moment I've thought about it for so long but what I also didn't know about show business is a hundred people get yeses only 20 people air and so I was not aired actually on America's Got Talent despite Me getting my four yeses. So we still have a Remaining journey with them. I told them that I well internally I said the next time I'll be on that show is when I'm judging it or hosting it. So I'm waiting for that day God, I love that Trying to man. No, that's that's that's revenge I'm all about revenge The mental patient on the on the on the on the on the number whatever the hell I've got now Moving up by the second. Yeah, let's go to this one What unique strengths do you think magic videos have on tiktok versus YouTube? Oh Man Well tiktok is so fast-paced and people go on that app I feel like a lot of the times for some sort of spectacle and That's what magic is, you know, it's a quick I can do a trick in like 10 seconds and amaze you and I think that that really played into my strengths when I started posting a Ton is like people would see it wouldn't take long for you to consume 30 seconds You see me do a magic trick and then I'm out of your face and then I just showed up every single day doing it So show me a 10 second a 10 second trick Here's the world's fastest magic trick It looks like this. It's called the snap change. Let me see if I can do this You could learn this. It's not it's not that difficult I'm pretty stupid Okay, I'm gonna perform it to you and the camera at the same time, but it looks it looks like this Like that That's sick Yeah, it's a snap change. So you just take it and you just Like that I show me one more track. Okay. Yeah, cool. We'll um here I'll try something Feel pretty good about the I didn't switch it out. There's nothing any funny business going on here Okay, cool Can you do me a favor reaching here? Just grab another card for me anyone that's like anyone of these go Show it to the camera. Don't show it to me And then I want you to put it back in the deck anywhere. Okay Do you have your phone on you He's got his phone you got your phone on you. Can you do me a favor? Can you go on Instagram and then hand it to him? You remember your card, right? Yes. Don't forget it. I think I do Go to the search on Instagram. I don't want to do anything weird here. I just want to show you I'm going here I'm going to my page Can you click on my handle for me just click on my page and then can you read my bio out loud to everybody? How do you read a bio the the first line on there? What does it say? You picked the five of hearts. Is that it? It was Yes, it was the five of hearts How the hell did you do that? I don't know it's a really good question Should put in the notes That's so good. I picked the five of hearts. Yeah That's insanity things could have picked any of these cards. I could have picked any of those literally any of these And there's no pattern That's insane Great. Thanks. They're great. All right Got anything Coming next you want to tell me where you're gonna perform To be I okay, so a couple things that are coming up So I'm trying to work in the traditional media world a lot more So I'm trying to do you know, I have a movie coming out this year for Paramount called my weird school It's a Nickelodeon movie but it'll be on Paramount Plus and it's I'm a lead in the movie and I play I actually play a 14 year old which is just crazy because I guess Asians don't raise them That's what they say right Asians don't raise in that's this is that mean like we don't wrinkle so we oh, yeah Yeah, we look yeah, I thought you said agents. No Asians don't raise it. Yeah, anyways I so I'm doing a lot of stuff in the traditional media world and hopefully we're just making step in so instead Hosting the Oscars so I'm gonna say right here because I make I'm actually making a compilation of as many of these as possible But every podcast I go on I'm making a compilation of me saying Hello future Oscars. It's your host Shawnee Anyways, because it's gonna happen. I can't wait. We're gonna clip it one day Can't wait so many different podcasts and we're gonna just throw this on that's so amazing You're speaking it into existence man. Thank God in advance. Yeah Just thank God in advance on my life and don't ask him for what you need ask him for what you want Okay All right, buddy, thanks for coming. Thank you so much for having me man. This is fun. You're so good to me. See you next Tuesday Let's go Yes, you grab five balls five Okay, okay Four five six seven eight nine, okay, got it. Okay, you get five balls. I get one Okay, what yep, okay, let me get on the board then Okay There you go fantastic one, okay Oh So I got two more Let's go, okay, and why don't we go along? Okay The same spot Okay, all right, I thought I was gonna do to be honest that was awesome All right All right, here we go. You got one And five What I win Oh Good about that Come here. Give me a hug. Oh what? I swear to God, you'll be okay. In fact, that's the first time I ever did it without anything