Interview with Cyril

Together with 2 other media journalists, Thor had the chance to interview the one and only Cyril – via a 15 minutes teleconference where Cyril spilled the beans on his past, his upcoming collaboration with AXN and his art. He even offered some advice to fellow magicians, and even divulges a little secret!

For your convenience, we have converted it to .pdf format so that you guys can download it and read it offline! Enjoy!

Cyril Interview Transcript PDF

Transcript of the Interview with Cyril

Thor: So what makes you different from all the other street magicians such as Criss Angel, David Blaine etc?

Cyril: Well… First of all, I do not compete with them. David Blaine’s magic style has evolved more into an endurance artist, while I entertain people based on building relationships with them. I personally haven’t seen their shows yet so I got no comments. I was taught that if you got nothing to good to say about others, then don’t say anything at all.

Sonya: I know you start learning magic from young, when did you first know what magic was something you wanted to do for life?

Cyril: I knew I wanted to have magic in my life the moment when I saw magic when I was 7 years old. I saw magic in Las Vegas and from there on, I couldn’t think of anything else except magic. I never thought that I would become a professional magician. For the passion of the art, I continued to do magic 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Basically, every single moment was magic for me. I ended up doing magic for friends, and then friends said I have to show it to other friends and that led to “omg you got to do it at my friend’s party” Doing at my friend’s party led to “omg can I hire you to come for this other event?” and that led to making so many networks over the past 10 years and eventually I stopped and reflected back at my life, I was already a professional magician. So in other words, I did not try to become a professional magician, the profession chose me.

Joey: What are the major challenges you encountered when you learn and practice magical tricks and how did you overcome them?

Cyril: I am faced with challenges every time I perform magic. Every performance is different; this is not a scripted show even when I’m performing live. Anything can happen and many things do happen. I cannot really prevent troubles from happening, for example, when we were filming for the new special, Cyril: Simply Magic, I cannot expect the humidity and the heat to be an issue. Things that I was able to do normally in my room under a controlled climate, once I went out my playing cards warmed in 5 minutes and I wasn’t able to hold anything, I was sweating and dripping. Many things went wrong. That was just one example. So what happens when there is a mess up? For me, the ultimate illusion is to make it look easy. Even if there is a mistake, you guys will never see the mistake!

Thor: Cyril, so what was your turning point in your magic journey? Was it when Ito hired you as a magician in his hotel?

Cyril: That was not really my turning point. My magic journey, I have encountered many supporters and I’m grateful for each and every person that has been in my life, who has supported me and who has believed in me. Magic is such a special and unique business. I am a dreamer and it is very hard to go up to someone and say I have a dream and my dream is that I want to do this. We do live in a world where… I think the best analogy would be like your parents. My parents wanted me to be a doctor, become a lawyer, just like every other parent would want for their child. When I say I want to become a magician, the first thing that they said was that you cannot become successful as a magician, as a performer, you are just a dreamer. So that is the analogy I am trying to give you but I think you were talking about the businessman Mr. Ito who believed in me and has supported me in a very hard time of my life. Yes I would say that it was one of my turning points in my life. It was because of people like Mr. Ito who supported me till the very end that I was able to shine.

Sonya: How is your relationship with the magic community now?

Cyril: I have a fantastic relationship with the magic community. Just a little history so that everyone knows what we are talking about. When I started magic and I came out in Japan I was not accepted by many magicians. They felt that I was a threat and they did not support me to the point of my career where I wanted to get everyone involved but everyone turned their backs against me, which was only human nature. So I decided to leave the magic community and put myself in a situation where there were no magicians around me. That ended up being probably one of the best decisions I have ever made because now I had no magic influences in my life. That was what forced me to come out with my own world, my own style, and my own ideas. Then many many many years later, when I started to doing TV shows and went back to America and do magic. Then the magic community changed their way of looking at me and they even awarded me the 2007 Magician of the Year.

Joey: So now that you are a professional magician, do you have any tips for new learners of magic tricks?

Cyril: Yes, I always say the same thing. Always practice, follow your instincts, don’t let others tell you that you cannot do something, believe in yourself and always do magic for the passion and not because it is a job.

Thor: Apart from showing Cyril: Simply Magic, AXN also shows a series of other magic related shows such as Criss Angel’s Mindfreak and Breaking the Magician’s Code. With regards to Breaking the Magician’s Code, what is your opinion on this show, given its controversy?

Cyril: First of all, I have not watched the recent season, so I do not know what they are showing. I think it is very unfortunate that people would resort to wanting to break the magic and that people wants to solve the puzzle or look upon magic as being a riddle. It is very unfortunate because I would like my viewers of my show not to watch my show with the intention that they have to break my magic but I want my viewers to watch my magic to be entertained, to be taken to another world, another realm. To forget about their troubles for a day, it is not about me trying to fool others, magic is just my art, it is my instrument and what I create is my story. That is what a magic show is about. It is about people and relationships. When you watch me, I hope that you can watch it with an open mind.

Sonya: Do you any signature tricks or any favorite tricks?

Cyril: This question is like if you had 5 children and I asked you which one of your children do you love the most. I love everything I do, I can’t give you a particular trick, but I can tell you that I love performing live than I enjoy performing on television. As much as I enjoy creating TV specials, when we film for TV, the scene ends anywhere between 2-5 minutes. So there is no audience rapport, it is like cut and go, and when we put them together, a TV special is created. But when we perform live, my shows are anywhere between one and two hours long. It is an emotional journey; it is a magical journey that I take my audience with. There is a beginning, middle and end. It is more fun. Hence, to answer your questions, I love performing on stage, that was where I started when I was young and I still enjoy it up to this day.

Joey: Many professional magicians only perform on the stage, so why do you choose to perform on the streets and is this what you call magic revolution?

Cyril: I came from America and in America we have many little theaters, many comedy stores, many venues that magicians and other artists to showcase their performances. When I came to Japan, the entertainment industry did not offer artists to express their performance and art like they had in America. So growing up as a theatre performer, I often was asked to do magic at many parties and many areas and they were not stages. There were no dressing room, no curtains and so being the stage performer I was, I wanted to make things bigger and grander. At first I hated myself because I was thinking why I was doing this, why am I here, but I realized that is what made me stronger. To be able to take the things I did on stage to normal, everyday places which are now the type of stuff I am filming on the streets.

Thor: So Cyril, tell us something about yourself that will surprise all of us!

Cyril: Haha. Hmm… That is a hard question. I have never been asked that. You know I am full of surprises but that is the one surprise that I probably going to have a hard time answering. I think I have to say that I’m a very down to earth human being just like everyone else and I have a dog. I’m resorting to my dog now (giggles) Ok, many of you have seen my eyebrow piercing and my ear piercing but I actually have one more body piercing but it is going to remain a mystery where it belongs.

(Weird and interesting laughter sounds from everyone!)

Cyril: Thank you everybody. This entire experience of filming in Asia, my very first special outside of Japan has been an awesome experience, travelling from Malaysia, Singapore to Taiwan. It has been really refreshing to come to countries where I have not been recognized yet to go out on the streets to spread my happiness and spread the magic. It has been amazing.

All: Thank you!

AXN is giving away exclusive preview invitations to Cyril: Simply Magic and other gaming icash cards / magic items!
Click here to find out more!
Remember to catch Cyril : Simply Magic – Starting November 19, Every Thursday, 9pm (SG/PH) 10pm(HK) only on AXN!