Sean Taylor on Creativity, Consulting & Reinvention #275

**Josh Norbido** (0:12)
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to another episode. I can't sing because I wasn't in a band.
But welcome to episode 275 of The Magic Guys. Today, we're running with the duo for our guest. And to my left, we got Nick Kay.

**Nick Kay** (0:31)
That's right, the B team, the bald team. Hi, friends, I'm Nick Kay.
And Josh Norbido, what?

**Josh Norbido** (0:38)
I think our podcast is always the bald team, right? Even when Doug is here.

**Nick Kay** (0:42)
Yeah, but when he's here, it's the A team.

**Josh Norbido** (0:45)
Which is, stands for?

**Nick Kay** (0:47)
Better than the B.

**Josh Norbido** (0:48)
But if B is the bald team, and we're all bald anyway when Doug's here, what does A stand for then?

**Nick Kay** (0:53)
Have you been to high school, Josh? Have you been to high school?

**Josh Norbido** (0:57)
Now, someone's flexing. Someone's been to school as a kid.
What a show off. Someone was educated and probably fed as a child. All right. Good to see everyone in the chat. No, I'm just kidding. I did eat a lot as a kid, and clearly, I'm quite caffeinated now. We have a guest that people have been waiting a long time to see. Created a lot of effects, and we're going to get to him in a second. Because Nick, you have a show on tonight at the Melbourne Magic Festival.

**Nick Kay** (1:28)
That's right, friend.
Yes, the Melbourne Magic Festival is officially in full swing. We actually had two full houses for Theatre of Magic on Saturday as well. We had 48 in the first show, totally sold out in the second. It was a great, great show. So like everyone is in town, they are keen to see magic. We had the gala last night. So and my show launches two nights at 6:30 p.m. in the Cardini Theatre at the Arrow on Swanson. So you can still get your tickets at melbommagicfestival.com, as well as a bunch of other amazing acts that are there. We can speak to that in a little bit, but by all means, do check out the lineup. It's gonna be amazing. Yeah, and I think with that being said, we're about ready to launch into our interview. What do you say, Josh?

**Josh Norbido** (2:15)
Absolutely. I got my fingers at the ready. Take us away, Nick.

**Nick Kay** (2:20)
Friends, today's guest is one of Australia's most respected professional entertainers. Originally from the UK, he's spent four decades performing magic in almost every environment imaginable. We're talking close-up shows, we're talking family shows, corporates, mind reading, you name it.
He has a reputation as being one of Australia's most premier corporate entertainers. He's one of my personal favorite entertainers, and also an amazing creator. He's lectured, he's resumes as long as my arm. His lecture has been done in 12 different countries, and these days he's helping magicians take their performances to the next level by consulting, which is making me wonder if I should beg him to take me on as well and help me create some beautiful magic as well. Because when it comes to material and scripting and pacing and all of the theatrical experience, this is the guy we want to talk to. So friends, please join me in welcoming Mr. Sean Taylor.

**Sean Taylor** (3:32)
Hey.

**Nick Kay** (3:33)
Sean Taylor, welcome to The Magic Guys podcast. Please tell everyone who are you and what do you do?

**Sean Taylor** (3:39)
Morning, afternoon, evening, wherever you are listening to this, watching this. I'm Sean Taylor, and I'm a British magician, but I've lived in Australia for the last, well, almost 35 years, in fact. And yeah, this is why I'm here.

**Nick Kay** (3:54)
So this is the thing, you've been doing this for 40 years, and what's clicked you performing, my guy? Like a lot of folks kind of ring out at some point, you obviously have a passion for it. For those watching live on YouTube, there is hundreds of magic books behind them, which I assume most of that knowledge is held within that beautiful cranium of yours. But how things are done is not as important as why things are being done. Like what is it that keeps you going?

**Sean Taylor** (4:20)
Yeah, that's a great question. I've always loved magic, right from the time I was a very small kid. But the thing that keeps me going is the excitement of trying to bring new things to my audience and new experiences to my audiences.
And the world's changed a lot too. People's concentration spans are very different. The style of magic I've changed quite a bit over time. And I think as I got older, different types of magic have found me. It's not so much that I've found them, but they probably seek my personality more than, you know, it's pretty hard to do mentalism when you're a 22-year-old kid. But once you start losing your hair, you guys will know about that.