Killing Them On Comedy Tonight
I was first introduced to Meir Yedid through our mutual friend,
Eric DeCamps. They were both regulars at The Magic Townehouse in NYC, and I frequently
went down to watch the show and hang out with the performers. Eric suggested that I show
Meir some of my routines because Meir was always looking for new effects to market.
Despite my pathetic handling, Meir was eventually taken with
"Card Marx" -- a Four Ace Assembly which ends with the backs of the Aces
changing color and pictures of the four Marx brothers appearing on them -- thus proving
the cards, ahem, have "Marx" on them. He has since sold several thousand copies
of the effect, and, uh, Meir, I think you missed last year's commission?
Anyway, Meir and I have spent many hours pondering magic and the
art of creation (or the creation of art), and I have helped him with a few of his lecture
notes and books. Meir is always helping his friends, and he promised he would one
day make me famous among magicians. Well, I don't know if I am famous, but I certainly
have a bit more credibility than I did without him -- and a long list of publications.
Meir got me my first magic writing gig with Tannens' Magic
Manuscript which lasted a few years, and eventually led to me publishing my own
short-lived newsletter -- Ruminations. He also gave me the opportunity to write a column
for his web site, MagicTimes.com, when it was first launched. The Magic Portal is an
outgrowth of that column, and now publishes its own ezine, "Rants and Riffs."
One of the most memorable events with Meir was when he invited me
to be his guest at a television taping of a popular NY comedy show, Comedy Tonight. The
guest host that night was wrestler Sgt. Slaughter, with comedic guest Lenny Schultz (my
old Francis Lewis High School gym teacher who turned into a Saturday morning cartoon
host), and the rapper who sang the song "These Are The Breaks" (break it up,
break it up, break it up, breakdown).
During the rehearsal, the host, Bill Boggs, asked Meir to rehearse
his world reknowned "Vanishing Fingers" routine for his co-host and friend, an
actor visiting from the show "Dallas" (if you are one of the odd people who have
never seen Meir's finger routine live, you're missing something). Anyway, Meir killed this
guy as you can see in the photo above where he just made his fingers vanish one at a time.
A few weeks later, Meir almost killed himself and Hiawatha when his
car went out of control on the highway during a bad rainstorm. His automobile crossed the
median into oncoming traffic and then flipped. His "performing" hand was torn
apart, and the routine he had won his awards with was almost lost forever.
But Meir is not the type of person who lets himself get beaten down
by anything or anyone. He is a master of adversity. A year later he had perfected his
"Vanishing Fingers" act with his uninjured hand, and he captured the hearts of
magicians everywhere when he won a magic competition with the same routine he had won with
the injured hand. Can you say "standing ovation?"
Meir with the Sarge
