I was considered a comedy magician. And - how do I put this without sounding egotistical? - it didn't take me long to realize that comedy magicians usually couldn't do comedy or magic. Ricky Jay More Quotes by Ricky Jay More Quotes From Ricky Jay The pain is bad magicians ripping off good ones, doing magic badly, and making a mockery of the art. Ricky Jay magicpainart One of the reasons I don't like to use the word "tricks" , I do think of them as theatrical pieces, and as pretentious as that might sound, there's a real reason for it. It's not the idea of tricking you; it's the idea of taking you along on this particular journey the way you would in any other theatrical situation. But, hopefully, you're going to be fooled at the end. Ricky Jay realjourneythinking For me, the most exciting thing is to create good magic that's entertaining for an audience, and it would be lovely if a magician was fooled as well. Ricky Jay lovelymagicwould-be I wouldn't want to try to make a living as an actor. I think actors... I give them a lot of credit for what they go through, but putting myself on the line like that would make me crazy. Ricky Jay crazygivingthinking Every acting gig isn't the same, every writing job isn't the same, every live performance isn't the same - the challenge is the level of difficulty or ease, and that may vary. Ricky Jay challengeswritingjobs Not only do I lie, I take real pleasure in lying, in the transmission of magic effects. Ricky Jay magicreallying I love amazing people. I love dazzling them. That's why I think performing magic is one of the greatest things a person can do. Ricky Jay magicpeoplethinking I'm pretty fortunate that I'm in the films I'm in largely because the directors have asked me to be in them. I'd love to do more of them, but the writing and historical stuff I'll probably always do. Ricky Jay filmhistoricalwriting The book says we may be through with the past but the past ain't through with us. Ricky Jay maybookpast My father was the Formica King of Long Island, and my mother was the daughter of a Bengal Lancer in India. Ricky Jay daughterkingsmother I never talk much about my family, but my grandfather was friendly with these guys, with magicians and ventriloquists on the highest levels, and I was just interested. Ricky Jay guygrandfatherfriendly There are people who try to figure things out. Often, magic is presented in a way that sets up a challenge that I actually find kind of appalling. You know, "I'm clever, I can do something, and you don't know what it is." And that instills in the audience the idea that, "Yes, I do. You're not that clever." Ricky Jay challengescleverpeople I suppose that if I could only do one thing, a solid card effect would be pretty high on the list. That's the root of it all, sleight-of-hand. It's certainly the thing I feel most comfortable with. Ricky Jay rootscardshands I certainly was performing before my writing was published, because I was performing when I was very young. And the thing is I'm very comfortable on stage, so a large portion of my act did come from ad-libs. Ricky Jay stageyoungwriting If it sounds too good to be true, it always is. Ricky Jay truthsoundreality I like being fooled. When I watch someone who does sleight-of-hand and fools me, it's a great feeling. Ricky Jay fool-mefoolfeelings Theft annoys me more than anything else. The purloining of effects from another magician. Some people think it's massive to steal the secrets of nuclear reactors, but to steal a card move is trivial. They're wrong. Ricky Jay peoplemovingthinking I'm probably the only kid in history whose parents made him stop taking music lessons. They made me stop studying the accordion. Ricky Jay lessonsparentkids Dai Vernon, the greatest sleight of hand figure in the history of the art, rarely performed. But he invented magic and had an enormous influence on the whole range of sleight of hand. And so often the magic he was doing was to fool other magicians. Ricky Jay magichandsart It probably is harder to fool people when they know they're going to be fooled. Ricky Jay fooledfoolpeople
