Joel Meyers, magician, illusionist and self-proclaimed mentalist, came to Fairfield University on Friday, Feb. 23 to perform a show for students. Meyers is a renowned magician who has been on a multitude of platforms including “America’s Got Talent,” “Penn and Teller’s Fool Us,“ and “Wizard Wars.” For attendees, the night was truly magical. Meyers was not only a great magician, but also a great entertainer. His humor permeated each of his tricks, and there was never a moment where the audience wasn’t entranced.
Meyers started his act by charming the audience with some jokes that poked fun at classic magic tropes like how simple and obvious disappearing object acts and card tricks are. In his first trick, he asked a member of the audience to pick a card, write her name on it, and tear it into several pieces. He then took the pieces, and excluding the one piece he gave the audience member, shoved them into his fist, and the pieces disappeared. Meyers then took three lemons out and allowed the audience member to pick one before continuing the trick. She picked one, and even changed it, but that didn’t seem to deter Meyers. He cut open the lemon and, inside, was the card she had picked earlier — with her name on it. The card was reformed completely, except for the piece the audience member kept.
Valerie Bien-Aime ’20 participated as an audience member for two of his tricks. Although she was looking for flaws in Meyers’ performance, she says she couldn’t find any. “I was expecting to see the trick behind it. I’m just so blown away,” she reported.
Meyers’ show also displayed how his skills weren’t all magical. In front of the crowd, he bested the great Harry Houdini by escaping from a leather straitjacket in two minutes. He also played a version of Russian Roulette with paper bags. One of the bags contained a block of wood holding a nail up while the other three just had blocks of wood. He then mixed the bags so no one in the room, including the audience and himself, knew where the bag with the nail was. He had the crowd at the edge of their seats as he slammed his hand down on each bag, not knowing which bag would puncture his hand. What added to the excitement was that the audience member, not Meyer, was told to pick which bag he hit.
Tarabeth Moon ’20 assisted Meyers with the Russian Roulette trick. She said, “What he did was crazy. I was shocked.”
Meyers even delved into the other world with a supernatural trick. He talked briefly about the connection between mediums and magicians and called a person from the audience to think of a close friends’ initials. He then asked the audience member to think of a dead celebrity to summon. According to Meyers, this dead celebrity would be able to read the audience member’s mind and display the initials. Meyers also didn’t know who the dead celebrity was. Meyer and the audience member stood by a small, round table, just barely touching the tablecloth on it, and summoned the dead celebrity. During this summoning, the table began to float. It was one of the most shocking events of the night. Audience members were standing up and moving closer just to see the gravity-defying table. The table then floated to the initials the audience member had thought of, and Meyers revealed the facedown chalkboard. Marilyn Monroe’s name was written on it, which was the dead celebrity the audience member picked.
Meyers ended his performance with a dramatic monologue about his childhood. In this monologue, he talked about his fascination with snow and described the first time he ever saw it. During the monologue, he littered the stage with ripped pieces of paper that he tossed in the air to look like falling snow. At the end of his monologue, he took out an Asian hand fan and created a whirlwind of snow-like papers with it. The moment was ridiculously dramatic, but it fit perfectly with the comedic tone of the rest of the show.
All in all, Joel Meyers performed a show Fairfield students will never forget. Meyers performed his magic tricks with smooth sleight of hand and flawless timing. In the end, the show left the audience wondering if Meyers performed tricks or if it was truly magic.
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