The Coney Island Wonder Worker

I had never met Todd Robbins before. Our communications had only been limited to just a few e-mail messages back and forth over the span of a couple of years. Literally a total of about seven or eight messages over approximately five years. And even then it was only to confirm some detail about a story that I was working on for my then electronic magic publication The Mandala or for MAGIC Magazine. We never really got to know one another any more than our scant electronic communications afforded us.

That was until two weeks ago when we finally met face to face at The Magic Castle in Hollywood. He and I had been booked to work the same week in the same room -- The Parlour of Prestidigitation. I was the early performer in that room, and he the late. Todd lives in New York and works Coney Island daily. He is very instrumental out there in keeping an American tradition alive -- namely the Side Show. Todd eats light bulbs, walks on broken bottles, sticks his hands into real animal traps, and blows up hot water bottles until they burst.

Basically, he's a freak. But one of the most charming freaks you'll ever meet. And one that I'm glad to say that I got to know a little better and now consider a friend.

Very nattily dressed in a jacket and vest with a watch chain, he endears his audiences with his comedic banter and then proceeds to invade their sense of good taste by biting into and chewing a real GE 75 watt light bulb or by hammering a nail into his nose.

This is exactly the same act that got him banned at The Magic Castle over 15 years ago when the Castle was booked by a different entertainment director that labeled Todd's act as "disgusting." Thanks to the foresight of the new entertainment director there, Todd's act was brought back and a new generation of audiences were able to witness something truly wonderful.

I know, you're thinking, "How could an act where a man chews glass and sticks things into his sinus cavities be termed 'wonderful?'" Let me assure you that it is. I saw his show five times that week, and enjoyed it each time. When Todd inquired why I was seeing it so many times, I had to explain to him that I felt his show was one of those shows that you want to see over and over again with somebody new each time. You just have to see their reaction and watch them experience the same feeling you felt the first time you saw it. Every night that week when I had guests in the club that had come to see my show, I took them to see Todd, saying, "I'm not going to tell you what he does...you just have to see it."

And so, I say the same to you. If you ever get the chance to see Todd Robbins, you just have to see him.

Shawn McMaster

Conjured-Up Creations
P.O. Box 973
Newbury Park, CA 91319
805-480-0703
www.conjuredupcreations.com