My guest tonight is a death-defying magician
who will be kicking off a North American tour on May 6.
Please welcome David Blaine.
(cheering and applause)
It must be weird being a world-renowned magician,
because I-I know I do it,
and I feel like everyone does it around you.
I don't, like, trust you.
Like, even when I greeted you now,
I was like, "Did he steal my watch?
Is my... is my tie changing color?"
Is-is that, like, a thing that you've just gotten used to,
is people are ready for a trick all the time?
Well, let me start with this show,
on its own, is the start of my career.
It was Jon Stewart that gave me my first break
-when I was 18 or 19 years old -Wow.
-and put me on television, so... -Wow.
(cheering and applause)
This is the start.
Um, and...
and the first time I did magic to Jon,
he went running out of his office
and climbed up a wall.
-It was at the MTV building, and it was, -That's...
-yeah, it was amazing. -yeah, that's the black side of him.
That's... Yep.
That-that's something I wonder.
Like, have you noticed how when you do magic--
'cause I've watched all of your specials,
I watch your clips on YouTube, everywhere--
but, like, when you perform magic for black people,
I don't know if you've noticed this,
but they run very far.
-I've seen... -But see, I-I was...
I grew up with an opposite,
because, you know, my godfather,
you know, he-he's...
he's, you know, African-American,
-Right. -the whole thing, and...
The whole thing. I'm with you, yeah.
And I would do magic to him when I was little,
and he didn't respond at all.
My mother, Russian Jew, was the polar opposite.
I would do tricks to her
that were, like, simple card tricks,
and she would go running away, screaming.
So it was like-- it was like...
And I was raised by a single mother,
-Right. -and anything I did to her
was, like, the ultimate reaction,
so when I started doing magic,
I started just looking for reactions.
-Right, right, right. -So, now, one time,
the early idea for the TV show, which was called Street Magic...
I was walking through this...
And I was doing a one-handed shuffle.
I was in, like, uh...
in Times Square, but when it was, like, a dangerous area.
-Right. -And these...
-It still is 'cause of Elmo, but yeah, carry on. -Yeah. Yes.
And these four guys saw me doing a one-handed shuffle
and just started, like, screaming
over a one-handed shuffle and came over,
and I started doing magic to them,
and the reactions were incredible.
So that was, like, what drove me,
but I-I started to realize
that in order to get really good reactions,
you have to do things that provoke people.
-Right. -Because, like, right now
if I did something to you, your reaction
-in this environment would be very muted. -Right.
Because I'm trying to hide that you freak me out.
No. I-It would be muted
unless I did something that was crazy.
(laughter)
(laughs)
(cheering and applause)
And on that note...
(laughter, groaning)
Do you want to see the, um...
"think of a four-digit number that's important to you,"
or do you want to see the ice pick?
(laughter, groaning)
Four-digit number, right?
(laughter)
-No, ice... ice pick. -Well, that's really good
because I actually brought an ice pick with me.
See? See, and this one...
would probably... be hard to not react too much to,
but will you just check it and make sure it's actually real?
(clinking)
-Yeah, that's real. -Yeah?
Another...
(laughter)
-Then I also... -I have tested ice picks my whole life.
That's real.
I also brought with me some alcohol,
and this is... to make sure
that my hand doesn't just explode or blow up
or anything weird.
Oh, man.
(audience members groaning)
Um, see, so this is what I do with this.
By the way, I started reading your book.
It's amazing.
(laughter, applause)
Um, so now... often people say
that when I do this, there's, like,
some sort of tunnel or something like that.
So I'll let you-you kind of pick the spot.
(audience groaning, gasping, laughing)
-Yeah, so just... Yeah. -Like, in-in...
Sure. Yeah, whatever you want, yeah.
-Yeah, I-I would... -Maybe don't poke it through a vein
because then blood will shoot out everywhere.
-I think there. It looks... -You think where?
That looks like the safest place. Like,
-right ov... right over... -Right in there? Really?
-That's, like, the safest place. -Wow.
I don't know.
I have no clue what's gonna happen.
You... Yeah, you...
Well, I've never done this where I just let
somebody choose where they're gonna shove this thing.
Well, I'm not... I'm not... I'm not choosing.
I'm suggesting.
(laughter)
Let-Let's... Here, I'll get it started.
Let's just see. Here.
-Oh, well, no. -Okay.
Maybe in... Here. You know what?
If you feel around, maybe...
-Yeah, that's nice. That's safe. -Yeah?
-Yeah. See? -That's... -(audience groaning)
But see how it looks? Yeah.
See that?
See how it looks like it's really starting to go in there?
-NOAH (whimpering): Oh. -See that?
See that, Trev?
Oh!
See?
NOAH (yelling): Oh!
-Oh! -No. Right there?
-NOAH: Oh! -(audience yelling, groaning)
-Oh! -Trevor, there's no way to know
if it's, um...
-if it's actual... -Ugh!
until you see the other side, Trevor.
See, it would be this side.
See, like, when you do like that?
(audience groaning)
See here?
(audience groaning, exclaiming)
NOAH: Oh.
(audience groaning, yelling)
You know... Here. You know, will you grab it
from the bottom, Trevor?
Yeah, grab it from the bottom and just push.
-Like that. Just push. There. -(audience shrieking, groaning)
Yeah. See how...? Yeah, push.
(audience groaning, shrieking)
NOAH: Oh!
(audience groaning, shrieking)
See? See that?
(laughter)
See, that would be hard not to react to.
(laughter)
Um... Trevor?
This is for you to keep.
(laughter)
So can you just pull that out?
(audience groaning)
Slowly. Yeah.
Pull. Pull.
(audience groaning)
Pull. Pull. Pull.
All right.
(applause and cheering)
For tickets... for tickets to see David Blaine Live...
-Wait, wait, wait. -...go to livenation.com.
David Blaine, everybody. No, no.
All done.
(applause and cheering)